A Lawman's Christmas_ A McKettricks of Texas Novel - Linda Lael Miller [49]
Dara Rose was not a person to compare herself to others, but as Clay pulled back a chair for her and she sat down, she couldn’t help thinking how shabby she and the children must seem, in the eyes of that elegantly dressed woman and her little girl.
“What’s it going to be, ladies?” Clay asked the children, while Dara Rose perused the menu, nearly overwhelmed by all the choices. “I can definitely recommend the fried chicken dinner, and the meat loaf is good, too.”
“What’s meat loaf?” Harriet wanted to know.
“You’ll have the chicken dinner,” Dara Rose said, without looking away from the menu. “One will be plenty for both of you.”
She thought she might have felt Clay stiffen beside her, but then, as though she hadn’t spoken at all, he simply answered Harriet’s inquiry about the nature of meat loaf.
“I want that,” Harriet said, when he’d finished. “Please.”
“And I’ll have stew with dumplings,” Edrina added, sounding like a small adult, “if I may, please.”
“You may,” Clay said, without looking at Dara Rose, though she did see his mouth quirk briefly at one corner. “This is a very special occasion,” he added, after clearing his throat quietly. “And, anyhow, Chester will be pleased to accept any leftovers. He’s still building up his strength, you know.”
Dara Rose’s cheeks flamed. She loved animals. Her rooster and hens all had names, and she went out of her way to take good care of them. But she’d been so poor for so long—since she’d “married” Luke Nolan, a few months before Edrina was born—that the idea of giving a dog restaurant food just wouldn’t fit into any of the compartments in her mind.
“There are people in this town who could put anything extra to good use,” she said, sounding way more prim than she’d intended.
“Like the O’Reillys,” Edrina said, with a sigh.
“Among others,” Dara Rose agreed.
Clay was watching her so directly, and with such intensity, that she was forced to meet his gaze. “Shall we just scrape it all into a pan,” he began, “and set it on the floor of their shanty, the way we’d do with Chester?”
Dara Rose blushed even harder. If they hadn’t been in a public place, and if she’d been given to violence, she’d have slapped him across the face.
Before she could speak, Clay summoned Roy, the cook, back to their table with a polite gesture of one hand.
The man hurried over, eager to please.
Clay placed everyone’s order—except for Dara Rose’s—and then asked the cook to pack up enough fried chicken, meat loaf and trimmings to feed four people. He’d pay for and collect the extra food at the end of the meal, he said, and then looked pointedly at Dara Rose.
Confounded, and a little stung, she asked for chicken.
Edrina and Harriet were watching Clay raptly—they might have expected a laurel wreath or a winged helmet to appear on his head, from their expressions—and, not surprisingly, it was Edrina who broke the pulsing silence.
“Are we taking supper to the O’Reillys?” she asked.
“Yes,” Clay said.
“Harriet and I are planning to visit Addie tomorrow,” Edrina said. She turned a vaguely challenging glance in Dara Rose’s direction. “Mama said we could.”
Dara Rose, still feeling as though she’d been put smartly in her place and none too happy about it, thank you very much, returned Edrina’s look in spades. “I said you could visit,” she reminded her child, “since you’d already promised. I did not give permission for Harriet to accompany you.”
“What’s the harm?” Clay asked mildly, though his eyes contained a challenge, just as Edrina’s had before. “That little girl looked to me as though she could use some company. Especially somebody close to her own age.”
“She has romantic fever,” Edrina said solemnly.
“That’s not catching,” Clay replied, and though his tone was serious, there was a twinkle in his eyes now. “In fact, I’d say your mother is immune to it.”
“Other things are catching,” Dara Rose felt compelled to say, though she knew there was some kind of battle being waged here, and she was losing ground. Fast.
“It’s probably too cold for lice and fleas at this time of year,” Clay