by Deb Kastner
Katie’s cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “You know what? Don’t worry overmuch about keeping my secret.” She highlighted the word secret in air quotes. “I’m fairly certain everyone in Haven knows I’m pining after the minister. Everyone except him, that is.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that.” Carolina was already formulating possibilities in her mind to help her friend get the pastor’s attention.
Katie squeaked and laid a hand on Carolina’s forearm. “No. Please don’t. I’d die of embarrassment.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. I was just kidding. I wouldn’t want to interfere in anyone’s love life. Trust me. My own track record in the romance department is a dismal failure. It wouldn’t be wise of you to take any advice from me.”
“Maybe we’ll both find someone special at the ice cream social,” Katie suggested, although her tone indicated she didn’t really believe what she was saying.
“That could be problematic, since I’m not going to be there.”
“What?” Katie squawked, sounding a bit like a macaw. “Oh, yes, you are. Please say you are not going to leave me alone as the only wallflower in the room.”
“Somehow I don’t think you’ll be alone for long. You couldn’t possibly be a wallflower.”
“I will be if you aren’t there to offer moral support. The whole night will be a complete disaster.”
Carolina narrowed her gaze thoughtfully. “Is Pastor Andrew going to be there?”
Katie laughed. “I’m sure he will be. He never misses an opportunity to eat free food.”
Carolina knew she was going to regret what she was about to say next. She had no desire to be, as Katie had called it, a wallflower at this event.
Even worse, someone out there thought she and Wyatt still belonged together, enough to take the time to write a note. What if these mystery matchmakers somehow tried to push them together at the social?
Maybe Wyatt wouldn’t show up at the social at all. She could hope, couldn’t she?
Because she could hardly say no to Katie’s request, not when the young woman had been such a big help to her since she’d come back to town, lending an ear when Carolina needed to talk and watching Matty whenever she needed assistance or had a job interview.
Matty.
He might just be her ticket out.
Everyone in town would be at the social—Katie included. Which would mean finding Matty a babysitter would be next to impossible.
“I’ll come with you,” she agreed with a shrug, “as long as I can find someone to watch Matty. Although at this late date I doubt I’ll be able to find anyone suitable.”
Katie squealed in delight. “Yay! It’s a done deal, then. You probably didn’t know this, but child care will be provided right here at the social.”
Carolina groaned inwardly.
What had she just been talked into? Nothing she wanted to do, that was for sure. She would have tried to find another excuse to back out, but Katie’s expression looked so hopeful, flooding with joy.
Apparently, Carolina was going to the Lone Star Cowboy League’s Valentine’s Day ice cream social.
But she would not—not—wear red.
Chapter Six
Wyatt couldn’t remember a day when he had ever had as much fun as he was having at this moment. Who knew that having a child—his child—accompany him to a community event could bring such a ray of sunshine into his life?
He’d always wanted to be a father, but it had seemed like a distant dream, especially after Carolina had disappeared from his life. To have Matty with him now seemed like more of a blessing than he deserved.
But he would take it, and be grateful for it.
Wyatt’s chest burst with pride for his little guy, who, with Johnny’s gentle, constant assistance, fastidiously mimicked his daddy’s every move, using his little plastic tools to saw and hammer the random chunks of two-by-fours Wyatt had provided for him.
Johnny’s attention was focused far more on Matty than on the construction going on around them. Wyatt couldn’t have asked for better help.
He grinned at the pair. They almost looked like brothers with their heads together, animatedly working on their little project. Wyatt was still amazed at how much Johnny had come out of his shell with Matty. The teenager’s stutter wasn’t as pronounced when he was around the toddler, and they looked equally excited about the little house they were making from wood scraps and some glue.
Wyatt stopped and watched them for a minute. There was something about being responsible for the welfare of his dark-haired little boy that spoke to the deepest, most protective and masculine part of Wyatt’s heart. His feelings for Matty opened up a whole new world for him.
He might have missed a couple of Matty’s formative years, but he was here now, and here he intended to stay.
“I can’t believe how much you guys have already done on the barn.”
Carolina had approached from behind him and he hadn’t seen her coming, but he turned and smiled at her.
“We have plenty of help here today. It should be no problem finishing before the sun goes down.”
“I hope Matty wasn’t underfoot too much for you. I was worried he might get in the way.”
“Not at all. You’ll be happy to know that our son is a regular builder,” Wyatt said, showing off the little house Matty and Johnny had constructed. He couldn’t help the way his chest swelled with pride.
“How cute,” Carolina exclaimed, stooping down to admire the project. “What a neat-looking house. It has a door and windows, too. Very clever.”
“That was M-Matty’s idea,” Johnny said, pushing his hair off his forehead.
“Well, it looks to me like you’ve been a big help to him. I’m sure he couldn’t have done it without you.”
Wyatt could see how much her compliment meant to the teenager, and the smile she flashed him had the young man grinning ear to ear. It was good to see Johnny happy. He didn’t smile very often.
But it wasn’t Johnny’s smile that had Wyatt uncomfortably shifting his weight. When Carolina’s countenance warmed, Wyatt’s nerves energized and his pulse leaped. Suddenly he was having difficulty finding his voice.
After everything he and Carolina had been through, after her heartless betrayal of everything Wyatt held dear, how could her smile—and worse yet, one that was not even directed at him—make him feel giddy and light-headed?
He wondered what would happen if she looked at him with such happiness and joy in her eyes.
No. He did not.
Been there. Done that. Ripped up and threw away the T-shirt.
How many times did he need to remind himself that whatever feelings she evoked in him didn’t count?
He sighed inwardly. He’d probably have to keep mentally giving himself the same warning until he no longer felt anything when he looked at Carolina.
Which was likely to be never.
He shook his head. There was undeniable chemistry between them. Nothing more. As long as he knew it was only the sound of her laughter and the floral scent of her perfume that was jogging his memories, he could keep a handle on it, remain in control.
And he would keep telling himself that until he believed it.
Carolina scooped Matty into her arms and swung him around until he giggled with delight. Up until that moment, Wyatt would never have imagined that a mother holding a child could be attractive to a man, but there was no doubt about it when his heart flooded with emotions.
The protectiveness and affection he felt couldn’t be denied or written off, nor could the fact that it wasn’t only Matty who precipitated those feelings.
No.
This had to stop. Right now.
He turned his gaze away from Carolina and picked up his hammer.
“I came to tell you lunch is ready.” If she noticed his sudden aversion to her, she didn’t react to it. “We’re serving sandwiches buffet style in the backyard. We borrowed fold-up tables from the church for the meal.”
Wyatt’s stomach rumbled and Carolina laughed.
He frowned.
Stupid stomach.
Even his gut unrepentantly responded to her voice.
Nothing but trouble, Harrow.
But he was hungry, so he reluctantly joined Carolina, Matty and Johnny as they walked back to the main house. Carolina kept up a lively conversation, asking Johnny about school, his veterinary work with Wyatt and how the young buck they had saved from the middle of the road was faring.
The young man’s stutter increased when he spoke to her, but he seemed happy to have her attention. He stayed close even after they’d piled up their plates full of food, even though most of the other boys were already seated. Wyatt felt bad for Johnny, but Matty was pleased by the teenager’s presence, and Johnny didn’t seem to mind.
Wyatt could only pick out bits and pieces of the chatter, but not surprisingly, the topic of the day appeared to be the backlash the boys ranch was feeling due to the arson and thefts.
“Why do I feel as if there is more of a problem here than just the burned-down barn?” Carolina asked, sliding onto a chair opposite Wyatt, balancing Matty in one arm and two plates of food in the other. She set Matty down next to her and passed him one plate.
“The Department of Family and Protective Services has recently been taking a good, hard look at the boys ranch,” he explained.
Bea Brewster took a seat next to Wyatt, and Katie sat down next to Carolina.
“We’re afraid the DFPS is going to show up here unannounced,” said Bea, clicking her tongue. “We’re running this ranch completely by the book, of course, but you know how it is. If they’re actively looking for some broken regulation, they’ll probably find one. None of us is perfect.”
“We’d just as soon get completely off their radar,” Katie added. “And sooner rather than later.”
Wyatt couldn’t help but notice how Katie’s gaze kept straying toward Pastor Andrew. When the pastor waved in her direction, her cheeks turned pink and she quickly looked away.
Poor woman. Unrequited love was the worst.
He should know.
“As if we needed the extra stress.” Darcy Hill, along with her fiancé, Nick, joined the small group. Only recently engaged, they should have only had eyes for each other, but Wyatt could see the strain on their faces from all of the current stress. “We’re having a hard enough time working out all the details of the seventieth-anniversary party. Between Gabe not being able to find his grandfather and us not having any success locating the real Avery Culpepper so she can claim her part of the will—well, let’s just say things could be better.”
Nick kissed Darcy’s temple. “Trust in the Lord and He will direct your path,” he paraphrased, his voice not a reprimand but a gentle reminder.
“I know. I know. I think I’ve narrowed our viable choices down to one woman, but she lives in Tennessee and won’t respond to my calls and letters. Still, it looks promising. Her mother’s name was Elizabeth and her birthday is February second. The facts fit together. I only wish I could get a personal confirmation from her.”
“Maybe try to connect with her through social media?” Carolina suggested.
Darcy smiled, her expression full of determination. “I tried that, too, but so far I haven’t heard back. Otherwise I may have to fly out to Tennessee and hunt her down in person. This reunion is far too important to the future of the boys ranch, and too many people have worked too hard on it, for us to fail now.”
“Hear, hear,” said Wyatt, toasting his cola can at her. He wished he could personally do more to make sure the seventieth-anniversary party went off without a hitch, but there was little he could do to help.
What he could do was make sure he crossed all his t’s and dotted all his i’s where the boys ranch animal programs were concerned. The DFPS, if they did happen to show up unannounced, would find all the ranch animals in excellent condition and his program running precisely by the book.
“Gabe’s grandfather is estranged from his family?” Carolina asked no one in particular.
“Theodore Linley is not only estranged,” Nick answered, running a hand through his chestnut-brown hair, “but he has vanished right off the globe. It’s kind of sad, really. He abandoned his family when Gabe was about eight, and he was in prison for a while on charges of petty theft, but no one has heard from him since. The prison is officially his last known whereabouts. After he was released, he just disappeared. I don’t think he wants to be found.”
Wyatt cringed inwardly. He felt sorry for Gabe. If ever a man needed divine assistance, it was Gabe. This situation definitely warranted it. So many people depended on one man’s success.
Wyatt’s thoughts were almost a prayer.
Almost.
Feeling uncomfortable in his own skin, Wyatt broke a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie in half and showed it to Carolina.
“Is it okay for Matty to have a cookie?”
“Cookie!” Matty exclaimed.
“Oops.” Wyatt grinned awkwardly.
Carolina chuckled. “No worries. He was a good boy and ate all of his sandwich. I don’t think half a cookie will do him any harm. I’ll make sure he brushes his teeth as soon as we get back to the cabin.”
As Wyatt offered his son the cookie, a ruckus broke out near the end of the table. Wyatt glanced up to see two of the boys ranch residents—blond-haired, blue-eyed Danny McCann and brown-haired, blue-eyed Jasper Boswell—giggling and shoving each other. They were both eight years old, and they both had similar impish expressions on their faces. They were obviously looking for trouble.
Danny carried a single pink rose with a note tied to it—a sheet of typing paper folded into quarters.
The laughing boys made a lunge toward Katie Ellis, whose face had gone from pink to a flaming red as Danny thrust the rose toward her and she took the bloom in her hand.
“Oh, my,” she breathed, and then giggled in delight. “This is for me?”
“Flying under their radar, huh?” Carolina teased, nudging Katie with her shoulder.
Wyatt fought to restrain a grin. He didn’t have to ask who they were. The mystery matchmakers had struck again. And Katie seemed happy to be the recipient.
Odd, though, that the boys were delivering the message in person, in a public place, right out in the open where everyone could see. Up until now the matchmakers had acted in private, not revealing their identities as they slyly delivered their messages.
Like, for example, the note he had found on the welcome mat on his front porch just this morning. Short, sweet and to the point.
Carolina would be waiting for him at the ice cream social. And she would be wearing red.
He knew very well the note hadn’t been from Carolina, and he hadn’t even stopped to consider why the mystery matchmakers would choose her as his date in the first place.
So it was Jasper Boswell and Danny McCann playing Cupid, was it? Wyatt couldn’t say he was completely surprised, although the fact that they were only eight years old seemed a little strange. How could such young boys manage to pull off these stunts?
Could they even write the kinds of notes folks were getting? And what did eight-year-old boys know about romance? Whoever the mystery matchmakers were had been surprisingly accurate in their pairings. He suspected some of the older boys were involved, as well, if for nothing else because someone needed to drive the younger kids around.
Conversation ceased as Katie unfolded the note and scanned its contents.
Her smile dropped from her face and tears sprang to her eyes. She stood so abruptly
her silverware clattered.
“Excuse me,” she said, her hand flying to her throat as she ran into the house.
Carolina’s distressed gaze met Wyatt’s and he arched his brow in question. Carolina had been close enough to be able to read the note. What was written on it that had sent poor Katie running off in tears?
Carolina shook her head with a brief jerk of her chin and mouthed the word later.
“Keep an eye on Matty?” she asked aloud.
“Of course.” No question there.
Carolina took off after Katie and Wyatt switched sides of the table so he was sitting next to his son.
“Is K-Katie going to be all right?” Johnny asked. Wyatt knew Katie was one of the few people who was always kind to Johnny, so he wasn’t surprised that the teenager was concerned about her.
“Oh, I imagine she’ll be fine,” Wyatt answered with what he hoped was a reassuring grin. “It’s just girl stuff. You know how women can be. Katie’s probably in the bathroom crying because she is so happy to have received a rose.”
Johnny didn’t look convinced. Probably because Wyatt wasn’t, either.
But whatever the note had said, and whatever Katie’s reaction had truly been to its contents, she was blessed to have a friend like Carolina. For all her faults, Carolina was the compassionate shoulder Katie could cry on—happy, sad or somewhere in between.
He wasn’t going to be in the office much the following week, but he figured he would find out the details eventually. If not, he’d ask about Katie, make sure she was okay.
If he had to guess, he would think the note had something to do with the Valentine’s social. He imagined both Carolina and Katie would be there—as, much to his dismay, would he.
As a general rule, he didn’t care for dances, but he had promised to escort Gran to the event. The elderly population of Haven’s nursing home would stay for the first hour to enjoy the party and then be taken back to the home by orderlies. Wyatt hoped it would do Gran good to attend a social outing, although of course that was never a sure thing, especially lately.