The Bridal Path: Danielle

by Sherryl Woods

  “Meaning, I wouldn’t mind going home again either, now that I know who I am?” he asked.

  “Something like that.”

  He gazed into her huge brown eyes. “How did you get to be so wise?”

  “I’m not wise, just practical. It takes a lot more energy to fight the past than it does to accept it.”

  “I told Timmy about his grandparents the other day.”

  Surprise and pleasure lit her eyes. “Did you, now? I’d say that’s progress.”

  “Of course, now he and Kevin are clamoring to go to Texas for a visit,” he said.

  “Will you take them?”

  “I was thinking I’d let you do it.”

  She chuckled. “Oh, no, you don’t. You deal with your father. I’ve got trouble enough with my own.”

  Before they could debate whose parent was worse, Kevin and Timmy came running up.

  “When are we going on the picnic?” Kevin asked. “My tummy’s empty.”

  “After that huge breakfast you ate this morning?” Slade asked skeptically. “That was just over an hour ago.”

  “I’m a kid,” Kevin reminded him. “I need lots and lots of energy.”

  “You just heard that I baked chocolate chip cookies, didn’t you?” Dani said. “Sara blabbed.”

  “She said you fixed a whole feast,” Timmy confirmed. “Fried chicken and coleslaw and potato salad.” He gazed at Kevin. “And what else?”

  “Biscuits, I think. And iced tea.”

  “That’s a lot of work for food that will be gobbled up in a nanosecond,” Slade observed.

  Dani shrugged. “It’s a pleasure to cook for healthy appetites for a change. It’s no fun to fix big meals for one person.”

  The comment was innocuous enough that Slade couldn’t imagine why it set off warning bells. He looked deep into Dani’s eyes, searching for some sort of ulterior motive, some hint that she was using her excellent cooking to weave an ever-tighter web around them all. Surely every woman had been taught that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. In the case of the Watkins family, where edible meals were few and far between, that slogan had the ring of truth. Would Dani Wilde exploit such a thing?

  She returned his gaze, though, with a perfectly bland expression. “I’ll just run up to the house and get the picnic basket,” she said. “Boys, ask Jake to help you saddle the horses.”

  Kevin’s eyes widened. “Really? We get to saddle them ourselves?”

  “With Jake’s help,” she reminded them as they ran back toward the paddock.

  Slade debated following them or going to assist Dani. He suddenly wanted desperately to put some distance between them. Every time he was around her lately, he realized that he was more and more drawn to her in ways that went beyond a physical yearning.

  She was so sweetly generous, so direct and honest that he was beginning to let down his guard around her and that, he reminded himself sternly, would be a huge mistake.

  Women were all alike in some ways. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they got their hooks into a man. But then they changed, just as Amanda had, practically from the day they’d exchanged vows. He wouldn’t risk going through that kind of transformation again. It would be hard on him. It would be devastating to the boys.

  Gazing into Dani’s soft, expectant eyes, however, he had trouble imagining her ever turning devious and cunning, especially since those were traits she hated so in her father. His wariness gradually faded away.

  “Come on,” he said, taking her arm. “I’ll help you with the basket, before the boys keel over from hunger.”

  “Do you really think that’s likely?” she teased.

  “No, but they think it is. They’ll pester the daylights out of us until they’re fed. We’ll be eating this picnic long before noon. I guarantee it.”

  A few minutes later, as they returned to the paddock with the food, Dani asked, “How did you convince Timmy to get back on a horse, by the way?”

  “It was mostly the promise of your food,” he admitted. “That and my agreeing to let him ride with me.”

  She brightened, clearly approving his ingenious solution. “You know something, Slade Watkins? You are an absolutely wonderful father.”

  Dani’s assessment washed over him, warming him more than she could ever imagine. Despite all of the worry-filled nights he’d spent, despite all of the doubts he’d ever had about his parenting skills, especially since he’d been flying solo, he suddenly felt reassured. This woman, who had such a natural gift with children, thought he was a decent father. He wanted desperately to believe that.

  Amanda had been far stingier with her praise. In fact, she had accused him on more than one occasion of being a distant, uninterested parent. Looking back, he could see how she had come to that conclusion, though.

  In an effort to keep peace with her, he had often avoided family outings. He’d felt the boys were better off without his presence, if that meant they wouldn’t be subjected to the tension that existed between him and their mother.

  After Amanda’s death he had spent weeks consumed by guilt. The boys had learned to avoid him and his dark moods. The sad truth was he couldn’t think of the last time he had spent as much carefree, happy time with Timmy and Kevin as he had since they’d moved to Riverton and been taken under Dani Wilde’s wing.

  “Thank you for saying that,” he said, then added wryly, “There are a lot of people in Riverton who would disagree with you, though.”

  “Oh, really? I haven’t heard anyone complaining about the boys lately, have you?”

  “No, but that’s your doing more than mine. You’re the one who’s been keeping them out of mischief.”

  A smile spread across her face. “Then I’d say we make a perfect team.”

  Impulsively, Slade bent down and brushed a quick kiss across the tip of her upturned nose. Naturally, the casual contact had the expected consequences. Desire rocketed through him. If two eager little boys hadn’t been waiting for them, if a bevy of interested observers hadn’t been within a few yards of them, he might have followed through on the invitation that promptly sprang to life in her eyes.

  Even as that awareness came to him, he realized that he was falling ever more deeply under Dani Wilde’s spell. And that terrified him more than the prospect of half a dozen futile, argumentative encounters with Duke Watkins ever had.

  * * *

  Dani thought things with Slade were progressing rather nicely. Every now and again, she thought she caught a hint of puzzlement in his eyes and once in a while there were signs of outright panic, but in general he seemed content enough with their growing friendship.

  The boys, of course, were playing straight into her hands. She already loved them as much as if they were her own. The time she spent with them fulfilled her in ways she had only imagined.

  Listening to them chatter excitedly, to the pounding of their footsteps through the house, even to their bickering filled her with incomparable contentment. Could anything be more satisfying than nurturing children and watching their individual personalities blossom?

  Not that the relationship was all one-sided. Kevin and Timmy were clearly benefiting from her influence. They were less and less troublesome with every day that passed. Even Myrtle Kellogg had commented on it. They seemed to thrive on her attention and her laughter, to say nothing of the nutritious food she was fixing for them. They hadn’t pleaded for a bologna sandwich and potato chips in a week now. And Timmy had finally overcome his fear of horses, thanks to her and Slade. The picnic had been a rousing success.

  The boys were also discovering what it meant to have discipline and a regular schedule. Set boundaries reassured a child. Goodness knows, her own father had made his rules and expectations clear enough. She hadn’t noticed that she and her sisters had suffered as a result of it, even when they’d fought hardest to break free. In fact, that battle, too, had made them stronger.

  All in all, her theories about child rearing were being borne out
rather well. She was relieved to know she hadn’t just imagined what a good mother she could be.

  The only flaw came every day at five or five-thirty, when Timmy and Kevin left for home with their father. Her heart ached as they walked away. It was growing increasingly difficult not to gather them close and beg them to stay. All of them, Slade included.

  On rare occasions she was forced to admit that at first he had been almost an afterthought, a means to an end. He had the ready-made family she craved.

  Now, though, she was more and more drawn to his wry sense of humor, his obvious love for his sons, his surprisingly easy blending with her own rambunctious family.

  Moreover, she loved the fact that he wasn’t intimidated one whit by her father. If she had ever made a list of the things she was looking for in a mate, that would probably have topped it. Sara and Ashley had succeeded in finding strong men who could hold their own against Trent Wilde. She wanted the same for herself.

  And then, of course, there was the fact that Slade’s kisses absolutely, positively made her toes curl. With every second that she spent around him, this unfamiliar craving was building, demanding that the spin of her senses be carried to the only logical conclusion.

  In time, she reminded herself. First things first. She had to find just a tiny niche in Slade’s heart, so that when she made her outrageous suggestion that they make their relationship permanent, he wouldn’t simply stare at her in shocked silence.

  She wasn’t sure that she could bear it if he laughed in her face, either. She had to be sure, or at least as sure as a woman could ever be, that he would consider her idea thoughtfully and examine it on its merits alone.

  His boys needed a mother, there was little doubt about that. The only question remaining, and one for which she didn’t have a convincing answer yet, was whether Slade Watkins realized just how badly he needed a wife.

  Chapter Seven

  Dani was leading a small parade toward the general store when she ran into Matilda Fawcett. The retired teacher beamed at her.

  “I see you found yourself some helpers,” she said, referring to Timmy and Kevin, who were each pulling a wagon filled with baked goods. “Never hurts to have a couple of strong young men around when there’s work to be done.”

  Timmy and Kevin puffed up with pride at being referred to as young men. Dani suggested they take the pies and cookies on to the store, while she chatted with the teacher. They were only too eager to comply, since they’d been promised a dollar each to spend for helping her. It would probably take them an hour at least to decide what they wanted to buy with their money. She’d discovered they were astonishingly frugal.

  When they’d gone, she asked, “How have you been, Mrs. Fawcett?”

  “Plucky as a spring chicken,” she retorted. “That father of yours has an amazing way of keeping life interesting.”

  “I can imagine,” Dani said.

  In fact, she found the whole idea of her father courting a woman to be a rather intriguing concept. He and her mother had sometimes seemed to be a single unit, their thoughts and actions blending so perfectly, so smoothly that it had given all three of their daughters a probably misguided notion of the possibilities of marriage. There seemed to be a good many more fireworks going on in Sara’s marriage to Jake and Ashley’s to Dillon. Matilda Fawcett seemed likely to bring that same sort of spark into her father’s life.

  “It seems to me that you’re every bit as good for him as he is for you,” she added, thinking of the battles she’d already witnessed between her father and her former teacher. “You don’t take any of his nonsense.”

  “Heavens, girl, I’ve been around far too long to let anybody run my life,” the older woman announced. “I live as I see fit. If he can’t accept that, well, he’ll just have to go sniffing around in somebody else’s garden.”

  Dani was sure that that threat alone was more than enough to keep her father in line. He would take it as a challenge to stay in Matilda Fawcett’s good graces.

  “Well, believe me, you have my blessing. I haven’t seen my father so happy in a long time. I’m sure Ashley and Sara feel the same way.”

  Mrs. Fawcett’s expression brightened. “Why, thank you. Hearing you say that means a lot. I must say you’ve been looking awfully content yourself lately. Mothering becomes you.”

  She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, though no one was nearby to hear. “Any chance you’ll be making it permanent? I’m sure the whole town would give you a medal if you’d keep those two mischief-makers in hand.”

  Dani was fairly certain that the question was being asked on her father’s behalf, rather than out of concern for the town’s well-being. Apparently not even the independent-minded Mrs. Fawcett was above a little meddling for the sake of a man she cared about.

  “We’re just taking things day by day,” she said blithely, refusing to add to any speculation that might be going on around town or, more precisely, in her father’s head. “Slade and I have a relatively informal arrangement regarding my caring for the boys.”

  Mrs. Fawcett grinned at the diplomatic answer. “And what sort of arrangement have you made for caring for him?” she inquired.

  Dani gaped, then tried to recover. “Mrs. Fawcett–”

  She never got to finish the sentence. Mrs. Fawcett cut her off. “Oh, stop with that Mrs. Fawcett and that stuffy tone,” she chided. “It’s a natural enough question, given the way you two look at each other. Even if your father hadn’t been going on and on about the two of you, I would have noticed it myself the other day. Neither one of you paid a bit of attention to your ice cream or to the rest of us, for that matter. You were too caught up in each other. Your father mentioned it, too.”

  Dani nearly groaned aloud. “Please, tell me you’re kidding. I really don’t need him getting any more ideas than he already has on the subject of Slade and me.”

  “Then you’d better put some distance between you and that young man, because when you’re in the same room, only a blind man would miss the fireworks.”

  “Maybe you and Daddy should go on a vacation,” Dani suggested as an alternative. “A very long cruise to Alaska would be lovely this time of year.”

  Mrs. Fawcett chuckled. “If you think even I could convince your daddy to leave town with you on the brink of a big romance, then you don’t know him half as well as you think you do.”

  “Couldn’t you at least try?” Dani asked wistfully.

  “I don’t think so,” she said apologetically. “If the truth be told, I’m getting a kick out of watching the two of you myself.”

  “I’m so pleased I can provide the family with some entertainment,” Dani retorted sourly. If they were this enthralled with the slow mating dance she and Slade were performing, she could just imagine how tickled they’d be if they discovered she had every intention of asking the man to marry her.

  * * *

  It took Dani several more weeks to convince herself that her plan to claim the Watkins family as her own wasn’t half as outrageous as she’d first thought. With every day that passed, her courage and determination were building. She intended to have her family by the end of summer, come hell or high water.

  As she spent more and more time with Timmy and Kevin it was clear that they were desperate for a mother’s touch and gentle guidance. Now, though, their bids for her attention were more in keeping with typical boyish antics, rather than destructive misadventures. Her neighbor hadn’t uttered a complaint about the noise or trampled flowers in nearly a week now. In fact, Dani had noticed her outside on several occasions chatting with the boys while her favorite soaps blared unnoticed in the background.

  As for Slade himself, even after all their afternoon chats and occasional outings with the boys, she didn’t exactly know what to make of him. In some ways he was the quietest, most self-contained man she’d ever met. Compared to her father’s rowdy ways, Slade’s sometimes brooding demeanor made him seem downright aloof and mysterious.

&
nbsp; It was the undercurrent of vulnerability, which surfaced from time to time, that actually tugged at her heart. He was as much at sea with his sons as she would have been in the high-tech computer world that he inhabited.

  But that, too, was changing. Slade and the boys were bonding more each day. Slade was taking more and more time from his work schedule for impromptu visits to Dani’s. He’d even agreed to help coach a summer league baseball team that Timmy had pleaded to join. Slade had been so stunned and pleased by Timmy’s desire to participate in a team sport that he’d even offered to buy the team’s uniforms.

  All in all, they were beginning to fit in, not only in Riverton, but in Dani’s life. She built her days around the arrival of the boys in the morning and the arrival of Slade at day’s end. She might have forced herself to be content with that if she hadn’t seen the potential for so much more. As it was, her day of reckoning was drawing closer, the day when she’d have to speak up and make her wishes known. Otherwise the boys would be back in school and the need for a full-time baby-sitter would have passed. Her daily contact with Slade and his sons would taper off until she had nothing left.

  Sara and Ashley were living proof that taking risks paid off. Dani refused to consider what might happen if she was the one sister whose risk-taking cost her everything.

  She glanced toward the dugout across the field, where Slade was surrounded by eager boys and one intrepid girl. It was the bottom of the ninth inning and the team was very close to its first victory. The bases were loaded and the next scheduled batter was Hattie McDonald. Dani could just imagine the debate going on as the boys tried to convince Slade and their other coach that a substitute should be sent in.

  She jumped up and began to yell for Hattie. Soon other mothers around her were doing the same. Slade shot a glance her way and grinned. He leaned down, whispered something to the freckle-faced girl and sent her toward the plate.