A Rancher To Remember. Patricia Johns

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СКАЧАТЬ death. Those laughing brown eyes had become flinty and cautious, and he seemed to have more scruff on his chin now than he used to wear before. She knew that the last couple of years had been hard on him... There was a white bandage on the side of his forehead, looking out of place. His level gaze landed on her, but his expression didn’t change.

      “Hi!” Olivia felt her smile falter. “Sorry to just drop in like this, but—”

      Sawyer looked at her quizzically, then his gaze slid past her toward the house.

      “Sawyer?” she said.

      “Who are you?” he said uncertainly.

      Was he joking? But there was no hint of humor in those chiseled features. Something was very wrong here. She heard the screen door slam behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see Lloyd West, Sawyer’s uncle, sauntering toward her, carrying a blonde toddler in each arm. Lloyd was an awkwardly proportioned man. He had long arms and legs, hands and feet that seemed too big for the rest of his body, a sparsely whiskered face, a totally bald pate and a large nose. The toddlers seemed to be taking a real delight in trying to reach up and touch his shiny head.

      “I know I probably should have called first, but I wanted to surprise you,” Olivia said, turning back to Sawyer. She smiled sheepishly. “Surprise.”

      Sawyer smiled weakly, still eyeing her uncertainly. “You know me?”

      Olivia blinked. Was he being serious right now? No, surely not. So why the act? Was he angry still? She licked her lips.

      “I know it’s been a while, Sawyer, but come on. This is just cruel.”

      Lloyd arrived then, and he put the toddlers down. One went for Sawyer’s leg, and the other squatted down to pick grass.

      “Olivia,” Lloyd said with a lopsided smile that revealed a gap where he’d lost a tooth. He stuck out his hand. They shook, and Lloyd looked toward his nephew. “Do you remember her?”

      “No.” Sawyer’s voice was low. “I’ve got nothing.”

      “This is Olivia Martin. She’s an old friend.”

      Sawyer gave her a curt nod. “Pleasure.”

      “What do you mean?” Olivia’s mind was spinning. “Lloyd, what’s going on?” Her gaze stopped at the little girls. They had bright blue eyes, identical smiles and curls that had been gathered into nubby little pigtails at the sides of their heads. These would be Sawyer’s daughters—the reason Sawyer’s in-laws were so eager to reconcile with him to begin with. Even as she looked at Lloyd for some sort of explanation, she knew it couldn’t happen in front of the girls.

      Taking the hint, Lloyd angled his head toward the house and took a step back, and Olivia followed him a few paces off. Sawyer watched them for a moment, then scooped the toddler into his arms and turned back toward the field.

      “Sawyer was in an accident a couple of days ago,” Lloyd said, keeping his voice low. “He got kicked in the head by a cow when he was trying to put the chains on her for a difficult delivery. He was unconscious for about five minutes, and when he came to...this.” Lloyd sighed.

      “What is this?” Olivia demanded.

      “Temporary amnesia. He doesn’t remember anything. We took him to the hospital and they did a bunch of tests. The doctor says his memory should come back here pretty soon, so right now, it’s just a waiting game.”

      “So Sawyer doesn’t remember me?” she asked hesitantly.

      “Don’t take it personally,” Lloyd replied with a shrug. “He doesn’t remember me, either. Or his girls.”

      She watched as the toddler who was playing in the grass headed in her father’s direction. Sawyer put down the other girl, and they both reached for their father and clutched at his jeans. He smoothed a hand over the tops of their heads but didn’t lean down to pick them up again.

      “How long does it normally take to get memory back with his kind of injury?” she asked.

      “A week or two, the doctor says,” Lloyd replied. “The damage isn’t too bad. It could have been a lot worse. But it’s good you’re here. Maybe you can jostle a few memories loose for him.”

      Olivia smiled wanly. “If his own daughters aren’t enough... Maybe with Mia gone, he doesn’t want to remember.”

      Mia was Sawyer’s late wife, and Sawyer and Mia had been Olivia’s best friends, but that was a long time ago.

      “Well, his girls need their father to come back to himself,” Lloyd retorted. “So, he’d better start pulling up a few memories, no matter how painful they might be.”

      Olivia pulled her fingers through her sandy blond curls. Her mind was spinning. She was here to try and mend fences between Sawyer and his in-laws. Mia’s parents, Wyatt and Irene White, had made her a deal: if she could soften Sawyer up enough to allow them access to their granddaughters, then they’d use their clout with the hospital board to help reduce the medical bills from her mother’s illness. The weight of that debt had been the reason her brother wouldn’t speak to her anymore. One reconciled family for another—that was the deal. But the timing couldn’t be worse. If Sawyer couldn’t remember anything, how could he reconcile with the Whites? But then again, if he couldn’t remember, maybe he’d be okay with them visiting the girls, after all.

      Using his amnesia that way was underhanded, and she knew it. Olivia was an honest woman, and she wasn’t willing to manipulate an already vulnerable situation, no matter how high the stakes were. Sawyer’s memory would come back. That’s what the doctors said, right? She could hold off on convincing him until then.

      One of the toddlers drummed her hands against Sawyer’s leg and started to cry. He bent down and picked her up then, and she tipped her curly head against his shoulder. He patted her back awkwardly, murmuring something to her that Olivia couldn’t make out.

      “The problem is,” Lloyd went on, “we’re real busy right now what with calving and all. Sawyer being out of it has slowed us down, and I’ve had to stick around the house to watch him and the girls, so that sets me back even further.”

      “Yes, I could see that being tough,” she agreed.

      “How long are you out here for?” Lloyd asked.

      Olivia had two weeks off of work at the hospital in Billings, and she wasn’t planning on staying a day longer than it took to iron things out around here. But there was slim chance of a reconciliation happening by then if Sawyer couldn’t remember anything.

      “A couple of weeks, I suppose,” she replied.

      “Because if you’d be willing to pitch in here with Sawyer, keep an eye on the kids a bit—”

      “Who normally watches them?” she asked with a frown.

      “Ellen Guise was their nanny. One of our relatives. But yesterday, she got a call from her daughter. Some sort of emergency with her mother-in-law in Tennessee. So she had to go,” Lloyd said. “I mean, she’ll be back in a few weeks, but it’s just tough timing all round. Look, the thing is, I can’t offer to pay you or anything. I’m in a real bind. Everyone else is as busy as I СКАЧАТЬ