Randall Riches by Judy Christenberry Read Free Book Online Page A

My, your poor mother.”
    He, in turn, stared at her. “Why?”
    “Well, having that many children would—”
    “No, you’ve got it wrong. Mom only had three kids.” He chuckled. “Wait till I tell Mom that one.”
    “But you said—”
    “Honey, Mom only had three kids, me and my twin brother Russ, and Casey, our kid brother. Everyone else is a cousin or an aunt or uncle. And Mildred and Red.”
    “I meant, how many people would be at your home?”
    “Well, they all live there, but most of the kids are in college now, so they won’t be home.”
    “You all live together? The house must be huge.”
    “It is. But a few years ago, we built the bachelor pad for all us guys. We still eat at the big house, but we have our own rooms in the pad.”
    She stared down the road, not saying anything.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked, his gaze on her.
    “It’s a little overwhelming. I’ve dreamed about having family, but it never occurred to me that some people had a small country for a family.”
    Rich chuckled. “It all started when Uncle Jake, the oldest of the four brothers, decided someone needed to marry so there would be another generation of Randalls. He did some matchmaking for his brothers, Brett, Chad and my father, Pete. Dad married my mom, Janie. She was a neighbor. Chad married Megan, a decorator from Denver, and Uncle Brett married Anna, a midwife-nurse. Then, the three wives turned the table on Uncle Jake and he married Aunt B.J. She’s a vet. And then they all had kids.”
    “And they all live together? Didn’t any of them want their own place?”
    “Nope. You know that expression about it taking a village to raise a kid? We had our own village. There was always someone around to keep an eye on us. And some of us learned the hard way that we had to mind any adult. Even in Rawhide, we couldn’t get away with anything.”
    “So you left home and went to the rodeo so you could get away with whatever?”
    “No. That wasn’t the reason.” His upbeat tone had changed to something darker.
    His tale had been so happy, so perfect, his dark expression worried her. “What happened?”
    He sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “You’re the one who started this conversation. Did you start hating your family?”
    “No! But Russ got a girlfriend and I felt…left out. It’s juvenile, I know, but my feelings were hurt. Russ and I had always done things together.”
    “That must have been difficult,” she said softly.
    “Yeah. And I didn’t value my family because I guess I’d always taken them for granted. When I got hurt, I realized how much I missed them. I’m ready to go home. I can be happy for Russ. Abby is a nice lady.”
    “Good for you.”
    “Yeah, it’s good I finally figured out what’s important. Don’t you miss that?”
    “What?”
    “Not having a home, a family.”
    “It’s hard to miss what you haven’t had.”
    That raw statement stopped the conversation. She concentrated on her driving, hoping he’d sleep for awhile. Her emotions were too raw, hearing about his family and his life, a life she’d dreamed of too many times.
     
    R ICH DIDN’T SLEEP .
    He was concerned. He wanted to help Samantha. He really did, but he had no idea how he could do so.
    Of course he’d ask his mother to find her a job. But even if they found a dozen jobs, Sam might not take them. In fact, she probably wouldn’t. He figured she’d leave Rawhide real soon.
    Not seeing her wouldn’t take her out of his head. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She wore no makeup. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail. Her clothes were well-worn and inexpensive. Her nails were short and unpolished. But she fascinated him.
    His cousins, the girls, wore jeans and T-shirts, too, but they worked on their hair for a quarter hour, at least. Their nails were manicured and polished. Even their toenails. They had their ears pierced and wore different earrings all the time.
    In their closets, they had dress-up