The Borrowed Groom

Which made him wonder about the third sister.

“I haven’t met your other sister,” he said, staring ahead of him as he drove.

“She and her husband have been attending the rodeo in Oklahoma City. They’ll be back on Monday.”

He looked at her. “They follow the rodeos?”

“Not full-time, but Jed’s been training some guys, and he wanted to see how they do.”

“Who’s Jed?”

“Jed Davis, Beth’s husband.”

He almost stopped the truck. “Your sister is married to Jed Davis?”

“Yes, do you know him?”

“We’ve met. He’s the best there is as a trainer.” He’d heard that Davis had settled down somewhere in Texas, but he hadn’t realized it was here.

“Yes, he’s good.”

One of the children claimed her attention at that moment, and Rob didn’t speak again until they reached the mall. He’d been afraid things would be awkward this morning, but Melissa was easy to talk to. He was going to have to watch himself.

“Okay,” he said with a sigh, “how do we do this? Do I take them for ice cream at once? Or—”

Both Terri and Melissa looked at him as if he’d offered to run them over to Mars.

“No. We have an entire list of things to buy,” Melissa assured him. “This is an all-day project.”

“All day?” Rob gasped in surprise. He figured he’d get in an afternoon’s work when they got back home. “Surely no more than a couple of hours.” He must’ve misunderstood.

“I’m sorry. I thought you realized we probably wouldn’t go back home until suppertime.”

“Yeah, Dad, it takes a while to shop,” Terri added, glaring at him.

“Okay,” he said in resignation. “What do I do?”

Melissa seemed more understanding than Terri. She smiled. “The first thing we’re going to buy are two umbrella strollers.”

“I think Terri’s too old for a stroller,” he said, hoping to put a smile on his daughter’s face.

“Dad!” she protested.

Melissa said, “I think your dad is teasing you, sweetie. He knows I meant them for Jessica and Mary Ann.”

“Even they seem a little old for strollers,” he pointed out. After all, they walked just fine.

“If we were only going to be a few minutes, you’d be right. But in an hour, they’ll both be tired and want to be carried. It will be easier with a stroller.”

He bowed to her greater knowledge. And discovered she was right. An added benefit was that they were belted in and couldn’t run away. Or get lost.

After an hour of shopping, he carried quite a few packages and Melissa and Terri pushed the little girls.

“Maybe I should go make a run to the car and dump these packages?”

“Oh, Rob, that would be great,” Melissa said, her smile approving.

The pleasure that filled him at doing something she appreciated almost took control before he realized the danger. He frowned. “Where do I meet you?”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m sure.”

“We’ll go into housewares and see if Terri can find some place mats she likes. Unless you want to pick them out?”

“No. Whatever she likes.” And he hurried away.

“Your father doesn’t seem happy,” Melissa said, watching him weave his way between the few shoppers. The mall was always crowded on the weekends, but during the week it didn’t do that much business.

“He’s been grumpy lately. I think he hated having to sell the ranch.” Terri spoke as she walked toward the store.

Melissa told herself not to pump the child for information, but one question didn’t seem so awful. “You had to sell your ranch? I didn’t know you had one.”

“Yeah. It was Grandpa’s. Dad said the taxes were too much, so we had to sell.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” A lot of farm and ranch families had that problem, but there were ways to avoid it if a good lawyer set up a trust. “Where was your ranch?”

“In south Texas near the border.”

“Oh. That’s a long way away.”

“Yeah. But I like it here a lot better. We didn’t have anyone else on the ranch but one cowboy. I got lonesome.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too. Let’s go see what they have here for your new home, and then we’ll break for lunch. Maybe that will cheer your father up.”

He did appear a lot happier as he wolfed down a big thick hamburger with all the trimmings. The little girls stared at him, seemingly fascinated with his appetite.

“What’s the matter?” he asked abruptly, putting down his hamburger and leaning toward Melissa, speaking in a whisper.

Melissa looked up. “What?”

“I don’t know. They keep staring at me.”

She probably should’ve filled Rob in on what she suspected about the children, but there really hadn’t been an opportunity. Keeping her voice low, where the children wouldn’t overhear, she said, “Um, I think their father wasn’t…wasn’t like you.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t think he liked children.”