Lullaby for Two / Child's Play: Lullaby for Two. Cindi Myers

were back in his house, back in his life. What would he have done if I’d contacted you?”

      “He didn’t have to know,” she replied defiantly. If Vince had asked her to join him anywhere, she would have forgotten about college to build a life with him.

      But Vince shook his head. “You never could have kept it from him. I saw how you needed your dad after the hysterectomy.”

      His words tore her in two because he still didn’t understand. “I didn’t only need my dad, Vince. I needed you, too. I lost our baby and you weren’t there to talk about it. You weren’t there to…understand.”

      Suddenly Vince’s house was claustrophobic. She couldn’t be in the same space he was. She couldn’t breathe. Pulling away from him, she went to the table and grabbed her bag.

      “I’ll mail your shirt back to you,” she murmured and hurried to the door.

      She practically ran to her car parked at the curb. She didn’t look back at the house to see if he’d followed her outside.

      He wouldn’t follow her. He wouldn’t leave Sean. That’s the way it should be.

      When she started the ignition and drove away, a mantra played in her mind. You can’t fall in love with him again. You can’t fall in love with him again.

      On Saturday morning, Tessa slid a tea bag into a mug of hot water and absently dipped it up and down. All week she’d tried to forget about her kiss with Vince on Monday. When she concentrated on her little patients, she could pretend nothing had happened with him. But it had. She hadn’t wanted to dissect the kiss. Yet she couldn’t set it aside, lock it in a box or think around it.

      Francesca, dressed in jeans and oversize T-shirt with the Family Tree symbol stamped on the front, sank onto a stool at the eat-in counter of their kitchen, looking as if she’d been up all night. Her long hair was tousled, and she wore no makeup. That was unusual. Francesca was a perfectionist about almost everything and her appearance was out of character.

      “Are you okay?” Tessa asked, picking up her mug and carrying it to the table.

      Francesca considered her question. “I don’t know.”

      “Do you want to talk about it?”

      Instead of answering, Francesca slid from the stool and went to the coffee Emily had brewed before she left to go grocery shopping. She poured a mug and worried her lower lip.

      “What happened?” Tessa prompted.

      Her friend took a sip of coffee and grimaced. “No wonder Emily adds milk and sugar. This is strong enough for two pots.”

      Turning on the faucet, she added hot water, then crossed to the stool and took a seat once more. “I went to a party last night.”

      “That’s right!” Tessa remembered. “It was a reception for Kent Harris to celebrate the opening of his own law firm in Sagebrush. Do you think he snagged many clients?” If she could encourage Francesca to talk, maybe Tessa could discover what was troubling her friend.

      “Possibly. There were so many people there that—” She stopped abruptly.

      “What?”

      Francesca stared down into her coffee.

      Worried now, Tessa laid a hand on her housemate’s arm. “What’s troubling you so? Was Darren there and he wants to get back together with you again?”

      The reason Francesca had moved to Sagebrush was to be with a man she’d fallen in love with. Darren was also a doctor at Family Tree. He’d met Francesca at a conference, and they’d conducted a long-distance relationship until he’d persuaded her to move to Sagebrush. She had and, for a while, their romance had stayed on an even keel. But when Francesca had moved in with Darren, she’d discovered he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. He’d taken her moving in as a commitment, the next thing to marriage, and he’d seemed to change before her eyes into the type of controlling man she’d sworn she’d never date, let alone marry.

      “Nothing to do with Darren,” Francesca answered her, but then frowned. “Or…maybe it does in a roundabout way.”

      She ran her hand through her straight hair and sighed. “Why is it that just when I think I’ve learned from my past, that I’ve finally broken free from the kind of abusive home I grew up in, something happens that tosses me right back there again? Before I could talk, I knew my mother was under my dad’s thumb. When I was little, I learned why when I overheard Mom confiding in a friend, telling her my dad had forced her into marriage when she’d gotten pregnant. After Darren turned out to be controlling just like my dad, I swore off relationships.”

      “I know you did. In the year since you’ve broken up with him, you haven’t even gone out on a date.”

      “Yeah, well, I slept with a man last night. How is that for jumping into the fire?”

      Tessa saw the panicked, troubled look in Francesca’s eyes. “You used protection?”

      “Oh, yes, he had a condom.” Francesca sighed again and rubbed her face, then she shook her head. “Honest to goodness, Tessa, I don’t know what happened.”

      “You mean he put something in your drink, or—”

      “Heavens no.”

      Tessa thought it was best if Francesca started from the beginning. “Who is this man?”

      “Your dad probably knew his dad. In fact, you might even know him. His name is Grady Fitzgerald. His father was a saddlemaker and now Grady’s taken over the business.”

      “Sure, I know him. Vince probably knows him, too. He worked in his dad’s saddle shop when we were married, though Grady was away at school then. My dad bought my first saddle from Mr. Fitzgerald and Grady delivered it to the ranch.”

      “What was Grady like?”

      “From what I remember, he wasn’t a joiner. Lots of girls had a crush on him but he seemed immune. He comes from a big family. He was a good rider and that’s probably why he’s so good at saddle making. He understands what the horse and rider need to be comfortable.”

      Since Francesca was listening with avid interest, Tessa asked, “Are you going to see him again?”

      She shook her head adamantly. “No.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because we’re very different people. We talked for a long time, Tessa, and I realized how different we were while we were talking.”

      “Different how?”

      “My career and the babies I treat mean everything to me. You know that. I’m on call more often than not, and I’d never say no when a baby’s in distress. It’s my life. Grady’s business is just a part of his life. He spends a lot of time with his family. Family has never done anything but hurt me…from my father’s abuse to my mom’s fear. I always felt I had to take care of my mom because she couldn’t take care of herself.”

      Soon after Francesca and Tessa had become friends, she’d learned her story. Francesca had revealed that her mother had finally left her husband after he’d attacked Francesca when she was eight. But the years of being in the house with him, under the same roof, knowing he could control her mother because she was afraid of him, had scarred Francesca deeply. Her mother had died a few years ago from lung cancer and Francesca had once confided she felt like an orphan.

      Now Tessa reassured her friend, “You have us. Me and Emily. You know you can count on us.”

      “I know I can. But that’s different from what Grady has. He’s used to being part of a bigger picture. I’m used to being on my own. And it’s not just that. Grady’s about seven years older than me…in his midforties. He wants to stay in Sagebrush the rest of his life. You know I’m thinking about applying to Doctors Without Borders and