Twins for the Rancher

by Trish Milburn

  “Is Violet awake?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’d like to talk to you both.”

  Something cold and foreboding settled in the pit of her stomach. “Is Mom okay?”

  “She’s fine, honey. And before you ask, I’m okay, too. I just have something I need to talk to you about.”

  Despite what he said, it had to be something serious if he wasn’t willing to wait until morning. Before she allowed her mind to jump to all kinds of horrible conclusions, she slipped her key in the door and eased inside so as not to wake up the girls.

  Violet jumped up from where she sat at the small desk working on the computer with an excited look on her face, all those questions Lauren had imagined shining in her sister’s eyes—until she saw Papa Ed behind her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Lauren gave a little shake of her head as she checked the girls and saw they were fast asleep. She also noticed that Violet had gotten a miniature lighted Christmas tree from somewhere and placed it on top of the small fridge. It’d be enough to make Lauren smile if she wasn’t so concerned about Papa Ed. She had the awful feeling that after the most wonderful night she’d had in ages, a bomb was about to be dropped on her life yet again.

  Suddenly exhausted, she sank onto the side of her bed. She watched as Papa Ed walked over to where his great-granddaughters were sleeping. He smiled as he looked down at them.

  “They really are the most beautiful little girls,” he said.

  “Papa Ed, tell us what’s going on. You’re freaking me out,” Violet said.

  Lauren couldn’t have more perfectly voiced her feelings as her grandfather sat on Violet’s bed. She noticed him fidgeting with the fabric of his pants, as if nervous. It wasn’t a state in which she’d very often seen him. Just as she was about to ask him again what was wrong, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

  “I know you have been curious about that incident with Verona Charles at the carnival,” he said. “The simple answer is that we used to know each other a long time ago.”

  “And the ‘not simple’ answer?” Lauren prompted. “Was she an old girlfriend?” It was hard to imagine him with anyone other than Nana Gloria, but she knew they’d had lives before they’d gotten married.

  He nodded. “We were pretty serious.” He paused, as if the weight of the past was crushing him. “I loved her.”

  Lauren glanced at Violet, whose eyes had widened at that revelation, before she returned her attention to Papa Ed. “What happened?”

  “I had dated your grandmother before Verona and I got together, and...well, your mother was the result.”

  It was as if Lauren’s brain encountered a thick bank of fog, preventing it from processing her grandfather’s meaning. But then Violet gasped, jerking Lauren out of the fog as if she’d been lassoed and yanked out by a speeding horse.

  “Explain.” It was the only word she could get past her lips, though she was beginning to form a picture in her mind.

  “It was a different time then, so I did the right thing and married your grandmother.”

  “You didn’t love Nana?” Violet said, sounding one part sad and one part angry.

  “Of course I did,” Papa Ed responded with so much feeling that Lauren believed him. Plus, there was no way he could have feigned the obvious love for Nana Gloria all those years. “I cared for her before, but we had a fight about something stupid and inconsequential, and broke up. I started dating Verona and fell hard for her, but there was no way I was going to leave Gloria to raise our child alone. So we got married and moved away from Blue Falls.”

  “To get away from Verona?” Lauren asked.

  “And to protect Gloria’s reputation.”

  “But you still loved Verona?” Violet asked as she got up to pace the room.

  Lauren didn’t know how her sister found the energy to stand. She sure didn’t have enough herself.

  “Yes, but I never talked to her again.” He hesitated, looking as if his mind had been transported to another time. “I didn’t have the courage to face her, so I just left her a note telling her I had to go.” He shook his head. “I handled it so wrong, but I was a scared kid who’d just found out he was going to be a father.”

  He sighed and shook his head slowly.

  “Distance and time changed things,” he said. “Gloria and I grew closer, and I would not trade all the years I had with her for anything. I loved her with all my heart.” His voice broke on the last word.

  Lauren reached over and took his hand in hers. “We know you did. That much was obvious.”

  “Is Verona the reason you wanted Lauren to come here, to open her restaurant in Blue Falls?” Violet was still pacing, in danger of wearing a visible path in the carpet.

  Papa Ed shook his head. “No. I had no idea she was still here, or that she’d even recognize me if we did happen to cross paths. I just... I guess a part of me was homesick for my boyhood home after Gloria passed. I wanted to see it one more time. But when I happened across the empty restaurant for sale, it felt like some sort of sign. I can’t really explain other than to say I thought...” He stopped and didn’t appear as if he was going to go on.

  It hit Lauren what he’d been about to say.

  “You felt as if Nana was telling you something.”

  He nodded. “I know that sounds crazy, that I was just looking for a connection to her that wasn’t there.”

  “I don’t think it’s crazy,” Lauren said.

  “You don’t?” Violet looked at her sister as if she thought everyone in the room was off their rocker except for her and the sleeping babies.

  “I think there are lots of things that none of us will ever fully understand. Whether Nana wanted us to come to Blue Falls, I have no idea. But I think the fact that Papa Ed ran into someone he used to love, someone who never got married, isn’t pure coincidence.”

  “She never got married?” Papa Ed sounded shocked and as if maybe the news had broken his heart all over again.

  “That’s what I heard.” She had to say something to banish the sadness she saw in his eyes. “But from all accounts she had a successful career and is now known far and wide as the town’s unofficial matchmaker.”

  Lauren wondered if Verona spent so much time arranging happily-ever-afters for other people because she’d never gotten her own. The thought was incredibly sad, and there was just too damn much sadness in the world. Especially for good people.

  “Maybe Nana wants you to have a second chance.”

  Papa Ed’s forehead crinkled in confusion.

  “With Verona,” Lauren said to clarify.

  He shook his head. “Oh, no, I can’t do that to her.”

  “Who? Nana or Verona?”

  “I loved your grandmother.”

  Lauren squeezed his hand. “We know that. But you don’t have to live the rest of your life alone to prove that to anyone, not even yourself.”

  “You’re talking silliness,” he said. “Besides, you saw how she reacted when she saw me. I doubt she ever wants to clap eyes on me again.”

  “You won’t know until you ask.”

  “Lauren—”

  It had been a long time since she’d shushed her little sister, but Lauren did it now. Violet looked shocked but thankfully kept quiet.

  “I don’t know.” Papa Ed looked down at where Lauren’s hand sat atop his.

  “Listen, if nothing else maybe you can reconnect and set things right.”

  “It seems a little late for that.”

  “I’m speaking not as your granddaughter now, but as a woman. I saw the look on Verona’s face. I don’t really know her, but that look told me that she hasn’t forgotten.” Probably hadn’t forgiven. “I think you have to try. If it doesn’t work, then at least you tried. If you can be friends, even better. And if you can rekindle a spar
k, well, I want to see you happy. I’ve always worried about Mom being alone since Dad died, and I know you’ve been sad since Nana passed.” Not to mention how she’d felt since the truth about Phil had come to light, though it wasn’t the same thing. “It feels like time for our family to have something positive happen in the romantic realm, you know?”

  “My money’s on you,” Papa Ed said as he looked up at her.

  Lauren glanced at Violet, who shrugged. “I might have mentioned to Mom you were out on a date tonight.”

  “He seems like a fine young man, and the fact he took the girls with you speaks highly of him.”

  Papa Ed was likely using the turn in the conversation to avoid talking about Verona anymore, but Lauren had said her piece and any further action was up to him.

  Time for her own honesty.

  “He is. At least he seems to be.”

  Papa Ed sandwiched her hand between his. “We can never be one-hundred-percent certain about a person. We just have to go on our best judgment and faith.”

  “My belief in both of those is pretty shaky right now.”

  “But not shaky enough to prevent you from going back outside to grab a good-night kiss?” Violet asked, her natural teasing seeming to edge out her upset over Papa Ed’s revelation.

  “Did you leave the girls alone to spy on me?”

  Violet smiled. “No, but you just confirmed my suspicion.”

  “We’re not talking about me.”

  “Yeah, we are.”

  Lauren started to object before realizing she was just too tired.

  Papa Ed stood. “I’ll go and let you all get some rest. I feel as if I could sleep twelve hours myself.”

  Lauren accompanied him to the door. “Will you at least think about what I said?”

  He placed his hand on her shoulder. “If you promise to give that young man a real chance. You deserve to be happy the same as the rest of us.”

  She nodded because she didn’t know how else to respond. And the truth was those minutes in the parking lot had her thinking that she’d allowed herself to feel more for Adam than she’d even realized. If she was alone, she might very well close her eyes, touch her lips and relive every delicious moment of his kisses, the heart-pumping feel of his hands running over her. How much better would it feel if there was nothing between them?

  Before her face lit up like a bright red railroad-crossing sign, she opened the door and kissed Papa Ed on the cheek. When she closed the door behind him, she halfway dreaded turning to face her sister. But the rest of her wanted to hop on her bed and tell Violet everything, to squeal like a teenage girl who’d just gone on a date with her dream guy.

  Could Adam be that—a dream come true? Because the last man in her life had turned out to be a nightmare.

  When she retraced her steps into the room, she found Violet sitting against the headboard of her bed.

  “I honestly don’t know what to even feel right now,” Violet said.

  “Papa Ed’s not getting any younger. If there’s the possibility that he could find love again, wouldn’t you want him to?”

  Violet shrugged. “I guess. But what if Verona hurts him instead? I don’t want to have to go off on an old lady.”

  “I think Papa Ed can handle things himself.” Not that she wouldn’t be there for him if he needed it, but something was telling her that everything would be okay with him. Maybe Nana Gloria was speaking to her, too. She smiled at that thought.

  “So, that smile have to do with what happened in the parking lot? Speaking of, tell me exactly what did happen in the parking lot.”

  Lauren sat on the edge of her bed and flopped backward to stare at the ceiling. “Tell me I’m not being a fool.”

  “Well, I can’t do that until you tell me what happened.”

  “I walked straight up to Adam and kissed him. Really kissed him.”

  “And did he kiss you back?”

  “Yes.”

  “Peck? Smooch? French? I need details, woman.”

  Lauren lifted her feet. “Are there still soles on my shoes? Because it felt as if they might have melted off.”

  Violet squealed, causing one of the twins to make a startled sound in her sleep.

  Lauren sat up straight and pointed at her sister. “If you wake them up, I’m going to leave you here with them and go sleep at the restaurant.”

  An evil grin spread across Violet’s face. “Are you sure that’s where you’d go? Or maybe you wouldn’t be alone there.”

  Lauren’s cheeks heated at the thought, at the way her skin tingled as if she could already feel Adam’s hands there.

  “My initial question remains.”

  “Are you a fool?” Violet scooted to the edge of her bed to face Lauren. “No. You’d be a fool if you let what happened with Phil keep you from finding happiness with someone else.”

  “But there are—”

  Violet held up her hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. I understand why you do it—I probably would as well in your situation—but you need to stop overthinking everything. There is no way to know with total certainty that someone will never hurt you.”

  Lauren let out her breath and dropped her face into her hands for a few seconds before facing her sister again. “I really like him, but I’m scared. And it’s not just me I have to consider now.”

  “The man just took your babies on a date with you.”

  “True.”

  “Go slowly if you want to, but just go.”

  Lauren bit her bottom lip and realized she could still taste Adam there. “Okay.”

  It took an amazing amount of willpower not to go immediately. Go toward what she hoped was the beginning of something great.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Adam smiled as he looked at the photo Lauren had just texted him. She was in the midst of cleaning out the flowerbeds around the restaurant building, thus hot, sweaty and dirty, with her hair escaping from the edges of the bandanna on her head.

  Sure you still want to go out with this?

  He typed a response.

  More than ever.

  She responded with several laughing emojis, but he was telling the truth. Since the night she’d walked out of the inn to kiss him two weeks before, they’d seen each other every day. And never missed an opportunity to kiss. Just the night before, she and her sister had come out to the ranch for dinner with the twins. He’d stolen Lauren away for a few minutes and taken her to the barn, where they had some time alone. Their kisses had gotten so hot and heavy that he’d had to force himself to step away. He wanted more, but he didn’t know if she was ready to make herself that vulnerable, especially when he still saw doubt in her eyes sometimes. He counted himself lucky she’d gone as far as she had considering all he knew about Phil and how wrong he’d treated her. He hoped Phil was gone from her life for good, but he worried. The more he learned about the guy, the more he wondered if he’d really accept his humiliation without some sort of attempt at payback.

  Phil had better not do anything that even approached hurting Lauren again. Or the twins. Adam had grown to love those little girls. It was impossible not to. And to say his mom had fallen for them too was the biggest of understatements. He knew without her saying a word that she was already envisioning them being her grandchildren someday.

  Of course, that was putting the romantic cart way, way before the horse.

  “That has to be the goofiest grin I’ve ever seen on your face, and that’s saying something,” Angel said as she plopped down on the opposite side of the dining room table, where he was sitting with his computer and a pile of paperwork he’d been working on before Lauren’s text came in.

  He placed his phone display down on the table. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a pest?”

  “Repeatedly. It’s the curse of being the baby of the
family.”

  He scrolled down on his screen, making a notation about a new appointment he’d made a few minutes earlier to meet with a hotel owner in San Antonio. In order to increase the likelihood of making the branded-beef business profitable, he was expanding his area of exploration. He still hoped to be able to be Lauren’s supplier, but lately business was the furthest thing from his mind when he was with her.

  “So it seems things are going well with Lauren,” Angel said.

  “So far, so good.”

  Angel laughed.

  He looked up from the computer screen. “What?”

  “You’ve fallen for her.”

  He didn’t deny it. He doubted there was any use.

  “Have you told her?”

  Adam shook his head. “I don’t want to scare her away.”

  “You don’t think she feels the same?”

  He sat back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head. “I think she cares, but I could just be a rebound relationship.”

  He hated the very thought of that being true because he fell for Lauren more each time they were together. Maybe he’d been falling since the first moment he’d met her and feared she’d topple off that rickety ladder.

  “Not a chance.”

  Adam focused on his sister. “What makes you say that?”

  “I’m a woman. I can tell when another woman more than just cares for a man. There’s a difference between just wanting to get, shall we say, carnal with a guy and loving him.”

  “Okay, this conversation just got weird.” Though the possibility that Lauren might be falling for him, too, sent a thrill through him he’d never experienced before.

  Angel smiled. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Don’t jinx it.”

  The fact that he worried something was going to make Lauren change her mind kept dogging him over the next few days. When he was out meeting with clients, ironing out details with the meat packager, even when he was with Lauren. It didn’t matter if they were sharing pizza at Gia’s, helping his parents set up their enormous Christmas tree, or enjoying lingering kisses before they went their separate ways for the night, he couldn’t shake the feeling that their time together was ticking down.