Rocco and Mandy: A Red Team Wedding Novella (Book #6.5)(10)

Mandy held still, worried her rapid appearance would upset the tense balance Rocco had achieved. He was close to Kitano. He didn’t even have to stretch his arm out all the way to touch him. Kitano turned his head. Lifting his lips, he bared his teeth and went in to nip Rocco.

Mandy had had enough. A horse like Kitano could pick a man up by his neck and toss him about like a rag doll. But again, she paused as she saw that Rocco had the situation under control. As soon as Kitano laid his ears back and tried to nip, Rocco popped his mouth and barked, “Knock it off!”

Stunned, Kitano looked forward again and shook his mane. Rocco reached out and patted his shoulder. “Atta boy. See? We’re all good, you and me. See? Easy, now, easy.” Rocco’s warm, calm voice sent shivers through Mandy. With the work the team was doing, she sometimes forgot that Rocco grew up around horses on a working ranch.

“I wish I could set you free, boy. Mandy will take care of you. You’ll be in good hands with her.”

Mandy pulled back, staying deep inside the shadows of the barn as she tried to puzzle out the meaning of his words—words that sounded too much like a goodbye.





Chapter Five





“Wynn, would it upset your plans for the day very much if I took Zavi for a little while?” Mandy asked his new teacher. The garden was all finished—she was dying to show it to someone, but honestly was a little afraid to bring Rocco over. Since she’d also planned it as a place for Zavi to visit with his mom, it made sense that he be the one to help her start up the fountain.

“Oh, I think he’d love that. We can take a break from our lessons.”

Mandy smiled at Rocco’s son and held out her hand. “Let’s go. We’ll ride a horse over to my house. We should have enough time for our outing before lunch.”

Zavi skipped along beside her on their way out to the stable. He was excited to have something different to do. He asked a million questions about random things, keeping up a constant stream of chatter. Mandy smiled. His excitement was infectious.

She wondered if Rocco had ever been as buoyant as his son. What a sight that would have been to see.

In the stables, she readied one of her horses, then lifted Zavi up into the saddle and swung up behind him. They went out of the stables into the sunshine, across Ty’s property to hers.

Zavi’s little hands held on to her forearms. He giggled as they climbed the hills. When they reached flat ground, she had him hold the reins and showed him how his movements directed the horse. They stopped at one of the upper corrals, where she tied the horse to the fence.

She and Zavi walked over to the new garden area. The trees the nursery had planted were a good size—bigger than saplings. The evergreen shrubs would take years to get big enough to make a privacy screen. But the little annuals in the beds under the cottonwoods and the colorful tiles on the benches gave a welcome pop of color.

Mandy looked down at Zavi and saw he wasn’t impressed. She smiled. “Would you like to turn the fountain on?”

He nodded. She showed him the switch in its protective plastic box. The motor whirred, then water spurted up out of the top of the fountain. It had three stone bowls to fill before it would fill the lower reservoir. Mandy stayed on her knees next to him as they watched the water spill over the first bowl. When it finally made it down to the lower level, she laughed and clapped her hands. Zavi smiled, but his joy was less enthusiastic.

“Zavi, what do you remember before you came to live here?”

“I remember Papa racing camels with my uncles.”

“Do you remember your mother?”

Zavi’s eyes took on an unfocused look. Mandy knew he hadn’t been very old when the explosion happened, shredding his family. Rocco had said a shepherd had taken him in. And then he’d been turned over to the Americans while they looked for Rocco.

“I remember my aunts. And my grandmother.” He frowned. “A little.”

Why didn’t he remember his mother?

“I thought, sometime, if you wanted to talk to your mom, you could come here and say it to the fountain.”

Zavi frowned as he considered that. “You want me to talk to the water? Why can’t I just tell you? You’re my mom, aren’t you?”

Great, huge tears filled Mandy’s eyes. She laughed and pulled Zavi close, rocking him slightly as she squeezed him. He pushed free. His face was very serious. “Papa said you’re going to have my baby brother or sister. You’ll be the baby’s mom, so I thought you’d be my mom, too.”

Mandy nodded. She brushed Zavi’s hair from his temple. Maybe…maybe she should go ahead and marry Rocco—for Zavi’s sake. “It would make me the happiest person in the world to be your mom.”

“Then I can call you Mom?”

“I’ll talk to your dad.”

“Okay. But I’m going to call you Mom anyway. He doesn’t get to pick who my mom is.”

“He does get to pick, sweetheart.”

“Then I’ll tell him to pick you.” He looked at the water spilling over the stone bowls. “I like your fountain, Mom, but I

don’t want to talk to the water.” He shot a glance over to their horse. “Can we ride around some more?”





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