Kitabı oku: «Mirror Image Bride»

Chapter One

Maddie Wallace stepped out into the early morning west Texas sunshine and drew a deep breath. Quietly closing the door behind her, she smiled in anticipation at the beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. She drew another breath and wrinkled her nose. While the air was fresh and clean compared to Fort Worth’s city fumes, it smelled of fresh hay, a hint of sage and lots of cattle. Did anyone get used to that smell if they lived here long enough?

She walked down the flagstone pathway that led through the iron gates and headed for the foreman’s house—only a three-minute walk from the sprawling brick home she’d been staying in for almost a month. Today was the first day of her new job. Wiping her palms on the sides of her dark slacks, she had a moment of apprehension. She wasn’t really a nanny. What if she was a total flop? Desperate times called for desperate measures and when the offer came, however reluctantly, she’d jumped at it. She was not one to freeload.

Not that her newly discovered twin ever hinted at such a thing. She’d suggested this opportunity with Ty as a way to keep Maddie in Grasslands.

“It’s the perfect answer,” Violet had said yesterday after they happened upon Ty and his daughter, Darcy, looking after a sow and her babies in one of the small barns. “You’d be helping Ty, and it means you’d stay here for a while longer at least. I’m not ready to lose my sister yet.”

“I’m in,” Maddie’d said to the sister she hadn’t even known existed a month ago. “But it’s possible Ty doesn’t want me.”

When the twins both turned to Ty, the handsome cowboy seemed genuinely torn. “I guess we could give it a test run,” he had finally conceded after a long pause. “Maybe until school starts, anyway.”

Although the sisters breathed a collective sigh of relief, Maddie still harbored secret doubts about sticking around. After all, to discover at age twenty-five that she had a twin sister was almost more than she could take in. Who would have suspected that breaking up with her fiancé would result in finding a part of her family she never knew about?

Once again a thousand questions flooded her mind. What had happened so long ago to split their family? Why had her father never mentioned he had other children? Why let her and her brothers believe the only mother they’d ever known was their real mother when it seemed apparent now that Belle Colby was her mother? Hers and her older brother Grayson’s.

Everything had been topsy-turvy in the past month. This job offer, such as it was, added to the Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole feeling.

But she was willing to give it a shot—especially after seeing the way Ty had kept a watchful eye over his little girl when she ran out of the barn and began scampering around the property. It filled Maddie with relief to see Darcy momentarily escaping the reality of losing her mother and moving someplace new. She could only imagine what a shock it must have been for the poor child to arrive at the ranch from Houston without a clue the man she met for the first time was her father.

As Darcy chased the goat around, Jack’s dog, Nipper, barked at their antics, which had Darcy dissolving into gales of laughter. For a few precious minutes, she was a happy little girl. Yet, despite the girl’s burst of exuberance, Maddie was struck by the bleak expression in Ty’s eyes.

“Really, I’ll do a good job,” she said earnestly, trying to reassure him. “I mean, I can cook breakfast for her—I know you get up early and are already at work when most of us are just getting up.”

“City slickers,” he murmured, but thankfully didn’t rescind the job offer.

Granted, the job wasn’t ideal, but it enabled her to stay on the ranch and get to know her sister and brother better.

Snapping back to reality, Maddie glanced at the corral where several horses stood, ears pricked, awaiting their morning hay. It was still amazing to her that she was here on the Colby Ranch.

What if she had not responded to Landon’s phone call a month ago? She’d been avoiding him ever since she’d broken their engagement. Yet answering had led her to discovering she had an identical twin she hadn’t known about. She had invited Violet to her apartment that fateful afternoon. Once inside, her twin had been drawn to some of the photographs on the mantel—especially a favorite one of her father and two brothers. Violet had been startled to see Grayson—a twin to her brother Jack!

Violet had invited her to the ranch, and Maddie had agreed. With her father away on a missionary trip due to last until Thanksgiving, and her two brothers unavailable, it seemed the perfect time to go. Landon thought she was rushing into something that required a bit more contemplation, but she’d gone with her instincts.

It still seemed weird to look at Violet and see herself. As far as they could piece together, they’d been separated as babies, each parent taking one of each of the two sets of twins. Jack had been kept in the dark, just like her—and he hadn’t taken the news well.

Even their longtime housekeeper, Rachel Everett, had not known the truth when Maddie called her to tell her about Violet and where she’d be going for a few weeks.

Now they were all asking the same question—what had happened to their family so long ago?

Reaching the small porch in front of Ty Garland’s wooden house, she stepped onto it, her shoes echoing on the surface. The small house was rather plain with a porch that ran the width of it, green shutters flanking the two windows, and a green door in the center. While the clapboard was white, the mossy green was the same color used on the barn trim. Her focus shifted to the job at hand. She hadn’t felt this nervous since her first day on the job at Texas Today, the beloved magazine she’d worked on for three years. Budget cuts had eliminated her job. She’d been devastated at the time.

Now, losing her job seemed like the work of God. She’d had time to extend her visit and a job had materialized almost the same moment she began to talk about returning to Fort Worth.

Thank You, Lord, for working this all out. Please, let us find some answers soon. And please let me do a good job here.

Ty Garland was the foreman of Colby Ranch. A week ago, to his stunned amazement, he’d found out he had a daughter—an eight-year-old little girl who was coming to live with him. According to Violet the news had rocked him. He hadn’t even known his ex-wife had had a child, much less that it was his.

The foreman’s job came with a small house, situated between the large brick house the Colbys lived in and the huge barn that held horses, hay and other accoutrements needed for ranching. She’d been given a tour of the prosperous ranch when she’d first arrived. This past month had given her a chance to get to know Violet and, to a lesser degree, Jack.

She was so delighted to have her twin sister in her life. She should focus on her blessings and live in the here and now. Speaking of which, she’d signed on to watch the little girl so in need of help and hoped she could do a good job. Ty’s displeasure was not something she wanted. Quietly, she said a quick prayer for wisdom and guidance in dealing with Darcy. And her dad.

Knocking on the front door, she waited. Turning, she surveyed the barnyard, which was coming awake as the sun rose. Chickens searched for food in the dirt around the corral. Three horses remained standing near the fence. She could hear the nanny goat bleating. Was she waiting for food, too?

It was still, quiet and pleasant. Quite a difference from her rented high-rise condo in Fort Worth on a busy thoroughfare. Unexpectedly, she was growing used to it. Growing to appreciate the silence of the early morning. The beauty of God’s handiwork spread before her. The ageless work of cowboys raising beef for the masses.

Ty opened the door and she turned, a bright smile on her face.

“Good morning. Here as promised.” She was good at pretending she didn’t feel as nervous as she did.

Maddie held her smile even though he merely nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter. The tall, fit cowboy with the stern face gave a whole new meaning to the word taciturn. He topped her by several inches. Without his hat, his dark hair gleamed in the light. His dark eyes rarely gave anything away. She always felt small and feminine around his wide shoulders, strong arms.

She’d met him several weeks ago when she’d first come to the Colby Ranch. Over the days since, she’d seen him often enough when he discussed ranch business with Violet and Jack. Yet she didn’t feel she knew him any better today than that first day. Not for lack of trying. She always had a greeting for him when they met. He usually touched the edge of his cowboy hat with two fingers and moved on.

His frowning eyes met hers. She knew in a heartbeat he thought this was a dumb idea. Her gaze locked with his and Maddie wondered if Ty had only agreed to the arrangement because his boss put him on the spot. Now Maddie was having second thoughts herself. Could she work for this man? He was unlike anyone else she knew. Usually people were friendly enough when she smiled at them.

Not Ty. He replied to any direct questions with as few words as possible. Still, she was glad for the job opportunity. She’d been out of work for six weeks and her savings would only stretch so far.

The assignment was simple enough—watch Ty’s daughter for a month or so until he could make other arrangements. But could she deal with being in constant contact with the man whom she’d steered clear of in the weeks she’d been on the ranch? He obviously didn’t like her.

Much as she wanted to dislike him, she didn’t. He fascinated her. He looked as at home on a horse as he did walking. He’d study the day as others might study a financial report. She often wondered what he saw when he gazed off in the distance. His air of quiet confidence made the other ranch hands look brash and wild. His manner was always respectful, but distant. She had yet to see him smile and sometimes at night she’d daydream various ways to get him to smile. So far no brilliant ideas had come forth.

“We’re in the kitchen,” he said, heading down a short hall toward the back of the house. Maddie quickly followed, glancing into the living room as they walked by. A big recliner sat against one wall, lined up perfectly with the big flat-screen TV that hung on the opposite wall. There was a comfortable leather sofa with a throw over one arm. The coffee table was scarred as if he’d put his feet on it many times. There were beverage stains and a stack of what looked like ranching journals and a day-old newspaper. The hardwood floors rang with the sound of her shoes.

Stepping into the kitchen, she smiled at Ty’s eight-year-old daughter.

Maddie liked the kitchen the instant she stepped in. The wide window over the sink framed a beautiful view of the land as it spread out in front of her. Trees scattered here and there, a slight roll to the ground. In the distance she could see some of the cattle grazing.

The appliances were fairly new and were in pristine shape. No dishes in the sink, nothing on the counter but a toaster and coffee machine. Ty kept a neat home.

Maddie was glad the job required her to cook for this small family. It meant she wouldn’t have to share a dining room with Violet and Landon when he came to visit. After all, the newly engaged couple deserved their privacy.

“Good morning,” she said. “Ready for breakfast?”

“I guess,” Darcy said, darting a quick glance at her father.

Maddie looked at Ty also, struck by the mixture of confusion, hurt and longing she saw there. Her heart went out to him.

Maddie knew exactly how both Darcy and Ty felt. She had not known about her sister, he had not known about his daughter. Why did people do that? Keep families apart? It hurt to know her mother had so easily walked away and that her dad had never mentioned his other two children.

Pushing away the thoughts that spun in her mind daily, she focused on Darcy. Was it any more difficult to find the father she’d been told was dead was alive and had never known she existed?

Maddie hoped the little girl would bounce back faster than she was doing with the stunning news about her own family. Darcy had lost her mother only a week and a half ago when a drunk driver had rammed her car. Her grandparents were out of the country and no one had reached them yet. She wound up on the doorstep of a father who had never known she’d been born. How confusing and scary was that?

Ty looked at her. “We’ll try this for a couple of days. If you can’t hack it, I’ll find someone else.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said, hoping he would genuinely give her a chance and not merely bide his time until he could fire her. “What’s your favorite breakfast?” she asked the little girl, hoping she could do something to ease the pain of loss and set this child on the right path to recovering from her grief.

“Pancakes,” Darcy said, her forlorn expression tugging at Maddie’s heartstrings.

“One stack of hotcakes coming up.”

Ty poured himself a mug of coffee and gestured to the machine, which Maddie took as an invitation to help herself. She nodded and then took a few minutes getting familiar with Ty’s kitchen. She felt his eyes on her the entire time. Gathering all the ingredients, she enlisted Darcy’s help as they prepared the batter. Soon golden pancakes were filling plates. Ty had rocked back on the chair he sat on and balanced on the back two legs, watching her without saying a word.

Once or twice Darcy had glanced his way, halfway curious, halfway uncertain.

“All ready,” Maddie said, placing another golden pancake on a stack she kept warm in the oven.

Ty’s chair came down with a thump that startled her.

She looked at him. His dark eyes stared back into hers, then he nodded.

If that was the best he could do, she’d take it.

“What do you want us to do today?” she asked him.

“You’re in charge of her,” he said, eating the pancakes, taking a sip of the hot coffee.

“Can I see the horses?” Darcy asked.

“Sure. We’ll go to the barn when we finish eating.” Maddie made the suggestion but watched Ty to make sure he was okay with that.

As the silence dragged, Maddie began to get annoyed. “We need to talk about this job,” she said.

He looked at her. “What about it?”

“I need to know what you expect, what my duties will entail. I have never done this before.”

He looked exasperated. “That much was obvious when Violet first suggested the arrangement. Mainly watch Darcy—keep her safe and give her something to do.”

“And fix the meals.”

He quirked a brow. “That a problem?”

“No. Not at all. I like to cook. I imagine you like plain food.”

“As compared to what?” he asked, watching her warily.

“Cordon bleu.”

“Can you cook like that?”

She grinned and shook her head. “No, but I can make some fancy stuff.”

Darcy watched the exchange with wide eyes.

“Plain wholesome foods and plenty of it,” he said.

“Ummm. Do you ever cook out back?” She’d caught a glimpse of a grill when she’d passed the window over the sink a few minutes ago.

“Most of the summer that’s what I do if I don’t eat with the men—steaks, mostly.”

Figured, working on a cattle ranch.

Once the meal was finished, Ty surprised Maddie by clearing his dish and cup, putting them in the sink.

He lifted his cowboy hat off a peg and plopped it on. He walked toward the back door. “I have chores to do.” He opened the door and turned to look at her. “Tell Violet if you need anything. She knows how to reach me on the range.”

Maddie swallowed hard and nodded. He intimidated her. There were no two ways about it. But his daughter was adorable. Her straight brown hair framed a heart-shaped face. Her dark brown eyes watched Maddie with a somber expression. She looked confused and unhappy and sad. Her mother had just died. That was a hard thing to deal with at any age.

Hadn’t her own mother—the woman she’d always thought of as her mother—died suddenly when Maddie had been a few years younger than Darcy? It had been a solo car accident, the vehicle spinning out of control on a rain-slicked street.

For a moment, Maddie remembered her lost, confused and sad self at age five. If she hadn’t had her brothers she didn’t know what she would have done. Darcy had no one.

Ty looked at Darcy. “Mind Maddie, hear?”

She nodded solemnly.

The door closed and Maddie looked at Darcy. Memories of her own mother, of her loss so many years ago, had been at the forefront these last few weeks. Nothing anyone could say would bring her mother back, nor Darcy’s. It was up to them to move forward, as hard as that was. She smiled gently at the little girl.

“I’ll do the dishes while you get dressed, then we can head for the barn.”

“Okay.” Darcy dashed down the hall.

Running water in the sink, Maddie thought about Ty and how hard it must have been to suddenly discover he had a daughter.

“His wife should have told him,” Maddie murmured to herself. From what Violet had said, if Darcy’s grandparents hadn’t been out of touch it was doubtful the state would have even looked for Ty.

It was a big thing to have a parent one never knew about. Maddie gazed out the window, feeling the loss anew of her mother. To discover that Sharla Wallace hadn’t been her biological mother still stunned her. Closing her eyes, for a second she could almost feel her loving touch. Feel the love that always enveloped her when her mom hugged her or rocked her in that big rocking chair. It had been twenty years since she’d felt her loving hands, heard her laughter, listened to her stories of when she’d been a little girl.

Now she’d learned Belle Colby was her mother, her biological mother.

She still had difficulty absorbing that. Maybe it would be easier if Belle was at the ranch and could offer an explanation for so many of the questions she had. In a wry twist of fate, only a few days before Violet had shown up in Fort Worth and set the entire course of events in motion, Belle had been thrown from a horse and suffered a traumatic brain injury. She was still in a coma six weeks later.

“I’m ready,” Darcy said, coming back into the kitchen wearing pink shorts and a pink-and-white shirt. Tennis shoes on her feet.

Maddie turned to smile at her. “And faster than I got these dishes done.”

Thinking about things would have to wait. She had a little girl to take care of.

* * *

Ty finished giving the men their assignments for the day and went to saddle his own horse. For the first time since he’d heard about Darcy, he felt he could make it through the day. The stunned knowledge, the overwhelming feeling of inadequacy, was held at bay. He had Maddie now to watch her. Maybe she could relate to Darcy. He sure hadn’t been able to.

Once the horse was ready, he mounted and headed out of the barn and into the bright Texas sun. He was going to ride the fence line at the far boundary. One of the hands had spotted Colby cattle on the neighbor’s property and wondered if there was a breach in the fence. Instead of assigning that cowboy to find out, Ty decided to ride out himself. He needed the time away from the insurmountable problems in the homestead. Time to try to wrap his head around the fact that a week ago he hadn’t even known he had an eight-year-old daughter.

One week since the social services woman had called. A week to accept his ex-wife, Brittany, had deceived him in more ways than one. A week to get used to having a daughter—and having her show up to live with him.

As he rode, the routine of his job took hold. He loved being out on the range, loved the peace and serenity that came from being only him and his horse. Gradually some of the stress and tension began to ease. At least he could ride away today. The last five days he’d been so preoccupied with Darcy that his mind hadn’t been on the job.

Not that he regretted a moment of that time. She was a wonder. Although she resembled her mother in many ways, she had inherited his brown hair and dark eyes. He couldn’t help wondering if they shared other traits as well. He didn’t know if she was naturally shy, or only around him, but he was doing his best to make her feel at ease.

And doing a bad job, he knew.

But he wasn’t used to children. He hadn’t a clue what made them tick. And especially not a girl raised in the city, used to the lifestyle his ex-wife had embraced with fervor once their marriage ended.

Anger at Brittany boiled over again. He looked up at the sky, silently asking how she could have hated him so much to keep all knowledge of his only daughter from him.

An only, spoiled child, Brittany had been impossible to live with when she didn’t get her way. Things went from bad to worse when he broke his leg in the rodeo and he was out. She balked when he told her that his rodeo days were over and he wanted to settle on a ranch. Brittany had tried to convince him to take a cushy job in Houston working for his father, but he told her he wasn’t cut out for the corporate world. He’d known she was angry, but he had no clue how much she resented him—or how far-reaching the emotional fallout would be.

Brittany stayed with him while he recovered, but made her position clear—ranch life wasn’t for her. Two months later, he was served with divorce papers. Judging by Darcy’s birthday, Brittany had to have known she was pregnant. Once he was fit enough to ride, he kept his head held high and found a spot at the Colby ranch. He moved forward with his plans, but never in his wildest dreams would he have fathomed that he had a daughter out there somewhere.

Ty gripped the reins tighter in the futility of trying to understand how a woman he’d once loved, who had declared she loved him, could have behaved so underhandedly and cruelly.

“Lord, if You’re listening, I could use some help here. I don’t know what the future’s going to hold, but I’m hoping Darcy and I can build a bond that nothing will break. That I’ll be a better father to her than mine was to me. Don’t let me mess this up, please, Lord.”

He had to believe there was some hope on the horizon. Two years ago he was promoted to foreman at the Colby ranch. It was the closest thing he had to owning his own ranch until he could make that dream a reality.

Ty had been as surprised as Jack Colby when Violet returned from Fort Worth with an identical twin. He hadn’t heard much about the situation. That was a Colby family matter and deserved privacy. But once or twice Jack had said something. Apparently, he had a twin out there somewhere as well.

When Violet had suggested yesterday that Maddie watch Darcy for a few weeks, he’d been dumfounded. And against the idea entirely.

Maddie Wallace was from Fort Worth. Bright lights, a thriving nightlife and lots of cultural stimulation for a sophisticated career woman. Maddie wouldn’t last a month as nanny to his daughter. She’d be like Brittany, feeling constrained on the ranch, bored, anxious for the excitement cities offered and were definitely missing from a working ranch.

He only needed a month. In September, Darcy started school. He’d see if he could find a mom in town who would babysit after school until he could pick her up. Until next summer. Who knew what would happen by then? Maybe Josh, one of the ranch cowboys, would get married to that gal he was courting and Ty would have someone on the ranch to watch Darcy. That part he’d trust to the Lord.

He reached the fence and began patrolling. Until he found a break, there was nothing keeping his thoughts from straying to his new nanny. He envisioned her plain as day. She looked like Violet, yet didn’t. They were identical, yet her features were a tiny bit sharper. Her auburn hair brushed her shoulders, looking soft in the sunlight, with gold strands gleaming in the sun. Her brown eyes, which she often covered with sunglasses, looked like melted chocolate. The lashes were dark and thick.

Ty scowled. He had no business comparing any woman’s eyes with chocolate. He had to figure if he should be looking for a local woman who could watch Darcy. Someone used to ranch life, instead of someone city bred and as out of place on the ranch as the Queen of England.

Maybe that was the reason Violet suggested Maddie. She lived the same kind of life Darcy had. They’d relate. And both were like fish out of water. Maddie had been here almost a month and still wore silk blouses and open-toed shoes. Even Brittany had known better.

Maddie reminded him of Brittany. He knew it was unfair to judge a person on outward appearances, but he couldn’t help it. She was gloss and glamour, and he needed someone practical and down to earth. He didn’t believe it was going to work.

Of course the next one to watch Darcy wouldn’t be as pretty, he knew. Probably wouldn’t have that constant cheerful smile that had him taking a second look. And a third. He wasn’t sure what she had to smile about. She’d lost her job, found out she’d been lied to her entire life and was now temporarily hired to be a nanny. And apparently, she was alone in the world except for the Colbys as her own brothers were away and her father was not responding to her calls.

Note to the future—he’d be there for his daughter when she needed him.

* * *

Once the kitchen was spotless, Maddie and Darcy went to the barn. The horses fascinated the little girl, and Maddie was trying to get used to them. She envied Violet’s lack of trepidation when around the large animals. Together, Maddie and Darcy walked through the wide center portion, looking at the empty stalls, studying the hay stacked in the loft high overhead, wondering how the bales had made it up there. Most of the horses were either being ridden by the cowboys or were in the corral at the side of the barn.

As Maddie watched the little girl dart here and there, she wondered if she would be up to the task. A local woman would have been a better choice, someone who already knew about the ranches, about cattle, horses and cowboys. This child would soon find out all she needed as she grew up on the ranch from someone like that.

Maddie, on the other hand, believed she’d always feel awkward and out of step. It seemed to be a lifestyle one needed to be raised in to fully understand. She’d never even visited a dude ranch, much less a working ranch. And much as she loved being with her sister, learning more about her life and coming face-to-face with identical likes and dislikes, she also felt in the way.