Cowboy Daddy

“I have every right to start today.” She had signed a paper giving her those rights. He had no reason to deny her.

Kip blew out a sigh as he dropped a tattered cowboy hat on his head. “I don’t have time today.”

Nicole lifted her shoulder in a delicate shrug. “You’re the one who set out the terms of the visits.”

Kip held her gaze, his eyes shadowed by the brim of the cowboy hat. Then he glanced down at her tailored suit and laughed. “Okay, but you’d better change. The boys are helping me fix a tractor this afternoon.”

“Should I bring a hammer?” she said, determined not to let him goad her.

“Just a three-eighth-inch wrench and a five-sixteenth-inch socket,” he returned.

“Excellent. I just happened to bring mine along.”

“In your Louis Vuitton luggage?” This was tossed back at her underlined with the arching of one of his eyebrows.

“No. Coach.” And how would a cowboy like him know about Louis Vuitton?

“Cute.” He buttoned his jacket. “This has been fun, but I’ve got work to do,” he said in a tone that implied “fun” was the last thing he’d been having. “See you when we see you.”

When he closed the door behind him, it was as if the office deflated. Became less full, less dynamic.

Nicole brushed the feeling off and turned to Ron. “I’ll get my lawyer to call you. He’ll bring you up to speed on his side of the case, and the two of you can discuss the DNA tests.”

Ron got to his feet and pursed his lips. Then he sighed. “I’m not speaking as a lawyer anymore, but as a friend of Kip’s. You may as well know that Kip Cosgrove dotes on those boys. He goes everywhere with them. Does everything with them. He has since those boys moved to the ranch with his brother.”

“They’re not even his.” As soon as Nicole spoke the words she regretted giving her thoughts voice. She knew how coldhearted that must have sounded to Ron.

The reality was she knew firsthand what it was like to be the one pushed aside. She had been in enough homes as the “outsider,” the nonbiological child, to know that no matter what, biology always won out. The “natural” children were always treated differently than the “foster” child.

Ron shot her an angry look. “That is the last thing on Kip’s mind,” he snapped. “Those boys have been in his life since they were one year old. Living on the ranch is the only life they know.”

Nicole held his angry gaze, determined not to let his opinion of her matter. “They only know this life because Scott took them away from their biological mother.” She picked up her briefcase and slung her trench coat over her arm. “Now all I need to know is where I can buy some tools.”

This netted her a puzzled look from Ron. “Why?”

“Because I fully intend on helping fix that tractor.”

Chapter Five

Kip pulled off his “town” shirt and tossed it onto his unmade bed. He grabbed the work shirt from the floor where he’d tossed it. He’d been in too much of a rush to clean up before he left for town.

He buttoned up his shirt as he headed down the stairs to where the boys were playing a board game at the kitchen table with his mom.

Isabelle stood at the kitchen sink, washing dishes from lunch, her expression letting him know exactly what she thought of this chore.

“Oh, Gramma, you have to go down the snake,” Justin shouted, waving his arms in the air as if he had won the Stanley Cup.

“Oh dear, here I go,” Kip’s mother said, reaching across the board to do as Justin said. “This puts me way behind.”

Kip caught her grimace as she sat back in her wheelchair and wondered again how long it would be before his mother was mobile. Though the kitchen was still clean from Nicole’s visit on Saturday, he knew it was simply a matter of time before things slowly deteriorated.

“Isabelle, that laundry that got folded yesterday is still in the laundry basket upstairs,” Kip said.

“Yeah. I know.”

“So what should happen with it?”

Isabelle set a plate on the drying rack with agonizing slowness, punctuated her movement with a sigh, then shrugged. “I guess I should put it away.”

“I guess,” he reiterated.

“I think someone is here,” Tristan said, standing up on his chair.

Kip groaned. Probably Nicole. Well, she’d have to tag along with him. He had promised the boys they could help him fix the tractor. They weren’t much help, but they were slowly learning how to read wrench sizes and knew the difference between a Phillips and a flat screwdriver. Plus, it was a way to spend time with them.

“It’s Nicole,” Justin yelled, confirming what Kip suspected. “I’m going to go say hi.” He jumped off his chair, Tristan right behind him. The porch door slammed shut behind them, creating a momentary quiet in the home.

His mother turned in her wheelchair, wincing as she did so. “Now that the boys are gone, what did Ron tell you?”

Kip glanced out of the window. Nicole was barely out of her car and the boys were already grabbing her hands. Their hasty switch in allegiances bothered him in a way he didn’t want to scrutinize.

Isabelle stopped what she was doing and turned around, listening with avid interest.

“For now we have to allow her visits with the boys,” Kip said, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “He’s looking into how legitimate Tricia’s will is, but nothing has been settled And…” he hesitated, wondering what his mother would think of this new wrinkle. “She and her father insist on you taking a DNA test.”

His mother frowned. “Is that hard? Do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Apparently there’s a test for grandparents. You can order it and then bring the results to a couple of clinics not far away. It’s nothing to worry about. Just a formality so we can prove that Scott is as much a parent to the boys as Tricia was.”

Kip stopped there. Until Nicole brought the news she had, Kip hadn’t been able to think of Tricia without a surge of anger. She’d left her boys behind. But knowing she had been dead the past years changed a lot.

And raised a few more questions.

Kip brushed them aside. The boys were Scott’s. He knew it beyond a doubt. Scott wouldn’t have taken them with him back to the ranch if they weren’t.

“So Nicole is really the twins’ aunt too?” Isabelle asked.

“I think so.”

“Is she taking the boys?”

Kip shot Isabelle a warning glance. “No one is taking the boys anywhere. They belong here.”

His mother placed her hand on his arm. “But if she’s their aunt—”

Kip squeezed his mother’s hand in reassurance. “I won’t let it happen. I promised Scott I would keep the boys on the ranch, and I keep my promises.”

“You always have,” Mary Cosgrove said with a wan smile. “You’ve been a good son. I’m so thankful for you. I still hope and pray that you’ll find someone who sees past that gruff exterior of yours and sees you for who you really are.” She gave his hands a gentle shake. “Nancy Colbert didn’t know what she gave up when she broke up with you.”