Love Inspired September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Montana Twins\Small-Town Billionaire\Stranded with the Rancher (9 page)

“Have you and Brody had a chance to meet with Lilibeth Shoemaker?” she demanded.

Relief sluiced through Hannah. Thankfully, she and her twins were off the hook. “Yes. We did,” she said.

“Find anything out?”

Hannah wasn't about to give her a report in front of Robin. “Whatever we have to say I'll bring to the attention of the committee.”

“Maybe we should have a meeting tomorrow,” Abigail said.

Hannah thought of all the work she had to do yet. The clock in the foyer wasn't the only one ticking. The fair was set to go in a week and she was falling behind. “I don't know if it's necessary.”

“Just a quick one. So we know what's up before the fair starts.”

“As long as it is a very short meeting at the end of the day.” That way, if anyone got long-winded, she could cite having to pick up her children as her excuse to leave.

“We can do that. And now I need to talk to Mayor Shaw,” Abigail announced.

“He's not in right now,” Hannah said. “Did you want to leave a message for him?”

“Yes. He needs to know I've been talking around. A bunch of townspeople want to get a petition going to get the proceeds from this picnic basket auction to go to the museum.” Abigail turned to Robin and pointed a finger at her. “You. You're working with Olivia on that museum. I'm right, aren't I? About the museum needing the money. It doesn't need to go to that bridge, that's for sure.”

Robin raised one hand in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry I can't help you. I don't have any input into what money from which fund-raiser goes where. I'm just working with Olivia to collect information for my genealogy thesis.”

“Find anything interesting?” Abigail asked in a voice that brooked no opposition to her request.

“Actually, I did. When I was at the newspaper office, I found clippings from some old papers.” Robin turned to Hannah. “Did you know that Lucy Shaw, who died when her car drove off the Jasper Gulch Bridge, was engaged at the time? That must have been so hard for her fiancé.”

Abigail's sudden intake of breath startled Hannah. As did the woman's suddenly laying her hand on Hannah's arm and tut-tutting in a motherly fashion. “My dear, I'm so sorry,” she said, then Abigail turned to Robin. “Did you know that Hannah's husband, David, died not that long ago?” Abigail said.

“Oh, no. Hannah. I'm so sorry for being so insensitive.” Robin looked genuinely distressed, and Hannah felt bad for her.

“Passing on information is not being insensitive,” Hannah assured her. “Besides, David died almost two years ago now.”

As she spoke the words, they took on a new reality. Two years she had been on her own. In some ways, it felt like an eternity ago, as if she was a different person then than she was now.

“Anyhow, I'm sorry for your loss,” Robin continued.

“It's okay.” And even as Hannah gave her assurance, she felt a measure of guilt. Was it right to feel as if she was moving on?

She shook off the question and glanced at the clock again. Right now she had her babies to think of. “I'm sorry, Robin and Abigail, but I need to lock up for the day.”

A few minutes later she was in her car and on her way, letting her thoughts wander as she drove through the rolling countryside toward the Harcourt ranch. She didn't often get to take her car out of town and today she was determined to simply enjoy the ride. Yesterday she had felt rushed and tense, but today she was more relaxed.

Her thoughts wandered over the day, from her recent conversation with Robin, back to that moment she and Brody had shared as they stood together on the street. She could still feel his hands feathering her cheek as he brushed her hair away. For a frightening moment, she had thought he was going to kiss her.

And for an equally frightening moment, she had wondered what it would feel like.

Then her eyes fell on a flash of metal hanging from her rearview mirror, winking in the sun.

David's dog tags. For the first couple of months after he'd died, she had worn them around her neck as penance for how angry she was over his death. How angry she was at him for pushing her to marry him when she was entertaining doubts about their relationship.

His death had left her a widow and single mother.

She shook off the thoughts. She had gone over them so often, they were well-tilled ground. She needed to move on.

Dear Lord,
she prayed as she drove.
I don't know what's happening. Don't know what I'm allowed to think. But I'm confused right now. I have my babies and my responsibilities. I don't know what I'm allowed to feel. Help me to trust in You. To trust in Your perfect love. To know that all I need is You.

And as she drove the rest of the way to the ranch, she felt a gentle peace settle on her heart as she laid her concerns in God's hands.

* * *

“Dear Hannah, we are at the corrals with the kids. Just go past the log house and around the barn.”

Hannah read the note taped to the door of Mrs. Harcourt's house, then headed toward the corrals. The sun was warm on the top of her head and she pulled her sweater off and tied it around her waist, enjoying the outside air and the open spaces of the ranch, sending up a prayer of thanks that Gina Harcourt had offered to take in her children.

Every day, when she came back to the stuffy apartment, she always felt sorry for her children stuck inside day after day. Though she was thankful for her mother's help, she knew she couldn't expect her to take the children out regularly. As well, after a long day of work, Hannah didn't have the energy herself to take them out for a walk. The twins were always hungry and cranky by the time she was done with work. So it was often a quick supper, bath, a story and then bed. Saturdays, she would take them to the park to make up for their having to spend every day cooped up, but every time she did, she wished they could experience this more often.

Now they were being taken care of on a ranch, with wide-open spaces, and every day they were taken out into the fresh afternoon air.

She came closer to the log house the note mentioned and her steps slowed. A black pickup truck was parked in front of it. She guessed it was Brody's from the decal on the back window that showed the logo of the Jasper Gulch Firefighters and below it their motto, Fighting What You Fear.

She heard Brody's deep quiet voice coming from behind the barn and her heart quickened in anticipation.

She walked around the barn and the first thing she saw was Brody, mounted on a horse, walking away from her. His head was bent over as he talked. Winston walked alongside, his hands in his pockets, his uneven gait and bowed legs a testimony to many years in the saddle. She couldn't quell her anxiety when she saw the horse. Though she knew it was silly, she just plain didn't like horses. They gave her the willies.

Then she heard Corey's giggle just as Brody turned the horse and she saw her son sitting in front of Brody on the saddle.

Her heart plunged at the sight of her little boy sitting so far off the ground. He was so small. So vulnerable. What if he fell? It was such a long way down and those hooves of those horses—she knew firsthand exactly how hard they could be.

“Hello, Hannah.”

Hannah spun around at the sound of Mrs. Harcourt's voice, her heart still pounding with reaction.

Brody's mom walked toward her, holding Chrissy, grinning. “Your little guy sure likes riding the horse.”

“Can Brody please take him off that thing, Mrs. Harcourt?” she asked, reaching out a hand as if pleading.

“Please call me Gina... Are you okay?” the woman asked with concern. “You look a little pale.”

“I don't like to see my boy on a horse. They give me the creeps.”

“Horses?”

It wasn't too hard to hear Gina's incredulous tone, but Hannah couldn't stop the fear building in her voice. “I...I got bucked off one when I was a teenager.” Though it had been years ago, watching her little guy on that animal could still re-create the panicky feeling of helplessness she had experienced. She had slipped off the saddle and caught her foot in the stirrup and the horse went crazy.

She still had a scar on the back of her head and one on her shoulder to show for her misadventure. She had been with Adam Shaw when it happened. He had pleaded with her not to tell anyone. And neither of them had, though, later on, she had told Julie. Her friend had tried a number of times to convince her that horses were fine. But Hannah had never sat on the back of a horse since.

“Please, take him down,” she asked again.

Brody came near with Corey, his head still bent over as he laughed at Corey's antics.

“Hannah isn't comfortable with Corey on the horse,” Gina called out to her son. “Could you take him off?”

Hannah clung to the top rail of the fence, the rough wood digging into her palm as she watched, trying to stifle her irrational worry, but all she could think of was her little boy falling to the dirt and being kicked by those large hooves.

Brody pushed his hat back on his head as if to see her better and Hannah saw his frown as he held Corey closer, but she didn't care. She wanted her son back on the ground. In her arms. “He likes it.”

“Please,” Hannah begged.

“Oh, honey, this isn't Brody's first rodeo,” Winston assured her. “Boy was practically born on a horse.”

But Hannah kept her gaze on Corey, unable to keep the pleading look off her face. Brody looked down at Corey again and then, without another word, slowly dismounted, holding her son close while he did. He looped the reins over the horse's head, leaving them to dangle in the dirt. Then he slowly walked over to Hannah and handed him her son.

Hannah grabbed Corey, clinging to him as her heart slowed. “Thanks” was all she could say.

“Are you okay?”

“I am now.”

“Hannah told me she was bucked off a horse when she was younger,” Gina said, coming to join her with Chrissy. “That's why she's afraid.”

Brody looked taken aback. As if he couldn't comprehend this emotion. “But you like the rodeo.”

“As long as someone else is riding and the horses are in an arena, I'm okay.” Though when she'd watched Ryan, Julie's now-fiancé, riding saddle broncs at the rodeo, it had been hard not to get nervous.

“I wouldn't have let anything happen to him.” Brody sounded hurt at her concern.

“I know. But it's just...I'm his mother and I'm the one solely responsible for him.”

“That must be hard,” Brody said, reaching over to brush some straw off Corey's hair. “I'm sorry I made you worry.”

His understanding eased the tension out of her shoulders. “It's silly. I know. But I just feel so vulnerable when it comes to my kids.”

“Of course you do,” Gina said, patting her on the shoulder. “You lost someone you love and that makes you feel helpless.”

Hannah nodded, still holding Corey close. But even as her fear was eased away, another emotion was making itself known as Brody's hand rested lightly on her shoulder. She guessed it was in sympathy, but too easily it re-created the same emotions she had felt around him this afternoon. Then she looked up into his dark eyes and caught a curious light in them under the brim of his cowboy hat. Her breath slowed a moment and she felt as if she was losing herself in his eyes just as she had on Main Street. She didn't want to look away. She felt a tingle in her shoulder where his hand still rested. Warm, large and strong. Since David's death, she hadn't felt anything like this around any man.

“Mommy. Mommy,” Chrissy's insistent voice called out, and Hannah felt herself snap back into reality.

What was she thinking? She had her children. David's children. They were her first responsibility.

* * *

Brody wished everything could stop here. He didn't want to move. Just wanted to stay on this spot, looking down at Hannah, his hand resting on her shoulder. Just like this afternoon she wasn't looking away, either. Did she feel it, too?

Hannah blinked, gave her head a shake as if bringing herself back to reality, then gave Brody a careful smile. “My fear of horses must seem strange to you,” she said as she pressed a kiss to Corey's head. “And I'm sorry if I sounded panicky.”

“No. That's fine,” Brody said, dropping his hand to his side. “We should have asked. We won't do it again.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, holding Corey close to her. Then she looked down at her watch. “I should get going.”

But Brody heard a curious reluctance in her voice.

“Do you have to go back right away, Hannah?” his mother was asking. “We wanted to show the twins the new kittens that Loco had. Their eyes just opened yesterday.”

Hannah looked from Corey to Brody and a gentle smile curved her lips. “I love kittens. I'm sure the kids would enjoy seeing them.”

“Don't let the mother cat's name fool you,” Brody assured Hannah. “She's very tame.”

“I should be okay. I haven't had any traumatic kitten experiences,” she said, adding a grin to her comment. “A few scratches from Julie's, but I think I'm over that now.”

He laughed at that. “Then let's go.”

“Oh, dear,” his mother said, making a show of looking at her watch. “Honey, could you take this little peanut?” she asked, handing Chrissy to him. “I completely forgot. I need to check my roast.” Then she turned to Hannah. “We'd love to have you join us for supper again. If that's okay with you.”

Hannah hesitated but only for a moment. “As long as the kids behave—”

“They both had a long nap. They should be okay,” his mother assured her.

“Are you going to unsaddle Hardscrabble?” his father asked him as he tied the horse's reins to the fence. “I've got to go help your mother peel potatoes.”

Brody wanted to ask his father why he was suddenly so domesticated but didn't want to draw attention to what was going on. He suspected his parents were playing a heavy-handed game of matchmaker.