There’s a part of me that wants to let Sidonie do whatever she wants. I’m not great at setting boundaries with other people’s kids. Then I realize this child might one day be my responsibility. I remember how Kenny was so lenient with Desi that she didn’t want a bedtime once we moved out of the trailer. She whined about doing her chores and schoolwork. Everything I did was mean. If she weren’t such an agreeable child, we’d still be butting heads.
“It’s time for dinner,” I say, and Sidonie frowns at being told no. “We have all weekend to play. You both went to school today. You’ll be tired early. We’ll eat and then play. Tomorrow, we’ll swim and spend time outside.”
Desi looks a little disappointed not to swim, so I reach over and stroke her cheek. “We’ll be visiting often this summer. I promise there’ll be lots of swimming.”
Sidonie exhales deeply, almost swooning over my words. Not about the swimming part. The visiting often is what makes her breathe faster. Her need for me is almost oppressive.
We head for the stairs, and Sidonie takes my hand. Desi notices and reveals insecurity I didn’t know she had. The look in her eyes only lasts a second before she smiles easily again. My baby wears her masks too.
I take Desi’s hand and walk with the girls down the stairs, where I find a strange woman holding my daughter.
“Oh, she’s just a little doll,” the blonde woman says to her dark-haired husband, who I remember from last weekend.
Mom sits outside, fiddling with her phone. Bronco stands near his VP in the kitchen. His gaze finds me, and he glances down at where I hold Sidonie’s hand. I notice a tiny smile on his lips before I’m distracted by the woman.
“You are stunning,” she says, gasping. “Just a walking slice of sex butter.”
I don’t know how to respond to that comment. Fortunately, the woman doesn’t need me to speak.
“I’m Topanga. Lowell’s honey,” she says, flashing a smile with lots of teeth. “Been married for seventeen years. Won his heart the hard way. Patience is the key with stubborn men.”
“Topanga,” I say, unsure if I heard it right.
“Don’t worry if you get it messed up a bunch. Once it sticks, it’ll stick good. That’s why my parents gave me the name. They were planning on putting me in beauty pageants. They knew with a name like Topanga that I’d stand out in a world of Graces and Emilys.”
“Topanga,” Bronco says quietly, “can you dial down your enthusiasm by three, please?”
Her big lips—and she’s sporting a Julia Roberts-size mouth—curve into a grin. “Always with the manners.”
“Are you hungry?” Bronco asks me. When I nod, and the girls do as well, he smiles and gestures to the dozen bags on the counter. “They brought enough to feed an army.”
“We didn’t know what you liked,” Topanga says, rocking Carina in her arms. “I swear, Bronco, you make the prettiest little girls.” Her gaze falls on Desi, and she smiles bigger. “Oh, I see you’ve got a habit of making pretty little girls too.”
Desi grins at the bright face of the woman studying her. “I’m Carina’s sister.”
“Just a doll,” Topanga says and then looks at me while the men start opening bags behind her. “I wanted a little girl with all my heart. The good Lord chose for me to have just the one son. I got all torn up with Dunning. Just a mess afterward. Not able to have more. Fortunately, I have so many friends whose little girls I can steal.”
Her comment reminds me of Shelby’s habit of sneaking off with her nephews back before she got together with Goliath.
“And that’s your mother outside?” she says, gesturing with her chin toward the backyard. “What a beauty. Not surprised you turned out so gorgeous. And little Desi here too. You know, my mother was a beauty queen. That’s why they assumed I would be too. I wanted to have a beauty queen of my own, but Dunning refused to wear the dresses.”
Laughing at her wink, I find myself feeling comfortable in a way that also seems like a betrayal to Shasta. I need to keep these people at arm’s length. But being back in Elko feels easy as if coming home. After Bronco’s kiss and declaration, I find myself sinking into the dream of making a life here. It’s too much too fast. I need to be smart.