by Sara Orwig
“All set, Mary Catherine?”
Vivian saw her nod. He started the car and they drove up the road and she remembered the day before yesterday and how terrified she had been of what was happening. She looked back at Julia, who was blissfully sleeping, and gave a prayer of thanks for a healthy baby and for Matt who had come to their rescue.
“You were Sir Galahad to the rescue the other day.”
“It worked out. You have a beautiful baby.” They rode in silence a few minutes while she looked at the green fields that ran to golden stubble where his wheat had grown. They passed a green meadow with cattle standing around a muddy pond, the water a deep rust color. Hoof prints made indentions along the muddy banks and she wondered about Matt’s life, which was so different from her own. He took care of these animals. The land and the life on it had to be at times primitive and basic. And dangerous, because she knew he had to battle the elements constantly.
In the distance to the west she saw cattle grazing in another field of green. Heat waves rose ahead of them, but Matt had turned on the air-conditioning and the pickup was cool and comfortable.
“The mechanic should be there shortly after we get there.”
“Do you mind if I set up my computer at your house?”
“No. I’ll set up a table and a place for you to work. Maybe when Lita is there she can watch the girls and you can work.”
“I don’t want to take her away from what you want her to do. I can pay her if she could come on the three days you don’t have her.”
“Ask her. She’d probably jump at the chance to make some more money.”
“What was it back there with your foreman? He looked at us like we were long-lost relatives—actually, he looked at the girls that way, not at me. Did I imagine things?” she asked quietly, hearing Mary Catherine chattering happily to her stuffed bear.
“No, you didn’t. He lost his wife and little girl two years ago in a car crash. Danielle, his little girl, would have been four this year.”
“That’s dreadful. No wonder he looked at Mary Catherine the way he did. Does he know she’s four?”
“Yes. Everybody knows everything around here. You might as well start getting used to that.”
In minutes Matt slowed and parked on the edge of the road near her stranded sports utility vehicle. Mary Catherine unbuckled her seat belt and scrambled out of the pickup while Vivian got the baby carrier, then they all went to her car. She opened the door, set the baby carrier on the ground beside her and reached inside her car for a box.
Matt gripped her wrist. “Lady, you direct. I move this stuff. You just sit down somewhere and tell me what to do.”
She straightened up and looked up at him. “I should have known.”
“Yep, you should have. You’re not lifting anything.”
“Look, I lift Julia all day and Mary Catherine occasionally. I really feel good.”
“Maybe so, but you’re not moving anything. Mary Catherine can help with the light stuff if she wants to.”
Mary Catherine listened to this exchange, and Vivian wondered if she thought Matt was being mean to her mommy. She smiled and nodded. “Have it your way again.” She looked inside her car. “There’s my computer and I want the black suitcases, that large white cardboard box. Mary Catherine can bring her toy box and one box of books.”
“If you want to sit in the pickup and watch, I can turn the air-conditioning on for you. Then both you and Julia will be cool.”
“There’s a breeze and it’s shady here beneath this tree. She’s fine and I’m fine. If I get too hot, I’ll go back to the pickup, but this way I can tell you exactly what I want.”
With the door open and the baby carrier beside her feet, Vivian sat on the edge of the front seat of her car and watched Matt and Mary Catherine work. Matt lifted Mary Catherine into the bed of the pickup, directing her where to place the boxes and luggage that he carried over to her.
In minutes she was happily working with him, and Vivian thought it was the first time she had seen her daughter relaxed around any man, conversing with him and seemingly indifferent that she was near an adult male. While he didn’t know it, he couldn’t have done anything better to win Mary Catherine’s acceptance than to let her up into the back of his pickup and let her help him load it with their boxes and bags. Vivian knew how much Mary Catherine loved to help someone and she knew Mary Catherine was fascinated by the pickup.
Vivian continued to direct what to take. “There’s a portable crib. I’ll set it up for Julia if you’ll get it,” she said, pointing at the collapsed crib made of canvas and net with folded plastic legs. Matt carried it easily to the pickup and lifted it into the back, helping Mary Catherine place it against a stack of boxes. Muscles rippled beneath his tight T-shirt as he moved boxes and Vivian openly watched him while his back was turned to her.
The dealer from Enid arrived and shook hands with Matt, who made arrangements to get her car towed in and to call back and give him the estimate on repairs. Matt Whitewolf was a take-charge male, more so in some ways even than her ex-husband, yet so different. Every time Baker had tried to take control, it had been to see that things went his way. Each time Matt did, it was to help her, and she could appreciate the difference and really didn’t mind except it took some getting used to. Mary Catherine was playing in the pickup and seemed as happy as could be.
The two men turned and headed toward her and Matt introduced Jake Claiborne, the tall, brown-haired man who would repair her car.
“We’ll call with the estimate,” he said. “I have Matt’s number.”
“Thanks,” she said, standing and reaching for the carrier. Matt picked it up instead.
“How about sitting in an air-conditioned pickup now?” he asked.
“Fine,” she replied.
“Have we gotten everything you want out of the car?” Matt asked.
She glanced at the boxes and suitcases in Matt’s pickup. “I think we have more than enough,” she said, thinking she had enough to stay with him for a month instead of the next few days.
She moved to the pickup and watched while he stood near her car as Jake Claiborne began to get ready to tow it. Mary Catherine waited in the pickup with her, watching intently. “Can I go stand with Mr. Whitewolf and watch?”
“Yes, you may, I’m sure. Let me ask him.” She opened the window. “Matt, Mary Catherine wants to come watch with you.”
Turning toward her, he motioned to her to come join him. She was out of the pickup instantly and closed the door behind her. She ran over to stand beside him and he reached down to take her hand.
Surprised that Mary Catherine would let him hold her hand, Vivian looked at the two of them and knew that Mary Catherine was completely enthralled with watching their car get hitched to the tow truck and one end rise off the ground. Her fascination outweighed her fear and shyness.
Finally it was done and Matt and Mary Catherine returned to the pickup as Jake Claiborne drove back up to the road, leaving deep ruts in the soft, wet ground and tracking clumps of thick red clay along the highway.
“I’m amazed he could drive out of here. The ground is so muddy,” Vivian said as Mary Catherine and Matt buckled into their seats.
“He has four-wheel drive and there are some rocks along here. Otherwise he couldn’t have gotten out.” Matt started the pickup and glanced at her. “Are you tired? Want me to take you back home? I can get the groceries.”
“I’m fine and I’d like to go into town.”
He grinned. “I’ll bet you would. You’d like to go into Dallas, probably. Don’t get your hopes up. Atwater just has one big store.”
“That’s fine. I’m enjoying all this,” she said, waving her hand. “It’s peaceful.”
Matt’s grin and the wry glance he gave her indicated he thought otherwise, and she knew one of the big reasons she was enjoying the country was the man seated beside her only a few feet away.
Playing one of Mary Catherine’s guessing games
, they drove to Atwater, a small town with wide streets, tall leafy trees and sturdy frame houses. The main street consisted of three blocks and Matt pulled into a parking spot in front of the grocery store.
Vivian had a list of things to buy and Matt had a list, so they each took a grocery cart. She was astounded when he asked Mary Catherine if she wanted to ride in his grocery cart and help him pick out what she liked to eat and Mary Catherine nodded yes.
“Good. You can change to Mommy’s cart whenever you want and we’ll be real close to your mommy.” He lifted Mary Catherine into the cart and winked at Vivian as he turned away.
Vivian stared in shock, completely amazed that he had won over Mary Catherine so swiftly. “It runs in the family,” she said softly under her breath, thinking both she and Mary Catherine were becoming captivated by him. She knew it had been his quiet manner that had worn down Mary Catherine’s fears and then letting her help him load their belongings into his pickup.
“Now, what do you like to eat, Mary Catherine?” he asked as they moved away.
“Peanut butter and macaroni and carrots,” she answered, and Vivian wondered what he would come back with and how much she should take off her list. She knew if Mary Catherine lost her shyness around him, she would be her usual self and that meant she would ask for anything along the aisles that caught her fancy whether she really wanted to eat it or not. Yet Vivian wasn’t going to tell him to ignore Mary Catherine’s requests. He wouldn’t ignore them, and Vivian was deeply thankful to see Mary Catherine lose her fear of him. The past year she had become more and more fearful of men because of Baker. Vivian couldn’t think of one time Mary Catherine’s father had ever taken her to the grocery store.
She watched the tall cowboy pushing her daughter down an aisle, and before they had gone two feet, he stopped and began gathering boxes off the shelves while Mary Catherine pointed and instructed. Vivian could imagine what his grocery cart would soon look like. He looked up the aisle at Vivian, said something to Mary Catherine and turned the cart so she could see Vivian. They both waved and Vivian waved back and had to smile.
As she shopped, she was aware of constantly passing an aisle and looking down it to see Matt and Mary Catherine. If Mary Catherine spotted her, she waved and she seemed to be enjoying herself. As Vivian had expected, each time she saw them Matt’s basket was piled higher with groceries. Vivian hoped they weren’t exclusively things that Mary Catherine wanted.
Soon she noticed every time she spotted Matt, someone was talking to him. It was always a customer and each time a different one, and most of the time, a female.
When he finally joined her, she looked at his basket, bulging with goods. “Maybe I should get final approval of what Mary Catherine selected.”
“Naw, we’ll eat it all sooner or later.”
“I don’t think you can eat all those groceries this year,” she remarked dryly, picking up a box of marshmallow-filled cakes that Mary Catherine considered a very special treat.
Matt took the box from Vivian’s hands and placed it back in his cart. “There are four men on the place. We’ll eat everything.”
She leaned over and carefully withdrew a coloring book, a puzzle and a kaleidoscope and looked at Mary Catherine. “Mary Catherine, you have coloring books and your box of toys.”
Matt took the things out of Vivian’s hands and placed them back in his basket. “She didn’t ask for those. I got them for her,” he said, with that tone of voice that meant the subject was closed.
Vivian shook her head. “Whatever you want.” They began to move toward the checkout. “You know a lot of people here.”
His brows arched. “They’re here to check you out. Everyone knows everyone, but you’re the newcomer and they’re curious about you.”
“It isn’t me they’re talking to,” she replied with amusement.
“They’re looking.”
They pushed the carts to the checkout and stopped in line.
“Hey, Matt,” said a tall blonde, standing in the next line. Dressed in tight jeans and an even tighter blue T-shirt, she left her grocery cart and came over, moving close to Vivian to look at Julia. “Let me see this little baby that Matt brought into the world. What a sweet baby!”
“Vivian, this is Kitty Brogan,” Matt said. “Kitty, meet Vivian Ashland and Julia. You met Mary Catherine a few minutes ago.”
Vivian had to bite back a smile at the note of impatience in his voice. The crusty cowboy was back. Kitty leaned forward to look at the baby. “She’s beautiful.” Her gaze met Vivian’s and she laughed. “I would have thought he’d have gotten you to the hospital if he’d had to pick up his truck and carry it across Rabbit Creek himself.”
Vivian smiled. “He didn’t have much choice in the matter, but he did a fine job as you can see.”
“Sure did. And you’re staying out at his place! My, oh, my.”
The person ahead of Vivian finished and she pushed her cart toward the register. “It was nice to have met you, Kitty,” she said.
“Real nice to meet you, too.” Kitty placed her hand casually on Matt’s arm. “Now, you take her over to the café so everyone can see this precious baby, Matt.”
“Sure, Kitty. See you.”
“Vivian, don’t let him leave town without getting one of Betty’s malts.”
Vivian merely smiled and nodded.
Kitty laughed and sauntered back to her basket, moving to a clerk who no longer had any customers at his register.
“There isn’t some woman in your life I’m interfering with, is there?” Vivian asked as Matt moved his cart close behind hers.
“Nope, there sure isn’t,” he answered firmly.
They paid for the groceries and Matt asked the clerk to hold them until they could run other errands.
“Sure, Matt,” the tall black-haired clerk said, smiling at him. “They’ll be right by the door.”
“They’ll keep the groceries in here and in the freezer while we shop?” she asked with amazement.
“Yep. That’s one advantage of a little town.” Taking the carrier and Julia from her hands, he turned to her. “I have some things to get at the hardware store and the auto shop.” He followed Vivian and Mary Catherine through the door and paused on the walk in front of his pickup.
“Sure you’re not getting tired?” he asked.
“I’m sure. I had a nap this morning and one right after lunch. It’s nice to get out,” she said, gazing up at him, aware of the hot sun and cars passing in the street, but far more aware of Matt.
He took her arm. “Come on. I’ll go with you to the café and I’ll leave you there while I run my errands.”
They entered the high-ceilinged narrow room that had a crowd for the middle of a weekday afternoon. Kitty waved a greeting while Matt led Vivian around the room to introduce her, and Vivian decided Matt hadn’t been exaggerating when he said everyone knew everyone else. There was no one in the room he didn’t know, and finally Vivian ended up at the fountain with the baby carrier on it while Kitty got crayons and paper for Mary Catherine and people gathered around to look at Julia, who was sleeping through all of the attention. Matt picked up Mary Catherine and Vivian glanced once at her and saw that her daughter looked happy and had her arm around his neck.
“How about a chocolate or strawberry ice cream cone?” Matt asked Mary Catherine after a few minutes.
“Chocolate, please,” she replied.
“We’ll get something to eat,” he said to the crowd, “and then y’all can talk to Vivian some more.” Picking up the baby carrier, Matt carried both girls through the circle of people.
Vivian followed him to a booth and a waitress came toward them.
“While you order,” Matt said, swinging Mary Catherine down from his shoulders to the seat in the booth, “I’m going to run my errands. I’ll get my malt later.” He set the baby carrier on the table. “I have to run to the hardware store and the auto shop, then I’m going by to see the sheriff.”
&nbs
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“Yes,” he interrupted, glancing at Mary Catherine, who was happily coloring again. “I think he should know if you think someone might have been following you.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one to see the sheriff?”
“Nope, it isn’t necessary. If he wants to talk to you, I’ll tell him where to find you.”
“I’m going to be spoiled when I leave here.”
“That’s impossible.” Starting to kiss her goodbye, he leaned down, then blinked as if he realized what he was doing and where they were. He straightened. “I was about to start wild, wild rumors. You make me forget everything, Vivian,” he said solemnly. “See you. Bye, Mary Catherine.”
“Bye,” the little girl replied without looking up from her coloring.
Vivian watched him stride away and then her gaze shifted and she saw Kitty and several others were watching her. Kitty crossed the room and slid into the booth across from her. “I’ll sit here until Matt gets back.”
“Fine.”
“How did Matt find you? Or how did you find Matt?”
“Actually, Mary Catherine found him.” Vivian talked about the storm and the car wreck, but she suspected Kitty was far more interested in Matt, and several minutes later Kitty was asking questions about his house until she tilted her head and studied Vivian.
“Want a word of warning?”
“Yes,” Vivian said, experiencing a chill because a warning from Kitty could only mean one thing—beware of Matt.
“I probably shouldn’t say anything, but the word has it that you’re divorced in the last year or so.”
“That’s right.”
“So you might be a little vulnerable. Well, I’ll warn you—you’re staying with Newton County’s number one heartbreaker. Matt knows how to love ‘em and leave ’em.”
“There’s no problem,” Vivian said stiffly, hoping she could keep the surprise out of her voice. “I have my life and he has his,” she said casually, as two more women walked up to the table to join them.
Vivian answered questions perfunctorily, wondering about Matt, seeing a different view of him than before, realizing she knew little about his past.
