Falling For The Rancher

“So...if I don’t have the winning bid, you could put in a good word for me later on?” Darcy said. “Please?”

“I’ll ask, but it probably won’t make any difference. His own niece tried to hire him for a project last winter and he flat-out said no. Then again, the whole family knows she’s high-maintenance, and he probably didn’t want the bother.”

“I promise you that I’m not,” Darcy said with a smile as she headed for the door. “I’m desperate, not difficult.”

As she drove to the babysitter’s home to pick up Emma, the truth of her own words weighed heavily on her heart.

The cottage needed a lot of work, as dear old Aunt Tina hadn’t been able to keep up with repairs and updates during her final years. But now there was a ticking clock to consider.

If Logan Maxwell did let her go at the end of two months, her options would be to establish a new practice here—a financial impossibility right now—or to find a practice elsewhere, looking for an associate. But how would the cottage ever pass the mortgage home inspection for a buyer if she suddenly had to sell it and move on?

As she waited at the only stoplight on Main Street, she looked heavenward and briefly closed her eyes. Please Lord, help me win the bidding for Edgar—and give me more time to work things out.

* * *

A large crowd had already gathered in the church reception hall when Darcy arrived with Emma in tow just minutes before Pastor Mark began his opening remarks at a podium.

Two long bake sale tables displayed delectable treats, while several other tables offered arts and crafts items. At the far end of the room, two women were offering hot chocolate and coffee from the kitchen serving window.

“I know you just had supper at home, but would you like some hot chocolate or a treat?” Darcy asked. “I see some pretty frosted cookies on that table.”

Emma nodded somberly. “A cookie. Can we go home?”

“Um...I need to stay, sweetie.” The daytime babysitter who took care of Emma after morning preschool every day was rarely available for evenings, and Darcy hadn’t been able to find anyone else.

She settled Emma on a chair with her cookie and took the chair next to her. “One of the nursery ladies and some teenagers from the youth group are watching kids in the nursery. Would you like to go play with them?”

“I wanna go home.”

Emma’s mood didn’t bode well for the evening, but Darcy could hardly blame her. It had already been a long day for her, and this was now Emma’s usual bath time, to be followed by a bedtime snack and a stack of books to read. In the hope that Edgar had been moved to an earlier time slot, Darcy opened her program and looked down the list.

It was up to fifteen names now, each followed by a brief description of the types of handyman jobs they preferred. Some were members of the church with other careers but willing to mow, rake or help paint. A few offered to help with household repairs or a specific auto maintenance task rather than the twenty hours. A couple said “negotiable.”

Edgar was still at the end of the list and... Oh, my. Darcy drew a sharp breath in surprise. There was Dr. Logan Maxwell’s name, second to last. No skills listed. She glanced at it again in disbelief. He’d actually volunteered?

Surprised, she glanced around the crowded room trying to find Beth or Janet...or even Kaycee, who had planned to take a shift at the bake sale table. Glimpsing Kaycee in the crowd milling at the back of the room, she dropped her jacket on her chair. “I’ll be right back, sweetie. You’ll be able to see me just right over there.”

Emma looked up from nibbling the edge of her cookie and yawned. “Then can we go home?”

“In a little while. Once it gets started, the auction shouldn’t take long.” She strode toward the crowd as Pastor Mark yielded the microphone to Lewis Thomas, a short, spare man with thinning hair and a booming voice, who encouraged vigorous bidding for the sake of the youth group, then began describing the terms of the auction.

He abruptly launched into a rapid-fire auctioneer’s patter, and one after another, the handyman volunteers were auctioned off. Fifty dollars. A hundred. Several went for one fifty.

A woman with a gleam in her eye shouted, “One seventy-five! That one’s my husband, and now he’ll have to take care of my honey-do list!”

The audience erupted in laughter.

“Hey, Kaycee,” Darcy called out as she edged through the people pressing forward toward the podium and made her way to Kaycee’s side. “I’m dying to know what Dr. Maxwell said—and how you convinced him to volunteer. Will he be here tonight?”

A faint blush bloomed on Kaycee’s cheeks. “I’m really sorry, Doc. I never saw him at the clinic. I left two messages on his cell, but he never called back.”

Darcy felt the blood drain from her face. “B-but he’s on the program.”

The younger woman’s eyes widened. “Maybe he talked to someone else?”

“He wouldn’t have known anyone else on the committee.” Darcy bit her lower lip. “I’ll find Beth or Janet. No worries.”

“If he’s listed and his work commitment is auctioned, he’s got to follow through, it’s like a contract,” Kaycee said darkly.

“Surely not if the listing is a mistake,” Darcy retorted. “Try calling him right now. Find out if he knew about this and get him over here right away. He doesn’t need any more bad press in town. I’ll try to find Janet and get his name removed.”

But as she turned to scan the crowd, her gaze landed on Emma. The little girl was still dutifully sitting in her chair a dozen feet away, the cookie barely touched, and tears were trailing down her cheeks. Darcy’s heart lurched as she hurried over, slipped into the chair next to Emma’s and gave her a hug. “I’m so sorry, honey—but you did see where I was, right?”

Emma gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“And did you see your Sunday school teacher just over there? And you know Beth, and Sophie—” Darcy glanced around. “I even see Hannah in the next row. You were safe, I promise.”

Emma nodded tearfully, her lower lip trembling.

“Stay right with me while I find someone, all right?” Darcy scooped the child up into her arms, and Emma sagged against her shoulder, too tired to answer.

Darcy tried to make her way through the crowd, but now everyone was out of their chairs, craning their necks to see who was up next as another five handyman volunteers were auctioned in quick succession.

“Dr. Logan Maxwell,” the auctioneer shouted above the hubbub. “New guy in town, and already helping the community. Gotta give the guy credit. Doesn’t say what kind of work he can do, but let’s go. Starting at two hundred, folks—who is ready to go?”

Darcy froze in horror as the auctioneer’s voice slipped into an almost indecipherable sales patter and the crowd fell silent.

People exchanged glances.

A few snickered.

A stage whisper filtered through the room.

“Who’d want to bid for the likes of him? My poor cousin works at the clinic and said she’d soon be out on her ear...”

Time seemed to stop as more whispers spread through the room. Then the room fell silent once again when the auctioneer dropped the starting bid to a hundred seventy-five. A hundred fifty. “C’mon folks...he’s a real bargain at that. You’ll be helping the kids, and maybe he can even spay your cat.”

Uneasy laughter rippled through the audience. “How ’bout a hundred twenty-five, then...”

Darcy desperately scanned the crowd. Surely someone would be glad to grab such a bargain...or maybe just have mercy on him. Right now he was like an outcast, a pariah who would be the talk around town for a long, long time. And from the hard expressions she saw, that wasn’t going to change. Please, Lord, encourage someone to bid.

Kaycee appeared at Darcy’s side. “This is awful. But on the other hand, he’s mean and he kinda deserves it.”

“No one ever deserves ridicule, and that’s what will happen,” Darcy said quietly. “He’ll be the only guy who failed to receive a single bid. Ever.”

“He’s still mean,” Kaycee retorted.

“To him, the clinic is business, not personal. He’s not changing things out of spite.”