The Cowboy′s Family
The Cowboy's Family
Brenda Minton
Widower Wyatt Johnson brought his two little girls home to Dawson, Oklahoma, looking for a place to heal. The grief from his wife's death still lingers, but it's time to move on and try to live a simple life. He's in for a surprise when he finds a lovely young nanny on his doorstep, ready to give him the help he won't admit he needs. Now his life is far from simple, which may be a blessing in disguise.In Rachel Waters he finds a nurturing, vivacious woman whom his daughters adore. Together, Wyatt and Rachel can help each other realize that they're deserving of laughter, friendshipand love.
Can I help?
Hadnt she helped enough?
No. Wyatt walked away because it was a lot easier than staying there to answer more of her questions. He knew it probably seemed rude, but she didnt have a clue.
Rachel didnt know that he was rebuilding his family and that it took every bit of energy he had. Everything he had went to his girls, into making them smile and making their lives stable.
As he walked into the barn, he glanced back. Rachel leaned to talk to Kat. Curls fell forward, framing her face, but a hand came up to push her hair back. She smiled and leaned to kiss his daughter on the cheek.
He walked into the shadowy interior of the barn and flipped on a light. He breathed in the familiar scents. Cows, horses, hay and leather. He could deal with this. He couldnt deal with a beautiful woman who seemed to love his girls as much as he did.
BRENDA MINTON
started creating stories to entertain herself during hour-long rides on the school bus. In high school she wrote romance novels to entertain her friends. The dream grew and so did her aspirations to become an author. She started with notebooks, handwritten manuscripts and characters that refused to go away until their stories were told. Eventually she put away the pen and paper and got down to business with the computer. The journey took a few years, with some encouragement and rejection along the wayas well as a lot of stubbornness on her part. In 2006 her dream to write for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired line came true. Brenda lives in the rural Ozarks with her husband, three kids and an abundance of cats and dogs. She enjoys a chaotic life that she wouldnt trade for anythingexcept, on occasion, a beach house in Texas. You can stop by and visit at her website, www.brendaminton.net.
The Cowboys Family
Brenda Minton
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:
Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.
Psalms 30:11
To my readers.
And especially to Julie, for your prayers, your thoughtfulness and your insight.
To Stephanie Newton, for those last minute critiques!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Letter to Reader
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
Why had she thought this was a good idea, cleaning house for Wyatt Johnson? Rachel Waters cut the engine to her car and stared up at the big, brick home that Wyatt had built over the winter. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head as she mulled the reasons for being here. First of all, shed agreed to this as a favor to Ryder and Andie. Second, she struggled with the word no.
There were plenty of reasons not to be here. She didnt need the money. She didnt need the headache.
She especially didnt need the heartache.
And Wyatt Johnson had heartache written all over his too-handsome face. Heartache was etched into his eyes. It was the whisper of a smile on his lips. It hovered over his lean features when he picked up his girls from the church nursery, hugging them but saying little to her or the other nursery workers.
So what had she gone and done? As if she didnt have enough to occupy her time, Rachel had agreed when Ryder Johnson asked her to clean the house his brother Wyatt had built on land across the road from the original Johnson ranch house, the house Ryder and his wife Andie now called home.
Rachel eyed the brick, French country-style home. The windows were wide, the porch was brick and stone. The landscaping was professionally done, but the flowers were being choked out by weeds.
It was a far cry from the parsonage shed shared with her parents for the last year; since her dad took the job as pastor of the Dawson Community Church. Their little house could fit into this one five times. But the parsonage was immaculate. If her father could get hold of these gardens, he could do wonders with the place.
Oh, well, she couldnt put it off forever. She hopped out of her car. A border collie bounded toward her, tail wagging. The animal, black-and-white coat clean and brushed, rolled over at her feet. Rachel leaned to pet the dogs belly.
So, at least you get some attention, huh, girl?
That wasnt fair. Wyatt tried, she was sure he tried. But his girls often came to church with ragged little braids and mismatched clothes. Not that the girls seemed to mind. They smiled and hugged him, and then waited for him to pick them up again.
Rachel cast a critical gaze over the lawn and the house. The barns and fences surrounding the place were well-kept. The horses grazing in the fields gleamed in the early spring sunshine. Shed spent a lifetime dreaming of a place like this.
She walked up the patio steps and knocked on the back door. She stood there for a long time, looking out over the fields, talking aimlessly to the dog. She knocked again. From inside she heard children talking and the drone of the television.
She knocked a third time.
Finally footsteps headed her way and a male voice said something about the television show they were watching. She stepped back and the door opened. Wyatt Johnson stared at her, his dark hair longish. His brown eyes with flecks of dark green were fringed with long lashes. Gorgeous eyes and a gorgeous man. She nearly groaned. He stared at her and then looked down. Two little heads peeked out at her. Molly, age three, and Kat, age two. Molly had told her that shed be turning four in a few of weeks.
Can I help you? Wyatt didnt move, didnt invite her in. He just stared, as if he didnt have a clue who she was. Six months hed been home. Six months shed held his girls and read them stories. Sundays had flown by and each week hed signed the girls in, signed them out and shed asked how he was doing.
She was the invisible Rachel Waters. He was probably trying to decide where he knew her from.
Im here to clean, she explained, and she managed to smile.
Clean?
She held up the bucket shed taken from her car and the tub of cleaning supplies. Clean your house. Ryder hired me.
He didnt say anything to me.
No, he probably didnt. Surprise! She smiled at the girls. They giggled. At least they thought she was funny.
Kat, hands pudgy, her smile sweet, pushed against Wyatt and slipped outside. Rachel wasnt invisible to Kat. Or to Molly.
We have crayons.
Thats wonderful, Kat. Are you coloring a picture?
Kat nodded. For Mommy. Daddy said we could mail it to heaven.
Thats a lovely idea. That was the heartache in his eyes. Rachel didnt look up because she didnt want to see his pain. His story was his, private, thats how hed kept it. She understood. She had her own stories.
Molly remained behind Wyatt, but she moved a little and peeked out from behind his legs. I like coloring flowers.
I think flowers are one of my favorite things, Molly. Its April, well have lots of flowers blooming very soon.
Rachel glanced up. Wyatt hadnt moved. He just stared for a long minute and then he shook his head and let out a long sigh. It sounded a lot like someone giving up. It didnt seem as if hed changed his mind about her, though, because he didnt move an inch.
I dont think we need help with the house.
Rachel peeked past him and her nose wrinkled. I disagree.
He glanced back over his shoulder and shrugged. It isnt that bad.
It is bad. Molly waved a hand in front of her nose. Its smelly bad. Thats what Uncle Ryder said when he came home last week from the rodeo circus.
Circuit. Wyatt corrected and then his gaze was back on Rachel. I dont need help with the house.
He leaned against the door frame, faded jeans, bare feet and a T-shirt. She took a step back, putting herself out of his personal space and back into her own.
Ryder already paid me. And she didnt like backing down. I have a few hours free today, no time tomorrow. Im not going to take his money and not do the job.
Ryder should have checked with me. The girls and I were about to clean.
After Daddy traces our hands and then does bank stuff. Molly supplied the information with all the innocence of an almost-four-year-old.
Sounds like fun. Rachel stood on the porch, sun beating down on her back. Wyatt continued to stare and she felt fifteen and overweight. She wasnt, but that look took her back about fifteen years to a place in her life that she really didnt want to return to.
Honestly, Rachel, we dont need a housekeeper.
Sorry. She smiled and took a step forward. Ryder and Andie had warned her that hed be stubborn about this.
Yeah, Im sure.
So, I can come in? Rachel glanced at her watch. She really didnt have all day.
Wyatt, tall and cowboy lean, shrugged and stepped back. He waved her in and she was pretty sorry shed ever agreed to do this. Dishes covered the counters and the sink overflowed. Toys were scattered across a floor that hadnt seen a mop in, well, it looked like a long time.
I guess its a mess. Wyatt smiled a little and scooped up Kat to settle her on his shoulders. We havent really paid much attention.
She wanted to ask how he could not pay attention but that insult piled up on top of a dozen other things she wanted to say to him. His daughters were still in their pajamas and he hadnt shaved in days. This wasnt a life; this was hiding from life.
Wyatt had been home for more than six months and from what shed seen, he hadnt done a thing to step back into life here, other than church on Sundays and meals at the Mad Cow. Oh, and hed bought horses. He always had his girls in tow, though. She had to give him credit for that.
He couldnt match an outfit for anything, but he loved Molly and Kat.
So this was how his brother planned on pushing him back into the dating world. She was probably clueless and really thought this was about cleaning the house. Wyatt planned a few choice words for Ryder as Rachel Waters stepped away from him and leaned to talk to Kat, dusting his daughters hands off in the process. The back of Rachels shirt came up a little and he couldnt look away.
He must have made a sound because she straightened and shifted her shirt back into place. Her face was a little pink and she glanced away from him as she pulled her dark, curly hair into a ponytail. She continued to ignore him and he couldnt stop thinking about a butterfly tattoo at the waist of her jeans. Did the church nursery worker have secrets?
A little late he remembered to be resentful. His younger brother had a habit of pushing his way into peoples lives and shoving his ideas off on them. Rachel cleaning the house was Ryders idea.
Wyatt kept his own ideas to himself, the way hed been doing for the last few months. He didnt have time or energy to worry about Rachel or what Ryder was up to.
I guess if youre here to clean, have at it. He nodded in the direction of the kitchen. Hed put a lot of thought into building this house. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and tile floors. It should have gleamed. Instead it looked like a bunch of teenagers had ransacked the place.
He hadnt meant to reminisce, but he remembered his parents kitchen after it had been ransacked by Wyatt, Ryder and their friends. He and Ryder hadnt been easy to raise. Not that their parents had done a lot of raising; more like theyd just turned them loose and told them to do whatever, as long as they didnt land in jail.
Rachel looked around the kitchen, her mouth open a little. Yeah, it was pretty bad. He didnt have time to do everything. The girls came first, then the farm, then business. Last, and probably least, the house.
Need anything? he asked, turning his attention back to Rachel Waters.
No, thanks. If you dont mind, Ill get started. She smiled, a wide smile that settled in dark brown eyes.
I dont mind. Ill be in the office with the girls. Dont worry about upstairs.
Seriously? Wyatt, your brother paid me a lot. I really dont want to do a halfway job.
Kat was tugging on his hand, wanting him to help her finish drawing a pony. He glanced down at his daughter and then back to the woman standing a short distance away. She was already moving around the kitchen, picking up trash and tossing it, putting dishes next to the sink. Long curls were held in a ponytail and she wore flip-flops with her jeans.
The shoes made a flap-flap sound on the tile floors that distracted him for a second, until she cleared her throat.
Upstairs, Wyatt?
He glanced up, meeting brown eyes and a hint of a strawberry-glossed smile. Mollys hand slid into his and he squeezed lightly, holding her close, grounded by her presence and shifted back to reality by her shoulder against his leg.
Eighteen months of holding it together, just trying to be a dad and trying to make sense of life, and now this. This, meaning Rachel Waters and the sudden realization that he was still a man. He blinked a few times, surprised that hed noticed anything other than the broom she held in her hand. When was the last time hed noticed a womans lips? Or her hair?
Hed seen her at church every Sunday, though. It wasnt the first time hed noticed her, her smile, her laugh. It wasnt the first time shed taken him by surprise.
Yeah, sure, go ahead. The bedrooms are fine, though. The girls clean their own. Kind of. He grinned down at his daughters because that cleaning part was an exaggeration. Anyway, there are a couple of bathrooms up there.
Good, Ill clean those, too. She grabbed a broom and swept at his feet. Scoot, now.
Scoot. Molly was already pulling him toward the hall. He glanced back at Rachel. She had turned on the CD player hidden under the upper cabinets and in moments Sara Evans was singing about a runaway teen leaving the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging on the line.
As his daughters led him down the hall to the office, he could hear the chorus of the song and Rachel singing along. Her voice got a little louder on the line about wondering what the preacher would preach about on Sunday. He shot a look back in the direction of the kitchen, but the wall blocked her from sight.
Kat was dragging him into the office, jabbering about ponies and wondering when she would get one of her own. She was two. He considered reminding her of that fact, but shed been reminded more than once.
For the next couple of hours the girls colored pictures and he went over farm accounts and receipts for taxes that had to be filed. The vacuum cleaner rumbled overhead. Rachel was still singing. She was always singing. Even when he picked the girls up in the nursery at church he could hear her singing to them.
He should be glad about that, that someone sang to them, someone soft and feminine. And she laughed, all the time. At least with the kids she laughed. He tried to remember the last time hed really laughed. He watched his daughters trade crayons and he remembered. Kat had done something that made him laugh. They laughed more than they had six months ago. Far more than they had a year ago.
He shook his head and glanced back at numbers blurring on the ledger hed been staring at for the last hour. Ryder had just about let the ranch run into the ground. Not financially, just upkeep, the things that required sitting still.
His cell phone rang and he reached for it, distracted. Wendys moms voice said a soft hello. Mother-in-law? Did he still call her that? She was still grandmother to his girls. A week didnt pass that she didnt call to check on them. More than once a month she and William, her second husband, drove up from Oklahoma City to visit.
He didnt want to sound paranoid, but he thought it was more like spying. It was Violets way of making sure he was surviving and that her granddaughters were being taken care of. He didnt really blame her. There had been a few months when he hadnt been sure if he was going to make it.
Violet, how are you?
Im fine, of course. The question is, how are you? The southern accent should have been sweet and maternal. Instead it held about a dozen questions pertaining to his sanity.
Which was just fine.
Good, Violet. The girls are coloring pictures and were getting ready to eat lunch. He glanced at his watch and winced. It was past time for lunch.
Isnt it a little late for lunch? She never missed a thing. He smiled.
A little, but we ate a late breakfast. That probably didnt sound better, but he wasnt going to lie to her.
Right. Well, I thought Id come up this week, just to
Check up on us?
Of course not. Wyatt, you know we love you and the girls. I miss
Broken sentences. He held back the sigh. In the last eighteen months theyd talked in broken sentences, half-finished thoughts and unspoken accusations.
I miss her, too. He finished the sentence for her.
So, about this week?
It wasnt a good week for a visit. He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window at the overgrown lawn. He needed to hire a lawn service. Sure, Violet, Ill be here.
The vacuum cleaner stopped.
Whats that noise? Violet asked.
Ryder hired a housekeeper.
Oh. Well, thats good.
I guess it is.
And a cook?
Of course it came back to cooking. He smiled a little. I dont need a cook.
She didnt respond for a minute. Okay, Wyatt. Well, Ill call and let you know what day Ill be up.
No, she wouldnt. He slipped the phone back in his pocket knowing full well shed launch a sneak attack when he least expected it.
He leaned to kiss Molly on the top of her head. You girls stay here for a second. Im going to talk to Miss Rachel and then well blow up our balloons. Later well go to town.
To the store for groceries and a cookbook for dummies. Maybe he could learn to cook before Violet showed up.
Molly shot him a narrow-eyed look. Kat ignored him. The girls were like night and day. Molly was her mother all over, but she looked like him. Kat looked like Wendy. They both had dark hair, but Kats was a little lighter and she had Wendys light brown eyes. It was getting easier to stare into eyes that reminded him of his wife.
He hurried up the stairs and met Rachel in the hallway. She picked up her bucket of cleaning supplies and then smiled at him. Perspiration glistened on her brow and her hair was a little damp. But the upstairs smelled clean for the first time in a long time.
The windows gleamed at either end of the hall and there were no cobwebs clinging to the ceiling. Maybe a housekeeper wasnt such a bad idea. It might be a great idea. But he didnt know if Rachel Waters was the one he wanted. She wore faded jeans and had the tiniest butterfly at the small of her back. Shouldnt a housekeeper wear something morehousekeeperish?
He pictured Alice from The Brady Bunch. Or the robot maid from The Jetsons. Yeah, thats what a housekeeper should look like. A housekeeper should make PB and J sandwiches and smell like joint cream, not wildflowers.
Is there anything else I need to do? She stood in the center of the hallway, the bucket in her hand, and hed lost it for a minute.
No, nothing else. He glanced around. It looks great, though.
Im glad you approve. Listen, I know this isnt what you wanted, but if you ever need me to come over again, just call. I can even watch the girls if you need time away.
Time away from his girls. He needed that less than anything. He needed them with him, all the time. He didnt ever want them to be alone and afraid again. She didnt know that, though. There were details that no one knew but Wyatt, Andie and a few others. Hed left Florida to escape those memories. Florida, where he and Wendy had been in youth ministry after college.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I dont usually leave them, other than in the church nursery. But I do have to head out in a few minutes and I wanted to make sure Ryder paid you enough.
He did. She brushed strands of damp hair back from her face. Are you sure you dont want me to stay with the girls?
No, Ill take them. Im just going to the store.
Because he had separation anxiety and so did they. It was about the least manly statement he could think of to make, so he didnt. He glanced out the window, which gleamed and the fingerprints the girls had put on the glass were gone.
She smiled. Okay, but the offer stands.
Thanks.
Rachel headed down the stairs with the bucket. He followed. Her shirt stayed carefully in place. He kind of hopedand then again, he didnt. He shook his head and worked hard to pull it together.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The girls ran out of the office, pigtails and sunshine. His sunshine. He hugged them both close. But they broke out of his arms and ran to Rachel. She didnt hesitate, just pulled them close and hugged them as she kissed the tops of their heads.
His phone rang again, not a moment too soon because he needed the distraction from the scene in front of him. Rachel walked away with his girls. He watched them as he raised the phone to his ear.
Wyatt, how did you like your surprise? Ryder laughed from five hundred miles away.
Thanks.
Is she done cleaning?
Yeah, the house looks great. Im going to think of a nice surprise for you when you get back.
You should be more appreciative. You have a clean house and a pretty woman to clean it.
I wouldnt talk like that in front of my wife if I was you.
She knows I only have eyes for her. But you, on the other hand
Ever heard of the word subtle, little brother?
Ryder laughed, louder, longer. Wyatt held the phone away from his ear.
I guess subtle has never been my thing, Ryder admitted.
Listen, I have to go shopping. Remind me that I owe you for this. And the payback wont be pleasant.
Rachel walked toward him, the laughter gone from her dark eyes and he didnt even know why. He couldnt let that be his problem. He had enough girl problems. One was two and the other was almost four. They were more than enough to keep him busy and keep him guessing.
Im going now. She stared straight at him, her gaze unwavering. She had a few freckles on suntanned cheeks.
Okay, well, thank you. He didnt have time for this. Look, I appreciate what you did. The place looks great. I just
Dont need a housekeeper?
He shrugged off the sarcasm in her tone. They both knew that he needed a housekeeper. What he didnt need was that little smile of hers making him feel as if he needed a housekeeper and an intervention.
Yeah, I dont need a housekeeper. It hadnt been what hed planned to say, but it worked.
What he really didnt need was someone who smelled like spring and who reminded him of everything hed lost.
Chapter Two
Rachel drove away from the Johnson ranch and she was pretty glad to see it in her rearview mirror. She wanted to be a good distance away before the girls released the balloons with messages to their mother. It wouldnt have done anyone any good to have Rachel crying by their side.
She really should have known that she wouldnt be able to do this, spend more time with them, and stay detached. After years of considering herself a real pro at detachment, two little girls and a cowboy were going to be her downfall. The signs had been pretty obvious. The girls had been in the nursery and her preschool Sunday school class for six months and it had been way easy to fall in love with them.
Of course Wyatt wasnt included in those emotions. She felt sorry for him, nothing else. After hearing his conversation with Ryder, she knew he felt about the same for her.
It shouldnt matter to her what he thought. At twenty-nine, when she finally knew who she was and what she wanted out of life, Wyatt Johnsons opinion shouldnt matter. But old feelings of inadequacy didnt care what she thought of herself now. Those old emotions had a way of pushing to the surface when she least needed them.
So what? She would never be homecoming queen and guys like Wyatt Johnson always laughed behind her back.
It didnt matter anymore. She wasnt the fat girl in school or the rebel in the back of a police car trying to prove to people that she wasnt the good little preachers kid.
She knew who she was, and who God wanted her to be. She worked in childrens ministry, helped when her mothers lupus flared, and she loved her life in Dawson.
All of those pretty sermons to herself didnt take away a sudden desire for a big, fat chocolate bar. Or brownies with ice cream. She reached for her purse and dug her hand through the side pocket for a pack of gum. As she drove she managed to get a stick of peppermint gum out of the package.
She shoved the gum in her mouth and chewed, trying to pretend it helped the way chocolate helped. It didnt.
Forget Wyatt, she had other things to do. She was supposed to work for Etta Forrester that afternoon. Etta designed and sewed a line of tie-dye clothing that she sold to specialty boutiques around the country. Etta made sundresses, skirts, pants, tops and even purses. Rachel worked for her a couple of days a week, more if Etta needed. With Ettas granddaughter, Andie, married to Ryder Johnson and Andies twin, Alyson, married to Jason Bradshaw, Etta had more need for help these days.
She drove down the road and pulled into Ettas driveway. The bright yellow Victorian with the lavender wicker furniture on the wide porch managed to lift Rachels spirits. Etta stood on the porch with a watering can in her hand and a floppy hat covering her lavender-gray hair. She waved as she poured water on the flowers. Last week shed made a trip to Grove and shed come home with a truck load of plants for the baskets and flower gardens.
Rachel parked under the shade of an oak tree and stepped out of her car. As she walked up the wide steps of the porch, Etta put down the watering can and pulled off her gardening gloves. Her nails were long, painted purple and never chipped. It was a mystery how Etta could take care of this farm, make her clothing and always be perfectly manicured.
The one time Rachel asked how she did it, Etta laughed and said, Oh, honey, life teaches those little skills.
Rachel doubted it. She always felt about as together as a pair of old shoes falling apart at the seams. She couldnt paint her nails without smudging at least one. And her hair. The only good thing that had ever happened to her hair was a ponytail holder.
Good to see you, honey. Etta slipped an arm around Rachels shoulders. I thought wed have tea out here before we get started on those T-shirts.
Tea sounds wonderful.
You look about wrung out. Did you clean Wyatts house today?
Rachel nodded and picked dead blooms off the petunias.
Etta lifted her sunglasses and stared hard. Well, tell me how it went.
The place was definitely a mess. She shrugged and kept plucking blooms, tossing them over the rail into the yard. And so is Wyatt.
Oh, he isnt such a mess. He just needs a little time. Etta lifted the little watch she wore on a chain around her neck. Goodness, speaking of time. Im going to keep watering. Do you want to bring the tea out?
I can do that.
Etta had lowered the sunglasses. The big rhinestone encrusted frames covered half her face. And try not to look so down in the mouth, honey. Youre going to depress me and you know I dont depress easily.
Rachel smiled. Is that better?
Not much. Etta laughed and went back to watering.
Ill be back in a few.
Ill be here.
The dog that had been sleeping under a tree started barking as Rachel fixed the tea tray. She picked up the wooden tray and headed down the hallway to the front door. The door was open and a breeze lifted the curtains in the parlor. Voices carried on that breeze.
So you think youre going to learn to cook something more than canned spaghetti and hamburgers? Etta laughed and said something else that Rachel didnt hear.
She stopped at the screen door and looked out. Etta was standing on the sidewalk and Wyatt stood next to her. Ettas skirt flapped in the breeze. Wyatt had taken off his hat and held it behind his back. They were both facing the opposite direction and didnt see Rachel.
It cant be that hard to learn, Etta. Ive got to show Violet that Im capable.
Of course youre capable. Etta turned and waved when she saw Rachel. Theres Rachel with my tea. Well, have a seat and while you have tea, Ill look for a cookbook.
I appreciate it, Etta, but I dont have time for tea. The girls are waiting in the truck. Were going grocery shopping.
Etta argued, of course she did. Well, get the girls out.
Wyatt laughed, white teeth flashing in a kind of hot smile. He shook his head. Im not getting them out of the truck. If I do, Ill never round them up and get them back in the truck. I just thought rather than taking my chance with any old cookbook I found in the store, Id see if you had one that spelled it all out.
Etta held the rail and walked up the steps, Wyatt following. Ill see what I have. Something with casseroles would be best.
If I can throw the whole meal in one pan, I guess that would be the best thing.
You ought to know how to cook, Wyatt. It isnt like youre a kid.
I never thought much about it, Etta. His neck turned a little red. I guess I always thought
Ettas eyes misted and she patted his arm. Ill be right back. Ill pick you out a couple and youll be cooking us dinner in no time.
After Etta walked away, Rachel didnt know what to say. She hadnt been at a loss for words in years. Probably about twenty-eight of them. Her mom liked to tell people that she was talking in complete sentences when she was two and that shed been talking ever since.
But at that moment she was pretty near speechless and so was Wyatt Johnson.
My mother-in-law is coming to visit. He had placed the cowboy hat back on his head. He leaned against the rail of the porch, tall and confident. His boots were scuffed and his jeans were faded and worn in spots.
How many people would guess that the Johnson brothers had part ownership of a bank in Tulsa and subdivisions named after their family? She only knew those things because Andie, Wyatts sister-in-law and Ettas granddaughter, had told her. Andie had married Ryder Johnson before Christmas and their twin babies were due in a month or so.
I see. She nearly offered to help, and then she didnt. Shed already told him shed clean or watch the girls. Hed rejected both offers.
Shes worried that Im not coping. His smile lifted one corner of his mouth and he shrugged. I guess it wont hurt me or the girls to have a home-cooked meal once in a while.
I imagine it wont. Rachel poured her tea. Do you want a cup?
No, thanks. I like my tea on ice and out of a glass that holds more than a swallow.
She smiled and listened for Ettas footsteps. Etta would give him a long lecture if she heard him demean her afternoon tea ritual.
It was a few minutes before Etta appeared, her arms holding more than a few cookbooks. Heres a few to get you started.
Thats a half dozen, Etta, not a few.
Well, you can find what you really like this way.
He took the books from her arms. Thanks, Etta. Rachel, see you at church.
He nodded to each of them and walked down the steps.
The truck was pulling down the driveway when Etta laughed a little and whistled. Thats tension you could cut with a knife.
What? Rachel nearly poured Ettas tea on the table.
The two of you, circling like a couple of barn cats. Im no expert, but I think its called chemistry.
I think its called, Wyatt knows that everyone, including his brother, is trying to push me off on him.
And would that be such a bad thing? Etta sat down on the lavender wicker settee.
Im not sure, but I think he believes it probably would be.
What about you?
Rachel sipped her tea and ignored the question. Etta smiled and her brows shot up, but Rachel didnt bite. No way, no how was she chasing after Wyatt Johnson or any other man, for that matter. Shed done her chasing, shed had her share of fix-ups, and shed learned that it worked better to let things happen the way they were supposed to happen.
Or not. But she had decided a long time ago that being alone was better than pushing her way into the life of the wrong person.
It had been two days since Rachel cleaned and his house still looked pretty decent. Wyatt stood in the kitchen with its dark cabinets, black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. A chefs kitchen for a guy who had to borrow cookbooks because he couldnt make mac and cheese. That was pretty bad.
He hadnt planned it, but Rachel was front and center in his mind again. She was a strange one. First glance and he would have thought she had all the confidence in the world. But the other day on Ettas porch, there had been something soft and kind of lost in her expression, in those dark eyes of hers.
Not that it was any of his concern.
He dropped bread into the toaster and started the coffeemaker. Excited voices and little feet pattering overhead meant the girls were up. His day was about to start.
At least hed had fifteen minutes to himself. That didnt happen often these days. It hadnt happened much in the last eighteen months. Since Wendy left him.
He stopped in front of the kitchen window and looked out. For a minute he closed his eyes and remembered that he used to pray. He used to believe that with Wendy he could build a life far from this ranch and the chaos of his childhood. He opened his eyes and shook his head. Prayer these days was abbreviated. It went something like: God, get me through another day.
That would have to do for now. It was all he had in him, other than anger and guilt.
Eighteen months of trying to figure out what he could have done differently. He was still trying to come to terms with the reality that he couldnt have done anything more than hed done. Wendy had made a choice.
The choice to leave him and their daughters. She wrote a note, opened a bottle of sleeping pills and shed left them for good.
Eighteen months of wondering what he could have done to stop her from going away.
He breathed in deep and it didnt hurt as much as yesterday, even less than a month ago. He was making it. He had to make itfor the girls. He had to smile and make each day better for them. And he calculated that he had about two minutes before they hit the kitchen, ready for breakfast. Two minutes to pull it together and make this day better.
On cue, they rushed in, still in their pajamas. Man, they made it easy to smile. He leaned to hug them and pulled them up to hold them both. He brushed his whiskered cheek against Kat and she giggled.
What are we going to do today, girlies?
Get a pony! Kat shouted and then she giggled some more.
Nope, not a pony. He kissed her cheek.
Let Miss Rachel clean again. Mollys tone was serious but her smile was real, her eyes shining. She knew how to work him.
He sat both girls on the granite-topped island that sat in the center of the kitchen. Miss Rachel? Why do you want her to clean?
He liked the idea of a clean house, but he was determined to find a nice grandmotherly type. He wanted control top socks and cookies baking in the oven. It sounded a lot less complicated than Miss Rachel Ive-Got-Secrets Waters.
Kat sighed, as if he couldnt possibly be her dad or he would understand why they picked Rachel. She leaned close. She hugs me.
She draws pictures and sings. Molly crossed her arms and her little chin came up. She has sheep.
Im sure she does. But shes really busy with church and helping Miss Etta.
She doesnt mind cleaning. Molly was growing up and her tone said that she had a handle on this situation.
Look, girls, she just cleaned for us that one time. Uncle Ryder hired her. He reached into the cabinet under the island and pulled out a cereal box. Add that to his list for the day. He needed to go to the store again. Even though hed had a list, hed forgotten a lot. How about cereal?
And a pony? Kat grinned and her eyes were huge.
A pony. Would it work to buy himself a break from this?
Maybe a pony. He was so weak. But first we have to eat breakfast and then we need to go outside and feed the horses and cows we already have.
He lifted them down from the counter and sat them each on a stool at the island.
You girls are getting big.
Molly. He shook his head because she wasnt just big, she acted like an old soul, as if shed had to learn too much too soon. And she had.
Most of it he doubted she remembered. If she did, the memories were vague. But she remembered being afraid. He knew she remembered that.
He took bowls out of the cabinet and set one in front of each girl and one for himself. He opened the cereal cabinet door again and looked at the half-dozen boxes. Chocolate stuff, fruity stuff or kind-of-healthy stuff?
The girls giggled a little.
That does it, you get kind-of-healthy today. I think youve had way too much sugar because youre both so sweet. He grabbed the box and then reached for the girls and held them, kissing their cheeks. Yep, sweet enough.
Normal moments, the kind a dad should share with his daughters. Eighteen long months of going through the motions, but they were all coming back to life. They were building something new here, in this house. They would have good memories. He hadnt expected to have something good for his family here, in Dawson. His own dad hadnt provided that for him and Ryder.
But he wasnt his dad. He guessed he learned something from his dads mistakes. Like how to be faithful. And how to be there.
His phone rang and he answered it as he poured cereal into three bowls. Two partially filled and his to the top. He talked as he poured milk and dug in a drawer for spoons. When he hung up both girls were looking at him.
I have to go pick up something for Uncle Ryder. He ate his cereal standing across the counter from the girls.
A pony? Kat giggled as she spooned cereal into her mouth. Milk dribbled down her chin and her brown eyes twinkled.
No, a bull.
We can go? Molly didnt touch her cereal and he knew, man, he knew how scared she was. He was just starting to get over it, he hadnt been a two-year-old kid alone with a mommy who wouldnt wake up.
That kind of fear and pain changed a person. Molly was watching him, waiting for him to be the grown-up, the one who smiled and showed her that it was okay to be happy.
Of course you can go. He took a bite of cereal and she followed his example. She even smiled. He let out a sigh that she didnt hear.
Fifteen minutes later he walked out the back door with them on his heels. Today theyd slipped back into the old pattern of leaving dishes on the counter and dirty clothes on the floor in the bedroom. He didnt have time to worry about it right now. Hed barely had time to pull on his boots and find his hat.
Horses saw him and whinnied. The six mares in the field closest to the house headed toward their feed trough. He whistled and in the other field about a dozen horses lifted their heads and headed toward the barn, ready for grain.
A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Kat and Molly were close behind him. They werent right on his heels now, but they were following, grabbing up dandelions and chasing after the dog.
He turned away from the girls and headed for the fence. He watched for a chestnut mare. She walked a short distance behind the others. Her limp was slight today. Shed gotten tangled in old barbed wire out in the field. Sometimes a good rain washed up a lot of junk from the past.
This mare had stepped into that junk one day last week after a gully washer of a rain. Hed found her with gashes in her fetlock and blood still oozing from the wound. She headed for the fence and him, the extra attention over the last week had turned her into a pet.
A car driving down the road honked. He turned to wave. The red convertible slowed and pulled into his drive. The girls hurried to his side, jabbering about Rachels car. He had worked hard at building a safe life for his girls.
What was it about Rachel that shook it all up? He glanced down at his girls and they didnt look too scared.
He tossed the thought aside. Rachel was about the safest person in the world. She was a Sunday school teacher and the preachers daughter.
So what part of her life had been crazy enough for butterfly tattoos?
Rachel had meant to drive on past the Johnson ranch, but the girls waving dandelions had done it for her. She had seen them from a distance, first noticing the horses running for the fence and then spotting Wyatt and his girls. She had slowed to watch and then shed turned.
As she pulled up to the barn she told herself this was about the craziest thing shed done since She had to think about it and one thing came to mind. The tattoo.
Shed thought about having it removed, but she kept it to remind herself to make decisions based on the future and not the moment. So what in the world was she doing here, at Wyatt Johnsons? He probably wanted her around as much as she wanted to be there.
This was definitely a spontaneous decision and not one that was planned out. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The girls dropped the dandelions and raced across the lawn, the dog at their heels. As she pushed her door open, Molly and Kat were there, little faces scrubbed clean and smiles bright. No matter what, hed done a great job with the girls, even if he did seem to be color-blind. That had to be the reason the girls never seemed to have an outfit that matched.
This time they were in their pajamas.
What are you girls up to?
Were going with Daddy. Molly held tight to her hand.
Wyatt had disappeared. Into the barn, she decided. She could hear him talking and heard a door shut with a thud. He walked back out, his hat pulled down to block the sun from his face. He had a bag of grain tossed over his shoulder, his biceps bulging.
She let the girls tug her hands to follow him. He stopped at a gate and unlatched it with his free hand. Cattle were at a trough, waiting. From outside the fence she watched him yank the string on the top of the bag and pour it down the length of the trough. He walked back with the empty bag. After closing the gate he tossed the bag into a nearby barrel.
And then he was staring at her. The hat shaded his face, but it definitely didnt hide the questions in his dark eyes. And she didnt have answers. What could she tell him, that her car suddenly had a mind of its own? But shed have to think of something because the girls were pulling her in his direction.
What are you up to today? He pulled off leather gloves and shoved them in the back pocket of his jeans.
She didnt have an answer. The girls were holding her hands and she was staring into the dark eyes of a man who had been hurt to the deepest level. And survived. Those eyes were staring her down, waiting for an answer.
She was on his territory. Shed never felt it more than at that moment, that territorial edge of his. He protected the ones he loved.
I saw the girls and I realized you might not know about our church picnic Wednesday evening. Instead of our normal service, were roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.
It wasnt a lie, she had forgotten to remind him. He seemed to need reminding from time to time. He had a degree in ministry and yet church seemed to be something he forced himself to do. She got that. She had done her share of avoiding church, too.
Hed actually been in youth ministry until eighteen months ago.
Sounds like fun. He glanced at his watch.
I should go. Listen, if you need anything, any more help around here
Right, Ill let you know.
She should have known better than to think hed want to talk. A momentary glitch in her good sense had made her believe that he might want a friend. But then, he probably had friends. Hed grown up here.
See you two Wednesday. Time to walk away.
Kat grabbed her hand. Come and see my frog.
Kat, you dont have a frog. Wyatt reached for her but Kat pulled Rachel the other direction and two-year-olds were pretty strong when they had their mind set on something.
I have a frog. She didnt let go and Rachel didnt have the heart to tell her no. She went willingly in the direction of an old log.
Is that where your frog lives?
There are millions of frogs. Kat dropped to her knees and pushed the chunk of wood. Sure enough, little frogs hopped out. Actually, they were baby toads. She didnt correct the toddler.
Wow, Kat, there are a bunch of them. Rachel kneeled next to the child. Do you have names for them?
Kat nodded. But I dont member.
I think theyre beautiful. I bet they like living under this log.
Kat nodded, her eyes were big and curls hung in her eyes. Rachel pushed the hair back from the childs face and Kat smiled. A shadow loomed over them. Kat glanced up and Rachel turned to look up at Wyatt. He was smiling down at his daughter. The smile didnt include Rachel.
He had a toe-curling smile, though, and she wanted her toes to curl. Which was really just plain wrong.
Kat, we have to go, honey. He got hold of Mollys hand. I have to finish feeding and you two need to be getting ready to jump in the truck.
Were getting a pony. Kat patted Rachels cheek with a dirty hand that had just released a toad back to its home under the log.
Are you? She looked up and Wyatt shook his head.
Were picking up a bull.
I see. Rachel stood and dusted off her jeans. I could stay here with them, Wyatt.
She had offered the other day and hed said no, so why in the world was she offering again? Oh, right, because she loved, loved, loved rejection. And to make it better, she loved that look on his face when his eyes narrowed and he looked at her as if she had really fallen off the proverbial turnip truck.
He took in a breath and she wondered why it was so hard for him to leave them. No, they can go with me.
But we could stay, and Miss Rachel could help us draw pictures. Molly bit down on rosy lips and big tears welled up in her eyes. I always get carsick.
Im sorry, I shouldnt have said anything.
Thats a thought. Wyatt picked up his little girl. Molly, youre going with me.
She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
Ill see you later. Rachel brushed a hand down Mollys little back.
Yes, driving up here had been the wrong thing to do. She leaned to kiss Kats cheek and then she walked away. She had a life. She had things to do today. She definitely didnt need to get tied up in the heartache that was Wyatt Johnsons life.
She made it to her car without looking back.
Wyatt put Molly down and he held tight to Kats hand because he had a feeling that if he let go, she was going to run after Rachel. Molly was looking up at him, as if she was wondering why in the world he wasnt the one running after her new favorite person.
He needed this as much has he needed to hit his thumb with a hammer. If God would give him a break, hed get the hammer and hit his thumb twice.
He wasnt going to run after a woman, not one who made more trouble in his life. And thats what she was doing. She was causing him a lot of trouble. She was upsetting the organized chaos of his life with her sunny personality and cute little songs.
She was getting in her car and Kat was next to him, begging him to stop her. He stared at the preachers daughter in jean shorts and a T-shirt. Not for himself, for Kat. Man, he didnt need this. He let go of his daughters hand and went after Rachel. Yelling when she started her car. Waving for her to stop when she put it in reverse.
The radio was blasting from the convertible. She loved music. He shook his head because today she was listening to Taylor Swift and a song about teen romance gone wrong. He really didnt need this.
She had stopped and she turned the radio down and waited for him to get to her. This was proof that hed do anything for his girls. Hed even put up with Miss Merry Sunshine for a couple of hours if it made Molly and Kat smile.
When he reached the car she turned and lifted her sunglasses, pushing them on top of her head. He realized that her eyes were darker than hed thought, and bigger. They were soft and asked questions.
The girls really want you to go with us. I thought it might help. Theyll be bored if this takes too long.
She just stared at him.
Ill pay you, he offered with a shrug that he hoped was casual and not as pathetic as he imagined.
She laughed and the sound went through him. Pay me?
For watching them.
She was going to make him beg. He shoved his hat down a little tighter on his head and then loosened it.
You dont have to pay me. It would be kind of fun to see that bull. Is it one theyll use for bull riding?
Yeah, probably.
Fun. Where should I park?
He pointed to the carport near the barn. Thatll keep it a little cooler. I have to finish feeding and the girls have to get dressed.
Can I help?
Hadnt she helped enough?
No, I can do it. He walked away because it was a lot easier than staying there to answer more of her questions. He knew it probably seemed rude, but she didnt have a clue.
She didnt know that he was rebuilding his family and that it took every bit of energy he had. Everything he had went to his girls, into making them smile and making their lives stable.
As he walked into the barn he glanced back. She leaned to talk to Kat. Curls fell forward, framing her face, but a hand came up to push her hair back. She smiled and leaned to kiss his daughter on the cheek. And then the three of them, Rachel, Kat and Molly, headed into the house.
He walked into the shadowy interior of the barn and flipped on a light. He breathed in the familiar scents. Cows, horses, hay and leather. He could deal with this. He couldnt deal with Mary Poppins.
Chapter Three
If it hadnt been for Kat and Molly she wouldnt have climbed into this truck and taken a ride with Wyatt. But the girls, with their sweet smiles and tight hugs, they were what mattered. Little girls should never hurt. They shouldnt hide their pain in cheesecake or think their self-worth depended on the brand and size of their jeans.
Oh, wait, that had been her, her childhood, her pain.
You arent carsick, are you? Wyatts voice was soft, a little teasing. Yummier than cheesecake. And she hadnt had cheesecake in forever.
She glanced his way and smiled. I dont get carsick.
Good to know. The girls do. Not on roads like this, fortunately.
We keep a trash can back here. Molly informed her with the voice of young authority. Rachel heard the tap, tap of a tiny foot on plastic.
She looked over her shoulder at the two little girls on the bench seat behind her. Kats eyes were a little droopy and she nodded, her head sagging and then bouncing up. Molly looked as if she had a lot more to say but she was holding back.
Poor baby girls. Wyatt loved them, but there was an empty space in their lives that a mom should have filled. And they wouldnt even have memories of her as they grew older. They would have pictures and stories their dad told.
If he told stories. She chanced a quick glance in his direction and thought he probably didnt tell stories about the wife hed lost. He probably had a boat load of memories he wished he could lose.
Here we are. He flipped on the turn signal and smiled at her as he pulled into a gated driveway. Can you pull through and Ill open the gate?
I can open the gate. She reached for the door handle and opened it, ignoring his protests. It was a lot easier to be outside away from him. A soft breeze blew in warm spring air and she could hear cattle at a nearby dairy farm.
She loved Oklahoma. Growing up shed lived just about everywhere, but mostly in bigger towns and cities. Shed never felt like she belonged. Maybe because she had always been the pastors kid, poor in wealthy subdivisions, trying to fit in. Or maybe because deep down shed always wanted to be a country girl.
She had wanted to jump out of trucks and open gates. She had studied about sheep, wool and gardening. Pitiful as it sounded, shed watched so many episodes of The Waltons, she could quote lines. She couldnt think about it now without smiling.
The truck eased through the gate and stopped. She pushed the gate closed and latched the chain. When she climbed back into the truck, Wyatt wasnt smiling.
I said Id get it. He shifted into gear and the truck eased forward again.
I dont mind.
No, you dont.
Oh, no, he hadnt! She shot him a look. Im not five. I dont mind opening gates. I really dont have to mind you.
His brows went up. He reached for the hat hed set on the seat next to him and pushed it back on his head. The chicken wasnt going to comment. She glanced back at the girls and smiled. Kat was sleeping. Molly stared out the window, her eyelids drooping.
Wyatt parked next to the barn, still silent. But when she glanced his way, she saw the smile. It barely lifted the corners of his mouth, but it was there.
This shouldnt take long. He opened his door and paused. I think you and the girls can get out and look around.
Thanks, well do that. If you think I can handle it. After all, Im five.
Youre not five. Youre just He shook his head and got out of the truck. He didnt say anything else. He opened the back door of the truck and motioned for the girls to get out. He set each of them on the ground and then glanced back in at her. Getting out?
Yeah, Im getting out.
Shed been crazy to stop at his house. She was still trying to figure it out. He smiled at something Kat said. Oh, thats right, now she remembered. It was that smile. She wanted him to smile like that at her.
Wyatt, good to see you.
She turned to face the man whod spoken. He stood outside the barn and everything about him said rancher. From his dusty boots to his threadbare jeans, he was a cowboy. His skin was worn and suntanned, making deeper lines around his mouth and crinkles at his eyes. His hair was sun-streaked brown. He winked at her.
Jackson, Im surprised to see you here. I thought your brother was meeting me. Wyatt stepped toward the other man, hand extended.
Yeah, hes at the bank. You know, hes Mr. Work-aholic.
Got it. So what are you doing these days?
Oh, trying to stay away from trouble. But most of the time, trouble just seems to find me. He smiled at Rachel. Hi there, Trouble.
Heat climbed her cheeks.
Jackson Cooper, meet Rachel Waters. Her father is the pastor of the Dawson Community Church.
If Wyatt had used that introduction to put the other man in his place, Jackson Cooper didnt look at all embarrassed. If our pastors daughter looked like you, I might just get right with God.
Wyatt wasnt smiling. Okay, lets look at the bull.
You gonna ride him? Jackson laughed.
I doubt it.
Chicken? Jackson Cooper obviously didnt know about backing down. She thought it might be a family trait; not backing down. She had heard about the Coopers. There were about a dozen of them: biological and adopted.
Nope, just smarter than I used to be. I havent been on a bull in a half-dozen years and I dont plan on starting again.
Theres a lot more money in it these days, Jackson continued, his smile still in place.
Plenty of money in raising them, too. Wyatt turned to his daughters. You girls stay with Rachel and Ill be back in a few minutes.
The men left them and Rachel smiled down at the girls. I think we should make clover chains.
One last glance over her shoulder. Wyatt picked that moment to stop and watch them, to watch his girls. Rachel turned away.
Nice bull. Young, but definitely worth the money the Coopers were asking. Wyatt watched the young animal walk around the corral. He was part Brahma, long and rangy with short legs. Hed been used in local rodeos last year and was already on the roster for some bigger events.
Want me to get a bull rope and chaps? Jackson leaned over the corral, a piece of straw in his mouth.
No, I think we know what hell do. And we know where you live if he doesnt.
Hell go out of the chute to the right for about four spins and then switch back and spin left. Hes got a belly roll you wont believe.
Your brother, Blake, told Ryder that he isnt mean. Wyatt continued to watch the bull. The animal pushed at an old tire and then stomped the dusty ground.
Hes never hurt anyone. But hes a bull, Wyatt. Theyre unpredictable, we both know that.
Yeah, I know we do. Theyd lost a friend years ago. Theyd been teenagers riding in junior events when Jimmy got killed at a local event.
That was a rough one, wasnt it? Jacksons sister had dated Jimmy.
Yeah, it was rough. He brushed away the memories. Do I write you a check?
Sure. So, is she your nanny? Jackson nodded in the direction of Rachel Waters. She was in the large yard and the girls were with her. They were picking clover and Rachel slipped a chain of flowers over Mollys head.
Wendy should have been there, doing those things with their daughters. He let out a sigh and refocused on the bull. It took a minute to get his thoughts back on track. Jackson didnt say anything.
No, she isnt. Wyatt pulled the checkbook out of his back pocket. I like the bull, Jackson. I dont like your price.
Jackson laughed. Well, now, Wyatt, I dont know that I care if you like my price or not.
He isnt worth it and you know it.
So what do you think would make him worth it? Jacksons smile disappeared. Yeah, that was the way to wipe good-natured off a guys face, through his bank account.
Ive been thinking of adding Cooper Quarter Horses to our breeding program. Id like one of your fillies. His gaze swept the field and landed on a small herd of horses. One stuck out, but it wasnt quite what hed planned to ask for. And that pony.
You want a pony. Shoot, Wyatt, Ill throw in the pony. Well have to talk about the horse, though. This bulls daddy was Bucking Bull of the Year two years in a row. He isnt a feedlot special.
Okay, lets talk. Wyatt let his gaze slide to where the girls were still playing with Rachel. Kat was sitting on the grass, a big old collie next to her. Molly and Rachel were spinning in circles.
They needed her. The thought settled so deep inside of him that it ached. His girls needed Rachel. Maybe more than they needed him. He couldnt make chains with clover or even manage a decent braid in their hair.
Do you think shed go out with me? Jackson walked over to the gate and tugged it open. I mean, if youre not interested.
Im not interested. Wyatt walked through the gate, sidestepping a little snake that slid past. Im not interested, but I think maybe youre not her type. Shoot, Im probably not her type either.
Yeah, well, I always had this idea that when I settle down itd be with a woman like her, the kind that goes to church on Sundays and probably makes a mean roast. Jackson shot him a smile. Yeah, a guy would live right with a wife like her.
Right. Hed had enough of this talk. Lets take a look at the pony first. How old?
Ten. He was my nieces. But Tash is getting older and Greg bought her a bigger horse.
I dont want to take someones pony.
Hes just eating grass and getting fat.
Wyatt stopped in front of the paint pony. It was a pretty thing, brown and white spotted with a black mane and tail. The pony lifted its head from the clover that it was munching on and gave him a look.
He isnt mean?
Never seen him be mean.
Wyatt knew all about horse traders and lines like that. He wasnt about to take Jackson Coopers word for it. He patted the fat pony and leaned against him, holding his mane to keep him close.
Yeah, but I want a little more reassurance than that, Jackson. This is for my kids.
Jackson walked up and lifted a leg to settle it over the ponys back. His normal smile had disappeared and he was all serious. Wyatt, I might be a lot of things, but I can tell you this: I wouldnt get a kid hurt. This pony is the safest one youll find. I broke him myself and I wouldnt be afraid to let my own kids on him. If I had a kid.
Wyatt nodded and he didnt take his eyes off the pony. Even with part of Jacksons weight on his back, the little pony hadnt moved, hadnt been distracted from the clover he was tugging at. He didnt even startle when shouts from the gate meant that hed been spotted by the girls.
The girls were on the gate, standing midway up, waving. Rachel stood next to them, her smile as big as theirs. He wondered if she was still dreaming of having a pony someday? Hed known girls like her his whole life. Wannabe cowgirls. He used to like them. They were fun on a Friday night at a rodeo in Tulsa. They were easy to impress and soft to hold.
That had been a lifetime and another Wyatt Johnson ago. Before. His life fell into two slots. Before Wendy, and after. The first half had been full of hope and promise. The second was about getting it back.
He was just standing there, staring, when Jackson waved them into the field. They yelled and before Rachel could open the gate, they were running toward him. The little pony looked up, watching, dark ears pricked forward. Yeah, hed do for a first pony.
Rachel caught up with the girls halfway across the field and spoke to them. He watched them settle and reach for her hands. One on each side of her.
Jackson whistled and shook his head, laughing a little. Wyatt shot him a sideways glance and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Keep it to yourself, Jackson.
Im just saying
Yeah, I know what youre saying. He wasnt blind.
And then the girls were there, Rachel standing quietly behind them. They were all hands, reaching for the pony, saying it was the prettiest pony ever. Jackson Cooper looked as if he had created the thing himself and set it in front of them with a ribbon.
Be careful, girls. Rachel moved closer and her hand went out, reaching to brush through the ponys mane.
What do you think, girls? Would this be a good pony? Wyatt wanted to be the hero. Hed been fighting the pony conversation for a while. They were still little, still needed to be held and couldnt brush their teeth alone. Hed been on horses his entire life, but that was different. When it came to his girls, it was different.
Molly nodded. This is a perfect pony named Prince.
Actually, his name is Jackson grinned. His name is Prince.
Rachel smiled at him. Wyatt lifted his hat and settled it back in place. Well take him. And a filly.
Lets talk price. Jackson looped a bit of rope around the ponys neck. Can you girls lead Prince back to the barn so we can load him in the trailer?
Molly was nodding, her hands moving in anticipation, but Jackson handed the lead rope to Rachel. Wyatt started to tell them to be careful, but he clamped his mouth shut. He hadnt been real good at letting go lately. It wasnt easy, letting someone else take care of Molly and Kat. It wasnt easy watching them with someone who was not their mother.
But they needed this. They needed to let go of him once in a while.
His good intentions almost came undone when halfway to the gate Rachel stopped, picked up Molly and then Kat and placed them on the back of that pony. Kat was in front and Molly wrapped her arms around her sister. Rachel stood close to them.
Might as well breathe and let it go, Wyatt. Jackson laughed and slapped him on the back. Two things are going to happen. Theyre going to grow up, and that womans probably going to get under your skin.
Wyatt didnt smile. He watched as Rachel led the pony with his girls on it through the gate and then he settled his attention back on Jackson Cooper and the filly he wanted.
And he repeated to himself that Rachel Waters wasnt going to get under his skin.
Chapter Four
Stupid moment number twelve. Or maybe twelve thousand? Thats what Rachel thought of volunteering to ride along with Wyatt and the girls to get that bull. And it was even worse standing in the shade watching Wyatt unload the pony from the trailer. He had hauled the pony and his new filly home. Hed left the bull for Jackson Cooper to trailer for him.
The girls stood next to Rachel, waiting for their dad to give the all clear. They fidgeted in one spot because they knew better than to run at the pony.
Wyatt led the filly, a dark bay two-year-old, into the barn. The horse pranced alongside him, her black tail waving like a banner. The filly dipped her head a few times and whinnied to horses in the field who answered back with shrill whinnies to the new girl in town.
Wyatt walked out of the barn a few minutes later. The filly was still inside, her shrill whinny continued. Wyatt pulled off his hat and swiped his brow with his arm. The girls were tugging on Rachels hands, but she didnt let go. Somehow she managed to stand her ground.
He had told them to wait. She was more than willing to do what he asked. She was content to stay in one spot and watch as he stepped back into the trailer to retrieve the pony.
The second he stepped out of the trailer with the pony the girls started to jabber. Kat was pulling on her hand. Rachel leaned and picked the child up. When she looked up, Wyatt watched, his smile gone, his expression unreadable. He turned away and led the pony to the small corral next to the barn.
He closed the gate and tied the lead rope to the pole fence. Come on over.
She put down Kat and the girls ran toward him. He held up his hand and they slowed to a walk. Rachel followed because it was time to say goodbye. It had been a good day. The girls were wonderful. Wyatt was a wonderful dad who loved his daughters.
He probably thought Rachel could be a decent friend.
Shed had a lifetime of being the best friend, the girl that guys called when they wanted a pal to hang out with. Funny that when she lost weight all of those best friends started looking at her in a different way.
Wyatt untied the lead rope. If you want to hold her, Ill get the bridle and saddle.
I can do that. So much for the quick escape. She took the rope and their fingers touched. She looked up, into dark eyes that held hers for a long moment. She looked away, back to the girls. Things that were easy.
Kat and Molly had climbed up on the bottom pole of the fence. They reached through and little fingers found the ponys mane.
Ill be right back. Wyatt glanced from her to his daughters and then he walked away, disappearing through the side door of the barn.
And she should do the same. She should tell him she had things to do today. She needed to clean her room or weed the garden. There were plenty of things she could have been doing.
It might be a good idea for her to go home and spend time in prayer.
When he came back with the tiny saddle and bridle, she opened her mouth to explain that she should go. But he smiled and she stayed.
She stayed and held the little pony as Wyatt lifted Kat and Molly onto his back. They rode double the first time, so that neither of them could say they got to ride first. Rachel stood by the gate watching as he led them around the corral. Kat was shaking the reins she held in her little hands, trying to make the pony run. Molly had her arms wrapped around her sisters waist and her smile was huge.
Wyatt lifted Molly off the saddle and put his hat on Kats head. The black cowboy hat fell down over the childs eyes. She didnt mind. She had a pony.
Molly trudged across the arena and stopped next to Rachel. The little girl watched her sister ride the pony around the arena and as they got close, Molly started to bounce up and down.
Might want to stand still, sweetie. We dont want to startle the pony, Rachel warned.
Daddy said he didnt think a train going through would make him scared.
Hes a pretty special pony.
Molly looked up, her smile still splitting her little face. She nodded and continued to bounce as Wyatt headed their way with Kat in the saddle.
As he pulled one daughter down and lifted the other, Rachel stood close. I should go now. Thank you for letting me go with you today.
Wyatt took the hat off Kats head and placed it on Mollys. He turned to Rachel, his smile still in place. The hair at the crown of his head was flat from wearing the hat.
Thanks for going. Are you sure you dont want a turn? He teased with an Oklahoma drawl and a half smile.
No, I think probably not. My feet would drag on the ground and the poor pony would need a chiropractor.
I doubt that. He handed the reins to Molly. Hold tight, kiddo.
Have fun with the pony. Rachel leaned to kiss Kats cheek and she waved to Molly the cowgirl. See you at church Wednesday.
She turned to walk away, but Wyatt touched her arm, stopping her. She smiled because he looked as surprised as she did. His hand was still on her arm, warm and rough against her skin.
All joking aside, I really do appreciate you going with us today. I know the girls loved having you along.
She shrugged and his hand slid off her arm. I enjoyed it as much as they did.
And then she stood there, unmoving. The moment needed an escape route, the kind posted in hotel rooms. It should read: In case of emergency, exit here.
Wyatt remembered the Wednesday evening bonfire fifteen minutes before it started. He pulled into the parking lot of the church and the fire was already going, and people were gathered around in lawn chairs. He killed the engine on his truck and glanced in the backseat.
Oh, man, we really should have done something with your hair. But the girls hair had been the last thing on his mind as they rushed out the door.
Hed spent the day working the new bull, bringing it into the chute and bucking it out with a dummy on its back. He knew that it would buck, he just wanted to see for himself what theyd gotten themselves into. In the next week or two hed take him over to Clint Camerons and let some of the teens that hung out over there give him a try.
But the bull aside, hed also had to put out a fire in the kitchen. A cooking experiment had gone very wrong. Good thing hed remembered the Wednesday evening bonfire. He smiled at the girls. Both had dirty faces, pigtails that were coming undone and boots with their shorts. He was pretty sure this was a real fashion catastrophe.
At least they were at church. He got out and opened the back door for the girls. They clambered down from the truck, jumping off the running board and then heading off to join Rachel and the other kids.
She was the pied piper of girls, big and small. Teenagers followed her around, talking as she worked. Sometimes she gave them jobs to do. As he stared she glanced quickly in his direction.
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Brenda Minton
Widower Wyatt Johnson brought his two little girls home to Dawson, Oklahoma, looking for a place to heal. The grief from his wife's death still lingers, but it's time to move on and try to live a simple life. He's in for a surprise when he finds a lovely young nanny on his doorstep, ready to give him the help he won't admit he needs. Now his life is far from simple, which may be a blessing in disguise.In Rachel Waters he finds a nurturing, vivacious woman whom his daughters adore. Together, Wyatt and Rachel can help each other realize that they're deserving of laughter, friendshipand love.
Can I help?
Hadnt she helped enough?
No. Wyatt walked away because it was a lot easier than staying there to answer more of her questions. He knew it probably seemed rude, but she didnt have a clue.
Rachel didnt know that he was rebuilding his family and that it took every bit of energy he had. Everything he had went to his girls, into making them smile and making their lives stable.
As he walked into the barn, he glanced back. Rachel leaned to talk to Kat. Curls fell forward, framing her face, but a hand came up to push her hair back. She smiled and leaned to kiss his daughter on the cheek.
He walked into the shadowy interior of the barn and flipped on a light. He breathed in the familiar scents. Cows, horses, hay and leather. He could deal with this. He couldnt deal with a beautiful woman who seemed to love his girls as much as he did.
BRENDA MINTON
started creating stories to entertain herself during hour-long rides on the school bus. In high school she wrote romance novels to entertain her friends. The dream grew and so did her aspirations to become an author. She started with notebooks, handwritten manuscripts and characters that refused to go away until their stories were told. Eventually she put away the pen and paper and got down to business with the computer. The journey took a few years, with some encouragement and rejection along the wayas well as a lot of stubbornness on her part. In 2006 her dream to write for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired line came true. Brenda lives in the rural Ozarks with her husband, three kids and an abundance of cats and dogs. She enjoys a chaotic life that she wouldnt trade for anythingexcept, on occasion, a beach house in Texas. You can stop by and visit at her website, www.brendaminton.net.
The Cowboys Family
Brenda Minton
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:
Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.
Psalms 30:11
To my readers.
And especially to Julie, for your prayers, your thoughtfulness and your insight.
To Stephanie Newton, for those last minute critiques!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Letter to Reader
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
Why had she thought this was a good idea, cleaning house for Wyatt Johnson? Rachel Waters cut the engine to her car and stared up at the big, brick home that Wyatt had built over the winter. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head as she mulled the reasons for being here. First of all, shed agreed to this as a favor to Ryder and Andie. Second, she struggled with the word no.
There were plenty of reasons not to be here. She didnt need the money. She didnt need the headache.
She especially didnt need the heartache.
And Wyatt Johnson had heartache written all over his too-handsome face. Heartache was etched into his eyes. It was the whisper of a smile on his lips. It hovered over his lean features when he picked up his girls from the church nursery, hugging them but saying little to her or the other nursery workers.
So what had she gone and done? As if she didnt have enough to occupy her time, Rachel had agreed when Ryder Johnson asked her to clean the house his brother Wyatt had built on land across the road from the original Johnson ranch house, the house Ryder and his wife Andie now called home.
Rachel eyed the brick, French country-style home. The windows were wide, the porch was brick and stone. The landscaping was professionally done, but the flowers were being choked out by weeds.
It was a far cry from the parsonage shed shared with her parents for the last year; since her dad took the job as pastor of the Dawson Community Church. Their little house could fit into this one five times. But the parsonage was immaculate. If her father could get hold of these gardens, he could do wonders with the place.
Oh, well, she couldnt put it off forever. She hopped out of her car. A border collie bounded toward her, tail wagging. The animal, black-and-white coat clean and brushed, rolled over at her feet. Rachel leaned to pet the dogs belly.
So, at least you get some attention, huh, girl?
That wasnt fair. Wyatt tried, she was sure he tried. But his girls often came to church with ragged little braids and mismatched clothes. Not that the girls seemed to mind. They smiled and hugged him, and then waited for him to pick them up again.
Rachel cast a critical gaze over the lawn and the house. The barns and fences surrounding the place were well-kept. The horses grazing in the fields gleamed in the early spring sunshine. Shed spent a lifetime dreaming of a place like this.
She walked up the patio steps and knocked on the back door. She stood there for a long time, looking out over the fields, talking aimlessly to the dog. She knocked again. From inside she heard children talking and the drone of the television.
She knocked a third time.
Finally footsteps headed her way and a male voice said something about the television show they were watching. She stepped back and the door opened. Wyatt Johnson stared at her, his dark hair longish. His brown eyes with flecks of dark green were fringed with long lashes. Gorgeous eyes and a gorgeous man. She nearly groaned. He stared at her and then looked down. Two little heads peeked out at her. Molly, age three, and Kat, age two. Molly had told her that shed be turning four in a few of weeks.
Can I help you? Wyatt didnt move, didnt invite her in. He just stared, as if he didnt have a clue who she was. Six months hed been home. Six months shed held his girls and read them stories. Sundays had flown by and each week hed signed the girls in, signed them out and shed asked how he was doing.
She was the invisible Rachel Waters. He was probably trying to decide where he knew her from.
Im here to clean, she explained, and she managed to smile.
Clean?
She held up the bucket shed taken from her car and the tub of cleaning supplies. Clean your house. Ryder hired me.
He didnt say anything to me.
No, he probably didnt. Surprise! She smiled at the girls. They giggled. At least they thought she was funny.
Kat, hands pudgy, her smile sweet, pushed against Wyatt and slipped outside. Rachel wasnt invisible to Kat. Or to Molly.
We have crayons.
Thats wonderful, Kat. Are you coloring a picture?
Kat nodded. For Mommy. Daddy said we could mail it to heaven.
Thats a lovely idea. That was the heartache in his eyes. Rachel didnt look up because she didnt want to see his pain. His story was his, private, thats how hed kept it. She understood. She had her own stories.
Molly remained behind Wyatt, but she moved a little and peeked out from behind his legs. I like coloring flowers.
I think flowers are one of my favorite things, Molly. Its April, well have lots of flowers blooming very soon.
Rachel glanced up. Wyatt hadnt moved. He just stared for a long minute and then he shook his head and let out a long sigh. It sounded a lot like someone giving up. It didnt seem as if hed changed his mind about her, though, because he didnt move an inch.
I dont think we need help with the house.
Rachel peeked past him and her nose wrinkled. I disagree.
He glanced back over his shoulder and shrugged. It isnt that bad.
It is bad. Molly waved a hand in front of her nose. Its smelly bad. Thats what Uncle Ryder said when he came home last week from the rodeo circus.
Circuit. Wyatt corrected and then his gaze was back on Rachel. I dont need help with the house.
He leaned against the door frame, faded jeans, bare feet and a T-shirt. She took a step back, putting herself out of his personal space and back into her own.
Ryder already paid me. And she didnt like backing down. I have a few hours free today, no time tomorrow. Im not going to take his money and not do the job.
Ryder should have checked with me. The girls and I were about to clean.
After Daddy traces our hands and then does bank stuff. Molly supplied the information with all the innocence of an almost-four-year-old.
Sounds like fun. Rachel stood on the porch, sun beating down on her back. Wyatt continued to stare and she felt fifteen and overweight. She wasnt, but that look took her back about fifteen years to a place in her life that she really didnt want to return to.
Honestly, Rachel, we dont need a housekeeper.
Sorry. She smiled and took a step forward. Ryder and Andie had warned her that hed be stubborn about this.
Yeah, Im sure.
So, I can come in? Rachel glanced at her watch. She really didnt have all day.
Wyatt, tall and cowboy lean, shrugged and stepped back. He waved her in and she was pretty sorry shed ever agreed to do this. Dishes covered the counters and the sink overflowed. Toys were scattered across a floor that hadnt seen a mop in, well, it looked like a long time.
I guess its a mess. Wyatt smiled a little and scooped up Kat to settle her on his shoulders. We havent really paid much attention.
She wanted to ask how he could not pay attention but that insult piled up on top of a dozen other things she wanted to say to him. His daughters were still in their pajamas and he hadnt shaved in days. This wasnt a life; this was hiding from life.
Wyatt had been home for more than six months and from what shed seen, he hadnt done a thing to step back into life here, other than church on Sundays and meals at the Mad Cow. Oh, and hed bought horses. He always had his girls in tow, though. She had to give him credit for that.
He couldnt match an outfit for anything, but he loved Molly and Kat.
So this was how his brother planned on pushing him back into the dating world. She was probably clueless and really thought this was about cleaning the house. Wyatt planned a few choice words for Ryder as Rachel Waters stepped away from him and leaned to talk to Kat, dusting his daughters hands off in the process. The back of Rachels shirt came up a little and he couldnt look away.
He must have made a sound because she straightened and shifted her shirt back into place. Her face was a little pink and she glanced away from him as she pulled her dark, curly hair into a ponytail. She continued to ignore him and he couldnt stop thinking about a butterfly tattoo at the waist of her jeans. Did the church nursery worker have secrets?
A little late he remembered to be resentful. His younger brother had a habit of pushing his way into peoples lives and shoving his ideas off on them. Rachel cleaning the house was Ryders idea.
Wyatt kept his own ideas to himself, the way hed been doing for the last few months. He didnt have time or energy to worry about Rachel or what Ryder was up to.
I guess if youre here to clean, have at it. He nodded in the direction of the kitchen. Hed put a lot of thought into building this house. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and tile floors. It should have gleamed. Instead it looked like a bunch of teenagers had ransacked the place.
He hadnt meant to reminisce, but he remembered his parents kitchen after it had been ransacked by Wyatt, Ryder and their friends. He and Ryder hadnt been easy to raise. Not that their parents had done a lot of raising; more like theyd just turned them loose and told them to do whatever, as long as they didnt land in jail.
Rachel looked around the kitchen, her mouth open a little. Yeah, it was pretty bad. He didnt have time to do everything. The girls came first, then the farm, then business. Last, and probably least, the house.
Need anything? he asked, turning his attention back to Rachel Waters.
No, thanks. If you dont mind, Ill get started. She smiled, a wide smile that settled in dark brown eyes.
I dont mind. Ill be in the office with the girls. Dont worry about upstairs.
Seriously? Wyatt, your brother paid me a lot. I really dont want to do a halfway job.
Kat was tugging on his hand, wanting him to help her finish drawing a pony. He glanced down at his daughter and then back to the woman standing a short distance away. She was already moving around the kitchen, picking up trash and tossing it, putting dishes next to the sink. Long curls were held in a ponytail and she wore flip-flops with her jeans.
The shoes made a flap-flap sound on the tile floors that distracted him for a second, until she cleared her throat.
Upstairs, Wyatt?
He glanced up, meeting brown eyes and a hint of a strawberry-glossed smile. Mollys hand slid into his and he squeezed lightly, holding her close, grounded by her presence and shifted back to reality by her shoulder against his leg.
Eighteen months of holding it together, just trying to be a dad and trying to make sense of life, and now this. This, meaning Rachel Waters and the sudden realization that he was still a man. He blinked a few times, surprised that hed noticed anything other than the broom she held in her hand. When was the last time hed noticed a womans lips? Or her hair?
Hed seen her at church every Sunday, though. It wasnt the first time hed noticed her, her smile, her laugh. It wasnt the first time shed taken him by surprise.
Yeah, sure, go ahead. The bedrooms are fine, though. The girls clean their own. Kind of. He grinned down at his daughters because that cleaning part was an exaggeration. Anyway, there are a couple of bathrooms up there.
Good, Ill clean those, too. She grabbed a broom and swept at his feet. Scoot, now.
Scoot. Molly was already pulling him toward the hall. He glanced back at Rachel. She had turned on the CD player hidden under the upper cabinets and in moments Sara Evans was singing about a runaway teen leaving the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging on the line.
As his daughters led him down the hall to the office, he could hear the chorus of the song and Rachel singing along. Her voice got a little louder on the line about wondering what the preacher would preach about on Sunday. He shot a look back in the direction of the kitchen, but the wall blocked her from sight.
Kat was dragging him into the office, jabbering about ponies and wondering when she would get one of her own. She was two. He considered reminding her of that fact, but shed been reminded more than once.
For the next couple of hours the girls colored pictures and he went over farm accounts and receipts for taxes that had to be filed. The vacuum cleaner rumbled overhead. Rachel was still singing. She was always singing. Even when he picked the girls up in the nursery at church he could hear her singing to them.
He should be glad about that, that someone sang to them, someone soft and feminine. And she laughed, all the time. At least with the kids she laughed. He tried to remember the last time hed really laughed. He watched his daughters trade crayons and he remembered. Kat had done something that made him laugh. They laughed more than they had six months ago. Far more than they had a year ago.
He shook his head and glanced back at numbers blurring on the ledger hed been staring at for the last hour. Ryder had just about let the ranch run into the ground. Not financially, just upkeep, the things that required sitting still.
His cell phone rang and he reached for it, distracted. Wendys moms voice said a soft hello. Mother-in-law? Did he still call her that? She was still grandmother to his girls. A week didnt pass that she didnt call to check on them. More than once a month she and William, her second husband, drove up from Oklahoma City to visit.
He didnt want to sound paranoid, but he thought it was more like spying. It was Violets way of making sure he was surviving and that her granddaughters were being taken care of. He didnt really blame her. There had been a few months when he hadnt been sure if he was going to make it.
Violet, how are you?
Im fine, of course. The question is, how are you? The southern accent should have been sweet and maternal. Instead it held about a dozen questions pertaining to his sanity.
Which was just fine.
Good, Violet. The girls are coloring pictures and were getting ready to eat lunch. He glanced at his watch and winced. It was past time for lunch.
Isnt it a little late for lunch? She never missed a thing. He smiled.
A little, but we ate a late breakfast. That probably didnt sound better, but he wasnt going to lie to her.
Right. Well, I thought Id come up this week, just to
Check up on us?
Of course not. Wyatt, you know we love you and the girls. I miss
Broken sentences. He held back the sigh. In the last eighteen months theyd talked in broken sentences, half-finished thoughts and unspoken accusations.
I miss her, too. He finished the sentence for her.
So, about this week?
It wasnt a good week for a visit. He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window at the overgrown lawn. He needed to hire a lawn service. Sure, Violet, Ill be here.
The vacuum cleaner stopped.
Whats that noise? Violet asked.
Ryder hired a housekeeper.
Oh. Well, thats good.
I guess it is.
And a cook?
Of course it came back to cooking. He smiled a little. I dont need a cook.
She didnt respond for a minute. Okay, Wyatt. Well, Ill call and let you know what day Ill be up.
No, she wouldnt. He slipped the phone back in his pocket knowing full well shed launch a sneak attack when he least expected it.
He leaned to kiss Molly on the top of her head. You girls stay here for a second. Im going to talk to Miss Rachel and then well blow up our balloons. Later well go to town.
To the store for groceries and a cookbook for dummies. Maybe he could learn to cook before Violet showed up.
Molly shot him a narrow-eyed look. Kat ignored him. The girls were like night and day. Molly was her mother all over, but she looked like him. Kat looked like Wendy. They both had dark hair, but Kats was a little lighter and she had Wendys light brown eyes. It was getting easier to stare into eyes that reminded him of his wife.
He hurried up the stairs and met Rachel in the hallway. She picked up her bucket of cleaning supplies and then smiled at him. Perspiration glistened on her brow and her hair was a little damp. But the upstairs smelled clean for the first time in a long time.
The windows gleamed at either end of the hall and there were no cobwebs clinging to the ceiling. Maybe a housekeeper wasnt such a bad idea. It might be a great idea. But he didnt know if Rachel Waters was the one he wanted. She wore faded jeans and had the tiniest butterfly at the small of her back. Shouldnt a housekeeper wear something morehousekeeperish?
He pictured Alice from The Brady Bunch. Or the robot maid from The Jetsons. Yeah, thats what a housekeeper should look like. A housekeeper should make PB and J sandwiches and smell like joint cream, not wildflowers.
Is there anything else I need to do? She stood in the center of the hallway, the bucket in her hand, and hed lost it for a minute.
No, nothing else. He glanced around. It looks great, though.
Im glad you approve. Listen, I know this isnt what you wanted, but if you ever need me to come over again, just call. I can even watch the girls if you need time away.
Time away from his girls. He needed that less than anything. He needed them with him, all the time. He didnt ever want them to be alone and afraid again. She didnt know that, though. There were details that no one knew but Wyatt, Andie and a few others. Hed left Florida to escape those memories. Florida, where he and Wendy had been in youth ministry after college.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I dont usually leave them, other than in the church nursery. But I do have to head out in a few minutes and I wanted to make sure Ryder paid you enough.
He did. She brushed strands of damp hair back from her face. Are you sure you dont want me to stay with the girls?
No, Ill take them. Im just going to the store.
Because he had separation anxiety and so did they. It was about the least manly statement he could think of to make, so he didnt. He glanced out the window, which gleamed and the fingerprints the girls had put on the glass were gone.
She smiled. Okay, but the offer stands.
Thanks.
Rachel headed down the stairs with the bucket. He followed. Her shirt stayed carefully in place. He kind of hopedand then again, he didnt. He shook his head and worked hard to pull it together.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The girls ran out of the office, pigtails and sunshine. His sunshine. He hugged them both close. But they broke out of his arms and ran to Rachel. She didnt hesitate, just pulled them close and hugged them as she kissed the tops of their heads.
His phone rang again, not a moment too soon because he needed the distraction from the scene in front of him. Rachel walked away with his girls. He watched them as he raised the phone to his ear.
Wyatt, how did you like your surprise? Ryder laughed from five hundred miles away.
Thanks.
Is she done cleaning?
Yeah, the house looks great. Im going to think of a nice surprise for you when you get back.
You should be more appreciative. You have a clean house and a pretty woman to clean it.
I wouldnt talk like that in front of my wife if I was you.
She knows I only have eyes for her. But you, on the other hand
Ever heard of the word subtle, little brother?
Ryder laughed, louder, longer. Wyatt held the phone away from his ear.
I guess subtle has never been my thing, Ryder admitted.
Listen, I have to go shopping. Remind me that I owe you for this. And the payback wont be pleasant.
Rachel walked toward him, the laughter gone from her dark eyes and he didnt even know why. He couldnt let that be his problem. He had enough girl problems. One was two and the other was almost four. They were more than enough to keep him busy and keep him guessing.
Im going now. She stared straight at him, her gaze unwavering. She had a few freckles on suntanned cheeks.
Okay, well, thank you. He didnt have time for this. Look, I appreciate what you did. The place looks great. I just
Dont need a housekeeper?
He shrugged off the sarcasm in her tone. They both knew that he needed a housekeeper. What he didnt need was that little smile of hers making him feel as if he needed a housekeeper and an intervention.
Yeah, I dont need a housekeeper. It hadnt been what hed planned to say, but it worked.
What he really didnt need was someone who smelled like spring and who reminded him of everything hed lost.
Chapter Two
Rachel drove away from the Johnson ranch and she was pretty glad to see it in her rearview mirror. She wanted to be a good distance away before the girls released the balloons with messages to their mother. It wouldnt have done anyone any good to have Rachel crying by their side.
She really should have known that she wouldnt be able to do this, spend more time with them, and stay detached. After years of considering herself a real pro at detachment, two little girls and a cowboy were going to be her downfall. The signs had been pretty obvious. The girls had been in the nursery and her preschool Sunday school class for six months and it had been way easy to fall in love with them.
Of course Wyatt wasnt included in those emotions. She felt sorry for him, nothing else. After hearing his conversation with Ryder, she knew he felt about the same for her.
It shouldnt matter to her what he thought. At twenty-nine, when she finally knew who she was and what she wanted out of life, Wyatt Johnsons opinion shouldnt matter. But old feelings of inadequacy didnt care what she thought of herself now. Those old emotions had a way of pushing to the surface when she least needed them.
So what? She would never be homecoming queen and guys like Wyatt Johnson always laughed behind her back.
It didnt matter anymore. She wasnt the fat girl in school or the rebel in the back of a police car trying to prove to people that she wasnt the good little preachers kid.
She knew who she was, and who God wanted her to be. She worked in childrens ministry, helped when her mothers lupus flared, and she loved her life in Dawson.
All of those pretty sermons to herself didnt take away a sudden desire for a big, fat chocolate bar. Or brownies with ice cream. She reached for her purse and dug her hand through the side pocket for a pack of gum. As she drove she managed to get a stick of peppermint gum out of the package.
She shoved the gum in her mouth and chewed, trying to pretend it helped the way chocolate helped. It didnt.
Forget Wyatt, she had other things to do. She was supposed to work for Etta Forrester that afternoon. Etta designed and sewed a line of tie-dye clothing that she sold to specialty boutiques around the country. Etta made sundresses, skirts, pants, tops and even purses. Rachel worked for her a couple of days a week, more if Etta needed. With Ettas granddaughter, Andie, married to Ryder Johnson and Andies twin, Alyson, married to Jason Bradshaw, Etta had more need for help these days.
She drove down the road and pulled into Ettas driveway. The bright yellow Victorian with the lavender wicker furniture on the wide porch managed to lift Rachels spirits. Etta stood on the porch with a watering can in her hand and a floppy hat covering her lavender-gray hair. She waved as she poured water on the flowers. Last week shed made a trip to Grove and shed come home with a truck load of plants for the baskets and flower gardens.
Rachel parked under the shade of an oak tree and stepped out of her car. As she walked up the wide steps of the porch, Etta put down the watering can and pulled off her gardening gloves. Her nails were long, painted purple and never chipped. It was a mystery how Etta could take care of this farm, make her clothing and always be perfectly manicured.
The one time Rachel asked how she did it, Etta laughed and said, Oh, honey, life teaches those little skills.
Rachel doubted it. She always felt about as together as a pair of old shoes falling apart at the seams. She couldnt paint her nails without smudging at least one. And her hair. The only good thing that had ever happened to her hair was a ponytail holder.
Good to see you, honey. Etta slipped an arm around Rachels shoulders. I thought wed have tea out here before we get started on those T-shirts.
Tea sounds wonderful.
You look about wrung out. Did you clean Wyatts house today?
Rachel nodded and picked dead blooms off the petunias.
Etta lifted her sunglasses and stared hard. Well, tell me how it went.
The place was definitely a mess. She shrugged and kept plucking blooms, tossing them over the rail into the yard. And so is Wyatt.
Oh, he isnt such a mess. He just needs a little time. Etta lifted the little watch she wore on a chain around her neck. Goodness, speaking of time. Im going to keep watering. Do you want to bring the tea out?
I can do that.
Etta had lowered the sunglasses. The big rhinestone encrusted frames covered half her face. And try not to look so down in the mouth, honey. Youre going to depress me and you know I dont depress easily.
Rachel smiled. Is that better?
Not much. Etta laughed and went back to watering.
Ill be back in a few.
Ill be here.
The dog that had been sleeping under a tree started barking as Rachel fixed the tea tray. She picked up the wooden tray and headed down the hallway to the front door. The door was open and a breeze lifted the curtains in the parlor. Voices carried on that breeze.
So you think youre going to learn to cook something more than canned spaghetti and hamburgers? Etta laughed and said something else that Rachel didnt hear.
She stopped at the screen door and looked out. Etta was standing on the sidewalk and Wyatt stood next to her. Ettas skirt flapped in the breeze. Wyatt had taken off his hat and held it behind his back. They were both facing the opposite direction and didnt see Rachel.
It cant be that hard to learn, Etta. Ive got to show Violet that Im capable.
Of course youre capable. Etta turned and waved when she saw Rachel. Theres Rachel with my tea. Well, have a seat and while you have tea, Ill look for a cookbook.
I appreciate it, Etta, but I dont have time for tea. The girls are waiting in the truck. Were going grocery shopping.
Etta argued, of course she did. Well, get the girls out.
Wyatt laughed, white teeth flashing in a kind of hot smile. He shook his head. Im not getting them out of the truck. If I do, Ill never round them up and get them back in the truck. I just thought rather than taking my chance with any old cookbook I found in the store, Id see if you had one that spelled it all out.
Etta held the rail and walked up the steps, Wyatt following. Ill see what I have. Something with casseroles would be best.
If I can throw the whole meal in one pan, I guess that would be the best thing.
You ought to know how to cook, Wyatt. It isnt like youre a kid.
I never thought much about it, Etta. His neck turned a little red. I guess I always thought
Ettas eyes misted and she patted his arm. Ill be right back. Ill pick you out a couple and youll be cooking us dinner in no time.
After Etta walked away, Rachel didnt know what to say. She hadnt been at a loss for words in years. Probably about twenty-eight of them. Her mom liked to tell people that she was talking in complete sentences when she was two and that shed been talking ever since.
But at that moment she was pretty near speechless and so was Wyatt Johnson.
My mother-in-law is coming to visit. He had placed the cowboy hat back on his head. He leaned against the rail of the porch, tall and confident. His boots were scuffed and his jeans were faded and worn in spots.
How many people would guess that the Johnson brothers had part ownership of a bank in Tulsa and subdivisions named after their family? She only knew those things because Andie, Wyatts sister-in-law and Ettas granddaughter, had told her. Andie had married Ryder Johnson before Christmas and their twin babies were due in a month or so.
I see. She nearly offered to help, and then she didnt. Shed already told him shed clean or watch the girls. Hed rejected both offers.
Shes worried that Im not coping. His smile lifted one corner of his mouth and he shrugged. I guess it wont hurt me or the girls to have a home-cooked meal once in a while.
I imagine it wont. Rachel poured her tea. Do you want a cup?
No, thanks. I like my tea on ice and out of a glass that holds more than a swallow.
She smiled and listened for Ettas footsteps. Etta would give him a long lecture if she heard him demean her afternoon tea ritual.
It was a few minutes before Etta appeared, her arms holding more than a few cookbooks. Heres a few to get you started.
Thats a half dozen, Etta, not a few.
Well, you can find what you really like this way.
He took the books from her arms. Thanks, Etta. Rachel, see you at church.
He nodded to each of them and walked down the steps.
The truck was pulling down the driveway when Etta laughed a little and whistled. Thats tension you could cut with a knife.
What? Rachel nearly poured Ettas tea on the table.
The two of you, circling like a couple of barn cats. Im no expert, but I think its called chemistry.
I think its called, Wyatt knows that everyone, including his brother, is trying to push me off on him.
And would that be such a bad thing? Etta sat down on the lavender wicker settee.
Im not sure, but I think he believes it probably would be.
What about you?
Rachel sipped her tea and ignored the question. Etta smiled and her brows shot up, but Rachel didnt bite. No way, no how was she chasing after Wyatt Johnson or any other man, for that matter. Shed done her chasing, shed had her share of fix-ups, and shed learned that it worked better to let things happen the way they were supposed to happen.
Or not. But she had decided a long time ago that being alone was better than pushing her way into the life of the wrong person.
It had been two days since Rachel cleaned and his house still looked pretty decent. Wyatt stood in the kitchen with its dark cabinets, black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. A chefs kitchen for a guy who had to borrow cookbooks because he couldnt make mac and cheese. That was pretty bad.
He hadnt planned it, but Rachel was front and center in his mind again. She was a strange one. First glance and he would have thought she had all the confidence in the world. But the other day on Ettas porch, there had been something soft and kind of lost in her expression, in those dark eyes of hers.
Not that it was any of his concern.
He dropped bread into the toaster and started the coffeemaker. Excited voices and little feet pattering overhead meant the girls were up. His day was about to start.
At least hed had fifteen minutes to himself. That didnt happen often these days. It hadnt happened much in the last eighteen months. Since Wendy left him.
He stopped in front of the kitchen window and looked out. For a minute he closed his eyes and remembered that he used to pray. He used to believe that with Wendy he could build a life far from this ranch and the chaos of his childhood. He opened his eyes and shook his head. Prayer these days was abbreviated. It went something like: God, get me through another day.
That would have to do for now. It was all he had in him, other than anger and guilt.
Eighteen months of trying to figure out what he could have done differently. He was still trying to come to terms with the reality that he couldnt have done anything more than hed done. Wendy had made a choice.
The choice to leave him and their daughters. She wrote a note, opened a bottle of sleeping pills and shed left them for good.
Eighteen months of wondering what he could have done to stop her from going away.
He breathed in deep and it didnt hurt as much as yesterday, even less than a month ago. He was making it. He had to make itfor the girls. He had to smile and make each day better for them. And he calculated that he had about two minutes before they hit the kitchen, ready for breakfast. Two minutes to pull it together and make this day better.
On cue, they rushed in, still in their pajamas. Man, they made it easy to smile. He leaned to hug them and pulled them up to hold them both. He brushed his whiskered cheek against Kat and she giggled.
What are we going to do today, girlies?
Get a pony! Kat shouted and then she giggled some more.
Nope, not a pony. He kissed her cheek.
Let Miss Rachel clean again. Mollys tone was serious but her smile was real, her eyes shining. She knew how to work him.
He sat both girls on the granite-topped island that sat in the center of the kitchen. Miss Rachel? Why do you want her to clean?
He liked the idea of a clean house, but he was determined to find a nice grandmotherly type. He wanted control top socks and cookies baking in the oven. It sounded a lot less complicated than Miss Rachel Ive-Got-Secrets Waters.
Kat sighed, as if he couldnt possibly be her dad or he would understand why they picked Rachel. She leaned close. She hugs me.
She draws pictures and sings. Molly crossed her arms and her little chin came up. She has sheep.
Im sure she does. But shes really busy with church and helping Miss Etta.
She doesnt mind cleaning. Molly was growing up and her tone said that she had a handle on this situation.
Look, girls, she just cleaned for us that one time. Uncle Ryder hired her. He reached into the cabinet under the island and pulled out a cereal box. Add that to his list for the day. He needed to go to the store again. Even though hed had a list, hed forgotten a lot. How about cereal?
And a pony? Kat grinned and her eyes were huge.
A pony. Would it work to buy himself a break from this?
Maybe a pony. He was so weak. But first we have to eat breakfast and then we need to go outside and feed the horses and cows we already have.
He lifted them down from the counter and sat them each on a stool at the island.
You girls are getting big.
Molly. He shook his head because she wasnt just big, she acted like an old soul, as if shed had to learn too much too soon. And she had.
Most of it he doubted she remembered. If she did, the memories were vague. But she remembered being afraid. He knew she remembered that.
He took bowls out of the cabinet and set one in front of each girl and one for himself. He opened the cereal cabinet door again and looked at the half-dozen boxes. Chocolate stuff, fruity stuff or kind-of-healthy stuff?
The girls giggled a little.
That does it, you get kind-of-healthy today. I think youve had way too much sugar because youre both so sweet. He grabbed the box and then reached for the girls and held them, kissing their cheeks. Yep, sweet enough.
Normal moments, the kind a dad should share with his daughters. Eighteen long months of going through the motions, but they were all coming back to life. They were building something new here, in this house. They would have good memories. He hadnt expected to have something good for his family here, in Dawson. His own dad hadnt provided that for him and Ryder.
But he wasnt his dad. He guessed he learned something from his dads mistakes. Like how to be faithful. And how to be there.
His phone rang and he answered it as he poured cereal into three bowls. Two partially filled and his to the top. He talked as he poured milk and dug in a drawer for spoons. When he hung up both girls were looking at him.
I have to go pick up something for Uncle Ryder. He ate his cereal standing across the counter from the girls.
A pony? Kat giggled as she spooned cereal into her mouth. Milk dribbled down her chin and her brown eyes twinkled.
No, a bull.
We can go? Molly didnt touch her cereal and he knew, man, he knew how scared she was. He was just starting to get over it, he hadnt been a two-year-old kid alone with a mommy who wouldnt wake up.
That kind of fear and pain changed a person. Molly was watching him, waiting for him to be the grown-up, the one who smiled and showed her that it was okay to be happy.
Of course you can go. He took a bite of cereal and she followed his example. She even smiled. He let out a sigh that she didnt hear.
Fifteen minutes later he walked out the back door with them on his heels. Today theyd slipped back into the old pattern of leaving dishes on the counter and dirty clothes on the floor in the bedroom. He didnt have time to worry about it right now. Hed barely had time to pull on his boots and find his hat.
Horses saw him and whinnied. The six mares in the field closest to the house headed toward their feed trough. He whistled and in the other field about a dozen horses lifted their heads and headed toward the barn, ready for grain.
A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Kat and Molly were close behind him. They werent right on his heels now, but they were following, grabbing up dandelions and chasing after the dog.
He turned away from the girls and headed for the fence. He watched for a chestnut mare. She walked a short distance behind the others. Her limp was slight today. Shed gotten tangled in old barbed wire out in the field. Sometimes a good rain washed up a lot of junk from the past.
This mare had stepped into that junk one day last week after a gully washer of a rain. Hed found her with gashes in her fetlock and blood still oozing from the wound. She headed for the fence and him, the extra attention over the last week had turned her into a pet.
A car driving down the road honked. He turned to wave. The red convertible slowed and pulled into his drive. The girls hurried to his side, jabbering about Rachels car. He had worked hard at building a safe life for his girls.
What was it about Rachel that shook it all up? He glanced down at his girls and they didnt look too scared.
He tossed the thought aside. Rachel was about the safest person in the world. She was a Sunday school teacher and the preachers daughter.
So what part of her life had been crazy enough for butterfly tattoos?
Rachel had meant to drive on past the Johnson ranch, but the girls waving dandelions had done it for her. She had seen them from a distance, first noticing the horses running for the fence and then spotting Wyatt and his girls. She had slowed to watch and then shed turned.
As she pulled up to the barn she told herself this was about the craziest thing shed done since She had to think about it and one thing came to mind. The tattoo.
Shed thought about having it removed, but she kept it to remind herself to make decisions based on the future and not the moment. So what in the world was she doing here, at Wyatt Johnsons? He probably wanted her around as much as she wanted to be there.
This was definitely a spontaneous decision and not one that was planned out. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The girls dropped the dandelions and raced across the lawn, the dog at their heels. As she pushed her door open, Molly and Kat were there, little faces scrubbed clean and smiles bright. No matter what, hed done a great job with the girls, even if he did seem to be color-blind. That had to be the reason the girls never seemed to have an outfit that matched.
This time they were in their pajamas.
What are you girls up to?
Were going with Daddy. Molly held tight to her hand.
Wyatt had disappeared. Into the barn, she decided. She could hear him talking and heard a door shut with a thud. He walked back out, his hat pulled down to block the sun from his face. He had a bag of grain tossed over his shoulder, his biceps bulging.
She let the girls tug her hands to follow him. He stopped at a gate and unlatched it with his free hand. Cattle were at a trough, waiting. From outside the fence she watched him yank the string on the top of the bag and pour it down the length of the trough. He walked back with the empty bag. After closing the gate he tossed the bag into a nearby barrel.
And then he was staring at her. The hat shaded his face, but it definitely didnt hide the questions in his dark eyes. And she didnt have answers. What could she tell him, that her car suddenly had a mind of its own? But shed have to think of something because the girls were pulling her in his direction.
What are you up to today? He pulled off leather gloves and shoved them in the back pocket of his jeans.
She didnt have an answer. The girls were holding her hands and she was staring into the dark eyes of a man who had been hurt to the deepest level. And survived. Those eyes were staring her down, waiting for an answer.
She was on his territory. Shed never felt it more than at that moment, that territorial edge of his. He protected the ones he loved.
I saw the girls and I realized you might not know about our church picnic Wednesday evening. Instead of our normal service, were roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.
It wasnt a lie, she had forgotten to remind him. He seemed to need reminding from time to time. He had a degree in ministry and yet church seemed to be something he forced himself to do. She got that. She had done her share of avoiding church, too.
Hed actually been in youth ministry until eighteen months ago.
Sounds like fun. He glanced at his watch.
I should go. Listen, if you need anything, any more help around here
Right, Ill let you know.
She should have known better than to think hed want to talk. A momentary glitch in her good sense had made her believe that he might want a friend. But then, he probably had friends. Hed grown up here.
See you two Wednesday. Time to walk away.
Kat grabbed her hand. Come and see my frog.
Kat, you dont have a frog. Wyatt reached for her but Kat pulled Rachel the other direction and two-year-olds were pretty strong when they had their mind set on something.
I have a frog. She didnt let go and Rachel didnt have the heart to tell her no. She went willingly in the direction of an old log.
Is that where your frog lives?
There are millions of frogs. Kat dropped to her knees and pushed the chunk of wood. Sure enough, little frogs hopped out. Actually, they were baby toads. She didnt correct the toddler.
Wow, Kat, there are a bunch of them. Rachel kneeled next to the child. Do you have names for them?
Kat nodded. But I dont member.
I think theyre beautiful. I bet they like living under this log.
Kat nodded, her eyes were big and curls hung in her eyes. Rachel pushed the hair back from the childs face and Kat smiled. A shadow loomed over them. Kat glanced up and Rachel turned to look up at Wyatt. He was smiling down at his daughter. The smile didnt include Rachel.
He had a toe-curling smile, though, and she wanted her toes to curl. Which was really just plain wrong.
Kat, we have to go, honey. He got hold of Mollys hand. I have to finish feeding and you two need to be getting ready to jump in the truck.
Were getting a pony. Kat patted Rachels cheek with a dirty hand that had just released a toad back to its home under the log.
Are you? She looked up and Wyatt shook his head.
Were picking up a bull.
I see. Rachel stood and dusted off her jeans. I could stay here with them, Wyatt.
She had offered the other day and hed said no, so why in the world was she offering again? Oh, right, because she loved, loved, loved rejection. And to make it better, she loved that look on his face when his eyes narrowed and he looked at her as if she had really fallen off the proverbial turnip truck.
He took in a breath and she wondered why it was so hard for him to leave them. No, they can go with me.
But we could stay, and Miss Rachel could help us draw pictures. Molly bit down on rosy lips and big tears welled up in her eyes. I always get carsick.
Im sorry, I shouldnt have said anything.
Thats a thought. Wyatt picked up his little girl. Molly, youre going with me.
She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
Ill see you later. Rachel brushed a hand down Mollys little back.
Yes, driving up here had been the wrong thing to do. She leaned to kiss Kats cheek and then she walked away. She had a life. She had things to do today. She definitely didnt need to get tied up in the heartache that was Wyatt Johnsons life.
She made it to her car without looking back.
Wyatt put Molly down and he held tight to Kats hand because he had a feeling that if he let go, she was going to run after Rachel. Molly was looking up at him, as if she was wondering why in the world he wasnt the one running after her new favorite person.
He needed this as much has he needed to hit his thumb with a hammer. If God would give him a break, hed get the hammer and hit his thumb twice.
He wasnt going to run after a woman, not one who made more trouble in his life. And thats what she was doing. She was causing him a lot of trouble. She was upsetting the organized chaos of his life with her sunny personality and cute little songs.
She was getting in her car and Kat was next to him, begging him to stop her. He stared at the preachers daughter in jean shorts and a T-shirt. Not for himself, for Kat. Man, he didnt need this. He let go of his daughters hand and went after Rachel. Yelling when she started her car. Waving for her to stop when she put it in reverse.
The radio was blasting from the convertible. She loved music. He shook his head because today she was listening to Taylor Swift and a song about teen romance gone wrong. He really didnt need this.
She had stopped and she turned the radio down and waited for him to get to her. This was proof that hed do anything for his girls. Hed even put up with Miss Merry Sunshine for a couple of hours if it made Molly and Kat smile.
When he reached the car she turned and lifted her sunglasses, pushing them on top of her head. He realized that her eyes were darker than hed thought, and bigger. They were soft and asked questions.
The girls really want you to go with us. I thought it might help. Theyll be bored if this takes too long.
She just stared at him.
Ill pay you, he offered with a shrug that he hoped was casual and not as pathetic as he imagined.
She laughed and the sound went through him. Pay me?
For watching them.
She was going to make him beg. He shoved his hat down a little tighter on his head and then loosened it.
You dont have to pay me. It would be kind of fun to see that bull. Is it one theyll use for bull riding?
Yeah, probably.
Fun. Where should I park?
He pointed to the carport near the barn. Thatll keep it a little cooler. I have to finish feeding and the girls have to get dressed.
Can I help?
Hadnt she helped enough?
No, I can do it. He walked away because it was a lot easier than staying there to answer more of her questions. He knew it probably seemed rude, but she didnt have a clue.
She didnt know that he was rebuilding his family and that it took every bit of energy he had. Everything he had went to his girls, into making them smile and making their lives stable.
As he walked into the barn he glanced back. She leaned to talk to Kat. Curls fell forward, framing her face, but a hand came up to push her hair back. She smiled and leaned to kiss his daughter on the cheek. And then the three of them, Rachel, Kat and Molly, headed into the house.
He walked into the shadowy interior of the barn and flipped on a light. He breathed in the familiar scents. Cows, horses, hay and leather. He could deal with this. He couldnt deal with Mary Poppins.
Chapter Three
If it hadnt been for Kat and Molly she wouldnt have climbed into this truck and taken a ride with Wyatt. But the girls, with their sweet smiles and tight hugs, they were what mattered. Little girls should never hurt. They shouldnt hide their pain in cheesecake or think their self-worth depended on the brand and size of their jeans.
Oh, wait, that had been her, her childhood, her pain.
You arent carsick, are you? Wyatts voice was soft, a little teasing. Yummier than cheesecake. And she hadnt had cheesecake in forever.
She glanced his way and smiled. I dont get carsick.
Good to know. The girls do. Not on roads like this, fortunately.
We keep a trash can back here. Molly informed her with the voice of young authority. Rachel heard the tap, tap of a tiny foot on plastic.
She looked over her shoulder at the two little girls on the bench seat behind her. Kats eyes were a little droopy and she nodded, her head sagging and then bouncing up. Molly looked as if she had a lot more to say but she was holding back.
Poor baby girls. Wyatt loved them, but there was an empty space in their lives that a mom should have filled. And they wouldnt even have memories of her as they grew older. They would have pictures and stories their dad told.
If he told stories. She chanced a quick glance in his direction and thought he probably didnt tell stories about the wife hed lost. He probably had a boat load of memories he wished he could lose.
Here we are. He flipped on the turn signal and smiled at her as he pulled into a gated driveway. Can you pull through and Ill open the gate?
I can open the gate. She reached for the door handle and opened it, ignoring his protests. It was a lot easier to be outside away from him. A soft breeze blew in warm spring air and she could hear cattle at a nearby dairy farm.
She loved Oklahoma. Growing up shed lived just about everywhere, but mostly in bigger towns and cities. Shed never felt like she belonged. Maybe because she had always been the pastors kid, poor in wealthy subdivisions, trying to fit in. Or maybe because deep down shed always wanted to be a country girl.
She had wanted to jump out of trucks and open gates. She had studied about sheep, wool and gardening. Pitiful as it sounded, shed watched so many episodes of The Waltons, she could quote lines. She couldnt think about it now without smiling.
The truck eased through the gate and stopped. She pushed the gate closed and latched the chain. When she climbed back into the truck, Wyatt wasnt smiling.
I said Id get it. He shifted into gear and the truck eased forward again.
I dont mind.
No, you dont.
Oh, no, he hadnt! She shot him a look. Im not five. I dont mind opening gates. I really dont have to mind you.
His brows went up. He reached for the hat hed set on the seat next to him and pushed it back on his head. The chicken wasnt going to comment. She glanced back at the girls and smiled. Kat was sleeping. Molly stared out the window, her eyelids drooping.
Wyatt parked next to the barn, still silent. But when she glanced his way, she saw the smile. It barely lifted the corners of his mouth, but it was there.
This shouldnt take long. He opened his door and paused. I think you and the girls can get out and look around.
Thanks, well do that. If you think I can handle it. After all, Im five.
Youre not five. Youre just He shook his head and got out of the truck. He didnt say anything else. He opened the back door of the truck and motioned for the girls to get out. He set each of them on the ground and then glanced back in at her. Getting out?
Yeah, Im getting out.
Shed been crazy to stop at his house. She was still trying to figure it out. He smiled at something Kat said. Oh, thats right, now she remembered. It was that smile. She wanted him to smile like that at her.
Wyatt, good to see you.
She turned to face the man whod spoken. He stood outside the barn and everything about him said rancher. From his dusty boots to his threadbare jeans, he was a cowboy. His skin was worn and suntanned, making deeper lines around his mouth and crinkles at his eyes. His hair was sun-streaked brown. He winked at her.
Jackson, Im surprised to see you here. I thought your brother was meeting me. Wyatt stepped toward the other man, hand extended.
Yeah, hes at the bank. You know, hes Mr. Work-aholic.
Got it. So what are you doing these days?
Oh, trying to stay away from trouble. But most of the time, trouble just seems to find me. He smiled at Rachel. Hi there, Trouble.
Heat climbed her cheeks.
Jackson Cooper, meet Rachel Waters. Her father is the pastor of the Dawson Community Church.
If Wyatt had used that introduction to put the other man in his place, Jackson Cooper didnt look at all embarrassed. If our pastors daughter looked like you, I might just get right with God.
Wyatt wasnt smiling. Okay, lets look at the bull.
You gonna ride him? Jackson laughed.
I doubt it.
Chicken? Jackson Cooper obviously didnt know about backing down. She thought it might be a family trait; not backing down. She had heard about the Coopers. There were about a dozen of them: biological and adopted.
Nope, just smarter than I used to be. I havent been on a bull in a half-dozen years and I dont plan on starting again.
Theres a lot more money in it these days, Jackson continued, his smile still in place.
Plenty of money in raising them, too. Wyatt turned to his daughters. You girls stay with Rachel and Ill be back in a few minutes.
The men left them and Rachel smiled down at the girls. I think we should make clover chains.
One last glance over her shoulder. Wyatt picked that moment to stop and watch them, to watch his girls. Rachel turned away.
Nice bull. Young, but definitely worth the money the Coopers were asking. Wyatt watched the young animal walk around the corral. He was part Brahma, long and rangy with short legs. Hed been used in local rodeos last year and was already on the roster for some bigger events.
Want me to get a bull rope and chaps? Jackson leaned over the corral, a piece of straw in his mouth.
No, I think we know what hell do. And we know where you live if he doesnt.
Hell go out of the chute to the right for about four spins and then switch back and spin left. Hes got a belly roll you wont believe.
Your brother, Blake, told Ryder that he isnt mean. Wyatt continued to watch the bull. The animal pushed at an old tire and then stomped the dusty ground.
Hes never hurt anyone. But hes a bull, Wyatt. Theyre unpredictable, we both know that.
Yeah, I know we do. Theyd lost a friend years ago. Theyd been teenagers riding in junior events when Jimmy got killed at a local event.
That was a rough one, wasnt it? Jacksons sister had dated Jimmy.
Yeah, it was rough. He brushed away the memories. Do I write you a check?
Sure. So, is she your nanny? Jackson nodded in the direction of Rachel Waters. She was in the large yard and the girls were with her. They were picking clover and Rachel slipped a chain of flowers over Mollys head.
Wendy should have been there, doing those things with their daughters. He let out a sigh and refocused on the bull. It took a minute to get his thoughts back on track. Jackson didnt say anything.
No, she isnt. Wyatt pulled the checkbook out of his back pocket. I like the bull, Jackson. I dont like your price.
Jackson laughed. Well, now, Wyatt, I dont know that I care if you like my price or not.
He isnt worth it and you know it.
So what do you think would make him worth it? Jacksons smile disappeared. Yeah, that was the way to wipe good-natured off a guys face, through his bank account.
Ive been thinking of adding Cooper Quarter Horses to our breeding program. Id like one of your fillies. His gaze swept the field and landed on a small herd of horses. One stuck out, but it wasnt quite what hed planned to ask for. And that pony.
You want a pony. Shoot, Wyatt, Ill throw in the pony. Well have to talk about the horse, though. This bulls daddy was Bucking Bull of the Year two years in a row. He isnt a feedlot special.
Okay, lets talk. Wyatt let his gaze slide to where the girls were still playing with Rachel. Kat was sitting on the grass, a big old collie next to her. Molly and Rachel were spinning in circles.
They needed her. The thought settled so deep inside of him that it ached. His girls needed Rachel. Maybe more than they needed him. He couldnt make chains with clover or even manage a decent braid in their hair.
Do you think shed go out with me? Jackson walked over to the gate and tugged it open. I mean, if youre not interested.
Im not interested. Wyatt walked through the gate, sidestepping a little snake that slid past. Im not interested, but I think maybe youre not her type. Shoot, Im probably not her type either.
Yeah, well, I always had this idea that when I settle down itd be with a woman like her, the kind that goes to church on Sundays and probably makes a mean roast. Jackson shot him a smile. Yeah, a guy would live right with a wife like her.
Right. Hed had enough of this talk. Lets take a look at the pony first. How old?
Ten. He was my nieces. But Tash is getting older and Greg bought her a bigger horse.
I dont want to take someones pony.
Hes just eating grass and getting fat.
Wyatt stopped in front of the paint pony. It was a pretty thing, brown and white spotted with a black mane and tail. The pony lifted its head from the clover that it was munching on and gave him a look.
He isnt mean?
Never seen him be mean.
Wyatt knew all about horse traders and lines like that. He wasnt about to take Jackson Coopers word for it. He patted the fat pony and leaned against him, holding his mane to keep him close.
Yeah, but I want a little more reassurance than that, Jackson. This is for my kids.
Jackson walked up and lifted a leg to settle it over the ponys back. His normal smile had disappeared and he was all serious. Wyatt, I might be a lot of things, but I can tell you this: I wouldnt get a kid hurt. This pony is the safest one youll find. I broke him myself and I wouldnt be afraid to let my own kids on him. If I had a kid.
Wyatt nodded and he didnt take his eyes off the pony. Even with part of Jacksons weight on his back, the little pony hadnt moved, hadnt been distracted from the clover he was tugging at. He didnt even startle when shouts from the gate meant that hed been spotted by the girls.
The girls were on the gate, standing midway up, waving. Rachel stood next to them, her smile as big as theirs. He wondered if she was still dreaming of having a pony someday? Hed known girls like her his whole life. Wannabe cowgirls. He used to like them. They were fun on a Friday night at a rodeo in Tulsa. They were easy to impress and soft to hold.
That had been a lifetime and another Wyatt Johnson ago. Before. His life fell into two slots. Before Wendy, and after. The first half had been full of hope and promise. The second was about getting it back.
He was just standing there, staring, when Jackson waved them into the field. They yelled and before Rachel could open the gate, they were running toward him. The little pony looked up, watching, dark ears pricked forward. Yeah, hed do for a first pony.
Rachel caught up with the girls halfway across the field and spoke to them. He watched them settle and reach for her hands. One on each side of her.
Jackson whistled and shook his head, laughing a little. Wyatt shot him a sideways glance and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Keep it to yourself, Jackson.
Im just saying
Yeah, I know what youre saying. He wasnt blind.
And then the girls were there, Rachel standing quietly behind them. They were all hands, reaching for the pony, saying it was the prettiest pony ever. Jackson Cooper looked as if he had created the thing himself and set it in front of them with a ribbon.
Be careful, girls. Rachel moved closer and her hand went out, reaching to brush through the ponys mane.
What do you think, girls? Would this be a good pony? Wyatt wanted to be the hero. Hed been fighting the pony conversation for a while. They were still little, still needed to be held and couldnt brush their teeth alone. Hed been on horses his entire life, but that was different. When it came to his girls, it was different.
Molly nodded. This is a perfect pony named Prince.
Actually, his name is Jackson grinned. His name is Prince.
Rachel smiled at him. Wyatt lifted his hat and settled it back in place. Well take him. And a filly.
Lets talk price. Jackson looped a bit of rope around the ponys neck. Can you girls lead Prince back to the barn so we can load him in the trailer?
Molly was nodding, her hands moving in anticipation, but Jackson handed the lead rope to Rachel. Wyatt started to tell them to be careful, but he clamped his mouth shut. He hadnt been real good at letting go lately. It wasnt easy, letting someone else take care of Molly and Kat. It wasnt easy watching them with someone who was not their mother.
But they needed this. They needed to let go of him once in a while.
His good intentions almost came undone when halfway to the gate Rachel stopped, picked up Molly and then Kat and placed them on the back of that pony. Kat was in front and Molly wrapped her arms around her sister. Rachel stood close to them.
Might as well breathe and let it go, Wyatt. Jackson laughed and slapped him on the back. Two things are going to happen. Theyre going to grow up, and that womans probably going to get under your skin.
Wyatt didnt smile. He watched as Rachel led the pony with his girls on it through the gate and then he settled his attention back on Jackson Cooper and the filly he wanted.
And he repeated to himself that Rachel Waters wasnt going to get under his skin.
Chapter Four
Stupid moment number twelve. Or maybe twelve thousand? Thats what Rachel thought of volunteering to ride along with Wyatt and the girls to get that bull. And it was even worse standing in the shade watching Wyatt unload the pony from the trailer. He had hauled the pony and his new filly home. Hed left the bull for Jackson Cooper to trailer for him.
The girls stood next to Rachel, waiting for their dad to give the all clear. They fidgeted in one spot because they knew better than to run at the pony.
Wyatt led the filly, a dark bay two-year-old, into the barn. The horse pranced alongside him, her black tail waving like a banner. The filly dipped her head a few times and whinnied to horses in the field who answered back with shrill whinnies to the new girl in town.
Wyatt walked out of the barn a few minutes later. The filly was still inside, her shrill whinny continued. Wyatt pulled off his hat and swiped his brow with his arm. The girls were tugging on Rachels hands, but she didnt let go. Somehow she managed to stand her ground.
He had told them to wait. She was more than willing to do what he asked. She was content to stay in one spot and watch as he stepped back into the trailer to retrieve the pony.
The second he stepped out of the trailer with the pony the girls started to jabber. Kat was pulling on her hand. Rachel leaned and picked the child up. When she looked up, Wyatt watched, his smile gone, his expression unreadable. He turned away and led the pony to the small corral next to the barn.
He closed the gate and tied the lead rope to the pole fence. Come on over.
She put down Kat and the girls ran toward him. He held up his hand and they slowed to a walk. Rachel followed because it was time to say goodbye. It had been a good day. The girls were wonderful. Wyatt was a wonderful dad who loved his daughters.
He probably thought Rachel could be a decent friend.
Shed had a lifetime of being the best friend, the girl that guys called when they wanted a pal to hang out with. Funny that when she lost weight all of those best friends started looking at her in a different way.
Wyatt untied the lead rope. If you want to hold her, Ill get the bridle and saddle.
I can do that. So much for the quick escape. She took the rope and their fingers touched. She looked up, into dark eyes that held hers for a long moment. She looked away, back to the girls. Things that were easy.
Kat and Molly had climbed up on the bottom pole of the fence. They reached through and little fingers found the ponys mane.
Ill be right back. Wyatt glanced from her to his daughters and then he walked away, disappearing through the side door of the barn.
And she should do the same. She should tell him she had things to do today. She needed to clean her room or weed the garden. There were plenty of things she could have been doing.
It might be a good idea for her to go home and spend time in prayer.
When he came back with the tiny saddle and bridle, she opened her mouth to explain that she should go. But he smiled and she stayed.
She stayed and held the little pony as Wyatt lifted Kat and Molly onto his back. They rode double the first time, so that neither of them could say they got to ride first. Rachel stood by the gate watching as he led them around the corral. Kat was shaking the reins she held in her little hands, trying to make the pony run. Molly had her arms wrapped around her sisters waist and her smile was huge.
Wyatt lifted Molly off the saddle and put his hat on Kats head. The black cowboy hat fell down over the childs eyes. She didnt mind. She had a pony.
Molly trudged across the arena and stopped next to Rachel. The little girl watched her sister ride the pony around the arena and as they got close, Molly started to bounce up and down.
Might want to stand still, sweetie. We dont want to startle the pony, Rachel warned.
Daddy said he didnt think a train going through would make him scared.
Hes a pretty special pony.
Molly looked up, her smile still splitting her little face. She nodded and continued to bounce as Wyatt headed their way with Kat in the saddle.
As he pulled one daughter down and lifted the other, Rachel stood close. I should go now. Thank you for letting me go with you today.
Wyatt took the hat off Kats head and placed it on Mollys. He turned to Rachel, his smile still in place. The hair at the crown of his head was flat from wearing the hat.
Thanks for going. Are you sure you dont want a turn? He teased with an Oklahoma drawl and a half smile.
No, I think probably not. My feet would drag on the ground and the poor pony would need a chiropractor.
I doubt that. He handed the reins to Molly. Hold tight, kiddo.
Have fun with the pony. Rachel leaned to kiss Kats cheek and she waved to Molly the cowgirl. See you at church Wednesday.
She turned to walk away, but Wyatt touched her arm, stopping her. She smiled because he looked as surprised as she did. His hand was still on her arm, warm and rough against her skin.
All joking aside, I really do appreciate you going with us today. I know the girls loved having you along.
She shrugged and his hand slid off her arm. I enjoyed it as much as they did.
And then she stood there, unmoving. The moment needed an escape route, the kind posted in hotel rooms. It should read: In case of emergency, exit here.
Wyatt remembered the Wednesday evening bonfire fifteen minutes before it started. He pulled into the parking lot of the church and the fire was already going, and people were gathered around in lawn chairs. He killed the engine on his truck and glanced in the backseat.
Oh, man, we really should have done something with your hair. But the girls hair had been the last thing on his mind as they rushed out the door.
Hed spent the day working the new bull, bringing it into the chute and bucking it out with a dummy on its back. He knew that it would buck, he just wanted to see for himself what theyd gotten themselves into. In the next week or two hed take him over to Clint Camerons and let some of the teens that hung out over there give him a try.
But the bull aside, hed also had to put out a fire in the kitchen. A cooking experiment had gone very wrong. Good thing hed remembered the Wednesday evening bonfire. He smiled at the girls. Both had dirty faces, pigtails that were coming undone and boots with their shorts. He was pretty sure this was a real fashion catastrophe.
At least they were at church. He got out and opened the back door for the girls. They clambered down from the truck, jumping off the running board and then heading off to join Rachel and the other kids.
She was the pied piper of girls, big and small. Teenagers followed her around, talking as she worked. Sometimes she gave them jobs to do. As he stared she glanced quickly in his direction.
.
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Brenda Minton
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Widower Wyatt Johnson brought his two little girls home to Dawson, Oklahoma, looking for a place to heal. The grief from his wife′s death still lingers, but it′s time to move on and try to live a simple life. He′s in for a surprise when he finds a lovely young nanny on his doorstep, ready to give him the help he won′t admit he needs. Now his life is far from simple, which may be a blessing in disguise.In Rachel Waters he finds a nurturing, vivacious woman whom his daughters adore. Together, Wyatt and Rachel can help each other realize that they′re deserving of laughter, friendshipand love.