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“We don’t have to make tea, do we?”
“Not this time,” she told him. “Juice boxes will do the trick. And please note that the children are playing nicely, they’ve scrambled up and down that ladder at least a dozen times to gather treasures from under the trees, and no one has fallen.”
“Yet.”
“Oh, ye of little faith,” she chided him. She gave him a tiny elbow thrust to drive home her words. “Our instincts for survival tell us to hang on. To watch our step.”
“Preach that to me after your first trip to the E.R. on a busy Saturday.”
She nodded. “Good point. I might be singing a different tune then. Okay, peanut butter crackers, tiny cupcakes with sprinkles, and juice boxes. Our high tea is ready.”
* * *
She’d fussed about, putting everything on a foil-covered cookie sheet because he didn’t own a fancy tray. He thought the whole thing silly until he saw the kids’ eyes go wide as Rainey and he approached.
“This is so fancy!”
“Oh, I love it, Mommy!”
“Daddy, this is a great party!”
Luke’s heart swelled as he climbed the ladder. Rainey lifted the tray up to him, and as it changed hands, their gazes met again.
Sheer beauty.
And it wasn’t because of her lovely face, her gold-toned skin or the soft tumble of hair.
It was her spirit, shining through the smile she gave him.
His chest tightened, as it did the week before when he’d first laid eyes on her. But inside, his heart melted.
Think, man. She’s got a troubled history. And even if she didn’t commit the crime she did time for, she was part of the gang that held up that store.
He knew all that. Rainey’s teenage years had been nothing but trouble, but in all his years on the force, he’d seen a lot of kids change their lives. Why not her? Why not now?
You’re willing to risk Aiden’s well-being? You’re a grown man. He’s a kid who’s already drawn the short straw on mothers once. Leave it alone.
Luke had to. He knew it.
But ignoring this attraction to Rainey was the last thing he wanted to do.
She curtsied to the trio in the tree. “And when you’re finished with that, young royals, I’ll be sure to tidy up the castle forthwith.”
Her poor imitation of a highbrow British accent made them giggle. They ducked inside the little house, and their delighted voices made Luke silence the voices nagging him. “This was a great idea.”
Rainey aimed a wistful look at the tree house. “I missed a lot of tea parties while I was gone. I need to make that up to them.”
He longed to offer words of comfort, but they’d be just that. Empty words.
She noted his silence with a resigned look. “But I’m back now and determined to be a good mother.”
He couldn’t address that subject honestly, so he opted for a new topic, a safe one and hoped she didn’t notice his lack of segue. “How are the wedding plans coming? Everything going all right?”
* * *
His quick change of subject said Luke found her former actions reprehensible. Well, so did she, but that was then. This was now. “Quite well. We had a family meeting last night and all systems are go.”
He laughed. “My mother helped with my brothers’ weddings. She was insanely busy during the planning. And there wasn’t much I could do to help except haul furniture around. And deliver stuff.”
After seeing her uncle’s reaction the night before, Rainey completely understood. “Uncle Berto said the same thing. Still, those are important tasks when you’ve got a big party planned. And we’re adding a dairy section to our farm booth for the festival the week after, so I’ve got to make sure I have everything set for that. The wedding, the booth, the store, decorating.”
“That’s an ambitious project,” he mused. “Do you need a generator? I’ve got a portable one. I’m doing a petting zoo with the crew—” he motioned toward the barn “—but I don’t need electricity. They’ll have the park lights on, and temporary lights will be strung around the perimeters.”
“I could use an extra generator as backup. I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
He crossed the yard and sat down at the round picnic table under a sprawling maple tree. “Who’s manning the booth?”
“Me.”
His hesitation said he wasn’t oblivious to the talk around town.
“Julia and Marly are helping.” Rainey met his gaze frankly. “I think it’s best for people to see me. Talk to me. It’s time for folks to accept me as the adult I am, not the brat I was.”
“You think it’s that easy?” Luke’s face mirrored the concern in his voice, and it wasn’t hard to see the born protector in the man sitting opposite her.
“On the contrary, I think it will be very difficult. But sales are down since I took over the dairy store, and I can’t take the chance that my presence is hurting the farm. So I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Luke whistled softly. “That’s a lot to take on your shoulders, Rain.”
Her heart sighed.
The way he shortened her name sounded just right, coming from him. Sweet. Personal.
But there were multiple reasons why they could never be sweet and personal, so she ignored the adrenaline rush and redirected her attention to the far barn. “Can we meet the horses?”
“Aiden and Sonya will insist on introducing you to the entire menagerie, so yes. Absolutely. We can head over there now. The kids will find us.”
“Make them clean up the tree house first,” she instructed him. “You don’t want mice and rats up there, feasting after the kids are done.”
“The cats help keep them at bay.”
She nodded. “They do at the farm as well, but there’s no use tempting them into a kids’ play area, right? Do you have a whisk broom?”
“No. Nor do I even know what a whisk broom is. And don’t tell me you have one in your mother’s trunk, because that’s way too Mary Poppins.”
“Mary Poppins is preferable to my current image in town,” she told him. “Maybe you’ve got a short-handled broom in the barn?”
“I do.”
“Perfect.”
They approached the far paddock, and Rainey didn’t hesitate to climb the rungs of fencing, tempting the horses her way. The two mares shifted her a look, touched noses and proceeded to ignore her, kind of like the reaction she got from the kindergarten teachers, but the aged gelding walked her way, sensing a friend.
“Yes, old boy, hello.” She crooned the words and looped an arm around the horse’s neck. “Aren’t you just a love? And so beautiful, such a pretty shade of chestnut. What’s your name?”
“Spirit.”
She turned to Luke and smiled as the horse rubbed his cheek along her shoulder, begging to be stroked. “What a perfect name.”
“He was part of the county’s mounted patrol for over a decade. A few years after Spirit retired, the fellow that owned him died. His son took over the place and Spirit fell on hard times for half a dozen years.”
“Abused.”
“And neglected, underfed, unshod, long-in-the-tooth.” Luke reached over her head to scratch the old horse’s head. “I found him on a rescue call and brought him here.”
“Well, he’s gorgeous.” She touched her forehead against the horse’s neck, the scents of farm, barn, hay and horse a welcome home she’d missed. “I never realized how lucky I was to grow up on a farm until I was out in the big world and saw what the general population has to do to survive. Kids are so oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them. I was, anyway.”
“I think most of us are. Except our current quiet moment is about to be shattered.”
“Mommy, you’re meeting the horses!” Sonya raced to Rainey’s side and reached out to pet Spirit’s flank. “Hey, Spirit, this is my mommy. And that’s Bella over there.” She pointed across the paddock. “And that’s Oh My Stars, but we just call her Star.”
“They’re beautiful, Sonya.”
“Can we go around back to see the other animals?” Dorrie begged.
“Dad, let’s show her the goats. And the sheep.”
“And baby lambs,” Dorrie offered in a singsong voice, much as Rainey had done to the old horse.
Rainey turned to hop off the rail, but paused when Luke grasped her waist to help her down.
Firm. Strong. Rugged. Gentle.
All those qualities came through that simple touch, his hands gripping her middle as he set her onto firm ground.
She couldn’t look up, not just yet. He’d see the effect he had on her, and neither one of them could afford to cross the line they’d drawn in the sand.
He didn’t wait for her to look up. He ducked his head to see her and shoved his hands pointedly into his pockets. “We’re in trouble, Rain.”
She knew exactly what he meant, but shook her head firmly. “No, we’re not. We won’t allow ourselves to be.”
His bemused grin said they’d passed that point somewhere back in that school parking lot, and she worried the inside of her cheek, knowing he was right, but determined to prove him wrong. As long as he kept his hands, looks and smiles to himself.
Their eyes met as they rounded the corner, and his expression said he understood.
But then he smiled, which indicated he kind of liked their current roller coaster of emotions, and if she was totally honest with herself, she did, too. Which was another reason to make sure she applied the brakes, ASAP.
Dorrie skipped ahead, leading the way into the second barn. Then she sighed, exasperated, and led them back out the other side. “I forgot, Luke.”
“And then you remembered.”
She nodded and dashed around the perimeter fencing. “Luke says that animals like being outside on nice days, just like kids. So they’ll be over here, not in the barn.”
“I want to show her the sheep!”
“They’re my sheep. I get to show her!”
“Aiden, that’s selfish!”
“Mom!”
“Dad!”
Rainey stooped to their level as they curved around the rustic fencing. “How about you all show me? Dorrie, you tell me the ewe’s name. And Aiden, you and Sonya introduce me to the lambs.”
“But there are three babies.” Aiden’s frown said that didn’t add up, but then he grinned and pointed to his father. “Dad can tell you the last baby’s name.”
“That’s fair,” Luke supposed. As they approached the sheep pen, the sight of three little lambs, cozied together in the shade of a small wooden hutch, made Rainey sigh again. Their white fleece gleamed against golden wheat straw, and the image was like a shot from an old-world Nativity scene. “Oh, how precious! Aren’t they the sweetest things?”
Luke met her eyes, his expression saying the lambs might have some stiff competition today.
That look made Rainey long to be the sweetest thing in Luke Campbell’s life.
She was anything but that, so she turned back to the animals.
“They’re using these guys for the living Nativity at my parents’ church this year.” Arms loose on the uppermost rail, Luke turned his attention back to the lambs. “Testy O’Brien is bringing a somewhat stubborn donkey, and in lieu of camels, my three alpacas will take the place of the wise men’s mounts.”
A living Nativity scene. Home for the holidays. Christmas with her girls.
Tough emotions rose within Rainey. For the past three years, she’d volunteered to oversee the vet clinic and kennel in Oak Park, allowing others to spend the day with family, hoping to feel less alone.
She’d wept as she cared for the small creatures, wishing things were different. Wishing she was different.
But now she was back home, with her girls and her family. And a chance to have a real Christmas together.
She swallowed hard, pushing rough emotions aside as she grasped hold of the here and now. “That will be beautiful, Luke.”
He made a face. “My mother’s idea, and I’ve got the animals, so why not let her have her fun?”
“Grandma said I could help,” Aiden added. “But I have to dress warm.”
“Can we help, Mommy? Like we did last year?”
“Yes, can we?”
“We’ll see.” She didn’t dare make promises she might not be able to keep. But if she could, she’d have the girls at that living Nativity, marveling at the simplicity of Christ’s birth.
Chapter Four
