But all too soon, she’d become pregnant with twins, a high-risk pregnancy. She’d left college, ending her studies to become a professional photographer. Still, Douglas had reassured her, telling her not to worry. Once the babies were born, he and his brother would split the work on the farm. They would pull double duty with the babies, and she could return to school. And they had helped. And helped.
There had certainly been plenty to do, leaving them all exhausted. As she’d fallen into bed each night in Douglas’s arms, she’d reminded herself there was plenty of time to finish her studies.
Then life happened with Tyler’s accident...
The crisp air of autumn crept in to cool the evening air. Twigs crunched under her feet. There were countless opportunities for photos, from a fall warbler to a flash of turkey tail feathers. But her creative spirit was pure gray today, the pain so deep she couldn’t even channel her grief into art.
Ashlynn continued, “At least promise me you’ll come here if you need me. My roommate moved out, so I have the space. Even if you just want to get away for a while.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep it in mind.” She missed having someone to talk to, the isolation of the farm wrapping around her all the more since his brother died and they eventually had to let their last worker go. “If I do take you up on the offer, I promise the girls and I won’t stay with you for long. I just need time to finish locking down plans.”
She intended to take the job as a teacher’s aide, even though Douglas had objected. The marriage was over anyway, and she would need to support herself and the girls. There wouldn’t be any assets to divide since the dairy farm was struggling.
“You’re welcome to stay however long you need. I owe you for the six months you and Douglas let me camp out in the barn’s studio apartment when I lost my place.”
“You helped us on the farm.” Since Douglas’s brother had moved out of the bachelor pad into the main farmhouse after his accident, it had only made sense to offer the space to Ashlynn. In return, she helped on the farm to pick up the slack while Tyler recovered.
Except he never did regain his health. He’d needed full-time care.
They’d spent all their extra money and energy trying to keep him comfortable. After all, he’d given up his baseball scholarship to bring up Douglas after their parents’ death.
The brothers had been so very close. Not like her daughters. Would some time at Ashlynn’s help them? “I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated.”
“We’re sisters. It’s what we do.”
Foster siblings, but closer in some ways than bios because of their shared losses.
“Thanks, Ashlynn,” for then, for now, “and I love you. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Disconnecting the call, but not their connection, she tucked the cell into the front pocket of her hoodie and started back up the path toward the homestead, her headache still in full swing as she tried to decide what to do next.
At least the girls weren’t engaged in open warfare for once, thanks to the dog washing. She hated to upend their world. She knew all too well how deeply loss at a young age could mark a person. She hated bringing even an ounce of pain to her daughters’ lives.
As if divorce weren’t bad enough. They would likely lose their home, too, once the bank stepped in. The farm had been struggling for a while, and when Covid first gripped the world forcing businesses to close, there’d been nowhere to sell their milk. Schools had continued to supply milk for free lunches, but that contract hadn’t been enough to pull their business out of a deep financial ditch.
What kind of future would she be able to offer her children?
The sound of dogs barking in the distance made her think of her girls having to say goodbye to the farm animals. No rental home in her limited price range would accommodate their menagerie. She could already imagine the tears when the girls would have to say goodbye to their pet chicken, Pixie, that her husband couldn’t bring himself to turn into dinner when the bird had stopped producing eggs a year ago.
She pressed a hand to her temple, her headache growing, the noise from the barking dogs sparking pain behind her eyes. Except they didn’t sound like any of her dogs. Tree branches rustled behind her, giving her only an instant’s warning to turn.
Just as a pack of shaggy wet canines plowed straight at her.
* * *
Douglas had a real love-hate relationship with this particular tractor.
He stalked away from the field in disgust, leaving the rotary tiller in the middle of the field. Old Bessie had given them a lot of years, and no amount of new parts would resurrect her.
Kind of like his marriage.
The land that usually comforted him currently had his heart in his throat. This day had been a train wreck from the start. He hadn’t been able to concentrate, not with thoughts of Nina walking away with tears in her eyes. He just couldn’t face failing her anymore.
Their icy standoff sent her out on a walk to take solace from behind the lens of her camera. He could still see the tears in her eyes when he’d ignored all her hints to talk. Even thinking about those tears had him so distracted he almost bumped into the rope ladder dangling from the old tree house his brother had made for him in an ancient oak.
He would have to sell his farm soon, land that had belonged to Archers for over a hundred and fifty years. He’d done his best to take care of his brother and keep the farm intact. He hadn’t imagined it would cost him his marriage. His family.
A scream split the air and he was more than grateful for any distraction from all the ways he’d failed every member of his family.
Adjusting the bill on his battered ball cap, he tucked his head and darted past the fort, mildewed with age. So many accidents could happen on a farm. He knew that all too well. If Nina had been hurt...
He sprinted across the field, leaving behind the broken tractor he’d been trying to resurrect. Right now, every instinct was focused on finding his wife. Her shout had come from the opposite direction of the house. He’d lived on this land his whole life. He knew every inch, each divot in the dirt, every tree and root.
How much farther? Was that a child’s squeal riding the wind? He charged into the clearing, prepared to defend his family from this threat, at least.
Then stopped short.
Nina was tangled in a pile of soggy pooches along with Kacie and Kelsey. Screams and squeals took shape into giggles and laughter. His daughters shot to their feet and chased a galloping yellow Labrador. His beautiful wife was being “trampled” by a poodle mix while a nimble collie leaped back and forth over her long, jean-clad legs. Nina’s wavy blond hair shielded her face, then she swept the silky length back to reveal her face. His breath caught just as it had the first time he’d seen her. It was like she brought sunshine to his dark world.
His heart hammering in his ears, he took in her smile scrunching her uptipped nose. Her sparkling golden-brown eyes.
Her wet flannel shirt.
He dragged his eyes off her alluring curves and back onto the chaos. The laughter. Such a rare occurrence these days he’d almost forgotten what it sounded like, what it felt like, to have his girls happy. All three of his girls—his wife and his daughters.
And this moment was too emotional, by far. He walled off his feelings and strode closer, boots crunching dried leaves.
“What’s going on?” He shot out a hand to snag the Lab by the collar. “Is everyone all right?”
The dog shook a spray of water right in Douglas’s face.
Kelsey giggled. “Be still, Digger.”
Kacie hooked a leash around the collie’s neck. “We were washing dogs. This is Lucy, and Mom’s got Peaches.”
He shot a glance back at Nina. She shrugged, avoiding his gaze as she tucked the poodle—Peaches—against her chest. Kneeling, Douglas braced a hand on her back as she stood. The heat
of her seared through the damp cotton and into his senses.
“Girls,” he said, “this fundraiser of yours isn’t worth much if you lose a dog.”
Or get hurt.
Nina cleared her throat self-consciously. “Maybe we could help. I don’t want to discourage them from being charitable.”
“And I don’t want them racing around the farm on their own chasing other people’s pets. It’s become a safety issue. I’m putting a stop to this.”
“No,” Kelsey shouted, her braids dripping with water. “You can’t.”
Kacie pulled another leash out of her backpack and passed it to her sister. “I told you this wasn’t going to work.”
Nina’s brown eyes narrowed. “What wasn’t going to work? Kelsey?” She turned to the other twin. “Kacie?”
“Fine,” Kacie sighed. “We weren’t saving for charity. Well, not the way you mean. And we need to finish washing these guys because we’ve already been paid, and we owe a lot of money.”
“You owe money?” His pride stung as he wondered what it was that his children needed that he’d been unable to provide.
Clutching the poodle, Nina faced down her daughters. “Do you mean you’ve been lying to us, letting us think you were raising money for charity?”
Kacie’s chin jutted. “We need charity. We’re poor.”
And the hits to his ego just kept coming.
Nina tucked a blond strand of hair behind Kacie’s ear. “We’re not poor. We have the farm.”
Not for long, though. Douglas had to know. “If you weren’t raising money for charity, what were you saving up for that we haven’t been able to give you?”
Kelsey tugged at her braid the way she always did when she was lying...or thinking up a lie.
Kacie elbowed her sister. “Go ahead and tell them. It was your bright idea.”
Nina stepped alongside Douglas for the first time in longer than he could remember. It stunned him still for an instant, and apparently, he wasn’t the only one. The girls were staring at them with identical blue eyes so wide he almost laughed. Almost. Humor was nowhere in sight for him these days.
A wide grin spread across Kelsey’s face. “We were saving up to buy a vacation at the Top Dog Dude Ranch.”
“The Top Dog what?” Nina asked, shifting the poodle in her arms, which brushed her elbow against his.
He forced his focus onto his daughters and not leaning closer to his wife.
“It’s a place for family vacations. You know my friend Simone?” Kelsey asked, then rushed ahead before anyone could answer. “Well, her mom booked a trip after she got remarried. The vacation was to help everyone get along better and it worked.”
Her words sucker punched Douglas, and judging by Nina’s soft gasp, she’d been caught equally off guard by the pain in their daughter’s voice. Although now that he thought about it, he remembered Simone’s stepdad giving a glowing account of the Top Dog Dude Ranch and what a great place it was to decompress. While he couldn’t dodge the sense of foreboding that the girls were matchmaking, didn’t he need all the help he could get if he wanted to save his marriage?
Kacie eyed them with a cynicism far too dark for a child her age. “It’s been forever since we had a family vacation. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
Chapter Two
Fun?
A fun vacation?
Being trapped with her soon-to-be ex, with her heart breaking and their children always watching with those wide, hopeful eyes as they waited for an outcome that could never happen? That sounded more like a nightmare. One that she desperately and feverishly tried to wake from. No dice. Every movement led back to her stomach-plummeting sadness. Especially when she took in the spark of hope glistening from the twins.
Not that fun like that was even possible. There was no way they could afford to hire the help needed to care for the farm in their absence. Vacations had been an unattainable dream for a very long time.
Nina glanced at Douglas, trying to gauge his reaction, and yes, hoping he might have a solution that would pacify the twins. But nope. His lips had gone tight in that way they did when his pride was hurt. Or his heart. Except she knew his emotions weren’t in a turmoil over her. He always had a weak spot when it came to the girls. That was one of the reasons she’d held on for so long. He loved their daughters, and they worshipped him.
Kacie leaned down to brush twigs out of Lucy’s shaggy coat, but kept her wide eyes trained on her parents. Birch bark rained onto the yellowing grass. “Dad, please, please, we really want to go. They have so many fun things to do.”
“But Champ...” Douglas swept off his ball cap and dropped it on top of her head. “You already live on a farm.”
“It’s not the same.” Her chapped little hands adjusted the bill.
Kelsey secured her hold on the Labrador as the pup’s tongue slid lazily out of the side of its mouth. “This one’s magical. I read all about it.”
Douglas studied her with a suspicious glint in his blue eyes. “Kelsey, where did you read that?”
That sure made this sound like more than a whim.
Her shoulders braced. “I went to the place’s website. I did my research.”
Images filled her mind of her little scholar hunched over a desk with notebooks, pens and highlighters. Her nose scrunched as she pored over a list of pros and cons for different places. Always so judicial, so focused. So committed to a vision of how she thought things should be. Kelsey had taken it especially hard that there wasn’t any science or research that could save Uncle Tyler. Just as Kacie had struggled with understanding that it didn’t matter how hard she worked to bring her uncle blankets and snacks, fluffing his pillow and asking for advice on lassoing, he didn’t recover.
“Research?” Kacie snorted. “Of course you did loads and loads of research, just like the way you laze around reading while I do your chores.”
Kelsey pivoted fast, her soggy sneakers digging into the mud. “You don’t have to be rude.”
“I just mean that the magic thing isn’t going to convince them of anything.” Kacie shifted her attention back to her father. “It’s a vacation ranch. Not a working ranch. We could do all the things we really like about living on the land and none of the bothersome or messy stuff.”
“Yeah,” Kelsey said, “like mucking out stalls.”
Kacie nodded. “Or getting up at five in the morning.”
“Or cleaning the chicken coop,” Kelsey added.
“Or getting up at five in the morning,” Kacie repeated.
“Or getting pitched off a pony.”
Kacie grinned, glancing over at the barn. “Not all of us have that particular problem.”
“That’s not the point,” Kelsey sighed, the wind rustling the branches overhead. “We just really want a nice vacation. As a family.”
Leaning against each other, the girls leveled a commanding stare at their parents.
Nina’s chin quivered, too sad for words. Douglas’s wince hurt her bruised heart even more. He already worried about the children not getting to be kids. On that much, they agreed. Nina stressed about that, too.
Nina dusted dried fall leaves off her daughter’s hair. “Maybe another time.”
Pieces of orange and brown leaves from a black gum tree disintegrated between her fingertips, giving her mind an anchor for the waves of emotion that pushed against her rib cage and threatened her smile.
“Girls—” Douglas shifted from boot to boot “—perhaps you could go with your mom.”
Surprise rippled through her that he would even make the suggestion. She wanted to think it was because he really needed to care for the animals. But a part of her heart whispered that he would be glad to have her gone. The reality of her marriage disintegrating as tangibly as the dried-out fall leaves hit home, whispering inside her. This was real, real, real.
Douglas scrubbed a hand over his square jaw. “I need to stay here and work the farm.”
“But, Dad,” Kelsey pleaded, “it won’t be the same without you.”
Kacie pulled off the ball cap and passed it back to her father. “We’ll work harder to help you get ready. Right, Kelsey?”
She elbowed her twin, though her eyes stayed trained on her dad with a roper’s focus. Assessing the target. Calculating the next move.
Kelsey clapped her chest. “I’ll clean the chicken coop and the stalls.”
Douglas scrubbed a hand through his hair before dropping the hat back in place. “Your mom and I will talk about it.”
Both girls turned their hopeful eyes to her.
Nina felt like a pinned butterfly, wanting to escape but knowing it was in her children’s best interest to have this discussion. “Yes, we will discuss it.”
Douglas took the poodle from Nina, his hand brushing her waist. Her breath caught in her rib cage, her heart fluttering like that trapped butterfly. Her gaze met his and held; he froze for a charged instant.
Then he blinked, breaking the connection, and passed the poodle to Kacie. “Now take the dogs and scram.”
* * *
The girls’ laughter carried on the breeze long after they and the dogs faded from view, swallowed by a shower of autumn leaves drifting from the hawthorn and yellow bud trees.
Douglas hadn’t felt this low-down since he’d had to deplete the bank account to buy meds for his brother, only to learn his daughters needed school shoes. He’d sold off a rodeo championship belt buckle. How could Nina have ever even entertained the idea of more kids when they could barely afford the ones they had? And why did she keep insisting he pour good money after bad to save the farm? If he sold now, at least they could avoid bankruptcy.
He felt like such a failure, he couldn’t stop himself from retreating from his wife. He knew he couldn’t give her what she wanted. Avoiding her was easier than arguing about money and all the ways he fell short in pouring his feelings out on command.
Last-Chance Marriage Rescue Page 2
