The Rancher's Instant Family by Lisa Childs

Author:Lisa Childs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-10-14T17:30:46+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JAKE HAD COMFORTED CALEB, had held him while he cried. But then he’d just left Katie standing alone in the hallway, staring after him as he’d walked away from her.

That was what he’d done a dozen years ago by that fountain, so she shouldn’t have been surprised. But she was.

She’d once thought she knew Jake Haven so well. That had changed that day all those years ago. Since moving onto the ranch, she’d caught glimpses of the man she’d once thought he was while he was taking care of his nephews and Caleb.

He’d been so sweet with him that morning—just an hour or so ago. He’d been so sweet that Katie’s heart had ached with longing for what had once been between them. For the sweetness he’d once shown her.

But he hadn’t taken her into his arms like he had Caleb. He’d just walked away, leaving her feeling so cold and alone and hopeless.

Was she never to love again, just as she’d told Melanie? Even Matt, with his big, loving personality, hadn’t been able to fully replace Jake in her heart, so no doubt nobody else ever would. She and Jake had had too many good memories for that one bad day at the fountain to destroy. There had been too many moments of sweetness, of affection and what had felt like genuine love to her. Even though he’d given her heart back to her, he had been the first man to claim it, and it had felt to Katie like he had always held a piece of it.

“You’re not eating,” Taye remarked with some concern as she pointed toward Katie’s full plate of cooling eggs and bacon. “Do you want me to make you some pancakes instead?”

Katie shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m just not feeling very hungry this morning.” Maybe because she knew not even Taye’s delicious food could fill the hollowness inside her. Nothing could. Even Matt’s love hadn’t been able to completely fill it.

A twinge of guilt roiled her stomach even more than the emptiness. She picked up her plate and headed toward the sink, trying to avoid the eagle-eyed gaze of Sadie, who sat quietly at the head of the table, her rigid back toward the hearth. She was always quiet in the morning even though she’d probably been up for hours already. Her bedroom was on the main floor, though, so there was no way of knowing for certain how long she’d been up or what she was ever up to...

Katie was certain that the older woman had a plan in bringing all these women to live at the ranch. That she wanted to set up her grandsons with potential wives, so that they could add to her family in order to fill some of the void of Dale and Jenny’s loss. Katie could have told her that nothing would ever fill that void completely, but Sadie Haven had to know that already. She’d lost her son and her husband long before Dale and Jenny had died.

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