CHAPTER EIGHT
WORLD WAR TEA
MAGGIE
The Big House Dining Room,
Triple K Ranch, Flatonia Texas…
The long table sat covered in dishes full of food. Fried Chicken, BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, corn on the cob and biscuits.
“Whew!” Brea sat the last dish down and wiped her hands on her apron. “This is a lot of food!”
Maggie stared across the food-laden spread as she removed her apron after helping load up the table. It must seat 20 at the very least. “This is isn’t food, it’s a grease covered, carb loaded heart attack type pastime, that’s what it is!”
“Pastime?” Cole walked into the dining room wearing a smile. “You mean it’s suppertime right?”
“Just look at all that grease!”
Brea laughed. “This is what Texans eat, Mags.”
“Grease?” Jet walked in from the far door. “Lead me to it!”
Maggie stared as her body flushed just at the sight of him. How can he eat like this and look like that? The both of these cowboys just had to eat healthier than this.
The more than healthy looking cowboy took off his hat, walked over and kissed her on the cheek while taking her hand.
Brea and Cole stared openly and then glanced at each other, then back at the couple holding hands.
“What?” Jet ginned at them. “You think I’m gonna act like I forgot all about my promise to sweet Maggie? Like I didn’t mean what I said?”
“No, that isn’t it,” Cole replied quietly.
Jet’s eyes narrowed at his brother. “Then what?”
“I just wanna ask, who the blazes are you and what the hell have you done with my brother?”
Brea broke into laughter.
Jet returned to his grinning of before. “Someone else changed your twin, Cole.” He swung his tender gaze down to Maggie.
Maggie sucked in her breath at the gentle note in his deep voice, then she quipped, “How? By pranking you with a barrel of hungry she-monkeys carrying loaded lipstick?”
The room went silent as Jet stared at her.
Cole looked tense like he expected trouble.
Brea nervously took his hand as if she too felt nervous.
Jet cracked a huge smile and started to laugh. He then tossed his cowboy hat over to one of the chairs.
The other three gaped at him.
He kissed Maggie on the cheek again. “I admit, I have never been groped by that many females at once, they damn near took the shine off my Champion belt!”
Cole snapped his open mouth shut with a look of surprise all over his face.
Maggie gave him a beady eyed stare. “You mean to tell me that you don’t care that I humiliated you like that?”
Brea cleared her throat as if to try to calm things down. “Now, Mags—”
“No.” Jet stopped chuckling as he retorted, “You actually apologized remember? And you covered my ass by lying about me hitting on you.”
“Is that so?” Daisy walked into the room with Rand next to her.
Both couples stood stock-still.
Jet turned to face Daisy and Rand. “I was just flirting and I meant no harm.”
Daisy looked like she was going to bust this cowboy up. “NO harm?” She raised her voice.
“Mama Daisy…” Maggie spoke up.
Her glare shifted to her daughter.
“Jet hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Oh, really?” Rand finally piped in.
Maggie huffed angrily. “Yeah! REALLY! I mean I don’t know why he insists that anything ever—”
“Is this gonna be another Kincade, Plush, Monroe throw down?” Mable’s voice cut in. All eyes shifted to her standing at the head of the table.
“ ‘Cause you’d better take it outside if’n that’s the case. I got my good china on this damn table!”
They all stared at her very severe expression.
She harrumphed loudly as she crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what I thought. Besides, we are gonna have other guests and I don’t want no tussling, back jumping, fist pounding, white trash dinner in my house!”
At the not so flattering description, they all looked sheepish.
“Guests?” Cole asked.
“Am I late for the next round of beat down?” Kanda called out in a cheerful voice.
Everyone swung their gazes over to Wade and Kanda who stood at the far side of the dining room holding hands.
Her cheeks were rosy as her eyes sparkled. “I just wanna ask if it can wait, because I could eat a whole bull right about now!”
The group stared at her.
Wade flushed a straight up pink.
“Lordy, looks like you already been to that beef auction Kandy girl,” Daisy just had to respond with a snicker in her voice.
Kanda didn’t seem to take any offense to the taunt as she grinned hugely and gazed up at Wade while she actually let out a girl like giggle.
Her mother and both brothers gasped simultaneously. Seems they never heard a giggle from this particular Kincade before.
Mable stared at her usually serious, no nonsense daughter. “What is happening to my kids? I swear Kanda you look—you look like a damn happy woman.”
Kanda simply held Wade’s hand as she kept beaming.
Clearing his throat, Cole spoke up, “So, now that the guests have arrived Ma, can we eat? I’m hankering for some of Brea’s fried chicken something awful.”
Jet opened his mouth to rib him.
“DON’T YOU DO IT!” Mable cut him off before he could. She shook her head. “No. They aren’t the guests.”
“We are!” Came a woman’s voice from the far side of the room.
The entire Kincade, Plush and Monroe group swiveled their gazes over.
Standing there were two women. Identical twins in fact. Both red headed, curvy and—smiling at both of the Kincade twins.
Brea looked from them to Cole’s paling face.
Maggie did the same with Jet.
Jet looked like he’d seen a ghost as he gulped and his eyes rounded like silver dollars.
“Valeen and Victoria Noble,” Mable introduced them to the group, though her eyes suddenly narrowed at her twin cowboy sons. “They’re the wedding planners.”
Daisy smiled at them. “Oh, Mable you got me the best!”
The two women came into the room, all smiles and laughter.
The Kincade twin cowboys glanced at each other, panic written all over their handsome faces as the two bubbly women headed to their side of the room.
One of the women grabbed Jet up and the other grabbed Cole. They both squealed then placed their arms around the men’s necks and kissed the surprised cowboys smack on the lips.
“Oh, crap on a Ritz cracker!” Kanda breathed out in panic. “I was right! There is gonna be a throw down!” She stared at Brea and Maggie’s stunned faces. “But we might have to call it a hoe down.” She bit at her lip and whispered to Wade, “I wonder how mad Mable is gonna be when they all break her best china?”
Wade looked uncomfortable as he shrugged.
Maggie stared at the women as they practically climbed up onto the twin cowboys. She swung her gaze over to Brea.
Brea’s cheeks had gone fiery red and tears filled her eyes.
Maggie felt rage boiling at the hurt look on her sister’s face. “Okay, that’s enough! What the hell do you two think you’re doing?” she shouted.
The women kept busy, kissing the men on their cheeks and hugging them tightly.
“Hey, you two…Twin Peaks!” she raised her voice.
Both women paused and stared over at her.
“What the hell do you think this is…a cowboy buffet?” she snapped.
They both looked surprised at her loud remark.
One of them started to laugh as she still had her arms around Cole’s neck.
“You aren’t going to be laughing long when your teeth are scattered all over the floor,” Maggie seethed while she clenched her fists.
“Who is this woman—girl?” the one hugging Jet spoke up as she batted her eyes repeatedly while staring back at Maggie.
Cole pulled at the arms of his kissing guest. “Now, Valeen, you need to—”
She hung on, despite his polite efforts as she nearly pawed him.
Jet was trying to also disengage himself from the clingy redhead up against him.
Maggie placed her hands on her hips and glared at the woman who was woman-handling her sister’s man. She didn’t trust herself to watch Jet and his redheaded amazon, as she now came to think of both these women. She stepped forward and grabbed the woman’s long red curls. “I said step off!”
“Oww!” the woman cried out.
Maggie dragged her over to the table by her hair. “IF you are that hungry…THIS is where the edibles are.”
The woman swung her arms around trying to punch her but Maggie was so much shorter—she missed her head by inches.
“Maggie!” Daisy shouted.
Letting go and ignoring her mother, Maggie marched back over to the other amazon.
Victoria stepped back from Jet and raised her hands, palms out in submission.
Maggie narrowed her eyes. “You can do whatever you wish with this Stetson playboy, but your sister better lay off of Cole.”
Jet looked upset by her statement and then he narrowed his eyes back at her.
“We didn’t mean no harm,” Valeen spoke up from over by the table. “But the men should have told their current booty calls about us coming.”
At the insult, Maggie sucked in her breath and stared at Brea.
“Booty…?” Brea’s face went pale now.
Cole was moving closer to Brea while trying to take her arm and she avoided him by stepping away.
Maggie swung her enraged gaze over to Valeen. “Well, get ready to get your sorry booty kicked!”
Jet grabbed Maggie up before she could move. “Whoa up, Maggie!”
“Let me go! I’m gonna decorate this room with a bunch of dyed red hair!”
“That’s enough!” Mable shouted.
Everyone stared over at her.
“Valeen would you mind explaining how my sons were supposed to know about your visit?” Mable asked.
The tall, curvy Valeen looked over at both men. “You mean they didn’t tell anyone?”
“Oh, God,” Cole muttered while looking entirely pale now.
“What?” Brea asked staring at his face. “Tell us what?”
“You can’t be serious about that, Valeen!” Jet spoke up now.
“Serious about what?” Brea shouted with frustration.
“Oh, you two are bad boys, all right,” Valeen scoffed as she shook her head with apparent disgust.
“Yeah and one of them is badder than the other,” Victoria piped in and gave Jet a playful wink.
“Oh, like that’s news!” Daisy added her two cents. “The man would raid a chicken coop even if his mouth was stuffed with eggs!”
Rand and Wade were full out laughing at this point in the twin feud.
Victoria stepped back from the two couples and looked insulted. “The year is up. In fact, it is up in three days!”
“What year?” Mable shook her head.
Kanda stepped closer to the table. “I think we all need to sit down and try to—”
“I want an answer!” Brea spoke up as she turned to Cole. “Right the hell now.”
He sighed and combed his fingers through his hair. “It’s sorta—well, I plumb forgot…I mean—I didn’t take it seriously in the first place.”
“What?” Valeen interjected. “After all we’ve been through? You forgot?”
“Forgot what?” Brea was screeching now as she stomped her foot.
“The Vegas pact,” Victoria answered her.
“Vegas…?” Maggie replied with confusion.
“Wait a minute here. You aren’t here to organize my wedding?” Daisy now jumped in.
“Your wedding?” Valeen shouted. “Hell no! We aren’t gonna take this crap, we got rights!”
Everyone started talking at once and loudly.
Maggie kept yelling about slutty amazon women as she tussled with Victoria.
Then Valeen yelled, “Oh, hell to the NO!” While she rushed across the room to defend her sister.
Brea jumped in and grabbed Valeen before she could get there. Telling her to lay off or she was gonna fix her little red choo-choo permanently.
Jet tugged at Maggie’s arm and she was stomping on his boot while yelling for him to, stuff it into his dirty two-timing Stetson.
Wade, who now tried to hide his grin grabbed Kanda’s arm just as she stepped forward and kept her by his side.
Kanda started telling him how the Kincades always stick up for each other, no matter how stupid and dimwitted the male Kincades were.
Rand started chuckling from next to Daisy and she gave him a glare. Then she rushed across the room and tried to step in between Brea and Valeen, shouting for Valeen to back off.
Cole was yelling Brea’s name and trying to reach her, though Daisy stood in the way.
Jet was holding Maggie around her waist while she kept swinging her fists at anything near.
Brea grabbed Jet’s arm while yelling about her shotgun and his unmarked grave.
The twin girls were screeching about promises and how they were gonna sue.
The sounds in the dining room grew to ear splitting proportions.
Mable calmly picked up a large pitcher of ice tea and walked over, tossing the tea sideways onto the group.
The women screeched with surprise while the men shouted, then all eyes turned to the Kincade matriarch.
“SIT. THE. HELL. DOWN,” Mable spat out slowly, then turned away and headed back to her seat.
Frozen in place while sweet tea splattered their clothes and hair, the group seemed to calm. Seemed being a temporary state at best.
Mable strode back to the table and stood by her chair. “NOW!”
With sighs and scuffling of boots, the group all moved to the table.
Valeen tried to sit next to Cole and Brea stepped up to glare at her.
“Valeen and Victoria, you need to come and sit by Daisy and I,” Mable cut in.
“Yeah, it may be safer too,” Kanda joked.
Both Wade and Rand chuckled.
Cole pulled out Brea’s chair and she sat while refusing to even look at him.
Jet, who like his brother did not look amused, pulled out a chair for Maggie.
Glaring at him, she hesitated.
“SIT!” Mable called out to seemingly everyone. The entire group promptly sat with a simultaneous sliding of chairs.
“Now, first we eat. The food is getting’ cold. No, outbursts! Then after we have eht, ya’ll will get a chance to speak…one squirrely nutcase at a time.”