Joan Johnston - Hawk's Way - Rebels - The Temporary Groom

“My mom always put ribbons in our hair,” Raejean said.

Cherry heard the wistful longing in the complaint, but there wasn’t time to fulfill any wishes this morning. “Tonight we’ll see what we can find and have them ready for tomorrow morning,” she promised.

It wasn’t until she had dressed herself and was ushering the girls out the back door that she realized she had no idea what they were going to use for transportation. There had to be some vehicle available, because Billy had suggested she go shopping during the day. But the only thing on four wheels she saw was a rusted-out pickup near the barn.

A set of hooks inside the back door held a key attached to a rabbit’s foot. She grabbed the key, shoved the girls out the door, and prayed the truck had an automatic transmission.

It didn’t.

“Don’t you know how to drive?” Annie asked, concern etched in her young brow.

“I can drive. I have the license to prove it.”

“Then why aren’t we moving?” Annie asked.

Cherry stared helplessly at the stick shift on the floor of the pickup. “I’m not sure how to get this thing into gear.” She tried moving the stick, and it made an ominous grinding sound.

“If you break Daddy’s truck, he’s going to be really mad,” Raejean said.

Cherry was getting the picture. If she didn’t figure out something soon, she was going to be dealing with a seriously annoyed teacher when she got the girls to school and a fierce, wild-eyed beast of a man when Billy got home.

She crossed her arms on the steering wheel and leaned her head down to think. She could call her sister Jewel to come rescue her, but that was so mortifying a prospect she immediately rejected it. She felt a small hand tapping her shoulder.

“I can show you how to do it,” Annie volunteered.

Cherry lifted her head and stared suspiciously at the six-year-old. “You know how to drive a stick shift?”

“Sure,” Annie said. “Daddy lets us do it all the time.”

Since there wasn’t anyone else to show her how, Cherry said, “All right. Go ahead and show me what to do.”

“Put your foot on that pedal down there first,” Annie said. “Turn the key, and then move this thing here.”

Cherry pushed down the clutch, turned on the ignition, and reached for the black gearshift knob. To her amazement the gearshift moved easily without making a sound. However, she ended up in third gear, didn’t give the truck enough gas, and let the clutch go too fast. The pickup stalled.

“You have to follow the numbers,” Raejean chided, pointing to the black gearshift knob. “See? One, two, three, four, and R.”

“R isn’t a number,” Cherry pointed out.

“R is for Reverse,” Annie piped up.

Maybe Billy did let them drive, Cherry thought. At least they knew more about a stick shift than she did. “All right. Here goes.”

It was touch and go at first, but she managed to get the truck into second gear, and they chugged down the lane headed for the highway. She stalled a couple of times and ground the gears more than once before she got the hang of it. But she felt proud of herself when she finally pulled into the school parking lot and killed the engine.

“We made it,” she said, glancing at her wristwatch. “With five minutes to spare.”

“You forgot our lunches,” Raejean said.

“What lunches?”

“Mrs. Motherwell always made us a sack lunch. We’re going to starve,” Annie said.

“Daddy’s going to be really mad,” Raejean said.

“Maybe you could buy your lunches today,” Cherry suggested.

“I guess we could,” Raejean conceded.

Annie and Raejean held out their hands for money.

Cherry realized she hadn’t brought her purse with her. She checked both her jeans pockets and came up empty. “Look, I’ll go home and make lunches for you and bring them back to school. How would that be?”

“Okay, I guess,” Raejean said.

“I don’t feel so good,” Annie said, her hand on her stomach.

“Probably all the excitement this morning,” Cherry said sympathetically. “You’ll feel better once you’re settled in class. Have a nice day, Raejean. Enjoy yourself, Annie.”

She watched the two girls make their way inside, Raejean skipping and Annie holding on to her stomach.

To be honest, her own stomach was churning. It had been a hectic morning. And it wasn’t over yet. She had to get home, make lunches and get back, then get the kitchen and the house cleaned up before the girls got home in the afternoon.

It was a lot of responsibility for someone whose biggest problem before today was whether she could figure out her calculus homework or get the formulas right in chemistry class. The entire responsibility for the house and two lively children now rested on her shoulders. It was an awesome burden.

She should have thought of that sooner. Now that she had made the commitment, she was determined to see it through. There were bound to be a few glitches at first. The important thing was to keep on trying until she succeeded.

Of course, she wasn’t going anywhere until she figured out how to get the pickup into Reverse. No matter how many times she put the gearshift where she thought R ought to be, she couldn’t get the truck to back up. When the final tardy bell rang, she was still sitting there.

She was going to have to call Jewel after all.

“Hey, Cherry, what’s the matter?”

Cherry looked up into the sapphire blue eyes of her eleven-year-old brother, Colt. A black curl had slipped from his ponytail and curled around his ear. He was wearing tight jeans instead of the frumpy ones currently in style, and a white T-shirt and cowboy boots reminiscent of James Dean. Colt truly was the rebel in the family. But he somehow convinced everybody that doing things his way was their idea.

Cherry glanced at the empty schoolyard and said, “You’re late, Colt.”

He grinned. “Yeah. Looks that way.”

“You don’t seem too concerned about it. Zach will be—” Cherry stopped herself when she realized she was about to echo Raejean and say “really mad.”

“Dad knows I’m late,” Colt said. “Things were a little crazy this morning because of you disappearing and all. You really did it this time, Cherry. Mom went ballistic when she heard what you did, and Dad hasn’t come down off the ceiling since he got back from the Stonecreek Ranch. Are you really married to Billy Stonecreek?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Neat. He really knows how to use his fists to defend himself.” Colt shrugged his book bag off and did some shadow boxing. He was tall for his age, his body lean, his movements graceful. “Billy’s been in three fights this year,” he said. “Do you think he’d show me a few punches?”

“Absolutely not! And where did you find out all this information about Billy?” Cherry asked.

“I heard Mom and Dad talking. They’re worried that Billy’s a bad influence on you. They said he’s gonna undo all the hard work they’ve done, and you’re gonna end up back in trouble again.”

Cherry felt her face heating. Not that she didn’t appreciate what Zach and Rebecca had done for her. But she had come a long way since the days when she had habitually cut school and been ready to fight the world.

“You’d better get inside,” she told Colt.

“It’s all right. Mom called and told them I’d be late,” Colt replied. “What are you doing here?”

“I drove Raejean and Annie Stonecreek to school.”

“Why didn’t they take the bus?”

“They missed the bus.”

Colt grinned. “Overslept, huh? You never were very good at getting up in the morning.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I didn’t over-sleep. I merely lost track of the time.”