Evergreen Springs

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “You have to leave?” Ty sounded disappointed.

  “I’m sorry, kiddo. But I had a great day with you and I’m sure you can’t wait to show your dad your own tree.”

  “What do you kids say to Devin for helping you decorate?”

  “Thanks,” Ty said. He reached out and gave her a big, earnest hug around her waist. She hugged him back. For some ridiculous reason she didn’t understand, her throat felt tight and a little achy, especially when Jazmyn came over and gifted her with one of her sweet, genuine smiles.

  “I love the tree in my room and I had fun making the snowflakes. Thanks, Devin.”

  “You’re very welcome, my dear.” She hugged the girl, too. “I’ll see you next week.”

  “Okay. Dad, can we watch Phineas and Ferb?” Jazmyn asked.

  “Just for a minute,” he answered.

  The kids both raced to the TV room off the kitchen and Devin headed to the entryway for her coat.

  “I really appreciate what you’ve done here,” Cole said. “The house looks terrific. I honestly don’t know when I would have found the time to deck the halls appropriately. And you were also right—the kids need this. I should have made time earlier. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Cole. It was my pleasure. Seriously. They’re a delight.”

  He looked doubtful about that but nodded, anyway.

  “Oh. I almost forgot. I had a phone call earlier from my sister and we might have found a solution to your nanny-housekeeper problem.”

  “Oh?”

  She started to put on her coat and after a pause, he stepped forward to help her into it. The air seemed to shift as he moved behind her, smelling of leather and horses and big, tough cowboy, and her stomach suddenly felt shivery and odd. She swallowed, ordering her hormones to behave.

  “You probably know my sister, McKenzie, is the Haven Point mayor and she knows everyone who knows everyone. She and I were talking about possibilities and came up with one. Letty Robles. We talked to her and she expressed tentative interest.”

  “Oh?”

  “McKenzie and I both think she would be perfect. She’s been a widow for a few years and used to teach third grade at the elementary school until she took early retirement to care for her husband in his last months. She’s a vibrant, active sixtysomething who I think would be wonderful. If I had children, I would want her to help me with them. There’s just one catch.”

  “Isn’t there always?” he said wryly.

  “Not an insurmountable one, just a little inconvenient. Right now she’s on a trip to Disneyland with her kids and grandkids and won’t be back for a couple of days. She gets back in town on Tuesday and said she would love to help you after that, if you can cobble things together until then. Also, she wanted to be clear that you don’t have to make a lifelong commitment at this point. You can test-drive each other until after Christmas or Tricia has her babies and see how things work.

  “She said she can be here Wednesday morning for an interview and if you’re happy, she can start Wednesday when the kids get home from school.”

  He gave a rough, disbelieving laugh. “You have been busy.”

  She smiled. “I can multitask. So Monday, I’ll plan on picking up the kids after school. I may have things to do in town but they can come with me and help me out, if you and they don’t mind.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to be with you again. I don’t know what to say, Devin. I’m going to be so deeply in your debt, I’ll never climb out.”

  “I’m glad to help,” she assured him. “Seriously, they’re a delight. I hope you know what a lucky man you are.”

  She hadn’t meant to say that last part. He gave her a curious look but let the matter drop, to her relief.

  “Maybe we’ll see you at the hospital later,” he said. “I was going to drop in and check on Tricia tonight.”

  “Maybe.”

  She would do her best to make sure that didn’t happen, Devin thought after she said goodbye and walked into the wintry evening.

  Right now she was feeling entirely too vulnerable and exposed. She needed a little time away from him and his children to remind herself of all the reasons she could never be a permanent part of their lives.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “SO WHAT DO the doctors say? Anything new?” Cole asked his sister the next evening,

  Tricia shifted restlessly on the hospital bed. “Nothing has changed from yesterday when you stopped by. The babies are both fine and so am I.”

  “No new contractions?”

  “Not a one, but the threat of premature delivery is still very real. I’m still dilated and effaced.”

  Yeah, he didn’t want to go in that direction while talking to his sister.

  “Everybody’s crossing fingers and toes that the contractions don’t start up again or I’ll have to be transferred to the hospital in Boise, where they have a higher level newborn ICU,” she went on.

  “Has it been horrible here?” he asked.

  “Not really. I mean, is this the way I wanted to spend the last few weeks of my pregnancy? Um, no. But the food is at least halfway decent and I’ve got my laptop to stream movies and TV and all the books and magazines I could want to read on my tablet. Everyone has been so nice to me, from the nurses to the lab rats.”

  “That’s good.”

  “I’d rather be back at Evergreen Springs.”

  “You should see our house right now,” Jazmyn told her. “Our Christmas tree is so pretty.”

  “That’s what you said yesterday. I still can’t believe Devin spent the day helping you put up a tree and decorate it.”

  He couldn’t quite believe it, either, but he saw proof of it every time he turned around at the ranch house.

  “I like her,” Ty said with that sweet smile of his. “She’s nice.”

  “I think so, too,” Tricia said, smiling back at him. “Tell me what else you’ve been up to.”

  The kids proceeded to chatter to their aunt about going down to the barn with him that morning, about playing with the cattle dogs and going for a short horse ride around the paddock and about how Christmas was less than two weeks away now.

  They sounded almost happy. It hit him with more than a little shock. When had that happened? They had both seemed so lost and sad since coming here after their mother died. He couldn’t be naive enough to think they were done with mourning, but maybe they were beginning to find a few things to like about living with him.

  “Want to play a game?” Jazmyn asked. “Dad made us bring some. He thought it might keep you from being so bored.”

  “Did he?” Tricia gave him a surprised look. What? Wasn’t he allowed to be thoughtful once in a while. “I’d love to play a game.”

  “Here,” he told his daughter. “Trade me places so you’re close enough to play. Ty, come over here.”

  The children brought chairs close to the bed and Cole headed to the leather recliner in the corner of the hospital room.

  “Okay. Here’s what you do,” Jazmyn began.

  The leather recliner was comfortable, probably designed for fathers who didn’t want to leave after the excitement of watching new life come into the world. Cole leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the conversation wash over him.

  He must have dozed off for a minute or two. He was deep in a dream where a certain beautiful doctor was leaning over him with a stethoscope to check his suddenly racing heartbeat when something—a subtle shift in the atmosphere, a scent, a karmic warning—woke him.

  She was there, he realized, standing in the doorway wearing a skirt and white tailored blouse that made her look deliciously crisp and professional.

  She was gazing not at her patient but at him. When his sleepy gaze met hers, she quickly looked away, back at t
he trio playing cards on the bed.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize your family was here, Tricia. Sorry to interrupt.”

  “You didn’t,” his sister assured her. “We were just hanging out.”

  “I was beating Aunt Tricia and Ty at UNO. It’s our favorite game.”

  “It’s a good one,” she agreed as Ty scampered down from his chair and headed over to give her one of his tight hugs.

  “Hi, Devin,” he said with clear affection. Apparently their time together the day before had cemented some kind of bond between them.

  Her face softened as she looked down at his son and Cole found himself wishing she would look at him with that kind of sweet affection. “Hi, bud. How’s our snow guys?”

  “They haven’t melted, even a little.”

  “Whew. Good thing it’s still cold, then.”

  She smiled, then ran a hand over Jazmyn’s hair. “And how’s my favorite snowflake cutter?”

  “Fine, I guess. I was watching a show but didn’t get to finish it before we had to leave.”

  Cole sighed. She had bellyached about having to leave her show through the entire drive from the ranch to the hospital. As his grandmother used to say, she was the kind of person who would complain if you hung her with a new rope.

  “You recorded it,” he reminded her, yet again. “You can pick it up right where you left off when we get home.”

  “And Grandma Trixie said she wanted to call us on Skype tonight. Maybe she tried to do it while we were gone.”

  “Your grandmother has my cell number,” he answered patiently. “Every time she wants to talk on Skype, she calls or texts me first. Since I haven’t heard from her today, I think we’re good.”

  Jazmyn adored her grandmother and thought Trixie could do no wrong. As far as Cole was concerned, his ex-mother-in-law was very much like her daughter—unreliable, self-absorbed and full of promises she would never deliver.

  “I thought we were having fun playing UNO,” Tricia said.

  “We were.” Jazmyn at least had the grace to look a little embarrassed about complaining. He decided to take that as progress.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt the big game. I’ll let you get back to it. I’m here checking on another patient and just wanted to see how you’re doing. I’m going to be around the hospital for a while. I’ll let you all visit and stop back before I leave.”

  She waved at them all and left, taking the scent of flowers with her. The room seemed colder without her, somehow. Cole dismissed the fanciful thought. It wasn’t possible for one person to brighten up a room simply by walking into it. Was it?

  He was left to mull that as they finished the game. Just as Tricia was sliding the cards back into their tin, her cell phone on the little tray next to her bed rang with a distinctive, romantic-sounding ringtone.

  Her features looked wistful and sad for just a moment before they hardened.

  “Phone!” Ty bellowed, reaching for it.

  “Don’t answer it,” she answered calmly. “Here. Just hand it to me.”

  His son picked up the phone and set it next to his aunt, who turned off the ringtone with every appearance of nonchalance, but Cole didn’t miss the way her hands trembled a little.

  The kids didn’t seem to think anything unusual about that, which made him wonder if she had done this at the ranch before she came into the hospital. Instead, Jazmyn pulled out some paper and crayons from the pack she had brought along, announcing she was going to draw her aunt the best Christmas picture ever. Ty, of course, objected, saying he was going to draw the best picture. Soon they were fighting over the red and green crayons, not paying any attention to the adults in the room.

  “Was that Sean?” he asked, after making sure the children were occupied.

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re still not taking the man’s calls? Really?”

  “What’s the point? He knows where I am.”

  “Does he know you’re in the hospital?”

  Tricia’s mouth tightened. “I’m handling this in my own way. You need to stay out of it and let me.”

  Which meant she hadn’t told him. Cole frowned at his sister. “These are his babies, too. Take it from a man who’s had to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to spend time with his kids. You need to let him know what’s going on.”

  “This isn’t the same situation,” she argued. “You loved your kids. You wanted them in the first place.”

  “Not at first,” he argued quietly, again making sure the children in question couldn’t hear. “I was scared as hell when Sharla told me she was pregnant with Jaz. Becoming a father was never in the master plan—if I’d been sober enough back then to come up with a master plan, anyway.”

  “Scared or not, you did the right thing. You never would have made Sharla feel it was her fault she got pregnant. You stepped up and filled the role. I don’t think Sean is capable of doing that and I can’t raise my children in a situation where they ever feel unwanted by their father. I won’t do it.”

  She sniffled a little and grabbed a tissue off the table beside the bed and Cole squeezed her fingers, fighting the urge to pound both her bastard of a husband and their bastard of a father for creating this insecurity in her.

  “He hasn’t been to a single prenatal class or appointment. Did you know that?”

  Cole shook his head.

  “Not only that but whenever I would try to talk to him about the babies—to have him feel them kicking or ask him to pick out furniture or anything—he froze. I know he has reasons why he didn’t want kids. I was fine with that when I married him, since I didn’t want them, either. I didn’t plan these babies but when I found out I was pregnant despite the precautions we took to keep that from happening, everything changed for me. I loved them from the moment I saw that plus sign on the pregnancy test.”

  Children did have a way of changing your world perspective.

  “I kept thinking Sean would come around eventually but he never did. He just kept pulling further and further away from me. When he volunteered to take that last business trip right before Thanksgiving when he knew I was scheduled for an ultrasound, I knew it was the last straw. He didn’t want these babies and he didn’t want me anymore. I couldn’t stay there under those conditions.”

  This was more than she’d told him since she arrived about the reason she had left her husband. He wanted to tell her to give the man a chance to step up but it sounded as if she had given him seven months’ worth of chances.

  “I’m sorry, sis. You know I’ll help you as much as I can. You can stay at Evergreen Springs as long as you need. Forever, if you want. It’s a good place for kids to grow up. It took me a long time to see that.”

  She sniffled into her tissue, gripping his hand with hers. “Thank you. That’s incredibly sweet of you but I’m not ready to make any permanent decisions yet. I just want these babies to make it here safe and healthy. We’ll come home to the ranch and I’ll figure things out after that.”

  “Take all the time you need. Thanks to Devin, I’ve found someone to help with the kids. If it works out, she might be able to help you with the twins, too.”

  “Devin did that?” Her eyes widened.

  “And more.”

  “Oh, she’s a sweetheart, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah,” he murmured. “She is.”

  He tried to sound casual but something in his tone or his expression must have alerted his eagle-eyed sister. Her gaze sharpened and he could feel himself flush, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

  The last thing he needed was for his baby sister to figure out he was entirely too drawn to her lovely doctor.

  “We should probably be going.” He stood up. “Kids, are you about done?”

  “I just finished.” Jazmyn proudly held up her picture
of a Christmas tree with wrapped packages beneath and red ribbon curling around the branches.

  “Oh, that’s beautiful.”

  “I drew a snowman,” Ty said, handing over his picture of three similar-sized circles stacked up with a black hat on top.

  “Wonderful,” she said.

  “We made two with Devin yesterday, a big one and a little one,” he informed her.

  “Did you? Sounds like you had lots of fun with her.”

  “She’s nice,” Ty said.

  Again, Tricia sent Cole a searching look. He gave her a steady look back. She didn’t need him to tell her all the reasons why a woman like Devin would never be interested in someone like him.

  “We’ll have to take a picture of you two in front of the snowmen and email it to Aunt Tricia. For now, leave your pictures here and grab your things. We need to go scare up some dinner.”

  They obeyed without argument, for once—small miracle—and he kissed his sister’s cheek and told her they would try to stop in again the next night.

  When they walked out, he immediately spotted Devin at the nurses’ station. She looked crisply professional, with her auburn hair contained in a braid and little dangly green earrings in her ears and her stethoscope around her neck. He just wanted to stand and look at her all day.

  She smiled when she saw them. “Hi! Did you have a good visit?”

  Ty nodded and skipped right over for another hug, which she gave him with a surprised little laugh. “I drew a picture of a snowman like we builded. Can we make another one sometime?”

  “Maybe,” she answered. “Not today, I’m afraid. It’s almost dark and I’m still working.”

  “We’re going to McDonald’s if we’re good,” Ty announced. “We might even be able to play in the play area.”

  Yeah, he was a crappy parent. With all the delicious meals she had brought over, he was still taking his kids out to McDonald’s. It was the easiest choice when they’d been gone for a big part of the afternoon.

  “That sounds fun,” she said. “I wish I could go with you. But I’ll see you after school tomorrow, right?”

  “Yay!” Ty said, and even Jazmyn looked happy about seeing her again.