Читать книгу: «The Twins' Family Wish»

Chapter One

“Are you buying that for your little girl?”

Startled from her reverie about children and the lack of them in her life, Penelope Stern dropped the stuffed pig onto the display and wheeled around. A child with lopsided pigtails and thoughtful brown eyes studied her for a moment before picking up the animal herself to study it more closely.

“Moms always like pink,” she proclaimed, her head tilted to one side. “Mine did, too.” Her face got a soft, weepy look. “But I don’t gots a mom no more.”

“Oh?” Moved by her woeful expression and the sorrowful sound of loss in her voice, it took a minute before Penny’s brain clicked in. “But I’m not a mo—”

“Katie?” The word emerged from behind Penny, a low male growl that held both reproof and resignation. “I asked you and Kyle to stay with me, remember?” The man held up a hand when Katie’s bow lips parted. “And no, we can’t buy that toy because you already have a zoo full of stuffed animals at home.”

Penny watched as the tall, lean dad gently lifted the pig from the child’s hand and returned it to the shelf. Handsome yet disheveled in battered cowboy boots, jeans that had seen a lot of wear and a red-and-white-checked shirt that was missing two buttons, he shoved back his Stetson, tenderly brushed his hand over the child’s head then looked up at Penny.

“I hope Katie wasn’t bothering you.”

“Oh, no, she wasn’t bother—” Only the strictest control kept Penny from gasping when she glimpsed the angrily crumpled skin that scarred the left side of his very handsome face. She met his gaze and mentally winced at his expression—as if he was resigned to people staring at him, as if he was waiting for her to turn away in disgust, as if that had happened before. “Katie wasn’t bothering me at all.” She hoped her smile would cover her disconcerted reaction.

“She’s buyin’ that pig for her little girl, Uncle Rick.” Katie grabbed the pig and returned it to Penny. “She’ll like it,” the sprite promised, pigtails bobbing. Then she leaned on Uncle Rick’s arm and yawned. “Is it time to go home now? I’m tired.”

“Well, darlin’, I’ve almost finished my list but now Kyle’s wandered off.” The man heaved a sigh that said better than any words could that he, too, was weary and more than ready to leave. “Let’s go find your brother.”

“May I help you look for him?” Penny wouldn’t have offered her help to a total stranger except that she’d been lost in a store once when she was four, and she hated the thought of another child going through the angst she’d suffered.

Also, although it was almost 10:00 p.m., Penny, like everyone else in Tucson, didn’t relish going back out into the late June heat wave that had enveloped the city for two straight weeks. She’d only lived here about fourteen months but she’d quickly discovered that the desert’s extremely high summer temperatures made shopping at night common for most Tucsonans. Added to that, her underperforming A/C made returning to her home less appealing.

“What does Kyle look like?” she asked.

“Like me. Only he gots short hair.” Katie grinned at her. Then with a sudden whoop of “There he is!” went racing away from them down the bread aisle, pigtails dancing, pink sandals slapping against the tile floor, her bright pink sundress fluttering around her tanned legs.

“Thanks for the offer of help,” the man said with a smile. “I think we’re good now. Hope your daughter likes that.” He jerked his head toward the pig she still held then quickly strode after the pair.

“I don’t have a—” Penny was talking to herself. “Daughter,” she finished with a grimace as she dropped the toy. When it had joined its friends, she resumed pushing her cart, which, unlike the cowboy’s burgeoning one, held only two tomatoes and a head of lettuce. Thanks to the encounter with Katie and Uncle Rick, Penny shopped for the rest of the items on her list while mourning her lack of family.

When will that ache go away, Lord?

With a sigh for what couldn’t be, she checked off the last item, added an impulse purchase of cashews and hazelnut coffee beans then pushed her cart to the checkout line. Since the line was long she picked up a magazine to peruse. She was studying an article about a celebrity’s sixth pregnancy when she felt someone watching her.

Penny glanced over one shoulder. The same man stood in line behind her. He held the little girl in one arm, her dark head snuggled into the crook of his scarred neck as she slept, her hand squeezing the pink pig. The man’s other hand guided a cart piled high with groceries. Nestled between two gallons of milk and a bag of shiny red apples, a sleeping boy sat hunched over, arms folded on the handles of the cart, his head resting on them, chubby fingers wrapped around a bright white whale.

The heart-wrenching photo moment brought tears to Penny’s eyes and revived the pang of yearning she constantly fought to quell. This man had what she craved. Family. Loved ones. Somebody to cherish, to be cherished by.

Uncle Rick had what Penny constantly prayed for but had never received.

“Seems like everybody’s shopping tonight, doesn’t it?” he said with a friendly smile that barely moved the damaged skin on his face. “I’m Rick Granger. I guess you’ve already met one of my kids.”

His kids? But the little girl, Katie, had called him uncle.

“Penny Stern,” she said quickly.

“You decided not to get the pig for your daughter,” he said with a glance at her cart. “Smart lady. I’ve been conned into buying a pig and a whale.” His rueful smile brushed over the twins like a caress. “My only excuse is that I couldn’t help it. They kind of reach in and squeeze the ‘no’ right out of you,” he said fondly. Then he looked up. “How old is your daughter?”

“I don’t have a daughter. I don’t have any children. I’m not married.” Penny almost groaned out loud. Why did you have to tell him all that? Are you so desperate for a family you’ll talk to any guy with kids in the grocery store?

“You don’t? But I thought Katie said—” Rick stopped then shook his shaggy dark head, which Penny noted was the same color as the kids’. Her attention was snared by the rueful expression now flickering through eyes as brown as Katie’s. “I should have known, I guess, because sometimes they make up stuff.”

“Oh, no, Katie didn’t make up anything,” she assured him. “I was looking at the toys and she probably assumed—”

Startled by the cashier’s loud “Next!” Penny blushed as she cut off her explanation, slid her cart to the counter and began setting her groceries on the belt.

“She assumed?” the man prompted.

“That I was a mom. I’m actually a kindergarten teacher.” Why she felt compelled to explain the details of her life while her bill was tallied was a mystery to Penny. But it didn’t stop her. “I like to keep abreast of the marketplace of kids’ toys.”

“Ah.” Rick stood waiting as she paid. Suddenly realizing how much she’d talked to a man she didn’t know disconcerted Penny. She felt a little nervous as she gathered up her grocery sacks. She was ready to leave when she noticed his struggle to hold Katie and unload his purchases.

“May I help you?” The offer was out of her mouth before she could stop it. When he nodded she decided she could hardly retract. Penny set down her sacks and began removing the items from his cart. Out of habit she placed them in categories; cans first, boxes next—many of which were varieties of cookies, she noted with a frown and then scolded herself for her interest.

Maybe the kids’ aunt can’t bake.

She arranged meat and then dairy—she had to gently shift Kyle to get the milk but thankfully he remained asleep—then added the produce and at last the cart was emptied.

“There you go.”

“Thank you very much.” Rick held up each child’s hand with fingers still clutched around their toys so the cashier could scan them. It was only as he swiped his credit card that Penny realized she was staring and that the cashier had noticed.

“The parking lot’s kind of rough.” It was a lame attempt to cover her interest in the little family but some inner need to help made Penny offer, “Would you like me to steer your cart so Kyle doesn’t wake up?”

Hearing the cashier’s snicker made Penny wish she’d simply walked away. She must sound desperate and yet something about this little family drew her.

Rick was apparently oblivious to both the cashier’s amusement and Penny’s inner turmoil because all he said was “Thanks.”

Penny shifted her two bags into his cart then pushed it through the automatic doors and across the heated pavement, trying to match his long strides though her wedge-heeled sandals and shorter height made that difficult. She huffed a sigh of relief when he finally stopped beside a shiny black truck.

“Well, thanks for your help,” he said with a grin. “Again.”

But Penny remained frozen in place, her gaze captivated by his tender expression as he slid sweet little Katie into a car seat and tenderly belted her in. When she stirred momentarily, he pressed a kiss against her brow, waited for her to settle then went through the same process with Kyle. He treated the children as if they were precious cargo, not as if he was in a hurry to get home and shove them into bed. He loved them.

“So, uh, thanks a lot for your help.” Rick gave Penny a funny look when she didn’t move. With a frown then a shrug he turned his back and began storing his groceries in the truck.

The sound of the truck box closing finally drew Penny out of her stupor. She blushed with embarrassment.

“Good night.” She racewalked away from them to her car feeling like she’d peeked in on something private and special. Yet no matter how she tried, as she drove home to her condo she couldn’t erase the image of Rick’s loving glance at the children.

Why were they his kids, she wondered? And what would it be like to be adored like that? Questions about Rick and his darling little family tortured her all the way home until Penny told herself to stop wanting what she couldn’t have.

Remember Psalm 138:8? The Lord will work out His plan for your life.

Quashing the image of Katie and Kyle and their hunky uncle, Penny reminded herself that she’d decided teaching kindergarten kids would be enough.

But her heart asked, Will it?

* * *

As Rick drove through the night to his ranch, he savored the peace of sleeping children while at the same time worrying about how he’d manage tomorrow. Three nannies in three weeks had to be a record, even for the twins. This was only June. With the rest of their summer vacation looming he had to find some kind of permanent caregiver for them.

There was still daycare, of course. Lots of parents enrolled their kids in summer daycare, and their children seemed to enjoy it. His business partner did that. But Rick had heard his sister, Gillian, say a thousand times that she wanted her kids to be cared for at home, by her, one-on-one. Well, Gillian wasn’t here anymore, and the twins’ home was his home now. But Rick couldn’t stay with them full-time. He had a construction company to run.

Rick had mentioned his difficulty to his parents but they kept reassuring him that Gillian would be proud of him no matter what he did. Nice thought but it did nothing to appease the guilt nestled inside him. He was the twins’ guardian because Gillian trusted him to do his best for Katie and Kyle. Good enough wasn’t his best.

“This is where You step in, God,” he murmured. “I need help. Now that Greg’s out with that back operation I’ve got to keep the company running on my own. It isn’t easy to keep all our jobs going, let alone make time for the kids. Can’t You send someone to care for them as Gillian would have done, as a mother would?”

The company wasn’t behind but there was the job at Wranglers Ranch coming up and that had Rick worried. He needed to start building those cabins immediately or he’d miss their September first completion deadline. The one thing he and Greg had vowed when they’d started RG Construction was that they’d always keep their promises. The day he’d buried his sister, Rick had promised Gillian the same.

Boy, he missed her. If only...

With a sigh for what couldn’t be changed, Rick pulled into his yard and up to the front porch, grimacing when his headlights highlighted the unfinished projects littering his yard. He’d only had the place a few months before the kids arrived, just long enough to build a basketful of dreams and fill a notebook of plans. Paint the outbuildings, repair the pasture fences, buy some horses to breed, trim the long grass and cut the overgrown bushes—that was only the beginning of what needed doing. But he hadn’t started any of it because now his days were consumed with caring for Kyle and Katie, making sure they were safe and as happy as possible as they all adjusted to life without Gillian.

Actually, Rick wasn’t upset by the sidelining of his plans. He’d gladly do whatever it took to keep Katie and Kyle healthy and happy. He’d vowed that six months ago, the day he’d carried them out of their burning home, the day he’d failed to save Gillian.

Caring for Gillian’s kids was his duty and nothing would change that. Not the grief that almost consumed him every time he thought of his sister dying in that inferno. Not the urging of his former fiancée, Gina, who’d not only been repulsed by his scars but also determined not to burden her upcoming marriage with someone else’s children, which had ended their relationship. Certainly not the twins’ paternal grandparents, who were still deeply mourning the loss of their only son, who’d died last year on the mission field.

Rick carried the kids inside and tucked each into bed, loving their sleepy hugs and moist good-night kisses against his scarred cheek.

“Love you, Uncle Rick.”

“Love you, too,” he whispered, his throat closing with emotion.

Only when they were fast asleep did he retrieve the groceries from the truck. Once they were put away Rick sat on his porch, savoring the night’s cooler breezes that washed down the slopes of the Rincon Mountains. He resumed his earlier prayer.

“You know I’m committed to the kids. Only how am I supposed to do my job and care for them, Lord?” he murmured just before thunder rumbled in the distance.

No answer. How did you make sense of God when two little kids bawled because they wanted to be held by their mommy, and you could do nothing to stop their tears?

When lightning split the sky in a brilliant spear that hurt the eyes, Rick went inside. Katie might wake up afraid or Kyle might need a drink. He had to be there for them.

“I’m hanging on to my faith by a thread here,” he whispered as sheets of rain pelted the tired old ranch house. “I could use some help, something to show me that You care for us, have a plan in store for us, that something good is on the way. Please?”

He waited, not sure what he expected. But when the rain stopped and the moon came out, nothing had changed. Rick was still a single parent to two recently bereaved kids, with a major building contract scheduled to start in two days.

“Could you at least send me a nanny?” he prayed desperately. “Someone like that woman I met at the grocery store?”

Penny. Her face filled his mind—pretty, happy, fresh-faced and eager to embrace life. Her short, spiky blond hair tousled so it emphasized big blue eyes that glowed whenever she looked at the kids. She’d said she was a teacher so she’d know how to handle kids. And she was practical. Look at the way she’d organized his groceries and then pushed his cart.

“Yeah, somebody like her would be perfect. Can you send me someone like Penny? For the kids’ sake?”

It was a desperation prayer, unworthy of the faith his parents had instilled in him since he was Kyle’s age. But since this plea was for the twins’ sake Rick didn’t mind asking for the impossible.

He wasn’t sure what he expected but when nothing happened he rose with a weary sigh, prepared the breakfast bar for the morning meal and set the coffeepot to start automatically.

Then Rick dropped into bed and fell asleep to the memory of Penny’s musical voice saying, “Let me help you.”