Of course, he and Cassie had split up while he was away. That hadn’t really been a surprise. But what was a surprise was when he came home from serving and she promptly left with her new guy, all but saying that she’d had enough of being a parent and that it was now his turn.
He was grateful that at least he’d had video calls with the kids every week while he was gone, so he wasn’t astranger to them. But it was a lot to ask of them to adjust to such a big change in their young lives.
And jumping into the return to civilian life and being a single dad all at once hadn’t exactly been easy for Ransom, no matter how much he treasured his time with the kids. They were both incredibly resilient, and just generally awesome. And he thought that was mostly due to the fact that they had each other.
Now that he finally had his feet under him, Willow was back home this winter, leaving him with the challenge of how to mend fences after years of quiet resentment.
And if that wasn’t enough to throw him off balance, apparently Hailey was home now too.
His heart ached all over again as he looked at the woman he had once loved and thought about what could have been.
I could never have let her stay, knowing her dreams weren’t here,he reminded himself for about the millionth time since the day she left Trinity Falls.
And as he thought through every awful decision he’d made in his life, he couldn’t stop seeing the look on her face the night he’d broken things off.
If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have Travis and Mae,he reminded himself.And it would have killed her dreams.
But none of that mattered right now. What mattered now was what was right in front of him, and he was thankful for that.
The kids led Hailey over to the kitchen island and Mae hopped up on her stool to show her everything while Travis spread softened butter on a baguette.
“The sauce looks amazing,” Hailey said appreciatively.
“My daddy sneaks vegetables in it,” Mae revealed.
“That was some secret recipe I had,” Ransom teased as he walked over to join them. “Thanks alot.”
Mae predictably cracked up, practically folding in half as she clung to the counter.
Hailey automatically put a hand on Mae’s waist to make sure she wouldn’t fall off the stool, and Ransom felt another tug in his heart.
He fixed his mind on their meal, getting the spaghetti and meatballs put together while Hailey and the kids got the garlic bread taken care of.
He couldn’t help noticing Hailey asking Mae to demonstrate her garlic sprinkling technique, as if she knew instinctively that the little girl wanted to be helpful.
Once the bread was in the oven, the kids brought Hailey over to the table to admire their advent calendars.
Their grandma had gone to be with her sister, who wasn’t well, so she couldn’t be around right now. They all missed her terribly, but she had taken to sending the kids mail and postcards, which never failed to charm them. And when they got the advent calendars she sent, they were beside themselves.
“Oh, these are beautiful,” Hailey said.
“They’re from Switzerland,” Travis told her. “That’s why we can’t read some of the words.”
“And they havechocolatein them,” Mae said, her eyes dreamy, her index finger toying with one of the little cardboard windows.
“You can open themafterdinner,” Ransom reminded her as he started carrying over bowls of spaghetti.
“Dinnertime,” Travis sang out happily.
“Give me one with lots of meatballs,” Mae said, smiling up at Ransom.
Hailey hopped up and poured milk for the kids while Ransom got the garlic bread out and cut it up.
“I’ll say grace,” Travis offered when they got back to the table.
“Shouldn’t we wait for your mommy?” Hailey asked.
Travis looked to Ransom, his eyes widening with a panicked look.
