The Rancher's Answered Prayer Page 14

  As he passed her, he murmured, “Gonna put the bride to shame today.”

  Smiling at the compliment, Tina stayed as she was until she heard his footsteps on the stairs. Then and only then could she move toward her son’s door.

  He was playing on the bed when she opened the door, but he immediately hopped to the floor. With Wyatt’s image still fresh in her mind, she went to his closet and pulled out Tyler’s newest jeans, along with the navy blue jacket of his only suit and a white polo shirt with a soft collar.

  “Put these on please.” While he changed clothes, she pulled out his best sneakers and a pair of clean socks. Ann had told her that many children would attend the wedding reception and that they’d be given the run of the place.

  As she helped him pull on his socks, Tyler smiled and said, “You look pretty, Mom.”

  “Why, thank you.”

  As soon as he was dressed, they went downstairs together. The men waited in the kitchen. They were all dressed similarly to Wyatt. Jake even wore a pale straw cowboy hat, but he’d put Frankie in jeans and a striped T-shirt with white sneakers.

  “You’re a handsome lot,” Tina announced, her gaze straying automatically to Wyatt.

  “Just trying to look worthy of you,” he replied smoothly.

  “Don’t think we’re quite up to snuff,” Jake said, smiling.

  “You look real good,” Ryder added.

  Smiling, Tina bowed her head in acknowledgment. “Thank you. Would you load those two big pans of scalloped potatoes into my car? You can use dish towels as potholders.”

  Ryder and Jake swiped the folded towels from the counter and picked up the pans.

  “Mom,” Tyler began, “I want to—”

  “Ride with the guys,” she finished for him, not nearly as upset by the prospect of riding with Wyatt as she should have been.

  She fought a spurt of disappointment when Wyatt suggested, “Why don’t we fix it so Frankie can ride with you and your mom instead?” Meeting Tina’s surprised gaze with his own bland one, he added, “We’ll carry the potatoes in our car.”

  “They need to go to the house, not the church,” Tina pointed out, trying not to sound snarky.

  “We’ll take them to the house and meet you at the church, then.”

  She nodded, trying to feel relieved, but she just couldn’t find the emotion. What she felt instead was keen regret.

  * * *

  The wedding was short and sweet, with Wes Billings and Dr. Alice Shorter vowing that theirs would be a marriage founded on Christian principles.

  “Til death do us part,” Wes intoned the traditional wedding vow. He then winked at the pastor and quipped, “Considering how long it took me to run her to ground, I’m not about to untie her now.”

  Everyone laughed, including the bride, whose butter yellow suit complemented the bright yellow roses that she carried and wore in her upswept blond hair.

  Tina had made a point of not sitting with Wyatt and his brothers. Murmuring that it wouldn’t be wise to let the boys sit together, she’d shepherded Tyler to a narrow space at the end of a pew several rows closer to the front of the church. Using a combination of wisteria and yellow roses, a flowery bower had been created over the happy couple.

  After the ceremony, the beaming newlyweds entered a luxury auto and led their guests back to the Straight Arrow Ranch, where a number of neighbors and friends busily laid out a sumptuous buffet to go with the steaks beginning to sizzle on several portable grills. Music poured out into the yard via four outdoor speakers, as children darted about in frenzied play.

  Stripped of his wedding finery, which had been replaced with a T-shirt and shorts, Donovan met Tina’s car with a big grin plastered on his face. Tina had Tyler leave his suit coat in the car, then kept the boys with her until Jake arrived to grant permission for Frankie to join in the fun. The Smith brothers showed up in their shirtsleeves and were quickly surrounded by chattering neighbors, most of them women. Tina went into the house and found Ann, asking what she could do to help, but Ann shook her head.

  “No, no. Not in that dress. I love it, by the way.”

  “Thanks, but just give me an apron.”

  “None left. Go and enjoy yourself. Better yet, fill plates for our boys and see if you can get them to eat. If we let it go too long, they’ll wear themselves out and be asleep before we can feed them. I’ll get you some plates.”

  Tina went out to round up the boys, her heels sinking into the dusty red dirt. Eventually, she took them off and picked her way barefoot out to where the children ran around in a game of chase. Donovan readily agreed to accompany her back to the house. Tina could tell that Tyler wanted to argue, but he fell in line with Donovan. Frankie was already looking exhausted and ready for a nap, so he didn’t balk when she took his hand to lead him inside. After dropping her shoes in a corner, she found disposable plates stacked on the dining table and quickly filled them for the boys, whom she sat on the floor around the living room coffee table.

  Jake came in to make sure that Frankie was okay. Seeing that the boys had plates in front of them, he stayed to feed Frankie. The excitement of the day could easily distract even a hungry, sleepy child, so getting Frankie to eat required patience. Wyatt entered the room a few minutes after Jake, talking with Stark, who carried a sizable cardboard box.

  Stooping, Stark set the box on the floor, and everyone in the room immediately began oohing and aahing at the trio of fluffy black-and-tan puppies tumbling over themselves.

  Tyler gasped and watched enviously as Wyatt reached into the box and examined the puppies one by one. Finally, he held up one with a white face, black eyes and ears and what would soon be a ruff of tan fur. Its body splotched with black and tan, the pup showed white front feet and a curly black tail tipped in white. Wyatt looked the dog in the face then turned it for the boys to examine. It was Tina to whom he addressed himself, however.

  “What do you think? Should we keep him?”

  Smiling, Tina nodded. Tyler whooped and reached for the pup. Wyatt carefully placed the animal in Tyler’s hands. Tyler hugged the puppy to his chest, grinning at Frankie. “We got a dog, Frankie.”

  Sleepy-eyed, Frankie pointed to the pup. “Pretty.”

  “What are we going to name him?” Wyatt asked, using a finger to unfurl the tail.

  “Curly?” Jake suggested.

  “Puppy,” Frankie said.

  “He won’t be a puppy when he grows up,” Tyler pointed out. “I think we should call him Tippy.”

  “Maybe Tipper?” Wyatt suggested.

  “Yeah, Tipper!”

  The other puppies were quickly parceled out to other guests, Stark explaining that they’d come from a client of the veterinary clinic. As best he could determine, they were a mix of border collie, Pomeranian and coonhound. They’d already received their puppy shots and been weaned from the mother, so they were ready for homes.

  Frankie petted the newly dubbed Tipper for several minutes before crawling into his father’s lap. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Jake cradled the boy, whose eyelids drooped lower and lower, despite the cacophony of many voices and music. Donovan eagerly gave Tyler advice on raising the new pup before carrying his emptied plate into the kitchen. Tyler clutched the pup as if he’d never let it go.

  Dean came in and took a seat on the couch next to Wyatt. Donovan returned and sat on the floor between his father’s feet, his arms around Dean’s legs. Dean stroked the boy’s head as he talked with Wyatt about how to train the puppy.

  Tyler stood next to Tina, taking it all in, but she saw the desperate envy in his eyes as he gazed at Frankie and Donovan with their fathers and then adoringly at Wyatt. Aching for him, she slipped an arm around his shoulders. Suddenly, he moved away from her. She looked around, catching Wyatt’s gesture. Apparently, he had noticed Tyler’s envious gaze and beckoned the boy with a s
imple wave of his hand. Tears glazed Tina’s eyes as Wyatt casually pulled Tyler and the puppy onto his lap and looped his arms around them. Smiling and stroking the puppy, Tyler laid his head back on Wyatt’s shoulder and listened avidly to Dean’s instructions.

  At one point, Ty asked, “Will he get to sleep on my pillow with me?”

  “When he’s housebroken,” Dean answered.

  “What’s that?”

  “When he’s trained to go outside to use the bathroom,” Wyatt explained. “We’ll want him trained to work cattle, too. Dogs can be a great help on a ranch.”

  Tyler hung on every word, but Tina knew it wasn’t so much the talk that enthralled him as the puppy and the loving male attention. He was truly one of the guys at that moment, treasured by a man whom he respected.

  Tina had to turn away to keep from making a fool of herself. She bumped into Meredith Burns, who insisted that she eat.

  “You haven’t touched a bite,” Meri said, tugging her into a corner, a plate of food in one hand. “Now, you sit right here and eat.” She pushed the plate into Tina’s hands and pulled over another chair. “I’m not moving an inch until you do.” She dropped down onto the chair, smiled and folded her hands.

  Laughing, Tina ate and enjoyed a chat with Meredith, even with her mind on Wyatt and her son. She somehow managed to remember the recipe for the scalloped potatoes, which Meredith jotted down on a paper napkin. Then Callie appeared, saying that it was time for the wedding cake. Tina volunteered to help serve.

  The cake was actually several cakes of different flavors. Callie had prepared a pretty little two-layer cake for the bridal couple to cut, as tradition dictated. Decorated with yellow roses, it made a lovely display, but Wes and Alice ate the small top layer, and Callie boxed the other one. It would be saved in the freezer for their first anniversary. The guests, meanwhile, were served other cakes prepared and decorated for the occasion by helpful neighbors and friends. Alice made sure to have a photo taken of every cake.

  Wyatt showed up at Tina’s cake station with an excited Tyler. Knowing her son, Tina immediately cut a piece of chocolate cake for him. Wyatt chose German chocolate.

  “Doesn’t get better than chocolate, coconut and pecans.”

  Tyler went off to eat his cake with Donovan at the coffee table, but Wyatt claimed a chair, and began to eat right there at the table while Tina cut cake for others. After finishing, he pitched his trash into the container behind her. Only then did he look at her and ask, “What’s your favorite cake?”

  “Oh, wow. How to choose? We have everything from carrot cake to lemon and strawberry. But I think the most unusual flavor is a ginger cake with apples in it. I’m saving a piece of that to have with a cup of coffee.”

  “Mmm, coffee,” Wyatt said, glancing around. “Where is it?”

  “In the kitchen.”

  Rising, he headed in that direction. The next thing she knew, she had a steaming cup sitting next to her elbow and Meri was there to relieve her.

  “Go. Go,” she insisted, all but pushing Tina from behind the small table.

  “Don’t forget your cake,” Wyatt said.

  Tina took the plate of cake in one hand and the disposable coffee cup in the other. Wyatt steered her to a spot on the couch. Just as she sat down, Donovan popped up from the floor.

  “Dad, will you play soccer with us?”

  Dean smiled and hauled himself up off the couch. Tyler looked expectantly at Wyatt, who still stood to one side. Wyatt gave the boy a crooked smile and nodded.

  “Leave Tipper in the box, then let’s go work off that cake.”

  Grinning broadly, Tyler placed the puppy on the blanket in the box. “I’ll be back to get you soon, boy.” Straightening, he grabbed Wyatt’s hand, and the pair followed Donovan and his dad out the door.

  Ann abruptly dropped down onto the sofa next to Tina, saying, “Those two seem to be getting along well.”

  Tina reached for her coffee cup. “It’s surprising, really. Wyatt’s a lot more strict with him than Layne or I. But I’m working on it.”

  Ann patted her knee. “It’s worth the effort. Kids know when you care enough to stand your ground. I had to learn that with Donovan.”

  Shocked, Tina blurted, “Donovan is a prince.”

  Ann smiled. “Yes, he is, but he’s also a child, and no child is perfect. Once Donovan ran off in the middle of the night with Stark’s niece. They were spending the night here, but Meri upset them.” She waved a hand negligently. “She and Stark broke up that day, and she was a mess. Anyway, the kids decided to come to our house. Across the pasture. Without telling anyone.”

  Tina gasped. The Straight Arrow Ranch was almost as big as the Loco Man. “What happened?”

  “Meri and Stark found them the next morning. At first, we were too relieved to think of punishing Donovan, especially as Stark and Meri came back from the search with a new understanding between them.”

  “Wow.”

  “Crisis has a way of clarifying things, you know. Anyway, we quickly realized that there had to be consequences. The problem was deciding what those consequences would be. I tried to push the decision off on Dean, but he didn’t let me get away with that. We decided together, and we enforced the punishment together. And I’ve been Donovan’s ‘real’ mom ever since.”

  “Was he not accepting of you before?”

  “Oh, he was. He desperately wanted a mom and, being a redhead himself, he figured my red hair made me a prime candidate. But now he knows that I’ll do what’s best for him no matter what. Just like his dad.”

  “Dean’s a great father,” Tina mused.

  Ann nodded. “He is. I think Wyatt would be just like him. He’s obviously fond of Tyler, and you say his expectations are high.”

  “Wyatt took care of Frankie while his parents were both deployed,” Tina divulged quietly.

  “No kidding? A single guy like him? I’m impressed.”

  “I’m sure Ryder helped out,” Tina said. “They all take a hand with Frankie now.”

  “If you let that get out, you’ll have to hire guards to keep the women away,” Ann joked.

  Long after Ann returned to her duties as a hostess, Tina mulled over that last comment. She was surprised that Wyatt hadn’t already married. No doubt he’d had his choice of women back in Houston. He certainly did here. And she was the idiot who kept pushing him away. She winced, recalling her reaction the day of the picnic. Could she be any greater a fool? Wyatt Smith was a rare man. As Dodd’s nephew, he’d have to be, but she kept overreacting to his kisses.

  How did she tell him that no man’s kisses had ever affected her the way his did?

  How did she make up for past assumptions and behavior?

  A simple apology couldn’t begin to mend what she’d broken. But maybe... Just maybe, if God was willing and she could find the courage, she and Wyatt could find a way to get past her stupidity.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Smiling to himself, Wyatt watched Tina dust off her feet before stepping into her heels. She’d been barefoot all day. Those heels did amazing things for her legs, but the juxtaposition of that gorgeous dress and the informality of delicate bare feet enchanted him.

  He wanted to kiss her while she stood against him in those heels.

  He wanted to kiss her while she stood barefoot.

  While she chatted with her friends.

  While she shepherded the boys.

  He wanted to kiss her. Period.

  More than that, he wanted her to wish for the future they could have together.

  Feeling Tyler slump against him, Wyatt looked down. The boy had utterly exhausted himself. All day he had sought Wyatt’s attention and approval, and Wyatt knew perfectly well why. The other kids had dads to watch over them and occasionally join in the play. The way Tyler avidly watched their interactions told
Wyatt that he’d never experienced that kind of relationship with his own absent father.

  Wyatt wondered if Layne might somehow be encouraged to develop that kind of relationship with his son, and if so, how.

  Practically asleep on his feet, Tyler swayed. Even the puppy enthusiastically licking his face couldn’t keep his eyelids from sinking.

  Reaching down, Wyatt swung both the boy and the puppy into his arms. Tyler laid his head on Wyatt’s shoulder, cradling the puppy against Wyatt’s chest. Frankie, who had enjoyed a short nap that afternoon and now rode comfortably in Jake’s arms, stretched out a hand and patted the dog, giggling when it licked his fingers.

  “It’s been a long day,” Tina observed. “They’re both exhausted.”

  “Let’s get them home,” Wyatt said.

  He and Jake carried the boys to Tina’s car and tucked them into their safety seats, while Ryder went in search of the truck. The puppy traveled in Ty’s arms. Wyatt suspected they’d have a hard time getting the dog away from him, so he didn’t try.

  After following Tina’s car home, Wyatt sent Ryder to the barn to find a suitable box to use as a crate for the pup. It wasn’t yet full night, but both boys had fallen asleep.

  Wyatt passed the puppy to Tina, then pulled Ty from his car seat and carried him into the house. After penning the dog up in the laundry room, Tina ran upstairs to change while Jake and Wyatt got the boys ready for their baths. She returned wearing soft knit pajamas and a long robe belted tightly at the waist. Wyatt smiled at her bare feet and left her to shampoo Tyler’s hair while he made a bed for the dog with an old blanket and the box Ryder had found.

  Jake carried Frankie into the kitchen wrapped in a towel. Ryder helped him dress the boy for bed, and Jake carried him upstairs to bed. When Tina herded a sleepy, cranky Tyler into the room, his footsteps dragging, Wyatt hoisted the boy into his arms.

  “Come on, dude. Bedtime.”

  “My puppy,” he whined.

  Wyatt nodded at the box on the floor. “Mom will bring him along.”

  Tyler smiled all the way up the stairs, but he refused to lay down until the dog arrived in its box. Tina placed the box near the head of the bed, and Ty obediently stretched out. The moment his head hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and pretended to fall asleep. When Tina attempted to pull up the covers, the boy grunted a complaint and kicked the covers out of her hands without ever opening his eyes. She looked at Wyatt, a droll smile curving her pretty lips. They both knew that Tyler wasn’t really asleep and that he wanted Wyatt to tuck him in but didn’t know how to ask.