Dollar didn’t need settling as much as Aaron needed a moment for himself. Jake was a lucky man to have such beautiful, sweet daughters, and Aaron suffered a small but sharp pang of jealousy. Had things gone differently, had the photographer chosen a different moment to take his picture, Aaron and Hailey might have been blessed with a daughter like one of these.
Natalie was right. He should be more tolerant of his ex-brother-in-law. If Aaron had been forced to move away from his children, he’d be in a perpetually bad mood, too.
“Thanks Mr….ah…”
“You can call me Aaron.” He placed the middle girl’s hands over the saddle horn. “Hold on to this.”
“Thanks, Aaron.” She smiled shyly.
The youngest one needed no cuing. She wrapped her arms around big sister’s waist and held on tight.
“We’ll get you a horse to ride when we reach the bottom,” he told Briana.
“That’s okay. I can walk.” She appeared resigned to returning with him.
“You say that now, but I’m betting you’ll change your mind about the time we hit the first creek.” They started down the slope, Aaron leading Dollar, who slowed his pace to accommodate his young passengers.
“You don’t have to be all nice to us just because you were once married to my aunt.”
“I’m being nice to you because I happen to like you.”
He did, too. Briana had inherited her father’s prickliness, but she adored Natalie’s baby and took excellent care of her. Also her sisters. Aaron harbored no doubts she’d have gotten the three of them home safely somehow, someway, even if she’d had to carry her sisters, one under each arm.
At the bottom of the hill, Briana took a look at the long, rocky trail looming ahead and promptly accepted Aaron’s offer of a ride. After obtaining permission, Aaron put one small child on with his parent and gave the extra horse to Briana. He continued to walk beside Dollar, leading the sisters. Briana didn’t thank him exactly, she was infused with too many Tucker stubborn genes for that. But she did glance his way off and on. The moment they hit the stables, Aaron went to the office and called Natalie at the main lodge to report they’d found the girls.
“Thank goodness.” He heard her huge sigh of relief over the line. “Jake only learned a short while ago that they ran off, and he’s a wreck.”
“Did their mother and her boyfriend make it home yet?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s down at the garage, getting ATVs ready to go scouting for the girls. I’ll call and let them know you’re at the stables.”
She hung up without saying goodbye. While Aaron understood the pressing need to contact Jake, he wished they could have talked longer. Giving them each some space after their kiss the other night had seemed like a good idea, but he missed her and wanted to see her again. Not just in passing at mealtimes, either.
Natalie’s father and Little Jose helped the guests dismount, asking them about the ride. By the time Aaron walked out of the office, the guests were pacing in front of the hitching rails, walking off the stiffness in their legs.
Aaron went over to the girls, who sat atop, slouched against or hanging on to, the piped railing by the barn. In his hands were three cans of soda he’d swiped from the office refrigerator. “Here you go.”
Flavored and sweetened carbonated water helped break down the remaining barriers between them.
“Thanks!” all three said in unison.
“Your folks are on their way.”
That remark earned him a trio of frowns, one contemplative, one sad and one decidedly stubborn.
“Mommy and Daddy are gonna be mad as us,” the middle girl said around a swallow of soda.
“Probably,” Aaron agreed. “But only because they were scared sick about you.”
“Way to rub it in.” Briana fired invisible daggers at him.
“Hey. I’m just giving you some advice on how to handle this. You apologize to your parents for worrying them, and I bet you a barrel-riding lesson they won’t be half so mad at you.”
“What makes you think I’d want a barrel-riding lesson?” she demanded with typical fourteen-year-old attitude.
“I’ve watched you riding in the arena. You’re good. You could be better with a few lessons.”
She didn’t answer, but her demeanor softened—only to harden again a minute later at the sight of her father’s truck shooting down the road. She slumped deeper against the railing. Aaron thought he heard her swear under her breath and chuckled to himself. Hailey had possessed the same stubborn streak.
It was then he realized something amazing. He’d thought of his late wife, remembered her, and there had been no pain. No mind-numbing grief. Only pleasure. He actually smiled at Jake when he and the girls’ mother came charging at them from the truck.
“Other than a few scratches, they’re fine,” he said.
Jake spared Aaron the briefest of nods before going straight to his daughters. Everyone hugged and for a moment, the family wasn’t divided. It helped that the boyfriend hadn’t come along. Aaron, who’d stepped back to give them some room, glimpsed the life his former brother-in-law had once had and, according to Natalie, had fought to keep.
As soon as the parents were assured their children were unharmed, the reprimands started.
“What in heaven’s name were you thinking? Taking off like that in the middle of nowhere?”
“Do you have any idea how worried your mother and I were?”
“You could’ve been hurt. Or one of your sisters.”
It didn’t stop there.
The youngest girl burst into tears. The middle one looked bleak and hung her head. Briana was made of slightly stronger stuff than her sisters. She stoically faced the music, chewing her upper lip and fiddling with the buttons on her jacket.
During a pause in her father’s lecture, she swallowed, shot Aaron a sideways glance and said, “I’m sorry to have upset you and Mom. It was my fault. I’m the oldest and should have known better.”
Both her parents recovered slowly.
“Yes, it is your fault.” Jake’s voice lost some of its angry edge. “But I’m glad to see you taking responsibility.”
Briana nodded and went back to chewing her lip.
“Why don’t we discuss this at home,” her mother suggested in a voice that was no longer one decibel below shrieking.
“Good idea.” Jake gathered his daughters in a group and, along with their mother, herded them toward his truck. He abruptly stopped. “Go on. I’ll be right there.” He turned and came back to Aaron. “Natalie tells me you’re the one who found the girls and brought them home.”
“It wasn’t exactly a rescue operation. They were coming down the mountain by Windy Pass. We just gave them a ride.”
“If I know Briana, she didn’t want a ride.”
“It did require a little arm-twisting.”
An odd look crossed Jake’s face. When he finally spoke, Aaron understood why. Jake didn’t do humility well.
“Thank you for what you did.”
“Hey. I enjoyed it. Your daughters are great. You must be proud of them.”
“When they’re not knee-deep in trouble, they’re darn near perfect.” Jake hesitated and appeared to think carefully before speaking. “I didn’t know you liked kids.”
“Yeah. I do.” For reasons he couldn’t explain, he said, “Hailey and I couldn’t decide on how many we wanted, just that we did. And right away.”
“Really?”
“You act surprised.”
“I am. About you. Not Hailey. Frankly, I didn’t figure you for the fatherly type.”
“I only wish I’d had the chance. But then…things didn’t work out.”
“You were planning on starting a family?”
“We already had.” Aaron then told Jake something he’d previously kept to himself and thought he always would. “She was seven weeks pregnant when she died.”
Chapter Ten
“Breaking ranch rules, Jake? That
’s not like you.”
He’d recognized his cousin Carolina’s car when she pulled up in front of Founders Cabin and had all of ten seconds to prepare before she discovered him sitting in the front-porch swing, nursing a beer.
“It’s dark outside,” he grumbled, not liking the barely concealed amusement he detected in her voice. “And I parked around back.”
He’d also left all the interior lights off except for a pewter wall sconce mounted just inside the door. Without the aid of night goggles, a person wouldn’t know he was here or see that he was drinking. Carolina must have made an educated guess about where to find him and his beverage of choice.
But then, this wasn’t the first time he’d spent the night in his grandparents’ old home since his divorce, sleeping on the couch in the now conference, former living room. There were days he just couldn’t bring himself to leave the ranch, couldn’t drive the dark road to that empty house he’d built for himself and his three daughters who were there only every other weekend.
Uninvited, Carolina sat in the chair adjacent to the swing. “I hear the girls are fine,” she said after settling in. “That’s good.”
“Yeah. Very good.”
He laid his head back and squeezed his eyes shut, reliving again that awful half hour when he hadn’t known their whereabouts or if they were all right. He couldn’t remember ever being so scared. Or so relieved when Natalie called him to report that Aaron had returned from a trail ride with his daughters in tow.
Aaron!
The last person he’d have imagined helping him or his children. The one who just told him his sister had been pregnant when she died.
“Did you find out why they took off?” Carolina asked. She dragged an old wooden footstool over and propped her feet up, crossing them at the ankles. Apparently, she intended to stay and pester him a while longer.
“They got mad at Ellen’s boyfriend.” Though he’d been told the man’s name, Jake refused to speak it. “Briana said he was ordering them around and that Ellen let him, telling the girls to listen. They got fed up and ran off when Ellen and he weren’t looking.” Making out probably, thought Jake bitterly. “Not particularly smart, but can you blame them?”
“Do you think that’s what really happened?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” He didn’t like what his cousin was insinuating.
“Come on, Jake. They’re your daughters. They love you to pieces. And you’ve only been divorced a year. Ellen could bring Santa Claus home and they wouldn’t like him.”
Bring home?
A sour taste filled the back of Jake’s throat. It was his home Ellen was bringing men to. The one he’d lived in his entire life and where he thought he’d be raising his daughters.
Ellen had met her lover at his home, too, when the girls were at school and Jake was in Payson on business. If not for a canceled appointment, he might never have discovered her affair. Singular. She’d sworn there’d been only one man and only one instance.
Jake didn’t believe her.
When the day finally came he moved back into his house, he’d burn every stick of furniture and buy new.
“Whether or not the girls like Ellen’s boyfriend isn’t my problem,” he said, “and I’m sure as hell not going to try to fix it.” He took a swallow of his beer but the sour taste in his throat remained.
“Care to tell me what’s really got you in a snit?”
“My kids went missing, and my ex-wife is strutting around the ranch with her latest boy toy. I’m thinking that’s enough.”
“It was nice of Aaron to bring the girls home.”
“Real nice.”
“Why do you say it all snarly-like? He’s not such a bad guy. The guests rave about him.”
Guests. What did they know?
“Oh, I get it.” Carolina slapped her leg. “You can’t stand being grateful to him.”
She knew him too well. He needed to spend more time in the company of strangers.
“Fine,” Jake growled. “He helped out the girls so they didn’t have to walk. Doesn’t make him less of a jerk.”
“I think it does.”
He dropped his head and rubbed his temple. “It’s getting late. I’m tired.”
Carolina didn’t take the hint. “Natalie’s pretty into him. She’s a good judge of character.”
“Except for her kid’s father.”
“Even she admits his leaving was partially her fault.”
“I don’t want to talk about Natalie.”
“You’re not still thinking of changing company policy and forcing her to stop seeing Aaron?”
“They’re dating?” Jake sat up straight.
“No. Bad choice of words. But they would be dating if not for you. Right now they’re just walking around, ogling each other with their tongues hanging out.”
“I could do without the visual.”
This time, Carolina did laugh. Loudly.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he said blandly.
“Don’t be such a snot.” She’d called him that often when she was growing up.
“I’ve had a bad day. You’re not helping.”
“You’ve had a great day, Jake. Your kids are fine. It could have turned out a whole lot worse.”
“Did you know Hailey and Aaron were planning on starting a family?” he abruptly asked.
Carolina shifted and recrossed her legs. “Were they?”
“According to Aaron.”
“That’s not such a shock. Most young married couples contemplate having a family.”
Jake swirled the last of his beer around in the bottom of the can. He’d lost interest in finishing it. “They weren’t just contemplating. Hailey was pregnant when she died.”
“Wow.” Carolina didn’t speak for a moment. When she next did, her voice was unsteady. “I didn’t know.”
“Me neither. Until today. Aaron told me.”
“That just makes everything so much worse.” She sniffed quietly. “Poor Aaron.”
“Poor Aaron!” Jake came out of his seat and went to stand by the railing, his movements jerky. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for him.”
“Of course I feel sorry for him. He lost his wife and his child. That must have been horrible for him.”
“He’s not the only one who suffered. We all did.”
“Hailey was his wife.”
“She was my sister. He only met her eight months before the accident.”
“I’m not sure loss is something that can be measured by length of acquaintance.” She rose from her seat and laid a hand on his shoulder. “He loved Hailey.”
“If he loved her so much, then why is he sniffing around Natalie?”
“People aren’t made of stone. They recover eventually. Move on. You will, too, someday, though you may not think it now.”
She was right about that. He didn’t think he’d ever recover from his ex-wife’s infidelity. “I wish Aaron would move on somewhere else besides Bear Creek Ranch.”
“I think he and Natalie are a cute couple. He could be good for her. God knows, she deserves a decent guy. And he likes kids. Single guys don’t exactly flock to women with babies.”
“Good for her?” Jake turned away from the railing and in so doing, shook Carolina’s hand loose. “You’re crazy.”
She took his outburst in stride. Unlike him, his cousin maintained her cool under stress. “If they fall in love,” she said gently, “and he takes her away from here, there’s nothing we can do about it. Or should. It’s her life. Her decision. Just like it was Hailey’s decision.”
“She wouldn’t have left home if not for him. Wouldn’t have died.” Two years had passed since he lost his little sister, and his pain hadn’t diminished.
“Hailey didn’t leave you, Jake. She went with Aaron. There’s a big difference, and you have to stop thinking you were abandoned. Or that he caused her death.”
“He should have told me she was pregnant.”
She should have told him. Hailey wanted children and complained often that, at thirty-three, her biological clock was ticking. That was in part why Jake had been opposed to her quickie elopement to a younger man. In his opinion, Aaron married Hailey for her money and in exchange, she got herself a sperm donor.
“Did it occur to you he might not have told you in order to spare you more hurt?”
“Why?” Jake scoffed. “He can’t stand me.”
“For the same reason you’re still beating yourself up all this time later. Guilt.”
“I’m not—”
“Please. We both know your last phone conversation with Hailey was an argument over Aaron. The next day, she dies. Don’t tell me you aren’t feeling guilty as hell.”
He didn’t tell her. Because she was right.
“I’m sorry to sound like a meanie, Jake, but hating Aaron, treating him poorly, won’t bring Hailey back and it certainly won’t alleviate your guilt.” She reached again for his arm. “Hailey loved you. And wherever she is, I’m sure she’s forgiven you. She’d want you to let go and make peace with Aaron.”
Jake flipped his beer can over and dumped the contents into the bushes growing alongside the porch. “That’s just it. I don’t think I can.”
“Let go or make peace with Aaron?”
“Both.”
“Fine. Have it your way. Can’t say I didn’t try.”
Carolina did something then almost unheard of for her. She left Jake alone to wallow in his misery. And wallow he did, for most of the long, sleepless night.
NATALIE WAS HAVING one of those mornings. The kind where nothing went right.
She’d started out by loading Shiloh in the car and driving to Payson for her appointment with the child-custody attorney. Natalie had decided to let Drew abdicate his rights to their daughter, and with the attorney’s help came up with a response to Drew’s request that included visitation should Drew and Shiloh both wish it when she was older. Natalie struggled with that one, but agreed with the attorney it was unfair to deny her daughter the right to know Drew.
The meeting was positive and productive, but also emotionally draining. Natalie had left the attorney’s office with a lump in the back of her throat.
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