Standing beside his father at the oversized barbecue grill, Shiloh’s gaze kept darting to Renee. He couldn’t seem to help it. Sitting surrounded by his family, she tossed her head back and laughed at something Jill said. Watching her could quickly become the highlight of his day, and he realized the thought didn’t bother him at all. Seeing her in the midst of his family, the way she fit in with ease, only solidified and acknowledged Renee was special.
“Son, unless you want everybody to know how you feel about that young lady, you need to stop watching her like a wolf about to pounce on a tasty bunny.”
Shiloh turned his head and looked at his dad’s grinning face and shrugged. Guess he wasn’t exactly being subtle about his interest in Renee O’Malley. He couldn’t bring himself to call her by the name she’d used in Portland. She was Renee, the girl he’d heard about all his life. Little sister to his brother. Always considered a part of the Boudreau clan, everyone looked on Renee as the sister of their heart, if not by blood.
Except he didn’t feel brotherly toward her. What he felt was somehow deeper, stronger, and he wanted her with every fiber of his being.
“That obvious, Dad?”
“To me, yeah. You’re lucky everybody else is preoccupied with Renee, or your brothers might have noticed.”
Shiloh drew in a deep breath, needing the moment to figure out what he could say. His dad noticed everything going on with his sons, from a bad mood to a bad breakup. Offered sage advice when asked for, and kept his opinions to himself unless he felt they could help. Shiloh couldn’t remember a time his father’s words of wisdom steered him wrong.
“I’m not sure what’s going on. She fascinates me, unlike anybody I’ve ever met. She’s smart and funny.”
“Pretty as a picture too.”
“Yeah, she’s beautiful. If she was anybody else, I’d probably already have asked her out. But she’s not just anybody; she’s Lucas’ sister. She’s an honorary member of our family.”
Douglas checked the doneness of a steak and flipped it over. When his eyes met Shiloh’s, they were serious, his expression stoic. “You’re right. She’s part of our family. Lucas’ sister, the one we’ve been searching for and hoping to find ever since your brother came to live with us. Doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings that aren’t…familial. Look at Brody and Beth. I had a similar conversation with him not all that long ago. He was worried about making his feelings for her known, because he didn’t want to make things difficult for Rafe and Tessa. Afraid if he dated Beth and things didn’t work out, it’d drive a wedge between him and his brother, because Rafe is marrying Tessa.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Douglas flipped over another steak and moved around a couple of burgers, the scents coming from the cooking meat eliciting a growl from his stomach. He hadn’t eaten all day, except for a quick snack before getting on the plane, and he was starving. Nobody manned a grill like his dad. Momma might rule the roost when it came to her kitchen, but when it came to fixing the beef, it was all Dad.
“Took him the longest time to decide she was worth taking a risk on. Personally, I knew they were a good match. He looked at Beth the way you’re looking at Renee. Difference is he knew Beth for months before he asked her out. You’ve only known Renee what, a couple of days? My opinion, for what it’s worth? Give her some time. Let her get settled. Little gal’s been on her own too long, and she’s never been able to settle down and build a life.” Douglas grinned, the laugh lines beside his eyes crinkling. “Court her. Do what Ridge said he was gonna do with Maggie. Woo her, but give her space, too. She’s gonna be skittish for a bit. Let her realize she’s home. We’ll take care of whatever’s kept her moving, eliminate the danger. Then you can sweet talk her into staying.”
Shiloh glanced across the patio, watching his family interact with Renee. Rafe and Tessa sat to her left, with Nica on her right on the big outdoor sofa situated on the corner of the patio. Momma, Brody, and Chance sat in chairs across from her. Beth was perched on Brody’s lap, his arm around her. He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear, and Beth glowed. There was no other word for it. Seeing them together, there was no denying their love and devotion to each other.
“You’re right, Dad. I’ll give her time. She’s had so much thrown at her in the last couple of days. The timing could’ve been better, but I’ll wait. Figure out who’s after her, because she was getting ready to hightail it outta Portland. She’s running scared, and I’m going to find out why and solve her problem. Then I’m going to figure out if what I’m feeling is real, or if it’s all tied up in the excitement of the moment. Finding her, helping her, I—I want to give us a shot.”
“You know I’ll help. So will all your brothers. The faster we get a handle on things, the safer everybody will be. Now, I think it’s about time to call everybody over for supper.”
Reaching underneath the enormous grill, Douglas pulled out an old-fashioned chuck wagon iron dinner bell, one of those triangle-shaped ones with a separate striker hooked to the top. Grinning at Shiloh, he struck the bell several times, repeating the motion over and over. Shiloh noted his family staring, open-mouthed at his dad.
“Where’d that come from?” Shiloh pointed to his dad’s new toy.
“Gizmo sent it to me a couple weeks ago. It’s an antique one. Said he found it in some shop. Figured I’d like it.”
“Something tells me nobody else knew about your new toy.”
“Nope,” Douglas added, sliding the bell back onto the shelf under the grill. “Figured I’d surprise ’em.”
“I think it worked.”
The food from inside lined a long rectangular table, covered with a couple of plastic tablecloths. Shiloh couldn’t remember a time that table hadn’t been around. Even before they’d built this newer backyard patio area, the table had held pride of place on the old one. It was big enough to seat at least twelve with room left over, and as young’uns they’d shared many a happy meal surrounding the old table. That was one of the things he hated about living in San Antonio—these family get-togethers, where everybody gathered ’round the old gal and swapped stories. Shared what was new in their lives, gossiped about the town’s goings on, and spent time as a family. He’d never admit it, but he missed times like this.
As his family started across the patio, Shiloh spotted somebody coming around the corner of the house. Recognizing first the woman and then the man, his spine stiffened with rage. What were they doing here? He knew darned well nobody invited them, because every one of the Boudreaus knew how he felt about the Calloways.
His grandparents. At least biologically. As far has he was concerned, he wasn’t any relation to them. Not since they tossed his mother out before he and Ridge were born. After she died, they hadn’t even attempted to gain guardianship of them. Patti and Douglas Boudreau were his parents, his family, not the worthless couple headed toward them.
“Why are they here?”
“Don’t know, son, but I’m aiming to find out.” Douglas laid his tongs down on the small wooden table beside the grill, his movements precise, though Shiloh noted his hand ball into a fist afterward. Not that he blamed his father; the Calloways had been thorns in the side of the Boudreaus for decades. He wanted them gone before they brought a blight to the happy gathering.
Unfortunately, Douglas wasn’t quite as quick as his momma. He watched her stomp across the paved area, stopping at the edge, with her hands on her hips. Willing to bet she’d have fire in her eyes, Shiloh walked over and stood beside Renee. He wasn’t worried; he knew his momma was more than a match for Richard and Julie Calloway.
“Julie.”
“Patricia.”
“I don’t remember inviting you to my home.” Cold contempt laced Ms. Patti’s words.
Julie Calloway glanced down for a second, and Richard moved to put his arm around his wife. Shiloh noted how pale she looked and felt a tinge of sympathy, though he didn’t want to. They’d made their bed a long time ago.
“I apologize for interrupting your family gathering, but Sally Anne said Rafe would be here. I—we need to speak with him.”
“And you couldn’t manage a phone call? You had to drive all the way out here?”
“Please, Patricia, I need to speak with Rafe. He needs to know—”
“Momma, what’s going on?” Rafe walked over to stand beside his mother, and Shiloh noted how rigid his brother’s posture was, his spine like an iron rod. It wasn’t like Rafe to be so unbending, even to the Calloways. Had something happened he didn’t know about?
“Rafe, could we speak to you privately?” Richard asked, and for the first time Shiloh noted how frail, almost fragile, the man seemed since the last time he’d seen him. With a shock, he realized they’d aged over the last few years, and time hadn’t been kind.
Rafe nodded and took a step forward. “Let’s go around to the front porch and let everybody else continue with their meal.”
“No, son. Unless it’s an emergency, they can contact you later. This is family time.” Shiloh almost laughed at his dad, standing behind and slightly to the side of his momma. Douglas Boudreau was a mountain of a man, towering over Richard Calloway by several inches. Broad across the chest, and still in his prime, he posed an intimidating sight.
When he chanced a look at Rafe’s face, Shiloh knew something was wrong. Seriously wrong. Unless he’d been looking at him, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the tic at the corner of his mouth, or the way he’d shifted his stance, squaring his shoulders as if anticipating a blow. Not physical, because there’s no way Richard would have attacked Rafe. Not unless he had a screw loose, because he wasn’t a match for the younger man. No, something else was going on, beneath the surface, and it piqued Shiloh’s internal alarms. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“Rafe?” He started toward his brother, and Renee touched his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
“It’s fine.” Rafe turned back to the Calloways.
“It’s not fine,” Julie retorted. “Nothing about this is fine. Rafe, we just talked to Doc Jennings. He told us what’s going on. I swear we’re not behind this. We’d never—”
“Behind what? Somebody wanna tell me what’s going on?” Momma’s glare froze Julie in her tracks, and her hand rose, clutching at her throat. Her face turned pale, and Shiloh sprinted forward, managing to catch her as her knees crumpled. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over and placed her gently onto the sofa.
“Are you okay? Can I get you some water or something?”
“No,” she whispered, her gaze locked on Rafe. “I swear we had nothing to do with the petition.” By this time, Brody was kneeling at the woman’s side, taking her pulse and checking her respirations. Shiloh knew his brother carried emergency supplies in his truck. As a firefighter, Brody was always prepared to help in a crisis.
Julie clutched Rafe’s hand, wrapping both of her smaller ones around his. “Doc Jennings said everybody in town thinks we’re responsible. We’re not! Today’s the first we even heard about the petition.”
“What petition?” Momma had moved over to stand by the sofa at Julie’s head.
“They don’t know?” A stricken look spread across the older woman’s face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things worse. We, Richard and I, wanted you to know we had nothing to do with it.”
Rafe patted her hand awkwardly with the one not held within her frail grip. “Everything’s gonna be okay.” He glanced toward his parents, before adding, “Most of the family doesn’t know. Guess I’ve got some explaining to do. Are you going to be okay?” Though Rafe spoke to her, Shiloh noted he’d really asked the question of Brody.
“She’s going to be fine.”
Renee squeezed Shiloh’s hand and whispered, “Do you think I should go inside, give your family some privacy? It sounds like there’s something going on, and I don’t want to intrude.”
“You stay right where you are. I don’t have any idea what’s going on, but I think we’re about to find out. Big brother Rafe’s been acting kind of cagey the last couple of times we talked. Guess he’s been hiding something from the family. Won’t be any more hiding after today, though.”
“I’m sorry, son.” Richard gingerly sat next to his wife on the sofa. “Didn’t mean to bring more trouble to your doorstep. We got angry when Doc Jennings told us about the petition. Then when he said folks around town thought we’d started the doggone thing, it just burned my hide. Can’t say we haven’t had or differences with your folks over the years, but something like trying to get you kicked out of office? No. A hard no. You’re doing a fine job as sheriff.”
“Thank you, Mr. Calloway.”
Shiloh couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. People were trying to get Rafe kicked out of office? For what? There was nobody finer for the job. Plus, he’d been duly elected by the citizens of Shiloh Springs. Glancing around, he read the shocked expressions on his family’s faces, except for one or two. Looked like he’d been out of the loop far too long if his brothers were keeping secrets from him.
“Richard, I think we should go.” With a swiftness belying his age, Richard jumped up and helped Julie to her feet. His gentleness revealed the affection he carried for his wife, as he tucked her close to his side. While Shiloh might despise the man whose blood ran through his own veins, he couldn’t fault their affection. Simply their motives.
When Julie’s eyes met his, a pleading look in their depths, he refused to back down or break eye contact first. When they’d tossed aside their twin grandsons, uncaring and unfeeling, along with their mother, leaving them to their fates, they’d made their choice. If they regretted their mistake, so be it. They wouldn’t be changing his mind. As far as he was concerned, they had no place in his life. He was a Boudreau, plain and simple.
Brody followed behind the couple as they walked away. That was just like his loving, caring brother. He’d chosen to be a firefighter, and now the fire chief, because he wanted to help people. Personal grudges aside, he’d do whatever needed doing, if it meant easing somebody else’s suffering.
“Son,” his dad’s booming voice drew Shiloh’s attention back to the situation at hand. Renee’s fingertips gripped his arm tight, and he absently patted them, intent on finding out what Rafe had been hiding.
Rafe drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before answering. “A few weeks ago, I found out about a petition circulating throughout the county. It asked for my recall from holding the position of sheriff.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Though his father appeared unruffled, Shiloh knew the man well enough to know a seething volcano dwelled beneath his stoic exterior.
“First, I wanted to find out where it came from. Who thought I didn’t deserve to be sheriff. Still haven’t figured that one out. Then, I got mad.”
Shiloh found himself nodding at his brother’s words. Simply the thought of anybody thinking Rafe wasn’t fit for the job—inconceivable. And it wasn’t because Rafe was his brother. Before moving to San Antonio, he’d lived most of his life in Shiloh Springs, and Rafe was the best sheriff the county had ever had. Bar none.
“Decided I wasn’t going to do a thing about it. If enough folks in the county decided I’m unfit for the job, I’ll step down.”
Several voices raised, overriding Rafe’s voice, and although everybody spoke at once protesting Rafe’s decision, Shiloh kind of understood it. It would’ve hit at his brother’s pride, thinking anybody felt he wasn’t doing a good job. It was a natural reaction. Not one he agreed with though. He planned on doing a little bit of digging to find out who was behind the stupid petition to recall the sheriff’s position. If he hadn’t heard the Calloways proclaiming their innocence, they’d be number one on his list of suspects. He glanced at Renee, and felt a twinge of guilt. Torn between wanting to figure out who’d act like a yellow-bellied coward and go behind Rafe’s back, wanting him out of a job, and putting all his focus on Renee.
“You are not quitting.” His dad’s voice overrode the cacophony of everyone else.
“I don’t plan on it,” Rafe answered. “Sally Anne told me and Heath she saw one of the petitions and it barely had any signatures on it. Doc Jennings said the same. Pretty sure they won’t get enough signatures to make it happen.”
“I won’t stand for this.” Uh, oh. Momma’s riled. Whoever’s behind this better run far and run fast.
“Momma—”
“Don’t you Momma me, Rafael Felipe Alvarado Boudreau! How dare you keep something like this from us? From me!”
Rafe took a step back as his momma advanced toward him, hands raised to shoulder height, and Shiloh barely bit back the smile threatening to curve his lips upward. While he felt sorry for his big brother, he deserved to get hammered by his momma’s wrath. He should’ve known better than to try and keep secrets from the one woman who had her finger on the pulse of everything happening in Shiloh Springs. It was an honest-to-goodness miracle that she hadn’t already found out about the petition, especially if it had been circulating for more than a day. The town folk must’ve deliberately kept the news from her, which wasn’t going to sit well when Hurricane Patti swept through Shiloh Springs.
“And you,” she shook her finger at Heath, who raised both hands, a panicked look on his face, “you knew about this and didn’t tell me or your father?”
“Hey, Lucas knew, too.”
“Gee, thanks for throwing me under the bus, bro.”
“Is it always like this around here?” Renee whispered, leaning closer, and Shiloh inhaled the light scent she wore.
“Truthfully? Pretty much. Although this is kind of a big deal, because Rafe should have come to us, told us what was happening, instead of trying to handle things alone. That’s what family does. We have your back, no matter what.”
“Must be nice.”
He pointed toward his mother, and leaned in close, whispering in Renee’s ear. “She might be tiny, but she’s like a whirlwind when she’s riled. Dad calls her his little Texas Tornado. She’s a fierce warrior where her family is concerned. That woman has a heart as big as the whole state, and she’s loyal and protective of those she considers hers. That includes you, sweetheart.”
“I cannot believe the audacity of anybody in the town, much less the county, to even insinuate you aren’t capable of doing your job. I want to know who started the petition, and I want to know yesterday. You got me, son? No more hiding. No more having hurt feelings because somebody else is being a jackass.” Momma narrowed her eyes at Rafe, before shifting her gaze to envelop everyone. “Douglas, there’s more here than a simple petition.”
“Agreed.” His father wrapped his arms around his mother’s waist from behind and pulled her against him, and Shiloh felt the deep connection and love his parents shared. He wanted that, craved it with an intensity that shocked him.
She drew in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Alright, everybody, we aren’t going to let this food go to waste.” His momma turned and smiled at Renee. “I’m sorry your first day home got interrupted, sugar. Guess you got thrown into the deep end of the pool without warning. Fortunately, we all know how to swim, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Welcome to the family, Renee.” Douglas walked over and patted her on the shoulder, and Shiloh knew with that simple gesture, his dad had accepted her not only as part of the Boudreau clan, but also as the woman Shiloh cared about.
“Overwhelmed?”
“A bit. I don’t like anybody who sugarcoats things. I’d much rather people are honest and upfront with their feelings than to put on a façade. I’ve had enough of that to last a lifetime.”
Shiloh found Renee’s admission telling, and it also made him curious. Somebody had hurt her badly in the past, and he never wanted to see her hurt again. Which meant getting the truth, the whole truth from her. The good, the bad, and the ugly. He needed to know everything, so he could eliminate the danger stalking her once and for all. Because he had the feeling she was about to become the most important thing in his life, and he didn’t mind one little bit.