“You could call him.”
Mel had considered it earlier then changed her mind. “I’m not ready.”
“He’s worried about you and your sisters. He’s convinced you hate him.”
“Of course I don’t. But I’m mad and with good reason.”
“You’re changing the subject,” Dolores scolded. “We were discussing you and Aaron and the baby.”
“Family first. Aaron next. I can only deal with one problem at a time.”
Her stepmom released a heavy sigh. “A huge upheaval isn’t what I expected two months into my marriage.”
“You knew, didn’t you? About Samantha?”
She was slow to respond. “Yes.”
“Dammit!” Mel let her hand fall hard to the table. “He told you but not us. That hurts.”
“For the record, I disagreed with him. It’s the only fight we’ve ever had. I conceded because the story of Sam was his to tell and didn’t directly concern me. But secrets don’t generally stay secrets forever, and I worried that you and your sisters would find it hard to forgive him when you did find out. I take no satisfaction in being right.”
Mel appreciated the other woman’s honesty and that she saw Mel’s side. Her father had found a special lady the day he met Dolores, which was, of all places, on an internet dating website for seniors. Mel had been amused by it all, Ronnie, embarrassed. Their father meeting women online! Frankie had been the most encouraging. Similar to how she was the one welcoming Samantha and enlisting the entire family to help her.
When the sisters finally met Dolores, they’d liked her from the start and not only because of her sweet nature and fun personality. Their father had been alone for too many years. Even after the sisters were grown and on their own, he’d remained a bachelor. The only new “ladies” to enter his life were Frankie’s daughters.
Mel had quit suggesting he “get out more,” or “find someone interesting.” Little had she known he’d already done that years ago with Samantha’s mother.
“Do you think I’m being unreasonable?”
Mel had asked Aaron the same question last night. As with him, she was genuinely curious in the answer.
Dolores studied her. “You are going to examine Samantha’s horse, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Then, no, you’re not being unreasonable. As far as being angry at your father, I’d be shocked if you weren’t.”
“Frankie and Ronnie don’t act mad.”
“Maybe not on the surface. Underneath, I’d bet they’re fuming, too. You and Samantha are the only ones letting your true feelings show, and I say, bully for you.”
“What’s your opinion of Frankie’s plan?”
“When your father won the lottery, I mentioned Samantha and that he might want to consider giving her a small share. He was, and still is, hurt that she refused contact with him when she turned sixteen. I suggested he put a sum aside in a bank account in case he changed his mind later on. He didn’t. He was afraid there wouldn’t be enough for you girls to get what you wanted and for us to go on an expensive honeymoon.”
“Is that really the reason?”
“Who am I to argue?” She shrugged. “The money was his to spend as he wished. Just like telling you about Sam was his story to tell. Not mine.”
Sam. Mel had heard her father address Samantha by the nickname last night. Then, like now, a sharp pain pierced her chest right next to her heart.
Francine, Melody and Rhonda. Those were the names appearing on her and her sisters’ birth certificates. The shortened, slightly masculine versions, Frankie, Mel and Ronnie, had been bestowed on them by their father. Until last night, Mel had thought that made her and her sisters special. Did he also choose Samantha’s name?
Mel swallowed, hoping to dull the pain. “You still didn’t tell me what you think of Frankie’s plan.”
Dolores hesitated. “As long as you’re all in agreement, it’s a good one.”
“Really?”
“Sam’s related to us, a part of the family, whether we like it or not and whether we accept it or not.”
“That doesn’t obligate Frankie, Ronnie and me to give her money we don’t have anymore.”
“I agree. But if you girls don’t agree to help Sam, your dad will have to mortgage the house or cash in some of his retirement.”
Mad as Mel was at him, she didn’t want him to put a strain on his finances or deplete his 401(k). Dolores had a decent job as an insurance rep and her own retirement account, but she shouldn’t have to give Samantha money, either.
“Like Frankie suggested last night, working together to help Sam would be a good way for all of you to get to know her.”
Mel looked away. “What if I don’t want to get to know her?”
“She’s collateral damage,” Dolores said, “just like you and your sisters. She didn’t ask for what happened to her. Can you imagine being sixteen and finding out the man you thought was your father is, in fact, your adoptive father? That had to be rough.”
“What’s wrong with her mother anyway? Why doesn’t she help Samantha?”
“Maybe she did and the lottery money’s just an excuse.”
Mel drew back. “For what?”
“Sam could finally be ready to meet you all and wasn’t sure how to go about it.”
“There are better ways. Like picking up the phone and making a call.”
“She’s eighteen. Probably not very experienced in handling difficult situations.”
Mel made a face. “I think she’s spoiled.”
“I’m not excusing what she did. Just offering one possible explanation.”
“Hmm.” Mel would have to ponder that for a little while. “Would I be considered uncooperative if I insisted on a few stipulations before I agree to go along with Frankie’s plan?”
“Not by me. What are they?”
“One really. I think we should take this week by week, if not day by day. Should me or anyone want out, we can withdraw with no hard feelings and no scorn from the others.”
“You want that in writing?”
Mel laughed. “Not a bad idea. I’ll draft a rough agreement.”
“Need help?.”
“I was kidding.”
“I’m not.” Dolores shrugged. “You all should at least discuss a flexible set of rules. This isn’t easy. I admire you for putting aside your personal feelings.”
“No guarantee they’ll stay there.”
Dolores leaned in closer. “Now, about the baby.”
“I’m going to wait to tell Aaron until after I’ve been to the doctor. Just in case.” Sage Powell, Mel’s friend and client’s wife, had recently miscarried very early in her pregnancy. They were just now trying again.
“You’re going to keep the baby then?”
“Absolutely.”
“And if Aaron doesn’t want another child?”
“I’ll let him off the hook.”
“Oh, Mel. Is that really wise? Being a single mother is hard. Just ask Frankie. She could really use child support payments, not to mention a helping hand with the girls’ care.”
Mel reconsidered. “I’ll accept Aaron’s help if he offers. But I won’t force him to take any responsibility. Or acknowledge the baby if he doesn’t want to.”
“Are you serious? Not acknowledge the baby?” Dolores looked stricken. “In the first place, Mustang Valley is a small town. He’s going to run into you and his child. Frequently. In the second place, you can see how that plan didn’t work out at all for your father and Sam’s mother. He needs to step up, and you need to let him.”
“I won’t wreck his life.”
“Who’s to say you would?”
Mel rested her elbow on the table and propped up her chin with her hand. “His wife sacrificed months of her life in or
der to have their baby. If not a year. He carries a lot of guilt.”
“I can imagine.”
“He loves Kaylee more than anything and promised Nancy a home with them as long as she wanted one. She’ll be devastated when she learns about the baby and think Aaron is betraying her daughter.”
“Aaron’s still a young man. What is he, thirty-two?
“Thirty-three.” Mel would be thirty herself in a few months.
“It’s reasonable to expect he’d eventually meet someone new and have more children.”
“I don’t think Nancy’s ready for him to move on, and he’s not ready to set wider boundaries or push her away.” Mel didn’t like the hoarse quality in her voice. “She’s your friend. Is she as needy as she appears?”
“She does rely on Kaylee and Aaron to fill the void Robin left. Obviously, too much.”
“Yet another reason for me not to pressure him.”
“That doesn’t change the responsibility he has to you and the baby,” Dolores insisted. “Think hard before you let him off the hook.”
“This wasn’t his fault.”
“Or yours. It takes two to make a baby.”
Mel didn’t answer.
“Have faith in him. He deserves a chance.”
Whether intentional or not, Dolores had hit the nail on the head. Mel’s nagging doubts didn’t allow her to believe in a possible future with Aaron. “I’m the one who insisted on a no-strings-attached relationship. He’s playing entirely by my rules.”
“Which you now regret.”
“Only because I’m pregnant.”
Dolores smiled. “Only because you’re falling for him.”
Mel’s shoulders sagged. “So much for modern relationships. They’re apparently not for me.”
Her cell phone rang. She pushed back from the table and hurried to the bedroom to answer it before the call went to voice mail. She got there just in time.
Seeing the familiar number, she answered with a breathy, “Hello, Cara.”
“Sorry to bother you on a Sunday morning.”
“No problem. Is something wrong?”
Cara Dempsey was the owner and manager of the mustang sanctuary, a local refuge for neglected, displaced and unadoptable mustangs. There were usually two hundred or more formerly wild mustangs residing in the sanctuary at any given time. Mel made regular trips, donating her services. When forced to charge, she always gave Cara and the sanctuary a deep discount.
“We had five head go missing last night,” Cara said. “From the maternity pasture.”
“Oh, my God!” Another horse theft. Less than a week after the last one. “Did you call the authorities?”
“Yes. Right away.” Cara sobbed. “Four of the mares were pregnant. The fifth was a new mother. Her foal is three weeks old. I’m worried about the little guy. I tried bottle-feeding him, but he refuses.”
Mel felt a tug on her heart. Losing a foal was always devastating. Losing one who wasted away because it missed its mother, even worse.
“If you don’t have an empty stall in the horse stables, clear one and put him there. I’ll meet you in an hour.”
As soon as Dolores heard about the call, she left, promising to update Mel’s dad on the horse theft. He’d probably want to head to The Small Change where the sanctuary was located even though it technically wasn’t his responsibility.
Mel showered and dressed in record time, mentally inventorying what supplies she’d need to care for the foal and which techniques she’d employ to encourage it to eat.
Going outside to inspect her truck, she swore when she discovered she was low on mare’s formula. Once on the road, she called the owner of Mustang Valley Feed and Supply Depot. Normally, the store wasn’t open on Sundays, but the owner made an exception and promised Mel that his niece and assistant manager would meet her there.
She hung up, refusing to let herself wonder if Aaron would be at The Small Change when she arrived, investigating the horse theft—and hoping he’d be there just the same.
* * *
“I WANNA COME with you, Daddy.” Kaylee peered up at Aaron, her huge blue eyes, so like her mother’s, pleading with him.
“Sorry, sweetie.” It tore at him, having to leave her again, especially after he’d gotten home too late last night to read to her.
“I don’t understand why you have to go out again,” Nancy said.
She and Kaylee were lingering over Sunday breakfast. That had been Aaron’s plan as well, along with taking Kaylee to the park in town before it got too hot outside. Those plans went by the wayside twenty minutes ago, when he received a call about a horse theft at the mustang sanctuary.
Normally, he might let Shonda, the deputy on duty, handle things on her own. But she was new to the job and a rookie to boot. On top of that, she didn’t have a lot of experience with livestock, none before taking this job. Eduardo, the other deputy, had requested the day off to visit his ailing grandmother in Apache Junction and wasn’t available. That left only Aaron.
“I won’t be long. I’m just checking on Shonda. Ninety minutes tops.” He lifted his hand and smoothed Kaylee’s curls, also just like her mother’s. “We’ll go to the park when I get back.”
Nancy made the pinched face she always did when Aaron disappointed her or his daughter. “It’ll be a hundred degrees by then.”
“How about I take the two of you to the new aquarium and butterfly exhibit?” He’d been saving that trip for Kaylee’s third birthday next month. Now, he’d have to come up with something else.
“Yay!” Kaylee bounced in her chair.
“You spoil her too much,” Nancy admonished.
“And you don’t?” Aaron grinned good-naturedly, attempting to lighten his mother-in-law’s mood.
“That’s a grandmother’s prerogative.” Her features softened as they always did when she looked at Kaylee. “But we’ll let you off the hook this time.”
Aaron hadn’t expected anything less. One thing he and Nancy had in common was spoiling Kaylee whenever possible.
A kiss and hug for Kaylee, a goodbye to Nancy and Aaron was out the door and on his way to the mustang sanctuary. Radioing Shonda, he learned the deputy was with Cara Dempsey in the ranch office housed in a building adjacent to the horse stables.
The Small Change Ranch, home to the sanctuary, was one of the larger cattle operations in the valley, running over two thousand head. Advances in technology during the last fifty years had impacted how cattle were raised. One aspect, however, remained the same. Ranch hands still utilized horses for much of the work. In addition to the various barns, The Small Change boasted a state-of-the-art, air-conditioned horse stable and numerous pastures, including the one exclusive to pregnant and nursing mares, and where the latest horse theft had occurred.
Aaron aimed his SUV in the direction of the ranch office. Spying Mel’s pickup parked in front of the stables, he executed a sharp right. Shonda and Cara could wait a few more minutes. Having discovered Mel at the ranch changed his priorities.
He spotted her immediately upon entering the stables. She stood in a horse stall, the sixth from the end, her back to him and bent over something. He started to call her name, only to reconsider and instead walk quietly down the aisle.
She was holding a bottle to a young foal’s mouth and encouraging him to drink. At her feet sat a black rubber bucket and her medical case. The foal didn’t act interested in the bottle and kept trying to pull away, bobbing his head vigorously. Mel made escape difficult by locking one arm around the foal’s neck and putting herself between him and the stall door.
“Come on,” she cooed, pushing the nipple into the foal’s mouth. “You can do this. Aren’t you even a little hungry?”
The foal abruptly jerked and almost broke free.
“Pretty please?” Her voice had become strained. “
You need fluids or you’ll get dehydrated. We can’t let that happen. Trust me, the outcome isn’t good.”
Aaron watched Mel, unable to take his eyes off her. He’d seen her treat animals before, that was nothing out of the ordinary, and witnessed the enormity of her caring. Never had he seen her with such a young patient or sensed her deep emotional involvement.
Veterinary medicine wasn’t just a job to her. It was her way of making the world a tiny bit better for everyone else. Kind of like how law enforcement wasn’t just a job to him.
The revelation gave Aaron pause. He and Mel were more alike than he’d realized.
With each jerk of the foal’s head, Mel’s long braid swayed like a pendulum. He liked her no fuss hairstyle and thought it suited her. He liked better undoing her braid and running his fingers through the long blond strands, marveling at their glossy sheen.
From this angle, her shapely curves were accentuated and inspired thoughts having nothing to do with work and everything to do with stolen hours alone together in the dark. He pictured her head fitting perfectly into the crook of his shoulder when they snuggled as if their bodies were custom-made for just that purpose.
The twinge of guilt came right on schedule. Not so much from his thoughts dishonoring Robin’s memory but from disregarding the promise he’d made to put Kaylee and his family first.
All at once, Mel glanced up and, for a moment, they stared at each other. Aaron because he liked looking at her. A lot.
“I didn’t expect to see you today,” she finally said, shaking off the spell they were under. “I thought your deputy was investigating the horse theft.”
“I’m backing her up.”
The foal suddenly slipped from Mel’s grasp and scurried to the far corner of the stall. She didn’t go after him. Setting the bottle down, she rubbed the small of her back, which had to ache from maintaining such an awkward position.
“She’s in the ranch office talking to Cara, if you’re looking for her.”
“I know.” Aaron closed the distance to the stall and leaned a forearm on the door. “I talked to her earlier.”
“Then why are you here?” She looked around, indicating the horse stables.
He grinned. “To see you. And I’m glad I did.”
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