by Glynna Kaye
Or if she would ever see him again.
* * *
Grayson pulled up in front of the Colby Ranch’s sprawling main house just short of midnight. With considerable effort, he shoved aside the nagging thoughts of Elise Lopez and her son that had followed him as each mile stretched westward from Fort Worth. He could admit that if it weren’t for the romantic debacle with Jenna months ago and the severed relationship with her son, he could see himself being drawn to the attractive single mom. Maybe even offering to mentor Cory. But he’d been burned. Badly. Did Jenna’s boy feel the void of his abrupt departure as deeply as he did?
He turned off the ignition and, still gripping the steering wheel, sat staring at the two-story brick home, a few of its windows faintly aglow even at this late hour. The distinctive sweet, dry scent of western Texas wafted through his rolled-down window. The occasional low of distant cattle teased his city-accustomed ears, reminding him of his earliest boyhood years in another small rural town.
Had it been only a month since he’d returned from his undercover assignment to emails and frantic phone messages from his sister? He’d thought she’d lost her mind—Dad missing, a biological mother deep in a coma and an identical twin for both him and Maddie. But one look at their twins last weekend had settled any doubt about the blood connection. They were kin, all right. Maddie’s wild stories were true, but unfortunately Dad hadn’t been located despite his and his siblings’ best efforts.
“Lord,” he whispered, absently massaging his injured shoulder, “you’ve gotta help me out here. Every fiber of my body wants to head straight back to Fort Worth. I don’t want to deal with this.”
He squared his shoulders as he exited the SUV and stretched his stiff legs. His newfound family was counting on him to locate Dad and find answers to the thousand and one questions they all had about their heritage. Questions no one but Dad or the woman going by the name Belle Colby could answer.
But that was another worm in the apple. Belle—he couldn’t bring himself to think of her as “Mom”—lay unconscious at Ranchland Manor, a care facility a few miles away in Grasslands.
Having retrieved his duffel bag from the backseat, he’d barely headed toward the house when Maddie, Violet and Jack stepped onto the front porch to offer a warm welcome. All they needed was their baby brother, Carter—a marine on overseas deployment and still unaware of all the family drama—to make their homecoming complete.
“Grayson!” Maddie’s breathless voice warmed him as he approached. His city-gal sis sure had taken to the country life since she and Violet had stumbled across each other in Fort Worth last July. A God-engineered coincidence for sure. “We were starting to get worried. Thought you’d never get here.”
“Got a late start.” No point in telling his nosy sister that a beautiful woman had been the cause. He’d never get a moment’s peace.
Under the dim porch light, his brother Jack hung back, snatching uncomfortable glances in his direction as Violet and Maddie—both mindful of the sling—enveloped Gray in exuberant hugs. Jack’s hair was longer than his, grazing the collar of a Western-cut shirt, and it appeared he didn’t keep at that pesky five o’clock shadow as diligently as did his cop brother.
Clear, too, that he and Jack still shared an awkwardness despite efforts to get beyond the unnerving situation last weekend when they’d first met. Maddie and Violet didn’t seem to have that problem. You’d have thought they’d grown up together. They even had similar mannerisms and could finish each other’s sentences.
But he and Jack, while polite and friendly enough on the surface, were strangers. On guard. Uncomfortable with the whole situation.
When the sisters’ lively welcome calmed down, Gray’s twin thrust out his hand. “Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back.”
But from the wary look in Jack’s eyes it was apparent he, too, recognized both were parroting expected pleasantries.
Inside the house Gray again sensed, as he had at his first visit, an emptiness in the home of his birth mother. He could detect a subdued, almost reverential hush in a place he’d been told that a few months ago she’d filled with love and laughter. It was evident, too, that Jack and Violet were out of their element in her absence and grieving her tragic situation.
Out of a sense of obligation—and curiosity—he’d joined his siblings in a visit to Belle at the Grasslands care facility last weekend. It had been another surreal moment as he’d stared down at a still-beautiful woman in her early forties, auburn hair spread across a pristine white pillow.
He’d been denied the opportunity to know the woman who’d cradled him and his twin side by side in her womb for nine months, who had given birth to them so many years ago.
Why?
From all he’d picked up on since the revelation of the family’s state of affairs, she loved Jack and Violet with all her heart. Treasured them. Had she not felt the same way about him and Maddie? How could a mother choose between children?
“Gray?” Jerked from his inadvertent reverie, he turned to Maddie as they entered a spacious, warmly lit kitchen. “Kendra—I mean, Keira—and I are bunking together in the same room, so you can have mine like last weekend.”
Keira was Jack’s fiancée, a savvy blonde who’d landed on the Colbys’ doorstep last month after a car accident left her without memory. They’d called her Kendra since she didn’t have any ID on her. Thankfully, her memory eventually returned and they’d learned her real name was Keira Wolfe and she was a veterinarian. Jack had promptly staked his claim.
“I don’t want to keep putting you ladies out.” It was a five-bedroom place, but the master suite—Belle’s—remained unoccupied. “The couch in the den would suit me fine.”
His sisters made identical sounds of protest.
“It’s just for tonight.” Violet linked her arm through his uninjured one and once again he found himself staring in disbelief at her very existence. She looked amazingly like her twin, but with a country freshness all her own. A sprinkling of freckles. Auburn hair caught up in a long ponytail, she exuded a comfortable confidence no doubt born of a lifetime of ranching. “Jack’s moving out to his new place tomorrow.”
Jack had taken on a seventy-year-old house known to locals as the old Lindley place, the spread it sat on now part of the Colby Ranch.
He glanced at his brother. “That a fact? I imagine you’re considerably more motivated to complete that renovation than you might have been a month ago.”
Jack’s eyes lit up and he offered his first grin. “A little lady will do that to a man. Get ready, Grayson. Your time’s coming.”
“Don’t know about that.” He ducked his head, wary that his perceptive sis might read his mind—pick up on an image of the beautiful Elise who’d filled his thoughts in recent hours. “I’m kind of attached to a bachelor life.”
“Oh, Gray,” Maddie blurted, placing her hands on her hips, “you’re still wallowing in the after-effects of that breakup. Give yourself time.”
He shot her a warning look. He didn’t want to discuss his old girlfriend tonight. Certainly not in front of his newfound siblings—although he suspected from the way Violet nodded knowingly that Maddie had already filled her in. Dealing with one sister was challenging enough. Now he had two.
“Jack’s been there, done that.” Violet looked to their brother for confirmation. “He was crazy about a gal before she dumped him. But now that Keira’s come along, he can barely remember Tammy’s name. God knows what He’s doing, Gray. He closes one door and opens another.”
Gray managed a smile in Jack’s direction, figuring he didn’t much care for the sharing of his personal business any more than his twin did. Poor guy. He’d been dealing with two sisters for months now, but how long would it take to get used to the double-barreled powerhouse pair they’d become?
Leaning
against the kitchen countertop, Gray accepted a cold glass of water from Maddie.
“You don’t see me sweating it. No rush. God can take all the time He needs.” What a lie. Sounded good, but didn’t have much substance. He was ready to settle down. Start a family. But his profession of choice was proving to be a detriment. “Besides, there are enough weddings in the works for one family.”
Not only was Jack engaged, but Maddie recently pledged herself to the Colby Ranch’s foreman, Ty Garland. And Violet had caught the eye of one of Maddie’s old beaus, Landon Derringer. A lot had happened during the months Grayson had been on his undercover assignment.
Jack held his gaze with a knowing one of his own, probably seeing through to the reality of Gray’s marital protests, his allegiance to the bachelor way of life. A guy had his pride, after all.
“Always room for one more wedding, bro.”
What his brother didn’t mention, though, is that the siblings had come to the same conclusion. Until their dad returned safely—and Belle recovered—no one would be tying any knots. As much as Gray didn’t like to think about it, how long would they stick with that vow if the weeks and months drew out? Belle had been in a coma since midsummer, with no sign of rejoining the world. Maddie and Landon had journeyed to south Texas in August to look for their dad. Keira and Jack tried again in September. Would their father turn up at Thanksgiving as he’d originally planned—or not?
While he couldn’t do anything but pray for their mother, Gray could continue the search for his dad. He’d already filed a missing person’s report and put his law-enforcement channels to good use.
But would his efforts be enough?
With so many issues about their parentage in turmoil and Belle so badly off, he needed to deliver to his family a positive outcome for their dad’s situation. That would be one step in the right direction for a happily-ever-after on all counts.
And in spite of protests to the contrary, meeting a certain pretty brunette had him admitting he wouldn’t mind settling down with a happily-ever-after of his own.
Chapter Three
“Hurry up, Cory.” Elise glanced back at her lagging son as she walked briskly to their vehicle in the dimly lit grocery-store parking lot. Purse secured. Keys in hand. Her gaze alert to their surroundings.
Normally she shopped for groceries on Saturday morning, especially in the fall and winter as days grew shorter and didn’t allow much time for after-work errands. Thank goodness for daylight savings time, but it would expire in another month. Unfortunately, she’d forgotten until this evening that she’d promised to make a red velvet cake for their youth pastor’s birthday potluck after church tomorrow. She couldn’t find a single drop of red food coloring in the kitchen cabinets.
“Mom?” Cory crawled into his seat and she locked the doors. Started the car.
“What?”
“When’s Officer Wallace coming to the school again?”
As the overhead interior light faded, she looked into her son’s hopeful eyes. He’d talked nonstop about Officer Wallace for the past twenty-four hours. How cool his badge was. How he’d brought him the ball glove. How he knew Daddy was a hero and said it was an honor to meet his son.
She offered a sympathetic smile. “Career day is once a year. It’s doubtful he’ll be back anytime soon.”
The glow in his eyes faded momentarily, then brightened. “Maybe he’ll come to visit anyway, to say hi to the kids.”
She didn’t want Cory to get his hopes up. The likelihood of Officer Wallace’s return was slim. Yes, he’d made a memorable impression on them both, but it didn’t take long for reality to set in. For her guard to go up. It was best for all concerned that Officer Wallace keep his distance. Unless she called the number on his business card, she suspected he would.
But she wouldn’t call him. Not even for Cory. Especially not for Cory. Another cop in his life was too risky.
She smiled again at her son as she put the vehicle in gear and backed it out of the parking place. “He has an important job, sweetheart, so it’s doubtful he could stop by even if he’d like to.”
“I wish he would.”
Heading into the darkened street, anxious to get home, she almost caught her own wishes echoing her son’s.
But that was stupid.
And she wasn’t a stupid woman.
* * *
Gazing down at the comatose Belle Colby, hooked up to medical paraphernalia of every imaginable kind, Grayson harbored the same frustration as his siblings at not being able to get desperately needed answers to their questions.
Although his siblings had picked up rumors from a former neighbor of the then still-intact family, what was the real reason Belle and his dad split? Why had they separated Maddie and him from their twin counterparts? The boys had been two, the girls not much beyond six months. Why had his father led him to believe Sharla Wallace was his birth mom?
Grayson gripped the black, leather-bound Bible in his hands. Did Belle know who’d sent these Bibles to him, his twin brother and two sisters? He and Maddie had received them in June, after their dad headed out on his six-month medical mission and not long before Grayson went undercover. No postmark. No return address. Later, Violet had found one on the seat of her car after church and Jack’s had turned up on the hearth of the home he was renovating.
They all held the same handwritten, anonymous note, the words of which were burned into his memory.
I am sorry for what I did to you and your family. I hope you and your siblings, especially your twin, can forgive me as I ask the Lord to forgive me.
When he and Maddie each received a Bible and identical note, they’d initially been puzzled. Then they’d laughed them off, thinking someone had them confused with somebody else. At that point they hadn’t any idea they each had a twin. But someone had known—and for some reason felt guilty about it.
Who? And why?
Gray shook his head as he continued to watch the quiet rise and fall of Belle’s breathing. Would she ever be able to answer their questions?
The most pressing question of all, however, was where was his dad? No one thought much about it when he didn’t return calls while on a mission trip. He wasn’t big on checking in and worked in remote areas with limited phone reception. Then in August it was discovered he’d left his cell phone at one of his stops in Blackstone, Texas. Probably got hundreds of miles down the road before he realized it, intending to swing back and get it later. Not too much concern at that time.
But in September when Grayson returned from his assignment, the family enlisted him to find their dad so they could get answers to their family mystery. Not long into his search he’d learned that his father appeared unwell at one location. Jack had followed up, going down to search the migrant camp where he’d last been spotted. He’d come up empty-handed except to confirm that when last seen, their father appeared feverish, coughing and maybe not quite lucid at times. Now they were greatly concerned and Gray’s own investigation had escalated.
His heart heavy, he sat down in a molded plastic chair next to the bed, placing the mystery Bible on his knee. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he’d had no doubt that Belle was his mother. All the kids including him looked like her. None of them resembled their father. Although he hadn’t yet looked into her eyes, he’d seen almost three decades’ worth of photographs of her when he’d first come to the home of his long-lost siblings.
For the thousandth time in the past four weeks, he willed himself to remember something—anything—of his first two years with his birth mom. But not even a shadow of her remained.
Incredibly, the woman he and Maddie adored and had grown up believing was their mother wasn’t their birth mother, although she was their little brother, Carter’s, mom. The whole thing seemed like a dream—or a nightmare. He still hadn’t grasped that
Violet and Jack had lived separate lives, raised by this woman whose life he and Maddie should have shared as well.
He reached for his mother’s warm but seemingly lifeless hand. Ran his thumb over the back of it. Said a silent prayer, then spoke aloud. “It’s me, Grayson. Jack’s brother. Your son.”
Did that sound weird or what?
She didn’t stir.
“I, uh, understand you never wanted Jack and Violet to pursue finding their father.” He cleared his throat. “But we need to track Dad down. Let him know what’s going on here. I know he’s okay. He’s gotten caught up in his work like he often does. He’s a doctor now. A good one. Did you know that? A missionary doctor much of the time.”
He shook his head, wondering about the wisdom of pouring all this out to the woman in the bed. Could she even hear him? Understand any of it?
“I’m a police officer in Fort Worth. That’s why the others are counting on me to find him. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want us to do. We don’t mean for it to upset you.”
He gently squeezed her motionless hand. “But don’t you worry. Things will turn out fine. All of us kids are grateful we’ve found each other. Maddie’s even moved from Fort Worth and will be marrying your ranch foreman, Ty. Doesn’t that beat all?”
He paused to catch his breath, not used to rambling on in a soliloquy. “Violet and Jack are both engaged to fine folks, too. Keira’s a vet, which will come in handy at the ranch, and Landon’s an old friend of mine. So lots of weddings in the works, and we need you there to help out.”
Silence permeated the room, except for the wall clock ticking away the seconds as he breathed in the antiseptic scents clinging to the Spartan space.
“Nothing in the plans like that for me.” He chuckled, but memory flashed unbidden to the captivating Elise Lopez. Why couldn’t he get her out of his head? “So don’t go getting your hopes up. I think I’m destined to go it alone. You know, the dedicated lawman route.”