A Daughter for Christmas (3 page)

“I got that impression from the ones you have in your yard.”

“Yeah. The lack of flowers in the winter is one of the reasons I don't like cold weather. But it sure makes me appreciate spring. Come into the kitchen and I'll get a vase for them, then we can make the rounds and I'll introduce you to everyone.”

In the room she withdrew a crystal vase from the cabinet and arranged the flowers in it, then put them on the kitchen table. She glanced out the bay window and saw Kevin, Zachary and Doug standing near the grill talking. Jordan was nowhere to be seen.

“Can I help you with anything?”

Rachel paused in pulling the platter of steaks out of the refrigerator. She wasn't used to hearing that. When Lawrence had been alive, she had done everything for the family. And she still did now. “No, I've got things under control. My brother-in-law will grill these.” She held up the plate and shut the fridge's door with her hip. “The men immediately escaped outside on the deck. Granny, Mom and Jordan are in the den with the twins and Nicholas, my nephew. I thought you might like to join the men.”

“Are you trying to keep me away from Granny?” he asked, his mouth lifting in a lopsided grin.

“I'm trying to spare you the disappointment.”

Out on the deck Rachel handed Zachary the meat. “This is Max Connors. My brother-in-law, Zachary, and my grandmother's—friend. Doug Bateman is the one I told you lived next door to you.”

Max shook hands with first Zachary then Doug and
finally Kevin. “It's good to meet you two and to see you again, Kevin.”

After putting the steaks on the grill, Zachary set the plate down on the wooden table. “Kevin was telling us you're going into practice with him, that you'll start on Monday. What made you decide on Tallgrass? Coming from New York City, I would imagine you're going through a culture shock.”

“I haven't had time to. Still trying to get my house in order before I start work.”

Kevin slapped Max on the back. “I've warned him he'll be busy from the get-go.”

“I know what it means to move. I had to move Jordan's stuff to my home a couple of weeks ago. She hadn't even bothered to unpack all her boxes from when she came to Tallgrass in August. We're still trying to find places for her things. I'm thinking of building on to my house.” Zachary picked up the large fork to check the meat.

“How long until the steaks will be done?” Rachel asked, glad to see Max relaxing with the men.

“Ten minutes. If you need more time, I can give you an extra five.”

“No, that should be enough.” Rachel started to go back into the house.

“I can help.”

She stopped at the door and glanced at Max, who suddenly appeared right behind her. “You don't have to. You're the guest of honor.”

His gaze snagged hers. “I want to.”

His intent look snatched her breath. “Fine. I can always use an extra pair of hands.”

In the kitchen she took the plates and glasses down from the cabinet. “I've got everything done but setting the tables.”

“Tables?”

“I have my large one which sits eight and then a card table for the four kids.”

He carried the dishes toward the dining room and set the plates on each maroon place mat while Rachel came behind him and put the tumblers down. Working side by side, Rachel fell into a rhythm with Max and in ten minutes everything was laid out for dinner.

She moved away. “Thanks. I had more to do than I thought.” Angling toward him, she nearly brushed up against him. With a quick step back, she said, “If you need help unpacking tomorrow afternoon, I'm available after church.” The words tumbled from her mouth without her really considering them. But the offer felt right.

“You don't have to do that.”

“No, just like you didn't have to help me set the table. I want to. Two people are better than one. I can take items out of the box and you can put them away. It'll go twice as fast.”

An unreadable expression flashed across his face.

“I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to help.”

A slow smile transformed his neutral features. “Then I accept.”

“Good. Now I need to go get Taylor for dinner.”

“I can let the others know.”

“That would be great.”

Rachel strode to the staircase and mounted the steps. The feel of his gaze on her burned a path down her length. She chanced a peek at him when she reached the top. Their gazes connected for a brief moment before her grandmother's voice penetrated the silence. Rachel hurried down the hallway toward her daughter's room.

She eased the door open and found Taylor stretched out on her bed with her back to her. “Dinner is ready.”

“I'm not hungry.”

Rachel covered the distance to Taylor and sat beside her, laying her hand on her shoulder. “You're going to come down to dinner, and you're going to apologize to Dr. Connors. You're behavior was rude and unacceptable.”

Her daughter curled her legs up and clasped them. “I know. I was mad at Cindy.”

“Why?”

“I wanted her notes for the science test. She thinks I'm dumb. I'm not.” Taylor's voice caught on a sob. “I just have trouble sometimes. The teachers move too fast for me when they're explaining.”

“Honey, remember what we talked about yesterday. It's your call if you want to try homeschooling because if we do it I want it to be a partnership between you and me.”

Taylor twisted toward her. “I know. Let me see how school goes this week. I'm gonna try real hard to pay attention and listen.”

“Fine. Ready to come downstairs?”

“I'll be there in a sec.”

Rachel headed back to the dining room as everyone came to the table. Granny sat at the end with Doug next to her. Her mother took the chair beside her grandmother. Kevin held it out for Mom and scooted it in for her. A faint hint of color blushed her mother's cheeks, and she looked away from their family doctor. Interesting. Kevin and her mother were only a few years apart. Rachel hadn't seen her mom reacting like that since her husband left her to raise two children on her own.

Zachary and Jordan seated themselves beside each other while Max helped Rachel into the chair at the head
of the table. As he pulled out his seat, Taylor came down the stairs. Her daughter walked over to him, avoiding eye contact until he sat and peered up at her.

Taylor looked directly into his gaze and murmured, “I'm sorry about earlier,” then whirled around and quickly took her place at the card table.

Max leaned toward Rachel, his lime-scented after-shave lotion vying with the aromas of the steaks. “What did you say to her?”

“We talked about how she should behave. For the time being, she was willing to listen. Tomorrow may be a totally different day. The hard part of all this is I can remember what it was like to be thirteen.” That was the year her father walked out on the family and had left her devastated. She'd been furious at her own mother, but now she understood what it was like to raise children by herself, to make all the decisions and not know if they were correct or not.

“Understanding is the beginning of a solution.”

“I hope so because I sometimes feel I'm out of my element.”

R
achel feels out of her element?
Max shifted away from her at the dining-room table. That was exactly how he felt. He wasn't equipped to be both a mother and father to his daughter. The more he was around Rachel and Taylor, the more he realized he had to weigh his options carefully concerning what he planned to do in the long run. He wanted what was best for Taylor above all else. Right now he knew he couldn't tell anyone who he was—not while his daughter was too emotionally fragile. Did that mean he had to wait until she grew up? Did the child even know she was adopted?

The thought jolted him with the delicate balance he would have to live with in the coming days. When he had discovered he had a child, he'd wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Keeping quiet would be one of the hardest things he ever had to do. And he would for the immediate future.

After Rachel said a prayer over the meal, she began passing the food around the table. While he took a scoop full of the broccoli-cheese casserole, he peered at Taylor seated with her brothers and cousin. She cut up the pieces of meat for both Sam and Will, laughing at a
silly joke Nicholas told them. His daughter ruffled one of the twins' hair, then poured a glass full of milk for the other. Seeing her with her younger brothers nailed home how complicated the situation was, and yet he couldn't squash the yearning to be a father to her.

“Max, what do you think of Tallgrass so far?” Rachel's grandmother handed the bowl with scalloped potatoes to Doug.

“I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. Being here has brought back fond memories of those times.” Times he'd forgotten.

“So you really aren't a big-city guy?”

Rachel's voice with a lilting edge to it drew him around to look at her. “I lived in New York City for two years, but before that I was a doctor in the army. I was stationed in various places around the world, sometimes working out of a tent in a makeshift hospital in the middle of nowhere.”

“What did you do at the hospital in New York?” Rachel's mother, Eileen Masterson, asked as she cut into her steak. “Emergency medicine.”

“Then Tallgrass will be dull compared to what you're used to.” Zachary exchanged a glance with his wife.

But little did they know that was one of the reasons he'd decided to take Kevin up on his offer. He wanted normal after having years of anything but normal. He needed some kind of purpose rather than just going to work and coming home to fall asleep exhausted. “I wouldn't say the word
dull.
”

Jordan playfully punched her husband in the arm. “Look who's talking about dull. Your life has been anything but dull. Trying to ride a bucking bull for eight seconds isn't a stroll in the park.”

“I've given up my dangerous ways.” Zachary winked at Jordan.

She turned to Max. “Don't believe a word he says. I found him the other day riding a horse that wasn't thrilled about having a rider on his back.”

Max looked at Jordan. “I can't imagine being on the back of a bucking bull or horse.”

“Neither can I. That's what I keep telling my husband.”

“I think it would be fun.” Taylor speared a piece of meat and added, “Nicholas and I have talked about helping you break the horses.” Then she popped the steak into her mouth.

“No,” Rachel and Jordan said at the same time.

Max swiveled his attention from Jordan to Rachel. Her eyes huge, she went pale.

“You two don't need to worry. I won't let them. Besides, usually when you ‘break a horse,' it doesn't involve any bucking.” Zachary brought his fork to his mouth.

“I'm gathering from this conversation you live on a ranch.” Max directed the question toward Zachary, realizing there was so much he still needed to discover about his daughter's extended family. The private detective's report only covered so much.

“Yep, I raise horses, train certain ones for the rodeo circuit.”

Doug clanged his spoon against his glass. “I've got an announcement. I can't keep quiet another second.”

Max, along with everyone in the room, peered at the older man, who pushed himself to his feet and looked at Rachel's grandmother.

His next-door neighbor took Helen's hand. “We're
getting married in two weeks. I wanted to do it next week, but she wanted some time to plan her wedding.”

For a moment, silence dominated the room.

Then Taylor hopped up from her chair, came to her great-grandmother and threw her arms around her. “Granny, can I be your maid of honor?”

All at once everyone erupted into congratulations except for Rachel's mother.

She gripped the edge of the table. “But you need someone to take care of you.”

Helen stabbed a sharp look at her daughter. “I'm capable of taking care of myself. Remember I'm your mother, not your child. And yes, Taylor, you can be my maid of honor.”

“Can I be the best man?” Nicholas asked.

Doug laughed. “Why not.”

Rachel stood and raised her glass. “May you two be as happy as Lawrence and I were for many years to come.”

The wistful tone of Rachel's voice stirred a longing in Max. He quickly tamped down any emotions because he'd only come to Tallgrass to get to know his daughter. Nothing else could interfere. Especially Rachel.

“Here. Here.” Jordan clinked her tumbler against Helen's.

Making himself relax back against his chair, Max studied the excited faces of the people around him. Family. He'd forgotten what it meant to be part of one. He'd been on his own for so long and only in the past few years had joined his brother's family occasionally during a holiday. And then as now, he felt like an observer, watching but never really participating although Brendan was his sibling.

For that matter, what was it like to have a happy
marriage? His to Alicia certainly hadn't been for long. She'd made it clear she wanted something he couldn't give her.

 

“I knew Doug and Granny would get married. This is great.” Jordan took the plate from Rachel and put it in the dishwasher later that evening.

“Did you hear Mom?” Rachel grabbed a pan and rinsed it off before passing it to her sister.

“Kinda hard not to. What's she worried about, really?”

“I think being alone. When Granny moves out, she'll be by herself again.”

“Then we need to do something about it.”

Rachel stared at Jordan. “And just what do you suggest?”

“Fix her up with Kevin. Did you see how she kept looking at him and blushing?”

“No.” She'd been too busy watching Max. He'd fit right in with the family, even to the point of teasing Granny about her top-secret fudge recipe. “I don't know if that's such a good idea. Mom hasn't been interested in dating for quite a while. Just because you're deliriously happy with a man doesn't mean that'll work for someone else.”

“Who are we talking about, Mom or you?”

Heat scored Rachel's cheeks. “Mom, of course. I'm not lonely. I have three kids. I had a good marriage and can't see anyone replacing Lawrence.”

“You're young. Thirty-six. You've got a lot of years ahead of you. Years when your children will be gone.”

“Nothing's worse than a recently married woman wanting everyone around her to be the same.”

Jordan shut the dishwasher and turned it on. “What's wrong with being happy?”

“Nothing. I am.”

Her sister clasped her arms, forcing her to face Jordan. “Are you? There used to be a sparkle in your eyes. It's gone.”

Rachel wrenched free. “That's because my husband died two and a half years ago. My only goal now is to raise my children the best I can.”

“You know you can talk to me about Taylor.”

“I know. I told her about homeschooling yesterday. She's considering it.”

“It's been great for Nicholas. Becca and I coteach sometimes since we live so close now.”

“I'm glad you have Zachary's sister nearby.” Even to her own ears loneliness laced each word.

“Remember I'm not too far away. Twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes could be a long distance when she was hurting, but Rachel kept that to herself. She had her mother and grandmother living on the same street.

And Max.
That thought crept into her mind and wouldn't leave. Was it because he was a doctor like Lawrence? Taking her deceased husband's place at Tallgrass Medical Complex? No, there was something she'd glimpsed yesterday—a hint of vulnerability in his green eyes. It had been reinforced today at dinner.

She shook her head, not sure where that had come from. She'd always been good at reading people, and he gave off vibes—as if he'd been hurt in the past and the wound hadn't healed. She'd been hurt, too. Not by Lawrence but her father. She didn't even know where he was.

Rachel washed down the sink. When she turned from it, she spied Max in the doorway, studying her. That flash
of vulnerability flared for a second in his expression and vanished.

He smiled. “I thought I'd better be heading home. I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow if I'm going to start on Monday with Kevin.”

“Yeah, I'd better go round up my crew and leave, too. See you at church, Rachel.” Jordan strolled from the kitchen, glancing back over her shoulder with a small grin playing at the corners of her mouth.

Leaving her alone with Max. Rachel draped the washcloth over the sink, then closed the space between them. “Don't forget I'll be over to help you tomorrow afternoon.”

“I appreciate it.”

For half a minute, silence reigned between them. Rachel couldn't pull her gaze from his. Heat returned to flush her cheeks. She swallowed several times, trying to come up with something to say. Finally she blurted out, “Did you get the recipe from Granny yet?”

He chuckled. “Nope, but not from lack of trying. She's a tough cookie.”

“That she is. You won't be able to crack her.”

“I have the time. I could wear her down.”

“I want to be there the day she gives it to you.”

“You can have a front-row seat.”

“You seem awfully sure of yourself.”

A frown furrowed his forehead. “I was taught to make decisions and be sure of them. In some of the situations I've been in that's the only way to be.”

A lot like Lawrence had been. Decisive. In control. “Is that a prerequisite for being a doctor?”

“Especially for an emergency room one,” Max said with no inflection in his voice. He started for the foyer. “Or a doctor who serves on the front lines in a war.” At
the door he swung around. “Dinner was good. Thanks for asking me. I'll have to return the favor. I'll cook you and your family a dinner some evening.”

“That'll be a first.”

“What? Someone cooking you dinner?”

“No, a man doing it. My husband couldn't boil water. Once he had some on for tea and forgot about it and the kettle burned a ring into our stove.”

“I can assure you I can boil water.”

“What made you learn to cook?” Rachel swung the door wider as Max stepped through the threshold on to the porch, the cool, autumn breeze sending her hair dancing about her shoulders like a marionette.

“I started out because I like to eat good food, and there wasn't anyone else to cook for me except myself. Soon I realized I would relax and totally forget about my worries when I did.”

“You've never been married?”

His mouth firmed into a straight, tight line. “Once for a few years. A long time ago. It didn't work out.”

He might as well have said, “And the subject isn't up for discussion,” which only aroused her curiosity. “I'm sorry,” she murmured before she really thought what she was saying.

“Why?”

“Marriage can be a good thing. I was married for thirteen wonderful years to a kind man. I hate to see when others don't get to have what I did.” It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She immediately thought of her mother and her marriage to Rachel's dad. She could still remember the yelling the day her father had stomped away from the house and never come back. Maybe she should try to fix Mom up with Kevin. He was a nice man who could make her happy, feel loved. For that matter,
maybe there was someone she could think of to set Max up with a date.

“From what I saw it isn't all it's cracked up to be.”

“You just didn't find the right person.” There was Carrie Peterson. She might be a good match for Max. No, she worked thirteen-hour days.

“That's all right. I'm not looking. See you tomorrow.” He grinned, tipped his head and left.

She closed the door and leaned back against it. Maybe Anne would be right for Max. Heading back to the den, Rachel frowned. No, Anne loved to flirt but didn't want to get serious about any man.

She'd sleep on it and take a look at some of the women she knew at church. Surely there was someone who would be perfect for him.

 

But by Sunday afternoon as she crossed the street to Max's house, Rachel had nixed every woman she'd come up with. Jordan might want to play matchmaker, even Granny, but she didn't. She would be his friend, help him get acclimated to Tallgrass, but he would have to take care of his own dates.

He answered his door within a few seconds. “You're a sight for sore eyes. I didn't realize I had so many possessions. I didn't have much in the army and I've only been out two years.” Stepping to the side, he waved her into his house. “I'm working in the den.”

When she entered the room slightly behind him, she came to a stop. Stacked cartons surrounded what little furniture there was—a couch, a lounger and two end tables. “What are in these boxes?”

“Books. Did I tell you I love books?”

“No. Medical ones?”

“Some. That's how I would escape in my off hours
on base. I would read everything I could get my hands on.” He gestured toward the built-in bookcases on three walls. “Those are one reason I bought the house.”