The Lies Uncovered Trilogy (Books 4, 5, and 6 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (16 page)

Sophie started to ask how she'd explain to everyone why she'd be sopping wet while trudging back to the ranch, then quickly dismissed that thought because Rick was smiling for the first time in weeks. But he was also sending her a very mixed message. "I don't understand," she said. "Then you're refusing to marry me?"

"No hoops," Rick repeated. "So, will you marry me?"

Sophie eyed him with bafflement. "What are you trying to say? I just told you the only way you could make things right would be to marry me."

"Right. You told me," Rick said, "and then you held up your hoop for me to jump through."

"It's always worked before," Sophie pointed out.

"But it won't work as my wife," Rick said.

My wife. Mrs. Richard Hansen. Sophie Hansen. She liked the sound of all of them, even if Rick was laying down rules, which she found oddly appealing. "So then, when would you like to get married?" she asked. "You do realized I asked you, and didn't tell you."

"Yeah," Rick replied. "You're learning. I suppose you'll want time to plan all the wedding things like cakes and flowers."

"Those are already arranged," Sophie said. "The cake's three tiers with purple and yellow icing pansies cascading down the tiers and interwoven with a trail of crystallized sugar ivy, and my bouquet has purple pansies, but with some maidenhair ferns and wild chicory like what I picked in the meadow and made into a garland for your head the last time we rode up there. And Grandma Maureen offered to let me wear her wedding gown."

Rick looked at her, puzzled. "When did you do all this? We're only just now having this discussion about getting married."

"Fate, providence, divine intervention," Sophie said. "Take your pick. If we go to the courthouse today we can get the license and be ready for a July thirty-first wedding."

Rick thought for a few moments, brows gathered, then said in a guarded voice, "That's the day Adam and Emily were supposed to get married."

"I know," Sophie replied, "but it would make use of all the chairs we rented, and the band has been hired, and the guests have reserved rooms and will be here in just over a week, and my father's not in some remote corner of the world researching a book, so he can walk me down the aisle. I can't think of a better time than now. Unless you're having second thoughts."

"Not a chance," Rick said. "But what about Adam? Don't you think it would bother him if we stepped into his place?"

"Adam probably won't be back by then," Sophie said. "He took the mule and enough provisions for a long stay in the mountains. No one's surprised, including me. It seems to be a trait of Hansen men to go off on their own when they're upset, but I hope when we're married you'll talk to me when things bother you and not run off like you have a tendency to do."

"Honey," Rick said, "When we're married, the only thing that will ever bother me is what's bothering me right now, and the problem can't be fixed if I run off."

Sophie curved her hands around his neck, and said, while peering into a pair of dark eyes alive with anticipation, "Are you holding up a hoop for me to jump through, sweetheart?"

"Absolutely," Rick said.

"Then here I come." Sophie grabbed the hem of her tee shirt and swept it over her head, and this time, when their bodies came together and they sealed their love, Sophie had no doubts that their love would be forever.

EPILOG

Oregon Health Science University - Two years later

Sophie reached over and took Rick's hand and held it as they waited in the examination room for the doctor to sit with them and discuss the results of the fertility test. "If the test is negative," she said to Rick in as upbeat a tone as she could manage, "we should start adoption proceedings right away since sometimes it takes months or even years to get a baby. Which is fine, since you still have a another year before you'll be a practicing vet."

Rick was quiet, and Sophie knew he still felt the sting of her offhand declaration, shortly before they were married, that she wanted to have her own children, and even though she'd told him,
ad nauseam
, that adoption would relieve her of the burden of carrying around babies the size of a moose, which they would be if Rick fathered them, she knew that his inability to give her those babies, if it came to that, was eating away at him.

A few minutes later, the doctor came into the room and shut the door. From the look on his face, it was obvious that the news wasn't good. Still, the doctor gave a kind of half-smile that looked as forced as it probably was, and said to Rick, "The physical examination showed that your testicles are healthy and of a good size, and that there is no scrotal swelling or varicose veins present in the scrotum, so this is the good news."

"And the bad news?" Rick asked, his words terse.

The doctor steepled his fingers, and his eyes moved from Rick to settle on Sophie, holding her gaze just long enough for her to catch the pity, then he looked at Rick and said, "The tests showed that you have a condition known as azoospermia, which means your sperm count is extremely low and it's unlikely, through intercourse, that a pregnancy can take place."

Rick pulled his hand from Sophie's, curved it into a fist and rested it on his knee. "So that's it," he said, in a plodding voice.

"Honey, it doesn't matter," Sophie said.

When she reached for Rick's hand again, he moved it away and folded his arms. "Yeah, well it matters to me," he groused.

"Let me clarify," the doctor said. "Until recently, men who'd received certain types of chemotherapy in childhood were considered infertile based on the amount of chemo they had, which in your case was conditioning for transplantation, which puts you at the highest risk. But now there's a procedure called sperm extraction which is used if there's no sperm in the ejaculate, yet sperm is available in the testes. Using a minor outpatient procedure, the sperm can be extracted from the testes then applied in an in vitro fertilization technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection, to fertilize an egg with a single sperm. Embryos are transferred into the uterine cavity on the third day after microinjection. The success rate of this is almost sixty percent."

Rick unfolded his arms and leaned forward, and said, "Are you saying that my wife might still be able to get pregnant with my child?"

"There's an excellent chance," the doctor replied. "Like I said, you're in good condition physically. I see no reason why the procedure shouldn't be successful."

Sophie reached out and placed her hand on Rick's arm, and said, "Honey, I want to do this. Adoption is still fine with me, but we need to do this for you." She looked at the doctor. "What do I have to do for this?"

"The process involves your taking a small dose of ovarian stimulating drugs for a short period of time during your natural cycle, then monitoring your cycle, and when the time's right, removing ova from your ovaries so they can be fertilized with your husband's sperm in a fluid medium in the laboratory. Several fertilized eggs are then transferred to your uterus, with the hope that one will take and produce a successful pregnancy. Of course, there's the chance of multiple births when transferring several embryos, and spontaneous splitting of embryos in the womb after transfer can also occur, leading to identical twins, but you can limit the number of embryos transferred and destroy the rest."

"Kill our babies?" Sophie said, eyes wide with shock.

The doctor looked chagrinned. "Some couples choose to."

"Well, we're not some couples," Sophie said, "even if it means having a whole litter of dark-haired, dark-eyed Hansen babies, which I hope will include at least one little girl for great grandma Maureen." When she looked at Rick and saw the light of pure joy come into his eyes, she smiled at him, and said, "Honey, I think we need to go home and get started."

The doctor looked at Sophie in alarm. "You do realize, Mrs. Hansen, that you won't be able to conceive through intercourse."

"Of course I do," Sophie replied, "but I intend to get my husband's testosterone level way up before we begin."

She looked askance at Rick, whose smile had turned to a wide grin, as he said, "What needs to be up is already up, sweetheart. Let's go home." He offered his hand to Sophie, who took it, but before leaving the room, she turned and winked at the doctor, who gave her a thumb's up.

In the hallway, Rick squeezed her hand, and said, "Twins have run in the family for several generations. What if all the eggs split?"

Sophie kissed him soundly, and said, "Then you'd better start thinking of names."

"How about Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma to start with," Rick said.

"And Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Mo," Sophie added. "But I also want at least one Richard Jr. and a Maureen, and a Justine, and a Bradford, and a Samuel. I wonder how many embryos the doctor would be willing to implant?"

Rick released Sophie's hand and took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him, then looked at her steadily and said, in all sincerity, "If we end up with just one little blond-headed, blue-eyed Sophie, her daddy will be very happy." Then he kissed Sophie in a way that told her, whatever children they'd be blessed with, she would always be the center of his world.

###

BOOK 5:
DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES

Emily Lindstrom stared in horror at the kitten dangling from her husband's hand, and the big fingers closing around the kitten's neck, and said, "Please Erik, don't. It's Jesse's kitten."

Erik's gaze shifted to the toddler clinging to Emily's leg, then he pinned her with a pair of piercing blue eyes, and said, "Then he'll learn early on what happens if he disobeys me. I'll ask you one more time. Where did you go?"

Emily clasped her hands together to disguise their shaking. "Like I told you, I just wanted to take Jesse out in the stroller."

"You're lying, sweetheart," Erik said. "You know you can't lie to me."

Sociopaths have heightened senses, like a dog smells fear...

She'd read it on the internet at the library not more than thirty minutes before. She hadn't expected to find Erik home when she returned though. The alarm on seeing him was like a fist to the stomach, which Erik had never done. He was much more subtle. "I have no reason to lie," she said. "It's a nice day so I wanted to take Jesse out in the stroller"

Erik's expression darkened and his fingers tightened around the kitten's neck. "One snap," he said. "So maybe we'd better have an understanding. From now on you don't go anywhere unless I'm with you. I love you and don't want anything to happen to you."

Small expressions of love alternating with abuse create an addictive cycle in the victim...

"Emily?" Erik snatched her out of her momentary distraction.

Emily placed her hand on Jesse's face and pressed his head to her leg, more a reassurance for her than for Jesse, and said, "I'm sorry, and I understand. I won't go out without you again."

Erik smiled. Crouching in front of Jesse he handed him the kitten, and said, "Your mother's doing the right thing. You can have your kitten back."

Jesse took the kitten, and looking up at Erik with a face frozen in fear, backed away from him and scurried down the hallway. Erik stood, crooked a finger beneath Emily's chin and kissed her, then moved his hands to curve around her shoulders, and said, "I'm glad I didn't have to kill the kitten but sometimes a lesson has to be learned the hard way, right, sweetheart?"

Sociopaths give the appearance of being sincere yet are covertly hostile and domineering...

"Emily! Am I right?" Erik’s hands tightened on her shoulders.

"Yes, of course you're right," Emily said.

Erik released her then and started for the front door, but when he placed his hand on the door knob, he glanced back and said, "Incidentally, if you ever try to leave me I'll have to kill you and Jesse to keep you safe from anyone who might harm you. Do you understand?"

Emily could only nod because her voice was trapped in her throat.

Erik smiled then. "Good, sweetheart. We won't need to have this discussion again."

CHAPTER 1

Dancing Moon Ranch - Sheridan, Oregon

"Rick will be with you in a minute," Sophie Hansen called out to Adam, as she scurried after a crawling baby boy, whose fist was wrapped around the pole of a floor lamp that was about to come tumbling down. She scooped up the baby and cuddled him against her and kissed him on his chubby cheek then set him in the playpen with his two siblings. "Here, entertain your sisters," she said. She headed down the hallway to rustle up Rick, leaving Adam Hansen standing in the mud room looking in at a scene he could only describe as chaotic domestic tranquility.

A twist of bitterness settled in his solar plexus as it usually did when he was at his cousin's house, more so today because December 15th was the day he gave Emily the engagement ring. July 31st was the other date, because when it rolled around each year, while Rick and Sophie celebrated their anniversary, he couldn't help feeling resentment that they'd stolen his wedding day by usurping the band, the cake, the flowers and all the other preparations that had been set in place for him and Emily. He knew it was illogical to resent Rick and Sophie for wanting to get married while all the family and friends who'd come for his and Emily's wedding were there, and it affected his relationship with Rick. Still, he couldn't lay it to rest.

Watching the triplets was also a reminder that he could have had one or two kids by now if Emily hadn't left him at the altar to run off with a guy who'd treated her like shit the whole time she was dating him. And whenever he thought Emily was about to end things, and his time with her had come, she'd go back to Erik for more shit. But he never thought, after she accepted his engagement ring, that she'd do it again, let alone do it two weeks before their wedding…

Rick emerged from the hallway while tugging a sweatshirt over his head, and said, "What's the problem now? I thought we had everything battened down for the duration."

"Dad wants you out in the barn," Adam replied. "Jeb was kicked by the mule and Dad thinks his leg might be busted."

"That damn dog hasn't got the sense he was born with," Rick said, while shrugging into a fleece-lined parka. As Rick opened the back door, a blast of icy air laden with snow rushed in. "It's just not going to let up," he groused. "Looks like there's another foot of snow on the shed, and I just shoveled the thing off an hour ago."

Adam thought about the hour-long ride ahead of him, and the return trip in the dark, but before the thought settled in, Sophie came up to Rick, kissed him soundly, and said, "Hurry back, honey. I'm putting the triplets down for a nap in a few minutes and the next two hours will be ours." The sultry tone of her voice and the little smile on her lips left no question as to what she had planned for them.

Rick rubbed his knuckles across Sophie's cheek, and replied, "I'll make it worth your while."

"You always do, sweetheart," Sophie said, giving Rick a wicked grin before turning away.

As Adam and Rick stepped into the cold blustery weather, a stab of envy twisted in Adam's gut. "While you'll be hunkered down in your love nest this afternoon, I'll be out there in the middle of it," he said, unable to disguise the edge to his tone.

"I'll ride up to the cabin if you want," Rick volunteered, making Adam feel the sting of his own words since Rick was unaware how his idyllic life with Sophie and their kids affected him, and Adam hated feeling that way. It wasn't the way it should be, especially with two men who'd been like brothers when they were growing up.

"I'm fine," Adam said, "just pissed with all this damn snow and no sign of it letting up. I'd stay over at the cabin tonight but Dad wants me back in case we have trouble with trees falling on fences and livestock getting out. Even that sounds better than leading a mule packed with supplies up a mountain trail to a frigid cabin, and shoveling snow off the roof in the middle of a snow storm."

"Yeah, I'm surprised your dad's sending you up there in this," Rick said.

"I'm not," Adam replied. "He knows I can handle it, but he's pissed because I was supposed to have brought the supplies and survival gear up two weeks ago in case hunters or hikers got stranded, and I put it off. You know how my dad is when it comes to things like this." In fact, Adam's dad had given him holy hell, reminding him in no uncertain terms that he'd better shape up if he expected to take over management of the livestock end of the operation any time soon, which had been expected of him now that he had his degree in ranch management.

"Then you'd better get going," Rick said, "and I'd better see what's going on with Jeb. Some dogs never learn. He got kicked in the head a few months back and still nips at Gus's rear, but he's so dumb he won't go back behind the barn where he was when Gus kicked him last time because he thinks that's where the problem is."

Adam laughed some, because it eased his petty resentment toward Rick, but as they bent into the snow while making their way to the barn, he couldn't help imagining how it would be for Rick and Sophie over the next couple of hours, snuggled down in their king-size bed, or how it could have been with him and Emily on a frigid snowy day, if Emily hadn't kicked him in the balls and taken off with another man.

Jack met them at the entrance to the barn, and said to Rick, "I moved Jeb to the end stall. The leg might not be busted but it's pretty banged up. Yell if you need me." As Rick headed down the corridor, Jack said to Adam, "Gus is packed and I saddled Max. You'd better leave now so you'll be able to unload the supplies and shovel off the roof before dark."

"Adam!"
Maddy's voice preceded her as she rushed into the barn, the hood of her jacket dusted in snow, her face flushed from the cold. Holding out several glow sticks, she said, "I saved these from Halloween. You can take them to light up the trail on the way back."

"Keep your glow sticks, honey, Max can see fine in the dark," Adam said to his thirteen-year-old sister. "Even light from those can mess up Max's night vision."

"What if he spooks from shadows?" Maddy said, her hand still extended with the glow sticks.

"Max doesn't spook in the dark," Adam replied, while leading the mule out of the barn. "Besides, nothing builds trust with your horse like riding when you can't see your hand in front of your face." As he stepped outside, he felt the icy sting of snow against his face. It was going to be one hell of a trek up the mountain, and even worse returning in the dark when the snow would be coming down harder, as predicted. Looking over at Maddy, who stood in the entrance to the barn, the glow sticks still clutched in her hand, a look of disappointment on her face, he said, "On second thought, those sticks might come in handy when I'm up at the cabin later. You want to bring them here."

Grinning, Maddy rushed up and handed Adam the sticks. "Will you be back before I go to bed?" she asked.

"Probably not," Adam said. "I have a lot of work to do up there so don't wait up for me."

Maddy reached up and gave him a hug, and said, "Don't forget to use the glow sticks," then ran toward the house.

Jack led Adam's horse to where Adam was standing, and said, "How much wood did you cut when you were there last?"

"A couple of cords," Adam replied. "The porch is stacked floor to ceiling so a person could heat the place for a month." He tossed the reins over his horse's head, then launched himself into the saddle, grabbed the mule's lead line, and started towards the trail leading up the mountain, tipping his head to ward off snow that was coming at a sharp angle, with no sign of letting up.

As he crossed the clearing, the wind whipped around and the surroundings became hazy, but he knew that once he got to the riding trail that cut through the woods, he'd be protected by a canopy of trees, and the snow wouldn't be such a burden for the animals.

It was well over an hour before the trail leveled off and opened onto a hilltop blanketed in  deep snow, but the first thing he noticed on seeing the cabin was smoke curling up from the chimney. He saw no sign of horses, so whoever was in the cabin had come on foot. It had been years since anyone had been stranded there, but one incident several years back convinced his father to keep the cabin stocked with food, a stack of wood on the porch, and the door unlocked. It seemed his dad was right again.

Tying Max and Gus to a hitching rail in front of the cabin, he pulled the snow shovel from Gus's pack and leaned it against the porch, then bolted up the small bank of stairs to the porch, swept open the front door. And froze.

For a few moments he stood staring in stunned surprise at the woman who was staring steadily back at him, her wide-open eyes showing equal shock. But after he'd reeled in his astonishment, he said, to the woman he'd once been engaged to, "What in hell are you doing here, Em?"

Emily Lindstrom, who looked like a deer trapped in headlights, said in a shaky voice, "I had nowhere to go."

Adam took a moment to digest that, before replying, "What do you mean you had nowhere to go. Where's Erik?"

"Please don't ask questions, Adam," Emily said. "I didn't intend to get you involved. This was the only place I could think to come where Erik wouldn't find me. He'd never expect me to come here."

"That makes two of us," Adam said, undecided whether to pack Emily up and deliver her back to the man she'd dumped him for, or try to hold his cool and find out why she was there in the dead of winter, in the middle of a snow storm. He could also go through the litany of questions she'd left him with, but seeing the pained look on her face, and the panic in her eyes, he shoved those thoughts aside, and said, "How long have you been here?"

Emily gripped her folded arms, as if trying to shut out the world and him too, and said, "Two days."

Adam also folded his arms, but for a very different reason. He was looking at a woman who had the power to turn his world upside down. She'd always had that power, even when she was dating a guy who treated her like crap, and she'd leave him and cry on good old Adam's shoulder for a week or so, and he'd about convince her to leave the bastard, and would be ready to pick up the pieces of Emily's life and make things right for her, when Erik would sweet talk her with promises and reel her in again. But he'd hardened himself to Emily now. He wouldn't fall into that trap again. But it didn't stop him from wanting her.

"How did you get here?" he asked. "I didn't see a horse in the corral."

"I hiked in," Emily replied.

"Then you had to have come from the opposite direction because you didn't come by way of the ranch," Adam said, "and that's a five mile hike up here."

"Erik insisted I be fit," Emily replied. "He made me jog with him four miles every morning, with fifteen pounds on my back. A five mile hike isn't much."

"It is during a snow storm," Adam said, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, knowing she was lying. Or at least not telling the whole truth. But Emily was good at that. Just before breaking off their engagement he'd asked if something was wrong because her responses to his lovemaking had changed, but she'd managed to convince him it was pre-wedding nerves then proved it to him by making love with a passion that didn't seem quite right at the time because it seemed forced. Which it was. A week later she returned the ring and left with Erik, who was home on leave from the Army.

"So what's going on with Erik?" he asked, not really wanting to know the details because he'd been through this with Emily dozens of times before and was pretty turned off to listening to the same old discourse.

"He's changed," Emily said. "It happened when he was in Special Forces. I suppose you knew he was a Green Beret."

"Yeah, I heard something about that," Adam said, while trying to swallow the lump of jealousy that to Emily, the man she'd dumped, was nothing but a cowboy, while she was married to a man who the whole damn town set on some kind of pedestal as an idol. "So he's giving you a bunch of crap right now and you're hiding out here until you throw in the rag again and go crawling back to him. I've heard that before. And just for the record, whatever Erik is now he hasn't changed. He was a manipulative shithead before you married him and he still is, except now he's a manipulative shithead with a green beret."

"He's also a dangerous man," Emily said, her voice shaky. "I've left him for good this time."

"Hell, Emily, you left him for good so many times I lost track," Adam said. "What's different about this time?"

"I divorced him," Emily replied. "It was final a week ago."

"Then why are you here?" Adam asked. "He's out of your life."

Emily started rubbing her hands up and down her arms, and Adam could see she was shaking. Still, he made no move toward her. He couldn't. If he were to walk up to her and she opened her arms to him, he'd be the same damn fool he'd always been when he was around her, and this time it wouldn't happen.

"He was stalking me," Emily said.

"Then why didn't you get a restraining order against him?"

"You don't understand," Emily said. "He got a restraining order against me. He convinced the judge I was mentally unstable, and that I was an unfit... umm... wife."

"An unfit wife?" Adam eyed her dubiously. "What in hell is an unfit wife?"

"Maybe I didn't mean that," Emily said.

Adam knew she meant exactly that, or some version of it. She was covering up something. But for now there was about two feet of snow on the roof, and if he didn't shovel it off the whole thing was likely to collapse. "You can explain later," he said. "I need to bring in the supplies, shovel off the roof, and try to figure out what to do with you. I can't bring you back with me to the ranch because you're not very welcome around there, and I suppose you don't have any friends in town."