they nice ladies?” Mia whispered to Lucky.
“Very nice. But they might make you eat vegetables. Is that okay?”
Mia gave it some serious thought. Nodded. But it garnered some disapproval from Big Sis. “She doesn’t have to eat anything she doesn’t want to eat,” Mackenzie declared like gospel. “And I don’t want her compared to a stupid button.”
Lucky had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, but sounds good to me probably wasn’t the way to go here. Even though that had been his philosophy about life for a while now. Don’t eat anything you don’t want to eat. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.
Don’t be like his brothers.
It kept things simple and meshed with his smart-ass outlook on life.
Lucky braced himself for the chaos he was sure to find inside. Good thing because there was indeed chaos. The moment he stepped in, Ethan zoomed past him, running so fast that he was practically a blur, and it took Lucky a moment to realize the toddler was chasing a cat. Judging from the looks of it, it was the same cat Lucky had given him three months ago. It had grown almost as much as Ethan.
He saw Livvy next. She was teetering in needle-thin heels on a stepladder. She was as skinny as a zipper except for those massive boobs. Today, her hair was turtle green with tiny gold star decorations scattered over her head. Most women couldn’t have pulled off the look, but Livvy had the personality to pull off anything. Including his clothes.
Something that wouldn’t happen again, of course.
Now that Riley and Claire were getting married, it seemed too risky to sleep with a woman so close to his brother’s wife. A two-night stand was one thing, but a long relationship had a hundred percent chance of failing, and Lucky didn’t want any bad blood lingering around that he’d have to face every time he came back to town.
It took Lucky a couple of seconds to spot Claire. She was holding some kind of chart-looking thing while studying the layout of the living room furniture. “I think we’re going to have to move everything out of this room.”
Livvy made a sound of agreement, went up another step on that ladder and clicked off some pictures with her camera phone. But there was another guy there, too, taking pictures—of Riley and one of the horse trainers—and he had a real camera, not just his phone. The man chatting with them had to be a reporter.
“Well, looky who’s here,” Livvy called out. “Lucky McCord, you look good enough to—”
But she froze when she saw Cassie. Maybe because Livvy thought they were together. Or maybe she stopped because of the girls. In any case, it probably wasn’t a good idea for Livvy to finish saying what she thought he looked good enough to do.
“Lucky!” Claire squealed when she saw him. She hurried to him, waving her hands in the air until she reached him, and then she hugged him. “Welcome home.”
Leave it to Claire to make it feel as if that welcome were marginally true. Riley was getting one in a million with Claire, and Lucky was glad his usual fool of a brother had come to his senses and seen that. Of course, Riley had had to get out of the Air Force to make all this happen, and Lucky still wasn’t sure how he was dealing with that, but once he had Claire wedded, things would all fall into place.
Riley was definitely the marrying sort. Anna, too. Logan was more in the to-be-determined group. And Lucky fell into the no-way-in-hell category. At least with Riley and Anna, Della and Stella would get those “grandbabies” they were always clamoring about.
Lucky had to give it to Claire, she didn’t step back or look shocked when her attention landed on the girls. She greeted them, even Mackenzie, and Cassie with the same warm smile she’d given him.
“Cassie.” Claire hugged her just as Della and Stella had done. She offered her condolences, too. Since Claire had lost her own grandmother only months earlier, Lucky was sure she knew how Cassie must feel.
“Sorry about all of this,” Claire said. “We’ll be out of your way soon. I hope,” she added when she glanced at Riley. He didn’t exactly look comfortable with whatever the reporter and photographer were saying to him. “It’s his first big interview.”
But not his last. Lucky knew Riley had gotten sucked into Logan’s hamster wheel of building McCord Cattle Brokers, making it as big as could be.
“So, when is this wedding again?” Lucky asked. Though he already knew the date. “And am I invited?” he added with his customary wink.
“Of course, you’re invited. It’s next month, the same day as the Founder’s Day picnic. It’ll be small, informal,” Claire added.
“Semi-informal,” Livvy corrected. “I talked Claire into doing the princess dress.”
Claire made a face. “That was a compromise, but I nixed the tiara and the glass slippers.”
“Nixed for now,” Livvy said. “But there’s plenty of time to change your mind about those. Also about the wand and hair glitter.”
The look on Claire’s face let Lucky know there’d be no reconsidering those things.
“You gonna be a princess?” Mia asked Claire.
“For an hour or so anyway. Want to be a princess, too? You can be a princess flower girl if you want, and wear the tiara. The hair glitter and slippers, as well. Ethan’s going to be a car boy. Instead of rose petals, he’ll be dropping toy cars from a basket.” Claire paused, seemed a little worried. “We’ll have to work on him not throwing them at the guests, though.”
“I could be a princess?” Mia pressed, sounding in awe and hopeful at the same time.
“Of course. All of you are invited,” Claire added looking at Cassie and Mackenzie. “And you can be one, too,” she said to Mackenzie.
“We’re not staying here that long,” Mackenzie grumbled.
“Oh. Well. I’m sorry to hear that. If you have a change in plans, though, the invitation stands.” Claire sounded genuine about that. “And what about you?” she asked Cassie.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to miss it. I’ll need to be back at work as soon as we’ve figured everything out with the custody, but I’m sure the wedding will be lovely. I always thought Riley and you would make a great couple.”
Mackenzie huffed. Why, Lucky didn’t know. Maybe because she’d gone more than a minute without doing it. Sort of like a pressure cooker letting off steam, but in this case Mackenzie was letting off some surliness so that she wouldn’t explode.
“She’s got stars,” Mia whispered to her sister. She nudged Mackenzie and pointed to Livvy.
That was Livvy’s cue to pluck one from her hair. It was apparently a stick-on, and she gave it to the little girl. “It’s magic,” Livvy declared. “But it’ll only give you one wish so use it wisely.”
Mia looked as if she’d just been handed a miracle, one that she’d have to give a lot of thought.
“I like your shoes,” Mackenzie said to Livvy. And she actually sounded, well, human. Human enough to be envious anyway.
“These?” Livvy pranced around like a ballerina. “Want to try them on?”
Mackenzie hesitated. Nodded. But then shook her head, probably because she sounded interested, which would have been equal in her mind to committing manslaughter. “No thanks.”
Livvy made a suit-yourself sound. “I buy them online, and I’ll give you the website.” She plucked another gold star from her hair. She offered it to Mackenzie, but the girl only shook her head.
“I don’t believe in magic,” Mackenzie declared.
“Too bad. Because magic’s how I got these.” Livvy glanced down at her massive boobs. Then at Mackenzie’s rather flat