Linda Ford - Falling for the Rancher Father

“What would you like to do?” she asked the pair.

“I’m not supposed to do anything,” Allie said, a little tremor in her voice.

“Your father said you were to take it easy. There are still lots of things you can do.”

“Like what?” Both children leaned forward, eagerness in every muscle.

She looked about. “Lots of things.” And she’d dream them up in the next few minutes.

She’d prove to Mr. Abel Borgard that she could be trusted not to act foolishly. Not that she ever did. No matter what his opinion of her activities.

Chapter Three

Abel considered the work he’d accomplished. Trees selected for the cabin and cut down. Some firewood gathered. Despite the crisp air, he worked with his shirtsleeves rolled up, sweat trickling down his back. Today held more urgency than just the approaching winter. Mercy was back at the cabin with his children and his nerves tingled at the idea. He’d only seen the woman twice and both times her behavior had given his heart a fit. Would he get home to find the children swinging from the rafters or jumping off the bed?

He swung his ax with renewed vigor. The best thing he could do was get as much work done in as little time as possible.

A few minutes later he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. That’s when his neck muscles twitched. Something or someone watched him. He could feel it. He jerked about. A dark shadow ducked into the bushes. But not before he’d seen enough to know it was not an animal but a squat man with a dark beard down to his chest.

His heart did a persistent two-step inside his chest, making it hard to get a decent breath.

He pretended to study a tree as if considering how best to chop it down, hoping he’d see the man again. He didn’t much care for someone to be spying on him, but at least if Abel could see him he’d know the children were safe. Maybe he should forget getting logs and head back.

He warred between the urgency of his task and the need to assure himself of the children’s safety.

One simple fact persuaded him to return to swinging his ax.

Mercy had a gun—he’d seen the bulge in her jacket as she returned to the cabin after penning her horse. He had no doubt she knew how to use it. Nor did he think she would hesitate to do so if the need arose. She’d probably jump at the chance.

He chuckled softly as he realized her foolish behavior provided him with a bit of comfort at the moment.

Twice more he glimpsed the dark shadow of the man. What kind of person spied on another? But after a bit he stopped worrying about the mysterious man, who did nothing to make Abel feel threatened. And as long as he was content to watch Abel, those back at the cabin were safe.

He worked steadily into the afternoon, pausing briefly only to drink from his canteen, chow down a sandwich or wipe his brow. As the shadows lengthened, he headed back to the cabin. He’d seen no sign of the intruder for the past hour and hoped the man had left the vicinity. But he wouldn’t be completely at ease until he reached the cabin and saw the twins for himself.

He tended Sam first, knowing he would not want to return to the job once he entered the cabin. He put the saddle and blanket in the little shed that offered a modicum of protection, then crossed the yard, threw open the door and ducked inside.

The aroma that greeted him filled his mouth with saliva. How pleasant to come home to a hot meal after a hard day of work. He’d always hoped Ruby would change, would someday decide she liked being married, liked being a mother, liked tending the home. It had never happened and now it was too late for dreams. He would never again risk his children’s happiness for the hope of a happy home, and certainly not for the sake of a hot meal. Though it would be pleasant to have something besides beans and bannock for a change.

“The place is getting cold,” Mercy said, reminding him he stood in the open doorway.

He closed the door and swung the children off their feet in a big hug. He studied each face. No guilt on either. No heightened color in Allie’s cheeks. That was good. And no one mentioned a whiskered man visiting. The last of his tension slipped away.

“Your supper is ready.” Mercy shrugged. “I thought you might be hungry.” She slipped past him and snagged her jacket from the hook by the door. “I’ll be on my way.”

“Do you think Mrs. Gardiner and her son will be recovered by tomorrow?”

Mercy gave him a look so full of disbelief he felt a little foolish. “I wouldn’t think so. It usually takes a few days to get over a cold, doesn’t it?”

“I guess so.” Abel’s thoughts raced. He still had a lot of work to do and he couldn’t leave the children unsupervised while he was away. He looked about again. The children were in one piece. A meal awaited him. That left him one option. He made up his mind and had to act quickly before he thought better of it.

“Can I persuade you to work for me until such time as the children can go to the ranch again? I’ll pay you a fair wage.”

The children grabbed his hands and grinned up at him then turned to Mercy.

“Please, Mercy,” they chorused.

He wondered if he should correct the way they addressed her but, instead, he waited for her to answer, finding himself as tense and eager as they seemed to be. Eager? No. Simply desperate.

Mercy looked at each of the children, then brought her gaze to him, regarding him steadily as if daring him to voice any objection to the way she had managed.

He couldn’t and returned her look for look, noting, for the first time, the deep brown of her eyes and how her mahogany hair framed a very pretty face.

“I enjoyed spending the day with the children,” she said, smiling at them. Her smile disappeared as she again looked at him. “I’d love to come as long as they need me.”

“Thank you.” It was only for the children, he silently repeated. She made it clear she felt the same way. Not that it mattered to him one little bit.

“I’ll return in the morning then.” She brushed her fingers across Allie’s cheek and then Ladd’s. “See you two tomorrow.” And she left without a word of farewell to him.

Not that he cared, he insisted. But the tiny cabin seemed empty...a feeling that intensified after the twins went to bed.

Determined to dismiss such irrational thoughts, he pulled the Bible off the shelf and read it. His parents had raised him to look for answers to life’s problem in the words of scripture and to obey unquestioningly the precepts set out there. Since the twins’ births he had found strength and guidance in the pages of the Bible, just as his parents had taught.

But tonight he found no solution for the restlessness that plagued him.

Finally he gave up and prepared for bed. Thankfully the cold air and hard work of the day enabled him to fall into a sound sleep.

The next morning, the children could barely be persuaded to stay in bed long enough for him to start the fire and take the chill off the room.

“When will Mercy be here?” Allie asked for the twentieth time.

“Let’s have breakfast first.” He tried to corral them both to sit at the table, but they kept bouncing up to throw open the door and see if Mercy approached.

After a few such interruptions, Abel grew annoyed. “Miss Mercy is only helping for a few days. You’re simply asking for trouble if you think it’s anything more.”

Wide-eyed and disbelieving, the twins stared at him.

“Didn’t she say she meant to join a Wild West show?” he added to press home his point.

Their gazes grew wary.

“That means she’ll be traveling all over the country, living with the others in the show.” It sounded like a restless sort of life he wouldn’t welcome. He’d tried it already and knew it offered adventure but gave only emptiness. But to each her own. “You won’t see her much after that.”