Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  “Well, congratulations!” Jessie stepped up to give Rowan a hug and Zack a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll stop by in the morning to pick up.” Jessie shot Zack a look that said there were many questions to come, but not in front of the kids.

  Rowan told her, “If you want to add me to Charlotte’s approved list, I can take over some of the driving chores.”

  “We’ll do that,” Greg said and offered Rowan a hug, as well. “Best wishes to you both.”

  Zack thanked them and they made their leave. Ripley jumped into the truck. Becca climbed in after and buckled her belt. “You’re married, just like Charlotte’s mommy and daddy.”

  “That’s right,” Zack told her.

  “And we’ll all live happily ever after.”

  Rowan and Zack exchanged glances. Ever-after wasn’t the plan. But they had a year.

  * * *

  ROWAN WAS UP EARLY, but not early enough to beat Zack to the kitchen, judging by the scent of brewing coffee wafting up the stairs as she went down. She found him bent over, looking for something in the refrigerator. “Hope you made enough coffee for two.”

  He jumped and bumped his head. Rowan winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “I just didn’t know anyone else was awake. I was making Becca’s lunch.”

  “Let me do that.” When Zack hesitated, she laughed. “Seriously, you don’t need to treat me like a guest. I know you’re working today, and you probably have extra stuff to do to make up for the two days you took off, so let me handle this.”

  “Okay, thanks. You might throw in a few baby carrots. It’s about the only vegetable I can count on Becca eating.”

  “I will. Do you take your lunch?”

  “No, I usually drop by here to grab something and let Ripley out.” He reached into the cabinet for two mugs, poured coffee and handed one to her. “Cheers.”

  She took a sip. “Lovely.”

  “Well, then, I’ll just...” He waved his hand in the general direction of the stairs.

  “You do that.” Once he’d gone, Rowan surveyed the contents of the refrigerator. Not a lot there, other than enough milk to pour over cereal for breakfast, a bit of sliced turkey for Becca’s sandwich and assorted bottles and jars. She would need to fit in some grocery shopping today, in between soliciting more donations for the fundraiser, ordering more recipe cards for the tasting room from the printers, driving her grandmother to the doctor in Anchorage for a final checkup and, oh, yeah, telling Gran, Lauren and Patrick that she was married. Yep, it was going to be a busy day.

  Jessie showed up a few minutes earlier than expected, but she came inside and accepted a cup of coffee while Rowan went upstairs with Becca to find a missing shoe. Rowan located it under the bed. “Okay, put that on and brush your teeth. I’ll go put your lunch in your backpack.”

  Charlotte stroked the cat. “I’ll stay with Becca.”

  When Rowan reached the kitchen door, she could hear Jessie talking with Zack in a teasing voice, “When I said you needed a wife, you claimed you weren’t interested.” Rowan paused outside the door to listen to his answer.

  “I changed my mind.”

  “Obviously. But what about that fiancé you told me about?”

  “That turned out to be a misunderstanding.”

  “Huh. You know, I really like Rowan, but you’ve only known her—”

  “I’ve known Rowan for years. We met when we were just sixteen.”

  “Really? Then, why didn’t you know about her fiancé?”

  Hearing the girls on the stairs, Rowan breezed into the kitchen and grabbed the lunch from the refrigerator. “They’re coming. Sorry to keep you waiting.” She zipped Becca’s backpack closed.

  “No problem. I was early.”

  “Well, like I said, I can drive tomorrow if you like.”

  “Super. So, should I drop off Becca here or at the clinic this afternoon?”

  “Here,” Rowan said, at the same time Zack said, “At the clinic.”

  They looked at each other. “I’ll come over to the clinic,” Rowan suggested, “and we can decide then.”

  “Okay. Let’s go, girls.” Jessie set her empty mug on the counter.

  Zack poured coffee into a travel mug. “I need to head out, too. Thanks for making Becca’s lunch, Rowan.”

  Jessie and the girls had been heading toward the door, but Becca stopped and turned. “Aren’t you going to kiss? Jessie and Greg always kiss when they say goodbye.” Becca looked at Zack expectantly.

  Jessie smirked. “That’s true.” She crossed her arms and waited.

  Zack’s glance moved from Becca to Rowan. He raised an eyebrow in question. Rowan set her coffee mug on the counter. She put her hands on Zack’s shoulders and raised on her tiptoes, intending to just brush her lips against his to placate Becca and keep Jessie from speculating. But Zack seemed to have other ideas. When their lips made contact, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Despite knowing it was all for show, a tingle of excitement ran down Rowan’s spine. For the briefest moment, she forgot all about Becca, Charlotte and Jessie.

  But too soon, Zack pulled back from the kiss. He brushed his lips against her forehead and let her go. “I’d better get to work.”

  Rowan blinked, and then, to cover her confusion, busied herself loading bowls into the dishwasher. “See you later.”

  Jessie chuckled. “Okay, girls, we’d better go before we’re late for camp. Have a nice day, Rowan.”

  “You, too.” Rowan just hoped it turned out that way.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “YOU DID WHAT?” Patrick, usually the world’s most laid-back brother, stared at her in horror.

  “I got married,” Rowan repeated. She felt a little sorry for her brother. He’d just finished his two-week rotation working on the North Slope and hadn’t even been home for an hour when she’d driven up with Gran and dropped her bombshell. “To Zach Vogel.”

  Gran looked slightly less shocked, but not exactly thrilled. Lauren rubbed a soothing hand over Patrick’s back. “Zack is a great guy.”

  “Sure he is, but he and Rowan have only known each other for, like, five minutes.”

  “We’ve known each other for years,” Rowan argued, taking a page from Zack’s playbook. “We were just sixteen when we met.” Let it be implied that they’d kept in touch between then and now.

  “But haven’t you been dating some guy in Japan for a couple of years now?”

  “That’s over. Obviously.”

  “Have you told Mom and Dad about this?” Patrick asked, and Rowan felt a lot less sorry for him.

  She set her shoulders. “Yes, I have.”

  “Mom must have hit the roof.”

  Rowan shrugged. “Her opinion is irrelevant.”

  Patrick looked skeptical. “Oh, really?”

  “Yes, really. I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions. Just like when you decided to become an electrician.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How is that different?”

  “It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing. I had a plan.”

  “Maybe Rowan has a plan, as well,” Gran finally spoke. “Maybe she has a good reason for marrying so quickly.”

  “O-oh.” Patrick glanced at Rowan’s stomach. “Are you—”

  Rowan laughed at his obvious discomfort. “No, I’m not pregnant. We decided to marry sooner rather than later because of Zack’s little sister. Zack wants permanent custody of her, and his odds improve if he’s married.”

  “I knew Zack’s father died recently,” Lauren said. “But what happened to her mother?”

  “Apparently, she’s somewhere in the Caribbean.” Rowan gave a broad outline of the situation. “Becca’s happy with Zack. She belongs with him. And I can help make that happen.”

  �
�What about your happiness?” Gran asked.

  “Zack makes me happy,” Rowan assured her. It was even sort of true. Spending time with him and Becca, working on the fundraiser, feeling useful—all those things made her happy. And then there was that kiss this morning, which made her feel—well, best not to think too deeply about that. “So,” she said briskly, “Gran and I had better go if we’re going to make that doctor’s appointment. I just wanted to give you all the news in person. I’ll still be here on Sunday afternoon to help with goat yoga, and I can fill in at the tasting room or anything else you need.”

  “Thanks.” Lauren gave Rowan a hug. “And congratulations.”

  “Yes, congratulations.” Patrick hugged her, too. “Sorry I was—”

  “It’s okay,” she interrupted, ignoring her own guilty twinges at misleading them.

  “Mom will probably call soon,” Patrick predicted. “I’ll tell her you know what you’re doing.”

  “Thank you. Come to think of it, I’m surprised she hasn’t already called you. She’s known about this for—” Rowan checked her watch “—hmm, sixteen hours.” This was entirely out of character. What was her mother up to?

  Judging from the silence that followed, everyone else wondered, too. But then Gran grabbed her cane and got up from her chair. “Come on. We don’t want to be late for my appointment.” She tucked the cane under her arm and did a little dance step. “I want to show the doctor I can cha-cha-cha.”

  Gran was quiet during most of the drive to Anchorage. It was only when they approached the city limits that she spoke. “I’m proud of you.”

  “For what?”

  “For making up your mind and standing your ground. I may not necessarily agree—if I had my druthers, you’d have told us first instead of sneaking off and getting married behind our backs—but you showed gumption.”

  “Um, thanks?”

  “You’re welcome. Now, on Sunday, after goat yoga, I’m going to fry up some chicken, and I want you to bring Zack and Becca out to the farm for Sunday dinner.”

  “That sounds nice. I’ll check with Zack, but I’m sure he’ll come.”

  “Good.” Gran sat back in her seat. “Because I’ve got a few questions for him.”

  * * *

  SUNDAY AFTERNOON, Rowan decided to take Becca along to goat yoga. Zack had agreed to meet them at the farm at dinnertime, even after Rowan’s confession that he would most likely be the one being grilled. As they approached the farm, Rowan spotted Patrick hard at work in the front pasture near the road, cutting back some brush. One of the goats stood close by, rubbing her head against his leg. Looked like Spritz.

  At the turn-in to the farm, a woman was setting up a Goat Yoga sandwich board. All Rowan could see of her was a pair of tiger-striped yoga pants straining over her ample bottom, but it was enough. She rolled down the window. “Hi, Bea. Want a ride back?”

  “Sure.” Bea climbed into the passenger seat. “I hear you two couldn’t wait to rush to the altar. Congratulations.”

  “Thank you.” It felt a little awkward, receiving genuine good wishes from others for a fake marriage. But for Becca, she could do it.

  “You know, my husband and I eloped,” Bea continued.

  “Did you?”

  “We were both teachers. My parents—” she glanced toward Becca before choosing her words “—discouraged our relationship.”

  “Why?”

  “Snobbery,” Bea said in her blunt way. “They wanted a rich son-in-law, ‘to support me in the manner to which I was accustomed.’ As if I cared about that. When my mother heard we were married, she predicted it wouldn’t last six months. Bill and I laughed about that when we celebrated our fiftieth anniversary.” She twisted in her seat to look over her shoulder. “Hello, Becca. Did you find a swimsuit?”

  A glance in the rearview mirror confirmed that Becca was staring, fascinated by the orange streaks in Bea’s hair. “We got two of them. One with an otter, and one with dots.”

  “I used to have a swimsuit with polka dots.” Bea cleared her throat and sang some song about a girl in a tiny yellow bikini.

  Becca giggled.

  “Becca is doing great in her swim class,” Rowan told Bea. “Yesterday she swam all the way across the pool.” When Becca had popped out of the water and saw Rowan watching, she’d grinned from ear to ear.

  “Next week I get to move to Charlotte’s group and jump off the diving board,” Becca said.

  “You go, girl!” Bea gave Becca a high five.

  Rowan let Bea out near the pavilion where Gran and the other ladies had already gathered before parking the car behind the barn to leave the main parking lot open for guests.

  By the time she and Becca had walked back, the whole area was abuzz with activity. Lauren was leading two goats with their kids toward a pen at the edge of the pavilion that already held several goats. Gran and two of her friends were filling paper cups with some sort of goat food, Linda was setting up with a laptop computer and a cash box, and Crystal was rolling out her mat.

  Rowan kept Becca by her side while she held the gate open for Lauren, who led the two mama goats in, with their kids close behind. They immediately started a game of tag with the kids already inside. Rowan latched the gate. “How can Becca and I help with the setup?”

  “Can you tie ribbons around the kids’ necks?” Lauren nodded at a basket of colorful ribbons on a table nearby. “That always goes over well.”

  “Sure.”

  “I know how to tie a bow,” Becca announced.

  “Great. I’ll go bring the rest of the goats,” Lauren said.

  Rowan riffled through the ribbons in the basket before choosing a blue-and-white stripe and a bright red. Becca picked a green satin. Rowan reached for the nearest kid, white with black spots who would look adorable with a red ribbon. The goat had other ideas, though. She ducked away from her and ran to the other side of her mother, peering around her legs. “Come on, sweetie. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to make you beautiful.”

  The kid seemed doubtful, but while Rowan was trying to coax her into coming closer, another kid wandered up to sniff her. She sat on the grass and the kid crawled into her lap. So that was the secret—let the goats come to her. “Here, Becca. Why don’t you tie on the ribbon while I keep the goat still?” She petted the kid while Becca painstakingly tied the ribbon around his neck and formed a slightly lopsided green bow. Working together, they had soon beribboned most of the herd.

  Lauren returned with two more goats and five more kids. “This should be plenty of kids to play with the guests. As soon as they’re finished with the milking, two more people will be coming out to help wrangle the goats.”

  Becca leaned over to pick up a ribbon that had fallen on the ground, and a kid jumped onto her back. She giggled. The kid jumped off and frolicked across the pen, practically begging Becca to follow. She skipped after him.

  The black-and-white kid finally came close enough for Rowan to lure into her lap so she could tie on the red ribbon.

  “Good for you,” Lauren told her. “Madeleine is a shy one. I only brought her today because her two siblings are so energetic and outgoing.”

  Rowan made a bow, fluffed the loops, and studied the effect. Madeleine tilted her head and looked up at her. Adorable. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling a little shy, is there, Madeleine?” She stroked the kid’s soft face. “They are so cute. I can see why you chose to be a goat farmer.”

  “Yeah.” Lauren smiled as she scratched one goat’s neck. “But they’ve been known to pull a few pranks.”

  “These innocent little angels?” Rowan asked as Madeleine bounded from her lap to chase after the other kids.

  “They’re no angels, believe me. But if they were, my life wouldn’t be nearly as interesting. Right, Spritz?”

  The goat Lauren was petting bobbed her head
and her bell tinkled. Rowan blinked in surprise. “Did you teach her to do that whenever you ask a question?”

  “You can blame your brother for that. Spritz adores Patrick. But then, who doesn’t? Right, Spritz?”

  Spritz nodded again and Rowan laughed. “You and Spritz can start a fan club. I’m not sure I’ve ever forgiven him for going off to Alaska to take an electrician apprenticeship instead of the college degree Mom had all laid out for him. It made her doubly determined that I would.”

  “He told me about that. But you’re making your own choices now.”

  “Yes.” Yesterday, Rowan had formally resigned her job. Her roommate’s cousin had been eager to take over her lease and had even offered to ship her things. It was almost disconcerting, how easy it had been to cut ties with her life in Tokyo.

  Rowan tied on the last ribbon and rotated it so that the bow was over the perky goat’s ear. “There. All done.”

  “Cute. And just in time.” Lauren nodded toward two cars in the parking lot. “Here come our first customers.”

  “Do you want me to take tickets or something?”

  “No, Linda’s got a system. Just go greet people as they arrive, send them to her and join in once the session is ready to start.”

  “Sounds good. Becca, come on. We need to go round up the customers.” People trickled in. Judging from the conversations Rowan overheard, many had participated before.

  At the posted starting time, Crystal put on some soothing music with nature sounds in the background. Gran and most of her friends spread their mats at the back of the group. Linda motioned to Rowan. “You and Becca go ahead and join the class. We’re only expecting two more, and I’ll wait for them.”

  “Thanks.” Rowan helped Becca spread a mat next to Gran’s and situated herself on Becca’s other side. Gran showed Becca how to sit and cross her legs.

  “Let’s move to table pose,” Crystal’s serene voice called out, and everyone shifted to a hands-and-knees position. Lauren opened the gate, and the dozen or so eager kids bounded out. Most of them went to sniff and rub against the guests, while three immediately jumped onto a convenient back and balanced there. Little Madeleine looked around until she spotted Rowan and trotted over, positioning herself underneath and peeking out at Becca, batting her long eyelashes.