Twins Under The Tree

CHAPTER TWO

Four months later

“EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT TODAY?” After checking to make sure Jenna Moran’s car wasn’t parked out front, Hadley banged through the door at the McMann ranch. Jenna’s weekly visits to the twins irritated him. He didn’t like being under a microscope. Who was she to judge him? He was glad she wasn’t there tonight because he needed to speak to Clara, the widowed owner of the ranch, about their living situation.

Clara rushed into the hall carrying both twins. “Couldn’t be better,” she said, but her eyes didn’t meet his, and Hadley reminded himself, as he did most nights, that she wasn’t a young woman anymore. With graying dark hair and light brown eyes, Clara was still slim, even thin, and she must be worn out after all day tending to his babies. Yet she’d taken over their care without a qualm. In fact, it had been Clara’s suggestion for them to move in with her rather than return to the small apartment he’d shared with Amy. The only time Clara seemed flustered was when Jenna Moran came to the ranch, and only because Clara picked up on the tension between Jenna and Hadley.

“Got home soon as I could,” he said. “Had a cow run through some wire and need stitches. Sorry I’m late.”

“You aren’t, dear. We’ve been fine.” She glanced down at Gracie. “But she was a tad cranky this afternoon.”

Teething already? Hadley started to slip a finger in Gracie’s mouth to see if her gums were tender but thought better of it. He’d washed up at the NLS ranch, where he worked, but he doubted his hands were clean enough.

When he’d lived with Amy, Hadley used to take the long way home. Now and then he’d stop at Rowdy’s, the only bar in town, for one beer before he continued on to the apartment. By the time he got there, Amy would have that look in her eyes that seemed to beg him to love her. “It’s not in me,” he’d told her a million times, yet she’d always chosen to believe he could change. Would it have killed him to let her think he really loved her before she died having his babies? They were his daily reminder of the wrong he’d done Amy.

He was also being unfair now to Clara, the kindest person he knew. Hadley owed her, not the other way around. In his teens the McManns had become his last foster parents, and he’d spent several years on their midsize ranch, learning to cowboy from Clara’s husband, Cliff. He’d also learned to be a man—as much as he ever would be, considering his beginnings. By eighteen he’d been on his own, but no other place had ever felt the same, so finally Hadley had come back to Barren. A few years later he’d met Amy, married her, and he was still here, though he got twitchy whenever he stayed anywhere too long.

Hadley’s talk with Clara had to wait until the twins finally fell asleep—at the same time, for once. He and Clara stood by their crib, which the babies shared, just gazing at them. Both twins had their thumbs in their mouths, and their eyes were closed with that expression of utter peace on their faces that always caught at his heart. Hadley laid a hand on each little chest.

“You don’t have to check every night,” Clara said with a knowing smile. “They’re healthy as can be and ready to make more energy for tomorrow.”

She often seemed to sense what he was thinking. Maybe it was neurotic of him to test their breathing, but he couldn’t help himself. After Amy died, and he held them for the first time in that room across from the hospital nursery, he’d become a worrier. He supposed he’d carry that to his own grave.

He and Clara went downstairs where, by habit, they settled at the kitchen table. Darkness had fallen while they bathed the twins, then wrestled them into their sleepers for the night and said their prayers for them.

“Okay,” he said, stirring his coffee, “let’s talk. I’ve made a decision.”

Clara straightened in her chair. “So have I.”

Hadley stiffened. He’d sensed her earlier frown wasn’t about Gracie being fussy. He’d been right. Clara was exhausted. He’d known this moment would come ever since he had moved in and filled her tidy house to the rafters with all the babies’ gear. The twins seemed to outgrow their clothes every week, and he was now a regular customer at Baby Things. Apparently, so was Jenna Moran, who brought shirts and jeans and dresses and toys whenever she came to see them. Which, even once a week, was too often for Hadley. Fortunately, he was usually at work then.

“I should look for another place, Clara,” he began, then held up a hand. “I know, you’ve told me you like having us here, and you’re great with Luke and Gracie, but we’re in your way.”

Clara’s eyes filled. “Move out now? How would you manage, having to work and care for those sweet babies with no one to help?”

Had he been wrong after all? Hadley tried to ignore a sudden mental image of Jenna. Why think of her? They were like oil and water. She had a sense of style that set off her auburn hair and blue eyes, liked antiques and probably other fancy stuff. Hadley preferred working in a barn. He was jeans and old boots. This was her hometown, but Hadley was already planning to move—on his terms, not like when he was a kid. “I can put the twins in day care. I know how tough this has been on you.”

Her chin went up. “No, you do not. When I lost Cliff, I lost myself for a while. Then after you had those beautiful babies, I found out who I was again.”

Hadley twirled his coffee cup. He’d never thought he was doing something for Clara. Quite the reverse.

“I understand about Cliff,” he said. “But before you know it, the twins will be crawling around, then walking and running all over the place.”

She frowned. “You’re saying I’m too old to chase after them.”

“I’m saying you deserve a rest. I can’t ever thank you for everything you’ve already done, but Clara, we’re imposing. I can’t ask more of you.”

“And where will you live?”

A good question. He wasn’t foreman at the Sutherland ranch any longer and didn’t have the house that came with the NLS job. Hadley was now an ordinary cowhand there, hoping he wouldn’t be let go when winter came on again and the ranch hunkered down to wait out the snow. It was early spring now, and his job seemed safe; it was a busy season on any ranch except this one. He glanced out the window at the empty fields the McManns had worked for decades before Cliff died. “I’ll get an apartment in town again,” he said.

“You’ve got this all wrong, Hadley.” Clara set her cup aside. “Does this have to do with Jenna Moran?”

“Partly, maybe. Sure.” In his own place, she couldn’t surprise him with a visit. She’d soon get discouraged, then stop coming to check on the twins—and Hadley.

“You’d let that sweet woman chase you off? When you’re far more comfortable here than you would be in a tiny apartment?”

He blinked. He’d heard another note in Clara’s tone. Sorrow? It had never occurred to him that Clara needed them as much as they needed her. He was never good with women, Amy being no exception. He could never figure out Jenna Moran, either, who got under his skin every time he saw her.

Clara struggled to continue. “I don’t want you and the twins to leave…” Before she said the rest, Hadley knew he’d lost control of the situation. It wouldn’t be his choice after all. “And I hate to do this, making matters worse, but with Cliff gone,” Clara went on, “and our land sitting fallow, it has become too difficult—even with the money you contribute every month—for me to stay here. Nothing will happen right away, but—” She took a deep breath. “I’ve decided to sell the ranch, unless…” She paused. “Why don’t you buy it?”

Her question didn’t require an answer. They both knew Hadley had no money.

JENNA RARELY STEPPED into the Baby Things store on Main Street without buying something. And considering the fact that she would never have children of her own, she was running up quite a tab for her new nephew and Hadley Smith’s twins. She seemed fated never to leave the shop without at least one package wrapped in colorful paper printed with elephants or lions, cupcakes or kittens.

From the rear of the store, Sherry, the owner, called out, “You’re my first customer of the day. What brings you in this early?”

Jenna’s gaze cut from the ever-tempting displays of children’s clothes. “I promised my sister I’d pick up her order on my way to work—as if she doesn’t have every possible item a baby might need.”

“The order came in yesterday.” With a laugh, Sherry went back into the storeroom to find the box while Jenna stood stock-still in the center of the shop, determined not to notice the sweet yellow sundress on one table, or the pastel playsuit paired with the tiniest navy blue sneakers on another. When the bell jangled above the door, she turned to see…oh, no. Hadley I-don’t-need-your-involvement Smith.

She’d actually run into him only a few times since that day in the hospital. Once she’d spotted him on the street here in town pushing a double stroller through the winter slush on the sidewalk. The twins had been bundled in adorable matching snowsuits covered with hoods so Jenna couldn’t clearly see their faces. Instead of approaching, she’d hurried into Olivia McCord Antiques, telling herself she was late for work and couldn’t stop even to coo over the babies.

Jenna shot a look at the storeroom, but Sherry didn’t reappear from behind the curtain with its colorful pattern of sailboats and sand pails.

“Sherry here?” he asked.

“In the back. She’ll be out in a minute.” Now would be even better. “I don’t work here,” she added in case he’d thought she did.

“I know. You help at the store down the block.”

“I used to manage it,” she corrected him, surprised to think he’d been keeping tabs on her. Her friend and now former employer Olivia had two shops, one in Barren and the other in Farrier, the next town over in the county.

Jenna had enjoyed the job, but it wasn’t what she wanted long-term. Having just completed her studies to become an interior designer, she’d served her notice to Olivia a couple of weeks ago and was starting her own business—Fantastic Designs—or trying to this first week. She had to support herself now. But she saw no need to share that with Hadley.

“Don’t have much use for old furniture,” he said, running a hand over the nape of his neck, “or new, for that matter.”

Jenna didn’t respond. She still missed her upscale house in Shawnee Mission, an affluent suburb of Kansas City, where she’d lived with her ex-husband. Her apartment now in Barren was crammed with treasures she’d brought with her, although she and David still had a few things left to decide on.

“You waiting for something?” Hadley said.

She shrugged. “A quilt with sewn-on activities and noisemakers. For my sister’s baby.” Which was none of his business.

Hadley scowled. “I wasn’t home the other day, but Clara says you came by.”

Which sounded to Jenna like a challenge. When she did drive out to the McMann ranch to see the twins, she tried to schedule her visits so that Hadley would be at work. Sometimes she even passed by the NLS to make sure his truck was there. Silly, she supposed, but he made her uncomfortable. And she guessed, from the way he kept shifting from one foot to the other, she made him uneasy, too.

“I hope you don’t have a problem with that,” she said, although she knew he did.

His gaze lifted. “Amy may not have trusted me to see to the twins’ welfare, but she was wrong.”

“I’m not concerned about your relationship with Amy.” Although she’d certainly heard an earful from her friend, Jenna knew better than to interfere. She’d done so once with her sister Shadow, and she wouldn’t make that mistake again. “My only interest now is in the twins.”

Hadley stared at her. “Clara tells me when you’ve been to the house. I’ve noticed the presents you brought. Gracie looks cute in those pink pajamas with the sheep on them.” His tone was grudging. “And Luke looks ready to play football in the blue ones with the helmets all over.”

“I couldn’t resist,” she admitted.

Sherry chose that moment to sweep through the curtain with the box Shadow had ordered, and Jenna could have kissed her for her perfect timing.

On impulse Jenna turned, plucked the yellow sundress and the multihued pastel playsuit she’d admired from the nearest table, then added the navy sneakers. Her cheeks flaming, she paid for them and made small talk with Sherry while she wrapped the gifts. The whole time Jenna could sense Hadley, still in the center of the room, staring at her back. Then, feeling too onstage with him watching, she carried her parcels toward the door.

Jenna had her hand on the latch when Hadley reached around her. The bell jingled as he opened the door for her. “Want me to take the presents home?”

How did he know they were for Luke and Grace? Oh, yes, why else would she buy double gifts in the same size? For a boy and girl? “Thank you, but I’ll take them next time I visit the twins.”

He’d been polite—at least he had manners—but Jenna didn’t welcome his help any more than Hadley welcomed hers. Not that he would consider it help.

ON HIS WAY to the NLS the next morning, bleary-eyed after a sleepless night, Hadley still felt shaken by his encounter with Jenna. And then he was startled by a different kind of encounter. As he drove through town, he braked hard at the only stoplight in Barren, certain that the dark-haired guy walking along the opposite side of the street might be the lone remnant of the broken family he’d been born into. But it couldn’t be his brother, the one Hadley had betrayed. He hadn’t seen him in years. Not that Dallas would want to see Hadley.

When he finally reached the ranch, the foreman was waiting at the barn, his eyes the color of flint.

“You’re late,” Cooper Ransom said.

Hadley recognized the hard tone of voice. He climbed out of his truck. Once he’d have been ready for a fight, but he couldn’t afford to lose his temper. He was a father now, and he and Cooper, who was married to the owner’s granddaughter, had already shared some nasty moments. Still, he had the other man to thank for Hadley moving in with Amy last spring. He would never regret Cooper’s advice to treat her more kindly. He hoped he’d given Amy a few happy moments—in between their quarrels—when she’d had so few of them left.

Hadley’s mouth tightened. “My boy’s got his days and nights mixed up,” he told Cooper. “When he finally went to sleep, I crashed myself.” Clara hadn’t wakened him this morning. Either she’d thought he needed the rest, or she wasn’t speaking to him. After their talk the other night, she’d made it plain he was welcome in her home until the ranch sold, but how could she show the place with toys and stacks of diapers scattered everywhere? “I got here as soon as I could.”

“I appreciate that. I know it’s hard to keep a schedule with two babies at once. But you left early yesterday. You were late once last week. Ranch work can’t wait for you to show up.”

He’d expected a stern lecture, but… “I’m being fired?” Again? He’d lost his job as foreman to Cooper last year.

The ranch owner, Ned, had always been good to Hadley and had rehired him, but as a ranch hand. Now he earned half of what he used to make as foreman.

He thought again about Clara’s question. He’d give everything he had to run his own ranch, to be in full control of his life, but even buying a horse wasn’t possible right now. Amy’s outstanding hospital charges were eating him up, and the next payment was due. While he was glad her doctors had done everything humanly possible to save her, the ongoing expense was drowning Hadley. He needed this job.

“Listen,” he said before Cooper could deliver the final blow. “I’m a hard worker. With calves being born every day here, you need me now,” Hadley insisted.

Cooper said, “Sorry, I can’t keep you. But let me make some calls. Maybe one of the other outfits can take you on and give you more flexible hours.”

“Don’t bother. I can find my own job,” he said, his jaw tense. Hadley hated the notion of people doing him a favor, because sooner or later they’d want to collect on the debt.

Cooper shook his head, the sun glinting on his blond hair. “If that’s the way you want it.”

The other man started toward the house, muttering something about writing Hadley a check, which was nothing new, either. Minutes from now, with the money in his wallet, Hadley would feel tempted to leave rubber on the pavement as he turned onto the road, just as he had last year. But this time he forced himself to cool down. He didn’t need a ticket for reckless driving from Finn Donovan, the sheriff. He had the babies to think of, not only himself. Responsibilities. It was just too bad the twins hadn’t picked a father who, at this moment, could meet those responsibilities. He could save face, though.

“No, this isn’t the way I want it,” he called after Cooper, having made his decision. “Let’s pretend you didn’t let me go for staying up late with my baby. You don’t have to fire me,” he said, calling on the defiance that had helped him to survive any number of foster homes as a kid. “I quit.”

Now, because of his stubborn pride, all he had to do was figure out how to feed the twins.

CHAPTER THREE

AT LUNCHTIME THE NEXT DAY Jenna crossed the street, picked up some take-out food from the Bon Appetit, then went to see her sister. Shadow ran her own company called the Mother Comfort Home Health Care Agency, which was located in the same building as Jenna’s new business. They often ate together when time permitted—which was more of an issue for Shadow, who was always on the run these days juggling her baby plus the agency. Meanwhile Fantastic Designs had yet to get off the ground. Jenna’s rented space on the second floor above her sister’s office seemed perfect, but she had no appointments for the afternoon, or any other time, really.

Shadow was at her desk, the phone tucked under one ear. “I appreciate your concern, Bertie,” she said with an eye roll for Jenna. “I’m sure we can work something out. Let me get started. I’ll call you back later. Yes, of course, you’ll have final say over anyone we place in your home.”

Jenna sank onto a chair in front of Shadow’s cluttered desk. She laid out their lunch. “What’s up?”

“Jack’s uncle,” she said with a pointed look. “He’s not happy.”

“Poor old guy.”

But this wasn’t only about Bertie, who was in frail health. His nephew, Jack Hancock, the owner and head chef at the Bon Appetit, had been seeing Jenna and Shadow’s widowed mother, and two days ago they’d gotten engaged. Shadow thought that was great; Jenna was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that their mother planned to tie the knot again. Hadn’t Wanda learned anything during her miserable marriage to their dad?

Jenna swallowed a first delicious bite of her croque madame. When she’d returned to Barren, newly divorced, she’d had little appetite and lost weight, but Jack’s restaurant deserved its rave reviews. “Jack’s been taking care of Bertie with Mama’s help. If they get married, what will happen to Bertie?”

“They’re going to buy a house, which would leave Bertie to fend for himself. Jack and Mama want their own space, but Bertie didn’t love my idea to look for another caregiver in his own home.”

“I think Mom and Jack are being too hasty,” Jenna said. She hadn’t reacted well when their mother showed her the ring Jack had given her. “Shadow, she’s been on her own for a while now, and you can see how much happier she is. All those years of putting up with Daddy, him losing one job, then finding another, only to get fired or quit that, too…” He’d always seemed to be between jobs when he wasn’t sitting in his old recliner all day, channel surfing the TV or bullying one of the kids, especially Jenna. “Mama may be leaping at this chance with Jack when she should take time to really figure out what she wants.”

Shadow started on her own lunch with a sigh of satisfaction. “I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten how hard it was to put food on the table or buy all of us shoes—”

“Used sneakers from Goodwill or the church rummage sale,” Jenna remembered. “Mama had a bad self-image then, and no wonder with the way Daddy treated her. I’d hate to see her give up her new independence only to get into another bad situation.”

“She won’t. I’ll admit Jack’s quirky,” Shadow agreed, running a hand through her dark hair, “but so what if he pretends he’s French when he’s not? I find that endearing, especially in a town like Barren where cowboys rule. His restaurant’s already a big hit, he’s been good to Mama, and he’s great with Bertie, who’s not the easiest person to get along with. As I just learned all over again.” Shadow’s nearly black eyes held the hint of a smile. “I’ll find Bertie a caregiver he feels comfortable with. Would you deprive Mama of her chance to be truly happy for once in her life?”

“Of course not. But what’s wrong with a longer engagement that would give them both time to see if this is really the right thing to do?”

“Jack loves her. She loves him. What’s to figure out?”

Jenna finished her sandwich, savoring the last bite of ham-and-cheese goodness, her gaze focused on a framed photograph of Shadow, her husband, Grey, and their ten-year-old daughter, Ava, on the desk. “This, from a woman who adores her husband, dotes on her new baby and has everything else she wanted in life? Including Wilson Cattle and everyone’s favorite little cowgirl?” And Ava now had a baby brother, if not the sister she’d asked for. Being around their little family—or Hadley’s twins—for Jenna was both a joy she couldn’t resist and a sorrow she could never escape. She should worry instead about finding some clients.

Shadow saw her looking at the picture. “We have problems like anyone else, Jen.” She tried a smile. “For instance, Grey’s parents’ house has taken forever to build. Everett’s a great father-in-law, and I do love Liza, who’s the best stepmother-in-law in the world, but really, they need their own quarters and so do we. Just like Mama and Jack. There’s always something. Life’s never perfect.”

“I guess I still have to work through my own issues,” Jenna admitted.

“Sure, and I get that—” Shadow had never liked David, Jenna’s ex “—but Mama’s wedding to Jack shouldn’t be one of them. Your marriage didn’t pan out. The divorce was hard. We all think David treated you terribly, but look at you now,” she said. “You’re better off, and you have a new business, which I know is going to be successful—”

“—if things ever pick up,” Jenna said. She couldn’t deny that, like their mother, she’d sacrificed a big part of herself to help further David’s career and run the rest of his life so he wouldn’t have to. “I thought getting certified as a designer would be hard. Compared to launching my business, it was a piece of cake—chocolate,” she added, tapping one finger against the square white box Jack had packed for them with dessert.

“Even so, you’re doing fine.”

“Are you in Pollyanna mode today?” Jenna asked.

“No, but who needed that big house in Kansas City?” Shadow didn’t point out that there’d been no babies there to fill the space. “Your apartment here is gorgeous and homey. All you need now is confidence.” Her eyes brightened. “Why don’t you call Liza? Now that their house is almost done, she’ll want a designer. Maybe you can get the job.”

“You’re changing the subject. We were talking about Mama and Jack.”