Home to Crossroads Ranch by Linda Goodnight

Author:Linda Goodnight
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

So this is how it felt to fall in love.

That was the thought running through Rainy’s mind as she turned the minivan into her housing addition, coming to a stop behind a yellow school bus. A dozen children emerged, their voices loud as they dispersed, calling to one another and the children remaining on the bus. Familiar sights and sounds to a schoolteacher.

Hands loosely draped over the steering wheel as she waited, Rainy glanced in the rearview mirror. Except for the silly grin on her face, she looked the same.

The difference was on the inside, in a heart so full she wanted to shout with joy. God had sent her four beautiful children to nurture, and now He’d sent Nate into her life to fill the void she hadn’t known was there.

Twice today during a parent-teacher conference, her mind had wandered to the cowboy with killer dimples, and she’d lost track of the conversation. Embarrassed, she’d had to say, “Excuse me, will you repeat that?”

As soon as the parents had left, she’d written them a glowing note about their child. Fortunately, the boy was an exceptional student, making the note easy to write. She’d never dreamed falling in love could make her lose her mind. She wasn’t some teenybopper with a crush.

No, she was a grown woman with a crush. A serious crush.

The bus rumbled away, and Rainy proceeded to the low-slung house lined with flowers. Her foster children, including two sisters who’d since come and gone, had turned one flower bed into a small vegetable garden. Nate had helped, showing them the proper depth to plant, explaining the need for water and weeding.

He was amazing with the kids. She wondered if he even realized it.

Yesterday Nate had been gone when she’d driven to the ranch to pick up the boys. She had been embarrassingly disappointed.

According to Pop, “Janine hollered frog and Nate jumped.”

When he’d phoned later, she’d tried to talk to him about his sister, but he’d changed the subject. Rainy now understood Pop’s concerns.

She pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine. As she slid out of the van, dragging a canvas bag of papers to grade, she saw someone out of the corner of her eye.

Turning, she stifled a groan of dismay. For there, in the bright spring sunshine, came Kathy Underkircher. She stormed across Rainy’s green patch of grass, her arms swinging at her sides.

Rainy sent a silent prayer heavenward. She needed all the help she could get when confronted by her neighbor.

Kathy, the young grandmother raising her only grandson, lived on a cul-de-sac at the end of the block. Rainy was always amazed that the woman knew everything that went on in the neighborhood, including how many foster children came and went at Rainy’s house.

A reasonably attractive woman with dark hair and eyes, Kathy was stick-skinny and full of nervous energy. To Rainy’s knowledge, she had no outside job. As a result, she stuck her nose into every area of the neighborhood. As

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