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With Gabe at her side, Molly loped into the living room in stocking feet, smiling from ear to ear. “Hi, Katie! You brought Buffy to see us? Cool!” She skidded to a halt against the sofa. “Want to go out in the backyard?”
Katie looked uncertainly from Zach to Molly.
He dropped to one knee and gave Katie and her armful of wiggling puppy a quick hug. “You’ll have lots of fun, honey. Go ahead. That pup needs to use up some of her energy.”
“W-will you come back?”
Her fear tore at his heart. “Don’t ever doubt that. If you’re asleep, I’ll carry you out to the car and you’ll wake up tomorrow in your own bed. You’ll see me first thing when you wake up, I promise.”
Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes. “I want to go with you.” She let Buffy scramble to the floor, then she launched forward and wrapped her little arms in a death grip around his neck. “Please.”
She held on as if he were her last hope for survival in the frigid North Atlantic Sea. As if she thought he would disappear any moment and never return.
The warm dampness of her tears against his neck and the surprising strength of her embrace erased all desire to leave for an evening. How could he enjoy even a minute away if Katie was left behind, heartbroken?
He rose to his feet, holding her close, and gave Dana a helpless look. “Maybe you’re right. I could let her play awhile, then we’ll go home.”
“All little kids do that,” Molly said breezily, bending to ruffle the ears of the puppy wrestling with one of her shoelaces. Gabe moved closer, sniffed at its ears and back, then playfully bunted the puppy with his nose. “They cry and hope you’ll stay, but then they have a good time when you leave. Hey, Katie—look! Buffy wants to go play with her old family.”
Zach hesitated.
Sliding into a tempting singsong tone, Molly made a goofy face when Katie pulled away to peek at her. “Remember all the cute little puppies? Next time you come, they might all be gone! Don’t you want to play with them one last time?”
Katie studied her, her expression wary, then she gave a tentative, watery nod.
When she and Molly finally headed out the door hand-in-hand, Zach didn’t know whether he felt relieved or bereft. “Well, I guess we’re on.”
“Unless you want to stay and play with the puppies.” A glimmer of a smile lifted the corners of her mouth as Dana snagged a set of keys from her back pocket. “She’ll be fine. Alex is out with the pups right now. The two kids will watch her like a hawk, and Ben is in the living room. Gabe barks at strangers. And if the kids need anything, I have my cell phone in my pocket.”
“You’re right, I guess.” He gave her a rueful smile.
A few minutes later, as they sped down the empty highway, Dana spoke without taking her gaze from the road. “How long have you had Katie on your own?”
“Not long.” He hesitated for just a beat, feeling regret at allowing Dana’s false assumptions to stand, and hoping that when this was all over, she would understand and forgive. “Her mother is...away right now. I’m not sure when she’ll want Katie back. I probably worry a little too much, but with Katie, a puppy, geese, a house to fix up, and a cranky peacock, it’s been an adjustment.”
At a gravel intersection, Dana slowed and took a left. “How’s it going so far?”
“Now that she’s been with me this long, I can’t imagine life without her.” Until he said the words aloud, he hadn’t realized how true they were.
Dana gave him a sympathetic glance. “I know what you mean. Already the thought of my kids going off to college makes me sad—and Alex is only fourteen.”
Resting an arm along the backrest of the seat, he leaned into the corner of the cab so he could study her.
“Ever thought about a second career as a Formula One race driver?” he teased as the truck jounced over a series of potholes and rattled over a stretch of washboard gravel.
“I’m only going forty-five!” She eyed the speedometer on the dashboard. “It always seems faster when you aren’t the one behind the wheel, and in control.”
The truck fishtailed as she took the next turn and headed up a steep hill.
He drew in a sharp breath. “So...if I have control issues, and want to drive, will you let me?”
She laughed. “Not on your life. I’ve got control issues too, and being a passenger drives me crazy.”
At the top of the hill, a sweeping panorama of gently rolling grassland spread out before them. Countless cattle. Herefords, their rich russet coats gleaming in the sun. Black baldies, their white faces and ebony bodies a sharp visual contrast to the grasses rippling like waves in the early evening breeze.
“We’re almost there,” Dana murmured. “This fence line marks the start of the Meyers’ place.”
“Looks like a big cattle operation.”
