The Rancher's Homecoming

“Not today, Mrs. Lightner. Has Bodie had her bottle?”

“She has, as well as a bath and a fresh diaper. I was just about to dress her when I heard you come in.”

“That’s wonderful. You’re a blessing, Mrs. Lightner. Would you finish dressing her for me?”

The elderly woman frowned, her brows meeting behind her large, thick glasses. Rex figured he knew what the problem must be. He set down the boxes.

“Are you the Mrs. Lightner who used to teach me in Sunday school and give my sisters Meredith and Ann piano lessons?”

Those eyebrows went up. “Meredith and Ann? You must be Rex Billings.”

“That’s right.” Smiling, he stepped up onto the landing and hugged the woman. “I wasn’t sure at first, ma’am. I thought you were older.”

Tittering and fluffing her hair, she actually blushed. “Really?”

“You know how it is,” he said, grinning at her. “Kids think anyone over twenty is ancient. You couldn’t have been much older than thirty back then.” She’d been fifty if she’d been a day, but he’d learned to schmooze at the best law firm in Tulsa.

“Oh, go on,” Mrs. Lightner said with a giggle. “You always were a scamp.”

“I suppose I was,” he admitted good-naturedly. “I’m glad to see you, though. I’ll be sure to tell Dad.”

She sobered then. “How is Wes? I heard he wasn’t doing too well.”

Rex nodded. “It’s been tough. The surgery was hard on him, but my sisters and I are going to take good care of him.”

“You tell him I’m praying for him.”

“Yes, ma’am. We appreciate that.”

“I’ll be in to take over in a just a moment, Mrs. Lightner,” Callie said. Then she crooked her finger at Rex again. “This way.”

Mrs. Lightner still frowned, but she went off to dress Bodie while Rex picked up the boxes and followed Callie into another room. The place had a faded, girlish feel about it. Callie wasted no time packing her belongings quickly and efficiently. Within minutes, Rex began carting boxes and bundles of clothing down to the truck. He returned to find Mrs. Lightner standing in the doorway, the baby in her arms and a thunderous expression on her face.

“What on earth is going on here?”

“Didn’t I say?” Callie replied smoothly, never slowing her movements. “Mr. Billings needs my help until his daughters arrive.”

Sensing a battle on the horizon, Rex quickly surveyed the field and decided on a course of action. Sliding past Mrs. Lightner, he took a quick glance at the baby and carried the suitcases that Callie had packed downstairs. He heard the argument erupt behind him.

“You can’t do that!”

“But I must, Mrs. Lightner. Wes Billings desperately needs help.”

Rex didn’t linger to hear more. The sooner he got Callie Deviner out of there and to the ranch, the better for all concerned. He returned to find Callie in the nursery tossing baby things into a box while Mrs. Lightner rocked a babbling pink bundle who seemed determined to snatch glasses from teary eyes.

“I’m sure you know what you’re doing,” Mrs. Lightner said in a tone that clearly indicated the very opposite.

“We’ll be fine,” Callie promised, closing the box. “Thank you for your concern.” She glanced up at Rex then, sliding the box across the carpet toward him. “We really have to go.”

“Yes, I don’t want to leave Dad any longer than I must,” he stated honestly. “One of the ladies from church is sitting with him, but she has to leave soon.”

Callie slid another box toward him, then shouldered an overstuffed diaper bag and stood, turning to the rocking chair. Mrs. Lightner sighed as Callie gathered the baby into her arms. Dipping, Callie snagged the top of a large plastic bag of disposable diapers.

Rex stacked and picked up the boxes. They felt surprisingly light, so he took the diapers from Callie.

“If you’ve got all that,” she said, “I can grab the car seat from the closet downstairs.”

“What about the rest of these things?” he asked, nodding at the elaborate stroller and the padded playpen, the changing table and canopied baby bed.

“Leave them,” Callie instructed briskly.

He didn’t have to be told twice. “Okay, then. Let’s move.”

Within minutes they were packed into the truck, and Callie was hugging Mrs. Lightner in the driveway.

“Go on home now, Mrs. Lightner,” he heard her say, “and thanks again for everything.”

“But your father...” Mrs. Lightner said.

“Don’t worry. Just head on home.”

As they backed out of the driveway, Rex couldn’t help asking, “Everything okay?”

Callie smiled and glanced over her shoulder at the baby before settling into her seat with a satisfied sigh. “It is now.”

Rex wondered why she seemed so anxious to take this job, but he was too glad of the help to care. The sooner his dad was on the mend, the sooner he could get back to his real life. The sooner everyone could get back to their real lives, him, his sisters, their dad, even Callie Deviner.

Hiring the daughter of the wealthiest man in War Bonnet as a cook and housekeeper did seem odd, but Rex didn’t really care what the pretty little widow’s reasons were for taking this job. He had to give her this: she was a decisive woman, and she traveled light and fast.

He could’ve done worse. Casually looking over at her, he smiled.

Oh, yes. He could have done much worse.

Chapter Two (#ulink_17c30a1f-c658-5a2f-83e8-164b0ed23ce3)

Wes greeted Callie and her little daughter, Bodie, with the brightest smile Rex had seen in weeks.

“I’m tickled pink to be here,” Callie told him. “You just don’t know. Now, I’m going to get the baby down for a nap, clean that kitchen floor and start on your lunch.”

“Ah, I don’t have much appetite,” Wes said, picking at the coverlet on his bed.

“Listen, you,” Callie threatened teasingly, “I have your wife’s recipe for pimento cheese, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’m counting on there still being jars of the pimentos she put up in the pantry.”

Wes’s eyes filled with tears as he beamed. “I never knew what to do with them.”

“Need any help getting dressed and to the table?” she asked, patting Wes on the shoulder.

Rex knew his father hadn’t been out of his pajamas since he’d come home from the hospital.