Her small town cowboy, p.14
Her Small-Town Cowboy, page 14
Eventually she smiled, and he felt as if he’d scored a touchdown. “Okay. But if I think I’m getting in the way, I’ll make my excuses and leave. Agreed?”
“Whatever you say.”
On impulse, he offered her his hand, and he was thrilled when she took it without hesitation. Strolling across the street hand in hand with Lily should have felt strange, but he was astonished to find it felt as natural as anything he’d ever done in his life.
Pausing near the wrecked pirate ship that was part of the town’s huge redwood play structure, Mike found his adventurous daughter at the wheel, calling out instructions to the boy she considered her cousin.
“Here they come, Parker!” she shouted, pointing to an imaginary ship in the distance. “They look mean.”
“Not to worry, Cap’n. We’re way tougher than them.” Manning the water cannon, he fired at their invisible enemies and announced, “Bull’s-eye!”
After the young swashbucklers had celebrated their victory, Mike strode to the base of the ladder and called out, “Permission to come aboard?”
“Oh, hi, Daddy,” she greeted him, all trace of her earlier intensity gone in a delighted grin. “Did you see us?”
“Yeah, you both did great. Can I take you away from your crew and talk to you for a second?”
He’d meant to keep his tone light, but she was a sharp kid, and her happy expression instantly clouded over. “Is something wrong?”
“Just something I wanna run by you is all.”
“Okay.” She glanced over and saw Lily at the edge of the playground, and her bright expression righted itself. Waving excitedly, she hollered, “Hi, Lily! Did you see us?”
“Yes, I did. You’ve got a nice hand on the tiller, Cap’n.” Abby gave her a puzzled look, and Lily laughed. “It means you’re a top-notch sailor.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
Athletic as any boy in town, she clambered down the ladder and followed Mike and Lily from the playground. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable, but he took his time leading them to a bench under the shade of one of the enormous oaks that had given his hometown its name.
When the three of them were seated, he took a deep breath and got right down to it. “Your mom was at the kindergarten graduation today, Abs. She wants to meet you.”
“Why?”
The question caught him off guard, and he searched for a way to answer it. Since he’d flatly refused to speak to his ex-wife, he really had no idea what was driving her sudden bout of maternal concern. “Well, it’s been a while and I’m guessing she missed you.”
“Why?” Abby repeated, her face wrinkling into a baffled frown. “She doesn’t even know me.”
Completely out of his emotional depth, Mike flashed Lily a “save me” look. That got him a reassuring smile, and she offered another one to Abby. “I think that’s the whole idea, sweetie. I talked to her for a while, and she said she regrets missing so much time with you.”
“So she thinks leaving was a mistake?”
“That’s the impression I got.” Shifting one of Abby’s braids back over her shoulder, Lily said, “It seems to me that she wants to mend fences with you. Or at least try.”
Abby’s eyes flicked to him. “What about Daddy?”
A sharp retort threatened to spoil the whole forgiveness vibe Lily was trying to create, and Mike choked it down out of respect for his daughter’s feelings. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you. And your mom,” he added through gritted teeth.
It was killing him to crack open the most painful part of his past again, but Lily was right. The choice of whether or not to meet Dana should be Abby’s, not his.
“Will you be there?” she asked, giving him the kind of trusting look that would make him walk through fire to save her.
“Aren’t I always?” She nodded, and he gathered her in for a hug. Planting a kiss on top of her head, he murmured, “Love you, Abs.”
Sighing, she wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. “Love you, too, Daddy.”
He would do anything for his little girl, he acknowledged with a sigh of his own. Even if it meant wrangling with a woman who made him want to chew iron and spit out nails.
“I think this calls for a celebration,” Lily announced brightly. “Who wants ice-cream wheels?”
“Me!” Abby shouted, hand in the air. “I like vanilla, and my crew likes chocolate.”
“One of each, coming up. I’ll meet you at yonder island with your provisions, Cap’n.” She pointed toward a picnic table at the edge of the play area, and Abby saluted before bounding away to rejoin Parker on the ship.
“You’re really good at that pretending stuff,” Mike complimented her.
“Playtime is a wonderful opportunity for broadening your perspective, no matter how old you are.”
He laughed. “Is there a message in there for me somewhere?”
“Only if you hear one.”
With that, she stood and headed toward the café where he’d found her. She moved at a leisurely pace, and this time he was confident she was sending him a message. Follow or not, it’s up to you.
Up to now, all his experience had been with women who ended up demanding more than he cared to give them. Young and overwhelmed by the rocky road she’d taken in life, Dana had needed him to stand between her and the world, shielding her from her own mistakes.
Lily, on the other hand, stood beside him as a partner, working with him to create a successful business out of nothing. Full of kindness, she wasn’t averse to giving him a kick when he needed one, and she’d forged a strong, loving bond with Abby that he still had a hard time believing. Then there was her willingness to wade into the complicated mess Dana had made and try to improve the situation. Simply because she believed it was the right thing to do.
What kind of person did that? he wondered as he watched her stroll away. Then he realized that standing there trying to answer that question on his own would get him nowhere. For the first time in years, he’d met a woman who fascinated him enough that he was tempted to put aside his misgivings and take a shot at figuring out what made her tick.
Before he had a chance to do something stupid like talk himself out of it, he hurried forward and quickly fell in step beside her. She didn’t say anything when he took her hand again, but she flashed a brilliant smile up at him, and his foolish heart rolled over in his chest.
And despite his vow to keep his distance from her, he found himself grinning back.
Chapter Nine
Sunday morning, Mike was sitting alone at the kitchen table when his mother came downstairs. Dressed in her nicest clothes for church, she pulled up short when she saw him. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he answered evenly, sipping his coffee. “Why?”
“Usually you’re still out in one of the barns this time on a Sunday.”
He met her worried look with what he hoped was a calm expression. Lily’s comments about him finding a way to forgive Dana had gotten him thinking about a lot of other things he’d been ignoring. They’d been piling up over the past few years because he wasn’t keen to face up to them. He’d kept telling himself it was because he was so busy with the family businesses and raising Abby, but sometime during his restless night, he’d finally admitted that wasn’t the real reason that he’d been neglecting them.
Once he’d embraced that epiphany, a long-overdue bout of soul-searching led him to see that his lapsed faith was one of the parts of his life that used to be good and had turned sour. At the top of the list, actually. The problem was, he was reluctant to make too big a deal out of it with anyone else. There was a good chance that this experiment would end up being a complete disaster for him, and if he wanted to repair his relationship with God, he’d have to dust himself off and start over again.
It didn’t escape him that he wasn’t even considering retreating from his faith altogether the way he had before. He blamed Lily. His well-intentioned but pesky business partner had been a better influence on him than he could have ever anticipated.
Hoping he sounded casual about the idea, he said, “I thought I might go to Pastor Wheaton’s service with you and Abby this morning.”
Worry quickly gave way to delight, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind. “Praise be, Michael. It’s been so long, I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever set foot in a church again.”
“Well, I’d have to if I’m gonna give Abby away at her wedding someday, wouldn’t I?” he teased to lighten up her intense mood. He didn’t want to get her hopes up and then change his mind later on. “I figured it’d be better not to wait till then, though.”
“I agree with you a hundred percent on that one,” she assured him as she turned on the oven. After pulling one of her delicious egg and sausage casseroles from the fridge, she slid it into the oven to warm up and set the timer. Then she turned to him with one of those smug Mom looks he and his siblings still despised even though they were all grown up now. “I’m assuming we have Lily to thank for opening your eyes.”
“Possibly.” Smothering a grin, he lifted his Best Dad Ever mug for a sip and pretended the accounts printout in front of him was the most fascinating thing he’d ever read.
“Possibly,” she mimicked, smacking him across the shoulders with an oven mitt. “My word, you’re the most aggravating child any mother has ever been cursed with.”
Aimed at all of them at some point in time, the insult had been heard so often around the old farmhouse, it had become a running family joke. Chuckling, he came back with the usual response. “Yeah, but I’m still your favorite.”
“That y’are,” she confirmed, beaming proudly at him. Her eyes drifted to the gallery of frames on the wall, growing misty as they settled back on him. “At the risk of sounding like a sappy old woman, I have to say you remind me more of your father every day.”
Unexpected, her praise brought a lump into his throat. Swallowing hard, he managed to say, “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”
“I know.” Sitting next to him, she covered his hand with hers. Small but strong, that hand had done more work than most people would believe it was capable of. Her hazel eyes bored into his, and he fought the urge to squirm the way he had when he was a child and she had something important to tell him.
“I never thanked you for coming home to take over when your father died, Michael. This place is huge and difficult to run, with the crops and all the animals we’ve always had here. And when the racing business went away—” Pausing, she shook her head. “It would’ve broken my heart, but if you hadn’t taken over, we’d have had no choice other than to sell the farm.”
Uncomfortable with her glowing assessment of him, he shifted in his seat. Tapping into the optimism he’d been learning from Lily, he teased, “Aw, you’re a hardheaded O’Connell. You’d have figured something out.”
“I was so lost without him, and trying to keep the business going was more than I could manage on top of that. Then you and Abby came, and I had something more important to do than grieve. The two of you were a gift straight from God Himself.”
Not long ago, that kind of comment would have irked him, at best. At worst, he’d have gotten to his feet and left the room to avoid insulting his mother’s beliefs. But with Lily’s patient, persistent nudging, he’d started on the road to forgiving past wrongs and getting on with his life. Spending one morning in church wasn’t the solution, he knew.
But it was a start.
Smiling at the generous, determined woman who’d raised him, he said, “Abby loves being here on the farm. We both do.”
“When you first got here, I wasn’t sure you’d ever feel that way.”
“I didn’t much like giving up the independence I had at the ranch. But I gotta admit the food here’s a lot better.”
“Well, thank you.”
She added a smile as the oven timer started dinging. The stove was a relic from long before he was born, and lately the sound it made had a tired wheeze and skipped a couple of beats between each chime. This Christmas, the family should chip in on one of those stainless-steel gourmet ovens for her. She’d love it, and they’d all get to enjoy the recipes she was bound to try with her fancy new toy. It was a win-win.
Abby came bouncing down the stairs, stopping abruptly when she saw what he was wearing. She was used to seeing him in jeans and T-shirts, so his buttoned-down appearance must have been quite a shock. “Where are you going, Daddy?”
“To church with you and Grammy.”
“Really?” When he nodded, she gave him a sober look. “Does that mean you’re not mad at God anymore?”
“I’m working on it,” he replied truthfully. Then, since he was being so honest, he added, “Lily got me started, so we’ll see how it goes.”
“If you get stuck, she can help you,” she suggested brightly. “She’s a real good teacher.”
Despite the serious nature of their conversation, Mike felt a smile taking over his face. That happened a lot when he thought about Lily, he realized. He was well and truly snared, but for some strange reason he didn’t care. “Yeah, she is. Anyone who can train Charlie not to jump up on the kitchen table is a pro in my book.”
The three of them chatted while they ate, making quick work of Mom’s breakfast. During the drive into town, Mike noticed he had a death grip on the steering wheel and made a conscious effort to relax. He hadn’t been anywhere near a church since his father’s funeral three years ago, and while he knew returning was the right thing to do, he wasn’t looking forward to taking that first step.
As he pulled in and parked, it struck him that the Shepherd’s Chapel was just the way he remembered it from his childhood. Same simple white building, same tall glass windows sparkling in the morning sunlight. His feet began dragging as he approached the steps, but he forced himself to keep going out of pure Irish pride. He didn’t want anyone to know just how hard it was for him to come back after being away for so long.
Inside, he paused in the doorway to take stock of his surroundings before plunging in. People he’d known all his life sat in the pews, laughing and chatting with their neighbors before the service. Following Mom and Abby to where the rest of the family was sitting, he took in the bright, welcoming feel of the little church where he’d learned the hymns Dad used to sing while they did their morning chores.
Standing back to let the ladies walk down the row of seats ahead of him, he felt a touch on his shoulder, as if a strong hand had settled there for a moment before letting go. A warm sensation washed over him, and he couldn’t help thinking his father was reaching down from heaven to let Mike know he was glad to see him there.
As if that wasn’t enough, Lily glanced up from her conversation with Erin, her gorgeous blue eyes lighting up in delight when they landed on him. Mike’s heart rolled over like a love-starved hound, and he tried to look cool as he slid into the open spot on the end of the pew. He hadn’t quite recovered from her silent greeting when she nearly knocked him on the floor with one of her dazzling smiles.
She leaned across Abby to murmur, “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“I guess. Judging by all these folks trying to look like they’re not staring at me, you’re not the only one who’s shocked to see me.”
“Not shocked. Happy.” Putting an arm around Abby, Lily gave her a quick hug. “You must be, too.”
“Daddy’s almost not mad at God anymore,” his daughter chirped. “He said you helped him.”
Lily gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Did he?”
Thankfully, Pastor Wheaton walked through a side door and over to the lectern to lead the congregation in the first hymn. When they’d finished, Abby climbed into Mike’s lap, and they listened to a sermon about the love of a father for his children and how it could change the world.
But for Mike, the words faded into the background when Abby yawned and rested her head on his shoulder. The light sweater she was wearing slipped down her arm, and Lily reached over to tug it back into place. The motherly gesture did something to his heart, and for the first time Mike didn’t bother hiding what he was feeling when their eyes met over Abby’s sleepy head.
To his astonishment, he saw those same emotions swirling through those forget-me-not eyes. For so long, he’d wondered if he’d ever meet a woman brave and generous enough to take on not only him but his daughter, too.
Finding her sitting beside him in this simple white church was almost more than he could have dared to hope for. But as they sat there in a family circle of their own, the hopeful part of him that still existed started to believe.
* * *
After church, Maggie invited Lily to what she blithely called “lunch.” The casual way she did it left Lily expecting an everyday family gathering as they’d done the day she found Charlie under Bea’s mulberry bush.
This time, the meal ended up being an all-out barbecue, including several large picnic tables filled with Kinley relatives and friends from all over the county.
“What’s the occasion?” she asked Mike, who was turning delicious-smelling ribs and ears of corn on a huge grill, while she helped set places for everyone.
He gave her the kind of blank look her students had reserved for forgotten homework and shrugged. “Yesterday, Mom said she felt like having a get-together. We used to do this kinda thing a lot, so I guess she’s been missing it.”
Lily clearly heard what he wasn’t saying: that the big picnics had ended when Justin died. She’d become very fond of Maggie over the summer, and it was good to know she was finally beginning to recover from his loss. Small steps, Lily thought with a smile. Like her son.
Who was currently eyeing her with a suspicious male expression. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Just thinking how comforting it is to know that no matter how bleak things may seem, we all come to terms with things in our own time. And how nice it is when they work out for the best.”
“I’m not even gonna pretend to follow that.” With a practiced motion, he flipped over a rack of ribs, and the flames sizzled with the fresh sauce he poured over top of the browning meat.
