Healing Hearts: Quinn Valley Ranch Book 27

by Dawson, Kay P.

  “I’m going to get our bags. You better hurry and get ready, because I have a feeling she isn’t going to wait much longer for us. She’s waited a long time to come home.”

  And so had he.

  Chapter Nine

  “I can’t believe after all these years, that this is still standing.” Margaret’s voice was soft, but not from the symptoms of her disease or because she was tired. She was simply in awe at the fact she was standing in the old house that had belonged to her grandparent’s.

  Yesterday, after they’d had a quick lunch, they’d made their way out to the house where Margaret had grown up. It was a small house on the outskirts of town, and over the years since had been renovated and had an addition put on.

  But the bones had been there as she walked around the property, recounting stories of her childhood with every step.

  They’d had an early night so she could get rested for today because even though seeing her childhood home had been important, it was her grandparent’s house that meant the most to her.

  This was where she said her happiest memories were.

  “I just hope it’s safe to be in here. It likely won’t be standing for many more years.”

  Mitch was carefully leading the way, while the owner of the property and his grandson trailed behind them. Margaret had been ecstatic when they arrived, and she found out a cousin she remembered from when they were kids now owned the homestead. Since it had been their ancestors who settled the area, a lot of the people living around Promise were related in some way.

  Margaret’s grandpa and Leonard’s grandma had been brother and sister, so they had met a few times as children at family gatherings.

  “It’s starting to crumble in some places, but Grandpa hasn’t been able to tear it down. He says it just has so much family history in it and he hates to do it. But it will have to be taken down at some point before someone gets hurt coming in here.”

  The grandson stepped up beside them and smiled down at Vicki. He was around the same age as Mitch, with dark hair and broad shoulders. He helped out around the property and had taken over farming of the land.

  “Oh, Kyle, you’re always saying someone will get hurt in here. But the truth is, unless you have plans to give me some great-grandchildren soon, I don’t see where anyone would be playing around out in the bushes here anyway.”

  The younger man just laughed and rolled his eyes. “Even when we’re with complete strangers, showing them around the family property, you still have to try poking me a little about settling down and having kids.”

  Vicki laughed. “Oh, I know exactly how that feels. I have a grandmother back home who has done the same thing to not only me, but all twenty-five of her grandchildren.”

  “You have that many cousins?” The guy looked genuinely shocked as he whistled and raised his eyebrows.

  Before she could answer and tell him how every Quinn couple always had five kids, and that’s just how it had always been, Mitch came over and stood in front of them with a scowl on his face.

  “I don’t know if it’s safe to be in here with Grandma. Maybe we better leave.”

  “No, it’s really not that bad. As long as you’re careful where you walk, it’s fine. Even though no one has lived in it for years, it still seems to be fairly solid. I guess as the bush grew up around it, things were preserved a bit.” Kyle offered Mitch a smile, but it was clear Mitch was suddenly in a foul mood for some reason.

  “Well, we can do a quick walk around, but there’s no way we’re going upstairs.”

  “Oh, Mitchell. This is where I used to sit with my grandma for hours while she taught me how to knit. That was one of my favorite things to do. And over here was the old wood stove where she showed me how to bake.” Margaret closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, transported back to the time when she was a young girl spending time with her grandma. “I can almost smell her famous apple pie.”

  Vicki watched as pure joy radiated from the older woman.

  Mitch went over and walked beside his grandma, making sure she was safe as she walked around the room. Boards hung from the ceiling in places and all the glass was missing from the windows. There were holes in the floor that they needed to be careful not to step in, so he pulled her hand in close as he helped her maneuver around the obstacles.

  She hung back with Kyle and his grandfather, not sure if she should intrude on this moment with them. Margaret was sharing stories with her grandson, reliving her childhood as they stood in the dust of the falling down house.

  They’d learned today that Margaret’s uncle had moved onto the property to take over the farming once the grandparents were too old, and had a new house built for his family on a clearing away from the original home. That was the house that was still being used, having been fixed up and modernized over the years.

  But no one had ever had the heart to tear down the old one that now had brush and weeds growing up around it.

  “This was the original homestead on the property, back when my ancestors settled in Promise. There used to be another old cabin nearby that was used by teachers who would come and work at the one room schoolhouse on the land my family donated to the town. When I was a girl, the old schoolhouse was still standing but it was in rough shape. I used to go in there and play school with any cousins who were out visiting at the farm. Now that I think about it, I think you might have even been there once or twice, Leonard.”

  The older man laughed and nodded as he remembered. “I was. You always got to be the teacher and the rest of us had to be the students who got in trouble all the time.”

  Vicki smiled at Mitch when their eyes met. It was clear how moved he was at seeing the happiness his grandma was experiencing. He was getting the chance to see who his grandma was as a young girl and he knew he’d been the one to give her this gift.

  “Unfortunately, the schoolhouse was in pretty bad shape by the time we moved onto the property. And as it started to fall into disrepair, people would come out here and take the old wood for craft projects or whatever else. I’ll never understand how people think that just because a building is starting to come down, it’s free for them to come and help themselves to. It still belonged to our family. But over time, more and more of the wood went missing, affecting the structure of the frame, so we finally just took it and the old cabin down.”

  “You can still see the foundations where they once stood. It would be a bit of a walk, but I can take you out there in my truck. I’m afraid your van might not make it over some of the rougher areas in the field,” said Kyle.

  He smiled warmly at Margaret as he made her an offer for a ride. Vicki was so grateful that the extended family they’d met today had been so welcoming to them all. She knew they likely had work to be doing on the farm but had taken the time to show them around instead.

  She was happy to think that after today, Margaret would be able to stay in touch with Leonard, another family member she could reminisce with.

  “I would love to go out and see those spots, even if the buildings aren’t there. I’ll be able to see them in my memory.”

  They made their way back out into the sunlight, and Vicki pulled her sunglasses down to shield her eyes from the brightness. The air had a chill, but at least there wasn’t any wind or rain. It was a perfect day to walk around outside and enjoy the beauty of the changing colors on the trees before winter.

  She could understand the love Margaret would have for this place. It really was one of the most beautiful spots she’d been to, and even she could feel a sense of peace at being in a place so full of family history.

  “I can drive Margaret and Grandpa in my truck, but I’m afraid you two will have to walk. I have a water tank in the back so you can’t even ride there. It’s a bit too far for them but it wouldn’t be hard for you guys. I’ll drive slow enough that you’ll be able to follow where we’re going.”

  They helped Margaret up into the pickup and fell in behind as they started driving away. Vicki wrapped
her arms around herself to keep the chill out as she lifted her face to the sun, smiling widely. “The air just seems so much fresher here. I’ve always heard how nice it is on the prairies, but I have to admit I’d never believed it to be any different than anywhere else. I can see how your grandma would want to come back here one more time.”

  Mitch was walking along beside her with his hands in his pockets. He looked around and nodded. “I know. I can almost picture her running around out here as a little girl. It makes me feel so bad for her that she hasn’t been able to come back all these years, just because of a falling out with my grandpa’s family. Seems so silly.”

  “I know. I wouldn’t care what kind of problems came up, there’s nothing that would keep me from seeing my home, or my family.” She shrugged as she let her eyes follow the tree line overflowing with oranges, yellows, reds, and greens. “But I guess things were different for your grandma’s generation. The women wouldn’t have had as much say and since she mentioned that she’d never learned to drive, there’s no way she could have gotten here on her own.”

  Mitch laughed. “No, I can’t see you ever just letting someone tell you that you couldn’t do something, no matter what the reasons.”

  She looked at him in pretend annoyance. “I don’t know what makes you say that.”

  He smiled at her and rolled his eyes. “Because you just strike me as the type of woman who will do as you please.” He put his hands up as protection. “Not that it’s a bad thing! I mean, you’re independent, and that’s a good thing.”

  “Well, growing up in my family, with a grandma like mine, you learn to be strong.”

  He put his head down and watched the ground as they walked. “I wish I’d had that chance. To grow up knowing my grandma. I can only imagine how different my life might have been.”

  Vicki felt terrible for bringing something up that made him feel bad. But she knew that these past few days had been good for him to heal from his past, so she hoped he’d be able to open up about everything.

  “You’ve told me about the fighting between your parents, and the guilt you felt over your father’s death, but you haven’t said why you never came back to visit with Margaret. I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I just want you to know I’m here if you do.”

  Her cheeks burned as she realized how she sounded. Just because they’d spent a lot of time together over the past four days, she didn’t need to act like she was his long-lost best friend who he could tell all his problems to.

  “At first, it was because I felt guilty. I thought both her and grandpa would hate me for not coming that Thanksgiving, causing their son to be killed. I know it sounds foolish, but as a young kid, that’s just how my brain worked.” He shrugged slightly, keeping his eyes on the truck ahead as they made their way across the pasture.

  “Then, when I got a bit older and started mentioning that I’d like to see my grandparents, Mom kind of got in my head, I guess. She told me if they had wanted to still have me in their life, they’d have made some kind of effort to be in touch with me. I always wondered why they didn’t, but maybe Mom made it hard for them. I don’t know. Over the years, it just got too hard for me to figure out how to get back in their lives.” He stopped and swallowed hard. “I didn’t even know my grandpa had died until you called and said my grandma wanted to see me because she had no other family.”

  Vicki’s stomach clenched. “I’m sorry. I never even thought about that. But, how come you never called me back or answered any of my emails?”

  The truck stopped ahead of them, but it would still be a couple of minutes before they would catch up.

  “Because, until the day I drove up to Quinn Valley, I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do. Everything just kind of hit me at once—feelings of guilt, anger, hurt…everything from the time I was a kid until that day. I didn’t know how to just come back and show up in grandma’s life after all that time. For years, I had thought she didn’t want to see me. Then, that day, I hopped in my car to go to a job and I ended up driving past it and heading to Quinn Valley. Even when I arrived, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.” He laughed quietly and looked at her. “I stopped at the grocery store to grab a cold drink while I worked up the courage to go to the nursing home and ended up finding a woman flailing through the air.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “You just had to bring it up again, didn’t you?” She knew how hard it had been for him to tell her everything he’d just shared, so she was willing to let him end it on a happier note if he needed to.

  She was just glad he’d finally shared it with her. And now she knew without a doubt, every bad thing she’d believed about him wasn’t true. He was a good person, and she knew he cared about his grandma.

  And with a slam to her stomach, she realized that while learning about his reasons for being gone so long, she’d started to care about him too.

  She was going to have to be very careful, because there was no way anything more could ever happen between the two of them. He’d made his views on that more than clear.

  Even though she wasn’t sure she was ready to fall into marriage like the rest of her family, she knew it was something she wanted someday.

  And that would never happen with Mitchell Bailey.

  Chapter Ten

  “I still feel so guilty leaving poor Margaret behind.”

  Mitch held the door for Vicki as they walked out onto the porch of their bed-and-breakfast. He pushed the annoying black spider aside so they could get past it. If it had been a real spider, however, it would have been a different story.

  “Vicki, Grandma is tired and it’s not like she didn’t have a good supper. She’s probably already sound asleep.”

  With his grandmother’s help, Mitch had convinced Vicki to come out for some nachos and a drink instead of just sitting in her room all evening. They’d had a long day of visiting out at the homestead, so his grandma was exhausted, but Mitch had wanted to spend a bit more time with Vicki tonight since they’d start their journey back home tomorrow.

  He couldn’t believe how soon it would be over, and he wasn’t quite sure why, but he was already dreading having to say goodbye to Vicki. It’s not like he wasn’t going to see her again, since he planned on visiting with his grandma a lot. But it wouldn’t be the same as having this shared experience, spending hours in a vehicle talking and laughing together, and learning more about each other.

  Even though he knew nothing more could ever happen between them, Vicki had become important to him in just this short amount of time. She was so easy to open up to, and he’d shared more with her than he’d ever shared with anyone, including his mother.

  They walked up the quiet street, now and then passing someone who would give them a warm greeting as though they’d known them for years. Darkness had settled around them, but the street was lit up with an orange glow from the lights overhead.

  As they got closer to The Roadhouse, the faint sound of country music could be heard pounding out the beat.

  “I wanted to get the chance to take you out and say thank you again before we head back home. What better way than with a nice platter of nachos? Kyle said they make the best in the country here, so we’d be foolish not to at least try them.”

  Vicki laughed as she pulled her sweater closed, holding her arms in front of her. “I guess you’re right. I mean, what fun is a road trip without trying all of the local cuisine along the way?”

  He opened the door and the loud music hit their ears, along with the chatter of people inside and laughter as couples bounced around the dance floor. It was darker once they got into the restaurant, so he had to squint to adjust his eyes.

  He placed his hand on Vicki’s back and they made their way to an empty booth next to a window. As she climbed in, he smiled to himself as he realized she looked the perfect part for a woman in a small, country roadhouse.

  She wore tall boots that were almost up to her knees, with her denim jeans tucked
inside and a long, knitted sweater over a plain V-neck shirt. All that was missing was a cowboy hat.

  He suddenly felt self-conscious knowing he was probably the only one who didn’t look like they belonged here, even though he’d worn a button up plaid shirt and blue jeans. The other men in the room looked like their clothes were well worn and had spent time in the saddle. Meanwhile, his had only spent time in the seat of his vehicle.

  “I just hope Margaret knows how to use her phone if she needs anything. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her actually use it, so I don’t even know.”

  Mitch sat back and rested his arms on the table between them while they waited for their waitress. “I showed her again before we left. She’ll be fine, Vicki. You need to stop worrying and just enjoy yourself tonight. Order anything on the menu you want.” He grinned at her, knowing that might be something she’d be able to enjoy doing. “Maybe the filet mignon here is just as good as back in Quinn Valley.”

  She laughed at his reminder of their first meal out together. “I might just do that. I wonder how it would taste with nachos, though…”

  They placed their order, then sat and talked about everything that had happened over the past few days. He was glad she didn’t bring up any of the personal things he’d told her and focused instead on the joy they’d witnessed his grandma feel as she finally made it home.

  “Honestly, I was worried how Margaret would be when we had to leave the homestead today, but it seemed like she was just so at peace with seeing everything one last time. And the fact she got to do it with you obviously meant the world to her. Every time she spoke today, she was sharing it with you.”

  “I know. I loved it too.”

  He thanked the waitress as the overflowing plate of nachos arrived, then pulled one off to dip in the salsa. His eyes closed as he savored the flavor. “Okay, I’m willing to admit that Kyle might have been right about these. Either that, or I’m just really hungry.”