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“No. I can’t accept payment for this.”
“I insist.”
“And I insist on not. You’re the mother of my child.”
Her breath caught. He wanted to push her. Wanted to ask when she was going to tell her daughter that he was her father, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to push her away.
“I haven’t said anything yet. And I’d appreciate it if you don’t.”
“I won’t. Not until you say it’s okay. Although, know that I want to.”
“I know.”
He nodded, figuring that was fair enough. “Are you sure you don’t want to go riding with us?”
“I have too much work to do. That part of my life is over. I have to face it.”
“It doesn’t have to be. You can still enjoy a ride. I... I’m hoping to buy a ranch at some point, and...” What was he going to say? That she could live on it with him? Hardly. Not unless she was willing to marry him. Was that what he was angling for? He could barely get her to talk to him. There was no way that they would be getting married anytime soon.
Except with God, all things are possible.
Lord? I could use a little help if this is going to be possible.
He remembered that prayer later that afternoon, when the girls got home from school and he packed his things up. He’d talked to them as they walked through the front of the store each day on their way to the back where the living quarters were. It was obvious to him as he looked at Maddie that she was his child. She had his eyes and his chin. She had her mother’s nose and her high cheekbones. Her hair was a mixture of their colors, lighter than Dakota’s but darker than his.
She had his easygoing personality but Dakota’s mothering instincts as she bossed her little sister around, sometimes with love, sometimes with force.
“Are you going to let us help you today?” Maddie said cheerfully as she walked in from school.
“Well, your mom said that we could go horseback riding if we wanted to. I was hoping that the two of you would come with me.”
“I want to go!” Rachel said, never wanting to be left out. She wanted to do everything her older sister did, and there was a competitive streak in Rachel that reminded him of Dakota. She wanted to do everything better too.
It reminded him that Dakota giving up her career and the possibility of a championship for him was even more of a sacrifice than he wanted to let on. After all, her competitive nature would have driven her to be the best. But instead, she allowed him to be the best.
Maddie bit her lip. “I don’t want to go without Mom,” she said, and she threw a worried glance in the direction of the living area.
“I invited her to go too. She’s welcome.”
“I’ll go ask if she’ll go,” Maddie said, running to the back.
Rachel chattered about how much she loved horses and about the pretty golden horse that her mom used to have.
He smiled as she described Goldie.
This didn’t seem like the time to mention that Goldie lived right here in Strawberry Sands.
They’d be going to his brother Matt’s stable, who had beginner horses that the girls could ride with ease. They wouldn’t be seeing Goldie, but he smiled knowing that Dakota’s daughters loved the horse as well.
A plan began to form in his head.
He talked with Rachel some until Dakota appeared in the doorway, Maddie beside her, her arm around her waist.
“I’m not sure that Maddie’s going to go. Are you okay just taking Rachel?” She said the words with an uptilt to her chin and a look that said that she figured that he wasn’t going to want to, but she couldn’t say why out loud.
“I sure am. But Maddie said she hoped you’d go.”
“I don’t think I can.” She kind of stumbled, and he figured it was because she didn’t want to go with him.
