Last night wasn’t the first time he’d seen her wandering the woods around the Hopechest Ranch, although it was the first time he’d let her know he was there.
Quinn had a feeling he and Jewel suffered from the same afflictions—insomnia and loneliness. Quinn often spent the nighttime hours at Clay’s place where he boarded his horse, Noches.
What he didn’t understand was what had made Jewel scream in the woods the night before and why she’d looked positively haunted when he’d encountered her.
As the purple shadows of twilight began to deepen, a responding tension filled Jewel. It wasn’t natural for the coming of night to bring something that tasted very much like suppressed terror into the back of her throat.
Jeff and Cheryl were in the process of getting the kids ready for bed and Jewel sat at the kitchen table making a list of school supplies she needed to purchase before school began next week.
When she finished her list, she would tuck each of the children in for the night. Those minutes just before bedtime, when she connected with each of the children with a good-night kiss and a wish for sweet dreams, was an important part of the routine of love that abounded at the ranch.
A knock sounded on the front door and she looked at the clock. Although it felt much later, it was only just after seven.
She hurried to the front door and opened it to see Deputy Adam Rawlings. As usual not a strand of his dark brown hair was out of place and he was impeccably dressed in his khaki uniform. “Hi, Adam.”
“I was just out making rounds and thought I’d stop by and say hello,” he said.
Jewel flipped on the outside light and stepped out on the porch to join him. “Quiet night?” she asked.
“Most of them are quiet,” he replied. “Not that I’m complaining. I heard you’ve got a new boarder. How’s that working out?”
She nodded. “A thirteen-year-old girl named Kelsey from Chicago. If you’d asked me yesterday how things were going I would have said not well. She was quiet and withdrawn. But today she appears more open. She loved the riding lessons at Clay’s yesterday and wanted to know when we’d be going again.” She broke off as she realized she was beginning to ramble.
“How’s everything else going?” he asked. His gaze narrowed slightly. “You look tired.”
“I am,” she admitted. “I was just sitting at the table, thinking about everything I need to buy for the kids to start school next week.” She smiled. “Trying to figure out school supplies for seven kids in seven different classes is enough to make anyone tired.”
“I’ll let you get back to it. I just thought I’d check in and see how you were doing.” He shifted his muscular body from one foot to the other. “If you get a minute to yourself and want to get dinner out or maybe see a movie, you know all you have to do is just call me.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Adam. I’ll keep that in mind.”
They said goodbye and then she watched as he left the porch and walked back to his patrol car. He seemed like such a nice man, good-looking and obviously interested in her. Unfortunately, she just didn’t feel anything for him except a mild friendship.
As his car pulled away, she went back inside to the kitchen table. She finished making her list and by then it was time to kiss the kids good-night.
She went into the boys’ bedroom first. The room held two bunk beds and at the moment all four sleeping places were occupied. Barry and Sam, the two older boys, had the top bunks and eight-year-old Jimmy Nigel and seven-year-old Caleb Torrel had the lower bunks.
“All tucked in?” she asked Barry as she approached him first.
He nodded. “Will you keep the nightlight on?” he asked anxiously. “I’m not scared or anything, but I just don’t like the dark.”
Jewel smiled at the dark-eyed boy. They had this same conversation every night. “The nightlight will be on until morning. Sleep tight, Barry.”
As she moved from Barry to Sam and then to the two younger boys, she couldn’t help but think of the baby she’d lost. She’d desperately wanted to be a mother, had been thrilled to discover she was pregnant. The minute the doctor had confirmed what she’d suspected, her heart had filled with a happiness she’d never known before and hadn’t known since.
As she moved from the boys’ room to the girls’, she shoved away thoughts of the baby she’d lost and dreams of what might have been.
There were three girls in residence at the moment. Kelsey slept on the top bunk of one of the beds and on the lower bunks were Lindy Walker and Carrie Lyndon, both ten years old.
Jewel went to Kelsey first. She didn’t touch the girl in any way, wouldn’t invade Kelsey’s personal space unless she was invited to do so. “Ready to call it a night?”
Kelsey nodded, her green eyes less guarded than they’d been the day before. “I’m not used to going to bed so early.”
Jewel smiled. “We believe in the routine of early to bed, early to rise around here. Besides, with school starting next week, it’s important that all of you get plenty of sleep.”
Jewel moved to the other beds, where the girls demanded good-night kisses and hugs, then she left the room and turned out the light. As in the boys’ room, a small nightlight burned in a wall socket.
She met Cheryl in the hallway and smiled tiredly. “Another day done,” she said.
Cheryl returned her smile and swept a strand of her long, dark hair behind an ear. “I wanted to run an idea by you. Jeff and I would like to plan a day trip for the kids in the next couple of weeks. There’s a Native American museum two hours from here and we thought it would be fun to visit the museum and have a picnic lunch at a nearby park.”
“Sounds like something they would enjoy,” Jewel replied.
“We haven’t finalized a day yet, I just wanted to put a bug in your ear about it.”
“Let me know what you and Jeff decide and we’ll work out the details.”
Cheryl nodded. “Then I’ll just say good night.”
As Cheryl headed toward the front bedroom where she and Jeff slept, Jewel returned to the kitchen. She tucked into her purse the list of supplies she needed to buy, then once again sat at the table to make notes in the files she kept on each of the children.
Busywork. In the back of her mind she knew that’s what she was doing, creating work to keep her mind off the fact that soon it would be time to go to bed.
To sleep.
To dream.
Again the taste of dread mingled with a simmering terror. If only she could have one night of peaceful sleep and happy dreams. If only she could wake up in the morning well-rested and happy.
If only Andrew hadn’t died in the car accident.
She sighed and focused back on the files in front of her. These were her children, the ones who came to Hopechest Ranch in need of stability and love. They were all she needed. And maybe a good night’s sleep was vastly overrated.
She didn’t know how long she’d sat working when she heard a strange scratching sound. She got up from the table and followed the noise to the front door. Definitely sounded like something scratching for attention.
Equally curious and wary, she unlocked the door and cracked it open. The door shoved inward and a chocolate-colored