Babies and a Blue-eyed Man

by Myrna Mackenzie

  Table of Contents

  BABIES AND A BLUE-EYED MAN

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  A Message from Myrna

  Books by Myrna Mackenzie (a Partial List)

  About the Author

  BABIES AND A BLUE-EYED MAN

  Myrna Mackenzie

  A man with a plan…

  Sam Grayson needed someone to help his children heal from the pain of their mother’s abandonment. That much was certain. And since he would rather jump into an active volcano than get married again, he needed a babysitter extraordinaire. In other words, he needed every child’s best cheerleader and an acquaintance from his past. He needed Rachel Allyn. A woman with reservations and regrets…

  But Rachel knew that Sam’s simple plan would be a very bad idea for her. There would be nothing simple or easy about it. Given the way her former relationship with Sam had transpired, walking into this man’s life and caring for his babies would be the worst kind of emotional obstacle course. She wanted to say no, to run. But she knew she wouldn’t do that, and she also knew that she would regret her decision…every day of her life.

  Copyright ©1996, 2016 by Myrna Topol

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed without prior written permission by the copyright holder, except where permitted by law.

  Publisher’s Note:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  It was four o’clock in the afternoon when Sam Grayson came home early and realized he needed to make a change in his life. His six-year-old daughter, Annie, was struggling with a needle and thread and a mangled bit of cloth. She had five bandages on her fingers and was in grave danger of stitching her nose to the fabric she was leaning over.

  “Hi, Annie, love. What’s that you’re doing?”

  She looked up at him with big blue eyes, blinking as she struggled to bring him into focus. Sam noticed her glasses lying on a nearby table. She was supposed to wear them all the time. “Daddy,” she said, holding up the rumpled scrap of material. “I’m sewing baby Zach’s pajamas. He tore them.”

  Sam looked at the cloth. It was definitely ripped, but...

  “Honey, Mrs. Nelson will do that. Shouldn’t you be with your friends? I thought Lisa usually came over on Wednesdays.”

  “Yes.” Annie nodded. “She used to, but lately I have been too busy. The twins are babies and they need a mommy.”

  Sam’s heart caught in his throat. How like Annie to note that her brother and sister needed a mother, when she had no mother herself. Or at least not one who was ever around.

  Gently he removed the smudged bit of cloth from Annie’s grasp and sank down on his knees next to her chair. He looked into her eyes that were so like his own. “Annie, sweetheart,” he said, taking her hand and sandwiching it between his palms. “You’re six years old, too young to be a mommy yet. You should be out in the sunshine, running, playing make-believe.”

  Annie’s eyes had darkened at his first words, but she suddenly brightened and sat up straighter. “Oh, but I do play make-believe, Daddy. I tell stories to the twins every day after school. That’s why Lisa doesn’t come. She gets very grouchy when she has to wait for me to finish.”

  And why not? Sam thought, trying to find the words to turn his daughter into the bright, laughing child she’d once been. Why would Lisa want to wait around when her friend had become a stranger? Silently he cursed himself. Things hadn’t been right for Annie since Donna had walked out six months after the twins were born. They certainly hadn’t been right since the divorce. But he hadn’t known they’d been this wrong.

  “What does Mrs. Nelson say about you taking care of the twins?” he asked, needing to know Annie’s side of the story before he discussed this with his housekeeper.

  Annie shook her head. “She thinks I’m too little, just like you. But I’m not, Daddy. And Janey and Zach need me a lot. Not like that mean old Lisa Dobbins.” Annie twisted her fingers and stared down at her lap.

  Ah, now they were getting somewhere. Sam tucked one finger beneath his daughter’s trembling chin. “Why is Lisa mean, Annie? I thought she was your best friend.”

  “No, no, she’s not,” Annie nearly shouted. “She said my mommy was bad and that Mommy couldn’t have loved me. Lisa said her mommy loved her so much she would never leave. Not ever.”

  Long streaky tears traced their way down Annie’s cheeks as she choked out the last words. Sam held out his arms, sitting back and pulling her onto his lap as he smoothed circles over her sharp little shoulder blades with his palm.

  Dammit, how could Donna have done this? Hadn’t she known how much her desertion would cost Annie? The note she’d pinned to the pillow the night she’d left had said only that she’d been planning to go for a while. The humiliation of that, the fact that he had laughed with and made love to a woman who hadn’t really cared, scalded. He’d been a fool, but even worse, he hadn’t seen the hurt that had lain in store for his kids.

  Rocking his daughter, Sam whispered to her softly. He loved her. She was the most special girl in the whole wide world. He even told her that Donna loved her and just couldn’t be here with her, and he forgave himself for the lie. Annie needed that solace, and the truth be damned.

  Brushing back the damp curls that had gotten caught in her tears, he waited until her sobs subsided into snuffles and then into the long, even breathing of sleep. Then Sam carried Annie upstairs and tucked her into bed. He followed the sound of giggles, looking for his babies.

  Right now the twins needed him. But come nightfall when the kids were asleep, he was going to have to rethink his family’s situation. It had been a year since Donna had gone, granting him sole custody. Time had passed. Still, it was clear now that time alone wasn’t helping Annie get past the loss of her mother. He needed to figure out what would help.

  But for now...Sam walked into the cavernous white kitchen.

  “Dee!” Zach called, stumbling away from Mrs. Nelson and toward his father just as fast as his chubby legs could carry him.

  Scooping up a twin in each arm, Sam hugged Zach and Janey to him. His quiet little daughter formed her lips into an O and aimed a wet kiss at Sam’s cheek.

  “Did you two little imps have a good day?” he asked.

  “Goo,” Janey agreed, smiling up at him as he snuggled her and Zach close, then let them go back to their game.

  Okay, the twins were doing all right. But then, they’d hardly known Donna. They hadn’t reached the age of wondering about their mother’s absence. But someday...hell, someday it would happen. When it did, he wanted their world to be so secure that their lives would still be filled with rainbows.

  Up until now he hadn’t made any major changes in his kids’ lives because losing a mother was a major change. Uprooting them would have been wrong. But now, maybe—maybe it was finally time to go home. The thought swirled into Sam’s mind and caught there, refusing to budge. It had been years since he’d lived in Tucker, but he’d always loved the town even if it was where he’d met and married Donna. It had become his home from the minute he’d walked into town and—

  Sam’s attention was diverted by Zach sliding his diapered bottom under the kitchen tabl
e as he peeped out from beneath the maze of chairs. “Wuv, Dee,” he said, smacking his rosebud lips and throwing kisses.

  Chuckling at his son’s antics, Sam hunkered down beside him. “I love you too, tiger,” he agreed. “Absolutely.”

  And that was exactly what he was thinking two weeks later as he prepared to climb into his truck. God, he loved his kids. How could he be thinking of leaving them even for a few days?

  “I’ll be back soon,” he told the twins. He hugged them hard, not wanting to let go.

  “Soon, pumpkin,” he repeated to a wide-eyed, worried Annie, as he gathered her little twig of a body close. “I promise I’ll send for you as soon as I find us a new home.”

  Sam hoped his smile hid the lump the size of Rhode Island located in his throat. He’d never been apart from his kids. If Annie started to cry, he wasn’t sure he could leave her.

  “Is Tucker far, Daddy?” she asked with a quavering voice.

  “Not far, sweetheart. It’s still in Illinois. But smaller—and greener. Your uncle Hal lives there—just like I did when I was a teenager. It’s a very nice place. Special.”

  It was. That was why he was going—to find a house that was a home, not just a decorator’s dream like this one. And a town where people stayed for lifetimes, not just years.

  He was finally going back to help his uncle run the family lumberyard. And there was a strong sense of right about what he was doing, Sam thought, driving away with one last long look in the rearview mirror. But a town, a home and a job weren’t enough. His kids also needed someone who could fill the empty holes their mother had left. Someone special had to care for them when he was working—not just a housekeeper. Annie needed a role model, a cheerleader, someone who knew how to turn tears into giggles.

  “Rachel Allyn.” Sam muttered the name of the woman he’d decided upon, as he passed another mileage marker. His sister, Kate, who maintained her friendship with Rachel, his contacts in town and his memories, assured him that she was the right woman for the job. But there was still one thing Sam wasn’t sure of. Would she be willing to help him?

  “Dammit.” He blew out a long breath, remembering Rachel. Tall, with dark hair and huge gray eyes, she’d been his sister’s friend, warm and welcoming to the world...and chilly as November to him. When he’d tried to be nice, she’d slipped away, and when she couldn’t do that, she had a cache of comments that went straight for the jugular. On the other hand, she’d truly been a wonder with kids. Whether it was her own brothers and sisters or the sticky-faced children she baby-sat for, she’d loved every one of them, flaws and all. She’d bandaged their scraped knees and swung them in great, looping circles. More important, she’d made them laugh. Always.

  He knew she was still there, in Tucker. In fact, he knew exactly where to find her.

  Still, Sam couldn’t ignore the fact that Rachel had always looked at him as though he spent his spare time kicking defenseless kittens. And the last time he’d seen her, at his wedding, when everyone had danced with the bride and groom, Rachel had settled into the circle of his arms, then pulled back and walked away, leaving him confused...and mad as hell.

  Thinking back, Sam couldn’t help smiling at what he must have looked like with his arms looped around a mass of air. It had been a sobering moment for a man who wasn’t used to having a woman say no.

  But as he drove closer to Tucker, his amusement didn’t last long. The fact was that Rachel hadn’t even wanted to dance with him back then. Was she going to be willing to care for his children now?

  Sam didn’t know, but heck, he knew one thing. In just a short time he was going to come face-to-face with Rachel Allyn for the first time in ten years. This time he didn’t intend to be left holding air.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Hal, good news,” Rachel declared as her boss walked into the office of Grayson Lumber. “Lots of good news. My roses are blooming, it’s warm, it’s sunny, the sky’s a perfect blue, and just this minute, I finally found that lousy two thousand dollars we lost on the Jensen account. Someone keyed it into the wrong file.” She smiled, shaking her head at Hal. He was notorious for messing with her files when she was out of the office.

  Rachel waited for Hal’s answer, but he just stood there grinning at her. The few strands of gray hair he still had were standing up where he had pushed a hand across his scalp.

  “Aw, forget that account,” he finally said. “And everything else. I just got a call—from Sam. He’s coming home. Right now!”

  The stack of papers beneath Rachel’s fingers shifted violently as she jerked back at Hal’s words.

  “Sam?” she asked, sucking in air.

  Hal waved one hand impatiently. “My nephew, Rachel. Sam Grayson. Don’t you remember him?”

  Oh, yes, she remembered. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that she’d thought he was gone forever, and now...

  Now, nothing, she thought. Nothing had changed. She still had her flowers, her friends and the same dazzling sky as this morning. So what if Sam Grayson was coming back to town? It was nothing to her.

  “I’m happy for you, Hal,” Rachel said quietly, and she was. Hal had been all alone since his wife died. Sam and his sister Kate were all the family he had. As part owner of Grayson Lumber, there was no reason in the world Sam shouldn’t be coming back to Tucker—and no reason she should be unsettled by the news.

  But then Sam had always managed to unsettle her. Even the first time she’d met him when he’d moved to Tucker from Texas and her mother had gone to clean house for the Graysons.

  She had tried to ignore the attraction. At eighteen, Sam was out of reach. His family owned the lumberyard while hers barely owned shoes and socks. Besides, Sam was dating beautiful Donna, and fifteen-year-old Rachel already knew about impossible dreams. Neither her father nor her stepfather had ever seemed to realize that wives and children needed love.

  So Rachel had known not to dream about Sam. No way would she repeat her mother’s mistakes. Her life had not been pretty back then, but her thoughts had always been lovely. There was a shining world out there and plenty of happiness to be had—as long as she didn’t set her sights on the wrong dreams.

  “You still with me, Rachel?” Hal asked, and she looked up, embarrassed to be caught remembering. “That Engalls boy didn’t upset you, did he? I heard you had a date last night.”

  Rachel smiled at Hal’s choice of words. She shook her head disbelievingly, sending her long, dark hair tumbling over one shoulder. Bob Engalls was thirty years old, not a boy, even if he was sweet and shy.

  “Bob’s a very nice man, Hal,” she said, grinning openly.

  Hal’s brows beetled suddenly. “Darn it, Rachel, you say that about everybody. Hell, I’m nice and I’m sixty-eight. Eighty-year-old Jim Hanks is nice, too, but you darn well wouldn’t be marrying either of us. ‘Very nice’ is what you said about that Don Bowers, the one who told everyone he’d be back to ask you to marry him again this year. Come on, Rachel. I want to hear some wedding bells before I’m too old to dance.”

  Rachel couldn’t hold back her laughter. She shook her head at Hal as she leaned forward on her desk. “Don’t worry, Hal. I promise you that I’ll provide you with a whole day of dancing—someday. But give me some time to find the real thing. I’m not going to marry someone just so you can twirl Lily Dawson around the dance floor.”

  Hal’s face turned pink at Rachel’s reference to the lady in question. She really shouldn’t tease him. He was such an old sweetheart, a kind boss who’d given her plenty of time off when she’d needed to care for her terminally ill mother two years ago. Now, when he was so excited over Sam’s return, it was her turn to be understanding.

  “Come on, Hal, we’d better clean up some of this sawdust before your Sam gets here,” she said gently, rising to her feet. “And don’t worry about me. I’ll fall in love when the right man comes along. I’m sure of it.”

  And she was. The man who could make her heart do a tango was waiting out there. So
mewhere. She’d wanted it to be Don. He’d been warm and funny and patient when he’d passed through town last year, hopeful that she’d learn to love him in time. Maybe she would. When he returned, maybe she’d look at him and feel stars shining inside herself. It could happen, it had already happened once—but, of course, that had been the wrong man.

  Sam. The name racketed through her brain as she moved around the room with Hal, straightening things that didn’t really need straightening.

  Sam had been a mistake. She’d known better, but his smile, his displaced Texas drawl, had done terrible, wonderful things to her heart. He’d been kind; she’d almost thought he cared...until she’d overheard a conversation between Sam and Donna. That was when she’d realized Sam thought of her as a needy kid. He felt sorry for her. It was the day Rachel started avoiding Sam—and courting his anger to avoid his pity.

  His wedding day had been the worst. By then she’d reached her seventeenth birthday. Not wanting to look conspicuous by being different, she’d agreed to dance with him. She’d started unwillingly into his arms—until she’d felt the brief touch of his hand at her waist. The rush of longing had threatened to betray her. She’d barely been able to walk away.

  Rachel touched a petal of one of the carnations on her desk. Sam probably didn’t even remember. That was a long time ago. Past history—as was Sam.

  “When’s he coming, Hal? Will he bring his children?” The words slipped out even though she didn’t want to think about babies with Sam’s blue eyes. Children were and always had been her weakness. Their honesty, their innocence, their dirty little faces and sweet smiles always did her in. The combination of Sam and kids—Rachel forced that thought away.

  Hal looked up and smiled. “When? Oh, he’ll be here pretty soon. Today. The kids will come later, but Sam will be here sooner than you think.”

  Sooner than I want, Rachel thought. But she couldn’t say that and didn’t want to pursue that line of thought, anyway. It was too fine a day to waste her thoughts on a man who no longer mattered.