Denise reached for him.
Patience inched away, not wanting to intrude on such a private, family moment.
She knew the basic facts. Kent had been married. He and Lorraine had a son, Reese. Several years ago Lorraine had decided she didn’t want to be married, or a mother, so she’d taken off, leaving her husband and her son. Sort of like Ned, Patience thought.
Josh and Ethan came by with two-by-fours over their shoulders, trapping her in place.
“I’m so glad,” Denise told her son. “You need to start the next chapter of your life. Are you dating?”
“Mom, let it go. I’ll find my own girl.”
“But I want to help.”
Patience looked around frantically, still pinned in by moving wood. Any second now Denise was going to start searching for a suitable future Mrs. Kent Hendrix, and she didn’t want to be the one the other woman saw first. Kent was a great guy, but they’d only ever been friends.
She finally managed to duck under the wood and make her way to the back room. She would hide out until the danger passed, she thought humorously.
Now that she was safe, she could almost pity Kent. Denise was a formidable woman. If she decided she was going to get Kent involved with someone, he was going to find himself with a parade of women moving past his house.
She looked into the main room and saw Justice with her mother. They were speaking intently, heads bent together.
Although she wondered what they were discussing, her real attention was on how much she wanted to walk over and stand next to Justice. To be close and have him smile at her. She knew she was getting too involved, too quickly, and didn’t know how to slow things down.
With the business only a week or two from opening, she was frantically busy, yet still found time to dwell on Justice. Maybe it was good that he was going to be gone a few days on an assignment. She could try to forget about him. Or if that wasn’t possible, maybe gain a little perspective.
Mayor Marsha walked up to her. “Everything is turning out so beautifully,” the mayor said. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Patience took in the skirted suit the older woman always wore. “No pants, huh? I was hoping.” Mayor Marsha had worn pants to a work party over the holidays. It had made quite the impression on everyone.
The mayor smiled. “It was very cold out. I made an exception.” Her head tilted. “Hmm, I wonder what that means.”
“What?”
The mayor pointed.
Patience turned and saw Charlie pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. She pressed it to her ear, then shook her head.
“Everyone, be quiet for a second, please,” Charlie yelled. “This might be important.”
The room went silent.
Charlie listened. Everyone around her watched, waiting to hear. Was the news good? Was there a problem?
Charlie grinned. “Okay. I’ll spread the word.” She lowered her phone. “It’s Annabelle. She’s in labor!”
CHAPTER NINE
JUSTICE TURNED DOWN the road leading to the ranch. If there was a hot spot in the world, a dangerous place, he’d probably been there. He knew how to get in, get the job done and get out. He’d faced soldiers, assassins and dictators. He knew how to take care of himself. None of which explained why he was going to a ranch to visit a woman he didn’t know, who had just given birth to a baby he had no interest in, with a casserole he hadn’t made.
“You okay?” Patience asked. She sat in the passenger seat and watched him curiously. “You have a scrunchy face.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I’m the one who can see your face, so I get to say.”
Justice surrendered to the inevitable. “I’m trying to figure out how I got here.”
“On earth at all, or here with me at this particular moment?”
“The latter.”
She flashed him a smile. “You offered to drive me.”
“What was I thinking?”
“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. Annabelle had her baby. Now we have to be a part of the celebration.”
“Why?”
“It’s what we do. We visit the new mother, take over food so she doesn’t have to cook. Coo over the baby.”
Just one more version of hell, he thought. “I’m not cooing.”
“I’ll coo for both of us. Besides, the whole town will be there.”
“When do you people get work done?”
She laughed. “We do have a lot of community obligations, but it’s fun. If you want, I can ask Shane if he’ll let you ride one of the horses.”
“No, thanks.”
He’d returned to Fool’s Gold thinking he could find his past. And maybe a piece of who he had been years ago. Instead he’d discovered that this town was possibly the best and the worst place to be. There were good memories here, but also the constant pressure to connect and belong. He was happier on the outside, looking in. But no one was going to allow that. Not for long. They wanted to pull him in and make him a part of things.
He couldn’t risk it. Not until he knew if he was safe enough to be around ordinary people. He glanced out the side window and wished he could shake the feeling that his father was out there, watching.
The old man was dead, he reminded himself. Had been for more than a decade—burned alive in a prison fire that had taken several lives. Justice had mostly believed it—only over the past couple of years, he’d had a growing sense Bart was around. Hiding, but close.
More proof that he couldn’t escape his DNA, he thought. However much he might want to.
They drove onto the ranch. There was a sign offering goat cheese and milk for sale, along with goat manure. Beyond the main house were stables and corrals. In the distance he saw a couple of sheep, a llama and—
He brought the car to a halt and stared. “Is that—”
Patience followed his gaze. “An elephant? Yes. Her name is Priscilla.”
“A real elephant?”
“She’s not fake, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s a long story, but she lives here now and everyone likes her. She’s a part of the community.”
He returned his attention to the drive through the property. “Of course she is.”
“We love Priscilla. She was in the nativity last Christmas.”
“An elephant?”
“Everyone should get to participate.”
He wanted to point out that Priscilla was an elephant, not a person, but knew that Patience would probably object. In her world, elephants could be family and townspeople showed up to work on soon-to-be-opened businesses. No doubt small woodland creatures did the housecleaning, whistling all the while.
He shook his head. “I need a break.”
“From what?”
He pulled up in front of a large house. There were several cars parked in front already. People stood on the porch, chatting.Patience touched his arm. “Justice, are you okay?”
He turned to her. The sight of her face calmed him. He could stare into her eyes and find equilibrium again. With Patience around, he could handle the eccentricities that were Fool’s Gold.
“I’m good.”
“If you’re sure.”
She waited, but he didn’t say anything. She turned to the people on the porch.
“Okay, the pregnant woman is Heidi. She’s married to Rafe, who’s the brother of Shane, who’s the father of the baby. Annabelle and Shane aren’t married yet. She didn’t want to walk down the aisle pregnant. It’s kind of funny because Annabelle is sort of traditional, so for her to do this all backward isn’t like her. But they’re blissfully happy together.”
She studied the crowd. “You met everyone else at the work party. Don’t worry about remembering names.”
“I remember their names.”
“You can’t. You’ve only been in town for a few weeks.”
He allowed himself a slight smile, then started on the left. “The two blondes are Dakota and Montana. Next to them are Finn and Simon. The older woman is their mother, Denise, and the white-haired lady talking is Mayor Marsha.”
“Wow.”
He shrugged. “It’s part of what I do, but remember, I was friends with Ford way back when.”
“If I hadn’t been born here, I doubt I would have remembered everyone’s name.”
“It’s a parlor trick.”
“A good one.”
He wanted to impress her and knew the danger of making her believe in him. He reminded himself he had to make up his mind. Was he willing to risk getting involved with Patience? Did he trust himself that much? Or was it too late to have the conversation? Because he was starting to think he was already in too deep to find his way out.
* * *
PATIENCE HELD THE tiny baby in her arms. “Aren’t you handsome?” she whispered to the sleeping little boy. “So precious.”
Annabelle sat on the padded rocking chair in the baby’s room and smiled. “I feel useless. Everyone is helping out so much there’s nothing for me to do.”
“Oh, you should hold him,” Patience said, walking toward her.
Annabelle shook her head. “I wasn’t complaining. I was very stressed about having him. I wasn’t sure I would know what to do. But it turns out I don’t have to worry at all. We’re never alone, and I mean that in a good way.”
“How’s Shane handling fatherhood?”
“He’s excited and freaked. It’s a fun combination. He kept saying having a child was no big deal. Nature takes care of the details. But he’s discovered it’s not exactly like having one of his mares drop a foal.”
“The power of being smug,” Patience said, returning little Wyatt to his mother’s arms. She settled in the chair next to Annabelle’s and leaned close. “He’s adorable.”
“I think so.” Annabelle grinned. “So, tell me. How many casseroles are there in my freezer?”
“At last count there were thirty-two, but more are coming. Oh, and there’s a beautiful fruit arrangement in your refrigerator. Very upscale. There are cookies and brownies and I’m not sure what else.”
Annabelle leaned back in the rocker. “I love this town. I’m never leaving.”
“No one wants you to.” Patience gave her a quick hug, then stood. “I need to head back. I’ll call you in a couple of days to see how it’s going. By then you should be less busy here.”
“Thanks for coming by.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
She returned to the front part of the house and found Justice talking to Clay Stryker. When Justice saw her, he excused himself and joined her.
“You ready to go?”
She smiled. “Are you done pretending to be excited about the baby? Did you want to hold him?”
He flinched. “No.”
“Not a kid person.”
“I like kids. Babies make me nervous.”
“So you’re ready to go?” she asked, amused by his infant phobia.
“Say the word.”
They walked out of the house and made their way to his car.
“What about you?” he asked as he held open the passenger door. “Did you hold the baby?”
“Of course. He’s wonderful. So tiny. I remember when Lillie was first born. I was so scared.”
He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.
“You had your mom,” he said as he slid onto the seat.
“And Ned,” she added. “Although by then, things were already falling apart. He left shortly after. But even with half the town in my living room, I was still terrified. I was too young to be a mother. I had no idea what I was doing. But from the first second I saw her, I loved her so much.”
She glanced at him. “Do you remember your mom?”
“Some. She was always hugging me.” His mouth twisted. “As I started getting older, I would squirm away. Now I wish I hadn’t resisted so much.”
“It’s part of growing up,” she said quietly. “She didn’t blame you.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Sure I can. I have a daughter. Kids grow and separate. One day Lillie will roll her eyes at me. It doesn’t mean we aren’t close.”
“I think my father killed her.”
Patience stared at him. “What? How?”
“She died in a car accident. The brake line was cut. They said in the report it was inconclusive, but when I was a little older I went to the junkyard, found the car and saw the line myself. He did it.”
She saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel as they drove toward town.
“Justice, I’m so sorry.”
She tried to think of something else to say, but couldn’t. Was it possible he was right? That Justice’s father murdered his wife? Her worldview made the concept inconceivable, but the truth was hard to deny. Justice had been in the witness protection program because his father had broken out of prison and come after his own son. The U.S. Marshals didn’t take care of someone on a whim. There was a real reason. Bart had been put away for killing a man. Sadly, that made the concept of him murdering his own wife much more real.
“Once she was gone, I was biding my time until I could leave,” he continued. “Trying to stay out of the old man’s way. I was big enough that he didn’t try to beat me very often, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous.”
“Then you came here.”
He nodded. “It was like an alternative universe.”