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The following week, Jake got two of the horses ready for the trail ride. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake about sweet Sylvie. He needed to make this work. But he had to be sure first.
Sure, they’d spoken over the phone during the past week, and they seemed to have a lot in common, talking about work, sports, politics, and getting ahead in life.
In fact, at one point, her sister, Louisa, had answered the phone and started to grill him while Sylvie was just coming out of the shower.
But it was what her sister said about her that made him think. She told him things Sylvie herself hadn’t told him. For instance how Louisa looked out for Sylvie because Sylvie was always the one looking out for her and taking care of the family. She took care of their elderly adoptive mother after their adoptive father died. And how Sylvie worked hard to help put her sister through college. And how Sylvie was a woman with a heart of gold, humble and sweet and always there for her family.
That really touched Jake more than anything.
And to think Sylvie herself hadn’t said a peep about all of that. Talk about modest. He loved that she took care of her family. It seemed as if she always put the needs of others above her own.
And right now, all he wanted to do was take care of her.
When Sylvie finally came to the phone that day, she kept asking what he and her sister were talking about.
He hardly spoke about his family. She clearly picked up that it was not a topic for discussion, at least not right now. Besides, when he did get around to telling her, if they ended up getting married for convenience-sake, he sure didn’t want to be telling her over the phone. It had to be in person.
He was expecting Sylvie and her son to come to the ranch soon. He would be picking them up soon from Louisa’s.
“So,” his brother Zack approached him in the stables. “You going out for a second date, huh?”
“I wouldn’t call it a second date. I just thought it would be nice for the lady to spend some time here on the ranch with her son.”
“Her son?” His brother looked at him in surprise.
“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. Don’t you see what’s going on?” Zack said.
“Not really.” Deep down Jake knew what he was getting at but Jake just didn’t want to see it or admit it.
That maybe God brought Sylvie and her son into his life for a reason. But they weren’t in his life yet. He still didn’t know if he could handle it. It was just too much for his heart right now.
“Another family, Jake. You have a chance to...”
“No.” Jake didn’t mean to snap at his adoptive brother. They’d been through so much together since they both came to the ranch, first as foster kids, then later adopted by the nice Carsens. That’s why they really wanted to carry on Chet Carsen’s legacy and honor his last wish to settle down.
“Sorry, bro, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.” Jake felt bad for taking out his frustration on Zack.
“It’s okay, Jake. I just don’t want to see you throw the rest of your life away.”
“How would I be doing that? By not replacing my family.”
“Who said anything about replacing them? You seem so happy just last night, whistling when you got home. I thought I heard birds singing,” his brother teased him. “You seemed so happy. Haven’t seen you this way in a long time.”
Did his brother have a point?
“And now, here you are getting ready to spend time with Sylvie and her son. Seemed like you two really hit it off.”
Hit it off?
Why did those three little words frighten Jake? A cowboy who wasn’t afraid of anything. Except moving on.
“So, how old is her son?”
“He’s five. Cute as a button. She showed me the pictures on our first date.”
“Five?”
Jake swallowed hard. He knew what his brother was getting at. Was this some sort of divine connection? No. It couldn’t be, could it? There was no way he could ever...would ever replace his precious little angel, Amy.
Amy would have been five years old today, if she hadn’t died in that pool accident.
The accident.
Why, oh, why hadn’t he been there to save them? If only he hadn’t left his wife and daughter to go to that client meeting. If only he’d insisted it was a family vacation only, not a business-family vacation. Why didn’t he tell his boss at the time? Neither his wife nor his child could swim. He had no idea they’d go into the pool without life jackets.
Pain stabbed at his soul.
And now? A woman with a child that was the same age as his own daughter if she’d survived, entered his life.
What was God trying to tell him? That he deserved a second chance? But he didn’t feel as if he did.
He wanted to punish himself for what happened to his wife and daughter. He’d put work over family. Why should he get a second chance at a family now?
Stop that, Jake. It’s only a coincidence that Sylvie has a five-year-old. Just a simple coincidence. That’s all. Nothing more. Stop reading into it.
Truth was, he’d been up all night thinking about the irony, that he had a chance to get married to a nice church girl and to be a step-father to her five-year-old.
“So you don’t think that’s a sign, bro? A sign to start over again? A second chance?” Zack persisted.
“Nope. Just a coincidence.” Jake looked away, his heart burning in his chest, not saying anything more.
The emotion of losing his beloved family gnawed away at him. He had to get past this. But how?
He couldn’t risk opening up too much to Sylvie. He was just going to take this one step at a time. It’s only a second date, right? Well, sort of. He would have to decide if Sylvie was going to be the one. The one he’d ask to enter into this arranged convenient marriage thing.
The last thing he wanted to do was to let his brothers down. He’d just been reminded by the estate lawyer about the bequest to the Carsen Brothers that they all had to be married and settled down before the land transferred into their names as per the will.
***
Later, Jake picked up Sylvie and her son Jackson in his new pick-up truck. He had to admit, when she came out of the building with her son, she looked like a gorgeous supermodel just as she did last week. She looked amazing dressed up or dressed casually.
She wore a nice hip-hugging blue jeans and a shirt that accentuated her curves. Her lips were red like strawberries and he wondered if they’d taste as good as they looked.
Focus, Jake. Not on her lips. Focus on the task at hand.
“Wow!” Jackson, her son, said. “Nice truck!”
Jake’s heart warmed as he saw the little boy’s face lit up.
“Why, thank you, sir,” Jake said. “Nice horse you got there,” Jake motioned to the plush stuffed toy horse held in the little boy’s hand.
“Thank you. Mommy bought it for me.”
“Your mommy’s very kind.”
He could see an appreciative smile curve Sylvie’s sweet lips.
Stop looking at her lips, cowboy.
For that instant, after he helped her son in the back seat and got him buckled into the car seat that Sylvie had provided, Jake turned to Sylvie and their eyes locked in a moment. He felt a wave of delight sweep through him.
But he had to shift his focus.
“He loves horses, as you can see,” Sylvie said. “That’s why he got so excited when I told him you invited us to see the horses today.”
“Hey, it’s nothing.”
“Oh, it’s something.”
Well, that was another check mark, wasn’t it? If they were going to enter into this convenient marriage, it would be convenient if they actually liked living on the ranch for a while, since that’s where they’d be staying.
The estate lawyer had to believe this was real.
“You look lovely today,” he commented.
“Oh, this? Thanks, I just wanted to throw something together for the ranch. Something more comfortable than heels.”
He grinned. “You’ll be fine.”
Just now he thought to himself that she’d be comfortable with him. For some reason all he could think about was how much he wanted to take care of her and her son.
***
Jake led the horse while Sylvie walked beside her son as he rode the horse. It was always safer with two adults gently guiding the horse with a young child riding, just in case. They had Sammie, the horse, in a closed arena. Though well trained, it was better in case Sammie got excited in the open space. Jake also got Jackson a safety helmet, protective vest, and riding boots. Safety was important. Jake had explained that to Sylvie beforehand.
“You’re very good with kids and horses.”
“Hey, it’s what we do here. We have the retreat over on the other side and sometimes we get kids from the hospital who want to ride.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“The kids that come here are wonderful.”
“Well, Jackson’s having fun so far. I really appreciate it,” she said.
“Hey, as long as your son is safe and you guys are having fun, that’s all that counts,” he said.
“Wheee!” Jackson said as he held on, the sun shining on them as they walked a few steps so that he could get a feel for it.
He kept begging to go on the horse for a ride earlier, but Jake explained about the safety first.
His mother, Sylvie beamed with pride and excitement as much as her son.
Jake felt something tug inside of himself.
This was the scene of a happy family. He knew it, but he just couldn’t admit it to himself.
Jake could see in the distance his brother Zack and Sue Mae watching from the main house. He could only imagine what they were discussing right now.
***
“You can’t tell me there’s nothing going on between you two love birds,” Zack said to Jake later, after he returned from his time on the ranch with Sylvie and her son.
Sylvie was at his cabin waiting for him. He’d just spun around to the main house to grab some potatoes. He was going to make them dinner.
Sue Mae had come to take Jackson to the playground on the ranch where a group of kids from the local center were also playing.
Sylvie seemed so grateful for the little break and for her son to be in a play area with kids his age.
“There’s nothing going on between us,” Jake said.
“I saw the way you were together, bro. It’s like you all belonged together.”
Jake’s heart stopped.
The truth was he’d been blindsided by this blind date from day one. But he just couldn’t go there right now. Besides, Sylvie still didn’t know what happened to his wife and daughter. Maybe she’d change her mind when she found out the truth.
“You going to ask her to marry you, right?”
The worst thing that could happen was for her to turn him down cold. He didn’t want that embarrassment in front of his brothers and his family.
“I might.” That was the safest thing he could say, just in case.
Asking her to marry him was going to be a big step, if he could only muster the courage to do it.