She would have to consider that more later because it was time to go to the ranch house for supper, but the idea had stuck firmly in her mind. She would be like a hound dog pup with a soup bone—bury it but keep going back to dig it up and think about it for weeks—until she had a satisfactory answer.
Cody was slouched on the sofa, his boots propped up on the coffee table when she went out into the bunkhouse living area. He turned off the television and laid the remote to the side. “Are you hungry?” he asked. “You sure look a lot less cranky since you’ve had some rest.”
“You read people pretty good, Dr. Cowboy,” she said with half a smile, still trying to figure out if he could possibly change from bad to good.
“Thank you.” Cody stood. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
At just two inches shy of six feet, Stevie had always felt like a giant among the other kids she had gone to school with, especially the girls. But Cody was taller by a good six inches, and she felt especially feminine when he picked up her coat and helped her put it on.
“Jesse brought the ranch work truck down for us to use. I thought we’d take a side trip to the barn and check on the livestock,” he asked.
“Since when have cats become livestock?” Stevie teased.
Cody straightened her collar, and as his fingers brushed against her neck, she felt a tingle shoot straight down to her toes.
“This is a ranch. Cows are animals. Alpacas are animals. Cats are animals. Cows are livestock. Even that bad-tempered donkey we keep around is an—”
Stevie raised a palm. “I get your point, and yes, I would love to go check on Dixie and the cats.”
Tex hopped down off the sofa and followed her outside while Cody put his own coat on. The sun had done very little, if anything, to melt the snow. If it didn’t warm up soon, Stevie was afraid she might really be living at the ranch until spring. When she opened the truck door, the dog jumped in ahead of her and settled in the middle of the bench seat.
“Looks like you’re pretty familiar with this truck, Tex,” she said.
When she’d closed the passenger door, he put his head in her lap and looked up at her with begging eyes. “You are so spoiled,” she said, and patted his head.
“Yep, he is.” Cody slid behind the wheel. “And he loves this truck better than my new one or any of the tractors. He missed Henry a lot when he retired. Do you remember our old foreman, Henry?”
“Of course, I do. He was one of the wisest ranchers I’ve ever met. I’ve only been out here on vet business a couple of times since he left, but I’ve missed him too. He always had a joke or a story to tell me. I imagine Tex was lost without him,” Stevie said.
“So, you had already met Tex?” Cody asked.
“Not formally,” Stevie answered. “We had just seen each other in passing. I think he likes me.”
“Of course he does,” Cody said. “You’re petting him. I’m wondering how he’s going to tolerate the cats.”
“You’re going to be nice to them, aren’t you?” Stevie sounded like she was talking to a baby, but she didn’t care if Cody liked it or not. “Yes, you are. You’re not going to chase them or try to kill them, are you? Has he”—her tone changed—“ever been mean to cats?”
“Nope, but then the barn cats are wild, so they run from anyone who gets close to them, especially Tex.” Cody drove slowly from the bunkhouse to the barn and parked beside an end door. “Thought it might be better if we go through the tack room rather than opening up the big door.”
When Cody stopped the engine and got out of the truck, Tex followed him. The dog took time to turn a patch of snow yellow and then waited for someone to let him in the barn. He dashed inside ahead of Cody and Stevie, ran through the tack room, and headed toward the stalls.
Stevie and Cody made their way to the left side of the barn and stopped at the stall where Dixie and her new little sister were curled up next to each other in a bed of straw. Sunflower Ranch seemed to be a place for adoptions. First the three sons, then Addy and Mia, even though no one knew at the time that Mia was truly Sonny and Pearl’s granddaughter. Then the twin boys Jesse and Addy had adopted, and now, they were giving Dixie a home.
And you too, Stevie’s mother’s voice whispered softly in her ear.
Stevie ignored the voice and said, “I’m so glad that the mama took her.”
“Seems like adoption is a way of life on this ranch,” Cody said with a smile.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Stevie admitted.
“Look over there behind Dixie.” Cody pointed at the sleeping crias.
Stevie moved over a couple of feet and saw a pile of fur cuddled up to Dixie’s back. “Well, now that surprises me. I would have thought the hembra—Maggie, right?—would have thrown a fit over cats next to her babies.”
“As many times as they’ve all crawled all over Dixie, they probably smell like an alpaca,” Cody suggested.
“You’re probably right.” Stevie nodded in agreement.
“Did that hurt?” Cody asked.
“What?” Stevie was a little cold, but she wasn’t hurting anywhere.
“Admitting that I might be right?” Cody raised an eyebrow.
“It doesn’t mean that you’ve always been right,” Stevie told him.
“No, but I am today. Dr. Smarty-Pants just said so,” Cody said with a big grin.
“Speaking of being right,” Stevie said, “I’m glad that I was right when I told Dale that the alpacas here would adopt Dixie. He didn’t think they would.”
“I’m glad they did too,” Cody said. “I’ve kind of gotten attached to the little girl, but I’d rather she be raised by her own kind than in the bunkhouse with us.”
“Me too,” Stevie said, but the way Cody’s eyes were boring right into hers, she wondered if he wanted to say more. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“That I’m already missing being stuck in that old barn,” Cody said. “I believe that’s the first time since I went to college that I didn’t have some kind of control over the next thing, whether step or decision, in my life.”
“Me too, again,” she whispered. “Think we’ll look back on those days in a few years and consider them good memories?”
“I will,” Cody admitted. “Guess we’d better get on to the house, or supper will be cold.”
“After what we’ve been through, I’d eat it right out of the fridge,” she said with a grin. She started back toward the other end of the barn with Cody right behind her. Just like last time, as soon as she opened the door, Tex hopped into the truck and flopped down in the middle of the seat. Stevie slid in beside him, and somewhere out of the clear, blue sky a country song by Cross Canadian Ragweed came to her mind. The song had come out right after Stevie got her bachelor’s degree—hardly seemed possible that was thirteen years ago.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Cody pushed Tex over a little bit to make room for himself.
“A song just popped into my head,” she said. “Ever listen to Cross Canadian Ragweed?”
“Yep, loved them. Hated to see them break up,” Cody answered. “Which song?”
“‘Seventeen,’” Stevie said. “It talks about always being seventeen in your hometown. No matter what you do with your life, or how long you’ve been away, folks still think of you like you were that same kid who left at seventeen. Coming back to Honey Grove, do you ever feel like people look at you like you’re that kid again?”
Cody started the engine and turned to face her. “I’m running those lyrics through my head. The song came out about the time I was doing my clinicals. I’ll always be one of the Ryan boys in Honey Grove. You’ll always be that little red-haired O’Dell kid who lived a block down from the school. We can’t change that or what people think of us. Does it bother you that folks still look at you like you’re that age?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted.
“Then chalk it up to being their problem.” Cody shifted into gea
r and drove toward the house. “You’ve done a lot with your life, Stevie, and you’re giving back to the community by coming home and putting in a vet business.”
“Thanks,” Stevie muttered.
“Anything else before we trade the peace and quiet for chaos?” Cody parked the truck close to the back porch.
“Not a thing.” Stevie slung open the passenger door and stepped out of the truck with Tex right behind her. “And after the past few days, I’m ready for chaos.”
Cody stepped out of the truck, crossed the short distance to the porch, and stood to one side of the door. “Ladies first,” he said.
“Who are we kidding?” Stevie said with a smile. “We both know the second I open that door, Tex will beat me inside the house, so in reality it’s dogs first.”
“Such is life,” Cody nodded.
The aroma of marinara and fresh bread wafted out to meet her the moment she and Tex stepped into the kitchen. Then Stevie got a whiff of something chocolate, and her mouth began to water. Coffee and candy had gotten her through too many long nights to count—from cramming for tests in college, to hours and hours of waiting for a calf to be born, to the times when she couldn’t sleep after her mother’s death—and she had sorely missed it while she and Cody were stranded.
“Hey!” Mia looked up from the counter where she had been spreading butter on the tops of hot yeast rolls. “Y’all made it just in time. We’re about to put everything on the bar and serve it up buffet tonight.”
Mia’s dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore faded red sweatpants, an orange sweatshirt, and mismatched socks. Stevie wondered if the girl’s peers in school had called her a giant too. Nowadays, they called it bullying and were a lot quicker to take care of the issue than they had been twenty years ago. Stevie found herself hoping that Mia had never had to put up with those rude comments.
“Thanks for loaning me—” Stevie started to say.
“No problem. Good thing we’re both tall and the same size. As you can see, we all got dressed up for supper tonight,” Mia joked.
“You look beautiful to me.” Stevie remembered coming home crying because some little girl had made fun of her height or of her curly red hair, and her mother telling her that the important thing was to be beautiful on the inside.
The kids who were mean to you are ugly on the inside. You are pretty and smart, and they’re jealous, Ruth had said. Let’s have some chocolate cookies and milk. That will help you feel better.
Mia crossed the big country-style kitchen and gave Cody a hug. “We missed you, Uncle Cody. Dad said your truck is totaled. That’s scary.”
Cody gave her an extra hug. “Truck is, but I’m just fine. Is that lasagna I’m smelling?”
“Nope,” Mia answered. “Mama made rigatoni and Nana made the chocolate cake.” Then she turned around and wrapped Stevie up in her arms for a hug and whispered for her ears only. “Did everything fit okay?”
Stevie nodded.
“Let me know if you need anything else.” Mia took a step back.
“What can I do to help with supper?” Stevie hadn’t been hugged since her mother’s funeral, and warm feeling brought tears to her eyes.
Addy came from the dining room and gave Stevie a second hug. “We’ve got supper covered. Not that you had much choice in the matter, but we’re glad to have you spending some time with us here on the ranch.”
Addy’s dark brown hair hung down her back in a single long braid, and like Mia, she was dressed in sweats—only her top and bottom matched—and thick, fuzzy socks, one blue and one red.
Pearl and Sonny came into the kitchen. “We were glad to get that note from you before you lost cell service. We would have been worried about you and a baby cria stranded out in the middle of the blizzard with no help or warm place to hole up until it blew over. We’ve called around and made sure everyone on this side of Honey Grove has what they need. Jesse went out yesterday in the tractor and delivered some supplies to two of our neighbors.”
Sonny’s sickness had taken its toll on Pearl. Her face seemed a little more drawn to Stevie than it was the last time she had been at Sunflower Ranch to check the cattle before the fall sale. Her hair had more salt than pepper in it these days, and somehow, she seemed even shorter.
“That’s so sweet of y’all, and thank you for everything you’re doing for me,” Stevie said.
“Got to take care of our favorite vet.” Sonny leaned heavily on his cane, but he had a smile on his face. “Did our boy here behave while y’all were stranded?”
“You should ask if she was good instead of me,” Cody teased. “She was a cranky butt the whole time, and I even gave her the bed.”
“Tattletale,” Stevie said.
“See, Mama.” Jesse carried in two infant seats and set them at the end of the table. “I told you that he tattled all the time when we were little boys.”
“Pot and kettle, both black.” Cody went over to the twins and dropped down on his knees. “They’ve both grown a foot since I left on Wednesday.”
“That’s what babies do. You’d be worried if they weren’t right on schedule at two and a half months old,” Mia said.
“How do you tell them apart?” Stevie was drawn to them like a bee to a honeypot. She’d always loved babies and made quite a bit of money with her babysitting jobs from the time she was fourteen. “Look at those blue eyes and all that dark hair. They’ll have to have a haircut before they’re a year old.”
“Sam has a dimple on the left side.” Mia bent down and touched the baby on the chin, and he gave her a big toothless smile. “Taylor’s got two. I’ll show you.” She made a face at the other baby and he showed off his double dimples. “Other than that, they’re identical.”
“And I’m their favorite person,” Cody declared.
Mia air-slapped him on the arm. “You might be their favorite uncle now. When Uncle Lucas comes home, he might argue with you over that. But I’m their favorite person because I’m their sister, and that takes precedence over uncles.”
“An ongoing argument in this house,” Sonny chuckled. “If you want to know the truth, Stevie, I’m the favorite over all of them. I made them smile for the first time, and yesterday Sam giggled when I was making faces at him.”
“I bet you are.” Stevie could almost feel the love the family had for one another wrapping around her like a thick, fuzzy blanket on a cold night.
“All right, everyone, I’m putting the pot on the counter, and tonight I’ll ask Jesse to say grace,” Addy said. “After that, you can line up and help yourselves.”
Jesse slipped his arm around his wife’s waist and bowed his head. “Our Father…”
Stevie didn’t hear the rest of the prayer, because she was thinking about what her mother said about being beautiful on the inside. Right then she couldn’t claim a bit of that beauty, because she was bullfrog green with jealousy.
She had heard the gossip about Mia taking off with Ricky last summer, and also the rumors about Addy when she had finally come clean and revealed Jesse was Mia’s father. True enough, the family had had their hurdles to jump over in the past, but that night they were perfect, and she wanted to be a part of something just like this—someday.
What do you mean by someday? Her mother was back while Stevie’s head was bowed for grace. Your biological clock is ticking so loud I can hear it all the way to the pearly gates, girl. If you want a family, you’d best quit wasting time.
“Amen,” Jesse said.
“Guests first.” Cody took a step back from the counter and motioned for Stevie to go first.
“Oh, no!” She shook her head. “The only thing I love better than hot rolls is Italian food. If I go first, there won’t be anything left for the rest of you.”
“Well, I’m not bashful.” Mia picked up a plate and covered one side with pasta and the other with salad, then added two hot rolls to the top.
“That’s the Ryan genes coming out in you, girl. When it comes to
food, not a one of us is shy,” Cody agreed. “Mama, are you really going to let her get by with taking two hot rolls? You would have fussed at us guys for that.”
“I’m her favorite,” Mia teased as she carried her plate to the table. “And I plan to have two pieces of Nana’s chocolate sheet cake when I’m done. Feeding cattle in all this snow uses up a lot of energy.”
“And plowing pathways from one place to another, I would imagine,” Stevie said, and got in line behind Pearl.
Mia stopped, looked over her shoulder, and flashed a bright smile. “Us girls have to stick together, don’t we?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Stevie was glad to be included in the family, even if it was only for a little while.
“How hungry are you, darlin’?” Pearl asked Sonny.
“Not quite starving, but I’m like Stevie when it comes to Italian food, so give me plenty so you don’t have to go back for seconds for me, sweetheart,” Sonny answered.
Stevie wanted a relationship like Pearl and Sonny had, one that could endure decades of ups and downs, and she would still love her partner enough to call him darlin’ at the end of the day. She blinked away more tears and took the serving spoon from Pearl when she’d finished making Sonny’s plate.
“This looks so good,” Stevie said.
“We’ve been making pot meals,” Mia said from the table, “as in simple things, not pot as in weed, since we’ve been snowed it. They are my favorite in the wintertime.”
“After scrounging for food for four days, this is a pretty fancy supper,” Cody said, “but Stevie did whip up a reasonable vegetable soup one evening and some hoecake to eat with it.”
“Thank goodness Max left some food.” Pearl took Sonny’s plate to the table, then returned to fix her own. “I worried about you kids having to hunt rabbits for food in that blizzard.”
“I’m not sure I could eat a rabbit. They’re so soft and cuddly and have those big eyes, so I’m glad there was some food in the tack room.” Stevie carried her plate to the table and stopped and looked around, not knowing where her place was. Before her mother passed away, she always sat on one side of the table for four and Ruth’s place was right across from her.
Texas Homecoming Page 8
