Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) (27 page)

“Good to see you, little brother,” Tom said. They did the man hug that started as a handshake and ended with a slap on the back.

“You’re never going to let me live down those five minutes. Sarah, you’re as beautiful as ever,” Ian said to his sister-in-law when the slim, well-maintained redhead got out of the car. The backdoors flew open and the seven-year-old twins leaped at Ian, nearly knocking him down. After giving his niece and nephew hugs, Ian reached for Colette’s hand and pulled her forward. “I’d like you to meet Colette Peterson. Colette, my brother Tom, his wife Sarah, and Ella and Nick.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Colette shook hands with the adults before introducing the children to each other. “Melissa, show Ella and Nick to their rooms. Hope you’re all ready for some fun on the farm.” The kids ran off to the house and Colette turned her attention back to the adults. “Ian said you were identical. I guess I should have been prepared to see double.”

“Eerie, isn’t it? You’d think as they got older they’d look less alike. They look more,” Sarah explained while her eyes skimmed over the barns and house. “This is quite the place. Does it belong to you?”

“I inherited it from my grandparents. Would you like a quick tour?”

“I love old houses. We have to make the noon ferry to the island, but could I just peek?”

“Of course, come with me.” Colette led Sarah on the brick path from the driveway to the front door.

When the women were out of earshot, Tom turned to Ian with a raised eyebrow and smirk. “So that’s Colette and you appear to be living here with her. Interesting.”

He winced at his brother’s lawyerly tone. “I still have a place in Boyne for now, but I spend most of my time here. I’ll go on the road to finish my interviews, then I’ll see if I’m staying or not.”

“You mean if she’s kicking your ass out or not when she finds out who our father is.”

“Yeah, something like that. You told Sarah not to comment about the picture with Dad in it, right?”
 

“She won’t say anything to blow your cover, but you better tell Colette the truth soon.” Tom enunciated the last word to drive his point home.

“I know.” The truth was, he’d spent a lot of time lately figuring out how to phrase his confession. He was a lot better with pictures than words, but no picture was going to convey this. “What the hell was I thinking, Tom? I should’ve known not to make a deal with Dad. He’s been screwing everything up for us for years.”

“You were thinking that he might love us or at least accept us for who we are. It’s not like we’re a couple of bums. Maybe that’s what pisses him off. We don’t need him. He thought you needed him or at least his money, but your book deal eliminates that. Congratulations by the way.”

“Thanks, I just hope I don’t lose Colette over this situation with Dad. I don’t know what I’d do then. What if he comes here or contacts her? I’m screwed.”

“Without Dad, you wouldn’t have met her in the first place, so be thankful there. But didn’t I advise you to be honest with her weeks ago?”

“Yeah. I just couldn’t look at her face and tell her I’d intentionally deceived her.”

“Well, you don’t have to spin it that way,” Tom commented.

“What?” Ian blustered, genuinely surprised.
 

“You’ll have to tell her something.” Tom thought for a minute. “Just tell her you came to do a job and decided she was more important. Women like that stuff. Juries too.”

“Wow, Tom…”

“What? It’s true, isn’t it?” Tom raised his hands, palms up, like he was speaking to a jury. “Have you at least figured out why Dad wants this property so much or why he’s in that photo?”

“No, I asked when I was in Chicago, but he just roared at me. You know what that’s like.”

“Too well.” Melissa and Ella burst from the house and sprinted away to one of the barns hand in hand. “I guess Ella’s made herself at home. Thanks again for taking them.” Colette and Sarah came out of the house. With a slight nod of his head, Tom indicated the women. “If Colette doesn’t kill you or dump you, think you would marry her?”

“I might. Yeah.” It was the first time Ian had confirmed it out loud. He’d thought it, even had the conversation with Jade about the ring, but now he said it. For a moment, the knot in his gut unclenched and happiness flowed through him. He caught her eye and surprised her with a smile.

“Good for you. You deserve to be happy. If she makes you happy, go for it.”

“Okay, camp counselor, what activity is first?” Ian asked her when his brother’s car disappeared at the end of the driveway. “I have no idea what to do.” Ian fiddled with the camera he’d grabbed.

“Is that panic I hear, Kroft?” She tapped his camera. “Planning to hide behind the lens?”

“Yeah. I’ve never been in charge of this many kids before. I hope like hell you have a plan.”

“I figure they’ll run around like maniacs for the first hour in an attempt to see the whole farm. We’ll have lunch and see what they want to do this afternoon.” Colette took his arm and steered him toward the barn where the mooing of a cow mixed with the high-pitched laughter of children. “Who wants to meet my animals?” Colette called in her soothing tones at the door of the barn. “First, some basic rules. No loud noises, no screaming, and no running in the barn. The animals will get scared. Everybody got that?” She wore a mock serious expression as each child nodded at her. “Good, let’s start the introductions.”

Colette took the children—sometimes as a whole group and sometimes individually—to meet the different animals. Ian soon forgot to worry as he snapped picture after picture of Colette and the kids. While he worked, an idea took shape in his head: he had a friend at the
Chicago Tribune
who he might convince to run a feature on Colette and her rescue center. Ian could supply the pictures and most of the story. A piece like that would bring in some serious donations. Soon as he got the chance, he needed to make a phone call.

“Uncle Ian, catch me,” Nick yelled as he sprinted by Ian on the rocky shore of the lake. Ian chased his nephew, pretending to almost catch him time and time again. The other kids got in on the action and Ian decided chasing children was the new training method for marathon runners. He finally collapsed on the rocks, breathing hard. Thank God he only had four of them with him.
 

Little Connor, exhausted by the morning in the barn, climbed up in Colette’s lap as she sat on the porch swing after lunch and fell asleep. Ian got the bigger kids away from the house so Connor could nap. The image of Colette gently rocking the four-year-old kept coming back to him as he lay by the shore staring up at the blue sky. He wanted Colette to kiss the soft hair of his child as he’d seen her do to Connor. He thought back to Tom’s question about marriage, and suddenly it seemed so possible.

“There you are.” Colette carried Connor on her back. “I followed the sound of screaming.” She swung Connor down. “Are you ready to go play? Stay away from the water. No closer than you are tall. Got it?” Connor nodded and dashed off after the other kids who were playing some version of freeze tag. Colette sat down on the rocks next to Ian. “Think they’ll calm down tomorrow?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t have if I had the chance to be on a farm at that age. Tom and I would have run nonstop.” Ian scooted over to put his head in Colette’s lap and look up at her.

“Lexy, Adrien, and I did run wild out here. It was a great way to grow up. I want the same for my kids.”

He gave her a long look. “Are you sharing those kids with anyone in particular?”

“Maybe,” she stroked his hair away from his face, “if someone good comes along.” The turned-up corner of her mouth indicated the smile she was trying to hide. “Jamie, throw rocks in the water, not at your sister,” she yelled.

“I made a phone call today that may piss you off,” he said quietly and quickly, before he could chicken out.

“Oh? Who’d you call?”

“A friend of mine who’s an editor at the
Chicago Tribune
. I asked him to run a feature on you and the rescue center. It would be more photos than copy, but it would give you some great publicity just in time for your event.”

“In time? We’ve only got a week left.”

“The story will run on Wednesday. I have to send the photos and copy by Sunday night and he might call to interview you on Monday.” He glanced over at her; her gaze remained on the children, but her body tensed.
 

But before he could say anymore to defend himself, she swooped down to kiss him loudly on the lips. “I’m not in trouble?” he ventured.

“Oh, you’re in trouble for not asking me first, but this is a really great thing! Thank you!”

He sat up to see her face better. Maybe telling her the whole truth now wouldn’t be so bad…She might understand his situation. She certainly understood family. Maybe she’d understand his need for atonement with his father and his motivation for working with him. “Colette, I need to….”

“Aunt Collie, watch me,” Jamie called before attempting a leap between two large rocks. His jump was short and he crashed onto the loose stone between the rocks. Colette scrambled to her feet and ran the short distance to Jamie to assess the damage. In a moment, he was running again with the other kids and Colette returned to Ian.

“What were you going to say?” She was still breathing heavy and the color was high in her golden cheeks. It made her more beautiful than ever.

“Nothing, it’ll wait,” he said, glad for the reprieve. Glad not to screw this up yet.

“We better get these kids back to the house for dinner. Then, I have a movie and popcorn for the evening entertainment. If we’re real lucky, everyone will be asleep by ten.”

“You’re good at this kid thing,” he commented.

“You’re doing all right yourself.”
 

“What we doin’ today, Aunt Collie?” Nick asked over a short stack of pancakes on Saturday morning. Ella and Nick called her “Aunt Collie” like the other kids were calling Ian, “Uncle Ian.” In kid logic, they must be a pair. It made her blush every time they did it. “We’re going to pick peaches this morning.” She announced it like someone was winning a prize.