His Unexpected Return--A Fresh-Start Family Romance

by Jessica Keller

  “Piper, sweetheart.” He stroked her hair, her back. “Your mom was the most important person in my life and I loved everyone at Red Dog Ranch so, so much. Because I loved them, it hurt to know that I kept making them sad. I didn’t want them to ever be sad again. I stayed away because I loved them.” He tucked her head under his chin and kept his arms around her until her tears stopped.

  After a few minutes, Piper sat up, took a deep rattling breath and wiped at her face. “Well, we’re here. What are we waiting for?”

  Shannon, Wade and Cassidy all started laughing.

  “Oh, to be young and resilient.” Shannon flung open her car door and clambered out.

  Wade helped Piper out of the front seat, then he slung Cassidy’s pack over his shoulders. Shannon wore a small backpack that was really a water bottle. Wade locked up the car and stared toward Enchanted Rock. It looked as steep as he remembered, but he was pretty sure he had faced a bigger mountain already today.

  Chapter Eight

  Enchanted Rock sprang up ahead of them. A giant pink rock surrounded by rubble, trails and a cactus forest. Even though Cassidy had made the trek to the top before with no issues, today it looked a bit daunting.

  She came alongside Piper when they started on the path marked Summit Trail. “You sure you’re up for this? Because it’s okay if you’re not.”

  Piper was at an age where her emotions could be consuming. Her tears in the car during the talk with Wade had twisted Cassidy’s heart. She very well could have been exhausted from processing everything. In the past, she had explained to Piper that before he died, her dad hadn’t known she was going to be born. But Piper might not have understood what that meant. Or maybe she had wondered if that had been made-up the same as her dad’s passing.

  Piper blew her bangs out of her eyes. “I’m fine, Mom.”

  “It’s just we’re already up way past your bedtime and I know I said that would be fine for a special event, but if it’s too much you say so, okay? It’s fine if we have to turn around or do this another time. Right, everyone?”

  Wade and Shannon were near the water fountain filling up all their water bottles. They both chimed in with their agreement.

  “Or if you need to stop for a rest. Just speak up,” Wade added.

  “I won’t need to stop. Shannon and I will beat you to the top because we’re younger than you!” Piper skipped ahead on the path, grabbing Shannon’s hand along the way.

  Shannon looked back over her shoulder. “So I guess that’s game on, then.”

  Wade laughed. “I call foul. Shannon’s only younger than me by two minutes!”

  “And hello,” Cassidy said. “I’m a whole year younger than the twins. Which makes me the second youngest here. Thank you very much.”

  “Hang on.” Wade motioned for Shannon and Piper to wait. “We all want to have fun but some safety things before we have people rushing off. That rock—” he pointed at Enchanted Rock “—is 425 feet high and it’s steep most of the way up. So pace yourselves and drink lots of water along the way.”

  “Got it.” Shannon saluted him.

  Cassidy couldn’t help the grin that appeared on her face. Wade was home. Wade and Shannon were acting like The Twins again. And despite the heated words they had exchanged back at Cassidy’s house, Wade was trying to be a present and involved father. That was a lot given the fact that only a few weeks ago he hadn’t even known he was one.

  “Not finished yet.” Wade’s mouth quirked with one of his almost-smiles. “When you hit the slope, it’ll go better for you if you zigzag as you walk. Remember, we still have to climb back down so don’t use all your energy to get to the top.” He had caught up to them and was leaning over like a football coach rattling off game-winning plays. “The snakes love this area so keep your eyes peeled for rattlers and copperheads—especially the copperheads—they can blend right in to the surrounding here. And avoid Turkey Peak.” He pointed in the direction of an outcropping of rocks. “I know it looks tempting, but it’s a sheer rock face climb up a dense cactus forest. We’re just doing the big rock today. Nothing else. Any questions?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a question.” Shannon raised her hand. “Since when did you become a park ranger?”

  “I’ll tell you when Cass and I beat you to the top.”

  “So not happening,” Shannon said as she and Piper set off at a brisk pace. Piper spun around and stuck her tongue out at them before jogging to catch up with Shannon again.

  Cassidy tugged on her lower lip as she watched them charge ahead. “Maybe we should all stay together.” She started after them.

  Wade kept pace beside her. “They’ll be fine. Let them have fun. I think they both need it.”

  “Didn’t Shannon lose her phone or something? What if something happens?”

  Wade adjusted the straps on the backpack, shifting its weight a little. She had packed way too much stuff in there and it had to weigh a ton now that it had two full water bottles attached as well.

  “I got her one of those phones you buy with minutes loaded on them,” Wade said. “I have her number, she has mine. If they need to reach us, they’ll be able to.” Then gently, “Shannon won’t let anything happen to Piper.”

  Their shoes crunched along the path in sync. Cassidy caught Wade glancing her way every few seconds. Warmth crept across the back of her neck and her cheeks, and she wondered if it was the heat rolling off the sunbaked earth that was causing her flush or remembering how she and Wade had held hands in the car.

  Was it juvenile to get a thrill from something as small as hand-holding? Maybe. But Cassidy had dated Wade when they were both teens and she hadn’t done much dating since. Hand-holding still meant something to her. Honestly, she hoped it would always be a big deal. If she ever got married, she wanted to be one of those couples holding hands while they shuffled through the grocery store together when they were in their eighties.

  She still wasn’t sure she could walk down a romantic road with Wade again. Her heart might never be ready to trust like that, but she was enjoying spending time with him and that could only help with them co-parenting and living on the same swath of land.

  She would be careful. She would not get in over her head.

  A small voice inside told her she already was, but she batted it away.

  Wade cleared his throat. “Everything Piper said in the car. About the storms. She’s so smart.” He grinned her way. “Are you sure she’s really mine, because I’m not at all—”

  Cassidy swatted his shoulder.

  “You were always smart. Probably too smart for your own good,” she said. “You just didn’t feel the need to apply yourself in school.”

  “You’re not wrong about the school part.”

  Cassidy bumped her shoulder into Wade’s. “She was right, you know. About the tornado bringing good things. Bigger than that too. That good can come out of things we think would destroy us.” She sucked in a humid breath before plunging onward. “I didn’t know you felt that way—that you thought you were holding me back from happiness.”

  He hiked one shoulder. “You wouldn’t let me tell you when I tried.”

  Your mom was the most important person in my life.

  I wanted your mom to be happy and I knew she never could be with me.

  She touched his elbow. “You were wrong though.”

  “I find I usually am.” He glanced her way, wearing a timid smile that sent her pulse into danger zones.

  That vulnerable smile unglued her lips, setting free unguarded words. “I never found happiness again. Not without you. That wouldn’t have been possible.”

  “Cassidy.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Tell me you’re not still thinking of moving into town. I didn’t bring it up before...but now...I need to know.”

  It had only been a week or so ago, but it felt like forever. So much had
changed so quickly.

  Cassidy barked out a laugh. “Definitely not. I feel bad for the realtor. I think he thought I would be an easy sell, but once I got back to the ranch, I knew I couldn’t leave. I looked myself in the mirror and decided I would be strong enough to figure out how to navigate my life with you sharing the ranch.”

  “And are you? Strong enough, I mean?” He winced. “That came out wrong. All I mean is if you need me to give you space or if there’s something I can do to make this transition less uncomfortable for you, just say the word. I’ll do anything for you guys.”

  She studied his profile bathed in the light of the evening sun and the world fell away. There wasn’t a climb in front of her. There weren’t things to do at home. There was only Wade, gorgeous and kind and hardworking and compassionate Wade.

  Was she strong enough to be around Wade and not fall for him?

  Probably not.

  She shook her head. He didn’t need to change anything.

  They hiked for a few minutes, pointing out interesting rock formations to each other and stopping once to both guzzle water and take a quick selfie with Enchanted Rock in the background. When they came to an area that was strewn with different sized boulders, Wade took her hand and helped her cross back to the solid rock face. The path narrowed so with each step they were brushing hips and elbows. There were plenty of people all over the state park but on this part of the path, it felt as if they were the only ones.

  It felt safe.

  “Going back to what we were talking about before,” she said. “Since realizing you were alive, I kept thinking that you rejected me. You wanted to leave me and didn’t want to deal with the breakup. It was hard to reconcile that with how we were when we were together.” They had been one of those couples who only saw each other and tried to spend as much time as they could together. Wade had always seemed happy—more than that. He had been completely enamored with Cassidy. So the idea that he had faked that feeling over the years they dated had really thrown her for a loop. She had questioned if she could ever trust someone else’s love.

  Wade came to a stop. She had to halt and turn to face him.

  His eyes latched onto hers. He whispered, “Because it wasn’t true.”

  Cassidy’s hands shook. “I know that now.”

  “That first day back I said I loved you.” He inched closer until they were standing breaths away. “I said I left for you. I wanted what was best for you and that wasn’t ever going to be me.”

  She ducked her head. “I get that now. And for the record, I think you were so incredibly wrong to do that. You had no right to make that choice for us, for me, without involving me. But I’m beginning to see that what I thought was rejection was actually my rescue.”

  His left eyebrow went up. “Yeah?”

  She started walking again and he fell into step beside her.

  “When we thought you were dead—after we accepted it and had a funeral—I was very lost, Wade.” He had been her life to a very unhealthy extent when they were dating. It was hard to figure out life with the axis of her world suddenly gone. “And when I was lost, I finally broke down and went to God for the first time.” She laughed softly. “I mean, it was almost impossible not to end up at church living with your family. But it was good. Very hard, but good because that’s what led me to become a Christian. Would I be one if we had been together all this time? I’d like to think so, but I don’t know.”

  “I’m glad you found God, Cassidy. After I did, I prayed for you all the time. Every single day.”

  In the car, he had been so vulnerable and honest answering Piper’s questions. Watching them interact while he handled a hard talk had softened Cassidy’s heart toward him completely. Hearing he had been praying for her this whole time? Cassidy had to blink back tears.

  “You know,” she admitted. “I’ve been angry with God since you came back.”

  “Angry He let me live?”

  She grabbed his bicep and jiggled on his arm. “Don’t even joke about that.” She let go just as quickly, keeping up their brisk pace. “Angry because I had cried out to God again and again about you. I begged for you to turn up somewhere. I wept to Him and that whole time He knew you were alive. It felt as if you had both played this big trick on me. I felt betrayed.”

  Wade looked out over the distance for the space of a few heartbeats. “I think sometimes God has to let our hearts break or else we would never be ready to acknowledge we need Him to save us. When you look back at every story in the Bible, pain has always been a part of the process. Trying to outrun the hard times ends up costing us more than submission ever will. I’m afraid my life is an example of that. The how-not-to example.”

  He still thought he was a failure. A mess-up.

  She wanted to hug him until all the lies he believed about himself faded away.

  Wade was an overcomer. He was a passionate, dedicated man who was committed to walking a straight path in life.

  If only he could see himself through her eyes.

  “I don’t know. You seem to have turned out just— Ooh, ouch!” Cassidy’s boot caught on a rock and she lost her balance. Landing on her hands and knees, the momentum skidded her forward over a patch of sharp pebbles.

  Wade tromped after her. One of his arms looped around her and the other slipped under her knees and she was up, cradled against his chest a second later.

  He scanned her face. “What hurts?”

  His heart pounded against her side as she was enveloped in his ocean-and-midnight scent. There was some sweat there too, which only made him more appealing. It was enough to make Cassidy forget he had asked her a question.

  Wade’s brow dipped. “Did you hit your head?”

  She shook herself out of the schoolgirl-crush tunnel vision Wade’s proximity was known to bring on. “I’m fine. Scrapes.” She held up a bloody palm. “Nothing major. I can walk.” She pressed a hand to his chest.

  Wade tightened his hold. “These large rocks look like snake haven. Let me get you someplace better.” He started gingerly over the area where she had slipped. His breath was slightly labored, which was to be expected when he was carrying her and a backpack on an incline in the middle of summer in Texas. He set her down away from the strewn path on a rock that was about the height of a chair.

  He slung the backpack off and unzipped the top. “Tell me you packed some first aid supplies along with the heavy gold bricks.” He located the antiseptic cream, wet wipes and a hoard of bandages and set them beside her. Her hands were a little torn up and the knee on her right pant leg was ripped open and bloody. Wade unscrewed one of the water bottles and poured water over both her hands, then he had her rest her leg on top of another rock so he could pull a few rock shards out of her knee and pour water over that wound too. He dabbed each area with wet wipes. “I don’t know if these are the best, but they’re all we have.” And then he applied the first aid cream and bandages to the worst parts. Mostly on her knee and one deeper cut in her palm.

  When he was studying her knee, she reflexively reached forward and brushed some of his hair away from his forehead. Wade leaned into the touch.

  “Hey, Wade?” She knew if she slipped her hand to the back of his head, if she tipped her head toward his, he would kiss her. Every cell in Cassidy’s body knew it. She let her hand drop to her side. “I’m glad you’re alive.”

  He got to his feet, grinned down at her and offered his hand. “You have mentioned that once or twice. But it’s nice to be reminded.”

  She licked her lips. Took his hand and got to her feet. “If we could go back... If you could have a do-over, would you?”

  “I want to say yes, but I mean, it’s complicated. We wouldn’t have turned out like we both are now. What we each faced formed us into who we are.” He sighed. “I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think wishing for do-overs is healthy for anyone at
this point. Would I like to have spared everyone the anguish I caused? Absolutely. But would I want to stand in the way of both of us surrendering our hearts to God? Definitely not. I think this is a case where God used a bad situation to bring about His glory and I wouldn’t want to wish that undone,” he said. “At this point, our energy is better spent focusing on what we have here, today, and on what tomorrow could be.”

  As much as she would have loved to have had him around the last five years, she knew he was right and she told him so.

  Cassidy tried putting weight on her leg and found it didn’t hurt too badly. Besides, nothing was going to keep her from making it to the top. She had her parental pride to maintain. If she chickened out, Piper would never let her hear the end of it.

  They didn’t talk much as they entered the steeper part of the journey, but Wade stayed close by. Cassidy found herself praying for the first time in over a week. She asked God to forgive her for doubting Him and also prayed about the future, asking Him to guide her steps.

  And her heart.

  * * *

  With Cassidy’s fall, it had taken longer to reach the top than normal. Not that Wade had minded. More time alone with Cassidy was not a problem where he was concerned. When they reached the top, Piper spotted them first and jogged over to hug both of them.

  “We beat you guys by a hundred years.” She pulled away. “Do you have snacks? Because I could use a snack.”

  Cassidy and Wade both laughed. Wade turned his back toward Cassidy, so she could unzip the pack and find something for Piper to eat. The simple action filled Wade with longing for this to be his everyday life. He wanted his family. Not just for little planned adventures or seeing each other at the ranch—he wanted to live together. Do life together. Live as a family.