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But she was probably wrong.

Gus’s cell buzzed with a text. “I’ve got to go. There’s an emergency with a foaling mare over at the Canaday’s place. Ella? You’ve gotta come with me.”

Sarah reached for Lolly as Ella pleaded. “But can’t I stay? Just look at how little her little fingers are.”

He shook his head. “These nice people have their hands full, Ella. Do you want to go on a call with me or should I drop you with Luke?”

She looked mournfully at the baby. “I’ll go with you.”

“She’s welcome to stay here for a while,” Cami said, not ready for this connection to end.

“I have no idea how long I’ll be on this call. No, but thanks anyway. C’mon, Ella. Come help me get Ms. Hardesty’s tree out of the truck.”

Cami had almost forgotten in all the drama. Gus, Liam, and Ella unloaded the truck and Liam carried it inside.

“Thanks again for helping with our tree,” Gus said, turning to her. “It meant a lot to Ella. I’ve got to run but let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated to—”

“I don’t. Iwantto. Look, I know you’ve got a big family to help you, and you and I are practically strangers, but if… there’s anything…”

“Thanks. Thank you. Really.”

He stared at her for a minute, as if he was gauging whether to say more about her choices today.

But instead, he said, “You okay?”

She slapped on a bright smile. “I’m fine.”

“It’s a lot,” he said simply. “Taking this on. It’s a lot.”

That might have been the understatement of the year. “I’m just a little tired today. And a little scared.”

“Rule of thumb? Sleep when she sleeps. Speaking from personal experience here. Or she’ll wear you down to a nub.”

“Sleeping seems… unlikely and, during naps, out of the question with everything that’s happening. But, promise, I’ll give it my best shot.”

“Fair enough.”

A pang of something unfamiliar zinged through her as they pulled down their ranch drive and disappeared. Unfamiliar, and surprising. She was more than intrigued, she was attracted to him. It was strange how finding one tiny baby could shift one’s life in such a dramatic way, bringing a man like Gus into her life in a very unconventional way. Maybe it would come to nothing. But what she knew for sure was that this child, who’d appeared like a gift in this season of gifts, was going to change both their lives in ways she couldn’t yet fathom.

Chapter Five

That night, aftera late dinner, Gus sat with Ella listening to her read from a chapter book she’d found at the library. Ella loved reading to him, and he enjoyed this quiet time they almost always managed to share at bedtime. Tonight, she’d had to use her inhaler after dinner when he’d noticed her breathing sounded wrong. The asthma that cropped up now and then, he believed, was stress related. Often, it seemed to be triggered when she got too excited, or nervous, or scared, and seemed rarely triggered by environmental issues like allergies, although they hadn’t entirely ruled that out either. The inhaler, combined with some calm time together seemed to help more than anything. He hoped one day, she’d outgrow it, but there were no guarantees.

He leaned his head back against her headboard and closed his eyes, thinking that despite his worry for her, how much he loved this time with her and how fast it was all going.

How much longer would she want him to sit on the bed with her, listening to a story? Was it only weeks, or months away when that wouldn’t seem important to her anymore and she’d want her privacy? She was, after all, six going on sixteen, having been raised with nothing but adults around her, moving so often that real friends were only temporary Band-Aids over the loneliness he suspected she felt, where books had become her companions.

Now that she was in first grade—not preschool or even kindergarten anymore—he knew that stability for her was going to become an issue. Maybe it already had become an issue. Maybe he was just trying to ignore what he could hardly bear to look at. Ella was growing up. She had needs, just like he did. And hers were more important than his.

“You’re not listening,” she said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Yes, I am.” He jerked a look down at her. “Fezzik is carrying Princess Buttercup up the Cliffs of Insanity.”

She gave him a look. “Three pages ago.”

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I was just thinking…”