A Rancher's Love

by Vivian Arend

“You can’t do it by yourself,” Heather said sharply. “Be reasonable, Caleb. I know you’re grieving, but you have to face facts. It’s only logical, and it needs to happen now.”

  It wasn’t as if Tucker could avoid overhearing what sounded like a private conversation. Not when Heather nearly shouted the words.

  None of them could ignore it. Ginny paused in the middle of stacking sandwiches on a plate, her gaze riveted on her aunt.

  “What’s she talking about?” Walker stopped his pacing to face the room. A furrow settled between his brows as he tried to figure out what was being discussed.

  Heather waved a hand, but Caleb cut her off. “We already had this conversation, and I told you no.”

  “Son, you’re not thinking straight,” Frank began.

  “He’s not your son,” Dustin retorted. He abandoned his chair and rushed across the room to stand beside Caleb as if ready to protect him. “He’s my big brother.”

  “And he’s a good big brother,” Heather said, softer this time. “But you’re young enough you need a mom and dad, and so does Ginny. Which is why both of you will come live with us.”

  Pandemonium struck. Shouts and questions and outright refusals.

  “I’m not living with you.” Dustin planted his fists on his hips in a position so reminiscent of Walter Stone, Tucker did a second take.

  Frank Stone rose to his feet and jabbed his finger at Dustin. “You’ll live where you’re safe and cared for.” The finger moved toward Dare who blinked hard, hands clenching the blanket as Caleb gently moved her aside so he could stand. “Once social services take that Hayes girl—”

  “What?” Ginny bolted across the room like a wraith, sliding in front of her best friend to wrap her up in a protective hug. “Dare isn’t leaving us.” Her gaze darted to Caleb’s face. “She’s not. She can’t.”

  Caleb pulled them both against his side and squeezed. “Hush. No one’s going anywhere. We’re a family, and we’re staying together.” He nodded at Dare to include her in the statement. “Dare as well. I’ve talked to social services, and to Dare. Luke agrees with me, which means no one needs to leave. Not Dare, not Ginny, not Dustin.”

  “Except them,” Ginny snapped, glaring at her aunt and uncle. “You can leave. Right now, and don’t ever come back.”

  Frank thrust out his hands as if Ginny’s comment proved his point. “See what you’ll have to deal with? You’ll be asking us to take over before the summer hits, mark my words.”

  Caleb took a slow breath, his frown deepening. The girls and Dustin clung to him like a frayed rope on an old fence post. Unsteady, wavering, yet knotted so tight they weren’t going anywhere without someone expending a lot of time and energy to cut them loose.

  Luke crossed to where Tucker stood behind Caleb. Walker joined on the other side. “We’ll help take care of them,” Luke said quietly but with absolute certainty.

  “So, like Caleb said, thanks, but no thanks,” Walker added.

  That wasn’t the end of the complaining or the threats, but Caleb got Luke and Walker to help, and in the end, the shouting and arguing moved outside while Tucker stayed where he was and helped the girls and Dustin get lunch ready.

  Eventually, they were all seated at the big family table.

  Caleb stared at the stack of plates and bowls resting in the usual spot in front of their father’s chair. The chair Caleb now occupied.

  He swallowed hard, dipped his chin, and then, like a man preparing for battle, picked up the soup ladle and began serving portions and passing them around.

  Just the way Walter Stone had always served his family.

  Tucker looked away and wiped his eyes to get control before he lost it.

  Caleb carried on until they each had a bowl of soup and a sandwich. Then he sat back, speaking slowly. “This isn’t what we wanted, but it’s what we’ve got. And we are going to make it work. But I can’t do this by myself, and not with just Luke’s help, or Ashton’s. We’ve all got to do what we can.

  “We have to work together. We need to rely on each other, and that’s what will make us strong.”

  “We’re Stones,” Ginny said firmly, even though her voice hitched a little. “We are strong.”

  Caleb’s lips curled into the first smile Tucker had seen in the past few days. “We are Stones. But I don’t want us to just be stones, rocks on a mountain. We still need to have fun, although I know that doesn’t sound easy right now.” His gaze skipped to Dustin. “Families have fun together, and I’ll definitely need your help to remember that.”

  “Skipping stones,” Luke suggested. “Stacking stones into alien creatures. Stone artwork.”

  Walker scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  Luke shrugged. “Caleb said stones have fun. He’s right. I can think of lots of things, when the time is right.”

  Before him, Tucker saw the family begin to pull together.

  “Stone soup,” Dare suggested. “That’s one of my favourite books.”

  “There’s a book about making soup from stones?” Dustin looked horrified, glancing at the remainder of the soup in the bowl in front of him.

  Ginny and Dare exchanged glances then nodded firmly.

  “I bet we can get that book from the library,” Ginny told Dustin. “Once we do, you and I can make stone soup.”

  The youngest Stone sibling looked suspicious, but he nodded. “Okay.”

  Caleb laid a hand on Ginny’s arm, squeezing gently as he gave her a nod of approval.

  Transition had begun. Tucker took a deep breath and hoped things would continue the best way possible under the circumstances.

  That night, he slipped out of his uncle’s rooms and returned to the family homestead to grab a bag he’d forgotten. He stepped through the back door, and the barest of noises pulled his attention to the right.

  Ginny stood in the laundry room, shoulders shaking. Huge, silent tears poured down her cheeks.

  Tucker didn’t hesitate. He closed the distance instantly and held her close. This was the semi-little-sister he’d run wild with for years. The one who’d messed with his tent pegs and broken his bike. Who’d resolutely fought to keep up with whatever harebrained stunt he and Luke were attempting, no matter that she was a foot and a half shorter and weighed half as much as they did. Fearless, stubborn to a fault…

  Now crying with what sounded like a broken heart, and it was killing him because there was nothing he could do to make it better. No words to say, no reassurances.

  She wiggled closer and pressed her teary face against his chest. “I hurt inside.”

  It came out so shaky they sounded like twelve words instead of three.

  “I know,” he whispered. “It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to cry. Hell, it’s okay to scream if you need to, but that one we won’t do in the house because it might scare Dustin.”

  She hiccupped. A small laugh mixed in with the tears.

  He patted her back and held her, standing in the clean-scented room, with reminders everywhere still of Deb, of Walter. Reminders of the past that was gone.

  Tucker stood and held Ginny, and something inside him twisted with a brand-new understanding.

  Silver Stone wasn’t simply a place he came and visited every summer. These weren’t just people he had in his life for a short time and then moved on. Losing Deb and Walter Stone meant seeing how much more important it was to not only treasure the things he had, but to treasure the things he wanted to have.

  He wanted his friendships to stay strong.

  He wanted people like the Stones in his life forever.

  Down the road, he wanted a relationship like Walter and Deb had shared, not a cold and broken one like his parents had, based on unending unhappy compromises.

  Ginny took another shuddering breath before loosening her hug. Resting her forehead on his chest, she stared at the floor. “I’m sorry I lost it like that. I won’t do it again.”

  “Damn it, Ginny.” Tucker lifted her face to his, examining
her carefully. Tears were there, but determination as well. As if she were preparing for whatever battle would come next. “You don’t need to be strong all the time.”

  “I do,” she insisted. “I won’t let my family come apart. I won’t let Mom and Dad down.” Strong like her name. Ginny stepped back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I will do this. You’ll see.”

  In that moment, Tucker knew that anyone who thought they could stand in her way would be proven very wrong.

  He wouldn’t bet against her for anything.

  1

  Current Day, Christmas Eve, Silver Stone ranch

  After so long away from Heart Falls, the detour was impossible to resist. Instead of heading straight home, Ginny Stone took the turn off the highway that led to her favourite lookout. She parked her borrowed truck and stomped through the knee-high snow to the bench partially buried in a snowbank.

  Staring to the west revealed the town’s namesake in all its wintery glory. It was cold enough the mist escaping from the falls had frozen into beautiful lace-like structures. Under the ice, water still flowed swift enough to keep the lake open at the base of the falls. The rest glittered as fading sunlight reflected off the smooth, icy surface. A low rumble shook the air instead of the thunder that would be there in the summer, but it was familiar, and that made it sweet.

  Sweet and strange all at the same time.

  Ginny had been back a scarce half dozen times over the past three years. She’d taken breaks from her extended journeyman training in Europe to attend weddings, be home for a few key birthdays, and make sure her health insurance stayed valid.

  Since July, she’d been back on Canadian soil full-time, but instead of coming home, she’d headed three hours to the north and stopped in Rocky Mountain House to help her foster sister, Dare, deal with newborn twins.

  Ginny’s gaze drifted to the east. To the large barns and arenas that made up Silver Stone proper. The massive ranch her parents had started that was the responsibility of all their children to make a go of it. The past six months she’d come for short visits, spending time with her nieces and nephew, and trying to get a feel for the changed ranch dynamics now that her older brothers had all married.

  Short visits that had been equal parts joyful and discomforting. But now, she was officially back. She was home.

  Home. What did that even mean anymore?

  Like a grown child who’d returned to their elementary school, Ginny’s world felt simultaneously a lot smaller and a lot bigger than it had been even a week ago.

  Her watch went off, and she hauled herself back to her truck. It was nearly dinnertime on Christmas eve, and she had somewhere to be.

  The ranch house looked the same as ever from the outside, except for the number of vehicles parked out front. Ginny hadn’t expected so many—in fact, she had hoped to simply slip back without any fanfare.

  The volume of noise inside the house was astonishing. But the place was warm and smelled like heaven, so Ginny pushed her way in and quietly slipped off her boots in the mudroom.

  Then she stood and looked for a moment.

  She recognized most of the faces. Even though she’d left, remaining a part of the family had been important. Between Facetime calls and photos in texts, Ginny had kept up with the changes, or at least attempted to.

  Still, it wasn’t the same as being there.

  Her gaze went first to try and locate her brothers. The four testosterone driven creatures who had made her growing years delightful and hellish. Typical siblings, really.

  She didn’t spot Walker, the brother closest to her in age, which made sense since his wife, Ivy, wasn’t a big fan of crowds. But the other three were right there in the thick of things.

  Caleb, the one who had taken over raising them so many years ago, actually cracked a smile as he set the massive family table. Second-oldest brother Luke and his wife, Kelli, were helping him.

  Caleb’s wife, Tamara, and her three sisters were all in the kitchen. Their husbands debated something enthusiastically from the living room, while Ginny’s kid brother Dustin rolled at their feet, squawking with what sounded like death throes as their two nieces pinned him to the floor and tickled.

  The tightness inside Ginny eased the slightest bit. Maybe she wasn’t sure what she should do next, but she was absolutely certain this was where she was supposed to do it.

  “Auntie G, you’re here, you’re here, you’re here.” Emma, the little blonde cherub who was Ginny’s youngest niece, scrambled to her feet and raced across the room.

  Dustin gasped as if he might have been stepped on a touch carelessly, but then Ginny couldn’t see anything because Emma had jumped up to cling like a burr.

  Huge sobs escaped the little girl, her face buried against Ginny’s neck. “You can’t go away again, not for a long, long time.”

  The sadness in the words were there, but the biggest thing to hit Ginny was joy at hearing her previously silent niece be so forcefully vocal. “Oh, baby. Yes, I’m home and I plan to stay.”

  Wet but slightly happier sniffles greeted her announcement. Ginny glanced over Emma’s shoulder, even as she patted the little girl’s back comfortingly.

  Everyone in the room looked her way. Niece number two, Sasha, stood nearby. The preteen held out her arms for her hug and kiss and more teary hellos.

  It was the best kind of chaos.

  It wasn’t until after supper that Ginny even attempted to make heads or tails of the crowded room. Tamara and Caleb pulled her aside as everyone else fell into a comfortable routine of clean up and preparation for evening activities.

  “I didn’t bother to text you an update that the horde would arrive before you,” Caleb admitted. “Figured you needed to come home anyway, and a few extra people wouldn’t scare you.”

  “A few?” Ginny counted heads as another couple arrived at the back door. A shout of happiness rose from Luke as he raced to greet them, Kelli hard on his heels.

  “It’s been a perfect storm,” Tamara said. “That’s Diane and Jack. They’re staying with Luke and Kelli for the holidays. My sisters are here tonight, and my dad, because my brothers-in-law’s families all made last minute plans—never mind the details. It’s a tangled mess, but basically, we’ve got a full house.”

  “But we’re glad you’re back,” Caleb insisted, rising to his feet in response to a call for help from one of the less familiar men in the room. “We’ll talk tomorrow about your plans. Or the next day. But soon. We’ve got news to share.”

  He was gone before she could poke any further. Ginny eyed Tamara who had remained behind. “Are you pregnant?”

  “Shut your mouth,” Tamara said wryly. “I’m not masochistic enough to do that again. No, it’s different good news, but you have to wait until we’re down to immediate family.”

  “I am patience personified,” Ginny drawled.

  “Good, because I am so far behind on Christmas Day prep, it’s not even funny. We need to get the kids to sleep before we can put up the tree, and with everyone storming the castle unexpectedly, that’s going to take a Christmas miracle.”

  “Or a really fabulous elf who masquerades as an auntie.” This Ginny could willingly do. “Let me take care of the girls. It’ll be fun to get caught up, and I can keep them occupied until they pass out.”

  “If you’re sure, I’d appreciate it. Sasha and Emma will be thrilled.” Tamara eyed her eighteen-month-old son currently sitting in his grandpa’s lap, blinking hard in a desperate attempt to stay awake. “Thank goodness that one will pass out on time.”

  For the next couple of hours, Ginny fell back into the still familiar, yet brand-new sensation of caring for her nieces.

  “Uncle Walker called. He said Santa left some presents for us at his house,” Emma informed her as they sat on her bed and worked on dressing dolls in holiday finery. “He and Auntie Ivy will bring them over tomorrow.”

  “That’s good. I’m sure sometimes Santa’s sled must get a little ove
rloaded.”

  Sasha’s face twisted through a series of strange contortions, her lips especially grinding together as if she were fighting to keep from speaking out of line.

  Sure enough, as soon as Emma slipped away to the bathroom, Sasha scooted up against Ginny’s side and dropped her voice to a mere whisper. “The whole Santa thing is old news to me. I mean, the bit about him being everyone, and not a real person. But I’m not sure Emma’s figured it out yet, so shhhh. I don’t want to spoil it for her. Okay?”

  She pressed a finger over her lips and nodded decisively.

  “I won’t say a word,” Ginny promised. “I’m a good secret keeper.”

  The conversation turned to the excitement of tomorrow, and that they’d have not only presents in the morning with Mama and Papa, but that their friend Talia was coming over for a birthday gift exchange—it was all very exciting, and Ginny loved the time to simply relax with the girls.

  She’d spent oodles of time with them, from the time they were babies, but being away for three years meant she’d missed a lot of big recent changes. Finding out who they were now was wonderful and humbling.

  So much to relearn. So much to figure out.

  Lights finally out, goodnight kisses complete, Ginny rejoined the crew in the living room and helped set up the tree as the Stone tradition dictated. Laughter continued to flow around the room, but there were enough people, she easily stayed on the edges. Which meant she spent more time observing and less sharing her own plans.

  Only, when she’d covered her third yawn in under five minutes, Ginny found her sister-in-law and quietly let her know she was headed to bed.

  “Umm, about that.” Tamara’s smile looked a little frazzled. “I hate to tell you this, but there’s no room at the inn.”

  Ginny paused. She’d slept in her old basement room the last couple times she’d visited, but there were a lot of guests still milling around. “Want me to stay with Dustin in the cottage?”

  Her sister-in-law shook her head. “He’s got a friend with him for the next two weeks. You do not need to hang out with a couple of twenty-two-year-olds. Also, Luke and Kelli have their friends staying over, the crew quarters are full. Bottom-line, would you mind crashing in one of the trailers? The one next to the south barn is clean, and there are bedsheets in there.” Tamara made a face. “I’m not sure if anyone got around to actually making the bed, though.”