Abby waited at the end of the ranch road for the twins’ school bus, mulling over her conversation with Darla.
She knew full well it wasn’t her right to judge others. She’d always tried to be open and fair to everyone she encountered, no matter who or what they were. Judge not, lest you be judged.
Yet the first time Abby stopped at the ranch on her way into town, with no knowledge of her father’s recent marriage, the woman had been rude. In public, even.
But today, under that veneer of hostility—there had been something else. Fear. Which made no sense either. If Dad was going to be home on Wednesday she was definitely going back, because something just wasn’t right. She could feel it.
Its lights blinking, the school bus crunched through the snow at the mouth of the lane and pulled to a stop in front of Abby’s SUV. She stepped outside and opened the back door for the girls.
The twins hurried down the steps but stopped and looked at each other.
The bus driver, a hefty white-haired man in coveralls and an unzipped Carhartt jacket, leaned over to peer out the door at Abby. “Who are you, missy? I don’t recognize that car, or you either. And that’s an out-of-state license plate to boot.”
“I’m the new housekeeper at the Langford ranch.”
He narrowed his eyes and studied her from head to toe, then looked at the twins. “And how I can I be sure of that? Do you gals know this lady?”
“Girls?” Abby prompted. They still wavered between cooperating and acting out, and she was never sure how’d they react.
Bella sullenly fiddled with a strap on her pink backpack. Sophie shot a worried look at her sister and dug the toe of her purple boot in the snow, following her lead as always.
The driver reached for a cell phone on the console next to him. “I can call the Langfords, you know. I’m responsible for these girls.”
Abby nodded. “Yes, please do that. Jess is likely in the midst of riding some horse in the arena, and Betty isn’t driving yet. She said she would let the school know that I’ll be doing this from now on, but she must have forgot.”
The driver’s stern expression relaxed, but he still made a quick call to confirm the situation. “Sorry, miss. I never take chances. Out here on an isolated road, anything could happen.”
“I’m very glad that you’re careful. Thanks.” Abby shepherded the girls into the booster seats that she had switched to the back seat of her SUV, and slid behind the steering wheel.
Jess had asked her to come with him to the girls’ school conference tomorrow after school, and she had demurred, not wanting to intrude or, worse, inadvertently hint to the teacher that her presence was of a more personal and permanent nature than it really was.
Now she realized that visiting with the teacher would be a good idea. If she had any chance to help these troubled girls, she would take it.
She looked up at them in the rearview mirror. “I know life has been really unsettled for you two, but it’s time you tried to be a bit more cooperative. I’m only trying to make things easier for your Grandma Betty and Uncle Jess.”
Bella’s lower lip trembled.
“You’re spoiling everything!”
“I’m what?”
“It’s almost Christmas and Momma will come,” Bella blurted. “Only maybe she won’t ’cause you’re here.”
Oh, dear.
Had she somehow overhead the conversation about her mother on Saturday night? Jess had checked to make sure both girls were asleep, but still...
“Why do you think she will come at Christmas?” Abby asked cautiously. “Did someone tell you that?”
Bella’s mouth tightened into a pout. “She will come. ’Cause that’s when she brung us here. Last Christmas when we were four.”
Abby chose her words carefully. “No one knows that for sure, honey. But if your mom comes someday, she’ll be very happy that Jess and Betty and I have all been here to take good care of you.”
Bella pointedly turned her head to look out the window.
“In the meantime, your Uncle Jess wants everyone to get along. And what you did just now with the bus driver was wrong. Do you understand that? You should have answered him.”
Silence.
“Even if you don’t want me here, you still need to obey. The bus driver believed you didn’t know me and if he hadn’t been able to reach Betty or Jess on his phone, what might have happened?”
In the rearview mirror, she could see the girls exchange furtive glances.
“He would’ve had to take you all the way back to town, to the school. Betty can’t drive, so your uncle would’ve had to stop working and drive clear into town to pick you up.”
“S-sorry,” Sophie said, her head bowed.
A tear slid down Bella’s cheek. Her shoulders slumped down in defeat. “I just want my momma,” she whispered. “Me and Sophie want her for Christmas.”
Abby’s heart ached for them both...and for Jess, too. There were going to be no perfect answers, no solutions that left everyone unscathed.
She rested her forehead briefly on the top curve of the steering wheel. Please, Lord, be with these children and the people who love them. Only You will know the perfect solution to this, so please guide everyone to do what is right.
* * *
Funny how simply having Abby sitting next to him almost felt like a date.
It was already dark at five o’clock, the bright headlights of the truck cutting a swath through the pitch-black night and turning the snowbanks on either side of the road into mounds of glittering diamonds.
Waiting at a stop sign, he couldn’t help looking over at her. Again.
Lit by the soft glow of the dashboard, her blond hair shimmered and her face seemed to have a lovely radiance.
She was still such a contradiction.
A true rancher, born and bred. Tough and capable and down-to-earth, at ease herding cattle for hours under the most extreme conditions, and likely more at-home in her boots than in heels, even after being away for years.
But she was also fascinating, and since she’d arrived he’d had a hard time keeping his eyes off her. And that, he knew, had to stop before he stepped into deeper waters.
She shifted in her seat and sent him a bemused glance, then tipped down the visor to check her face in the lighted mirror. “You keep looking at me and frowning. Is something wrong? Do I have toothpaste on my chin or something?”
I am in sooo much trouble, he thought grimly.
She flipped the visor back up. “Well?”
“I was just...checking the side mirrors,” he muttered. “A habit, from hauling the horse trailer.”
She probably saw right through it, but what could he say—that she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen in his life? Where could that possibly lead?
Probably the sound of her swiftly packing her bags and her heading for the West Coast at the speed of light. And as much as he was tempted to test the waters, he couldn’t.
Betty desperately needed Abby’s help right now, and the twins did, too. Without her, he’d be back to working 24/7, barely able to keep everything going.
Without her, he’d miss the banter.
The memories that kept slipping into his thoughts.
The niggling thought that maybe this time, they could get things right between them...
He cleared his throat. “Speaking of trailers, I need to take some horses to Denver on Thursday. The owner wants me to help him work them on Friday morning so he can continue with their training progress. Or, as he says, at least avoid ruining them during the first week.”
She laughed softly.
“So you’ll be back late Friday night?”
“Should be. It’s about an eight- or nine-hour trip, depending on traffic and the weather.”
She brightened. “What should I do about the outside chores? Will you print up a list, or just show me?”
“The neighbor’s son is coming over to take care of everything. No worries.”
She gave him a crestfallen look. “I’d honestly enjoy doing it, if you ever do need me to help outside. Really.”
“Someday, maybe—but not when it’s the middle of winter and miserable outside.” He pulled to a stop in the elementary-school parking lot. “Thanks for coming tonight. You might be able to offer insights about the girls that I can’t.”
“I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
The snow hadn’t been well cleared, and there were slippery, ice-crusted ruts crisscrossing the parking lot. Jess instinctively grabbed for Abby’s arm when she started to fall.
In the past, he might have swung her around for a playful kiss at a moment like this. But the presence of parents coming and going through the school doors made him hesitate and the moment was lost.
“Whoa. Thanks.” She laughed as she regained her balance. “Maybe I’d be better off waiting in the truck.”
He looped his arm more snugly through hers and drew her closer. When they reached the school doors, he moved his hand to the back of her jacket to usher her inside. Did he feel her melt against him, or was it just him?
“We’re right on time,” he said, glancing up at a clock on the wall. “And this is the room. Mrs. Kelley.”
A portly, middle-aged brunette with a wide smile and laughing eyes greeted Jess at the door with a handshake, then tilted her head and shook Abby’s hand, as well. “Let me guess. You must be Abby. Bella has mentioned you a few times.”
Abby’s smile faltered. “I’m almost afraid to hear what she might have said.”
“Just that she wants her mother here instead of you. But that’s perfectly understandable, so don’t you worry. Change can be a bit difficult for little ones, and things will get better.” The teacher waved them toward the circle of chairs she’d set up in front of a wall display of the children’s artwork.
“In kindergarten, children don’t yet have much of a filter,” Mrs. Kelley continued as she settled onto one of the chairs. “So before we start, I suppose you know that the twins have been talking quite a bit about their mother lately. They tell the other children that she’s coming back soon to get them, and I don’t know how I should respond to that.”
Jess exchanged glances with Abby. “I doubt it will happen.”
“I know we talked about this at the beginning of the school year, and I’ve tried to be noncommittal about it, just as you asked me to. But...” Mrs. Kelley hesitated. “Bella is sure she’ll be here at Christmas. I think she’ll be a very sad little girl if that doesn’t happen.”
“All I can see is a huge disappointment ahead.” Jess leaned forward, rested his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands. “The girls have been with me since right after Christmas last year, and still she hasn’t come to see them. She hasn’t even called to talk to them on the phone. Can you imagine how heartbroken they’ll be if she doesn’t want to be with them on Christmas?”
Mrs. Kelley reached forward to rest a comforting hand on his forearm. “If that happens, they’ll survive. I know they love you and Grandma Betty very much, and they’re lucky to have you.” She directed a comforting glance at Abby. “And I know you must be wonderful with them, too. They just need a little more time to adjust.”
“Believe me, I know,” Abby said with a soft, sad smile. “They want me to leave, thinking that then their mother will come back to stay. I’m trying to win them over, though.”
“Abby grew up on a ranch nearby and has been a special-education teacher in Chicago,” Jess said. “This fall she plans to go back to graduate school.”
The older woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh my. I wish we’d known about you last spring. Our special-ed teacher got married and left us midterm. It took months to find a replacement.” She reached for a clipboard on the table behind her and scanned a checklist of topics. “Before I forget, I should warn you that the flu is going around school. It’s a bad strain this year—a few of the kids have been out for an entire week. Have the girls been vaccinated?”
Jess nodded.
“Good. And you, too, I hope.” She looked over at Abby.
Abby nodded.
“I suppose we’d better get back to talking about how the girls have been doing in school, right?”
Twenty minutes later, Jess had an armful of manila folders stuffed with art projects, spelling tests and simple math papers for each girl, and his mind was spinning.
“This sure isn’t like the kindergarten I went to,” he said when he and Abby climbed back into the truck.
She shot him an amused glance as she buckled her seat belt. “Times change. In the olden days, kids started learning the basics in kindergarten. Now, most of them have been in pre-K classes.”
He snorted as he started the truck and turned up the heat. “I’ve got a master’s in agricultural economics, but at this rate I worry I won’t be able to help with their homework by the time they hit third grade and—”
The words caught in his throat. There was a good chance the girls wouldn’t still be here if Lindsey did come after them. Just the thought made his heart feel as if it were starting to fracture.
“No matter what happens, you can be really proud of them, Jess,” Abby said quietly. “And proud of what you’ve done for them. You heard their teacher say they were both very advanced for their age, right? And that they constantly need more challenging projects so they won’t be bored?”
“It was a relief to hear that,” he admitted. He shifted the truck into Drive and headed out of the parking lot. “I doubt Lindsey spent much time reading to them. They were barely able to sit still for a single book when they first came to the ranch.”
“And now they want a dozen at a time, so you and Betty have done a great job.” Abby fixed her eyes on the road ahead. “You’ve become a great dad, Jess.”
He swallowed hard. “I can’t stop thinking about Lindsey’s promise to be here by Christmas. If this is the only Christmas the girls spend in Montana, I just want to give them the happiest memories possible. Something they can remember always—no matter what else happens.”
He just wasn’t sure how.