Chapter Twelve
B ayleigh looked up from her computer to see Leila’s Honda Civic pulling into the parking lot near her main barn. She glanced at the clock in surprise. Was it time already? She’d been emailing back and forth with a couple of therapists she was interested in hiring and time had gotten away from her.
She bustled out of her office, running a hand through her hair. She liked Sawyer’s new wife on a casual social basis, but this was business. She hoped she looked somewhat professional.
After leaving Lou’s after dinner, she and Lucas had barely made it back to his truck before climbing all over each other. She’d spent half the night in his cabin and no sleeping occurred for either of them. She felt like a teenager all over again, utterly out of control and a little embarrassed.
But not enough to stop.
What was she going to do when he left?
She was going to let him go, without a whimper, that’s what. Because that’s what she’d promised.
But oh, it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Leila,” she said as she walked along the path to the barn. “Thank you for meeting with me.”
“Hi, Bayleigh.” Leila’s sunny smile lit up her face. “The pleasure is mine. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be able to give, but I’ll do my best.”
Bayleigh led her to the outbuilding she was hoping to renovate into an art therapy studio. Sawyer and Ted would look after whatever construction needs were required, but Leila’s expertise as an artist would be invaluable in terms of turning it into a welcoming space conducive to creating art.
“Have you ever considered becoming an art therapist yourself?” she asked.
Leila laughed. “I just finished my undergrad degree and I thought it would kill me. Not sure I’m ready for any more education at the moment. Piper’s my priority. And we’re hoping to give her a brother or sister soon, so I doubt I’ll be looking for any more challenges.”
“I understand that completely. But keep it in mind. You never know.”
She took hold of the sliding barn door, then threw her body weight into pulling it open.
“What beautiful barn wood,” Leila said.
“Yeah, not very practical though.” Bayleigh brushed off her hands. “It’ll be too cold in here in the winter unless we can close it off properly.”
The building was about the size of a generous two-car garage, insulated, wired, and plumbed. With the addition of a small washroom, it would serve very well.
Leila went inside and stood in the center of the space. She pursed her lips and slowly turned a circle.
“Which way is north?” she asked.
Bayleigh indicated the far wall.
Leila crossed her arms. “If you exchange the slider for a regular door, you’d gain wall space on the front side here. Then, if you add a couple of windows here, and here—” she pointed “—and possibly a couple of small skylights, the light here would be amazing. It depends on how much work you want to do to the building. And given that this is a therapeutic studio, focused on process, rather than output, you might not want to invest that much. Good artificial lights would also serve the purpose.”
She walked around the perimeter of the room. “It has a good feel, here. Good energy.”
Bayleigh felt a hum of excitement. “You think so, too? I’m so glad. I spoke with a couple of therapists earlier today. Having a really good studio will help me attract the kind of talent I’m looking for. I want to put Belle Vista on the map as a multi-service therapeutic center.”
“Sawyer says you’re well on your way,” Leila said. “He’s very impressed with the equine facility.” She tilted her head. “Can I ask, what inspired you to create Belle Vista? Where did this vision come from?”
Bayleigh hesitated. How much should she share with her?
“I finished my master’s in counseling psychology just before my husband died. He had a heart attack while he was driving.” Memory closed her throat for a moment. “Ted was with him when it happened. He sustained a serious head injury in the accident, and I was frustrated with what I perceived as a lack of therapeutic options for him. I knew that equine therapy and animal-assisted therapy was proven effective but the therapists providing such services were either too far away or not covered by our insurance. Nothing like an injured child to give you a crash course in what’s available, or not available. We were lucky; Ted recovered with almost no permanent damage. But by that time, I knew I wanted to create a ranch aimed at providing a broad spectrum of services people like him needed.”
Leila touched her arm in sympathy. “I can relate. I found my career through heartbreak, too. It saved me. It’s still saving me. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you found your way to Grand. This place is amazing. You’re going to help so many people.”
“I hope so,” Bayleigh said, her heart warmed by Leila’s words. “Now that I’ve spilled my guts to you, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” Leila said.
Bayleigh thought about the night she’d just spent with Lucas. He was so different from Jeremy. She wasn’t the dreamy-eyed girl she was two decades ago, either. She had no idea what she was doing.
“Did you know from the beginning that Sawyer was the one?”
“I did,” Leila said.
“And it turned out you were right.”
“Yes, but it took many years before we figured it out.” She gave a crooked smile. “We were high school sweethearts. Then in college we broke up and he married Miranda. Then he came back here with Piper and we rediscovered each other.”
“Sounds like a perfect ending.”
Leila made a face. “The road between then and now was not an easy one.”
“My late husband and I were high school sweethearts, too,” Bayleigh said. “We married right away, but that wasn’t easy either. Maybe there’s no good way to find love.”
“How long has it been since he passed?”
“Almost three years. Ted was fifteen. A tough age, but there’s no good age to lose a parent.”
“He’s a sweet guy and great with kids,” Leila said. “Piper thinks he’s hilarious. You’ve done a good job with him.”
“Thank you.” Bayleigh was touched. “I’m lucky to have him and I’m grateful for our relationship.”
“It doesn’t come without a lot of work.” Leila bit her lip. “It must have been so hard for you, losing your husband.”
“It was, but maybe not exactly how you think.” She hesitated, then admitted, “I’m not sure we would have lasted. We were so young when we got together.”
Family pressures, money problems. Then infertility issues. Jeremy had a temper, she’d discovered, and he hadn’t expected her stubbornness. Then, the shocking joy of Ted, quickly followed by sleepless nights and battles over the division of labor. He’d expected what she’d been raised to be: a good wife, a quiet, submissive woman who looked to her husband as the leader and didn’t question or challenge him on anything.
Then she’d changed the script.
“Losing him gutted me.” She glanced at Leila. “But I think I missed the us I wanted us to be, more than the us we actually were, if that makes sense.”
“Boy, do I get that.” Leila puffed her cheeks out. “That’s how I ruined things with Sawyer the first time around.”
“You seem unbreakable now.” Bayleigh smiled.
Leila blushed. “We are incredibly lucky. I don’t take that for granted.”
“What you’re doing to include Piper’s birth mother in her life has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with commitment and integrity,” she said. “You’ve earned it.”
“What about you?” Leila said, eyeing her curiously. “Have you got someone waiting in the wings? Or haven’t you dated much since your husband passed?”
Bayleigh gave an uncomfortable laugh as her cheeks warmed. “If by much you mean at all, then no.”
Leila’s eyes widened. “Not at all?”
“Ted was in the hospital for over a month. Then there was rehab, doctors’ visits, private tutoring. He’s doing great now, but he’s still making up classes. Trust me, there was no time to think about my own love life.”
Leila was pensive for a moment. “My mom died when I was in grade six,” she said, finally. “My dad never dated again after that, either. But they were older and had given up on having a family when I came along. Pretty common with adoptive parents, I suppose. They tried for years, the usual story. So, when she passed away, I understood that Dad wasn’t interested in dating anyone else. She was the love of his life. And he was set in his ways, old before his time. That’s not you, Bayleigh. I know we don’t know each other that well, but it’s obvious that you’re a vibrant woman in the prime of her life. You just said that Ted is doing great now. Maybe this is your turn, your time. Why wouldn’t you think about finding love again?”
Bayleigh was about to speak, to brush away Leila’s suggestion, when the younger woman nudged her.
“Perhaps,” she said slyly, “with a handsome brother of mine who happens to be renting one of your cabins?”
Bayleigh sucked in a breath. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her face was burning. Could Leila see the evidence of her... crush... or whatever she might call it, written all over her?
Could she tell that she and Lucas had been tangling the sheets in her bed all week? That she was dying for him to return so they could do it again?
Leila put her hands on her hips. “Why is it ridiculous? I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Okay, I just met him, but he is my brother. Call it triplet intuition. I think he’s into you.”
She ought to resist. She ought to get up, walk away, do something with her hands, do anything to divert the conversation from this perilous track.
But she couldn’t.
“What,” she said hesitantly, “makes you think he’s into me?”
“Ah-HA!” Leila said. “I knew it. You’re into him, too, aren’t you?”
“Shhh,” Bayleigh said, glancing over her shoulder. If Ted heard this, he’d die. “Okay, maybe. If we had time. But we don’t.”
Leila’s expression changed, went from playful to serious. “Okay, listen, Bayleigh. This is an intense time for Lucas. He’s had a lot land on him in a short time. When he first arrived, I saw how burdened he was. He was angry, suspicious, resentful, resistant to everything Brade and I wanted to tell him. He wanted to believe us... but he was afraid to believe us, too. That was even before he told us about the woman who got hurt.” She paused, then tapped her lips as if wishing she could pull back the words. “Do you know about that?”
Bayleigh nodded. “Tanya Schneider? He told me a bit.”
He’d talked about a lot of things that first night and they’d done more than talk since then, but she wasn’t about to mention that to Leila.
“He trusted you,” Leila said. “With something very personal. Men don’t do that with just anyone. I think he likes you. Because whatever you said to him, the next time we saw him, he was different. He was more open, as if he’d let down his guard enough to consider that there might be something good in life for him.”
His face, in the moonlight. The painful, hidden hope she’d seen, as if he was afraid to consider that he might have found something wonderful with these people who were his family.
Maybe that he’d found something wonderful with her, too?
“I sensed something similar,” she admitted. “But I think he’s been disappointed a lot in his life.”
“The cerebral palsy, you mean?” Leila said. “He seems pretty okay with himself. It’s just a limp. You can’t even tell on horseback.”
Bayleigh suspected it was not just a limp. He’d likely had surgery as a child to release contracted muscles. He probably had ongoing physical therapy to maintain what flexibility he had. Balance would be an ongoing issue that would likely get worse with time. Riding was probably both therapy for him, and an escape, a place where he felt whole.
“It takes a lot of work for someone with a disability to appear that way. What looks minor to us can be the result of enormous investment in overcoming.”
“You see?” Leila said. “You understand him. I’m glad. I think you two would be good together. Why don’t you explore that?”
What, Bayleigh wondered, would Leila think if she knew the truth about her feelings? That she’d fallen in lust with Leila’s newfound brother? That the nights they’d spent together were the most romantic, the most sensual of her life? She wanted nothing more than to explore what might continue between her and Lucas.
Her desire wasn’t the problem. Reality was the problem.
“He’s leaving this weekend. That girl’s family will drop the lawsuit,” she said. “Lucas will go back to his wilderness adventures. In Colorado.”
Leila frowned. “What about him guiding adventure tours out here? I thought he was open to that?”
Bayleigh shrugged. “I think he was just being nice. I have no reason to think he’ll ever be back here.”
Leila leaned forward and took Bayleigh’s hand. “You have three reasons: Me, Brade, and Diana. Lucas won’t be a stranger to Grand. I guarantee it.”
“Leila,” she said gently, “there are no guarantees in life.”
“He’ll be back.” Leila glanced around as if afraid she might be overheard. “I’ve finally made contact with someone who can, we hope, connect us with our birth mother, Heather Hudson.”
Bayleigh turned. “Really?”
“It’s not for sure yet,” Leila said quickly. “But this is the closest we’ve come yet. We know where she is. We just have to convince her to talk to us. We know she was young when she had us. She may have been on her own. My guess is that, given there were three of us, it was a difficult delivery. Maybe she told herself we didn’t survive. Maybe someone else told her that. Maybe that’s how she coped with everything.”
“But you haven’t spoken to her directly yet?”
“No. Heather’s an artist—like me!—but we can’t get past her agent. So, I’m going to her. I’m hoping I can convince Lucas to join me.”
Leila was an optimist. Bayleigh knew there could be many reasons a woman might choose to keep the doors of her past firmly nailed shut. Leila was pushing into an area that might lead to a world of hurt for them all.
“Lucas has agreed to this?”
“He’s thinking about it.”
“Why not Brade? Or Diana?”
Leila’s smile faded. “They’ve got more anger than I do. I’m hoping it’ll be easier if there’s fewer of us. If it goes well, she’ll meet Brade and Diana later. She’s got grandchildren; surely she’ll want to come to Grand to meet them. Maybe she’ll even move here. If we’re all here, I’m sure Lucas will be back. Especially if he knows you’re waiting for him.”
Is that what she was doing? Mooning over a fling who’d forget all about her as soon as he kicked the dust of this town off his boots? Enough BS, Bayleigh Sutherland.
But Leila looked so happy, so convinced that the lives of everyone she cared for would be wrapped up sweetly in a bright, shiny bow, that Bayleigh didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise.
“When are you going to look for this woman?”
“Next month, probably. I have to make arrangements with Piper’s grandmother and I’m sure Lucas has things to take care of at home.”
At home.
In Colorado.
Between the challenges of salvaging his reputation and dealing with this new surprise family of his, he’d quickly forget all about the lonely middle-aged woman he’d spent a few nice nights with.
She couldn’t blame him. He had no idea he’d stolen her heart.