Jack grinned knowingly. “I’ll bet she talked your ear off.”
“No,” Layla replied, grinning as well. “I rather enjoyed the companionable conversation. I do hope I’ll get to see her again soon.”
“I don’t think you could avoid her now, even if you wanted to. She was so excited about meeting you yesterday that she did nothing but speak of you and the baby all night.”
“That’s nice to know,” Layla said appreciatively. “Well, if you will excuse me, Jack. I need to get back to Heath, and I suppose I’ll just have to eat this breakfast by myself.”
Jack smiled politely at her. “Try to have a good day now,” he said before leaving.
When Layla returned to the dining room, she saw that Heath had finished eating his egg, and his tiny fingers were moving about his plate, searching for something else. Sitting next to him, she tore his biscuit into smaller, digestible pieces.
“Here you go, Heath,” Layla said as she placed the pieces on his plate. Dipping two of the pieces in some of the raspberry jam, she also put those in front of him. He immediately reached for those pieces and stuck out his tongue to taste the biscuit and the sweet jam.
As he was chewing the food, Heath clapped his hands happily. “Well,” Layla said reluctantly. “At leastyouliked the breakfast. Looks like I’m going to have to try hard again at dinner and just hope that your daddy returns in time to partake of it.”
Layla felt defeated, but seeing how pleased Heath was with the biscuits and jam brightened her spirits.
Chapter Thirteen
I can’t even believe it. Mark shook his head in dismay. The sun was arched high in the sky, practically scorching the earth beneath Felix’s hooves. The horse was moving steadily, and Mark knew he could have urged the animal to get back home faster, but he needed time to think through the situation.
Removing his black, broad-brimmed hat, he ran a hand through his dark hair.I just don’t know what went wrong.Mark thought back over his interactions with the bank manager, Mr. Lewis, but he couldn’t figure out why the deal went south.How could someone else have bought that land? It doesn’t seem possible that someone would have had the exact same idea at the same time as I did.Withdrawing his royal blue handkerchief, he ran it over his face as he was sweating profusely. He was annoyed at losing the land he wanted and was more agitated by the minute.
He stuffed the blue handkerchief back into his front left vest pocket and doubled down on the horse. “Let’s just get on home, Felix,” he told the horse as he spurred him onward. “I’d rather be there than out here.”
As he rounded the bend, a wave of relief rushed through him. Even though the morning had been taxing, Mark was glad to be back home now. He rode Felix straight to the stables and dismounted swiftly.
“Over here, Boss,” Jack called out as he walked over from the horse corral adjacent to the stables.
“Hello, Jack,” Mark greeted politely.
Jack took Felix’s reins and led the horse to an open stall. Mark followed behind him, removing his heavy-duty, brown leather riding gloves.
“What’s the good word, Boss? Everything go well at the bank?” Jack inquired.
Mark had to stop from snapping at the young man, reminding himself that Jack was simply interested in the ranch business and that it was not a crime to ask questions. Mark shook his head. “I’m afraid I have little good news to share. Mr. Lewis said the piece of land we talked about was snatched up by another buyer. I cannot fathom who would even want that remote piece of land.”
Jack began removing Felix’s saddle and replied, “What piece of land? That section you wanted so you could plant some fruit trees?”
Mark nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Uh-huh,” Jack grunted with the effort of moving the saddle onto a table outside of the stall.
“I don’t get it, Jack,” Mark said, his temper igniting. “I thought that property was as good as mine. I presented Mr. Lewis with a thorough business proposal, and I had a plan to repay the bank’s loan within the first year. How could they have gotten a better offer? How could Mr. Lewis have sold that land to someone else?”
“Don’t know, Boss,” Jack answered, which was an uncharacteristically brief comment for the young man.
Mark eyed him suspiciously, then shook his head. Jack was just preoccupied with his work; he wasn’t trying to avoid the subject. “I’m heading up to the house,” Mark announced, longing to get back to Heath and Layla, and didn’t hear if the boy replied. Stomping his black cowboy boots heavily as he made his way to the back door, he was irritated by just about every part of his life and was hoping for just a moment of peace.
When he swung open the back door and stepped into the kitchen, Mark got precisely what he wanted. Immediately, he was greeted by Layla’s sunny smile and Heath blabbering away.
“Hello, Mark,” Layla greeted brightly. She was standing at the kitchen countertop, and Heath was sitting in his chair next to her.
“Da!” Heath yelled happily, and joy sparked inside Mark.
“Da? Did he just call meDa?” Mark asked as he rushed across the kitchen toward his wonderful baby boy. He gently took Heath from his seat. “Did you just sayDa, Heath?” Mark bundled his son into his arms.
“Da!” Heath repeated, and Mark laughed in surprise.
