Country Romance - Carolyne Aarsen Page 0,18

know what Sally told me, and she wasn't a liar." She pulled in another breath. "I don't know how she could've gotten your name otherwise. We lived all the way up in Whitehorse. How in the world of all the men in this country would she have chosen you?" She looked up at him, as if challenging him.

Wyatt tapped his fingers on his arm, letting her words register. There was a spark of truth in that. And yet...

"I guess we’ll never know why she did that. Now that she's gone."

Adele pressed her lips together, blinking. Wyatt could see a lone tear slide down her cheek, and he cursed himself for being so insensitive. Despite what was going on now, Sally had been her friend, and he had no right to be callous about her passing.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said that."

"I think we’re both feeling a little emotional right now."

Wyatt wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he sure wished the fuzziness in his head were eased away so he could focus better.

"I've just got too much going on," he said with a sigh. Which reminded him, he had to call Reuben soon. Make plans for his return to the ranch.

"I'm not trying to judge you or anything," Adele said, holding his gaze with her soft gray eyes. "But what happened when I came here? The girls were on their own. Where is their mother?"

"Theresa, their mother, left us a couple of years ago," he said, bitterness still edging his voice. "She didn't like living on the ranch, and she didn't want to take care of twins. Her own daughters."

"So you've been on your own with the girls ever since then? I understood from what Sally said that you were ranching with your father and your brothers."

As her comment registered, he felt a niggle of unease. "How would Sally have known that?"

"Because you told her?"

Uncertainty dogged him. Why could he not remember Sally, he wondered, his mind skipping back to that trip.

"At any rate," he continued, going back to her questions, "my father passed away the same year I married Theresa. And my brother left a year and a half ago, after his wife died. Said he needed some time away." Wyatt rubbed his temples with his index fingers, trying to ease away the headache that still gripped him. A headache that grew with each conversation he had with Adele.

"I'm so sorry to hear about that. You've had a rough go," she said, a note of sympathy in her voice.

Wyatt lifted one shoulder in a shrug, not sure what to say to that. Losing his father had been like a body blow to the family. And then to watch his brother deal with Denise’s deteriorating health, it was just too much.

The time away had seemed to help Reuben, and he said that he wanted to come back and work on the ranch. Carly, the baby of the family, had left when her fiancé broke up with her. Just before he went to jail.

As for his other brother, Finn had kind of lost his way after their father's death and embarked on an around-the-world trip. The last anyone heard from him, Finn was in Bangkok, living on a beach.

It had been disheartening to discover how jealous Wyatt was when he found this out. How he wished he could just up and leave, dumping all his responsibilities on the one left behind. Except there was no one left behind but him. Holding the fort for the family and taking care of his children. Watching the family that had once been so close, disintegrate, broken by events beyond anyone's control.

"I take my responsibilities seriously," was all he could manage.

"So you were taking care of the girls all by yourself?"

Wyatt shook his head, then regretted the action. "No, I've had a nanny come in every day since the girls were born, but she took some time off. She needed to take care of her mother after her surgery." Not that Ruby did a lot. Basically took care of the kids during the day. For the rest, he and the girls had been on their own. He made dinner, put them to bed, tried to keep the house from getting too messy. Which was like trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos. He never felt like he got ahead of the cleaning, the laundry, and trying to get the girls to bed on time.

"In other words, you have been taking care