Rocky Mountain Forever: Six Pack Ranch: Book 12

by Arend, Vivian

  Becky blinked back tears. “I didn’t want to cry anymore,” she complained.

  Lee was there, infant son braced on his arm. He also offered a kiss to both the baby and Becky. “I don’t see any tears,” he assured her. “Look, Liam. Another pretty baby.”

  Liam twisted his head, looking at the newborn and at his baby sister in his mom’s arms. “B’bies?”

  “Yes. This one is Auntie Becky and Uncle Trevor’s.”

  Pudgy little fingers reached forward before jerking back partway. “Gen’tle.”

  Laughter swelled as more people joined them.

  “Yes. We have to be gentle with babies.” Becky looked up to see her mother-in-law, Kate, paused beside the edge of the bed with one hand pressed over her chest. “Look at you. Look at this precious little bit of perfection.”

  Trevor’s dad, Randy, stepped into view behind her, arm sliding around her shoulders. “You grow good crops when you start with good seed. Ouch.”

  Kate shook out her fingers after having slapped his arm, but she twisted with a smile. “Hold off with your ranch parables. This is all Trevor and Becky’s doing.”

  “All Becky.” Trevor was there, easing beside her. He rested on the edge of the bed as he tucked his arm around her and laid a hand over their little girl’s body. His hand was so big, fingers callused from years of hard labour, yet Becky knew that he would never be anything but gentle with their child.

  He was never anything but gentle with her, and Becky’s heart filled.

  The room grew busier as the oldest children of the Moonshine clan arrived. Steve with two-year-old Jason in his arms. Melody’s baby belly was bigger than the last time Becky had seen her.

  Trevor’s only sister, Anna, her belly a near match for Melody’s, leaned back against her husband, Mitch, their two-year-old girl, Kasey, resting easily on her hip. “So. We’re all here and suitably delighted with your little girl’s arrival.”

  Lee spoke softly. “Trev? You going to let us know what you’re calling her?”

  Becky met Trevor’s gaze. This man had been her savior in spite of herself. A man who had never thought himself worthy or able to be anyone’s hero, but who had turned out to be the only one who was absolutely everything she needed. “Her name is Arabella.”

  “Beautiful lioness,” Trevor added, his gaze falling to their daughter. “Because we’ll teach her to be beautiful inside and out—it’ll probably come naturally because she’ll take after her mama. But she’s also going to be strong like a lion. Able to take on the world and care for herself and everyone around her.” Then he lowered his voice, just for Becky’s ears. “Also like her mama.”

  That was it. The fight against tears was a battle she could no longer win. “I love you,” she choked out before burying her face against his neck.

  The family reacted like usual, going on about their business as if there wasn’t a blubbering woman in their midst. It gave Becky time to pull herself together.

  Somewhere in there, Arabella got passed around to be greeted by everyone in the family. Kisses from cousins, aunts and uncles, and her adoring Grandma and Grampa, Kate snapping pictures.

  Becky thought about the Coleman memory book that was being put together and wondered how to wrap up something as rich and full as what she felt at that moment and put it into words.

  Impossible.

  And yet, out there, waiting for more conversation, was a man she had known for a brief time who had impacted her world beyond imagining. Mark was a memory, but so much more.

  Maybe family memories weren’t only a snapshot of this moment or that. Perhaps it was somehow about how each tiny bit of family built on what had come before.

  Becky’s gaze met Trevor’s across the room as he finished taking Arabella back from his father.

  The bed dipped beside her, and Becky glanced over to discover Rachel resting on an elbow, smiling like the Cheshire cat. “You done good, sweetie. I’m looking forward to raising our babies together.”

  Becky nodded, smiling through the tears. “That’s the best part of this. The love’s just going to keep growing and growing, isn’t it?”

  Rachel blinked back a few tears of her own. “Pretty much. And we wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  Coleman Memory Book

  ~Lee & Rachel (Moonshine) Coleman~

  ~Lee~

  Winter in Alberta triggers a million memories all by itself. Snow caves, ATVs stuck in the drifts. Freezing cold fingers. Hot Chinook winds that unexpectedly melted the snow base and left our skidoos stranded. It took forever to walk home, our feet soggy messes by the end of it. The Coleman land is pretty big, and there’s a lot of nooks and crannies to get lost in.

  But the winter memory that hits the deepest is from when I was about ten. Mom had made us drinks, and all of us sat by the fire, the wind howling outside the windows. We were trapped for three days. Other than chores in the nearest barn, we didn’t leave the house. Didn’t see or hear from anyone.

  Trevor cheated at Monopoly every time Anna didn’t watch close enough. Steve practiced the same damn song over and over on the guitar. I’m sure I did something annoying in retaliation.

  Mom and Dad sat in the love seat and held hands as they stared at the storm whirling outside. They were so connected that, as a kid, it made me feel safe. The world might disappear, but they would never change or leave us.

  I learned a lot watching them. I’m still learning from them.

  [Images of snowy winter scenes. A snow drift piled higher than the man door of the barn. Four children in snowsuits, grinning. Three lopsided snowmen with two adults standing between them and pretending to also be snowmen. The man wore a top hat, the woman a scarf, both with arms held out as if they were branches, carrots poking forward from their mouths.]

  ~Rachel~

  I guess I have a winter memory as well.

  Getting stuck in a cabin with Lee was a game changer. It’s funny, because I went there alone to put aside a bunch of sadness in my life, but if I’d had that cabin all to myself, I don’t think it really would’ve happened.

  I learned that sad memories aren’t things that you can burn up, or drink away, or shove aside and not deal with. Sometimes you need to face them, but I think mostly you need to have something new to fill the aching hole in your soul.

  That’s the biggest memory I have regarding coming into the Coleman family. Sometimes love comes when you don’t expect, from the direction you least expect.

  From whom you least expect.

  11

  They’d made good time. Dana Coleman smiled as her daughter-in-law Laurel pulled into the yard outside Becky and Trevor’s house.

  “There’s a big truck in the yard,” Laurel noted. “But not Trevor’s. I wonder if he’s home?”

  Dana laughed. “You know that doesn’t mean anything. That boy still offers his truck to everyone and anyone.”

  “True.”

  Dana pointed toward the open spot with a cleared path through the snow to the front door. “If Becky’s here, she can tell us where to put things. If she’s not, we’ll do what we can to unpack the groceries we brought her so things are out of the way.”

  “If you get the door, I’ll grab the first bags,” Laurel offered.

  It was slick underfoot, but Dana made her way to the front porch with no problem. Her other daughter-in-law, Allison, had given her a new pair of boots with some magical material on the sole that made her footing solid enough Dana could skip over ice if she wanted to.

  Not that she wanted to. In fact, this year’s winter could be over sooner than later, Dana decided. Although she knew better than to voice that opinion out loud, in March, in Alberta. If history was anything to go by, they could have snow all the way up until June, especially if anybody complained that it had been a long, hard winter.

  She cracked open the door and offered a cheery hello, not really expecting a response. “Becky? It’s Auntie Dana. We’ve got the stuff you asked for from the Costco run.”r />
  When nothing but silence echoed back, Dana slipped off her boots and got ready to transfer the bags from the front door into the kitchen.

  “Dana?”

  She jerked to attention so hard, one sock-covered foot slid to the side, sending her off-balance.

  A moment later, strong arms caught her before she could lose her dignity and land on the floor in a heap. Strong, masculine arms—not ones that belonged to her nephew.

  She glanced up into blue eyes, and the world stuttered to a stop.

  An older man cradled her carefully, her age or thereabouts, his features declaring he was Coleman plain as day. Each of the brothers had the unique twist of them. Kate had always teased it was their personalities coming out—

  Mike was serious yet kind. The type of man you willingly told your troubles to, and if he couldn’t solve them immediately, he’d sympathize and do his damnedest to make things right.

  Randy was the Coleman peacemaker, with laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and scars on his knuckles, because if he couldn’t jokingly convince others he was right, he’d pick a fight and convince them that way.

  Ben—the Coleman brother who’d been hers—had been grumpy around everyone else, but in the early days, he’d had a sharp wit and a clever eye and a wry way of saying things that always made her laugh.

  The man standing in front of her now, the brother she hadn’t seen in too many years to count, was the one with mystery in his expression. Even when they’d been friends at school, he’d always seemed to have something he wasn’t quite saying.

  “Mark?”

  He was tall—taller than she remembered to be honest. The years that had passed had written themselves onto his face the same as changes had come to her. Lines at the corners of his eyes, but still a strong jaw, firm lips.

  Strong muscles flexed under his shirt as he helped her find her balance then stepped away.

  Good grief, she’d been draped there in his arms like some damsel in distress the entire time she’d been ogling him. Still, her brain hadn’t quite come online yet.

  “What’re you doing here?” If the words came out a little harsh, he didn’t seem to notice.

  “I’ve come home.”

  His gaze was eating her up, and a wicked flutter kicked into gear in her gut that made her feel far too light-headed to be safe.

  “This isn’t your home.” Dana slapped a hand over her mouth before meeting his eyes and adjusting her tone. “I’m sorry. That was terribly rude, but you surprised me.”

  “No. You’re right. I might own the house, but this isn’t my home.”

  The door swung open behind her, cold air rushing into the front hall. Laurel jerked to a stop, shopping bags dangling from her fingers. “Oh. Hello.”

  Dana pulled herself together rapidly. “I’ll take them from here. You go and get the rest,” she ordered without giving Laurel time to do so much as blink as she scooped the bags from her hands.

  Her daughter-in-law glanced at her before slowly heading back outside.

  Dana turned, intending to ignore Mark and get on with the job. “I need to put a few things away. You can tell Becky that I was here.”

  “She and Trevor are at the hospital,” Mark informed her.

  Delight bubbled up, and Dana paused, forgetting herself and grinning at Mark. “The baby?”

  “Haven’t heard anything yet, but I imagine the Coleman gossip chain will deliver news as there’s any to share.”

  The fact he knew that—

  Mark was such a part of the family, and yet he hadn’t been here.

  Anger rushed in hard on the heels of the other rioting emotions and unanswered questions she had. Just because he hadn’t been there didn’t mean he hadn’t been the topic of conversation more times than she could remember. Which had been wonderful and terrible and downright confusing. “So, you’ve come to say hello to the baby? When are you leaving?”

  “Trying to get rid of me?”

  Dana made room in the fridge for a block of cheese, which allowed her to keep her back toward Mark. “None of my business if you come or go. Just making conversation.”

  The front door opened, and Laurel’s call cut off anything Mark was going to say. “One more load to grab, Mom. You got everything under control here?”

  Mark took a step toward the front hall.

  Dear God, don’t let Mark say anything in front of her daughter-in-law. Not until—

  Dana all but sprinted to cut him off, slowing the instant she was past him. “I’m good. This won’t take long.”

  Laurel took another inquisitive glance between her and Mark before reluctantly disappearing outside the door one last time.

  Moving as quickly as she could, Dana unloaded the next two bags of groceries before Mark stepped closer. “Dana. Tell me I can turn back the hands of the clock. Tell me how to make up for not being here all those years.”

  Dana looked at him. Really looked.

  He was handsome, but sadness also marked his face, something that had rarely been there when they’d been friends so long ago. He’d been full of laughter and excitement during the years they’d shared at school.

  But it had been years, and he had left—and while he’d been gone, the Coleman family had dealt with many things. So much sadness, so much loss.

  Dana choked back the pain swirling inside and stuck to the basics. “You’re family. You should’ve been here, but you weren’t. That was your choice. But if you want to be here now, I suppose you’ll have to put in the time. Eventually people will get used to you being around again. I don’t know for sure.”

  Her own heart had been broken more than once, and to have this reminder from her past waltzing in—

  She was simultaneously curious and angry and sad and flustered, and none of it made sense.

  She must’ve been staring, because he was suddenly there, right in her space. He tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted until her eyes met his. “Tell me I have a chance.”

  Confusion swept in. “A chance…at what?”

  “Forever. With the woman I love.”

  What? A sharp laugh burst from her. “Love? What are you talking about? Who?”

  “You, Dana. I want to be with you. I’ve loved you forever.”

  Never in a million years could she have imagined this. Speaking instead of simply sputtering was almost impossible. “We were never more than friends. It’s been ages since we’ve even seen each other. I was married! You can’t just go tossing off words like that—”

  “It’s what I feel, and I refuse to call it anything else.” Mark stepped back, his hand falling to his side. “I took the coward’s way once, walking away because it was the only option I had. But I won’t leave again. And you can correct my words all you want, but you can’t change what’s inside my heart.”

  “Mark.” Dana hadn’t felt this conflicted in forever.

  She’d loved Ben, and then she’d hated what life had turned him into. But even during the toughest times toward the end, she’d still felt deep emotion for the man he had once been.

  Maybe Mark did feel something, in spite of it having been so long since they’d even seen each other. But for him to come marching in and toss around a word like love—

  It was too much, and too soon, and way too unexpected. She shook her head. “I can’t deal with this. I need time. I need to think, and I need to—”

  “Of course, you do,” Mark agreed. “I’ll give it to you. Time, at least a bit more. But I am back in Rocky, Dana. I’ve come to rejoin the family. I know that’s going to take more than a little work, but I’m ready for it.”

  Incredible.

  His smile grew, and her heart began pounding.

  He spoke again, and there was laughter in his words. “I learned a lot during my years away about working hard and being successful. Just so you know, I totally plan to find a way to win you to my side.”

  It was his amusement that got her back up. “If I decide I want to see you as anyth
ing other than a distant family member, I’ll tell you.” Her shock was bubbling now into a nice hot rage. “I can’t believe you expected to come in here and order me around. I’m not some submissive little thing. I’m still figuring out exactly what I want—”

  “That’s going to be me,” Mark promised. “The what you want part.”

  Her cheeks had to be bright red, they were so flaming hot. “That’s pretty cocky talk.”

  “Confidence. I seem to remember you liked that in a man.”

  He stepped around her and took the final package from Laurel as she raced through the front door.

  The young woman had obviously been running. Now she glanced back and forth between the two of them. “Anything I need to do?”

  “We’re done,” Dana told her. “See you around, Mark.”

  “See you,” he echoed, but there seemed to be volumes of warning in that comment.

  It was only a short drive back to the house Dana shared with her son and daughter-in-law. Laurel’s gaze darted to the side over and over, and in spite of the mass of confusion, anger, and everything else Mark’s arrival had triggered, Dana found herself amused enough to hide a smile. Her daughter-in-law had to be wildly curious at the moment but was stifling her million questions rather handily.

  Or mostly stifling them.

  “That’s the missing uncle? The one who left all those years ago?”

  “Mark. Yes. I guess Becky’s having her baby, and he’s come out to…” Dana lost the flow of her thought for a moment.

  He’s come for me wasn’t remotely on the list of things she was about to say. But that’s what he said he was there to do.

  Dear Lord.

  She forced herself to smile at her daughter-in-law. “He’s come for a visit. Which is going to be interesting.”

  “Sounds kind of like that Chinese curse—may you live in interesting times,” Laurel said dryly.

  Oh, boy. “Pretty much exactly like that,” Dana agreed.

  What was a woman supposed to do with the knowledge that, after thirty-five years, one of her classmates and the younger brother of the man she’d been married to for ages, claimed to love her?