Light the Stars

Chapter Two

Hot on Wade Dalton’s worn boots, Caroline had a quick impression of a large, old-fashioned kitchen painted a sunny yellow with a professional-looking six-burner stove, long breakfast bar and at least eight bow-backed chairs snugged up against a massive, scarred pine table.

She imagined under other circumstances it would be a pleasant, welcoming space, but just now the room was thick with black smoke and the acrid smell of scorched paper and something sickly sweet.

Flames shot up from the stove and she quickly realized why—a roll of paper towels was ablaze next to the gas burner and already flames were scorching up the cabinets.

Even more worrisome, the older of Wade Dalton’s sons was standing on a chair he must have pulled up to the stove and his SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas were perilously close to the small fire.

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” the boy sniffled.

“Get down right now!” Wade yelled in that no-argument parental tone reserved for situations like this.

Though she sensed the rancher’s harshness stemmed from fear for his son’s safety, his words and tone still seemed to devastate the boy into inaction. He froze on his precarious perch until his father had to lift him off the chair and set him on the floor so he could get close enough to assess the cabinets.

Wade picked up the burning mess of towels and dropped them into the sink then returned to survey the damage.

Still, the boy didn’t move, standing as if he didn’t quite know what was happening. He looked ill, almost shocky, and he stood directly in Wade Dalton’s path.

This wasn’t any of her business, Caroline reminded herself. Even as she thought it, she found herself moving toward the distraught little boy.

What was his name? Tucker? Taylor? Tanner. That was it. “Tanner, why don’t we get out of your daddy’s way and let him take care of things here, okay?”

He looked at her blankly for a moment, then slipped his hand in hers and let Caroline lead him from the room. She took him into the great room where his little brother was still busy with his trucks, unaffected by the drama playing out in the other room.

She was going to ask if he had a favorite television show she could find for him as a distraction when she noticed his left hand pressed tightly to his pajama top.

A grim suspicion seized her and she leaned down. “Tanner, can I take a look at your hand? Are you hurt?”

His chin wobbled for a moment, then he nodded slowly and pulled his hand away from his chest. He made a small sound of distress when he spread out his fingers—and no wonder.

Caroline gasped at the angry, blistering red splotch covering his palm, roughly twice the size of a quarter. “Oh, honey!”

Her reaction seemed to open the floodgates of emotion. Tears pooled in his huge blue eyes and rolled over pale cheeks. “I didn’t mean to start a fire. I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to roast marshmallows like me and Nat and Grandma did with Uncle Seth when we went campin’. Do you think my daddy will be mad at me?”

She thought that was a pretty good bet. Wade Dalton seemed mad at the entire world, as a matter of course. How would he treat his son, angry or not? That was the important thing.

“I’m sure he’ll just be worried about you,” she assured Tanner, though she wasn’t at all convinced of that herself.

“He’s gonna be so mad. I’m not supposed to be in the kitchen by myself.” His tears were coming faster now and she knew she had to do something quick to head them off or he would soon be in hysterics. Action seemed the best antidote.

“Let’s just get your hurt taken care of and then we’ll worry about your dad, okay?”

He nodded and Caroline thought quickly back to her thin and purely basic knowledge of first aid.

“We need to put some cold water on that,” she told Tanner, her mind trying to dredge old lessons she’d learned as a girl. “Do you think you can show me a bathroom?”

“Yeah. There’s one right through those doors.”

She led him there quickly and filled the sink with cold water, then grasped his wrist and immersed it in the sink, though he wasn’t keen on the idea.

“I don’t want to,” he said, sniffling. “It hurts.”

“I know, honey. I’m sorry to make you hurt more but this way we can be sure the burn stops.”

“Tannoh owie?”

Caroline looked down and found the youngest one had followed them into the small bathroom. Within fifteen seconds, she wasn’t sure what held more interest to him—his brother’s owie or the lid of the toilet, which he repeatedly flipped up and down with a nerve-racking clatter each time.

Her repertoire of distractions was severely limited but she thought maybe she could tell him a story or something, just to keep him away from the toilet and away from his brother.

“Hey, kiddo,” she began.

“His name is Cody,” Tanner informed her, his sniffles momentarily subsiding. “He’s two and I’m five. I just had a birthday.”

“Five is a fun age,” she started, but her words were cut off by a loud and angry voice from outside the room.

“Tanner Michael Dalton! Where are you? Get in here and help me clean up the mess you made!”

Caroline took an instinctive step closer to the boy. What a disagreeable man, she thought, until she remembered that he likely knew nothing about his son’s injuries.

“We’re in the bathroom,” she called down the hall. “Do you think you could come in here for a moment?”

Silence met her request for a full five seconds, then Wade spoke in an annoyed-sounding voice. “What is it? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

Suddenly there he was in the doorway, two hundred pounds of angry male looking extremely put-upon, as if she’d pulled him away from saving the world to ask his opinion on what shade of lipstick to use.

This was his own son and she wouldn’t let him make her feel guilty for her compassion toward the boy. Caroline tilted her chin up and faced him down.

“We’re in the middle of something, too. Something I think you’re going to want to see.”

He squeezed into a bathroom that had barely held Caroline and two young boys. Throw in a large, gorgeous, angry rancher and the room seemed to shrink to the size of a tissue box.

“What is it?” he asked.

She pointed to Tanner’s soaking hand, a vivid, angry red, and watched the boy’s father blanch.

He hissed an oath, something she gauged by Tanner’s surprised reaction wasn’t something the boy normally heard from his father.

She had to admit, the shock and concern on Wade’s features went a long way toward making her more sympathetic toward him.

“Tanner!” he exclaimed. “You burned yourself?”

“It was an accident, Daddy.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

Tanner shrugged his narrow shoulders. “I was trying to be a big boy, not a b-baby.”

The sympathy from his father was apparently more than Tanner’s remarkable composure could withstand. The boy’s sniffles suddenly turned to wails.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I won’t, I promise. It hurts a lot.”

Wade picked up his son and held him against his broad, denim-covered chest. “Okay, honey. Okay. We’ll take care of it, I promise. We’ll find your Uncle Jake and he’ll fix you right up.”

Cody looked from his crying brother to their father’s obvious concern and started wailing, from fear or just sympathy, Caroline wasn’t sure. Soon the small bathroom echoed with loud sobs.

After a moment of that, Wade’s eyes started to look panicky, like he’d just found himself trapped in a cage of snakes—except she had the feeling he would have preferred the snakes to two bawling kids.

Finally Caroline took pity on him and picked up the crying toddler. He was heavier than she expected, a solid little person in a Spider-Man shirt. “You’re okay, sweetie. Your brother just has an owie.”

The curly blond cherub wiped his nose with his forefinger. “Tan-noh owie.”

“Yep. But he’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Uncle Jake will make it all better,” Wade said, a kind of desperate hope in his voice. “Come on, let’s go find him.”

He led the way out of the room. Once free of the bathroom’s confining space, Caroline could finally make her brain function again. She considered the ability to once more take a breath a nice bonus.

Wade carried Tanner toward the front door and she followed with the younger boy in her arms.

“Look, you’re going to have enough on your hands at the clinic,” she said. “Why don’t I stay here with Cody while you take care of Tanner?”

It took a second for Wade’s attention to shift from his injured son to her, something she found rather touching—until she saw suspicion bloom on his features.

“No. He can come with us to the clinic.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind watching him for you.”

She didn’t need to hear his answer—the renewed animosity in his eyes was answer enough. “Lady, I don’t know you from Adam,” he snapped. “I’m not leaving my son here with you.”

“Would you like me to come with you and then watch him in the clinic while you’re occupied with Tanner’s hand?”

He frowned, obviously annoyed by her persistence. Good heavens, did he think she was going to kidnap the child?

“No. He’s fine with me. I’m sure there’s somebody in Jake’s office who could watch Cody while we’re in the exam room.”

With Tanner in one arm, he scooped up the toddler in the other and carried both boys out the door, toward a huge mud-covered silver pickup truck parked in the circular driveway.

Not sure what to do next, Caroline stood on the broad porch of the ranch house and watched as he strapped both boys into the truck. Wade seemed to have forgotten her very existence. In fact, a moment later he climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away without once looking back at the house.

Now that the first adrenaline surge from the fire and dealing with Tanner’s burn had passed, Caroline was aware of a bone-deep exhaustion. She had almost forgotten her long night of traveling and the worry over Quinn’s whirlwind romance with one of her clients. Now, as she stood alone on the ranch house porch with a cool October wind teasing the ends of her hair, everything came rushing back.

Since she was apparently too late to stop her father from eloping with Marjorie, she should probably just drive her rental back to the airport and catch the quickest flight to California.

On the other hand, that kitchen was still a mess, she was sure. She could scrub down the smoke-damaged kitchen while Wade was gone, perhaps even fix a warm meal for their return.

It was the least she could do, really. None of this would have happened if her father hadn’t run off with Marjorie.

She wasn’t breaking her vow, Caroline told herself as she walked back into the house and shut the cool fall air behind her. She wasn’t cleaning up after her father’s messes, something she had sworn never to do again. She was only helping out a man who had his hands full.

She tried to tell herself she wasn’t splitting hairs, but even as she went back into the smoke-damaged kitchen and rolled up her sleeves, she wasn’t quite convinced.

“There you go, partner. Now you’ve got the mummy claw of death to scare Nat with when she comes home from school.”

Tanner giggled at his uncle Jake and moved his gauze-wrapped hand experimentally. “It still hurts,” he complained.

“Sorry, kid.” Jake squeezed his shoulder. “I can give you some medicine so it won’t hurt quite so bad. But when you try to put out a fire all by yourself, sometimes you get battle scars. Next time call your dad right away.”

“There won’t be a next time. Right, Tanner?” Wade said sternly. “You’ve learned your lesson about roasting marshmallows—or anything else—by yourself.”

Tanner sighed. “I guess. I don’t like havin’ a burn.”

Jake straightened. “You were really brave while I was looking at it. I was proud of you, bud. Now you have to be a big kid and make sure you take care of it right. You can’t get the bandage wet and you have to try to keep it as clean as you can, okay? Listen to your dad and do what he says.”

“Okay.” Tanner wiggled off the exam bench. “Can I go ask Carol for my sucker now?”

“Sure. Tell her a big brave kid like you deserves two suckers.”

“And a sticker?”

Jake hammed a put-upon sigh. “I guess.”

Tanner raised his bandaged hand into the air with delight then rushed out of the exam room, leaving Wade alone with his younger brother.

Unlike old Doc Jorgensen who had run the clinic when they were kids—with his gnarled hands and breath that always smelled of the spearmint toothpicks he chewed—Jake didn’t wear a white lab coat in the office. The stethoscope around his neck and the shirt pocket full of tongue depressors gave him away, though.

Wade watched his brother type a few things onto a slender laptop computer—notes for Tanner’s chart—and wondered how the little pest in hand-me-down boots and a too-big cowboy hat who used to follow him around the ranch when they were kids had grown into this confident, competent physician.

This wasn’t a life Wade would have chosen, either for himself or for his brother, but he had always known Jake hadn’t been destined to stay on the ranch. His middle brother was three years younger than he was and, as long as Wade could remember, Jake had carried big dreams inside himself.

He had always read everything he could find and had rarely been without a book in his hand. Whether they’d been waiting at the end of the long drive for the school bus or taking a five minute break from fixing fence lines, Jake had filled every spare moment with learning.

Wade had powerful memories of going on roundup more than once with Jake when his brother would look for strays with one eye and keep the other on the book he’d held.

He loved him. He just never claimed to understand him.

But there was not one second when he’d been anything less than proud of Jake for his drive and determination, for the compassion and caring he showed to the people of Pine Gulch, and for coming home instead of putting his medical skills to work somewhere more lucrative.

After another few seconds of pounding the keys, Jake closed his laptop.

“Well, I’d tell you happy birthday but it sounds like it’s a little too late for that.”

Wade made a face. “You can say that again. It’s been a hell of a day.”

“And just think, it’s only noon. Who knows what other fun might be in store.”

Wade sighed heavily. Noon already and he hadn’t done a damn thing all day. He had a million things to do and now he had a little wounded firefighter who couldn’t get his bandage dirty to think about.

His mother ought to be here, blast her. He was no good at the nurturing, sympathy thing. Did she ever stop to consider one of the kids might need her to shower kisses and sympathy?

“So what do you suggest we do about Mom?” he asked.

Jake leaned a hip against the exam table, and Wade thought again how he seemed to fit here in this medical clinic, in a way he’d never managed at the Cold Creek.

“What can we do? Sounds like the deed is done.”

“We don’t have to like it, though.”

“I don’t know. She’s been alone a long time. It’s been eighteen years since Hank died and even before that, her life with our dear departed father couldn’t have been all roses. If this Montgomery guy makes her happy, I think we should stand behind her.”

He stared at his brother. The finest education didn’t do a man much good if he lost all common sense. “What do you mean, stand behind her? She doesn’t even know the guy! How can we possibly support her eloping with a man she’s only corresponded with through e-mail and clandestine phone calls? And what kind of slimy bastard runs off with a woman he’s never seen in person? He’s got to be working some kind of scam. He and the daughter are in it together.”

“You don’t know that.”

“They’ve got to be. She trolls for unhappy older women through this life-coaching baloney, finds a vulnerable target like Mom, and then he steps in and charms them out of everything they’ve got.”

“You’re such a romantic,” Jake said dryly.

“I don’t have time to be a romantic, damn it. I’ve got a national television crew coming to the ranch in six days. How can I possibly get ready for this video shoot when I’ve got three kids underfoot every second?”

“You could always cancel it.”

He glowered at Jake. “You’re not helping.”

“Why not? It’s just a video shoot.”

“Just a video shoot I’ve been working toward for almost a year! This is huge publicity for the ranch. We’re one of only a handful of cattle operations in the country using this high-tech data-collection chip on our stock. You know how much of an investment it was for us but it’s all part of our strategy of moving the ranch onto the industry’s cutting edge. To be recognized for that right now is a big step for the Cold Creek. I don’t know why Mom couldn’t have scheduled her big rendezvous after the news crew finished.”

“So what will you do with the kids?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out. You’re the smart one. Any suggestions?”

“You could hire a temporary nanny, just until after the video shoot is over. Didn’t Mom’s note say she’d be back in a week?”

He started to answer but stopped when he heard Cody wailing from the reception area, something about a “stick-oh.”

Wade sighed and headed toward the sound, Jake right behind him.

“Right. A week. Let’s hope I’m still sane by then.”

Cody fell asleep on the six-mile drive from Jake’s clinic in Pine Gulch to Cold Creek Ranch. Tanner, jacked up by the excitement of the morning and probably still running on adrenaline, kept up a steady stream of conversation that didn’t give Wade a minute to think about what he was going to do.

Tanner didn’t even stop his running commentary during the phone call Wade took on his cell from Seth, who informed him glumly that the shop in Rexburg wouldn’t have the part they needed for the baler until the next day. Without it, they wouldn’t be able to bring the hay in, which meant they might lose the whole damn crop to the rain.

“I’m almost home. I’ll get the boys some lunch and then try to come down and see if we can jury-rig something until tomorrow.”

The clouds continued to boil and churn overhead as he drove under the arch that read Cold Creek Land and Cattle Company, and Wade could feel bony fingers of tension dig into his shoulders.

Sometimes he hated the responsibility that came from being the one in charge. He hated knowing he held the livelihood of his own family and those of three other men in his hands, that his every decision could make or break the ranch.

He couldn’t just take a week off and play Mr. Mom. Too much depended on him meeting his responsibilities, especially right now.

But who could he ask for help? His mind went through everyone he could think of among their neighbors and friends.

His wife’s family had sold their ranch a year ago and her parents were serving in South America as missionaries for their church.

Viviana Cruz was the next logical choice. She owned the small ranch that adjoined the Cold Creek to the west and was his mother’s best friend as well as a sort of surrogate grandmother to his kids. Unfortunately, she had left the week before to spend some time with her daughter in Arizona before Maggie’s national guard unit shipped off to Afghanistan.

He couldn’t think of anyone else, off the top of his head. Everyone who came to mind was either busy with their own ranch or their own kids or already had a job.

Seth knew every female with a pulse in a fifty-mile radius. Maybe his brother could think of somebody in his vast network who might be suitable to help with the kids for a week. Though it didn’t really have to be a woman, he supposed as he pulled up to the back door of the ranch house.

“Can I watch TV?” Tanner asked when Wade unhooked him from his booster seat.

“Sure. Just no soap operas.”

He grinned at the wrinkled-up face Tanner made. “Yuck,” the boy exclaimed. “I hate those shows. Grandma watches them sometimes but they’re so boring!”

By that, Wade assumed he didn’t have to worry about Tanner developing a deep and abiding love for drama in the afternoons.

His injury apparently forgotten for now, Tanner skipped up the steps and into the house, leaving Wade to carefully unhook the sleeping Cody and heft him to his shoulder, holding his breath that he could keep the boy sleep. Cody murmured something unintelligible then burrowed closer.

So far so good, Wade thought as he went inside and headed straight up the back stairs to Cody’s bedroom.

This was always the tricky part, putting him into his bed without disturbing him enough to wake him. He held his breath and lowered him to the crib mattress.

Cody arched a little and slid toward the top edge, where he liked to sleep, but didn’t open his eyes. After a breathless moment, Wade covered him with his Bob the Builder quilt, then returned downstairs to find Tanner and figure something out for lunch.

He found Tanner in the great room with the TV on, the volume turned low.

“Can you even hear that?” Wade asked.

Tanner answered by putting a finger to his mouth. “Quiet, Daddy. You’ll wake up the lady.”

Wade frowned. “What lady?”

Tanner pointed to the other couch, just out of his field of vision. Wade moved forward for a better view and stared at the sight of Caroline Montgomery curled up on his couch, her shoes off and her lovely features still and peaceful.

Looked like she had made herself right at home in his absence.

He wasn’t sure why the discovery should send this hot beam of fury through him, but he couldn’t stop it any more than he could control those clouds gathering outside.