Twins for the Rancher

by Trish Milburn

  The wide smile that spread across his face filled her heart with something it hadn’t felt in a while—hope.

  * * *

  LAUREN FINISHED BUNDLING Bethany in her little red outfit that sported dancing reindeer across the front and then gave her a gentle tap on the end of her nose, making her daughter laugh. Spurred by her sister’s giggles, Harper—wearing a similar green outfit with dancing candy canes—joined in.

  “They sound as if they’re ready for a night on the town,” Violet said.

  “If only their mom could be as carefree.” Lauren placed a hand against her unsettled stomach. “Am I making a mistake dating so soon?”

  “It’s not that soon.”

  “Still.”

  “Has Adam said or done anything suspicious? Remotely Phil-like?”

  “No.”

  “Then why would it be a mistake?”

  “Lots of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that my plate is already full. Beyond full.”

  “You, of all people, should know there’s always room for dessert.”

  Lauren’s cheeks heated at the thought of tasting Adam like a decadent dessert.

  “I’d bet every dime I have in the bank that you’re having naughty thoughts right now,” Violet said with mischief in her voice.

  “Oh, shut up.” Lauren looked around the hotel room as if she might miraculously find an ally. Not even Papa Ed was around. The day after the winter carnival and the awkward interaction with Verona, he’d borrowed Violet’s car, claiming he had to go home to take care of some things.

  Neither she nor Violet had bought the explanation for his hasty departure, but the look on his face had been enough to keep them from probing for a more believable reason.

  And even though she’d spotted Verona across the street when she’d left the Mehlerhaus Bakery with Adam after their breakfast date, the town’s self-professed matchmaker had made herself scarce. Lauren might have chalked it up to the other woman being busy, but Adam had said Verona was never too busy to miss an opportunity to push two people toward each other, especially if they were already pointed in the right direction.

  “Have you heard from Papa Ed?”

  Violet’s expression changed to one of concern. “No. But don’t think about that now. Tonight you are to have fun with your babies and that sexy rancher.”

  “And what exactly are you going to do with your evening?”

  “My job. And if I happen to need something to drink and that need takes me to the music hall, where I might find a sexy cowboy of my own, well, who am I to argue with Fate?”

  Lauren snorted at her sister then remembered what had happened to her when she’d gone to the music hall alone. She still hadn’t told anyone about that incident, but she had to break that silence now.

  “Be careful if you go out,” she said, then told Violet about her run-in with the two drunk men and how Adam had come to her aid.

  “I suddenly like Adam a whole lot more,” Violet said when Lauren finished telling her about that night.

  “Don’t tell Mom or Papa Ed about what happened. I don’t want them to worry.” Or to read too much into her relationship with Adam before she even knew how serious it might become. She still wasn’t sure agreeing to go out with him was wise, but she was finding it more and more difficult to deny what she wanted.

  Lauren was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped when someone knocked on the door. Before she could answer it, Violet gripped Lauren’s shoulders and all hint of teasing was gone from her expression.

  “Try to have a good time. You deserve to be happy, and from what I’ve seen, spending time with Adam makes you happy.”

  “I’m just so scared to hope for too much.”

  “Maybe Adam is your reward for having to go through what you did with Phil.”

  Lauren liked that idea, and when she opened the door and saw Adam standing there in all his tall, dark-haired, heartwarming-smile glory, she admitted to herself that it would be really easy to fall for him despite how badly she’d been burned before. She hoped with all her heart that Violet was right and Adam Hartley was the universe’s way of balancing the scales of Lauren’s life, giving her someone who was as good as Phil was bad.

  Chapter Eleven

  Adam’s heart sped up at the sight of Lauren when she opened the door to her hotel room. It wasn’t as if she was dressed appropriately for four-star dining. It had nothing to do with her casual attire, fit for a night out with her babies as companions, but rather there was something new in her eyes. She looked glad to see him instead of afraid he was one step away from betraying her trust. He’d never wanted to prove himself to someone so much in his life, not even his parents when they’d adopted him.

  “You look beautiful.” He didn’t know he’d been about to say those words until they tumbled out of his mouth, but he’d never uttered anything truer.

  Lauren’s eyes widened a fraction, and she looked flustered by his compliment.

  “Uh, thanks.” She looked down at the red sweater she wore as if it had magically transformed into a designer gown, like the kind actresses wore to big award shows.

  “You ready to head out?”

  She looked up at him and the flustered expression had been replaced by a smile that warmed him all over.

  “Your chaperones are ready to blow this joint,” Violet said as she rolled the double stroller toward the door. She crouched next to the babies. “I’m trusting you to watch those two and make sure they have tons of fun.”

  Adam laughed at the sight of Lauren rolling her eyes at her younger sister.

  It took a few minutes to get the kids loaded into the car seats they put in the back seat of his mom’s SUV. As Lauren secured Bethany, he did the same for Harper and checked to make sure he’d done it right three times. He wasn’t going to put Lauren or her twins in any unnecessary danger.

  When he and Lauren belted themselves into their seats, Lauren reached across and placed her hand atop his.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “Taking such care with Harper, for being willing to bring them with us.”

  “Are you kidding? I get three lovely dates instead of one.”

  She smiled at that, which caused that warm, tingly feeling all over his body again. The fact he’d never felt anything like it before told him he was falling for her. He didn’t know if or how things would work out for them, considering it wasn’t a path without obstacles, but he’d take each day and each interaction one at a time in the hope that she would be willing to walk that path with him.

  “Plus,” he said as he started the engine, “having kids with me gives me a legitimate reason to go down a slide made of ice.”

  “Oh, well, as long as you don’t have an ulterior motive,” Lauren said with a laugh.

  By the time they reached Austin, the parade route was already filling up with spectators. Adam lucked into a decent parking space and helped Lauren bundle up the girls against the chill.

  “It’ll probably be easier in this crowd to just carry them,” he said as Lauren moved to the back of the SUV to retrieve the stroller.

  “They might be small but they get heavy pretty quickly.”

  “You know what’s heavier? Bales of hay.” He gave an exaggerated flex of his biceps.

  Lauren laughed at his antics. “Remember I warned you.”

  Making Lauren laugh gave him the best feeling, one he wouldn’t mind being a constant companion.

  As they searched for a good spot to watch the parade, he carried Harper while Lauren held Bethany. He stepped onto a section of curb vacated by a mom and a wailing youngster who’d obviously gotten in trouble and thus given up his right to watch the parade. Just as Adam ushered Lauren in beside him, a siren announced the beginning of the parade.

  “Good timing,�
� Lauren said.

  As the siren drew closer, Harper jumped in his arms and let out a cry.

  “Now, now,” he said as he distracted her by making funny faces.

  When Bethany expressed her displeasure at the loud noise, Lauren covered the child’s ears.

  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Lauren said.

  Adam couldn’t let her doubts cause her to back out now. Because despite the fact that the noise was indeed bothering the twins, he had no doubt that Lauren’s fear of getting involved with someone again was at the root of her sudden hint that they leave. He protected Harper’s little ears with his chest and free hand as the police cruiser come closer.

  “The siren will be past in a minute.” Adam wasn’t giving up on this date—or Lauren—that easily. He had the feeling she needed this as much as he wanted it.

  Lauren and the girls seemed to relax as the police car gave way to decorated floats, troops of uniformed scouts and bands playing Christmas carols. When he glanced over and saw Lauren smiling as she pointed out to Bethany a person dressed as that snowman from Frozen, his heart felt abnormally full. In this moment, he felt as if they were a family and he liked the feeling more than he’d ever expected.

  He suspected Lauren’s arms were getting tired when she shifted Bethany from one to the other.

  “Give her here,” he said.

  “You already have your arms full.”

  “This little bit?” He jostled Harper playfully, making her laugh. What was it about baby laughter that made all seem right with the world? He remembered having the same feeling when Julia was a baby, and how his niece’s peals of laughter had helped Angel get through those early days of single motherhood with her heart and sanity intact. Did Lauren feel the same?

  He scooped Bethany out of Lauren’s arms, and the twins seemed to be delighted to be in close proximity again. Lauren stepped closer to him, her arm brushing his, to allow a couple to pass from the street to the sidewalk behind him. When Lauren didn’t move away after the man and woman had made their way by, he tried not to grin like the luckiest man in the world. It was early in his and Lauren’s relationship, with no guarantee it would progress, but in this moment he felt as if this was one of those big turning points in his life he’d look back on with fondness when he was an old man surrounded by grandchildren. He couldn’t help but wonder if Bethany and Harper would be the ones to give him those grandchildren.

  With his heart speeding up, he looked over at Lauren and envisioned having even more children with her, of making and growing a family together that would fill in some more empty spaces on the Rocking Horse Ranch.

  And in their hearts.

  * * *

  LAUREN HELD ON tightly to Bethany as they sped down a slide made of ice descending from an ice castle. Bethany’s infectious giggles filled Lauren’s heart nearly to bursting. When it came right down to it, the thing she wanted most in the world was to make sure her daughters had a safe and happy childhood. Tonight, Adam was helping her fulfill that wish. Not once had she seen any indication that bringing the twins along on their date annoyed Adam in any way. He really did appear to be having fun with them. When she started to think about how sad it was that their own father wasn’t the one giving them these experiences and making them laugh, she forcefully shoved away thoughts of Phil. She didn’t want him intruding on this outing.

  At the bottom of the slide, she stood and held Bethany close as they watched Adam approach the top of the slide with Harper. The fact she wasn’t nervous about Harper’s safety told her that Adam had earned her trust—a realization that stunned her.

  But it was more than trust she was feeling for Adam, wasn’t it?

  She doubted all her concerns about trusting too easily had disappeared for good, but tonight they seemed to have at least taken a vacation. And the truth was it felt good to not be so guarded. It felt as if she’d been walking around with all of her muscles tensed, as if prepared for an attack, and now they’d finally relaxed, allowing her to rest and enjoy living in the moment without dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

  “He’s really good with your babies.”

  Lauren looked over to a worker dressed as one of Santa’s elves. The woman seemed to have assumed that they were a couple, that Adam was the twins’ father.

  She found she didn’t want to correct the woman’s erroneous assumption. For one night she wanted to just pretend she was part of a happy, whole family. And that she was with a man who was honest, kind and loved her daughters—and maybe could love her as well.

  Realizing the elf woman was staring at her, Lauren smiled. “Yes, he is,” she said, before the other woman smiled and walked away.

  With a “whee!” that would be more at home coming from a child, Adam pushed off from the top of the slide with Harper. The wave of laughter coming from Harper brought tears of happiness to Lauren’s eyes. They must have still been there when Adam stood and made eye contact with her.

  The joy faded from his face. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “But you look like you’re about to cry.” The concern in his voice just added to the rising well of feeling in her chest.

  “Just really happy. Thank you for all this.”

  Adam took a slow step toward her. Were it not for the fact they each held a baby, she thought he might kiss her. And she might let him.

  More than might.

  When he lifted his hand to cup her jaw and run a thumb across her cheek that was warm despite their frozen surroundings, she wondered if he was going to kiss her anyway.

  “You’re welcome.” It was a simple response, one she might expect, but the way he was looking at her said so much more.

  If she didn’t look away, the heat building in her body was going to melt the ice palace and turn this wintry attraction into an indoor whitewater river instead.

  After what seemed like hours of staring into Adam’s eyes, Lauren became aware that they were standing in the way of other people waiting to descend the slide. Adam’s hand dropped away from her face but resettled at the small of her back as they moved on to the next exhibit—a small carousel made of colored ice.

  “It’s amazing...everything they have in here,” Lauren said.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  Something about the tone of Adam’s voice drew her attention back to him. Instead of admiring the craftsmanship of the ice carvers, he instead was looking at her as if she was some sort of masterpiece.

  Had Phil ever looked at her that way? She knew the answer before the question fully formed. Looking back now, she could see how blind she’d been. Granted, Phil had been good at acting his role as devoted and loving fiancé, but in the wake of his betrayal it was as if a veil hiding his true intent had been lifted from her eyes—one that hid the fact Phil had only cared for himself.

  Try as she might, she detected no veil with Adam. She sent up a silent prayer that she wasn’t wrong.

  He’d just finished taking some photos of her holding the girls in a scene of the North Pole made of ice when another worker dressed as an elf walked up to Adam.

  “I can take a picture of all of you together if you’d like.”

  When Lauren saw Adam about to decline, she said, “Thanks. That’s nice of you.”

  Adam’s quick look of surprise gave way to a smile as he handed over her phone and moved to join her and the girls. He didn’t say anything as he took Harper from her then wrapped his arm around Lauren’s shoulders and pulled her close as if he’d done it a thousand times before. A lump formed in her throat at the thought that she wanted this picture-perfect family scene to be real.

  “Give me some big smiles,” the elf lady said.

  Complying wasn’t difficult. In fact, Lauren found it easier to smile in that moment than she had in a long time.

  By the time they left the ice palace
and grabbed a quick dinner at a gourmet burger place, the girls were tired and getting fussy.

  “Sorry,” Lauren said as Bethany let out a wail that turned the head of everyone on the sidewalk for a solid block as Lauren and Adam walked back toward his mom’s SUV.

  “No need to apologize. It’s not the first time I’ve been around a cranky baby. Nothing’s going to beat when Julia had colic. I thought her cries might bring down the roof of the house on top of all of us.”

  Lauren tried to imagine Phil being so understanding and couldn’t picture it. Of course, he’d purposely raised doubts about whether the twins were his, even though she’d given him no reason to question her faithfulness.

  Neither she nor Adam spoke again until they were on the road heading out the western edge of Austin and the girls had fallen asleep in their car seats. Lauren gazed out her window at the occasional brightly colored Christmas tree in someone’s window, or a yard filled with inflatable representations of holiday cheer. She relished the peace and quiet. And thought about how this moment never would have happened with Phil. She couldn’t imagine him acting like a child as he headed down a slide made of ice. If she was being honest with herself, she couldn’t even picture him holding his daughters. Especially not with undisguised affection the way Adam did.

  “You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?”

  She turned her head to look at Adam. He glanced at her and there was still enough light from their surroundings that she saw the unsure expression on his face. Somehow she knew it wasn’t his question he was unsure of, but whether he should have asked it. Oddly, a part of her was glad he had. It showed he paid attention, was concerned about her.

  “How could you tell?”

  “You get a different look in your eyes—as if your mind has traveled somewhere else—and you go quiet.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Adam took her hand and squeezed. “You keep apologizing for things you don’t need to.”

  “It’s just that crying babies and my wandering thoughts probably aren’t your idea of a good date.”