Nicole held his gaze and for a moment in spite of her anger with him, sympathy stirred in her soul. Sympathy and something more profound. Respect, even. Regardless of whatever claim Nicole may have, the reality was that this man was putting as a first priority the welfare of two little boys that weren’t his children. Even though his guardianship put them at odds, at the same time she respected what he was doing.
She thought of how easily her biological father seemed to give her up. How happy her aunt had been when Social Services came to take her away for good. In spite of her aunt’s antagonism, Nicole had wished that she could stay, but her aunt wanted her gone.
Those boys don’t know how good they had it. In fact, Nicole was jealous that they had this strong, tough man on their side. A man who had made sacrifices for his nephews. A man who was willing to fight for them.
What would have happened in her earlier life if she’d had the same kind of advocate? If she’d had someone who was willing to go to the mat for her welfare? What if she’d had someone like Kip on her side?
“I’d like you to leave now,” Kip said quietly.
Nicole opened her mouth to protest.
“It’s past five,” Kip said.
“Of course,” was all she said. “I’ll be back tomorrow then.”
Kip just nodded.
Nicole got up and walked past him, then got into her car. As she drove off, she could see him in her rearview mirror watching her.
He could watch and glower all he wanted. She wasn’t letting him intimidate her.
She had rights and she was going to exercise them regardless of what he thought of her.
Chapter Seven
“I’m not doing the dishes again.” Isabelle glared at Kip, her hands on her hips. “Sunday is a day of rest. At least that’s what I thought the minister said.”
As Kip tried to match her glare for glare he also tried not to feel guilty about all the work he hoped to get done today.
“I’m not your slave,” she muttered.
He ignored that. “Just make sure the dishes get done,” he growled. Then he turned to his mother. “And you make sure she does it and don’t you even think about doing it yourself.”
Mary gave him a quick nod, which didn’t give Kip much confidence.
Didn’t any of the women in his life listen to him? He spun around just as he heard a knock on the door.
What was Nicole doing here already?
“Tristan. Justin,” he called out. “Finish up. Ms. Williams is here.” He sent the boys upstairs to change out of their Sunday clothes about an hour ago and they still weren’t down.
“It’s not fair, you know,” Isabelle whined, leaning back against the counter.
Nicole stepped into the kitchen. “Um…I think you have a problem,” she said. “There are some cows roaming around the yard,” she continued. “I’m guessing they’re not supposed to be there.”
“What?” Kip frowned, then as her words registered, he pushed past her and stepped outside, then groaned in disbelief.
Over two dozen cows and calves were milling about out of the fence.
There went the afternoon, Kip thought, his heart dropping into his gut. His mind flipped through all the scenarios why the animals would be loose. Open gate. Broken fence.
Not that it mattered. For now he had to get them away from the hay bales, and even more important, away from the granary filled with oats.
“What can I do?” Nicole asked.
Was she kidding? Kip spared her a quick glance then strode down the steps. “Just stay out of the way.”
Not that he had a master plan that she could help him implement. He was pretty much winging it.
As he got closer to the moving herd he slowed his steps, planning, thinking. The gate to the pasture wasn’t open, so that left one thing. Broken fences.
He shifted his hat back on his head as he glanced around the yard, trying to figure out what to do with the herd. Where to put them.
They started moving and he hurried his steps, trying to get ahead of them without spooking them.
Of course, one cow let out a bawl, spun around and they all decided to change their focus and head down the driveway.
“No, you stupid creatures,” he yelled, moving even more quickly.
Please, Lord, don’t let them head down the driveway. Because once they did, they would be on the run and it would take hours and hours to get them back again.
He changed direction and ran, knowing he didn’t stand a chance of getting them turned around. Not on foot and not without his horse, but he had to try.
Sweat poured down his back, anger clenched his gut and then, suddenly he heard, “Hey. Get back there.”
He looked up and there were Nicole and Isabelle standing by the driveway waving dishtowels. Were they kidding? Dishtowels against two dozen 1,200-pound cows on the loose?
Miraculously the cows stopped, dust slowly settling around them. Kip caught his breath, trying to assess. Then a calf broke free from the herd but again, to his surprise Nicole got the animal turned around.
“Let’s get them into the corrals,” he called out. “Isabelle, can you get to the gate?”
“No,” she said, glaring at him.
“This is not the time, missy,” he called back.
Thankfully, Nicole moved over to the fence and climbed over it, leaving Isabelle standing guard. Even from here Kip could see the fear on Nicole’s face, but surprisingly she kept moving.
She opened the gate to the pasture, then came back over the fence, staying clear of the cows.
“Start moving slowly toward them,” Kip called out. “Don’t get right in front of them. Work at them from the side.”
Nicole nodded and started walking at an angle toward the herd. It was probably a good thing she was afraid. She moved slowly and took her time.
“Stop there, Nicole,” Kip yelled.
Kip moved toward the herd just enough to get them going. Then, thankfully, the cows in the lead turned around. The ones behind them followed their example, and soon the herd was turned around and walking back to the pasture.
Please, please, he prayed as he moved slowly behind them, keeping them moving. If they turned around now, they would scatter and it could easily take all day to get them herded up again.
The cows at the head of the herd sped up the pace. It was going to be all right, Kip thought.
Suddenly one of the cows in the middle turned her head and decided to make a break for it.
Right toward Nicole.
She stood, frozen, as another cow followed the one trying to get away. This was it. They were hooped.
Then Nicole waved her arms and yelled and to Kip’s surprise the cow stopped and rejoined the herd now heading into the corral.
“Isabelle, get over the fence and make sure they don’t get into the pasture,” Kip called out.
“Are you kidding?” Isabelle said. “I’m going back to the house.”
“Oh, stop being such a selfish stinker and just do what your brother said,” Nicole shouted back at her.
Kip didn’t know who was more surprised at Nicole’s outburst, him or his sister.
At any rate, Isabelle scrambled over the fence and headed off the cows that were eyeing the wide-open spaces of the pasture. Then, thankfully, the cows were all in the corral and Kip closed the metal gate, locking them in.
“So is that all of them?” Nicole’s voice sounded a bit shaky as she joined them.
“Those were only a small part of the whole herd. Now I have to saddle up and find out where they got out and then make sure that the rest of the cows are where they’re supposed to be.” He dragged his hand over his face, thinking.
“I know this might sound dumb, but is there anything I can do?”
Kip glanced down at her. Some wisps of hair had pulled loose from her ponytail and were curling around her face. Her cheeks were flushed and she had a smear of dust on her forehead. She looked a bit scared yet, but she also looked
kinda cute.
“Not really, but thanks for all your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“And Isabelle,” Nicole said wryly.
“Thanks for bawling her out. Nice to know I’m not the only one doing it.”
Nicole laughed at that. “I’m real good at bawling out little sisters. I did it all the time with Tricia.” She stopped there as an expression of deep sorrow slid over her face.
Kip wondered what she meant by her comment. What created that look of desolate sadness?
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Puzzlement replaced the sadness. “Why do you ask?”
He frowned. “You looked so sad. I’m thinking you’re remembering your sister. I guess I know what it feels like.”
She looked up at him then. Their gazes locked and held as awareness arced between them.
Without thinking of the implications he laid his hand on her shoulder, as if to cement the connection.
She looked away, but didn’t move.
A yearning slipped through him. A yearning for things to be different between them. Involuntarily, his hand tightened.
“Nicole—”
“Uncle Kip, Uncle Kip. Isabelle said the cows got out…Did you get them in?…Can we help…Do you have to ride the horses?”
The boys burst into the moment with a barrage of questions and Nicole stepped away. As Kip lowered his hand, he experienced a surprising sense of loss. Then he gave his head a shake.
What was he thinking? This woman was simply another problem in his complicated life.
Kip dragged his attention back to his nephews. “Yeah. I’ll be saddling up and heading out.”
“Can we ride with you?” Justin asked.
Kip shot him a warning glance. The little guy knew better.
“Why don’t we go and check out the puppies,” Nicole said, taking the boys by their hands. “Have they gotten any bigger?”
“Silly, you just saw them yesterday,” Justin said.
“I know, but puppies grow very fast and change quickly,” she replied. “I would hate to think that we missed out on something fun that they didn’t do yesterday.”
Kip was sure her comment was off the cuff, but it reminded him of all the changes he’d experienced with the boys. All the changes she and her father had missed.
You can’t start going there, he reminded himself. You have a lawyer working to make sure the boys stay here. She has a lawyer to make sure the boys go with her.
Very straightforward. Cut-and-dried.
Yet just before she left she shot a glance over her shoulder, her hair brushing her cheek. Then she gave him a quick smile and things got confusing again. Thankfully he was going out on his horse. Things always got clearer for him when he was in the saddle.
He headed out to the tack shed, and as he opened the door the scent of leather and neat’s foot oil washed over him. He halted as recollections of his brother surfaced from the corner of his mind where he thought he’d buried them.
He and Scott racing each other through pastures. He and Scott training the horses, racing the chucks, dust roiling out behind them, the horses’ hooves pounding, the adrenaline flowing.
He grabbed the door frame, steadying himself against the onslaught of memories.
Dear Lord, help me get through this, he prayed, bowing his head as pain mingled with the memories. He missed his brother. He missed their time together, but mixed with the sorrow was the sad reality that he missed the freedom he’d had before his brother died.
The insidious thought crept into his mind. How much easier and freer his life would be if he didn’t have the boys. How much simpler. The obligations of their future hung on his shoulders as well. Providing for them, taking care of their future.
Kip reached for his saddle and jerked it off the stand, shaking his head as if dislodging the thought. They were his brother’s boys, his mother’s grandchildren. They were not a burden.
A few minutes later he had saddled his horse, Duke, and was riding out, leaving the ranch house and all the tangle of family obligations behind for a while.
Again he sent up a prayer for clarity of thought, and as he rode, as the sun warmed his back and the wind cooled his face, peace settled into his soul.
This was how he used to spend his Sundays, just riding around or working with the horses.
Now work piled on top of work, and quiet time for himself was as rare as a date, something else he hadn’t had in months. He let his thoughts dwell for a moment on his horses. He should work with them. For their sake, if not his.
But when?
He looked around him, at the hills surrounding the ranch. A group of cows lay on one hill, beyond them another bunch. Thankfully, they hadn’t decided to follow the wayward cows that had managed to get out.
Though he still had the same amount of work as he’d had before, riding out on his horse loosened the tension gripping his neck. Checking fences was one of his favorite jobs. Just him and his horse and the quiet. Oh, how he missed the quiet.
The irony was, he wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t for Nicole being with the boys and watching over his mother. Much as he hated to admit it, since she’d started visiting, some of his responsibilities had eased off his shoulders.
At the same time, Nicole presented a whole nest of problems that complicated his life. He thought again of that moment they’d shared a moment ago.
He wished he could shake it off. Wished he could get her out of his mind.
“I’m just a lonely old cowboy,” he said to Duke as he dismounted and stapled up another loose wire. “I’ve got responsibilities out the wazoo, and once this thing is settled with the boys, my life can go back to normal crazy instead of super crazy.”
Duke whickered, tossing his head as if sympathizing with him.
Kip checked the wire and got on the horse again. Duke started walking, the sound of his muffled footfalls creating a soothing rhythm.
Except he couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that things would not be settled with the boys. Not without a fight.
“C’mon, Auntie Nicole. Hurry up.” Tristan’s disembodied voice came from somewhere ahead of her on the narrow trail through the trees.
Nicole slowed down and stepped over an exposed rock on the trail, then pushed past a clump of spruce trees.
“Slow down,” she puffed, pushing aside a spruce branch that threatened to blind her. “I can’t go as fast as you.” Not for the first time was she thankful she had bought some running shoes. Keeping up with the boys would have been impossible in the leather boots that she, at one time, had considered casual wear.
When she’d arrived this afternoon the boys had grabbed her and insisted she come and see something important. They wouldn’t tell her what, only that she had to come right now.
She caught a glimpse of Tristan’s striped T-shirt as she clambered over a fallen tree, then clambered over another one.
“Are you coming?” she heard Justin call out.
“Yes, I’m coming.” She drew in a ragged breath, then, finally, she came to a small clearing. She ducked to get under a tree and as she straightened, looked around.
She couldn’t see the boys. “Where are you guys?”
She heard giggling above her and looked up.
Two grinning faces stared down at her from a platform anchored between two aspen trees.
“What is this?” she asked, smiling back at the boys.
“It’s Uncle Kip and our dad’s Robin Hood tree house.” They stood up and then disappeared again, only to reappear higher up on another platform. “Come up and see.”
“Is it safe?” she asked. If Kip and his brother had been the architects of this tree house, then it had be at least twenty years old.
“Yup,” was all they said.
Nicole walked around and found a ladder constructed of branches leaning up against the tree. She tested it and then slowly climbed up. When she got to the platform, she saw Justin, about
six trees over, swinging from a rope.
“Justin, would you stop that,” she called out.
“It’s okay, Auntie Nicole,” Tristan assured her. “Uncle Kip said we could play here. He helped fix it up so we could.”
Nicole stepped onto the platform and, holding onto an overhanging tree branch for support, looked around.
She saw ropes and bridges and catwalks and more platforms strung between trees edging the clearing. A veritable hideout and a boy’s dream come true. “You said your Uncle Kip made this?”
“Yup, he did,” Justin called back, still swinging from the rope. “His dad helped him and our dad.”
Nicole leaned against the tree behind her and tried to imagine Kip as a young boy working on this tree fort with his father and his brother.
A smile played over her lips as she watched the boys clambering from one structure to another like monkeys. Again she envied them their freedom. How many young boys wouldn’t love to have their life?
“Come on back now,” she said, glancing at her watch. It was getting close to the end of her visit. Yesterday she had stayed a bit longer and Isabelle had made a snarky comment, which she had ignored.
At the same time, she didn’t want to cause any problems. Especially not when the legal status of the boys seemed to be, at least in Kip’s eyes, in limbo.
“Can’t we play a little longer?” Justin called out.
“No. We have to get back.” Nicole tried to sound firm, but failed. She wasn’t in any rush to go back either. The smell of the woods, the sun filtering through the canopy of leaves above and the gentle stillness of the woods eased away the tensions of the day.
She had spent most of her morning on the telephone playing telephone tag with caterers, trying to get a better deal from the venue and sweet-talking various sponsors for the foundation’s annual fund-raiser.
More than that, she was having so much fun following the boys around the farm and exploring with them. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d simply taken time off and done nothing constructive whatsoever. Even her holidays were usually slotted around conventions or business trips with her father.
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