Page 33 of Snowed in with the Rancher

“They've had a lot of change the last few days, but they seem to be holding up well.” She paused and watched Lucy settle in, leaning into Thomas. The two were obviously very much in love. They reminded her of her own parents, and she felt a momentary burst of grief at the thought that the girls were about to meet their paternal grandparents but they would never be able to meet their maternal grandparents. The pain of that loss still hit her at odd moments—not as often as it did at first, but often enough to sting. She knew how to deal with it, though. She breathed through the pain and reminded herself to focus on gratitude instead. A week ago, all the girls had was her and each other. Today, they had a daddy—and they were about to have grandparents, too. That was a good thing. A very good thing.

“We told them this morning that Tate was their father, and they seemed pretty happy about it all. We haven't really had a chance to talk about having grandparents, but I think they're going to like the idea.”

Tate arrived with the coffee and handed mugs to everyone.

“So I guess we need to do this?” he asked, looking a touch green around the gills.

Olivia reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I think it's going to be fine.”

She went upstairs and found the girls sitting quietly with way-too-innocent expressions on their faces. That couldn't mean anything good…but no one was bleeding and nothing seemed to be visibly broken, so she decided to let it go for now. “Let's go downstairs,” she said. “There are some people who want to meet you.”

“What people?” Melissa asked.

“Daddy's parents,” Olivia answered.

“Daddy has parents?” Jackie asked, sounding awed.

“Of course he does,” she said while helping Jackie down the stairs. Her ankle didn't really seem to be bothering her anymore, but better safe than sorry.

Olivia heard Lucy let out a little gasp when she first caught sight of the girls. As soon as they stepped off the last stair, Jackie and Melissa both made a beeline for Thomas, who Olivia noticed looked a little misty-eyed. Lucy, meanwhile, was openly dabbing tears away. They both wore blinding smiles.

“You're my daddy's daddy?” Jackie asked Thomas.

Thomas chuckled. “I sure am. Do you know what that makes me?” When the girls shook their heads, Thomas grinned. “It makes me your grandpa.” He reached out and took Lucy's hand. “And this is your grandma.”

Melissa regarded Lucy with concentrated interest. “Daddy talked about you. You gave Daddy all the pretty Christmas things, didn't you?”

“That's right, I did,” Lucy confirmed. “And I have to say, they look just wonderful. I especially love the tree. Did you girls help with that?”

After that, the floodgates were open. The girls talked over each other, describing every detail of how they had decorated, from picking out the tree to choosing exactly which knickknack went where. Lucy and Thomas listened intently, as if they had never heard such a fascinating story before. It wasn't long before Jackie was ensconced on Lucy's lap, and Melissa sat next to Thomas, her serious expression in place as the conversation shifted to questions about Tate's growing-up years.

“So when my daddy was little, did he have a dog like Lobster?”

Hearing his name, the lab thumped his tail, lifted his head from where he lay by Tate's feet, and gave one sharp bark.

Thomas laughed and snapped his fingers. Lobster ambled over, and Thomas began to stroke the silky-smooth head as he put an arm around Melissa and spoke to her softly.

“When your daddy was little, we had a golden retriever. Have you ever seen one of those?'

Melissa looked to Olivia for help with that one.

“Jessie's parents have a golden retriever,” Olivia reminded her.

Melissa nodded to Thomas then, and he went on with stories about Tate's childhood dog.

Tate had been as quiet as usual, watching everything that went on but not participating much. When he stood to go refill his coffee, Olivia followed him into the kitchen.

“This seems to be going well,” she said, watching him pour coffee into his mug.

“Seems to,” he answered.

“Look.” She lowered her voice so she wouldn't be heard by the others in the living room. “It's been a lot—for all of us. And it's been…” She paused, taking a breath. “Fast.”

Tate seemed to relax a touch, relief apparent in his face. “Really fast,” he agreed.

“So now that all the revelations have happened, let's just try to work on establishing some sort of normal and be patient with one another. I know you have a life, and it's been on pause during this storm, but you can get back to it now, and the girls and I will be fine. I planned the move for the holidays so I'd have time to get us all settled before they go to school and I start work. We might not be settled in quite the way we expected since the house is damaged, but I still have lots to do.” She put her cup down on the counter and ticked items off on her fingers. “Bank accounts to set up, doctors and dentists to arrange—oh, and I'll have to get all our furniture put into a storage unit when the truck arrives.”

Tate filled Olivia's cup as well and handed it to her, watching as she poured some cream into it and stirred it before continuing.

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