A Cold Creek Reunion

by RaeAnne Thayne

  From the rumors Laura had heard about the man in the years since their engagement, she didn’t doubt that for a moment.

  Chapter Five

  To her relief, her children were charming and sweet with Caidy over breakfast. As soon as he found out their guest lived on a real-life cattle ranch, Alex peppered her with questions about cowboys and horses and whether she had ever seen a real-life Indian.

  Apparently she had to have a talk with her son about political correctness and how reality compared to the American Westerns he used to watch avidly with their gnarled old housekeeper in Madrid.

  Maya had apparently decided Caidy was someone she could trust, which was something of a unique occurrence. She sat beside her and gifted Taft’s sister with her sweet smile and half of the orange Laura peeled for her.

  “Thank you, sweetheart,” Caidy said, looking touched by the gesture.

  Whenever someone new interacted with Maya, Laura couldn’t help a little clutch in her stomach, worry at how her daughter would be accepted.

  She supposed that stemmed from Javier’s initial reaction after her birth when the solemn-faced doctors told them Maya showed certain markers for Down syndrome and they were running genetic testing to be sure.

  Her husband had been in denial for a long time and had pretended nothing was wrong. After all, how could he possibly have a child who wasn’t perfect—by the world’s standards anyway? Even after the testing revealed what Laura had already known in her heart, Javier has refused to discuss Maya’s condition or possible outcomes.

  Denial or not, he had still loved his daughter, though. She couldn’t fault him for that. He was sometimes the only one who could calm the baby’s crankiness and he had been infinitely calm with her.

  Maya didn’t quite understand that Javier was dead. She still had days when she asked over and over again where her papa was. During those rough patches, Laura would have to fight down deep-seated fury at her late husband.

  Her children needed him and he had traded his future with them for the momentary pleasure he had found with his latest honey. Mingled with the anger and hurt was no small amount of guilt. If she had tried a little harder to open her heart to him and truly love him, maybe he wouldn’t have needed to seek out other women.

  She was doing her best, she reminded herself. Hadn’t she traveled across the world to give them a home with family and stability?

  “This was fun,” Caidy said, drawing her back to the conversation. “Thank you so much for inviting me, but I probably better start heading back to the ranch. I’ve got a buyer coming today to look at one of the border collies I’ve been training.”

  “You’re going to sell your dog?” Alex, who dearly wanted a puppy, looked horrified at the very idea.

  “Sue isn’t really my dog,” Caidy explained with a smile. “I rescued her when she was a puppy and I’ve been training her to help someone else at their ranch. We have plenty of dogs at the River Bow.”

  Alex didn’t seem to quite understand the concept of breeding and training dogs. “Doesn’t it make you sad to give away your dog?”

  Caidy blinked a little, but after a pause she nodded. “Yes, I guess it does a little. She’s a good dog and I’ll miss her. But I promise I’ll make sure whoever buys her will give her a really good home.”

  “We have a good home, don’t we, Grandma?” Alex appealed to Jan, who smiled.

  “Why, yes, I believe we do, son.”

  “We can’t have a dog right now, Alex.”

  Laura tried to head him off before he started extolling the virtues of their family like a used-car salesman trying to close a deal. “We’ve talked about this. While we’re settling in here in Pine Gulch and living with Grandma here at the inn, it’s just not practical.”

  He stuck out his lower lip, looking very much like his father when he couldn’t get his way. “That’s what you always say. I still really, really, really want a dog.”

  “Not now, Alexandro. We’re not getting a dog. Maybe in a year or so when things here are a little more settled.”

  “But I want one now!”

  “I’m sorry,” Caidy said quickly, “but I’m afraid Sue wouldn’t be very happy here. You see, she’s a working dog and her very favorite thing is telling the cattle on our ranch which way we want them to go. You don’t look very much like a steer. Where are your horns?”

  Alex looked as if he wanted to ramp up to a full-fledged tantrum, something new since his father died, but he allowed himself to be teased out of it. “I’m not a steer,” he said, rolling his eyes. Then a moment later he asked, “What’s a steer?”

  Caidy laughed. “It’s another name for the male version of cow.”

  “I thought that was a bull.”

  “Uh.” Caidy gave Laura a helpless sort of look.

  While Jan snickered, Laura shook her head. “You’re right. There are two kinds of male bovines, which is another word for cow. One’s a bull and one is a steer.”

  “What’s the difference?” he asked.

  “Steers sing soprano,” Caidy said. “And on that lovely note, I’d better get back to the bulls and steers of the River Bow. Thanks for a great breakfast. Next time it’s my turn.”

  “Alex, will you and Maya help Gram with clearing the table while I walk Caidy out? I’ll do the dishes when I come back inside.”

  To her relief, her son allowed himself to be distracted when Jan asked him if he and Maya would like to go to the park later in the day.

  “I’m sorry about the near-tantrum there,” she said as they headed outside to Caidy’s pickup truck. “We’re working on them, but my son still likes his own way.”

  “Most kids do. My niece is almost ten and she still thinks she should be crowned queen of the universe. I didn’t mean to start something by talking about dogs.”

  “We’ve been having this argument for about three years now. His best friend in Madrid had this mangy old mutt, but Alex adored him and wanted one so badly. My husband would never allow it and for some reason Alex got it in his head after his father died that now there was no reason we couldn’t get a dog.”

  “You’re welcome to bring your kids out to the ranch sometime to enjoy my dogs vicariously. The kids might enjoy taking a ride, as well. We’ve got some pretty gentle ponies that would be perfect for them.”

  “That sounds fun. I’m sure they would both love it.” She was quite certain this was one of those vague invitations that people said just to be polite, but to her surprise, Caidy didn’t let the matter rest.

  “How about next weekend?” she pressed. “I’m sure Ridge would be delighted to have you out.”

  Ridge was the Bowman sibling she had interacted with the least. At the time she was engaged to Taft, he and his parents weren’t getting along, so he avoided the River Bow as much as possible. The few times she had met him, she had always thought him a little stern and humorless.

  Still, he’d been nice enough to her—though the same couldn’t have been said about his ex-wife, who had been rude and overbearing to just about everyone on the ranch.

  “That’s a lovely invitation, but I’m sure the last thing you need is to entertain a bunch of greenhorns.”

  “I would love it,” Caidy assured her. “Your kids are just plain adorable and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you’re back in town. To tell you the truth, I’m a little desperate for some female conversation. At least something that doesn’t revolve around cattle.”

  She should refuse. Her history with Taft had to make any interaction with the rest of the Bowmans more than a little awkward. But like Caidy, she welcomed any chance to resurrect their old friendship—and Alex and Maya would love the chance to ride horses and play with the ranch dogs.

  “Yes, all right. The weekend would be lovely. Thank you.”

  “I’ll call you Wednesday or Thursday to make some firm arrangements. This will be great!” Caidy beamed at her, looking fresh and pretty with her dark ponytail and sprinkling of freckles across t
he bridge of her nose.

  The other woman climbed into her pickup truck and drove away with a wave and a smile and Laura watched after her for a moment, feeling much better about the morning than she had when the previous Bowman sibling had driven away from the inn.

  * * *

  Taft had visitors.

  The whir of the belt sander didn’t quite mask the giggles and little scurrying sounds from the doorway. He made a show of focusing on the window he was framing while still maintaining a careful eye on the little creatures who would occasionally peek around the corner of the doorway and then hide out of sight again.

  He didn’t want to let his guard down, not with all the power equipment in here. He could just imagine Laura’s diatribe if one of her kids somehow got hurt. She would probably accuse him of letting her rambunctious older kid cut off his finger on purpose.

  The game of peekaboo lasted for a few more minutes until he shut off the belt sander. He ran a finger over the wood to be sure the frame was smooth before he headed over to the window to hold it up for size, keeping an eye on the door the whole time.

  “Go on,” he heard a whispered voice say, then giggles, and a moment later he was joined by Laura’s daughter.

  Maya. She was adorable, with that dusky skin, curly dark hair in pigtails and Laura’s huge blue eyes,

  almond-shaped on Maya.

  “Hola,” she whispered with a shy smile.

  “Hola, señorita,” he answered. Apparently he still remembered a little of the high-school Spanish he had struggled so hard to master.

  “What doing?” she asked.

  “I’m going to put some new wood up around this window. See?” He held the board into the intended place to demonstrate, then returned it to the worktable.

  “Why?” she asked, scratching her ear.

  He glanced at the doorway where the boy peeked around, then hid again like a shadow.

  “The old wood was rotting away. This way it will look much nicer. More like the rest of the room.”

  That face peeked around the doorway again and this time Taft caught him with an encouraging smile. After a pause, the boy sidled into the room.

  “Loud,” Maya said, pointing to the belt sander with fascination.

  “It can be. I’ve got things to block your ears if you want them.”

  He wasn’t sure she would understand, but she nodded vigorously, so he reached for his ear protectors on top of his toolbox. The adult-size red ear guards were huge on her—the bottom of the cups hit her at about shoulder height. He reached out to work the slide adjustment on top. They were still too big but at least they covered most of her ears.

  She beamed at him, pleased as punch, and he had to chuckle. “Nice. You look great.”

  “I see,” she said, and headed unerringly for the mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom door, where she turned her head this way and that, admiring her headgear as if he had given her a diamond tiara.

  Oh, she was a heartbreaker, this one.

  “Can I use some?” Alexandro asked, from about two feet away, apparently coaxed all the way into the room by what his sister was wearing.

  “I’m afraid I’ve got only the one pair. I wasn’t expecting company. Sorry. Next time I’ll remember to pack a spare. I probably have regular earplugs in my toolbox.”

  Alex shrugged. “That’s okay. I don’t mind the noise. Maya freaks at loud noises, but I don’t care.”

  “Why is that? Maya, I mean, and loud noises?”

  The girl was wandering around the room, humming to herself loudly, apparently trying to hear herself through the ear protection.

  The kid looked fairly protective himself, watching over his sister as she moved from window to window. “She just does. Mom says it’s because she has so much going on inside her head she sometimes forgets the rest of us and loud noises startle her into remembering. Or something like that.”

  “You love your sister a lot, don’t you?”

  “She’s my sister.” He shrugged, looking suddenly much older than his six years. “I have to watch out for her and Mama now that our papa is gone.”

  Taft wanted to hug him, too, and he had to fight down a lump in his throat. He thought about his struggle when his parents had died. He had been twenty-four years old. Alex was just a kid and had already lost his father, but he seemed to be handling it with stoic grace. “I bet you do a great job, protecting them both.”

  The boy looked guilty. “Sometimes. I didn’t on the day of the fire.”

  “We’ve decided that was an accident, right? It’s over and you’re not going to do it again. Take it from me, kid. Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes. Just move on and try to do better next time.”

  Alex didn’t look as if he quite understood. Why should he? Taft rolled his eyes at himself. Philosophy and six-year-old boys didn’t mix all that well.

  “Want to try your hand with the sander?” he asked.

  Alex’s blue eyes lit up. “Really? Is it okay?”

  “Sure. Why not? Every guy needs to know how to run a belt sander.”

  Before beginning the lesson, Taft thought it wise to move toward Maya, who was sitting on the floor some distance away, drawing her finger through the sawdust mess he hadn’t had time to clear up yet. Her mom would probably love that, but because she was already covered, he decided he would clean her up when they were done.

  He lifted one of the ear protectors away from her ear so he could talk to her. “Maya, we’re going to turn on the sander, okay?”

  “Loud.”

  “It won’t be when you have this on. I promise.”

  She narrowed her gaze as if she were trying to figure out whether to believe him, then she nodded and returned to the sawdust. He gazed at the back of her head, tiny compared to the big ear guards, and was completely bowled over by her ready trust.

  Now he had to live up to it.

  He turned on the sander, hoping the too-big ear protectors would still do their job. Maya looked up, a look of complete astonishment on her cute little face. She pulled one ear cup away, testing to see if the sander was on, but quickly returned it to the original position. After a minute, she pulled it away again and then replaced it, a look of wonder on her face at the magic of safety wear.

  He chuckled and turned back to Alex, waiting eagerly by the belt sander.

  “Okay, the most important thing here is that we don’t sand your fingers off. I’m not sure your mom would appreciate that.”

  “She wouldn’t,” Alex assured him with a solemn expression.

  Taft had to fight his grin. “We’ll have to be careful, then. Okay. Now you always start up the belt sander before you touch it to the wood so you don’t leave gouges. Right here is the switch. Now keep your hands on top of mine and we can do it together. That’s it.”

  For the next few minutes, they worked the piece of wood until he was happy with the way it looked and felt. He always preferred to finish sanding his jobs the old-fashioned way, by hand, but a belt sander was a handy tool for covering a large surface quickly and efficiently.

  When they finished, he carefully turned off the belt sander and set it aside, then returned to the board and the boy. “Okay, now here’s the second most important part, after not cutting your fingers off. We have to blow off the sawdust. Like this.”

  He demonstrated with a puff of air, then handed the board to the boy, who puckered up and blew as if he were the big, bad wolf after the three little pigs.

  “Perfect,” Taft said with a grin. “Feel how smooth that is now?”

  The boy ran his finger along the wood grain. “Wow! I did that?”

  “Absolutely. Good job. Now every time you come into this room, you can look out through the window and remember you helped frame it up.”

  “Cool! Why do you have to sand the wood?”

  “When the wood is smooth, it looks better and you get better results with whatever paint or varnish you want to use on it.”

  “How does the sander
thingy work?”

  “The belt is made of sandpaper. See? Because it’s rough, when you rub it on the wood, it works away the uneven surface.”

  “Can you sand other things besides wood?” he asked.

  Taft had to laugh at the third degree. “You probably can but it’s made for wood. It would ruin other things. Most tools have a specific purpose and when you use them for something else, you can cause more problems.”

  “Me,” an abnormally loud voice interrupted before Alex could ask any more questions. With the ear protectors, Maya obviously couldn’t judge the decibel level of her own voice. “I go now.”

  “Okay, okay. You don’t need to yell about it,” Alex said, rolling his eyes in a conspiratorial way toward Taft.

  Just like that, both of these kids slid their way under his skin, straight to his heart, partly because they were Laura’s, but mostly because they were just plain adorable.

  “Can I?” she asked, still speaking loudly.

  He lifted one of the ear protectors so she could hear him. “Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ve got another board that needs sanding. Come on.”

  Alex looked disgruntled, but he backed away to give his sister room. Taft was even more careful with Maya, keeping his hands firmly wrapped around hers on the belt sander as they worked the wood.

  When they finished, he removed her earwear completely. “Okay, now, like I told your brother, this is the most important part. I need you to blow off the sawdust.”

  She puckered comically and puffed for all she was worth and he helped her along. “There. Now feel what we did.”

  “Ooh. Soft.” She smiled broadly at him and he returned her smile, just as he heard their names.

  “Alex? Maya? Where are you?”

  Laura’s voice rang out from down the hall, sounding harried and a little hoarse, as if she had been calling for a while.

  The two children exchanged looks, as if they were bracing themselves for trouble.

  “That’s our mama,” Alex said unnecessarily.

  “Yeah, I heard.”

  “Alex? Maya? Come out this instant.”