Maggie wondered if it was possible to screw things up any more than she already had, and suspected that it was, but that she just hadn’t found the method yet. Of course, the biggest thing that was messed up was the fact that Maggie still couldn’t bring herself to tell Darren what she’d done by telling his family about his need for home furnishings and supplies.

“I just got the strangest text from my brother Cisco.” Darren stared at his phone and then gave Maggie a lopsided grin. “The ass says he wants to get together soon. I don’t think I’ve seen Cisco in years. He’s almost done with law school, and he’s practically insufferable to be around.”

Maggie tried to nod her head and seem normal. At least as normal as it was possible to be when you suspected that the reason your boyfriend’s semi-estranged brother wanted to get together had something to do with the text you had sent to another one of the brothers a few hours ago.

Maggie hadn’t gotten a response from Laredo for what seemed like hours. Then, all of a sudden, she’d received one of Laredo’s infamous brush-offs. The text simply read, WE’LL TAKE CARE OF IT. Really? That was Laredo’s big plan to be a part of Darren’s life and help him out? He would take care of it? Ever since that moment, Maggie was very much afraid that she had pushed a boulder off a cliff and started an avalanche without realizing it.

The two of them had grabbed some things at a local department store and then had also picked up dinner on their way back to Darren’s new place. Now they were having what amounted to a carpet picnic in Darren’s living room. He was amusing himself chatting with her about what sort of chair might work in this space, or wondering what kind of couch a five-year-old might like. Maggie was trying not to feel totally uncomfortable as she realized that she had potentially taken those choices away from him and from Jaeger.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Maggie’s heart stopped. Who would be knocking now? She surreptitiously checked her phone to see that it was after eight o’clock. She still hadn’t heard back from Cara. That was only one of about a dozen things that were preying on Maggie’s mind.

“Who would come knocking here?” Darren wondered as he levered himself up off the floor. It was times like these that Maggie could see he had some physical hurts that he almost never mentioned. He was stiff getting up but shook it off. “I hope it’s not a mistaken pizza order. I’m too stuffed with fried chicken to eat another bite.”

Maggie smiled, but she felt as though the expression was frozen on her face. This could be very bad. There was no telling who was on the other side of that door. If it was Cara, there was no furniture in this house and even if Jaeger wanted to stay with the father he’d never met, Cara wouldn’t be able to allow it. If it happened to be a member of Darren’s family, Maggie would have to explain that she’d spilled the beans. Why, oh why, hadn’t she just told him? Darren wasn’t an ogre. He would have been understanding—most likely.

Darren flipped on the porch light. Then the door creaked open. Maggie held her breath as she watched Darren peer out the front door. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Dammit. That did not sound like a good thing. Or at least it didn’t sound as if Darren thought it was a good thing. There were words exchanged, and then Darren swung around to stare at Maggie. She swallowed back the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.

“Did you honestly give my brother my new address and then tell him I needed help furnishing my place?” Darren was gaping as though he couldn’t believe it.

Maggie managed to swallow the lump. “It didn’t happen quite like that,” she hedged.

Laredo Hernandez pushed open the front door and shoved his way past Darren. “The hell it didn’t, woman. You texted me and told me that Darren had rented a place and needed furnishings. Fast.”

“Well, yes.” This was far more uncomfortable than Maggie had anticipated. And that was saying something because she’d been pretty damn nervous about this for the last several hours. “But I was only saying that because the house needs furnishing so quickly.”

“What?” Darren looked completely aghast. He stared at Maggie as though she had committed the worst of betrayals.

Darren started to say something else, but then three more people entered the front room. Maggie didn’t recognize all of them, but she did recognize Darren’s adopted sister, Jesse.

“Can I just say that I was totally thrilled to hear that you’d finally gotten a place?” Jesse gushed. She flung her arms around Darren’s neck. “Laredo said something about getting your son back too. We’ve got you covered, big brother.”

The way that Jesse pointed to the other Hernandez clones, it was quickly becoming obvious that those two were the younger brothers, Cisco and Met. One of the men was dressed in khakis and a button-down dress shirt. The other one was wearing dirty blue jeans, boots caked with mud, and a belt buckle so huge that it took up practically his whole torso.

“I’m getting…” Darren still looked shell-shocked. Finally he turned to Maggie. “Is that why you called them?”

Maggie bit her lip. “You have to understand,” she told Darren in a plaintive tone of voice. “I haven’t heard from Cara. I only got a text saying that she hadn’t made contact with the boy’s mother just yet. She was supposed to text me when the welfare check was complete. There is still a chance that family services could show up on your doorstep at any moment with Jaeger.”

“Whoa,” Jesse murmured. She took a step back and did a slow turn. “Then, we need to get this place in order fast.”

Maggie had never been so glad for the presence of another woman before in her life. She pointed to Jesse and nodded emphatically. “Exactly! That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Then, why didn’t you say something to me directly?” Darren demanded. His blue eyes were flashing fire, and he looked truly upset. “Why would you go behind my back? Don’t you understand how that makes me feel? I’m doing my best here to be a freaking adult! And instead of supporting me, you basically let me know that you don’t feel like I can handle it!”

Jesse’s eyebrows shot up. She grabbed the shoulders of the two younger Hernandez brothers and shoved them toward the door. “Get your asses outside and start unloading. We need to get started anyway, and they need privacy.” Then Jesse pointed to Laredo, who was watching all of this with great interest. “And you!” Jesse snapped at him like a rabid dog. “Do not give me another reason to kick your ass. Get outside and help us.”

The Hernandez gang left through the front door, and Maggie could hear the doors of a large truck slamming as they began carrying boxes inside the house. She moved closer to Darren and tried to take his hand. He pulled away from her. The cutting gesture drove deep. She hadn’t meant to screw everything up so badly.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you to figure things out,” Maggie murmured to Darren. “It was just that you have such a small window of time to fix this and it’s a lot to fix. Do you understand? You told me yourself you’ve never done this before. But we need to make it look like you’ve got the steadiest of steady homes for this kid. I know that you can do it. I know that you can be the dad that boy needs, but convincing family services isn’t always that easy.”

“You didn’t even tell me.” He was still shaking his head at her. “You didn’t even ask if I wanted their help. Why not?”

“I was just standing there watching you hand that wad of cash to the landlord and realizing how much money it costs and how much time it takes to set up a household. I thought about how unfair it is that you have such a huge family and yet you were doing this all by yourself. That isn’t right, Darren. Families are supposed to help each other.”

“So, you decided to make my family help me?” he asked bitterly.

The first load of stuff came in. It included a comfy-looking sofa and a recliner. Soon they were bringing in beds and dressers and nightstands and tables. The stuff looked practically new, and in no time at all, the little house was looking downright homey. Maggie would have much rather been in the kitchen putting away utensils and things instead of being here in the living room feeling as though her world was ending. But she had created this mess. It was time to accept the consequences.

“I wasn’t intending to make anyone help anyone.” Maggie felt the pressure of tears. No. She couldn’t cry right now. “I just don’t have any family, and I’ve always thought that it would be really great to have someone to help me when I needed it. You do. You just don’t want to tell them. And maybe I understand that to some extent, but this is different. It’s more than just moving into a new place.”

“You keep saying that, but you haven’t even heard from your friend yet!” Darren fumed. “You’re making mountains out of molehills, Maggie. And it’s not fair!”

She started to answer back, but at that moment, her phone rang. She snatched it out of her pocket and stared at the screen. It was Cara! Turning her back on Darren, she answered the call and headed for the back porch to try and gain both privacy and composure.

“What’s happened?” Maggie demanded. “Did you ever find the mother?”

“Not exactly.” Cara sounded tired. “There’s a bar about thirty miles or so from your school. It’s called Tony’s. Do you know it?”

“Yes!” That was the place Darren had taken her dancing just a few nights ago. It seemed like ages, but it really wasn’t that long. “Why?”

“The bartender called the police because one of his customers complained that someone had locked a little kid in their car in the parking lot.” The disgust in Cara’s tone matched the feeling in the pit of Maggie’s stomach. “The police rerouted the call to family services. And we figured out that the bar patron is one Carly Valdez and it’s Jaeger who was left in the vehicle. We wanted to know if you and Darren could come up here. I know the kid doesn’t know his dad, but we’re arresting Mom, and I’d really rather not subject him to a night’s stay in foster care.”

“Oh God.” Maggie put her hands to her mouth. She didn’t know whether to scream or cry. What was that woman thinking? “We’ll be right there.”

“We’ll be right where?” Darren demanded.

Maggie swung around. “Carly left Jaeger in her car and went into Tony’s. Someone called the police. They want us to go down there and pick him up.”

“Shit!” That was from Jesse. She was hanging out the back door and staring at the two of them. “We’ll finish up here and unpack as best we can. You go get the kid.” Jesse pointed at Darren. “And cut that woman some slack, Darren. You don’t deserve her anyway. If she makes a mistake here or there, you should thank your lucky stars that you’re around for her to make a mistake on.”

Darren seemed a little shell-shocked, so Maggie grabbed his arm. “Thank you, Jesse.”

“Go on and pick up the kid. It’s rough when your parents aren’t around to take care of you.” Jesse’s lips tightened as though she well knew what this was like. “That boy needs to know he at least has one parent that doesn’t have their head up their ass.”