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  The edge in his voice made her wonder if he was talking about his ex-wife. She took another bite of her sandwich, thinking about what she and Mia had talked about the other night. She had been waiting for the right time. Maybe it was now.

  “I take it you mean Lila?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Her least of all.”

  The harsh tone in his voice almost made her change her mind, but if she and Denny were moving in the direction she thought, she needed to know about his past relationship.

  “Was your marriage very difficult?”

  Denny shot her a frown. “Why do you want to know?”

  “I’m curious. Just trying to find out more about you.”

  Denny gave Ella a piece of cut-up banana Evangeline had put in a bowl for her. Then he sighed. “Lila is a part of my past I prefer not to talk about.”

  “But she’s Ella’s mother.” Evangeline kept her voice quiet. Nonthreatening. Denny’s jaw grew tight and for a moment she regretted bringing up the subject.

  “How did you meet her?” she prompted.

  Denny blew out a sigh and then leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed, his fingers beating out an irregular rhythm on his arm. “We met in a bar. I was in a bad place in my life and not living the way I should.” He stopped there, as if hoping Evangeline would give him an out, but she simply waited. Thankfully Ella was engrossed in trying to smear bananas into her mouth rather than eat them and wasn’t paying attention to either of them.

  “My parents had been dead a few years,” Denny continued, his eyes taking on a far-off look, as if delving into the past he didn’t want to discuss. “I was working myself to the bone trying to keep the ranch going, my sisters and Nate out of trouble and my uncle happy. Wasn’t doing great at any of it, but I knew I couldn’t quit. I would take off in the evenings and weekends to get away from the demands. That’s when I met Lila. She was pretty. She was interested in me. She laughed at my stupid jokes and made me feel important. Special.” He released a harsh laugh. “As if that isn’t the biggest cliché ever.” He stopped there, but Evangeline only gave Ella another piece of banana.

  “Anyhow, we...we got together.” This was followed by another sigh and Evangeline guessed what he meant by his vague phrasing. “Like I said, not a good time in my life. I was not exactly on speaking terms with God.”

  “Because of losing your parents,” she said quietly.

  He nodded. “About three months after we started dating, she told me she was pregnant. So I stepped up to my responsibilities. I married her and moved her out to the ranch. Found out she wasn’t pregnant. She’d only wanted to get married. Thought I was some rich rancher and could provide all the things she wanted. Didn’t take her long to figure out that wasn’t true. She wanted out, but I thought we should keep trying. We tried for five years.”

  He stopped there, his fingers quiet as his eyes took on a dull, sad look. “But she insisted she wanted a divorce. I tried to talk her out of it. I had returned to my faith and had made promises I had to keep. Toward the end we spent a couple of weeks...together. I’m sure that’s when she got pregnant with Ella. Then she left and next thing I knew I was being served with divorce papers. Trouble was, because we’d been married five years she was entitled to a fair amount of support. We agreed to a lump sum but I had to sell the ranch to satisfy the terms of the divorce.”

  Evangeline felt dread shiver through her. “I’m so sorry, Denny. I didn’t know.”

  “How could you?” He released another humorless laugh and put his hand on Ella’s little shoulder. Then he bent over and kissed her golden curls. “But I got Ella out of the deal. So maybe, in the end, God had it all worked out.”

  He gave her a quick look, then away. “So, now that you know the details of my sordid and chaotic past—”

  She was about to reassure him that she didn’t see it as sordid or chaotic at all. In fact, she found his devotion to the promises he made touching. Heroic.

  But a loud knocking on the door broke into the moment. The door flew open and she didn’t have an opportunity to formulate her thoughts as the sound of laughter and voices filled the porch.

  “Honey, we’re home!” one of the voices shouted from the porch.

  Female and young, Evangeline thought.

  Ella twisted in her high chair to see who was disturbing her lunch.

  “Jodie? Trista?” Denny called out, getting up from his seat as the door from the porch flew open and two girls burst into the room.

  “Hey, big brother,” the shorter girl greeted, her grin blindingly white against her tanned skin as she dropped her backpack on the floor. She wore khaki shorts, a loose gray shirt over a camo tank top and leather sandals.

  She ran over to him, her long brown hair flying behind her as she threw her arms around him. “Missed you.” She gave him a tight hug and pulled back, brushing his hair back from his face. “And you need a haircut, don’t you think, Trista?”

  The second girl, Trista, was taller, with short blond hair that stuck up in spikes of gelled hair. She was dressed identically except for a T-shirt with a picture of a yellow baby chick on a sandy beach, the words proclaiming that she was one hot chick.

  “Jodie, stop hogging Denny,” Trista said, elbowing her sister aside and planting a noisy kiss on Denny’s cheek, framing his face with her hands. “There. We’re back.”

  “I see that. So when—”

  “So this is the little munchkin,” Jodie interrupted, bending over Ella. Then, as she lifted the little girl out of the high chair, she shot Evangeline a puzzled glance. “And you are?”

  Evangeline suppressed her annoyance at Denny’s sister’s question. As if she was a stranger here when, in fact, it was her father’s house they had just invaded.

  But her manners kicked in and she stood, reaching out a hand in greeting. “I’m Evangeline Arsenau.”

  “Jodie,” the young girl said, holding out one hand, bouncing Ella in her other arm as she started to fuss. “Hey, baby. I’m your auntie,” Jodie said, looking down at the little girl with a huge grin. “And you are perfectly adorable. Don’t you think she looks exactly like Adrianna when she was a baby?” Jodie turned Ella to Trista as if showing off some prize.

  “Oh, man. Yeah.” Trista wrinkled her nose at Ella. “Hey, baby girl. Say hi to your auntie Trista.”

  Evangeline looked from the girls who had taken over the house to Denny, who stood to one side, his hands on his hips, one corner of his mouth tucked between his teeth. He took in a long breath, his shoulders lifting then lowering as he blew out a sigh. “Sorry about this,” he murmured to Evangeline. “I had given up on Jodie.”

  “Oh, never give up on me, big brother,” Jodie protested, looking up from tickling Ella under the chin. “I may be slow but I’m sure.”

  Denny didn’t say anything to that. Instead he shoved one hand through his hair and looked from Jodie to Trista. “Are you girls hungry? Do you need some lunch?”

  “That would be awesome,” Jodie said, plopping down at the table, still holding Ella, who didn’t seem to mind the sudden invasion in her life.

  “Sandwich okay?” Denny asked as he walked over to the kitchen counter.

  Trista nodded then sat beside her sister as Denny tugged the twist tie off the loaf of bread.

  “I can take care of that,” Evangeline said, taking the bag from him, surprised his sisters didn’t offer to help.

  “I don’t mind,” he said. “I’m used to it.”

  She glanced back at the girls then gently took the jar of mayonnaise out of his hand, nudging him with her elbow. “Go visit with your sisters. I’ll make some sandwiches.”

  He hesitated and she was about to nudge him again when he finally stepped back.

  “Trista doesn’t like mayo on her sandwich and Jodie doesn’t like mustard,” he murmured as Evangeline twisted the top off the jar.

  “Duly noted,” she said, giving him a quick grin.

  His lopsided smile created a gentle warmth i
n her heart. “Thanks, Evangeline. I’m sorry about the deluge. If I had known they were both coming...” He let the sentence drift off as if he wasn’t entirely sure what he would have done in that case.

  Evangeline shot a quick look over her shoulder at the two girls cooing over Ella, laughing as they bounced her up and down. “They seem to be fun-loving girls.”

  “That they are. Again, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Go visit.”

  His hand briefly lingered on her shoulder then he did as she told him, walked back to the table and dropped down in a chair by the girls.

  As Evangeline worked, her attention was drawn by the animated conversation going on behind her. She smiled as she heard them laugh as Jodie and Trista shared stories with their brother about their adventures.

  They talked about Adrianna, their other sister, about friends from back home that Jodie and Trista had run into. With each conversation and shared joke and laugh she felt increasingly edged out.

  When Evangeline set the plate of sandwiches on the table and laid the napkins beside them she got a murmured thank-you from the girls and another apologetic look from Denny as the girls returned to their storytelling.

  She put the bread away, cleaned up the ham and cheese and condiments, then wiped the counter, feeling rather out of place as she finished, not sure what she was supposed to do.

  “Hey, Evangeline, if you want to get back to your own work in town, I’m here now,” Jodie put in as Evangeline rinsed the cloth out and hung it over the sink divider to dry.

  “We were heading to the garden center,” Denny put in as Evangeline returned to the table. “To get some plants to put in the flower bed in the front of the house.”

  Jodie waved his comment off. “She doesn’t look like she’s dressed for that kind of work,” she said, looking at Evangeline’s outfit. “I’m sure you roped her into helping like you always did with us.”

  Jodie turned to Evangeline with a bright smile. “I know I was supposed to come sooner but Trista and I got a week of overtime work and now we’re done for the year. So, you don’t need to take time away from your job and work anymore.”

  Though Evangeline was sure Denny had told Jodie this before things had changed between them, she couldn’t stop the flick of hurt Jodie’s words gave her.

  However, to act differently would be to arouse suspicion.

  And Evangeline wasn’t ready to let Denny’s sisters wonder what was happening between her and Denny. She wanted to guard her changing feelings. To hold them close. She felt as if bringing them out for other’s scrutiny would diminish them.

  “Then I’ll head back to town,” she said, avoiding Denny’s disappointed look.

  “You don’t have to leave,” he protested.

  “I’ve got a bunch to do, so this works out fine,” she said. She wasn’t lying about that. She had been neglecting some of the more mundane chores in the store of late because she had been spending so much time with Denny and Ella.

  “Will I see you on Sunday?” he asked.

  His question sent expectation coursing through her.

  Her eyes met his. She nodded. “I’ll be in church,” was all she would say.

  She turned her attention back to his sisters. “It was lovely meeting you. I hope you have a nice visit with your brother.” She flashed them a quick smile, then hurried out the door before they could ask more questions.

  But as she drove away she felt as if the situation had shifted and she knew Denny’s priorities would change. That was the way it should be, but for a moment she wished his sisters had waited longer before coming.

  Denny shoved the spade into the flower bed then held the dirt aside as his sister set the lily root into the ground. After Evangeline had left, Trista had stayed behind to watch Ella while he and Jodie went to the nursery. Though he had been waiting for his sister to come to help, he was unhappy with Jodie’s timing.

  Things were shifting, changing between him and Evangeline, and he wanted to take the time to see where it would go. He didn’t want to rush things.

  His sisters’ presence would definitely put a damper on that particular plan.

  “And that’s the last of them,” Jodie said, resting back on her heels, her hands on her hips as she surveyed the newly planted flower beds. Then she glanced up at Denny as she got to her feet. “This place is looking good already. You look like you’re putting down some of your own roots for a change.”

  “Just trying to take care of the place,” Denny said as he tamped the dirt around the base of the plant.

  “Looks like you’re doing more than that,” Jodie teased, bending to pick up a shovel.

  She straightened, pushing her hair back from her face, leaving a streak of dirt on her cheek. “So. Tell me about this Evangeline chick. She anything special to you?”

  Denny kept tamping, avoiding his sister’s probing gaze. “Can you take the spades and rakes to that shed beside the barn?” he asked. “I’ve got to head out and check the fences on the upper pasture before I turn the cows loose there.”

  “She’s nothing like the girls you are usually attracted to.” Jodie’s voice held a serious note, completely at odds with her usual, ever-present humor.

  “Well, she’s nothing like Lila.”

  “I’m talking about some of the girls you dated in high school,” Jodie said, ignoring his comment about his previous wife. “The outdoorsy, fun-loving, casual country girls you hung around with.”

  “How is she different?” Denny brushed the dirt off his pants, fully aware of what Jodie was hinting at but waiting for her perspective on the situation.

  “I don’t know. She seems kind of fancy. Likes to dress nice. And that snazzy car of hers...”

  “She got it from her father,” Denny said defensively.

  “Daddy’s little girl,” Jodie said with a smirk. “That’s a tough one.”

  Denny wanted to defend Evangeline but at the same time Jodie’s words snaked into his thoughts and dug up his own insecurities about Evangeline. “She’s hardly Daddy’s girl,” he said, taking the shovels and rakes from Jodie. “He’s never around.”

  “But his money seems to be.”

  Denny leaned on the rake handle, holding Jodie’s eyes. “Why don’t you say what you want to say?”

  Jodie lifted her shoulder in a slow shrug. “I saw how you two looked at each other. I’m guessing there’s something going on between you two. But I love you, Denny. And you made a bad choice before. Make sure you don’t make another one.”

  “You think Evangeline would be a bad choice?” His voice took on an edge he instantly regretted. Jodie was just being a sister.

  Jodie held up her hand. “No. She seems awesome. But I look at her clothes and her car and those pearls around her neck and I’m thinking she’s out of your league.”

  “She’s not rich.”

  “No. I’m not saying that. But I think she’s used to things a certain way. I can’t see her living here on the ranch and enjoying it.”

  Even as Denny’s own defense of Evangeline rose to his lips, his mind skipped back to comments Andy had made about keeping his little princess happy. He thought of the bedroom in the house, the clothes Evangeline favored.

  The car she drove.

  In spite of her reaction to her father, she seemed to have no qualms about taking the gifts he gave her.

  “At least she’s been here for me,” Denny continued in her defense. “She’s done stuff for me and Ella that no one else could or would.” Implying that his sisters were lacking in the “helping” department.

  Jodie folded her arms, her eyes steady on him. Then she released a slow breath. “I’m just saying be careful. Now Ella is your first responsibility. You can’t afford to be with the wrong person.”

  Denny looked at his little sister, trying to figure out how to respond. Coming from Jodie, who never put anyone but herself first, her comment was ironic.

  But in spite of that he knew s
he was speaking the truth. Then a cry from the house reinforced what she was saying. “I’ll go see what’s wrong,” Jodie said. “You go fix your fences.”

  As Denny walked back to the shed beside the barn, he experienced a beat of resentment. Jodie was right but he felt as if he was back to putting everyone else first as he had most of his life.

  No sooner did the thought form than guilt struck at him.

  “Please forgive me, Lord,” he prayed. “I love Ella. I do. It’s just she got dropped into my life right when I wanted to be on my own. I’m still learning how to take care of her.”

  That Evangeline had come into his life at the same time was either a blessed coincidence or bad timing.

  He hooked the rakes and spades on the nails he had pounded into the wall and strode to the tack shed. He needed to get on his horse and head out. Clear his head from the second thoughts and worries tangling his mind the past few weeks.

  But as he saddled his horse, and later as he rode through the valley along the fence line, his thoughts shifted back to how Evangeline had looked that afternoon she’d brought him here to the ranch. The yearning on her face as she’d looked over the property, the longing in her voice.

  She would like it here. She did like it here. She grew up here.

  And he cared for Evangeline. He wanted to spend time with her. Then an idea came to him.

  His sisters were here now and he needed to take advantage of that.

  He was going to take Evangeline on a date. Just the two of them. No Ella. No other obligations.

  He smiled at the thought, then reached down to stroke his horse’s neck. “I think it will be all right, Chester,” he said, easing out a gentle sigh. “I think it will be just fine.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Morning, Jodie,” Denny said as he walked into the kitchen Sunday morning, buttoning up the cuff of his shirt.

  His little sister sat by the table, engrossed in one of the outdoors magazines she favored. He had always figured Jodie could live outside. She hiked, camped, rafted, canoed, skied and snowshoed whenever she could. Even the jobs she took kept her outdoors.