It was Matt who answered. “Don’t freak out.”
So, of course he freaked out. “What the hell is going on?” He glared at his brother. “Did you scare her away the moment my back was turned?” Inside, he knew better, but fear made him an insolent jerk.
Consuela tsked. “Did your momma and papa teach you to talk that way?” She rounded the counter and stood head to chest with Aaron. “You listen to me now. Your brother was worried sick about you, the moment he knew Miss Trish was going to be okay he jumped on the phone, called in some favors and got you out of jail. You should be thanking him, not acting like a spoiled child. You are better than this.” She patted his arm and moved aside to gather the dishes.
Properly chastised, Aaron opened his mouth to apologize when the rest of what she’d said struck home. “Trish is hurt?” He headed for the hall, determined to see her, even if it was after midnight.
“Aaron, wait. There’s more,” Sophia called.
Impatient, he turned. “Can’t it wait? I want to make sure she’s all right.”
“Doc stopped by to check her out. She has scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs, but he was mostly concerned with the head injury. He suggested we wake her every couple of hours throughout the night just to be safe.”
Bruises? Head injury? What the hell happened after he was gone? When the sheriff arrived, they’d been in each other’s arms and he’d been fantasizing of a future, complete with a white picket fence, two or three kids and Trish. Now, it seemed like a dream.
“It was that no-good fiancé of Miss Trish’s,” Consuela said, her hands clenched together. “He pushed her down the hill behind the big barn.”
Aaron’s heart stopped and then jumped madly in his chest. There were boulders lining the road at the bottom of that hill. She could have smashed her head wide open. He could have lost her forever.
He lunged for the hallway, ignoring Sophia’s cry to wait. He couldn’t, he had to see her with his own eyes. He’d deal with Sylvester later.
The door was ajar and a murmur of voices, one deep, one feminine, greeted him as he reached for the knob. He was about to push the door in and announce his presence when he overheard a conversation that turned his blood to ice.
“… take care of my family among these… these criminals?” Trish’s father.
Words he couldn’t make out, and then…
“I need this deal. There are people who… could make life difficult if I fail.” Trish’s father said.
Aaron strained to catch Trish’s response.
“We’ll figure it out, Dad. We’re family.”
Heart shattering into what felt like a million pieces, he turned and walked away.
21
Aaron shivered and tugged the collar of his sheepskin jacket closer around his neck. If this weather continued, they’d see a white Christmas this year—little Pippa would love that. As he turned Dickens to do one more sweep of the low-lying hills in search of newborn calves, his thoughts went to Madeline. She’d be two now, and no doubt driving her mother crazy trying to keep up. He’d already sent a passel of gifts and wanted to send more, but with only a week left until the holiday, he didn’t hold out much hope they’d arrive on time. Sophia hounded him nonstop to deliver them in person, and Lord knows he wanted to, but Trish would probably slam the door in his face—not that he could blame her. Once again, he’d led with his heart instead of his head.
Blowing out a gusty sigh that sent an icy cloud in front of his face, he leaned over to give Dickens a pat. “What do you say, buddy, time for a warm barn and a belly full of hay?” The horse’s ears flickered, and he jangled the reins. “You drive a hard bargain, one pail of oats, but no more.” Aaron grinned and swung for home.
They’d traversed half of the valley when a low cry reached them from a stand of frost-tipped mesquite. Aaron took Dickens as close as he dared, then dismounted and ground-tied the horse. “Wait here. Let’s see what we’ve got, hmm?” He grabbed a length of rope and inched his way through the thorny growth until he found the calf caught in a hollow under a fallen log. “Now, how did you manage that? Huh, little guy?” The animal looked at him with big brown eyes and ridiculously long eyelashes and Aaron’s heart melted. “Hang on, fella, we’ll get you out of there. Just don’t keep struggling, you’ll make it worse.” He kept a low, one-sided conversation going while he fashioned a slip knot into a loose loop and lowered it over the calf’s neck, then tightened the knot. The poor thing was weak and shivering, no doubt dehydrated. Hard to say how long he’d been stuck. He needed care soon or they could lose him.
“Okay, you’re not going to like this very much. Just hang tight and you’ll be out before you know it.” Aaron did what he could to deepen the trench the calf would have to follow to get free, then backed out of the bushes, catching his hair and coat on the thorns. Cows often found the most difficult areas to give birth, in the hope their babies would be protected from predators. Instead, many of them died from exposure or lack of nutrition—it was a tough situation. Which is why he’d been out here freezing his butt off for the last month; it had nothing to do with the emptiness he carried like an aching hole in his gut since Trish went back to Austin.
He tied the end of the rope to the pommel and frowned at the heavy dark clouds on the horizon. Damn if that didn’t look like snow. Just what he didn’t need right now. “Okay, Dickens, we’re going to back up nice and easy. Give that little fella time to find his feet.” He stood near his horse’s head and grasped the bridle. “Let’s go.” Dickens put his weight on his haunches and side-stepped backward, drawing the rope taut.
“That’s it, just a little farther.” Suddenly, the rope went slack, indicating the calf had lunged out of the hole. “Whoa, good job, boy.”
Aaron jogged to the mesquite and gently tugged the rope until the calf popped into view, scared and shaking, but free. He scooped him up and returned to Dickens’ side. “Now for the fun stuff. I’m going to lay you across the saddle and you’re going to stay there until I can climb up and hold you on my lap—got that?” The calf answered with a half-hearted bleat and Dickens snorted. Aaron grinned. “Good, that’s settled, then.”
He lifted the animal into the saddle with a grunt and kept a firm hand on his back while reaching for a stirrup so he could swing onboard himself. Once they were situated, he took the rope from around the calf’s neck and made quick work of coiling it. Just as he turned to place the roll into his saddlebag a dark shape broke away from the gathering shadows. Aaron’s heart jumped into his throat. He froze. A weak calf was fair game for the big cats that roamed the area, not to mention wolves. His rifle was tied behind his saddle and he contemplated his chances before they were attacked. Trish’s beautiful smile flashed behind his eyes. All the things he wished he’d said and now might never have the opportunity to say. The daughter he’d never met. If only he could have a second chance.
The calf lifted its head weakly and bleated again. Aaron cursed and pressed his knees into Dickens’ side, urging the horse into motion. Just as the animal’s muscles bunched, a low bellow echoed across the distance. Aaron pulled up on the reins, causing Dickens to rear slightly before sliding to a quivering stop. The threat he’d been envisioning trotted into sight—the calf’s mother, by the look of her.
“Whew. You just took ten years off my life, right there.” He wiped his sweaty brow with a shaky hand. “Waiting on your baby here, were you? Okay then, follow us back to the ranch and we’ll get both of you taken care of in the barn. Sound good?”
Once again, he squeezed Dickens’ sides and kept an eye on the cow as they started off for home. Now that his mother was nearby, the calf grew restless, anxious to eat and gain back some of those lost pounds. “Soon enough, little guy. At least your story’s going to have a happy ending.”
Aaron wondered if his would.
Matt was working the long rope with one of his two-year-old Andalusians when Aaron rode into the yard. A couple of hands sat on the fenced enclosur
e watching the exhibition but jumped down when the Charolais trotted into view. Aaron waved them away from the skittish animal. It was a bad idea to get between two thousand pounds of protective momma cow and her baby. He figured the only reason she hadn’t attacked him was because she’d sensed he wanted to help.
“I got it,” he called, lifting a gloved hand to his brother. “See you inside?”
Matt nodded and began to gather rope as Aaron continued through the wide-open doors of the calving barn. The season had just begun, so only a couple of the stalls were occupied. He chose one near the back, hoping it would be a quiet haven for the stressed animals.
Dickens, trained to be calm around the massive Charolais, stood still while Aaron dismounted and carried his precious burden into the clean stall. He laid the calf in a bed of straw and moved back, giving Mom plenty of space to check on her infant. It didn’t take long for the calf to clamber to its feet and search out Momma’s teat.
Aaron watched to make sure the cow would accept her baby, then edged his way out and closed the stall door. “Well, we did it, buddy. Feels kind of good, don’t it?” He rubbed Dickens’ forehead and straightened his long black bangs. “Give me a minute to get these two sorted and then it’s your turn, I promise.”
“I’ll take your horse over and get started while you finish here. Another stray?” Matthew strode down the aisle, his burnished blond hair glinting under the bare light bulbs high over their heads.
Aaron waited for him to draw closer before handing over his reins. “Yeah. Found him in a hollow east of Hidden Valley. Momma there scared the living hell out of me—thought she was a wolf, at first.”
Matt raised his brow and chuckled. “If we had wolves that size, I’d be scared too.”
Aaron’s ears heated. “Ha, ha. What happened to your hat, horse throw you?” If there was one thing Matt prided himself on—other than gambling—it was his prowess with horses. He was a born equestrian; it was no wonder he’d turned to it as a career.
“Pippa borrowed it to play cowboy and fell on it, with a glass of juice,” he admitted. “Cass washed it—” they both grimaced, “and has it on a slow air dry now.”
That was the end of the hat, in other words. “Your daughter is a sweetheart,” Aaron said, and meant it. She was cute as a button and smart, too. Made him wonder…
“Yeah, she is, and she deserves cousins to play with. How long you going to continue moping before you fix what you broke?”
The words hit him like arrows to the heart. He glared at Matthew. “It’s none of your damn business.” He turned to stomp toward the bales of hay stacked in the feed room, but Matt swung him around by the arm.
“Stop right there. I’ve got something to say, and you’re going to listen whether you want to or not.” Matt’s eyes pinned him in place. “What I did last year was wrong, okay? You have every right to do whatever you want with the land that was deeded to you. I stood in the way of your success and for that, I am truly sorry. It cost you your woman and your happiness.” He ran a hand through his hair before meeting Aaron’s narrowed gaze. “Look, I can’t do anything about the past, but I’m sure as hell not going to stand by while you screw up your future.
“Trish called me last week. She knows you were there, in the hall, that night. She tried to find you the next day, but you were long gone. I know you’re hurt, but so is she, bro. You need to give her a chance to explain. Do you really want to live with yourself if you don’t?”
Aaron blinked the moisture from his eyes. Sometime on the ride home with that stubborn cow and her calf, he’d already decided he was going to Austin to find his girl. What got to him now was Matthew. His brother truly cared about his happiness. The feeling was indescribable. Love filled his chest to overflowing. Brotherly love.
He surprised Matt with a bear of a hug and a rough pat on the back. “Thanks, man. Appreciate the advice, even though I’d figured it out already. I’d planned to leave for the city in the morning—if you can spare me?”
Matt’s face split into a wide, white smile. “About damn time,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, we have a big-time investor for the ranch—a silent partner. You might want to thank your girlfriend for that, too.”
Nervous anticipation tightened Aaron’s gut. This would be the biggest gamble of his life. Matthew seemed to think he’d be welcomed in Trish’s home. He prayed his brother wasn’t wrong.
22
Trish tucked the fuzzy princess blanket around her daughter’s waist, kissed her rosy cheek, and gave the swing another push, smiling at the resultant giggles. Rosewood Park was quiet today, maybe because it was so close to Christmas. The eastern suburb on the outskirts of Austin was a hub for young families who had opened their arms to her and Madeline after they’d moved out of her parents’ home on their return from the ranch. It terrified her to have sole responsibility for her daughter’s health and wellbeing, but she hadn’t felt like she had a choice.
At least the three-bedroom split-level she’d found on a quiet residential street was comfortable and had a fenced backyard. So far, she’d worked from home, but that was temporary. Sooner or later, she was going to have to interview candidates for daycare—something she wasn’t looking forward to.
“Momma, Momma,” Maddie chanted, clapping her hands in glee.
“Okay, pumpkin. Once more and then it’s time to go home and plug in our Christmas tree. We need to let Santa know where you are, because someone was a good girl this year.”
“Goo’ girl, goo’ girl.” Maddie swayed in the child swing. “Go, Momma, go.” She’d discovered her voice in the last couple of months and liked to parrot everything she heard, sometimes to her mother’s embarrassment.
Trish waved to a young couple with a stroller that she’d met in the park a few times walking along the pathways. They lifted their hands in return and continued on their way arm-in-arm. Melancholy threatened and she forced it back down. Sometimes, life didn’t turn out the way one hoped. All you could do is roll with the punches and keep on dreaming. Good advice; the trick was following it.
“Time to go, Maddie-boo.” She stopped the slowing swing and unfastened the safety strap before lifting the wriggly-worm out of her seat. “Quit, or I’m going to drop you,” she warned. If only they could bottle that energy.
“Need a hand?” A familiar voice asked.
Trish froze in the act of placing her baby in the stroller. Aaron. Aaron was here. Her pulse fluttered wildly as she slowly straightened and turned, Maddie a safety net in her arms. He stood near the kids climbing wall, tall and lean and so handsome he took her breath away.
“I didn’t scare you, did I?” he asked, removing his cowboy hat a touch nervously as he closed the distance between them. “You’re looking good, Trish. Real good.”
Caught off balance, she reacted with anger. “Why are you here, Aaron. We have nothing to say.”
He flinched slightly before nodding toward Madeline, his expression miserable. “Did you get the gifts I sent?”
She felt the tiniest crack in her armor and fought to shore it up. “You can’t buy her love, you know.” Her arms tightened around her daughter until Maddie squirmed.
Aaron’s lips quirked, his eyes dark with pain. “You’re not going to make it easy for me, are you?” His gaze was drawn to Maddie again. “Can I hold her?”
Trish instinctively turned aside, then grudgingly nodded. “She doesn’t do well with strangers,” she warned, then wished she hadn’t when Aaron recoiled. When did she become such a bitch?
In an effort to make the transition easier for her daughter—the only one who mattered, she lied to herself—she forced a smile. “Maddie, want to meet Daddy?”
Madeline stared at the man with eyes so like her own. Whatever she saw must have reassured her because she reached out with both hands, her body leaning toward him with all her might. “Daddy, Daddy.”
Aaron’s mouth dropped in wonder as he accepted the precious burden. “Well hello, Maddie-girl. Aren’t
you just the prettiest filly in all of Texas?” Matching dimples appeared, father and daughter, as they grinned at each other.
Trish’s eyes filled with tears—so much time wasted. She should never have kept her pregnancy a secret. Madeline had a right to have the love of both parents.
Aaron noticed her tears and misinterpreted them. He tried to hand Maddie back, but she wasn’t having any of it.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on like a little monkey. “Stay, Daddy. Stay.”
Helpless, he took Trish’s hand. “Don’t cry, baby. It’ll be all right. I only came to see if we could have another chance, but if it’s going to hurt you like this, I’ll leave.”
Another chance? Even after everything they’d been through, he was willing to work things out? Her heart began to soar, but before she could accept what he was saying she had to tell him the truth.
She cupped their clasped hands together and squeezed. “I don’t want you to leave. Maddie needs her father and I… I love you, Aaron Shaughnessy, but I need to explain about my dad—”
He tugged until she fell against his side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, snuggling her into a loving family circle. “It doesn’t matter. Matthew told me about the investor. I don’t know how to thank you for rescuing not just me, but our family business, as well.” He touched her lips in a kiss she felt to the bottom of her toes. “I love you, Trish Sylvester. I always have. Thank God, you came into my life.”
Jealous, Maddie placed pudgy fingers on her father’s cheeks and turned his face to hers. “Kiss, kiss,” she demanded.
Trish and Aaron burst into laughter as he complied. It was going to be a wonderful Christmas, after all.
Epilogue
Christmas Morning
The Shaughnessy household at Christmas was unlike any Trish had attended. Every nook and cranny of the hacienda radiated happiness and cheer. Garlands hung from mantles and doorframes, colorful cloths decorated tables and furniture, and a truly lovely Leyland Cyprus filled a corner of the den with a multitude of twinkling lights and satin-colored balls on what seemed like every branch.
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