* * *
“Don’t you look like you just lost your best friend,” Chance teased the following morning, when he and Molly dropped by Wind River with a basket of traditional German breakfast breads and cookies, three-year-old Braden in tow.
Braden frowned, looking around. “Where’s the babies?” he asked, tipping his little cowboy hat back. “There’s supposed to be babies! Two of ’em! A girl. And a boy!”
Molly elbowed Chance. “Told you we should have called first.”
Chance elbowed the love of his life right back. “Told you Wyatt might have said no to just dropping by.”
“So where are they?” the little boy persisted.
“Adelaide had to go in to town to do some work at the foundation, so she took little Jake and Jenny with her.”
Braden walked over to the baby swings. He pushed the buttons on top before anyone could stop him. The swings began moving back and forth. “Can I try?” He lifted a leg as if to climb in.
Chance hit the off buttons and quickly stopped the motion. “No, buddy, you’re too big for these, but we can take you to ride the horses like we promised.” He turned to Wyatt. “If that’s still okay?”
Wyatt had given his bucking-bull-rancher brother and loved ones permission to ride on his property at any time.
“No problem.”
Molly assessed Wyatt quietly. “Why don’t you two fellas head on out to the barn? I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”
“Sure thing.” Chance shepherded the little boy out the back door.
Molly set her gift on the kitchen counter.
Wyatt tensed. “Something you want to talk to me about?”
“Yes, actually, there is.”
* * *
Adelaide had just about wrapped up the accounting for both the Lockhart Foundation and the West Texas Warriors Assistance nonprofit, when Wyatt’s sister-in-law, Hope, stuck her head in her office doorway.
Her hands hovering over the computer keyboard, she tensed. It wasn’t unusual to see Hope there—not only was she married to the physician who ran both organizations, but she also handled the public relations for both organizations.
Still, Adelaide had to ask, “Everything okay with the twins?”
Hope waved off Adelaide’s new mom tremors with a big grin. “Oh, yes. Currently, Lucille and Garrett are holding court with the rehabbing soldiers. My Max, no slouch, is doing the play by play. Which, due to the fact he’s not quite one year old, amounts to a lot of clapping and laughing, and pointing and smiling. And the occasional ‘dada,’ ‘nana,’ and ‘baby’ thrown in for emphasis.”
Adelaide rocked back in her chair. “I never have to worry about Jake and Jenny getting enough attention here.”
“An understatement. Listen, Tank Dunlop’s wife, Darcy, is here, and so are Sage and Molly—”
“I thought Lucille said that Molly, Chance and Braden went out to Wind River to ride today.” Apparently Adelaide had just missed them.
“She did, but we had something come up this morning regarding the foundation’s Chili Festival fund-raiser, so she left the guys there and came back into town to meet with us. Since you’re on the steering committee, too, I was hoping you had time to join us in the conference room.”
“Sure. Just let me shut everything down here and I’ll be right in.”
“So what’s up?” Adelaide asked when she joined the group.
“The mayor called,” Hope said. “Advance ticket sales have been through the roof. Nearly double what they were last year. So he’s asking all the participants to make sure that they have enough to accommodate the extra crowds.”
“So we want to know if we should either expand our Kids Go Fishing Family Fun booth to double the capacity,” Molly said, “or add an additional activity geared for the four-to-ten-year-old set.”
“We’re going to need to order extra prizes, too,” Sage said. “Although some of those could come from my bakery in the form of cookies or cake pops.”
The group talked some more.
Adelaide ran the figures on cost. They looked at their budget, the potential profits each idea could potentially make, and then decided to just have two go-fishing games, set up side by side.
Darcy agreed to line up additional ex-military and/or their spouses to supervise the activities. “So what are you getting each other for Valentine’s Day?” Darcy asked as the meeting wound down.
Adelaide tensed at the thought of the traditionally romantic holiday.
“What my man always desires.” Molly laughed. “More home-baked German pastries and cookies! In the shape of hearts, of course. Braden will help me make them.”
Darcy turned to Hope. “Garrett and I arranged an overnight at a luxe hotel in Dallas—the weekend after. Max is going to stay with Lucille while we have our adults-only ooh-la-la!” Everyone laughed.
“Adelaide?” Darcy asked.
Oh, dear. Adelaide flushed. “Um... I don’t know. Haven’t even thought about it yet.”
“Well, you should get him something,” Sage, who was practically glowing with good health, said. “After all, it is your tenth wedding anniversary.”
So everyone kept reminding them. Adelaide lobbed the ball right back into Sage’s court. “Are you getting Nick Monroe something?”
“Actually, yeah.” Squaring her shoulders, Sage beamed. “Since we’re otherwise unattached, we agreed to give each other something jokey.” She turned to Darcy, the only one of them who had been married to active duty military, and had to help her husband battle back from life-changing injuries. “What about you?”
Darcy radiated hard-won serenity. “Well, maybe it’s because I nearly lost Tank when he was injured overseas. But I always make sure I give him something that lets him know I will always love him with all my heart. Because I never ever want him to feel taken for granted.”
A collective “ahhh” filled the room.
A few tears were shed.
The women had just finished exchanging hugs all around, when a volunteer loomed in the doorway. “Adelaide? Kyle McCabe is here to see you.”
* * *
“Sorry to interrupt,” Kyle said when Adelaide met him in the hall. “But my twin brother, Kurt, has this baby buggy they used when his triplets were infants. It’s been gathering dust. And he and Paige thought you might want to have it.”
Adelaide smiled, hoping this was just a casual visit. And not anything related to her dad. “That sounds wonderful.”
“It’s in the back of my pickup truck now,” Kyle continued, “if you want me to transfer it to your SUV.”
Amused by how oblivious the single lawman seemed to the admiring female glances turned his way—what was it about a man in uniform?—Adelaide said, “Great. I’ll walk out with you.” She and Kyle took the elevator to the first floor, then walked through the lobby, past the glass-walled PT unit where rehabbing ex-military worked with physical therapists to regain their strength.
Kyle held the door for her and they strode side by side through the parking lot. As soon as they were out of earshot, Adelaide asked, under her breath, “Is this the only reason?” Please say yes.
He sobered. “No. Mirabelle Fanning was picked up yesterday with Interpol’s help.”
The hair on the back of Adelaide’s neck stood up. “My dad?”
The deputy detective lowered the tailgate of his personal vehicle. “Still at large. Allegedly with most of the money they stole.”
With effort, Adelaide kept her expression casual. “He left her?”
Kyle lifted out the collapsed buggy and set it on the ground. “Mirabelle Fanning says he was headed back to the States to see you and the twins.”
The knowledge her dad might be coming to Texas hit her like a sucker punch to the gut. Not because she feared him harming them in any way; she knew he wouldn’t. It was the
thought of how Wyatt would take the news, and what that might do to their newly healing relationship, that scared her.
Kyle carried the collapsed buggy to the other end of the lot, where Adelaide’s SUV was parked. “Has there been any other contact?”
“Aside from my phone and computer?”
He nodded. “Anything out of the ordinary?”
She pushed the button and watched the cargo door lift. “No.”
Kyle moved a few things in order to set the collapsed buggy inside. He looked down at her genially. “You’ll let me know if that changes.”
Telling herself everything was going to be okay, Adelaide promised, just as cheerfully, “First thing.”
In the meantime, they had another more immediate problem to solve.
* * *
Wyatt parked at the far end of the lot. Chance got out and removed Braden and his car seat. They all watched Kyle try to put a huge collapsed pram into the back of Adelaide’s SUV.
“Doesn’t look like that’s going to fit,” Chance observed.
Especially with the twins’ safety seats in the second row.
“Too big,” three-year-old Braden pronounced solemnly.
Wyatt tried not to react to the sight of Adelaide with Kyle once again. To his knowledge, the two of them hadn’t seen each other this much when they were dating. And why was the set of Adelaide’s shoulders so tense while she was gazing up at the uniformed lawman?
Fighting back a worried frown, Wyatt said, “I’ll see if they want to put in my truck.”
“Hey, thanks for the horseback adventures and ride into town,” Chance said.
“Yeah! Thanks, Uncle Wyatt!” Braden yelled.
“Anytime.” Eager to see what was going on, Wyatt strode off.
Nearing the deputy detective’s vehicle, he noticed Adelaide was as white as a ghost. The usually affable Kyle was sober, too. The innate male need to stake a claim on one’s territory surfacing quickly, Wyatt flashed a lazy grin. “Problem?”
Adelaide turned with a guilty start. “Yes,” she said, frustration and something else he couldn’t quite identify flashing in her dark eyes. Closing the distance between them quickly, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders for a hug hello. “Kyle’s brother and his wife, Paige, are lending us a pram to use for the twins, but it won’t fit in my cargo area.”
Noting Adelaide had not relaxed into his embrace the way she usually did, Wyatt let her go. “No worries, sweetheart. It’ll fit in my pickup.”
“Problem solved.” Abruptly, Kyle looked as anxious to get out of there as Wyatt was to see him go. Still, manners required a little more conversation. Wyatt extended his hand to the lawman. “That’s really nice of your brother and his wife.”
“Yes.” Adelaide reacted in kind. “Thank you all so much!” She stepped forward to give Kyle the kind of casual southern hug that served as both goodbye and an expression of gratitude.
Wyatt had seen her make the gesture hundreds of times over the years, but this time, despite her aura of distraction, it seemed to carry the kind of emotional weight that made Wyatt feel he was still missing something.
Not love.
Not attraction.
But something...
Kyle tipped his hat. “You-all have a nice day.” He ambled off.
Adelaide turned to Wyatt. “Do you want me to take this back inside the building and deal with it later, or put it in your truck now?”
“Let’s do it now.” He wanted a chance to talk to her and get a better handle on what was going on. “I think it will fit in the rear passenger compartment if I fold the seats.”
Adelaide touched his arm as he picked up the pram. “I’ll walk with you,” she said quietly He nodded as they headed toward his truck. Maybe he was reading too much into the situation between Adelaide and Kyle. It was possible that because the two had briefly dated and then transitioned to friends, the situation between them was still awkward at times.
“Where are the twins?” he asked, folding the rear seats and setting the pram in his pickup.
“Inside with your mother and Garrett.” She looked up at him and paused, her teeth raking across her lower lip. “Would you mind if we collected them and went back to the ranch now?”
Ignoring his instinct, which was to pull her all the way into his arms and hold her until her distress faded, he studied her instead. “And skip the grocery shopping and early dinner in town?”
She held his gaze, her expression pleading. “We can do both tomorrow. Can’t we?”
He stroked a hand through her hair, then tucked a strand behind her ear. “Are you okay, Adelaide? You’d tell me if there was anything wrong, right?”
“Yes...of course.” She drew a breath that lifted the swell of her breasts. “I’m just really ready to go home.”
“Sure,” he said, wrapping an arm around her. Maybe a night at Wind River was just what the four of them needed.
Chapter 12
“So this is ‘tummy time,’” Wyatt observed later that same evening. They had spread blue and pink blankets in the middle of his king-size bed, and put the freshly bathed and pj’d twins on the center of each. Both were cooing as they waved their arms and kicked their feet. He and Adelaide stretched out beside the kids and kept them entertained, waving rattles and soft small stuffed toys in front of their faces.
Adelaide smiled with maternal tenderness as their babies played. “Well, it will be, as soon as we flip them over onto their tummies. First, I want them to get acclimated and know we are here to support them in their ongoing quest to be able to lift their little bodies up on their arms and look around.”
“They certainly seem up for it tonight.” Cheerful, not a fuss or complaint in sight.
The easy tenderness she bestowed on the twins was suddenly directed at him. “That’s what an exhausting visit to town and a good nap will do.”
He thought about the way she’d looked when she’d curled up on his sofa after they got home. Her dark hair spread out on the pillow, a soft knit blanket covering her abundant curves. Hours later, her cheeks still glowed a contented pink.
“For all of you?” he teased, watching her smile spread to her pretty dark brown eyes.
“Yes, well, sometimes new mommies need naps, too.”
Noting Jake looked ready for a little more action, he asked, “Ready to do this?”
Nodding, she gently turned Jenny onto her tummy.
Wyatt followed suit with Jake.
Initially the twins seemed more befuddled than happy. Which was understandable, Wyatt thought. Babies weren’t supposed to be put facedown unless they were supervised. “I think it might go better if they can see each other.”
They positioned the twins so they were facing each other. For a moment, both babies lay with their heads to the sides, taking in their new position. Then Jake pushed himself up on his arms. Lifted his head. Saw his twin do the same. He grinned widely, gurgled. And fell back down, only to push up again.
Jenny mimicked her brother’s actions, gurgling all the while.
Contentment drifted over them. “I can see why this would build strength,” Wyatt said softly.
A connection, too.
Adelaide rested her head on her upraised hand and met his eyes. “This is how infants eventually learn to roll over. Get up off their tummies, onto all four limbs, then rock back and forth and crawl.”
Wyatt tried to imagine that. Found he preferred just staying in the here and now. Things were so damn good. Surprisingly good...
Adelaide seemed to want to savor the moment, too. She watched the twins a few more minutes, her face suffused with pride. Then noted with amazement, “They’re just perfect, aren’t they?”
So far as we know. Wyatt tensed. Unable to help himself, he asked the question that had been nagging at him from the beginning. “But what if they�
��re not?”
* * *
Adelaide blinked, not sure she followed. “What?”
“Perfect,” Wyatt repeated soberly.
Adelaide rose to a sitting position. “But they are.” How could he look at their children, with their gorgeous expressive faces and sturdy, healthy little bodies, their intent interest in the world around them, and think otherwise?
“They might not be.” He gave her a hard look. “What if Jake turns out to have a learning disability? What if they both do?”
Okay, she could handle this. “Where is this coming from?” Adelaide asked calmly.
“I have the three Ds—dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.”
She shook her head. “That’s not possible.”
He just looked at her.
Adelaide’s heart began to pound. “Wyatt, I went to school with you at Worthington Academy from second grade on. I think I would know if you’d had learning disabilities.”
He exhaled roughly. “You would have if my parents hadn’t employed expensive private tutors to teach me to read and if my parents hadn’t convinced everyone that there was no need to put it on my records because it could be held against me in future endeavors. My grades were bad enough.”
Adelaide defended him hotly, much as she had back then. “You were a C student because you didn’t care, Wyatt. You didn’t even finish the tests we took at school.”
“Not because I didn’t want to, but because I ran out of time. After a while,” he said, puting his hand in front of little Jenny, and watching her latch on to his pinkie, “I adapted a who-gives-a-flying-squirrel attitude because it was easier. It made my lousy academic standing a badge of honor instead of a mark of shame.”
Adelaide stretched out again and imitated Wyatt’s move. “Did your siblings know?”
Little Jake latched on to her pinkie.
Claiming the Texan's Heart Page 13