Читать книгу Make-Believe Mum - Elaine Grant - Страница 9

SUNDAY DAWNED like fireworks when the sun crested the mountaintops. Brilliant white rays exploded across the sky, igniting streaks of scarlet in the scattered clouds. Jon poured the last of the morning’s feed into the trough then stood in reverent appreciation of nature’s beauty.

His soul thrived in these mountains, where he and his family had worked the land for three generations. This was his heritage, his children’s heritage—the wisdom gained by witnessing the cycle of life on the ranch, the respect instilled by experiencing firsthand the awesome power of God and nature. How dare a bitter old man threaten to steal that from them?

Under his breath, Jon swore for the thousandth time that he would not let that happen. But he couldn’t quell the gnawing worry in the pit of his stomach. Not since talking to his lawyer, Frank Thompson. Hal could do serious damage without ever proving a thing, just by convincing the social worker or local law enforcement Jon might have done something wrong.

“Daddy,” Michele called, running toward him, so pretty in her simple blue dress, her tawny, beribboned hair streaming out behind her. “Rachel said to tell you we’re all finished with our chores and dressed for Sunday school.”

The young girl leapt toward him and he caught her in midair. “Let’s go, then.” He swung her in circles until she giggled hysterically.

Michele wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as he carried her toward the house. “Daddy, you look worried this morning. Because of that social worker?”

Jon smiled. “Everything is going to be all right. I’ll see to it.” He hoped he was right. Knowing his in-laws’ controlling mentality, he couldn’t afford a misstep. He intended to call Mrs. Hawthorn to try to mend his fences with her, hopefully get her off his back, but he needed to have a full-time housekeeper in place before then.

“Hey, Jon,” Clint called, catching up to them. “Anything in particular you need me to do today other than what we’ve already scheduled?”

“Check on that C-section heifer and calf. They looked good this morning, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Gotcha. Thought I’d get Rory and Cal to keep an eye out for any calving problems among the herd so I can spend some time with Claire later this afternoon, if that’s okay.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll be around this afternoon.”

Clint chucked Michele under the chin. “You’re off to church mighty early. You been extra bad?”

“Has she ever,” Jon said, giving the girl a mock frown.

“What’d you do?” Clint asked her.

“I’m not supposed to say,” she said, looking up at Jon through her lashes.

“She’s trying to get me married off again,” Jon said. Clint was like family and would need to know what was going on with the social worker, but Jon was proud of Michele for not mentioning Kaycee.

“If Daddy will just cooperate,” Michele said with a lopsided smile.

“Wha…?” Clint stopped, agape.

Jon laughed and kept walking.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Jon looked around at his foreman in amusement. “Not if Mish has her way. I’ll fill you in later. Right now we’re off to breakfast with my pretend fiancée.”

A few minutes later the family piled into the four-wheel-drive Suburban that the kids had dubbed “Mom’s Limo” and headed for town. During the half-hour drive into Little Lobo, Jon avoided glancing toward the passenger seat. Alison’s seat. Now occupied by Rachel, tall and willowy for her age, who looked more like her mother than any of the girls. Right now, he didn’t want to imagine Alison so close, yet not there at all.

The last time he saw her alive she’d been sitting beside him in his truck, laughing about some silly thing the twins had done. Out of the corner of his eye Jon had caught a glimpse of her beautiful face turned toward him and in that same instant saw the elk bound out of nowhere…directly into the truck’s path. He couldn’t dodge it, couldn’t stop on the black ice. It was an accident. Nothing he could do…. A cold sweat popped out on Jon’s body.

Stop thinking about it. How long would it take for the pain to ease? How long would he have to do penance for being behind the wheel that day?

In town, the children barreled out of the Suburban and, before Jon could stop them, the young ones blasted into Kaycee’s clinic like a hurricane. Kaycee met them in the waiting room, bundling all that energy into her arms without missing a beat. Tyler and Zach went headlong. Bo hung back, wary of the woman he’d never seen before, until jealousy of the hugs and attention bestowed on his brothers got the better of him and he shouldered his way in. Kaycee gave him a hug, too. Michele stood close, beaming at Kaycee, already in love with her, Jon realized. The two older girls found a middle ground, waiting to take over the little ones by habit. Wendy stayed firmly behind Jon, her small hand in his, watching, but not participating.

Kaycee already had biscuits and toast prepared along with a huge bowl of scrambled eggs, crumbled bacon and cheese. Toasted cheese sandwiches cut into triangles waited on a warming plate on the counter. A bowl of fresh fruit sat in the center of the table. She produced a high chair for Bo stamped with the logo from the café next door. Amid the lively chatter, Rachel set Bo in the chair and gave him a plate with a piece of toasted cheese sandwich, slices of banana and poured juice in his sipper cup. The other girls helped Kaycee distribute orange juice and milk.

Soon the room was filled with the familiar bantering and squabbling of the kids. Jon watched Kaycee meld into his family so seamlessly that he had a hard time believing they’d met only the one time. If they were an imposition, she didn’t show it. She appeared to enjoy them.

Her sun-burnished brown hair fell loose around her shoulders. A trace of makeup enhanced her large green eyes, and up close Jon noticed the gold flecks that made them sparkle. The yellow sweater she wore over tweed slacks molded to her curves.

Battling a blaze that started in his groin and worked its way up, Jon forced himself to look somewhere else. A sense of melancholy settled heavily in his chest as he realized how badly he missed his wife, missed the rapport of planning out their schedule each morning, of raising these children together. He hadn’t allowed himself to admit how lonely he was until this moment.

Kaycee caught Jon’s eye and smiled over the sea of heads. He answered with one of sincere gratitude and tried to shake off his gloom as she offered him a plate full of food and sat beside him. Jon mediated the minor disagreements between the children when necessary, kept up his end of the conversation with Kaycee and pondered how to manage the rest of the day. Sunday school and church for the children—he hadn’t been since Alison’s funeral—grocery shopping, getting everybody home and settled again so he could work the ranch. Call Hal. Somehow he had to find a compromise with his in-laws before this dangerous game irreparably damaged his family.

Jon checked his watch. “Let’s move, kids. We don’t want to be late for Sunday school.”

In a flurry of activity, the children scurried to help Kaycee put the dishes in the sink.

“You want to come with us, Dr. Kaycee?” Michele asked hopefully.

“Michele,” Jon admonished. This child would have Kaycee living with them if she could.

“Just asking, Daddy.”

Unflappable Michele. Jon had to smile.

“I don’t think I can dress in time for Sunday school. Suppose I join you for church?” Kaycee suggested, looking at Jon. “Are you going?”

Everybody in the room, Kaycee included, seemed to be waiting for his answer. Michele gazed up at him hopefully. Jon ran a hand through his hair. Truth was, he wasn’t ready. He still had some differences to work out with his Maker before he could set foot in church.

“I can’t buy groceries for all of us in an hour’s time. Maybe next week.”

“Will you come anyway?” Michele said to Kaycee.

“Sure, I’d love to. I’ll meet y’ all there.”

Michele beamed as she climbed into the SUV with the others.

“You’d better stop that, Michele,” Wendy said, buckling into the seat beside her sister.

Jon settled into the driver’s seat, listening.

“What?” Michele said evasively.

“You know what. Trying to get her to be our mother. Just stop it.”

“You can’t make me. I want her to be our mom. Don’t you think she’s nice, Daddy?”

“I’d say she’s real nice considering how you roped her into being mommy-for-a-day. How about leaving the mother-finding to me.”

“But you’re not doing too good,” Zach piped up. “We gots to have somebody!”

Jon grimaced. “The fact is, she’s busy and has a job of her own to do. She may not be in the market for a ready-made family. But don’t worry, I’m going to find another housekeeper as soon as I can.” Jon stopped in front of the church. “Now out you go. I’ll be back for you.”

He took a deep breath as he pulled away from the curb. The sudden silence in the car was unnerving. This is how the world will sound if Hal gets the kids. Sweat beaded on his upper lip. He almost turned around to go back for them. Gripping the wheel, he forced himself to keep going, to buy the food they needed and try to keep life normal for them.

Later that night, when everybody else was in bed, he poured himself a strong drink, something he rarely did—but then he rarely called his father-in-law, either. The worst call had been to tell him his only child, his baby girl, had been killed in an accident. That he’d never see her again or hear her voice, never make amends for the way he’d treated her since she married. Jon held himself responsible for her death. And so did his father-in-law.

Jon nursed the drink until he felt the soothing heat spread through his muscles and calm his overactive brain. He closed the door to his office and sat behind the massive oak desk. Beyond the open drapes, the black night spread into infinity.

Ten o’clock. Nine in San Francisco. He couldn’t put off the call. In another half hour Hal would be in bed. Slowly he picked up the phone, punching in the numbers with agonizing deliberateness. He hated this phone number. Hated it.

“Hello.”

He hated that voice more. Jon flinched at the sound. He gripped the receiver until his hand hurt. Fighting the urge to hang up, Jon forced himself to speak.

“Hal.”

There was a long silence on the other end, then Hal said, “What do you want?”

“Call off this social worker.”

Jon waited, listening to Hal’s accelerated breathing.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, hell, you do. You filed that complaint. Don’t bother denying it.”

Hal grunted, sounding pleased with himself. Funny, Jon had never really hated Hal until after Alison died, when he attempted to take custody of the kids. Before that he’d tried to tolerate the man in spite of his treatment of Alison—for her sake.

“Do you realize what you’re doing to my children? That woman came here and terrified them. Is that what you want?”

“I want the children in a good home. You can’t take care of them. You don’t even have someone to watch them while you work. No food for them to eat. And you claim to be a good father?”

“What are you doing, spying on us? A private investigator?”

Hal laughed. “You’d like to know, wouldn’t you? I have my ways. You should know that by now.”

“Call them off, Hal. Leave my family alone.”

“Not until I’m satisfied the children are being cared for.”

“Then let me satisfy you. We do have food in the house. Did yesterday, too. A freezer full of it. These kids have never gone hungry a day in their lives. As for a housekeeper, that’s a luxury I indulge to keep you happy. Ranch children learn young how to take care of themselves. But I’m going to have someone here so you don’t have any excuse to say they’re neglected again. I still can’t believe you reported me to Child Protection Services,” Jon said, amazed that Hal would have stooped so low.

“I didn’t have any other way of checking on them since you cut us out of their lives. You forced me to take drastic action.”

“Come off it, Hal. What did you do when I let them visit you after Alison died? Took out a restraining order against me, then had the gall to challenge me in court for custody. Why would I trust you to even talk to them, the way you bribe them? You tried to steal them from me once, but it won’t happen again.”

“You didn’t have any qualms about stealing my child from me.”

Jon closed his eyes and took a deep breath, frustrated at the old man’s stubborn refusal to admit the truth after all these years. “Alison was a woman, not a child. Perfectly capable of making her own decisions.”

“You lured her out there to that hinterland and then you killed her.”

The venom in Hal’s words was palpable, but the truth in them hurt Jon more.

Hal obviously understood Jon’s prolonged silence. “Yes, you know you’re to blame, don’t you? No wonder Marjorie and I are worried about the safety of our grandchildren after what happened to their mother. We want them off that ranch and in a civilized environment.”

Jon’s body went rigid. “My children are where they belong. Don’t pull this stunt with CPS again, Hal. It’s not a game and you don’t have any idea what that social worker might decide to do with the kids.”

“No, I’m not playing around. I’m dead serious. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure my grandchildren are safe. Even if it means proving you an unfit father so we can get custody.”

Jon slammed the receiver down. He’d planned to offer Hal some compromise. Laying his head against the back of the chair, he stared at the ceiling. How had life ever come to this? What the hell was Alison thinking, leaving him this way? Jon blinked back tears.

He had to come up with some way to stop Hal. The idea of calling Kaycee crossed his mind, but he decided against it. No need pulling her any farther into this. He threw back the rest of his drink and went out to make night rounds.

KAYCEE SAT DAYDREAMING AT THE desk in her office, the only room with lights on in the building. Her door was propped open, as was the door across the hall leading into the waiting area. She liked the arrangement—her living quarters were attached to the back of the veterinary clinic with access from the interior of the office complex, as well as from the outside. Several of the businesses along this strip of Little Lobo were built that old-fashioned way. Whoever popularized the idea of living in the suburbs and commuting had to be nuts.

She forced herself to concentrate on the form on her desk. She’d been trying to fill out the report on her visit to the Rider ranch for the past half hour. She couldn’t get beyond Jon’s name without becoming distracted. Hopefully he could call off his in-laws and they could break off their so-called engagement.

Like you really want to.

“Sure I do,” Kaycee muttered.

In truth, maybe not yet. She’d enjoyed spending the morning with Jon and the kids. Even church had been an adventure, keeping the restless little ones from disturbing the sermon. Rachel and Sam did an exemplary job of mothering them. However, with the extra hour of church, they couldn’t repress some squirming. Michele had then wanted to stay the rest of the afternoon at the clinic, but Jon wouldn’t let her. So Kaycee had promised she could come back to visit soon, and invited the other girls, too.

She blew out a frustrated breath when she looked at the paper under her hand. Name: Jon Rider. As if on command, his face materialized, his troubled smile touching her heart.

Kaycee forced her pen to the next blank. Phone number: she copied the number from her notepad then picked up the phone almost without thinking. Just a short call to check on her new surrogate family. Jon wouldn’t be in bed this early. But a tap at the glass of the outer door interrupted her.

Sarah James peered through, waving exuberantly, her curly hair bouncing like shiny red springs. Sarah owned the café and coffee shop next door, aptly named the Little Lobo Eatery and Daily Grind, and was trying to restore the huge rambling house behind it to open as a bed-and-breakfast. She was always in the kitchen by 4:00 a.m. to start the morning’s fresh-baked pastries and biscuits and worked in her spare time on the renovation. Always on the lookout for extra money for her pet project, Sarah had offered to take the clinic’s phone calls and do the day-to-day filing until Kaycee established her practice.

Sarah let herself in with her key. Kaycee had never had time for a close girlfriend before, but Sarah was so friendly and happy to have a neighbor other than Doc Adams, that Kaycee had already grown fond of her.

“Saw your light on,” Sarah said. “Do you need help?”

“No, just catching up on paperwork. Come on back.”

“Interesting day today, huh?” Sarah wiggled her eyebrows.

“Only if you enjoy driving forty miles to find out the rancher’s already taken care of the problem and didn’t bother to call back. Mr. Caldwell didn’t call again, did he?”

“Nope. Those were the only calls after you left.” Sarah pointed to the yellow slips on Kaycee’s desk, then picked up the paperwork in the outbox and began to place the reports into their folders in the filing cabinet. “That’s not exactly what I was talking about, and you know it.”

Kaycee gave a little shrug. “What?”

“This morning?” Sarah motioned with her hand. “Come on. Come clean. I didn’t miss Jon Rider’s SUV at your place this morning. Neither did the rest of Little Lobo, I’d wager. So that’s why you wanted to borrow a high chair.”

The warmth crept up Kaycee’s neck. No way this fake engagement would stay secret. “He brought the kids into town for Sunday school. How’s the painting coming in the house?”

“Don’t change the subject—but not so well. And Jon Rider just happened to stop by your vet clinic on a Sunday with his whole brood?”

“I fixed breakfast for them.”

Sarah’s face lit up. “Wait a minute! Have I missed something? Didn’t I just see you the day before yesterday? You didn’t let on you’d ever met Jon. When did you start cooking for his family?”

Kaycee wouldn’t be able to put Sarah off for long. If she didn’t fill her in, Sarah would pick at her mercilessly. One good thing, Sarah was no gossip. Kaycee would never tell Jon’s business, but whatever she did say wouldn’t be repeated. If all of Little Lobo was watching, she might do well to have Sarah as an ally to waylay rumors. So she briefly touched on her visit to the ranch and the subsequent invitation to breakfast. She skipped the parts about the social worker’s visit and the fake engagement.

“And then there was church…sitting with his kids,” Sarah prodded.

“Boy, you were everywhere today, weren’t you?”

“You know, Jon would be hot property if he’d lighten up.”

“Really?” Although hearsay wasn’t necessary. Kaycee had been close enough to feel that heat firsthand.

“He’s got a big ranch, made some good money from bull riding when he was young so he’s better off than a lot of the ranchers around here. And he’s a genuinely nice guy. Yep, even with all those kids, he wouldn’t have trouble finding another wife. But he doesn’t want one.” Sarah leaned on the filing cabinet, staring outside. “All he wants is to have Alison back.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Small town. There are no secrets around here.”

That was exactly what Kaycee feared. And how long before her own private life was spread out for the town’s scrutiny?

“What happened to his wife?”

“A tragic accident. The way I heard it, the girls missed the school bus that morning. Jon and Alison took the girls to school and were on their way to Bozeman to shop. An elk ran into the road, smashed through the windshield on Alison’s side. She died in Jon’s arms.”

“Oh, no,” Kaycee whispered, recalling Jon’s determination to save the newborn calf yesterday. An unbidden image formed of him desperately trying to save his dying wife. “How horrible.”

“Thank goodness they’d already dropped off the kids.”

“Was Jon hurt?”

“Nothing major. They say he blames himself.”

“Still wounded then.” Kaycee recalled the sadness in Jon’s ice-blue eyes.

“Well, there you go. You’re a doctor—you can heal him.”

Kaycee laughed and shook her head. “I’m a vet, Sarah, not a physician.”

“Well, looks like you’re doing pretty well after just one visit. Maybe the way to a rancher’s heart is through a cow C-section.”

“Oh, stop it, Sarah. There’s nothing going on.”

“Knowing Jon, I don’t doubt that. Still, he did bring his brood over for breakfast. That’s got to mean something.”

“Means they were hungry. Any luck on getting a restorer for the house?”

“No,” Sarah said, the frustration evident in her voice as she resumed filing. “Nobody wants to touch it. I’ve put ads in papers as far away as Denver, but no bites. But, thanks for this job. The extra money means I can move faster.”

“Then it works for both of us. Full-time help’s out of the question until I get more business. And don’t worry about the restoration. Somebody will come along. Just the right person at the right time. You’ll see. What all did you get done tonight?”

As she finished her work, Sarah rattled on about her favorite subject. By the time Sarah left, Kaycee decided it was too late to call Jon. She went to bed, but lay awake a long time thinking about his predicament. She fell asleep wondering what more she could do to help.