Page 45 of Rancher to the Rescue

“Good enough to keep the nine of you alive,” she pointed out.

“That’s why I called. I figure you’re nine for nine, and I need someone to watch this little girl in the morning while I visit the sheriff’s office,” he stated, hoping she would let it go at that.

“So, you’re helping out Sheriff Lawler by keeping her here?” his mother asked.

“Yes.” It was the truth.

“And you can’t go into the reasons behind it right now?” she asked.

“It’s better if I don’t.” Again, he wasn’t lying. Adam had been brought up to be honest. Honor was everything for a rancher.

She nodded before walking over to take a peek into the carrier. “A girl?”

“That’s right,” he said. His mother had made no secret about wishing to take home at least one pink blanket instead of nine blue. Her close friends and acquaintances knew she was the ‘go to’ if they needed a babysitter for their daughter. She’d loved her boys, though. Don’t get him wrong. But a girl put a twinkle in his mother’s eyes that neither Adam nor any of his brothers ever had.

“What time should I be here?” she asked. Her face lit up as she watched the sleeping angel.

“I have to leave around five-forty-five,” he said. His mother kept rancher hours so she would be awake for a full hour and forty-five minutes at that point.

“Okay.” She practically beamed at the baby and it gave him a little more confidence in sharing the news following the paternity test if Angel turned out to be his.

“One more thing, and this is a big ask,” he said.

His mother took in a deep breath like she was fortifying herself.

“Keep this between us for now,” he said.

Her eyes widened.

He put his hands up, palms out, in the surrender position. “The fewer people who know she’s here, the better. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I never keep secrets from your father,” she said. “What will I tell him is the reason I have to be here so early?”

“Do you have to say anything?” he asked.

“Heaven help me.” She made the sign of the cross.

“If he asks, I wouldn’t expect you to lie,” he said. “Does he know where you are twenty-four/seven?”

She stood there for a long moment and he wasn’t certain which way she was leaning.

“I guess not. If I came here to the main house, he might assume that I’m starting the process of going through his father’s things,” she reasoned.

“There’s another purpose to stop by and I have no problem if you tell the world about—”

As if on cue, the click-click-click sound of toenails on tile echoed from down the hallway. The sound was a bullet train coming at them.

“Hutch,” Prudence called out. Her voice lit campfires inside him. She was all blue skies and endless summer days.

A black lab came bolting into the kitchen. The minute he saw Adam, he put the brakes on. He couldn’t gain traction, so he basically skidded across the room unable to stop until he plunked into the wall.

His back legs got out from underneath him and he struggled to pull it together again.

“Sit!” came the command from the hallway.

The dog complied.

Adam was impressed. His mother seemed shocked. Her hand immediately went out to block the dog from getting anywhere near the carrier. He’d never seen his mother move so fast.