Chapter 15
Adam stood at the backdoor, watching as his mother walked toward the house. He was still trying to decide how much he should tell her about Angel and Prudence as he saw her cross the yard.
No answers came to him by the time she greeted him as he held the door open for her.
She was short, barely five-feet-two-inches and had the blackest hair of anyone he’d ever seen, always piled on top of her head in a messy knot.
Her Italian heritage shined through in her eyes, her cooking, and her warm personality even though she’d been born in America, just like her mother before her.
“Hey, Mom,” he said by way of greeting.
Those deep brown eyes of hers skimmed him, like she was trying to figure out and prepare for just about anything.
He didn’t call her nearly enough. And he never called her at night.
She’d be asleep in another half hour and most anything he ever had to say to her could wait until meatball dinner on Sundays, not that he always attended.
Being in the same room with his father for too long was a problem.
“Everything okay, Adam?” She studied his face.
Angel was sleeping in her carrier, having just downed a bottle.
“Come on into the kitchen where we can talk,” he said.
Her forehead wrinkled with concern as she passed by him. She moved toward the table and then froze. He recognized it as the instant she saw Angel.
“Who is this?” she whispered.
Since he still hadn’t figured out how to explain who Angel was and why she belonged on the ranch with him, he decided to sidestep the question.
“How are your babysitting skills?” he asked.
The look he got for redirecting the conversation caught him off guard. He’d seen his mother so angry he thought her head might explode, though she never uttered a word in frustration. He’d seen her cry tears of joy. This was different.
“Good enough to keep the nine of you alive,” she pointed out.
“That’s why I called. I figure you’re nine for nine, and I need someone to watch this little girl in the morning while I visit the sheriff’s office,” he stated, hoping she would let it go at that.
“So, you’re helping out Sheriff Lawler by keeping her here?” his mother asked.
“Yes.” It was the truth.
“And you can’t go into the reasons behind it right now?” she asked.
“It’s better if I don’t.” Again, he wasn’t lying. Adam had been brought up to be honest. Honor was everything for a rancher.
She nodded before walking over to take a peek into the carrier. “A girl?”
“That’s right,” he said. His mother had made no secret about wishing to take home at least one pink blanket instead of nine blue.
Her close friends and acquaintances knew she was the ‘go to’ if they needed a babysitter for their daughter.
She’d loved her boys, though. Don’t get him wrong.
But a girl put a twinkle in his mother’s eyes that neither Adam nor any of his brothers ever had.
“What time should I be here?” she asked. Her face lit up as she watched the sleeping angel.
“I have to leave around five-forty-five,” he said. His mother kept rancher hours so she would be awake for a full hour and forty-five minutes at that point.
“Okay.” She practically beamed at the baby and it gave him a little more confidence in sharing the news following the paternity test if Angel turned out to be his.
“One more thing, and this is a big ask,” he said.
His mother took in a deep breath like she was fortifying herself.
“Keep this between us for now,” he said.
Her eyes widened.
He put his hands up, palms out, in the surrender position. “The fewer people who know she’s here, the better. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I never keep secrets from your father,” she said. “What will I tell him is the reason I have to be here so early?”
“Do you have to say anything?” he asked.
“Heaven help me.” She made the sign of the cross.
“If he asks, I wouldn’t expect you to lie,” he said. “Does he know where you are twenty-four/seven?”
She stood there for a long moment and he wasn’t certain which way she was leaning.
“I guess not. If I came here to the main house, he might assume that I’m starting the process of going through his father’s things,” she reasoned.
“There’s another purpose to stop by and I have no problem if you tell the world about—”
As if on cue, the click-click-click sound of toenails on tile echoed from down the hallway. The sound was a bullet train coming at them.
“Hutch,” Prudence called out. Her voice lit campfires inside him. She was all blue skies and endless summer days.
A black lab came bolting into the kitchen. The minute he saw Adam, he put the brakes on. He couldn’t gain traction, so he basically skidded across the room unable to stop until he plunked into the wall.
His back legs got out from underneath him and he struggled to pull it together again.
“Sit!” came the command from the hallway.
The dog complied.
Adam was impressed. His mother seemed shocked. Her hand immediately went out to block the dog from getting anywhere near the carrier. He’d never seen his mother move so fast.
Adam chalked it up to a mother’s instincts.
She wedged her body in front of the baby and his chest tightened with pride. If Angel turned out to be his…
No sense going there at this point. He’d know soon enough, and he didn’t need any expectations on the results either way. The situation was complicated enough without adding to it.
Prudence jogged into the room, carrying a little white puffball in her arms and issuing an apology. She froze the minute her gaze landed on Adam’s mother.
“Mother, I’d like to introduce you to my friend Prudence,” Adam said.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught his mother eyeing Prudence up and down. Was she checking for signs that this was the little girl’s mother?
“Pleased to meet you,” his mother said.
“It’s such a pleasure. I was in the same grade as Fallon in school and I’ve heard so much about your family that I feel like I already know you,” Prudence said, much to his mother’s delight.
“If anyone asks where you’re going tomorrow, you could always use the excuse of dog sitting,” Adam suggested.
“I’m very impressed, by the way,” his mother said to Prudence. “I’ve never been able to get a dog to listen to me like that.”
“It comes with the territory for me.” Prudence’s cheeks flushed at the compliment and it made her look even more beautiful.
“I own a pet sitting company and it’s the one thing I work on before I accept a new client.
If I can’t get the dog to sit from anywhere in the room or no matter what else he or she is doing, I don’t want to be responsible for them. ”
“Makes sense,” his mother said. He shouldn’t care that his mother seemed taken with Prudence, but he was.
He wanted his mother to like someone he cared about.
The same went for Angel. No matter what the paternity test revealed, he wanted to ensure Angel had a good home.
He highly doubted that meant having anything to do with Libby’s parents.
She hid him from them. She hid her pregnancy.
A few dots clicked into place. Was she afraid they wouldn’t approve of him?
It was probably his ego talking, looking for an excuse other than the simple fact Libby didn’t love him. Crazy, because it was water under the bridge now. And yet, he wanted to know if this child had been conceived with love.
Cart before the horse, Firebrand. First, he needed to see if Angel belonged to him at all.
Looking at Prudence as she talked to his mother, his heart was making designs that it couldn’t afford.
Prudence liked Mrs. Firebrand. The woman had a kind face, gentle disposition, and came across as a doting mother.
Her hands looked like a gardener’s, no polish or fake nails there.
She had an earthy appeal. As far as Firebrands went, Prudence was now four-for-four.
She hadn’t met his father yet, and based on Adam’s description, the man sounded bullheaded.
She would reserve judgment until she looked him in the eyes and shook his hand.
“I’ve seen you in town. Now, I have a reason to speak to you,” Mrs. Firebrand said with the kind of warmth that wrapped Prudence in a hug. She was caught off guard by the acknowledgment. Most folks couldn’t pick her out of a lineup to say she lived in the same town.
“I’d like that a lot.” Prudence held Miss Peabody a little closer. The sweet girl was shaking a little less.
Hutch got up and moseyed over, sniffing every surface along the way.
Mrs. Firebrand’s eyes lit up when she looked at her son.
“The Marshall never allowed animals inside the house.” Her mischievous look was endearing. “He could be such an old ninny.” Her nose wrinkled when she said the last word.
“So if anyone asks, you’re pet sitting in the morning. Okay?” Adam asked.
“I suppose it is true,” she responded with a nonchalant shrug. And then the spark returned to her brown eyes. “Plus, it’s no one’s business but ours what I’m doing at the Marshall’s house.”
“Believe me, I don’t like putting you in a bad position. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving out some of the truth, by all means go ahead—”
She waved her son off before he could finish.
“It’s settled,” she said, chin up. “Now, I better get back home and get to bed. Early rise in the morning.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Adam said with a hug and kiss on the top of her head.
She shushed him away as she took a look into the carrier. “She sure is a beautiful baby.”
“True,” he said and Prudence heard the pride in his tone.
She wasn’t doing such a great job of protecting herself, because she had to agree with both of them. Angel was something special, all right.
Mrs. Firebrand walked to the back door. She stopped and turned. “You know about the will?”
“Brax stopped by earlier,” he said.
“The men are already fighting and their father hasn’t had a proper burial yet.” She made the sign of the cross. “I hope you boys learn from them and don’t make the same mistakes. No good ever came out of fighting for the sake of arguing.”
Prudence couldn’t help but be charmed by Adam’s mother. It had been too long since she’d had one and this lady seemed very special.
“I do my best to get along,” Adam said.
“Keep at it. The others will come around eventually,” she said, before wagging her index finger in the air. “Or they’ll have to live with regret.”
On that note, she took her exit. The woman knew how to leave an impression.
“There’s dog food on the front porch. I better—”
“I can bring it in,” Adam volunteered. He was off before she could stop him. He hauled the bags into the kitchen and then set up the bowls, filling them with water. “When do they eat?”
“I should have asked Randy when the last time they were fed, but they usually eat after dinner.” She thought of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. Again, her heart hurt for the losses that had been racking up. “They should be good until morning.”
“Any medicines I need to know about?” Adam asked.
“None. They’re both healthy,” she said.
“We’ll have to watch that one when she goes outside. Can’t have a coyote nabbing her from the backyard,” Adam said.
“I always go with them when they do their business. This guy here is a jumper. Not many fences are capable of holding him in. So I always have to keep an eye on him,” she admitted.
“Have you considered what to do with them on a more permanent basis?” he asked.
She snuggled Miss Peabody. “I’m thinking of keeping them both. They know me and we have a good relationship. We have trust established and I know their routines. It would be an easier transition for them.”
“What about your job?” His dark brow arched.
“I’ll have to figure that part out,” she admitted. One step at a time.
He nodded.
“Speaking of meals, when was her last bottle?” she asked.
“Hour and a half ago,” he said after a quick glance at the clock and even faster mental calculation.
“Did you ever realize how often a newborn fed?” It was probably the stress of the day that made her laugh. It was either laugh or cry.
Adam cracked a smile.
“I had no idea,” he said.
That statement covered so much of what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. The day should have felt like the longest in her life but there was something about being with Adam that gave her shelter in a raging storm.
“Hutch just did his business. Sorry about the front lawn,” she said. “I had no way to scoop without my supplies.”
“I’ll get it in the morning,” he said. “Besides, I’m sure there’ll be others.
Though we should probably keep him in the backyard from now on.
It’ll give him plenty of room to run and there’s an invisible fence to keep critters out.
The reverse will be true with him. He won’t be able to cross it and escape no matter how high of a jumper he is. ”
“That’s a relief,” she said.
“We should still keep an eye on the lady, though. Coyotes can get creative when they spot an easy meal.”
“They won’t get this girl.” She held Miss Peabody against her cheek. There’d been enough loss to last a lifetime.
And she was scared that more would happen before this investigation was over.