The Cowboy's Twins

Catching Justin in the act.

The boy jerked his hand back and would have splattered breakfast all over the ceramic tile floor except that Spencer, knowing his son well, was there to catch it.

“Go wash up,” he told his son.

“I already washed when I brushed...”

“And you had your finger in pancake batter. Go.” He didn’t raise his voice.

As soon as his son was out of the room, he gave Tabitha a very firm stare. “Where were you?”

She looked away. “I’m right here, Daddy.”

“I went upstairs looking for you.”

That brought her big brown eyes back to him. “We wanted Natasha to have pancakes. Justin says she’s a good cook, and our Sunday pancakes are the best.”

Sunday was always pancake day. Because the kids didn’t have school and he had the time to make them. Because it was a tradition left from his childhood. Because traditions were important.

Sometimes they were everything.

“You went to Natasha’s cabin?” he asked now.

“Yes.” Tabitha nodded. “But she wasn’t home.”

“She left last night.”

“She didn’t tell us ’bye.”

Yes, well, that was for the best. But he wasn’t going to have his kids’ feelings hurt.

“She’s not our friend, Tabitha. When other workers come to the ranch, they don’t tell you goodbye, either.”

“She is, Daddy.”

“Is what? A worker?”

Tabitha’s tangled hair flopped around her shoulders with each vehement shake of her head. “She’s my friend.”

“No, sweetie, she’s just someone who’s working here...”

The shake of her head stopped him. “She is.”

Tabitha was his reasonable child. “Honey, it’s—”

“I know, Daddy. She is. I know ’cause I asked her, and she said yes.”

“You asked if she was your friend?”

“I asked could we be friends.”

His day just shot to Hades. He had no idea how to handle this one.

Because he needed time to figure it out, he changed the subject. “So, you and Justin, you wanted to invite Natasha to breakfast,” he said, his gaze as calculating as he could make it while looking at the cutest thing he’d ever seen on earth.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you come to me about it?”

“You were a little mean to her, Daddy. She’s our friend. If you asked, she mighta’ told you no.”

He was the parent. Disciplining his child. So why did he feel like he’d just been chastised?

“You thought you two would just show up here with her? Without letting me know?”

“No.” Her face solemn, she shook her head again. “We were going to run back fast and tell you before she got here so that you could make enough. Or at least, Justin was going to while I walked with her.”

His little mite thought of everything.

And was going to pose far more of a threat to his peace of mind than her brother ever would.

As though they were done with their conversation, she pulled out her chair and scooted her little body up onto it, her chin still only inches from the table.

He’d been against getting rid of the booster seats, but both kids had insisted when they’d started school that they were too old for boosters.

Spencer spooned batter onto the griddle, realizing too late that he’d turned it off before he’d left the house. He turned it back on, figuring it was good they weren’t going to have a professional chef joining them that morning.

He waited until Justin returned. The boy picked up his glass of juice and took a drink before sitting down.

“So... Tabitha.” He included both of them in his glance. “Did you and your brother purposely keep quiet as you came downstairs this morning?”

She nodded.

“And you snuck out the side door so I wouldn’t hear you leave.” It was off the laundry room. And rarely used.

She nodded again.

“You snuck out behind my back.” He stated the crime in clear terms so they were all on the same page.

This time he received two very solemn nods in reply.

“You know that means you will be punished.”

Tabitha’s eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away. Justin sighed and looked down at the table.

“We were going to go four-wheeling and fishing today. And visit the horses. Instead, as soon as we get back from town, you will be confined to the yard until bedtime.”

“Why we goin’ into town?” Justin asked, while Tabitha’s lower lip trembled.