Flynn (4 page)

“Truth
is I was going to make some for myself. It’s been a long day.”

“A
new calf was born. She’s mine, and her name’s Sharon,” said Emily.

Natalie
smiled.
 
Had her daughter enjoyed growing
up on a ranch? She had to stop thinking of her as
her
daughter. While she’d grown in Natalie’s womb, she was Flynn
Malone’s child.

“Have
a seat, warm yourself up, and then we’ll see about pulling your car out of the
ditch,” said Flynn.

Emily
opened up a plastic container in which sat the most delicious cookies Natalie
had ever seen.

“Those
are chocolate chip, those are oatmeal, and these are peanut butter. I like them
the best.”

“Wow,
all my favorites,” said Natalie.

Natalie,
on Emily’s advice took a peanut butter one as Flynn handed her a mug of coffee.
She looked at his hands, weather beaten and calloused, but so big and strong
too.
And his eyes.
He had the most beautiful blue
eyes.
Windows to the soul.
His soul was gorgeous no
doubt.

“Cream
or sugar?” he asked.

Natalie
shook her head. “No, black’s perfect.”

“I
like your earrings,” said Emily. She moved closer to her and touched the one in
her left ear. How strange that she’d noticed and admired them. They’d belong to
Natalie’s grandmother which meant Emily liked something that had once been her
great-grandmother’s
.

“Honey,
what have I told you about touching people’s things without their permission?” said
Flynn.

Emily’s
hand shot away from Natalie’s face. “Sorry.”

“It’s
okay,” said Natalie.

“So
are you just passing through town?” asked Flynn. He set his mug down on the
countertop.

Shit,
what did she say now? She couldn’t tell them why she was near the property and
why she hadn’t told them the second she’d met them the real reason she was in
town. She’d have to think of something and quickly.

“I’m
looking for a vacation house in the area.”
Did people do that in winter? Where had
that crazy idea come from?

Flynn
nodded. “I know a couple of realtors. If you don’t have one already, I’d be
happy to give you their numbers.”

Natalie
nodded “The cookie was very good,” she said wanting to change the subject and
not dig
herself
in any deeper on the topic of
house-hunting.

“Have
another one,” said Emily putting the box in front of her again.

She
took a chocolate chip one this time, imaging what her mother would say about
the indulgence and her weight. She’d inherited her heavy genes from her dad and
not her mother—who hadn’t gained more than five pounds since she’d turned forty.

“I’ll
have to check out your grandmother’s café,” said Natalie.

“It’s
on Main Street,
and
I work
there
some days too,” said Emily.

Maybe
she could go there and get to know her daughter more without raising any
suspicion. Ease herself in as a friend before telling them the truth. Natalie
bit her lip. None of this was turning out like she’d planned when she’d left
Florida.

Flynn
walked over to the sink and glanced out of the window. She knew she shouldn’t but
she couldn’t help but look at his butt in the tight jeans.

“Natalie,
I hate to say it but the snow’s getting heavier, and the wind looks like it’s
picking up. I think it would be a smarter idea to get your car dug out in the
morning when this storm’s passed and we can see what we’re doing.”

Natalie
nodded. She was at his mercy. He was the local and knew more about these things
than she did.

“Sure,
that’s fine,” she said.

“Are
you staying at a motel or with friends or what?”

“The
Timber Creek Motel.”

“Then
how about I drive you there? I can come by in the morning and pick you up and
then we’ll get your car out of the ditch.”

At
least this meant she’d be seeing Emily a second time. Or at least she hoped she
would. Seeing Flynn again had its pluses too.

“Are
you sure it wouldn’t be a problem? I mean I can call a cab.”

“No
problem at all. You’ll find out that Timber Creek is a very friendly community,
and helping one another out is something we’re all good at.”

She
smiled. She liked her daughter’s dad already. At least her mother had picked
the ideal adoptive parent.
And a cute one.
Who would have thought it? Natalie stood.

“Let
me grab my hat and jacket,
and
I’ll get you back to your motel,” he
said.

“Can
I show Natalie my calf before she leaves?” asked Emily.

“Not
tonight, but maybe tomorrow when we get her car pulled out. Well, that is if
she wants to see it.”

“I’d
love to.”

Natalie
put her bag over her shoulder and followed Flynn as he headed to the front
door. Emily put on her jacket and then pulled on her mittens. She still
couldn’t quite believe that she was actually here and inches from the person
she’d given birth to.

A
cold wind bit into her face as Flynn opened the door and they stepped outside.
She wondered what Emily would think of Florida, the beaches, and Natalie’s
house with the swimming pool. Maybe when she worked up the courage to tell her who
she was, she’d invite her to take a trip there just so she could see where her
birth parents had grown up, meet, fallen in love, conceived her, and…

Flynn
held open the passenger door of the truck.

“Get
in and you sit between me and Dad,” said Emily.

Natalie
climbed up into the truck and soon Flynn and Emily were seated either side of
her. Despite the warmth of their bodies, she shivered.

“Here,
let me turn up the heater,” said Flynn, obviously seeing her body shaking.

Natalie
rubbed her hands together. The gloves she’d purchased obviously weren’t thick
enough for Montana winters.

“Where
are you from?” asked Flynn, heading down the dirt road again.

“Just
outside Orlando, Florida.”

“Dad
that’s where Disneyworld’s at.
Can we go there?” asked Emily.

“Maybe
one day, honey,” said Flynn.

The
thought of taking her daughter, watching her face, the two of them going on
rides together.
She had to stop this fantasy. She
wasn’t Emily’s mother. Mother…she knew he was divorced but she wasn’t supposed
to know that so it was probably best to act like she knew nothing about him.

“Does
your wife work on the ranch too?” asked Natalie.

“She
passed away quite some time ago,” said Flynn.

“I’m
sorry to hear that.”

Either
he’d married for a second time or her private eye had gotten something wrong.

Natalie
noticed her car almost completely buried under the snow as Flynn pulled onto
the main road.

“Will
the car be okay there for the night?” she asked.

“Sure.
It’s not a busy stretch of road, and crime’s almost non-existent around Timber
Creek.”

Emily
turned on the radio. “I like music a lot.”

“I
do, in fact I play the piano and…”

She
almost said and your dad played the guitar but stopped
herself
just in time.

“
Not a music teacher are
you?” asked Flynn.

“No,
an attorney.”

“What’s
that?” asked Emily.

“Someone
who gets you out of trouble if Uncle Shane arrests you,” said Flynn. He glanced
at Natalie. “Shane’s my brother, and he’s the county sheriff.”

She
felt his breath close to her ears and then smelled his aftershave now that the
heat was warming up the truck. She wanted to close her eyes and take in the
scent.

“But
that means you help bad people,” said Emily.

Yeah,
that’s what she often did, helped people who’d hurt other people. It had taken
Emily to point that out to her. Law wasn’t something she really wanted to
practice, but once again, like giving up her baby, she’d caved into her
mother’s demands and followed family tradition of becoming an attorney. Being a
judge would be the next career move if her mother had any say in the matter.

Flynn
pulled into the motel parking lot. “I can come by and pick you up about eight.
I mean if that’s not too early for you.”

“Eight’s
fine. Are you sure I’m not inconveniencing you in any way?”

“I
wish you’d stop saying that. If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t be offering.”

Natalie
nodded and then Flynn opened the door and got out.

She turned
to Emily before she exited the truck. “It was wonderful meeting you Emily.”

“Remember,
you’re going to look at my new calf tomorrow, okay.”

“I’m
looking forward to it.”

She
smiled and slid out of the seat and was suddenly standing mere inches from
Flynn. She wasn’t that short but he towered over her. She’d always loved tall
men.

“Nice
to have met you
too,
and thanks for the ride back and
offer of help,” she said.

“You’re
welcome. Hope you sleep well.”

Natalie
stood and watched as Flynn backed the truck out of the parking space. He
sounded the horn and Emily waved to her. Natalie waved back.

Her
baby girl was beautiful. And the man who’d adopted her was drop dead gorgeous.

Chapter
Five

“Natalie’s
pretty,” said Emily when they got back home.

Flynn
wanted to correct his daughter. Natalie wasn’t pretty, she was beautiful. When
he’d first set eyes on her, he thought he’d met her before but now he guessed
she looked familiar because since he was a boy he’d had visions of what his
perfect looking woman would be like, and she was the spitting image of Natalie.

“Ask
her out daddy,” said Emily.

Wow,
where had that
come from? Up till now Emily had hated
her father going out on dates.

“Honey,
she might not be sticking around town for long. You heard
her,
she’s from Florida and just looking at vacation homes.”

“She’s
nice.”

Wow,
she’d not only won him over, but Emily too.

“I
know that but she might have a husband back home.”

“She
didn’t have a ring. I looked.”

He
almost wanted to laugh. His daughter didn’t miss a thing. And the truth was
he’d always looked at the third finger on her left hand too. He smiled when he
saw it devoid of anything round and sparkling.

“I
didn’t like that last lady you took out,” said Emily.

“Neither
did
I
,” said Flynn unpacking their groceries. She
hadn’t been that nice to him, and he knew she didn’t have much patience with
Emily. In fact, when he’d overheard her correcting something she’d said and
criticizing her for not acting her age, he’d told her as nicely as he could
that he wouldn’t be calling her again. Finding the right woman for
both
them was next to impossible. Having
sex had become a thing of the past. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time
he’d slept with a woman. Finding true love, well, that would take something
short of a miracle.

****

Natalie
stood at the window of her motel room, the drapes pushed back just a tad to
give her some privacy, but at the same time, a chance to look out at the sky.
Big Sky Country they called this state, and now she could understand why. Even
in the darkness, the sky looked vast like it went on forever. She could even see
stars twinkling. It was this very same image that her little girl had looked up
and seen every night for the last thirteen years.

She
let the drapes fall back across the window. Her mother had been right about one
thing, there was no turning back, and things would never be the same. Now she’d
seen Emily she wanted to be part of her life
forever.
Not that she didn’t think that Flynn had, and was doing a wonderful
job with Emily, but knowing that her daughter had special needs and would for
the rest of her life, Natalie couldn’t turn and walk away.

Sitting
down, she pushed the hair from her eyes. Her mother had obviously known about
Emily having Down syndrome, but hadn’t said anything. Not that she’d expected
her to. She’d whisked away the baby and by the time Natalie had left the
hospital, she’d already delivered the baby to her adoptive parents. What little
information she’d been able to get from her mother, had just netted her the
baby’s new home which she’d said was somewhere in South Dakota. Had Flynn and
his then wife been living there at the time? Obviously that had to be the case.