Her Surprise Sister

“No, no, I didn’t know.” She patted Violet’s cheek. “Don’t fuss, little one. Once when your mother was sick, she rambled. She spoke of her baby girls, calling for them. So I thought there had been another. But I never thought to see her, not in this life.”

“You thought I had a sister that died,” Violet said, suddenly understanding.

Lupita nodded, turning to Maddie. She walked to her, taking Maddie’s face in her hands and studying her for a long moment. “You are home,” she said. “I am glad.”

She turned, reverting to briskness probably to hide her emotion. “You must be starved, both of you. Wash up and get to the table. The food will be there by the time you are.” She bustled back to the kitchen, wiping her eyes with the tea towel she held.

Maddie looked a little dazed. She put her hand to her cheek. “I didn’t expect that kind of a welcome.”

“Lupita’s been with us since we were kids. As far as she’s concerned, we’re her kids, too.”

“Do you think she knows anything more about us?” Maddie set her bag on the credenza. “Wouldn’t she have tried to find out more from your mother, if it happened as she said?”

Violet shrugged. “Lupita always tells the truth, but sometimes she leaves things out. For our own good, she’d say. If she knows anything else about us, I’ll get it out of her eventually.”

* * *

By the time Lupita had stuffed them full of her special chicken enchiladas with black beans and rice, topped off with a scrumptious peach tart, Violet was feeling vaguely human again. She leaned back in her seat. Lupita always said that trouble and an empty belly were bad companions, and this time she seemed to be right. But even though she felt better, Violet was still too conscious of the empty chairs at the table.

Maddie, who’d demolished her piece of peach tart, was staring at the framed portrait on the dining room wall. “Who is that? Another relative?”

“That’s Uncle James.” Violet smiled at the pictured face, the weathering and wisdom of years showing in skin like crinkled leather. Kind blue eyes seemed to smile back at her. “James Crawford. He wasn’t actually a relative, but that’s what Jack and I always called him.”

“Who was he, then?” Maddie eyed the portrait curiously.

“He owned this place. Mom came here as housekeeper when I was three and Jack was five. He took us in and made us feel as if this was our home, too. He didn’t have any family, and soon he was treating us like kin. I really don’t even remember a time when he wasn’t part of our lives.”

“So he left this place to you?” Maddie sounded faintly disapproving.

“Not just like that,” Violet responded, sensitive to criticism on that subject. Other people had talked about that, she felt sure, but Belle had ignored them. “Over the years, Uncle James needed more and more help. Mom took over the bookkeeping, and as his health failed, she took on increased responsibility for every aspect of the ranch. Eventually Uncle James insisted on making her a partner, and when he died, we found that he’d left the rest to her.”

Violet’s confidence faltered. Had Uncle James known the truth about them? Had he known about their twins? She suspected that even if he’d been privy to her mom’s secret, he never would have told. Honor was everything to a man like Uncle James.

Violet pushed her chair back as one of Lupita’s numerous nieces came in with a tray, the young woman’s gaze wide-eyed and curious when she looked at Maddie. Word of this event would be all over the ranch in minutes and all over the county in a day. Violet was resigned to that happening.

“Let’s take our tea into the living room so we’re out of Lupita’s way.” She stifled a yawn. “I hope…”

Her voice faded as she heard boots coming from the direction of the kitchen. She rose from her chair. If only it was Jack…

But it wasn’t. Ty Garland, the ranch foreman, paused in the hallway, hat in his hands.

“Sorry to bother you, Violet.” He seemed to be making an effort not to look at Maddie, which meant he’d already heard about her arrival. “I was hoping you knew when Jack would be around. There’s a couple of things I need to talk to him about.”

“I wish I knew the answer to that, too, Ty.” She glanced toward Maddie to find her looking at Ty appreciatively. Maybe Maddie was practically engaged, but she certainly noticed the tall, dark and handsome Ty.

Sighing, Violet decided she’d better make introductions.

“Maddie, this is Ty Garland, our foreman. Ty, this is my…this is Maddie Wallace.”

Ty nodded, falling silent as he did so readily, especially with strangers. And Maddie, with her elegant looks and bearing, was definitely different from anyone around here.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ty.” Maddie smiled up at him from where she sat. “It sounds as if you have a lot of responsibility around here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ty eyed Maddie warily, making Violet wonder what he was thinking.

Maybe she’d better get this conversation back to business. “What was it you needed to talk to Jack about?”

Ty turned to her with something like relief in his dark eyes. “Well, for starters, we had planned to go to the livestock auction on Saturday, and I was just wondering if that was still on.”

She tried to think what day it was, but her brain seemed to have stopped working. Still, she could trust Ty to know what to do.

“I don’t know that you can count on Jack, with Mom still in the hospital. Why don’t you just use your own judgment, okay?”

“Sure thing. I’ll go and see if they have what we’re looking for.” He let his gaze stray toward Maddie. “Night, ma’am. Violet.” He strode toward the back door, settling his Stetson squarely on his head.

“Nice to have such a good-looking cowboy around,” Maddie said once the door had closed. “Is there anything special between you two?”

“Definitely not.” Violet shook her head. “Ty’s a great guy, but like everyone else around here, he treats me as if I’m about twelve or so. Maybe younger. He seemed to appreciate you, though.”

“Please.” Maddie shuddered. “I’m through with men. One broken engagement was enough for me.” She picked up her cup and started toward the living room.

The front door burst open. Jack came through, as brash as ever. He tossed his hat in the direction of the hook on the credenza, catching it perfectly. He caught sight of Maddie first, as she stood directly under the hall light.

“Hey, Vi, where did you disappear to—” He stopped. Blinked. And looked past Maddie to where Violet stood. And looked again. “What is going on here?”

“Jack, this is Maddie Wallace.” Violet went and stood next to Maddie, letting him compare them one against the other. “My twin.”

Jack stared. With a pang, she noted the lines of strain around his light brown eyes and bracketing his firm mouth. He was taking his mom’s injury hard, blaming himself, and she feared this discovery was going to make things worse.

He shook his head. “It can’t be.”

“It is.” Violet took his arm, feeling the muscles tense under her hand. “Come into the living room and sit down. We’ll talk about it.”

Unwillingly, he nodded and let himself be led to the overstuffed leather couch. He slid down into it, looking almost boneless. But the tension was still there, in the lines on his face and the tightness of his jaw.

“Okay, I’m not going to argue the point of whether or not you’re twins.” He stared at Maddie. “I can’t. This isn’t just a resemblance…you’re identical. How did you find her?”

“Maddie,” Maddie said, her voice tart. “My name is Maddie, and like it or not, I’m your sister.”

Jack looked taken aback for an instant. Then he managed a strained smile. “Sorry, Maddie.” He shook his head, looking as if he’d taken a fall. “What does this mean? Vi, if you have a twin we’ve never even heard of, then maybe nothing we think we know about our past is true. What if I’m not really your brother?”

“You are. I know that.” Violet clasped his hand, her heart hurting for him. “Maddie, show him the photo.”

Maddie got out the framed picture she’d brought along and handed it to Jack. He stared for a long moment at the face that was the image of his own.

He put the picture down carefully, lunged from the couch, and strode across the room, looking as if it weren’t big enough for him. Violet recognized the signs. When he was hurting, Jack had to be alone. Usually he’d take one of the horses and ride until they were both exhausted.

“Jack…” Her voice was filled with sympathy, but she didn’t know how to make him feel any better about this. He’d already been struggling with guilt over the quarrel he’d had with his mom right before her accident.