Unexpected Father
Carolyne Aarsen
Newfound FamilyDenny Norquest has a plan. Lease a ranch in Hartley Creek and raise cattle.But the baby dropped in his lap changes everything. Soon he’s deep in diaper duty—with no end in sight! Bookseller Evangeline Arsenau feels compelled to help the handsome single dad care for his little girl. She’s learned the hard way that men can’t be trusted, but Deny’s unexpected devotion to his daughter has her falling for dad and baby. Is she willing to let down the boundaries she’s placed around her heart for the chance at happily ever after?Hearts of Hartley Creek—In this small town, love is just around the corner
Newfound Family
Denny Norquest has a plan. Lease a ranch in Hartley Creek and raise cattle. But the baby dropped in his lap changes everything. Soon he’s deep in diaper duty—with no end in sight! Bookseller Evangeline Arsenau feels compelled to help the handsome single dad care for his little girl. She’s learned the hard way that men can’t be trusted, but Denny’s unexpected devotion to his daughter has her falling for dad and baby. Is she willing to let down the boundaries she’s placed around her heart for the chance at happily ever after?
Hearts of Hartley Creek—In this small town, love is just around the corner
Evangeline came toward him, holding Ella on her hip.
“Hey, everything okay?” Denny asked.
She nodded, giving him a quick smile that didn’t help his resolve much. The more time he spent with this woman, the harder it became to keep aloof from her. To remind himself that he wasn’t the person for her.
She looked past him to the gathered herd. “Those calves look too young for yearlings,” she said.
“I bought Bart’s herd. A bit ahead of my five-year plan, but then my plan is in shreds right about now anyway.”
Evangeline’s expression shifted into a slow, careful smile. “So you planned to settle down.”
“Eventually.”
“I see.”
As their eyes held he felt as if her bright smile dove into his soul and settled there. He drew in a cleansing breath and put his elbows up on the fence, his arm brushing hers. Neither moved away, and as their eyes met once again, Denny wondered, could something be happening between them?
Did he dare let it?
CAROLYNE AARSEN
and her husband, Richard, live on a small ranch in northern Alberta, where they have raised four children and numerous foster children, and are still raising cattle. Carolyne crafts her stories in an office with a large west-facing window through which she can watch the changing seasons while struggling to make her words obey.
Unexpected Father
Carolyne Aarsen
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,
to the one who seeks Him.
—Lamentations 3:25
I’d like to thank Captain Jeff Deptuck,
a real-life fireman, for his donation in the auction to the Stollery Children’s hospital that bought him a role in the Hearts of Hartley Creek series.
Thanks for keeping us and our families safe.
Contents
Chapter One (#ub4fcfb1b-fd17-55f3-9944-89ee94d33ee5)
Chapter Two (#u7490dfd1-eb90-5a53-905a-9dde891223ae)
Chapter Three (#u4f24d6b8-ec13-52a9-a57c-2071bb3adc62)
Chapter Four (#u06ed1a3a-1aab-5e63-b57c-b24f6f33837d)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
“How could you doubt me, Lady Maria?” Lord Cavanaugh’s dark gaze held a gleam of mirth, belying his gruff words.
Evangeline leaned her elbow on the bookstore’s counter, licked her finger and turned the page of her book, releasing a satisfied smile at the perfect scene with the perfect hero.
“I made myself clear that no sacrifice is too great for you,” he said, pulling her close. Maria’s fan dropped to the floor. Ignoring the shocked looks of the other patrons of Almacks Assembly, Maria threw her arms around Lord Cavanaugh’s neck, sharing a kiss with the only man she knew she could ever love.
Evangeline’s long, wavy hair fell across the side of her face as she closed the book with a satisfied sigh and smoothed her hand over the cover, admiring the hero pictured on the front. His hair was artfully tousled; his cutaway coat perfectly emphasized his broad shoulders. He looked cultured and noble and suave and heroic.
Someday my own prince will come, she thought.
The chiming of bells from the door of her store broke into her reverie.
A man, silhouetted by the sun behind him, paused inside the frame. Tall, with broad shoulders, lean hips. Her heart skipped for a moment.
Then she saw the cowboy hat he wore.
Wrong genre.
Evangeline straightened, ready to take care of her first customer of the day.
“Are you Evangeline Arsenau?” the cowboy asked. His deep voice smooth as dark chocolate and Evangeline couldn’t stop a languid sigh and a quickening of her heart.
“That’s me,” she said, wishing she didn’t sound so breathless. She blamed her reaction on the book she was reading and the hero it depicted. The kind of man she’d been looking for all her life.
As she slipped the book under the counter, the man in the doorway stepped farther into the store and came into focus.
His shabby plaid shirt had seen better days years ago as had his once-white T-shirt. His faded and torn blue jeans were ragged at the hem where they met unlaced leather work boots so scuffed and stained she was unsure of the original color. He pulled his hat off his head, revealing mussed, overlong hair, and as he came near, she caught a hint of the too-familiar scent of diesel fumes.
Truck driver, she thought. Cowboy truck driver.
And Evangeline’s foolish heart, which had only moments ago fluttered in anticipation at his silhouette, thudded in her chest.
Not a chance.
“I’m Denny Norquest,” he said, holding a hand out to her, his smile showing even teeth white against the dark stubble shading his firm chin. “Your father told me to stop by Hartley Creek and say hello as I was heading to British Columbia. And here I am.”
She frowned as her slender fingers were engulfed in his large hand. As expected, it was callused and rough, but enfolded hers in a firm grip. His dark eyes held hers as his well-shaped mouth lifted in a crooked smile.
For some silly reason her heart gave another flutter. Then his words registered.
“Hi? From my father?”
“Yeah. Andy said for me to tell you he was sorry he couldn’t come like he said.”
“Not coming?” She stared at Denny as the import of his words settled into her mind. “But he said... He promised... He was going to—” She clamped her lips on the words of disappointment and dismay that threatened to spill out.
“He said he would call you in a day or so,” Denny continued when Evangeline didn’t—or rather, couldn’t—finish her sentence. “He also asked me to tell you to reschedule the visit to the lawyer to talk about the bookstore.”
Every word coming out of Mr. Denny Norquest’s mouth scattered Evangeline’s carefully laid plans like dead leaves in a fall storm.
“So he’s not coming,” she repeated, trying to create some intelligent response.
“Not yet.”
Evangeline could only nod, her disappointment morphing into anger. Anger that her father had so casually decided to change months of plans. Anger that he hadn’t had the decency to break the news to her face.
Andy Arsenau was to arrive Monday, the day after tomorrow, to do what he had promised for so many years. Sign the bookstore he had inherited from his wife over to Evangeline.
She had planned the changes she’d wanted to make to the bookstore for months, pouring her time and energy into her ideas. She’d gotten in touch with contractors. More importantly, she had made an appointment with Zach Truscott, a lawyer in Hartley Creek and fiancée of her best friend, Renee, to finalize the deal.
She folded her arms over her chest and looked Mr. Norquest straight in the eye.
“Thank you for passing on the message. Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, trying mightily to stifle her anger. It wasn’t this cowboy’s fault her father had deigned to use him as his spokesperson.
But still...
“I didn’t come here to only deliver that message.” Denny continued, “The main reason I’m here is ’cause your dad said he has a place that you rent out sometimes.”
Again Evangeline could only stare at Mr. Norquest, trying to follow where he led.
He stared back as he worked his cowboy hat around in his hands.
“He said something about an apartment in the back of the store I could stay in until then,” Denny continued.
“The...the apartment here?” She poked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the living quarters across the hall attached to the back of the store.
The living quarters where her father always stayed when he was between jobs and between schemes. Trouble was, there was always another job. Always another scheme, so he never stayed long.
“Yeah. Your dad said I could stay here until I can move onto the ranch.”
“Move...move onto the ranch?”
Her mind whirled as she fought to put his words into a place that made sense, trying to catch up to what he was saying. Now she knew what Alice felt like tumbling down the rabbit hole. “I thought after the renters moved out of the ranch house my dad would be—” She stopped herself from finishing that sentence.
Moving back onto the ranch. Just as he had said he would in the text he had sent her.
Evangeline pressed her hands on the sales counter, as if anchoring herself while she stumbled through this confusing conversation.
“He didn’t say anything about moving onto the ranch. He’s leasing it to me. For a five-year term.” Denny’s deep voice held an edge of impatience. “He said that the other renter’s lease on the pasture was up and he wasn’t renewing it.”
The previous lessee wasn’t renewing the lease because Evangeline’s father had promised when he was finished his current job he would come back to Hartley Creek, sign the store over to her and settle on the ranch.
Make a home here. Be the father he hadn’t been since her mother had died when Evangeline was eight.
The close call he’d had with his truck a couple of months ago was a wake-up for him to change his life. To find a meaning and purpose.
When he’d told Evangeline this, she had allowed a faint hope to bloom. The hope that he would finally be the father he hadn’t been for most of her life. And that he would complete the unfinished deal on the bookstore she’d been managing for him for the past nine years. The bookstore he kept promising he would sign over to her.
“Did he say when he was coming back?”
Denny shrugged, slapping his hat against his thigh as if impatient to be done with her and her questions about her father.
“Andy said he would call and that in the meantime you have power of attorney over the ranch and that you would take care of things for me.”
Evangeline felt the last faint hope die with Denny’s decisive words. Her father probably wasn’t coming at all. She might never own this bookstore or have a father who wanted to be with her.
“Every time,” Evangeline muttered, her hands curling into fists. “He gets me every time.”
Then, to her dismay, her voice broke and she felt her eyes prickle. She turned aside, grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her eyes, hoping, praying, she didn’t smear her mascara, to boot.
She stared at the door at the back of the store leading to her father’s apartment, swallowing a stew of anger and grief at the timing of her father’s news. It didn’t help that this came on the heels of yet another disappointment.
Two months ago her boyfriend of two years, Tyler, had said he needed a break, promising Evangeline they would get back together again. A few days later Evangeline had seen him driving his bright red sports car with a young blonde cozied up at his side, her arms wrapped around him.
Some break.
And now it looked as though her father was backing out on his promise, too.
Then, thankfully, the door bells rang, announcing the presence of a customer as Larissa Beck entered the store. Finally an excuse to get away from this situation for a few minutes. Catch her breath. Center herself.
As Evangeline excused herself, she stifled her disappointment to the blow her father had dealt her yet one more time.
When would she learn?
Evangeline had grown up on the ranch Denny was talking about. The best time of her life, spent with her mother and her father and wide-open spaces. Then, when she’d turned eight, her mother had died and her world shifted and changed. She and her father had stayed at the ranch for a month and then he got a job driving a truck. He’d made arrangements to lease out the ranch and taken Evangeline to the bookstore where her mother’s sister lived. Auntie Josie had agreed to take care of her for a while, and he had promised to be back once the job was done.
And this became his constant refrain each time he blew back into town with the spring thaw and his pockets full of cash. Each time he came back he made Evangeline think he was staying put. But he’d grow restless and his eyes would glaze over whenever she’d made plans for the store. Two or three or sometimes four months later he’d head out again, looking for another adventure, another challenge. Another business to invest in.
Now this...truck driver slash cowboy, a man she didn’t even know, had delivered another blow to her future plans with no more emotion than an announcer delivering the weather forecast.
And her father hadn’t even had the decency to give her the news face-to-face.
“So who’s the rough, tough character by the till?” Larissa asked when Evangeline joined her.
“Friend of my father’s. No one important.”
When Larissa lifted one eyebrow at her dismissive tone, Evangeline felt a nudge of regret. It wasn’t Denny’s fault he had come as her absent father’s mouthpiece.
Didn’t mean she had to like it, though.
* * *
No one important.
Well, that was probably true, Denny thought, dropping his hat onto his head, watching Evangeline as she walked—no, swayed—toward the customer. Though Andy had showed him a picture of his daughter, Denny hadn’t been prepared for her effect in real life.
Tall, willowy, her long dark hair spilling in curly waves over her shoulders. Her tilted smile and the way her green eyes curved up at the corners combined to make her look as if she held some curious secret that would make you laugh if she told you.
“Cute as a button,” her father had described her. His own beautiful little princess tucked away in her own little tower. Andy had told Denny that she lived above the bookstore.
Denny glanced around the building with its old-fashioned high ceilings and heavy-beamed wood trim. The large front windows flanking the door spilled light into a store chock-full of bookshelves weighted with paperbacks, hardcovers, picture books, kids’ books....
He was never much of a reader and it made him nervous to see so many books packed into one place. But he could picture Evangeline here. She looked exactly like the princess Andy always talked about with such fondness.
Evangeline laughed at something her customer said as they walked to the cash register, the customer’s arms full of books.
“You’ll like this book, Larissa,” Evangeline said as she rang up her customer’s purchases. “I’m thinking of suggesting it for book club. You coming?”
“I heard Captain Jeff Deptuck is coming now,” the woman named Larissa said with a teasing tone. “Anything happening there? He is a fireman, after all. Perfect hero material.”
“Oh, please. I’m still getting over Tyler.”
The woman waved that off. “Tyler is an idiot. You and he were a waste of time.”
“Besides, Jeff has his eye on Angie, another new member of the book club,” Evangeline returned.
Denny smiled at the interaction. Though he didn’t have a clue who they were talking about, the tone and subject of the conversation was familiar. How often had he heard his three younger sisters teasing each other about boys they liked or didn’t like? For a moment he missed the three of them, wished they could be back on the home place again. Him, his three goofy sisters, his foster brother and his uncle.
He dismissed that thought as soon as it was formulated. Thanks to his ex-wife and their divorce, that time was behind all of them. He had to look to the future now. Take care of himself.
Find the peace that had eluded him ever since his parents died.
Then the woman left and Evangeline turned back to him, the smile and sparkle in her intriguing eyes disappearing as quickly as storm clouds over the sun.
Again he caught a trace of sorrow deep in her eyes, then the glitter of tears, and he felt as if, somehow, he was partly to blame.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said.
Evangeline slipped the paper from the sale into the cash register and shoved the drawer shut. “What are you sorry for?” she muttered. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I dunno,” he said with a shrug. “I learned from my sisters that if they’re crying, it’s because I did something wrong or said something wrong, so it’s easier to apologize.”
“I wasn’t crying,” she said.
Denny pushed down a sigh. Of course she wouldn’t admit to it. He lifted one hand as if surrendering. “Sorry. I should know that, too.”
“What do you mean?”
Denny clamped his mouth shut. When would he learn? Dealing with women was like trying to predict the weather. Just when you thought you had the direction of it, a storm would blow in and everything changed.
“So your dad told me you knew everything about the ranch,” Denny said, trying to return to a more practical discussion. “That you could show me around.”
Evangeline nodded, blinking quickly. She looked as though she was going to cry again.
He restrained a sigh, his practical nature warring with the big brother in him that hated seeing his sisters sad. The part that always made him feel as though he had to fix things.
“You’re not okay, are you?” he asked, resting his hand beside hers on the counter. “You look kinda pale.”
Evangeline snatched her hand back, tucking it under her arm as if the casual contact bothered her.
“I’m fine. Just fine,” she said through lips that had grown tight and hard. “Did you want to see the apartment now?”
Denny’s frown deepened. She didn’t seem fine. “You sure? I can come another time if—”
“You’re here now,” she said. “May as well see where you’ll be living for now.”
Okay. Obviously he had overstepped the invisible boundary. “Sure. Of course.”
Lesson learned.
She opened the old-fashioned cash register again and pulled out a key. She walked around the long wooden counter and wove her way through the stacks of shelves. Denny followed; still amazed that one place could hold so many books, surprised that people would want to buy them.
At the back of the store she opened a door that led to a hallway separating the bookstore from the apartment behind it. She crossed the hall and unlocked another heavy wooden door.
She stood aside as he walked into the room. A couple of worn leather recliners flanked the fireplace. To his right, shelves, also filled with books, lined one wall. He guessed the doors on either side of the shelves led to bedrooms.
A couch directly in front of him faced the recliners, and to his left he saw a small kitchen and another door leading to, he suspected, a bathroom.
“Looks cozy,” he said, releasing a sigh of satisfaction. Though he knew he would only stay here until he could move onto the ranch, it would be perfect for now. Just enough room for him.
“The fireplace doesn’t work,” Evangeline said. “My grandfather put it in when he renovated this place but my dad never hooked it up.”
“Grandfather?”
“My mother’s father. He was the one who owned the store. He set up the apartment upstairs where I live. My mother inherited it from him and my father from her when she...when she died.” Her voice faltered.
“And you got it from your dad?” Denny asked.
Evangeline shook her head. “He still owns it.”
“And the ranch?”
“Belongs to my father, as well. He inherited it from his parents.”
Just as he had when his parents had died, Denny thought. Only Denny had been nineteen, too young to run a ranch on his own. Thankfully his uncle had stayed on to help him take care of the ranch and his three sisters and foster brother. It was tough, but they’d managed.
And then Lila came into the picture....
“It’s summertime,” he said, turning his thoughts to the future and his plans. “I doubt I’ll need a fireplace.” He flashed her a grin, hoping to ease some of the tension he sensed in her.
“There’re two bedrooms off the living room,” she said, indicating with a lift of her chin the doors by the shelves. “One has a queen-size bed, the other a single.”
Denny didn’t care about the rooms, but he didn’t want to appear rude, so he followed her, stopping in the doorway. The room looked like any other bedroom. Bed. Closets. Windows with flowered curtains that matched the flowered bed covering Evangeline fussed with.
“Looks nice.” Then he noticed a couple of framed pictures hanging on the wall above the bed.
“Is that you and your dad?”
Evangeline glanced in the direction he pointed and nodded. “Yes, it was taken at the ranch.”
She brushed her skirt as she walked past him and out the door. Her high heel caught in the carpet and she lost her balance for a moment. Denny reached out to catch her.
Her hair swung over her face as she regained her footing, releasing a whiff of her perfume.
She smelled like flowers, he thought. Delicate and feminine.
Then she pulled away.
Man, she was jumpy, he thought.
“Did you need to see the kitchen?” she asked as she walked past the couch, stopping on the other side of it, as if giving herself some distance from him. “It isn’t large, but it’s adequate. The stove is fiddly and the refrigerator tends to freeze vegetables if you’re not careful, but it worked for my dad.”
“I think I can figure it out,” Denny said, content with the setup. He’d been living in motels and sharing rooms with his workers the past couple of years. He missed having a home. “When can I move in?”
“Today if you want.”
“Sounds good. So my next question is when can I go out to the ranch to check it out?”
“We may as well get that out of the way. How about tomorrow morning?”
“Sunday?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“Well, I was hoping to find a church. To worship on Sunday morning.”
She gave him an odd look that he wasn’t sure how to interpret. Did she have a problem with him going to church?
“There’s one across from Canadian Tire. It’s a good church.”
“Do you go?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I thought your dad said you did?” he blurted. Denny was surprised. Andy had often talked about Evangeline’s strong faith.
“Not the only thing my dad seems to have wrong,” she returned.
Better to leave that comment alone. “What time does church start?” he asked, changing the subject to a safer topic.
“Ten.”
“Okay, how about I meet you at the ranch after that, say one? Unless the preacher likes to go long.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Okay.” He dragged in a long breath as one thing after another fell into place.
This was really happening. Sure, it wasn’t a commitment, but it was a step in the right direction. And if leasing the ranch worked out for him, who knew...
He caught himself.
Don’t plan ahead. One day at a time.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“I’m guessing there’s another way out of the apartment that doesn’t take me through the bookstore. One that I could use to move my stuff in?”
“The hallway makes a turn and goes along the store and leads to the street,” Evangeline said. “And there’s another door that leads to the back parking lot. You can use that to move in.”
“That’s perfect. Just perfect.” He glanced her way, surprised to see her looking at him.
For a moment their gazes held and once again Denny caught a flicker of sadness. Something that he suspected had to do with Andy. He still felt bad that he had been the one to deliver a message that bothered her so much. He felt a need to make it right. “And I’m sorry about...your dad, I guess. That he’s not coming.”
He added a quick smile and then, to his dismay, saw her lip quiver.
Oops.
She held her hand up as if to keep him at arm’s length. “It’s fine. I should have known better.”
Known better about what?
But he didn’t have the chance to ask.
“If you don’t need anything else, I should get back to my store.” Evangeline gave him the key then strode out the door, her skirt swaying and her long hair bouncing with every movement.
And that was Evangeline.
He just hoped he wouldn’t have to do much business with her. She seemed emotional and complicated.
He had enough of that in his life.
Denny walked down the hallway, out the door and into the afternoon sunshine, stopping on the sidewalk to look at the mountains cradling the town.
For a moment he imagined what it would be like to live here. To have a home again. Build up a cow herd again.
Did he dare? Twice in his life he had lost everything. Could he risk it again?
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He was tempted to ignore it. Carlos, one of his drivers, was finishing up a haul in Prince George with one of Denny’s trucks and had been calling him all morning, wondering when to bring the truck down to Hartley Creek. Denny had left a message and sent him a text. Surely that should be enough?
But habit and the reality of running his own business made him look at the phone.
And his heart thudded heavily against his ribs.
It was a text message. From Deb, his ex-wife’s sister. Since his divorce from Lila two years ago, he’d never heard from her or any of Lila’s family. Now Deb was texting?
Need to C U, her message said. Important. U in P G?
Why did she want to know?
Not Prince George anymore, he sent back. Hartley Creek right now. Staying awhile.
He waited a moment, then his phone tinged again.
Where living in H C? was her immediate reply.
Behind Shelf Indulgence bookstore on Main Street, he typed, wondering why she wanted to know.
He paused before sending the message, but then shrugged. Maybe Lila had something she needed to pass on just the way Andy had needed to pass something on to Evangeline.
So he shrugged, hit Send then waited. The message was delivered, but a couple of minutes later she still hadn’t replied.
So what was that about?
He knew Deb had never liked him much when he and Lila were together.
Denny had been living a wild life when he’d met Lila. Every weekend, after taking care of cows and horses and family, he’d head to town to blow off steam. He’d partied too hard, met up with Lila and they’d hung out together.
One day Lila had given him the news that she was pregnant. So Denny had done the right thing and married her. Only, once that happened, Denny had found out there was no baby. Lila had figured she’d read the test wrong. She hadn’t been pregnant, after all.
Denny had tried to stay true to the promises he’d made. He’d cleaned up his act. Settled down. Hung on, determined to do right by Lila.
Then, five years after they were married, Lila had decided she didn’t want to hang on anymore. To satisfy the terms of the divorce, Denny had had to sell the family ranch where his sisters and foster brother still lived.
The family scattered after the ranch was sold. Denny had taken what little he’d had left after helping out his sisters and Nate, and started trucking. It was a good business. He’d taken some risks that had paid off well. Now he had a decent fleet of trucks. Of course that came with debt, but with his five-year plan he could pay that off and afford a down payment on a new place. A new life.
A place he would be by himself. Alone.
Just the way life worked best for him.
Chapter Two
“So what kind of deal did you and my father strike?” Evangeline asked as she and Denny walked past the corrals back to where her car and his truck were parked. A breeze teased her wavy hair around her face, flirted with the flowing skirt of her gauzy gold-and-white dress, which was loose on the top, belted at the waist.
She knew her outfit was hardly the type to go traipsing around a ranch in, but she had come directly from a meeting in Cranbrook with a toy distributor and hadn’t had time to change.
Denny had obviously gone to church. He wore dark jeans, a white shirt and a corduroy blazer. He had shaved and his hair was tamed. When she’d seen him get out of his truck, she’d felt a jolt of awareness.
He cleaned up good.
“Five-year lease agreement,” Denny replied.
“So it’s temporary. A hobby?”
“Running yearlings is hardly a hobby,” he said, sounding testy.
Evangeline shot him a surprised look. “Sorry. I understand yearlings don’t require a steady time commitment.”
Her father had run yearlings just before he’d leased out the ranch to other ranchers. He would buy them in the spring, run them on pasture to fatten them up, then ship them out in the fall. “Easy-peasy,” he would always say. Paying hobby with no commitment.
“It’s the best way for me to run my trucking business and the ranch at the same time,” Denny replied.
“So no permanent plans?” No sooner had the question left her lips than she regretted asking it. It was none of her business what Denny did.
“Not yet,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve got my gravel business going and I’m trying to set up my stake first.”
No wonder he was friends with her father, Evangeline thought. Andy Arsenau always talked the same way.
“We’re moving back to the ranch once I get my stake, once I have enough laid by to help us live in style,” he would say. “I want it to be perfect for you, poppet.”
She used to cling to those words whenever her father came back to Hartley Creek throwing out promises as lightly as he threw out the cash he spent on her.
And she always believed him. Never questioned why they needed a stake to move back onto a place they’d lived before her mother died.
She pushed the depressing thoughts aside. This morning she had tried to call him again, and again she’d left a message.
She was about to ask Denny another question when his cell phone sent out a tinny whistle.
Denny looked at the screen with a crooked smile, then dropped it back into his pocket.
“Do you need to get that?” Evangeline asked.
“No. Just a text from one of my sisters. She’s trekking in Nepal right now.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“Not the way Adrianna travels. Open ticket and plans made on the fly. No thanks,” he said.
His talk of a sister created a gentle yearning. As an only child Evangeline had spent hours on her own. When she’d stayed with her aunt upstairs at the bookstore, she would create imaginary playmates. Always a sister who would play dolls or cutouts or pretend plays about princesses being rescued.
“Do you have other family besides your sisters?” she asked, suddenly curious about him.
“Yeah. Besides the three girls, a foster brother.”
“Do they live close by?”
Denny shook his head. “Adrianna lives wherever she is working. Olivia and Trista are tree planting up in northern B.C. this summer. And Nate...” Denny’s voice trailed off and he gave a shrug. “Last I heard, he was at a cutting horse competition in Elko.”
“That’s a lot of family,” she said with a wistful note in her voice. “And your parents?”
“They died in a plane crash when I was nineteen.”
A shadow crossed his face and Evangeline saw that the memory still caused him pain. In that moment Evangeline felt a bond between them. A bond between children whose parents had left a family too soon.
At least she still had her father.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, sympathy softening her voice. “That must have been so difficult.”
“We got through it. I’m sure you know how that works. You lost your mother, too.”
Then he gave her a rueful smile, which, combined, with his acknowledgment of her own pain and history, made her heart flutter. Just a bit.
She returned his smile and as their eyes held, awareness bloomed.
Evangeline caught herself and looked away. This was not the man for her.
“Besides the house, is there anything else you need to know about the place?” Evangeline asked, feeling a sudden need to get this tour over and done with. From the first moment she’d met Denny, she’d felt as if her emotions were a tangle that she couldn’t sort out.
She’d thought Tyler was the right man, and look how that had turned out. Andy Arsenau had broken Evangeline’s heart enough times that she would be crazy to feel anything for someone exactly like him. She didn’t trust her judgment in men anymore. “I’m sure my father filled you in,” she continued.
“I think I’ve seen what I need to see,” he said, giving her another crooked grin.
“Okay, then,” she said, then turned and walked toward her car, signaling the end of the tour.
They arrived at the vehicles but Evangeline stopped there, drumming her fingers on the hood of her car. “How did you meet my father? How did you know about the ranch?” she blurted, unable to contain her curiosity about Denny and Andy.
Denny scratched his forehead with a fingertip as if wondering himself.
“We met at a truck stop. We were on the same gravel haul. I’d seen him a couple of times before, and we ended up sitting together. Talking. That was about a year ago. We clicked. We started arranging to meet when our schedules worked. One day he told me he had this place that wasn’t getting used to its potential. I told him I was looking for a place for a few years and he offered to lease me this ranch. He talked about you a lot and said he missed you—”
“So what kind of truck do you drive?” she cut in, her disappointment with her father too fresh to hear false platitudes.
Denny’s frown made her regret her sharp tone, but at the same time she wasn’t in the mood to hear secondhand about her father’s affection for her.
“I have three gravel trucks,” he said. “They keep me busy.”
Of course they did. The more she talked to Denny, the more she understood how her father would have connected with this guy. They had so much in common.
“Then if you’ve seen what you need, I guess we’re done here,” she said, pulling her keys out of her purse. If she stood here long enough she would get angry with her father again and that was an exercise in futility. She had to move on from the past.
But as she drove away, she glanced in her rearview mirror at the man who stood by his truck looking over the ranch with the same expression she had caught on his face as they’d walked the yard.
As though it was home. A place he belonged.
Evangeline tore her attention away, memories, long buried, assaulting her.
She and her mother working in the garden....
Riding in the hills with her father and mother to check the cattle on the upper pasture....
Coming home from the bookstore after spending Saturdays there with her mother, carrying crinkly bags filled with new books and heading directly to her favorite spot in the shade of a large fir tree where she could see both the ranch yard and the mountains guarding it....
It had been the best time in her life. A time when she’d felt safe. Protected. Loved. Life was perfect.
Then her mother had died.
She and her father had stayed on the ranch for a month before she’d moved in with Auntie Josie at age eight.
From that time until she was nineteen, Evangeline had spent her spare time in the store helping her aunt manage it for her father. When her aunt decided she wanted to live closer to her sister, she’d moved away, leaving Evangeline in charge for the past nine years.
Her father had promised she would get the store when she turned twenty-one. She was twenty-eight now and still no closer to full ownership.
Her throat thickened as she turned onto the road. Why did her father’s broken promises still bother her?
I’m not going to cry, she told herself, reminding herself of other disappointments as she clamped her hands on the steering wheel. I’m a big girl. I shouldn’t care about another broken promise.
I’m not going to cry.
And then she did precisely that.
* * *
Was that crying he heard?
Denny wove his shirt onto the metal hanger, dropped it onto the bar in the cupboard, then paused, listening.
But whatever he’d heard had stopped.
Must have imagined it, he thought, picking up another shirt. After touring the ranch with Evangeline Sunday, he had spent yesterday moving the few things he owned into the apartment. He had to finish today. Tomorrow he had to arrange to get the trucks moved and Friday he’d start work.
His yearlings were coming to the ranch in a couple of weeks. Which gave him time to do the work necessary to get the ranch ready.
He hooked the hanger on the bar in the closet, trying not to let his thoughts crowd in on him. Too much to do and too little time.
He paused.
There was that baby crying again. This was followed by the murmur of a woman’s voice. The crying grew louder, then stopped.
Then he heard someone pounding on his door.
He stepped around the last couple of boxes he had to unpack and opened the wooden door of his apartment.
A tall, thin woman with lanky brown hair stood in the hallway with her back to him. She wore blue jeans and a discolored purple hoodie. A black bag was hooked over one arm; a suitcase lay at her feet.
She was holding a little girl, who looked to be a year and a half old, wearing a stained, white sleeper. The toddler had sandy, curly hair, brown eyes shimmering with tears and a mustache of orange juice. She stared at him over the woman’s shoulder, her lip quivering.
“Can I help you?” Denny asked.
The woman turned and Denny’s heart fell like a stone as he recognized Deb.
His sister-in-law. Ex-sister-in-law, he corrected.
“Hey, Denny. Long time no see,” she said in her raspy, smoker’s voice. She jiggled the baby a moment, then held her up, handing her to Denny.
“Hang on to her a minute, wouldja?”
Not sure what else to do, Denny took the little girl, catching a whiff of cigarette smoke and old milk.
“What is going on?” he asked just as the toddler pushed at him with sticky hands, whimpering again.
Deb handed him the black diaper bag, then pushed the suitcase toward him with her sneakered foot. “You may as well know, and I don’t know how to tell you better than this, but Lila’s dead.”
Denny stared at her, his grip loosening on the baby in his shocked surprise.
The little girl whimpered and he quickly pulled her close again, trying to wrap his head around what Deb had so causally thrown at him.
Lila? Dead? Why hadn’t anyone told him?
“What? When?” The questions tumbled out of his shocked confusion. “How did it happen?”
“She got sick about three months ago,” Deb said, crossing her thin arms over her chest, looking down at the floor as if still remembering. “Got some infection from a cut. Never got better. She died in the hospital a month ago.”
All this was delivered in an emotionless monotone that beat at him like waves on sand.
Denny’s heart slowed and then sped up as reality slowly sunk in.
“A month? You never thought I should know this?” Denny felt a white-hot anger mingled with sorrow growing in his gut as his brain caught up with the information Deb had thrown at him so casually.
The baby let out another whimper and he realized he’d been holding her too tight. He eased off, anger still coursing through him.
“You were divorced,” Deb said, as if that explained everything. “Didn’t think you would care. Lila always said you two fought like cats and dogs. Besides, I didn’t have your number and Lila’s phone got stolen in the hospital. Took me this long to track you down.” Her voice grew shriller with each word and Denny struggled to stifle his own anger with her, reminding himself that Deb had also recently lost her sister.
But at least she’d had a month to deal with it.
As her words found a place in his mind, awareness of the weight and warmth of the sticky little girl he held worked its way through his fog of confusion.
“And who is this?” he asked, dropping the diaper bag Deb had handed him into the hallway and looking down at the little girl.
She stared up at him, her deep brown eyes unblinking. Cute little thing even if she looked and smelled as though she needed a bath.
Deb only looked past him into the apartment, nodding as if she approved, then looked back at the little girl now tucked against Denny’s hip.
“That’s Ella. Your daughter.”
“What?” The word burst out of him as another shock jolted him. “No. That’s impossible.” Denny glanced at the little girl he was holding. His angry outburst had erased the smile and her lip quivered again.
He jiggled her to settle her down as he looked back at Deb.
“No way.”
“Yes, way.” Deb continued, “Lila found out she was pregnant after you guys signed the final divorce papers.”
“She was lying. She’s done this before.” Denny felt like he was on an amusement park ride, his head going one way, his body another, and nothing making any sense. Even in his shock he thought of the fake pregnancy that had gotten them married.
“She wasn’t seeing anyone before or after she divorced you. Your name is on the birth certificate as the dad.”
As Deb spoke it was as if her words barreled toward him from the far end of a tunnel. He stared at her as his mind slipped back to his last months with Lila. She had been miserable, staying away all hours, never coming home, and when she was home, all she did was yell at him and complain about being on the ranch.
Denny had started going back to church, trying to find the strength to keep their relationship going. One night she had come home early, in tears. He had asked her if she was unhappy because she was seeing someone else, but she had vehemently denied that.
So he’d convinced her to try again. She had agreed, and he’d believed her. After months of being apart, they had been intimate.
The next day she’d left and the next week he’d been served with divorce papers.
When he’d called her to find out why, she had said it was because she wasn’t happy on the ranch. Never would be and it wasn’t fair to him to stick around and prolong the agony. Those motives had started to sound pretty suspect when Denny found out how much money she’d wanted to settle the divorce.
Denny looked back at the little girl. The girl Deb said was his daughter. “How old is she?”
“Eighteen months.”
“She can’t be mine,” he protested, unwilling to believe what Deb was saying.
“The certificate is in the diaper bag if you want to check,” Deb was saying. “And so is her health care card. You’ll need that if she gets sick.”
“Why didn’t Lila tell me about her?” he insisted as the baby squirmed. “She never said anything about this pregnancy.”
“She said you two never talked after you split.”
That much was true. Lila’s petition for divorce had been a shock, but at the same time a small relief. In spite of his last-ditch effort to keep the marriage going, when he’d received the papers he’d decided not to contest it. Nor had he had any desire to be in contact with her.
The proceedings had been a financial drain. Once Denny had walked away from Lila with precious little in the bank and a bitter taste in his mouth after having to sell the family ranch, he couldn’t face her again. Apparently the feeling had been mutual. He’d never heard from her over the past two years.
“I told her to tell you but she said something about how you wouldn’t believe her. But I pushed and she promised me she would. Obviously she didn’t.” Deb shot a pointed look at the little girl in his arms.
“Anyhow, when she got sick I took care of Ella, but I got another job and another boyfriend and can’t take care of the munchkin anymore. You know me. Not crazy about kids. Then I figured, hey, she’s your kid. You should be the one to do it. Took me a bit to track you down, and so here you are. Clothes are in the suitcase, diapers in the bag. She drinks out of a sippy cup and doesn’t like strawberries. There’s more info on a paper in the suitcase.”
Denny’s brain spun a few more times as he tried to regain his balance. Tried to regain control of the situation.
“What about your parents? Do they know about this?”
“Of course they do. But they told me that I had to do the right thing and find you. Besides, after Lila died, they left on some project out in Bolivia. Can’t get hold of them until they call me. And they won’t be back for about a month or so. So here I am.”
The information she threw at him was like a landslide. One thing after another, leaving him feeling buried.
“How did you find me?” was all he got out as the little girl wriggled in his arms.
“My boyfriend’s friend did some carpentry work for a guy who drove a truck. We met him at a bar. Found out the guy used to work for you. He gave us your number.”
Might have been Stewart, a driver he had fired a couple months back. Probably had it in for him, Denny thought. Awesome.
Then the little girl whimpered and he jiggled her, still not sure what he was supposed to do, trying to find a way to reason with Lila’s sister. Trying to wrap his head around Lila’s death.
Then Deb took a step back and waggled her fingers at the child. “Be good for Daddy, Ella,” she said. Then, without another word, she turned and strode down the hallway and around the corner.
What? She was leaving the baby behind?
Denny looked from the now-empty hallway to the howling little girl, trying to figure out which emotion to hang on to. Fear. Anger. Confusion.
Concern for the little girl in his arms.
“Deb,” he called out, “come back here. We need to talk about this. This can’t be my baby.”
But the only thing he heard was the echo of Ella’s pathetic cries.
Of course his phone would chime right then. He yanked it out of his pocket as if hoping to find some answers there. But it was just his sister Olivia. Asking him to send her money again.
He’d deal with that later.
Then the door to the bookstore opened and there stood Evangeline, her shining hair flowing in waves over her shoulders, her white dress giving her an ethereal look.
And she was looking at him as if he was crazy.
“Everything okay?” she asked, though clearly she could see it wasn’t. He was holding a crying baby and yelling at an empty hallway.
Denny looked from Evangeline to Ella and felt his heart sink.
What was he supposed to do with a baby?
Chapter Three
“Do you need a hand?” Evangeline asked, the howls of the little girl catching at her heart.
She had heard a commotion in the hallway and, curious, had stepped out just in time to hear a baby crying. Then she saw the little girl in Denny’s arms and heard him calling out to someone named Deb.
The baby was screaming now, batting at Denny with her hands.
Denny looked as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He leaned against the doorjamb like a sailor on a storm-tossed boat clinging to a mast.
Pity rushed through her at his confusion.
“Yeah. No.” He grabbed his head with his free hand, tousled his long, thick hair, then shook his head.
The child’s howls were piercing. She flailed, arching her back, looking wildly around as if seeking a familiar face. Denny patted her back with one huge hand, looking completely at a loss.
Big, fat tears spilled down the little girl’s cheeks and her sorrow caught at Evangeline’s heart.
Without thinking, she took the little bundle of brokenhearted humanity out of Denny’s arms and held her close.
Then she caught a whiff of something unpleasant.
“She needs a clean diaper,” Evangeline said.
Denny dragged his hand over his face and looked down at the bag lying at his feet.
“Deb said something about diapers in here,” he mumbled, his eyes flicking from the bag to the empty hallway as if hoping this Deb person would return.
“Give me a minute,” Evangeline said, rocking the child as she walked back into her store. It was almost closing time anyway, so she locked up and turned the sign over. She’d get the lights later.
Then she walked back through the quiet store, the little girl’s sobs subsiding somewhat.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Evangeline cooed, holding her close as she walked back to the apartment. Denny was still standing in the hallway, looking as stunned as he had a few moments ago.
“Let’s get her cleaned up,” Evangeline said, cutting him a quick glance. “Bring the bag to the bathroom. I’ll take care of this.”
Sticky hands clung to her and Evangeline’s heart stuttered as she held the little girl close. Poor little person, she thought, clearly remembering the times she’d gotten dumped, in this very building, on her aunt’s doorstep upstairs when her father decided it was time to go.
She had been a lot older but often just as upset.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she murmured, rocking the baby as her sobs slowly subsided into hiccups. Then, when she took in a last, shuddering cry, Evangeline gently pulled back, her hand on the little girl’s shoulder.
Chocolate-brown eyes, the same color as Denny’s, stared back at her, tears still sparkling on eyelashes as long and thick as Denny’s.
“This can’t be my baby,” she had heard him yell. But in spite of his protest the little girl bore a striking resemblance to him.
“Here’s the bag,” Denny said from behind her.
Evangeline nodded, gently laying the baby on the counter. “How old is she?”
“I think she’s eighteen months.”
“You’re not sure how old your baby is?”
Denny lifted one hand in a helpless gesture. “I knew nothing about her till now.”
“And her name?” she said, keeping focused on what was at hand.
“Ella.” Denny heaved out a sigh, leaning against the doorjamb, watching as Evangeline unzipped the stained sleeper.
“Does she have any other clothes?” Evangeline asked, making a face at the sight of the equally stained onesie underneath the sleeper.
“Deb said there was some in the suitcase,” Denny muttered. By the time he returned, Evangeline had filled the tub with water and had dealt with the dirty diaper. The sleeper and onesie she had tossed into a pile.
Ella was quiet now, her unblinking eyes flickering from Denny to Evangeline. Back and forth, back and forth, as if trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with these two strangers.
Evangeline looked around for soap and was surprised to find a bar already set out.
“Do you have a clean towel?” she asked.
“Yeah. Um. I’ll get it.” He pulled open a cupboard door and Ella turned her wide eyes to Evangeline as if seeking answers to questions she couldn’t articulate.
“Hey, little one,” Evangeline said, cupping the warm water and pouring it over her body. She shot a glance over her shoulder at Denny, who hovered in the background, his hands shoved into the pockets of his blue jeans, looking puzzled and concerned at the same time.
“So why do you think she’s not your daughter?”
Denny blew out a sigh. “Deb said my name is on the birth certificate. But Lila and I were married for five years and she never became pregnant. I thought she couldn’t have kids. But if she’s eighteen months old, as Deb says she is, maybe. She might be.” He blew out another sigh as he stepped closer, as if to get a better look at his daughter.
Evangeline felt her initial reaction to Denny had been justified. No hero material here.
She finished washing Ella, who was quiet now, which made Evangeline even more concerned than her outraged sorrow had.
“Can you hand me the towel?” she asked, pulling the plug in the bathtub.
A thick yellow towel appeared over her shoulder. She wrapped it around Ella’s shining little body and patted her dry.
“Do you have the bag of clothes?” she asked, turning to get up. But the weight of Ella sent her off balance and she stumbled.
Denny caught her by the arms, steadying her. His hands were large and warm and solid.
She looked up at him, surprised to see him staring down at her, a peculiar light in his eyes. Then he blinked and Evangeline wondered if she had imagined it. He released her and stepped aside.
“The suitcase with the clothes is in the living room,” he muttered as Evangeline walked past him. “I picked some out.”
Ella was quiet as Evangeline set her on the floor beside the suitcase, then sat, cross-legged, to dress her.
“I don’t know if the clothes are okay,” Denny muttered, hovering behind her. “Wasn’t much to choose from...” He let the sentence trail off, as if unsure what to say.
Evangeline choked down a laugh at the sight of the tiny blue flannel shirt and blue jeans he had laid out on the floor. Exactly like the clothes he favored.
She found another onesie and some socks among the sparse offering of clothing and made quick work of putting another diaper on Ella and then the onesie. Settling the little girl on her lap, she wrestled her feet into the socks, then the blue jeans. Then she worked the shirt onto the now-squirming little girl.
By the time Evangeline snapped up the shirt, Ella was leaning away from her. She elbowed Evangeline in her chest as she scrambled to her feet. She fell, quickly pushed herself upright, then toddled over to an empty box in the middle of the living room and started pushing it.
Her hair was a mess of damp curls. Evangeline would have to wait for Ella to settle down before running a brush through them.
“She seems happier,” Denny said, dropping into a chair beside Evangeline, resting his elbows on his knees.
Evangeline pulled her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, her skirt puddling onto the floor around her legs. In contrast to her wails of a few moments ago, Ella now made no sound at all, seemingly content to push the empty box around the floor.
But happy? Evangeline doubted it. The little girl had a look of adult resignation on her face. She didn’t even so much as look at either Evangeline or Denny, her entire concentration on the box.
“So now what?” Evangeline asked.
Denny heaved out a sigh and Evangeline shot a quick look his way. He was staring at Ella, her dirty onesie and sleeper dangling from his hands, still looking as confused as when she’d first walked in on them.
“I have no idea.”
“This Deb woman you were yelling at...” Evangeline paused, not sure how much she was allowed to ask of someone she had only met a couple of days ago.
“My sister-in-law,” he said. “Lila’s sister.”
“And Lila is your wife?”
“Was my wife.” This elicited another sigh. “Deb just told me that she died...that she died a month ago.” Denny stopped there, his voice breaking, and Evangeline reached out and laid her hand on his arm.
Denny shot her a quick look of thanks. “I didn’t know she was sick. We had been divorced for a couple of years. We didn’t stay in touch.” He released a harsh laugh. “Deb didn’t even call me when she died. I knew Deb disliked me, but really...” His voice faded away as he shook his head again.
“You didn’t know about Lila’s death before today?”
“Not a clue.” Denny bunched the clothes in his hands, his knuckles growing white. “She was my wife and I had to hear about it like this.” Denny dropped the clothes and shoved his hands through his hair.
“I’m so sorry,” Evangeline murmured, not sure what else to say. She felt bad for the man. “That must be hard news.”
They were quiet a moment, then Denny dragged his hand over his face, rasping on the stubble on his chin. “It is. A bit. Trouble is Lila and I weren’t close. After the divorce she never wrote, never called. But she was my wife. I should have been told. I would have gone to the funeral.”
Evangeline caught the plaintive note in his deep voice. It wasn’t hard to see that in spite of what he said about his ex-wife, he had cared for her.
So what had happened to instigate the divorce?
She dismissed the question as quickly as it formed. She didn’t need to get involved with Denny’s obviously messy past.
“So what’s the story with Ella, then?” she asked, watching the toddler push the box around, her passive expression more heartbreaking than her tears had been. This little child had been uprooted from her life, dropped into someone else’s, with no consideration for her feelings. Who knew what she was thinking.
“I don’t know. Deb shows up out of the blue with this little girl, saying she’s mine,” Denny said, confusion clouding his features. “If she is, why didn’t I hear about this sooner?”
Evangeline wasn’t sure what to say, either. Denny’s life had obviously taken a complicated turn.
Trouble was, she had already spent more time than she should here. But she felt bad leaving Denny with this little girl.
She glanced at her watch. “Sorry, I should go.” She had yet to make her supper. Her book club was coming tonight and she had to make coffee and prepare the room.
“Of course.” He looked up at her and the look of sheer terror on his face made her smile at the sight of such a large man brought to such confusion by a toddler. “So what do I do next?”
Ella had stopped pushing her box and was staring at him as if wondering herself what was happening.
“She’s probably hungry or thirsty,” Evangeline suggested.
Denny shrugged. “What does someone her age eat? I haven’t even had time to go grocery shopping.”
He looked so confused that Evangeline felt a glimmer of sympathy for the guy. This had to be overwhelming.
She felt torn between her schedule and giving Denny some support.
You were once that little girl.
The thought wound through her mind, pulling at memories of watching her father disappear, leaving her with a woman who cared for her but didn’t care about her.
“Tell you what,” she said. “I’m done for the day. I can help you pick out what you might need.”
She could call Emma. She had a young son and her little girl was about six months old by now. She would know what to get. Mia, next door, would have advice, as well, but Evangeline knew she was far too busy with her store and her own family.
Denny shot her such a look of gratitude that, for a moment, Evangeline felt her heart soften toward the guy.
But just for a moment.
I’m helping him because of Ella, she told herself as she walked back to the store.
It has nothing to do with him. Nothing at all.
* * *
“Deb said she’s about a year and a half,” Denny said, following Evangeline down the grocery store aisle. “And so does her birth certificate.”
The birth certificate with his name on it.
He glanced over at Ella, still trying to absorb the reality of this little girl in his life.
Ella sat in the seat of the grocery cart, her hair a fluff of golden curls, her chubby hands clinging to the handle of the cart. She looked nothing like the happy babies smiling back at him from the variety of food jars, boxes and tins filling the shelves.
He wondered if she knew, on some level, that she had been abandoned. Poor kid.
“If she is, I’m thinking she can eat more solid food,” Evangeline was saying. “At least, that’s what Emma told me.”
Apparently, Emma was—from the way Evangeline was quoting her as they stocked up on food, diapers, wipes, juice and snacks—the resident expert on all things baby.
Emma was also providing them with a car seat that she said she would bring to the grocery store when they were done here. Deb hadn’t left him a car seat when she dropped Ella off, which made him wonder if she’d used one at all. He pushed that thought aside. He didn’t want to dwell on Deb and her poor choices. For now he had to keep his focus on Ella.
Evangeline laid her choices in the buggy and continued down the aisle, the wonky wheel of the cart squeaking as they went.
As he followed, Denny couldn’t help but notice the swing of her hair, the grace of her movements. She was a beautiful woman. Even prettier than the pictures Andy had showed him.
Don’t go there, he reminded himself, thinking of her comments about church when he’d first met her. Being with Lila had taught him to seek someone who shared his faith. Shared his beliefs.
And on top of that, what woman would want to have anything to do with a guy whose life was such a mess?
“I never knew this part of the grocery store even existed,” Denny said, eyeing the endless shelves of baby food, diapers and assorted other paraphernalia that, it seemed, Ella needed, as well.
“So what parts of the grocery store do you shop in? Or don’t you buy groceries?” Evangeline asked, slanting him a puzzled look.
“I heard a piece on the radio that said everything you need is on the outside ring of the store, so that’s where I get what I need. Then a quick trip down the frozen-food aisle and, bam, done.” He emphasized his comment with a fist on an open palm.
Evangeline laughed at that; a breathy sound with a little sigh at the end that caught his heart.
He blamed his reaction to it on basic loneliness and being around an attractive woman.
“And now you’ll have to add this aisle to your shopping repertoire,” Evangeline said, setting a box of what looked like huge tongue depressors into the cart.
Denny sighed. “At least until I figure out what to do.”
“What do you mean?” Evangeline asked, consulting her list, then looking up at him.
Denny spread his hands out in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t know how to take care of this little girl. Not properly. I have my business to run, the ranch to get ready.” He sighed, pushed his hat back on his head and gestured at the slowly filling cart. “And now I have to figure out where to put all this stuff in the apartment.”
“It does seem like a lot of food,” Evangeline agreed as she came to the end of the aisle and turned toward the dairy section.
“So what are we getting now?” Denny asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check for messages. There were no notifications on the screen.
Carlos was supposed to have called him to tell him how the job had gone. Denny needed to know so that he could make arrangements to move the truck here to Hartley Creek.
“Milk and yogurt and eggs.” Evangeline held up a list she had compiled, glancing from it to the containers of milk lined up in the dairy case. She reached for a huge jug and dropped it into the cart, plucked a box of mini yogurts off the shelf and a carton of eggs, then, finally, folded the list and put it in her pocket. “I think we’re done.”
“I would think so, too,” Denny said, scratching his head with his forefinger. “I can’t believe one little girl like Ella needs all this stuff.”
“I don’t know anything about babies, so I just have to go with what Emma told me.”
“You never had any younger brothers or sisters you had to take care of?”
“My father obviously never told you I was an only child.” She flashed Denny a tight smile, then turned the cart around.
Once again Denny followed her down the aisle toward the cashiers.
Right. He had forgotten about that.
And she seemed touchy about it, to boot.
He wanted to tell her that having siblings was fun, but it had its responsibilities and moments of hardship. Especially when he’d had to tell his sisters and foster brother that the ranch they had grown up on had to be sold because of his bad decision.
He pushed that memory aside. That was then. This was now. Only, now also included one last souvenir of Lila.
A little girl he’d never known existed until today.
Evangeline laid the stuff on the conveyor belt and chatted up the cashier as she rang the groceries through the till. A young couple waved hello as they walked past, and an older woman stopped to ask her a question about book club.
Denny felt a hint of melancholy as he watched Evangeline’s interactions. At one time he, too, had been part of a community. Had been able to go to town and talk with most anyone.
Now he was running around from job to job, trying to scrabble together enough money to someday settle down again.
He glanced over at Ella, who stared at him with solemn eyes.
He gave her a tentative smile, wondering how in the world he was supposed to untangle this particular knot in his life. Why hadn’t Lila told him?
Would you have believed her?
Probably not.
“We’re done here,” Evangeline said, looking over at Denny as the cashier bagged the groceries.
“Right. Sorry.” He pulled his wallet out and handed a couple of bills to the cashier.
As the cashier gave him the change, Evangeline’s phone beeped. She yanked it out of her purse but then, as she glanced at the screen, she seemed to deflate as if she’d hoped the caller would be someone else.
Andy maybe?
“Emma is waiting for us in the parking lot,” she said.
Denny shoved the change into his pocket and once again followed Evangeline out the door.
When they got near to where Denny’s truck was parked, a woman stepped out of a pickup beside his, waving at them.
“Hey, Evangeline. Over here.”
Emma, Denny presumed. She had long brown hair, dark brown eyes and an infectious grin. Her blue jeans had grass stains on the knees and her white T-shirt had streaks of dirt. Evangeline had mentioned she lived on a ranch, and she obviously did more than just keep house.
“Hey, Emma, great timing,” Evangeline said, pushing the cart toward the truck.
As Evangeline parked the cart, Emma walked around to the other side of her truck. She opened the door and wrestled out a large seat. As she pulled it, a strap got caught and she almost dropped it.
Denny hurried over to help her, earning him a bright smile. “Thanks. I’m guessing you’re Daddy?” Emma asked.
Denny felt a flush warm his neck as he took the car seat from her. “Apparently.”
Emma’s puzzled look bounced from him to Evangeline, looking for more information.
“Emma, can you help Denny put the seat in the back of the car?” was all Evangeline said.
Denny heaved the surprisingly heavy seat into his truck and strapped it down. As he buckled Ella into it, he thought back to when he and Lila were married.
A good friend of his, Lance, had stopped by with his boy. Denny remembered watching Lance buckle the little boy into the car seat parked in the backseat of his friend’s candy-apple-red truck. This was a vehicle Lance had spent hours waxing, polishing and babying. A truck Denny wished he had.
But crumbs from crackers and leftover papers from fast-food meals had littered the backseat of Lance’s pride and joy, and Lance hadn’t seemed to care. His little boy was his pride and joy.
And once again Denny had been envious.
Now he had his own fancy truck that he had scrimped and scraped to purchase. And now it had a car seat in it, as well.
But somehow it wasn’t the same situation.
He straightened, looking at Ella, who was staring back at him, her dark eyes so serious. Her expression so solemn.
“She’s a quiet one,” Emma said with a laugh.
“Yeah. She is.” It didn’t seem natural. He remembered his sisters at this age, laughing and squirming and getting into all kinds of mischief.
He closed the back door on Ella, then helped Evangeline load the last of the groceries into the other side of the truck.
When they were done he turned back to Emma, who stood by her own truck, her arms folded across her T-shirt.
“Thanks so much for the use of the car seat,” Denny said.
“Gotta keep the little munchkin safe,” Emma returned.
“Yeah. That I do.”
He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and opened the door for Evangeline.
She gave him a curious look, then stepped up into the truck, tucking her long, flowing skirt underneath her as he shut the door.
Emma was watching him, a bemused light in her eyes. “I heard you’re leasing Andy’s place,” she said. “My husband, Carter, and I run a ranch up Morrisey Creek. If you ever need help, we’re willing to lend a hand.”
“Thanks. That’s good to know.” Denny blew out a sigh, thinking about the work that lay ahead of him. “I might take you up on that offer.”
“Make sure you do.” Emma gave him a quick wave, then got into her truck and drove away.
As Denny sat behind the wheel of his truck he glanced at Ella again, who stared back at him.
“Is that normal?” he asked Evangeline as he started up his truck, worry digging at him. “She cried like crazy when she first came, but hasn’t given a peep since.”
Evangeline looked back at Ella, her own concern showing. “She’s probably confused and afraid. She doesn’t know who you are, so she’s going to be cautious.”
Denny shook his head as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I just wish I knew what I’m supposed to do. I’ve got a hundred things on my plate.”
“I’d start with feeding her.”
Denny nodded. Of course. That made sense. “And after that?”
“Bedtime.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Just do what comes next,” Evangeline returned. “That’s how I got through it all.”
Denny shot her a puzzled glance. He wanted to ask her what she meant by her cryptic comment, but when he saw her pursed lips and tight expression, he guessed she wasn’t sharing.
And why should she? She was as much of a stranger to him as he was to Ella.
His mind ticked back to Ella’s mother and his heart floundered.
Lila. Why hadn’t anyone told him?
Dear Lord, he prayed, give me strength to get through this. Help me do what Evangeline said. Help me to trust in You to figure out what comes next.
And what was next? Try to get hold of Lila’s parents somehow? Find someone else to take care of Ella? Get his trucking business moved?
Do what comes next? If only it was that easy.
Or that painless.
Chapter Four
“This book was too depressing.” Mia Verbeek tilted her head to one side, her dark eyes, emphasized by the pixie cut she favored, flashing as if challenging anyone else gathered in the back room of Shelf Indulgence to dispute her opinion. “I would not have read it if it wasn’t a book club book. After taking care of four kids all day, reading about this woman’s struggle to love was a downer.”
“I found it challenged my view of the romance of family life,” Angie, one of the newer members of the book club, said, slipping her green-rimmed glasses back on her face.
“I’m voting for depressing,” Jeff Deptuck said, leaning forward, his grin encompassing the entire group. With his light brown hair, high cheekbones and the faint cleft in his stubbled chin, he exuded charm and goodwill.
“Of course you would, Captain Sunny-Side-Up Deptuck,” Angie returned.
Evangeline held back a grin, watching the sparring between Jeff and Angie, the latest additions to the Hartley Creek book club that met at the bookstore.
Everyone in the book club knew that Jeff had a not-so-secret crush on Angie. Trouble was, Angie was very vocal about her resistance to any form of romance.
“I still say it was worth a read,” Renee Albertson replied, twirling a strand of her brown hair around her finger, closing the book on her lap and looking around at the other members. “It wasn’t as over the top as the police procedural Mia insisted we read last time.”
“I have to agree with Mia’s take on the book,” Sophie Brouwer spoke up, her blue eyes twinkling, her permed white hair bobbing as she nodded. “This book was dark and sad. I’m surprised you chose a story like this, Renee, given that your own life is in such a happy place right now.”
Renee just smiled as Evangeline stifled a flare of envy.
Renee’s fiancé, Zach, was the perfect hero. Kind. Considerate. Attractive in a cultured sort of way.
Just the kind of guy she would have loved to find and still hoped that she would. Someday.
A thump from the other side of the hallway caught everyone’s attention and made Evangeline sit up.
When she and Denny had returned from the grocery store, she’d seen he was at a loss for what to do. So she’d helped him feed Ella and get her sleeper and diaper on for the evening. While she’d given Ella a bottle, he’d set up the portable crib they’d bought at the hardware store. When she’d finally left, Ella was sleeping. Even so, she’d felt as if she was abandoning him, but she’d had her own schedule to keep.
And while she felt bad for Denny, he was a virtual stranger to her and on some level she wanted to keep some distance between them.
“Is that your new neighbor?” Mia asked, her eyes flashing with anticipation.
Evangeline clutched her book, her eyes riveted on the pages she had opened it to. She didn’t want to think about Denny moving into her father’s space across the hall. Two weeks ago she had told this same group, with much anticipation, how her father was coming back and soon this store would be hers.
Time to cash that reality check.
“He’s probably rearranging the furniture to make room for Ella’s crib,” she said, flipping a page of the book and looking up, ready to change the subject. “I found it interesting that it took the heroine half of the book to realize what she wanted.”
“I still can’t believe someone dumped a baby on him,” Angie said, obviously not ready to drop the topic of Denny. “Who would do that?”
“You don’t always know what a person is going through or why they make the decisions they do,” Renee said quietly, giving Angie a careful smile that spoke of tough choices Renee herself had made in her own life.
“That was kind of you to help him out with that little girl,” Sophie Brouwer said, patting Evangeline on her arm.
“I couldn’t leave him alone to figure it out.” Though she still felt bad for leaving him when she had. Trouble was, how much could she realistically do? She barely knew Denny as it was.
“Poor guy probably didn’t have a clue,” Mia said. “I have to say I’m crushed that you didn’t call to ask for my advice.”
“You’re way too busy with your shop and your four kids,” Evangeline returned.
“That’s the truth,” Mia said with a sigh. “I’m just thankful I could get Blythe to watch the kids tonight.”
“So what’s the deal with this Denny guy?” Renee queried. “I thought you said he was leasing the ranch?”
“Apparently he’s trucking and ranching. Just like my dad.” Evangeline couldn’t keep the faintly bitter note out of her voice. Her own feelings about her father were still a confusion of anger and disappointment. But simmering beneath this was a frustration that he still created this storm of mixed emotions. She’d thought, after all these years, she had insulated her heart from her father’s unmet expectations.
And he still hadn’t called her.
“What’s he like?” Mia asked, leaning forward in her chair. “Hero material?”
“He’s a trucker and a cowboy. Neither of which are my type, so have at ’im, girl,” Evangeline said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“I’ve got a divorce behind me and four kids to raise. Not interested,” Mia said with a short laugh. “Though Kelly at Mug Shots says he’s got that rugged good-looking thing going,” Mia continued, as if trying to persuade her friend to give the guy a chance. “And apparently he has gorgeous eyes.”
“Why are you rhapsodizing over him if you’re not interested?”
“I was thinking of you. You’re always looking for a hero.”
“I’m a hero,” Jeff put in with a wink.
Evangeline laughed. “You’re a fireman. You’re everybody’s hero.”
“Only to some,” he said, cutting a quick glance Angie’s way.
But Angie was looking at her book, her long blond hair falling across her face, the corner of her lip tucked between her teeth.
The way Jeff looked at Angie created a twitch of envy. She doesn’t know what she’s missing, Evangeline thought.
“You’re looking pensive,” Emma spoke up, giving her a secret smile as if she knew what Evangeline was thinking. “Something bugging you?”
Evangeline gave her a tight smile followed by a light shake of her head. Evangeline and Emma had become good friends when Emma had moved to Hartley Creek a few years ago. Evangeline had stood up for Emma when she’d married Carter. Tyler had been her escort to the wedding.
Evangeline remembered too well how she’d felt at that wedding, dancing with Tyler. His attentiveness and good looks were the epitome of everything Evangeline had hoped for in a future husband. In fact he had made Evangeline hope that someday she might be escorted down the aisle wearing a white dress and translucent veil.
But she’d discovered Tyler liked the idea of a girlfriend more than the idea of a wife. And from the way her father was acting she doubted she could count on him to be present should that momentous day ever come.
Evangeline caught herself and gave herself a mental face palm. Enough with the gloomy thoughts. Move on. Follow your own advice to Denny. Do what comes next.
Another thump from across the hall caught her attention. Seriously, what was he doing over there? Obviously moving in was noisy work.
“So now we need to decide on a book for next time,” Sophie Brouwer was saying. “Any suggestions? Evangeline, you usually have some good ideas.”
Evangeline glanced down at the list of books she had, indeed, come to book club with. But as she looked at the titles she released a wry smile. One was about a young girl being reconciled with a father after a long separation during the California Gold Rush. The other was about a father looking for his lost daughter during the Spanish Civil War.
Definitely a theme going on here.
“I don’t think any of these would work.” She folded the paper and tucked it into the pocket of her sweater, ignoring Mia’s puzzled look.
“How about Arctic Grail?” Jeff suggested.
Mia shivered. “Brr. Sounds like a winter book again. I hereby declare no books about winter in summer. In fact no books about winter even in winter. We get enough winter in Hartley Creek.”
“I have some ideas,” Eloise Beck said.
She gave her recommendations and the ensuing discussion centered on ordering the books and the date of the next meeting.
Evangeline stood to write the name of the book and date on the large calendar she had hanging in the back room. As she finished scribbling it in, she heard a knock at the door leading to the hallway.
When she opened it, Denny stood in the hallway, one hand resting on the door frame, the other in the pockets of his worn blue jeans. His T-shirt strained across his chest and shoulders, and behind her she heard a faint sigh and a whispered, “Oh, yeah.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, trying not let Mia’s reaction get to her.
Denny straightened as he looked past her to the group in the room. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were busy. I can come another time.”
“It’s okay,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. “We’re just finishing up.”
“I just...I just needed to borrow a couple of garbage bags.” He gave her a crooked smile. “I forgot to pick ’em up when we were at the grocery store.”
“I’ve got some here in the bookstore,” she said, taking a quick step back, his smile creating an unwelcome reaction.
As she turned to get the bags, people were getting to their feet. Evangeline didn’t make eye contact with Mia but could easily see her speculative look in her peripheral vision. It took Evangeline a few moments to find the bags and when she returned many of the women were leaving, walking past Denny, who stood aside, nodding and smiling at them.
Mia, the last one in the room, was hooking her purse over her shoulder. As she walked past Denny she gave him a quick smile. “Nice meeting you,” she said, looking back at Evangeline again, giving her a discreet thumbs-up.
Ignoring her friend, Evangeline handed Denny the bags and he took them with a murmured thanks. But he didn’t leave.
When Mia had disappeared down the end of the hallway, Denny turned back to Evangeline and smiled. “I thought I should tell you, I got another message from your dad. He asked me to let you know that he got a line on a new project. He said he’d be tied up for a couple of weeks for sure.”
Evangeline felt her heart grow heavy, like a rock in her chest, as she just stared at Denny.
“He couldn’t tell me himself?” she said, unable to keep the chill out of her voice.
Denny shrugged, his smile fading away. “He said he tried to call you—”
“He didn’t try at all,” she snapped. She was about to say more, but stopped, aware of Denny’s puzzled look.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just thought I would let you know.”
Evangeline lifted her hand to stop his apology. “It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not, but I am sorry,” he said again, holding his hand out as if in a peace offering. “When I told him to call you himself, he said he tried, so I offered to tell you.”
Evangeline heard the sympathetic note in his voice and, unable to stop herself, looked up at him.
In his dark eyes she caught a glimmer of sympathy.
He does have thick eyelashes, she thought. And kind eyes.
A small spark of longing was kindled in her and for a heartbeat she felt a connection to him.
Then she caught herself, brought reality into the situation and glanced away. Was she crazy?
Not hero material, she reminded herself. He was exactly like her father, which was the last thing she needed in her life right now.
Plus, he had a baby he had to take care of.
“Thanks for telling me,” she said quietly, looking away. Stepping back. “I’ll try to call him when I have the time.”
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