Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1)

by May Williams

“Wow, Tom…”

  “What? It’s true, isn’t it?” Tom raised his hands, palms up, like he was speaking to a jury. “Have you at least figured out why Dad wants this property so much or why he’s in that photo?”

  “No, I asked when I was in Chicago, but he just roared at me. You know what that’s like.”

  “Too well.” Melissa and Ella burst from the house and sprinted away to one of the barns hand in hand. “I guess Ella’s made herself at home. Thanks again for taking them.” Colette and Sarah came out of the house. With a slight nod of his head, Tom indicated the women. “If Colette doesn’t kill you or dump you, think you would marry her?”

  “I might. Yeah.” It was the first time Ian had confirmed it out loud. He’d thought it, even had the conversation with Jade about the ring, but now he said it. For a moment, the knot in his gut unclenched and happiness flowed through him. He caught her eye and surprised her with a smile.

  “Good for you. You deserve to be happy. If she makes you happy, go for it.”

  “Okay, camp counselor, what activity is first?” Ian asked her when his brother’s car disappeared at the end of the driveway. “I have no idea what to do.” Ian fiddled with the camera he’d grabbed.

  “Is that panic I hear, Kroft?” She tapped his camera. “Planning to hide behind the lens?”

  “Yeah. I’ve never been in charge of this many kids before. I hope like hell you have a plan.”

  “I figure they’ll run around like maniacs for the first hour in an attempt to see the whole farm. We’ll have lunch and see what they want to do this afternoon.” Colette took his arm and steered him toward the barn where the mooing of a cow mixed with the high-pitched laughter of children. “Who wants to meet my animals?” Colette called in her soothing tones at the door of the barn. “First, some basic rules. No loud noises, no screaming, and no running in the barn. The animals will get scared. Everybody got that?” She wore a mock serious expression as each child nodded at her. “Good, let’s start the introductions.”

  Colette took the children—sometimes as a whole group and sometimes individually—to meet the different animals. Ian soon forgot to worry as he snapped picture after picture of Colette and the kids. While he worked, an idea took shape in his head: he had a friend at the Chicago Tribune who he might convince to run a feature on Colette and her rescue center. Ian could supply the pictures and most of the story. A piece like that would bring in some serious donations. Soon as he got the chance, he needed to make a phone call.

  “Uncle Ian, catch me,” Nick yelled as he sprinted by Ian on the rocky shore of the lake. Ian chased his nephew, pretending to almost catch him time and time again. The other kids got in on the action and Ian decided chasing children was the new training method for marathon runners. He finally collapsed on the rocks, breathing hard. Thank God he only had four of them with him.

  Little Connor, exhausted by the morning in the barn, climbed up in Colette’s lap as she sat on the porch swing after lunch and fell asleep. Ian got the bigger kids away from the house so Connor could nap. The image of Colette gently rocking the four-year-old kept coming back to him as he lay by the shore staring up at the blue sky. He wanted Colette to kiss the soft hair of his child as he’d seen her do to Connor. He thought back to Tom’s question about marriage, and suddenly it seemed so possible.

  “There you are.” Colette carried Connor on her back. “I followed the sound of screaming.” She swung Connor down. “Are you ready to go play? Stay away from the water. No closer than you are tall. Got it?” Connor nodded and dashed off after the other kids who were playing some version of freeze tag. Colette sat down on the rocks next to Ian. “Think they’ll calm down tomorrow?”

  “Nope. I wouldn’t have if I had the chance to be on a farm at that age. Tom and I would have run nonstop.” Ian scooted over to put his head in Colette’s lap and look up at her.

  “Lexy, Adrien, and I did run wild out here. It was a great way to grow up. I want the same for my kids.”

  He gave her a long look. “Are you sharing those kids with anyone in particular?”

  “Maybe,” she stroked his hair away from his face, “if someone good comes along.” The turned-up corner of her mouth indicated the smile she was trying to hide. “Jamie, throw rocks in the water, not at your sister,” she yelled.

  “I made a phone call today that may piss you off,” he said quietly and quickly, before he could chicken out.

  “Oh? Who’d you call?”

  “A friend of mine who’s an editor at the Chicago Tribune. I asked him to run a feature on you and the rescue center. It would be more photos than copy, but it would give you some great publicity just in time for your event.”

  “In time? We’ve only got a week left.”

  “The story will run on Wednesday. I have to send the photos and copy by Sunday night and he might call to interview you on Monday.” He glanced over at her; her gaze remained on the children, but her body tensed.

  But before he could say anymore to defend himself, she swooped down to kiss him loudly on the lips. “I’m not in trouble?” he ventured.

  “Oh, you’re in trouble for not asking me first, but this is a really great thing! Thank you!”

  He sat up to see her face better. Maybe telling her the whole truth now wouldn’t be so bad…She might understand his situation. She certainly understood family. Maybe she’d understand his need for atonement with his father and his motivation for working with him. “Colette, I need to….”

  “Aunt Collie, watch me,” Jamie called before attempting a leap between two large rocks. His jump was short and he crashed onto the loose stone between the rocks. Colette scrambled to her feet and ran the short distance to Jamie to assess the damage. In a moment, he was running again with the other kids and Colette returned to Ian.

  “What were you going to say?” She was still breathing heavy and the color was high in her golden cheeks. It made her more beautiful than ever.

  “Nothing, it’ll wait,” he said, glad for the reprieve. Glad not to screw this up yet.

  “We better get these kids back to the house for dinner. Then, I have a movie and popcorn for the evening entertainment. If we’re real lucky, everyone will be asleep by ten.”

  “You’re good at this kid thing,” he commented.

  “You’re doing all right yourself.”

  “What we doin’ today, Aunt Collie?” Nick asked over a short stack of pancakes on Saturday morning. Ella and Nick called her “Aunt Collie” like the other kids were calling Ian, “Uncle Ian.” In kid logic, they must be a pair. It made her blush every time they did it. “We’re going to pick peaches this morning.” She announced it like someone was winning a prize.

  “Sounds like girl stuff.” Nick’s face twisted up in a child version of a sneer.

  “You have to climb the trees to pick peaches. If you want to leave that for the girls…”

  “No, I’ll do it,” Nick said quickly. “What else?”

  Colette pretended to think about it. “How about some riding lessons for you bigger kids this afternoon?”

  A chorus of voices reverberated in the kitchen. “Then what?”

  “We’ll have to make the peaches into peach pie for dinner. Do you know how to skin a peach?” Colette asked the table of kids. “This afternoon Grandma Jade will come over to help us with the peaches and the pies. If you’re all done eating, we should start picking before it gets any hotter.”

  Outside, she gave each kid a basket. After leading them to the orchard, she showed them how a peach was ripe when it pulled easily from the twig. The kids ran wild through the trees looking for the best one to climb. In minutes, all the kids but Connor were up in a tree. Connor sat on Ian’s shoulders to pick from the higher branches. The man had a natural way with kids, no matter the age.

  Colette found Ian’s camera where he’d left it in the grass. It took her a minute to figure out how to turn it on and most of the dials and settings meant nothing to her, but she began clicking
away. She took several pictures of Ian and Connor before Ian realized what she was doing.

  “Hey, no fair. Nobody gets to take my photo.”

  “Too bad,” she called, ignoring his dislike of being the subject. “You left the camera within my reach.” She wandered to where the other kids shimmied down trunks or rested in the crooks of the gnarled trees, snapping pictures as she went. This shutter business was sort of addictive. She could see why Ian liked it so much. Plus, behind the camera, there was anonymity. She was trying to review her photos when he approached her.

  Need some help?” He offered, anxious to have his camera back.

  Colette snapped one more as he came at her before relinquishing the camera. “I want to see them, but I don’t know how.”

  Ian was already flipping through the pictures she’d taken. “Not bad for a newbie.” He held the camera so she could see the LCD screen while he reviewed her pictures.

  “I like that one.” Colette touched his hand to make him stop at the picture of Ian and Connor. The child looked down meeting Ian’s upturned gaze. “I want a copy of it. My two favorite men in the same picture.”

  “Connor’s your favorite, isn’t he?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Probably not to everyone,” he continued to review her photos, “but you’ve taken far more shots of him than the others.”

  “I love them all, but there’s something about Connor. When he was born, Nate was away at a conference so I was in the delivery room with Lex. Because there was no father, the doctor handed Connor to me right after he was born. I held him when he was a minute old. It was amazing, and I’ve always felt closer to him than the others.” She tilted her face away from his and looked at his sharp gray eyes. “I want children, Ian, a whole pack of them. If that doesn’t work for you, you have to tell me now.” Her voice shook as she finished speaking. If he said he didn’t want kids, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Give him up? She didn’t think she could.

  He sucked a breath in and let it out before he said anything, giving Colette just enough time to feel the fear rise within her. “Animals aren’t enough?”

  “Nope. I like lots of creatures to love,” she answered.

  “Okay,” he nodded. “As long as we have them one at a time, instead of taking on five like this,” he said.

  Colette breathed out a mental sigh of relief. “Seems like they come in pairs in your family.”

  “We’ll deal with that if we have to.” He rubbed her shoulders with his free hand and nodded his head at Ella and Nick who fought over the right to climb a particular tree. “There are advantages to being a twin. As a kid, you’re never lonely.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  For the past two nights, Ian had shared a room with his nephew, and despite her exhaustion from chasing kids all day, Colette tossed and turned without him. On Sunday night, after the kids left with their parents, Colette slept like a log in Ian’s arms and woke up refreshed, which was a good way to begin the countdown to the fundraiser. Today, she sprang out of bed just past dawn and headed for the shower.

  “Where are you going?” Ian groaned, looking at her with one eye from his spot on the bed.

  “Gotta get an early start,” she explained, sorry she’d woken him.

  He raised his head, shooting her a questioning look. “I thought you were only working half time this week.”

  “I am, but my list for today is huge.” She imagined it unrolling like Santa’s scroll of who had been a good girl or boy, and she ticked off ideas in the air.

  “Get back in this bed,” he commanded, a seductive edge to his voice.

  “Ian, please,” she giggled.

  “Do I have to come get you?” He lifted his head from the pillow.

  “Ian,” she pleaded with him.

  “Give me a half hour and I’ll make sure you’re relaxed and smiling all day. Guaranteed.”

  “All that in a half hour during the week of the fundraiser.” She sauntered back toward the bed. “Okay, mister, you try.” She dove into bed on top of him.

  By lunch, she decided he was a man of his word. Despite an incredibly hectic morning at the clinic, she maintained her smile when Mrs. Woolf’s terrier bit a hole in the leg of her pants and Mr. Chentel’s Shih Tzu peed on her shoes.

  She kept smiling through Wednesday when her parents sat down in the break room of the clinic with her for a late lunch and flipped open the Tribune. Together, they scanned the pages until they found the feature on the clinic. Nearly an entire page was dedicated to the animal rescue center and the upcoming event.

  Lexy burst through the back door with a bag of food and jug of lemonade swinging in her arms. “Did you see it?” She slammed her items down on the table near them.

  “Just looking now,” Colette murmured, intent on reading the article. She’d talked to the reporter briefly on Monday, but Ian must have supplied more information plus the pictures. Photos of Colette and the animals, some with the five kids in the barns and pastures, crowded the newspaper page.

  “That picture of you is fantastic. When did Ian take it?” Jade pointed to the picture of Colette with Orsino, the miniature horse.

  “The first time he came to the farm. Dad’s in the background leaning against the fence.” Colette pushed the paper at her mother so she could see more clearly.

  “So he is.” Jade gripped her husband’s hand. “How do you like being in the paper?” She teased.

  “Hope no one looks that close,” Jack grumbled, reaching in Lexy’s bag for a sandwich.

  “Someone’s looking.” Jade neatly unwrapped a sandwich. “I’ve had several calls already this morning from people who wanted to buy tickets or just wished to donate.”

  “You have?” Colette and Lexy said in unison.

  “Uh-huh.” Jade sipped her lemonade. “We were already forty percent ahead of last year, now we’re sixty. Hope you have enough food planned, Lexy.”

  “Oh, geez. I better get back to the café and get to work. Colette, call the rental place and get more serving tables.” Lexy went out the door in a flurry.

  “I wasn’t nervous yet. Now I am.” Colette looked at the food her mother put in front of her, but couldn’t convince herself to eat. “What if it doesn’t go well?”

  “It’ll be perfect. It was last year, and this year, you have extra help.”

  “Huh?”

  “A certain photographer who keeps hanging around you.” Her mother pointed to Ian’s name under one of the photographs in the paper.

  “Right.” Colette blew out a breath.

  “Something wrong?” Her father’s tone was gruff as usual.

  “No, everything’s right, almost too right. That’s what scares me.” Her parents exchanged a glance she couldn’t interpret.

  “Stop worrying. I have a feeling everything’s going to be fine,” Jade said. “You better head out to the farm. I’ll call you later with the sales and donations from today.”

  By Friday night the tents were up, the silent auction prizes gathered, and enough wine and food filled her house to supply a small army. Ian sat on the front porch steps, a beer in his hand. Against the fading light, his features were sharply chiseled. When she sat next to him, she saw he was in deep concentration. His head swiveled from the large tent in the side yard to the porch’s roof.

  “We need more lights,” he declared.

  “It was bright enough last year.”

  “I’m not worried about that. We need more lights for atmosphere. White lights here by the house. You know, the little Christmas tree lights with a twinkle. Out in the orchard, we can outline the trees closest to the tent with green and white lights. I’ve got some other ideas, too.” He chugged the rest of his beer. “Where are your Christmas decorations?”

  “In the basement.”

  “I’ll go get those. Call Nate and your dad. Ask them to bring me all their lights tonight and any others they can get their hands on. I have to put them up when I can see what they look l
ike.”

  “Ian, you don’t have to…”

  “I know.” He caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “But I want to.” Headlights bounced down the driveway. “Hey, Adrien’s here. Good, with his height, we’ll get lights up without ladders.”

  “I’ll go make the calls and be back to help.”

  “Nope.” He pulled her to her feet, giving her a swat on the butt to head her up the stairs. “You’re going to rest, take a hot bath, and go to bed early so you’re ready for tomorrow.”

  “What about you?” She paused on the top step.

  He waved her into the house. “All I have to do tomorrow is put on a suit and smile. Maybe take a few pictures. Easy stuff.”

  When Colette looked out her bedroom window at midnight, the silhouettes of four men strung lights in the orchard. Ian stood on a stepladder working lights through the upper branches of a cherry tree. Along with him, she recognized the tall, lean figure of her brother, her father’s burly physique and Nate’s muscular form. At three, Ian woke her when he fell into bed, exhausted

  “All done,” he murmured before dropping off to sleep.

  She rose to look out, but the whole farm was dark except for the half-light of the moon. Returning to bed, she snuggled next to the sleeping Ian. His breathing was already deep and regular. “I love you,” she whispered, even though he didn’t hear.

  Ian crawled out of bed at noon, stumbled down to the kitchen where a crew of caterers worked. He recognized Gracie, but no one else. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs away and backed into a corner to wait for a lull in the activity. He wanted to grab something for breakfast before heading outside.

  “Hey,” Adrien stepped in the back door and greeted him. Adrien was dressed in bike shorts and a jersey like he’d been out for a ride. “You up finally?”

  “Slept longer than I planned to,” Ian admitted.

  “Yeah?” Adrien responded to him, but his eyes tracked Gracie’s every movement as she worked. Ian doubted if Adrien had any idea what he’d just said.

  Lexy bustled in the door, shouting orders to her crew. When she saw the men in the corner, she started making shooing motions with her hands. “Out. I know you, Adrien Peterson, you’ll eat up tonight’s food.”