“Did you hire people to help besides you and Daisy?” she asked as they drove past a pretty, rectangular log cabin painted a rustic white with a sign reading Guest Cafeteria. Picnic tables were out front.
“I have a good staff. For one, my grandparents’ old cook, Cowboy Joe, agreed to come back and take the job. No one makes better burgers or omelets or barbecue than him. He’s nearing seventy, but I hired him two helpers. The caf will be open from seven to eight thirty, twelve to one thirty, and five to six thirty for dinner. Cowboy Joe will handle breakfast and lunch, and Daisy wanted to take the dinner shift. She’s also the guest relations manager.”
“Perfect,” she said. “So you’ll focus on the ranch and she’ll focus on the guests.”
“Yup. I have a great team assembled—maintenance, housekeeping, cowboys and cowgirls. It’s a small staff, but we’re starting small. We’re having a final staff meeting before opening day on Thursday morning—you can come to that and we’ll get your role squared away beforehand. Memorial Day weekend and through the rest of next week, all six cabins are booked with a retreat. Something about getting your groove back.”
Sara smiled. “Really?”
He shrugged. “Some kind of female empowerment thing. It’s led by a life coach. She’s bringing her own protein shake mixes.”
Sara laughed. “Sounds great. And are there bookings beyond opening weekend?”
“Not all the cabins all the weeks or weekends, but so far, so good.”
“I’m really happy for you, Noah. Looks like the ranch will be a big success.”
“I hope so. I know a lot can go wrong.”
She glanced at him and saw for the first time the worry in his expression. Everything must be riding on the opening, she realized. His dreams and future. His siblings’ investment. What he wanted to carry on for his grandparents—and now even for his father.
As the main house where Noah grew up came into view, Sara’s jaw almost dropped. Once peeling with a rotting foundation, the white clapboard farmhouse looked pristine and gleaming as it stood in the sunshine, a white wood–fenced pasture beside it and several trails through the low and high grasslands leading into the woods about a hundred feet away. The guest cabins, which couldn’t be viewed from the dirt road that ended at the house, were between the foreman’s cabin and the creek, nestled privately in the woods. Given what the main house looked like, she knew the cabins had to be beautifully restored too.
“You’ve done wonders with the place,” she said. “And it’ll take off. I believe that.”
“Here’s hoping so,” he said, parking along the side of the house.
They headed up the porch steps, and he pulled open the screen door, Daisy coming over with Chance fast asleep in her arms.
“This guy got fussy a little while ago, so I walked around with him, rocking him a bit, and he fell back asleep. I couldn’t bear to put him down. He’s such a love bug.” She breathed in the baby shampoo scent of him. “Ahhh. I know being a mom twenty-four-seven like I’ll be in three months won’t be all rockabye and baby shampoo goodness, but I don’t care. I can’t wait!”
Sara laughed. “Know what you’re having?”
“I told the radiologist and my OB that I want to be surprised,” she said. “Which was a surprise in itself, given that I’ve had enough of the unexpected lately for a lifetime.”
Sara had a feeling Daisy was talking about the father of her baby, and she was so curious, but until her old friend wanted to tell, she wouldn’t ask.
“Where’s my baby girl—” Noah said and then froze and turned to Sara. “Sorry. I mean, where’s Annabel?” He smiled but looked so uncomfortable that suddenly Sara felt equally uncomfortable. How hard this must be for him, to have to step back from Annabel, to accept that she wasn’t his baby after all.
His phone rang, and he seemed relieved for the interruption. He read something on the little screen. “Oh man. I’ve actually got to run. Hermione—one of the alpine goats—escaped her corral, and Dylan, one of our cowboys, is having a hard time getting her back.”
Daisy laughed. “That Hermione is a wily one.”
“See you in a few,” Noah said, looking at his sister and then Sara before sprinting out.
“Annabel’s napping in the kitchen,” Daisy said. “I was just sitting at the table with the baby monitor on high volume making a list of all the things I’m going to need. Taking a peek inside the twins’ baby bag helped me a lot. Taking care of two babies must feel like a huge change from just one.”
“It is, but every time I look at Annabel, I almost can’t believe she’s real. That makes double the work a lot easier.” She smiled. “And yup, sure is a lot of stuff,” Sara said. “Of course for the past seven weeks, I didn’t know I’d need two of everything after all.”
Daisy shook her head. “I still can’t process what happened. My ex—” She bit her lip. “He was this and that, but I don’t think he’d ever do something like that. How could anyone?”
Sara felt her face fall. “It’s the scariest thing, Daisy. That I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But it turns out I made a deal with the devil.”
Daisy shook her head. “Don’t do that to yourself. I remember you telling me how special Willem made you feel, how listened to, how important. Plus, he was instrumental in getting your dad the best care, Sara. He pulled the wool over your eyes with who he was, but he did help with your dad, so there’s that. And there’s also something else.”
“The twins,” Sara said, knowing what Daisy was doing. Letting her take herself off the hook. She put a hand on her friend’s arm. “Thank you, Daisy.”
Sara followed her friend into the kitchen, struck, as always, by how much she and her brother looked alike. Daisy had lighter hair—hers was a beautiful honey-brown—but they had the same blue eyes and gorgeous features. Though two years older, Daisy had always been warm and kind to Sara. When Sara had gotten her period for the first time, and her mother had been gone a year and half prior, it was Daisy she’d gone to, all nervous and worried and thrilled.
It was also Daisy she’d gone to about her first kiss and first crush, admitting it was on her brother Noah, which worried Daisy to no end, and under “no circumstances are you allowed to let him kiss you, let alone touch a piece of your clothing!” Sara had said she could only half promise, given that she was in love and only thirteen and driven by hormones and the brain of a teenager. She and Noah had been best friends, but he’d refused to date her, saying he didn’t want to mess up the friendship, but she saw the girls he went for. C cups. High heels. Hips. She had none of those things. And then her father had told her they were moving when she was sixteen and that was that until Noah took a job as a cowboy on the new ranch her father managed and then moved there when he was eighteen. But he still wouldn’t mess with their friendship.
That had gone on for years, and their romance had only lasted six months. No matter how helpful he was to her now, she’d never trust Noah Dawson with her heart again.
Sara saw Annabel’s carrier on the floor by the window and rushed over, still amazed that she did have a daughter. The baby girl was sleeping and looked so peaceful. She’d made an appointment with a pediatrician in town for Annabel, but from what she could tell, the infant looked healthy.
“Coffee?” Daisy said, picking up the pot. “I was just about to pour myself a mug. It’s decaf, though.”
“I’d love some.”
Daisy poured and brought two mugs to the table and sat down. “You should have seen Noah with Annabel the past seven weeks. I knew Noah was capable of surprising me, but he shocked me. When I called my brothers to tell them, they didn’t believe it and thought I was exaggerating.”
Sara added cream and sugar and took a sip. “Exaggerating what?”
“His devotion to that baby. The note said she was his, and that was all he needed to know. He lo
ved Annabel from the minute he brought her inside, I think. You know how many times he watched a YouTube video about burping a newborn, how to position the bottle while feeding? Like twenty times. I went with him to the baby emporium in Prairie City, and he spent ten minutes picking out a wipes warmer.” She chuckled. “Noah Dawson walking around the ranch holding a baby in pink footie pajamas, introducing her to all the new animals. One time she fell asleep, and he shushed the goats.”
Again Sara wanted to smile and cry. “Our Noah Dawson. I wonder what happened to him.”
“I think the ranch did, Sara. He was the one of us who loved this place. He was the baby of the six of us and the Dawson kid who lived here his whole life. Our half brothers were whisked away by divorce and only came to visit. I don’t think it’s in their blood the way it is in Noah’s. And the letter our dad left him, wanting him to reopen the guest ranch? Something got fired up in him. Purpose. Legacy. A future.”
Sara nodded. She understood all that. What she would never understand was why she hadn’t been that for Noah when they’d been together. Maybe she was flattering herself or being whiny, but their friendship ran so deep and so long, and their attraction, which he’d denied both of them for years, had been crazy intense. But he’d let it all go.
Eh. Didn’t matter anymore. She wasn’t here to revisit their past or figure out the mind of Noah Dawson. She was here to get her life back, get back on her feet, be her own woman again. She’d save up and then she’d be on her way with her children, starting fresh.
“Did you and Noah figure out what your role will be on the ranch?” Daisy asked. “I’d love for you to help me out with the guests. Our first group is coming on Friday afternoon and staying the week. There are twelve of them sharing the six cabins. Each cabin can accommodate more people, but the group leader wanted each attendee to have a lot of space, mental and physical.”
“Ooh, the female empowerment group. Noah mentioned them.”
Daisy nodded. “The leader is a life coach. I might linger in the back of the room to eavesdrop on the sessions.”
“Me too. Female empowerment is exactly what I need right now.”
“Ditto,” Daisy said. “Big fat ditto.”
Sara took a sip of her coffee. “I just realized that Noah and I didn’t talk about any of the details of my employment at the ranch. Childcare issues and all that. He did say we’d work out the logistics before the staff meeting on Thursday, when he’d introduce me to everyone.”
“I’m sure he intends to be your childcare provider,” Daisy said. “And Mrs. Pickles is available. And me too whenever I can. I really do need the experience.”
“I feel really lucky,” Sara said, taking a sip of her coffee. “You Dawsons were always wonderful to me.”
“You’re like family,” Daisy said, touching Sara’s hand.
“You’re going to make me cry.” She blinked back being such an emotional hormonal mess, but she was too touched and her eyes welled. “Did Noah tell you about your dad leaving me the garden plot my mom built behind the foreman’s cabin?”
“Another thing my brothers and I couldn’t believe,” Daisy said. “The thoughtfulness involved in that. Just when you think someone doesn’t care about a damned thing, including himself and his kids, he stuns us all with handwritten letters.”
“You liked the letter he left you?” she dared probe.
Daisy seemed lost in thought for a moment. “It touched me. And I really fought it. But yeah, it touched me. I’m not really ready to talk about it, though.”
Sara nodded. “Totally understand.”
The screen door opened and there was Noah, and the sight of him almost had Sara blushing. He was just so intensely sexy. Without remotely trying. He had that tall, lanky, muscular physique, the low-slung dark jeans and dusty boots, the brown Stetson. And that face that she’d loved since she was so young, the star of her nightly dreams and fantasies.
The man who’d taken care of a baby girl left on his porch in the middle of the night. Who’d watched videos on burping and shushed noisy goats so she could nap while he walked her around the barn.
That old stirring ignited deep inside her, and she tried to toss some cold water on it from the bitter part of her heart, but then Noah came over and knelt down in front of the carriers, touching a finger to Annabel’s cheek and then Chance’s.
“How are these little rabble-rousers?” he asked, his expression so tender.
I. Cannot. Like. You. That. Way, she told herself. Cannot.
Heaven help her.
Chapter Five
“Wait,” Sara said, putting her suitcases beside the bed in Noah’s guest room, which would now be her bedroom. “This is your office.”
“Not anymore.” Noah took the big empty box in his hand and filled it with the contents of the desk by the window, then took the bulletin board off the wall and tucked it under his arm. The room had never felt like an office, and though he stored paperwork here, he didn’t like to sit at the desk. He preferred the kitchen table with a view of the barn and Bolt’s head poking out of her corral, which also afforded a view of the main drive up from the gates. He also liked to work in a corner of the living room with a view of the wilderness and a winding trail that led up to the main house. “Now it’s your room.”
“I don’t want to displace you,” she said. “We can move the bed into the nursery. The babies don’t need their own room, really.”
“Yes, they do. Because as you know, taking care of a baby is exhausting and you need your own space, a door to close.”
She shot him an appreciative smile. “How’d you get anything done when it was just you and Annabel here?”
“I took her with me everywhere. In the ole Snugli. If I couldn’t, Daisy or Mrs. Pickles would watch her for me. The crew I hired did the heavy lifting when it came to renovating. I directed.”
She grinned. “I can just see you, telling the crew what to do with a pink-outfitted baby strapped on your chest.”
“Hey, two of them were dads themselves. They high-fived me every day about it.”
She bit her lip and turned away.
Uh-oh. What had he said? “Sara?”
She dropped down on the bed. “Just waiting for the other shoe to drop, maybe. This all seems too easy, Noah. Things falling into place for me—first with reuniting with Annabel and having her safe and sound. Getting just the right job and place to live. You—my new boss, by the way—being this new person.”
He got it. Her trust in everything had been shattered.
“You know what you need?” he asked.
She tilted her head. “What?”
“Some time to put your feet up and relax. Come down when you’re hungry.”
She raised an eyebrow, and he realized he was pushing it, being too much the host when she expected very little from him.
Which hurt, he also understood. He’d show her who he was.
Or not, actually. His entire focus could now be on the ranch. For the past seven weeks, he’d had no idea how he was going to get everything done for opening weekend, the most important weekend of his life, with a baby in tow. But he had. Thanks to a solid team, thanks to Daisy, thanks to him caring about both the baby and the ranch more than he’d ever cared about anything.
Except Sara. And he couldn’t let his residual feelings for her, which he’d been trying to tamp down since she’d stormed the drive in that Range Rover, get him distracted. The Dawson Family Guest Ranch wasn’t just about him; his siblings had invested in the place. They’d entrusted him with their money and their faith, and he would not let them down. Or himself.
Just about two months ago, Annabel had been added to that list. But now he had to take her off—somehow. She wasn’t his baby, and Sara wasn’t going to stay here forever.
The real problem was that he couldn’t imagine ever crossing Annabel off th
e list. Granted, it had been only hours since he learned the truth that he wasn’t the baby’s father. But inside, he was. And always would be.
* * *
A cry, slightly different than Chance’s, came from the nursery across the hall of the foreman’s cabin. Annabel. Sara’s heart leaped, and she bolted out of bed with a glance at the clock—1:14 a.m.
Her first middle-of-the-night wake-up from the baby girl she thought she’d lost. She’d never been so happy to be pulled out of bed in her entire life.
I’m coming, sweetheart, she thought as she hurried across the hall into the nursery. Your mommy’s coming and will never let anything happen to you again. Ever.
She stopped in her tracks in the doorway. A half-naked Noah sat in the glider by the window, Annabel nestled in his arms, the moonlight a soft glow around them. He was so focused on the story he was telling the baby that he didn’t even seem to realize Sara was there.
“And then Hermione ran and ran and ran,” Noah said, “and poor Dylan—he’s one of our cowboys—tried every trick to get the black-and-white goat to come back. The main trick is to actually let the goat chase you. Yup, just start running in the direction you want Goaty to go and wham—back in her corral.”
“Is that what happened?” Sara interrupted with a smile as she stepped into the room.
Noah looked up at her, his gaze lingering a beat longer than it normally might and she realized she was wearing her skimpy pajamas—a Wyoming Wildcats T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants with a heavenly stretchy waistline. No bra, and motherhood had done wonders with typically B-cup breasts.
He cleared his throat and smiled at her. “Hermione is especially strong-willed. She wanted the high grass on the far side of the field by the fence, so Dylan had to wait until she was ready to play chase.” He frowned suddenly and carefully stood up, glancing down at Annabel, whose eyes were drooping. “I’m so used to rushing in at her every cry. I should have let you take care of it. Sorry.”
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