Chapter 1 #2
“Don’t need to. You’ve already shown me enough of who you are,” he tossed over his shoulder, dismissing her from his mind.
A second later, he heard the door slam and satisfaction filled his chest. Good riddance.
Boy, he wished he could have someone like Jonathan’s son’s caretaker, but his cousin wasn’t about to share his nanny with anyone.
Trevor rushed to the nursery and retrieved a box of wipes.
James’s and Sasha’s faces were red from crying.
Will just sat checking out his siblings, though his eyes welled.
The minute they saw him, their cries ceased, their little chins wobbling.
“It’s alright. It’s alright,” he cooed. “Daddy’s here. ”
Releasing James and William first, Trevor wiped their faces and hands. He placed them into the large playpen in the family room. Then he retrieved Sasha and did the same. Just before he put her with her brothers, Trevor got a whiff that told him that she needed changing. He slapped his forehead.
Diapers.
Pop had told him at least three times to order diapers. With three babies in the house, Trevor used a mail-order service, but Orson had stated there was a glitch, so the order hadn’t processed. That had been two days ago.
He dashed into the children’s nursery with Sasha wriggling in his arms—a converted master bedroom—and counted the stack.
He was down to twenty-seven. That might be enough until morning.
But, then again it might not. Grabbing three and a box of wipes, Trevor placed Sasha on the changing table.
She was squirming so much, he ended up ripping the tab off the diaper. And then another.
At this rate he would be out of diapers before dinner.
He was going to have to head out to the store.
And he might as well stop at the farmers market to get some fresh fruit and veggies to puree for the kids’ food.
Making their own baby food was something Claudia had wanted to do for the children, and so far, he had kept up with that.
Quickly finishing up with Sasha, he cleaned James and Will then packed the trio into their car seats.
Since he drove a large SUV, Trevor was able to fit a wagon in the third row and the stroller in the trunk.
After grabbing a fully stocked diaper bag, Trevor packed the triplets into his rear seat and drove over to the general store.
It wasn’t until he was about to head to the farmers market that he considered he might not have any room for his farm haul.
He rested against the doorjamb of the passenger seat and released a long breath.
He felt like he had run a marathon instead of shopping for necessities.
Maybe he should head home and do this another day.
No can do. Stopping at home would mean he would be bumping close to nap time.
He would pick out his goods and then see if the farm offered delivery.
With that plan in mind, Trevor grabbed the stroller wagon and strapped his children inside before tugging them down the gravelly path.
He figured they would find it fun while he shopped, but he was oh so wrong.
Because all he saw were panicked faces and hands gripping the sides of the wagon as their bodies heaved forward and backward.
Suddenly his morning had gone from bad to worse.
* * *
Kelsey Fortune loved this time of year—the foliage of reds, yellows, oranges and greens, the crunching leaves under her feet.
The weather was chef’s kiss perfect, and she welcomed the smells of autumn.
If it weren’t for the fact that her newly purchased ranch, Fortune 8, could be in trouble, this would count as one of her best days ever.
All Kelsey wanted was for her ranch to flourish.
But taking care of her cattle, sheep and horses was too much to do alone, especially now that she had rashly fired her foreman and workers.
Her pair of old jeans, a white tee and a flannel shirt, along with her boots and cowgirl hat, were the practical choice for the grueling labor she’d had to do at the crack of dawn before driving to the Emerald Ridge Farmers Market to buy supplies.
A tedious task made bearable because she was meeting up with her cousin to shop together and engage in some small talk since Kelsey hadn’t had time to socialize the past month.
Priscilla was already there when she arrived. Kelsey pulled up next to her. The cousins squealed and shared a hug like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
When Priscilla’s parents, Mark and Marlene, died in a plane crash two decades earlier, Kelsey had been just three years old, and her father had only been twenty-four.
But, despite being young and grieving, her dad moved with Kelsey into the Fortune mansion to take care of Priscilla and her siblings, Roth, Harris and Zara.
At twenty-eight, Priscilla was the nearest to Kelsey in age, which was why they were so close.
“It feels like forever since I’ve seen you,” Priscilla said. “I was so glad when you reached out for us to meet up.”
“I know. It’s been a minute since we’ve hung out. The ranch takes up so much of my time. That’s why I started the family group chat so I can keep us all in the loop.”
Arm in arm, the cousins walked together from the parking lot up the path toward the market, enjoying the brilliant blue skies on this fine November day.
There were a lot of other shoppers milling about, including parents with their little ones.
This was one of the must-go places in town.
In addition to being a market, there were farm rides and a small café.
She could smell the apple cinnamon donuts and roasted pecans, which she would make sure to get before leaving.
To the right of the shop, there was a pumpkin stand with a gaggle of children carving away on some of the benches. She grinned at the kids’ joyful squeals. If she weren’t pressed for time, she would definitely join them.
Kelsey grabbed a flatbed while Priscilla reached for a cart, and they went into the main store.
She then filled her flatbed with oversize bags of apples and carrots for her horses and a bushel of corn for her cows.
Kelsey didn’t relish having to hoist her feed in her truck bed later.
But she decided to let later worry about itself.
Kelsey and Priscilla made sure to avoid the piles of pumpkin slosh as they made their way to the vegetables.
“How is it going with your foreman?” Priscilla asked.
“Oh, don’t get me started.” She had inherited Young with the property, and every time she spoke to him, he smirked, calling her Little Lady, which encouraged the ranch hands and cowboys to do the same.
“But that’s not even the worse of it. I learned that Young has been making fun of me on social media. He has quite a following commenting and laughing at everything I do. I know I’m only twenty-five,” she grumbled, “but I’m still very much their boss and I deserve their respect.”
“Ugh, that man is just beyond insulting,” her cousin said, putting some celery into her handheld basket. “I doubt he would do this if you were a man.”
“I agree. Young used every opportunity to undermine my authority, and that grew old really fast.”
“You know he’s salty because you won the bid over his uncle for the ranch.”
She waved at a little girl eating an ice cream cone though it was only half past ten.
“Yup. I can’t believe I fell for his lies.
Young had given me some sob story about being a single dad and having to take care of his teen daughter.
Something he made up so he could record my response and post for likes. Can you believe that?”
“This guy sounds like a real jerk.”
“He is. And he’s free to join his uncle over at his ranch. I let him go this morning.”
Priscilla nodded. “It sounds like you made a great decision. Who did you hire as his replacement?”
“Um… I’m going to put up some ads this morning.” She pointed to the small stack of signs, nails and hammer in her purse. “I’ve already posted a few.”
Her cousin frowned and gently squeezed her arm. “Kelsey, I know this guy has been awful and I sympathize with you, but you shouldn’t have fired Young until you secured another foreman.”
Tilting her head back, she met Priscilla’s hazel ones. “Actually, I fired all of my workers.”
Priscilla’s mouth dropped. She tucked her blond tendrils away behind her ear. “All of them? So, you’ve been running the ranch by yourself? Please tell me you haven’t been doing all those ranch chores all alone.”
“Yes, two days ago, and I’ll honor your wishes by not telling you I’ve been handling feed, mucking stalls and checking for lice on my own for a couple of days.
” She walked toward the register, putting all her strength into pushing the flatbed.
Her cousin caught up to her and they joined the queue.
“Now, before you chide me for being too hasty, I have zero regrets.” She squared her shoulders.
“Correction. I had no regrets until I remembered that my starter herds are set to be delivered by the end of this week and it’s almost lambing time for a couple of my ewes.
” She shuddered at the thought of managing a cattle herd of forty and birthings by herself.
“Th-this week?” Priscilla sputtered, her eyes wide. “You’re being way too calm for my liking. You need to hire help pronto.”
Kelsey blew out a breath. “I wish I could hire an all-female crew.”
“That would be hard to pull off in a town as small as Emerald Ridge.” They stepped closer to the register.
“A girl can dream, can’t she?” she muttered.
“Take your head out of the clouds and pin up another ad,” her cousin said, pointing to a space on the advertising wall. While Priscilla kept their place in line, Kelsey did just that, then returned to the queue.
“What did Uncle Sander have to say about all this? I’m surprised he isn’t out there helping you.”
“Um, I haven’t exactly told him that I’ve been on my own.”