Page 115 of My Darling Mayhem

“It’s eww?”

Her chubby cheeks were wet from something and glistened in the fire light as she tipped her head back. “It’s sticky eww.”

Maybe that wasn’t lotion after all…maybe it was marshmallow remains from the smores we’d made.

Kane and Cruz both had a better handle on their graham crackers and marshmallows.

I smiled as Kane leaned back and handed me one he’d made for me. “Aquí tienes, mamá.”

I took the treat and thanked Kane. Archer’s pride could be seen through his smile as the boys became more comfortable with speaking Spanish. I had even started speaking it more, as their homeschool lessons picked up, and both Archer andI shared teaching our sons. We moved to a farmhouse, much closer to the city, but still on the outskirts enough that we had privacy. It allowed us to be closer to the club and gave us more room for when my family came to visit.

We’d started traveling more, once Hannah turned one. We incorporated each trip into the kids’ lessons, while getting to fulfill our postcard challenge.

“What’s after Montana?” Archer asked our little family, knowing it would be Cruz and Kane who decided. Hannah didn’t even know we were traveling via postcards on the refrigerator yet.

“What about San Francisco?” Cruz asked, while taking a big bite of his marshmallow sandwich. The sunset was beyond gorgeous as it lit up the shaded areas of the tall grass and shadowed parts of the nearby mountain.

Kane seemed contemplative when suddenly a different voice joined our little group, which had Archer reaching for the gun he kept in his saddle bag.

“How about North Carolina?”

Juan walked out of nowhere, hands in his cigar pants. He seemed out of place in the outdoor terrain of the Montana mountainside.

My mouth was open in shock as I stared at my brother. We’d just visited him for Easter, it was June now, but it hadn’t been that long since we’d talked.

“Juan?” I asked, but the way he was looking over at my husband told me there was something I didn’t know.

It had me pulling Hannah out of the chair she was in and into my arms.

“Why North Carolina?”

My brother stared at the flames and then let out a sigh.

“We need all the families to come in…it’s just for a time until things get smoothed over.”

Archer held my gaze while I slipped mine back over to my brother, feeling a jagged warning prick my chest.

“What things?”

Juan’s clear gaze caught on ours before he replied.

“The twins reacted poorly to a situation that involved Presley.”

Still had no idea what their history or beef was, so I resisted the urge to ask and instead waited for the rest.

“And?”

Juan’s jaw flexed. “Their reaction wasn’t received well by someone with a lot of power. They sent one of our close friends to us in a body bag. We’re not taking any chances with our friends, certainly less with our family.”

I peeked over at Kane and Cruz who were watching each other. I hugged Hannah close to my chest and took it all in. Archer brought his phone up to his ear, and I already knew who he’d be on the phone with.

“Thistle. I need a favor.”

Looked like we were heading back to North Carolina and this time we’d be staying for a while.

---