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The reverend shook her hand. “How nice to meet you. Now, if you two will face forward…” He frowned. “Uh, Bill, can you hold the two little ones?”
“Sure, Pastor, I’ll just sit here in the front row. After all, I’m the witness, too.” He took Betsy out of John’s arms and then took the little boy’s hand after his mother set him down on the floor.
John’s frown deepened. He hated this! After his last marriage, he’d vowed never to marry again. Never to give some woman power over him. And he wasn’t including that vulnerability as a part of this marriage. He’d told Bill that.
He finally forced himself to look his new wife in the face. She had brown hair, pale skin, vulnerable gray eyes…
No! He stopped himself with a sharp command. Her looks didn’t matter. He was hiring her! That was how he was going to get through this day, by pretending he was hiring her for a job. Not to be his wife.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony,” Reverend Jackson began.
John pressed his lips together, trying to ignore all the wrong things about that statement that seemed to burn a hole in his gut. He felt deceitful—not easy for a man who’d lived an honest life till now.
Before he knew it, the pastor had spoken those terrible words, “I now pronounce you man and wife.”
John remembered what would naturally follow those words and he hurriedly said, “Uh, thanks, Reverend Jackson. We’ll definitely have you out for dinner after calving season.” Then he shoved a white envelope in the man’s hand and turned to Bill to get his little girl.
As he reached for Betsy, the shaggy-haired boy looked up at him. Shyly he asked, “Are you a cowboy?”
The question surprised him. He looked down at the blue suit he wore. He’d bought it three years ago when his father died. Not the best memory. He shut it down. “Yeah, I’m a cowboy.”
“Not now, Andy,” the woman whispered.
Turning to stare at her, John wondered what was so horrible that the little boy wanted to ask. He nodded at Bill. “You’ll get them back to the ranch? I’ll see you there.”
He ignored Bill’s protest as he walked out of the church, Betsy in his arms.
Debra watched the man walk away. He was a handsome man, in his late twenties, tall and muscular, with sea-blue eyes. The kind of man any young woman would dream of marrying. Unless she was wise enough to know that looks didn’t matter. Her own husband—her first husband, she reminded herself—had been handsome. But he hadn’t been much of a husband. Not that John Richey seemed so marriage-minded, either.
She whirled back around to glare at her uncle. “You told me he was happy with this arrangement. That he would be a father to Andy. That he appreciated what I was doing!” Those had been the assurances her uncle had given her in the foyer of the church. She knew her son needed a daddy, and it seemed she and John could help each other, as Bill had explained it.
“Now, Debbie, don’t get upset. Not in front of Andy,” Bill cautioned.
“You lied to me, Uncle Bill,” she said in a fierce whisper. “You lured me out here, where I have no way of getting back to Kansas City, and then you lied to me!”
“It’s not really like that, Debbie, I swear. He’s just angry at—at the idea of marrying again. After all, he’s a widower. He needs time, but he don’t have any ’cause it’s March and calving season is starting and we need someone to take care of Betsy and cook and clean for us. We’re out in the saddle almost fifteen hours a day. And that’s where you come in.”
Debra stared at her uncle as he drew a deep breath. “Then why didn’t he just hire me as his housekeeper?”
“’Cause he ain’t got no money, honey. He didn’t figure no one would work for him unless he could promise them something.”
“Uncle Bill, you conned me! If I could, I’d head home right now!”
“You’d take Andy back to that tiny apartment when you can go to a wonderful home? Where he can have a place to play and have you around all day? Come on, Debra! You’re a better mother than that. And think about that poor little baby girl, being raised by a couple of cowhands. We hardly know nothing about babies!”
“Oh, give it a rest, Uncle Bill. What’s done is done. Take me to my new home and outstanding future opportunity,” Debra said with a weary sigh.
Bill helped her and Andy back into his truck and continued on down the road, the small town long gone in the rearview mirror. “I really thought you and John could help each other out. He’s just so crazed about getting married, but he’ll settle down if you give him a little while.”
“What choice do I have?” she asked, not expecting an answer.
They rode in silence until Bill stopped the truck in front of a beautiful house. Debra stared at it in shock. Having been told that the man didn’t have money to pay a housekeeper, she’d expected a tiny log cabin she’d have to share with him and her uncle.
Instead, she was looking at a large, two-story farmhouse-style home with large windows and an inviting front porch. Shade trees along the property made it look welcoming and big enough to house a platoon of soldiers. This was to be her home?
Finally she turned to look at her uncle. “What— I expected— Is this a joke?”
“Only on John,” Bill said. When his niece continued to stare at him, he had to explain. “I think he married her too fast, without getting to know her.”
“How’d he meet his first wife?” Debra asked.
“At a rodeo in Cheyenne. His dad had just died. He was off balance, needing to be connected to someone. After they got married, she insisted on a new house, new car, jewelry, anything else she could think of. He was in love and he tried to give her everything he could. Especially when he found out she was pregnant.”
In a whisper, Debra muttered, “And then she died.”
“Not before she ran away with a man who promised to make her a star in Hollywood. She left her two-month-old baby behind without a thought.” Bill couldn’t keep the anger from his voice. “We got in that evening to hear Betsy bawling. She was wet and hungry. We didn’t know what had happened. John almost went crazy until the state highway patrol called.”
Debra stared at him in horror.
“Yeah,” Bill agreed. “John just about went to pieces. He would have if it hadn’t been for Betsy. She needed him.”
“I see,” Debra said slowly. “John and I have more in common than I’d first thought.” Her husband of two months, who’d married her because she was pregnant, even though she was still in high school, gave up his marriage and his job before she got out of high school. His new job choice was drug dealing. He was dead within two weeks.
Bill put a callused hand on hers. “I know. Come on inside.”
Inside, the house lived up to its exterior beauty. Almost. Not that there was anything wrong with the inside that a little cleaning wouldn’t improve. Debra stared at the family room furnished with three leather couches in a U-shape around a massive stone fireplace. The area was larger than her mother’s entire apartment had been.
John came walking into the room from the hallway, holding a piece of paper out to her. “Here’s Betsy’s schedule. You may choose any of the upstairs bedrooms you want, but stay out of the one down here. It’s mine. Dinner should be sometime between seven and eight. There will be four of us at the table in addition to you and the children.” He pointed to the rear of the house. “The laundry room is in that direction. Anything you can do there will be appreciated.” His voice was calm but challenging, as if he thought she wouldn’t be able to do all he asked.
“John—” Bill began, but John didn’t wait.
“I’ll see you in the barn, Bill,” he said and walked out the door.
Debra waited until her uncle turned to look at her, a helpless expression on his face. “It’s all right, Uncle Bill. I told you I’d work hard. And I realize we’re both in a situation that we now can’t change.” She straightened her spine and looked around. “How big a ranch is this?”
“It’s not all that big. Fifteen thousand acres. That’s—” He hung his head, fingering the hat he held in his hands. Without looking up, he said, “We needed help. Debbie, I swear, if you’ll give him a little time—”
“He’s got all the time in the world until I can find a way to make enough money to get me and my son back home.”
Debra investigated the house and determined the two bedrooms she and Andy would take upstairs.
The third bedroom, next to hers, was occupied by a sleeping baby. Debra stood at the crib, looking down at Betsy. The blond-haired child was so sweet. Babies always were.
Debra smiled, remembering Andy’s younger years. Then she heard her son calling her and rushed out of the baby’s room to keep him from awakening Betsy.
“Do you like your room, Andy?” she asked.
“It’s big, Mommy. I think I’d rather stay with you.”
She put her arms around him. “You’ll be right next door to me, baby. And it means you can sleep later without me waking you up. You’ll get used to it, I promise.” She hugged him tighter. “How ’bout we go to the kitchen and see if we can find you a snack?”
Downstairs she discovered a beautiful kitchen, complete with all the latest appliances. Since she was a short-order cook, she appreciated the convenience of a large, modern kitchen. The one good thing she could say about the job at Joe’s Diner was that it had allowed her to spend the late afternoons and evenings with Andy. Of course, she’d had to go to bed when he did since she got up at four-thirty in the morning to go to work. Her entire paycheck went to her mother. Eileen demanded money for letting them live with her, money for taking care of Andy. Money for everything.
The only money Debra had secreted away was her share of the tip money that Joe, the owner, had given her at the end of each month. It hadn’t come to much, but it allowed her to buy Andy clothes and occasionally treat him to something special.
She should’ve saved it so she could get back to Kansas.
Then she stopped to consider her own words. Did she want to go back? Did she want that life? She shuddered. The answer was no. She probably wouldn’t be the man’s wife for long, but at least she would have some respite from having to abandon her son every morning. And God knew, she couldn’t go back to living with her mother, not knowing what she did now.
“Mommy?”
“Oh, yes, honey, I’m sorry. Let’s go find that snack.”
She’d assumed she’d find the cupboard bare if this man—her new husband—was so broke he couldn’t pay for anyone to help him. However, she found his penniless state didn’t apply to the kitchen. The refrigerator was stocked and a nearby freezer was full of frozen beef.
Checking the clock, she removed some meat for the evening dinner she was expected to prepare. Then she found some crackers and peanut butter for Andy.
“I like peanut butter,” he said, smiling for the first time since they’d gotten off the plane in Casper that morning.
“I know you do, sweetheart.”
“Eileen didn’t like to give me peanut butter,” Andy muttered. Her mother had insisted Andy call her by her first name so people wouldn’t realize she was a grandmother.
Debra leaned over to brush back a wisp of Andy’s hair. “I know, sweetie. That’s one good thing about living here. No Eileen.”
“Really?”
“Really, Andy. You get to stay home with me and your new sister, Betsy.”
He frowned. “But she’s a girl.”
She couldn’t stifle a laugh. “So am I, young man. You’ll grow to love Betsy. Her daddy says she’ll be up soon and then you’ll really get to meet her. You’ll see. It will be great.”
As Andy ate, Debra moved about the kitchen, locating equipment and ingredients, mentally inventorying the pantry, that was well organized. If John’s wife had done all this, she must have been a good cook.
In the monitor on the table Debra heard the sound of a baby stirring.
“Betsy’s awake,” she told Andy. “Wait here and I’ll go get her.”
When she entered the baby’s room, Betsy was standing in her bed, holding on to the rails, beginning to get unhappy. Debra crossed over to her and picked her up. “Hello, there, Betsy. I’m your new mommy. Let’s see. Ah, yes, you need a diaper change, don’t you?”
She laid the baby down in her crib and found a clean diaper in the holder at the end. “Your daddy has everything organized, doesn’t he? He must be a good daddy, Betsy.”
And that was the first thing she found to like about John Richey.
John rushed as he rubbed down his horse. “Sorry, Beauty, but I’m in a hurry,” he whispered.
“Did you say something, boss?” Mikey asked, peering around the dark horse John was working on.
“Uh, no, Mikey, nothing.” Mikey was young, but a hard worker.
“You sure the missus don’t mind us coming to the house for dinner tonight?” Jess, his other cowhand, asked.
John hurriedly looked away from Bill’s worried frown. “I’m sure. I told her we’d all four be there. But I don’t know what kind of cook she is, so blame Bill if it’s awful.” He figured even Jess wouldn’t have the nerve to question Bill. Both guys were just a little afraid of him.
“Can’t be worse than our cooking,” Jess grumbled.
“I’m sure Debra will have a good meal ready,” Bill said with bravado. “I mean, she used to be a cook. How bad can it be?”
“I’m hungry enough to eat a bear, so let’s just hurry,” Mikey said.
All four men walked to the house together. John was beginning to wish he hadn’t planned on all of them coming to the house to eat this evening. He was beginning to fear that the woman might have done nothing just to pay him back for his rudeness to her earlier. She could completely humiliate him.
Betsy.
He’d walked out on Betsy and left her with a stranger. That thought hadn’t struck him until just now.
How could he have done that? Betsy was the most important part of his life. And he’d trusted her to his new wife.
Speeding up, he reached the house before his men.
When he entered, he ignored the warm fire in the fireplace, the delicious aroma in the air, the place settings on the table. All he could think of was his child.
When Debra walked out of the kitchen, all he said was, “Where’s Betsy?”
CHAPTER TWO
“SHE’s already in bed. Is there a problem?”
Debra stared at John’s worried face. Had she done something wrong?
“I’ll go check on her,” he said.
She stepped in his way. “I thought maybe you’d all like to shower and change into clean clothes before dinner.”
“What’s wrong? Don’t we smell pretty enough for you?”
Her back stiffened, but her voice remained calm. “I was only thinking of your comfort.”
“Well, I might have clean clothes here, but the others don’t,” he snapped.
She already knew the answer to her question, but she let her eyes widen with innocence. “You mean all the laundry I did today was yours?”
He started to speak but promptly shut his mouth and stared at her. Finally he said, “You did all the laundry today?”
“Yes.” She walked into the mudroom where she heard the other cowboys and her uncle. She told the men, “I divided the clothes into stacks by size, since I didn’t know what belonged to each of you.” She gestured toward the shower stall. “I thought you might be more comfortable if you showered and dressed in clean clothes that you could put on again in the morning and work in. Does that seem like a good idea to you?” Without awaiting their answer, she continued. “And while you’re doing that, I’ll put dinner on the table.”
The men all nodded and immediately grabbed their clean clothes. Debra delicately withdrew and pulled the door behind her. Only John was on this side of the door.
