Page 71 of Kayla's Cowboy
The kids returned from their ride shortly after three and Alex seemed to take meeting everyone in stride. DeeDee stuck close and got introduced along with him.
It was curious watching the group shift and talk and laugh. When her grandparents and Uncle Peter arrived, they joined in comfortably and Kayla relaxed. She’d memorized the family chart that Parker McGregor had provided for Alex and now tried to put faces and names together. Jackson’s younger brother, Josh, looked like their father, and so did his sister, Madison. His brother-cousin, Trent, couldn’t come after all, but Trent’s sister, Alaina, had made it. Ordinarily Alaina worked in New York, but she said she was moving back to Montana soon.
With her digital camera Kayla quietly took portraits and entered the names so Alex would have a pictorial directory to use as a reference.
She was puzzling over a couple of photos, unsure she’d gotten them right, when a shadow fell across the table. It was Sarah McGregor.
“Is there something wrong?” Sarah asked, sitting down.
“No, I was just trying to attach the right names to the faces in my camera. Is this Jackson’s great-aunt Sally?”
She showed the picture to Sarah, who nodded. “Yes, that’s Sally.”
“Then, the other one has to be Great-Aunt Moira.” To be sure, she showed that shot to Sarah as well, who agreed.
“What a nice idea. It’ll make getting to know the family so much easier for Alex.”
“That’s what I thought.”
An awkward silence followed as Sarah fiddled with the bracelet on her left wrist. “Kayla,” she said finally, “I want to tell you how bad we feel about everything.”
Kayla gave her a noncommittal smile, not sure what the other woman was trying to say.
“We’ve realized we didn’t treat you well when you were dating Jackson,” Sarah continued. “They say hindsight is twenty-twenty, but it’s painful to see your mistakes so clearly. I just wish we could have helped. You must have had a hard time as a young, single mother.”
“I managed,” Kayla replied firmly.
“From what Jackson has told us, you’ve made a huge success of your life. But you shouldn’t have had to do it alone, and that’s partly our fault.”
With a shrug, Kayla took a photo of Alex and DeeDee with Morgan. There weren’t many other kids present, though a cousin had arrived with a couple of toddlers.
“It’s in the past,” she said at length. “I’m glad Alex has the opportunity to know you now.”
Sarah leaned forward. “You’re very generous. I want to say... Well, we know we were wrong to have any questions about you. Alex is fortunate to have you as his mother. DeeDee, too, of course. She’s a delightful young lady.”
The sincerity in her voice was unmistakable, and Kayla decided to accept her apology without trying to look for hidden messages that probably weren’t there.
“Hey, Mom, it’s my turn to grill Kayla,” Madison McGregor announced, walking up to the table. She plopped into a chair and winked at Kayla.
“Don’t you dare do anything of the kind,” Sarah ordered.
“Okay, but go away. I want to dish on the family skeletons.”
Sarah gave her daughter an exasperated look. “I’ll go, but don’t scare Kayla off. She should see us on our best behavior at least once.”
When they were alone, Madison grinned. “I figured you needed a break. Mom can be rather intense when she has a guilty conscience.”
Though Kayla was secretly grateful for Madison’s intervention, she’d never admit it.
“I remember you from high school,” Madison continued. “You were so much more interesting than the other girls—you didn’t even dress like the clones.”
“The clones?”
“Yeah, the popular girls.” Madison made a gagging gesture. “You know, the Stepford students. They could be vicious if you weren’t part of their circle. But I have to forgive Jackson for chasing after them—he’s a guy and couldn’t see past their cup size.”
“To be honest, I didn’t know how to fit in,” Kayla explained. Feeling like an outsider had bothered her as a kid, but gradually she’d recognized the students she most disliked were the ones who fit in the best, so she’d decided conforming was overrated.
“I thought you were cool and I was really glad when you and Jackson started going out. For a while after he broke up with Marcy he had so many girlfriends, I figured he was going for a record.” Then Madison added candidly, “Of course, I’m not sure he isn’t headed for a record now.”
“So I’ve heard,” Kayla said, trying to make it sound as if she didn’t care one way or the other.