Chapter Twenty-Two
While Trish had been on her phone with her lawyer, Grandma Sadie had called Brett with the invitation for the party at Ranch Haven for her.
A welcome-home-to-Willow-Creek party.
And, when Trish had ended her call with Nolan Stokes, she’d informed Brett that his grandmother had already invited her lawyer.
Why?
Was this one of her and Grandpa’s matchmaking schemes? But if so, then the match they might be trying to make was between Trish and her lawyer?
A fierce jealousy caught Brett by surprise. He’d never felt anything like that before. The feeling continued to gnaw at him days later as he drove Trish out to Ranch Haven.
Or maybe he was just unnerved because Trish was. Despite her lawyer’s assurances about her mom and ex-husband’s threats, she’d been different since their visit. Quiet.
He missed her excitement over her camps and the petting zoo. And he hated that she had dark circles beneath her beautiful eyes, like she hadn’t been sleeping. He wished that he’d managed to get rid of Belinda and Harold before they’d upset her like this.
“You’re not worried about this party, are you?” he asked as he made the turn onto the long driveway that led back to the enormous two-story house with the wings that Sadie had built onto it years ago.
“I don’t understand why they would throw me a welcome home party,” she said like she had a few days ago when her lawyer had told her about it. “I’ve only met them once. And after my parents divorced, I didn’t live here…just those summers and holidays I spent at the Four Corners.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, either. Grandma sure seems to like parties, or at least she likes getting all of her family together.”
“But I’m not family,” Trish said.
He chuckled. “I think Grandma and Grandpa tend to make everyone they meet part of the family.”
“Through matchmaking?”
“Sadie has definitely been known to make some matches in her family,” he said. “Is that what you’re worried about?” Maybe he wasn’t the only one with concerns about why her lawyer had been invited.
She glanced across the console at him. “I’m not worried about that. I can’t imagine they would want to set me up with anyone in their family.”
“You have to stop putting yourself down,” Brett said. “Everybody understands why you couldn’t come back for your dad’s funeral, and they also understand about the will.”
“What about them?” she asked as she rubbed her belly.
“My family loves babies,” he said. “Your pregnancy is another reason they would love to match you up with someone in the family.” So maybe he didn’t have to worry about them trying to match her up with the lawyer. But what about him?
He was the last Lemmon bachelor.
That realization should have scared him, but he didn’t feel anything but relief that they probably wouldn’t be trying to match her up with Stokes.
She emitted a wistful-sounding sigh. “Your family is so different from mine.”
“That’s a good thing,” he said.
“It is.”
He reached across the console and touched her hand. “I’m sorry that I didn’t step in more when your mother and ex visited. But you were handling it so well…” In the moment. But they had still affected her. Too much.
“You already step in so much to help me, Brett,” she said, and she turned her hand over and entwined her fingers with his. “And I appreciate that, but I also appreciated that you trusted me to handle them myself that day.”
He gently squeezed her fingers. “And you did. And Stokes told you that you don’t have to worry about them getting part of the ranch. It’s all good. Let’s just enjoy your party.”
He parked near the old schoolhouse Sadie had moved from town years ago when the city had been about to tear it down.
There were already so many vehicles in the driveway that it was the closest he could park to the main house.
He ran around the front of his truck to open the door for Trish and help her out.
But she hesitated for a moment as she studied all the trucks and cars.
“How big is this party?” she asked, her voice nearly a whisper, as if she was worried someone might overhear her.
“These are probably just the vehicles of the people who live here,” he said. “It’s a big family.” He remembered how overwhelmed he’d been on his first visit here and even on his last for his grandfather’s birthday party.
Her light brown eyes widened with surprise. “And I thought we had a lot of people living at the Four Corners.”
He laughed. “Not even close to Ranch Haven. This is a busy place. Loud. Full of kids and animals.”
“Are you warning me?” she asked.
He nodded. “Are you up for this?”
She drew in a deep breath, then nodded. She put her hand in his, and as he helped her down from the truck, something swelled in his heart. “You look beautiful today,” he said, the words just slipping out of him at how lovely she looked in her pale green dress and sandals.
“I didn’t think I should wear my bibs to a party,” she said. She touched her curls with her free hand. “And I made sure to get all the straw out of my hair.”
With his free hand, he touched her soft curls. “I don’t think you missed any.”
She really was beautiful. So beautiful that she nearly took his breath away. He wanted to kiss her so badly that he leaned down a bit, his face so close to hers that he could smell the mint of her breath.
The way she stared up at him with her gaze intent on his mouth made him think that she might want him to kiss her.
But they had both agreed, after their kiss on the hayride, that they couldn’t risk their partnership getting awkward over this attraction.
Because both had vowed to stay single, it couldn’t lead to anything but disappointment and heartbreak.
But Brett had begun to rethink his vow. Liam was proving that he could work hard on the ranch and maintain his wife and child as priorities, too. He and his family were thriving. So it was possible to have it all like Liam.
Still, Trish wasn’t likely to believe that, especially after that visit from her mom and her ex that had reminded her of how miserable her marriage had been.
And he wasn’t about to put any pressure on her now, not when she was already so stressed from their visit.
Just because he’d changed his mind didn’t mean that she would. Ever.
* * *
For a second, when Brett had helped her out of the truck, Trish had thought he might kiss her. And she’d really wanted him to kiss her.
But then he’d pulled back.
So maybe she’d just imagined the way he’d been looking at her. Or maybe not. He had called her beautiful. And because of the way he’d looked at her, she’d felt beautiful.
But now, as they neared the front door of the huge house, nerves clamored in her stomach. Was she overdressed? Underdressed?
She had no idea what to expect at Ranch Haven. And she was glad that after taking her hand to help her down from the truck, Brett kept holding it. She needed that connection to him, that support he always offered her whether he agreed with her or not.
Instead of pressing the doorbell, Brett just reached for the doorknob with his free hand and pushed the door open. “Grandma gets mad if we ring the bell,” he said. “Only salespeople and strangers ring the bell.”
She smiled. While she’d only met his grandparents briefly, she had been so impressed.
She’d been so young when both sets of her grandparents passed that she didn’t remember them.
But people like Sadie and Lem would be unforgettable no matter how long their grandchildren and great-grandchildren had them.
She pressed her free hand to her belly where the babies were kicking and moving.
She wouldn’t be able to give them grandparents, let alone great-grandparents.
Her mother had made it clear to her years ago that she would never be called Grandma and that she wouldn’t help raise anyone else’s kids.
Raising her own had been difficult enough.
Trish couldn’t remember being difficult; she’d always tried so hard to please her mom. She would never put that kind of pressure on her children.
“Are you okay?” Brett asked.
She realized that she hadn’t moved yet; her feet were planted on the porch. Then a fluffy ball of black fur catapulted out of the house, jumping around her legs and Brett’s. It snapped and growled, then latched on to the bottom of Brett’s jeans.
Instead of being horrified, Brett laughed and reached down to scoop it up with one hand. “Meet Feisty,” he said to Trish. The little dog pressed kisses to his chin. “She’s fierce like her owner.”
“She’s Lem’s dog now, the little traitor,” Sadie said as she joined them. But Feisty jumped from Brett’s arms to hers when Sadie hugged him. Then the older woman hugged Trish, too, and she somehow wound up with the fluffy long-haired Chihuahua in her arms.
“Welcome to Ranch Haven,” Sadie told her. “And welcome home to Willow Creek, my dear.”
Trish could have pointed out that she’d never really lived in Willow Creek, and that she had moved here weeks ago. But she just smiled. “Thank you for this party,” she said. “I was definitely not expecting one.”
“We love a party at the ranch,” Sadie said. “And there is no better way for you to meet all of the family.” A trio of little boys ran down the hall then. One had pale blond hair, one sandy-brown hair and the third was a dark-haired toddler.
The one with the lightest hair stopped when he saw Brett and sighed. “You’re not Billy the Kid.”
“No, I’m not,” Brett said with a smile. “But he and Elise and Lucy should be here soon.”
“Baby,” the toddler said with a wide smile.
“This is Caleb, Ian and little Jake,” Sadie introduced her great-grandsons. “This is Miss Trish.”
Little Jake pressed a hand against her stomach. “Baby,” he said again.
Trish nodded as her heart warmed with affection for him. “Two babies,” she told him.
“Aunt Melanie had two babies,” Ian said. “They cry a lot.”
“A lot,” Caleb agreed.
Trish felt that pang of alarm she’d felt when Darlene had told her how difficult twins could be. Could she handle it alone?
Brett squeezed her hand, and she was surprised to find that he was still holding it through all the greetings. She noticed when Sadie noticed, and a big smile spread across the older woman’s face.
“Miss Elise is coming?” Ian asked. “She isn’t out saving kids?”
“Not today,” Brett replied.
“What about you?” Ian asked Trish. “Do you save kids, too?”
She shook her head.
“Miss Trish is starting a camp at the Four Corners,” Brett said.
She glanced at him with surprise that he would bring it up.
He continued, “She’s converting our old bunkhouse into a big cabin. And she has a petting zoo with all kinds of animals, even a pet skunk, and she’s going to offer hayrides.”
“Wow!” Caleb said. “I want to go to camp.”
“Me, too!” Ian exclaimed.
“Me, too!” little Jake mimicked the older boys.
“I guess Elise is right,” Brett said. “Your camps are going to make us a fortune.”
Trish chuckled. “And we didn’t even have to offer the rodeo riding classes.”
“What?” Caleb exclaimed. “Rodeo riding classes? Sign me up!”
“Me, too!” Ian exclaimed.
“Me, too!” Jake echoed.
Trish gave Brett a guilty look and shrugged. “Whoops…”
“Can’t imagine what the liability insurance will cost for that,” Brett muttered.
Trish laughed.
Sadie laughed, too. “Now, come back to the kitchen, you two. Trish needs to meet everyone else before the other guests arrive.”
“And she needs to get some chocolate chip cookies before Caleb eats them all,” Ian said. “Aunt Melanie said that when her babies were in her belly they really liked chocolate chip cookies.”
Trish was glad that she had Brett to hang on to as she met person after person and child after child.
She would never remember all the names, but she would remember how kind and welcoming everyone was even though they’d never met her and must have heard about what she’d done in regards to her father’s will.
But like Brett had assured her, they must have understood and didn’t judge her for any of the choices she’d made.
The Haven family was more accepting of her than her own mother was.
Her heart warmed with appreciation for all of them. Then her partners from the Four Corners showed up, and her heart swelled with more love for them. They were all so kind and funny and special to her.
Frankie and Maci had always been her sisters, but now Liam and Blake were her brothers. And Elise was another sister and Lucy her niece. She had to make sure that nothing happened to the Four Corners because of her, because that was their home even more than it had ever been hers.
* * *
Bob wasn’t surprised that there was another party at Ranch Haven.
His dad and stepmother loved throwing them.
He was surprised, when he started wading through all the people in the house, to find Sue Lancaster among them.
She’d dipped out onto the patio where he’d headed for relative peace from the chaos in the kitchen.
“Uh, hello, Sue,” he greeted her. “I didn’t know you knew Trish Dempsey.”
Sue shrugged. “I only met her once at the hospital. I’m not sure why I was invited. I guess it’s because I often watch Bailey Ann.”
Sadie’s grandson Dr. Collin Cassidy and his wife Genevieve had adopted Bailey Ann. The little girl had had a heart transplant not that long ago. “That’s sweet of you to watch her,” he said.
“She’s a sweet girl,” Sue said with a smile. That smile transformed her from the usually tense-looking older woman she was to the carefree teenager she’d once been.
He sucked in a breath at how lovely she was. “You haven’t changed a bit,” he murmured.
She touched her hair that was a silvery white instead of the pale blond it once had been. “I’ve changed a lot, Bob.” The tension was back in her face and body.
He sighed with disappointment. He knew that he’d messed up with her years ago, but he’d never figured out how.
Or he just couldn’t remember after their last disastrous date because he couldn’t remember much about that date at all.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. He was sorry for whatever he’d done that had upset her.
And he was even sorrier that she might have changed because of it.