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“Yeah, she does,” Jake agreed reluctantly. Grace Sinclair was lovely and seemed nice and she was probably in for a world of hurt thanks to Justin.
“Hopefully Justin will step up.” Jeffrey looked at the little girls still in their high chairs happily finishing their meals. “What a mess,” he muttered under his breath.
What a mess, indeed. Jake’s stomach knotted as he thought of the moment of realization on his brother’s face and his ensuing race out of the kitchen.
He shouldn’t be surprised. That’s what Justin did best … make trouble and then run from whatever the consequences. Even though there was only a seventeen-minute difference in their ages, sometimes Jake felt as if his brother was seventeen years younger.
Jake had cleaned up plenty of Justin’s problems in the past, but he wasn’t running to the rescue this time. He couldn’t. Justin was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that he was now the father of three little girls.
“Maybe I should go check on her,” Kerri said and started to get out of her chair.
“No, I’ll go check. You stay here with the kids.” Wearily Jake pulled himself out of his chair.
“Bye-bye,” Bonnie said as Jake started toward the kitchen door.
For a moment he paused and stared at the three consequences of two adults’ carelessness. It had to be difficult for a third-grade teacher to be single-handedly raising three babies. Hell, it would be difficult for any woman alone, no matter what her profession.
Despite her words to the contrary, Jake had no idea if Grace needed financial help or not. Surely just buying diapers and essentials for three little ones would be a hardship on a teacher’s salary.
Girls need fathers in their lives. That’s what she’d said to him when she’d thought he was the daddy. Jake didn’t know what little girls needed, but he’d always believed that he and his brothers would have been better off with far less father in their lives.
“Bye-bye,” Bonnie said again, snapping him out of his momentary reverie.
He muttered a goodbye and then left the kitchen. Time would tell exactly what Grace needed from Justin and how his brother would step up to provide what she needed, what the little girls needed.
He was halfway to the front door when he heard Grace shriek from outside. With a burst of adrenaline he raced out the door. His heart nearly stopped when he saw her crumpled on the ground by the porch steps.
“Grace!” He rushed to her side as she sat up, her face unnaturally pale as she grabbed her left arm with her right. He glanced around but didn’t see Justin, and his truck was gone.
“What happened?” he asked as he reached a hand out to help her up off the ground.
“It was stupid. I missed the step and fell.” She winced as she got to her feet.
“What hurts?” he asked.
“I hit my shoulder.” Her face was still bleached white even though she attempted a smile. “I’m sure it’s fine.” As she tried to drop it to her side she hissed in obvious pain and pulled it back up again.
“That doesn’t look fine,” Jake replied with a scowl.
“I’m sure I’ll be okay. I just need to collect the girls and we’ll all be on our way.” They started up the stairs to the front door.
“I guess it didn’t go so great with Justin?” he asked even though he knew the answer.
She shot him a glance and he was surprised to see tears brimming in her eyes. She quickly looked away, as if embarrassed. “He basically just screamed that I’d ruined his life and then got into his truck and peeled off down the road. Yes, I think it’s safe to say that things didn’t go so great.”
“He doesn’t handle surprises very well,” Jake said as he opened the door for her. He cursed his natural impulse to make excuses for Justin. “I’m sure once he calms down he’ll be more reasonable.” At least that’s what Jake hoped would happen. But he figured Justin had probably done what he always did when he got upset—headed directly to Tony’s Tavern.
Grace slid through the door in front of him. “Once he calms down and is more reasonable he can call me or find me in Wichita. As soon as I pack up the girls, we’ll be on our way back home.”
He didn’t try to change her mind. Maybe the best thing would be for her to head home and give him an opportunity to talk some sense into his brother.
This wasn’t a speeding ticket that could be taken care of with the writing of a check. This wasn’t a drunk and disorderly charge where Jake could talk the sheriff into not locking Justin up in jail for the night.
“Everything all right?” Kerri asked worriedly as they reentered the kitchen.
“Fine,” Grace replied. “I want to thank you all for your wonderful hospitality, but it’s time the girls and I get back on the road. If I leave now I’ll be able to get home to Wichita before dark.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather spend the night here and get a fresh start in the morning?” Kerri asked as she got up from the table. “We certainly have plenty of room.”
Jake watched Grace, who shook her head negatively. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather just get back home,” she said.
Her cheeks hadn’t regained any color. He didn’t know if the paleness had to do with the situation or if it was the pain from her fall.
His question was answered the minute she tried to get Abby out of the high chair. Grace started to lift the child, but immediately cried out and grabbed her left shoulder instead.
“What happened?” Jeffrey asked as he jumped out of his chair and hurried to Grace’s side.
“I took a little tumble in the yard.” Her voice was filled with pain.
“Justin didn’t push you, did he?” Kerri asked, a touch of outrage in her voice. Jake looked at Kerri in surprise. As far as he knew his brother had never laid a finger on any woman, but of course he’d never found out he was the father of triplets before either.
“No, nothing like that,” Grace replied hurriedly. “I just missed a step, stumbled and went down.”
“We need to get you to the hospital and have that shoulder looked at,” Jake said, deciding somebody had to take control of the situation. There was no way he could let her leave knowing she couldn’t lift the little girls. It wouldn’t even be safe for her to drive her car.
He expected Grace to protest. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, she nodded, which let him know that it had to be hurting her quite a bit.
“Maybe you’re right. It’s really painful.” Still she made no move. She gazed at her three daughters, who were happily smooshing and playing and eating what was left on their plates.
“Then let’s go.” Jake dug his truck keys out of his pocket. “The girls will be fine here with Kerri and Jeffrey.”
“Absolutely,” Kerri replied with a reassuring smile. “It will be good practice for us.”
“I promise you, they’ll be fine,” Jake said to Grace. She held his gaze, as if trying to peer inside him to see if she could trust him. “Come on,” he said with a touch of impatience. “You can decide what you want to do about heading home after the doctor takes a look at you.”
He could tell she was reluctant to go, but it was obvious she was in a fair amount of pain. She was going to the hospital if he had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her there.
They didn’t speak as she followed him out of the house and they got into his truck.
A new surge of irritation filled him. He shouldn’t be the one taking her to the hospital. It should have been Justin. His brother should be the one taking care of the mother of his children, no matter what the circumstances.
“I’m so sorry,” she finally said as he pulled out of the drive and onto the main road that would take them to Cameron Creek.
“Don’t apologize. You didn’t fall on purpose,” he replied. He could smell her, the scent of a bouquet of wildflowers that was far too appealing.
“True, but the last thing I wanted was to be any kind of a bother to anyone.” She leaned back against the seat. For a moment she looked so achingly vulnerable Jake wanted to reach out and touch her, assure her somehow that everything was going to be fine.
Instead he clenched the steering wheel more tightly. “Look, I know Justin behaved badly. But I meant it when I said once he’s had time to digest everything I’m sure the two of you will be able to work something out.”
“All I really wanted was for him to know about them and maybe spend some time with the girls, be a positive role model in their lives.” She shifted positions and hissed in a breath, as if any kind of upper body movement caused her pain.
“You must have hit the ground pretty hard.”
“I did. I have a gun in my pocket, and even though the safety was on, as I was falling I was afraid I’d hit the ground so hard it would pop off and somehow I’d shoot myself, so I twisted to make sure my shoulder and not my side took the brunt of the fall.”
“A gun?” He looked at her in stunned surprise. She definitely didn’t look like the gun-toting type. “Why on earth would you have a gun in your pocket?”
“I didn’t know what kind of people you were. I wasn’t even sure I’d find Justin here. I wasn’t about to drive into a place where I’d never been before without some sort of protection for me and my girls. Besides, I got your address from a cyberfriend and my sister was afraid I might wind up at the home of some pervert sitting around in his underwear and stalking women over the internet.”
“I’m definitely not a pervert, but if Jeffrey and Kerri weren’t living with me, there might be times I’d sit around in my underwear,” he replied with a wry grin.
He felt himself relaxing a bit, some of his irritation passing. None of this was her fault, and he’d be a jerk to punish her for his brother’s actions or inactions.
He was rewarded with her smile, and her beauty with that gesture warming her features struck him square in the gut. He quickly focused his attention back on the road.
Okay, he could admit it to himself, he felt a little burn of physical attraction for Grace Sinclair. He shouldn’t be surprised. She was a beautiful woman, and it had been over a year since Jake and the woman he’d been seeing for almost six months had called it quits. Just because Grace attracted him didn’t mean there was a chance in hell that he’d follow through on it.
She was Justin’s issue, not his. And the very last thing Jake wanted in his life at this moment or at any time in the future was anyone who might need him. The last thing he needed was another issue to solve. He was totally burned out in that area.
He slowed his speed as they entered the city limits of Cameron Creek. Unlike a lot of the small towns in Oklahoma that were dying slow, painful deaths, Cameron Creek was thriving and growing. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the anomaly other than the fact that the city council of Cameron Creek worked hard to make it a pleasant place to live. It also helped that on the south side of town was a large dog food factory that employed most of the people in the area.
“Hopefully I’ve just bruised it and it will be fine in an hour or two,” she said as he parked in front of the attractive little hospital’s emergency room entrance.
“You still have that gun in your pocket?” he asked as he shut off the engine. She nodded. She used her right hand to reach in her left pocket and pulled out the revolver. “It would probably be best if you didn’t carry it into the emergency room. Do you mind if I lock it in the glove box?”
“You promise me you aren’t a pervert?” she asked with a touch of teasing in her voice.
An unexpected burst of laughter escaped him. “I promise,” he said as she offered him the gun. With it safely locked inside the glove box, they left the truck and headed through the emergency entrance.
Thankfully there was nobody in the waiting room and Grace was immediately whisked away to be seen by the doctor. Jake lowered himself into one of the waiting room chairs and tried to tamp down his aggravation with his brother.
There were times Jake dreamed of selling the ranch and leaving Oklahoma. There were days the thought of being on a deserted island all alone was infinitely appealing. But the vision was only appealing for a minute. He loved the ranch and would probably never leave.
Still, he’d thought that once he survived his childhood years life would get easier, but the death of his parents hadn’t changed anything. His responsibilities had only gotten heavier.
He was tired, and the only thing he wanted now was for the doctor to fix up Grace so she could be on her way home. He’d encourage his brother to do the right thing and then Jake would wash his hands of the whole mess.
He wouldn’t mind spending a little time with his nieces, eventually. But before that could happen Justin and Grace were going to have to figure things out. And that had nothing to do with him.
He’d spent most of his life shouldering responsibilities to make life easier on everyone else around him. Now what he wanted more than anything was just to be left alone.
It was almost an hour later that Dr. Wallington came out to greet him. Jake stood and shook the older man’s hand. Dr. Wallington had been their family doctor for years.
“Grace wanted me to come out and let you know she’s fine. X-rays showed no break, although her shoulder is severely sprained. I’m putting her in a sling to immobilize it for a couple of days and I’ve given her some pain medication. In the meantime she shouldn’t do any driving or lifting and I’ve told her if it isn’t better in three or four days she should come back in.”
Jake smiled, nodded and thanked the doctor while inwardly cringing at the news. There was no way he could put Grace in her car with three babies to return home. She was going to need help, and plenty of it.
A weary resignation rose up inside him. All he’d wanted from life was a little peace and quiet, but any hope for that flew out the window. His life was about to be turned upside down with the invasion of three little girls and a woman who disturbed him in a way no woman ever had before.
Chapter 3
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Grace muttered to herself as she waited for the nurse to return to the room to fit her with a sling. She’d been stupid to chase out of the house after Justin, and even more stupid to be so angry she’d managed to miss the first porch step and fall on her shoulder.
Now she was in a mess. The doctor had said she couldn’t drive and she couldn’t lift. How was she going to manage? The last thing she wanted to do was to ignore the doctor’s advice and exacerbate the injury.
Tears suddenly burned at her eyes. This whole trip had been a nightmare. She’d been stupid to believe that there was a possibility of a happy ending for her babies, that she’d somehow walk away from here with a loving, caring man committed to being an integral part of their lives.
In her very first encounter with Justin she’d thought he was charming and hot, but now she realized he was just an immature hothead.
She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted to believe that once the initial shock of the whole situation wore off, he’d step up and be a man. Be the father she wanted for her girls. But her first impression of him had definitely been a bad one.
In the meantime, she was going to have to leave this examining room and ask Jake, with his dark blue eyes and that edge of aloofness about him, if she could stay at his place for a couple of days until her shoulder healed enough that she could make it back home.
There was no way she could take the chance of trying to drive home alone, no way once she got there that she could take care of the girls. She certainly couldn’t depend on Natalie. Her sister might be good for an hour or two of help here and there, but not the kind of care it would take for the next couple of days.
She’d have to depend on the kindness of virtual strangers and she hated that. The tears threatened to fall and she wasn’t sure if they were caused by her situation, by Justin’s reaction or the pain that radiated down her arm from her injured shoulder. She quickly swallowed against the tears as the nurse reappeared in the room.
Within minutes her arm was immobilized, and she’d called Natalie to let her know what was going on. Afterward she walked into the waiting room where Jake stood staring out the window. For a moment she didn’t make a sound, just stared at his broad back.
He looked so solid. For a fleeting moment she wished he would have been the handsome cowboy at the wedding that night. It was a ridiculous thought. She knew no more about Jake than she did about his brother Justin. But what little she did know led her to believe that Jake would never find himself out of control, drunk in bed with a stranger. And he would have never torn out of a driveway after screaming to some woman that she’d ruined his life.
He whirled around as if he’d heard her thoughts, and he couldn’t quite hide the scowl that had apparently ridden his features before he’d turned.
“Ah, there you are,” he said smoothly as he approached her. “It looks as if you’re going to be our houseguest for a few days. I’ve already called Jeff and Kerri to get things arranged at the house.”
“I’m sure after a good night’s rest I’ll be fine to go home in the morning,” she said as they left the hospital and walked outside.
“We’ll see in the morning.” He didn’t sound too sure about her being capable of leaving that soon.
“I’m so sorry about this,” she said when they were both back in his truck.
“You really have to stop apologizing.” He smiled then and unexpected warmth fluttered in her chest. He had such a nice smile. “Accidents happen, Grace. We’re all just going to have to figure out how to make the best of things.”
“That’s what I was trying to do by coming here. I’d hoped to take a difficult situation and somehow make it work in the best interests of my daughters.” She paused for a long moment, and then continued, “I was a fool to come here.” A touch of bitterness laced her voice.
“I’m hoping by tomorrow you and Justin will be able to sit down together and work things through.”
“If today was any indication of the way one works things through with Justin then I don’t think my body can take it,” she replied drily.
He shot her a quick glance. “We’ll just have to make sure you stay on your feet tomorrow.”
“Tell me about him,” she said. “What does Justin do for a living?”
Jake hesitated a minute. “He works for me at the ranch part-time.”
That didn’t sound great. She wondered what he did with his other time. “I’m assuming he isn’t married. Does he have a girlfriend?”
Jake shot her a tight smile. “Justin dates a lot, although he’s been seeing Shirley Caldwell for the last couple of months. She works as a waitress at a café in Cameron Creek.”
