THIS MIRACLE’S A MYSTERY

When newborn twins mysteriously appear on Cole McCullough’s doorstep, everyone at the Healing Ranch, including Cole, starts to think...could they be his? Why else would someone leave them there? Cole knows there must be another explanation. Unless...

The only woman that Cole’s been that close to is Stacy Rowe—the one he cared for deeply, and deeply regrets losing. But Stacy hasn’t been in Forever in…forever. Eight months, to be exact. And while the math adds up, nothing else does! She would never abandon two little babies that way—she’s said as much. But she does seem awfully keen to help him care for them. And the closer their odd little family grows, the more Cole has to wonder...

Cole shook his head. “And to think I actually thought I missed you.”

“Yeah,” she retorted. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

He blew out a breath, telling himself it wouldn’t do either one of them—or more important, the twins—any good to blow up like this right here in front of the sheriff’s office. It was just that he had forgotten just how easily Stacy could set him off. And half the time—like now—she did it without warning. It was like being caught in a blitzkrieg.

“Stacy,” he said, growing stern, “let me take the basket in. It’s heavy.”

“It’s not,” she argued. Except that it really was. And the babies were moving. With a sigh, she relented. “It’s awkward.”

“All the more reason for me to take it,” Cole told her. For a few brief seconds, she debated continuing to argue the point with him.

But her arms were beginning to really ache. So, in the end, she said, “Fine, you can carry them in—but only because I’m thinking of the babies.”

Twins on the Doorstep

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MARIE FERRARELLA is a USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author who has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

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To

Nik and Melany.

Remember never to let

A day go by without saying

“I love you.”

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

He was getting too old for this.

A hundred years ago, at twenty-six he would not just have been married but would have had at least three, maybe four, kids. He would have been settled into his life, doing what he could to provide for his wife and children.

Instead, here he was, twenty-six years old and still trying to figure out just what his life would eventually be.

Part of the reason for his surly mood, Cole McCullough thought as he sat up and dragged his hand through his unruly, shaggy, dark blond hair, was that he was spending two nights a week with his six-foot-two body crammed into a bunk bed. Sometimes three nights. And that was because two—sometimes three—days a week, he worked at the Healing Ranch. The Healing Ranch was a horse ranch run by Jackson and Garrett White Eagle, two of his friends. Their sole focus was to take in and help troubled boys, building up their feelings of self-worth by having them take care of and work with horses.

All in all, it was a noble calling—for the White Eagle brothers. Not that he didn’t believe in it. He did. But the Healing Ranch was their calling, their mark in the world.

Just like the family ranch was really Connor’s.

Oh, they had all put in their time, he and Cody and Cassidy, but the ranch, left to all of them when their father died, was really Connor’s baby. The rest of them had worked on it to show their gratitude to Connor. When their father had died so suddenly, Connor gave up his dream of going to college and became their guardian so that he, Cody and Cassidy wouldn’t suddenly find themselves being swallowed up by the county’s social services.

He knew that going to college had meant a lot to Connor, but his big brother never hesitated to give it up. For them.

After getting dressed, Cole paused to throw some water on his face in the tiny bathroom just off the equally tiny bedroom. The area had been added onto the main bunkhouse to give him some semblance of privacy. The main bunkhouse was where the boys stayed when their families—and in some cases, social services—sent them to the ranch. The Healing Ranch was a last-ditch effort to straighten them out. Without the ranch, the next stop would have been juvie—and most likely jail.

Initially, there had been only two boys on the ranch. And then there were four. And, as word of the ranch’s success spread, there were more. A lot more. Which was why he had wound up working here part-time.

The rest of the time, he was on the ranch, helping Connor.

Always helping.

And while there was nothing wrong with helping his older brother, Cole wasn’t building something of his own. Cody and Cassidy had gone on to find their places in life—not to mention that each had someone to share that life with them. Cody was a deputy sheriff and Cassidy was working at the town’s only law office and taking classes at night. And Connor was running the family ranch, just the way he wanted to.

Cole sighed. He was the only one of the family at loose ends, not yet sure what ultimate course he wanted his life to take.

Damn it, he was going to be late getting back to the ranch, he upbraided himself. He wasn’t going to come to any lasting, earth-shattering decisions by brooding. Besides, this life he was living was a hell of a lot easier than what he and his siblings had been faced with after their father died.

With both parents gone, they’d found themselves close to destitute. Even when their father had been alive, there were times when they had barely gotten by. Mike McCullough would hire out to neighboring ranches on occasion to make sure there was always food on the table. When he was alive, they never went hungry.

Without their father, they found that they had to scramble, doing whatever they could to scrape by.

Miss Joan, the redheaded, tough-talking firecracker of a woman who ran the diner, saw to it that they always had enough to eat. Not one who believed in handouts, she’d made a point of having them work for their supper.

“Work’s hard on your hands, but good for your soul,” she’d maintained more than once.

So she gave them work. Cassidy had been her youngest waitress to date, Cody did cleanup at the diner, and as for Cole, Miss Joan had him running errands.

Looking back, he was convinced that she hadn’t really needed them to do any of those things, but Miss Joan felt that just handing them the money outright wouldn’t have done them nearly as much good as having them earn it.

She’d been right, Cole thought now with a smile. Miss Joan had instilled a work ethic in all of them, a desire to make something of themselves.

Maybe that was why he felt so restless. He was still looking for his own niche.

“Not gonna find it here, McCullough, rehashing the same old stuff and keeping Connor waiting. Move,” he ordered himself.

There’d be time enough to think about the fact that his life was stalled at the starting gate after today’s chores on the family ranch were done.

With that, Cole paused to grab his hat, turned off the light in his bedroom and opened the door. He had his own separate entrance so that he could come and go as he pleased without having to pass through the bunkhouse and all its residents. Two to three days a week he worked with the boys during regular hours and sat with them in the dining hall at mealtime. But Jackson and Garrett recognized the fact that there were times when a man just needed his privacy, even when there was nothing to be private about.

He opened the door and was ready to step out and greet whatever the day held for him.

Or so he thought.

Cole caught himself a second before his foot would have made contact with the wide wicker basket, kicking it and its contents to the side.

Stunned, Cole froze in place, realizing he had come perilously close to all but drop-kicking the two infants who were nestled in the basket, looking up at him with wide, wide blue eyes.

Chapter One

“What the...?”

At the last moment, despite his shock, Cole swallowed the expletive that was about to burst out of his mouth. Given that he had almost stepped on not one but two infants lying in a basket on the doorstep, it would have been understandable, but inappropriate—at least, to his way of thinking.

It took him a moment to come to grips with the situation, not exactly a run-of-the-mill one by a long shot.

“Okay,” Cole announced, looking around in the pre-dawn light. “This isn’t funny. You just can’t leave babies in a basket like this.” Getting no response, he raised his voice. “You’re not being responsible.”

Nobody answered.

Not one to lose his temper in general, he felt himself losing it now. These were babies, not toys or props to be used in a prank.

He tried again.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun, come out, come out, whoever you are. I’ve got to get going and babies shouldn’t be left outside like this in September. Or any other month of the year, either, for that matter.” Again, Cole had to bite back a few choice words meant for the knucklehead who was behind this practical joke.

Cole looked around.

Nobody came out of the shadows.

One of the babies made a sound, catching his attention.

Crouching down, Cole looked at the two infants wedged together in the basket. They appeared blissfully unaware that they were completely out of their element.

“Where’s your mama, guys? Or girls,” Cole amended. “Sorry, your blankets don’t exactly give me a clue what gender you are.”

He looked around again, but there was still no one coming out to claim the babies or own up to the rather poor joke.

This didn’t make any sense.

With a sigh, Cole picked the basket up and rose to his feet with it.

“Well, you can’t stay out here,” he said to the infants. “No telling what might come by.” Just then, he heard a coyote howling in the distance. “Like that fella. He’s probably hungry. Whoever left you here deserves to be taken behind the barn and given a solid thrashing,” he said fiercely.

He thought about just walking into the bunkhouse with the babies to demand whose idea of a joke this was, but leaving the infants outside like that was beyond some foolish joke. It was damn dangerous. This didn’t really feel like something one of the boys would do.

What if he hadn’t come out when he did? Or if he’d decided, just this once, to walk through the bunkhouse to go outside instead of using his own door? There was no telling how long the babies would have remained out here, unprotected.

“Who left you out here like this?” he asked the small faces looking up at him as he made his way to the main house.

“You know, you are awfully cute,” he commented to the infants. “Too bad you can’t talk and tell me who your mama is, because she needs a serious talking-to. No offense,” he added.

One of the infants sounded as if he—or she—was mewling in response.

Reaching the ranch house, Cole realized that he couldn’t safely balance the basket and knock on the door so he used his elbow instead. When he didn’t get an immediate response, he did it again, harder this time. Because he was jostling the basket and therefore the infants inside of it, he stopped and waited for someone to come to the door.

He was just about to try again when he saw the door finally being opened.

Garrett White Eagle was not usually at a loss for words but this was one of those few times when his mind seemed to go blank.

Recovering, Garrett opened the door to the main house wider and asked Cole, “Have you taken up selling babies door-to-door? Because I’m pretty sure that your brother Cody will tell you that’s illegal.”

Perturbed, Cole didn’t bother commenting on Garrett’s assessment. Instead, he told the man, “I almost tripped over these two when I was leaving this morning. Some brainless jackass left them on my doorstep.”

“Cute little things,” Garrett observed. “Bring them into the living room.”

He gestured into the house, then led the way to where he, his brother and their wives gathered in the evening, usually with at least a few of the boys who were making progress in the program.

Cole placed the basket on the wide, scarred coffee table just as Garrett called out toward the kitchen, “Hey, Jackson, could you come in here? You’ve just got to see this.”

A minute and a half later Jackson White Eagle, taller and slightly more muscular than his younger brother, walked into the living room.

“What’s all the commotion abou—” Jackson stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes went straight to the basket on the coffee table. “Garrett, what are two babies in a basket doing on our coffee table?”

“Don’t look at me,” Garrett protested. “They belong to Cole.”

“Cole?” Jackson asked incredulously. His eyes shifted to the cowboy he’d hired to work part-time on their ranch.

“No, they don’t,” Cole denied with feeling. “I just stumbled over them on the doorstep as I was leaving this morning.”

“Your doorstep,” Garrett pointed out, obviously thinking that was the key word.

Cole shook his head, trying to distance himself from any responsibility. “I’m beginning to think that was just a mistake.”

“Your mistake?” Garrett asked, eyeing his friend closely. “Did you get some ladylove in the family way, Cole?”

Garrett sat down on the old brown-leather sofa in front of the babies. He made a few cooing noises at the infants, which seemed to entertain them sufficiently to get them to stop whimpering.

“Forever is just a little larger than a postage stamp,” Cole pointed out, referring to the nearby town. “I think if something like that had happened, everyone in Forever would have known—if not immediately, then soon enough.”

“So, these little cuties aren’t yours?” Garrett asked, just to make sure.

If they had been his, Cole would have owned up to it without any hesitation and done the right thing by the babies’ mother. Cole felt that his friend knew him well enough to know that.

Cole frowned at Garrett. “No.”

“You’re sure about that?” Jackson asked, looking at Cole closely.

“Absolutely,” Cole answered, but just the slightest note of hesitation had entered his voice.

What if...?

No, no way. It wasn’t possible.

The only woman he’d been intimate with in the last year had been Stacy Rowe. But Stacy had suddenly taken off not too long after that, leaving without a single word to him. Leaving as if the evening they had spent together had filled her with regrets.

Or maybe, according to the rumor he’d heard later, her Aunt Kate had insisted Stacy come with her on “the vacation of a lifetime,” then whisked her off on a prolonged tour of Europe.

Having her leave like that, without warning, had really hurt him, although he’d said nothing to anyone, not even his family. He’d thought that he and Stacy had something unique going, but obviously she hadn’t shared his feelings.

In time, he got over it.

Or so he told himself.

“Well,” Jackson was saying, turning to look at him. “What are you going to do with them?”

Cole looked at the other man, stunned. “Me?”

“Well, yes,” Jackson replied. “They were left on your doorstep.”

Cole still doubted that had been the person’s actual intention. He didn’t always stay over the same days. He could just as likely have not been here. “Undoubtedly by mistake.”

“Maybe not,” Jackson said thoughtfully.

“What are you talking about?” Cole asked.

“Your brother Cody came to his future wife’s rescue and wound up delivering a baby,” Jackson reminded him. “And didn’t Cassidy rescue that baby from the river not too long after that?”

“Yes,” Cole answered cautiously, not sure where Jackson was going with this.

“Can’t be a coincidence,” Jackson told him. “Somebody probably feels that your family’s good with babies. Want my suggestion?” Before Cole could say anything in response, Jackson told him, “Take the babies home with you until you can sort this whole thing out.”

“Wait,” Cole said, feeling as if this whole thing was just spinning out of control. “You’re forgetting one important thing. You’ve got a ranch full of teenage boys, all of them old enough to father a child—or two,” he pointed out.

Jackson studied the infants for a moment. “My guess is that these babies are about three or four weeks old. Maybe less.”

“Okay,” Cole said, waiting for Jackson to make a point.

“That means that if they were fathered by one of the boys on the ranch, it would have had to have happened about ten months or so ago,” Jackson told him.

“Right,” Cole agreed, still waiting for Jackson’s point.

“Well, we’ve only got three boys who have been here that long,” Jackson concluded. “The rest have been here for less time than that.” There were several who had graduated the program and returned home in that time frame, but for now, he decided not to mention that. He still felt that the infants might be Cole’s.

“Okay!” Cole was on his feet. “Let’s go talk to those three hands.”

The babies were making more noise. Jackson’s attention shifted to them. “Well, before we do that, I think these two little people need to be fed first.”

Feeling suddenly, totally, out of his depth, Cole looked around.

“Is Debi here?” Jackson’s wife, Debi, was a registered nurse who worked at the town’s only medical clinic.

Jackson shook his head. “She went in early today. It’s her turn to open the clinic.”

“What about Kim?” Cole asked hopefully, looking at Garrett.

“Sorry, out of luck there,” Garrett told him. “Kim’s away on assignment. She left last week. She still keeps her hand in,” he explained proudly, “doing occasional stories for the magazine that brought her out here in the first place.”

Obviously taking pity on Cole, Jackson volunteered, “However, Rosa’s here,” referring to the Healing Ranch’s resident housekeeper.

Cole was immediately hopeful. “Do you think that she could...?”

“She might, if we ask her nicely,” Jackson speculated.

“She’s probably in the kitchen. I’ll go get her,” Garrett volunteered, taking off.

The babies were beginning to fuss in earnest now. Cole looked at Jackson. “You don’t think that these belong to one of those boys you mentioned, do you?”

“Highly doubtful,” Jackson said. Moving toward the basket, he picked up the louder of the two infants and began rocking it in an attempt to quiet the baby. “You’ve seen the hands. By the end of the day, they’re all too tired to chew, much less try to romance some little lady. Besides, so far this is still an all-male program we have going here. To find a girl his age, our Romeo would have to ride all the way out to town or the reservation. I’d probably know about it if that happened,” Jackson assured him.

“Where did these babies come from?” Rosa Sanchez asked as she walked into the living room.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Jackson told the woman.

Maternal instincts rose to the surface. Rosa picked up the other infant from the basket and held it against her ample bosom.

“Oh, the poor little thing,” she cooed. “He is hungry.”

Cole stared at her, surprised. “You can tell it’s a he? How?” he asked, then pointed out, “The baby’s all bundled up. They both are.”

Rosa merely smiled. “He is noisier. Men usually are,” Rosa told him knowingly. She looked at Jackson. “Bring the other one,” she instructed the man who was technically her boss. And then she turned toward Cole. “You bring the basket. There is no place to lay them down while I take turns feeding them, so the basket will do.”

“Rosa, how are you going to feed them? We don’t have any baby bottles,” Garrett asked.

“Boil a cloth,” Rosa instructed Jackson.

He looked at her in confusion. “And just how is that going to...?”

“When it is clean, we will dip a corner of the cloth into a cup of warm milk and the baby will suck on that.”

“Won’t that take a long time, feeding him that way?” Cole asked.

Rosa gave him what passed for a patient smile. “Just until one of you comes back from the general store in town with two baby bottles,” she replied. “Now go, go,” she urged them. “These babies are getting hungrier by the minute.”

“I’ll go to the general store,” Garrett volunteered, no doubt thinking that was the safest thing for him to do.

“I’ll make breakfast for the boys,” Jackson told his housekeeper, handing off the baby he’d been holding to Cole. “You stay here with Cole and the babies, and do what needs to be done.”

Rosa smiled at him patiently. “Yes, Mr. Jackson.”

* * *

THE PROCEDURE WAS slow and tedious, but, to Cole’s surprise, feeding the infants Rosa’s way seemed to satisfy them, at least for the time being.

“I think this one’s going to suck in the cloth,” he marveled, watching the infant in his arms going at the milk-soaked cloth he was bringing to its lips.

“Don’t forget to keep soaking the cloth,” Rosa prompted. “You don’t want it getting dry.”

“Right,” Cole murmured, taking the cloth he had wrapped around his index finger away from the infant’s mouth and dipping it into the milk he had standing in one of the coffee mugs.

“Mr. McCullough?” Rosa said.

Cole raised his eyes away from the infant he was attempting to feed. It was touch and go at the moment. “Yes?”

“You are sure you are not the father of these babies?” she asked in a low voice. Before he could say anything, she assured him, “It is just the two of us here right now. You can tell me.” She leaned her head in toward him and said in a low voice, “I will not tell anyone.”

“I’m sure, Rosa,” Cole said patiently.

And, for the most part, he was. There was just this tiny little inkling of doubt left, but he knew he was needlessly torturing himself. If there had been a baby—or babies—because of that one wondrous night, Stacy would have told him.

Wouldn’t she?

“Then why would someone leave them on your doorstep?” Rosa asked, dipping the edge of her cloth in the warm milk. “Why not with the sheriff or on the clinic’s doorstep?”

“I really don’t know, Rosa.” The next moment, he exclaimed, “Wow! I sure am glad this baby doesn’t have teeth yet. He’s got really strong lips for an infant.”

He carefully maneuvered his finger out of what appeared to be a steely rosebud mouth.

“She,” Rosa corrected.

He looked at the housekeeper, confused. “She?”

Rosa nodded her head.

He gazed at the infant. She was all bundled up in yellow. Both of the babies were. Yellow was neutral. It didn’t indicate either male or female. “How would you know that?”

Rosa smiled. “I have a gift,” she told him calmly.

His eyes narrowed just a little. “You unwrapped this one, didn’t you?”

The corner of Rosa’s eyes crinkled just a little more as she laughed. “Perhaps I did, a bit,” she admitted.

Rosa’s laugh was infectious and Cole caught himself laughing, as well. Doing so made him feel just a little better—at least, for now.

Chapter Two

Stacy Rowe was amazed.

She’d been born and raised in Forever, and a little more than eight months ago she would have said that it felt as if things never changed in this tiny town. And then Aunt Kate had whisked her away on that European vacation—insisted on it, really—saying that she wanted Stacy to open her eyes and see that there was a world beyond Forever.

And, more importantly, a world beyond Cole McCullough.

The second his name flashed across her mind, Stacy clenched her fists at her sides as if that would somehow chase away any and all thoughts of the tall Texan.

She wasn’t ready to think about Cole yet.

Cole was the reason that she’d left Forever eight months ago.

And he was the reason she almost hadn’t come back. She didn’t want to see him, not yet.

Maybe not ever.

Not after what had happened.

But she really didn’t have that much choice in the matter. Aunt Kate, that unbelievably hearty, dynamo of a woman, had suddenly become ill in Venice. Never one to complain, Aunt Kate had waved away all of Stacy’s voiced concerns—right up to the time she’d taken a turn for the worse and died before a flight home could be hastily arranged.

Aunt Kate’s death had complicated matters far beyond the immediate emotional component. Alone in a foreign country, Stacy had felt utterly stranded. Aunt Kate had always insisted on handling everything and it was easier than arguing with the woman, so she had let Aunt Kate do it.

It had taken every fiber of her being for Stacy to rally, pull herself together and do what needed to be done.

Per her aunt’s specified last wishes, she’d had her aunt’s body cremated and then she’d flown back to Forever with an urn filled with Aunt Kate’s ashes.

Stacy would rather have flown anywhere else, but in all honesty, she couldn’t afford to travel any longer or go anywhere except the town she’d always called home. Aunt Kate had been the one with all the money.

Her aunt had left her a little money in her will, but that, too, required a trip back to Forever. Olivia Santiago, along with her partner, Cash Taylor, ran the only law firm there. As Aunt Kate’s attorney and executor, Olivia had the only copy of her aunt’s will.

So, with a heavy heart and more than a little reluctance, Stacy had returned. Once back, she’d presented Olivia with a copy of her aunt’s death certificate.

And that was when she discovered that some things in Forever had changed. The house that she’d grown up in, the one that her mother had left to her when she died and where she and Aunt Kate had lived before they’d gone off to Europe, had burned down while they’d been away.

The other thing that had changed while she’d been gone was that Forever had finally gotten its first hotel up and running. What that meant was that at least she had a place to stay while she waited for Olivia to square things away for her when it came to the will.

This was her first week back and, hopefully, her last.

Getting up, Stacy got ready quickly, intending to go downstairs to get some much-needed coffee and eggs over easy. The hotel, still in its infancy, had just opened a small restaurant on its premises. She’d heard it was having some trouble with a faulty refrigerator, but supposedly that had been taken care of. She crossed her fingers.

Stacy got off the elevator and was crossing the lobby to get to the restaurant when she heard Elsie, the young woman behind the reception desk, let out a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

Hurrying over, Stacy put a comforting hand on the young girl’s shoulder and asked, “What’s wrong, Elsie? Can I help?”

Elsie didn’t appear to hear her or even be overly aware that anyone was standing next to her. Her attention was completely centered on the paper she was clutching.

“I did it!” Elsie cried, waving what looked like a letter in her hand. “I did it! I’m going to college!” she squealed.

Scurrying out from behind the desk, she threw her arms around Stacy, and then around Rebecca Ortiz, the hotel manager who had been drawn out of her office by the noise. “I’m going to college!” Elsie repeated, obviously beside herself with joy.

“Somewhere not too far away?” Rebecca asked, obviously doing her best to share the moment with the receptionist.

Elsie stopped abruptly and then happily grinned at the manager. “I’m going to be going to the University of Texas in Austin,” she told her small audience proudly.

“Oh. That means you’ll be going away to school.”

“Yes, it will,” Elsie cried happily, her eyes all but dancing as she moved around the lobby. “And I can’t wait to go.”

“Well, you’ve still got some time,” Rebecca pointed out. From her expression, she was already trying to figure out how to get a replacement for Elsie. “You just came back from an extended vacation. And next September’s a long way away.”

Elsie shook her head so hard it looked as if it was going to go spinning off. The young girl held the letter up higher.

“No, it says here I can start in January, just like I applied.” The girl’s eyes were dancing. “There are so many things I have to do! I can’t wait to call my parents and tell them about this!”

“You didn’t tell them when you opened the letter?” Stacy asked.

With all her heart, she wished she had parents she could share things with. With Aunt Kate gone, she was on her own.

“I, um, didn’t open the letter when I got it,” Elsie confessed, sounding just a little subdued for a moment, like she was tripping over her words. “I’ve been carrying it around since yesterday. I was afraid that the school had rejected me. But they didn’t!” she exclaimed, her voice rising again. “They said yes!”

“Yes, we know, dear.” Rebecca sighed. “Looks like I’m going to have to find a new receptionist for the hotel. Quickly,” she added.

Turning toward Stacy, she ventured, “You wouldn’t be looking for a job, would you?”

“Well, if it’ll help you out—” Stacy began, gauging her words slowly.

Rebecca’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, it would, it definitely would,” she assured Stacy. “I realize that you probably won’t be staying permanently, but I’d really appreciate you taking over for Elsie when she leaves.” As an afterthought, Rebecca turned toward the receptionist and asked, “When are you planning on leaving, dear?”

“This minute!” Elsie all but shouted. It was like watching champagne bubbling out of a bottle a moment after the cork had been pulled. “I’ve got so much to do between now and January.” Moving from foot to foot, the now former receptionist gave the impression that she was about to jump out of her skin at any second. “Things are finally turning around and going my way,” she cried. “I’ve got to get home. I’ve got to tell Mom and Dad I’m going to college.” She paused for a split second before charging out the front door. “I’m going to college!” she cried, as if she couldn’t get enough of the simple declaration.

And the next moment, she was gone.

Rebecca shook her head and laughed. “Can you remember ever being that excited?” she marveled, glancing in Stacy’s direction.

“Once, a lifetime ago.”

At least, it felt like a lifetime ago. But in reality, it wasn’t. She’d been that happy when she’d found herself falling hopelessly in love with Cole McCullough. In the beginning she’d been convinced that it was strictly one-sided—until he began paying attention to her.

She remembered every word of every conversation they’d ever had. Cherished all the islands of time that they’d shared together. Back then—had it really been less than a year ago?—she’d honestly believed that maybe, just maybe, they were on their way to meaning something to one another.

Oh, Cole had meant a great deal to her, he had for years now, but it wasn’t until they started spending time together that she began to believe that maybe, just maybe, there was a happily-ever-after in store for her. For them.

She should have realized that she was too old to believe in fairy tales, Stacy admonished herself. They’d had one wonderful, magical night together, and then he’d turned around and told her that maybe things were moving too quickly. That they should slow down before it was too late.

As far as she was concerned, it was already too late. Like a lovestruck idiot, she’d thought he felt the same way about her that she did about him. She should have known better.

She’d given Cole her heart and he had stomped on the gift, offering her a bunch of meaningless rhetoric that, loosely interpreted, said I had a great time. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

She’d always been the smart one in her family; at least, that was what Aunt Kate had always told her. But Aunt Kate found her crying in her room. Stacy had tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, but her aunt hadn’t been fooled. Then Kate put two and two together, and just like that, the idea for the European vacation had been born.

Stacy had attempted to demur, but Aunt Kate wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d said that she always wanted to travel abroad and felt that this might be her last chance.

Little did either one of them realize that she would be right, Stacy thought sadly.

In hindsight, Stacy didn’t regret taking off the way she had. Hurt, she hadn’t thought that she owed Cole a single word of explanation, or even the courtesy of a goodbye since he had distanced himself from her right after their night together.

And, looking back, she was glad she’d had that time with her aunt.

What was hard was finding a place for herself now that she was back.

Well, that wouldn’t be a problem for the time being. Thank heavens she’d been in the right place at the right time. Any possible future money problems, at least for now, were on hold.

“When would you like to get started?” Rebecca asked her.

Stacy shrugged. She hadn’t even been thinking about this half an hour ago.

“Now would be fine,” she finally told the hotel manager.

“Now?” Rebecca echoed, surprised. “You don’t want a day to wind down and get used to the idea?”

Stacy saw no advantage in that. At least if she was working, she’d be doing something to occupy her mind, although she had to admit it didn’t exactly look extremely busy around here.

“Why?”

The question took the hotel manager aback. “Well, when you walked into the lobby this morning, I know you weren’t thinking about being able to get a job as a receptionist.”

Stacy laughed.

“I wasn’t not thinking about it, either.”

Pleased, Rebecca put her arm around Stacy’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “I do appreciate this, Stacy. It saves me the trouble of having to look for someone to take Elsie’s place. You are a lifesaver. You know that, don’t you?”

“It goes both ways, Rebecca.” When the taller woman looked at her quizzically, Stacy decided not to tell her that she needed a job or would need one eventually. Instead, what she said was, “I need to keep busy.”

“Well, we don’t exactly have so much business that we have to turn people away,” Rebecca told her honestly. “This is still Forever. But slowly we are getting outsiders passing through, especially ever since the Healing Ranch was written up in that magazine. That put us on the map, so to speak. Before then, except for the occasional lost person who found themselves in Forever by accident, looking for the right way to get back, I don’t think anyone ever came to Forever on purpose. Not unless they already lived in the general area and were just coming into town for supplies.”

Rebecca was not telling Stacy anything that she didn’t already know.

“All things considered,” Stacy said honestly, “I’m kind of surprised that someone actually built a hotel in Forever.”

Rebecca smiled. “Just between us...me, too,” she told Stacy with a broad wink. “There’s not much to this job, really,” she went on. “I can train you in an hour. Half that time if you’re as smart as I remember.”

They’d attended the same high school together—everyone in Forever did—where Rebecca had been three years ahead of her. But since the classes at each grade level were rather small, it felt as if the students were more like one large family than the typical rivalry between the different grades.

Stacy blushed a little. Compliments were a rare thing in her world. Not that Aunt Kate had been belittling. She just had a way of taking everything over, silently indicating that she didn’t feel that her niece was competent to do things as well as she herself could do them. For a while there, Stacy had begun to believe her.

“You’re being kind,” Stacy responded.

“I’m being accurate,” Rebecca corrected. “Remember, I’m your boss for now. Bosses don’t get anywhere by being just kind. They have to be accurate. I think you’re going to be good for the hotel.

“Okay, let me go over some of the key duties, and then you can get started by going to the diner and getting some breakfast for the two of us.”

Stacy looked at her, curious. “I thought the hotel had that little restaurant on the premises.” She recalled walking by it yesterday.

“It does,” Rebecca told her. “But unfortunately, it’s still closed for repairs.”

“Repairs?”

The other woman nodded. “It seems that yesterday, just before end of day, we had a grease fire. There was some damage done. We’re keeping it closed for now. Just one thing after another,” she said with a sigh. “You don’t mind going, do you?” she asked after seeing the slightly unhappy expression on Stacy’s face.

“Oh, no, no problem.”

Which was a lie. She hadn’t ventured out to see anyone except for Olivia since she’d returned.

But she knew that she’d have to face people eventually and field questions. There was no such thing as “mind your own business” in Forever. But she had really thought that eventually wasn’t going to arrive so soon.

Obviously, she’d thought wrong.

So, after a very brief review of her new duties, which, Stacy felt, anyone with an ounce of common sense could have easily figured out, she found herself walking to Miss Joan’s Diner.

She knew she could have driven there, giving herself a quick avenue of escape once she’d placed and picked up her order, but that was only putting off the inevitable. She had to face the people of Forever who would have questions for her.

It was better to get it over with than to stress over the anticipation of what those questions might be.

You can do this, you can do this, Stacy told herself over and over again, like some sort of a mantra meant to give her strength as she made her way down the streets of Forever to the diner.

You can do this. You can do this.

Finally reaching the diner’s front door, she pulled it open and walked inside. Several people at the counter looked up in her direction. She saw recognition ricochet back and forth on their faces.

You can’t do this.

Chapter Three

The babies had both been fed and, thanks to the resourcefulness of Jackson and Garrett’s housekeeper, they had been changed as well, so their whimpering, at least for now, had stopped. The twins had fallen asleep.

Cole took the opportunity to call home. It took several rings before anyone picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

Cole could tell by the way the greeting had been barked that Connor was in less than good spirits. “Connor, it’s Cole. I’m going to be late.”

“You’re already late,” his older brother informed him.

“I know,” Cole said, an apology implied in his voice. “But it can’t be helped.”

“Everything can be helped,” Connor said impatiently. And then Cole heard his older brother sigh. “Okay, well, what’s the problem?”

Looking at the sleeping twins, Cole moved farther away from them, afraid that if he accidentally spoke loudly he’d wind up waking them up. “You know how Cody came across Devon pulled over on the side of the road and she was about to give birth?”

“Yes?” Connor sounded perplexed.

“And then Cassidy helped save that baby out of the river?”

“I’ve got chores to do, Cole. For both of us, it appears. I know all this you’re telling me. What I don’t know is where you’re going with it.”

Cole took a deep breath. “Well, it seems that it happened again.”

“What happened again?” Cole sounded as if he was coming to the end of his patience.

“I was about to leave the ranch when I found these two babies on the doorstep.”

“Two babies,” Connor repeated incredulously.

“Yeah. They’re twins.”

Connor sighed. “Of course they are. Whose are they?” he asked.

“Haven’t a clue,” Cole admitted. “They were just there, tucked into this huge wicker basket like laundry—breathing, moving laundry.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line and then Connor finally began to ask, “Cole, did you by any chance, um...”

Cole knew what was coming and immediately headed it off before Connor had the opportunity to finish the sentence. “No, I didn’t, Connor. Those babies are not mine.”

“I’m just going to ask this once, and then we’ll put this to rest,” Connor promised before he pressed, “You’re sure?”

“I am positive,” Cole said with finality.

There was no mistaking the relief in Connor’s voice. “Okay. Then you’ve got to find out who those babies belong to.”

“I know,” Cole answered. “I’m taking them into town to see if anyone there knows anything. I’m sorry about this.”

Connor’s voice took on his customary understanding tone. “Don’t be. This isn’t your fault. Give me a call when you find out who abandoned them like unwanted puppies.”

“The second I find out,” Cole promised just before he terminated the call.

Returning to the living room, where Rosa was sitting next to the sleeping infants, Cole began to pick up the basket.

Rosa stopped him with a look. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m taking them into town to see if anyone there knows who these little guys really belong to.”

“Only one of them is a little guy,” Rosa reminded him.

Rosa had been right. One of the twins was a girl.

“I know,” Cole answered. With that, he walked toward the front door with the basket in his hands.

Rosa was on her feet and wound up beating him to the front door. Her agility was rather impressive for a woman her age. “You cannot put them on the seat next to you in the truck,” she warned.

He smiled at this protective side of the woman. “I don’t intend to, Rosa. Don’t worry,” he told her. “They’ll be safe.”

“Safe” involved some clever work with the wicker basket and a length of strong rope. Securing the latter around the former, then tying the basket to the seat, Cole was able to drive into town.

Forever had a medical clinic as well as a sheriff’s office, but there was no question in Cole’s mind what his first stop with the twins was going to be.

He drove straight to Miss Joan’s Diner.

If anyone would have a clue as to who the twins’ mother was, it would be Miss Joan. Like most of the town’s other citizens, Cole was of the opinion that nothing happened in Forever and its outlying territory without Miss Joan knowing about it. Half fairy godmother, half hard-as-nails taskmaster, Miss Joan seemed to know everything about everyone.

And, if she didn’t know now, she would before the end of the day. No one doubted that the woman had her finger on the pulse of the entire town.

Cole himself had an exceedingly soft spot in his heart for the woman. Miss Joan had been there for him and for his siblings when their dad died, and although she could be blustery and demanding, and had been on more than one occasion, he knew that beneath all the tough talk, Miss Joan had the proverbial heart of gold. Even though she would be the first to deny it.

However, that didn’t change anything.

Cole parked his truck right in front of the diner. His vehicle was blocking the entrance to some degree, but he thought that, just this once, given the circumstances, he’d be forgiven.

Undoing the ropes that were holding the basket and its precious cargo in place, he picked up the twins and made his way into the diner.

The moment he walked in, Cole knew he had Miss Joan’s full attention, even though she was behind the counter and on the far side of the diner.

A couple of the waitresses, Eva and Rachel, reached him first, oohing and aahing over the infants in the basket.

But it was Miss Joan whose attention he was after. The moment the red-haired owner reached him, Eva and Rachel immediately, albeit reluctantly, stepped aside, giving the older woman unobstructed access to both the babies and the young man who had brought them in.

Deep hazel-green eyes swept over the scene, assessing it. “I assume that there’s an explanation why you brought these babies into my diner,” Miss Joan said to him.

He nodded. “I was hoping you could tell me who they belonged to.”

Miss Joan’s austere expression never changed, and neither did her piercing gaze. “You’re the one who brought them here, not the other way around. Something you need to get off your chest, boy?” Miss Joan asked him pointedly.

He thought it best if he gave Miss Joan a quick summation of events. Beating around the bush never got anyone anywhere with Miss Joan.

“I found them on the doorstep this morning. Almost walked right on top of them,” he told her, giving her all the facts he had to offer. “I’ve never seen them before and I thought if anyone would know who they belonged to, it would be you.”

There was only the barest hint of a smile on the woman’s thin lips. “I think you’re giving me a little too much credit here, Cole.” She looked from one tiny face to the other. “Have they eaten yet?”

“Rosa fed them. I’ve got a couple of baby bottles all ready to go in the truck,” he told her with a hopeful note. Garrett had returned with the bottles from the general store in record time. “So if you or one of your girls want to feed them later—”

“Back up, boy,” Miss Joan ordered. “I run a diner, not a nursery.” She paused, scrutinizing the expression on his face and putting her own meaning to it. “If you need help later, we can talk. But right now, you’ve got to find out where these babies came from.”

Jeb Campbell, sitting at the counter, raised his hand. “I know where babies come from,” he volunteered in all seriousness.

“Eat your eggs, Jeb,” she ordered in a no-nonsense voice. “We know where they come from. What we need to know is where they belong. Anyone know of someone who recently gave birth to twins?” she asked, her gaze sweeping over all the occupants of the diner.

It was at that exact moment that the door opened and Stacy walked in.

Silence descended over the entire diner as all eyes turned in Stacy’s direction.

As for Stacy, she felt as if she had just walked into one of her nightmares. It was surreal.

Her heart accelerated the second she saw Cole.

And then it all but stopped dead when she saw the babies in the basket. The basket was on the counter, but from its proximity, she assumed that the tiny inhabitants had to belong to Cole.

She’d only been gone from Forever a little over eight months. He certainly didn’t waste any time, did he?

Or had he been seeing someone else the entire time he had been seeing her?

Disappointment washed over her like a giant tidal wave. She needed to get out of there, needed to get some air because she could hardly breathe.

Turning on her heel, Stacy was about to push open the door she’d just entered when Miss Joan called out to her.

“Welcome back, Stacy. I was sorry to hear about your aunt.”

Stacy froze.

It wasn’t her nature not to be polite, no matter how much she wanted to flee. And Miss Joan had just said something nice about Aunt Kate. Stacy couldn’t just ignore the woman.

She forced herself to turn around and look at Miss Joan.

How did the woman know? she wondered. No one knew about her aunt except for Olivia, and she was certain that Olivia wouldn’t have said anything. Olivia was a lawyer and prided herself on being discreet.

“Thank you,” Stacy finally murmured.

“Park yourself on a stool,” Miss Joan instructed. There was no room for argument. “I think Cole here might need some help getting these two little ones over to the clinic.”

Cole felt all but numb, seeing Stacy walking into the diner. He’d envisioned this scene a dozen different ways in the last eight months.

More.

Envisioned seeing Stacy walking toward him, tears in her eyes, saying she’d made a mistake leaving. And each and every time, he forgave her. Forgave her because he didn’t want to dwell on what had been but rather what could be.

Forgave her because he wanted her in his life.

And now, here she was, back. Back the same day that he had found babies on his doorstep. He looked down at the infants, then up at Stacy.

This couldn’t be a coincidence—could it?

Could the babies be hers? And if they were, did that mean...?

Oh, lord, he thought, that would explain so much. Explained why she’d left without a word. Guilt had made her come back, he realized. Guilt because these babies were not only hers, but his, as well.

The thought created elation and panic, and they both vied for equal space within him.

Slowly, the last thing that Miss Joan had just said penetrated the fog around his brain. She was recruiting Stacy to help him take the babies to the clinic.

“The clinic?” he repeated, looking at the woman. “You think they need to be seen by a doctor?”

“You said you found them on your doorstep, right?” Miss Joan reminded him. “It wouldn’t hurt to have them checked out—just in case.” Miss Joan turned toward Stacy. “Don’t you think so?”

“Um, sure.” Stacy felt as if she was trying to talk with a tongue that had suddenly grown two sizes. “I don’t have any experience with babies and all,” Stacy said, pausing uncomfortably between each word. “But that makes sense. I guess.”

“Glad that you agree,” Miss Joan said in a tone that indicated there was no other path open to either of them except to agree with her. “Why don’t you go with Cole and help him?” Again, there was no room for argument. “He certainly can’t manage those babies by himself.” Before either of them could protest or even comment, Miss Joan asked Cole, “How did you get them over here?”

That he could answer, he thought, relieved. “In my truck.”

Miss Joan gave him a withering look. “I realize that. How did you get them over in the truck?”

Cole thought for a second. Miss Joan’s interrogation had been known to make many a person’s mind go blank. “I secured the basket with ropes and looped them around the passenger seat.”

Miss Joan’s eyes shifted toward Stacy, the expression on her face indicating that her point had just been made. “Keep an eye on those babies for me,” she instructed Stacy.

“I can help,” Eva volunteered, stepping forward.

Miss Joan obviously had other ideas about the transport. “Too many cooks spoil the broth,” she told the young waitress before looking at Cole and Stacy. “I’m sure these two can manage, working as a team—the way they used to,” she added significantly.

Stacy took back her earlier assessment. Hotel or no hotel, nothing had changed in Forever.

The hotel, she suddenly remembered. “I can’t go to the clinic.”

Miss Joan’s expression darkened. “And just why’s that?”

“Rebecca just hired me a few minutes ago to work the reception desk,” she said quickly, then blurted, “Elsie just found out she’s been accepted to college.”

Miss Joan looked unconvinced. “College is not for another eleven months,” she pointed out.

Stacy shook her head. She could feel Miss Joan beginning to run right over her. “No, she’s going in January.”

Miss Joan’s expression remained unchanged. “Still got time.”

Determined, Stacy pushed on. “I know, but she was all excited and took off, quitting right then and there. I told Rebecca I’d take the job.”

Cole looked at her in surprise. “You need a job?”

Stacy really didn’t feel comfortable discussing anything personal in front of Cole. Not after the way things had gone between them. But with everyone—especially Miss Joan—looking on, she had no choice. She couldn’t exactly ignore him.

“It kind of came up,” she finally said. “My house burned down, so I’m staying at the hotel.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask, “Why didn’t you come to me?” but in a way he had a feeling that she had, looking at the infants. “If you need a place to stay...” he began.

“Thank you,” she said stiffly, cutting him off. “But I just said I have a place to stay. The hotel,” she stressed. And then she remembered that she’d only popped over for a quick bite. She needed to be getting back. “Speaking of which—”

There were those who insisted that Miss Joan was part mind reader. Stacy had a tendency to agree.

“Don’t worry about it,” Miss Joan said, cutting in. “I’ll send Rachel over to the hotel to explain what happened. This is September,” she reminded the young woman. “Not exactly the busy season for the hotel, so Rebecca should be okay with you not being there for an hour. Or so,” she added significantly.

Stacy felt as if things were snowballing out of her control.

“But—” she began to protest.

As if on cue, the babies began to fuss in earnest, each growing progressively louder than the other, as if it was some sort of a pint-sized competition.

Miss Joan nodded toward the infants. “I guess you have your marching orders,” she told Cole and Stacy. “Now go. And I don’t want to hear anything about you using a rope,” she told Cole. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Miss Joan,” he replied.

It was easier that way than getting into an argument with the diner owner. Legend had it that no one had ever won an argument with Miss Joan, and that included her husband, Cash’s grandfather. But then, Henry Taylor had doted on Miss Joan, which, it turned out, was exactly the right way to get along with the woman.

* * *

“YOU REALLY FOUND these babies on your doorstep?” Stacy asked several minutes later.

She had gotten into the back seat of his truck and he had handed her the wicker basket with the babies. The infants were dozing and the silence in the truck felt overwhelming. Stacy couldn’t think of anything else to say, and every other topic would set them off on a course she had no desire to travel.

“Yes, I did,” he answered, getting into the driver’s seat. He glanced at her over his shoulder.

As if she didn’t know where he found the babies, he thought.

He was staring at her, Stacy realized, and it took everything she had not to squirm in her seat. This was a totally bad idea, going with Cole to the clinic like this. But no one said no to Miss Joan and Stacy wasn’t about to be the first. She had no desire to have her head handed to her.

“Do you have any idea who the mother might be?” Stacy asked him.

Okay, Cole thought, he’d play along. “There might be a few possibilities,” he responded vaguely. “But that’s why I came with them to Miss Joan. She’s always on top of everything and I figure that she’d be the first to know whose babies they were.”

“Miss Joan doesn’t know everything,” Stacy insisted.

“Maybe,” he agreed. “But right now, I figured she was my best shot.”

Why are we playing these games, Stacy? Tell me the truth. Are these babies mine?

For one moment, he wrestled with an overwhelming desire to ask the woman in the back seat just that. It would explain why she’d left town so abruptly. But he knew asking her was pointless. He knew her. She wouldn’t answer him. In all likelihood, she’d just walk out on him the way she had the last time.

And, angry as he was about her leaving him, he didn’t want that happening again. Not until he’d had a chance to talk with her—really talk.

Desperate for something to say, he fell back on what Miss Joan had said when she’d first greeted Stacy.

“I’m sorry to hear about your Aunt Kate,” he told her. “What happened?”

“She died,” Stacy said stoically.

Why are you acting as if you care? We both know you don’t. You don’t care anything about me or about Aunt Kate, so stop pretending.

“I realize that,” he said, doing his best to be patient. “That’s why I said I was sorry to hear about her.” Getting his temper under control, he asked, “Did it happen while you were in Europe?”

She looked out the window on her left. “Yes.”

He felt pity stirring within him. “That must have been awful for you, having her die and having no one to turn to.”

She blew out a breath. She didn’t want his sympathy. She didn’t want anything from him. Still looking out the side window, she said, “I managed.”

“We’re here,” he announced, and just like that, the topic was closed.

For now.

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