away from him toward the back door, as if she knew exactly what was happening next.
“Yeah. I know, munchkin. I’m coming,” he said. They were running a little later than usual this morning. After breakfast John had cleaned up the house, did a load of laundry and organized the diaper bag. All in an effort to put off going to the main house.
Monty and Ellen always invited him in for coffee when he brought Adana over, and he always accepted, but Heather was there now.
He hooked the bag over his shoulder, scanning the house to make sure that everything was in order. This was the home he had grown up in, as the son of the foreman. It was compact and simple, and it was home for him and Adana.
It was a cozy place, he reminded himself. Sandy had never wanted to move back to Saddlebank after they got married, preferring their life together in Great Falls. However, there were times he’d imagined the two of them living here, after Monty had offered him a job working on the ranch. But Sandy never wanted to live in their hometown, so the dream had never materialized.
His eyes fell on her photo, sitting by his Bible, both resting on a table by his easy chair. He took a moment to pick up the picture, smiling down at it.
He had taken it a month before Adana was born. Sandy stood in profile to the camera, her hands cupped around the swell of her stomach, her short brown hair teased away from her face by a gentle breeze. Her head was tipped to one side, as if she’d been contemplating the new life growing inside her.
Compared to Heather’s sophisticated allure, Sandy looked almost plain, with her freckled complexion and large green eyes. No stunning beauty, she’d always had a beauty of spirit, which had more staying power than Heather’s breathtaking looks.
And each moment he’d spent with Sandy, he had grown more and more in love with her.
John touched her picture, sorrow welling up in him at the horrible loss he’d faced when she’d died. Leaving her behind in the hospital while he took his squalling baby home was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He still wasn’t sure how he had gotten through the empty months afterward. If it wasn’t for his parents, and their invitation to come back and stay with them at Refuge Ranch, he was sure he would have fallen apart. Their support, and Monty and Ellen’s help, had brought him through that dark valley to where he was now.
On solid ground with a daughter he loved fiercely.
Sandy’s little girl.
“I miss you,” he whispered to the beloved image in the photo. He waited a moment, as if listening for the giggly laugh that would bubble up every time he tried to get mushy with her.
But the only sound he heard was the happy slap of Adana’s hands on the window of the porch door.
He set the picture frame down, straightened it and gave his wife’s image a smile. “I told you I would take care of Adana and I will.”
He spoke the words aloud, as if to remind himself what was most important right now.
He would need every bit of resolve to get through the unwelcome distraction of Heather at the ranch. It was a good thing she was around for only a week, he thought as he walked toward his daughter, now tugging on the porch door. John could manage if he avoided Heather, which shouldn’t be too hard. Cows needed vaccinating before calving. The barn needed to be made ready. Corrals, chutes, gates and fences needed to be checked over and repaired. There was plenty to keep him busy while she was here.
“I go outside,” Adana called out, her hands landing on the window again with a carefree splat. She gave John a crooked grin.
“Yes, yes, we’re going.” He scooped her up in his arms, then held her a moment, looking into her smiling face, her bright blue eyes with their thick lashes, reminding himself that this precious bundle was his main focus.
He gave her a tight hug, holding her close. For a moment she laid her head in the crook of his neck and he inhaled the smell of her—baby shampoo mixed with newly laundered clothes.
“I love you, little girl,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her soft cheek.
Then she giggled and squirmed away from him. Time to go.
He made quick work of getting her jacket and winter hat on. A few minutes later he was dressed as well, and they walked across the yard toward the ranch house, Adana in his arms and her diaper bag slung over his shoulder. The sun was gaining strength, he thought, looking across the yard to the mountains beyond, cradling the basin. He could feel the promise of spring in the warmth on his back and the sound of water trickling across the driveway as the last of the snow melted.
He heard cows bawling, gathered in the lots. They would be calving in a month. If things went well, and Monty accepted his proposal, John would soon be a partner in the ranch. He would have a personal stake in the success and health of the calves.
He wasn’t going to jeopardize that in any way.
With that in mind, he headed directly to the main house. Tanner’s truck was parked in front. Obviously, Keira’s fiancée had come by to see Heather.
John got to the front door and Adana banged her hands on his shoulders, squirming away from him. “No. Not go to house. Go on the wagon,” she protested, as he struggled to hold her wriggling body while he opened the door.
As soon as he stepped into the house and tried to set her down, she started crying loudly. The diaper bag slipped off his shoulder and fell to the floor, the contents spilling out.
“Do you need some help?”
John was crouched down, Adana still crying, sitting on his knee as he tried to gather up the cups and diapers, so he had to look up at Heather.
Her hair hung loose today, the morning light from the windows beside the door making it shine. She wore a simple white blouse and blue jeans, and had an empty laundry basket resting on her hip.
She looked so much like the old Heather that his traitorous heart did a slow flip.
He hid his reaction to her by grabbing the diapers, dismayed when he realized that they had been lying in a puddle of melting snow from another pair of cowboy boots.
“Here, let me help you,” Heather said, setting the laundry basket on the blanket box and picking up various items that had spilled out. “We’ll need to clean these up.”
“Pwetty, pwetty,” Adana called out, her mood switching with lightning speed.
Except now, instead of reaching for the door, she was leaning toward Heather, arms outstretched. The sudden shift made John wobble on his feet.
“Can you take her?” he asked, trying to not drop everything again as he straightened. Wouldn’t that be just amazing, if he ended up on his backside right in front of her.
“Um. Sure.” He didn’t have time for her hesitation. He shifted his arm, pushing Adana toward Heather. She took the little girl just in time and he managed to regain his balance and keep his pride.
“Guess I can just throw these away,” he muttered as he picked up the remaining diapers.
He glanced again at Heather, who held Adana in an awkward grip. He knew Mitch wasn’t the kid type. He had made
