She gave him a suspicious look.
“It’s the truth,” he swore. “You’ll probably meet them someday.”
“Are you sure you want to live on a ranch? You don’t liked barns or stables,” she pointed out.
“I’m learning to,” he said, suddenly serious. “I like riding. I like horses. I have been thinking about accepting Josh’s offer. I’ve never had a real home, even the ranch when I was a kid. My...parents were always fighting.
“I feel more at home here in a few days than I’ve felt anywhere. I have friends here. I can still take PT jobs in the area. Maybe I’ve reached the point where I can stop running from the past.”
“You’re really serious,” she said, her eyes wide.
He nodded. “I am. I see how happy Josh, Jubal and the others are. I really like working with the vets.”
“A Colorado cowboy? I like it. You looked good in your new hat.”
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “More than any gift I’ve received. Except for you.” On that note, he kissed her, long and passionately. “I want to do a lot of that.”
“Are you reneging on one week?”
“Hell no.”
“Make it a month,” she countered.
“Or sooner,” he bargained.
“Or sooner,” she agreed and sealed the bargain with a very long kiss.
Epilogue
Susan and Ross were married several weeks later, on the last day of the current New Beginnings program. The participants in the program were the guests of honor.
It was a small but rowdy wedding. The fourteen special guests all wore their cowboy hats and were joined by the other members of the Covenant Falls veteran community and their wives.
Susan wore a simple blue dress with flowers entwined in her hair. Ross wore new jeans and a Western shirt and his wedding present from Jubal: a pair of riding boots. The minister came from the town’s Baptist church.
It was a beautiful fall day. A breeze rippled the lake surface and the sun blessed the mountain above them. Ross’s heart beat faster as he looked at Susan’s face as they said their vows. She was incredibly beautiful. Her eyes glistened as she gave him a smile meant only for him.
As they finished the ceremony, he heard the neigh of horses behind him. Most of the guests rode horses to the lake, and their mounts apparently wanted to participate, as did Hobo, who trailed down the aisle with him. Unfortunately, Vagabond did not lower herself enough to attend and was brooding in the cabin. The two, though, had come to an understanding: they ignored one another. But both Susan and Ross believed they would become buddies. Eventually.
The ceremony finished and they were embraced by old and new friends. Food and drink were bountiful. Heartfelt goodbyes were said as the program’s vets were leaving in the morning.
Finally, it was just the four of them. Ross and Susan, Hobo and Vagabond. Their horses were being taken to Jubal’s barn and would appear the next morning. Ross planned to build a small stable next to the cabin now that he had closed on the property a week earlier.
After all the guests left, Ross and Susan stayed outside on the porch, their hands locked together, and watched the sun set.
She took his hand. “No more shadows?” she asked.
“No.” He swallowed hard. He had arrived in Covenant Falls a loner leery of commitments. Now he had an enchanting wife, an entire town of friends, a dog, a cat, even Cajun he was buying from Jubal.
As a kid—before his world fell apart—he’d wanted to be a cowboy.
Life took him on a long winding road to get here but now here he was. A bona fide Colorado cowboy with a horse, a hat and a wife who’d made it all happen.
As if reading his mind, his new wife leaned over and kissed him with such gusto he believed they should retire inside. And they did.
* * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Home on the Ranch: A Cupid’s Bow, Texas Reunion by Tanya Michaels.
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Home on the Ranch: A Cupid’s Bow, Texas Reunion
by Tanya Michaels
Chapter 1
“Mama, don’t leave me!” The little girl’s wail was dramatic enough that diners at nearby tables whipped their heads around to investigate.
Ignoring glances from former neighbors and acquaintances, Layla Dempsey sat back down. “We talked about this, Addie. I just need an hour or two to visit Uncle Chris in the hospital—which is a very boring place. Instead of waiting there, you get to watch a movie and color pictures with Gena.”
Addie’s blue eyes widened, and her lower lip trembled. “But I don’t know Gena. She’s a stranger.”
Layla shot an apologetic look toward her cousin, praying that Addie wasn’t about to alienate their biggest ally in town by shrieking Stranger danger! at top volume. Please, God, no epic meltdowns today. Though she loved her six-year-old daughter unconditionally, Layla’s nerves were already shot from coming home to Cupid’s Bow. And your daughter is picking up on all that tension. If Addie was on edge, Layla was partially to blame.
Deep breaths. Layla reached inside her giant purse—more backpack than pocketbook—and pulled out the “twinkle jar.” It was a plastic bottle she and Addie had filled with water, liquid soap, multicolored glitter and a few sparkly beads. Layla had superglued the lid, and now the bottle functioned almost like a lava lamp. Addie could turn it this way and that, watching the beads slowly travel through the dense liquid as the glitter shifted in soothing, ever-changing formations. The bottle often helped distract Addie from her anxiety.
In a reassuring tone, Layla said, “I know you don’t like unfamiliar situations, but this restaurant today was new, right? You’d never been here before and you didn’t know if you would like it.” She nodded toward the girl’s empty plate. “Wasn’t the food good?”
Addie almost smiled, the corner of her mouth still smeared with barbecue sauce. “Yummy.”
“And Cousin Gena’s house is unfamiliar, but you’re going to like her, too.” It might have been better if Layla had driven to the house to get her daughter settled in, but Gena lived clear on the other side of town and Layla had spent enough time behind the wheel today. They’d compromised by meeting for lunch close to the hospital. “She’s not only family, she was my best friend growing up.”
Gena nodded. “I have scrapbooks with lots of pictures of your mom. Want to see what she looked like when
she was your age?”
After a moment’s thought, Addie nodded.
“And maybe you can scope out my house,” Gena coaxed, “to help me decide the best place to go in case of a bad storm?”
“You mean like a tornado?” Now Addie was hooked. Ever since a tornado drill her first week of kindergarten, she’d been morbidly fascinated. For the past few months, she’d carried two children’s books about twisters everywhere she went and watched the opening scenes from The Wizard of Oz on a near-daily basis—but she lost interest in the movie the minute Dorothy touched down in Munchkinland. On the occasional afternoons when Layla had to bring her daughter to the photography studio, Addie kept herself busy by looking up tornado facts on kid-friendly educational sites. At first, Layla had tried to discourage the fixation, but since memorizing and reciting statistics seemed to calm her daughter...
“Do you have a basement?” Addie asked.
Gena shook her head. “Afraid not.”
“What about a room with no windows? Like a big closet. But not upstairs. Down is safer.” As she relayed these facts, her voice grew more confident, the earlier panic in her expression gone.
“There aren’t any stairs at my house,” Gena said, “so we’re good on that count. But I’d love your opinion on whether the walk-in pantry or laundry room would be better.”
“You need my help.” Addie reached for her jacket, clearly eager to get started.
The relief that flooded Layla was so strong she felt almost giddy until she remembered where she was headed and why. “You be good, Addie Rose.” The girl’s car seat and backpack were already waiting in Gena’s Mustang. “I’ll see you by four o’clock.” Probably sooner, but better to be early than to have Addie fretting because her mother was late.
“We’ll be fine,” Gena said. “My neighbor has a daughter her age, and I’ve always survived babysitting.”
“I owe you big-time.”
Her cousin winked at her. “Add it to the tab.”
How would I ever begin to pay that? Gena had done her countless favors over the years. As kids, they’d been as close as sisters—and often mistaken for siblings. They had similar builds and the same naturally curly brown hair. Layla studied the image of the three of them reflected in the exit door. Addie, standing between them, was cut from the same genetic cloth, her mother in miniature form, except that Addie Rose didn’t have the hazel eyes that ran in the family. She’d inherited her dad’s blue eyes.
Layla’s palms went clammy, her stomach tightening. She hurried outside, wanting the cool autumn air against her skin. The guilty secret she’d kept from everyone, even Gena, was a fever that always burned worse here in Cupid’s Bow. At seventeen, when she’d lied about the identity of Addie’s father, she’d been in a panic, not wanting to ruin his life just as he’d left for college, his future wide open. She hadn’t stopped to consider the long-term viability of her deception. Instead, she’d seized her parents’ bitter divorce as an excuse to flee Cupid’s Bow, choosing to live with her dad and staying out of town for as long as possible.
Given a chance to do it all again, would she make different decisions?
As a teenager, she’d loved Jace Trent with all her heart—their families forcing them to marry for the baby’s sake might have held some fantasy allure. But, one hot summer night notwithstanding, Jace hadn’t felt the same way about her. A forced marriage would have caused him to resent the hell out of her, and she’d seen from her own parents how much two spouses could come to hate each other. Besides, her big brother Chris would have beaten his best friend to a pulp if he’d ever learned who got her pregnant. Seducing Jace had been her idea; she hadn’t wanted to be the reason a lifelong friendship ended.
I could always tell Chris the truth while I’m here. Based on the medical updates from Layla’s sister-in-law, it would be months before Chris was in any shape to land a punch. Her rodeo champion brother had fallen off a bull, his worst injuries sustained when the bull stepped on him. She was anxious to see with her own eyes that he was recovering.
Layla made it to the hospital in a matter of minutes, but dread slowed her movements as she walked toward the entrance. Would she run into her mother here? Layla would prefer to have that reunion privately, to avoid another scene like the one at Chris and Suzanne’s wedding reception three years ago.
Had Mom finally forgiven her daughter’s disloyal abandonment or how Layla had shamed her family by getting knocked up in high school? Hoping for the best, Layla walked through the automatic doors.
She wrinkled her nose at the vaguely chemical smell and the overly bright decorating touches—orange padded benches and neon murals on the walls. Following Suzanne’s directions, she took an elevator to the third floor and turned down a corridor. Even before she reached the enclosed waiting room, Layla glimpsed familiar faces through the floor-to-ceiling glass. Former rodeo champion Jarrett Ross paced the small room, looking uncharacteristically pale beneath his year-round tan; he and Chris were close friends despite the many times they’d competed against one another. The two handsome black men seated on opposite benches were the Washington brothers, Hugh and Quincy. She’d heard Hugh had walked away from rodeo life after getting married, but Quincy held current state records in bronc riding.
All three men turned toward her when she entered the room, and Layla quickly found herself at the center of a group hug. Tears stung her eyes. Despite the life she’d worked hard to build for herself and her daughter in Austin, there were so many people she missed here in Cupid’s Bow.
Rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed each Washington brother on the cheek. “How’s your mom?” Rita Washington was Layla’s all-time favorite high school teacher and had continued to email her even after Layla moved away and gossip spread about her disgraceful pregnancy.
Quincy rolled his eyes. “On my case to find a nice girl and settle down.”
Hugh shook his head. “Getting married doesn’t stop the lectures. She’s on my case to give her grandbabies.” He winked at Layla. “Doesn’t help that your brother and Suzanne have adorable twin babies. It’s giving Mama ideas.”
Poor Suzanne, trying to take care of four-month-old daughters while worried about her husband in the hospital. Still, she’d tried her best to sound positive when she updated Layla on the phone. “He’s young and strong and surgery went well. Cupid’s Bow has a new physical therapist who’s incredible—she’s worked with other rodeo cowboys. Not to mention, she married one.”
Layla poked Jarrett in the side. “I hear you’re a newlywed. Congratulations!”
His lips quirked in a half smile, but the fleeting grin didn’t ease the tension in his face. He shifted his weight, looking as uncomfortable and fidgety as Addie Rose when she’d been in the car for longer than ten minutes.
“Are you okay?” Layla asked, unnerved by his expression. “Has there been news on Chris, or—”
“Your brother’s fine,” Jarrett hastily assured her. “I mean, not fine, obviously, a bull stepped on him and he has four broken bones and spinal—”
“Dude,” Quincy said under his breath.
Jarrett winced. “Sorry, Layla. I’m rattled. I really hate hospitals. Maybe I should excuse myself, go get a cup of coffee or something.”
“Decaf,” Hugh suggested. “You’re jittery enough already.”
“Want to come with me?” Jarrett asked her. “Suzanne just went back to talk to the doctors, so it’ll probably be another five or ten minutes before any of us are allowed into the room.”
“Is my mom here, too?”
Hugh shook his head. “She was here yesterday but she sounds like she’s coming down with a cold. Suzanne told her she should stay home and rest today. Claire’s barely slept since last weekend.”
“I bet Suzanne hasn’t, either,” Layla said, swamped with sympathy for her sister-in-law.
“That’s why we come by ever
y day,” Jarrett said, “to let her run home and take a nap without Chris being left alone. And Hugh and his wife have been babysitting the twins as much as possible.”
“We all wish we could do more,” Quincy added. He was known for being the mischievous Washington brother, but at the moment, he radiated somber sincerity.
“My brother’s lucky to have such good friends.” Trying to inject a little levity, Layla added, “And such good-looking friends. Y’all know you’re abnormally hot, right?”
Quincy smirked. “We know...but feel free to expand on the topic.” The other two men laughed.
Relieved to have lightened the mood, she turned back to Jarrett. “Guess I could use some coffee, too. Got up pretty early. Hugh, Quincy, should we bring anything back for you?” She asked the question over her shoulder, already moving toward the door—until she collided with a well-muscled chest.
“Hey, beautiful.”
The blood went ice-cold in her veins as she registered Jace Trent’s voice. She forced herself to turn, meeting a pair of blue eyes that were the exact shade of her daughter’s. Those eyes crinkled as Jace smiled, apparently oblivious to her sudden urge to throw up on his boots.
She tried to make her lips form an answering smile, but instead heard herself blurt, “What the hell are you doing here?”
Copyright © 2019 by Tanya Michna
ISBN-13: 9781488035265
Home on the Ranch: Colorado Cowboy
Copyright © 2019 by Patricia Potter
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
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