Autumn Promises

Any other impressions she got were short-circuited on their way to her brain by the cries of what sounded like a dozen babies. She followed the wails to a sprawling sitting room and discovered a sight more startling than walking in on all that howling. Evan Alton sat in a rocker with a twin on each shoulder, attempting to burp both babies at the same time.

“Well, this is a photo op the local newspaper would probably kill for,” Meg drawled. “The great and powerful Evan Alton brought low by fourteen pounds of newborn.”

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

—
Proverbs
3:5-6

Dear Reader,

My, but these two were troublesome. Which was quite a surprise since I’ve been eager to do Meg and Evan’s story for quite a while. It is one of the most requested books I’ve ever written, but who knew going in just what trouble they’d give me!

Then, as they took on life in the pages, I realized that with all the conflict these two had with each other and with all they had in common, their main problem was as simple and complex as East meets West. How and where it occurs depends on point of view. I also realized that I’d had to wait this long to give them their story. Even three years ago they wouldn’t have been able to move on to the life the Lord had for them. Evan couldn’t have left the Circle A behind half the year, and Meg still had too much binding her to Laurel Glen until both Hope and Cole were settled. As usual, His perfect timing was at work, and I never even realized it!

And isn’t it funny that His perfect timing is the underlying theme of the book?

Watch for His hand in your lives. It’s there every day. I find it awe inspiring to look for it and find it so consistently. And you will find it because He is constant.

I love hearing from my readers at: [email protected], but I regret I can only answer e-mail correspondence and letters that are accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope when you write through Love Inspired.

Love and blessings,

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

T
he phone on Meg Taggert’s bedside table pealed in the night. She sat up, instantly awake, and snatched it up. She knew who it was—and what it was about!

“So, I’m a grandmother,” she said before the person on the other end had a chance to say a word.

A deep chuckle from her son, Jack, reverberated over the wires. “Been given the gift of prophecy since Beth and I moved to Colorado?”

She smiled to herself, but took a tone of pretended offense. “Don’t be difficult, Jackson Wade Alton. I’m a grandmother now—therefore, I deserve a certain amount of delicate treatment.”

“Who are you trying to kid? You’re as tough as old boots, Mom, even if you are a hundred times prettier. But I’m too tired to keep you in suspense.
You have a grandson and a granddaughter and everyone is fine. But everything didn’t go so well for a while. Beth had to have a C-section. The doctors got worried about signs of fetal distress.”

And she’d thought she was awake before! “But they’re all fine now?”

“They’re incredible. Beth was the most incredible of all. I nearly fainted when the OB said C-section. All Beth said was, ‘Then let’s get it done. I want to hold my babies.’ I love her so much, Mom.” Jack’s voice showed his strain. “I never prayed so hard in my life. I’m beginning to understand what Dad felt all those years ago when Mama died.”

She refused to discuss the arrogant man who had adopted her precious son as a newborn. “Are you finally going to tell me what these extraordinary grandchildren of mine are named?”

“Maggie Anne after Beth’s nanny and Wade Jackson after my biological father. Six pounds each and nineteen inches long.”

Meg closed her eyes, fighting tears and picturing the handsome face of Jack’s father—her long dead fiancé. Finally someone would bear his name. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” she whispered, choked up and not doing a very good job of hiding it. She cleared her throat. “And what does your father think of the names?”

“He wanted Maggie to be called Martha after Mama, but Maggie O’Neill raised Beth. She might
as well have been Beth’s mother for all the affection she ever got from her own mother. With Maggie so recently gone, I couldn’t ask Beth to name our daughter anything else. She has a right to name one of the babies, so we split the honor down gender lines. Besides, it’s close to your name, too. Of course, I also think Dad’s hurt about Wade’s name, but I had to do this. He and Mama should have named me the way you asked when they adopted me.”

Meg held her tongue. She refused to tarnish this moment with contention and what she thought of Evan Alton and his failures as a father. Nothing could excuse those failures, considering that he’d failed when she’d entrusted him with her precious child, her only link to the man she still loved with all her heart. Wade might have died in the jungles of Vietnam, but he lived in her heart and dreams still. She understood how Evan could still grieve for his long-dead wife, but she didn’t understand how he could have allowed that grief to overshadow his relationship with his children.

She reminded herself that she had no right to hold a grudge when Jack didn’t, and that the Lord had, as usual, used bad happenings for good. Had Evan not had such a poor relationship with Jack, her son would never have gone in search of his biological mother and she wouldn’t have her son, her daughter-in-law and now two grandchildren to love.

Oh, she couldn’t wait to visit the Circle A and get her hands on those precious babies.

E
van looked up from his granddaughter Maggie’s sweet newborn face when his son, Jackson, walked into the living room. Jackson had his fretting son on his shoulder, patting the infant on his back.

“Wade doesn’t look to be too happy today,” Evan said. “And neither do you, son. Problem?”

Jackson’s eyebrows dipped as his frown deepened. “Beth’s running a fever. Doc wants to see her. She’s not up to driving into town, and I don’t want her to go alone in any case. I’m worried, Dad. I guess Wade picked up on my mood.”

Maggie started to fuss, so Evan transferred her to his shoulder. “Try not to worry, son. Beth’s strong. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.”

Jackson grimaced. “Beth and I have been so happy these last two years. I have a bad feeling about it.
Like that’s all about to change. I know I was young, but I remember the way Mama never seemed to spring back after Crystal’s birth. And no one in childbirth classes said anything about spiking high fevers a week after delivery.”

“Don’t harbor worries about history repeating itself. That’s a bunch of nonsense,” Evan told Jackson, but he felt his spirits dip as memories of those last two years with Martha rolled over him. He’d watched helplessly as the cancer took her from him, one cell at a time.

Jackson nodded, but he didn’t look convinced. “If you don’t have other plans, do you think you could give Anna a hand with the twins while we’re gone? Seth has the ranch work handled for me, but I hate to impose on Anna. She’s a housekeeper, not a baby-sitter.”

“Anna’s crazy about the twins. Don’t worry about her. And don’t forget about me. There’s nothing I’d rather do than help with them,” Evan replied. He wished Jackson didn’t look so surprised by that. Which was his own fault, not his son’s, of course. But it hurt knowing he’d put that disbelief into Jackson’s eyes all by himself. For too many years Evan had wallowed in grief and buried himself in transforming the Circle A into the biggest and most successful ranch in the Torrence area.

“Then as long as you don’t mind pitching in, I’ll
drop Wade off with Anna and help Beth get dressed.”

Evan laid Maggie back on his lap. “Give the little tyke to me, son. You take Maggie to Anna.” He reached up and wrapped his thumbs and index fingers around the baby’s sturdy little chest and lifted him down, supporting Wade’s still bobbling head with his fingertips. “Us guys will sit here in the rocker and discuss cattle futures,” he told Jackson as his son scooped up the female half of his twins.

“Now, don’t go corrupting my son with too much cattle talk,” Jackson said with a chuckle in his voice. “The Circle A is well on its way to becoming half horse ranch.”

Jackson looked ready for an argument despite the levity in his tone. Evan wondered how long it would take his son to believe he really did have final authority on the Circle A now. “
And
we’ll talk about the quarter-horse market, too,” Evan added, keeping his tone light. “Half and half. Right, little man? You go give Maggie to Anna and get that pretty wife of yours in to see Doc. We’ll be fine.”

Two hours later Jackson and Beth were back with an antibiotic prescription, two cases of formula and an abundant supply of bottles. “Doc wants the babies to be bottle-fed from here on,” Jackson told him as he sat on the porch railing, again calming Wade.

“What does he say is wrong with Beth?”

“Doc thinks she picked up an infection during the
C-section and that the antibiotics should take care of it. But he doesn’t want the twins nursing and getting the medication or tiring her. I think I’m going to call Mom to come and stay.”

Oh, terrific! Evan thought. Just what he needed. Flamboyant, busybody, know-it-all Meg Taggert descending and taking over his grandchildren. It was bad enough that she’d co-opted Jackson for nearly all of the past two years!

“Nonsense,” he hastened to tell his son. “We can handle two little babies with Anna’s help. Beth won’t want to miss her visit with Meg by not being up to par. Wait a while and see how it goes. In a month Beth will be up and around more and be ready to entertain.”

Jackson frowned. “I wasn’t only thinking of Beth. Anna has too much to do to take care of the babies and the house. And neither of you are here at night. Since this is slow season, I can do a lot to care for Beth, but still—I’d worry less if Mom came. Suppose we get hit with a blizzard like the one last spring? The men would need both you and me to get food to the cattle and that would leave Anna way over-burdened. Besides all of that, once Mom hears about Beth being sick, I doubt wild horses could keep her away.”

“Then don’t tell her. There’s no sense in getting her all upset. She and Beth seem pretty close.”

“They are. And I know Beth wanted to be able to
entertain Mom while she’s here.” Jackson thought for a few seconds. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll wait to tell her. If it looks as if we need her help, I’ll call then. Otherwise she may change her current plan to go to Hawaii after her visit.”

Well, it wasn’t much, but it was at least a temporary reprieve. The Wicked Witch of the East wouldn’t be landing for a while anyway!

Meg took a sip of her hot tea as she took a break from sorting through the options the travel brochures portrayed in dazzling color. She glanced out of the sunroom through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her gaze swept past the stone terrace to Laurel Glen’s fenced pastures and snow-covered fields. Then on to the distant tree line, bare now except for the evergreens.

This was her favorite place in Laurel House. It had been her sanctuary for years. She’d decorated it with white wicker furniture, rattan tables and lattice accents. The cushions on the settee and chairs were a cheery yellow and white, along with the pots that held a profusion of plants.

She sighed. It was her sanctuary no longer, because she’d moved to what had traditionally been the cottage Laurel Glen’s trainer occupied so her brother, his wife and their growing family could have Laurel House to themselves.

She’d stayed in the house last night only because
Laurel House had been the site of the big Valentine’s dance Ross sponsored every year. This year, with Amelia expecting her second child any day, Ross had been concerned that the morning-after arrangements to dismantle the party preparations would be too much on his very pregnant wife. Meg had volunteered to see to the workmen and keep it all running smoothly. And she had. She’d been doing it for years. In fact, she’d acted as Ross’s hostess from the first party until he’d married Amelia.

Meg’s life was changing as much as Ross’s had since meeting Amelia, but in vastly different ways. Jack, Meg’s long-lost son, had found her and she was now making plans to visit him, his wife and infant twins. She was a grandmother even though she didn’t feel a day over twenty. She smiled, remembering her grandmother saying that her body might be eighty but her mind was still nineteen. Meg finally understood. But, of course, she was only fifty-two and she wouldn’t go back to her anguishing nineteenth year for anything. That was the year she had still been grieving for Wade and the baby whom circumstances had forced her to give up for adoption.

Banishing sad thoughts, Meg picked up a Hawaiian cruise brochure, the strongest possibility. Since she was already going to be in Colorado, it only seemed prudent to use her visit with Jack, Beth and the twins as a jumping-off point for some interesting place that would ordinarily be too far for her usual
midwinter trip. Meg often went on a cruise to the Caribbean, but cruises had begun to get old. Or so she’d thought. A cruise from California to Hawaii with stop-offs at several of the smaller islands in the Hawaiian chain, however, put a new light on it.

Ross and Amelia’s precocious eighteen-month-old, Laurel, charged into the sunroom, her mouth going as fast as her feet. Meg managed to pick out only one of the babbled words. “Slow down, little one. What are you telling Aunty Meg?”

“Unca Jack. Gib him ta you.”

“Give him to me?” Meg noticed the cordless phone then. Laurel had it by the antenna. She’d probably dragged it along the ground on her way there. She chuckled. “Thank you, sweetie,” she said as Laurel climbed up on the settee with her and tucked herself against Meg’s side. “I imagine Uncle Jack’s hearing will be impaired for the rest of the day.” Meg took the phone, and just then Amelia stuck her head in.

“Sorry, Meg. She got away from me.”

Amelia looked done in. “No problem. Come put your feet up, and after I talk to Jack we’ll have a chat.” She put the phone to her ear. “Jack, darling. How good to hear from you. Can you hear me at all or has Laurel deafened you?”

“Mom—” His voice wobbled and her heart just about stopped. Then she heard him take a deep breath before he began again. “We have a problem here,
Mom,” he said finally, worry rife in his voice. “Beth’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, Lord have mercy. What happened?”

“She got a fever about a week after she came home. Doc Reynolds put her on an antibiotic, but she kept spiking high fevers at night. He tried a stronger one, and it seemed to work for a few days, then her fever spiked again last night.”

“Who is taking care of the twins? Anna?”

“Actually, Dad’s taking care of them. Anna has the flu.”

That
man
was caring for her precious grandchildren! By himself? Oh, this just wouldn’t do. It wouldn’t do at all! “Why on earth didn’t you call me before now? I’d have been there in a flash.”

“Well, that’s why I’m calling now. I’ve been taking care of Beth and the twins at night by myself, but with her in the hospital…” He huffed out a tired sigh. “I can’t keep burning the candle at both ends, and I need to be at the hospital with her. She’s so weak, Mom. I’m hoping your cruise plans aren’t written in stone yet. Do you think you could stay indefinitely?”

Mentally consigning Hawaii to the trash can, she said, “Nothing in my life is written in stone, especially where people I love are concerned. I’ll leave on the first flight I can get out of here and rent something at the airport after I land. Don’t dare consider picking me up at the airport. You have enough on
your plate right now.” And don’t even think of sending Evan to fetch me, either, she longed to add, but didn’t.

“You’re sure?”

“Well, of course I’m sure. What on earth do you think a mother is for? I wish I understood why you didn’t call me sooner,” she said again. “Goodness, son, you know how important you all are to me.”

“Dad thought it’d be better to wait till Beth was on her feet the way she wanted to be when you got here. But now I’m not even sure she’s going to get better.”

“She’s going to be fine. Don’t start doubting that.”

It nearly broke Meg’s heart to hear tears in her son’s voice. “They don’t know what’s wrong, Mom. And she just keeps getting weaker.” He paused, she thought to compose himself. “I’m so afraid of losing her.”

Meg sought to reassure him and remind him to lean on the Lord. “Just hang on to your faith, darling. The Lord has a plan. Even in this. What hospital is she in, and what room number? You know how everyone here is going to worry and want to at least send flowers. Have you called her brother?”

While Jack answered her questions, Meg made plans. For the first time in months she felt energized. Someone needed her again.