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help Nico?”
    The relief on Mia’s face eased his concerns.
    â€œHe told me that all you needed to do was let Nico spend some time with the horses. Ride them. Just be around them. Maybe he can help groom them if riding doesn’t work out.”
    Nate pursed his lips and slowly exhaled. “Let me talk to the doctor and I’ll give you a better answer tomorrow.”
    Mia nodded, her shoulders lowering as if she had been holding everything in until then. “That would be helpful. I’ll give you his number,” she said.
    â€œI’m not promising anything,” Nate said, still unsure this was the right thing to do. “I’ll take this one step at a time.”
    â€œOf course,” she said. “I realize that. Thank you. It doesn’t have to be every day. Just when you can.” She gave him a careful smile. A smile that didn’t help his resolve one bit.
    As she walked away, her slight figure receding into the gathering darkness, Nate knew he had to be careful the next few days.
    Because leaving was the only thing he knew how to do and when he left, he wanted it to be with his heart and soul intact.
    * * *
    â€œSo, I decided.”
    Nate stood in the doorway of the kitchen of Denny’s house, his hands on his hips, his hat with the telltale feather tucked into the band pulled low over his head as if to hide his features.
    Mia shifted Grace on her hip, her heart pounding in her chest with a mixture of apprehension and...anticipation?
    She suppressed that last emotion. This was about Nico. She had to put her own foolish attraction to Nate aside. Yesterday, after she had talked to Nate about working with Nico, she was torn. Part of her hoped he would say no. Yet seeing how Nico had been attached to him, another part of her hoped he would help.
    â€œWhat did you decide?” Mia injected a casual tone in her voice, thankful Evangeline was in the bedroom getting Ella dressed.
    â€œI talked to the doctor this morning and he agrees that Nate would benefit from whatever supervised time I can give him.” He dropped one shoulder and shifted his weight as if as uncomfortable about the situation as she was. “So I’ll help Nico. As much as it’s possible for me to in the time I’m here.”
    Her emotions did a cartwheel of gratitude followed by an unwelcome sense of anticipation.
    â€œThank you so much,” was all she could say.
    She could get through this. She just had to put her own foolish notions aside and keep her focus on her children.
    â€œHe said that you need to be there, too, and I agree,” Nate added. “Besides the obvious propriety, your presence will create an overarching connection for Nico. For when I leave.” He delivered that last sentence with a finality that underlined to Mia the utter foolishness of letting this man occupy even one tiny corner of her lonely soul.
    â€œOf course. That makes sense.” Dr. Schuler had hinted at the same thing.
    â€œI know it will be hard for you, what with the twins and all.” Nate’s gaze slipped to Grace, who burbled happily in Mia’s arms. Then he looked past her, took a few quick steps and grabbed Jennifer, who was standing up in her high chair. “Whoa, little girl. You almost fell.”
    â€œSorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Mia moved Grace to her other hip, holding out her free arm to take Jennifer from Nate. Guilt, a mother’s steady companion, raised its ugly head again. As her mother, she should have been the one that caught her, not Nate. “You can give her to me.”
    â€œShe’s okay,” Nate said, jiggling her in his arms. “Aren’t you, Dimples?”
    Jennifer chuckled and reached for his cowboy hat, knocking it awry.
    â€œI’ll take her,” Mia insisted, holding out her arm.
    Nate gave her an odd look.
    â€œOf course you will,” was Nate’s enigmatic reply, but he gave her up, anyway.
    Mia