The Rancher's Legacy

by Jessica Keller

  Hey, a person could dream.

  It was something she’d learned from Rhett when they were young. Too bad he’d lost his wide-eyed belief in chasing after big dreams somewhere along the way. Though his dog-training business had been a bit of a dream chase for him, hadn’t it? Maybe there was still a part of the boy she knew somewhere inside the jaded man. Deep, deep inside.

  Macy found herself praying while she worked—often more for Rhett than anyone else.

  Please help me help him. Give me the right things to say when we interact. I know he’s hurting and he probably hasn’t talked about it to anyone.

  A boy with freckles and a wide grin ducked his head into her office. “Hey there, Miss Howell.”

  She rose from her desk and smiled at the teenage boy. Gabe had attended Camp Firefly for the past four summers and he volunteered hours at the ranch, mucking stalls and helping feed the horses, already. Making him an official intern had been a no-brainer.

  The interns were starting today.

  Rhett was working with one of his dog-training clients in the far field again, so they had agreed that she would give the kids a quick tour and then hand them off to their appointed mentors to shadow for the day. Macy was happy Rhett had started seeing his clients again and wanted to do whatever she could to encourage him to keep his business alive. It had only been two appointments so far, but she knew he loved training dogs and didn’t want him to have to lose Straight Arrow Retrievers.

  Initially Macy had challenged Rhett about working with the foster kids, but she had promised herself she would stop forcing Rhett to do things the way his father had. Just because Brock had insisted on training the interns himself, it didn’t mean Rhett had to. With that in mind, she had told him she would help run things—help take the load—so it was nice to see he was willing to trust her to do just that.

  Macy joined Gabe outside and introduced herself to the seven other interns. She rattled off the speech she’d heard Brock recite multiple times but knew she wasn’t doing it justice. Normally Brock spent the first two or three days showing the interns the entire ranch and explaining every part of its workings. He introduced them to every staff member and made sure they knew what to do in an emergency. He got to know them and made sure each one felt valued at the ranch. But with plans for the egg hunt looming over her, each day—each hour—was an imperative for Macy to seek donations and coordinate every aspect of the event. She also had to start devoting time to mapping out the plans for Camp Firefly because summer would be here before they knew it.

  So for the first time in the history of Red Dog Ranch, Macy handed the interns over to each of their appointed mentors right after the tour and headed back to her office. She worked on drafting letters to some of the people on her second list—the dream-big list—and emailed them before her nerve waned.

  Less than an hour later, Gabe banged open her door. He was panting and his face was tomato red. “There’s been an accident. Miss Howell, you’ve got to come quick!”

  Macy sprang from her desk. “What type of accident?”

  Gabe was already at the front door, motioning frantically. When he saw she was following he headed out the door and started running for the closest horse enclosure. “This way.”

  Judson, one of the ranch’s field hands who had been assigned to be Gabe’s mentor, was crouched over Piper, Rhett’s four-year-old niece. Piper was curled in a ball sobbing, her tiny shoulders shaking.

  Rhett came tearing across the opposite field, Kodiak at his heels. Rhett’s face drained of color as he dropped to his knees beside Piper and lightly brushed her long brown hair from her forehead. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” His chest heaved. No doubt Judson had radioed him and Rhett had sprinted the whole way.

  Kodiak whimpered as she pranced around the pair.

  “M-m-my aarrrrm,” Piper wailed.

  It was then that Macy noticed Piper’s arm was twisted at the wrong angle. Broken. Macy’s stomach threatened to pitch.

  And suddenly, as she watched him crouch over Piper, Macy noticed the back of Rhett’s neck turn red. “How did this happen?”

  “Uncle Rrrrhett. It hu-hurts.” Piper’s whole body shook. “Huurrrts.” Kodiak crawled forward and gave Piper a tentative lick on her cheek.

  Macy hadn’t noticed Judson take off when they appeared, but he must have headed for the barn. He came back, sprinting in their direction with one of the red emergency totes full of medical supplies that were stowed all over the ranch.

  Judson panted. “I called Cassidy. She was in town getting groceries but she’s on her way back. She should be here in minutes.”

  Wordlessly, Rhett took the medical bag and found the sling inside. Since Piper was so small, he knotted the top to shorten it. Then he helped her sit up.

  “I’m so sorry, baby girl. This might hurt.” He gingerly lifted her broken arm and set it in the sling. She let out a yelp of pain and started to cry harder, her cheeks going red.

  Rhett pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. “You’re so brave. That will help your arm not move around too much until the doctor can see it.”

  She bit her trembling lip and nodded. Despite him living far away for much of her life, Uncle Rhett was her favorite person in the world and it was obvious that she trusted him completely. He’d given her Sheep, the miniature horse, for her birthday and her mom, Cassidy, had often talked about the weekly video chats Piper and Rhett had when he lived far away.

  Cassidy’s van rounded down the driveway.

  Rhett scooped his niece into his arms, avoiding the injured arm.

  He turned toward Macy. “Find out what happened and call me.”

  He gave both Judson and Gabe a significant look. Then he charged toward the van with Piper in his arms. Seconds later they watched Rhett, Cassidy and Piper head off toward the hospital.

  Macy prayed that Piper would be okay and that nothing else was wrong with her, and she prayed for Rhett too. The man was fiercely protective when it came to his family and he was bound to want consequences for whoever had let Piper get hurt.

  Thirty minutes later, once Macy had calmed down an upset Gabe and a profusely apologetic Judson, she called Rhett. She’d already texted with Cassidy, but she knew she needed to talk to the boss. “How’s Piper?”

  “Broken arm and a sprained foot.” He sounded tired. “She says the kid put her on one of the big horses bareback. Is that true?”

  Macy sagged into the chair at her desk. “Judson went into the barn for a minute. He knows he shouldn’t have left Gabe on his own with one of the horses, but we know Gabe well. He mucks the stalls for us all the time.” Macy pressed on.

  “Piper knows Gabe so she ran out to see him. Gabe said Piper told him she wanted to ride the big horse so he let her sit up there. He turned his back for a second.” The teenage boy had been so upset about the little girl getting hurt. He had teared up in Macy’s office. “He didn’t realize the horse was only green broke. He thought it was one of our calm trail horses. He didn’t know, Rhett. He’s just a kid himself.”

  When Rhett didn’t say anything, she continued, “Judson was going to teach him how to work the green broke correctly, so he went to get a longer lead line. That’s the only reason Gabe was out there alone.” She was rambling, but Rhett had to understand that it was an accident, pure and simple. “It could have happened to any of us.”

  “And if Piper had said she wanted to light the mess hall on fire—” Rhett’s words were clipped “—would he have let her do that too?”

  Macy dropped an elbow onto her desk and pressed her forehead into her hand. “This wasn’t his fault.”

  “So is it Judson’s?”

  “It was an accident, Rhett. Accidents happen.” She knew it wasn’t wise to get into this on the phone, but Macy had always had a hard time biting back her words. Frustration was hard to pack away for later. While Rhet
t lived by facts, she was fueled by emotions.

  “An accident took my brother. An accident took my dad. I’m done with accidents, Mace.”

  Ouch. He was right. But facing losses, facing accidents, didn’t mean a person should never take a risk again. “Next time—”

  “There won’t be a next time. Our intern program ends today.”

  That immediately cooled her thoughts. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I already sent messages to all the teens.”

  “Rhett, please. Just hear me out,” she said. “The intern program doesn’t cost the ranch a cent, but it provides free labor. It makes zero sense to cut it when we’re trying to save money.”

  “If a kid other than my niece gets hurt and someone sues us, how’s that saving money? Or if an intern got hurt? Managing interns divides the staff’s focus. It’s really not as mutually beneficial as you might think.”

  “Rhett—”

  “I’ll talk to you later, Mace.” And he was gone.

  Couldn’t he understand that even with a mentor nearby things could happen? People got hurt every day. It was called life. Piper was a perfect mix of curious and courageous, which meant she was always taking risks. Rhett wouldn’t be able to protect his niece from every bump and bruise in life no matter how hard he tried.

  He loved his family fiercely. It was a quality Macy had always found attractive about him, but she found herself wishing he cared about the foster kids too. Maybe it was wrong to put that on him—he wasn’t Brock and she didn’t want him to be Brock. Really she didn’t.

  But she was so torn between the family she loved and the children she was dedicated to helping. Macy needed to decide where her loyalties lay. With the man who had once stolen her heart? Or the kids who desperately needed an advocate?

  If only the answer could be both.

  Chapter Four

  Rhett entered the kitchen section of the mess hall where he knew he’d find Cassidy and Piper. It had been a few days since the accident, but he still wanted to make a point of checking on his niece first thing each morning. Guilt clung to his shoulders as he spotted Piper in her cast. If Rhett hadn’t been in the far field with all his attention on the dog he was training, he might have prevented her injury.

  It confirmed what he had feared all along. He would never be able to run the ranch, the family’s charitable foster programs and Straight Arrow Retrievers at the same time. Not well. Not successfully.

  Something had to give.

  And unless he could find a loophole in the will, it was clear which of the three he would have to let go.

  “How’s my little soldier holding up?”

  Piper rounded one of the wide metal islands in the industrial kitchen. Her hair was back in her normal braided pigtails. She had on jeans, tiny boots and a button-down shirt speckled with pink flowers. “I am not a soldier.”

  The little pout she wore reminded Rhett of Wade so much it made his chest ache. He would do anything to take care of these two ladies—for the brother he had lost. The brother who might still have been around if Rhett hadn’t pushed him away.

  Rhett cleared his throat.

  “Tell him, Mom.” She spun toward Cassidy.

  Cassidy used the back of her hand to shove light red hair away from her eyes. “It’s cowgirl or nothing, Uncle Rhett. You know better.”

  Rhett dipped his head. “Of course. My mistake. How’s our little cowgirl holding up then?”

  Piper straightened her spine and held her head higher. “I’m not that little anymore.”

  He bit back his smile. At four years old, Piper barely came above his knees. She took after her mother, petite for her age. Wade had also been the shortest of all the Jarrett siblings. But what Piper lacked in height she made up for in personality tenfold.

  Rhett narrowed his eyes, making a show of examining her. “Now that you say it, you do look taller today.”

  Cassidy hid a grin as she filled a metal pancake dispenser with batter. It looked like a large funnel, but when she pressed the handle it released the perfect amount of batter onto the huge skillet, making it easy to dish out hundreds of pancakes in very little time.

  At least, Cassidy made it look easy, but then she had always had a knack for cooking even at a young age. Rhett was sure he would make a mess of everything if he tried to use the contraption. Set him in a pen with five growling dogs? No problem. Ask him to fix breakfast for a crew of thirty workers? Not a chance. Cassidy was the expert here.

  Fresh pancake batter sizzled as it cooked. Glass containers full of maple syrup rattled in a pan of boiling water on the nearby stove, permeating the air with their overly sweet scent.

  Piper pushed away the sleeve on her right arm, revealing her hot-pink cast. “Look at how many people signed it.” She grinned at him as she tapped an inch of blank pink. “I’m saving this spot for Gabe though.”

  Rhett lightly set his hand on her head. “Gabe isn’t going to be back at the ranch, honey.”

  Her eyebrows went down. “How come?”

  Cassidy glanced over her shoulder from her spot near the griddle. “You didn’t make him leave because of what happened, did you?” She went back to flipping pancakes, moving the done ones onto a large platter. “Rhett?” she dragged out his name.

  The hum of people talking in the mess hall told him that the staff was starting to pile in for breakfast. No time for long explanations. Even if there had been time, he wouldn’t have the talk in front of Piper.

  Rhett pushed his fingertips against the cool metal of the island. “She got hurt because of him.”

  And because of me.

  Piper tapped on his leg. “He didn’t push me.”

  “I know, but—”

  “So it’s not his fault.” Piper folded her arms and locked onto him with a hard stare. Had she been taking lessons from Macy? All Rhett knew was he was steadily losing to a four-year-old.

  “But—”

  “Accidents happen.” She looked toward Cassidy. “Right, Mom?”

  Cassidy directed the kindest, most loving smile at her daughter. “Sometimes an accident can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.”

  Rhett knew she was talking about becoming pregnant with Piper when she was only eighteen. About the gift that was his niece—a piece of his brother that lived on even though Wade was lost to them. But surely Cassidy hadn’t forgotten that Wade had died in an accident of all things.

  “Sweetheart.” Cassidy motioned toward Piper. “Can you go put the butter on the tables?”

  “I can even do it with my cast. It doesn’t stop me. Nothing stops me.” Piper collected two small plates from the counter and headed into the mess hall. She was used to helping her mom in little ways, especially with the morning meal.

  Rhett shoved his hands into his pockets. “She’s a lot like her mom.”

  “Flattery isn’t going to get you out of this talk,” Cassidy said.

  He waited until Piper was long out of earshot before responding, “The fact is most accidents have consequences. Bad ones.”

  “Don’t you think I know that? After what I’ve been through? Come on, Rhett.” Cassidy scooped the last of the pancakes onto the wide platter. “I want Gabe to still have a chance.” She passed a platter to Rhett. Her rule had always been every person taking up space in the kitchen had to help. Looked like Rhett would be serving the food at the meal. When she picked up the second platter he reached to take it from her.

  She didn’t let go right away. “He needed the internship. The boy wants to be a veterinarian and those schools are hard to get into. Scholarships are even harder to come by. He needs to be able to put us on his résumé. If he can show he interned with the animals here, it’ll give him a better chance at succeeding. Remember being like that? Like him? Needing a start?”

  Of course he remembered. Rhett
had been that boy not that long ago.

  Chest deflated, he broke eye contact. “I already cancelled the program.”

  She let go of the platter and folded her arms. “Then uncancel it.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Being the boss around here you’re the one person who can do just that.” She sighed, unfurled her arms and dusted her fingers off on her apron. “Everyone deserves a second chance, Rhett. Everyone.”

  “What if I can’t manage the program adequately?”

  “Then accept some help.” She pinned him with a stern look. “No, I’m not talking about hiring people. Even though you refuse to acknowledge it, you have a huge support system here. So many people willing to help you. But I think you have to learn to be willing to accept help first.”

  He wasn’t really sure he understood what she was getting at and he told her so.

  “You know how I said everyone needs a second chance?” Cassidy arched an eyebrow. “Well, that includes forgiveness. Sometimes I think you’re holding yourself back for something you think you did wrong. Some sort of penance that maybe you don’t even realize you’re forcing on yourself. I wish you would forgive yourself for whatever you think you did. You deserve a good life, Rhett. Don’t be burdened by something you’re forcing yourself to carry, okay?”

  Rhett swallowed hard. Cassidy had always been a straight shooter.

  “Promise me you’ll think about it,” she said.

  He nodded. “I will.”

  “But not for too long.” She pointed a spatula at him. “You Jarretts can be the worst type of overthinkers.”

  This time he didn’t fight the smile. “I would love to say you were wrong.”

  “But you know I’m not.” Her voice was an odd mix of hope and disappointment all in one. There was more on her mind than their current conversation.

  She shooed him toward the door leading out to the mess hall. “Now get breakfast out there before it goes cold.”

  “Will do, sis.”

  He knew she was right about people needing second chances. Although, if it was up to her, sweet-spirited Cassidy would give everyone in the world a tenth and eleventh chance. Everyone would have unlimited opportunities to turn their life around for good. But having a sympathetic nature had gotten her into trouble in the past.