Kitabı oxu: «Montana Mistletoe»

Chapter One

Jess Langford stopped outside his grandmother’s room at the rehab center and dropped to one knee. “Okay, girls. Do you remember what we talked about in the truck?”

The five-year-old twins bobbed their heads vigorously, their long, curly blond hair bouncing, though even now Sophie was edging toward the door, her bright blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

“We gotta be real quiet, so Gramma gets better and comes home.” Bella wrapped a long strand of her silky hair around a forefinger. She was edging toward the door, too. “And we can’t make her bed jiggly or she might cry. ’Cause she hurts.”

Jess sighed as he stood. Betty wasn’t hooked up to tubes and wires any longer, so those hazards were over, and she was made of much tougher stuff than anyone he knew. But the rambunctious twins had enough energy to wear anyone out—especially a seventy-seven-year-old woman who had been through surgery two weeks ago for a broken hip.

“Remember the rules? No running, no climbing on her bed. Promise? And indoor voices only, or we’ll have to leave.”

The girls raced into the dimly lit room and flung themselves against the side of the bed, chattering excitedly about their day in kindergarten. The pretty new layer of snow outside that looked like the sparkly real diamonds on their favorite Barbie dresses. Their latest adventures with their hay fort in the horse barn...which they currently called their princess castle.

Jess leaned against the door frame and stifled a yawn.

Last week, his only ranch hand had quit without warning, saying he’d had it with Montana’s winters and was going back to South Texas, which left Jess alone to run a horse-and-cattle ranch. Amid all of that, he’d been taking care of the house, laundry, meals and the girls, and getting them off to school. These days, even four hours of sleep was a blessing.

But he hadn’t been able to say no when Betty called at supper time and begged him to bring the girls for a visit tonight because she missed them so much. He owed Betty the moon and stars for all she did to keep the household running, so how could he refuse?

Seeing their joy and the love in Betty’s eyes made the trip worthwhile every single time.

Jess straightened and moved to Betty’s bedside to kiss her cheek. “How’s my favorite grandma?” He teased. “Better since yesterday?”

“Getting better all the time,” she retorted, spunky as ever. “I should be out of here in just a few days.”

“I sure hope so. We all miss you.”

He hadn’t done much praying in years—he and God hadn’t been on the best of speaking terms since his little sister, Heather, died when he was nine and his mom passed a year later, but since Betty’s fall he’d been trying a lot harder. Hoping God was listening, he briefly closed his eyes and sent up yet another silent prayer for Betty’s full recovery.

From the other side of the bed, Bella craned her neck to look at something in the shadowed corner of the room. “Who are you?” she chirped.

Jess looked over his shoulder, expecting to see a nurse or a tech of some kind. A frisson of awareness ran through him when his gaze landed on a woman in jeans and a sweater sitting stiffly on the edge of an upholstered chair, not someone in blue hospital scrubs.

Though he couldn’t make out her features, the woman’s long, honey-gold hair and slender build instantly sent him twelve years back into the past. “Abby?”

She rose slowly and stood there like a startled doe ready to flee, tension radiating from her. “Jess,” she said quietly in the sweet, melodic voice that had haunted his dreams for years.

He blinked and swiveled his gaze to Betty’s smug expression before turning back to the woman he’d once loved with all his heart. The heart she’d ripped out and crushed beneath her dainty Tony Lama boots. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“She’s here because I want you to hire her,” Betty announced. “I asked Norma and Frieda from the senior center to put notices all over town. This young gal saw one and she needs a job. So now you just need to find a new ranch hand and we’ll have the help we need. Isn’t this just perfect?”

Perfect. Not the word he’d use. He blinked again, shell-shocked, as a flood of bittersweet memories tumbled through his thoughts.

She’d tried to stand in the way of his dreams. She hadn’t believed in him. And her unexpected defection had left wounds that took years to heal. And yet here she was, thinking she could waltz back into his life and work at his ranch.

Not in this lifetime.

“I...thought you were married,” he managed after a long, tense silence. “Right after we broke up. Then you moved away. Chicago, right?”

She nodded, then tilted her head toward the twins and seemed to consider her words carefully. “Honestly, when I inquired about the job, Betty’s phone number was on the flyer, but not her name. And I had no idea that it was at your ranch. I can see this isn’t going to work out, so I’ll just be on my way and—”

“No,” Betty said sharply. “You two just need to get over whatever happened between you, and think of this as business.” Her narrowed gaze swung between Abby and Jess. “I’m being discharged the day after tomorrow, which means I can come home. But I’ll still need to be driven back into town for therapy a couple times a week, and I will not be capable of cooking, laundry, meals and caring for the girls. Not for months. Well into calving and foaling season, Jess, when you’ll need to be outside 24/7. Abby says she’ll gladly work until the summer—”

Abby’s startled expression suggested that Betty’s assumption about that length of time wasn’t quite true, but Betty barreled on regardless.

“—and by then, I’ll be in fine shape.” Betty leveled a stern look at Jess, daring him to contradict her. “But without Abby’s help, I am not going to come back to the ranch and be an even greater burden to you.”

Yes, Jess needed help. But Abby? “I just don’t think—”

The older woman folded her arms over her ample chest. “You haven’t found anyone else to help out, and Abby is in a bit of a pickle. So if you don’t hire her, I’ll be moving to the senior citizens’ home over in Waveland, where I’ll be out of the way. For good.”

“Gramma,” Bella cried, scrambling up the side rails of the bed and curling up against Betty before Jess could stop her. “You hafta come home. Then our puppy can come home, too. Please.”

Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “We need Gramma. I don’t like it when she’s gone.”

Abby watched the girls for a moment, her expression inexplicably sad, then looked up at Jess. “This is awkward for both of us, but it’s true that I could use a job for a few months, until I go back to graduate school. And it does sound like you need help.”

Right now, caring for the girls and keeping his beloved grandmother out of that run-down senior housing project were more important than anything. And a day didn’t go by that the girls didn’t beg to get their puppy back from the neighbors—who had kindly taken him in when Betty got hurt and life turned upside down at the ranch.

Hiring Abby might be a temporary solution for all of those worries.

Yet, serious questions began piling up in Jess’s mind. Questions that would best be asked away from the twins’ all-too-curious ears. He’d already learned that they often heard things that he wished they hadn’t, then asked awkward questions at exactly the wrong times.

Abby’s father’s ranch was just thirty-five miles away. So why hadn’t he taken her in if she needed help? What had happened to her teaching career—and the man she’d married right after she broke up with Jess?

But more to the point...just what sort of trouble had she gotten herself into?

“Let’s discuss this tomorrow while the girls are in school,” he managed on a long sigh. He pulled a Broken Aspen Ranch business card from his wallet and handed it to Abby. “Maybe at Millie’s Coffee Shop, two o’clock?”

She nodded.

“Just so you know, I always have a background check done on anyone hired at the ranch. No exceptions.” Her eyes widened, and he realized how harsh his words must sound. “My lawyer insists on it.”

He’d known her since first grade. He’d loved her once. Imagining her capable of serious wrongdoing was like imagining the twins’ new puppy guilty of bank robbery.

But the day after their college graduation, Abby dumped him, and he’d learned a hard lesson. He hadn’t truly known her as well as he’d thought.

“What’s your last name now, by the way?”

“Halliday.” Her gaze met his briefly, then she turned to rest a hand on Betty’s arm. “Guess I might be seeing you later?”

“You will.” Betty snorted. “Don’t pay any attention to Jess. He’s had a tough time of it since I got laid up, but he won’t be this grumpy once he catches up on his sleep. I promise you that.”

* * *

Grumpy wasn’t exactly the word she’d use to describe Jess, Abby thought grimly as she carefully followed Betty and her cherry-red walker into the Langfords’ sprawling ranch house two days later. Then she got Betty settled in her room for a little nap.

The trip home had worn Betty out, though she’d staunchly insisted that she would close her eyes for a few minutes and then be rarin’ to go.

Unsure of what might happen job-wise after talking to Jess, Abby left her luggage in the trunk of her SUV; then, at Betty’s suggestion, she explored the house a bit.

From the kitchen, a wide arched doorway led into an open-concept dining room that flowed into a large living room with a massive stone fireplace and leather furniture. Oversize windows filled the living room with natural light.

One hallway off the living room led to Betty’s bedroom, the twins’ room, then several guest rooms and a large bathroom, while another hallway led to a south wing that probably held the ranch office and Jess’s quarters.

Abby glanced at her watch, made a pot of fresh coffee, then sat at the kitchen table with a cup of steaming brew and her ebook reader.

The promised meeting at the café hadn’t worked out yesterday—Jess had cancelled because of some ranch emergency—but said she might as well come on out today since her background check was fine.

What had he thought—that she might’ve been hiding criminal tendencies all the years they’d known each other?

At the sound of heavy boots clomping up the back-porch steps leading into the mudroom off the kitchen, she took a long swallow of coffee.

Maybe this wasn’t the most awful moment in her life, but it was definitely one of the most awkward. She’d never expected to see Jess Langford again. To be here as his potential employee was beyond imagination.

If she’d had any other viable option right now, she would have walked away from his condescending offer. But she’d scoured Pine Bend and the other tiny towns in the area to no avail.

Jess peeled off his heavy winter jacket and toed off his boots, then walked into the kitchen, giving her a brief nod on his way to the coffeepot. His face was somber, as if he, too, was finding this situation stressful and wanted to be anyplace but here.

“You look exhausted,” she said, taking in the weary expression etched on his lean, tanned face and the sag of his broad shoulders.

Even after all the years apart, she felt an unexpected urge to envelop him in a long, comforting embrace. “Hard day?”

He leaned against the counter on one hip. “A long one, and it isn’t over yet. Thanks for bringing Betty home, by the way. I didn’t expect to have a cattle buyer stop by.”

The deep, rich sound of his voice was as compelling now as it had been years ago. “No problem. So my background check was okay, apparently,” she said dryly.

He gave a faint shrug. “Figured as much. But with Betty and the girls here, well...I can’t afford another mistake.”

She regarded him with surprise. “Growing up in this area, I thought most folks in ranch country knew each other well, going back generations.”

“We once had to fire a ranch foreman. Do you remember Hal?”

Abby smiled. “I remember his daughter, Chloe. Sweet little girl—she followed your brother Devlin around like a puppy.”

Jess nodded. “Her dad was a nice guy, but then we discovered he had bottles stashed all over and was drinking on the job. I felt bad when we had to let him go, but we just couldn’t risk having him around the farm equipment.”

“Or hauling cattle down the highway.”

“Exactly. That was the last time this ranch will ever skip a background check and references—even for Mary Poppins.”

“Well, no one could argue with you being careful at hiring a nanny. You’re being a good father. Just as you should be.”

“About that...” He took a long slug of coffee and paused, apparently sorting out his thoughts. “The twins aren’t mine. Not yet, anyway. We have no idea what will happen.”

At his dark, pensive expression, Abby waited for him to continue. She’d guessed he was widowed or divorced, and the thought that he’d found someone who was the true love of his life, instead of her, had made her inexplicably sad. But the possibility that those little girls had suffered loss and uncertainty was much worse.

“I got a call from Child Protective Services in California last December,” he continued. “A neighbor reported that young children in the adjacent apartment had been crying all night and into the next day. The girls were only four at the time. The landlord and a CPS social worker found them cowering in a locked closet, scared to death. No one else was there.”

Abby closed her eyes, imagining their terror. “Those poor, sweet babies.”

“They were so traumatized that they couldn’t give any information, but they were hungry and dehydrated. The social worker suspected that they’d been alone for a good twenty-four hours.”

Abby stared at him, feeling more than a little sick.

“Apparently my cousin Lindsey arrived just after the CPS social worker did. She insisted that she’d left the girls with her boyfriend, and he’d never left them alone before. She actually seemed frightened when the social worker tried to pressure her into giving his name.”

Abby had seen more family dramas during her years as an inner-city teacher in Chicago than she’d ever thought possible, but it never failed to break her heart when helpless children suffered. “What a horrible situation.”

“The social worker told her she would be assigned a caseworker and insisted on taking the names of some relatives. She warned Lindsey about the possibility of an emergency removal of the children if things didn’t improve immediately. That’s why we were called—to verify that the girls could be sent here, if necessary.”

“Is that how the girls ended up here in Montana?”

Jess nodded. “Apparently Lindsey got into a fight with her boyfriend when he finally came back. He became violent, and she fled to a friend’s place with the twins. She called Betty and asked if we could take the girls for a month or so. She wanted them out of state, probably worried she’d lose them for good if the CPS got involved again. Personally, I think she was also afraid the boyfriend might hurt them.”

“What about Lindsey’s parents?”

“Her mother—Betty’s daughter—died soon after Lindsey was born. Her dad and new stepmother divorced years ago. Neither wanted anything to do with Lindsey or her kids when I contacted them last winter. And neither of them have ever called to ask how the twins are doing.”

Abby felt her heart wrench. “So you’re the twins’ second cousin?”

“They just call me Uncle Jess.”

“And they call their great-grandmother...”

“Grandma Betty.”

“I’m so glad they had family who could take them in.”

“I keep hoping we’ll get a call from Lindsey so at least we’ll know she’s all right, but it’s been over eleven months with no word. I filed a missing-persons report with the police in Los Angeles long ago and finally hired a private detective. But we still don’t know where she is or if she’s even alive.”

Abby bit her lower lip, her heart aching for the motherless little girls. “It’s all so sad.”

“I’m telling you all of this in strict confidence, so you’ll understand if the girls are moody or difficult sometimes. They haven’t had an easy life.” He sighed heavily. “We think Lindsey and her boyfriend left them alone more often than she would admit. You’ll see that Bella is quite the guardian of her sister, and Sophie depends on her a lot.”

“What if Lindsey does turn up again—or some guy claiming to be the twins’ father—and tries to take them away?”

Jess’s mouth flattened. “That thought keeps me awake at night. I would help her any way I can. But if she refused my help and took off with them, how safe would they be? What if we couldn’t find her again, and she was into drugs, or running with a bad crowd?”

Like that violent boyfriend. Or worse. “I’m going to start adding the girls to my prayers. They’ve been so blessed to end up with you, Jess.”

A brief smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I can’t imagine life without them, even if they can be a handful at times.”

The glimpse of his smile made her insides tighten and warmth rise into her cheekbones. Even after all these years, her reaction to him was as strong and instinctive as ever—which was going to make their working relationship even more awkward than she’d guessed.

Hiding her blush, she turned away toward the windows facing the barns and the foothills of the Rockies. “I don’t know how you managed while Betty was gone.”

“Working a hundred miles an hour while the girls were in school.” Jess poured himself another cup of coffee and offered her a refill, but she shook her head. “Most years, cattle could still be on the higher range and stay fat and healthy there for another few weeks. But we got heavy, early snow in mid-October and it hasn’t let up. They can’t paw through it to get enough to eat.”

“So you’re already hauling hay to them?”

“Yep.” He studied the contents of his coffee cup for a moment, then raised his gaze to hers. “Which adds hours to each day, but now the snow is too deep to reach them. As soon as I can, I need to drive that last herd down closer to the barns, where it’s easier to keep them on hay. The rest of the cattle were already moved.”

“Any leads for another ranch hand?”

“Not yet.”

“No wonder you need help.”

Jess settled into a chair opposite hers at the round, claw-foot oak table and wearily ran a hand through his thick, wavy black hair. “Even after Betty is back on her feet, I don’t want her fussing over the cooking and housework. I’d like her to take it easy for the rest of her life.”

“Good luck with that, because from what I remember of her, she never liked to sit still.”

“True. But at least it would be her choice.”

Again, a corner of his mouth kicked up into a grin, and once again her foolish heart skipped a beat.

She pressed her lips into a firm line, reining in the impulse to smile right back. She was pretty sure that the quickest way to lose this job would be to look like she was going to follow him around like a lovesick teenager, and she most definitely wasn’t planning to do that.

He cleared his throat. “There’s something else we need to discuss before we decide whether or not this will work out.”

His piercing, silver-blue eyes focused on hers, until she suspected he could see into her deepest thoughts. She shifted uneasily in her chair.

“Betty hinted that you’re in some sort of trouble.”

“Not in any legal sense.” And certainly nothing she wanted to discuss with Jess, of all people. “Just...a bit of financial stress. Not uncommon, these days.”

He sat, quietly waiting.

The silence lengthened between them until she finally caved. “Alan—my ex-husband—had mild MS when we married, but it hasn’t progressed much. He’s an accountant and still perfectly capable of working, but he hasn’t held a job for a long time. I worked whenever I could as a substitute teacher, so I could be available on the days he needed help.”

“And then you finally left him?”

The hint of censure in Jess’s voice set her teeth on edge. “No, Alan decided he loved his longtime physical therapist more than me and he filed for divorce in June. It wasn’t too complicated, with no kids and few assets to divide. Living expenses and his health costs always took most of my income.”