Page 6 of The Maverick’s Forever Home (Montana Mavericks: Behind Closed Doors #2)

“P izza for lunch and pizza for dinner.” Maggie rinsed off the plate and loaded it into the dishwasher.

“It used to be chicken nuggets. Cody’s favorite, I mean.

He couldn’t get enough of them. Right? Or did I get that wrong, too?

” She regretted that last bit the minute the words were out of her mouth.

“You’re right.” Mike nudged her. “Try not to take it so hard, Mags.”

She shot her brother a look. Was he being serious right now?

“Fine, I admit it. It was bad.” He drew her into his arms and gave her a tight squeeze. “He’s testing you, you know that.”

She closed her eyes and, for just a minute, leaned on her brother. “I do. But I’ve been back for months now. When will the testing stop?”

He patted her back. “It’ll get easier.”

“Promise?” She slipped from his hold and went back to the dishes.

This was her problem, not Mike’s. For the eight months she’d been gone, her family had been dealing with the repercussions of her decisions.

They hadn’t complained about becoming full-time caregivers to Cody, but they hadn’t exactly had a choice, either.

There were times she wanted to walk away from her job.

It was hard work—oftentimes heartbreaking.

But the minute she’d decided it was time to resign, the promise she’d made, years ago in the Sudan, to a young mother stopped her.

Angelique had been so young and beautiful, with three tiny little girls to care for.

She’d been a good mother, vaccinating her kids and doing her best to provide for them, often at the expense of her own health.

Because there were so many children waiting for the measles vaccine, Angelique never got one.

Before she died, she made Maggie promise she would always be a warrior angel for other mothers and children—that she wouldn’t desert them like so many others had.

It was her face, her voice, that Maggie heard whenever she was feeling beaten down or exhausted or ready to quit.

Every time she got ready to tell her family about Angelique, something came up.

Maybe it was for the best. Her parents and brother were unwaveringly supportive of her work but Angelique’s story was hard to hear.

She didn’t want them to be burdened with the things she’d seen or grief she’d experienced throughout the years.

If she shared everything with her family, they might not stay as encouraging of her work and required traveling, knowing the emotional toll it took on her.

“How are you feeling?” Mike interrupted her thoughts by leaning against the counter and facing her.

“I’m fine.” She could feel the weight of his gaze—and avoided making eye contact.

“Uh-huh. I call BS.” He sighed. “Why are you acting this way? You came home because of how sick you were. An intestinal parasite, remember? And all the specialists you had to see here—”

“Only three.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to correct him.

“Really? We’re gonna split hairs over this?

” He took the plate from her hands, put it in the dishwasher and gripped her, gently, by the shoulders.

“I know you. It chaps your hide that you need help, I get it. But you do. If you try to tough it out, you could wind up in the hospital. You should know, Mom’s worried about that. ”

“She is?” Maggie’s heart sank.

“We’re all worried about that, dummy.” He shook his head. “You don’t get it, kid. It was rough when you were gone. We—”

“Um, you met Danny Taylor while I was gone so it couldn’t have been all bad.

” She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “The guy that got an apartment in town to be closer to you? The guy that took a leave of absence from the Triple T and Taylor Beef over in Bronco to be with you. The guy who’s always making goo-goo eyes at you—and you at him.

” And she was thrilled for both of them.

Mike’s smile was instantaneous. “Yeah, well… I didn’t say it was all bad now, did I?”

She rolled her eyes.

“I see what you’re doing here, but I’m not done talking yet so listen up.

” His smile dimmed. “I love you. I worry about you. If you don’t take care of yourself and you get sicker, how do you think Cody will react?

You are his mama, you want to protect him.

” His grip tightened a little. “To do that, you’ve got to take care of yourself.

Like getting a good night’s sleep instead of staying up late to make cupcakes. ”

“It’s his birthday, Mike. I’m going to make cupcakes.”

“Mom said something about there being a lot of cupcakes in the trash. And she’s almost out of cake flour.” His smile was full of mischief now. “Just how many cupcakes did you make before you got it right?”

She could feel the heat rising into her cheeks. “A few.”

He laughed. “But you didn’t have to be the one to bake them. Don’t you get that? We all love Cody. We all love you. One of us could have baked them—then Mom wouldn’t be out of flour.”

“You’re hysterical.” She opened her mouth then stopped. This was getting nowhere and, even though she wasn’t going to admit to it, she was bone-tired.

“Go on.” He pointed at her. “Say what you were going to say.”

She swallowed against the tightening of her throat and forced the words out. “You’ve done more than your fair share of looking after me and Cody, Mike. How am I supposed to make up for the time I took from you? I can never repay you.”

He studied her for a long while. “Took from me? Pretty sure I offered. Is that what this is about? You think you owe me or something?” He wasn’t smiling now. “You don’t and, honestly, I’m kinda pissed you feel that way, Mags. I’m not keeping score. You should know that.”

“I do. It’s just…” She couldn’t make him understand. This last trip, her illness, had turned into so much more . He might not see it that way but she did. And she felt guilty.

“Your pride is getting in the way?” He put his hands on his hips. “You’re gonna have to stop that—right here and now. If you don’t start asking for help and taking better care of yourself, I’ll tell Mom.”

That did it. They were both laughing. Hard.

“What’s taking so long?” As if on cue, their mother peered inside the kitchen. “If I’d known it’d take thirty minutes for you two to do the dishes, I’d have done them myself.”

“We’re done.” Mike slid his arm around Maggie and steered her to the door. “I was just setting Maggie straight on a few things.”

“Is that so?” Their mother’s gaze darted between the two of them. “Well, come on, before we have a situation in the living room. Your father’s going to wind up supergluing his thumb to Cody’s new diorama kit.”

The diorama kit had been opened and, from the looks of it, exploded.

Bit of balsa wood, plastic clips, tubes of paint and strips of green felt, along with a wide array of mini trees, moss and other faux vegetation stretched from one end of the room to the other—with Cody, Danny and her father sitting right in the middle of it all.

“This thing has a lot of pieces.” Cody sat, sifting through balsa. “This goes in that pile.” He handed the piece to Danny.

It appeared that Cody and Danny were attempting to sort the balsa pieces into matching piles.

One look at her father and she understood why her mother had been concerned.

He sat on the floor next to Cody with the kit directions in one hand and a tube of superglue in the other.

The problem was, her father wasn’t a reading directions sort of man.

Any minute, he’d toss the paper aside and start gluing stuff together—whether it was right or not.

“It does have a lot of pieces.” Maggie sat on the floor between them. “Dad, how about we figure this thing out before we start gluing things together.” She handed the glue to her mother before he could argue.

“Uncle Mike says to think twice and act once.” Cody grinned when Mike gave him a thumbs-up.

“Fine, fine. But I can’t read this.” Her father shook his head and held the paper out for Mike. “See if you can make heads or tails out of it.”

Mike scanned the paper, gave their father a look and turned the paper over. “It’s in English on the other side, Dad.”

“Is it?” Their father laughed. “Well, that’ll make it easier.”

“You think?” Mike joined them on the floor. “Looks like you two are doing a good job with the prep work. It came all mixed up like this? Seems like more work than it needs to be.”

“Grandpa opened all the bags and dumped them out.” Cody’s whisper wasn’t all that quiet.

“Dad.” Mike sighed.

“What?” Their father shrugged. “I was trying to help.”

Maggie reached over and gave her dad’s arm a squeeze.

“You doing good?” Her father covered her hand with his. “Sit a spell and rest.”

“I’m fine, Dad.” She glanced at Cody.

But Cody had scooted closer to Mike to read the directions, too. “That’s a lot of directions.”

Mike chuckled and reached up to ruffle Cody’s hair. “It sure is.”

If one good thing had come out of her absence, it was seeing how close her brother and son had become.

Cody needed a solid male role model in his life.

Ideally, the man would be positive, consistent, hardworking, communicative and loving.

Her brother was all those things and more.

Did it hurt, just a little, that Cody didn’t shy away when Mike mussed up his hair?

Sure. She couldn’t pinpoint when things had become so tense between she and her son—only that it was after she’d arrived back home.

Mike and her parents kept assuring her it was a phase and not to worry.

She hoped that was the case. Besides, Cody getting love and affection mattered more than anything to her.

“Was it nice having your mom at school today?” Her mother plopped a cushion onto the floor and sat beside Maggie.

“Yeah.” Cody nodded. “Everyone thought she was cool.”

“She is.” Mike nudged Cody.

“I know.” Cody nudged him back. “But this other little girl had a birthday today, and she followed me everywhere.”