Texas Ranger Dad. Debra Clopton

been fortunate ta get y’all both.”

      “I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Zane said, with a nod their direction. It was true. He’d only been in the small town a couple of days, but he already felt a connection to it. His natural sense of protectiveness had gone on full alert. Not that he was expecting any trouble—but if it came calling he’d meet it head-on. Zane had never taken his job lightly, as a Ranger or now, as a sworn deputy. He’d always prided himself on making choices in the best interests of the people or places entrusted in his care. For the most part, that code had left him with few regrets and enabled him to be proud of looking back. Rose was the exception.

      “So, what do the two of you do?” he asked.

      Sam hustled from the kitchen with tray of clean coffee cups. He was five feet, if that, with the bow-legged gait of a man who’d been built to sit a horse. Zane saw the craggy-faced proprietor as a small man with a big heart and more than likely a tenacious one. There was something about his eyes and his stout handshake that spoke to Zane. He was a mainstay of the community. Zane had studied people all his life, and then trained for it in his job, but there were some people who wore their character like an open book for all the world to see—that was Sam Green. He was a man who could be counted on. It was the way Zane had always hoped he could be described by those who knew him. It cut deep that Rose couldn’t say that about him.

      “Them two,” Sam said, indicating Applegate and Stanley with a nod and talking loud enough for them to hear his every word. “Don’t let ’m fool ya. They kin get into more trouble than two teenagers let loose fer the first time in thar daddy’s pickup.”

      Zane chuckled. “That so?”

      Applegate scowled from across the room. “No mor’n anybody else. We’re retired and plum tired of it. So now we help out at The Barn Theater on the outskirts of town and that fills some of’r time.”

      “That’s right.” Stanley jumped one of his checkers over Applegate’s, winning him a hard look. “You’ll have ta come on out and take in a show. We got ourselves a right smart good program.”

      Applegate grinned for the first time and surprised Zane so much by the transformation that he almost spit out the coffee he’d just taken a sip of.

      “Got some mighty fine talent out thar. Why we got reviewed in pert near ever newspaper that’s worth its salt. And our Sugar Rae Denton even got invited to be in a movie and on Broadway!”

      “I’m impressed,” Zane said.

      Sam arched a brow. “We got all kinds of good thangs going on in this little town. One of them thangs is my wife and her two friends. You bein’ a single man, ya ought to be prepared ta draw their special attentions.”

      “Why do I get the feeling you’ve had this conversation several times in the past?” He knew resident journalist, Molly Jacobs, wrote a syndicated newspaper column about the goings-on of the town. He had heard it frequently covered matchmaking.

      “’Cuz it’s true,” Applegate grunted, then plopped a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth and grinned. He was more amiable than Zane had first taken him to be. “And it kin be downright entertainin’ fer us old-timers ta see you young bucks get snared up in their good intentions. Ain’t that so, Stanley?”

      “Yup. This here spot in front of this window is better seat’n than front row at one of them movie theaters.”

      Sam grinned at Zane. “We figure’d ta warn ya and then sit back and watch the show when they start in on ya.”

      Their candor caused Zane to laugh, but it faded quickly when the older men all stared at him funny.

      “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, feeling suddenly like he was in a lineup.

      Stanley pulled at his ear. “When you laugh like that, I seemed ta thank maybe I met you someplace b’fore.”

      “Yeah,” Applegate agreed.

      Sam nodded. “But I ain’t one ta forget faces, so I know I ain’t met you.”

      Zane had had his fair share of so-called twins through the years. He was certain everyone got told several times in their life that they looked just like someone else. “Someone in this area must resemble me,” he offered.

      “That must be it,” Sam said, rubbing his chin and continuing to study Zane.

      “We know e’vrbody,” Applegate grunted, piercing Zane with his scrutiny. “Who do y’all thank it is?”

      “Cain’t put a finger on it,” Stanley mumbled. “But it’s that smile and something else…I jest cain’t figure it out.”

      Zane chuckled. “Well, boys, relax. Given the size of Mule Hollow, one of us is bound to run into my look-alike pretty quick. When we do, the mystery will be solved.”

      Zane, who was used to challenging jobs, figured that would be the biggest mystery he might face in the peaceful little community. It was going to take some getting used to. But if he could make things right with Rose, then he would gladly settle into this quiet life with a happy heart.

      Chapter Three

      Mule Hollow was having a baby and everyone was in an uproar! For a town that had been on the verge of dying not so very long ago, it was pure joy to think that babies were coming. Rose couldn’t miss Dottie’s shower, no matter how much she’d considered hiding out at home. Dottie had been on bed rest for a month, so the shower was being held at her home. The place was packed with women.

      Even though Rose was apprehensive about what was going to happen with Zane, she was determined to go on as if her world hadn’t been turned upside down.

      As she’d done with Max in the cactus field, she focused on what was going on around her. It was always lively when the women of Mule Hollow got together. So unlike her own silent, secretive pregnancy. The comparison slipped in unbidden; it was as if Zane coming into her life again had brought her past back to haunt her. By the time she was as far along as Dottie, Rose realized she’d gotten herself into a mess. By this time she’d stopped thinking David, her exhusband, was the answer to her troubles. By then he’d begun to show his true colors and she was regretting her rash decision to marry him. His overprotectiveness had first drawn her to him, but she’d soon learned it was control and not care that drove him. Almost the instant their vows were spoken, he’d begun shutting her in and shutting out the world. She made no friends and even if she had, he wouldn’t have allowed them to come around. A gathering like this wouldn’t have happened.

      “This is from Norma Sue,” Dottie said, reading the card. She was sitting on the couch and melted as she pulled back the tissue paper, exposing a pair of red, satin baby slippers and a matching dress. “Ohhh,” she cooed, lifting them for everyone to see.

      “I love red!” Scarlet-haired Esther Mae’s voice rose above the others’ exclamations. Esther Mae was in her sixties and as vibrant as the color she dyed her hair. “Every baby girl needs a red outfit. You did good, Norma.”

      Her friend and cohort in all kinds of escapades, Norma Sue Jenkins’s plump cheeks beamed. “I figured if the baby has a head of black hair like Dottie, that the red would look real nice.”

      “You are so right,” Dottie sighed, her navy eyes bright against her pale skin. She handed the gift off and it began to make its trip around the room.

      “This is from Lacy,” Rose said, glancing at the card on the bag, then holding it toward Dottie. Her hand was resting on her rounded stomach and she looked slightly uncomfortable. Rose hesitated. “Are you okay? Not too tired?”

      “I’m fine. Really,” she said, but didn’t look completely convincing.

      Rose hadn’t been ill a single day while she was carrying Max, a blessing in more ways than one. Her life had been so messed up in other ways that she’d been thankful not to add morning sickness to the mix. Still, she felt for Dottie.

      “You