Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,31

getting hurt. Because you know as well as I do that he’s been brought up by the best, and if nothing stuck, like making sure he’s not hurt at work, then all I can tell you is that you did try.”

Mom burst out laughing. It was a hardy laugh, too, like she’d been caught off guard with it. Hugging Allie, she said that she loved her and was so happy she was a part of the family. Mom turned to him and told him that he should respect her opinion more. That Allie was brilliant.

“I agree with you on that. Did she tell you we’re babysitting the kids tonight?” She asked which ones. “Houston’s brood. Allie and I are going to see if we want children by borrowing some from the others. I thought about just Jimmy, but then I thought we’d just go for it and see if we could handle a pack of them.”

Mom smiled and looked at Allie. “If you need some help, I want you to call me. I’d gladly help you out with changing a diaper or two. You’ll love it. None of them are walking yet, but the girls can pull themselves up on things. Oh, you will have so much fun with them.”

“They’re going to be home when this happens. Just watching television, they told us. I think there might be some hanky panky going on, but I didn’t ask.” Mom told him to behave. “I am. Again, I didn’t tell you like the other women would have that they’re going to have loud sex. More than likely, all over their home.”

“The things you say to your poor mother.” Mom stood up and reached for Allie’s hand. “Come with me, child. We’ll go over there now and see if you can get a head start on the children. Let this one figure it out on his own. I didn’t raise him to be mouthy like this either.”

“What if they’re in foreplay mode right now?” Beck nearly fell off the chair he’d been sitting in when Allie said that to his mother. Every time he looked at his mother, he would laugh all the harder. The look on her face was priceless in the way she just stared, open mouthed, at Allie. Allie just stared back like what she had said was just as normal as rain in the summer.

He would never forget this. Not so long as he lived would he ever let Mom forget it either. With one comment, Allie had rendered his mom speechless. He couldn’t wait to tell his brothers about this. They’d not let her live it down either.

“Well, I never.” Allie smiled and told her that, obviously, she had at least six times. “Allie Robinson.”

He hurt. Beck was sure he might have broken a couple of ribs while he was laughing so hard. Lying on the floor, where he ended up when his mom stormed out of the house, was something else to add to his memories. He’d never seen her so embarrassed in all his life. Allie sat on the chair across from him and laughed too.

“I don’t think she’s ever going to forgive me for this.” He shook his head. “Not that I blame her, but she set herself up for it. Oh my goodness, Beck, I think perhaps I might well have to do something really nice for her to want to hang out with me again. And I think I might have broken you.”

Getting up off the floor, he was still laughing. He expected his mom to come back through the door at any moment and tell him that she was never returning. It would be terrible if she did that, but he wasn’t sure he could blame her. They had gotten her, but good. Sitting in the other chair, he laughed in little bursts as he spoke to Allie about some other things that had been going on today.

“Remember me telling you about Sam and Jacob, and the kids at school?” She asked if he meant the school that she had worked at. “Yes, that’s it. The teachers there have all been fired. The school isn’t going to be reopening any time soon, if ever. I was talking to Houston a little while ago, and he told me they were able to get the boys back in the pack school and that they’d let them keep going there until they didn’t want to anymore. The principal has been charged with all kinds of