Page 80 of Holding on to Chaos
“Shouldn’t we—” Eva gestured toward the camouflaged goat.
“Oh no,” Donovan shook his head. “Let’s just let nature take its course.”
The damn goat had the patience of a four-star general and bided her time until Jax was inhaling a slice of cornbread the size of his forearm. He never saw it coming.
“Watch out, Uncle Jax,” Aurora shouted with glee. But it was too late. Clementine head-butted him in the gut, and as he doubled over, she caught him in the face with a toss of her head.
“Ouch! What the fuck!”
Quick as a ninja, Clementine snatched the cornbread out of his hand and trotted over to Joey.
Jax, clutching a hand over one eye, glared at his wife. “You said you’d untrain her!”
“I’ve been busy! We have kids and horses and…”
“Your bodyguard goat just punched me in the face over cornbread!”
Whistling cheerfully, Carter slipped a halter over Clementine’s beady-eyed head.
“Andyou! You insist on keeping this monster around.” Jax pointed wildly at Carter.
Carter held up his hands. “Man, I can’t help it if she hates you. She likes everyone else.”
“Mom!” Jax yelled.
Phoebe sighed. “A mother’s work is never done.”
Joey, trying to hide her laughter, hustled into the house to get ice for her husband’s face.
“If you’re my friend, Cardona, I want you to shoot that stupid goat right now!
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Post-goat attack, the apple butter boil was everything Eva hoped it would be and more. Jax—with his new black eye blooming—orchestrated a football game with the kids, his brothers, and the ever-competitive Emma and Joey. More bottles of wine were opened, more food brought out, and the apples slowly cooked down under the heat into a soupy mixture.
Seeing her sisters and father relax and enjoy themselves reinforced Eva’s decision to keep her current woes to herself. She could just imagine what dropping the Mom Bomb would do to their little festive picnic. It would be a disaster, ruining the day they were all enjoying.
She let Donovan distract her, and together they shared a steaming bowl of soup and the easy touches of a couple. He was attentive and sweet and so damn sexy. When he rolled up his sleeves to take a turn stirring the apple concoction with the long wooden paddle, she stared at him over the shoulders of her sisters and friends as she caught up with everyone. She cuddled her niece Lydia and let Meatball the beagle fall asleep with his droopy head in her lap.
When Donovan stretched out in the grass next to her, she fed him pieces of Phoebe’s cornbread while they watched the sun sink lower on the horizon.
“I love it when we’re all together like this,” Eva admitted, leaning back against Donovan.
“How many kids do you think we’ll have?” he asked, twirling a blade of grass between his fingers.
“Donovan! You are ridiculous. I’m still waiting on our first date.”
“I’m only asking because I was an only child. I thought it would be fun to have more kids, like the Pierces.” He nodded toward the brothers who were picking on each other, using the familiar arts of headlocks and name-calling.
“Fine. We can have two then,” Eva laughed, going with the moment.
Donovan stiffened beneath her and then relaxed. “Talk like that is going to get you a ride straight to the justice of the peace, Evangelina,” he warned.
She shivered at the heat in his tone.
“When can we get out of here? To have sex, I mean, not get married,” she corrected herself.
“If you don’t want any apple butter, we can go right fucking now,” Donovan said, already rising to his feet.
