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Tara was confident that she would in tie than the old one aboutcompany And Tara needed an ally in the Calder household, a conduit of its happenings There was no better candidate for that than Sally Brogan

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bsp; This was not a ti friendship, however This was the radually over the next few months

“Now you go put those towels away,” Tara declared with an affectionate shooing motion “It’s time I went downstairs before Noah decides that I have completely deserted him”

By late the following afternoon, the Calders had struck a deal with the young architect, detailed measurements had been taken of the barn, and the pair had departed for Fort Worth with promises to be in touch soon

Four short days later a UPS truck pulled up to The Hoes The brown-uniformed driver hauled all but a very few of them into the house Jessy stared in disbelief at the boxes stacked high in the large foyer, with only a small walk space left from the front door to the hall

Each of them identified the sender as Tara

On the boxletters OPEN FIRST was an envelope with a note from Tara, addressed to both Ty and Jessy In it, she expressed her gratitude for their hospitality and apologized for the late arrival of the baby gifts for the twins

It took the better part of an hour for Jessy to open all the packages When she had finished, she was overwhelory, there were elaborate erie of stuffed anie and small Each twin had a co of silver baby utensils In addition, there were clothes—twelve outfits apiece In Laura’s case, all of them consisted of dressy confections, full of ruffles and lace, co shoes, hair ribbons, and an assortment of other accessories With one exception, Trey’s clothes were variations of suits and ties, blazers andcollection of little shirts, socks, and shoes The exception was a cowboy outfit, coalia—boots with tiny spurs, jeans, a cowboy hat, a yoked-front shirt with pearl snaps, a cowhide vest, fringed leather chaps, and a buckskin jacket

Hands on her hips, Jessy stared at the ifts “Would you look at all this?” she exclai her voice “When and where does Tara expect the twins to wear all these fancy outfits? Do you realize there is not one practical item in the whole batch?”

“I know” Sally clicked her tongue in dismay then picked one of the frillier dresses, her expressionso precious? Laura will look like a little doll in this”

Jessy’s opinion didn’t change when she glanced at the dainty pink number She had never been able to abide ruffles and lace herself The thought of dressing her daughter in such an outfit was equally repugnant

“This must have cost a fortune,” Sally murmured

Jessy harrumphed “She can afford it Her daddy left her the equivalent of probably seven or eight fortunes For two cents, I would give h babies in the whole county to wear all these clothes” Then her expression softened with grudging fondness when her glance fell on the cowboy outfit Jessy fingered the cowhide vest and fringed chaps “I have to ad Trey in this one”

“Wouldn’t he, though”