“I’m Bert,” the old ranch hand said, nodding to Ember.
“This is Ember Reed,” Casey said. “She’s—” how much to say? “—she’s a special guest of Mr. Vern’s. I’m showing her around.”
“Pleasure.” Bert smiled. “But I’ve got to head out. I still have work to do out there. Mind if I just pass this little guy over?”
Ember’s eyes widened, and she was about to answer when Bert deftly eased the baby into her arms. Bert stood there, still holding the bottle until Ember had the baby in a comfortable position and took the bottle from his hands.
“Thanks, Bert,” Casey said. “Much appreciated.”
“Yup. Not a problem.” Bert took his hat off the top of the fridge, dropped it onto his head and headed out the side door.
Casey looked over at Ember, and he saw a stunned look on her face. She wasn’t looking at the baby, even though Wyatt was slurping back that bottle in record time. What was with her? This was a baby, not a hand grenade.
“Bert there is one of the ranch hands,” Casey said. “He’s worked here for thirty years, and he’s good at his job. He’s one of the guys who’ll be out of work if this isn’t a full-scale ranch anymore.”
Wyatt finished with his bottle, and Ember put it down on the kitchen table, then took a moment to get the little guy up on her shoulder, patting his back in a slow rhythm. Wyatt snuggled into her neck, and Ember sighed, tipping her cheek against his downy head.
“He likes you,” Casey said.
She didn’t answer, but she smiled wanly and continued her gentle patting of the baby’s back. Then Will finished with his bottle, and Casey popped the nipple out of his mouth and put the infant up onto his shoulder, too.
“I’m not trying to put people out of work,” Ember said.
“I’m just pointing out the reality of things,” Casey replied. “Mr. Vern asked me to show you around, and I’m going to do that. But I’m not going to sugarcoat anything, either. You’ll get a real tour of the place—see what this ranch is, the people whose livelihoods depend on it. You need to understand the whole picture, not just what you could turn this place into if you swept it clean.”
“You’re one of those guys who doesn’t believe in talking about his feelings, aren’t you?” she asked with a small smile turning up her lips.
“What have I just been doing?” he asked. “I thought I was pretty clear about my feelings here. I talk. But I generally do it around a campfire on a cattle drive—away from civilization, like a real man.”
“And ironically enough, that’s the experience I want to provide to men from the city,” she said. “Because you’re right—sitting in a counselor’s office with a tissue box in front of his wife isn’t the most inviting atmosphere for a man to open up.”
“The real work on a cattle drive makes a difference in how much we’ll open up, too, you know,” he said. “Responsibility, exhaustion, pushing yourself to the limit. You can’t simulate that in some counseling setting with a bonfire.”
Casey’s cell phone rang, and Casey had to adjust the infant in the crook of his arm as he dug the handset out of his pocket. He glanced at the number—it was his niece who was supposed to arrive any minute, and his heart sank. No one called at the last minute to say there was no problem... Will squirmed and Casey rocked him back and forth as he hit the talk button.
“Hi, Nicole,” Casey said, after picking up. “Where are you?”
“I’m sick, Uncle Casey...” Yep, exactly what he’d been scared to hear. “I think it’s the flu. I’m so sorry.”
He sighed. “It’s okay, kiddo.” He glanced over at Ember once more. Had she made her decision yet about sticking around for a little while? “Don’t even worry about it. Feel better, okay?” After a goodbye, he hung up the call.
Ember’s phone rang just then, and he sighed. He’d have to wait to get an answer from her. As she talked in low tones, Casey looked down into Will’s tiny face.
“You’re wet, aren’t you, little guy?” he murmured. The babies were always wet after a bottle—it was one of those constants he could depend upon. He glanced over at Ember, and she stood there with the baby up on her shoulder, her gaze directed down at the floor as she listened to whoever was on the other line.
Casey kicked the new diaper box across the kitchen floor toward the living room. This was the routine. He kept a towel laid out on the couch, and he’d been using that as a changing station. It was a rough setup, but it seemed to work out okay.
He laid Will on the couch cushion and sat on the couch next to him to do the honors.
“That was the mechanic,” Ember said, coming into the room.
“Oh, yeah?” Casey set to work on the sodden diaper, then reached for a new one. He was getting pretty good at this, but two babies went through a phenomenal number of diapers a day. He rolled up the soiled diaper, then lifted the little legs to pop a new one underneath the baby’s tiny rump.
“It’ll be over a week before my car will be fixed,” she said. “There are other cars ahead of mine, and—” She sucked in a breath. “How would it work if I stayed on this ranch for a few days?”
“I’d talk to Mr. Vern, explain the situation and see if he’d be okay with you staying up at the big house,” Casey said. “You wouldn’t have to worry about inappropriately close quarters here at my place, but you’d be close enough to make everything relatively convenient. I can pick you up and bring you back here no problem.”
He fiddled with the snaps on Will’s sleeper—they were so easy to accidentally snap together one snap off-center so that he’d have to start all over again...
“What about your niece?” she asked.
“She’s got the flu, but even if she didn’t, the kid’s fifteen. She’s supposed to be in school, not minding children.”
Ember eyed him. “And just to be clear...” She let it hang.
“I just want a hand. I’ll find people to babysit when I give you the tours and all that, but I need another person—another set of hands until my aunt can get here. You can see how much work they are. We could both benefit, if you’re game. What do you say?”
Ember looked down at the baby in her arms and wrinkled her nose. “This little guy dirtied his diaper.”
Casey chuckled. “Let’s trade. Will here is clean.”
Casey took Wyatt from her arms, and Ember awkwardly lifted Will up onto her shoulder. The baby snuggled up next to her neck like his brother had. She shut her eyes for a moment. Casey paused, watching her. There was something in her expression—more than discomfort...pain.
“No pressure, if you’d rather not,” Casey said. “It would just help me out, is all.”
“I thought you didn’t like me,” she said, her eyes opening again, and she fixed him with a direct look that made him shift uncomfortably.
“I don’t like Bert, either, but who can be picky?” he said, shooting her a teasing smile. “I’m joking. I don’t like what you stand for, Ember Reed, but Will seems to settle right down when you’re holding him, and babies are like dogs that way. They smell bad people. And like I said, I’m a bit desperate right now. You help me with the boys, and I’ll go out of my way to help you find the information you need to make your choice about buying this place. Fair is fair. I’m as good as my word.”
“Okay,” she said with a nod.