Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,47

this year, though. He and the kids were staying for the whole weekend, and Dallas had been hoping and praying to rebuild bridges and make amends while he was in Temple.

His skin itched with every mile that took him closer to seeing his father for the first time in years. He still hadn’t spoken to him, and Dallas suddenly wanted to protect himself and his children from a potentially volatile situation.

“Guys,” he said. “I haven’t seen Grandpa in a long time.” He looked in the rear-view mirror to see if Remmy had heard him. She’d looked up from her coloring book, so Dallas assumed she had. “Did Mom take you to see my parents ever?”

“No,” Thomas said. “Just Gramma Fran in Florida.”

“Mm,” Dallas said, his mind spinning. Martha hadn’t gotten along particularly well with Dallas’s father, so it wasn’t terribly unsurprising that she’d chosen to take the kids to see her mother. At the same time, Thomas and Remmy were his parents’ grandchildren too, and he thought Martha would at least make an effort. Everything about Martha required effort, but only to make it look like everything was so effortless.

“Does he still have Scottie?” Thomas asked, his face brightening.

“I haven’t heard that he died,” Dallas said, though that didn’t mean much. He’d been talking to his siblings via text since his release, and they seemed interested in having him in their lives again. He called his mother, and she’d been the most forgiving and the most accepting. “So I’m sure he still does.”

His mother would’ve told him if Dad’s dog had died. The canine went everywhere with Dallas’s father, even down to the barbershop to get a haircut.

Because he didn’t want to get there too terribly badly, the miles and hours passed quickly. Before he knew it, he was pulling into the long driveway and parking his new SUV beside a couple of others.

He hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet when he heard someone call his name. He looked up to find Olive running down the steps to greet him. His whole heart beat like a drum, the skin around it oh-so-tight and someone banging on it with a lot of force.

He got out, and Olive was upon him in the next moment. “Dallas,” she said. “You’re here.” She hugged him tight, and then tighter. “You look so good.” She stepped back and looked him up and down, tears in her eyes. “I thought you might be permanently injured or something.”

Dallas smiled at her and kept his chronic back pain to himself. “Come on, guys,” he said to the kids. “You know Aunt Olive.”

Remmy, always the more adventurous child, got out of the SUV first. She hugged her aunt, and by then Greg, Dallas’s brother, and Judy, his other sister, had come outside too. Dallas knew he was the last to arrive, and while that had used to bother him, now it didn’t. He’d made excellent time on the drive, and it was before noon.

He looked up to the porch while his siblings’ kids started talking to Remmy and Thomas, and he found his mother standing there. She held one had pressed over her heart as she cried.

“Momma,” Dallas said, suddenly needing nothing more nor less than a good, long hug from his mother. He took the steps two at a time, noticing how white her hair had become before he swept her into his arms.

He buried his face in her neck and breathed, getting the floral scent of her favorite perfume, a hint of something green as she tended to an herb garden the size of a small farm, and the soft, powdery scent that belonged to all women over the age of seventy. “Momma,” he said again, pulling back to look at her.

She placed one hand on the side of his face and gazed at him, tears still running down her face. “Dallas Alexander,” she said, her Texas drawl really lengthening the syllables in his name. “It’s so good to have you home again.”

“It’s so good to be home,” Dallas said. The scent of butter and roasted turkey wafted out onto the porch through the open front door, and Dallas’s mouth watered. He’d skipped breakfast in his haste to get on the road and because of his nerves. “Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s tinkering this morning,” Momma said. “You know where to find him.”

Yes, Dallas did know. He turned back to his children, who wore smiles and spoke with the cousins they hadn’t seen in so long. “Do I