by Vivian Arend
Nathan tugged at her shirt. “There’s Jimmy. Can I go with him?” He was away before she could confirm or deny his request, tackling his friend, the two of them rolling on the ground like puppies.
The other mom smiled in greeting. “Hi, Beth. They are excited today, aren’t they? I can take your boys with me to the kids’ play area, if you’re okay with that.” Lance bounced on the spot, eager to go as well but unwilling to leave without permission.
Another joy she’d discovered living in the smaller community. Never before had she felt comfortable leaving her boys in someone else’s company. Since she’d always been home, they’d never gone to day care in Calgary. Samuel had discouraged any regular playgroups. She’d never wanted to get too close to anyone and have too many questions asked. Here in Rocky Mountain House people went out of their way to say hello, to get to know the boys and offer help.
She gave her assent, and the older boys roared off like airplanes to the colouring contest and penny carnival areas of the community picnic. Robbie clung to her hand as they walked the fairgrounds, the crowds of families racing past and the clatter of the music making him shier than usual.
“Well, if it isn’t my lovely neighbour and her escort. Hey, Robbie boy, you enjoying yourself?”
Beth smiled at the older man as he adjusted his crutches so he could bend over and ruffle her son’s hair. Her temporary landlord had turned out to be nothing short of an angel. He and his eldest son, Blake, had cleared their things from the Peter’s house and arranged for storage for the household goods she didn’t need.
Now a month later, she was even more grateful as she watched her sons thrive. They needed this. In fact, she needed it too—a chance to see there were good people in the world.
“Mike, it’s good to see you. Is Marion here as well?”
He shook his head. “She’s feeling under the weather. But you need to drop by the house soon and join us for dinner like you promised. Marion thinks you’re avoiding us.”
Beth lifted a brow. “We’d love to come by, but if you remember, a couple days before we were scheduled to drop in you decided to play chicken with a moose.” She pointed to his cast. “How is your leg?”
“It’ll be fine. The boys are taking care of the harvest, so I’m sitting back and being a man of leisure this fall.” He winked. “You and me, we could enter the three-legged race and still be a leg short.”
They laughed, their injuries another common bond between them.
Robbie tugged Mike’s one good pant leg. “How do chickens and moose play together?”
A serious expression crossed the older man’s face. “Excellent question. How about I explain while you enjoy some picnic food?” He glanced at Beth for permission and she nodded. A bit of positive male interaction in Robbie’s life was exactly what he needed. “We’ll meet you for coffee and dessert later.”
Beth wandered, working her way around the fair grounds. The measured gait she found most comfortable with her brace wasn’t as noticeable amongst the slow-moving crowds. The bright sunshine lit not only the sky but some of the dark places in her heart. The pace of life here in Rocky was slower. The people, while not all friendly, were a lot more open to talking to her on the street corner than in Calgary where she’d barely known her neighbours after ten years of living in the same house. The sense of being an outsider hadn’t struck her yet, perhaps because she’d stepped into the school system and had an instant group of associates. Some of her co-workers were locals who had returned to teach in their alma mater. Some were newer teachers putting in time at a smaller school in the hopes of transferring back to the big city.
And her. Wondering where she fit for the long term.
Working full-time outside the house for the first time in years was physically draining, especially with the extra weight of the brace and her leg injury still giving her grief. The boys were a handful, brimming with energy and excitement. They were easier to deal with now that she didn’t have her husband’s exacting demands to meet as well.
She sat by the outdoor stage to listen to the local band and let her mind wander. Her husband—being free from his overbearing expectations and his downright emotional cruelty made every day worthwhile, no matter how exhausted she was when she fell into bed. The pain in her leg and hip were nothing compared to the pain he’d caused in their lives on a regular basis.
No, life was good. She had little to complain about.
If the house occasionally creaked at night and frightened her, or the wind blew around the porch with a lonely sound, she was better off by herself than letting her family continue to suffer under the hands of a tyrant.
She closed her eyes and listened to the music. The band played a few country songs, followed by some hard rock. The electric guitar was slightly out of tune, and the occasional louder dissonance brought a smile to her face. The heat of the sun pulled her into drowsing, laughter and voices and music melding together into a far more relaxing lullaby than the clatter of the city. Beth breathed deep. Even the smells surrounding her felt right.
A long time later a clanging bell shook her from her tranquil rest. The community people congregated around the food tent for coffee and dessert. She ambled over, reluctant to lose the relaxed state she’d achieved. Lance and Nathan raced up, faces glowing with excitement to chatter about all they’d done. Other boys gathered with them, pushing and wrestling good-naturedly. The adults in the lineup worked together to calm and seat the unruly crew at the long tables. Pies and cakes before them, the clamour of little-boy voices vanished as their mouths filled.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Mike patted Robbie on the back, and he scrambled between his brothers, eager to attack his plate. “The only time our house ever got quiet when my boys were little was during meals.”
Beth smiled. “I don’t mind the noise. Especially the laughter.”
Mike shook his head. “Well, they laughed, but with six boys, the shouting is the thing I remember most.”
She frowned as they headed over to another table to grab coffee. “Six? I’ve only met two—Blake and Travis. I didn’t know you had six children.”
“Are you serious? I thought you’d have met them all by now. It’s not that big a town. Although, they’re not round the school that much since they’re all older. Come on, I can introduce you to two more. They’re right up here.”
He gestured her forward. Ahead, standing behind the coffee table, were familiar-looking identical twins. She frowned as she tried to place their faces. Maybe she had seen them around town. They looked somewhat like their older brother, Blake.
One of them glanced up and smiled, a devastating and seductive grin, and memory rolled over her. Oh no. It was the pair from her disastrous bar adventure back in July.
“Beth, I’d like to introduce Jesse and Joel, my youngest boys.”
Twin number one grinned wider. “I know you. You decided to try and find the gypsies?”
She swallowed hard and mindlessly accepted the cup of coffee he offered. No. No, this was not real. “You live here?”
He nodded, his brows rising. “And someone else lives here too you might be interested in. He was mighty vocal when a certain phone number turned out to be disconnected.”
Beth froze in dismay. This couldn’t be happening. Not when she’d started to set down roots. Could one night of foolishness really ruin her plans?
“Speak of the devil…” Jesse’s bright blue eyes stared past her shoulder, and she cringed inside. She held the coffee cup like a shield and rotated on the spot to see her handsome cowboy approaching. His gaze met hers, and the expression on his face changed in an instant. The friendly smile vanished, shock replacing it, followed by a tinge of anger.
Her cup slipped from her trembling fingers as fear and regret took control.
Chapter Three
Daniel forced his feet to continue moving even as his brain scrambled to recover from his shock. She looked different than he remembered. Somehow happier, more content, a
t least until the panic set in. Her face had gone completely white, and she trembled before him, her spilt coffee cup at her feet. She rubbed her fingers together.
“Beth, you okay?” Mike reached for her, but Daniel moved quicker. He had no idea where in the hell she’d come from, but there was no way she was getting away again. He scooped the cup from the ground then turned her, one arm loosely around her waist as he guided her to a nearby chair at one of the long tables arranged on the lawn.
“Sit down before you fall down.” She shivered, and he barked over his shoulder at his brother. “Pour her another cup of coffee and add a couple of sugars to it.”
“I don’t need anything. I’m fine.” Her gaze darted around them, and Daniel finally realized she was embarrassed by the attention they were drawing. He rose from where he’d squatted beside her, seating himself on the next chair.
“Of course you’re fine. Now, can I get you a piece of pie to go with your coffee?” They could pretend this was normal meeting at a picnic until everyone found something else to stare at. He would wait until he got her alone to wring some answers from her pretty lips.
He’d been surprised how much her deception had upset him. Somehow he’d imagined she’d felt an inkling of what he’d experienced that night in the bar. He could have sworn there was a connection between them. When he’d discovered the number she gave him was out of service, and there was no Beth Jackson in the phone book, he should have simply laughed and written the scene off as an interesting encounter.
Only, he couldn’t. She’d haunted him. Her confused eyes full of passion and fear, her stubborn determination to try to seduce him. Hell, the only reason he’d even gone out that night was because the twins had taunted him to the point of insanity. Meeting her—he thought it had been his reward, especially when she softened in his arms. When she switched from trying to be a sex kitten into a warm submissive woman, curved in all the right places. He thought he’d found someone he really wanted to get to know better.
He accepted two cups of steaming liquid from Jesse, motioning his brother to step away and leave them alone. Mike watched with curiosity for a moment before tapping her on the shoulder. “You relax for a bit, Beth, I’ll deal with the boys. Okay?”
She nodded rapidly, her eyes focused down at the table. They sat quietly for a few minutes, the curious onlookers slowly wandering off in search of action.
Daniel coughed. “This is a tad awkward, isn’t it?”
Beth lifted her gaze to meet his. “I’m so embarrassed.”
He shrugged. “People drop coffee cups all the time. Not a worry.”
A laugh burst from her lips, and he enjoyed the way her whole face changed when she smiled. “You’re a surprise. That’s all I can say.”
It was mutual. He stared over the picnic ground. Activities were breaking up, and out in public probably wasn’t the best place for the discussion he wanted to have anyway.
“I assume you’re living in town?” Hell. There was another possibility, although she seemed to be alone. “Or are you here visiting someone?”
There was a moment’s hesitation before she spoke. “I live here. Moved in the middle of August to start a job at the high school.”
Oh yeah, that was what he wanted to hear. He pushed back his chair.
“Can I give you a ride home?” He wanted her alone to continue the conversation he’d planned on having two months earlier.
“Daniel!” A swarm of little arms choked the life out of him, and he pulled back to grin at the three troublemakers he’d been watching over lately.
“Hey, guys. Was the picnic fun?” They had dirt on their jeans, grass in their hair and the littlest one had smears of chocolate on his face. “You look as if you had a good time.”
Three voices all sang out in unison, and he could barely understand them.
“I hit the target a zillion times!”
“I wanted another corncob, but they ran out.”
“Can we go swimming again?”
Daniel laughed. “Slow down. One at a time and…” He froze. Holy shit, he was a stupid son of gun. He stared at Beth in shock. “These are your boys?”
Her frown was firmly in place. “Lance, how do you know Daniel?”
The oldest boy went completely silent and kicked at the ground. “Umm…”
Oh hell. “You boys never told your mama you were playing down at the swimming hole, did you?”
From her reaction it was the first she’d heard of the place, ever. Two bright spots rose on her cheeks, the rest of her face suddenly gone white. Her lips tightened. “You mean they’ve been by the water without me knowing?”
She swallowed hard and wavered in her seat. He could see guilt and fear, in her eyes. Damn it, he shouldn’t have assumed just because he and his brothers had spent their summers running wild on the ranch that everyone would be okay with that for their own kids.
Beth spoke firmly to her sons. “We’ll talk about this on the way home. Come on, it’s time to go.”
Daniel rose with her, steadying her when she landed on a rough section of grass. After all this time, she was living not more than five minutes from his front door. His mind reeled.
“I’ll walk along with you.”
“That’s not necessary—”
Mike swung past, moving on his crutches far faster than a man his age should. He blocked their path and grinned at Beth. “I take it you’ve met my middle boy before.”
Daniel stared off into the distance to hide his face as Beth responded. His father was being a stubborn ass. It wasn’t like him to get in the way and be so curious about the women his boys took an interest in. What was he playing at?
“Daniel, if you’ve got a minute, could you go and make sure the heating coil is turned on around the water pipes at the Peter’s house? It’s getting colder, and I’d hate to forget to do it before it freezes.”
“I can do that,” Beth insisted. “Just tell me where to look and…”
Mike shook his head. “I’m not letting a lady crawl under the house. Daniel knows where it is. It’ll only be a minute’s work, right?”
“Yes, sir.” Daniel watched Beth closely. He wanted to talk to her, needed to talk, but if it was too much today, he’d back off.
After all, he knew where to find her.
She stared up from under her lashes and his body tightened. She may have been surprised to see him, but the interest they’d shared before—it still seemed to be there. Beth guided her boys toward the parking lot, the three tykes suitably subdued.
“I’ll meet you there,” Daniel called after her. He’d love to be a fly in the car and hear what the boys had to say about the swimming hole. Smart kids, even if they were in a heap of trouble at the moment.
He followed her van back toward the house where he’d lived until a few weeks ago. They passed the original ranch house where he currently slept. Daniel loved the layout of the entire SP Ranch. His great-grandpa and his brother had planned well when they had set up the place. Of the two homesteads, what they still called the Peter’s house was slightly smaller. It had been built after the two bachelor brothers had gotten married and started families within a year of each other. The second house stood on the other side of the coulee and creek. The layout had given both families privacy, and yet easy access to the barns and storage for their joint field equipment.
Years later, the Peter’s house had provided a wonderful location for the oldest boys to get out from under their parents’ roof without moving into town. At twenty-six, Daniel had been batching it with Blake and Matt for the past eight years. It felt awfully strange to have moved back into the home of his youth.
On an impulse, he turned down a side gravel road that led to the back of the barns. He left his truck there and strode through the trees, crossing the small footbridge to access the other side of the property. He made it to the Peter’s house just as Beth pulled in. The boys poured out of the van and raced for the door.
“Night, Daniel.”
Three sets of hands waved as the kids shot up the wide porch stairs to disappear in to the house.
He laughed and turned to face Beth. “I see you’ve been living in the country long enough you’re not locking your doors anymore.”
She opened her mouth then closed it tight, wrinkling her nose for a moment. “You’re right. I hadn’t even thought about that.”
When she moved slowly toward the house, he hurried to offer his arm.
“Your leg sore?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Just not looking forward to doing the ‘Mom speech’. I decided to save it until we got home so I could concentrate on the road.”
Damn, no wonder the kids ran off so fast. “For what it’s worth, the creek is a pretty harmless place. It’s not very deep, and usually a whole lot of mud. I think I caught them the first time they were down there, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for them ever since, so they’ve been safe.”
“Thank you for that.” She opened the door. “Good night.”
“I’ll wait here once I’m done with my chore, until you’ve got a minute to talk.”
Beth clutched the doorknob so hard her fingers went white. “I have to put the boys to bed.”
“No troubles. I’ve got nowhere I’ve got to be.” Panic flashed in her eyes again, but he refused to back down. He wasn’t going to push this too far, but now that he’d found her—she could run, but she couldn’t hide. He dipped his head, maintaining eye contact until she had to pull her gaze away.
Three little faces stared upward, lips quivering. She barely had the strength to finish her lecture on staying safe and making sure Mom knew where they were at all times without breaking into a smile.