"Thanks, I appreciate it." She opened the pa.s.senger door and stepped out into the darkness of the night. As she opened one back door, Officer James opened the other.
"I can take it from here," a familiar deep voice said.
Grace straightened and looked across the top of the car to see Jake. She couldn"t help the way her heart leapt in response. She reached into the backseat and unbuckled Bonnie, then pulled the little one into her arms.
By the time she reached the other side of the car Jake had both Abby and Casey in his arms. The girls were all asleep and remained so as she and Jake walked inside and put them down in their cribs.
Grace had a million questions for him. Why was he still here? What had made him realize the danger was here? And why was he still here? If he"d only come back to warn her, to save her, then why hadn"t he just driven back home after he"d left the police station?
She started out of the room, but paused and watched as he moved a tall dresser over in front of the window. She frowned at him in curiosity as they left the room together.
"I broke that window to get inside earlier," he explained. "The dresser will have to stay there until it"s fixed."
"I"ll have it fixed tomorrow," she replied. They entered the living room and she motioned him to the sofa, trying not to feel anything when she looked at him, wishing she had the numbness of shock to insulate her against her love for him.
"It seems as though I"m always thanking you for something. Tonight I"m thanking you for my life. How did you know?"
"I didn"t know for sure. I just started wondering if maybe that car accident you"d been in before coming to Cameron Creek had been intentional, and that meant whoever was trying to hurt you was from here." As always, his eyes were dark and unreadable. "It suddenly seemed important to me that I tell you, and when I couldn"t get you on your phone I jumped in the truck and drove here."
"Thank G.o.d you did." She leaned back against the sofa cushion and shook her head. "I had no idea the depths of Natalie"s hatred for me. I always just wanted what was best for her. I wanted her to be happy."
"I have a feeling all the money in the world won"t make Natalie happy. She has issues that even wealth can"t solve," he said softly.
"I know. And I"m sorry I suspected your brother and Shirley."
He gave her a wry grin. "h.e.l.l, I suspected them for a little while. No apology necessary."
"So, I guess that"s it. Mystery solved and life goes on." She told herself the burn at her eyes had nothing to do with telling him goodbye yet again, but rather because of a culmination of everything that had happened since she"d arrived home. Her heart felt too big for her chest as she looked at him. "You should probably head home. You have a long drive ahead of you."
It would be an appropriate thing to do for her to offer him her guest room and suggest he make the drive first thing in the morning. But she didn"t think she could stand having him beneath her roof for a single night, and she didn"t think she could survive yet another goodbye in the morning.
"You know, I was going to head home straight from your place once an officer took me back to my truck. I even got on the highway to head home and then turned around and came back."
"You wanted to explain to me why you thought I might be in trouble. I appreciate you stopping by." The words tasted tragic on her lips.
"That wasn"t what made me come back. Right after you left earlier this morning, I walked back into the house and there was blessed silence." He got up from the sofa and paced across the floor in front of her, as if too agitated to sit still.
"It was the kind of silence I"d dreamed about, the kind I"d sworn I wanted for the rest of my life." He stopped and stared at her. "And I hated it. You were right, you know. I"ve spent most of my time taking care of Justin and had decided to spend the rest of my life running away from my own."
A tiny ray of hope sparked in her heart, but she was afraid to fan it in any way, afraid to allow it to burst into full flame. For all she knew he was just telling her he was grateful for her and the girls bringing him to life, a life he intended to live with somebody else.
"When I got here and realized you were in trouble, I looked for a way to get inside and saw the girls crying. I felt their cries deep in my heart, in my soul. And when I broke through that window and stepped into the bedroom, Bonnie smiled through her tears, called me da-da and raised her hands to me."
Grace was riveted to the sofa, afraid she was somehow misunderstanding what he was telling her. She didn"t want to be wrong. Despite her need to keep control of her hope, it had grown so big in her heart she felt as if she might suffocate.
"So you"ve decided you want children," she finally managed to say.
He smiled then, that warm, wonderful smile that shot heat through her. "No, Grace, what I"m saying is that I want your children. I want you and your children. I love you and I love those girls as if they were my own." His smile faltered and failed. "But I"m also aware that I"m not Justin and maybe whatever feelings you have for me are because I look like the man you came for, because I look like the man you want to father your children, their real father."
"Are you crazy? You don"t look like Justin at all. You look like Jake, the man I fell in love with, the man I wished was the real father of my babies. I love you, Jake, and I"m not a bit confused between you and Justin."
"If that"s true then why are you still sitting on the sofa?" he asked, the smile once again lighting his features. "Why aren"t you in my arms?"
She flew off the sofa and into his waiting arms, her heart beating a million miles a minute as he wrapped her in a tight embrace and they shared a kiss that held all her longing, all her dreams, all her love for him.
When the kiss ended he gazed down at her. In the depths of his beautiful midnight-blue eyes she saw her future. "I want to marry you, Grace. I want to be a stepfather to the girls. I want that big ranch house to be filled with love and happiness like it has never known before."
Grace"s heart expanded. Justin would always be the triplets" father, but she knew that Jake would be the man they could depend on, the man they would run to, the man they would call dad.
"MysteryMom got it right after all," she murmured. "She reunited me with the father of my children and gave me the love of my life. Does it get any better than this?"
Jake"s eyes shimmered with promise. "Trust me, it gets so much better than this." He kissed her again and Grace knew she"d found her happily-ever-after in Jake"s arms.
Epilogue.
"Bonnie, don"t pull Daddy Jake"s hair like that. He"ll be bald before he"s forty," Grace said.
"Bald." Bonnie nodded and yanked on Jake"s hair again. He laughed, kissed her on the cheek and set her on the gra.s.s where her sisters were enjoying cookies.
Grace handed Bonnie her cookie and then she and Jake sat in the nearby lawn chairs. It was early September and a perfect evening to enjoy being outside.
It had been a summer of change. Kerri and Jeffrey had moved out of the ranch house and Grace and the girls had moved in. She and Jake had married in a simple ceremony at City Hall in Cameron Creek. Kerri and Jeffrey had been their witnesses, and Justin had been MIA.
Grace had sold her home in Wichita and torn up her teaching contract. For the next couple of years she would be a stay-at-home mom/rancher"s wife, and when the girls were old enough to start school she would perhaps return to teaching.
Natalie and Jimmy were still in jail awaiting trial on the attempted murder charges, and although there was still some residual pain in Grace"s heart where Natalie was concerned, she spent little time or energy thinking about the sister who had betrayed her.
After the wedding Justin had moved to Texas to work and try to get his life together. He spoke to Jake occasionally, but still showed little interest in being any kind of a presence in the lives of his daughters.
Grace knew there would come a time when she and Jake had a lot of explaining to do to the triplets. But at the moment that time seemed far away, and Grace"s life was filled with too much happiness to worry about it.
As Abby got to her feet and started running away from the blanket, Jake turned to Grace. "Your turn," he said with a grin.
Grace got up from her chair and ran after Abby. When she reached the child, she scooped her up in her arms and kissed her cheek. "We"re all sitting right now," she said as she plopped Abby back down next to her sisters.
She returned to her chair and Jake reached for her hand. She smiled at him as she saw the heat in his gaze. "You"re having naughty thoughts, Daddy Jake."
He grinned. "I am. I"m thinking that after the girls go to bed I"m going to ravish you."
His words created a pool of heat in her very center. "And it will be your last time ravishing me as the girls" stepfather."
"I know." His gaze went from her to the girls and Grace saw his love for them on his face. "It"s the first and best unselfish thing Justin has ever done in his life."
Grace squeezed his hand. Justin had signed his parental rights over to Jake, and tomorrow they would go to court for Jake"s official adoption of the girls. "Having second thoughts?"
He looked back at her. "No, I can"t wait to make it official. They"re already the daughters of my heart. After tomorrow they"ll be my daughters by law."
"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" Grace asked.
"Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it," he replied.
"I love you...and it"s your turn." She pointed to Casey, who was up and running.
As Jake jumped up and ran after her, his laughter filling the evening air, Grace"s heart was at peace. When she"d arrived here at the ranch for the first time she hadn"t been sure exactly what she was looking for, but as she watched Jake drop down in the middle of the triplets, she knew she had found it. She had found her soul mate.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1589-4.
Books by Carla Ca.s.sidy.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense.
Rancher Under Cover #1676.
Cowboy"s Triplet Trouble #1681.
Silhouette Romantic Suspense.
aMan on a Mission #1077.
Born of Pa.s.sion #1094.
aOnce Forbidden... #1115.
aTo Wed and Protect #1126.
aOut of Exile #1149 Secrets of a Pregnant Princess #1166 aLast Seen... #1233 aDead Certain #1250 aTrace Evidence #1261 aManhunt #1294 **Protecting the Princess #1345 **Defending the Rancher"s Daughter #1376 **The Bodyguard"s Promise #1419 **The Bodyguard"s Return #1447 **Safety in Numbers #1463 **s...o...b..und with the Bodyguard #1521 **Natural-Born Protector #1527 A Hero of Her Own #1548 **The Rancher Bodyguard #1551 5 Minutes to Marriage #1576 The Cowboy"s Secret Twins #1584 *His Case, Her Baby #1600 *The Lawman"s Nanny Op #1615 *Cowboy Deputy #1639.
*Special Agent"s Surrender #1648.
All backlist available in ebook.