Return 0f The Cowgirl (The Gallaghers 0f Montana Book 5)

by Eve Gaddy

  “I imagine I did.” He smiled, then sobered. “Anyway, about Dad. After he died, you came back for the funeral but wouldn’t stay for the reading of the will. When we heard what was in it, we figured that was what the fight was about.”

  “Mitch told me about that. I had to marry before I turned thirty-one or my share got split among the four of you. That pisses me off even now when I don’t remember him. Not because I care about the inheritance,” she added hastily. “But it’s the principle of the thing.”

  “You clashed, that’s for sure. You were a lot like him. Maybe that’s why you didn’t get along. He was a good father, at least to us boys. But he had his faults. Like everyone does, I guess.”

  After they returned, Glenna helped Dylan cool down the horses and put them back in the pasture. “Thanks for taking me riding. I really enjoyed it. Some of it even felt familiar.”

  “That’s good.”

  Good, but it still didn’t mean she’d ever remember everything. Or even most of her life. “Have you heard of anyone around town needing a waitress? Or a sales clerk or something similar?”

  “No, why?”

  “Because I need a job and I don’t know what I can do. But I’m pretty sure I could manage something like that.” Although she might be a crummy waitress. Probably would be. Still, she could try if it meant work.

  “Work with me. I always need help and maybe being around the horses will help you to remember.”

  “Thanks, Dylan, but I need a paying job.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t have any money, duh,” she snapped.

  “What about—” He broke off. “I guess you can’t get at your money in Argentina, huh?”

  “Not now, anyway. Maybe never.”

  “You have your portion of the ranch.”

  “How can I have a portion of the ranch if I’m not married?”

  “Mitch said you might be married to that Rolando asshole.”

  “Might being the operative word. Mitch and his assistant haven’t found any record of a marriage. Besides, I hope to God I’m not married to him.” She had a number of reasons she didn’t want to be married to Rolando Villareal, not the least of which were Mitch Hardeman and the minor detail that Villareal was almost certainly a criminal.

  “It doesn’t really matter. Jack, Sean, Wyatt and I decided a long time ago that if you ever came back to stay you were entitled to your portion of the ranch and the money Dad left.”

  “That’s very sweet of all of you, but no. I’m not taking anything he didn’t want me to have.”

  Dylan shook his head. “Damn, you may not remember, but that was exactly what I’d expect you to say. And by the way, don’t be a stubborn ass about it.”

  “I’m not being a stubborn ass,” she said, stung.

  Dylan crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? If it walks like a duck...”

  “Ha, ha. You are so not funny.”

  “I know you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do, but think about working here.” He held up his hand before she could protest again. “I’ll pay you, same as I would anyone who works for me.”

  Slightly mollified, she said, “All right. I’ll think about it.” Maybe she should take him up on the offer. It just occurred to her that if she worked in town, she’d see a lot of people who had known Glenna Gallagher. It was doubtful she’d remember any of them. Which meant she’d have to explain—multiple times—that she wasn’t being a snot, she had amnesia.

  Ugh. Not something she wanted to do. Working for Dylan was looking better and better.

  Mitch had debated the wisdom of seeing Glenna again so soon but when she called and asked when he was coming to see her, he’d gotten in his rental car and driven out to the Gallagher ranch.

  He parked by the house and walked down to the stables where she’d said to meet her. Glenna stood by the round pen with her back to him, her hair in a single long braid down her back. The horse was a beauty, a buckskin with dark stockings and a black and white mane. As he drew near, she turned around and a smile spread like sunshine over her face. He was struck once again by how beautiful she was.

  “Hey,” she said. “I’m glad you came.”

  “Hey. How are you?” After propping a foot on the rail, he glanced around, then back at her. “You look like you belong here. Or at least, on a ranch.”

  “I seem to know something about horses. Dylan took me riding this morning.”

  “How was that?”

  “Nice. Really nice. He told me some family history too.”

  “You feeling a little better about things?”

  “A little. Still can’t remember much of anything. I made an appointment today with your brother. He’s squeezing me in tomorrow.”

  “Good. He said he’d told his staff to clear a spot for you whenever you called.” The horse snorted, walked up to Glenna and hung his head over the fence. She rubbed his forehead and down to his muzzle. The stallion nickered at her, tossed his head and looked disappointed at finding nothing in her hands. “I’m sorry, Trouble. I don’t have anything for you.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Dylan’s new stud. Dylan says the horse was pretty wild when he got him. He thinks he was abused. But Dylan and Sam have been working with him and he’s improved a lot.” She looked at him. “Do you like horses?”

  He hid a grin. “What would you think if I didn’t?”

  “I’m reserving judgment. Pat him. But be careful. He bites.”

  “Is this a test? What happens if he bites me?”

  “I imagine it will hurt like shit.”

  He let his grin loose at that. He moved even closer to Glenna, reached for Trouble and patted his cheek. The stallion eyed him cautiously, but apparently decided Mitch wasn’t worth biting.

  “You do like horses. I thought so.”

  “My brother and I had horses when we were young.” Until after their parents died and neither Austin nor Mitch could give them or the farm the attention it needed. They’d sold it and the horses to their long-time foreman and family. Mitch still visited the family from time to time.

  “Do you want to ride sometime?”

  “I don’t know. Depends on how long I’m here.”

  “About that. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” But he said it warily.

  “Are you going to give us a chance? Stick around for a while?”

  How was he supposed to answer that? He wanted to. In fact, it shocked him how much he wanted to be with her. His feelings about Glenna were complicated by so many things, not the least of which was her amnesia. But one thing wasn’t complex at all. He wanted her. Wanted to hold her, kiss her, fill his hands with her breasts and feel her wrapped around him as he sank inside her. Wanted to kiss her and swallow her cries as she came apart in his arms.

  “You’re looking at me like you want to...”

  “I do,” he said roughly. “But it’s still not happening.”

  “Because I have amnesia.”

  “Yeah. Because of that.”

  She gave him a long look, then shrugged. “Okay.”

  Okay? What the hell did that mean? Something told him she hadn’t accepted his decision as final, but her response sure made it seem like she did.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Later that day Glenna looked at the time on her phone. The burner phone Dylan had given her, insisting it was a welcome home present. She drew in a deep breath. With her door cracked open she could hear voices coming from the living room. The family—her family—was here.

  There was no reason to be nervous. She’d met all of her brothers and Sam yesterday. Tonight she would meet the rest of the wives and the kids. All the kids were Jack’s and Maya’s but Wyatt’s wife, Mia, was pregnant. Dylan had filled her in on the family when they were cooling down the horses. She hoped she could remember all the names, but it sounded like a lot of people were coming. She wished one of them was Mitch but he’d flat-out refused, tell
ing her she didn’t need an outsider with her when she met all of her family for the first time.

  Glenna wore her jeans and one of the blouses Sam had loaned her. It was a pretty, pale blue tunic top. She wrapped a brown belt, also Sam’s, around her waist and figured that was as good as she got. She wavered between her running shoes, which looked really bad, and Sam’s boots, which were a little too big. Settling on the too big boots, she decided she’d have to bite the bullet and borrow some money to buy new shoes, if nothing else. She already owed her brothers for flying her from Chile to the US, what was a little more?

  Glenna wound up having a much better time than she’d imagined. The Gallaghers were obviously close. All of them—men, women and children—got along surprisingly well. Or else they were putting on a show for her, but she didn’t think so.

  When she walked into the living room they were discussing Dylan and Sam’s wedding.

  “Who’s going to be your best man, Dylan?” Jack asked. He was holding his baby son and was busy making faces at him. The baby laughed happily.

  “You’ll find out.” Dylan took a sip of his beer.

  “Yeah, but when? You haven’t asked me or Sean or Wyatt. Has he?” He turned to his other brothers.

  “Not me,” Sean said.

  “Me either. The wedding is in a couple of weeks,” Wyatt said. “What are you waiting for?”

  Dylan looked across the room and exchanged a smile with Sam. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it under control.”

  It struck her forcibly that these people really liked each other. They joked and kidded but she could see that they enjoyed being around each other. Maya, Jack’s wife, had been his high school sweetheart, so here was another person she was supposed to know. When she met Mia, Wyatt’s wife, the first thing she said to Glenna was, “Don’t worry. You don’t know me.”

  “Thank God,” Glenna said fervently. Mia let out a peal of laughter. Glenna winced. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.”

  “It sounded like you’re overwhelmed and who could blame you?” She grabbed the arm of an absolutely stunning woman with long black hair. “This is Honey, Sean’s wife. Sorry, but you do know her.”

  Honey looked at Mia quizzically before turning to Glenna. “Am I missing something?” she asked Glenna.

  “Only me putting my foot in my mouth.”

  Eyes dancing, Mia said, “When I told Glenna she didn’t know me she said, ‘Thank God’.”

  They all laughed. Glenna took the ribbing in the spirit it was intended. In fact, it made her feel a little less uncomfortable and more like family. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’re not,” Honey said. “You have to admit it’s too good of a story not to tell.”

  “Have you told Glenna how you and Sean met?”

  Honey shook her head. “We met several years before but he didn’t remember. I was dating Dylan at the time.”

  “That sounds like a story.”

  Before Honey could answer, Mia did. “She dropped into Sean’s arms. Literally.”

  “This I have to hear,” Glenna said.

  Honey told the story and then convinced Mia to tell Glenna about hers and Wyatt’s romance. It was impossible not to like them. All of them. She held the baby and played with him until he started crying and then she found herself giving him a bottle. The two teenagers, Carmen and Gina, belonged to Jack and Maya. They came over while she was feeding the baby and talked to her.

  “Aunt Glenna?”

  Wow, she was an aunt. She hadn’t really thought about it until one of the girls called her that. “You’re Gina, right?”

  She laughed. “No, I’m Carmen.”

  “Carmen. Then you must be Gina,” she said to the other girl. “Call me Glenna. Aunt Glenna makes me feel old.”

  “Do you speak Spanish super well, Glenna?” Gina asked.

  “Yes, I’m bilingual.” Which she hadn’t known until Mitch spoke to her in English. She wondered if she’d have ever remembered she spoke English if he hadn’t. “Why?”

  “We’re both taking Spanish and we suck. We wondered if you’d help us.”

  “I’d be happy to. My Spanish might be a bit different from what you’re learning, though, since I speak an Argentine dialect. It’s called Rioplatense.”

  “But it’s mostly the same, right?” Carmen clarified.

  “I think some of it is,” Glenna answered with a smile. “But honestly, I’m not an expert on Spanish dialects.”

  “It would be cool to learn some, though. Will you still teach us?”

  Glenna laughed. “Sure.”

  After they left her, Jack came over to sit beside her. “How are you? Really, not the platitudes you think we want to hear.”

  She answered honestly. “It’s a mixed bag. Everyone is being so great. They’re kind and inclusive and it makes me feel like a shit that I can’t remember anyone.”

  Jack smiled. “It’s not as if it’s a choice, Glenna. Don’t expect too much out of yourself. None of us is holding you to a timetable.”

  “Mitch is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She frowned. “I’m afraid he’s going to leave Marietta before I ever get my memory back.”

  “And that would be bad because...”

  “Because I don’t want him to leave. You can probably tell that I have feelings for Mitch.”

  “I did get that impression,” Jack said dryly.

  “Yes, apparently I’m not one to hide how I feel.” Or what she wanted.

  “You never did. You haven’t changed in that department. That’s a good thing,” he added.

  “I’m glad you think so because I’m fairly sure I can’t change it. I think Mitch has feelings for me, but he won’t do anything because he doesn’t want to take advantage of me. Which I’ve told him is pure bullshit.”

  “You probably don’t want to hear this, but it speaks highly of Mitch. There are a number of men who wouldn’t care.”

  Maybe so, but it sure didn’t help her dilemma.

  “Have you thought about what you’ll do when you do get your memory back? What if you’re married, like the Villareals are claiming?”

  “Yes, I’ve thought about it a lot. If I’m married to Rolando Villareal then I’m getting a divorce, immediately. He’s a criminal and I was scared enough of him to run away.”

  “I won’t argue with you about that. None of us want you to stay married to a criminal.”

  “I’ve also thought about what I’ll do if my memory never comes back. I have to get on with my life. I can’t wait forever for something that might never happen.”

  “You know we would all love to have you stay in Marietta. But if you decide to go somewhere else, we’ll support your decision.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that.” She tilted her head, studying him. “Are you always this calm and logical?”

  “Most of the time,” he said with a grin. “With my patients. Not always with my family. But Maya made me promise to be reasonable and realize that you’re a grown woman who’s perfectly capable of making up her own mind.”

  “Even if that mind happens to have amnesia?”

  “Even then.”

  “You’re a good brother, Jack.”

  Dylan walked up in time to hear her comment. “He is. When he’s not being a pain in the ass.”

  Jack gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “Do I need to remind you who helped you mend fences the last time you couldn’t con anyone else into it?”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Dylan said with a wink at Glenna. “Jack is never a pain in the ass,” he announced.

  “And don’t you forget it,” Jack said.

  Glenna borrowed a car and refused company to go see the neurologist, preferring to hear what the doctor said by herself. Maybe it was stupid, considering most of her family were doctors of some sort, but she felt it was something she needed to do on her own. She did put her brothers on the list of people her doctor could talk
to about her appointment. Not that Dr. Hardeman would tell them anything he didn’t tell her.

  Dr. Austin Hardeman looked a lot like his brother, Mitch. His hair wasn’t as dark and his eyes were a beautiful clear blue, but they were about the same height and their features were similar. In other words, he was a really fine-looking man.

  Glenna didn’t know what to expect from a neurological exam. He tested her reflexes, her eyesight, and her hearing. He had her walk up and down the hall in several different ways. She had no idea what a few of the procedures were supposed to tell him. Then she had to get a number of other tests done, including an MRI of her brain. After the MRI she saw the doctor again, this time in his office rather than in an exam room.

  “The good news is your neurological tests were all normal,” Dr. Hardeman said. “I put a rush on the MRI results, but it depends on how busy they are as to when I’ll get them back. However, I don’t expect the MRI to show us anything we don’t already know.”

  “So what’s the bad news?”

  “We have no way of knowing when or if your memory will return.”

  Even though she’d been expecting similar news, she felt a rush of disappointment. Part of her had been hoping for a miracle cure. “That sucks.”

  He nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry I don’t have better news. However, I believe you will remember most of your life prior to the accident. Probably not what happened immediately before or even days or weeks before, but eventually you will remember. In the case of an injury like yours, most people do regain their memory. It’s just impossible to predict when.”

  “Should I try to see a psychiatrist?”

  “I can refer you to one, but given that your amnesia is due to physical trauma, it’s unlikely a psychiatrist can help you. On the other hand, it can’t hurt.”

  “I’ll think about it. Can I call your office for the referral if that’s the way I decide to go?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She stewed about it on the way home. For now she wouldn’t try to see a psychiatrist, but if her memory loss persisted she might change her mind. She parked in the back and walked into the kitchen. There was no sign of Glory or anyone else, for that matter. Which was a little strange since Glory was almost always around at lunchtime.