Page 124 of Always to Remember
“I don’t mind if she eats the ones I shell,” Joe said. “I think she’s got the prettiest eyes I ever did see.” He took her hand. “Come on, Melissa. You can finish helpin’ me with the pecans.”
“Will you be my hero, too?” she asked as she followed Joe.
“Yes, ma’am, if you want.”
Clay looked toward the barn and studied all the activity. “Is your father here, Meg?”
“No, but it doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter.”
“Not to me. You’re all that matters to me now.”
Holding Taffy’s hand, Lucian walked over to the porch. Clay didn’t know his brother could produce a smile that big.
“Ain’t this something?” Lucian said as he brought Taffy against his side.
“Who raised the shutters on the shed?” Clay asked.
Lucian turned red. “Kirk’s father asked if he could raise the shutters so people could see the monument. Meg said it would be all right.”
Meg slipped her arms around Clay’s waist. “You might as well get used to it. People are going to be looking at your monument for a long time.”
“It was never meant to be mine, Meg. Yours, theirs, but not mine.”
“God damn it!” Lucian growled. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up here!”
Clay followed the direction of Lucian’s heated gaze. Daniel drew his horse to a halt beside the barn. Meg tightened her hold on Clay’s waist.
Daniel walked toward the barn. All the working men stopped pounding their hammers and walked to the other side of the barn, leaving him standing alone, facing a partially completed wall.
Meg sighed. “I guess it is true. You reap what you sow.”
“I could tie a rope around him and drag him off,” Lucian said.
“Why would you do that?” Clay asked.
Lucian released his hold on Taffy and jerked his hat off his head. “He nearly killed you yesterday. He tore down your wall of the barn at the Wrights'. Hell, he was probably here the night they attacked you.”
“Is that true?” Josh asked as he sidled up to Clay. ‘"Cuz if it is, me and Joe got a plan.”
“What’s your plan?” Lucian asked.
“We wait until he’s built his side of the barn, then we tear it down.”
Clay eased Meg’s arms away from his waist. “Nope,” Clay said. “That won’t do.”
“How come?” Joe asked.
“Because this matter needs to be dealt with right now.”
“What are you going to do?” Meg asked.
He touched his fingers to her cheek. “See if I can build one wall while tearing down another.”
Walking toward the barn, he could smell the scent of freshly cut lumber. She rushed to his side and slipped her hand into his. “I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to,” he said.
