Sharon Lynn sighed as she scooped her up, ignoring the wails of protest.
“Got a boo-boo,” the baby insisted tearfully. She turned to Grace, apparently sensing a softhearted ally. “See?”
“Yes, indeed,” Grace said, though she saw nothing of the kind. “A very bad boo-boo. Maybe a kiss from mommy would be better than a bandage, though.”
Deep blue eyes, swimming in tears, brightened. “Kiss?” she repeated, peering at Sharon Lynn.
“You are such a little manipulator,” Sharon Lynn declared, but she dutifully kissed the outstretched finger. “Is that better?”
The child nodded happily. “Boo-boo all gone.”
“I’ll pick up the boxes,” Jamie said, already lining them up neatly on the shelves.
Sharon Lynn gaped. “Who raised him? There’s not a kid in our entire clan who would volunteer that fast for any kind of cleanup.”
“He’s one of a kind, all right,” Michael agreed.
Sharon Lynn thrust her daughter into his arms. “Take her for a sec, okay? I’ll help Jamie get everything back, then I’ll be right over to take your order.”
“I’ll help, too,” Josh offered, already tagging along behind her.
“That’s okay. I think Jamie and I can handle it.” She flashed a grin at Josh. “Looks to me like Michael might need you more than I do.”
Michael stood there, a shocked expression on his face, the toddler held away from his body like a painting he was inspecting closely before deciding whether to buy. She beamed at him.
“I think she likes you,” Grace said.
“She’s pretty cool,” Josh decided after a thorough survey. “I ain’t never been around anybody littler than me.”
It was pretty clear that Michael hadn’t been around many people that size either. Grace finally took pity on him and took the toddler. He shot her a relieved look and headed for a stool at the counter. She had a feeling if it had been a bar, he might have ordered a double.
Enjoying the feel of the little girl snuggled in her arms, Grace took a seat next to him. “Don’t tell me you were scared by a little bitty thing like this,” she teased.
“I was not scared,” he protested.
But when the child started to scramble toward him, reaching out her arms, he looked as panicked as Grace had ever seen him. “You sure about that?” she asked.
He frowned. “Of course, I’m sure. It’s not like I get a lot of opportunities to be around babies. I don’t want to slip up, that’s all.”
“So, before you have kids of your own, you’ll buy some books, study up?”
“Exactly.”
Grace suddenly had a vision of Michael poring over baby books with the same intensity he devoted to geological surveys. Maybe that was how he would approach having a family of his own, all out. Maybe the trick was to convince him that it was something he wanted as badly as he had always wanted the presidency of Delacourt Oil.
And who was she to make fun of his inexperience? It wasn’t as if she’d spent a lot of time around children. Once her relationship with Michael had ended, she had put any thoughts of family on a back burner herself. Her friends tended to be other fast-track lawyers who, even if married, had put off having children. Those who had them spent pitifully little time at home with them.
So why was she suddenly being swamped by all these maternal sentiments? Was it the situation with Josh and Jamie? Was it holding this squirming little angel in her arms? Or was it being back with Michael again, thinking about having a family specifically with him the way she’d once dreamed of?
She feared it was the latter, more than anything. After all those childhood insecurities about abandonment, he was the only man who’d ever made her yearn for happily ever after. He was the only one she’d been able to see herself sitting with on a front porch in fifty years, her mind every bit as engaged as her heart. She’d put all those longings on hold for six long years and now, thanks to a few days of close proximity, they were coming back in a flood.
Before she could wonder where all that was likely to lead, Sharon Lynn stepped back behind the counter.
“I understand we’re looking at hot fudge sundaes all around.”
“That’s the plan,” Michael agreed.
“With lots of whipped cream,” Josh added.
“And nuts,” Grace chimed in.
“My favorite kind of customers,” Sharon Lynn said. “No cholesterol worries in this crowd.”
“Not today, anyway,” Grace agreed.
“Is this a celebration?” Sharon Lynn asked as she began scooping vanilla ice cream into old-fashioned glass dishes.
Grace glanced at Michael, saw the glimmer of uneasiness in his eyes. “Not exactly,” she said. “Just a treat.”
“Yeah,” Josh enthused. “We’ve been getting lots of treats. I even got new cowboy boots. Jamie, too.” He stuck out his feet so Sharon Lynn could see over the counter.
“Very handsome,” she approved. “How are the riding lessons going?”
At Grace’s startled look, she said, “The White Pines grapevine is an extraordinary thing. Not much goes on out there that I don’t hear about. Slade’s daughter Annie and his wife are two of my best customers. I love ’em. They talk a mile a minute. Even if they didn’t, Grandpa Harlan would have filled me in.”
Michael’s gaze narrowed. “Harlan Adams? He knows about the boys and the lessons? I only told him about needing riding lessons. I thought he’d assume they were for me.”
She nodded. “Grandpa Harlan has sources from one end of the state to the next. It’s a waste of time trying to keep anything from him.”
Michael’s expression sobered. “I see.”
Sharon Lynn regarded him worriedly. “Is that a problem?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Michael said.
Grace picked up on his anxiety and studied him warily. “Michael, what are you thinking?”
“That we shouldn’t have gotten sidetracked from my original plan. Too many people already know.”
“Know what?” Jamie asked with his usual unabashed curiosity.
“That you’re staying out at Trish’s with Grace and me,” Michael said.
Jamie’s expression fell, his mood suddenly as dark as Michael’s. “That’s a bad thing, isn’t it?”
“Let’s just say I wish the word hadn’t spread quite so far.”
Sharon Lynn caught what he said as she put the sundaes on the counter in front of them. “Look, I’m not sure what the deal is, but you don’t have to worry about anybody in the family blabbing your business to outsiders. If it’s possible for a grapevine to be discreet, ours is.”
“I hope so,” Michael said fervently. “Otherwise we could be looking at a whole heap of trouble.”
The instant the uncensored remark was out of Michael’s mouth, alarm spread across Jamie’s face. He stuck his spoon back in his ice cream and pushed it away. Grace reached over and moved it back.
“There is no need for you to worry,” she told him quietly. “Michael and I will handle anything that comes up.” She gazed at Michael. “Right?”
“Absolutely,” he said with more conviction than he probably felt.
“Promise?” Jamie asked.
“You have my word on it.”
“But—”
“Jamie, I promise,” she said solemnly.
Finally reassured, Jamie dug into his sundae, polishing it off in no time. Josh, who’d been too busy scraping every last bit of hot fudge out of the bottom of the dish to pay attention to the tension swirling around him, finished up and climbed off of the stool.
“Can Jamie and me go for a walk around town?” he asked.
“If you don’t leave Main Street,” Michael said.
Grace regarded him with surprise. “Are you sure—?”
“It’ll be fine.”
After they’d gone, she sighed. “Jamie’s scared. Are you sure they won’t just take off?”
“I’m as sure of that as I am of a
nything,” Michael said. “Which isn’t saying a lot right now.”
Sharon Lynn came around and sat on the stool next to Grace, the baby settled in her lap with a dog-eared picture book. “Obviously I set off a panic earlier. Why don’t you fill me in? Maybe I can help.”
“Maybe we do need an objective opinion. You and I are a little too close to the situation,” Grace said, trying to gauge Michael’s reaction. He finally nodded.
With that go-ahead, Grace gave Sharon Lynn a brief summary of the situation.
“Those poor boys,” Sharon Lynn murmured more than once.
“Any ideas about how we can keep them together?” Michael asked. “Grace and I are both committed to making that happen.”
“How would you feel if I held a family powwow?” Sharon Lynn asked. “All of us have big homes. And nobody’s more devoted to the concept of family than an Adams. Surely among us we could come up with a place for them to stay so they’d be together. Then we could go to social services, present them with a solution they couldn’t possibly refuse. I’m living proof that the tactic can work. What do you think?”
“Are you sure there are people in your family who would consider taking in two boys they haven’t even met yet?” Grace worried.
“I know it,” Sharon Lynn said. “I’d have to talk to Cord, of course, but I’d do it in a heartbeat. I always wanted a ton of kids around. We don’t have as much room as some of the others, but we could make it work.”
Grace thought of those dry legal pages that had summarized Sharon Lynn’s battle for custody of the little girl who had been left on her doorstep. She saw that same kind of commitment and love shining in her eyes now. Jamie and Josh would definitely be in good hands with Sharon Lynn.
So, why did she feel so empty inside thinking of the boys staying right here with a woman like Sharon Lynn as their mother? Why was saying no her immediate reaction?
Because she wanted them for herself, she realized with a sinking sense of loss. She couldn’t delude herself that her response was anything other than pure jealousy over the fact that Sharon Lynn had a family to offer them. It was a selfish, knee-jerk reaction.
“Well?” Sharon Lynn asked. “What do you think?”
Michael’s gaze settled on hers. “Grace?”
“It’s an option,” she said slowly, trying to hide her dismay. “You’re very generous to even consider the idea.”
“Shall I talk to Cord and the others? See if we come up with any other brilliant solutions?”
“I think we should let her,” Michael said. “Right, Grace?”
Grace forced herself to nod agreement, because she wasn’t sure she could speak around the sudden lump in her throat.
“And in the meantime, I think maybe you should talk to my cousin Justin,” Sharon Lynn went on. “If you’ve filled the local sheriff in, you might avoid any problems about letting the boys stay here, rather than turning them in the second you discovered them in the barn. Justin can take his own sweet time about filing paperwork when it suits him. Not that he approves of such things, but one look at those boys and how happy they are and I think in this instance it will suit him just fine.”
“Thanks, Sharon Lynn,” Michael said. “I think we’ll do exactly that. Now we’d better go round up those two and get them back out to Trish’s, before anybody else starts asking questions about who they are and where they came from.”
Trying to make up for her earlier lack of enthusiasm, Grace gave Sharon Lynn a hug. “You really are wonderful. Your kids are very lucky.”
“No,” Sharon Lynn said fervently. “I’m the lucky one. I’ve got the sexiest, most loving husband on the planet and three great kids. Why not share that if I can? I’ll call you all later and let you know how things turn out when I talk to the family.”
Outside, Grace spotted Jamie and Josh peering in the window of the feed and grain store. They seemed perfectly content for the moment, so she turned to Michael.
“Do you think we should call Justin?”
“I think it might be the smart thing to do,” he said. “If he’s anything like Sharon Lynn, he’ll be on our side. That can’t hurt.”
“What if he’s not?” Grace asked worriedly. “What if he’s a by-the-book kind of guy?”
“Dylan says he is,” Michael admitted. “But he also says there’s no one he’d rather have on his side in a fight.”
“How well does Dylan really know him?”
“They worked together when Kelsey’s son was missing. Dylan said the only thing that mattered to Justin was getting the boy back, not which rules might have been bent in the process. He even considered going to work for Justin as a deputy. For Dylan to even think about doing that, the man has to be a good guy.”
He studied Grace. “You’re not convinced, are you? Not about any of it, including Sharon Lynn’s willingness to take the boys in if her husband agrees.”
“How can I not be glad about that?” she said, but she couldn’t manage to force any enthusiasm into her voice.
Michael touched a hand to her cheek. “Grace?”
She forced herself to meet his gaze, saw the concern in his expression. “What?”
“What’s really going on here? No evasions this time. I want the truth.”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly.
“You want those boys to stay with you, don’t you?” he said, putting into words what she’d been afraid to say.
Her breath caught at the accuracy of his assessment. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to see into her heart like that, since anyone had even tried. She owed him an honest answer.
“I know it’s not realistic, that it doesn’t make any kind of sense, but yes, I want to keep them in my life,” she admitted.
“In your life?” he asked skeptically. “You could do that no matter where they wind up. You really want them with you permanently. I can see it when you look at them. It’s exactly what I was afraid of.”
“I know it’s wrong, even selfish,” she finally conceded, then regarded him fiercely. “But, yes, that is exactly what I want. Those boys need a loving home and I want to be the one to give it to them.”
“What about your career?”
“I can make it work,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t be the first woman to have to juggle work and parenting.”
“But two kids, out of the blue?” he asked skeptically. “Jamie and Josh are trying really hard right now to do everything they can to please you, but it won’t always be that way. Jamie’s a teenager. Teenaged boys can be a handful. Are you prepared for that?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. She might be good for Josh and Jamie, but they would bring even more into her life, something that had been missing for as long as she could remember.
Michael cupped her chin in his palm, his gaze locked with hers, as if he were searching for assurance that she had no doubts about her claim. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, he nodded. “Then we’ll do what we can to make it happen.”
Her heart leaped at the conviction she heard in his voice, the certainty that everything would be settled just the way she wanted it. Given Michael’s reputation as a determined man and a tough negotiator, she didn’t doubt for an instant that he could make it happen.
But then what? Despite her brave words, how would she manage if she won?
What had he gone and done, Michael worried as he sat up late that night while Grace and the boys slept upstairs. How was he supposed to keep his promise to her? And, for that matter, how did he feel about her determination to bring Jamie and Josh into her life on a full-time basis? Would there be room for him in that equation? Did he want there to be?
When he could no longer stand the way his thoughts kept shifting back and forth with no resolution in sight, he picked up the phone and called Tyler, waking him out of a sound sleep.
“Michael?” his brother asked sleepily. “What’s going on? It’s the middle of the night. Don’t you have something better to do,
or did Grace go home?”
“Grace is asleep,” he said, then drew in a deep breath. “So are the two boys I discovered hiding out in the barn.”
Tyler’s sharp intake of breath suggested he’d finally come awake in a hurry.
“Michael, what the devil is going on over there?”
“You have no idea,” Michael said wryly. “But I think I could use a friendly face.”
“And you’d prefer mine to Grace’s? You obviously need another lecture on your priorities.”
“It’s gotten complicated,” Michael said. “Since you got me over here, I figure you owe me.”
“I’ll be there first thing in the morning,” Tyler agreed at once. “It might be a real good time for me to be out of town anyway.”
Something in his little brother’s voice alerted Michael that he wasn’t the only one with a lot on his mind. “Ty, is everything okay?”
“Nothing I can’t handle with a little fancy footwork,” Tyler assured him. “See you in the morning.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“Anytime. You know that. Want me to bring Jeb, too?”
“No, I think you and I can handle it. Dylan should be back any day now, too. And Trish. If we need backup, they can step in.”
“What kind of backup are we talking about?” Tyler asked.
“Not the six-shooter variety,” Michael said with the first genuine laugh he’d uttered in days.
“I’m relieved. Just remember one thing till I get there.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s nothing a Delacourt can’t do, once he puts his mind to it. Get more than one of us in a room and we’re indomitable.”
“I hope so,” Michael said fervently. “For once in my life I’m counting on it.”
He wasn’t sure when he said it if he was thinking of Josh and Jamie, or if he was thinking about Grace.
Chapter Ten
Grace tossed and turned for what seemed like hours before finally giving up, tugging on her robe and padding down the hall to the bathroom to get herself a glass of water. On her way she spotted a light on downstairs and opted to head to the kitchen instead.
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