Read Online Cowboy Daddy by Carolyne Aarsen - Free Book Online Page B

herself, holding even more tightly to their hands. The boys were Tricia’s and were never Scott’s no matter what Kip might believe. She and her father had the law on their side.
    They stepped outside and Nicole inhaled the fresh, pure air. It was so wonderful to be outdoors.
    â€œI want to see the horses,” Justin said as they stepped off the porch.
    â€œYour uncle said it wasn’t allowed.” And there was no way she was running afoul of Kip while on his ranch.
    â€œIf we’re real careful, it will be okay.”
    â€œNot on your life,” Nicole said firmly.
    Justin sighed. “That’s what Uncle Kip always says too.”
    One more thing we have in common, Nicole thought with a sense of irony.
    â€œSo where are these puppies?” she asked.
    â€œThey’re in the barn.”
    As they walked, the boys, mostly Justin, brought her up to date on what Uncle Kip had done this morning—first he cut himself shaving, then he listened to the market report and made breakfast, then he tried to get Gramma to do her exercises.
    What their grandmother had done—sat and watched television.
    What Isabelle had done—slept in and got into trouble with Uncle Kip.
    â€œIsabelle is fun. Uncle Kip says she has to grow up, but she’s pretty big already.”
    Nicole suspected that Uncle Kip had his hands full with his sister. Isabelle needed a firm hand and guidance. Something, she suspected, Kip was at a loss to enforce.
    Justin pulled open the large, heavy barn door then he stopped and held his finger to his lips. “I better go in first because we don’t want to scare the mommy dog,” he whispered. “I’ll call you when you can come in.”
    He walked slowly into the barn and Tristan seemed content to stay behind with Nicole.
    The only sound breaking the stillness was the shuffle of Justin’s feet on the barn floor and the song of a few birds that Nicole couldn’t identify. She listened, and the quiet pressed down on her ears.
    The silence spread out everywhere, huge and overwhelming. For the briefest moment, icy fingers of panic gripped her heart. They were far away from the nearest road, the nearest town.
    All alone.
    Then she looked down at Tristan, smiling shyly up at her. She watched Justin creeping into the dusty barn. They were completely relaxed here, at home and at peace.
    â€œAnd a little child shall lead them.”
    The familiar passage drifted into her mind and she puzzled it over, wondering where it had come from.
    Then she remembered. It was from the Bible. Her mother used to read the Bible to her and Tricia.
    â€œYou hold my hand almost as tight as Uncle Kip does when we’re in Calgary,” Tristan whispered.
    Nicole started. “I’m sorry,” she said, loosening her grip. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    He smiled up at her. “That’s okay. Uncle Kip always says he holds tight because he never wants to let us go. That makes me feel good.”
    Nicole’s heart faltered at his words. Of course the boys would be attached to Kip Cosgrove and he to them. This was the only life the boys had known.
    But they weren’t Cosgroves, she reminded herself. They were Williamses, in spite of what Kip may claim.
    Yet as she followed Justin into the dusky coolness of the barn, she felt her own misgivings come to the fore. Her own memories of being moved from home to home.
    But she never returned to her biological home, like these boys were going to. She could never go back to where the people she lived with were related to her by blood, but these boys could. She would give them the true family she’d never had and in doing so, maybe, just maybe—
    Her thoughts were cut off by the ringing of her phone.
    It was her father.
    â€œHey,” she whispered, following Tristan into the dusty pen. The floor was strewn with straw and Justin was crouched in the corner, his behind stuck in the air as he