Wagon Train Wedding

by Rhonda Gibson

  “Thanks.” Luke just wished this hadn’t happened in front of Reese and Hannah, both good people from good families, at least compared to his own.

  “Is there anything I can do?” Hannah asked.

  You can get out of here before you hear anything else that a lady shouldn’t. “Thanks, we’re fine,” he said, knowing his voice was too curt for politeness.

  If things were different, he’d have liked to spend more time with someone like Hannah, who was fresh-faced and hardworking, sweet. The polar opposite of the kind of woman he used to like.

  But he couldn’t escape his family, as evidenced by his father’s appearance here today. He could never have someone like Hannah. Even if she was interested, he couldn’t subject her to the trouble and foul language and rumors that went along with being a Hutchenson.

  “Hey, I know you.” Luke’s father narrowed his eyes at Hannah.

  Great. What now?

  A few flurries of snow fell from the sky, and Hannah shivered. “Hi, Mr. Hutchenson,” she said politely. “We’re kind of neighbors,” she said to Luke.

  “Your mom still lives in the white brick place?”

  She nodded. “Me, too, for now. Makes it easier to take care of the twins. Which means...” She trailed off.

  “I’m your neighbor, too.” Luke blew out a sigh. Between driving Dad to his appointments and getting this job, Luke had barely had a chance to look around him. He hadn’t realized the Antonicellis still lived in the house just down the road. Close, if you didn’t mind cutting through the trees or walking a country road, where cars tended to push the speed limit.

  “Your mom doesn’t like my dog,” Dad said now to Hannah.

  Hannah nodded. “I heard. Did you get the fence fixed yet?”

  “I ain’t fixin’—”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Luke interrupted. His father’s pit-bull mix looked intimidating and could act wild, but she was sweet-natured from what Luke could tell. She just didn’t get enough attention. “Come on, Pop. I’ll run you home and fix you a sandwich and coffee.”

  “Don’t need to take care of me like I’m an invalid,” Dad complained, but he did turn in the direction of Luke’s truck.

  “Nutrition is important,” Luke told him. “Especially before surgery.” It was also important to avoid alcohol, but that was a conversation better left for when his father was sober.

  After Luke had basically lifted his father into the truck, he looked back toward Hannah, who stood talking to Reese.

  So she’d learned that nothing in the Hutchenson family had changed. Plus, it looked like there’d be no escaping each other, since they were apparently neighbors as well as coworkers.

  Luke just hoped that didn’t turn out to be a disaster.

  * * *

  At the end of the day, Hannah hurried into the Learn-and-Play to pick up the twins, intending to take them right home. But they sat contentedly on the floor with Hannah’s nephew, Mikey, who was almost four. Apparently, the other day-care kids had already been picked up.

  Hannah’s cousin Samantha waved Hannah toward the front of the room. “Sit a minute. We could both use a breather.” Samantha was seven months pregnant, which had to make running the Learn-and-Play extra challenging, especially when she was mom to high-energy Mikey, as well.

  “That’s for sure.” Hannah pulled a small chair over and perched on it beside Samantha, who’d claimed the only adult-size chair in the room. “Did they do okay?” She’d stopped in to check on the girls twice, and each time Samantha and her assistant had reassured her, but she still worried. They’d lost their mother and their home just two weeks ago, and the months before that had been difficult, their care inconsistent.

  “They did well. I can already see how outgoing Addie is. She warmed up to everyone right away.”

  “And Emmy didn’t?” Anxiety clutched at Hannah’s stomach.

  “She did fine, considering it’s her first day in a new environment.” Samantha stretched her arms upward, and then twisted from side to side, her hands going to her back. “She’s just a little more reserved.”

  “Did she cry much?”

  “Some.” Samantha tipped her flattened hand from side to side. “She cried more than Addie, but nothing unusual.”

  Still, Hannah worried. How was she going to manage if Emmy ended up needing more help and attention? She already felt stretched thin.

  She watched the twins some more, and sure enough, Addie was waving her hands and laughing as Mikey made faces at her. Emmy watched quietly from a few feet away.

  Samantha pulled a high chair close, sprayed disinfectant and wiped it down. “Mikey loves his cousins already. Second cousins, whatever. How could he help it? They’re the cutest kids.”

  Hannah studied the twins. They had blond hair and blue eyes just as she and Marnie did, marking the fact that they’d descended from Northern Italians. While her own hair was relentlessly straight, though, Addie and Emmy had Marnie’s adorable curls.

  They didn’t look a thing like their father, Luke’s brother, who was dark-haired like Luke. For that, Hannah was grateful. Anything that would keep Luke from recognizing them as family members was a blessing.

  And speaking of blessings, so was Hannah’s cousin. “I’m so thankful for you,” she said to Samantha. “I’m going to be hitting you up with a lot of newbie questions.”

  “Feel free, not that I’m any kind of expert,” Samantha said. “I’m here for you. I can babysit or do playdates whenever you want.”

  Emmy burst into tears for no apparent reason, and Hannah hurried over to pick her up and comfort her. Addie reached her hands up, too, and Hannah plopped down onto the floor so that both twins could sit in her lap.

  Samantha came over to where Hannah was sitting. “Come on, Mikey, let’s get these toys picked up before Daddy comes,” she said, and Mikey hurried to obey. “I can’t wait for Corbin to take over for a few hours,” she said to Hannah, keeping her voice low enough that Mikey couldn’t hear. “I could use a nap.”

  “It would be great to have a man around,” Hannah blurted, and then felt embarrassed, somehow exposed. “Just to help out with the twins,” she added quickly.

  “If you want a man around, you do have to go out on a date now and then,” Samantha teased.

  A weight settled on Hannah’s heart. “Doesn’t help in my case. Dates never go well.”

  “Ummm... I’ve been back in town for almost two years and I’ve never seen you go out on a date.” Her cousin arched an eyebrow.

  “I’m plain and unappealing. No one’s ever going to give me a second look, let alone a second chance.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You have no idea how pretty you are.” Samantha reached out and fluffed a hand through Hannah’s short, no-nonsense hair. “You might want to wear a little makeup and get your hair cut in a style,” she suggested. “Not so much for a guy, but to give you confidence. Maybe wear a cute dress to church, instead of your same old jeans.”

  “Thanks a lot.” But Hannah knew Samantha was right. She should make an effort no matter how discouraged she felt about her prospects of meeting anyone. “Meanwhile, it’s just me and Mom to raise these two. I hope we’re up for the challenge.”

  “And me!” Samantha mock-glared at her. “I’m your cousin. I’ll help with your sisters’ babies however I can. They’re related to me, too.” She pivoted and looked at the clock on the wall. “Come on, Corbin, where are you?”

  As if responding to her call, Samantha’s husband, a tall man dressed in rumpled khakis, with glasses perched crookedly atop his head, hurried in. “Sorry I’m late! I picked up a pizza so we don’t have to cook.”

  “You’re my hero.” Samantha wrapped her arms around him for a long hug.

  “Pizza!” Mikey ran at the couple and crashed into their legs, wrapping his arms around them. “Let’s go home! I’
m hungry!”

  “Okay, okay.” Corbin laughed, found Mikey’s coat on a wall hook and kneeled to help the boy put it on.

  Hannah stood. Time to follow suit. She needed to get the girls home before both they and she crashed. “Come on, kiddos, let’s walk out with Mikey!” She grabbed the girls’ jackets—pink for Addie, purple for Emmy—and brought them to where they were playing. She held up Addie’s jacket. “Here, poke your arm in.”

  “No.” Addie twisted away and headed for the toy bin.

  Emmy, who’d been waiting her turn, got to her feet and followed her sister.

  Hannah hurried after them with their jackets. “Come on, let’s—let’s both put one arm in, then the other.” She took Addie’s hand, but gently. She hadn’t been around kids that much, but she did know that she had to figure out a way to distract them, rather than forcing them. Especially when there was a pair of them; no way could she pick up two screaming toddlers and carry them out, so she couldn’t let things escalate that far.

  “Uh-uh.” Addie jerked away.

  Emmy started to cry again.

  Hannah looked at Corbin, Mikey and Samantha, all near the doorway, ready to leave but waiting. Don’t leave me alone with them! she wanted to beg, but, of course, she didn’t. “I’m sorry. I know you want to get home. I can lock up.”

  “No way. We won’t abandon you.” Corbin came over and kneeled in front of the girls. “Mikey is wearing his jacket. Can you put on your jacket like a big kid?” He spoke only to Emmy, probably having discerned she was the weaker link in the defiance chain.

  Her eyes went wide and round.

  “Like this, Emmy!” Mikey came over, pulled off his jacket and held it up. “See? I can put it on myself, ’cause I’m big.” He demonstrated, sliding his arms into his jacket sleeves.

  Please let this work, because I’m tired and starving, and I know they are, too.

  Addie pushed her way in front of Emmy and thrust her arms into the jacket Hannah was holding. Samantha hurried over and held Emmy’s jacket. “Put it on like Mikey,” she encouraged, and praise the Lord, Emmy did.

  “Let’s all go home!” Samantha’s voice was singsong and she clapped her hands, and just like that, the twins followed her outside.

  Hannah blew out a breath. “I have a lot to learn,” she said as she grabbed the diaper bag and hurried after them.

  Copyright © 2021 by Lee Tobin McClain

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  ISBN-13: 9780369704641

  Wagon Train Wedding

  Copyright © 2021 by Rhonda Gibson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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