Love Inspired September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Montana Twins\Small-Town Billionaire\Stranded with the Rancher (6 page)

Mrs. Douglas looked disappointed at Hannah's muted reaction. “I also wanted to tell you that Sam and I are leaving Monday on a ten-day cruise,” she continued. “We're finally going to Alaska. David had always encouraged us to go. I think we should.”

“I think you should, too, and if I don't see you on Sunday, I hope you have a wonderful time,” Hannah said, giving her mother-in-law what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

“You won't be coming to church again?”

It was the “again” that raised the usual pangs of conscience that Hannah felt each time Sunday morning came around and the thought of dealing with her twins during the church service made her stay at home.

“I don't know. The last time I attended, the twins were awful.” Hannah had come to church, but she was tired, the twins were cranky and she'd had to make an embarrassingly emotional exit.

“You could try one more time,” Allison suggested.

“Maybe. We'll see.”

“Anyhow, you take care, my dear, and if we don't see you Sunday, maybe we'll stop at the apartment to say goodbye?”

Hannah mentally compared her perpetually untidy apartment to Allison's immaculate home and suppressed a shudder. The last time she had visited, Corey had left handprints all over the window and Allison had followed him around, cleaning up behind him. Meeting her at church might be a better option. “Maybe I'll try church again,” she said quickly.

“That would be nice,” Allison said. She glanced sidelong at Brody as if surprised he was still there, then turned and walked away. Before she left the café, however, she shot another look over her shoulder at Hannah. Hannah gave her a little wave and when the door closed, leaned back and released her breath. Allison was a good, kind person, but she always made Hannah feel nervous and uptight.

Brody looked as if he was about to say something, but just then Mert came with their food. Hannah moved the envelope holding her letters to David aside to make room. But for the rest of the meal, she sensed them lying there, bringing David's presence back into the moment.

* * *

Brody parked his truck in the parking lot of the church, looking forward to the switch in direction that the service would give his thoughts.

Ever since Friday, when he'd had lunch with Hannah, he couldn't keep her off his mind. Trouble was, he'd been equally unable to keep David off his mind.

When Mrs. Douglas brought those letters to the café, it was like another blow to his attraction to Hannah. She looked so sad and heartbroken as she took the envelope from Mrs. Douglas. In that moment, though part of him had clung to a faint hope, he was clearly shown he could never compete with that man's memory. He could not replace David in her life.

It also didn't help that Mrs. Douglas had her own memories of Brody. Too easily he recalled sitting in the school office, sent there for yet another offense. Mrs. Douglas was the school secretary and the disapproving looks she sent him those times were much like the ones he got from her the other day in the café.

It was as if to tell him something he already knew. He could never replace David in Hannah's life. He would never be good enough.

Brody fought down a moment of despair.

Help me, Lord,
he prayed.
Help me to know that my first priority is to love and serve You. To find my completeness in You and not in being married and having a partner.

He paused a moment, as if to let the prayer bind itself to his life, to let the peace he prayed for settle into his soul.

Then he got out of the truck just as his father and mother pulled up beside him.

“I didn't think we'd catch up to you,” his mother said as she stepped out of the truck.

“I took the long way around. Needed to think.”

His mother shot him a piercing look, as if trying to ferret out why he might need to do that, but he just tucked his keys in the pocket of his pants and gave her a bland smile.

“Didn't have a chance to talk to you this morning,” his dad said. “We're going to have to move those cows this week.”

“Really, Winston, do you have to talk business on the Lord's Day?” Brody's mother asked, sounding a bit peeved.

“All work done for the glory of God is worthy to be discussed on the Sabbath,” his father returned with a gracious smile.

She harrumphed as they walked toward the front entrance, glancing at her watch as she stopped there. “It's later than I thought.” She looked over at Brody. “Your father and I have to go to the parish office and pick up books for our Bible study, so could you go to the kitchen and pick up my salad bowl? The glass one with the leaves etched on it, and could you bring it back to the truck? I promised Annette Lakey she could borrow it for a party she's throwing for her husband, Tony, and she was going to get it out of our truck this morning.”

“Sure thing,” he said, and made the turn to the left while his mother and father went to the right. His booted feet echoed on the wooden ramp beside the main church building leading to the wings off the back of the sanctuary. He pulled the door of the building open and the first thing he heard was the sound of a child's screams. The nursery was directly ahead of him, but the sound was coming from the end of the hallway to his left. He turned and was surprised to see Hannah holding the hand of her little boy, who was pulling away from her while she tried to cuddle a very upset little girl.

Hannah wore a dress today in a pale shade of pink that shimmered and flowed around her legs as she crouched down to set the crying girl on her feet on the floor.

“Honey. It's okay. You don't have to go to the nursery. You can stay with Mommy,” Brody heard her saying as she brushed a fluff of blond curls away from the little girl's chubby tear-stained face. The little girl, still sobbing, had grabbed at her dress, the same shade of pink as her mother's, and was twisting it in her hands. “It's okay, honey. It's church. You want to go to church, don't you?” Hannah stroked her face, then shot a quick look at the boy, still leaning away from her in a silent tug-of-war. He wore a white shirt, a tiny bow tie, sagging shorts and a look of dogged determination.

Brody guessed he didn't want to go to church, either.

“Everything okay?” he asked, though clearly it wasn't.

Hannah spun around and, as she did, the little boy gained his freedom. He would have crashed to the floor, but Brody snagged him around the middle and hiked him onto his hip.

The little girl stopped her crying, sneaking a peek past Hannah as if to see who this strange person was.

Hannah lifted her up as she turned toward Brody.

Surprise jolted through him. Her hair was curled, half of it pulled back from her face by a gold clip. She wore a gold necklace that matched the rows of tiny gold sparkles on the pleats at the top of her shimmery pink dress. She looked almost ethereal and untouchable.

“Hi. Sorry about that.” Her apology was breathless and hurried as she bent over to pick up a large bag from the floor. “I thought I would try to take the kids in church today because last time I was here I had to make the march up the front of the church to the nursery in the middle of the service because I could hear the kids crying. Just wailing they were so upset. Then I thought they would settle with me, but of course they didn't and I ended up walking out of church with them anyway. I thought I would try again today.” Hannah shifted the bag onto her shoulder and gave him an apologetic look. “And I'm stopping now.”

“So this is Corey?” Brody asked, looking down at the little boy in his arms. His hair wasn't as long as his sister's, but it curled over his ears. Large brown eyes stared back at him, showing no emotion.

“Yes. And this is Chrissy.” Hannah dropped a quick kiss of consolation on the little girl's forehead. “My drama queen.”

“Can I help?”

Hannah waved off his offer so fast he almost felt insulted. “Thank you, but my parents said they would help me today. I thought I would first see if the twins would go into the nursery.” She released a wry laugh. “Obviously that was a bust.”

“Where were you going to meet your parents?”

“At the back of the church,” she said, reaching out to take Corey from him.

“I can bring him for you.” The little guy was heavy. He couldn't imagine her carrying both of the kids around. Especially the way Corey squirmed.

Hannah looked a if she was about to protest again, but then her shoulders drooped just a little and she accepted his help with a smile. “Thanks. That would be great.” She adjusted her purse and looked as if she was about to say more, when something or someone behind him caught her attention.

Brody turned in time to see his mother coming down the hallway from the office, his father right behind her.

“Brody, did you find that bowl?” she was asking.

“No. Haven't got there yet.”

“Winston, would you mind getting the bowl and putting it in the truck?”

Without a word, his father went to the kitchen.

Gina turned, looking from Hannah to Brody, her smile deepening. “Hello, Hannah. How are you doing?”

“Busy. Had a minor crisis here, but then Brody helped out.”

“I see that.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and touched Corey on the shoulder. “Aren't you a little munchkin?” she said. “All dressed up in your Sunday best.”

“Look at the cute bow tie,” Brody said, pointing it out to his mother.

“Oh, my goodness. He's adorable.”

Brody felt a tiny twinge at the softened tone of his mother's voice and the way her features melted at the sight of the children. Wasn't hard to hear the faint yearning in her voice. She gave him a careful smile as she glanced from Hannah back to him again, a question in her eyes.

Not this girl, he wanted to tell her.

“So, were you going to put the twins in the nursery?” she asked Hannah.

“Um. No. I... Uh...I have to have them in church.”

“Separation anxiety?” his mother asked in a sympathetic voice. “I understand. My one daughter hated the nursery and as a result Sunday was never that day of rest I was always promised.” His mother held out her hands as if to take Corey from Brody and with a reluctance that surprised him, Brody handed him over.

Didn't anyone think he was capable of taking care of a little boy?

“You are so cute,” his mother said, reverting to the baby-talk voice that always took over whenever she was around little children.

“Maybe we should go back to the entrance?” Hannah asked. “The kids seem to be settled down and I don't want my parents to miss me.”

Brody held the door open as first Hannah and then his mother walked through. He followed behind, unable to keep his eyes off Hannah, holding her little girl, her dark hair glistening in the sun, swinging as she walked.

And stop,
he told himself as they turned toward the foyer. He hurried ahead and held the door open again.

No sooner had they entered the foyer than there was her father, pacing back and forth in the entrance. He shoved his hand through his thinning hair, hiked up a pair of pants that looked too large for him and buttoned up his tweed blazer as he looked over the people moving through the foyer of the church toward the entrance to the sanctuary. Rosemary Middleton bustled up to him before they could get to him and grabbed him by the arm, her head bobbing in greeting. “Gregory. I heard Lori is under the weather. How is she today?”

Her father blinked as if confused, and Hannah looked equally perplexed as she walked over to her father, Brody and his mother in tow. “Dad? What is Mrs. Middleton talking about?”

Her father's head snapped from Rosemary to his daughter and his features seemed to collapse. “Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. I was looking for you to tell you myself. She—”

“Your mother is doing very poorly,” Rosemary cut off her father's explanation, folding her arms over her ample midsection. She wore a blue-striped dress that looked as if it would have fit her better twenty pounds ago. “I overheard Jane Franklin saying that she saw Lori coming out of the clinic on Friday, looking like death warmed over.”

“Friday? But Mom was watching the twins for me that day,” Hannah said, sounding agitated. “I know she was tired. I didn't think she was sick.”

“Could have been Saturday, too,” Rosemary mused, tapping her finger on her chin. “Come to think of it, I am sure it was Saturday, not Friday, because the produce truck didn't come Friday and I had to put out some new magazines. Yes. Probably Saturday.”

Brody tried not to smile at Rosemary's meddling, but he felt bad for Hannah's distress at the thought that her mother was taking care of her children while sick.

“Why didn't Mom say anything when I talked to her yesterday?” Hannah continued.

Her father pulled out a handkerchief and patted his forehead, looking as troubled as Hannah sounded. “Well, now, she wasn't that bad on Friday. It got worse that night. Bad cough and feeling run-down. She's in bed now. She probably won't be able to take the kids for a couple of days. The doctor was worried it might be pneumonia. Said she should rest for at least three or four days. Maybe more. I don't know.”

Hannah bit her lip at her father's distress as she pulled Chrissy closer. “Can I do anything for her?”

Her father patted her on the shoulder. “Honey, you've got enough and I'm more than capable of taking care of her. You just worry about the kids.”

“Okay. So I'll have to call Aunt Mathilda to babysit.”

“I think she's out of town,” her father said.

“Maybe I could call Julie—”

“I could watch them,” Brody's mother put in so quickly it was as if she was waiting for exactly this opportunity.

Brody shot a puzzled glance at his mother. What was she doing?

She elbowed him. Gently, mind you, but still an elbow, and added a reproving look. Then she turned to Hannah, smile firmly in place. “I know how hard it will be to find someone on such short notice and I also know how busy you are at town hall. So I'm more than willing to come and pick up the children and bring them to the ranch to watch them for you. If that's okay?”