Читать книгу Mirror Image Bride - Barbara McMahon - Страница 12

Chapter Three

Maddie and Darcy wore their new Western attire home, both pleased with their selections. They had unloaded the car and were already putting things away when Violet knocked on the door.

“I saw you were home and wanted to see how it went,” she said. Then she laughed. “My favorite color is yellow,” she informed them, pointing to her pale yellow shirt. Maddie’s was the color of buttercups, Darcy’s a brighter yellow.

“We look like an ad for butter,” Violet said, giving Maddie a hug. “Your shopping spree gives me hope that you’ll stay longer.”

“I said I’ll be staying at least until Darcy starts school,” Maddie reminded her.

“I know. And I’m hoping I can convince you to stay even longer.”

“We’ve been through this. I need to work, and there aren’t a lot of publishing opportunities in Grasslands.”

“There could be other jobs. Never mind that now. I’m happy you bought the jeans and boots.” A mischievous glint filled her eyes. “Now we just need to get you comfortable riding,” Violet said.

“We went riding,” Maddie protested. Granted, she couldn’t sit a horse like her twin, but then, she hadn’t been raised around horses since she was little.

“I’m leaving the next stage to Ty. If he’s teaching Darcy, he can teach you,” Violet murmured.

Maddie felt her adrenaline spike. If he had his way, he’d not only teach them to ride, he’d have them out on the back forty in no time, herding cattle, avoiding stampedes and fending off rustlers.

She sighed. In for a penny, she thought.

As it drew nearer to dinnertime, Maddie’s nerves grew more and more jangled. She’d already spent hours with Ty today. Yet she couldn’t help anticipating seeing him again. She’d felt a special connection today as they shopped for Darcy together. She was growing increasingly interested in the cowboy. She hoped he was changing his mind about her. She wasn’t just a city sophisticate. She fit on the ranch more and more each day.

Two pairs of boots clomped around the kitchen as she and Darcy prepared dinner—tonight, a roast with all the trimmings. One thing she’d discovered was the huge freezer beside the back stoop filled with various cuts of meat. They’d not go hungry in this house.

Darcy still wore her cowboy hat. She swaggered around, setting the table, and came over to Maddie several times to watch her.

“Today was fun,” she said. “Do you think he’ll let us go riding after dinner?”

“We’ll have to ask,” Maddie said. She wasn’t so sure she wanted riding lessons. What if she made a fool of herself in front of Ty?

She heard his footsteps on the back porch and it was all she could do to continue slicing the fresh tomato she planned to have with their salads and not turn around to watch him enter. Every cell attuned to him, she tried to be as casual as she could be. But when she heard Darcy greet him, she spun around and added her greeting as well. She was uncertain where she stood with the man. But he fascinated her.

He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his thick hair. Tossing the hat onto a peg on the wall, he looked at her. His dark eyes seemed to delve right into her.

“Something smells nice,” he said. He looked at Maddie from the yellow top down to the brown boots, then looked at Darcy. His face softened in a smile as he looked at the miniature cowgirl. “You both look real nice. Still wearing that hat?”

“I’m a cowgirl. I have to wear a hat,” Darcy explained.

“Mostly, it’s needed to shade your face from the sun,” Ty said gently. “But it’s okay to wear inside. It looks like you’re ready to ride the range.”

He hadn’t moved from the door and Maddie wondered if he felt out of place in his own home. It couldn’t be easy to go from being a longtime single man to coming home to a house with two females.

“I don’t know how to ride,” Darcy reminded him.

“We’ll get you up to speed in no time. It’s easy,” he said, glancing at Maddie.

“Don’t look at me. I’ve been on a horse only a few times, that’s about as far as I’ve progressed.” She threw up her hands. “You’re looking at two hopeless city girls. Despite having the stockyards and all in Fort Worth, no one I know there actually owns a horse.”

His expression went hard. Maddie knew he remembered his wife. She wished she could retrieve the words she’d thoughtlessly spoken.

“But we’re both willing to learn. Violet said you could teach us,” she said, hoping mentioning Violet’s ringing endorsement of his equestrian skills would encourage Ty to spend more time with Darcy.

“We’ll get started after dinner.”

Maddie forced a smile. “That’ll be great. My sister wants me to become as acclimated to the ranch as you want Darcy to become. You get two students for the price of one.”

“Won’t that be fun?” He scowled.

Turning so he wouldn’t see the amusement on her face, she resumed slicing the tomato. He spoke with Darcy, his voice gentling somewhat as he explained they could pick out some horses after dinner. She herself wouldn’t mind waiting a few more days, or weeks. But sooner or later she had to become more comfortable or she’d lose out on an important part of her sister’s life.

* * *

Ty was expecting to say the blessing tonight. It had never been a part of family life when he was growing up. Of course, nothing much but booze and anger had been part of his childhood life. He tried to forget, but with Darcy around, he couldn’t help but contrast the two of them. He vowed he’d do all he could to protect his little girl. And raise her up right. He was not his father and never wanted to be.

Dinner passed pleasantly enough with Darcy encouraged by Maddie to talk some more, sharing her best part of the day.

Her fit of giggles one time touched Ty’s heart. He’d like to hear that all the time. He glanced at Maddie, who was smiling indulgently at the child. She still looked more polished and sophisticated than the women he knew around the various ranches in the area, but at least she was making an effort to fit in. The yellow shirt suited her—looking as pretty as the fancy silk shirts she normally wore. The cotton, however, was much more practical. Maybe it wasn’t the clothes so much as how she wore them.

Once dinner was finished and the dishes were done, the three of them headed out to the barn.

The hush of the early evening was everywhere. The men were still in the bunkhouse eating. The horses had been fed and were now dozing in the corral. He heard the bleat of the goat, but didn’t see her. Two of the horses ambled over to the rail fence and hung their heads over. When he reached them, Ty idly scratched their heads.

Ty had no idea how to teach two girls of different ages how to ride. He couldn’t remember when he hadn’t known how to ride. As far as he remembered, his first time he’d got on and held on until he got the hang of it. Yeah, that’d be great with both of them. He didn’t want either to get hurt.

To the side of the barn, one of the other cowboys was hosing down Stoney, the gelding he’d ridden that day.

“He likes that,” Ty said, watching the horse move to get more water from the hose.

“It’s like he’s in a shower,” Darcy said, laughing.

“So, which is the gentlest, sweetest horse you have?” Maddie asked, looking through the rails at the horses in the corral. One more ambled over and put his head over the top rail.

Ty scratched around his ears while he decided which horse would be the best for Maddie. He wasn’t too worried about Darcy. Rambo had two speeds—slow and stop. Maddie had been riding a couple of times, so knew enough to stay on. But he didn’t want to risk her falling off.

“Rambo’s the best for Darcy.”

“Rambo?” Maddie said with some trepidation, even though Ty had assured her that Rambo was gentle.

“Hey, no one knows what a horse is going to be like when it’s a foal. His first owners obviously thought he’d be a take-charge champion. He’s slow, hard to get into second gear and perfect for a little girl to start on.”

“What about a bigger girl?” Maddie asked, tentatively patting the head of one of the horses by the rail.

“Who did you ride before?”

“I think Violet said his name was Shadow—the horse was dark gray.”

“And you stayed on, right?”

“Well, he didn’t buck. I sat there and held on for dear life.”

Ty gave a slow smile. Maddie was gutsy on the outside, but he suspected she was as nervous around horses as Darcy. He looked at her and was surprised at the look on her face.

“You should smile more often,” she said softly.

Which instantly wiped the smile from his face. He went to the barn to get halters and lead ropes.

“Tonight we’ll get acquainted. I’ll bring them into the barn and you two can groom them, learn how to walk around them, clean their hooves, that kind of thing.”

“They’re awfully big,” Darcy said, moving closer to Maddie.

When Maddie put her arm casually around Darcy’s shoulders, Ty felt a pang of longing. He wished his daughter would step closer to him when she was scared. Wished he felt comfortable enough around her to put his arm across her shoulder. Wished he knew if she even wanted him to.

Darcy had worn her hat. Now she had to tip her head back to see him from beneath the brim. “Do they kick or bite?”

“Some do, not the ones we’ll be dealing with. Mostly, Jack and I don’t put up with horses who don’t have good manners. Too distracting.” He nodded briskly. “Come on, let’s get Rambo first.”

The next hour Ty spent going over things with Darcy, and all the while Maddie was hovering over his shoulder. He cross-tied the horse in the center of the barn and brought out the equipment to properly groom him. Darcy started out checking with Maddie for every task he explained to her. As if to verify with the other city girl that it was something she could do.

He tried not to become frustrated. She’d recently lost her mother. She hadn’t known about him. She wasn’t used to horses or him. But it was getting to him.

Finally, he turned to Maddie. “Maybe this would go better if you weren’t here.”

“No, Maddie, don’t leave,” Darcy protested, moving to stand beside her.

“I’m not leaving. And it’s going great. Let me have a brush and we’ll brush down this side and then you and your dad can brush down the other side while I comb his mane and tail.”

Okay, so suggesting Darcy’s touchstone leave hadn’t been so smart. But Maddie’s solution had been. It would unite the two of them in one project. Baby steps, Ty reminded himself.

It was easier dealing with cowboys.

* * *

Once Maddie had Darcy in bed, she walked out onto the front porch where Ty sat contemplating how he didn’t feel one bit closer to his daughter despite spending the major portion of the day with her.

“She’s excited about grooming the horse and talked about Rambo the entire time she was getting ready for bed,” Maddie said as she walked out of the house.

“Didn’t seem like it to me,” he grumbled. He gestured to the bench, hoping she’d stay a little longer. Give him some pointers, maybe.

She sat on the bench and smiled at him. “I’ve noticed she’s a bit shy around you. The only way past that is for her to get to know you better. Find some common ground.” She paused. “So you need to plan activities that you two can do together—to build that parent-child bond.”

“Like what?” Ty asked impatiently.

“Like going inside to tuck her in. She’s still awake.”

Nodding tersely, he rose and went into the house. He wanted to be the one to tuck her in every night, until she got too old for that. But when he stepped into her room, she had her back to the door.

“Darcy?”

“Huh?” She rolled over and looked at him.

“Good night,” he said, going down on his knees by her bed and brushing her hair off her forehead. Her cowboy hat was at the foot of her bed, the boots right beside it.

“Thank you for buying me cowboy clothes,” she said softly.

“Hey, you have to fit in, right?”

She nodded, her eyes shining. “And when I can ride, I can go all over the ranch with you.”

“Yes, you can.” He kissed her cheek and smiled. “Sleep well.”

“Okay.” She rolled over again and he rose to leave. Just before he turned out the light, he looked at his daughter. He was still amazed he’d fathered a child, and she had captured his heart the first time he saw her. He only wanted the best life had to offer for her. She’d had a bad break with her mother dying. Please, Father, keep this child in the hollow of Your hand, he silently prayed.

When he stepped out onto the porch, he looked out over the ranch. This was his life, the only one he knew or wanted. “How do I ease a child into this life when she’s used to apartment living and being supervised all the time? I have to work. I can’t take off to be with her all the time until she’s grown,” he said as he rejoined Maddie on the bench.

“She’ll come around. Don’t forget, it’s less than two weeks ago that everything in her life changed. Children are resilient. She’ll gradually get used to things, and in a few months will hardly remember her first days here.”

Maddie looked at her boots, then looked up at him and grinned. “I feel like a cowgirl today.”

“You might look the part, but once the novelty wears off, you’ll leave,” he said, but he took a look at her happy expression and wished he’d kept quiet. If she wanted to play dress-up for a while, he didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he was planning on her staying. Once burned, twice shy.

“Umm, maybe you’re right or maybe you’re wrong. Only time will tell, won’t it?” she asked easily.

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, then Ty’s curiosity got the better of him.

“So how does it feel to suddenly discover the other half of your family?” he asked. Maybe Darcy felt the same and it would help if he knew how to respond.

“Weird, mostly. And frustrating. I have a thousand questions and no answers. Belle is my mother, if she’s Violet’s, there’s no question about that. Yet all my life I thought Sharla was. It’s her name on my birth certificate.”

“Maybe she adopted you. Doesn’t the state change birth records in cases of adoption?” he asked.

“I guess. But why didn’t I ever know that? I thought the current thinking was adopted children should know that all along.”

“Did you ask your father?”

“I’ve been trying to reach him for five weeks. Dad takes off on missionary trips for weeks at a time. He’s a doctor and provides medical care in poverty-stricken areas here and abroad. Last I heard he was heading down near the border. He’s never been one to check in often, but this is the longest I can remember him being incommunicado.” She sighed. “Even if I reached him, there’s no telling what he’ll say.”