Chapter 3 Stolen Ring #3
Cooper’s expression grew mischievous. “Let’s arm wrestle for it. Whoever wins gets to go inside first.”
“Deal!” Ryder plopped to his belly in the grass, and they were soon writhing in a noisy, giggling match of strength. It was pretty even until Cooper yelled, “Spider!”
Ryder jolted and let his concentration slip long enough to lose the wrestling match.
“I win!” Cooper shimmied past the small door leading beneath the chicken coop before anyone could challenge his dubious victory.
Ryder scowled in Halle’s direction, clearly angling for some moral support. “He cheated!”
She rolled her eyes at his ornery brother. “He did employ a bit of subterfuge.”
Ryder looked disgusted. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means he tricked you, sweetie.” She felt so sorry for him that she pointed out a pair of eggs she spied in a grassy corner of the yard.
He scrambled after them and located another one on his way back to her, gathering as many as his brother found beneath the coop.
Halle pronounced the egg hunt a solid “tie,” and peace was restored.
They spent the next few minutes marveling over how brown the eggs were and why they didn’t taste like chocolate.
As Halle listened to their happy chatter, she heard the rumble of a truck motor, followed by the sound of the garage door rolling open.
Moments later, Owen joined them in the chicken yard and challenged his boys to a new contest. “Whoever finds the least amount of eggs inside the boxes is a rotten egg,” he announced in a teasing voice.
Halle was dying of curiosity about how his visit with Brooke Aspen had gone, but she helped him supervise the egg hunt first, liking how he’d made a game out of the chore.
“Careful,” Kenny cautioned when one of the boys dropped an egg with a little too much gusto into one of the wide cardboard cartons on the shelf. “They’ll break.”
Owen immediately added a new rule to the game. “If you break one, you’re automatically a rotten egg.”
From that point on, the boys might as well have been handling fine china.
“They’re such amazing kids,” Halle breathed to Owen.
He gave her an appreciative sideways glance. “If you’re talking about my little rugrats, they’ve been on their best behavior ever since you showed up, trying to win you over. You haven’t seen them when they’re sick or really cranky.”
“Ha! Well, when I finally see that side of them, they’ve already won me over.
Mission accomplished, so nothing to worry about there.
” She highly doubted seeing them ill or in a poor mood would change the way she felt about them.
No child was perfect, and she didn’t expect them to be.
“I’ve worked with a lot of children, Owen.
Children from many backgrounds and many extenuating circumstances.
Enough to recognize when a pair of boys are being raised right.
The teacher in me implores you to keep doing what you’re doing. ”
“Wow! Thanks.” He sounded moved by her words.
“A lot of credit for their upbringing goes to my sister. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her stepping in the way she did to help us out.
She put her career as a horticulturist on hold, only handling online projects here and there for the university she used to work for.
I’ll never be able to repay her for all the sacrifices she’s made for us. ”
“Something tells me she doesn’t expect you to.” The reverence in his voice told Halle that the two of them were very close. “Did she, by any chance, serve in the military?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
She told him why, and he guffawed. “That’s just her personality. She’s always been a neat freak.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t.
Halle cocked her head at him. “Is there an update on her friend’s condition?” She felt a little guilty asking, hoping the question didn’t sound too self-serving.
He looked grave. “Jen says she’s stable for now, but she’s got a long road ahead of her. Another surgery, followed by radiation.”
“That’s rough. I’ll keep praying for her,” Halle promised softly. “For your sister, too.”
“Thanks.” He sounded wry. “I wish I had more to tell you. I know the current uncertainty surrounding the health of Jen’s friend impacts you as well.”
The relief his words gave her brought on a fresh wave of guilt. Was it wrong to be glad about hearing Jen wouldn’t be arriving in Heart Lake anytime soon? Halle didn’t wish Jen’s friend or anyone else any ill. At the same time, Halle was in no hurry to leave Garrett Farm.
“In case I haven’t been clear, Owen,” she paused to silently gulp back her fears about the future, “my schedule isn’t up against anything pressing, which means I’m yours for as long as you and the boys need me.” I’m yours… It was a poor choice of words that left her face flaming.
Either he didn’t notice her heightened color, or he chose not to comment on it. “As far as the Tollivers are concerned, you fell straight from Heaven into our lives, Halle Garrett.”
“I wish,” she sighed. “You don’t know how badly I wish we’d met under better circumstances.”
He gave her a look that she couldn’t interpret and abruptly strode away from her.
Way to go, Halle! She mentally kicked herself for saying something that he might’ve mistaken for ingratitude.
It wasn’t his fault that her ex had illegally sold her family farm.
Nor had he been under any obligation to bail her out by offering her a job for the summer.
He could’ve just as easily left her scrambling for a place to live.
“Yo, Halle!” Owen’s voice wafted her way from the other side of the chicken yard, cutting through her misery. “Come take a look at this!”
She hurried his way to see what he was talking about, relieved that he didn’t sound angry with her. Ryder and Cooper sped her way to finish escorting her to their dad.
When they reached him, he was pointing at something inside one of the egg cartons. Something with a gold band attached to it. Something that she immediately recognized. “That’s a little small for an egg, isn’t it?”
“It’s a ring,” Cooper hollered excitedly.
Ryder stared at it, utterly mesmerized. “Did one of the chickens lay a ring?”
His dad snorted out a laugh. “Not exactly.”
“Oh, Owen!” Halle pressed a hand to her racing heart. He’d somehow gotten his hands on the antique ring that Brooke had been wearing earlier. “How did you…?” Her voice grew thick with emotion as she reached for it.
He shrugged. “I told Brooke the truth about your house being emptied without your say-so, then asked her if I could buy it back for you.” He made it sound like recovering a family heirloom for a nanny he’d only met a few days ago was all in a day’s work.
Halle blinked damply. “I’ll repay you as soon as I can.”
“There’s no need.” His expression softened as he watched her put on the ring. His sons ooh-ed and ah-ed over it and told her it looked pretty on her. “When Brooke heard your story, she handed it right over and insisted I return it to its rightful owner.”
“Then I’ll pay her back.” Ugh! The prospect of being in Brooke’s debt held a lot less appeal than being in Owen’s debt.
“I pressed her pretty hard for a price,” he admitted, “but she said to consider it a gift. I’m pretty sure that means the subject is closed.”
Halle had the nagging feeling that it wasn’t. Women like Brooke Aspen always had an agenda. For now, though, Halle was just glad to have her mother’s ring back.
“Thank you, Owen.” A simple thank you felt inadequate. No man had ever put himself out there for her like that. Immediately after hearing about the ring, he hopped into his truck and went to get it back.
He jammed a thumb toward the house. “Any interest in making a trip to the thrift store this evening to see what else of yours they might have on tap?”
“Very interested!” She had no money in her bank account, but maybe the store would extend her a line of credit or something.
Ryder and Cooper jabbered excitedly in the backseat of Owen’s extended-cab truck, pointing out all the cows and horses they saw.
Unfortunately, the trip to Timeless Trinkets was a bust. They found none of Halle’s family’s belongings there.
The owner was very apologetic about it. He remembered selling Brooke the pearl ring, but that was all.
“She found it in a pile of stuff I hadn’t finished pricing.
” He didn’t even remember what he’d charged her for it.
Before they left the thrift store, Cooper found a vintage baseball bat. He begged his dad to buy it, but Owen shook his head at the price tag. “I’m sorry, son, but it’s not in the budget.”
To Halle’s amazement, that was the end of the matter. A lot of kids would’ve continued to whine and wheedle, but not Owen’s sons.
It was a much quieter drive back home. Halle finally broke the silence. “I think we should name the chickens.”
Ryder gave a grunt of amazement. “All of them?”
“As many as you want.” She smiled over the seat at him. “When I was your age, I used to name every single chicken. Granted, the flock at Garrett Farm has gotten a lot bigger since then. Maybe you could just pick out your favorite ones to name.”
“I’ve got one!” Owen sent her an approving look, probably appreciating that her idea wouldn’t cost him anything. “I think we should name that really big hen that eats all the time Mrs. Chonkers.”
His sons erupted into laughter. If they hadn’t been strapped inside their seatbelts, they would’ve fallen over.
Halle drank in Owen’s grinning profile. He loved being a dad, and it showed.
The thought crossed her mind that he’d probably been an equally incredible husband while his wife was alive.
Naturally, that line of thought led to wondering if he’d dated anyone since losing her.
In the next moment, she wanted to shake herself silly for wondering.
He was her employer, and she would soon be his sons’ schoolteacher—two very compelling reasons to keep things professional between them.
After retiring to the guest room for the night, she lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep.
She was still wearing her mother’s ring because she couldn’t quite bring herself to take it off.
It felt like she’d gotten a piece of herself back.
Smiling in the darkness, she twisted it around her finger, liking the warm, metallic feel of it.
Her cell phone jingled with an incoming call, nearly making her jump out of her skin. She hadn’t meant to leave the ringer on.
Diving for it, she accepted the call without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?” Her only thought was to make it stop ringing.
“Halle?” The man who spoke was the last person in the world she’d wanted to hear from, much less expected to hear from. “I was afraid you wouldn’t pick up.”
It was James House, her ex-fiancé.
She should’ve immediately hung up on him, but she froze. All she could do was grip the phone and listen.