His mother chuckled.
“Wait, my birthday is in November, so that means I was conceived... in January.” A chill swept over Jake.That must have been one cold picnic!
“Your father was a very resourceful man.” Faith chuckled again, her cheeks growing pink. “But I won’t bore you with the details.”
“Thank you.”
“Honey, my point is, you are a wonderful man and a hard worker, but you shouldn’t avoid marriage because you’re afraid you won’t be a good enough husband and father. None of us are ever good enough. That’s what God’s grace is for.” She grabbed his other arm as well to make sure she had his full attention. “But as long as you deny yourself the privilege of loving a woman and having a family, you’re forfeiting so many wonderful blessings. I know your father would be proud of the man you’ve become and how successful you’ve been with the ranch, but you know he’d be the first to tell you to ‘git the lead out, and git ‘er done’.”
Jake chuckled. His mother was right. His father would be disappointed that Jake thought only about himself and whether he was man enough to run the ranchandlove a woman.
Jake’s chest tightened. Had he exaggerated his perceptions of his father’s shortcomings because of his own anxiety and self-doubts? If he didn’t allow himself to fall in love, he wouldn’t get hurt again.
His love hadn’t been enough to make Lydia happy. So, why did he think it would be enough to make another woman happy?
A woman like Emily.
Chapter 14
Emily pushed the eggs and bacon around on her plate. Once again, she didn’t have an appetite. Her heart was heavy after last night’s recollections of her mother.
Jake sat across the table from her. “You don’t like eggs?”
She gave him a wan smile. “I guess I’m not very hungry.” She let out a deep sigh. “I wish I could remember more, you know. I wish I could remember happy things.”
“Poor Margaret. I’m not sure she’ll recover from this.” Faith’s voice, from the other side of the kitchen, interrupted their conversation. “She was so down last night and not making much sense, thanks to the morphine.” Faith crossed the kitchen. “Speaking of pain medicine, how are you feeling, Emily? You haven’t asked for your medicine this morning. Would you like ibuprofen, or do you need something stronger?”
Emily still had a lot of pain, especially when she did too much or moved too fast, but she hoped if she avoided the stronger medicine, eventually her memory would return. She was just glad to be rid of the neck brace. Technically, she should have worn it another day, but she’d worn Faith down with her insistence that her neck felt fine.
“I’m fine for now. I’ll take some ibuprofen later.”
“We’ll see how you feel after you get dressed. I know that’s exhausting. Would you like me to braid your hair again today? Or maybe we can do one of those messy buns the girls like to do nowadays. You have such long thick hair. The possibilities are endless.”
Faith’s enthusiasm and energy exhausted Emily. She loved the woman and was grateful for her kindness, but Faith’s energy was almost more than Emily could handle today.
She bit back a smile and looked at Jake. His pinched lips looked like he fought a smile of his own.
Jake gave her a wink, setting her stomach aflutter. “Mom, I think you should check on Ms. Turner this morning. I’ll bet she’s pretty down.”
“I can’t leave Emily again.”
“I thought I’d give Amy a call and see if she’d like to come visit with Emily for a while.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” Faith turned to Emily. “Amy is always fun to visit with. Her girls are the cutest things ever. And I should spend more time with Margaret. I’m not sure how much longer she’ll be with us.”
“It’s settled, then.” Jake stood and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
Thirty minutes later, Emily was relaxing in the great room when Amy arrived with her daughters. The beautiful two-year-olds didn’t look like twins as Emily had expected. Both had curly blond hair—one golden and the other platinum—and beautiful blue eyes that were on opposite ends of the spectrum; one deep, sapphire blue and the other sky blue.
“Oh, there are my little cherubs.” Faith knelt and hugged the girls, who enthusiastically returned her embrace, nearly knocking her over. “I’ve missed you girls so much.”
Faith continued to gush over the girls until they became interested in a basket of toys Amy pulled from a cupboard. Then Faith fussed and hovered over Emily again.
“Are you sure you don’t need some pain medicine before I go?” When Emily shook her head, she continued. “Would you like me to get you a glass of water? Or a pillow or blanket?”
“I’m fine, Faith. You’re spoiling me. I’ll let Amy know if I need anything. You go visit with your friend.”
Faith continued to hover until Amy spoke up. “I’ll make sure she takes it easy, Faith.”
