The Reluctant Rancher
Page 14
She sprinkled seeds into the second hole. She could feel Logan’s gaze on her from the porch. “Shoot,” he said. “If I don’t want to answer, I won’t.”
“It’s about you and Olivia...”
“Libby goes her way. I go mine.” His voice had hardened.
“That doesn’t help Nick,” she murmured. “I meant, what happened before?”
“Why did we split up?”
She nodded but kept digging more holes, planting more seeds.
Logan came down the steps. He sat on the bottom one, which was likely still damp, then laced his hands together between his knees. “Rain” was all he said.
Blossom decided to wait him out. She patted dirt over the seed holes, hoping she was doing this right.
“That flood I mentioned once.” Logan’s serious tone made her sit back on her heels. She looked up at him, but his gaze avoided hers. “Nicky was only three then. He was pretty sick the day I had a final interview for my job, so I wasn’t here. We were still living at the ranch but had plans to move to Wichita. We hadn’t found a good house yet we could afford and were waiting to make certain I got the new job.”
“While you were gone, the storm came,” she said, urging him to go on.
“By nightfall the driveway was under water. Deep. It’s been that way for generations, and there’s no real way to change the lay of the land out here without spending a ton of money for the few days now and then when it floods. The truck bogged down halfway to the road when Sam tried to get out with Olivia and Nicky, who’d had the flu but seemed to be getting over it when I left. While I was gone he got worse. At first Libby thought he’d developed croup—which sounds awful but isn’t usually that serious. She bathed him to keep his fever down that night, even put him in the shower once or twice for humidity.” He shook his head. “Nicky kept coughing. He couldn’t breathe very well. Because it wasn’t croup—he had developed pneumonia.”
“She must have been frantic.”
Logan didn’t deny that. “And in Wichita, my interview had been canceled so I had no reason to be there. No flights were going in or out and the helicopters couldn’t fly either. By the time I managed by car to get to Barren...”
“Nick was trapped.”
He nodded. “Grey’s ranch sits on slightly higher ground. He and I rode cross-country that night on horseback. We cut fence to get here, which risked letting his herd run free, and in the dark we prayed our horses didn’t step in a hole. Break a leg. Even then, once we got here, there was nothing else to be done until morning.”
“You were with Olivia, though.”
“I doubt she noticed by then. She was hysterical and still blames me.” He hesitated. “I blame myself, too.”
“You did what you could, Logan—just as you do what you can now. With Sam,” she said, “and Nick, too.”
“I wish I could do more—”
“Maybe we can think of something.”
Logan’s gaze turned soft. “You’re something,” he said. “You have no reason to help yet you always try.”
She set the shovel and rake aside. “I know one way. We can get Sam on his feet tomorrow. See if that helps his bad mood.”
“I know he’s frustrated, alone in his room. I’m grateful for you spending so much time with him. That’s over and above your job requirements.”
“You really care about him,” Blossom said.
“I do. Sam’s been like a father to me.”
She repacked the garden tools in a bag. She started to rise from her knees but couldn’t get up. In the past week or so her center of gravity had begun to shift. With the new weight she was gaining, she felt awkward, even clumsy. And as she’d expected, none of her shapeless clothes really disguised her condition now. For an instant she regretted trying to stand.
Logan got off the step to help her. He put a hand under her elbow, and his fingers brushed the side of her stomach. Blossom felt him recoil. Then she finally stood, her loose top pulling tight against her as she straightened.
His gaze shot to the swell of her abdomen before it rose to meet hers.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m pregnant.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Before she could answer, Nick came running across the lawn with the kitten at his heels. Without waiting for him, turning his back on Blossom, Logan climbed the steps then stalked into the house. The screen door banged shut behind him.
Her secret was out.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LOGAN LOCKED THE TRUCK. He strode along Main Street the next day with Blossom beside him—or rather, walking a step behind. She stayed close by his shoulder but not touching. He hadn’t said an unnecessary word to her since she’d stood up by the flower bed and he’d seen the plain evidence of her pregnancy. Quite a shock until he recalled the bag from the baby shop tucked in with the groceries. It sure wasn’t for her friend.
The tension between them on the drive into town had felt like another coming storm. He shouldn’t shut her out but couldn’t seem to help himself. In a way, he felt betrayed. Logan had opened up to her about Nicky and the night of the flood, but the whole time, and for all the time she’d been at the Circle H, Blossom had been lying to him.
“How long will you be at the ag store?” she asked in a small voice that only set his teeth on edge. He didn’t like that submissive attitude any more than he liked the way she turned aside from any confrontation.
“Not long.”
“I need to pick up my paycheck.”
“Meet me at the truck when you’re done.”
Logan noticed she didn’t mention the grocery store this time. Either the pantry and freezer were still full or Blossom had leaving on her mind again.
He’d been expecting that.
Earlier, she’d caught up to him as he was about to drive into Barren. Blossom had asked to come along—the only thing she’d said to him since yesterday.
Logan stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Blossom. You should have been up-front with me. First thing.”
She took a breath. “Would you have hired me if you knew I was pregnant?”
“No way.” His mouth set. “I’ve got enough on my mind with Sam. You expect me to overlook the fact that you’re not who I thought you were?”
“I’m the same person,” she said, a hand on her stomach. “Just bigger.”
“Yeah, well you’ll get a whole lot bigger before it’s over.” An image rolled through him. At first, it was Libby when she was carrying Nicky. He remembered how exciting it was to watch their baby grow. But then Libby turned into Blossom, huge with child. Ken’s child. Nothing to do with Logan. Which, for some reason, only made him angrier with her.
“I could still have done my job.”
“Until when?”
“Until I decided it was time to leave.”
“Maybe that would have been too late. Maybe by then, we’d have more rain or snow or a tornado warning. If I know one thing, it’s that Mother Nature always wins. Especially out here with nothing to stop her.”
“You think I’d have the baby during a storm?”
“That’s a good chance, yeah.”
“And like Nicky, I’d be stuck at the ranch.”
“Makes perfect sense to me.”
“Babies come when they’re ready, Logan. And you can’t always predict bad weather any more than you can a medical emergency. It wasn’t your fault Nick was there on the Circle H—”
“He had pneumonia!”
“And the doctors—antibiotics—cured him.” She shook her head. “Not every story has a bad ending.”
He glanced along the street. “How’s this for an ending? I lost my wife, my marriage, my kid... Is it any wonder I hate that ranch? If it weren’t for
Sam, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“I know you’re worried about your job—”
He scowled. “Don’t do that. We’re not talking about my career. Or Sam. We were talking about you—your...” He gestured at her stomach.
“Stubborn.” She took a step away then turned back. “But just your luck, I happen to agree with you. I’ll see Shadow. Then as soon as we get back to the Circle H, I’ll say goodbye to Sam and be on my way,” she said, confirming his suspicions.
“I won’t be here, Logan, but someday you’re going to realize—have to realize—that you couldn’t keep Nick from getting sick or being trapped. Just as you can’t keep this baby from coming when, or where, it wants to.”
“Maybe not but—”
What? For a moment he couldn’t think. He didn’t want a relationship with her, or with any woman. All he wanted was to get back to Wichita, win his promotion and challenge Libby’s sole custody. Seeing his son more often was a good thing, but right now it still depended on Libby’s whims. He’d likely have to pressure her down the road again until he went back to the courts. But those weren’t the only things weighing him down. Logan realized something else: he liked Blossom, maybe too much, and he was about to lose her.
The fact that he was getting what he’d wanted—a male caregiver—didn’t improve his mood. Blossom would be heading off now before Jack Hancock was on the job, leaving Logan with Sam. Logan was still waiting for Shadow’s go-ahead but apparently, to everyone’s surprise, Bertie was doing better, so things were still up in the air. He watched Blossom set off down the street. She didn’t look at any of the shops she passed. Why would she? She wasn’t staying.
His fault, partly. He shouldn’t have groused at her.
Logan sidestepped a man who’d cut in front of him to enter the local clinic, a storefront operation that was half of the medical care available in Barren—the place they’d taken Sam the day they found him hanging from the horse’s saddle in the barn.
Blossom had no sooner walked away when the back of Logan’s neck prickled. He was being watched. He turned and saw Libby standing in front of her shop a block down on Main Street, arms folded across the jacket of her navy blue suit.
Round two, he thought, sooner than he’d expected, then walked toward her.
The building space she’d rented recently suited her. Neat as a pin, the windows sparkling, stylish letters that read Olivia Wilson, Proprietor in flowing gold script. Estates, Sales, Auctions. He hadn’t seen it before. And using her maiden name.
“Congratulations,” he said. “I like the new store.”
“I needed room.” She didn’t smile.
“First, the house was too small, now you have a new shop... You want to spread out everywhere, huh?”
“I do. Business has been good.”
Maybe if they stuck to such simple subjects, they wouldn’t end up in yet another go-round about Nicky.
Libby’s gaze shifted to some point over his shoulder. “Well, maybe good isn’t the word. Lately, I’ve been handling a number of ranch properties that are being sold, foreclosed on or even abandoned. I have a sale coming up next week—lots of equipment at prices meant to unload it. I feel bad for all those people, but you might be interested.”
“Ask Grey instead. Sam has the barns stuffed full.” He added, hoping he didn’t sound exaggeratedly polite, “But thanks for thinking of me.”
“Nick has a playdate this afternoon,” she said, as if out of the blue.
I wasn’t asking to see Nicky.
“I have to meet the vet at the Circle H soon—if that bison cow doesn’t break out of the pen before then and run off. It took Willy, Tobias and me to corral her. She’s not going to give birth as easy as the others. Looks like a Cesarean in the making.” He added, “My day’s full, too.”
Libby glanced down the street behind him again. “Who’s that?”
Logan looked back. Blossom was halfway down the street in the opposite direction on her way to Shadow’s agency.
“You seemed to be having an intense conversation,” Libby said. “I couldn’t see too well, but she looked...pretty.”
His jaw tightened. “She’s Sam’s caregiver.” Or she was, he thought. If Blossom followed through, she’d be gone by evening. He wasn’t sure that wasn’t the right decision. Last thing he needed on the ranch was a pregnant woman. Guess he’d made himself clear about that.
“A caregiver,” she said in a tone he didn’t like.
Logan shifted his weight. “She helps him dress, brings his meals, straightens his room, changes his sheets, does his laundry... She gives me a progress report every now and then. She cooks for us.”
Libby arched a brow. “That’s all?”
“I don’t happen to have a detailed invoice with me for her services.”
And why explain himself? She continued to stare at Blossom’s retreating back, raising a hand to smooth her hair, which already looked tight as a drum. He’d never liked that bun coiled up at the nape of her neck, but at one time it had also lured him to loosen the pins and watch the silky blond strands slide through his fingers. He’d known her every habit then, every expression and mood, but Logan wished he couldn’t read her face now.
“You’re sure? She’s just a nurse?”
“Not a nurse—”
“I suppose she’s living in the house.”
“Yeah.”
“In the spare room across from yours.”
He tensed. “I don’t like what you’re saying, Libby. Look. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten, but we’re divorced. You’re apparently a Wilson again. So what I do, where I go and who I’m seeing—which I’m not—are no longer your business.”
“Nick is my business. The only one where you’re concerned.”
“What does that mean?”
Blossom had headed into Shadow’s office. Libby hadn’t glanced away once.
“It means I won’t hesitate to ‘make excuses’ when you want to see Nick. If I get the least whiff of any goings-on in that house—”
“Come on, Olivia.”
“—or a hint of inappropriate behavior—”
“You’re way out of line.”
“—I’ll be talking to my lawyer.”
Her gaze stayed on the agency office. Blossom was inside now to collect her last pay. Logan was darned if he’d let Libby know she was leaving.
She hesitated before she turned to open the door to her shop. “You know, a six-year-old boy can be a font of information. Every time you see him he gives me a full ‘report.’”
* * *
BLOSSOM MARCHED INTO the Mother Comfort Home Health Care Agency and Shadow looked up from her computer. Her eyes darkened.
“It’s not Friday.”
“Not yet. But I need whatever pay is coming to me.”
Shadow rose from her desk chair. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. Why don’t I make coffee—or tea—and we can talk?”
“I’ve already talked. To Logan.” Not that their conversation had been friendly, she had to admit, but she’d actually hoped he might take her pregnancy more kindly once he knew. That he would ask her to stay, safe as she could be from Ken. Unlike Logan, the Circle H had become a haven to her, not a trap.
“I know you were planning to leave once Jack settles into the job—”
“I can’t wait.” Blossom would be gone before that could take place. “There’s no reason for me to stay any longer.”
Shadow perched on the edge of her desk. “No reason?”
“Logan doesn’t want me here,” she said. “He never did. But now, because...” She sighed. “He knows I’m pregnant.”
Shadow’s eyes widened. “You and Logan...?”
“Ah. I see.”
“And, really, it’s time.” Blossom leaned against the closed door. “My ex-fiancé is probably looking for me right now.” Her shoulders drooped. “I’ve already stayed longer than I should have.”
“What did Logan do when he found out?”
She sent Shadow a sad smile. “He pulled back into his shell like a turtle.”
Shadow nodded. “When are you due?”
“Four months from today.”
“Boy or girl?”
“I don’t know.” But Blossom could hazard a guess.
“You haven’t seen a doctor?”
“In Philly. I’ll find another one somewhere.”
Shadow tilted her head. “You passed the clinic right down the street.”
“That would be a one-time visit. I won’t be in town again.”
“Blossom, I wish you’d reconsider. There are people here who care about you—even Logan, I’m sure, if not especially Logan—and I know you’ve become close to Sam. At the ranch you have some protection. Away from here, you won’t.”
“I’m aware of that. But I can’t endanger anyone else. Sam,” she said, “and Nick, too. I won’t jeopardize an injured man and Logan’s child.”
“So you’d endanger your baby instead?”
“Oh, of course not...”
“You would be if you leave.” She paused. “I’m one of those people who care about you. I’m in a very good position here to intercept any inquiries that ex of yours might make. If not in this office then anywhere else in town. I can keep my ear to the ground. At least then you’d have some warning.”
“That’s very kind of you—”
“I’m not trying to be kind. I’m trying to help you.” Shadow went behind her desk, punched a few computer keys. “I’ve pulled up your application. Give me more information for your profile—and I’ll know who to look for.” She frowned at the screen. “First, tell me his full name. With a description. A photo if you have one.”