Instant Family

Cruz Maldonado has vowed to provide for his beloved cousin’s orphans. With his estranged mother’s health failing, they might soon be Cruz’s only family. But the kids’ immigration status brings complications. Mostly “Miss Rory”—their idealistic young teacher—and Cruz’s court-appointed co-guardian. Cruz has the means to give the kids a good home, yet Rory Gallagher wonders whether he has the heart. That is, until she glimpses the sweet small-town boy inside the polished, handsome Wall Street exterior. Soon they both begin to wonder if this temporary partnership could turn into more—a chance to raise the children as husband and wife.

Cruz didn’t move.

He sat right there while Rory smooched little Javier and ruffled his hair, and when she was done kissing him, Cruz leaned in and kissed the boy, too. They said one last good-night, then he followed her out, into the hall. Before they were halfway down the stairs, she paused and looked back. “You surprised me in there.”

“Because I knew prayers?”

“Not that.” She stayed on the second step and faced him. “You kissed them good-night.”

“I believe that’s customary with small children, isn’t it?”

“It is, but you don’t have small children, do you?”

He shook his head.

“And I don’t expect you do a lot of babysitting in Manhattan.”

“No, again.”

She almost spoke again, then stopped herself. “I just thought it was nice, that’s all. You made them smile.”

She started back down the stairs to rejoin the others. Five little words made her stop again.

“That’s why I did it.”

She turned and looked up, and when she did, her heart did that shuffle-step dance once more.

Multipublished, bestselling author RUTH LOGAN HERNE loves God, her country, her family, dogs, chocolate and coffee! Married to a very patient man, she lives in an old farmhouse in upstate New York and thinks possums should leave the cat food alone and snakes should always live outside. There are no exceptions to either rule! Visit Ruthy at ruthloganherne.com.

Their Surprise Daddy

Ruth Logan Herne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

—2 Corinthians 6:18

To my dear friend Mia Ross,

who has shared a delightful number of years

with me… Thank you for always being

a shining light of common sense and humor!

We are so blessed to be able to work together!

Acknowledgments

To my sons, Luke and Zach, whose lives in Lower Manhattan help me mold characters from all walks of life, and to my amazing editor, Melissa Endlich, whose keen eye helped hone the lump of coal into a polished gem of a story! Thank you!

To show respect for our police forces across the USA, all men in the Grace Haven series have been given names of fallen police officers, both local officers here in my upstate area (A. J. Sperr and Daryl Pierson) and from the 2014 fallen-officer list provided on the Downed Officers website. My husband and I have friends and family who wear the uniform with pride and grace, and our respect for them never falters. Cruz Maldonado was named for Deputy Sheriff Steven LaCruz “Cruz” Thomas of California.

Huge thanks to my beautiful friends Karen and Matt Varricchio of Canandaigua for their help on locations, seasonal workers and life in a Finger Lakes town. We love you guys!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

One minute Cruz Maldonado was a sought-after Manhattan financial investor with a law degree, a force to be reckoned with on Wall Street.

The next he was the guardian for two children whose existence probably sprang from the jaws of Mexican cartels.

This couldn’t be happening. And yet, it was.

Cruz frowned as he drove his pricey rental car toward the Grace Haven town hall. The long midsummer day gave him a good view of the hometown he hadn’t seen in years. At some point he’d greet the mother he hadn’t visited since his father’s funeral, the woman who’d raised him to be just as tough and jaded as she was.

You need to come home, Cruz, Reverend Steve Gallagher had told him during the unexpected phone call that morning. Two kids, no records, a falsified paper trail and your mother’s dealing with heart disease complicated by type 2 diabetes, seriously compromising her health. It would be wrong of me to make any decisions without you.

Cruz didn’t just tamp his emotions down. He fought them into submission. For long years he hadn’t heard from his mother. His phone calls went straight to voice mail. His Christmas gifts came back, unopened. By the fifth year, he’d stopped trying and worked to make himself one of New York City’s toughest investment funds managers, respected in international circles, and he’d succeeded.

And now this.

He checked his watch. Whatever was going on, whatever mess his mother had gotten herself into, he had every intention of returning to the city the next morning. By afternoon he’d hand in the keys of the upscale rental car and return to his desk overlooking the Hudson. Tomorrow afternoon couldn’t get here soon enough.

He parked the car and strode inside, legally and mentally prepared to put an end to the nonsense. He rounded the corner of the quaint town hall, then thrust out his arms to keep from barreling into a young woman carrying a small child. “Whoa.”

“Whoa?” The little boy placed tiny hands over his mouth and giggled out loud. “He finks you’re a horse, Miss Wory.”

“Does he now?” The woman—the beautiful woman—raised her eyes to his while his grip kept her from slipping to the floor.

“No. He doesn’t.” Cruz held her gaze and her attention as he quickly corrected the boy’s assertion. He arched his right brow, nice and slow. “He doesn’t think you’re a horse at all. In fact, that would be about the last thing he’d think while looking at you.”

“’Cause she’s not, siwwy.” The child giggled again, a happy sound, about as unfamiliar to Cruz now as it had been when he was growing up in Grace Haven. “She’s my teacher!”

Cruz made sure she was steady before releasing her arms, then acknowledged the boy’s statement with a frank glance of appreciation. “I lived here for eighteen years. I never had a teacher that looked like this.” She had gorgeous eyes, a mix of caramel and gold that matched her long tawny hair.

She started to reply, but then the boy turned her way, plainly worried. “Huwwy, Miss Wory! Huwwy.”

She hustled the child to the restrooms down the hall while Cruz entered the small courtroom marked “Judge Murdoch” on the door.

“Cruz.” Reverend Steve Gallagher saw him come through the door and quickly moved forward extending his hand. “Welcome home.” Steve oversaw a local church and the antiquated abbey abutting Casa Blanca, the picturesque vineyard and event center where Cruz grew up.

This wasn’t home, and it hadn’t really been home when he lived there, but he wasn’t going to argue with the cleric. Steve Gallagher was a fine man and a great neighbor. Cruz gripped his hand. “It’s good to see you, Reverend Gallagher.”

“Good to see you, too, son, but we’re all grown up. Steve works just fine.” The reverend clasped his hand in a firm, friendly grip. He motioned to the man standing nearby. “This is Judge Murdoch. Your mother’s case was brought to his attention.”

As Cruz reached out to shake the other man’s hand, Steve added, “Thanks for getting here so quickly.”

Cruz turned his attention back to Steve. “You left me little choice, and I’m fairly certain you knew the summons was out of left field and issued it, anyway.”

“Because you and your mother haven’t spoken in years.” Direct and honest, two qualities Cruz had always liked about Steve.

“My father played intermediary. Once he was gone, well...” Cruz shrugged. “My mother made it plain I wasn’t needed or welcome here.”

“You’re needed now.”

Cruz was needed, but not in this full-of-itself, old-fashioned town. He was needed right where he’d been up until five and a half hours ago, tucked in Lower Manhattan, making more money than most men see in a lifetime. “Reverend, I—”

“Ah, Rory, perfect.” The reverend smiled beyond him, as if he’d said nothing. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“It seems I’m not the only one being offered limited options,” she told Steve. Cruz had to hand it to her. Dissing clergy wasn’t a skill that got practiced much, even in Manhattan.

Steve Gallagher laughed, unaffronted. “True enough. Cruz, meet my niece, Aurora Gallagher. She’s the summertime pre-K teacher here in Grace Haven. And this—” he reached out and palmed the little guy’s head “—is Javier. He’s the youngest of your new responsibilities.”

Cruz stared from the cute kid to the minister. “Reverend Gallagher—Steve,” he corrected himself. “You’ve got this all wrong. There’s no way I can—”

“I found a toad, Reverend Steve!” A little girl sporting twin ponytails bounded through the door. Her presence hiked the room’s energy level as she slid to a stop near Steve’s legs.

“A lively one at that,” Steve replied. The gray-green toad bounded to the floor from her tiny fingers. “Cruz.” His tone changed. Softened. “This is Liliana.”

The girl didn’t peek up at him like her brother had done. She lifted her gaze as if excited by all life had to offer, brows raised, brown eyes sparkling, and grinned.

Elina.

The child was the absolute image of her mother, his beloved cousin, playmate and childhood best friend. Through all the turbulence of his parents’ marriage, Elina had looked after him, played with him and sheltered him. He owed her. He owed her so much, and yet he’d let time and space separate them long ago, and never looked back.

He swallowed hard, facing Elina’s daughter, and knew what he had to do, but hated having to do it because the last place Cruz wanted to be was in Grace Haven, New York.

“Tara, can you take the kids down the hall to see the aquarium? Cruz, you remember my daughter, Tara, don’t you?”

Cruz smiled and extended a hand in greeting. “I believe you had pigtails and braces when we last met.”

“An awkward stage only recently corrected,” Tara replied, laughing. She shook his hand, then took the little fellow from her cousin. “I’ll keep these guys busy for a few minutes while you make plans.”

The only plan Cruz intended to make involved a checkbook and an escape route.

“Our church is part of the ICM,” Steve told him.

Cruz had no idea what that meant. He folded his arms over his chest because just the thought of Grace Haven made him feel defensive. The reality of being here magnified the emotion. “Which is what?”

“The International Children’s Ministry is a nationally certified group that maintains legal jurisdiction for foreign children in times of crisis. We have the power to place children in foster care by approved members of the church and/or the community, along with the laws of a given locality. Dual guardianship is required in all cases.”

“So you are actually authorized to place these children into care in light of my mother’s health problems, despite the shaky legalities?”

“I have the legal right, and the moral obligation that goes along with it,” Steve told him. He swept Cruz and the honey-haired young woman a troubled look. “I’m sure this was nothing either of you expected to be thrust into today, but if there’s one thing that can be said about life, it’s that things are guaranteed to change when you least expect it.”

“Or when people fail to follow legal procedures with little regard to who’s affected.” The teacher directed a frank gaze to her uncle.

“Rosa’s been ill...”

The young woman held up a hand. “I understand that better than most, but the welfare of a child should always come first. And leaving these two precious little ones in legal limbo could mean a quick ticket back to Mexico, when a fairly simple process would have at least made them American citizens. Right now I’m wishing their mother or great-aunt had taken the steps to do the right thing.”

Who did she think she was?

A burr prickled beneath Cruz’s collar, because no matter how attractive this woman might be, she didn’t have the right to attack his family. Even when they were wrong. “You have a law degree, miss?”

“Of course not.”

“And you’ve spent exactly how much of your life being a Latina immigrant?”

His attempt to make her feel bad backfired. “Not being an immigrant doesn’t make me the bad guy here. There are a lot of folks in the Finger Lakes area who have worked exclusively with the migrant and immigrant communities, and I happen to be one of them, so save your breath. I do have respect for the law, and as a lawyer, I’m a little surprised you take it so casually. But then, maybe things are different in the big city. Maybe breaking the laws for one’s personal convenience is more common in Manhattan. You would know that better than I, of course.”

Touché.

Steve grimaced. “While we can’t change what’s happened to put us in this predicament, we might be able to solve the problem, working together.”

Working together was not going to happen. Cruz knew it, but he listened out of respect for a good man, while biting back the urge to look at his watch.

“As I was saying,” Steve continued, facing his niece, “the kids know you. You’ve known them through your friendship with Rosa, and you’ve been Lily’s summertime teacher for two years, and Javier’s since last month. They trust you. They need you, even if the timing is less than perfect because I know you’ve been hard at work on your upcoming project. And while I hate messing up your plans, I really need you on board for this.”

She stared up at him, then drew a deep breath, but before Cruz could shrug the whole thing off and get back in his car, the reverend nailed him with a firm look. “This doesn’t let you off the hook. I’m naming you as the second guardian, Cruz. It’s your family, after all. As an attorney it will be your job to make recommendations to the court about where the kids should go once all this is said and done. Your mother’s compromised health adds a complicating factor to an already convoluted legal situation.”

“What?” He stepped back, hands up. What was Steve thinking? Didn’t their family history speak for itself? Raising children had never ranked high on the list and the children’s current situation highlighted that. “I have no vested interest in this, or anything else here. I am not taking on the care or guardianship of two children, and I actually have a job over five hours away. You need to find someone else to step in if you need two guardians to fulfill the obligation. Someone local.”

“We don’t need a second person,” the young woman said smoothly. “I am totally capable of caring for Lily and Javier myself.”

“The rules require dual caretakers,” the judge reminded them. “Steve and I are bound by that.”

“When innocent children are caught in legal battles, someone has to put them first,” Steve added. “Hence the dual guardianship.” Steve turned to face Cruz more directly. “If you’re really too busy to stay and help out for a few weeks, my only recourse is to send the children out of the area to a place where the rules will be followed.” Steve held Cruz’s gaze. “Just so you know, if I do that, it will crush your mother.”

So now he was suddenly supposed to care about his mother?

Not gonna happen.

He turned and faced the young woman. “You don’t have a husband or significant other that can sign on for the duration? Because one of us has a job to do.”

She held his gaze for long, slow beats, then shifted her attention to her uncle. “We live in one of the best little towns in America.” There was no stopping the guilt that crept up his spine as she went on. “I expect we’ve got at least one good person who will step up to the plate to oversee the children with me.”

Dashing footsteps announced the children’s race down the long, tiled hall.

“I win!” Javier fist-pumped the air as he slid into the room, jubilant when he spun to face his older sister.

“You did!” Lily hugged the little guy as if she hadn’t deliberately slowed her pace to allow his victory. “Es muy bien, Javi!”

Her voice. Her words. Her encouragement, so like her mother’s before her.

Cruz glanced down. Big mistake, because Lily stared up at him, a miniature of the best friend he’d ever had.

Cruz! Let’s climb to the hayloft! Let’s check the little goats, see if they’ve gotten loose! Let’s go bother Ninny for a snack!

They’d grown up together, cousins by birth and friends by proximity, pestering every caretaker they ever had. Only Cruz’s father had married the rich American landowner and Elina’s mother...

His heart grew tight, remembering.

Elina’s mother hadn’t married anyone, ever. She’d had two kids out of wedlock, Elina and Juan. Juan had been killed in a drug sting on the border nearly fifteen years ago. Elina had gone back to Mexico and...

He had no idea what happened to his old friend and cousin, because he’d never bothered to check up on her. Guilt mushroomed.

He kept his gaze on the children, hands linked, and a voice sounded from somewhere inside him, a place he thought he’d lost a long time ago. “I’ll do it. I’ll stand guardian for them with the teacher.”

He felt her eyes on him, and he was pretty sure he was about the last person on earth she’d pick to watch over these two children for however long the legal process took. But he was equally sure he had no choice in the matter because Elina had been more than his cousin. She’d been his friend when he truly needed one. It was way past time to return the favor.

* * *

Rory Gallagher’s life was one strike away from being called out at the plate by a series of bad pitches.

The filing date for the elongated grant application to help fund her dream preschool for disadvantaged kids loomed in late August. The application process also stated that the school site would be upgraded to meet state standards, and she needed to find this site in an accessible part of a town where real estate sold quicker than water flowing from a tap. On top of that, the popularity of Grace Haven as a place to live, work, play and pray had pushed property values through the roof, making potential sites scarce.

Fortunately, her summer Universal Pre-Kindergarten program was split between two teachers and would end in two weeks. She’d taken the morning session and Glenda Moore ran the afternoon classes. That had allowed her some time, but not much in the way of research or paperwork would get done with two kids to watch, so the little time she’d set aside just got swallowed up.

How had this happened? She’d dotted her i’s and crossed her t’s, planning work and application time carefully, knowing her sister was due to deliver a baby, and that the family might need her help at her sister’s popular event-planning business. And now...

She couldn’t say no to helping with Lily and Javi, even if their story didn’t break her heart. The fact that it did, and that she actually liked their somewhat blustery Italian great-aunt, added to the weight of responsibility.

And then her uncle had relegated her to working with an uptight, full-of-himself financial whiz, and if he glanced at his pricey watch again, she would be tempted to kick him in the shin, just to wake him up to reality. The fact that he was to-die-for handsome with dark chocolate eyes, café au lait skin and rumpled black hair would make heads turn in their thriving summer town.

But not hers, because people whose main goal was amassing wealth annoyed her. How could he be thriving in New York and ignoring his mother’s failing business and health in the Finger Lakes? What kind of person did that?

This couldn’t possibly be happening, and yet—it just had. Cruz Maldonado didn’t look too happy. Well, neither was she, but she understood that Lily and Javier were in need. Their plight took precedence.

“Miss Rory?”

Lily’s plaintive voice melted Rory’s heart. She bent low and snugged an arm around the girl’s thin shoulders. “What’s up, darling?”

“Javi might be scared.” Lily kept her voice soft, her gaze down, not looking up at Cruz. “Like, not much, but...” She leaned in close. “Just a little bit. Maybe.”

Three-year-old Javier didn’t look scared.

If anything he looked energized, while Lily looked nervous. “There is no reason to be scared, my little friends, because we are going to have ourselves...” She paused, building their anticipation. “An adventure!”

“A ’venture?” Javier’s smoke-toned eyes opened wide. “For weal? I wuv ’ventures so much!”

“With him?” Lily glanced up at Cruz and scrunched her face, clearly unconvinced.

“So it would seem.” Rory took Lily’s hand, then stood and took Javier’s on the other side. “Lily, Javier.” She stood as straight and tall as a five-foot-three-inch person could and faced Rosa’s tall, broad-shouldered, successful son. “This is your cousin Cruz.”

“Hey, guys.” He crouched down to meet the kids at their level. “I was friends with your mommy when we were little.”

“You know our mommy?” Excitement heightened Lily’s voice, as if finding someone acquainted with her mother wasn’t the norm. “You played with her?”

“We climbed trees and played in the big barn, and fed goats and chased kittens and trimmed a lot of grapevines in our time,” he told her.

“Our mom was wittle?” Javier eyed him with frank suspicion, as if the words didn’t quite compute.

“Everybody is a little kid at one time,” Rory reminded them. “We start as babies, then we grow to be kids.”

“Then big kids,” added Lily.

“And then we get to be moms and dads!” Javier added that last with all the excitement he could muster. “I’m Javier and I’m th-this many.” He held up five fingers, then forced his thumb down with his other hand. “Four.”

“Almost four. In three months,” Rory reminded him.

“Th-that’s right. Free months.”

Lily pointed up at the clock on the wall. “Can we go back to be with Mimi now?” She looked from Steve to Rory, ignoring Cruz. “I just want to be back with her and I think it’s time.”

“Me, too.” Javier’s voice choked slightly. “I miss my Gator so much.”

Rory caught Cruz’s sympathetic expression, and acted quickly. Something about these kids seemed to touch a nerve in him. A nerve that said the hard-jawed, grim-faced man might actually have a heart.

She bent between the two kids and kept her voice teacher-firm as her brother-in-law entered the room. “You can’t go back and live with Rosa right now.”

“Is she in trouble?”

Leave it to Lily to get straight to the point, but Rory wasn’t about to explain all of the legal issues to the kids, so she opted for plan B. “You know she hasn’t been feeling well.”

Both kids knew that firsthand. They nodded, solemn.

“While the doctors figure out what to do, she needs some extra rest, so you guys are going to stay at my house. You can help me get things ready for school each day, and help me take care of my dog, okay? As an added bonus, we get to walk all over town together. And, Javier, we’ll have someone bring Gator over to my house.” She aimed a reassuring look his way. “And anything else you guys need.”

“You live in the village?” Cruz asked.

She raised her eyes to his. “On Creighton Landing, just beyond The Square.”

“It’s late,” he went on. He swept the kids a quick look before he turned his attention back to her. “Can we meet tomorrow and talk this through? I’m a little unprepared and that’s not my norm.”

She was pretty sure it wasn’t his norm, because no one rose to the heights of financial security that quickly without being prepared for everything, all the time. “I’m done with school at noon, so the kids and I should get back to my house by twelve thirty or so.”

“And they’re okay with you for the day?”

Was he missing the basic meaning of shared custody? She bit back words of protest because anything was doable for a day. “For tomorrow, yes.”

“Thank you, Miss Gallagher.”

“Rory.” She let go of Javier and put out her hand. “As their teacher I’m a mandated reporter. A circumstance which brought us to this moment. I’m afraid your mother is very angry with me right now.”

“As her only child, I’m familiar with the feeling,” he told her. “And I think it’s highly possible that you are as confounded as I find myself by this sudden change in affairs.” He took her hand in his.

She wasn’t sure what she expected. A cool, hard handshake, quick and businesslike? Or a quick touch of fingers, as if too busy?

She got neither.

He wrapped her hand in his and studied her for long, slow seconds. Did he like what he saw, or was he assessing an adversary? She couldn’t tell, and that didn’t sit well with the youngest Gallagher sister. She hadn’t been gifted with the business acumen her mother and older sister Kimberly possessed, a talent they used to run a mega-successful wedding and event-planning business.

And she didn’t have the stage presence and eye for fashion of her middle sister Emily, now a bridal shop owner.

Rory had gotten Gram Gallagher’s help-for-the-downtrodden heart, but right now her goal might be ruined by lack of time and available real estate. With her mother away, and Kimberly’s baby due soon, she would most likely be adding time spent at Kate & Company to her jam-packed days, further dwindling her grant application period.

She couldn’t let that happen. Kids were depending on her, counting on her to provide strong early education for needy families tucked within the hills surrounding Grace Haven. She’d put things off while her dad fought brain cancer in Houston for the past year. Now that he was in remission, her time had come.

Or so she’d thought.

She held Cruz’s gaze.

He’d read the reaction she tried to hide. Rory wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She had been taken by surprise, but would she have refused to help?

No.

For now she was going to drive home and get these two kids tucked into bed.

Then she’d sit down and start praying, because her life just got put on hold once more. And to tell the truth, Rory Gallagher was tired of having decisions jerked out from under her. “It’s not the first U-turn I’ve made.” She addressed Cruz with a cool tone. “And I expect it won’t be the last.” She slanted a smile to the children and gave a light squeeze to their linked hands. “But it might just be the most fun.” She turned to her brother-in-law, the new Grace Haven chief of police. “Drew, feel free to catch me up on things as they develop.”

“Drew Slade?” A look of recognition lightened Cruz’s face as he turned to Drew. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has, man.” Drew flashed Cruz a quick smile, then waved Rory off. “I’ll catch up with you later. Are you all set with them?”

He meant the kids, and despite the fact that Rory’s life had just been steamrollered, she was more than willing to take care of these sweet souls. “I am. I’ll leave you guys to the legalese.” She looked down and smiled at two confused preschoolers. “It’s almost time for bed.”

“Good night, guys. Sweet dreams.” Uncle Steve waved as the other men dove deep into discussion of the whys and hows of the situation.

These kids didn’t need to hear conversations about themselves. It wasn’t until she’d gotten both kids through the town hall entrance that they were blessed with quiet, the strong male voices muted by distance.

“Come on, guys. Let’s call it a day, shall we?”

Javier looked around, confused.

Lily tried to look brave, but her lower lip quivered as the five-year-old fought tears.

Rory led the kids to her car, tucked them into the seats she’d borrowed from the fire hall and drove home because there really wasn’t any other choice.

Chapter Two

Cruz took the right-hand turn along the lake’s western shore, determined to ferret out the facts of the situation from his mother.

She wouldn’t want to see him. She’d made that abundantly clear in the past. They’d fought after his father’s death, and Rosa had ordered him out of the house and out of her life, then spent years ignoring his attempts at reconciliation. Funny how a woman who professed faith in the Bible shrugged off forgiveness in favor of old-world pride.

He pulled into the curved drive leading into Casa Blanca and hit the brakes hard in disbelief.

Flaking, peeling paint marred the front of the house. Weeds and grass had infiltrated the once pristine gardens, while twining roses fought a losing battle with invasive weeds, climbing and choking the once beautiful trellises.

Beyond the curving drive and parking lot, both in need of repair and sealing, his father’s previously impeccable vineyard stood ragged. Overgrown vines stuck out at odd angles, choking and shading the growing fruit below. The barns didn’t look too bad, their paint appeared more recent, but the once prestigious event center had fallen into grave disrepair.

He’d only been gone eight years. How could things have gone this bad in eight short years?

The front door opened.

His mother emerged.

She stared at him as he pulled the car into the drive. Arms folded tight around her middle, she stood straight, solid and self-protective as he exited the car and walked her way. “Hello, Mother. Long time, no see.”

She glared at him, then the upscale car, then him again. “You’ve come to brag, no doubt. To laugh in the face of my ruination. Well, have your say and get out. There’s nothing for you here.”

Was there ever?

Yes, when his father was alive. His father loved to spend time with his only son, seeing and doing things together, learning “the grape” as he called it. He’d spent long hours working side by side with his father, a master vineyard manager, an immigrant success story. And while they’d worked the grape, his mother had managed the sprawling event center she’d inherited from her parents.

He longed to sass her back in kind. If asked, he would have sworn he’d gotten over all of this years ago, but he was mistaken because the urge to argue with his mother was on the tip of his tongue.

Then he remembered Reverend Gallagher’s words that morning. Your mother is sick. Her heart is bad and she’s diabetic, and there are two illegal immigrant children living with her. She needs you, Cruz. And Elina’s children need you, too.

He hadn’t even known Elina had children. If pressed, he wouldn’t have been able to say what his cousin had done once she’d left for Mexico...but what were her children doing here, and what happened to Elina? “How are you?”

The simple question took her by surprise, but not for long. “I am fine. The children and I are fine.”

A lie. Again, no surprise. “Reverend Gallagher says you’ve been ill.”

“I have my days. Some good, some bad. Why are you here? Did he call you?”

Cruz nodded.

“He shouldn’t have done that. He should have left things be.”

“Well, the thought of you serving a jail sentence for harboring illegal immigrants weighed on his conscience. He is, after all, a minister.”

She scowled. “He’s a neighbor first, a man who knows you have no respect for the mother who gave you life and raised you. Steve knows this, and yet he still makes the call.” She raised her chin, a classic move. “I can’t imagine what he was thinking.”

She needed help in more ways than one. Her Italian skin tones were usually deeply tanned by this time of summer. Today she looked pale, and the threadbare pants and loose shirt she wore had seen a lot of use. Always stocky, she’d put on weight since the funeral. The changes in her appearance reflected the ones on the estate. “I told Steve I would help.”

She scowled. Her face darkened. “And as I have said before, I don’t need your help, Crusberto.”

The cold anger in her face used to break his heart.

No more.

He’d moved beyond her reach, and her tirades meant nothing now. “You’re wrong. You do need my help. The place is a mess, and my guess is you tried to overmanage everything like you usually do, your workers quit and you got yourself into debt trying to recover. But now you’re in too deep and there’s no way out, and you’ve got two kids to watch. How am I doing so far?”

She unwound her arms and fisted her hands. “You checked up on me.”

“No.” When she almost relaxed, he added, “I had my office assistant check up on you while I drove here, so the fact that you are bordering on bankruptcy and your business is uncared for tells me you’re on the brink of disaster. If we throw a double federal offense onto the table for willfully harboring two illegal aliens and passing them off as your grandchildren...” He set one foot on the lowest step of what had been a gracious, columned porch, leaned in and said, “You’re wrong, Mother. You do need me, like it or not.” He straightened and shoved his hands into his pockets as memories surged. “Honestly, if it was just you, I’d walk away, like you did to me so many times, but it’s not just you. There are two little kids involved, who deserve a better chance than they’ve gotten so far, and who’ve done nothing to deserve being raised by you.”

He expected her to lash out. He was prepared for that. What he wasn’t prepared for were the tears.

Her hands lost their tension.

Tears streamed down her cheeks in silent succession.

Rosa Maria Maldonado didn’t cry. Ever. To see her come undone messed him up.

He took a step back, then forward, but what could he do? They hadn’t comforted one another for a very long time.

He stood absolutely still as her tears flowed. Somewhere deep inside, a tiny longing to help ignited.

He extinguished it quickly. He’d learned how to protect himself decades ago. He’d steeled himself to pretend her indifference didn’t matter. He pretended he didn’t care.

She swiped the back of her hand to her face, turned around and walked back inside. The door closed behind her, and the click of the lock slipped into place.

So be it. She didn’t need him. He didn’t need her. But those two children needed something more than to be made wards of the court and deported.

He strode back to his car, got in and drove away to find a hotel room. It took him less than an hour to realize the entire town was booked solid.

Of course everything was taken—it was midsummer at one of the most beautiful lakeside recreation spots in Central New York, the heart of the Finger Lakes.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ten hours ago he’d been gearing up to oversee the takeover of a small dot-com company. That single acquisition was going to make their firm millions.

But he wasn’t on Liberty Street, signing the final papers. He’d left that to others. He was here in Grace Haven, a place he’d vowed to never see again.

He got into the car, hit a phone app and came up with no vacancies surrounding the lake. So where could he stay?

Hello, Captain Obvious. Your mother’s got room. Plenty of room. Why don’t you pretend to be a peacemaker and go back there?

He’d sleep in the car first. And that’s exactly what he intended to do, except then his phone rang with a call from Drew Slade.

“Cruz, it’s Drew. I just realized you might not be comfortable staying at Casa Blanca...”

That meant his reaction to his mother showed, and Cruz never let reactions show. It was this stupid town, and these throwback circumstances undermining his skills as a stone-faced negotiator. “My wife and I just vacated a nice little garage apartment at the Gallaghers’.”

“Is that an inn?”

“No, the Gallagher family. At Chief Gallagher’s house. I married his oldest daughter, Kimberly.”

“The Gallaghers, as in the holier-than-thou schoolteacher I just met?”

“That’s Rory.” Drew sounded almost cheerful about it. “Anyway, Kimberly and I are in our new house, the apartment is in great shape, and if you really don’t want to stay with your mother, this could give you some peace of mind and a clean pillow. I know the town is booked up. Summer is a crazy-busy vacation time here.”

It was vacation time in New York City, too, which was the only reason he was able to be here, and not in the city. His boss would no doubt go ballistic when he returned from his three-week European vacation and found Cruz still in Grace Haven. But with Rodney Randolph, ballistic was often the status quo. He’d deal with that as needed. “I don’t want to be an inconvenience to anyone, Drew.”

“The place is empty, you’re inconveniencing no one, and if you and Rory are sharing kid duty until we figure things out, you might as well be geographically close.”

That part made sense, and was about the only thing in this convoluted mess that did.

“Were you able to find a room for tonight?”

Cruz couldn’t lie. “No.”

“Then use it, man. One forty-seven Creighton Landing, just beyond the turnoff for The Square, in walking distance of everything. Just like Manhattan.” Drew laughed, and Cruz was glad someone found humor in this situation, because he hadn’t stopped frowning since the reverend’s phone call that morning.

“You sure no one will mind?”

“Positive. I’ll call Rory and let her know so you don’t surprise her or the kids. Or Mags.”

“Is Mags one of the sisters?” Somewhere in his brain he remembered several Gallagher sisters.

“She’s a member of the family, all right,” Drew finished cryptically. “The key is hanging inside the carriage house, to the left of the door when you walk in. The apartment is the second floor.”

Cruz hesitated, then accepted. “Thanks, man. I was ready to sleep in the car.”

“Glad to help. I’m hoping this all looks better in the morning.”

“It couldn’t look any worse.”

* * *

Wrong again.

He’d driven to Creighton Landing, found the key like Drew said and thrown open a couple of windows in hopes of a lake breeze.

Nope.

Too tired to care, he’d fallen into bed, then got up crazy early like he always did and set up his laptop in the steamy apartment.

No air-conditioning.

No Wi-Fi.

He stared at the screen, searched for networks and didn’t find any. He pulled out his smartphone to set up a hot spot to relay internet service.

It didn’t work. His phone indicated internet service in the area, but couldn’t command a strong enough signal to relay Wi-Fi to the laptop.

He needed to punch someone. And find coffee.

Coffee. A coffee shop with Wi-Fi. Perfect.

He stepped outside with his small laptop bag. The town lay before him, and the lake spread out to his left, just beyond Route 20.

He’d be silly to drive because he was already in town, so he crossed the yard and circled The Square, a local old-time shopping area that looked much more upscale than he remembered, and hunted for coffee.

Nothing was open.

He glared at his phone. It was 6:05 a.m. on a Tuesday. He’d passed two coffee shops, neither of which opened for nearly an hour. In Manhattan, he’d have been connected and working already. Here?

Nothing.

He was about to retrace his steps, get into the car and head toward the thruway, when lights flickered on at the diner just ahead. “You lookin’ for coffee?” A copper-skinned, middle-aged woman with dark hair in a bun poked her head around the corner of the stoop.

“Hunting would be more apt,” he told her as he strode forward. “And Wi-Fi. Do you have that, too?”

She laughed and swung the door wide. “We’re connected, though I’m not sure it was a good idea. Come on in. You looked like a wanderin’ pup out there. It’s always the same with big-city types. It takes a day or two of bein’ in Grace Haven to realize it’s okay to relax. To let go and let God shape the days.”

“Well, I’m in town for a while, but I’m not sure relaxing enters into the equation.”

“Never does at first,” she called back as she bustled around the counter. “But we get to it, eventual-like. If we stay ’round long enough.” She set a second pot brewing, then toted four mugs and a glass coffee carafe to his table. “Here you go.” She filled his cup, then paused. “Room for cream and sugar?”

“Nope. Black.”

She sighed as if she expected him to say that, then plunked the other three mugs down on a table kitty-corner from him. She filled the mugs, added a little aluminum pot of cream to the table and strode behind the old-style counter just as three older gentlemen walked in.

“Mornin’, Sadie!” crowed the first one in the door.

The next man in seemed just as happy to be there. “Sadie, my sweet Southern belle, you’ve got us all set up!”

The third man saluted the waitress with his Grace Haven Eagles baseball cap as he came through. “Coffee and Sadie—my mornin’s complete!”

“Mornin’, boys.” She waved a hand as she stuck a paper onto an old-style order ring suspended between her and the kitchen beyond. “I’m orderin’ you the usual, speak now or keep it to yourself when you get same old, same old.”

“Why mess with success?” the first man wondered aloud. The three men settled at the table to Cruz’s right, jawing about baseball.

Cruz opened his computer and brought up his email. One message in, the second guy stood and came up alongside Drew’s table. “You got box scores on that thing?”

“Excuse me?” Surprise toughened Cruz’s voice. Either surprise, or his Wall Street, tough-as-nails attitude. Bright blue eyes under faded brows gazed back at him from a face that had known years of weathering. “I expect they’re accessible.”

“Bring ’em up, why don’t you, so I can show these yahoos what I mean ’bout the All-Star break makin’ a difference.”

“He’s workin’, Badge,” Sadie scolded the older man from her spot at the counter. She was slicing big, thick wedges of pie, wrapping them gently and placing them in a tall rotating cooler. Seeing them made Cruz remember the mouth-watering pie at his mother’s table, thick and sweet. There was no such thing as good pie in Manhattan. In a city that claimed to boast everything good, pie hadn’t made the list. “I don’t think he lugged that machine in here to jaw about the American League East with you. Best leave him to it, don’t you think?”

“I get your point, Sadie. Smart as always.” The old man accepted her advice and moved back across the aisle to his table. “I’ll let you get on with your day,” he added to Cruz.

“If we had one of them smartphones, we’d know what’s up,” said the tallest man. “My Kimmie’s got one of them, and it’s law-awful how quick she can get on things.”

“She’s connected, sure as shootin’.” The third man stared at his coffee, glum. “No regular daily anymore, no local radio shows that do sports, less’n I wanna sit home with the tube on, watchin’. Then it’s midmornin’ ’fore we get a clean look at who’s done what unless you’ve got cable, and my monthly check don’t allow for that kind of indulgence.” The old fellow sighed softly, but just loud enough for Cruz to hear.

They were killing him.

Worse?

He knew what they were saying. Times had changed and unless you were familiar with smart technology, you were stuck waiting for access to information in fewer spots than there used to be. He slugged his coffee, pulled up the baseball box scores online and motioned the guys over. “Check it out, boys.”

“For real?” They moved, en masse, coffees in hand, and slid into the other three seats at his table.

Sadie came by with more coffee. She caught his gaze and smiled. “Nice.”

He hadn’t really had a choice, not when they’d started talking baseball. He lived in a city with two of the greatest baseball teams in history, and he hadn’t gone to a game. Ever. Time was money in New York.

Time is money anywhere, his conscience reminded him. But it’s more money in Manhattan. You might want to think about why that’s become so important.

He set the open laptop at the end of the table so all three men could see it, and as they jabbered about who’d done what on the West Coast, the diner door opened.

“Well, it looks like the early bird has gone and caught herself two of the sweetest little worms I ever did see!” Sadie exclaimed as Rory Gallagher came in with Lily and Javier. “This is a nice surprise, Rory!”

“My toaster’s not working, I had no cereal and I need to feed these two before the school day starts.” She smiled down at the kids, back up at Sadie, then she saw him.

Her smile faded, but it brightened again when she spotted the crew at his table. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

“If it ain’t the prettiest of the Gallagher girls stoppin’ by!”

“Ain’t them Rosa’s younguns?”

“They are.” Rory said nothing about yesterday’s drama. “They get to stay with their teacher for a little bit. How cool is that?”

“I think it’s a fine thing, Miss Rory.” The blue-eyed man seemed to understand more of what had transpired than the others. “A perfect place to grow and run and laugh while the dust settles.”

“Thank you, Badge.”

He didn’t nod or smile, but the old guy’s expression indicated approval. He slugged more coffee, then stood. “Boys, let’s get up and make some room here. Miss Rory needs a place to sit with the kids.”

“With all them empty seats?” Surprised, the taller man swept the mostly empty restaurant a quick glance.

Rory waved them off and indicated the next booth. “We can sit here. That way the kids can see Cruz while he works.” She flashed him a cool look of dismissal, as if working on a weekday morning was the root of all evil. Last time Cruz looked, it was considered normal, but he closed the laptop and faced her as the men moved back to their original table.

She didn’t sit with him. She herded the kids into the adjacent booth, ordered eggs and pancakes and orange juice for Lily and Javier, and coffee for herself.

Was she not hungry? Or broke?

Only one way to find out. He stood and slipped into her booth, next to Lily. “Morning, guys.”

Javier stared at him, uncertain. Lily looked less concerned. “Miss Rory told us that you know our Mimi.”

“Mimi?”

“Rosa,” Rory explained softly. “That’s what they call her.”

“Not Abuela?”

Rory met his gaze, and realization sank in. “Of course, Elina’s mother would have been Abuela.”

“And they started with Mami for Rosa, but Javier morphed it to Mimi and it stuck.”

“Your Mimi is my mother.” Cruz looked down at Lily. Elina’s eyes gazed up at him. His heart winced a little more as he thought of his cousin’s choices. “And your mommy was my friend and my cousin.”

“She died.” Javier announced the words in a voice that showed a lack of understanding. “She might come back. She might not. Mimi doesn’t know.”

Lily leaned across the table, so serious. “No one can come back when they die, Javi. They have to go live with God in heaven and there’s no way back.”

The little guy’s face darkened. He stared at his sister and whispered, “She might come back, Lily. She might.”

Cruz’s chest went tight. Seeing Elina’s fate through the eyes of two innocent children, emotion gripped him.

They loved his mother.

The irony of that didn’t sit well, because he could look back and count the few happy times on his fingers. His mother had been a tough taskmaster, a woman overseeing a burgeoning business overlooking Canandaigua Lake, and nothing mattered more than her success. Her vineyard, her special events center, was straight out of the hills of Tuscany. Casa Blanca meant more to her than anything. More than her hardworking Latino husband, and certainly more than her only son.

But these children seemed bonded to her. Was it an act? Or had Rosa Maldonado changed?

He had no way of knowing, but he wasn’t about to let two innocents go through similar experiences. Not if she was still the tough, overbearing, money-solves-everything woman he remembered.

Rory slipped an arm around Javier and drew him close. “No matter what happens here on earth, God’s in heaven watching over us. Smiling down at us, wanting us to be happy and strong. And now your mama is there with him, loving you from up there. But here on earth, God has other folks to love you. Lily, Mimi, Cruz and me, just to name a few. You will always be our beloved little boy. That will never change, darling.”

The little guy nestled into the curve of her arm. “I know.” The two words came out in a whisper. “I just miss her, is all.”

Cruz’s eyes got misty.

Sadie saved the moment by slipping two plates of pancakes and scrambled eggs in front of the kids, then refilling the grown-ups’ mugs. “Rory, you sure I can’t get you somethin’, darlin’?”

Rory shook her head. “I’m fine, Sadie, thanks.”

“All right, sweetie.”

Sweetie. Darlin’. Sweet things... Cruz couldn’t remember the last time someone called him sweetie in New York. Probably never. Because why would they?

And yet it seemed real nice to hear those words here.

Lily knelt up on the booth’s seat to get a better vantage point on her food. Her first attempt at the eggs had them sliding to the floor quickly. Cruz handed her his spoon. “Try this. Eggs are slippery.”

“They are!” She accepted the spoon and didn’t seem to mind that he’d stirred his coffee with it. “And they jiggle. Jell-O jiggles, too. I like jiggly food.”

Rory laughed.

Cruz lifted his eyes to hers. “Jiggly food is funny?”

“My sister won’t eat food that jiggles. She says it’s unnerving. I’m happy to see Lily has no such qualms.”

“Did they sleep well?”

“As well as any of us could with a crazy day behind us and a new normal awaiting. I expect tonight will be better. Drew called and told me he offered you the carriage house apartment.”

“I’ll find a hotel as soon as I can, so I’m not inconveniencing anyone.” Cruz sipped his coffee. “No reason to make difficult circumstances more so.”

“Why stay somewhere else when you can stay there for free?” She looked puzzled, as if the idea of spending money worried her. So maybe she did like breakfast and couldn’t afford it, but sacrificed for the two kids.

Now he felt like a complete moron.

“I need internet access and there’s no air-conditioning.”

She sat back and looked distressed. “The window unit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Drew took it out last fall and stored it downstairs over the winter, and then they moved into their new house before it got hot. I forgot all about that, and I’m sure he did, too. Oh, Cruz.” She leaned forward, and looked honestly concerned. “You must have roasted.”

“I may have discovered a new scientific melting point.”

She laughed again, and when she did, the kids smiled. Her laugh made him feel like smiling, too, and that felt good and odd because the rigors of Manhattan didn’t often inspire laid-back conversation and smiles. “Listen, it would be silly of you to waste money on a hotel when I expect you’d like to get to know these guys better, right?”

He knew less than nothing about children which meant he’d be of little help. “I guess.”

“I’ll have our house Wi-Fi upgraded so you can access it in the apartment. They should probably be able to do that today. The air-conditioning unit cools off the whole place. Can you install it in the living room window or do you need help?”

How hard could it be? “I expect I can manage it.”

“If it’s too tricky or awkward, wait till I get home with these guys later. I’ll be glad to jump in.”

“Miss Wory, can I have more syrup?” Javier asked.

Cruz waited for her to say no. Every young mother he knew measured out anything sweet in minute doses, as if sugar had become the root of all evil.

“Of course you can!” Rory helped Javier with the little glass carafe, then reached for a second one. “Try this triple-berry syrup, too, Javi, on just a little corner here. Or you can dip a piece.”

“I wuv dipping!”

“Me, too.” She picked up a tiny piece of his pancake, dipped it in the dark purple syrup and popped it into her mouth. “Perfection.” She smiled at Lily, then Javier.

“Are you walking straight to school from here?” Cruz asked.

She nodded. “The White Church, actually, on Maple Avenue. They volunteered to house us in their basement this year.”

“Basement?” School in a basement didn’t sound like much fun.

She scrunched up her nose when she frowned. “We’re an itinerant program, which means we get shuffled from place to place every summer. Whatever church or school has extra space is where we’re assigned, so we’ve learned to bloom where we’re planted.”

“That’s a little rough.”

She shrugged. “It’s not ideal, but we manage to make do. When I’m planning, I make sure we’ve got so much to do, say and learn that the location becomes a nonproblem. I wasn’t able to get any prep work done yesterday, so we’re walking over early today. That way I can get things ready.”

“You do the morning sessions?”

She nodded. “Another teacher steps in to take the afternoon ones. That way we can cover for one another as needed.”

“What will the kids do in the afternoon?”

“Hang with me, I expect. Unless you have a better idea?”

He knew what he should say. He should offer to take the kids off her hands for the afternoon.

His phone signaled an incoming text, then another, and that made his decision easy. He had work. So did she. But hers was geared toward little kids. His wasn’t. He stood, determined to claim what time he could. “You can never get enough learning, can you?”

His answer disappointed her, but she didn’t seem surprised, which meant she expected him to be self-centered. Like mother, like son?

He bit back remorse because he recognized the pattern quite well, thank you.

“Enjoy your day,” she told him. “We’ll see you this afternoon. And if you need help with that AC unit, I’ll be home midday. Also, if you need Wi-Fi, you can hole up in one of the empty corners of Kate & Company, my mother’s event-planning business on The Square.”

He remembered the name well. Her mother’s business had used his parents’ classic villa and vineyard for many events when he was younger. “Your mom wouldn’t mind?”

“She’s retired, my sisters are handling the business and there’s an extra office on the first level. It’s small, but it’s cool and connected.”

Cool and connected.

The phrase sounded almost insulting, as if a good working environment was a bad thing.

He slipped his laptop into its leather case. His objective in Grace Haven was to get his mother out of legal jeopardy and arrange care for Elina’s children. It was the least he could do to repay Elina’s friendship.

After that he’d return back to life as he knew it. The life he’d been thrust into years ago, because being good was never good enough for Rosa Maldonado. Not when being the best dangled like the perfect cluster of Champagne grapes, just out of reach. He paid for his coffee, and her bill, too, then offered the kids a quick wave as he strode out the door.

He wasn’t sure why he was leaving, when he’d intended to hang out in there, drinking what had turned out to be really solid coffee and using their Wi-Fi. He walked back down the street, turned toward Creighton Landing and decided to install the AC unit sooner rather than later. Then he’d approach Drew’s wife at Kate & Company about leasing office space while he was here. Rory Gallagher hadn’t mentioned a price tag on her offer, but Cruz understood that nothing was free in the corporate world, and if he paid his way, there were fewer emotional entanglements to worry about. Keeping life unemotional had worked well so far. Cruz Maldonado had every intention of keeping things that way.

Chapter Three

Edgy, well-to-do and intent on working from dawn till dark.

Guys like Cruz Maldonado didn’t pause to smell the roses because they never looked down long enough to notice them. The guy wore his money-first mentality like Gucci armor, unsoftened by his heart-stopping good looks. His black hair was shaggy in the back, as if he was too busy to notice.

But Rory noticed right off, unfortunately, because the look worked for him and she had to remind herself that he was off-limits.

His complexion was the kind that tanned easily, although his hadn’t darkened appreciably and it was already midsummer. That meant he spent way too much time indoors.

Those gorgeous brown eyes, soulful but sharp, were brightened by hints of gold around the pupil. Thick, dark brows defined those eyes with a decisive arch. He was eye candy, all right, which Rory found annoying. And now he was going to be underfoot, tucked in their carriage house apartment because her brother-in-law Drew thought it was a good idea.

It was a horrible idea.

But smart, too, because with Kimberly’s baby due, Rory might have to help her sister Emily run the event-planning business their mother had built. Kimberly had taken on Kate & Co. a year ago as their father fought brain cancer in a Texas treatment center, but she’d need time off now and the girls had pledged support for one another while their father recovered.

“Miss Rory, you’re not hungry?” Lily settled her hand on Rory’s forearm. “Not even a little bit?”

“I’m not a breakfast eater, darling.”

“Mimi says we have to eat in the morning.” Javier stared at his almost full plate and frowned. “I weally like just playing in th-th-the morning.” A tiny stutter plagued him when he got nervous or tired. “I wike that the most.”

Rory sympathized completely. “We’ll have Sadie box that up and you can have it at snack time, okay?”

“Weally?” His face perked up. “You don’t mind?”

“Dude, I get really annoyed when people push food on me. I know when I’m hungry. I know when I’m not. We’re all different, right?”

“Sure!” He looked downright excited by the thought of having a choice in the matter.

Sadie came by just then. “I heard those words of wisdom and I’ll take care of that right now, darlins. Lily, I cannot believe you wolfed that down. You go, girl!”

“I love pancakes!” Lily almost sang the words. “And I love coming to fancy restaurants and having food, Sadie! Thank you for being so nice to us!”

“Oh, my sweet thing.” Sadie crossed back to the counter, flipped out a foam to-go box and came back to the table as more folks filtered in through the door. “It is my sincere pleasure to be nice to my customers.”

“It is?” Javier peeked up as if her words were really special.

“Indeed. I am not one to blow sunshine at anyone, my friend. If Sadie says it—” the robust woman put her hands on her hips and offered Javier a sage expression “—Sadie means it.”

“It’s my p-p-pleasure to come here, too.” Javier dimpled when he told her, clearly pleased. “It’s s-s-such a nice place, Sadie.”

“Oh, you precious little thing!” Sadie beamed at them, then started walking away.

Rory called her back. “Sadie, I need the check. Is it in your pocket?”

“No check today, honey. A kindly benefactor has taken care of it.”

Did she just say the check had been paid? The only person who’d gone near the cash register was Cruz. She didn’t need him to buy her breakfast; she wasn’t broke, she was financially challenged. She’d avoided a full-time teaching position because she had other plans, plans that were being threatened, yet again.

Sue Collingsworth stepped into the diner as they were sliding out of the booth. She looked totally put together, like always. A stab of guilt dredged up a wave of emotion inside Rory, exacerbated by current events with Lily and Javier.

She’d longed for Sue’s friendship in junior high. She’d have done anything to hang out with the cool crowd, the gorgeous girls who were always in the know about everything. She’d thought so much about looks and reputation back then that she’d sacrificed her one true friend: Millicent Rodriguez, the daughter of a Dominican maid at the elegant Lakeside Inn. They’d been inseparable as kids, romping down the beach, dashing back and forth between the stately inn and Rory’s house.

And then she’d messed it all up by wanting to be part of the cool crowd.

So young. So foolish. And utterly selfish.

She’d been accepted by the cool crowd, probably because her sister had been a pageant queen. But they’d shunned Millicent.

And so had she.

When her childhood friend ended up dead from a drug overdose fifteen months later, Rory had to face the consequences of her actions. Would Millicent have joined the drug crowd if Rory had stuck by her?

Probably not, and the truth of that had stayed with Rory all this time. Now it was her turn to make a difference, and her planned preschool and kindergarten would do just that.

“Rory.” Susan lifted two perfect brows slightly, almost as if pained to acknowledge her presence. “How are you?”

“Fine, thank you. And—”

“Miss Wory! I’ve got to go potty, bad!”

Susan noted the presence of the children as if suffering stomach pangs, and when Lily reached out a hand to touch the sparkles running from shoulder to hip on her dress, Susan stepped back to avoid contact.

She was a rude, insufferable person back then, and not much had changed, but Rory had followed her around like a needy pup. No more.

She stooped low to reassure the little fellow. “Well, let’s take care of that before we walk to school, okay, my friend?”

Javi did a dance-hop step of urgency, nodding.

“May I sit at the counter while you go?” Lily climbed onto one of the taller counter stools. “I can talk to Miss Sadie, and twirl!” She spun the seat around, laughing.

“Yes, but keep your feet tucked so people can get around you. And use your indoor voice, remember?”

Lily nodded, and put two hands over her mouth. “Got it,” she whispered, grinning.

Susan said nothing more.

Just as well. They really had nothing to say to one another beyond hello. She walked Javi to the restrooms, then afterward held his hand while they strolled toward the White Church.

She’d learned a harsh lesson at a young age.

She’d watched the well-to-do crowd hurt other kids’ feelings, and had done nothing to stop it. She’d watched them reject kids who didn’t have as much, then treat them as failures. And when Millicent succumbed to an overdose, Rory had understood the tragic results of inaction. When Lily revealed that her mother had gone to heaven, Rory had had a major wake-up call.

Rosa didn’t have legal guardianship, and the children’s paperwork had been misrepresented. As a teacher, she was required to be upfront and honest, which meant if these kids needed help, she’d be wrong to deny it to them.

If Rosa had obeyed the law, there would have been no mess to unravel, but she hadn’t and Rory had had no choice but to reveal the information to authorities two days ago.

“Miss Rory?”

“Yes, Lily?” She tipped her gaze down. Two sad brown eyes gazed up at her.

“Thank you for letting us stay with you.” She gripped Rory’s hand tighter in a show of emotion. “I would have been a little scared with someone else. Except Mimi,” she amended quietly. “But I don’t like being with strangers.”

“I don’t wike them, either.” Javier shook his head with boyish vehemence. “I just wike people I know.”

“And let us not grow weary of doing good...” Paul’s words, as he reminded the Galatians to keep heart. As Lily clung to one hand and Javier gripped the other, emotion welled within her. She would put their needs first, and somehow, someway, she’d finagle time to get the paperwork done and submitted to the state before the deadline. If it meant little sleep for a few weeks, well...

That was the sacrifice she’d have to make. As they walked south on Main Street, Flora Belker flagged her down. “Rory, got a minute?”

She didn’t, but she’d make time for Flora. Flora and Rory’s grandmother had been best friends since childhood, and when Grandma Gallagher came up to visit from her retirement spot on Florida’s Gulf Coast, she and Flora would sit, laugh and talk for hours. Flora missed Maddie Gallagher tremendously. “Of course I do! What’s up?”

“I am fit to be tied.” Flora had been watering her lawn, always lush and green and weed-free, but she turned the water off and braced her hands on her hips. “My brother is finally getting his way and the Belker block is going to go up for sale despite my objections.”

“He got your sister to agree?” The three Belkers had inherited the multibuilding estate years ago, but had never been able to agree on much of anything. While Leroy had wanted to sell, the ladies hadn’t, and Thelma had been staunchly opposed to any kind of change for years. “How’d he do that?”

“After all this time she’s gotten a bee in her bonnet about moving to a Florida retirement community not far from your grandparents. A significant cash settlement would help buy her way in, and while I say good for her, the thought of that property going to a stranger is just breaking my heart.”

She looked more angry than heartbroken, and Rory knew what it was like to be odd man out with siblings now and again. She made a face of regret, but said, “You knew you wouldn’t be able to hang on to it forever, Flora. And you’ve got this place.” Rory swept Flora’s stately nineteenth-century home an admiring look. “And you told me yourself that keeping up both places had gotten to be too much for you.”

“But that didn’t mean I wanted my family heritage sold out from under me,” the older woman retorted.

“Of course not.” Rory nodded, sympathetic, but then an idea occurred to her. An amazingly wonderful, brilliant idea. “Miss Flora, are you guys selling the property as one unit or would you consider subdividing?”

“Obviously I’m not in the know about anything because I didn’t agree with the notion of selling in the first place, but I don’t think they care how it gets sold as long as it does,” she declared. “I’m just beside myself, but that’s not a worry to either one of them, more’s the pity!”

Maddie Gallagher had been the softhearted one of the trio, Flora Belker the tough girl who stayed single all these years and Thelma Brown the happy-go-lucky one. They’d hung together for years, but with Maddie and Thelma both in Florida, Flora would be left behind, and that might be part of the angst. Still, if they would be willing to subdivide the commercially zoned property, the original Belker home was a quaint one-story set on a grassy slope, easily accessible from the road behind Main Street, ideal for a preschool.

She’d call Melanie Carson, a popular local Realtor and her mother’s good friend. If Melanie could put in an offer for part of the parcel, Miss Flora might not feel so bad about the changes. A former schoolteacher herself, she might actually like the idea of their old home becoming a preschool.

Either way, it was worth a shot, because finding commercially zoned available property in Grace Haven was next to impossible.

* * *

Cruz showed up at the White Church just before noon. He’d left his car parked in the Gallagher driveway, and walked the four blocks at a brisk pace. When he arrived at the intersection of Fourth and Maple, he was almost sorry the walk was done.

Canandaigua Lake lay beyond the church, forming a long, slim, water-filled valley between rolling, verdant hills, a picture-perfect pocket of Americana.

He walked a lot in Manhattan. Everyone did.

This was different. It smelled, looked and felt different, and the ever-present city sounds he blocked out so easily had been replaced by birds chirping, kids playing and young mothers chatting as they pushed strollers.

He’d taken a left at Broadway and ended up in the greeting-card setting he’d brushed off for years. Only it was way nicer than he’d remembered, but maybe his memories were tainted by family dynamics. He spotted a hand-printed pre-K sign with an arrow underneath, and followed it to the back entrance of the church. He went through the back door, and down the steps to the church basement.

He didn’t need an arrow to find Rory. Her voice filled the space, laughing and singing with the two kids. He almost wanted to hurry, but that would be silly. He wasn’t here to mess with her time frame, but to apologize for wrecking her AC unit.

“Cousin Cruz!” Lily spotted him from across the room.

Javier turned, grinned and waved. “You can have wunch wif us! We’re having peanut butter and jewwy, and Rory made the jewwy all by herself!”

“It’s really good,” Lily assured him.

Rory frowned at the clock, then him. “What did you do?”

“What makes you think I did something?”

“You have a guilty look about you.”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d driven corporate moguls crazy with his unreadable face, but here in Grace Haven, it seemed he was an open book. “I may or may not have killed your air-conditioning unit.”

“Oops.” She grimaced and moved forward. “Are you all right?”

Her question caught him off guard. She didn’t ream him out or make fun of him. She went straight to making sure he was okay. “I’m fine. I just lost my grip on it while I was maneuvering it into place, and it fell.”

“Oh, dear. Not onto a person, did it? Because that would be bad.”

“A fairly old garbage can on the back side of the garage has just become scrap metal.”

She waved that off. “As long as it wasn’t anything living, it’s no biggie. But we need to get you a unit for that apartment. I know how hot it gets up there.”

“I bought one.”

“Really? So quick?” She handed Javier his sandwich, then a second one to Lily.

“At the strip mall near the thruway. That’s all new since I moved away. And the road is four lanes now, not two. And there’s a ton of new development outside the village.”

“And still a crazy amount of traffic to navigate through in the summer,” she noted.

“Is that why the town is thriving?” he asked.

She made a face, considering. “Tourism is at an all-time high. Vacationers, destination weddings, conventions, golf tournaments, holiday functions. With all the event centers overlooking the lakes, it’s pretty busy nine months of the year now. Our sleepy little town has come into its own.”

It was quite a change from what he remembered, but not in a bad way. He wasn’t one of those people who saw progress in a negative light, but he also knew not everyone shared his viewpoint. “Your sister’s place seemed busy, too. And she also seemed very pregnant.”

Rory laughed. “She is that.”

He held his phone up. “I kept this nearby. Just in case.”

“We’re all a little nervous and wonderfully excited,” she admitted. “There hasn’t been a baby in the family for ten years, since my niece Tee Tee was born. But I don’t expect you walked over here to chat about babies.”

“No.” He certainly hadn’t, but he was pretty sure he had raised the subject. “I just wanted you to know about the AC unit before you came walking up the driveway and saw the carnage by the street, waiting for pickup.”

“It will most likely be gone before we get back there,” she assured him.

He frowned.

“Scrap pickers. Dumpster divers. Nothing much gets left for garbage pickup. Someone will grab it to reuse.”

He couldn’t imagine such a thing. “People go around, intentionally picking up garbage?”

“Recyclables. Things with some use. Like in times of war, when everyone saved everything.”

He had no idea what she was talking about.

“Use it up, wear it out,” she told him. Then she folded her arms across her middle, over the tank top that showed off her small waist. “You don’t recycle in Manhattan?”

“Some, sure, but if it’s garbage, it’s garbage. They pick it up and carry it away.”

She sighed, but not one of those weary, long-suffering sighs. This was one of those “you’re exasperating and know nothing, so why don’t you get on your way” sighs. “Things are different here. I expect it will all come back to you once you’ve been here awhile.”

He didn’t plan on staying long, but she could be right. Maybe small-town interaction wouldn’t seem so alien in a few days. “I wasn’t in town much growing up. I went to school, played baseball with Drew and Dave in the summer when we were young, and basketball in the winter through high school, but once I got older, I worked the grape.”

“You worked in the vineyard?”

She looked surprised, as if he was some silver spoon that coasted through life. “Everyone did. The vines were our legacy, the basis for making Casa Blanca great, so yes. I worked. We all worked. And my mother polished her little dynasty like a newly minted coin. As long as everything appeared perfect on the outside, we were doing an okay job.”

Sympathy deepened her gaze, but he wasn’t after sympathy. He’d learned a lot from his mother. How to work long and hard, and take no prisoners.

She’d been ruthless.

So was he.

But he was also fair. Rosa had spent a lot of her life not playing fair with others. She’d alienated workers, suppliers and other event centers with her strong-armed dealings.

“Mimi says I can work the grape when I get bigger,” Lily told him while chewing a bite of sandwich, and he had to admit, the scent of peanut butter with fresh jam enticed him. “If we still have grapes, that is.”

Untended vines stopped producing, which meant Rosa was preparing the children for the vineyard’s demise. “We’ll have to see what happens, okay?”

She met his gaze and nodded, but not because she agreed. Because what choice did she have, a small child, with others planning her destiny?

His throat went thick.

Allergies? Maybe. But he knew better.

It wasn’t allergies causing his discomfort.

It was the reality he saw in Lily’s eyes, the uncertainty gazing back at him.

Their destiny lay in his hands.

He’d negotiated multimillion-dollar acquisitions without arching an eyebrow, overseen hedge fund bundles controlling mega-units of the economy without a twitch, but the thought of determining the outcome of two children struck fear into his heart, because Lily and Javi weren’t faceless documents, ready for signing.

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