Grace smiled at the woman gratefully. She cer tainly wouldn"t be feeling as comfortable about things without Kerri here.
"Now, I"m going to make dinner," Kerri said.
"And you should take one of those pain pills the doctor gave you," Jake said to Grace.
She shook her head. "I"m fine. I really don"t like to take pain pills. They make me groggy."
Jake pushed off the counter. "I"m heading out to the barn."
"Dinner in an hour," Kerri said.
He nodded and then left the kitchen. Once again Grace felt some of the tension ease out of her body. There was no question about it, something about Jake Johnson put her on edge. She felt a vague sense of disapproval wafting from him. Could she really blame him? For all he knew she was some kind of bimbo who made a habit of falling into bed with handsome cowboys.
He probably thought she was here for money despite her claims to the contrary. He had no reason to believe anything she"d told him.
They had a quiet dinner and then at about seven o"clock, with Jeffrey and Kerri"s help, the girls were bathed, put into their pajamas and laid down in the cribs where they fell asleep almost immediately.
Jake had disappeared right after dinner, muttering that he was going into his office where he"d remained. With the girls asleep, Kerri showed Grace to the spare room and Jeffrey offered to bring in her suitcase and anything else she needed from her car.
The guest room was nice, decorated in shades of yellow and with a sliding gla.s.s door that led out to a small balcony. Grace stowed her things and by eight o"clock she, Kerri and Jeffrey sat in the living room. The television was on, but Grace"s thoughts were far away from the drama unfolding on the screen.
In this single day her life had held enough drama to last her a lifetime. She was more than eager to get back to her home in Wichita, raise her daughters by herself and help her sister find her way through life.
Her shoulder throbbed with a pain that made any real depth of thought next to impossible. She"d already decided that before she went to sleep that night she"d take one of those pain pills the doctor had given her. Hopefully the girls would sleep through the night as they usually did and Grace would feel well enough to head home the next day.
They all turned as the front door opened. Grace"s stomach clenched as Justin walked in. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the sling she wore. "What happened?"
"I fell and hurt my shoulder," she replied. She wasn"t sure if she should be happy or angry to see him again.
He looked at Kerri and Jeffrey. "Do you mind? Can I talk to her alone?"
Kerri looked at Grace, who nodded slightly. "Come on, Jeffrey, let"s go into the kitchen and have a piece of pie."
Grace looked back at Justin. He seemed calm and contrite, although she thought she caught the scent of beer wafting from him.
"I"m sorry," he said once Kerri and Jeffrey had disappeared from the room. "About how I acted earlier. I was a real jerk and I truly do apologize."
She gave a curt nod, not exactly ready to accept his apology but at least willing to acknowledge it. He slid into the chair across from where she sat on the sofa.
"Man, what a freak-out." He released a sigh and raked a hand through his thick, dark hair. "So, how did you find me? I don"t remember us exchanging too much personal information that night, although obviously we exchanged enough."
"Actually, I didn"t find you. A friend of mine did." She quickly explained to him about MysteryMom.
"Wow, it just gets freakier," he exclaimed when she was finished. "So, I got three kids."
"Three daughters. Justin, I don"t care about child support if that"s what you"re worried about. I just thought you should know about them. I thought maybe you"d want to be a part of their lives." Her heart hurt in her chest as she watched his expression, as she clung to the belief that somehow, some way this man would step up.
"Can I see them?"
Her hope found a bit of purchase at this request, although she shook her head negatively. "They"re sleeping right now. I really don"t want them disturbed tonight. Unfortunately, with my shoulder injury I won"t be going home for a day or two."
"Then why don"t I plan on being here at ten in the morning and spend a little time with them." He stood from his chair. "And we can talk then about where things go from here."
The tentative hope blossomed and she offered him a smile. "I"d like that."
"Then I"ll see you at ten tomorrow." He disappeared out the front door and Grace breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.
She turned to see Jake standing in one of the doorways nearby, apparently the door that led into his private study. "You were right," she said. "He just needed some time to process it all, I guess." She smiled.
"I"m just heading up to my room so I"ll say good-night," he said.
"Good night, Jake, and thank you for everything. Justin is going to be here around ten tomorrow to get to know the girls, so it looks as though things are going to be just fine."
"Let"s hope so," he said, his eyes once again dark and unreadable. There was something in his tone and in the darkness of his gaze that made Grace realize maybe she shouldn"t get her hopes up too high.
It was ten-thirty the next morning and there was still no sign of Justin. Jake wasn"t surprised. What did surprise him was the ping of compa.s.sion in his heart as he watched Grace standing at the front window looking outside.
She"d been there for the last twenty minutes, her demeanor slowly shifting from eager antic.i.p.ation to unmistakable discouragement.
The girls were playing on a blanket on the living room floor, surrounded by toys and any other item in the house that Kerri thought they might enjoy and wouldn"t hurt them. Kerri had helped get them up and out of bed, fed and dressed in cute little outfits he suspected had been specifically chosen to meet their daddy.
"You want a cup of coffee or something?" he finally asked.
Grace whirled around, green eyes wide. "Oh, I didn"t know you were there. No thanks, I"m fine." She turned back to face the window. "He"s apparently running late."
"Justin is one of those people who would be late to his own funeral." Jake wasn"t sure he believed his brother would show up at all. Thank goodness the babies were young enough not to know that already they"d been let down by the man who had fathered them. The one man in the world they should be able to depend on. Jake feared it wouldn"t be the last time.
"How"s the shoulder this morning?" he asked.
Once again she turned from the window and this time took several steps away and sat in a nearby chair. "I think it"s a little better," she replied, but as she tried to move it to show him how much better it was a spasm of pain crossed her features.
"I think maybe you just told me a little fib," he noted.
She hesitated a moment and then flashed him a quick smile. "Maybe," she admitted. "Actually, I think it"s worse this morning than it was last night."
"That doesn"t surprise me. I"ve always heard the second day of an injury is the worst." He should be outside, riding the ranch, checking fencing, doing a thousand ch.o.r.es that awaited his hands. But he"d been unable to leave her alone standing at the window waiting for a man who might not show up until evening.
What he shouldn"t be doing was standing there admiring the play of sunshine in her hair, enjoying how her yellow T-shirt, which made her green eyes even more vivid, clung to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
She got up from the chair and returned to the window. "Surely he"ll be here any minute now," she said softly.
He heard the hope in her voice, the same hope that he"d heard the night before, and it disturbed him. He didn"t want her depending on Justin for anything. Jake would like to believe that for once in his life, for something so important, Justin would step up. But Jake had been burned too many times. He knew about the hope Grace felt, and he knew the bitter taste left behind when it faded away.
He stepped up to the window next to her and was engulfed by the clean, sweet scent of her, a scent that instantly created a faint pleasant fire in the pit of his stomach.
But he"d also noticed the tiny fatigue lines that radiated from her eyes, the slender lines of her body that indicated a woman who had little time to eat or sleep. She probably wasn"t taking care of herself the way she should. How could she with a full-time job and triplets to raise all alone?
"He"s here!" she exclaimed at the same time Jake saw his brother"s truck pull into the driveway. "Oh, it looks as if he"s brought somebody with him."
As the truck drew closer to the door Jake could see that Justin had Shirley with him. Jake swallowed a string of curses. Why on earth would Justin bring with him the woman he was dating, a hot-tempered, overly jealous drama queen with big hair and bigger b.r.e.a.s.t.s?
Justin and Shirley both got out of the truck. Shirley was dressed in a bright pink blouse, a pair of short shorts that exposed overly tanned legs and overly steep, sparkly high heels.
The two of them spoke for a moment and then Shirley got back into the truck and Justin headed for the front door. Jake was grateful his brother at least had the sense to leave Shirley cooling her heels outside. Although the odds of Justin spending any quality time with the triplets weren"t good.
Grace met Justin at the door and the bright smile she gave him ached inside Jake; just below the heady scent of her he smelled disappointment in the air.
"Hey," Justin greeted her, not quite meeting her eyes. "Uh, something"s come up and I really don"t have time to hang around here today. I was wondering if maybe we could set something up for tomorrow?" He glanced over his shoulder to the woman in the pickup who appeared to be glaring daggers at Grace.
"Justin, you know where I am. I"ll be here probably through tomorrow, so let"s just leave it loose and I"ll see you when I see you," Grace replied, a faint weariness in her voice.
He gave her a grateful glance, never making eye contact with Jake. "Great, thanks. Then I guess I"ll talk to you tomorrow." He turned and ran back toward the truck.
For a long moment Grace remained at the front door, and Jake dreaded seeing the depth of the disappointment in her lovely green eyes when she turned around. "So much for that," she said softly as she walked away from the door. She offered Jake a tentative smile. "I guess the good news is his girlfriend didn"t get out of the truck and try to beat me up." She touched the sling on her arm. "I"m not exactly on top of my game right now."
The thought of the elegant Grace involved in a girl fight was so ludicrous a small burst of laughter escaped Jake"s lips. It surprised him. He couldn"t remember the last time he"d actually laughed out loud.
Unfortunately the laughter lasted only a moment and then they faced each other awkwardly. "I"ve got work outside to do," he said, realizing that he"d once again been admiring the shine of her hair in the sunlight, vaguely wondering if it would feel as silky as it looked.
"And I should check with Kerri to see if I can help with lunch." She stepped aside so he could go out the door.
As he headed for the barn he carried with him a vague irritation at Justin and a faint simmer of something quite different for Grace. Both emotions were equally unwanted.
Despite the fact that she"d obviously gone through the pregnancy and the first ten months of the triplets" lives pretty much on her own, there was a soft vulnerability about her that called to that old, familiar protective instinct in him, a protective instinct he"d been trying to banish for the past year.
He knew the ranch hands he employed would be out in the fields. But at least once a day Jake headed out on horseback to check the livestock and just enjoy the fresh air and alone time.
Alone time. Jake didn"t feel as though he"d been truly alone since the moment of his conception. And it was what he longed for more than anything. As much as he loved Jeff and Kerri, he couldn"t wait for their house to be finished and to have the house to himself. He just wanted the time to come when n.o.body needed anything from him ever again.
Still, as he saddled his horse his thoughts returned to Grace. Maybe things would have been easier if she was more like Justin"s usual women. Justin"s normal types were tough, life-weary women who knew the score where he was concerned. They knew how to fight for what they wanted and they didn"t always fight fair. They also knew to expect nothing from Justin and that"s usually what they ended up with where he was concerned.
Grace had a quiet elegance about her. She worked as a schoolteacher, and he"d believed her when she"d told him she wasn"t the type to fall into bed easily with any man.
Minutes later he was racing across the pasture, shoving thoughts of the beautiful brown-haired woman out of his head. When his parents had died and left this large ranch to the three young men, Jake knew it would never work with three cooks and no chef.
He knew that Jeffrey had never wanted to be a rancher. He preferred working with numbers, loved being an accountant and had no desire to have anything to do with the ranch except help keep the books.
Justin didn"t have the work ethic necessary to keep it a successful, functioning business and so Jake had offered to buy them both out. They"d banged out the details, worked with the bank and a lawyer and now the land was his, except for the plot where Jeffrey and Kerri were building their place.
Both Justin and Jeffrey got a payment each month from the profits the ranch made and would do so until their part of the inheritance was paid off.
He rode until just after noon and then headed back to the house for lunch. The three little girls were already in their high chairs, chattering and taking turns laughing as if enjoying each other"s conversation.
"Are they always so happy?" he asked as he walked over to the sink to wash up.
"Pretty much all the time," Grace said. She was already seated at the table while Kerri stood at the stove stirring a big pot of vegetable soup. "The only time they"re at all fussy is if they get overly tired."
"That"s the only time I get fussy," Kerri said with a laugh. She began to ladle the soup into a large tureen.
Lunch was a quiet meal. Grace seemed pulled into herself, her gaze lingering often on her three daughters as they ate their finger food.
Jake tried not to notice the sadness that wafted from Grace, a sadness he knew his brother was responsible for. Not my problem, he reminded himself over and over again. But when lunch was finished and the girls were down for their naps, the sight of Grace sitting alone on the sofa in the living room made it impossible for him to just leave her there and disappear into his study.
"How about a walk outside for a little fresh air?" he said to her. "I"ll show you around the place."
She glanced toward the stairs and then looked at her watch. "Okay, that sounds good. The girls usually nap for about an hour and a half and they just went down."
"I"ll let Kerri know we"re going out. She can keep an ear open for any of the girls waking up," he said. It took him only a moment to alert Kerri of their intention, and then he and Grace stepped out on the porch into the midafternoon spring sunshine.
"Ever been on a ranch?" he asked.
"No, I"ve always been an urban girl," she replied. "Although I sometimes take my cla.s.s to a petting farm in Wichita for a field trip. Looks as though you have a lot of land."
He nodded. "It"s almost six hundred acres. I use some of it for crops, but most of it is for cattle."
"You run it all alone?"
They walked in the direction of the barn in the distance, the sun warm and the air spiced with the scents of flowers and pasture. "No, I"ve got several men who help out."
"I haven"t seen anyone around."
"They"re usually out in the fields by this time of the day. I"m sure if you"re here long enough you"ll eventually see them."
"No offense, but I hope I"m not here that long," she replied.
"Already tired of our company?" he said, half teasing.
"You all have been wonderful, but I came here with a specific purpose in mind and now that I"ve accomplished what I set out to do, I"m eager to get home."
And he wanted her gone, he reminded himself, although it was difficult to maintain that feeling when she looked so beautiful and smelled so good. "You didn"t exactly accomplish what you wanted," he said.
A tiny frown danced in the center of her forehead. "Your brother is obviously not cut out to be much of a family man." She looked up at him. "What about you? You have a girlfriend with plans to marry and fill this big place with lots of children?"
"No," he replied firmly. "Never. I know it sounds crazy, but with my brothers I feel as if I"ve been parenting most of my life. Once Kerri and Jeffrey move out, I am looking forward to being alone. The last thing I want is the responsibility of a wife or kids." He realized he sounded harsh and he tempered his words with a smile. "But that doesn"t mean I"m not ready to step up as an uncle."
"I appreciate that. I"d just hoped..." She allowed her voice to trail off.
Jake didn"t know how to reply. He couldn"t make his brother into the man she wanted him to be, although heaven knew he"d tried over the years to make him into some kind of a responsible man.
At that moment his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and realized it was a call he had to take and he needed to be in his study in order to refer to some doc.u.ments. "I"ll call you right back," he said to the man on the other end of the line.
"I"m sorry, I"ve got to get back inside," he said to Grace. "That was a business call I need to return. Shall we head back?"
"If you don"t mind, I think I"ll walk around a little bit longer. It feels good to be out here in the fresh air and sunshine."
Once again that protectiveness surged up inside him. She looked lost, and he knew the disappointment of the morning with Justin weighed heavily in her heart. He steeled his own heart against her. "Okay, then I"ll just see you inside in a few minutes."
As he walked back toward the house, he fought the impulse to turn and get one more look at her. He told himself again he wasn"t going to get sucked into this drama, that Justin and Grace were going to have to figure it all out on their own.