Texas Sweet Read online

  All the girl known as Brenda Jones has ever wanted is a home and family, but she’s on the run from her past. She works hard and stays to herself, save only for her budding friendship with the equally shy Henry Jansen. Henry wants more than a simple friendship, but he’s convinced she’s too young, too innocent, too sweet. Brenda has a crush on Henry, as well, but she’s underage and terrified of being put back in foster care, where she’s spent most of her life since her mother abandoned her at age eight. She’s been flying under the radar, hiding behind a made-up name while finding a different sort of family and home in the year since she arrived in Sweetgrass Springs—but that’s about to change.

  When a stranger who holds the keys to her identity arrives in town and takes a job at Ruby’s Diner, will the girl everyone knows as Brenda come to terms with her past or run again, away from the people and the life she’s grown to love?

  THE TEXAS HEROES SERIES

  The Gallaghers of Morning Star

  Texas Secrets

  Texas Lonely

  Texas Bad Boy

  The Marshalls

  Texas Refuge

  Texas Star

  Texas Danger

  The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs

  Texas Roots

  Texas Wild

  Texas Dreams

  Texas Rebel

  Texas Blaze

  Texas Christmas Bride

  The Book Babes of Austin

  Texas Ties

  Texas Troubles

  Texas Together

  More Sweetgrass Springs Stories

  Texas Hope

  Texas Strong

  Texas Sweet

  Be Mine This Christmas

  Texas Charm

  Texas Magic

  Be My Midnight Kiss

  Lone Star Lovers

  Texas Heartthrob

  Texas Healer

  Texas Protector

  Texas Deception

  Texas Lost

  Texas Wanderer

  Texas Bodyguard

  Texas Rescue

  Texas Sweet

  A Sweetgrass Springs Story

  Jean Brashear

  Copyright © 2016 Jean Brashear

  EPUB Edition

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  Dedication

  For Ercel, the love of my life, my very best friend…and a very patient and kind home health aide!

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  About Texas Sweet

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  The Families of Sweetgrass Springs

  Cast of Characters

  Map of Sweetgrass Springs

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Be Mine This Christmas

  About the Author

  Connect With Jean

  Acknowledgments

  My most heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful Kathryn Shay, who generously interrupted her own busy schedule and offered to proofread this book when I broke my wrist in the midst of revisions. Kathy, I will never be able to thank you enough!

  To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here

  To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here

  SWEETGRASS SPRINGS

  Cast of Characters

  (titles in parentheses mark a character’s primary story)

  THE FOUR FOUNDING FAMILIES:

  THE GALLAGHERS (Josiah Gallagher, Sweetgrass Springs founder)

  Ruby Gallagher – diner owner and the heart and soul of this struggling small town

  James Gallagher – Ruby’s brother and father of twins Jackson and Penny plus Rissa.

  Scarlett Ross – Ruby’s granddaughter, New York chef whose deceased mother Georgia never told her they had family in Texas (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)

  Jackson Gallagher – video game tycoon and prodigal son of James who’s been missing for twenty years (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)

  Penelope Gallagher – Jackson’s twin sister, shark lawyer who left Sweetgrass Springs behind (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)

  Clarissa Gallagher – youngest child of James and horse whisperer; the only one of James’s children who cares about the ranch (Texas Wild)

  THE MCLARENS (Ronald McLaren, Sweetgrass Springs founder)

  Gordon McLaren – owner of the Double Bar M Ranch with his son Ian (Texas Hope)

  Ian McLaren – Gordon’s son whose mother abandoned him as a child; now runs Double Bar M Ranch. Unofficial mayor of Sweetgrass Springs and its mainstay alongside Ruby (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)

  Sophia McLaren Cavanaugh – the mother Ian has never forgiven for leaving him behind (Texas Hope)

  Michael Cavanaugh – Ian’s half-brother by Sophia’s second husband. Neither Michael nor Ian was ever told the other exists (The Book Babes, Texas Hope)

  THE PATTONS (Tobias Patton, Sweetgrass Springs founder)

  Vernon Patton – deceased, abusive father of Veronica and Theodore (Tank)

  Veronica Patton Butler – Jackson Gallagher’s teenage sweetheart left behind when he vanished. She married Jackson’s close friend David Butler. Owner of a flower farm and David’s widow (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)

  Theodore “Tank” Patton – deputy sheriff and the most reviled man in Sweetgrass Springs (Texas Hope)

  THE BUTLERS (Benjamin Butler, Sweetgrass Springs founder)

  Raymond Butler – deceased father of David Butler

  David Butler – one of the most beloved citizens of Sweetgrass Springs. High school buddies with Jackson Gallagher, Ian McLaren and Randall Mackey. Died leaving his widow Veronica with a son Ben and twins Abby and Beth.

  Beth Butler – David’s sister who died in the car accident that caused Jackson Gallagher to be banished

  OTHER IMPORTANT SWEETGRASS SPRINGS CHARACTERS:

  Randall Mackey, close friend of Ian McLaren, Jackson Gallagher and David Butler. Joined the Navy after high school; became a SEAL. After leaving the service, wound up as a stuntman in Hollywood (Texas Wild)

  Bridger Calhoun, former SEAL buddy of Mackey’s, now a firefighter (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)

  Harley Sykes (wife Melba, a quilter) – one of the coffee group that meets every morning at Ruby’s. One of the town’s most colorful characters.

  Raymond Benefield (wife Nita, also a quilter) – one of the coffee group regulars.

  Arnie Howard – coffee group regular at Ruby’s who’s been warming Ruby’s bed for many years but can never convince her to marry him

  Jeanette Carson – sharp-tongued veteran waitress at Ruby’s. Attended high school a few years behind Ian McLaren, for whom she’s been carrying a torch for years (Texas Charm)

  Brenda Jones – skittish teenaged waitre
ss at Ruby’s who just showed up in Sweetgrass one day and has secrets she keeps (Texas Sweet)

  Henry Jansen – busboy turned cook at Ruby’s; young man whose chivalry towards Brenda turns to blushes when noticed (Texas Sweet)

  Spike Ridley – tattooed Goth pastry chef with an attitude; her skills are unparalleled, but her motto might as well be “have mixer will travel.”

  Walker Roundtree – country music superstar; spars with Jeanette and performs at several Sweetgrass weddings (Texas Charm)

  Layton, Felder, Bach & Moore

  Attorneys-at-Law

  58 East 42nd Street, Suite 1800

  New York, New York 10016

  Catherine Marie Fontaine

  304 Broadview Apt. 14

  Abilene, TX 79601

  Dear Ms. Fontaine:

  I am acting as the executor of the estate of Mr. Harold Hopewell, whose Last Will and Testament was entered into probate in the Surrogate’s Court, New York County, State of New York. I write to inform you of certain assets bequeathed to you pursuant to Mr. Hopewell’s Last Will and Testament, to wit:

  The services of our firm’s investigators in pursuit of the location and situation of your daughter Aurora Daffodil Fontaine.

  Our investigators will be in touch with you when they have located your daughter.

  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

  Regards,

  Frederick Bach, Esquire

  Chapter One

  “Unit 14 sold to the lady.” The auctioneer pointed at Blue, but she knew she was no lady. Didn’t even want to be.

  “You made a mistake,” murmured Monty C, the only name she knew him by when their paths crossed. Her fellow mini-storage scavenger had a high opinion of himself and his judgment. If she had a lick of sense, she’d probably listen to him. He’d been doing this much longer than she had, mining other people’s misfortune, assessing with a cool eye from the open door of a storage building what possible treasure lay inside.

  Usually there was none.

  Often he was right.

  But her nose was getting stronger the way her body had long ago. She couldn’t have survived being locked away if she hadn’t found a way to tie muscle to bone to make a hard casing she could live in. Her shell was nearly fossilized now. What was left of her heart and her spirits couldn’t leak out anymore, thank the stars she couldn’t get enough of seeing yet.

  As long as that casing held, she was safe from the mistakes that had cost her everything she’d once loved.

  “Ever the optimist,” Monty smirked.

  “Opportunist,” Blue countered. “You know there’s something interesting in this one. You can feel it, just as I can. So why’d you let me win?”

  He turned old eyes to her, sexy eyes. Monty was not an unhandsome man, but he possessed a ragged edge that made him eligible to share her bed. No poetry, no illusions for her. She didn’t want courting, she just liked to scratch an itch now and again.

  Soft and sweet didn’t grate the edge off an itch, but rough and raw would.

  Except…she would run into Monty too often. A workplace affair, it would be, and any fool knew those never ended well. “You don’t want me, I promise. Might do you permanent damage.”

  His mouth turned up a tick. “You don’t scare me, Blue.”

  “Only because you’re a romantic.” As he chuckled and shook his head, she moved on past him. “Time’s a-wastin’, boy. I’m going to prove just how bad you messed up. I’ll tell you about my treasure next time we meet.” She waved at him over her shoulder and started wading into the debris of a life.

  She would never use what she learned against anyone—never. She just liked building a picture from fragments. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. Or Wheel of Fortune, at which she was extremely gifted.

  Lives got scattered sometimes. Valuable pieces were tossed to the wayside by people who didn’t understand that history was important, that missed connections could be crucial. One piece, one hint, one clue could make a difference. Make a person fit and know who they were.

  As she never had.

  She would pack up the mementos, but first, she always needed to pore over them. Each was a clue to a life, each a link to all she no longer had: home, family…

  Daughter. But she couldn’t think about the little girl she’d abandoned the day she’d been locked in a cell. Thinking of her dainty blonde princess would kill her where she stood, so she focused on the contents of the locker instead.

  A moth-eaten army green Eisenhower jacket from World War II. She stroked the insignia her friend Kitty would know on sight and which Blue regretted that she didn’t. She set aside the jacket for her friend. Kitty had been a WASP pilot, and her late husband a Marine who survived Guadalcanal. The two of them knew more about toughness than Blue could ever hope to learn. Kitty had taken over Ralph’s military memorabilia business, and while this jacket might not be salvageable, Kitty could at least scavenge the patches from it.

  In return, from her next winning bid, Kitty would barter recovered family photos she would normally trash.

  Blue did not allow herself to think of all those she could not save.

  More clothes she mined for other uses, donations to Goodwill, a pile with fabric a quilter might want. Her fingers twitched a little over the cloth, remembering her Aunt Hester and her patience in teaching a small girl the tiny stitches a true quilter wields.

  No. She shook her head and shoved the cloth aside. She might have been raised to be a lady, but that life was dust. Less than dust.

  Monty would already have climbed over boxes and made his way to the back, scanning the whole and making instant decisions. Disposing of her haul always took her the entire day while her fellow bidders cleared out by noon.

  But Blue had been hasty before. Been careless.

  She took everything slowly now.

  The young waitress known as Brenda Jones stood in the bell tower of the former courthouse in Sweetgrass Springs, right where her employer Ruby Gallagher Howard had stood every night for years and years, wishing for her lost daughter.

  Her daughter had never returned, but one day the granddaughter Ruby had never known about had shown up, and both Ruby’s and Scarlett’s lives had forever changed.

  Only weeks ago, Brenda had turned eighteen. Today was the first anniversary of her new life, for she was Brenda now, and everyone important to her called her by that name. Once she was called Dilly, but Dilly had died the day her mother abandoned her to follow yet another worthless man. Dilly had tried to stop caring about her mother, but doing so had turned out not to be easy.

  Tonight, as every night for the last ten years, she wished for her mother, the only family she’d ever had.

  That wasn’t exactly true, though. She could remember when others had loved her. Had cared for her when her mother wasn’t able.

  She’d been a smart little girl. She’d once wanted to go everywhere, most of all Venus, and her mother had told her many things were possible if only you believed. Cat Fontaine, the woman she was raised to call Mère, had respected few limits, yet she’d kept their little universe humming along quite well for a time. What child wouldn’t like beignets for breakfast, so fresh they were still warm, served by a woman in a ballgown and tiara left from her high school prom when she was sparkly and beautiful as a queen?

  Not that Mère wasn’t always beautiful, so curvy and tall, her long blonde curls something out of a dream. Even when she hadn’t washed her hair in days and couldn’t leave the sofa, she was still lovely. Those were the times when Dilly would buckle on her rain boots and don the pink fluffy coat that made her look like her mother’s princess and walk the three blocks to the bakery to get the beignets herself.

  Raymond the baker would shake his head but never dislodge the growing ash of his cigarette as he muttered while he fished four hissing-hot treats straight from the grease and sprinkled the powdered sugar all over them. “Not right, little doll. You too young t
o be walkin’ all this way.”

  “I’m five now, Mr. Raymond,” Dilly had reproved him in her best grownup voice. “I can walk just fine, thank you. I bet I could walk all the way to California.” There was a song her Mère played sometimes, a man singing about California, and the dreamy look on her face made Dilly believe that was the best journey possible, one they might take together someday, she and her mother.

  Then she would accept the paper bag from Mr. Raymond and thank him very prettily. Never once did she think that she should have given him money because the very first time Mère’s hair had been a scary bird’s nest and Dilly had wanted to cheer her up, he had simply given them to her with his forehead all wrinkled up. Then he’d walked her to the door and stood on the sidewalk, watching her all the way back. “You go on inside now, you hear, and don’t you leave again until Miz Mabel comes to see you,” he hollered when she got to the second block.

  It was years later before she recognized that there was a conspiracy among the neighbors to keep her safe during Mère’s rocky times. Miz Mabel was a black lady who lived down the block. She seemed ancient to a little girl, and she always dressed so crisp and nice, even wore a hat more often than not. Her dresses were mostly shirtwaists, belted and ironed to a fare-thee-well, some of them with breast pockets complete with a lacy handkerchief.

  She usually wore pearls, big fat ones that might not have been real, but Dilly secretly thought them exquisite, glowing as they did against the mahogany of her skin. On her feet were high heeled pumps, black or white patent, and during the hours she would sit on their porch steps waiting for Mère to return with her latest man, she would extract a tissue from where it was tucked in her cuff, and she would spit into it very delicately, then remove the tiniest scuff marring the gloss.

  She would never come inside, Miz Mabel. Dilly was not her kind, she explained to the girl, and if anything happened, she would be the one blamed. Try as she might, Dilly never could get her to explain what if anything happened meant, but it was clear it was something bad.