by Deb Kastner
He could hardly blame them if they did. There wasn’t a moment that had passed since he’d been given the guardianship of Caden that he hadn’t wondered the same thing himself. He’d measured himself often—had he come up wanting?
Where had the stubborn streak suddenly come from? If he looked foolish, it was no one’s fault but his own.
“I appreciate your concern,” he said, relaxing his shoulders as he allowed his resentment and stubborn ego to flow out of him.
“As Rachel well knows, raising a baby on your own is no easy task,” Pastor Shawn said. “But when it comes at you with no warning—Well, I remember how difficult the first few weeks were.”
Pastor Shawn remembered? What did that mean?
“You have a baby?”
Shawn nodded. “A little girl. Noelle. She was abandoned in my church on Christmas Eve a year and a half ago. I found her tucked into the hay in the manger the kids used for the Christmas pageant. I was just getting ready to leave after the late service when I heard a strange sound. You can imagine my surprise when I found a live baby in the manger.”
Seth was stunned. As unusual as his situation was, it wasn’t completely unheard of for someone to gain custody of a godchild if something happened to the parents, and he’d given Luke and Tracy his consent when they were amending their will, so it wasn’t as if he’d never considered the possibility. He’d just never thought it would happen.
Shawn’s circumstances beat his by miles.
What a story.
“I kept her at my place for the weekend due to it being the Christmas holidays and all. And then...well, I just plain fell in love with the sweet little thing.”
“So you adopted her?” Seth asked, running a hand across his jaw.
Shawn laughed. “It wasn’t quite that simple, but eventually, yes. First I applied to be her foster father. Even that is a pretty far stretch from the norm—a single man wanting to foster a baby girl. I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep her were it not for Heather. She had three foster kids of her own, so she knew how the system worked. She guided me through it from start to finish or I would never have made it. And she knew all about child care, which I think was my biggest learning curve. Dirty diapers.” He grinned and shivered dramatically.
Seth groaned. He had a learning curve not only with Caden—and dirty diapers—but also with the Bar H ranch. At least Luke and Tracy’s will clearly stated that he was Caden’s legal guardian, so he didn’t have to worry about someone trying to take him away.
When the time came, which would be as soon as he was able to file the papers, he’d fully adopt Caden as his son.
No question about it.
“I thank God every day that he brought Heather, her children and baby Noelle into my life. They are my biggest blessings and have filled my world with joy.”
He clapped Seth on the back. “Let me give you some advice, son. Not as a pastor, but as a man. You hold on tight to this one,” Shawn said, nodding toward Rachel. “You’ll find she’ll be an invaluable resource to you, just as Heather was, and is, to me.”
Rachel’s face reddened under the pastor’s praise, but this was one situation where Seth agreed with Shawn. After his family, Rachel had been the first person Seth had turned to after he had become Caden’s legal guardian. And what had started as a desperate cry for help had only grown from there. It seemed he and Rachel were spending more and more time together, and he wasn’t about to complain.
When he had questions about Caden’s care—which was often—she had answers. She’d encouraged him to call at any time of day or night. And sometimes he did.
But it was more than just getting answers to the billions of issues that cropped up.
It was Rachel’s own brand of encouragement that she gave him—which was probably what he needed most of all right now.
“Oh, I’m not letting her go anywhere,” Seth assured Shawn. “Believe me, I know what a blessing I have in her, and in her daughter, Zooey, who is babysitting Caden as we speak. I’m probably driving Rachel crazy with all my questions and concerns, but she has unending patience.”
“No, not at all.” Rachel didn’t waste a moment in responding. “You’re not a bother.”
“I felt the same way about Heather. I figured with the way I was hounding her, I would chase her away. Thankfully, she doesn’t scare easily. I still have new questions all the time, even though Noelle is now a toddler like Caden. I guess we both ought to be thankful that the Lord made ladies of sterner stuff than us, huh?”
“You’re still friends with Heather?” For some reason the answer to that question was inordinately important to Seth and he held his breath waiting for the answer.
“Oh, yes. Best friends.” Shawn grinned.
Rachel sputtered.
Seth looked from Shawn to Rachel and back again, feeling like he’d missed something important.
“We are best friends,” Shawn repeated. “And so much more than that. I was slow at figuring out my emotions at first, but I’m no fool. I made that woman my wife.”
If a smile on a man of God could be called wily, then that was absolutely the right adjective for Shawn’s toothy grin, and it was followed by a knowing wink in Rachel’s direction, making Seth’s skin itch all over.
A pastor winking at one of his parishioners. Wasn’t there a rule against that?
“You never know about these things,” Shawn continued. “The right people come into your life when you least expect it. As they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways.”
Chapter Five
Rachel didn’t know who they were—the ones who were spouting off nonsense about the Lord working in mysterious ways. If it was in the Bible, Rachel didn’t know where, but then again, the proverb had come from Pastor Shawn’s lips, and he was definitely the one who would have the most insight on the ins and outs of the way the Lord worked, wasn’t he?
She was certainly no expert, despite that she read her Bible, prayed daily and went to Sunday services. Her faith had rescued her many a time, and yet she made no bones of the fact that she didn’t always understand why things happened the way they did. She just held on to faith that the Lord had it all in hand.
But in this instance the pastor was mistaken. However the Lord was working, mysterious or otherwise, He was not interested in the romantic prospects of Seth and Rachel as a couple. They both had far too much on their plates to so much as consider a relationship with each other. Put it together and there would be an enormous explosion—and that was without the dozens of reasons she’d given Zooey and Lizzie for why such a relationship could not and would not ever exist.
Though if there was one really good thing to come out of this whirlwind of change—besides sweet Caden—it was that Zooey’s attitude had appeared to have calmed down a bit. She’d attended summer school that week without a single protest, and on time, and had completed all her homework without having to be nagged—er, reminded.
She’d even offered to accompany Rachel to Seth’s ranch so she could play with Caden while Rachel figured out the bookkeeping software with Seth at the end of the next week. After moving into the Bar H ranch house, Seth had spent his evenings during the week building her new play set, and she was anxious to return the favor.
When they arrived at the ranch, it was to find a beaming Seth bouncing on his toes with excitement as Caden toddled around the paddock area.
Curious. Smiling and abounding with energy wasn’t quite the reception Rachel had been anticipating from Seth, given his aversion to all things numerical.
“Watch this,” Seth exclaimed as soon as Rachel and Zooey had exited her sedan. “Come here, Caden, and show Zooey and Miss Rachel what you can do.”
Caden giggled and immediately responded to Seth’s open arms, reaching his chubby little hands up to grasp Seth’s thumb
s.
“Prepare to be amazed.”
Seth’s grin widened even more, if that was possible, and Rachel couldn’t help but smile herself.
“All right, little man, let’s show off your trick for the ladies.”
Seth crouched slightly, and with his encouragement, Caden stepped one foot onto Seth’s knee, then the other, and as Seth slowly straightened, Caden continued to walk up his body. Seth remained steady with a good grip on the toddler’s hands as the little guy’s feet stepped on his chest.
Then, with a delighted squeal, Caden pushed off and flipped backward. With a whoop of excitement of his own, Seth skillfully set Caden on his feet for a perfect landing.
“Again. Again,” Caden pleaded.
“Is that not the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen?” Seth crowed, scrubbing an affectionate hand through Caden’s hair.
Rachel didn’t know whether to be appalled or impressed. She was a little of both, she supposed. Two years old was a little young for backflips, in her opinion, but Seth had him completely under control every movement of the execution. Most interesting of all, Seth appeared just as excited about what Caden had done as if he and the boy were blood relatives.
And from what she’d just seen Caden do, they almost might have been.
“Awesomesauce,” she said, clapping.
Zooey groaned. “Mo-om,” she wailed, stretching out the word. “No one says awesomesauce anymore.”
“’Sauce,” Caden repeated, jumping and grinning and patting his tummy.
“Caden does. See?” Rachel laughed. “I have been vindicated—by a two-year-old.”
Seth chuckled. “Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I’m pretty sure Caden thinks you were referring to applesauce, which is one of his favorite foods.”
Zooey snorted and Rachel narrowed her eyes on her and pursed her lips.
“Just go ahead and laugh at your mother, Miss Too-Cool-for-Words.”
Zooey’s eyes twinkled and she pressed her lips together, but a giggle escaped her nonetheless.
“Looks like you’re one proud papa, with what Caden just did,” Rachel said, shifting her attention to Seth and away from her rascally daughter.
“Right?” He pumped his fist in the air. “Two years old and I have just taught him his first parkour trick. He may have set a world record or something.”
“I don’t know about a world record, but definitely like father, like son,” she agreed.
His smile wavered. “That still sounds so strange to me. I mean, there’s no question that I’m going to legally adopt him, or that I am a proud parent. But do you think I’ll ever get used to being called Daddy?”
“It’ll take a while. Most parents have nine months to prepare themselves to be called Mommy or Daddy, and it still sounds odd at first, even after the baby is born. Don’t worry about it, though. After a while it’ll sound natural.”
“Can you teach me some of those moves, like you did with Caden?” Zooey asked, excitement crackling in the tone of her voice.
Zooey wanted to learn parkour?
What was that about?
“You are much too tall to walk up Seth’s chest and do a backflip,” Rachel pointed out, thinking that was the end of that.
“Well, no,” Seth concurred. “It won’t work that way. But if you’re up for it, I think I can teach you how to take a running start at a hay bale, then bank off it and do a pretty nifty backflip.”
“Cool beans,” Zooey exclaimed.
“Oh, I see. So it’s okay for you to say cool beans, but awesomesauce is out of the question?”
“’Sauce,” Caden repeated.
“I think he’s hungry,” said Seth, and the three of them laughed over it. “I’ll give him a snack while we work on the computer.”
“Which we probably ought to be doing right now,” Rachel said, hoping all this nonsense about Zooey attempting parkour moves would blow over. Rachel had never known Zooey to be the least bit interested in athletic endeavors in the past. She regularly complained about the running she had to do in gym class. Since Zooey was healthy and got plenty of activity walking around town, Rachel had never kicked up a fuss about trying to get her involved in sports.
She certainly never would have expected her daughter to sound so enthusiastic about parkour. If she had to have a sudden athletic interest, couldn’t she have gotten fired up about swim team? Or soccer? Or something else that seemed less likely to end in a broken neck?
Rachel wished they could skip the parkour and go straight to the software.
But given the circumstances, she preferred to spar with her daughter over expressions like awesomesauce and cool beans than ponder the disaster that was no doubt coming next.
“It’ll only take a moment for me to show Zooey the move,” Seth said. “Ready, Zooey?”
Zooey nodded eagerly.
Rachel scooped Caden into her arms and patted his back, reassuring herself as much as him.
“You’re going to approach the hay bale at a jog,” Seth explained. “Then you’re going to plant your feet against the top edge of the bale and push yourself upward and backward. Like this.”
He demonstrated, making the entire move look fluid and ridiculously simple.
Rachel knew what would happen were she to try such a trick. She’d trip right over the hay bale and take a nosedive that would leave her scratched up for weeks. And that was to say nothing of her dignity.
She only hoped her daughter would be able to keep her dignity intact—along with all of her bones. That backflip looked like it could go wrong all too easily.
“Ready to try it?” he asked Zooey. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right here to spot you.”
Rachel kissed Caden’s soft cheek and whispered, “If you ask me, this is a very bad idea. Don’t tell your daddy, though. I wouldn’t want him to think I’m not supporting him.”
She held her breath as Zooey broke into a jog, her jaw set with determination. It looked as if she was going to successfully bank the hay bale, but at the last moment she tensed and skidded to a halt just short of it.
“Sorry,” she murmured, looking crestfallen.
“No problem,” Seth reassured her. “Sometimes it takes me many tries before I finally get a move right. Do you want to give it another go?”
No, she does not, Rachel thought.
But Zooey said, “Yeah. I think I just psyched myself out there for a moment. I can do this.”
“It’s all in your mind,” Seth said. “If you believe you can do it, your body will follow your mind’s lead, even if you have to work on it. You’ll find that after a while, flipping is the easy part.”
Rachel couldn’t have disagreed more. Doing a backflip by banking off a hay bale was most definitely not something one did all in one’s head, but before Rachel could voice her concerns, Zooey was already racing toward the hay bale.
With a whoop, she planted her feet right where Seth had indicated and, with just the slightest bit of assistance on Seth’s part in order to help her to get all the way over, she completed a backflip and landed on her feet.
“I did it. Did you see that, Mom? Woo-hoo!”
Zooey’s whole body was pulsing with energy and her expression was a match for how she used to look on Christmas mornings when she was a tiny tot.
“That was great, honey.”
Rachel relaxed some after she’d observed the careful way Seth had confidently and knowledgeably spotted her daughter through the entire flip.
There was no way Zooey could have fallen. Not in Seth’s capable hands.
“Can we do it again?” Zooey’s enthusiasm was catching, and Rachel even caught herself smiling. Caden had been asking the very same thing only minutes earlier.
“One more time, and then Seth and I ne
ed to work on the ranch’s books.”
“Parkour’s more fun,” Seth muttered under his breath, frowning like a little boy who’d just had his favorite toy taken away from him.
“That may well be,” Rachel said, though she didn’t exactly agree. “But sometimes we’ve got no choice except to adult, like it or not.”
Seth screwed up his face at Zooey and cringed like he’d just sucked a lemon. “Take my advice and don’t grow up.”
Zooey laughed, as did Rachel. She was amazed by the way Seth so effortlessly appeared to reach her daughter.
Seth spotted Zooey through a second banking backflip. Rachel couldn’t help but be impressed. He had a gift, not only of performing parkour himself but of teaching it to a two-year-old and a sixteen-year-old.
As she well knew, not everyone was good at working with children, especially over such an expansive age range.
She was surprised at how vigorously Zooey was taking to the sport. Now she was talking about backflips and learning how to walk up walls and leap benches in a single bound, superhero-style. Strange words coming from a teenager who’d never before been remotely interested in gymnastics, dance or even running.
“Back to being a cowboy,” Seth said with a sigh. “Putting on my big-boy hat now.”
He sounded miserable, and the joy that had lit his face only moments before was doused out.
“If it’s any consolation, you look fantastic in a cowboy hat.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, heat rushed to her face. She sounded as if she was flirting with him.
Which she wasn’t.
Much.
He straightened and his smile returned. Maybe the compliment had done him some good.
“I got one for Caden, too. A white hat, ’cause he’s one of the good guys. And boots so he really looks the part. He’s already a serious lady-killer. Those little girls in your day care had better watch out or he’ll knock their socks right off their feet.”
Rachel grinned. That much was true.
“Like father, like son.”
