bedroom.
“Do you need help cleaning the kitchen?”
She shook her head. “Carol did it all.”
“That’s what she gets paid to do.”
“I think I need to pay her salary.”
“I think that’s Tom’s job. He likes paying her.”
Elizabeth smiled. “I think he’s interested in her.”
“What do you mean?”
“He told me he would’ve married her a while ago if he hadn’t been feeling so bad.” She tilted her head. “But he seems to be feeling better now.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. The kids have given him a lift.”
“I’m glad he’s getting something out of us coming here. I need to talk to him about paying rent.”
“You can’t do that!”
She turned to stare at him. “Why not?”
“He wants to provide for you and the kids. His son obviously didn’t.”
“But he did. He just didn’t intend to. So I should pay rent.”
“But who’ll cook if you’re paying rent?”
She looked confused. “I will, of course.”
“We can’t let you cook and clean. Not if you’re paying to live here.”
It’d been such a lovely evening, but now Jack was pushing her again, telling her what to do. “I’m going to ask Tom.” She stomped to the television room. “Tom, you don’t mind my cooking and cleaning, do you?”
“Wait a minute, Tom, before you answer,” Jack said. “She’s talking about paying for living here, and cooking and cleaning.”
Tom frowned. “Why would you do that?”
She tried to ignore Jack. “Now that I have Reggie’s money, I feel like I should pay you something.”
“I don’t want your money, Elizabeth, but I sure can use your cooking.”
“But—”
“I think this argument is over.” Jack reached out to catch Elizabeth’s hand. “You can’t argue with the man.”
She threw off his touch. “We wouldn’t be arguing if you hadn’t interrupted us.”
“I wouldn’t have interrupted if you had told the whole story. Now, Lizzie—”
“Don’t call me that!”
“I can’t believe your family didn’t call you Lizzie!”
Something inside her snapped. Before she could stop herself she blurted, “I didn’t have any family! I was taken away from my mother because she was addicted to drugs. I was five and that’s the last time I ever saw her! I don’t even know who my father is.”
Jack frowned. “You weren’t adopted?”
“Would you want to adopt a child whose mother was an addict?”
“You didn’t take the drugs. Why not?”
“They only want babies. They—” Tears filled her eyes, stinging them, threatening to spill over. “It doesn’t matter anyway.” Spinning on her heel, she walked toward the steps.
Jack’s words stopped her.
“You’re a good mother, Elizabeth. You’re nothing like your mother.”
The tears flowed freely then, and she could do nothing to stop them.
Tom took her in his arms. “You deserved better than Reggie, but maybe it turned out well, after all. We can be a family, all of us here.”
She looked up at him and wiped her tears away. “I’d like that, Tom.”
He smiled at her. “Good. And our family is growing even more. I’ve just asked Carol to marry me.”
She hugged him. “I’m so happy for both of you.”
Carol looked at Elizabeth. “You don’t mind if I come live here?”
“Not at all, Carol. That will be wonderful! I’ve learned that you can never have too much family.” Elizabeth hugged the woman.
“When are you going to marry?” Jack asked as he shook Tom’s hand.
“Whenever Carol is ready.”
“I’m ready now,” she said without hesitation.
Tom beamed at her. “Then let’s get married Friday night.”
“We’ll need to get a wedding cake,” Elizabeth said. “Is there anyone we can call to bake a wedding cake?”
“Yeah, but Jack will have to call her,” Tom said. “She always agrees when Jack calls her.”
Elizabeth looked at him. “Well?”
“Sure, I’ll call her.”
“Good.” Elizabeth turned to go upstairs. “If you’ll excuse me, then, I’ve got to go check on the children.” She walked quickly up the stairs.
“I don’t think your little joke went over well,” Jack said ruefully when she was out of earshot.
Tom shook his head. “I’ll tell her what I meant in the morning.”
“You’d better.” He said his good-nights. “I’m leaving you two alone. Stay out of trouble!”
On the way to his room, he was tempted to knock on Elizabeth’s door, but he didn’t think she’d listen to him. He hadn’t spoken up when she’d confessed to not having a family. But he’d wanted to.
He’d wanted to rush to her, hug her and let her know that she would have made any parent proud, that she had people who loved her, even though she hadn’t had a family till now.
But he hadn’t.
Instead, Tom had stepped up and hugged Elizabeth and made her feel like she was a part of the family.
What had held him back?
Fear.
He was afraid he was falling in love with Elizabeth.
Jack felt hung over when he got up the next morning when the alarm went off. But it wasn’t booze that had given him trouble. It was a woman.
The woman he’d heard walking the hallways last night as he lay awake.
Elizabeth, too, had had a bad night sleeping.
When he entered the kitchen he saw that she’d fixed his breakfast—her pancakes, his favorite—and left them covered on the stovetop. But there was no sign of her.
He knew he had to rectify the assumption she’d made last night, or else she’d be mad at him all day.
He ate his breakfast and thought about how he would handle the situation.
On the one hand Elizabeth was the most understanding woman he’d ever met. On the other hand, she was also the most stubborn. There was really one way to clear up the misunderstanding.
She had to come with him to order the cake.
He went upstairs and gently knocked on her door. When there was no response, he put his ear against the wood and listened. Hearing nothing, he tried the bathroom door, but with no results.
Either she was still asleep or she was totally ignoring him.
Because he had to meet up with the hands and issue the day’s instructions, he put her on hold and went out to tend to the ranch. Elizabeth was never far from his mind, and the first spare moment he had he came