chuckled. He looked down at Katy. “I knew, too.”
Katy laughed up at him. “Me, too.”
“How’s Two-Toes?” Teddie asked excitedly.
“He’s doing great. He likes to watch game shows.” Butch chuckled.
“How does Esther like living with a wolf?” Parker teased.
“He follows her around like a puppy,” Butch said, amused.
“He’s so sweet,” Esther said gently. “We’ve got a new wolf, too.” Her face clouded. “He had a vicious introduction to people.”
“Indeed he did,” Butch muttered. “There were arrests. And there will be prosecutions. Poor old wolf. He’ll live, but he may not be able to go back out into the wild either.” He shook his head. “We live in strange times.”
“How’s Bartholomew?” Butch asked the little girl.
She grinned. “I can make him trot without falling off now!”
“Good for you!”
Esther looked puzzled. “Bartholomew?” she asked.
“He’s my horse,” Teddie said, smiling at her. “He was a rescue. Dad’s teaching me how to ride him!”
“Mom’s also teaching you,” Katy said with pretended annoyance.
Teddie hugged her. “Sure you are. But Dad’s at home when you’re teaching. Well, when he’s not breaking horses for Mr. Denton, anyway.”
“It must be nice,” Butch said to Parker, indicating Katy. “Your very own daughter. I’m so jealous!”
“You need a couple of your own,” Parker told him with a grin at Esther’s high color.
“We just got engaged, give us time.” Butch laughed out loud.
“We have to get going,” Parker said. “It’s Warriors and Warlocks tonight, and this is a special one. The bad guy’s going to get his. At least, the previews almost promised that he was.”
“Don’t you believe it,” Butch drawled. “I have it on good authority that J. L.’s wife, Cassie, likes that bad guy a lot, and she’s resisting any attempt to kill him off.”
“Spoilsport,” Parker teased.
Butch grinned. “I like him, too.”
Parker glanced at Esther. “Do you watch the show, too?”
She shook her head. “My mother didn’t even own a television,” she said, and her face went taut again.
“She just lost her mother,” Butch said, pulling her closer. “It’s fresh.”
“I’m truly sorry,” Katy said gently. “I’ve lost both my parents. I know how it hurts.”
“Thanks,” Esther said in her soft voice, and her blue eyes were warm as they met Katy’s.
“It gets easier,” she added.
“It does,” Parker agreed. “Okay, female troops, let’s head out.”
Katy made a face, but Teddie laughed.
“It’s sort of like being in the military.” Katy laughed.
“Oh, I can certainly identify with that,” Butch said, and smiled as he waved them goodbye.
“Your friends are nice,” Esther said as they walked down the aisle that contained women’s clothing.
“They are,” he agreed. “Parker’s a special case. He saved my life overseas. Damned interesting guy, too,” he added. “He has a degree in theoretical physics.”
“What?” she exclaimed, her eyes wide.
“No kidding. He goes off to the nation’s capital from time to time to work with one of the letter agencies, deciphering code. He’s got a mind like a steel trap.”
“He’s Native American, isn’t he?” she asked.
“Crow,” he replied. “He has cousins on the reservation up in Montana.”
“He seems to really love the little girl.”
“He does. I expect he and Katy will have some of their own. Parker’s been on his own for a long time. A family is just what he needed.” He hesitated. “It’s what I need as well. Being alone is for the birds.”
She grinned.
He grinned back. “Do you like kids?”
“I love them,” she replied. “I haven’t been around them much. We had a housekeeper who had two little granddaughters who would come to see her in the summer. She had to bring them to work a couple of times. Mama was mad about it, but I loved it. Children are special, Agnes was the best grandmother.” She sighed. “I really missed her after Darrin made Mama fire her. See, Darrin didn’t like her.” She made a face. “Children make the world a magical place,” she said with dreamy eyes.
“I’ve always thought so myself. Parker brought Katy and Teddie over to see Two-Toes when I first brought him home. He loved Teddie at once.”
“She seems like a sweet child.”
“Her dad was in the military, a doctor. He died while he was completing a tour of duty in Iraq.” His face closed up.
“That’s where you were, isn’t it?” she asked.
He drew in a breath. “There sure are a lot of pretty sweaters over here,” he said instead of answering her.
She didn’t push. She knew he’d had a hard time in the military. “Yes, these are lovely,” she agreed, not mentioning that it was the first time in her life that