“You did everything perfect: gave the right sermon, were gentle with the children, even when their crying disturbed your sermons…” Her eyes went to Caroline and Chrissy who were playing contentedly next to him with their toys, chewing on the french fries he had given them. The other three children were sitting, listening quietly to their conversation.
Charlie had lost his angry expression and was awestruck by the large biker sitting at the table. Sissy wasn’t awestruck; she was eying the bikers as if they were her dessert. Thankfully, the bikers didn’t return her flirtatious smiles.
“You never paid too much attention to the women parishioners, even when they threw themselves at you. I couldn’t find fault with anything you did. That was the problem. Nobody’s that perfect; we all have weaknesses.”
Lucky’s mouth twitched in humor. “What’s your weakness, Willa?”
Willa gave a wry twist of her lips. “I think that’s obvious.”
He frowned at her answer. “Enlighten me … because, from what I’ve observed, you place yourself on a moral high ground.”
Willa paled at his harsh assessment of her. “Is that what you truly believe?”
Chrissy began to try to climb out of the highchair Willa had placed her in, but Lucky deftly unsnapped the front tray, lifting the fussy toddler onto his lap and giving her the toy she had dropped onto the floor.
“If you believe your weight is a weakness in God’s eyes, then, yes. Believe me, He has much more damning sins to forgive than worrying whether you have a cheeseburger or grilled chicken for lunch.”
Willa stared back blankly at Lucky, not knowing how to respond to him. From the time she was Caroline’s age, she remembered her mother being critical of her size. As she grew older and began school, it was obvious she was bigger than the other girls her age—another criticism her mother pointed out.
Her mother was small and delicate. Willa would try to emulate her so hard, yet despite her efforts, she was never able to achieve her mother’s approval. Then her father and mother would argue over her, making her feel worse for causing contention between the usually loving couple.
As an only child, she had felt like she was an interloper in her own home. The loving couple had planned on not having children, so she had been an accident and stolen her mother’s freedom, something her mother had reminded her of frequently. Willa had tried to be a good daughter, striving to please her mother and father. However, each parent resented the time she took away from the other; as a result, Willa had learned early not to make demands on her parents’ time.
Had she unknowingly developed the same critical attitude she disliked in her mother? Willa hoped not. She wanted to be liked, not resented.
She stared down at her half-eaten plate of food, placing her fork on the table, unable to eat another bite.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” Willa raised her eyes, unaware they were filled with hurt, to meet Lucky’s surprised gaze.
Lucky shook his head. “That isn’t what I meant, Willa.”
“You practically called me a self-righteous bitch.” Her bottom lip trembled.
Lucky’s eyes narrowed on her mouth, and Willa shivered in sudden awareness. Jumping up from her chair, she bent over, snatching Caroline from his lap and handing her over to a startled Leanne who had risen when Willa had. Then she unsnapped Chrissy’s highchair and picked up the little girl who started crying when she dropped her toy. Lucky reached over, picking it up and giving it to her.
“Thanks for helping with the children.”
Willa motioned the rest of the kids to the register where she paid before exiting the diner. As soon as the door closed behind her, she felt a rush of relief, despite the knowledge that she had made a fool of herself in front of Lucky again.
“What’s wrong, Willa?” Leanne asked, shifting Caroline to her other hip.
“Nothing,” she prevaricated. “Caroline and Chrissy are ready for their naps. Let’s get them home.”
Charlie and Leanne moved toward her minivan, but Sissy held back. “You like him, don’t you?” The observant seventeen-year-old stared at her with pity.
“Of course not,” Willa denied.
“Good, because I don’t think he likes you back.”
Willa’s chest filled with hurt. Sissy wasn’t being ugly; she was actually trying to be nice to her for the first time.
Willa turned away from her, wishing with all her heart she had reacted differently when he had stared at her. She had acted like the frightened virgin she was. Now Lucky was probably inside, laughing his ass off at her.
She bundled the kids inside her van before driving them home, and all the while, her mind played the last few minutes in the diner over and over. Had it been a figment of her imagination? For a second, she could have sworn she saw a spark of desire in Lucky’s eyes. If it was desire, though, what was she going to do about it?
What she always did when she became frightened—run.
* * *
Lucky returned to the table where Razer, Shade, and Viper were sitting. He motioned for the waitress to reheat his coffee.
“What did you say to her to send her running like a scared rabbit?” Shade asked after the waitress left.
“Nothing,” Lucky pretended innocence, which he knew damn well didn’t fool any of the experienced men surrounding him.
Shade wasn’t about to let him get away with it, though. “She reminds me of Lily whenever I frightened her.”
“There’s a big difference between Lily and Willa,” Lucky said, taking a drink of his hot coffee and nearly burning his tongue off.
Shade arched a brow, waiting for an explanation.
“Lily was afraid of her sexual attraction to you because of her past. Willa doesn’t want to be attracted to me because she doesn’t like the type of man I am.”
Shade gave a bark of laughter. “Lily hated me at one time. She definitely didn’t like the man I was when she stumbled into that Friday night party.”
“Willa’s attracted, all right, both to the good and bad in you. The question is are you going to do anything about it?”
“No.” Lucky threw some money down on the table then got to his feet, leaving the restaurant before Shade could ask more questions he didn’t want to answer, either to them or himself.
Instead of going to his bike, he crossed the street to the police station. The older woman sitting behind the desk gave him a wink. She had overly-tanned skin that had the appearance of dried leather. She was at least sixty and was wearing a tight dress that showed she weighed maybe ninety pounds. When he had been a pastor, she had attended church regularly, her behavior always respec
tful. However, since he had re-joined The Last Riders, she stared at him like he was one of Willa’s cupcakes.
“The sheriff isn’t busy; he’s in his office.”
Lucky avoided her appraising look, briefly knocking on Knox’s door before entering to find Knox sitting behind his desk, staring at a computer screen.
“What’s up?” Knox leaned back in his chair.
Lucky didn’t beat around the bush. “Have you found out any information on Georgia and Lewis’s next of kin?” The only way he could help Willa was to try to get the children off her hands.
Knox folded his hands across his stomach. “Found Lewis’s ex-wife, the younger three children’s mother. She’s in a state mental hospital. She can’t take care of herself, much less the kids. From what little her doctor told me, Lewis practically beat her to death when he found out she left him. She took off with the kids, but Lewis found her, took the kids back, and left her for dead.”
“Why weren’t charges filed against him? The son of a bitch should have been sitting in a jail cell instead of terrorizing Willa.”
Knox’s face was grim. “No witnesses and she refused to press charges.”
“What about Leanne and Sissy?”
“Georgia never told anyone who the fathers of the girls were.”
“Fuck. No other relatives are able to take the kids?”
“There aren’t any. The only other relative we know about is Georgia and Lewis’s half-brother, Clay Meyer, whose mother took him then disappeared years ago. She died twelve years ago in Tennessee. I’m trying to track Clay down, but it’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth. I have a couple of men searching for him, but so far, they aren’t making any progress.”
“What’s Willa supposed to do, keep them indefinitely? It would be hard for any set of parents to keep up with that many children.”
“Maybe that’s why Lewis was trying so hard to get Willa.”
Knox’s words struck Lucky’s temper, and his foot kicked at the chair Knox was leaning back in, nearly toppling the large man over.