Sawyer (Alluring Indulgence #7)(104)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“Kitchen’s all clean,” Braydon announced when he joined them in the living room, dropping to the couch beside Jessie, who was currently in the process of cooing over Kate. She was only one of many who’d spent the majority of the evening admiring the little girl.

His granddaughter.

Curtis smiled at the thought.

Having raised seven boys, having a little girl around was strange. Not in a bad way, but he had to admit, Kate made him nervous. It didn’t matter that Kylie continued to tell him that Kate was no different than any of his boys had been at that age—a baby was a baby, she said.

Well, he had to disagree. All the pink stuff made him edgy just to hold her, but he’d held his tongue, taking Kate anytime someone thrust her in his direction. Not that he would let on that he enjoyed spending even a few minutes with her. Hell, he’d ruin his reputation if anyone figured out that Kate had wrapped him around her little finger from the first time he laid eyes on her.

Granted, Lorrie knew. But then again, his wife knew everything there was to know about him. Even things he didn’t know about himself, she seemed to know.

When Lorrie joined him in the living room a moment later, sitting on the arm of his recliner as she was known to do when the house was full of people, Curtis put his hand on her leg. Funny how they’d been married for more than fifty years and he still felt as though they’d never spend enough time together. Maybe that was because of all the hardships they’d endured when they were first starting out, long before Travis came along. Regardless, just having her close always settled him in ways he’d grown accustomed to over the years.

Even when the room was full of people laughing, talking, shouting.

Especially then.

“How are things?” Kaleb asked Jared when he came over to sit beside him on the fireplace hearth.

“Good,” Jared said, his eyes on Derrick, who was in the process of getting Mason to take one of the cars he had been playing with.

“How’s the house holdin’ up?” Kaleb asked.

“It works for us,” Jared answered.

“He’s settled well,” Sawyer stated, also watching Derrick.

“I’ve been takin’ him to see a counselor,” Jared admitted, pulling Curtis’s attention to him. “I think it’s been hard on him.”

“Of course it has,” Kaleb agreed. “Have you heard from Sable?”

“Not once,” Jared stated, his anger apparent.

Curtis would never understand what had been going through that woman’s mind when she called Jared up and pretty much handed her own kid over. Then again, Jared had been that boy’s father for all intents and purposes, even if the DNA didn’t show to be a match. As the saying went, any man could be a father, but it took a special person to be a dad. Jared was proving that.

“So, Kennedy, what do you think of the craziness that is Sunday dinner?”

Curtis glanced over to see Jessie staring at Kennedy as she waited for her to answer her question.

“It’s . . . interesting,” Kennedy said, smiling. “I’m an only child, so it’s so far out of my comfort zone, I’ve been tempted to run out the door as fast as my feet will carry me.”

Curtis fought the urge to laugh at that. He could understand her anxiety. Sort of. He came from a large family, so he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be an only child. With three brothers and two sisters, there was never much downtime at his house, either. However, he had vowed to make his house a place his children wanted to come back to, unlike his own father, who’d been a hard-ass.

Glancing up, he noticed Lorrie was paying close attention, probably wanting to ask Kennedy a few more questions of her own, but somehow managing to hold her tongue. Instead, she said, “Well, you’ve got an open invitation to every Sunday dinner.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Walker,” Kennedy replied politely.

“Call me Lorrie, or Mom,” Lorrie said to Kennedy as she winked at Sawyer.

For the first time that Curtis knew of, Sawyer had made his feelings for a woman known. Through the years, his second-oldest son had earned a reputation of a heartbreaker. The love-’em-and-leave-’em type, he’d heard people say when talking about Sawyer. But those days seemed to be long gone. Or at least he hoped so.

Granted, Sawyer didn’t share much of his personal life—especially when it came to the ladies—with the rest of them. Instead, Sawyer had figured out a way to be the happy-go-lucky guy, which allowed him to dodge any sort of serious relationship.

He hadn’t dodged it this time, that was for sure.

The room got quiet for a second and Curtis looked up to see what the cause was. As though that was his cue, Zane entered, his boisterous personality following him. He made his way over to his wife before he informed the room he had an announcement to make.