The Texas Rancher's Family by Cathy Gillen Thacker

Author:Cathy Gillen Thacker [Thacker, Cathy Gillen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-02-03T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Darcy Purcell asked Erin later that morning. “A Mother’s Day tea?”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” her best friend pressed.

Actually, no, Erin thought. She wasn’t. She’d done nothing but fret over how she was going to be able to handle all the moms and their precious little daughters since she’d made the impulsive decision.

Would going to the event break her heart all the more, by reminding her of all she had lost when she’d buried her daughter? Or would it be a bittersweet event, bringing back memories of Angelica in a way that comforted her? Most important, would she be able to stay as present for Heather, and give the still-grieving child what she needed?

Not about to admit that, after already promising the distraught little girl she’d go, Erin went back to working on Mac’s boots. “I need to do a good deed every now and then.” Carefully, she glued the inside linings to the outer leather pieces. “Otherwise how am I going to get to heaven?”

Darcy rolled her eyes at the joke and continued wrapping up a pair of boots for another customer. “Are you kidding me? You’re definitely going to heaven! And as for good deeds, you do plenty of those. The most talked about at the moment is the way you’ve taken in Mac and his little girl.”

Erin stitched two glued pieces of leather together. “After the way he got roughed up, it was the neighborly thing to do.”

“The way you talk about them, it seems like it’s more than that. Like maybe they’re filling a hole in your life. Since...” Angelica died.

Guilt flooded Erin, that anything or anyone could ease her grief. The loss of her daughter was a pain that would never go away.

No matter how much she tried to move on, it was still there every day, like a knife in her heart.

Darcy hugged her. “I’m sorry, Erin. I didn’t mean to upset you. I know what a tough time of year this is for you.”

“You’re not upsetting me. I’m already upset.” And yet, with Mac and Heather in her life, the pain was a lot more bearable.

Was it possible the two of them were heaven sent?

That, as she and Mac had supposed, they had crossed paths for a reason? Because she could help him and his little girl, and he could help her deal with the loss of her daughter?

The bell rang, signaling the first customers of the day. Darcy disappeared. Erin heard voices downstairs, but kept right on working. Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Darcy was back, with their local postal worker and the PTA president from Laramie Elementary School behind her.

Zelda Arnett handed over the day’s stack of mail to Erin, then lingered a moment, as she often had since Angelica had died, to chat a little and make sure Erin was doing okay.

Beside her, the copper-haired PTA president was on a mission. Marybeth Simmons tore off a sheet from the clipboard in her hand. “Hey, Erin,” she said crisply.

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