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“There he goes with his poor-pitiful-me routine,” Pete said. “I hope you haven’t fallen for his game.”
She hesitated, glancing at his father, which made Pete wonder what they’d been discussing before his arrival. Suddenly suspicious, he whipped around to glare at Josiah. “You weren’t, by chance, discussing anything to do with me, were you?”
Josiah laughed. “Ah, my son knows me too well.”
“That’s not funny,” Pete said, feeling a slight sense of panic. “I know what happens when you get wrapped up in our lives. Two of my brothers are married with children.” He looked at Priscilla. “You don’t have any children, do you?”
She blinked. He admired her long blond hair, pretty blue eyes and angelic expression—before reminding himself that the faces of angels had been known to bring good men down. He’d seen it happen often in his line of work. “You don’t have children, do you, Miss Perkins?” he repeated more sternly.
“No,” she said, her tone cool. “You know I don’t.”
“Well, then, stay and have dinner with us. It’s sure to be an awkward affair.” Pete gave her his most affable grin. “And you didn’t answer my question, which I guess means you wish to take the high road and stay out of our affairs.”
“What question was that?” she demanded. “You two are full of hooks and angles and thorny emotional issues.”
“About whether you’d live with the old man for a year for a million dollars if you were me.”
She shook her head. “You’re right. I don’t wish to be drawn in to your squabble. Josiah, I don’t like the way you play kingmaker. Pete, I don’t think you’re being very courteous to your father. Bygones are sometimes best left as bygones.”
Josiah sat up in his chair. “You mean, you don’t think Pete should have a million dollars?”
“I don’t care whether he does or not. I’m a tea connoisseur, not a family therapist.”
“Well,” Josiah said. “I thought she was the right woman for you, but she’s not, Pete.”
Pete turned to face his father, then looked back at Priscilla. “Was he trying to get you to entice me into marriage? I know it’s not a polite question, but he did it to both my brothers.”
“Yes.” Priscilla lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “He has every intention of interfering in your life.”
“And what did you tell him?” Pete asked quietly, feeling his entire body tense.
“I told him I didn’t think you’d marry me, and that I didn’t think you wanted to be a father to four newborns.”
Pete blinked, recoiling for an instant before looking at his father. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
Josiah watched the two of them carefully, his eyes hooded with interest. Then he grinned, delighted to be, Pete thought, playing the role of munificent fairy godfather. “Just hate to see four little babies without parents,” Pop said, his voice all innocence. “At least you four boys had each other growing up. These Wright children will be split up.” He shrugged. “I can’t save the world, I know that. It was just a thought, nothing to get a brave spy like yourself in a lather over.” Picking up the daily newspaper, he shook it out with exaggerated importance. “Just four little babies, counting on someone to save them,” he muttered.
“I’ll be going now,” Priscilla said. “Welcome home, Pete. Mr. Morgan—”
“Josiah,” he reminded her.
“Yes,” she said. “Josiah, it was interesting to see you again.”
“Again?” Pete looked at her. “When did he see you before?”
“He visited me at my tea shop.”
Pete studied her before looking at his father. “You went all the way to Fort Wylie to hatch this plan?”
Josiah shrugged. “Couldn’t very well do it by phone, could I? Would have been rude.” He chuckled.
Pete told himself the front door was open. He could leave his father and his shenanigans behind just as easily as stand here. But he had to admit he was hooked by the game. He had a funny feeling Josiah hadn’t shown all of his cards—yet. “So what did you think of my father’s well-intentioned angling?”
“I think it’s presumptuous.”
Josiah cleared his throat, looking at Priscilla meaningfully. After a second Priscilla’s face colored slightly.
“What?” Pete demanded. “Let me in on the private secret you two are sharing.”
“There’s nothing,” Priscilla said airily, not wanting Josiah to blurt his information about her “little crush” on Pete. “Goodbye, and good luck with your mission, Josiah. Pete, good to see you again. I’ll show myself out. I remember where the front door is.” She hurried down the foyer hall, but Pete wasn’t letting her go that easily.
“Excuse me, Pop. You and I aren’t finished discussing your plot, but right now, I want to talk to her.” He hurried after Priscilla, catching her in the yard. “Let me apologize for my father,” he said.
“Why? He’s his own man.”
Pete nodded. “And everyone else’s. Did he offer you money?”
“No!” Priscilla frowned at him.
“Then he was only getting warmed up. He will offer you money.”
“It doesn’t matter, Pete,” she said firmly. “I’m not interested in getting married, I don’t want to live in Union Junction, and you’re not a man I’d consider. So it doesn’t bother me how many webs he spins. I know I’m safe.”
“Yeah,” Pete said. “It’s only my neck in the noose.”
“That’s true,” Priscilla agreed. “I’d be willing to bet you’ll be married in a month to some poor, un-suspecting girl who has no idea what she’ll be getting herself into.”
“Hey!” He tried not to laugh at Priscilla’s forthright teasing. “Any woman would be lucky to have me.”
“You forget, I’ve shared a roof with you. You’re fun, but you’re not exactly husband material.”
Pete took that barb with a pang. “I know. I wish I was. But it’s just not me. So, about these babies, these prize lures he’s thrown out to you—”
“Don’t ask me about them. You’ll have to get that story from your father. All he mentioned was that he met Ralph Wright and his wife when they came to buy a steer or something. There was a car accident after the quadruplets were born. That’s all I know.”
He frowned. “Having quadruplets born in Union Junction would be quite an event.”
“Yes. But I live in Fort Wylie, so I never heard about it. I’m sure your father is itching to tell you everything,” she reminded him. She turned toward her car to open the door. “Josiah is a cute old thing in his over-eager way.”
“He’s a pain in the butt.”
“How long are you off?” Priscilla asked.
“Off?”
“Off duty? Or whatever your break is called.”
“I’ve served my country for many years. It’s time to chart a new course in life. And there are things here I need to do.” Pete caught himself staring at Priscilla’s long legs, toyed with some anger with his father, felt sadness for the four babies who had no parents and realized he felt a jumble of conflicting emotions. “Maybe I shouldn’t have retired so soon,” he said. “I didn’t factor in that with two boys down and Jack nowhere to be seen, I’ll now be the sole focus of Pop’s chicanery. I was hoping for some peace and quiet, to collect my million, to not think much about the old man. Now he’s got me thinking about him, and you, and the kids, and his latest scheme.”
“Don’t think about me, ” Priscilla said, sliding into the car. “You have no idea how unavailable I am.”
He leaned on her window. “Good. Keep reminding me of that.”
“You bet your boots I will.” Priscilla started the engine. “Take care of your father, okay? He’s not as bad as you boys paint him.”
“Sure he is,” Pete said. “He’s just got you buffaloed. He does it to everyone.”
She shook her head with a smile, not believing him, and drove away.
But it was true. “I’m going to kill him,” he muttered to himself, and went inside to have it out with the one person who had the power to drive him completely nuts.
His father sat in his chair dozing, or pretending to. “Pop,” Pete said, “I haven’t had a real conversation with you in what, ten years?”
“Your choice, not mine.”
Pete took a deep breath, willing himself to be calm. “You’ve got to quit this obsession with family. You’ll have to be satisfied that Dane and Gabe succumbed to your feudal approach to matchmaking. You’re going to have to mind your own business where I’m concerned. It’ll be hard for you to quit being so manipulative, but all you’re going to do is make me mad as hell.”
“I wasn’t thinking about you, actually,” Josiah said, opening his eyes. “I was thinking about the welfare of those children. I never even considered matching you and Priscilla until I heard those babies were going into foster care. They have no family, and no one around here is prepared to take on the care of four preemie newborns.”
“Nor am I.” Pete couldn’t imagine what his father had been thinking. “I hope you noticed Priscilla wasn’t exactly on board with your plan. In fact, she acted like a woman who was being offered a bad deal.”
“Yeah, she didn’t seem to like you as much as I’d heard she did.” Josiah reached for his brandy.
His father’s words caught Pete’s attention. “What do you mean, you heard Priscilla liked me?” He wondered why his heart rate sped up; his whole body seemed to go on alert.
Josiah shrugged. “I heard she had a hankering for you. Usually my sources are pretty good, but this time, they clearly weren’t. As far as I could tell, the lady’s not interested in you one bit.”
That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He was, in fact, surprisingly disappointed. “I don’t know,” Pete said, “we had some good times last month. There might have been something there.”
“Well, it’s gone now,” Josiah said. “A single woman who doesn’t jump at a man, a ring and four children isn’t in the presence of her Prince Charming.”
“You might have overplayed your hand,” Pete suggested. “Maybe she’s not the kind of woman who wants children.”
“Every woman wants children.”
“Four is a lot to start off a marriage with, don’t you think?” Pete thought he couldn’t handle that many; taking care of one child would probably blow his mind. “Pop, these are little people with special needs. They need to go to a family who are prepared to deal with that.”
“Do you know how likely it is they’ll be sent to one home?” Josiah asked. “They’ll likely be separated. I hate that.” He sighed deeply. “It doesn’t matter. As you said, Priscilla doesn’t seem to like you, so this is all moot.”
“I never said Priscilla doesn’t like me,” Pete said. “She doesn’t even know me.”
“She was here with you for several days last month. Clearly that was enough for her. No, I’ll have to look elsewhere to figure out how to help those babies.”
“Jack?” Pete snorted. “Pop, you are never going to see Jack in this house. In fact, you’ll be lucky if you ever see him anywhere.”
Josiah’s brow furrowed. “Every father wants to see his children before he dies, so don’t dash my hopes. Someone in this county surely wants four wonderful babies, although I never said Jack was the answer.”
“Well, you’re not dying, so I’m not dashing anything. I’m merely stating what you know to be true about Jack.”
Josiah gave him a long, considering look. “The truth is, I am dying.”
Pete’s insides turned to stone. “You’ll have to be dragged off this earth kicking and screaming, Pop. You’re going to harass us forever. Anyway, you’d never let go with two of us unwed.”
Josiah shook his head. “I’m afraid I’ll have to settle for a fifty percent success rate in this one thing, because the old clock of life is winding down on me.”
Pete slowly realized his father was totally serious. The silence in the den felt heavy and somber; Pete could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he recognized that his father wasn’t trying to manipulate him. He swallowed. “What’s wrong, Pop?”
“I’ve had a spot of trouble with some kidney issues.” Josiah shrugged. “You’re the first person I’ve told. I think Suzy guessed, but she knew I’d talk about it in my own good time.”
The anger that Pete had held close to him for so many years, the very burst of vengeful words he’d come home to loose, receded behind an emotional compartment marked To Deal with Later. “Have you seen a doctor?”
“Loads of them. There’s nothing really to be done, short of a kidney transplant, and I would never ask anyone to give up a kidney for an old geezer like me. Plus, I opted to forgo the usual treatments. Basically, I came home to die.”
Pete stared at his father, still looking for any sign of manipulation. For once, Josiah’s face was serene and forthright. “Why are you telling me this?”
Josiah shrugged. “The times I share with my sons and their families are the times that keep me hanging on. Otherwise, I might as well be a hopeless old wrench in life’s party.”
“So what’s the prognosis for your situation?” Pete asked, dreading the answer.
“Same outcome we’ll all get eventually. Only mine will come sooner than later. Maybe a year, probably less.” Josiah shifted and raised the glass of brandy. “I self-medicate. I’m not supposed to, of course. Have real medicine I’m supposed to take.” He smacked his lips after he sipped his drink. “ This is tasty medicine.”
“I’ll join you for a dose, then.” Pete needed a stiff drink. He needed more than a drink. Pop had managed to underpin Pete’s most deeply held emotions. After traveling thousands of dangerous miles and living for years nursing deep, black-edged anger, brandy wasn’t going to help him much. He’d have preferred to come home and spit in the old man’s eye. Now, not only did he not want to confront his father, he felt an overwhelming urge to know the real Josiah Morgan, the man whose guard was finally down and whose true heart was finally bared for all to see.
Chapter Four
So then he wanted me to adopt four newborns,” Priscilla told Cricket as they scrubbed out teapots and closed the shop for the day. It had been two days since she’d heard from Pete or Josiah—and yet she still needed time to think about what had happened. So much of what had been said was playing on her mind, drawing her thoughts over and over again to the children.
And Pete.
“Four!” Cricket exclaimed. “How can that be possible?”
“Quadruplets are rare, but not unheard of. There was a car accident and the parents were killed. It’s heartbreaking.” Priscilla poured fresh water over the pots and set them to dry in the rack. “I can’t take on four infants, of course, but there has to be something I can do to help.”
“What was Pete’s reaction?”
Priscilla shook her head. “I left in a hurry. I have no idea what was said after I was gone. With the ill will between them, I’m sure Pete wasn’t thrilled to come home to discover his father was trying to serve up a wife and full family to him on a silver platter.”
“Josiah is a determined man.”
“He is. I’m sure he has his reasons for what he does, but I can’t be a participant in his plans.”
“Is Pete as hot as he was last month?” Cricket asked with a sneaky glance her friend’s way.
Priscilla began wiping down tables. It had been a full day in the shop with plenty of customers who sat and lingered. She loved it when her tea room was busy. It meant a lot that her customers—many of whom were regulars and becoming her dear friends—loved her place as much as she did. Too bad the bank saw it differently. “‘Hot’ is an understatement,” she said. “He’s so hot I don’t dare touch him.”
“Really?” Cricket followed Priscilla, drying the tables with a soft, white towel. “Would you, under different circumstances?”
“No. There is such a thing as too much man. I, for one, am looking for a more down-to-earth, heart-hand-home type.”
