Her ex-fiancé is back—with a baby.

Can they find a second chance at Mercy Ranch?

Paralyzed veteran Eve Vincent has built an independent new life at a ranch for wounded warriors. But when she and her ex-fiancé, Ethan Forester, are named guardians of an orphaned baby girl, they must face down past misunderstandings to make a future for Tori. And caring for the little girl together might just rekindle their love...this time for forever.

BRENDA MINTON lives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastor’s wife, Sunday-school teacher, coffee addict and sleep deprived. Not in that order. Her dream to be an author for Harlequin started somewhere in the pages of a romance novel about a young American woman stranded in a Spanish castle. Her dreams came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.

Also By Brenda Minton

Love Inspired

Mercy Ranch

Reunited with the Rancher

The Rancher’s Christmas Match

Her Oklahoma Rancher

Bluebonnet Springs

Second Chance Rancher

The Rancher’s Christmas Bride

The Rancher’s Secret Child

Martin’s Crossing

A Rancher for Christmas

The Rancher Takes a Bride

The Rancher’s Second Chance

The Rancher’s First Love

Her Rancher Bodyguard

Her Guardian Rancher

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Her Oklahoma Rancher

Brenda Minton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09666-9

HER OKLAHOMA RANCHER

© 2019 Brenda Minton

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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“Eve, there is no us. But we still exist, you and me, and Tori needs us.”

Ethan said it softly because the baby in his arms seemed to be drifting off.

“I obviously can’t do this. Last night was proof.”

“Last night meant nothing. You’ve always managed, Eve. You’re strong and you’re capable.”

“Before, Ethan,” she said sadly. “I was that person before. This is me now.”

“I guess you have changed. I’ve never heard you say you can’t.”

He glanced down at the little girl in his arms. “What other option is there? Should we turn her over to the state, let her take her chances with whoever they choose? Find some distant relative?”

Ethan leaned back in the chair and studied Eve’s face. She was everything familiar. His childhood friend. The person he’d loved. She looked as stubborn as ever. But there was something fragile in her expression. Something that made him recheck his feelings. Eve had been his only broken heart. He didn’t want another one...

Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I’m so blessed to get to do what I love for a publisher I love.

My editors at Love Inspired have always encouraged me and I appreciate the stories they’ve allowed me to tell. Some stories are easier than others. The goal is always a romance that readers believe in and maybe fall a little bit in love with. Every now and then a character like Eve Vincent will come along and challenge me to something more.

I loved writing this book in the Mercy Ranch series and I hope that you’ll love Eve and Ethan!

Blessings,

Brenda Minton

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

—Romans 8:28

This book is dedicated to my agent,

Melissa Jeglinski, for guiding me through

this process. She puts up with my angst,

cheers me on and encourages me. Thank you!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

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

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Four years ago Hope, Oklahoma, had been a forgotten lake town, and Eve Vincent had been a patient in a VA hospital coming to terms with her new reality. As she transferred from her car to the wheelchair next to it, she realized that they’d both changed. The town was booming again. The resorts and hotels were up and running, and stores were reopened with new businesses. And Eve, like the little town of Hope, had reinvented herself. She’d survived the changes that had happened after an IED exploded, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Eve hadn’t grown up in Hope but she now considered the little town her home. She had moved here to live on Mercy Ranch, owned by Jack West, the same man who had infused money and time into the local economy, essentially reviving the town. What Jack had done for Hope, he’d also done for the wounded warriors he’d brought to his ranch. He’d given them all a second chance and a way to start over.

Sometimes she thought about going back home to Texas. But home was too complicated. Her aging parents would want to coddle her even as they reminded her they had begged her not to join the army. Going back to Texas would mean facing the past, facing memories and people. The past was best left in the past. She had a new life, a new reality. Tough as it had been, she’d found happiness here. Contentment even.

As she headed for the ramp at the side of Mattie’s Café, she raised her face to the warm, late April sunshine. A perfect day. She glanced around, searching for Kylie West’s car. They met every Monday for lunch. It had been their routine since Kylie married Jack West’s son, Carson.

Kylie met her at the top of the ramp, holding the door open for Eve to enter the café. Eve smiled up at her friend. Kylie held her two-month-old foster daughter in her arms and she looked every bit the happy wife and mother she should be.

“You beat me here. Even with a baby and two kids, you’re early,” Eve teased her friend. Kylie was always early.

“It’s a hard habit to break,” Kylie said as she followed Eve into the diner. “I have a table in the corner.”

“Perfect.”

Holly, the owner of Mattie’s, approached with water and menus. She looked frazzled, her dark hair in a messy bun and circles under her eyes that suggested she hadn’t been sleeping.

“You okay, Holly?” Eve asked as the other woman set glasses of water on the table.

“It’s been a busy morning. Hectic. And, you know, life.”

“Anything we can do?” Kylie asked.

Holly shook her head but Eve thought she saw moisture gather in her eyes. “Nope. I’ve got this. I’ll be right back to get your orders.”

“I wish she understood that she has friends who are willing to help her.” Kylie situated her infant daughter in Eve’s arms. “I’m guessing that, even though you don’t like kids, babies or kittens, you want to hold this little darling?”

“I’m not that horrible.” Eve gladly took the tiny little girl. “I like kittens.”

“You’re absolutely not horrible,” Kylie assured her.

“And I think Holly is just holding everything together and afraid if she cracks, even a little, the dam will burst.”

“Agreed.”

Eve’s phone rang. Kylie reached for her purse but Eve stopped her. “No. It’s probably my parents. And I don’t want to talk to them.”

“You’re not talking to them?”

“Today you’re my friend, not my therapist.” Eve kissed the downy head of the infant in her arms. “I love this precious nugget.”

“Do not call her a nugget.”

“She’s bite-sized.” She kissed Cara’s cheeks and was rewarded with the sweetest baby smile. Brown eyes focused on Eve’s face and another grin followed.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Kylie asked with a dreamy voice.

“Are you seriously asking that question? Of course she’s beautiful.” Eve sighed as she held the baby close, sniffing hair that smelled of lavender.

She wanted one. She wouldn’t admit it, even to her best friend. Half the time she couldn’t even admit it to herself. She wanted what she couldn’t have. A husband, a family, a home of her own. Instead of admitting to those secret things, she smiled.

She shook her head slightly, dislodging the hint of melancholy. She was happy. She loved her life at Mercy Ranch. She loved her life. Period. She had a job translating documents and manuals to English. Four years ago she hadn’t dreamed she would be able to resume her life to this degree, so of course she was happy. The military had sent her to language school and she could still use those hard earned skills to support herself.

Her phone rang again. She held Cara in her right arm and reached for the phone with her left. The caller seemed to be getting smarter in their attempts to reach her. This time the number was blocked. She thought of friends she’d ultimately blocked from her life, lost contact with, pushed aside. All because she hadn’t wanted to face them from this chair. She hadn’t wanted to face their pity.

When she looked up, Kylie was watching, compassion in her eyes.

“Your parents again?” Kylie asked.

“No caller ID so I doubt it. Our last phone call didn’t end well and I told them I needed space but they’ve never blocked their number before.”

“Friend or therapist, I’m going to give you some advice.” Kylie moved her chair close. “You have to deal with your parents. They love you and you love them. Tell them what you need from them.”

“I know I’m going to have to talk to them, face-to-face. But somehow I have to make them see that I can’t come home. Mercy Ranch is my home now.” She focused on the baby in her arms. “They would chip away at my faith, my independence. I just can’t.”

The bell over the front door clanged. Eve glanced that way. Nothing unusual, a stranger walking through the doors of the café. It happened more frequently these days. Jack’s plan to bring tourists back to Hope had been successful. She started to glance away but the man walking through the door with a baby in his arms wasn’t a stranger. Suddenly she felt her skin go cold and her ears buzzed.

“Eve, are you okay?” Kylie swooped in to take her baby. “Breathe.”

“I can’t... I can’t breathe. I have to leave. I need to get out of here.”

Kylie followed her gaze toward the front of the café and the man standing just inside the door. He zeroed in on Eve with lightning precision. Eve reached for her glass of water, hands trembling as she lifted it to her lips.

“Who is he?” Kylie asked.

“Her worst nightmare,” he said as he approached their table.

Holly chose that moment to appear.

“Do I need to bring another menu?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. At the same time Eve shook her head and said, “No.”

Holly looked to Eve. She didn’t know how to get the words out. She didn’t know what to say. Her past, present and future had just collided in one big messy pileup and her heart still couldn’t catch up.

Six years since they’d seen each other. Six years and he still had the ability to undo everything inside her. She couldn’t let him do that to her. She drew in a deep breath, ignored his dark auburn hair, the strength of his chin, the deep brown of his eyes. Okay, she didn’t really ignore anything about him. How could she when he was looming over her?

With a baby.

“Ethan, what are you doing here?” Her voice came out in a squeak.

“Obviously I’m finding out some things I didn’t know.” His voice changed from harsh to questioning, hurt maybe?

“Why don’t you have a seat?” Kylie offered, pulling up another chair. “Your baby is beautiful.”

He looked down at the bundle in his arms, as if he’d forgotten about the baby in the pink dress, all soft blond hair and big eyes.

Kylie looked from the baby to Eve. A baby. Eve shouldn’t be surprised. Four years of silence meant that any number of things could have happened in Ethan’s life. Including a wife and children. But what was he doing here? Why now?

She waited, knowing that whatever Ethan had to say, it would hurt. And it would change her life. She felt the devastation coming and couldn’t do a thing to stop it. Without thinking she grabbed Kylie’s hand, needing strength from her best friend as the man sitting at their table stared her down, accusations and pain shining in his dark eyes.

* * *

For several years Ethan Forester had run the scenarios through his mind, trying to decide which one best fit Eve’s defection from his life, from the life they’d planned together. In his mind the phone call ending their engagement had been made because she’d found someone else or possibly decided she wanted a military career over a marriage to a rancher from Texas. Her parents had never been in favor of their relationship so maybe she’d come around to their way of thinking. That’s what he’d told himself. It hadn’t made him feel any better but it had helped him to deal with the loss.

Even with the possible explanations, he’d struggled with how they’d gone from in love and engaged to separated and never seeing one another again. Over the phone they’d been planning the wedding because she would have been leaving the army and coming home. They’d picked the venue, the caterer, had even discussed bridesmaids and groomsmen. And then silence for several months.

Their next phone call had been her telling him their engagement was over and that she never wanted to see him again. Her parents had refused to tell him anything. No surprises there.

Now, face-to-face with her, he got it. And he was angry and hurt all over again. After years of being best friends, in love, engaged, she had kept this from him.

“You could have told me about...” The words came out, torn from somewhere deep inside. “You could have trusted me enough to tell me.”

“Not here,” she said. She turned away from him, not before he saw the flash of pain that flickered in her brown eyes.

He didn’t want to feel her pain. The moment sympathy tried to surface, he shoved it back down. Tori shifted in his arms and hugged his neck, a reminder that this wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about Eve. The six-month-old in his arms came first. This was about her life, her future.

He’d had the most difficult two weeks of his life. Tori had shared in the devastation. She was just too young to really understand how her life had changed on a rainy night two weeks ago.

The devastation he’d felt was about to be visited on the woman sitting in front of him, dark eyes warily studying the child in his arms.

“You’re right. Not here.” He didn’t know how to proceed. “Where can we talk?”

She backed away from the table, her gaze flicking briefly to the woman sitting across from her. She noticed his attention on that woman and she sighed.

“Ethan Forester, this is my friend Kylie West and her daughter Cara.” Her gaze shot to the child in his arms.

A child she might have known had she kept in contact with friends. He should give her a definition of the word, so she would understand what it meant to her family, to her friends, that she’d disappeared from their lives.

Kylie gave him an easy smile. “There’s a small, private room through the door at the back of the restaurant. I’ll let Holly know where you’ve gone. And if you want lunch, I’ll have her deliver it to you there.”

Eve shook her head. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Rather than respond, he followed Eve as she led the way through the now crowded diner. People spoke to her but gave him suspicious looks. He knew those looks. He’d grown up in a small town. The same small town as Eve, just a short distance from Austin.

The “private room” at the back of the restaurant appeared to be an afterthought. It was a small room with three tables joined together and a painted plywood wall separating it from the rest of the café. He pulled a chair away from the table and Eve gave him a look. Thanking him. Or possibly telling him she didn’t appreciate his help. He didn’t know the protocol for helping someone in a wheelchair.

He didn’t know this woman. Six years ago he would have said he knew her better than he knew himself. He had been wrong. The woman who had shared everything with him had been someone else. Maybe they hadn’t known each other at all.

The girl from his childhood would have turned to him, not away from him.

“I didn’t know you had a child,” she said.

He sat down across from her, Tori picking at his ear. He held her tight and tried to find the right words. As angry as he might be, he still had to tell her news that would devastate her. News she should have heard two weeks ago.

“She isn’t mine. If you weren’t hiding, you’d know that. If you’d let your parents tell me how to contact you, you’d know.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, glancing away as she made the apology.

Anger simmered, with her, with himself for caring.

“I found you because my sister saw your name mentioned in an article about Mercy Ranch. I’ve known you almost my entire life and I’ve spent four years not knowing where you were or what had happened to you. So, yeah, you’re sorry, but I’m afraid sorry doesn’t fix this.”

“This?” Her expression was calm. Her dark eyes had settled on Tori, revealing she was anything but calm. A storm brewed in those eyes.

“Tori is James and Hanna’s daughter.”

She sat perfectly still but her expression clouded at the mention of their friends. He thought she held her breath, waiting.

He had to say the words. He knew it would devastate her. But from her changing expression, she knew what was coming. “They were killed in a car accident.”

She shook her head. “No.”

He didn’t respond. There was nothing he could say that would make this any easier, so he gave her a few minutes to process. In the past he would have held her, comforted her. Now he sat there with his arms around Tori and he wished he knew what to do.

“I...” Her words broke off on a sob. He pulled napkins from the metal holder in the center of the table. She took them and wiped at the steady stream of tears trickling down her cheeks.

In his arms, Tori shifted to look at her, watching intently. Her big blue eyes watered and her lips puckered.

“And Tori?” she asked after a moment.

“Yours and mine.” He said it softly, then waited, watching as the news sank in.

Eve rolled back a bit from the table, shaking her head. “What does that mean?”

“It means I got a call from an attorney, informing me that James and Hanna had a will, probably written up before...” He let the sentence trail off. They both knew what before meant. “They must not have had it changed because they asked us to raise any child, male or female born to them, should something make it impossible for them to raise that child.”

“That can’t be. They wouldn’t have done that, considering the circumstances.”

“I’m sure if they’d thought something like this would happen, they would have changed their will. But the will was written when they thought we would get married. They thought you would come to your senses and...” He sighed.

“They would want her with a couple, with two people, a family.” The words ended on a sob. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I had no way.”

“No, you didn’t have a way of knowing.” He left it at that.

“What were they thinking?” she repeated.

“It doesn’t matter what they were thinking, this is the way it is. James was a planner and they made us the guardians of their child. I am assuming he thought you would surface and things would work out. He only failed to plan one thing, an alternate plan. And there’s no one else. Hanna was raised by grandparents who are now too feeble to care for an infant. And James had only his father and he’s still in the military. Single and stationed in Italy. He wants to know his granddaughter but he obviously can’t raise her.”

Eve’s eyes closed. When she opened them, he had to turn away from her grief, her pain. He couldn’t deal with that, not at the moment.

At the moment he was busy reminding himself of how she’d hurt him. He reminded himself that she’d cut him out of her life.

The door to the meeting room opened. The waitress, or perhaps owner of the establishment, entered. Her concerned gaze focused in on Eve, on her tears. She shot him a look that told him he was to blame. And boy, was she was going to blame him.

She set the tray she carried on the table and gave Eve a quick hug.

“Eve, honey, is there anything I can get you?”

Eve smiled up at the other woman. “I’m good, Holly, but thank you.”

“Okay, but if there’s anything I can do.” She picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes. “I brought this for the little one. And a bowl of green beans.”

“Thank you,” Ethan told her.

She gave him a frosty look but she put a plate in front of him, another in front of Eve. “Kylie ordered for the two of you.”

“Thank her for me.” Eve smiled up at the woman.

“You got it.” And then she was gone, the door shutting firmly behind her.

“You seem to have settled here,” Ethan observed. He picked up a spoon and gave the child in his arms a small bite after making sure it was cool.

“I have. Ethan, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” He watched as Tori reached for a green bean.

“Yes, I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry about James and Hanna. I’m so sorry.”

“You should have trusted me enough to at least tell me. You should have included me in the decision to end our relationship.”

“You would have tried to convince me that we would be fine. That you would have taken on anything, even though it wasn’t what you’d signed on for. And then you would have resented me. Or I would have felt guilty. Either way it was a recipe for disaster.”

“I guess I can understand how you would have allowed yourself to believe that. But it wasn’t fair, not to me or to friends who loved and missed you and didn’t understand why you walked out of our lives.”

“I hope someday you can forgive me.”

“I hope so, too, because it appears we are tied to one another for the next eighteen years.”

“Eighteen years?” She shook her head, not getting his meaning.

“We’re raising a child together, Eve. We are her legal guardians, you and I. The state of Texas would like for us to have a plan for her future. James and Hanna were counting on us providing a home for her.”

“How are we supposed to do that? As you can see, I’m not exactly in a position to be a parent. We aren’t married. So exactly how is this supposed to work?”

“Why aren’t you in a position to be a parent?”

She gave him a puzzled look and then pointed down. “Hello? Surely you have eyes.”

He did have eyes. And he wished he wasn’t seeing the woman he’d planned to marry. He wished his heart wasn’t seeing her in a way that almost hurt. The pain was too much. He preferred anger. Anger reminded him how it had felt to receive a Dear John phone call from her.

“I have eyes. I see a woman who is obviously very capable.”

“Yes, capable of caring for herself. There’s the other little issue you haven’t thought about. I live in Oklahoma, not Texas.”

“That’s definitely an issue but one we can work out. I don’t have a lot of time to discuss this. I have a meeting in Tulsa. Forester Farm Sales is opening a new dealership up here.”

“I can make this quick and easy. I think the best way to work this out is for me to give you full custody of Tori.” Something about the look in her eyes shifted his opinions, made him reconsider his plan of action.

“The truth is, I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. It’s been two weeks, and in that time we’ve been working through paperwork, coming to terms with what has happened and just getting by. My mom helps when she can but she’s busy running the ranch alongside my dad. My sister, Bethany, has helped from time to time but she’s in her last year of nursing school.”

“Ethan, I can’t do this.”

He pushed aside compassion and stood. “I need to run out to the car. Can you hold her?”

She sighed but gave a slight nod. Knowing her the way he did, he recognized the look of longing as she focused on the baby in his arms.

“I can hold her.”

He pushed the bowl of mashed potatoes across the table, then he circled around to her side and placed the groggy little girl in her arms. Tori immediately nestled in. It had been a long day. And Eve’s arms went around her, holding her close.

It was a dirty move on his part. He hadn’t really planned it but he didn’t know what else to do. Eve had been his friend for longer than she’d been the woman he loved. He had thought to find a stranger. Instead he found the girl he used to know. And he could see that she’d lost more than the use of her legs. She’d lost her way.

He didn’t want to care but he had to. For her sake. For Tori’s. So as he walked away from the diner, he told himself he didn’t feel guilty for what he was about to do. He would come back. He wasn’t the one who disappeared without a word to the people in his life.

But today, Eve deserved a lesson.

Chapter Two

“He isn’t coming back.” Eve looked from the child in her arms to the friend sitting across from her, a bemused, or maybe amused, look on her face.

“Of course he’s coming back.” Kylie repeated the same answer she’d been giving for the past fifteen minutes, since Ethan had run out to the car.

Eve shook her head, unwilling to be placated. Fear had been growing inside her, or perhaps panic. Ethan had brought a child, dumped said child in her lap and left. One of two things could be happening. Either he wanted to teach her a lesson or he wanted out of the responsibility that had been handed to them.

They were guardians of the little girl she held in her arms. It wasn’t possible. They were the last two people who should be pushed together to care for a child.

“He can’t leave me to take care of this child alone.” She pushed her wheelchair back a foot, trying to see out the window. Tori squirmed and nearly slid off her lap.

Kylie reached to steady the child’s precarious position.

“See, this is why I don’t and won’t have children. I can’t even keep her safely on my lap.”

“There are ways.” Kylie, always the optimist.

“Of course there are ways,” Eve muttered. She didn’t even know what car to look for. “He isn’t coming back.”

“Try the number that called earlier.”

“Oh, good idea. There’s no caller ID but I should be able to call.”

“Is everything okay in here?” Holly asked as she brushed a strand of dark hair back from her face. She took a seat across from Eve.

“Oh, just wonderful.” Eve listened to the voice message of Ethan Forester. “Please leave a message,” it prompted. So she did. “This isn’t fair. You can’t do this to Tori. Call me and please tell me you’re coming back.”

“He got in a Ford truck and scooted on down the street,” Holly said after the call ended. “I’m sorry. I would have stopped him if I’d known he was pulling a fast one on you.”

“Not a fast one, just...” Eve sighed as she glanced down at the sleeping child. Six months old, the child didn’t know much about her life. But she had to know an emptiness where her parents had been. She had to know that everything was topsy-turvy right now.

“She’s beautiful,” Holly cooed, leaning to brush a finger down Tori’s cheek.

“She is,” Kylie agreed. She held Cara, her foster daughter, in her arms.

Eve glanced up at Holly. “You have dark rings under your eyes. You’re obviously not getting enough sleep. Your mom?”

“Off her meds again. It’s a battle.”

“I’m sorry,” Kylie spoke softly from across the table. “Can we do anything to help?”

“No, there’s nothing. It’s been my life for, well, my whole life. You would think I’d be used to it.”

“But you know how life can be when it’s good. I’m sure that makes the turmoil all the more obvious.” Kylie reached for Holly’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Holly nodded but her attention shifted back to the baby Eve held. “I’m not here to talk about me. It’s obvious Eve has her own drama today. And I’m more than a little curious. So if you really want to take pity on me...”

Eve managed to laugh. “Ex-fiancé.”

Holly’s eyes widened. “Wowza. And you broke it off with him?”

Eve nodded.

“I’m not sure if we can continue to be friends.” Holly laughed as she said it. “He’s tall, dark, beyond handsome, knows how to hold a baby. And you dumped him?”

“She obviously martyred herself,” Kylie offered.

“Not helping.” Eve shot her friend a look.

“Truth hurts,” Kylie shot back.

“The baby is his?” Holly asked.

“No.” Eve glanced down at the sleeping baby girl. “She’s the daughter of our best friends, James and Hanna. They were killed. I guess in an accident. I can’t remember if he told me.”

The grief washed over her again, squeezing her heart until she wanted to beg for mercy. She’d been so selfish. She’d been so focused on her own life. She hadn’t even known. She had no one to blame but herself.

“I can’t believe they’re gone.” Her arms went a little tighter around the sleeping child.

“Wow, that’s tough.” Holly bent to kiss the top of Eve’s head. “I’m sorry, I have to get back to work. Let me know if I can get you anything.”

Thirty minutes had passed since Ethan’s rapid departure. The clock on the wall continued to tick away the seconds, the minutes. She looked at Kylie.

“He’ll be back,” Kylie assured her. “Maybe he needed to hit the gas station. Or rent a hotel room.”

“He isn’t coming back. He would have answered the phone.”

“We can’t stay here all day,” Kylie said. Cara had fallen asleep in her arms. “We should head back to the ranch.”

“To do what? I don’t know the first thing about taking care of a baby.”

“Start by calling her Tori. That’s her name. And she’s precious. Look at her, Eve. Say something to her.”

“You have beautiful eyes,” Eve cooed to the little girl. Tori, all blond curls, blue eyes and dimples, grinned. She looked like Hanna. Eve felt a sob rising up in her throat, but she refused to give it room to escape. Her throat tightened with the effort. She closed her eyes and shook her head against the onslaught of emotions.

“I can’t do this.”

“You can,” Kylie insisted. “You’re strong. You’re capable.”

“Right, I can take care of myself. But I can’t take care of a child. Not on a daily basis. Watching yours for a few hours is easy. They walk, talk and can go potty all by themselves. Cara being the exception. This—” she held the baby away from her “—this is toxic.”

“She needs her diaper changed.”

Eve shuddered. “Why isn’t she potty trained?”

“Because she’s six months old. Don’t worry, you can do this. And he’ll be back. He’s only been gone for a half an hour.”

“You don’t know him the way I know him.”

“Yeah, about that.” Kylie grew serious and Eve knew more questions were coming. “Why didn’t I know about Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?”

“Because you didn’t need to know. I ended it and we both moved on.”

“I don’t think moving on is as easy as saying the words,” Kylie said as she grabbed a diaper and wipes from the bag Ethan had left behind. A bag with several outfits, more than enough diapers, bottles, food and formula.

“It was for the best,” Eve defended. “It was the right thing to do.”

Kylie shook her head. “Right thing for who? You or him?”

“That isn’t fair.”

“Isn’t it?” Kylie asked. “You decided for him that he didn’t want to be married to someone in a wheelchair.”

“Someone he would have to take care of for the rest of his life.”

Kylie arched a brow at that. “Really? Because who is taking care of you now?”

Eve ignored the question. Kylie shook her head.

“Give me that baby. I’ll change her diaper.” Kylie settled Cara in her car seat and reached for Tori. “But you’ll have to change the next diaper.”

“You say that as if I’m going to have her for a while. I’m clearly not cut out for this. I was an only child, raised by parents who had me late in life. We didn’t socialize with people who had small children. I didn’t babysit for neighbors. I’m very unqualified for this. Why would Hanna and James think that I could be the person this baby girl needs?”

“They obviously knew you better than you know yourself. They believed you could do this. I believe you can do this.”

“That’s great, I’m glad everyone believes in me. But Tori deserves more. She deserves love and security.” Eve shook her head at the great expanse of sadness opening up inside her. “Ethan has to come back. He can’t abandon her this way.”

“I doubt he plans to abandon her. Now I’m going to change Tori and then we’ll get you both back to the ranch and settled in your place.”

“Alone?” Eve hoped she’d misunderstood. She considered herself a strong, independent woman. But a baby, by herself? All night?

Kylie gave her a quick hug. “Don’t look so lost. I promise you’ll get through this.”

“I hope you’re right, about him coming back and about surviving this.” She looked at the baby Kylie now held. “I hope she survives me.”

Kylie laughed at that. “You’ll both survive. Eve, you’re more than able.”

Would it do any good to admit she was scared to death? Probably not. Admitting fear wasn’t what she did. Ever. “Of course I am.”

An hour later Eve wasn’t convinced she would survive, not even for an afternoon.

She held Tori on her lap as Kylie showed her how to use the baby sling she’d picked up at her house. Kylie slid the cloth behind Eve’s back, settled Tori on her lap and then wrapped the baby with the cloth so that the sling held her securely in Eve’s lap.

“This will enable you to hold her and still maneuver.” Kylie made sure the cloth was secure. “It’s soft so you can keep it behind your back and when you pick her up, just wrap it around her and secure it.”

“Okay, that’s one hurdle. There are just so many things I’ve never considered, never thought I would have to consider.” Eve brushed her cheek against the top of Tori’s head. “I didn’t think she’d smell like baby powder and happiness. Ugh, listen to me. I don’t talk this way.”

Kylie sat on the sofa facing her as Tori snuggled in close, eventually becoming a heavy, sleepy weight against Eve’s shoulder.

“She’s very happy cuddled up to you.”

Eve kissed the little head that was tucked against her. “Yes, she’s happy for now. But later she’ll want bottles. She’ll be hungry. And where will she sleep?”

“She’ll have to sleep with you. We’ll push your bed against the wall and you can put her on the inside. You can take a bottle with you, in case she wakes up during the night.”

“Changing diapers?” Eve tossed out the next hurdle.

“There’s a changing pad in the diaper bag. You can put it on your desk. That gives you the ability to roll close and change her without having to bend over the sofa or bed,” Kylie offered, not seeing obstacles but solutions. That was her natural personality. Kylie was a problem solver.

The front door opened and Eve hoped beyond hope that it would be Ethan. Instead it was Sierra. She, Kylie and Eve had once been roommates. They’d had other roommates along the way but the three of them had been fixtures at the ranch since almost the beginning. Now it was just Sierra and Eve. They shared the main living area of the one-time garage turned apartment building but they each had their own bedroom, bathroom and sitting area.

Sierra looked from Kylie to Eve to the baby and froze, her eyes going wide. “No.”

She walked on to the kitchen with just that word but as she poured a cup of coffee, she shook her head. “Nope.”

“You don’t have a choice and neither does Eve. For the time being you have a new roommate.” Kylie shot Sierra a warning look. “And you’ll love her.”

“I don’t think so. Babies smell, they cry, they need constant attention. Why is she here? Is there something you haven’t told us, Eve?” Sierra wandered into the living room with her coffee. She stared down at the baby on Eve’s lap and shook her head again. “It’s cute, but I guarantee you, it won’t be cute for long. They’re like puppies. They grow up.”

“You’re horrible,” Kylie said. “And the baby is a she, not an it.”

“I’m horrible but I’m honest about babies.” Sierra grinned at their ex-roommate, her expression softening. “I’m the person who never pets the cute puppies you all raise. I don’t go all dewy eyed over a new foal. I told you the truth when Cara was born. Everyone else lied. She wasn’t the prettiest baby ever. I mean, she’s pretty now, but that first day, not so cute. She was red, wrinkled and cried a lot.”

“But you’ll help Eve if she needs it?” Kylie prodded.

Sierra sat down next to Kylie and eventually she nodded. “Because we’re friends, I’ll help you out, Eve. But where in the world did this little bundle of joy come from?”

“From my past,” Eve said. She avoided eye contact with her friends because any hint of sympathy would bring tears.

“She showed up on our doorstep? Or did you find her under a cabbage leaf? You’re killing me here.” Sierra stretched her legs, grimacing just a bit at the movement.

“She’s the daughter of friends,” Eve started and then she told the rest of the story, managing to hold it together. As she spoke, she found herself holding Tori a little closer.

“Wow,” Sierra said quietly. “That’s a lot, Eve. I am sorry.”

“Me, too.”

“You had a fiancé,” Sierra said after a moment.

“Yes, I had a fiancé.”

“And you’ve misplaced him again?” Sierra teased.

“I didn’t misplace him. I gave him an out. And this time, he took the out.”

“This is way more reality than I like to deal with on a Monday afternoon,” Sierra said as she stood, grabbing her coffee cup off the end table. “I’ll help when I can but Jack has me busy with this lovely wedding chapel idea of his.”

Eve laughed at that. “You’re such a romantic, you’ll make a great wedding planner.”

“Yeah, well, right now, being a wedding planner is far more appealing than changing dirty diapers. You have fun with that and I’ll see you all later.”

Eve pressed her lips to Tori’s head, amazed that in a few short hours she’d found it so easy to love one small child.

Until Ethan returned, Eve would manage to care for Tori. She would give the little girl all the love and hugs she could, not that it would make up for the loss of her parents. But Ethan would return, he had to. When he did, Eve would explain that she just couldn’t be a part of parenting Tori full-time.

* * *

Tuesday morning Ethan followed his GPS to Mercy Ranch, just a few miles outside Hope and a ninety-minute drive from Tulsa. He pulled up to the main house, a two-story log home with plenty of windows, big covered porches and a yellow Labrador sprawled out in a flower bed. A man walked down off the back porch, pulling his hat low as he headed in Ethan’s direction.

Ethan got out of his truck, grabbing his hat from the backseat as he did. When he turned around, the other man stood just feet away. He was close to Ethan in age with a jagged scar on the left side of his face and steel-gray eyes that could nail a man to the wall.

“Good morning,” Ethan greeted.

“I’m guessing you’re the missing fiancé? Or should I say, AWOL fiancé?” The man spoke without a lot of warmth in his voice.

“Ex-fiancé, and I’m not the one who went missing. I knew where I was the whole time.” Ethan kept his tone casual. No reason to make enemies here.

“You’re brave, I’ll give you that,” the man said as he tipped his hat back a bit. A slow grin slid across his face. “Name’s Isaac West.”

Ethan held out a hand. “Name’s Mud. But you can call me Ethan. Ethan Forester.”

Isaac West chuckled. “You got the first part right. She’s madder than a wet hornet right now.”

“But she survived.”

“Yeah, she did. But not if you ask her. My fiancée, Rebecca, went down to check on her a bit ago. From what I’ve been told, there was more formula on her and the counter than in the baby. And she might have been wearing bananas on her shirt.”

“Maybe I should rethink going down there?”

“I think if you try to leave, she will hunt you down and hurt you. But I can walk you down there, if you’d like. Safety in numbers and all that.”

Ethan wouldn’t call himself weak. He’d been on some pretty rank horses, ridden bulls, and he’d even back-talked his mama. That last one had proved to be more stupid than brave.

“If you want to show me where to find her,” he said in accepting the offer, “I wouldn’t be opposed.”

Isaac pounded him on the back in good-natured camaraderie. “You got it.”

The ranch was a sprawling place, clean with good fences, cattle and horses grazing in the fields, a nice stable and several residences. In the corral near the stable he could see men working with horses. A short distance away, it appeared a new stable was being built.

Isaac followed his interested gaze and chuckled. “Wedding venue. It’s going to look like a stable. The main area will be the chapel, the indoor ‘arena’ will be for receptions. My dad guesses it’ll keep a few of the residents busy with managing, cleaning and catering.”

“This is quite a setup. I’m impressed.”

Isaac shrugged at the compliment. “It was all Jack. He’s the idea man. He keeps everyone busy and moving, even if he’s slowing down a little. Parkinson’s.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell him that. He’s still in charge and his housekeeper doesn’t let grass grow under his feet.”

“I read an article that he also bought an older resort and remodeled, as well as a bait shop.”

“Yep, he’s managed to put about two dozen veterans to work. We usually have ten to twelve people living on the ranch at any given time. After a while they usually head back to where they came from. A few stay and find a place to call home in Hope.”

“And you?” Ethan asked, taking a guess that he was a veteran as well as Jack’s son.

“Guess I’m not going anywhere since I grew up here. And if you’re asking if I’m a veteran, I am.”

They were approaching a metal building that appeared to have been a garage at one time. The multiple windows, covered patio and French doors indicated it had been remodeled to house veterans. From inside he heard a baby crying. Isaac glanced at him, grinning.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Ethan slowed his steps, needing a minute to collect himself before he faced Eve. He hadn’t felt the best when he woke up that morning, attributing it to something he’d eaten the day before. Now he definitely felt his stomach tighten and he decided it was a case of nerves.

“Cold feet?” Isaac asked as he knocked on the door. “Are you regretting leaving her with the baby?”

“Nope.”

The door opened. A woman, tall with long auburn hair and a weary look in her hazel eyes, greeted them. The expression shifted to angry when she saw him standing behind Isaac.

“Having a bad day, Sierra?” Isaac pulled off his hat, grinning as if he didn’t see the storm coming.

“Oh, I’m having a lovely day. After a sleepless night.” She waved them inside, her expression going from angry to glacial when she looked at Ethan. “I’m assuming you’re the one who abandoned that poor baby girl.”

“I didn’t abandon her,” he defended. But he wouldn’t say more, not to this woman.

The other woman in the room, he guessed he would have to say something to her. She held Tori in her arms as tears streamed down the baby girl’s face. Eve looked exhausted and close to tears. He hadn’t expected it to be quite this traumatic. For either of them.

“How dare you,” she spat.

He stepped forward and held his arms out to Tori. She reached for him, sobbing.

“You can’t explain to a six-month-old that the person they need is coming back. Or that the person they need is being selfish, rotten, horrible...”

“Shh,” he whispered to Tori, holding her close. He rocked back and forth, whispering comforting words. His mom had taught him this trick. It also worked to calm Eve. She quieted, still glaring but no longer spewing harsh words at him.

That was good, because he needed a minute to breathe.

“I guess I shouldn’t ask how it went?” he spoke softly.

“She didn’t sleep. And I didn’t know what to do to help her.” Eve’s voice trailed off on a sigh. “You could have asked. You could have told me what to do for her, what she likes. Instead you just walked out.”

“Shh,” he tried again, hoping that it would again work on Eve. He stood in the middle of the oversize living room with early morning sunlight streaming through kitchen windows and Tori cuddled against his shoulder. Eve sat a few feet away from him looking ready to spit nails.

“I didn’t plan on leaving,” he told her in a whisper. “I had to make a call. I got to the car and it hit me that you would never agree to this guardianship. I knew you would come up with dozens of reasons why you can’t.”

“And I would have been right.”

He glanced down at the child sleeping in his arms. He’d had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea of parenting her, of being a dad. He’d come to terms with the big changes in his life because she was in it. Like Eve, he’d had a lot of reasons why he couldn’t.

Those reasons still crept up on him from time to time. Usually in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep, or Tori couldn’t sleep. He’d hired a nanny. That didn’t really suffice. Mrs. Porter wasn’t looking for another child to raise. She showed Tori a lot of love, but she’d made it clear from the beginning she could nanny but she wasn’t the parent. He couldn’t give that duty over to someone else.

“I’m sorry, Eve, but I had to do something to make you see how important this is. We can’t just walk away from her. It might not be what we signed on for and I feel like I’m the last person who should be raising this little girl, but James and Hanna trusted us.”

“But there is no us,” she said with a lift of her chin, but he could see pain reflected in her dark eyes.

The pain he saw didn’t bother him as much as what he didn’t see in her eyes, in her expression. He didn’t see the person he used to know, the woman he’d planned to marry.

He had noticed the same yesterday, and he guessed that’s why he’d left Tori with her. He’d been sitting there looking at a woman he used to think he knew better than he knew himself, and he hadn’t recognized her.

“There is no us, but we still exist, you and me, and Tori needs us.” He said it softly because the little girl in his arms seemed to be drifting off, even with the occasional sob.

“There has to be another option. I obviously can’t do this. Last night was proof.”

“Last night meant nothing. You’ve always managed, Eve. You’re strong and capable.”

“Before, Ethan. I was that person before. This is me now, and I can’t.”

“I guess you have changed. I’ve never heard you say you can’t do anything.”

He sat down on a nearby chair. Isaac had left. The woman named Sierra had also disappeared. They were alone. When had they last been alone? The night he proposed? It had been the night she left for Afghanistan. He’d taken her to dinner in San Antonio and they’d walked along the riverfront surrounded by people, music and twinkling lights.

He’d dropped to one knee there in front of strangers passing by, seeing the sights. Dozens had stopped to watch as she cried and said yes. Later they’d made the drive to the airport, his ring glistening on her finger, planning a wedding that would never happen.

“Ethan?” Her voice was soft, quiet, questioning.

He glanced down at the little girl in his arms.

“What other option is there, Eve? Should we turn her over to the state, let her take her chances with whoever they choose? Should we find some distant relative? What do you recommend?”

He leaned back in the chair and studied her face, her expression. She was everything familiar. His childhood friend. The person he’d loved. Had loved. Past tense. The woman he’d wanted to spend his life with had been someone else, someone who never backed down. She looked as tough, as stubborn as ever, but there was something fragile in her expression.

Something in her expression made him recheck his feelings. He’d been bucked off horses, trampled by a bull, broken his arm jumping dirt bikes. She’d been his only broken heart. He didn’t want another one.

“There is no us, you’ve made that clear.” He loosened his hold on Tori and she sighed in her sleep. “I’m glad you thought that was your decision to make and that I had no say in the matter. That is beside the point. There is a Tori. And she needs a home. She needs us. You and me.”

“She is obviously bonded to you. You’ve figured this parenting thing out.” Her voice took on a frantic tone.

“No, I haven’t figured it out. I have help. My mom. My sister. But they can’t raise her.” Not that he hadn’t considered it. He could go to court, get custody finalized and then give guardianship to his sister, Bethany.

“What are we supposed to do?” Eve asked, moving closer, her gaze landing on the child in his arms.

“That’s why I’m here,” he admitted. “So we can figure this out. The judge wants this case settled. He’s given me temporary guardianship but he wants to be able to finalize her guardianship and he wants it done as soon as possible. He believes James and Hanna made a decision based on the facts they had and that they had a reason for the choice they made. There’s a court date in six weeks.”

“Court?”

“In Texas. And you have to be there. We both have to go and we need to have a plan in place by then.”

“A plan?”

He tried to hide the hint of a smile her questions instigated. “A plan for Tori, for us, for the future.”

She shook her head. “My future is here. You have a life in Texas. We can’t shift her back and forth like some unwanted little parcel. That wouldn’t give her the stability she needs or the family she deserves.”

She was right. They weren’t a couple. They hadn’t been for several years. And, if it had been that easy for her to end things, maybe they had never truly been a couple.

That realization didn’t help solve the problem at hand. Tori’s dependence on them to make the right choices. Like it or not, they were in this together.

Chapter Three

She couldn’t do this. She didn’t know what “this” meant. It seemed to be a whole list of things. She couldn’t be a parent. She couldn’t process the loss of friends she hadn’t spoken to in years. The loss was real, even with the passing of time.

Her gaze landed on their little girl. The peaceful, sleeping child in Ethan’s arms.

Ethan. She looked up and found him watching her, questions burning in his blue eyes. He was at the top of the list of things she couldn’t tackle. Not right now with her emotions shattered.

She pushed her chair away from him and headed for the door, fighting tears, fighting with the past. As she went out the door, she heard him call her name. She shook her head. Not because she wouldn’t deal with this situation but because she needed a few minutes alone to figure out the next step.

She needed to pray. Her heart constricted at the thought of prayer. Because she did pray. She went to church. Sometimes she sang in the choir. But when anyone said to trust God, she felt a spike of true anger rise up in her spirit. Because she had trusted Him. She’d prayed. She’d believed.

And here she was. James and Hanna were gone and it wasn’t right. She wanted to scream to heaven that it wasn’t fair. And where was God in all this?

With no clear destination in mind she found herself at the kennel. She opened a gate and whistled to the dog inside. The yellow Labrador retriever immediately moved to her side, probably glad to escape the kennel and her puppies. The dogs training to be service animals were typically housed with either the men or women on the ranch, so they were socialized and immersed in training.

In the beginning, the dogs had been a hobby and therapy. With time, experience and training, Mercy Ranch had become a key provider of service dogs to members of the military and to other deserving folks around the country.

“How’s the family?” Eve asked the dog. In response, April gave her a sloppy dog kiss. “Eight puppies. You’re an expert. Do you have any advice for me?”

April sat next to Eve’s chair, waiting expectantly.

“I didn’t think so.” Eve closed her eyes and waited for an answer, for some clear response to the turmoil she felt. Tori was James and Hanna’s daughter. She was a tiny little girl without parents. She needed people to count on.

Then there was Ethan. She’d always loved him. From the time they’d been in elementary school and he’d told a bully to stop picking on her, she’d loved him. She’d loved him at sixteen when he’d punched Brandon Parker for saying something rude in the hall at school. She’d loved him more at twenty when he’d sent her a dozen roses and told her she was stuck with him. Forever.

And she’d loved him when she told him they could no longer get married. She’d convinced herself that was the biggest act of love. For four years she’d been telling herself she was over him. That she’d done the right thing and they’d both moved on.

April nudged at her hand and she slid her fingers through the animal’s soft fur, pulling her close and leaning to bury her face in the dog’s neck. She had to pull it together and find a way to convince Ethan to leave.

“Running?”

She looked up, startled by the question. She hadn’t heard anyone approaching. She smiled at Joe Chapman. He’d been at the ranch almost as long as any of them. He had an easy demeanor, always pleasant. She thought he worked hard at that persona. But inside he was as angry as the rest of them. He’d lost an arm and one side of his face was scarred.

She no longer noticed Joe’s scars. He was just Joe. And he was waiting for an answer.

“No, not running. I’m just trying to figure out how to tell my past to stay in the past.”

“It isn’t always that easy.”

“You’ve managed,” she said with a smile to soften the words. If he was going to get in her business, she’d get in his.

“Yeah, well, my parents don’t want much to do with me. I’m not living up to their expectations.”

“It seems our parents are opposite ends of the spectrum. Mine would love for me to come home so they could smother me with love and attention. I think they would only see the chair and I’d cease to exist.”

“Yeah, I get that. My parents can’t see beyond their career goals for their children.”

She felt sorry for baiting him. “Yeah, I know.”

“That’s why we love Mercy Ranch. Jack gave us a place to be ourselves.”

“We’re not hiding?” she asked her friend.

He shrugged. “We probably are.”

“So you heard about the baby?”

He laughed at the question. “Who hasn’t heard about her? And heard her. She’s got a powerful set of lungs.”

“Yes, yes she does.” She raised a finger and the dog sat. When she pointed to the ground, the dog dropped to her belly. “You’re still the best, April.”

“You trained her. You get some of the credit.”

She smiled up at Joe. “Thanks. But let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Or the baby. Am I a coward?”

“I don’t think so.” He’d taken a seat on the nearby bench but he stood, rubbing at his left shoulder. “But I am, so I’m going to head out. Kylie at twelve o’clock.”

He saluted and headed for the stable. As Kylie approached, clearing her throat to make herself known, Eve pointed to the kennel. With head down and reluctant steps, April entered the kennel to be attacked by her eight super hungry puppies.

“You need to come back to the house,” Kylie said.

“Because I’m avoiding and I can’t avoid?”

“No, because Ethan is sick. Sierra had to go back to the house to get something and found him leaning over the trash can. Tori was on a blanket on the floor crying.”

Eve looked heavenward. “This is what happens when I ask for help.”

Kylie grabbed the handles of Eve’s chair and turned her toward the apartment. “At least you’re praying about it.”

Her struggles with faith weren’t exactly secret. Kylie observed things. It wasn’t a discussion they’d had but Eve wasn’t surprised to know her friend had figured it out.

“Yes, praying, ranting, same thing I guess.”

“Sometimes,” Kylie agreed. “And I think God is okay with our honest emotions.”

Eve certainly hoped so. She didn’t feel a need to respond and Kylie didn’t push her to keep talking.

“Where are your kids?” Eve asked when they were halfway to the entrance of the building she’d called home for several years. They affectionately called it “the garage.”

“With Maria and Jack. They made cookies.”

“Cara made cookies? She can’t even eat cookies.”

“She’s watching from her infant swing,” Kylie responded. Eve could hear the contentment in her voice, picture the happy smile on her face.

It was true, what the Bible said, that things did work together for good for those who trusted. And if anyone deserved that, it was Kylie. She’d loved Carson West since junior high and somehow the two had found each other again.

“You changed the subject,” Kylie said as she pushed the chair onto the sidewalk.

“Did I?” Eve took control of her chair, pushing the wheels quickly to reach the door of the apartment.

Kylie stepped between her and the door. “It isn’t always cut-and-dried. You know that. Faith gets tested. We all go through storms.”

“Some of us get stranded on a deserted island.” The words slipped out, then Eve backed away from the door, from her friend.

Kylie’s expression didn’t register surprise. Eve didn’t know how. She felt surprised by what she’d said, surprised by the emotions that accompanied the words.

“That’s pretty powerful,” Kylie finally said. “Maybe that’s the place where people lose faith or even turn from their faith. Especially if you believe God isn’t on that island with you.”

“Only a volleyball named Wilson and it doesn’t answer. No matter how much you talk to it, shout at it, nothing.” Eve closed her eyes. “I’m pathetic.”

“Actually, you’re not. I just wouldn’t have thought to compare God to a volleyball.”

Eve gave in to the smile that tugged at her mouth. “Yeah, well, sometimes God is like that volleyball. You keep talking, keeping telling Him what you need and you wonder why He doesn’t answer. And then you wonder, does He even hear? Is it all some big joke. So here I sit, thinking my life is the worst, and now this. This isn’t really about me, is it? This is about Tori. It’s about the loss of two very dear people. But I can’t be the person Tori needs me to be.”

“You think you can’t. But I think of all the other things you said you couldn’t do that you’ve done.”

“I still can’t walk. Remember those first months when I insisted I would walk again? And I prayed, asking God to show those doctors they were wrong.”

God hadn’t fixed it. He’d given her the strength to survive it, but not the ability to overcome it.

“Should we start calling those ‘volleyball’ moments of faith?” Kylie asked, completely serious.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Tom Hanks got off the island. He actually pursued Wilson, went after him. And while pursuing, he was rescued.”

“He went back to a life that was completely different and looked nothing like the life he’d known.”

“We’re never the same, Eve. The things we go through change us. We’re like a riverbed, always shifting, always changing.”

“You’re so smart,” Eve told her friend. “Seriously, Kylie, I’m not sure I would have survived without you.”

“You would have survived. Your deserted island isn’t so deserted. And He’s listening, even when you think He isn’t.”

God. Of course He was. She hadn’t abandoned her faith. Sometimes she felt it had abandoned her. From inside the apartment she could hear crying. She had to go in. Had to face Ethan and make a plan.

“Here we go,” she said.

Kylie pushed the door open and Eve entered ahead of her. Ethan was in the bathroom, and Sierra sat on the sofa holding Tori away from her. Tori was crying. Sierra wasn’t far from it.

Eve bit down on her bottom lip to fight the laughter that bubbled up.

“Don’t you dare laugh,” Sierra warned. “Seriously, don’t.”

“You’re definitely not on the island alone,” Kylie chuckled.

No, Eve wasn’t alone. But she did feel a little like she’d stepped back into the world and realized that, once again, everything had changed.

* * *

Sprawled out on the sofa, Ethan looked up at the woman looming over him. Okay, she wasn’t looming. Peering with disgust, her nose wrinkled, her eyes reflecting...humor?

“It isn’t funny.” He ground the words out and closed his eyes as another wave of nausea hit.

“You have to get him out of here,” the roommate with the auburn hair spoke from behind Eve. “Seriously, he’s contaminating the entire place. We’ll all be sick.”

“What do you expect me to do with him?” Eve shot back. She turned her chair a bit.

He opened his eyes and saw that her friend had picked up Tori and was settling her in Eve’s lap. Maybe he hadn’t planned to get sick but he couldn’t help seeing the benefits. Eve holding Tori close while she surveyed what had to be his less than pleasing appearance.

The roommate gave a disgusted groan.

“Drag him out by his feet. I don’t care what you do with him. Just get him out.”

“Calm down,” Kylie ordered. “We’ll take him to Jack’s. If we confine him to the upstairs, no one else will catch it.”

“I’m sure we’re already exposed,” Eve reasoned.

“Bleach,” Sierra said. “Spray him down with bleach. Spray the couch with bleach.”

Eve started to laugh. The sound took him by surprise, even if he didn’t appreciate it at that particular moment.

“Who knew you were a germaphobe?” she told her friend.

“I’m not. I just enjoy good health and want to keep it that way. Could you please, please get him out of here?” She shoved the trash can at him and walked away.

Moments later he could hear water running in the kitchen.

“We need a plan,” Eve said.

“Right now?” Ethan asked. “I’m sure this is only a twenty-four-hour thing. I just need to find a place to let it run its course.”

“Tori?” she spoke softly.

“You can do this, Eve.”

“What if she gets sick, too?”

“She’s always been healthy,” he assured her. “I’m always healthy.”

“Yeah, until now. Should I call someone? Your mom? She could come up and take care of you.”

“I’m thirty-one years old, not three. I can take care of myself. And if you meant to ask my mom to come up and take care of Tori, no. Just no. She’s busy with the ranch and with the guesthouse.”

“I know.”

He shot her a look. “Call your mom and ask for help.”

“No fair.”

“Maybe not, but I don’t think you realize how much you’ve hurt them by pushing them out of your life.”

She opened her mouth and he knew she meant to deny the accusation but then she didn’t. Instead she glanced away but not before he saw a flicker of pain in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You’re not the one who has to apologize.”

He would have said more but another wave of nausea hit. She backed away from him, clearly trying to distance herself from whatever virus had him in its grip.

“Do you think you can make it to Jack’s?” Kylie West asked after a few minutes. “I called Isaac and he’s unlocking the back door. You can go upstairs and we’ll quarantine you in a room with a bathroom.”

“I can make it,” he said. “I could even rent a room if there’s one available. I don’t want to make anyone else sick.”

“I’m sure it’s too late for that!” the redheaded roommate yelled from some distant part of the house.

Eve laughed. “This is almost worth it if it means getting under Sierra’s skin.”

“Yeah, I did this just for your pleasure.” Ethan sat up. Tori grinned at him, that perfect toothless smile of hers that made him realize she was worth the trouble. This might not have been his plan, raising a child, finding Eve, but Tori was worth it. She deserved everything he could give her.

He made eye contact with his former fiancée. Tori deserved Eve. She deserved her love. She deserved her presence in her life.

“There are things you need to know.” He got the words out, past a wave of nausea. “Man, this is terrible. I haven’t had a virus like this in years. It makes me feel like I’m in grade school all over again.”

“If it makes you feel better, you don’t look like you’re in grade school. You have a little gray.” Eve touched her hair above her ear.

“Yeah, well, I’m a little older than I was the last time I saw you.”

Her smile dissolved. “What do I need to know about Tori? Although it might have been helpful if you’d given me this advice yesterday. When you took off and left her with me.”

He reached for the bottle of water the unsympathetic roommate had left on the table before she escaped. He presumed it was meant for him. She’d also left crackers.

“So?”

“There are diapers, wipes and food in my car. And a can of formula. I usually keep a bottle of water at night. It’s to help wean her from nightly feedings. Or so my mom told me.”

“This is temporary, Ethan. I’ll help you until you can get back on your feet. But then you have to leave. I can’t do this. I...” She looked down at the little girl sitting securely on her lap. Her heart was breaking. He could see it in her expression, as if she was shattered on the inside and no longer believed in her own abilities. But looking around, everything he’d seen, she was accomplished. She had survived and rebuilt her life.

Or so it appeared. Appearances could be deceiving, he knew. His little sister had suffered throughout high school, bullied and beat down by others because of a birthmark on her face. They hadn’t known until it was almost too late.

Eve’s words made him consider letting her off the hook. He could walk away, pretend she didn’t matter to him or to Tori. That would make things easier. He could go to court and tell the judge that he would be the sole provider for Tori and hope for the best.

Nowhere in his plans had he ever seen himself in this role, as a single parent. For that reason, Eve didn’t get a pass. She didn’t get to wash her hands of this and pretend it didn’t affect her.

“You can do this,” he assured her.

She didn’t look convinced. She looked frightened. And that wasn’t the Eve he’d always known. His Evie had been fearless. She’d been the kind of person who took on anyone and anything. Man, he’d missed her. He’d missed her presence more than he could possibly say.

He wondered if any of that Eve remained or if she’d completely abandoned the person he’d known. One thing was for certain, she’d been able to throw away not only a friendship but an engagement. She’d done so without giving him the opportunity to play a part in the decision-making process. That was hard to forgive.

But he would forgive her. In time. They both needed time.

Right now what he needed most was a quiet room and a bed.

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