Читать книгу Twins For The Texas Rancher - Marin Thomas - Страница 8

Chapter One

“Are we lost, Mom?”

“Nope,” Sadie McHenry fibbed. She glanced in the rearview mirror at her son Tyler. The clip light attached to his book, Frog and Toad Are Friends, illuminated his worried little face.

“We’re taking the long way,” she said. It was almost midnight, and according to the GPS on her iPhone they should have arrived in Stampede, Texas, a half hour ago. When she’d passed the sign for Rocky Point, she realized she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere. “Is Tommy sleeping?”

“Uh-huh.”

Her four-year-old blue-eyed, brown-haired twins might be the spitting image of each other, but every day of their lives was another chapter in the tortoise and the hare story. Tyler was sober, quiet and shy. Tommy was outgoing, strangers were his best friends and walls were made to bounce off.

Last year when she’d enrolled them in preschool, Tyler had come home the first day with a good-student award, while Tommy had broken the record for the number of minutes spent in the time-out chair—twelve. The teacher had recommended Tommy be tested for attention deficit disorder, and sure enough, at three years of age her son had shown signs of ADD. After several months of applying disciplinary techniques suggested by Tommy’s pediatrician, there had been little change in his behavior and the teacher had grown frustrated, so Sadie had withdrawn the boys and enrolled them in a different preschool program.

“Are you tired?”

“I’m fine, honey.” Tyler was a sweet boy and it broke her heart that she couldn’t focus more attention on him because she was constantly monitoring and containing Tommy’s wild ways. “Close your eyes and rest. Tomorrow we’ll see Aunt Lydia and Great-Aunt Amelia.” Aunt Lydia was actually a cousin, but the boys had become confused when she’d explained how they were all related, so aside from their grandparents everyone was an aunt or an uncle.

Not a mile had passed since leaving Madison, Wisconsin, that Sadie hadn’t second-guessed her decision to drive to Stampede. She’d called ahead and warned her aunt and cousin Lydia of her impending visit. If anyone understood Sadie’s need to jump off the crazy train and catch her breath, it was her other cousin Scarlett. She had a front-row seat to Sadie’s frenzied life—parenting twins with little help from her ex, working forty hours a week, then spending Saturday and Sunday catching up on the laundry and shopping. Throw in an emergency doctor visit, a missed child-support payment or a flat tire and the crazy train derailed.

A sliver of guilt pricked her. She hadn’t yet told her parents that she’d been laid off because she knew they’d insist she and the twins move to Florida, where they could better meddle in her life. She’d planned to look for another job, but then the director of the boys’ new preschool had suggested she register Tommy in a special program for kids with ADD, insisting he’d benefit from the extra attention. The recommendation made sense except without a job Sadie couldn’t afford the higher tuition and because it was already the end of August, enrollment for the program was closed. Tommy had been placed on a waiting list for the spring semester. With the lease on her apartment up for renewal and Tommy having difficulties in school, Sadie had packed up their belongings and put them into storage so she and her boys could take a much needed break from life.

Tommy’s troubles made her feel like a failure as a mother. She worried that if she didn’t get a handle on Tommy’s behavior by the time he entered full-day kindergarten in just over a year, he’d risk being held back. Splitting up the boys would only create a new set of problems for her to deal with.

The rain finally let up, and Sadie loosened her death grip on the wheel, then switched the wipers off. If not for having to drive through several downpours after leaving San Antonio, they would have made better time.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Tyler?”

“Is Dad gonna miss us?”

“Of course he will, honey.”

She took several slow, deep breaths, a trick she’d used to help keep her calm when Tommy tried her patience. The day the boys had been born, Sadie’s stress level skyrocketed and had remained high ever since. As if giving birth to twins wasn’t enough strain on a working mother, being married to a man who had never pitched in had made her days even more taxing. But that hadn’t even been the worst part—Pete had been disloyal. The first time she learned he’d cheated on her, she’d been eight months pregnant. For her sons’ sake, and because being a single mother of twins had terrified her, she’d given Pete a second chance. Two years later he’d “slipped up” again—his words, not hers. Marriage wasn’t a game of baseball, so after two strikes she called him out.

“If you want to talk to your father while we’re visiting Aunt Amelia, let me know and I’ll call him.”

Silence greeted her offer.

She had no regrets about the divorce. Pete had spent so little time with the boys that they’d barely noticed a difference when he’d moved out of the apartment. And they didn’t think it odd that they saw him only the second Wednesday and third weekend of each month—that was, when Pete didn’t cancel on them. Not only did her ex go back on his promises to his sons, but he was often late paying his share of the preschool bill. When that happened, she had to cover his portion, then wait a week or more until he paid her back.

If there was anything good about the boys growing accustomed to their father’s absence in their everyday lives, it was that they hadn’t objected when Pete had announced his plans to move to Baltimore with his girlfriend. Sadie admitted that it was difficult to watch her ex date—not because she was jealous of the other women, but because she was envious of Pete never having to worry that the twins might sabotage his relationship. Sadie’s two brief forays into dating had ended immediately after she informed the men she was a mother of twins.

Learning that her cousin Lydia had married the infamous Gunner Hardell, Stampede’s notorious bad boy—a man who’d flirted with rodeo and hadn’t planned on settling down and having children—gave Sadie hope that one day she’d meet a guy who was willing to be a father to her boys. She wouldn’t care what he looked like or what he did for a living as long as he was dependable and helped make her life easier, not more stressful.

“Who’s Amelia?”

No surprise that Tyler didn’t ask any more questions about his father.

“She’s your great-grandmother’s sister. You can call her Aunt Amelia.” The boys had just turned two when she’d taken them to Texas for the first time. Back then, she’d needed to regroup after she’d filed for divorce, and she’d chosen to visit her aunt instead of her parents, who’d moved to an adult community in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

She wished she was closer to her mother and father, but she’d disappointed them badly when she’d become pregnant. Neither of them liked Pete and they’d offered to help Sadie financially if she didn’t marry the babies’ father. But Sadie hadn’t wanted to be a single mom, and Pete had been willing to give marriage a try, so they’d tied the knot, hoping for the best. Unlike her parents, Aunt Amelia had always treated Sadie warmly and hadn’t judged her for the mistakes she’d made. It was only natural that her great-aunt was the first person Sadie would turn to when her life was crumbling around her.

“You’ll like Aunt Amelia’s house. She has a lovely attic that I played in with your aunt Scarlett and aunt Lydia when we were kids.” Every summer, Sadie had tagged along when her grandmother visited her eldest sister in Stampede for a month. She had fond memories of running around in the big Victorian.

“What’s an attic?”

“A secret room tucked up under the roof.”

“Are Poppa and Nana gonna be there?”

“Nope. They’re leaving tomorrow on an Alaskan cruise.” Sadie’s parents had visited Madison for a week in May, carving out two afternoons to spend with the boys. Because they’d insisted Tommy was too difficult to handle, Sadie had used two of her vacation days to join their visit to the zoo and a museum, where she’d been subjected to her mother’s parenting lectures. She’d been told that if she didn’t get a handle on Tommy’s behavior, he’d end up serving time in a juvenile detention center. Poor Tyler hadn’t been mentioned at all, as if he didn’t even exist. Needless to say she’d been relieved when her folks left town, and she wouldn’t have to see them until Christmas.

“What did you do in the attic?” Tyler asked.

“We played school and pretended we were trapped in a castle waiting for Prince Charming to rescue us.” She peeked in the mirror and Tyler’s big blue eyes blinked at her. He was a worrier just like her.

“Can I read in an attic?”

“Of course you can.” Tyler had learned to read before Tommy and at first Sadie had believed it was because he was smarter. Then one evening Tyler had been reading on the living-room floor, and Tommy had thrown a Lego block at his head to get his attention. Tyler hadn’t even flinched. It was then that she understood her son’s obsession with books. The only time Tyler was able to escape the chaos that followed his brother everywhere was when he was lost in a story. With such different personalities she often wondered how long it would be before the boys drifted apart.

Sadie’s thoughts shifted back to work and her stomach churned. Surely it wouldn’t be difficult to find another job when she returned to Madison. She’d worked in Dr. Kennedy’s dental office the past five years as a bookkeeper/office manager and had been caught by surprise when he’d announced he was merging his practice with another dentist and her job was being eliminated. Dr. Kennedy had offered her a generous severance package, which included six months’ income and health insurance coverage for her and the boys, so she had time to find another job and a place for them to live.

“Is Dad gonna come to Aunt Amelia’s house?” Her little copilot refused to go to sleep.

“I don’t think so. Baltimore is a long way from Texas.” The boys and their father had said their goodbyes last month when Pete had stopped at the apartment with toys from the dollar store. The schmuck had enough money to wine and dine his new ladylove, but he couldn’t buy a decent parting gift for his sons. If he’d paid more attention to the twins, he’d know that one of them preferred books over plastic toy boats.

Sadie had asked Pete not to tell the boys he was moving in with his girlfriend and her three children—she’d wanted to break the news to them in her own time. But he’d ignored her request and had brought along one of the woman’s sons that afternoon, which had opened the door to a million questions about why Dad was living with another little boy and not them. Pete promised the twins they could visit him at Thanksgiving, but when Sadie had asked if he planned to pay for the plane tickets, he’d balked and amended his promise to hopefully seeing the boys during the holidays.

“We’ll find lots of things to do to in Stampede to keep busy,” she said. But not too busy. Sadie was looking forward to sitting still, sipping her aunt’s lemonade and catching up with her cousin Lydia, who was expecting her first child next spring.

When the exit for Stampede came up, Sadie lifted her foot from the gas and veered off the highway and onto a frontage road that led to the Moonlight Motel. She drove another three miles before a blue neon moon came into view in the distance. “Vacancy” flashed in the middle of the sign and she breathed a sigh of relief.

If she hadn’t gotten lost, run into bad weather and had to make an emergency stop along the highway so Tommy could pee, they’d have arrived before dark. But because Tommy hadn’t pulled his pants down far enough he’d soaked his jeans and by the time she’d located a clean pair of pants in their luggage and gotten back on the road, they’d lost an hour of daylight.

She stopped in front of the motel office and shifted the van into Park, then turned off the engine. Four vehicles sat in front of the six rooms. Hopefully that meant two rooms were still available.

“Are we here?” Tyler asked.

“Yep. This is the motel that Aunt Lydia just renovated.” She unsnapped her seat belt. “We’re sleeping here tonight, because both of your aunts are already in bed and I don’t want to wake them.” She opened her door. “Stay in the car with your brother while I see if they have a room for us.”

Sadie made sure she locked the van, then entered the office. When she stepped inside, the handle slipped from her grasp and the door banged closed. The sound woke the dark-haired man who’d been asleep in a rocking chair. He bolted upright, brown eyes blinking.

Lydia had texted photos of her and Gunner after they’d gotten married in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, and this man wasn’t him although he looked around her age. “I’m sorry I startled you.” She flashed an apologetic smile.

He rubbed a hand over his chiseled face, wiping his sleepy expression away. Then he stared at his sock feet for a moment before sitting back down in the rocker again and shoving his feet into a pair of worn cowboy boots.

“Apologies for falling asleep on the job.” He unfolded his frame and stood. He was tall, a little over six feet, and the breadth of his shoulders suggested that monitoring a motel wasn’t his true occupation. His long strides ate up the distance between the rocker and the check-in desk. Her gaze latched on to the shirttail sticking out of the waistband of his Wranglers, which fit him very nicely.

“The sign said vacancy, so I’m hoping you have a room available with two double beds.”

“All the rooms have double beds.” He rubbed the five-o’clock shadow covering his cheeks. “I’m filling in for my brother tonight, but I’m sure I can figure out how to register you.”

“You don’t look anything like Gunner.”

His head jerked up. “You know my brother?”

“We haven’t officially met, but he’s married to my cousin. You must be either Logan or Reid.”

“Logan.”

“Sadie McHenry.” She stepped up to the desk and offered her hand. “I think the last time I saw you and your brothers was at my great-uncle’s funeral years ago.”

“That seems about right.” He kept hold of her hand while his warm gaze traveled over her.

“I visited my aunt two years ago, but we didn’t run into each other that time.” When she wiggled her fingers, his grip tightened, and the warm friction from the calluses on his palm sent a flutter up her arm. She swallowed a wistful sigh when the tingles fanned through her chest. Embarrassed by her reaction, she tugged her hand free and pressed her fingers against her thigh.

“Is Lydia expecting you tonight?” Logan bent down and searched for something beneath the counter.

“No. I told her and Aunt Amelia not to expect us until tomorrow, but I decided to drive straight through.”

Logan set a notepad with the motel logo on it next to the keyboard and then picked up a pen. He must have changed his mind about whatever he’d intended to write down because he put the pen back into a drawer and moved the notepad to the other side of the desk.

“Lydia did a great job fixing up the place.” Sadie looked around the office.

“She impressed my grandfather, which isn’t easy to do.” Logan took the pen out of the drawer again and set it on the counter. “Don’t listen to Gunner when he tells you that he did most of the work. Lydia hired a professional to do the heavy lifting. My brother just got in the way.”

“I heard my cousin and Gunner are splitting their time between the motel and the downtown apartment they’re renovating.”

Logan nodded. “They’re here tonight. I can wake them up if you—”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll see them in the morning.”

Logan came out from behind the desk and walked across the room. “Lydia found these old post office boxes at a flea market and had Gunner spray-paint them.” He opened one. “They’re using them to store tourist brochures.” He gathered a handful of pamphlets and passed them to Sadie. “In case you get bored while you’re in town.” He smiled, offering Sadie a glimpse of straight white teeth.

“Thanks.” She glanced outside at the van. “About getting a room for the night...”

“Sorry.” Logan returned to the counter and pecked at the keyboard. “Stupid computer.”

“I parked close to room 1 if that’s available.”

“Room 1 is Lydia and Gunner’s personal room.” Maybe it was the soft glow of the pendant light hanging over the desk, but Sadie swore a red tinge spread across Logan’s cheeks. “Gunner made the room into a combination office-nursery as a surprise for Lydia. He intends to take the baby to work with him when Lydia has appointments with her design clients.”

Gunner plans on helping out with the baby? Sadie could count on one hand the number of times Pete had fed, changed, bathed or burped the twins. She hadn’t minded caring for two babies while on maternity leave, but a little help from the father after returning to her day job would have been appreciated.

Logan punched several numbers into a device before swiping a key card and then handing it to her. “You’re in room 6.”

She put the card into the back pocket of her jeans. “How much for one night?”

“A hundred and ten, but family stays for free.” Logan winked and Sadie started.

“Umm...” She couldn’t remember the last time a man had winked at her. What did that even mean these days?

“I’ll help you with your luggage.” He walked over to the door.

Sadie was used to doing all the heavy lifting since her divorce, but tonight she was tired enough to accept a helping hand. “Thank you.”

He followed her to the van and as soon as the door slid open, Tommy pushed Tyler aside and jumped to the ground. Lucky her, the boys had learned how to get out of their booster seats a year ago. “Who are you?” Tommy asked.

“This is your cousin, but you can call him Uncle Logan.” She helped Tyler to the ground. “My sons, Tommy—” she pointed to the steel trash container by the office door that Tommy was attempting to climb “—and Tyler.” He stood by her, his hand clutching her thigh.

Logan’s gaze zigzagged between the twins. “You guys look alike.”

“That’s ’cause we’re twins,” Tommy said.

Keeping a straight face as he stared at Tyler, Logan teased, “What’s a twin?”

Tyler opened his mouth to answer, but Tommy beat him to the punch. “Us.” He pointed to Tyler, then poked a finger in his own chest. “We’re twins ’cause we came out of my mom’s stomach at the same time.”

Now that Logan had that nice image in his head, Sadie said, “Grab your backpacks, boys.”

Tommy raced past Logan and dived into the van, then tossed out Tyler’s backpack—the one with an image of a Labrador retriever wearing reading glasses on the front. The second one to hit the ground sported an image of Captain America.

Sadie removed a small overnight bag and Logan took it from her. “Is this it?” he asked.

“The rest of the luggage can stay in the van.” She slung her purse over her shoulder, then pressed the automatic lock button on the key fob. “Should I park the van in front of our room?”

“It’ll be fine right here.” Logan frowned. “It’s just the three of you?”

“Yes.” It had always felt like it had been only her and the boys, even before she’d divorced Pete. “Why?”

He glanced at the license plate on the van. “That was a long drive to make by yourselves.”

Tommy patted Logan’s thigh. “My dad moved to Balkimore.”

“Baltimore.” Sadie looked at Logan. “Didn’t Lydia mention that I was divorced?”

“I’m sure she did, and I forgot,” he said. “Your room is at the end.” Logan pointed to the door and Tommy raced down the sidewalk. Sadie took Tyler’s hand and they followed behind Logan. When Tommy stopped at the wrong door, Logan said, “One more, buddy.”

Instead of numbers on the rooms there were placards. “Stagecoach?” Sadie asked.

Logan held his hand out for the key card and Sadie gave it to him. “Lydia named each of the rooms after a Western movie.”

“Clever idea,” she said.

He slid the card into the lock reader, then opened the door and flipped on the light before standing back and allowing her and the boys to enter first.

“Wow.” Sadie admired the Western mural of John Wayne sitting on horseback in the desert. “Amazing.” She ran her fingers lightly over the image. “That’s wallpaper.”

The sound of the toilet flushing echoed in the room, then Tommy walked into view, pulling up his pants. “The toilet works, Mom.”

“Stop.” Sadie pointed to the sink outside the bathroom. Tommy turned around and washed his hands, then shook them dry before dashing across the room and launching himself onto the bed.

“Shoes,” Sadie said. Tommy kicked off his sneakers and began jumping on the mattress.

“C’mon, Tyler. Don’t you want to jump with me?”

Tyler inched closer to Sadie, his eyes still watching Logan.

“Settle down.” She braced herself for the inevitable dark scowl that Tommy’s behavior usually garnered from strangers. Instead Logan’s mouth broke into a wide grin as he watched her son use the bed for a trampoline.

“You’re encouraging him,” Sadie whispered.

Logan looked her way, his gaze slipping to her bosom before returning to her face. “What?”

“Stop smiling.”

He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes. “Better?”

“Much.”

“Tomorrow you should let the kids check out the playground behind the motel.”

“That’s a good idea.” Sadie nudged Tyler toward the bathroom. “Your turn.” He obeyed, like he always did, closing the door behind him.

“Is there anything else I can get you? More towels? An extra blanket?” Logan asked.

“I think we’ll be fine for one night.” She expected him to leave—actually, she was surprised he hadn’t bolted for the door as soon as Tommy dived onto the bed. Instead he appeared reluctant to go.

Tommy did a backflip and Logan clapped. “You’d make a good circus clown.” He waited until Tyler finished washing his hands, then said, “And you’d be a good circus manager.”

Tommy rolled off the bed. “What’s a circus manager?”

“Enough questions for one day, kiddo,” Sadie said. “Get your pj’s on and crawl under the covers.” For once, Tommy listened to her and followed Tyler’s lead, digging his clothes out of his backpack.

“It’s pretty safe around here, but make sure you use the bolt and bar latch before you turn out the lights.”

“I’ll do that right now.” Sadie smiled. “It was nice seeing you, again.”

“Hey, Uncle Logan.” Tommy ran across the room, his pajama bottoms on backward. He pointed at Logan’s boots. “Are you a real cowboy?”

“I am.”

“Do you got a horse?”

“I do.”

“Does he got a name?”

“Her name is Sweet Pea.”

“You got a girl horse?”

“Yep.”

“That sucks.”

“We talked about using that word, young man.” Tommy had learned it from one of the kids at school.

“I wanna boy horse.” He looked at Sadie. “I want to see Sweet Pea.”

Logan answered before Sadie had a chance to. “You and Tyler are welcome to visit her at the ranch.”

“Stop pestering Uncle Logan. It’s way past bedtime.”

Logan opened the door, then glanced around Sadie. “Hey, Tyler, have you ever been in a hayloft?”

Tyler shook his head, clutching the Frog and Toad book against his chest.

“If you come out to the ranch, bring your books because it’s a cool place to read.”

Sadie appreciated how Logan made a point to speak to Tyler. More often than not, Tommy stole the show and his brother was forgotten.

“I’m sure we’ll be making a trip to the ranch to see the horses and the hayloft,” Sadie said.

Logan shut the door and then Sadie secured the extra locks. “Time to play the quiet game and see who falls asleep first. The winner gets an extra doughnut for breakfast tomorrow.” She didn’t like using bribes, but it beat yelling all the time. The boys snuggled beneath the blankets and closed their eyes, pretending to sleep.

She kissed their foreheads. “I love you, guys.”

Me, toos echoed in her ear.

Sadie carried her nightshirt and a clean pair of panties into the bathroom and took a shower. Afterward, she adjusted the air conditioner so the room wouldn’t grow too cold during the night. She left the bathroom door halfway open and kept the light on in case the boys got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet.

“Mom?” Tommy whispered.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“Can we go see Uncle Logan’s girl horse tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, honey.”

“Mom?”

“What?” A full minute passed and only the quiet hum of the air conditioner filled the room. “Tommy?” she whispered. No answer.

Her little Energizer Bunny had finally drifted off to sleep.

Now if only she could get some rest. But when Sadie closed her eyes, she saw Logan’s face. In her meager dating experience, single handsome men weren’t jumping at the chance to interact with a challenging child as rambunctious as Tommy.

Don’t forget Tyler.

Sadie was amazed that Logan had picked up on Tyler’s love of reading after just meeting him. As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help thinking how great it would be to find a man who wanted to be a father to her boys and would treat them better than the one they already had.