“Is there yogurt and strawberries?” she asked.

“There’s strawberry yogurt.” Lily removed her nightshirt and pulled the sweater down over her head. Wyatt hated for her to wear red. He said that black or dark blue looked classy, but red made her look like a hooker. Come to think of it, how did he know about that motel, anyway?

“Good enough,” Holly said, and was gone.

Lily had thought her child was strange when she smeared yogurt over her waffles instead of butter and syrup. She figured it was a phase that Holly would outgrow, but she hadn’t, and the strange thing was that when Lily tried it, she liked it as well as Holly did.

Her phone rang again, and this time she checked the caller ID. With a long sigh, she answered it. “What do you want now, Wyatt?”

“Victoria and I are on shaky ground,” he said. “I love her and want to make this marriage work, so for a little while I won’t be calling or asking for the kids.”

“Well, honey,” she said with a saccharine voice, “you’re her fourth husband, and each one has gotten younger. Maybe she’s got her eye on someone else already. After all, when she enters a room with a boy toy at her side, it makes her feel the same age. When you reclaim your balls, give the kids a call. I expect they’ll be grown by then, so it’ll be their decision whether to let you back into their lives. Don’t call me again.” She ended the call and dropped the phone in her purse.

“And that is what you call real closure,” she said out loud as she finished getting dressed for work.

Mack woke on Sunday morning to the rattle of pots and pans in the kitchen. The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, throwing a little light into his bedroom. He laced his hands behind his head and thought about where his life had been, where it was now, and where it was going. He liked the picture that had developed in his head, and sent up a little prayer that the third time was really the charm.

He got out of bed, dressed in his old jeans and a faded shirt, and padded across the foyer and into the kitchen in his bare feet. “Good morning. You look nice.”

“Thank you.” She smiled shyly.

Damn that Wyatt! The expression on her face said that she sure didn’t get any compliments like that very often, and Lily was the kind of woman who deserved them every day—hell, every hour wouldn’t be too often.

She poured barbecue sauce over a chicken that she’d cut up and put into a deep cast-iron pan. He opened the oven door for her. “I love barbecued chicken.”

She slid the pan in beside a pan of biscuits that were baking. “It makes for a good Sunday dinner. Just be the three of us since Holly is going to Granny Hayes’s again.”

Mack poured himself a cup of coffee, sat down at the table, and rubbed his eyes. “Guess I’m going to have to wear my glasses for a few days. Damned allergies are already starting, and nothing is pollinating or blooming yet. At least I’m not allergic to goats, so that’s a blessing.” He wanted to slap himself—he should be complimenting her again, not talking about his stupid allergies.

“I rather like a fellow in glasses who makes waffles on Sunday morning and tells me I’m pretty when I look like hammered owl shit.”

He chuckled. “Been years since I heard that old saying, but you are pretty.”

“Mornin’,” Braden grumbled as he sat down at the table.

Holly slid into a chair beside him. “Can we have sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast?”

“Already have the biscuits in the oven, and the sausage is browned,” Lily replied. “I was just waiting on you two sleepyheads to get down here before I made the gravy.”

“I have a request.” Mack was more than a little nervous, but he really wanted the kids to know that he was there for them.

“If you’re going to ask for scrambled eggs, too, then I’ll take some,” Braden said.

“No, it’s a little more serious than that,” Mack told him. “I want you kids always, always to do exactly what you did Friday night when you feel uneasy about anything. Call me or your mother, or both of us, and if you have to use a phone and call collect, do that.”

“What’s collect?” Braden asked.

“It’s when, if you don’t have a cell phone, and all you can get to is a landline, that you call the operator by pushing zero and tell her that you want to make a collect call. It means that we’ll pay for the call on our end and is easy for you,” Mack explained.

“I promise I’ll do it,” Holly said.

“You don’t have to worry about me.” Braden got out the milk. “I don’t never want to be in a scary place like that again. You can bet I’ll call you for sure.”

So this is what being a real father would feel like.

Chapter Eighteen

Lily could hardly believe that more than a whole week had passed since the incident with Wyatt leaving the kids at the motel. She still got mad when she thought about it, but that morning when they went to Sunday school and church, she tried her best to get rid of all that negativity and enjoy the beautiful sunshine.

As usual, Sally met Lily in the sanctuary. “Does that invitation to eat dinner at your house still stand?”

“Of course,” Lily said. “But dinner isn’t at the house today. We’re going to the pizza place. Want to join us?”

“Sure.” Sally nodded.

When Sunday school and church services had ended and the benediction had been given, Holly hurried to the back pew to talk to Granny Hayes. Braden took off toward the center aisle to talk to Isaac, leaving Lily and Mack alone. She was putting the hymnals back in the right spots when she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” Mack asked.

“I was just thinking that I’m glad Holly wore pants because she’ll be riding double with Granny Hayes,” she said.

Mack shook his head. “Nope, she won’t. Granny Hayes is one step ahead of you, sweetheart. She brought her wagon to church today. Didn’t you notice it parked out at the edge of the lot? She likes to put it there so her mule can eat the grass on the other side of the driveway while he waits on her.”

“I was so busy wondering why the kids weren’t arguing this morning that I didn’t pay a lot of attention.” Lily slipped her hand into his. “But riding on a buckboard will be an experience for Holly.”