Rancher's Twins: Mum Needed. Barbara Hannay
salad. You go and see the children. Join in their game.’
Gray suggested a trip to Central Park after lunch. He always felt more at ease entertaining his children in wide open spaces with grass and trees and blue sky overhead, instead of pavement and department stores and hurrying crowds.
This time, Holly came with them.
Initially Gray hadn’t invited her. He’d assumed she’d be keen to grab a few hours of freedom to paint her toenails, or go shopping, or whatever city girls liked to do when they had time to themselves.
Just as the children and he were about to leave the apartment, however, Holly had handed him a pamphlet.
‘This shows you everything that’s going on in Central Park,’ she’d said.
Gray had dismissed this with a quick, ‘We’ll be fine.’
Even though he was only familiar with a tiny section of Central Park, he could find the zoo, and the carousel. Anna and Josh had never complained. ‘We’ll play it by ear, won’t we, kids?’
Holly looked surprised and she tapped a brightly coloured centre page. ‘But this pamphlet lists all the children’s activities. And there’s a puppet theatre.’
‘Puppets!’ Anna and Josh both squealed in chorus. ‘We want to see the puppets. Please, Daddy, please!’
Holly was still pointing to the printed page and Gray felt the first squeeze of panic. The words on the pamphlet danced and jumbled before his eyes and his chest tightened as frustration and inadequacy—two foes he’d been fighting all his life—surfaced.
‘Why don’t you come along with us?’ he asked her then. ‘And bring your pamphlet.’
Her cheeks turned pink—a very pretty pink, a perfect foil for her dark eyes and her shiny dark hair. The blush surprised Gray. Perhaps she was shyer than he’d realised.
‘Yes, Holly, come with us,’ Anna was pleading and grabbing her hand. ‘Please, come. Please!’
Holly shook her head. ‘But this is your special time to be with your daddy.’
However, she didn’t need much convincing.
‘Would you like me to try for last minute tickets for the puppets?’ she said next and already she was pulling her cellphone from her pocket.
They were in luck. There were four tickets available for the last performance that afternoon and when they set off for Central Park Gray noticed that Holly’s shyness was quickly evaporating.
It was soon clear that she genuinely liked to spend time outdoors with his children. She laughed a lot and her eyes shone, and she looked somehow just right in slim blue jeans and a simple grey T-shirt, with her dark hair tied back in a ponytail and her face free of make-up.
He thought, uneasily, that his children were really going to miss Holly when it was time to leave. He couldn’t help noticing how totally relaxed they were with her. Affectionate, too. Josh was perfectly happy to hold her hand when they crossed the busy streets, and Anna, all excited after a super-fast slippery slide, exchanged ecstatic high fives with Holly. The gesture was so automatic and natural Gray knew they’d done this many times.
And Holly’s pamphlet proved to be a great asset. It showed where the really cool playgrounds were, like the Ancient Playground based on the Egyptian Temple of Dendor, with model pyramids for climbing. And after the children had climbed and run and explored the zoo and thrown Frisbees and eaten ice creams, they all headed off to the puppet theatre in an old Swedish cottage.
The show turned out to be lively and hilarious, full of drama and excitement and silly pranks that were impossible not to enjoy.
All the children in the audience were encouraged to call out advice and warnings, so they practically lifted the roof off the ancient cottage. So very different from the serious, respectful hush of the audiences at the ballets Chelsea had dragged him to.
At one point, Gray glanced over Anna and Josh’s heads and caught Holly watching him. Her dark eyes sparkled with amusement and he realised he’d been laughing out loud.
Strewth. When was the last time that had happened?
They emerged from the theatre in the late afternoon, and together they strolled through the park in the softening light of the late spring evening. The children skipped ahead, wide smiles on their faces as they imitated the Big Bad Wolf, playing hide-and-seek behind tree trunks.
His kids were okay. They were happy. And Gray discovered that he was completely and totally relaxed. He hadn’t realised how tense he’d been, but now, for the first time since he’d received the shocking news about Chelsea, he was conscious of having truly unwound.
‘You shouldn’t have to cook again tonight,’ he told Holly. ‘Why don’t we eat out? My shout.’
She laughed. ‘I was going to suggest grabbing a meal on the way home. We have a tradition of eating out at our favourite diner on Saturday nights.’
A tradition? Gray wondered uneasily if Anna and Josh would miss these traditions. Would they be willing to help him create new traditions? He couldn’t take them to a diner near his Outback home. The nearest café was a hundred kilometres from Jabiru Creek. Could a campfire on a riverbank be a reasonable substitute?
As they pushed through the swing doors of the diner on 81st Street they were greeted by laughter and happy chatter and the appetizing smells of frying bacon and coffee. The waiters recognised Holly and the children and welcomed them warmly.
Gray was introduced.
‘My dad from Australia,’ Josh said proudly.
They slipped into a booth with Gray and Anna on one side, Holly and Josh on the other. The waiter handed out menus.
Gray barely looked at his. ‘I’ll have a hamburger.’
Holly shot him a surprised glance. ‘What kind of hamburger? There are at least six varieties.’
He shrugged, cracked a careless smile. ‘I’ve worked up an appetite. Whatever’s the biggest.’
‘That would be the Mighty Mo,’ the waiter told him with a grin.
‘Thanks. Sounds perfect.’ Gray turned to his daughter. ‘What about you, princess? What would you like?’
He watched Anna study the menu, following down the lists with her finger.
‘A grilled American cheese sandwich,’ she decided.
‘And I wanna hot dog,’ said Josh.
‘I’d like a hot dog, please, Daddy,’ Holly reminded him.
‘I’d like a hot dog, please, Dad.’ His son sent him a cheeky grin.
‘You’re both excellent readers,’ Gray said.
His children smiled politely, as if they were thinking—Of course. It’s only a simple old menu.
He asked quickly, ‘What are you having, Holly? Let me guess. A Greek salad?’ This had always been Chelsea’s choice and, judging by Holly’s slim build, Gray assumed she was equally diet-conscious.
‘Actually,’ she replied with a raised-eyebrow smile, ‘I rather fancy nachos with cheese, guacamole and sour cream.’
It was hours later, close to midnight, when Holly woke to the sound of high-pitched screaming. Her heart pounded as she leapt out of bed. Anna was having another nightmare.
She hurried through the apartment, not bothering to turn on a light. She was so familiar with the route from her bedroom to the children’s room that she could easily dodge furniture and find her way in the dark.
But tonight, halfway down the hall, she ran into a solid object. Six feet three inches of near-naked male. Gray’s warm bare chest and arms. His shoulders, bulky and smooth. His sculpted,