Carol Ross - The Rancher's Twins

“This is all delicious,” he said, because it was and because he realized she was watching him. “These pancakes might even be as good as Willa’s.”

“Ha. I’m sure they’re better.” She added a confident nod. “But who is this Willa competing for my top pancake honors? I hereby challenge her to a pancake throw-down.”

Jon laughed even as he wished she’d quit being so likable. It made this so much more difficult. “Willa Carnes, my neighbor. My best friend Zach’s mom. You met Sofie last night. She’s married to Zach. Willa is her mother-in-law.”

“Ranchers?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm. Lots of ranching going on around here, huh? Scooter mentioned a place called Blackwell Guest Ranch?”

“Yep, that would be my grandfather’s place.”

“Big E?”

Jon wasn’t surprised she’d already heard his name. The man was, if not infamous, then certainly renowned. “Elias Blackwell is his name but most everyone calls him Big E.”

“Does he live there with your parents?”

“He did, and so did I, until they died.” Jon managed to keep his voice flat and even, but it still surprised him how much it hurt to say the words out loud.

“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Sincerity infused her tone, making Jon suspect she was no stranger to grief herself. “Do you have other family?”

“Four brothers.” He scooped up another bite.

“Do they live on the ranch?”

“Not anymore.”

“Older or younger?”

“I’m the oldest. Three years younger are Ethan and Ben. Then two years after them, Chance and Tyler.”

“Wait, wait!” Hand up, she took a second to absorb that news. “Back the tractor up—your brothers are twin twins?”

“Twin twins?” He chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. Did you make that up?”

“I don’t know.” Grinning, she shook her head. “There’s just so many twins. And you have twins. It’s...”

“It is a fact that I have been the odd man out my entire life.”

Inquisitive blue eyes searched his before exploring the rest of his face and then traveling down to his hands and back up again. Her voice edged with wonder and maybe sympathy, she said, “Huh. I can’t imagine...”

She couldn’t. No one could. Being surrounded by twins, and looking after his younger brothers after their parents died, was a unique experience. He knew that. Then, to finally get out on his own, only to accidentally start a family and find out that he would be the father of twins? Honestly, it had felt like a blessing and a curse. And girls, to boot. If there was one area of his life that was his biggest weakness, it would be women. His string of stepgrandmothers hadn’t been interested in fulfilling any type of maternal role. He’d been shy in school and there weren’t any girls his age hanging around the ranch when he was growing up. Katie and her sister Maura were younger and close enough to being family that he hadn’t paid attention in any meaningful way.

He loved his daughters with every fiber of his being, yet his heart was perpetually raw and achy where they were concerned. He knew he wasn’t doing right by them. It seemed as if when things were going well in one area, they were lacking in another. Like if he spent too much time cooking healthy meals, he didn’t have enough left over to read to them. If he was teaching them about the ranch, there was no time for games. If they were riding horses, there was no book learning going on. He spent a lot of time wondering how other single parents got along. But he didn’t want to talk about that.

Shrugging a shoulder, he hoped to throw her off the subject. “It is what it is.”

Her sympathetic smile told him she knew it was more than that, yet she let it go. He appreciated that. “So, do you have like a list for me? I reviewed my paperwork last night and all it says is some cooking, which we just covered, light cleaning, child care and other. We need to talk about that other.”

“We need to have a different discussion.”

Her inquisitive gaze met his. “Oh. Okay?”

“I’m going to get right to the point.”

“Please do.”

The phone in his pocket alerted him that Katie was calling. “Excuse me a second.” He swiped the screen to answer it. “Hey, Katie, what’s up?”

“Jon, I know you’re coming over later to take care of that bill, but I have a situation. Is there any chance you can move it up?”

“Sure. What time?”

“As soon as possible.”

“What’s going on?”

He knew her sigh of irritation wasn’t directed at him. “It would save us both a lot of time if I could explain when you get here. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

Unnerving how he’d heard those same words from Grace the day before.

“I do know that. I’ll leave right now.”

He clicked off the phone and looked at Lydia. “I’m sorry. I’m going to have to ask that we postpone this conversation again. I need to head out to my grandfather’s place.”

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