Tyler shook Avery Potter’s hand. “Thanks for your time.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Then the kindergarten teacher squatted down in front of Maddie. “I’m looking forward to having you in my class.”
“Will we color?”
It was only three simple words, but Tyler rejoiced at hearing his niece say anything. If only she’d talk to him other than to answer direct questions. The fact that she’d told Leah about her mother abandoning her still weighed on him, had kept him from sleeping more than a couple of hours the night before.
Avery smiled. “Yes, we will. And we’ll learn lots of really fun stuff. I’ll see you on Monday, okay?”
Maddie nodded. “Okay.”
As they walked down the corridor toward the exit, Tyler noticed Maddie eyeing the other kids near her age walking up and down the hallway with their parents. He wondered if she felt strange being there with him or if it would be strange even if she were with Kendra.
He did his best to tamp down the simmering anger at his sister. He’d tried again that morning to reach her, but he’d still received no response. How could she just disappear and not even check on her child? Leah, a woman who barely even knew Maddie, showed more concern.
Tyler held the heavy door at the exit while Maddie walked through. “What do you say we go get your school supplies?”
“Okay.”
Was there less hesitation before she answered him, or did he imagine it?
When they reached the store, he pulled out the school supply list. “I’ll read things on the list and you pick out the ones you want, okay?”
Maddie actually looked up at him, met his eyes, something she hadn’t done much since arriving on his doorstep. Evidently deciding he wasn’t pulling her leg, she made for a mixture of supplies decorated with everything from puppies to princesses as he read the list. He honestly didn’t even look at the prices. If she wanted the most expensive princess backpack, then that’s what she would get. He didn’t think kids should always be spoiled with the most expensive options available, but for now he felt Maddie needed to know that he cared about her, that he wanted her to be happy. She was going to go to school for the first time, which was scary enough, but it was where she didn’t have any friends. Hell, he didn’t even know if Kendra stayed in one place long enough for Maddie to have friends anywhere.
For the first time, he considered what he would do if Kendra deigned to show up for Maddie. He wasn’t sure he’d be willing to give her back. The last thing a child needed was a strung out parent with questionable decision-making abilities.
When they completed checking everything off the list, Tyler spotted Maddie glancing at the coloring books, almost as if she was afraid to ask if she could have one.
“Would you like some new coloring books?”
She eyed the books again then looked up at him. “Is that okay?” Her voice sounded impossibly small.
“Of course, honey. Go ahead.” He motioned toward the books, and Maddie walked over and went from one book to the next, seeming to carefully consider her options.
Finally, she chose one about baby animals. She handled the book so carefully that it made him wonder if Kendra, in addition to probably being an unfit mother, had denied her only child simple pleasures. His heart aching for both Maddie and for the little girl Kendra had once been, he stepped up to the shelves and selected four more coloring books and the biggest box of crayons they had. When he put them in the cart, Maddie looked up at him with confusion knitting her brows.
“I can only have one.”
“Why do you say that?” Although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Mom said.”
“But I’m not your mom. Uncles get to buy presents for their nieces.” Unable to keep his distance any longer, he gently smoothed her silky blond hair. He counted it a big victory that she let him.
As they walked toward the cash register, Maddie still looked wary, as if she thought he might suddenly change his mind and put everything back. But as he placed the items on the conveyor belt for the cashier to ring up, her eyes lit up with an excitement he hadn’t seen since she was a toddler. If what he was buying had cost ten times what it did, it would be worth every penny.
When he had the supplies and Maddie loaded into the truck, he looked across the cab at her. “All this shopping has made me hungry for a treat. I think we should go to the bakery. Would you like that?”
She smiled a little and nodded. His heart lifted at the sight.
A few minutes later, they walked into the Mehlerhaus Bakery to see that both Keri and her sister-in-law Josephina were working.
“Well, hey there,” Keri said. “That’s quite the pretty little lady accompanying you today.”
“Maddie, this is Keri. She owns the bakery. And Josephina. They make all the things you see here.”
“Hello,” Maddie said, looking up at even more new faces.
“It’s nice to meet you, Maddie,” Keri said.
Josephina moved behind the glass display case. “What looks good to you?”
His niece took a couple of steps until she was mere inches from the glass. Again, she took her time considering before pointing toward a cookie decorated with pink and white icing.
“Excellent choice,” Josephina said, then met Tyler’s gaze. “And for you?”
“I’ll take an oatmeal raisin cookie.”
As he moved toward the cash register, he felt Maddie’s small hand barely touch his arm. “Did you want something else?”
“Can we get Leah a cookie?”
Tyler noticed how the two women responded to Maddie’s question, with a bit more interest than he liked. Again thinking of his iffy situation with Maddie, he didn’t want anyone thinking anything inappropriate was going on at the ranch.
“Sure. Go ahead and pick out a couple.” When Maddie moved back to the glass case, he pulled out his wallet. As Josephina helped Maddie, Keri stepped up to the register. “Leah’s been showing Maddie how to make jewelry.”
“Oh, that’s nice of her. Leah makes beautiful stuff.”
“She made me this,” Maddie said as she lifted up her arm to show off the bracelet Leah had gifted her.
“That’s very pretty, just like you.” Keri shifted her gaze back to Tyler. “And Leah.”
He didn’t respond. It was a no-win situation. If he agreed, Keri might read more into it than was there. Even if he might admit to himself that he’d been thinking of Leah more than he ought to. But if he disagreed with Keri, she’d for sure know he was hiding something because no man in his right mind would think Leah was unattractive. Even when she’d been hobbling, injured, her hands bleeding, she’d been beautiful. Disheveled and definitely afraid of something, but beautiful nonetheless.
After he paid for the cookies and Keri gave back his change, he directed Maddie toward the door.
“Come back soon. And bring Leah with you next time.”
As he stepped out onto the sidewalk, he wondered if town matchmaker Verona Charles had started recruiting assistants in her shenanigans.
* * *
WHEN THEY RETURNED to the ranch, Leah wasn’t sitting out on her porch. Tyler tried to ignore the pang of disappointment he felt. In such a short time, he’d gotten used to seeing her there. Even though she wasn’t a part of his family, hadn’t even been remotely a part of his life for long, he somehow felt less alone with her living nearby. Hell, he hadn’t even realized he felt alone, probably hadn’t until Kendra had left Maddie with him and he had to stumble his way through being a pseudo-parent.
He started toward the house, but was shocked when Maddie grabbed his hand. She held up the bag she’d kept close since they left the bakery.
“Can I take Leah her cookies?”
“She’s not outside, so she might not want company right now.”
The crestfallen look on Maddie’s face made him afraid she’d retreat back into her shell of silence again.
“But we can go check.”
Maddie was capable of making her own way up to the bunkhouse, but he didn’t want to let go of her hand quite yet. A lump formed in his throat at a sudden memory of holding Kendra’s hand as they walked to the school bus at the end of the driveway. She’d looked up to him then. Sometime in the intervening years, she’d stopped.
As he accompanied Maddie up the driveway, he admitted to himself that he also wanted to see Leah. Her smile made him believe everything was going to turn out all right, which of course was a crazy thought considering nothing Leah did or said would make Kendra not a screwed-up junkie. Still, something about her lessened the weight pressing down on him, if only for a few minutes.
A strange jitteriness started in his middle as he reached up to knock on the door. When he got no response, he thought maybe Leah had gone for a walk. He looked in both directions but didn’t see her. Had she gone down to the creek? But then he heard a yelp from inside, sending him barreling inside before he could think better of it.
“Leah?”
“Tyler? Could use a little help here.”
He headed toward the utility room, trying to determine the source of the hissing sound. He realized what it was right before he reached the open door. Inside, Leah was tossing towels on top of the water heater, which was spraying water all over the room. Leah was completely drenched, her hair flattened and dripping, her feet sloshing in the water puddling on the floor.
He pushed past her to the water cut off and twisted it. The spray stopped, but the water heater was obviously toast.
“I’m sorry,” Leah said. “I started a load of laundry and left the room. When I came back, this was in full swing.” She gestured around her, water dropping off her fingertips.
Tyler did his best not to stare at where her T-shirt was plastered to her breasts. So he forced his gaze upward and saw how bedraggled she looked. Before he could stop it, a snort of laughter came out.
Leah stared at him, openmouthed. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
She started to say something, but in the next moment she was laughing, too. “I bet I’m a sight.”
“A little on the wet side.”
“Like I just walked out of the lake.” She looked around her. “Good grief, what a mess.”
“We’ll get this cleaned up in no time.”
With Leah mopping, Tyler disconnecting and hauling out the old water heater, and even Maddie helping in small ways like opening a door or bringing Leah a roll of paper towels, they did finish in a surprisingly short amount of time. Leah opened the windows and Tyler brought in a large fan to finish drying out the room.
“We make a pretty good team,” he said. It was strange how natural it felt for the three of them to work together.
“Yeah, we do. But this member of the team needs to change into dry clothes.”
“I won’t be able to get a new water heater until at least tomorrow, so you can finish your laundry and clean up down at the house.”
Leah met his gaze, and he saw indecision and maybe a layer of unease in her eyes.
“I don’t want to impose.”
“It’s not imposing if I invite you.”
“Um, okay then.”
“I brought you cookies,” Maddie said out of the blue. She held up the bakery bag.
“You did? That was nice of you.” Leah took the bag and looked inside. “These look yummy. Can you hold on to them for me until we get down to the house?”
Maddie nodded.
When Tyler held open the door of his house for Leah a few minutes later, the jitters made a reappearance in his stomach.
Come on, get a grip.
He waited for Maddie to step inside, too, then entered, closing the door behind him.
“The laundry room is this way,” he said, leading the way into the kitchen, then pointing at the door on the opposite side of the room. “And if you want to take a shower, you can use the bathroom at the top of the stairs.”
Leah glanced toward him. She smiled, but there was definitely a touch of wariness about it. A wariness he very much wanted to erase.
* * *
LEAH’S MIND BALKED at the side of the kitchen nearest the front door, her closest route of escape. Did she dare step farther into Tyler’s house?
She did her best to keep her fearful imagination from galloping off like a runaway horse as it had the night she’d almost hit the deer. Tyler had given her no reason to suspect he would hurt her. Quite the opposite. All her interactions with him spun through her head like highlight clips from a movie—
How he’d helped her the night she’d injured herself, his confession about his sister, the gentle way he had with Maddie, helping her with the flooding caused by the busted water heater.
The truth was if she wanted to get past the attack, she had to learn to trust again. To not see potential danger in everyone with a Y chromosome.
“Thank you,” she finally said and carried her laundry to the room he’d indicated. She wondered if she’d telegraphed her fear because Tyler stayed on the opposite side of kitchen, not crowding her in the small laundry room.
If she was going to take a shower—and she could use one considering her current state—she needed to wait to start her laundry. She grabbed her clean clothes and retraced her steps.
She offered Tyler a small smile as she passed back through the kitchen on the way to the stairs and hoped it didn’t reveal how nervous she was to be here.
Maddie met her at the top of the stairs, a folded white towel in her hands. She provided a blessed distraction, allowing the spinning in Leah’s head to slow.
“You can use my shampoo,” Maddie said. “It’s in the shower.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” She gently gripped the little girl’s shoulder for a moment before heading into the bathroom.
Once inside, she locked the door and stared at her bedraggled appearance in the mirror. Wow, she certainly was a sight, and not a pretty one. Her hair was plastered to her head like seaweed, and her clothing didn’t look much better. She listened to the sounds of Tyler moving around downstairs and shivered at the idea of even taking off her clothes under the same roof. And for a moment, she wondered if part of the reason had nothing to do with her attack. The spinning started up again, this time in her stomach. She pressed her hand against her middle as if that would somehow stop it.
Her feelings toward Tyler felt like strands of spaghetti all twisted together. He was a man, a big one, and so the frightened part of her still worried he posed a threat. But she suspected that was simply a post-traumatic reaction, the primal need for survival trying to usurp her common sense, which was telling her he wouldn’t hurt her. Mixed up with all that was the fact that every day she seemed to think about him more—those glacial blue eyes, the tender way he’d held her the night she’d fallen despite how much brute strength he no doubt had at his disposal, the way his smile seemed to erase all the worry she saw him carrying around like an invisible sack of grain on his back.
If she could just take off her clothes, step into that shower, it’d be another important step on the road to her recovery. She continued to stare at herself in the mirror for at least another minute while the argument between her two halves continued in her head.
“Just stop it,” she hissed at herself, then yanked her T-shirt over her head and dropped it with a damp splat on the floor.
When she stepped under the warm flow of water, she reached for the bottle of shampoo on the side of the tub. She expected a bottle decorated by some cartoon character. Instead, it was regular shampoo that didn’t smell remotely girlie at all. In fact, she suspected it was an extra bottle of the kind she’d find in Tyler’s bathroom. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that realization.
It drove home, strangely more than anything else, that she wasn’t the only person in the world dealing with hard times. Yes, her skin still crawled every time she thought of that night, of Garton’s hands on her, but it could have been worse. He hadn’t killed her. He hadn’t raped her.
She had parents who loved her, had always been there for her. Conner had helped her without hesitation, and she knew her aunt and uncle cared about her welfare, too. She couldn’t fathom her own mother not wanting her anymore, leaving her without a backward glance. And she couldn’t imagine suddenly being thrust into the parenting role for a traumatized child with no one to help.
Leah realized tears were mixing with the water from the shower. Her heart ached for Maddie and for Tyler. She wished there was something she could do to help them other than simply spending a bit of time with Maddie.
She stayed in the shower longer than she should have, but she wanted evidence of her crying to fade before she went back downstairs. How would she explain red, puffy eyes? A busted water heater didn’t seem like a plausible, sane reason. Crying over their situation seemed perhaps too much, too soon. And she certainly didn’t plan to share her own story. She didn’t want to see the look in Tyler’s eyes she’d seen in her mother’s: that suddenly Leah was a fragile little bird who had to be handled with a delicate hand.
After she was finished in the bathroom, Leah headed toward the stairs. As she reached them, she glanced to her left and saw Maddie in her room having a conversation with her stuffed puppy. She was so engrossed that she didn’t notice Leah. Captivated by the pure innocence of the scene, Leah couldn’t help watching for a bit longer.
Something made Maddie look up. When she saw Leah, she smiled, hopped to her feet and stepped out into the hall, bringing her puppy with her.
“Do you want your cookies now?”
Leah returned her smile. “That sounds good.”
Maddie led the way down the stairs, holding on to the handrail with one hand and clutching her puppy with the other. As Leah watched Maddie, it was strange to think she had been that small once. She tried to remember what the world had looked like to her at that age and couldn’t.
After Leah took a minute to start her load of wet laundry, she returned to the kitchen just as Tyler was getting off the phone.
“Good news,” he said. “I can get a new water heater tomorrow, the last one they have at the hardware in town.”
“I’m sorry to add to your workload.”
“No need to apologize. Water heaters die.” He glanced toward the laundry room door, which she’d closed to keep out the noise. “Since you’ve got to wait for your clothes, how about some dinner?”
“Tyler, I can go back to the bunkhouse and eat, then come back for my laundry.”
“But you have to eat your cookies,” Maddie said, sounding worried, as though Leah had forgotten.
Tyler smiled as he looked at his niece, a look so full of love that Leah’s admiration of him seemed to grow tenfold in the space of a single heartbeat.
“There is that.” Tyler looked at Leah, trying but failing to hide a smile, one that said he was confident he’d win this mini war. “You could have the cookies as dessert, after dinner.”
Though Maddie didn’t say anything, Leah could tell from the girl’s hopeful expression that she wanted her to stay, as well.
“Okay, but you have to let me help.”
“Deal.”
The way Tyler looked at her before he turned to open the refrigerator made giddy little bubbles pop throughout Leah’s body. She forced herself to take a deep breath, quietly, before she moved to help him prepare dinner.
By the time she tossed her laundry into the dryer, they were ready to sit down to a meal of pork chops, green beans and salad. As Leah filled her plate, she searched for a topic of conversation.
“So, Maddie, I didn’t see you earlier today. What were you and your uncle up to?”
“We went to school and then bought stuff for school, and coloring books and crayons.”
“That does sound like a busy day. School, huh?”
“Yes, Miss Maddie starts kindergarten on Monday,” Tyler said.
“Are you excited?” Leah asked her.
Maddie took a moment to consider her answer, like she seemed to do with most questions. “I think so.”
Leah suspected the prospect of not only starting school but also being in a place she didn’t know any other children was scary. “I bet you are the smartest kid in the class.”
As Leah cut off a bite-size piece of her pork chop, she caught Tyler watching her. He didn’t immediately look away as someone might when caught staring. It reawakened the spinning in her middle, which felt as if it had multiplied and spread to all parts of her body, even some she didn’t want to think about, not with a child at the table. When he finally broke eye contact, she thought she detected a slight jolt pass through him as if he’d realized too late that she’d caught him staring. Or maybe he’d surprised himself by staring at all. Could he be experiencing the same attraction as well as the same wariness of acknowledging it?
As they finished the meal, Leah couldn’t stop thinking about how to an outside observer they might look like a family having dinner together. She was surprised by how much that image appealed to her. It was enough to make her wonder if she’d cracked her head on the pavement when she’d fallen at the end of the driveway. But though she was still nursing aches from her twin falls, her head wasn’t among them.
No, somehow a door to part of her heart had opened to admit this man and his sweet niece. If she were to share what she was feeling with her parents, Conner, even Reina, she suspected they might believe it a result of her ordeal. Even she wondered if these feelings of tenderness and desire to connect were because her heart and soul were looking for something positive, something reassuring, something healing. How could she be sure what she was feeling was real, however improbable that might be, or simply a means to an emotional end?
Maddie slid the bakery bag toward Leah, pulling her away from all the questions blazing a path through her mind.
“Thank you for these,” Leah said. “Don’t you have a cookie?”
Tyler leaned back in his chair. “This one had her cookie eaten before we even got out of town.”
He obviously meant his words as teasing, but Leah saw something pass over Maddie’s face that her uncle didn’t. She knew that look, had worn it herself countless times in recent weeks. But why would Maddie be scared now? Regardless of the reason, the need to comfort her overrode everything else. She placed her hand atop Maddie’s and gently squeezed.
“That’s okay. Sometimes you just can’t wait to eat a good cookie.” Leah took a bite of her own and didn’t have to fake her enjoyment of it. Keri Teague was a talented baker, and everyone in town and probably for miles in all directions knew it.
Leah ate one of her cookies, then told Maddie she was going to save the other one for later. She helped Tyler clear the table, carrying the dishes to the sink. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if they were a real family and had shared this task countless times before, they stood side by side, Tyler washing the dishes and Leah rinsing and placing them in the drainer.
Tyler extended the final plate to her, and when she reached for it their fingers grazed each other. It was over in a moment, but the touch rocketed up her arm to explode like fireworks all throughout her body. What was going on? She barely knew Tyler. And after what she’d suffered, how did the intensity of her attraction make any sense? She tried to pretend she hadn’t noticed, but she sensed Tyler stiffen beside her and heard the slight hitch in his breath. It wasn’t just her having these strange and unexpected reactions, and that scared her more than if she’d been alone in them.
Tyler grabbed a towel and dried his hands. “I think it’s someone’s bedtime,” he said as he turned toward the table.
Leah expected Maddie to beg for more time, that she wasn’t tired, but she didn’t. Of course, Maddie wasn’t like most children. Leah thought back to the look she’d seen on the girl’s face earlier and wished she could ask her about it.
“Do you know any bedtime stories, Leah?”
“I could tell you a story.” The hope in Tyler’s voice nearly broke Leah’s heart, and it was only compounded when she saw the way the light dimmed ever so slightly in Maddie’s eyes.
Leah glanced at Tyler and saw that he’d witnessed it, as well. What had changed since she’d seen niece and uncle walking hand in hand earlier? Maybe if she could talk to Maddie alone, she could find out the answer to the perplexing question, help these two grow closer.
“I might know a story or two,” she said. “If that’s okay with your uncle.”
When Tyler nodded, Leah had to resist the urge to go to him, to tell him to just give Maddie time, that his niece would eventually shed her caution. But she shouldn’t promise something she couldn’t be certain would happen.
Tyler’s gaze caught hers for a moment before she ushered Maddie toward the stairs. Leah suspected her willingness to tell bedtime stories might have just as much to do with Tyler as it did Maddie. After that moment at the sink and how her nerves had sizzled when she caught him staring at her, she wasn’t sure she should be alone with Tyler. And it wasn’t him she didn’t trust. It was herself.