Barbara McMahon - Mirror Image Bride

She watched him in silence for a few minutes, wishing she knew what he was talking about. The man intrigued her, but puzzled her even more. She shook her head. “Sorry, you’re going to have to spell it out.”

“You’ve already lasted at the ranch longer than I thought you would.”

“Meaning?”

“There’s not a lot of excitement for a city girl. You’ll be heading back to the bright lights before long once the novelty wears off. I want to know if you can hang on long enough for Darcy to start school.”

“I’m having a great time visiting here. Granted, my apartment and all is in Fort Worth, but my family’s here.”

“New family. Amazing, the resemblance between you and Violet.”

She arched a brow. “We’re twins.”

He nodded. “When Violet suggested you help Darcy I thought she was crazy, but it made sort of sense. Darcy’s been raised in a city. I know ranching life is different.” He exhaled slowly. “Maybe you can help her transition.”

“What do you have in mind?”

He looked over at her again. “For one thing, try to get her to see the advantages of living here. She seems to like the animals. If she learns to ride, I’ll get her a pony of her own. Maybe a dog. I bet Violet would let her gather eggs and feed the pigs. Get her used to being here. You can relate—you’re city through and through.”

“Which doesn’t mean I don’t realize the advantages of living here.”

“You both need more suitable clothes,” he said. “She needs jeans and boots to learn to ride. Long-sleeved shirts to protect her arms. A hat for shade.”

Maddie noticed his glance at her own clothes. They were not suitable for the rough-and-tumble of ranching. Not that she was riding or punching cattle. Momentarily sidetracked, she wondered what punching cattle even meant.

“Ranch kids start helping as soon as they can walk, with chores suitable for their ages.” He gazed at her. “She can do dishes, right? I’d like you to encourage her to make her bed, make sure her clothes are taken care of.”

Maddie nodded. “We’ll need to go shopping. You do know she doesn’t have anything from home except what social services packed that day. What happened to the furnishings and toys and clothes and all from the apartment?”

“I don’t know and don’t care,” he said curtly.

“A little girl has cherished toys, favorite books, special clothes. It would help her adjust to have familiar things around.”

He thought about it for a minute. “I’ll contact social services and see what they tell me. I never thought about it, to tell the truth. One minute I’m doing my job, the next minute I find out I’m a father. And have been for eight years, which my ex-wife conveniently forgot to tell me. Thinking about Darcy’s stuff was the last thing on my mind.”

“I know.” Maddie was silent for a moment. Then she looked at him.

“We have a lot in common, don’t we?”

“Like?” He frowned. She could tell he didn’t like the idea.

“You never knew about Darcy, and I never knew about Violet or Jack or Belle.”

“True. But that’s all,” he said quickly.

Maddie knew he didn’t like her—was it because she reminded him of his ex-wife?

Was he against all people who lived in cities? That would be dumb.

“I like it here,” she said simply.

His jaw clenched. “For now,” he countered.

She stood up and faced him. He put his foot on the ground and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He stood several inches taller than she did and when he narrowed his eyes, as he was doing now, he could be very intimidating. However, she’d caught a hint of vulnerability a couple of times, which gave her courage to say,

“I’m not Darcy’s mother. You can’t judge me by what happened between you two. Maybe I was raised in the city, but I like it here fine. If I thought I could fit in, I might consider staying.”

“No one’s asked you to,” he said.

Maddie nodded. There was that. And her recent work history was on a magazine, hardly conducive to working on a ranch.

“Still, don’t judge me by her.”

“Early days yet.”

“You are the most stubborn man, you know that?”

A glimmer of amusement showed in his eyes. “So I’ve been told,” he replied.

Maddie was captivated by that glimmer. So he did have a sense of humor. She never would have thought insulting him would almost result in a smile.

He cleared his throat. “Darcy’s mother hated the routine of ranching, the constant need to care for the animals. Even the weather. Mostly she hated the idea of being isolated,” he explained.

Maddie was longing to ask questions about his marriage, but refrained. It was not any business of hers. She knew enough—they’d had a child Ty had not known about. And now his ex-wife was dead. Too young to die.

But then her own mother had been too young to die. And she’d been too young to lose her mother.

She couldn’t bear to think Darcy might become alone in the world if something happened to her father. Of course she’d heard mention of grandparents. Surely they’d step in if needed.

“Take Darcy into town tomorrow and buy her some suitable clothes,” Ty said.

Maddie looked at him again. “You’ll need to come as well.”

“I don’t do shopping.”

She smiled. “Obviously you do or there’d be no food in the house or clothes on your back. We won’t be long, but you’ll know what she needs better than I will. And you can tell me what to get for me as well. We’ll have a shopping spree,” she said with a wide smile. She loved shopping.

He stared at her as if she’d lost her marbles.

Maddie giggled. “It’ll be fun. Think of it as a bonding experience with your daughter.”

“Put it that way, I’ll go. But we only need to stop at the Feed and Grain. They have all we’ll need.”

“Works for me.” Her heart beat faster thinking about spending time with Ty tomorrow. And Darcy, of course. He’d surprised her by agreeing to go. Still, she knew he was making a serious effort to get to know his daughter and applauded him for it.

“I’m going now. What time should I be here in the morning?” she asked.

“I’d like an early start on chores—especially if I’m leaving for part of the day. Six?”

She nodded, wishing she could sleep in a little later. But she was out to prove to this man that she could do the job. “Six’ll be fine. See you then.”

She walked slowly back to the main house, thinking about Ty. He was definitely a competent ranch foreman, but she could see he was lost when dealing with Darcy. She hoped she could help them both.

Violet sat in the living room, leafing through a magazine when Maddie entered.

“So how was the first day on the job? I missed you at dinner,” Violet said, patting the sofa next to her in silent invitation.

“Things went okay. I’ll probably be eating most of my meals there with Darcy. Which is fine with me. It gives me a chance to cook.” Maddie crossed to the sofa and sat beside her twin. “Where’s Landon?”

“On some phone call he couldn’t miss.”

Since Landon and Violet had become engaged, he split his time between the ranch and Fort Worth, where he worked. He was currently overseeing plans to remodel the guesthouse on the ranch and talked about moving his company here permanently after they were married. At one time, it was odd for Maddie to imagine Landon living away from the hustle and bustle of Fort Worth. But he’d changed since falling in love with her sister. She prayed everything would work out for the best for them both.

“What can you tell me about Ty that would help me?” she asked.

When Violet had introduced her to all the ranch hands her first few days visiting, she’d said he’d worked for them for eight years. She had to know more than Maddie did.