Returning for Love: A Western Romance Novel (Long Valley Book 4)

by Erin Wright

  Just then, Iris felt a furry head whack her arm and she jerked away to find two piercing green eyes staring straight at her. “Meoowww…” Milk was hungry.

  “Sorry,” she said with a laugh, rolling away from a fake-pouting Declan. “If I don’t feed these two, anarchy may ensue.” She pulled on her ratty bathrobe and, grabbing her cane, shuffled into the kitchen to pour out the cat food for the morning. She heard Declan coming in behind her, and then over to the sink.

  “If I’m going to be up, I might as well be human,” he said, rinsing out the coffeepot of the remains from yesterday and refilling it. She showed him where the coffee was stored and he set about making coffee for them. It was just like their college days, and Iris couldn’t help loving that feeling. Waking up next to Declan, making coffee, chit-chatting about their day ahead…

  It was like the last fifteen years hadn’t happened at all.

  Speaking of college and studying, though…

  “Hey, Dec, would you mind quizzing me on some codes?” she asked as they settled down on the couch with their steaming mugs of coffee. Milk curled up next to her while Oreo nudged Declan’s arm, hoping for some love and attention while they obviously weren’t doing anything else. She grinned at her cat, shaking her head. He loved to be loved, that was for sure.

  “Codes?” Declan asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “Yeah, for my coding class. I’d love to have you help me run through these codes and see if I get them right.”

  He paused, his coffee mug partially up to his lips. “Quiz you on them?”

  “Yes,” she said, a little impatiently. “You know, you read the medical procedure out loud and I try to tell you which code I should use without looking at the book.”

  “Oh. Right. Well, I actually meant to say that I needed to get going.” He scrambled to his feet, their lazy day suddenly evaporating around her. “I should’ve been out in the fields this morning, not lazing around in bed. Harvest is almost done, but not quite. I’ve got some final chores to finish up.” He popped a kiss on top of her head and headed to the bedroom to pull on his clothes from last night. Before she could even push herself up to her feet, he was back in the living room. “I’ll give you a call later,” he promised, and then the door was closing behind him.

  She collapsed back onto the couch, giving up on the struggle to stand up, and instead just stared at the front door.

  “What. The. Hell,” she said aloud. Why was he acting like she’d suddenly contracted some flesh-eating disease and he couldn’t get out of there fast enough? She looked down at herself and then took a tentative sniff of her armpit. Did she stink? She’d taken a shower yesterday. She couldn’t smell any offensive odor wafting off her, but then again, didn’t they always say you couldn’t smell yourself?

  It couldn’t have been the studying stuff. Throughout high school and college, they’d spent a lot of time studying together. He’d helped her study a lot of subjects, like…

  She thought. Real hard. Had he helped her study in high school and college? Now that she thought back on it, she realized that she was always helping him. Which made sense; school came naturally to her. She didn’t need much help with her classes, whereas for Declan, he usually had to work pretty hard to even get C’s.

  But if she needed help, like she did today, why wouldn’t he be willing to help her? She didn’t understand.

  Just like before – he chose farming over you. Here he goes again, making that same choice. Your sister was right about him.

  She pushed the thought away. Declan wasn’t selfish.

  He was confusing as hell, though. Someday, she’d love to figure out what was really going through that handsome head of his.

  Chapter 15

  Declan

  He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel with a curse word that would have his mother spinning in her grave. “Dammit, Declan, you have to be better than that. Smarter than that.” He snorted at his choice of words. “Of course, if you were smart, we wouldn’t be in this predicament, would we?”

  He felt a little ridiculous talking to himself out loud like this, but the last time he’d opened up to another person about this…

  Well, she’d died. And if that wasn’t a sign from God about keeping his big mouth shut, he didn’t know what was.

  “All these years, and you’ve managed to keep Iris in the dark about just how stupid you are,” he said out loud. Because dammit all, he had no one else to talk to. He needed to get a dog like Maggie Mae, so he could at least feel less ridiculous talking out loud. “Don’t go ruining it now. No woman as smart and funny and beautiful as Iris McLain would date a dumb-as-dirt cowboy like you if she knew the truth.”

  He just had to get better about getting out of tight situations, was all. He’d gotten so good at it in high school and college. He could change the topic at the drop of the hat, and she never seemed to suspect a thing.

  He had to relearn that ability, and fast, or he’d lose Iris.

  Again.

  Chapter 16

  Iris

  “Are you sure they want me there?” Iris asked for the 152nd time, as they started up the lane to Wyatt’s house.

  Thankfully, it was nice weather today; they’d be able to spill out onto the lawn. Wyatt and Abby were in the middle of building a new home – a huge one, from what she’d heard – but it was going to be a race against the weather to get the walls and roof on before serious snow hit for the winter.

  In the meanwhile, they were crammed into the Connelly family homestead, which was on the smallish side, especially with cats, dogs, and family galore filling every corner of it.

  “Of course they want you here,” Declan said with a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand comfortingly. “This is their big celebration day, and they want all of their friends and family here to throw a party with them.”

  They stopped on the side of the gravel driveway, pulling up behind some trucks and SUVs. She could hear the Mexican fiesta music from here. Declan came over to her side of the truck and helped her down. She held her breath, unsure if she was going to do a faceplant before she got to stable ground, but he lifted her down with ease, made sure she had her cane firmly in her grip, and then they set off for the house.

  “So when is the adoption paperwork final?” Iris asked as they meandered along the uneven gravel road. She wanted to concentrate on walking, so she figured listening to Declan talk while they moved would keep her from having to walk and talk at the same time.

  Which seemed like a damn good idea, really.

  “Well, they’re not sure yet. First, Wyatt had to make it through the background check, and considering what happened this past winter, that took a while.”

  Iris had heard that Wyatt and Abby had fallen in love while Wyatt was incarcerated at the Long Valley County Jail, but hadn’t heard much more than that. She wondered if she could ask for deets without seeming like she was fishing for gossip, and finally decided that she couldn’t. She’d find someone in town to give her the low-down on it.

  “The sheriff’s letter of recommendation was what made the difference, though. He wrote a long and glowing letter, stating that Wyatt would make a fine foster father because of all of the life experiences that he’s had. Finally, my brother’s propensity to get into fights was turned into a positive.”

  Iris couldn’t help the laughter spilling out of her. It was true that Wyatt’s tendency to punch first and ask questions later hadn’t usually worked out in his favor. To think that his father-in-law was now supportive of him, after the bitter feud they’d had for years…

  It rather made her head hurt, actually.

  They finally got to the front door, and Declan knocked just once before opening it up. “We’re here!” he called out.

  Stetson’s petite wife, Jennifer, came out of the kitchen, toting a baby on her hip. Iris had seen her at Wyatt and Abby’s wedding, although no one had formally introduced them. She’d heard the story of how Stetson and Jennifer had
met, of course – the Long Valley gossip chain worked just fine when it came time to tell Iris the juicy news, even if it didn’t work as well when spreading the news about her.

  Although it’d only been 15 months since Jennifer and Stetson had met, she already seemed like she was settling into the country lifestyle. Iris had heard that Jennifer had only worn stilettos when she’d first come to Long Valley, but today, she was wearing a pair of fun cowboy boots with turquoise leather insets.

  Yeah, she seemed to be fitting right in.

  Iris smiled at Jennifer, and she grinned back, open and friendly.

  “You must be Iris,” Jennifer said, moving to give her a hug, and then Declan. “It’s so nice to meet you, and I’m so glad you came. Abby and Wyatt are around here somewhere. Carma is in the kitchen, along with Jorge’s wife, Maria. You should see everything they’ve got cooking.” She shook her head in amazement.

  Iris sniffed, loving the smells rolling out of the kitchen. It smelled divine.

  “Thanks,” Iris said, reaching out to stroke the fine baby hair of Jenn’s baby boy. “What’s his name?”

  “Oh, this is Flint,” Jenn said, adjusting him on her hip. “He’s a momma’s boy, except when he’s a daddy’s boy. But mostly, he’s a Carmelita’s boy.”

  They all laughed for a moment, and then Jenn said, “So, I think everyone is outside. You should head out into the backyard. I’m pretty sure Abby, Wyatt, and the guest of honor are hanging out there.”

  Declan guided Iris outside and over to a swinging bench seat. “Does lemonade sound good?” he asked. “Carmelita makes an amazing handmade lemonade.”

  “Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Iris said with a huge grin. And it did. She remembered Carma from the years of going over to hang out at Declan’s house in high school – she was an amazing cook, and loved all of “her” boys. She may be the housekeeper for Stetson now, but she’d been a second mother to all three of the Miller brothers.

  Iris settled in and began watching the crowds in front of her. She used to want to be in the middle of every gathering, every group, because she was so social. She still loved people, but…she wasn’t sure if it was the uncertainty of not knowing if her balance would be quite right and she might take a tumble at any point or what, but she was a lot more content to simply…be.

  She watched Juan as he played with Jorge’s grandchildren. Jorge was Wyatt’s foreman, and he had about 700 grandkids, from what Iris could tell. Okay, not really that many, but quite a few. Wyatt had bonded with Juan while he was working at Adam’s therapy camp, and tonight was a celebration of being able to bring Juan home with them. He’d been living at a foster home here in Sawyer but Wyatt and Abby put in to be foster adopt parents, rather than just foster parents, and so the courts agreed to let him move in with them.

  Wyatt went walking over to the group of kids playing soccer and called out to Juan. He came trotting over, a grin on his face, and they chatted for a moment. Seeing Wyatt as a father…It made Iris tingle with happiness. He deserved to find happiness. Iris had never met his daughter Sierra, but she knew that losing her to that drunk driver all those years ago had wounded him in a way that no one thought he’d ever recover from.

  Seeing him now did the soul some good.

  Declan came jogging up, a lemonade in each hand. “Sorry that took so long,” he said with a smile as he held hers out. “I got shanghaied into setting up some tables.”

  She accepted it gratefully and took a deep sip. “Oh wow,” she said after she swallowed the mouthful of sunshine and tartness that was the lemonade. “I’ve never had such a wonderful lemonade in all my life.”

  “Isn’t it amazing?” Declan shook his head with a grin. “I could take cooking lessons for the rest of my life and never whip up the kinds of dishes that Carmelita seems to make without blinking.”

  Jennifer came out of the back door holding Flint. “Hey Dec, Carmelita is needing another table set up for the food.” She leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially, “I think she’s afraid the other one is going to buckle under the weight of all this food.”

  Declan laughed and whispered back, “I think she’s probably right.” He straightened up. “I’d hate to have her food go to waste. I’ll be right back.” He popped Iris a kiss on top of her head and headed back inside.

  Jennifer slipped onto the bench next to Iris. “So, you and Declan,” she said with a grin, nudging Iris in the ribs. “Do tell.”

  Iris had to laugh at the blunt desire for gossip. Jennifer was nothing if not clear about what she wanted. “I’m not sure if there’s much to tell,” she said with a shrug. “We used to date in high school and the first two years of college, and now…Well, I’m not really sure what we’re doing, to be honest.”

  Abby came walking up, an easy smile on her face. “I heard that last part,” she called out, grabbing a chair and settling herself down across from Iris and Jenn. “You two were a year ahead of me in school, but I remember how cute I thought you two were back then. I was so surprised to hear you’d broken up.”

  Abby and Jenn looked at her expectantly. They wanted the deets, but Iris wasn’t really sure about them herself.

  “I know this sounds weird, but I honestly am not sure what happened back then.” She shrugged helplessly. “Things were going great, and I thought he was going to propose. We’d discussed marriage, but it had always been a, ‘After we graduate from college’ sort of thing. And then, his mom died in that awful car wreck, and he just completely changed. Overnight, really. It wasn’t too much after that that he told me he wanted to go to the U of I and he wanted to break up with me. He maintained it was because they had a better agriculture program up there, which is true of course, but he hadn’t cared about that the first two years of college. Why did he suddenly care about it the second two years of college?”

  She heaved a sigh. “I had a scholarship to ISU. I couldn’t afford to leave it and go to the U of I with him. He knew that. That’s why we decided together to go to ISU. And then suddenly, it wasn’t good enough for him.” She smiled but she knew she wasn’t convincing anyone with it. The memory still hurt. She still needed to get him to tell her why. She still needed to grow a backbone and demand some answers.

  She still didn’t want to. The life she was enjoying right now with him seemed too fragile. Like a bubble that could pop at any moment.

  She didn’t have the guts to test that theory.

  Something she wasn’t too proud of, honestly.

  Flint started gurgling, interrupting their little confab, and Jennifer grinned at her, apparently understanding Iris’ need to change the topic of conversation, and said, “I think Flint would love some time with you. Want to hold him?”

  “Oh yes,” Iris breathed happily. She was grateful she was sitting down so she didn’t have to worry about dropping him on his head or something. Just the thought sent a bolt of panic through her, but snuggling Flint against her quickly made the panic dissipate. “Jennifer, he’s so beautiful. How old is he?”

  “Six months. And his eyes are already starting to change. I think he’s going to end up with brown eyes? It’s hard to tell right now. Anyway, you can already tell he’s got Stetson’s jaw.”

  It was true. Especially for a baby, Flint’s jaw was square. He was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up. He kicked his legs and grinned at her, obviously proud of himself for making his legs kick when he wanted them to. “Such a handsome boy,” Iris cooed.

  Carmelita, Stetson and Jennifer’s housekeeper and cook extraordinaire, came out onto the back porch. “Oh, I did not see you come in,” she said to Iris in her light Hispanic accent. “It is good to see Declan here with such a beautiful woman.” Carma winked at her and Iris blushed. It was times like this that she really hated having such light skin. She was probably glowing brilliant red right now.

  “You want to tell everyone it is time to eat?” Carmelita asked, turning towards Abby. “I cannot keep the children’s fingers out of the food any longer an
yway. I keep whacking them with my wooden spoon but they do not seem to notice.” Carma’s eyes crinkled up at the corners, and Iris knew she was joking.

  “Especially the taller children?” Iris asked dryly, bouncing Flint on her lap. He laughed with joy.

  “Especially the taller children,” Carmelita confirmed. “The tallest ones are the worst.”

  They all laughed for a moment, and then Carma headed back inside. Jennifer held her arms out for Flint and with a sigh, Iris handed him back. He was quite possibly the cutest drool monster she’d ever laid eyes on. Abby headed over to the pick-up soccer game and hollered, “C’mon you guys, it’s eating time!” The kids cheered and instantly dropped the soccer ball in favor of heading to the back porch. The smells coming from the kitchen had obviously been tempting everyone for quite a while.

  Iris watched as everyone queued up, moving past the buffet tables groaning under the weight of the food. Suddenly, she felt Declan drop a kiss on top of her head and she looked up, startled. “Oh hey!” she said.

  “Hi, Cookie.” She blushed at his use of his old nickname for her. He’d given it to her when she’d gorged on Chips Ahoy one night, eating an entire box by herself. She still remembered how much her stomach hurt from that escapade. “I was going to go through the line for us. Is that okay? You can hold down the fort over here.”

  “Sure, that’d be great.” Iris had been waiting for the line to die down before she went through because she hadn’t wanted to stand forever while waiting, but having Declan go through instead, so she didn’t have to try to juggle her cane, a plate, and a serving spoon at the same time…

  It was lovely, really.

  “Great. Be right back.” He jogged off to the end of the line, where he started chatting with one of Jorge’s kids. Iris watched him for a moment – strong, tall, thoughtful – and suddenly wondered what on earth he was doing with her. He had this amazing family, he had a farm, he had a successful life. He didn’t need her with her special needs and her damn canes.