Mirror Image Bride

“I need to know what you expect, what my duties will entail. I have never done this before.”

He looked exasperated. “That much was obvious when Violet first suggested the arrangement. Mainly watch Darcy—keep her safe and give her something to do.”

“And fix the meals.”

He quirked a brow. “That a problem?”

“No. Not at all. I like to cook. I imagine you like plain food.”

“As compared to what?” he asked, watching her warily.

“Cordon bleu.”

“Can you cook like that?”

She grinned and shook her head. “No, but I can make some fancy stuff.”

Darcy watched the exchange with wide eyes.

“Plain wholesome foods and plenty of it,” he said.

“Ummm. Do you ever cook out back?” She’d caught a glimpse of a grill when she’d passed the window over the sink a few minutes ago.

“Most of the summer that’s what I do if I don’t eat with the men—steaks, mostly.”

Figured, working on a cattle ranch.

Once the meal was finished, Ty surprised Maddie by clearing his dish and cup, putting them in the sink.

He lifted his cowboy hat off a peg and plopped it on. He walked toward the back door. “I have chores to do.” He opened the door and turned to look at her. “Tell Violet if you need anything. She knows how to reach me on the range.”

Maddie swallowed hard and nodded. He intimidated her. There were no two ways about it. But his daughter was adorable. Her straight brown hair framed a heart-shaped face. Her dark brown eyes watched Maddie with a somber expression. She looked confused and unhappy and sad. Her mother had just died. That was a hard thing to deal with at any age.

Hadn’t her own mother—the woman she’d always thought of as her mother—died suddenly when Maddie had been a few years younger than Darcy? It had been a solo car accident, the vehicle spinning out of control on a rain-slicked street.

For a moment, Maddie remembered her lost, confused and sad self at age five. If she hadn’t had her brothers she didn’t know what she would have done. Darcy had no one.

Ty looked at Darcy. “Mind Maddie, hear?”

She nodded solemnly.

The door closed and Maddie looked at Darcy. Memories of her own mother, of her loss so many years ago, had been at the forefront these last few weeks. Nothing anyone could say would bring her mother back, nor Darcy’s. It was up to them to move forward, as hard as that was. She smiled gently at the little girl.

“I’ll do the dishes while you get dressed, then we can head for the barn.”

“Okay.” Darcy dashed down the hall.

Running water in the sink, Maddie thought about Ty and how hard it must have been to suddenly discover he had a daughter.

“His wife should have told him,” Maddie murmured to herself. From what Violet had said, if Darcy’s grandparents hadn’t been out of touch it was doubtful the state would have even looked for Ty.

It was a big thing to have a parent one never knew about. Maddie gazed out the window, feeling the loss anew of her mother. To discover that Sharla Wallace hadn’t been her biological mother still stunned her. Closing her eyes, for a second she could almost feel her loving touch. Feel the love that always enveloped her when her mom hugged her or rocked her in that big rocking chair. It had been twenty years since she’d felt her loving hands, heard her laughter, listened to her stories of when she’d been a little girl.

Now she’d learned Belle Colby was her mother, her biological mother.

She still had difficulty absorbing that. Maybe it would be easier if Belle was at the ranch and could offer an explanation for so many of the questions she had. In a wry twist of fate, only a few days before Violet had shown up in Fort Worth and set the entire course of events in motion, Belle had been thrown from a horse and suffered a traumatic brain injury. She was still in a coma six weeks later.

“I’m ready,” Darcy said, coming back into the kitchen wearing pink shorts and a pink-and-white shirt. Tennis shoes on her feet.

Maddie turned to smile at her. “And faster than I got these dishes done.”

Thinking about things would have to wait. She had a little girl to take care of.

* * *

Ty finished giving the men their assignments for the day and went to saddle his own horse. For the first time since he’d heard about Darcy, he felt he could make it through the day. The stunned knowledge, the overwhelming feeling of inadequacy, was held at bay. He had Maddie now to watch her. Maybe she could relate to Darcy. He sure hadn’t been able to.

Once the horse was ready, he mounted and headed out of the barn and into the bright Texas sun. He was going to ride the fence line at the far boundary. One of the hands had spotted Colby cattle on the neighbor’s property and wondered if there was a breach in the fence. Instead of assigning that cowboy to find out, Ty decided to ride out himself. He needed the time away from the insurmountable problems in the homestead. Time to try to wrap his head around the fact that a week ago he hadn’t even known he had an eight-year-old daughter.

One week since the social services woman had called. A week to accept his ex-wife, Brittany, had deceived him in more ways than one. A week to get used to having a daughter—and having her show up to live with him.

As he rode, the routine of his job took hold. He loved being out on the range, loved the peace and serenity that came from being only him and his horse. Gradually some of the stress and tension began to ease. At least he could ride away today. The last five days he’d been so preoccupied with Darcy that his mind hadn’t been on the job.

Not that he regretted a moment of that time. She was a wonder. Although she resembled her mother in many ways, she had inherited his brown hair and dark eyes. He couldn’t help wondering if they shared other traits as well. He didn’t know if she was naturally shy, or only around him, but he was doing his best to make her feel at ease.

And doing a bad job, he knew.

But he wasn’t used to children. He hadn’t a clue what made them tick. And especially not a girl raised in the city, used to the lifestyle his ex-wife had embraced with fervor once their marriage ended.

Anger at Brittany boiled over again. He looked up at the sky, silently asking how she could have hated him so much to keep all knowledge of his only daughter from him.

An only, spoiled child, Brittany had been impossible to live with when she didn’t get her way. Things went from bad to worse when he broke his leg in the rodeo and he was out. She balked when he told her that his rodeo days were over and he wanted to settle on a ranch. Brittany had tried to convince him to take a cushy job in Houston working for his father, but he told her he wasn’t cut out for the corporate world. He’d known she was angry, but he had no clue how much she resented him—or how far-reaching the emotional fallout would be.

Brittany stayed with him while he recovered, but made her position clear—ranch life wasn’t for her. Two months later, he was served with divorce papers. Judging by Darcy’s birthday, Brittany had to have known she was pregnant. Once he was fit enough to ride, he kept his head held high and found a spot at the Colby ranch. He moved forward with his plans, but never in his wildest dreams would he have fathomed that he had a daughter out there somewhere.

Ty gripped the reins tighter in the futility of trying to understand how a woman he’d once loved, who had declared she loved him, could have behaved so underhandedly and cruelly.

“Lord, if You’re listening, I could use some help here. I don’t know what the future’s going to hold, but I’m hoping Darcy and I can build a bond that nothing will break. That I’ll be a better father to her than mine was to me. Don’t let me mess this up, please, Lord.”

He had to believe there was some hope on the horizon. Two years ago he was promoted to foreman at the Colby ranch. It was the closest thing he had to owning his own ranch until he could make that dream a reality.

Ty had been as surprised as Jack Colby when Violet returned from Fort Worth with an identical twin. He hadn’t heard much about the situation. That was a Colby family matter and deserved privacy. But once or twice Jack had said something. Apparently, he had a twin out there somewhere as well.

When Violet had suggested yesterday that Maddie watch Darcy for a few weeks, he’d been dumfounded. And against the idea entirely.

Maddie Wallace was from Fort Worth. Bright lights, a thriving nightlife and lots of cultural stimulation for a sophisticated career woman. Maddie wouldn’t last a month as nanny to his daughter. She’d be like Brittany, feeling constrained on the ranch, bored, anxious for the excitement cities offered and were definitely missing from a working ranch.

He only needed a month. In September, Darcy started school. He’d see if he could find a mom in town who would babysit after school until he could pick her up. Until next summer. Who knew what would happen by then? Maybe Josh, one of the ranch cowboys, would get married to that gal he was courting and Ty would have someone on the ranch to watch Darcy. That part he’d trust to the Lord.