“It’s understandable that you’re tired. You haven’t regained all of your strength.” When Seth walked past him toward a basket of toys beside the sofa, T.J. grinned. “And before you ask if those are mine, I keep them around for my niece and nephew.”
“Do you babysit often?” she asked. He certainly seemed to know more about watching children than most bachelors.
He shook his head. “I don’t get to watch them all that much because of the rotation. But once in a while one of my brothers and sisters-in-law will ask me to keep one of them when they want to go catch a movie or have a kid-free dinner.”
She frowned. “The rotation?”
“I have five brothers,” he said, shrugging. “Three of them are married and unless they all want to go out together, my other two brothers and I have to take turns with Mariah.”
“Is she your sister?” Heather asked, wondering what it would be like to have that many siblings.
He shook his head. “She’s our sister-in-law’s sister.”
“What happens when the couples go out together?” she asked.
He grinned. “That’s when we bachelors get together and become a babysitting tag team.”
“That sounds...effective.” Laughing, Heather shook her head. “I still can’t get over six boys. Your poor parents. I can only imagine the chaos.”
“Actually, they’re my foster brothers,” he said, smiling. “We met as teenagers and finished growing up together on the Last Chance Ranch.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, wondering if growing up a foster child was a painful subject for him.
He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. Thanks to our foster father, Hank Calvert, moving to his ranch was the best thing that ever happened to all of us. We’ve become a real family and there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for each other.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said, meaning it. She had never known that kind of closeness with her sister. If they had been close, Heather wouldn’t have had such a struggle the past couple of years.
They were silent for a moment before he asked, “What about you? Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“I have an older sister,” she answered, nodding. “But Stephanie and her husband live in Japan and I haven’t seen or heard much from her in several years.”
“That must be tough,” he said, his tone sympathetic.
“I would like to say that it is,” she confessed, feeling a twinge of regret. “But my sister and I never really had anything in common, nor were we ever all that close. I always loved growing up on the Circle W and couldn’t imagine moving so far away that I wouldn’t be able to come back whenever I wanted to ride my horse. But she couldn’t wait to grow up and leave it and our family as far behind as her Prada knockoffs could take her.” Heather paused as a wave of emotion swept over her. “She didn’t even bother to come home for our father’s funeral two years ago.”
T.J. put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side in a comforting gesture. “It’s never too late, Heather. Maybe one day you and your sister can find some common ground.”
His companionable hug not only startled her, but when she glanced up to meet his warm hazel gaze, she could tell it had also surprised him. An awkward silence followed the physical connection and neither of them seemed to know what to say. Deciding to put some distance between them, she took a step away from him and started toward her son to take him upstairs.
“I think I should probably go ahead and get Seth settled down for the night,” she said, feeling a little breathless.
“I’ll help the two of you get upstairs,” T.J. said, lifting her baby so that Seth was sitting on T.J.’s forearm.
“Thank you, but I can make it on my own,” she said, holding out her arms to take Seth.
But her little boy had other ideas. Shaking his head, he placed his little arm around T.J.’s neck and smiled at her as if to say she didn’t have a choice in the matter. He wanted T.J. to carry him and that was that.
As they walked down the hall and up the stairs, Heather couldn’t help but wonder if it might not be wise to get a boat for the next time the road flooded. Under normal conditions, it wouldn’t be an issue. She, and her parents before her, had always kept plenty of supplies on hand to get them through whenever the creek flooded. But last night she had no choice but to risk being caught on the wrong side of the creek. Seth needed to see a doctor and a trip to the ER had been her only option. But if she had a boat, she would be able to get them home and not have to rely on the generosity of a man who threw her off-guard and caused her son to turn into a deserter.