“He loved it from day one. He told me that he used to hang on the fence out by their place as we drove away in the spring and wish he could go with us. He’s got that hippie blood in him from his biological father, I guess,” Liz answered.

“Why’d she name her baby something like Blaze?” Jasmine asked.

“I asked Aunt Tressa that back before he came to live with us. She said Mary Lou didn’t want him to have a common name. She was going to name him Phoenix like the bird that rose from the ashes. But when she was in labor, she said the pain was like blazing fire, so that’s what she named him. And there’s no middle name. Just Blaze McIntire.”

Gemma dropped the spoon she’d been fiddling with. “He’s Irish?”

“To the bone. Mary Lou was an O’Riley and his father was a McIntire.”

Colleen smiled. “Imagine that.”

Chapter 17

Liz felt like she’d come home when she walked into the place where the carnival was that evening. Everyone waved, yelled, or came out to hug her, tell her how much they’d missed her and/or ask when she was coming back. It was half an hour before she reached the middle of the concession row where Tressa was helping Joe and Linda set up the awning to the side of the funnel cake wagon. Joe, a tall, lanky man with a crop of gray hair that always needed cutting, had joined the family when Liz was only five years old, and brought his wife, Linda, with him.

Liz hugged all three and asked, “Where’s Mama?”

“She just headed into the Porta Potty. She’ll be out in a minute. Hold up this pole,” Tressa said.

Liz’s Aunt Tressa had flaming red hair and aqua-colored eyes. She was taller than Liz, but at fifty-six, she still had the same slim build.

When they finished, Linda tucked her brown hair back behind her ear and said, “We sure missed you, darlin’ girl.”

“I miss all of you every day, but I love my new life,” Liz said.

“Hey, kid!” Marva Jo said so close to Liz’s side that it startled her.

Liz turned and wrapped her arms around her mother. “You snuck up on me. I missed you so bad.”

She kept Liz in an embrace for a moment, and then stepped back to give her daughter a thorough once-over. “You have put on five pounds. Much more and your belly dancing belt will be too tight.”

Blaze appeared out of nowhere. “She doesn’t miss us a bit. Don’t let her lie to you. I saw her with her new friends, and she’s settling down into that life pretty well.”

Liz shot daggers at him. “You will always be in my life, even if you are not in my sight and if I’m mad at you which I am right now.”

“Mad at me! I came all the way up to Podunk, Texas, to see you and you’re mad at me?” Blaze laid a hand on his heart like he was hurt.