Second Chance Rancher

by Brenda Minton

  “We’re responsible. We’ll fix it.” She kept her tone even, because she wouldn’t argue the point.

  He tipped his hat back and leveled those blue eyes of his on her. “I’ll fix the fence. While I’m here I wanted to make sure I can renew my lease for the three hundred acres.”

  “Of course you can. Why wouldn’t we keep the agreement?” She wondered if there was something she didn’t know. Something she should know.

  He shrugged. “I guess I thought you were going to stick around and might want to use that land.”

  She glanced back at her obviously pregnant sister. The teenager was sitting on one of the older rocking chairs on the covered front porch that ran the length of the house.

  “I guess I won’t be going anywhere, not for a while. But I’m not going to need that land. I’ll make do with the two hundred we’ve been using.”

  “You didn’t know?” Dane’s voice was smooth, quiet and concerned.

  He meant about Maria. She briefly closed her eyes and shook her head. In that moment it would have been easy to return to the girl she’d been, the one who had confided in him, shared secrets with him.

  No, she told herself. That was a long time ago. A dozen years might as well have been a lifetime because they’d both gone through things. They’d changed. The kids they’d been, those two teens who had met up while riding horses, or in town every once in a while, those two were long gone.

  “No. I didn’t know,” she answered. She wasn’t getting the Sister of the Year award. “It looks as if I should have come home sooner. I tried a few times, but work...”

  She didn’t owe him explanations. He was a neighbor. He leased part of their land. He wasn’t their keeper.

  He was her past. A very unhappy part of her past.

  “Understandable,” he answered, anyway. The one word was meant to let her off the hook. She didn’t need that, either.

  “No, it isn’t. But I’m here now. And it looks as if I have a lot of work to do. Starting with your fence.” She let her gaze slide away from his piercing eyes to a stable that needed repairs, a wood fence that had fallen down in places and a lawn that was overgrown.

  In the distance an ATV could be heard. She glanced west, the direction the sound came from.

  “That would be Essie, coming to give me her opinion of the place and my life,” Lucy said, more to herself than to her neighbor.

  “She does have opinions.” He grinned as he said it. They all knew Essie. She ran a café in town and had her own small spread about a mile down the road.

  In the midst of the worst of her nephew’s religious antics, Essie had rebelled. She’d refused to attend his services, her first offense. And then she’d tried to stop him from beating Lucy. That had earned her a black eye and an escort from the premises. It wasn’t until after his death that Essie was allowed back on the property.

  “Yes, she does have opinions.” Lucy watched the four-wheeler and the woman controlling it, a bright red helmet covering her now-graying hair.

  “I’ll unhitch your truck and leave it by the garage. But let me know if you need anything. And don’t worry about the fence. I can get it taken care of.” He gave them a parting nod with a tilt of his white cowboy hat before he climbed back in his big Ford King Ranch and drove slowly in the direction of the garage, their old truck clunking along behind him.

  “The temperature goes up ten degrees every time he’s near. Hot. Hot. Hot.” Maria appeared at Lucy’s side, a cheeky grin on her face. She took the poodle from Lucy. “I’ll get changed and we can get to work on this place. But you might want to go splash some cold water on your face first.”

  Lucy shook her head and walked away from her little sister, who was grinning as if this was all a big joke and they weren’t in serious trouble.

  Chapter Two

  Lucy headed for the barn where Essie had parked. Essie shot her a critical look, shaking her head as she hooked her helmet on the handlebars of the ATV. Her long gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Twin slashes of rose-tinted blush dotted her cheeks. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a photo of downtown Bluebonnet Springs on the front.

  “What’s Dane Scott doing here?” Essie said with the faintest trace of an accent. She’d moved to the United States forty years ago. Her husband, Emit Jackson, had been an American soldier. She’d loved him at first sight and would have followed him anywhere, she’d always told them.

  Lucy’s father, Jesse Palermo, had arrived in Texas ten years later. He’d moved to the States when his bull riding career had been at its peak and the big money had been found outside his native Brazil.

  It should have been obvious why Dane was there, but Lucy could play along. “He towed the truck home.”

  Her aunt gave her a half grin. “He’s still a good-looking man.”

  “I suppose, but he’s a bit young for you.”

  Essie cackled at that. “Pity, but it’s true. But then, I was never in love with him.”

  Had she been in love? It had been years ago and she’d convinced herself that it had simply been infatuation. Or maybe she’d been attracted to him because he’d seemed strong and safe.

  She no longer needed a man to make her feel safe. She no longer needed to escape this life.

  “I guess you saw your sister?” Essie asked as she sat on the edge of the ATV seat.

  “Yes, I saw her.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say to her aunt. Her sister was pregnant. As the old saying went, “the cow was already out of the barn.”

  Essie gave Lucy a long look with dark eyes that made a person squirm. “I hope you weren’t too hard on her.”

  “I wasn’t.” Lucy sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to do.”

  “Aren’t you?” Essie’s mouth pulled down. “I’m not going to tell you that she’s your responsibility, Lucy. But she has to be someone’s responsibility. She’s not even eighteen and she doesn’t have anyone. Your mother doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Your brothers are chasing pipe dreams. It’s like that poor girl is collateral damage. I love her but she doesn’t want to live with an old woman. And I sure don’t speak teen girl.”

  “It’s a different language,” Lucy admitted. “I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken it.”

  Essie’s eyes softened. “I know and I’m sorry. You were all victims and I wish I could have done more for you.”

  Lucy nodded, her gaze again drifting across the property. It was easier to deal with the land, the house and not her emotional well-being. “It’s a mess.”

  “Yes, it is.” Essie followed the direction of Lucy’s gaze.

  They were both talking about more than the condition of the ranch.

  “I’m not sure what to do about Maria.” Lucy leaned against the fence and watched as the few head of cattle stopped to graze before moving on to the water trough.

  “Not much you can do. I don’t think she wants to marry the boy.” Essie got off the ATV and joined Lucy as she crossed to the fence to look out at the property. “I worry that she won’t go to college. She’s a smart girl and I don’t want her to give up on her dreams.”

  Her sister had dreams. Lucy tried to remember what that had been like, to dream of something other than making it through a night without nightmares.

  “Take time and get to know her, Lucy,” Essie said. “She’s someone you will probably like.”

  Lucy nodded, her gaze remaining on the cattle. “I’ll talk to her. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.”

  “Talking is a start. She would probably like to have someone around. She gets lonely out here. When a kid get lonely, they get in trouble.”

  Lucy thought about her own teen years. She’d been lonely and she’d also found trouble.

  Essie patted her arm and headed for her four-wheeler. “I
have to get to the café. I hired that silly Bea Maxwell to cook when I’m not there but I worry about leaving her alone. Why don’t you girls get cleaned up and come in for lunch? My treat.”

  “I’m not sure. It looks like I have a fence to rebuild and a few things around here that can’t be put off.”

  “Supper, then?”

  Lucy nodded in agreement and watched as her aunt slid the helmet over her head. Essie smiled at her and then, quickly, before Lucy could react, stepped forward and embraced her. Lucy stiffened beneath the unaccustomed gesture but Essie didn’t let go. She hugged a little tighter and finished the embrace by patting her on the back.

  “It will all work out, chica. Trust God that He has a plan.”

  Lucy stepped back, putting some distance between them, and drew in a deep breath, telling herself she hadn’t needed or wanted that hug. “I think I’ll leave the faith to you, Aunt Essie. I’ll deal with the ranch and making sure Maria is healthy. You and God work out the rest.”

  Essie laughed a little. “Oh, don’t you worry. Me and God are on very good terms.”

  “I know.”

  Unfortunately Lucy and God were another matter altogether. She’d had a childhood of God, sermons, the Bible and beatings. She avoided church and people who wanted to help her “get right with the Lord.” She admired people with genuine faith. She knew that it mattered. But she couldn’t make the walls disappear. The fortress around her heart was strong, built one beating at a time.

  She headed for the house. Again the putrid smell of neglect hit her the moment she walked through the door. First things first—she needed some bleach and pine cleaner. Maria was in the kitchen scavenging in the fridge. She mumbled something about “nothing to eat” and that she was eating for two. “Don’t people realize the tadpole needs nourishment?”

  Lucy couldn’t help but smile. The mischievous little girl Lucy had known had survived, still smart-mouthed and funny. She was the one good thing to come out of this place. And she could still smile. Lucy envied her sister.

  “Essie said she’d feed us tonight. Until then, is there anything in the cabinets that isn’t spoiled?” Lucy grabbed a bottle of water out of the door of the fridge, and then gagged a little. “What’s in there?”

  Maria slammed the door of the fridge, put a hand to her mouth and ran.

  Lucy followed her sister to the bathroom door.

  “Don’t come in,” Maria grumbled.

  “I’m not, but I’m here if you need me.” She leaned against the wall and waited.

  Her little sister was having a baby. It would take time to wrap her mind around this new reality. Maria had been seven when Lucy left home to join the Army. She’d been a terror in pigtails, with a dirty face and into all kinds of trouble.

  A bittersweet memory surfaced. Maria, insecure, crawling in bed with Lucy after everyone else went to sleep.

  Now that little girl was going to be a mother.

  “Luce?”

  “I’m here.”

  “I don’t want a baby,” Maria sobbed.

  Lucy took that as an invitation to step into the bathroom. Maria was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes closed, perspiration dampening her brow. She was pale and thin. No, not thin. The baby bump beneath her T-shirt was obvious.

  Lucy shoved back the dozens of responses to her sister’s statement. It wouldn’t do any good to tell Maria she should have thought about wanting a baby before she’d gotten herself pregnant. She couldn’t change what had happened. Instead there were obvious consequences. A child. A baby with two kids as parents, kids who didn’t want to be parents.

  “No, I’m sure you don’t want a baby.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say. Maria scrunched her nose and frowned. “Sorry, Maria. I’m not sure what to say. But I’m here. We’ll get through this.”

  “You’ve been telling me that for a long time,” Maria whispered, looking young and frightened in this new role life had cast her in.

  But not by herself.

  Lucy sighed and remembered back, to nights when she’d tried to reassure her little sister.

  Long-ago nights when Maria would crowd onto the twin bed in the room the two shared. They would hug each other and Lucy would whisper that it would be okay. Tiny Maria would pat her cheek or trace the bruise on Lucy’s face.

  She’d never thought about it before, but the two of them had survived the way soldiers survive—together.

  “I guess I’ve never known what else to say, Maria. We will get through this. Yes, you’ll have a baby. But it isn’t the end of the world.”

  “It is for me.”

  Lucy sank down to sit next to her sister. “It isn’t. I promise. You’ll graduate soon. You can take classes online.”

  Maria gasped and looked at her. “I graduated early. In December. You didn’t know. I wondered, because you weren’t here.”

  Stunned, they sat in silence for several minutes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

  “We didn’t make a big deal out of it. I got my diploma. Mom told me I’m brilliant. Alex sent me a postcard from California, and Marcus called.”

  And Lucy had done nothing.

  Maria patted her leg, a reassuring gesture for a young sister to give an older sibling. “Don’t let it bother you. Mom is like that. She probably thought you were too busy. Or that you wouldn’t want to be here.”

  “I should have been here. I wish you’d called me.”

  Maria leaned against her. “I want to be a doctor.”

  Another thing she hadn’t known about her little sister.

  “That’s pretty impressive.”

  “I’m going to give the baby up for adoption.”

  The words hung between them for several minutes. Maria remained quiet, her eyes closed, her breathing ragged. Lucy took a minute to process what her sister had told her because it felt as if she were trying to avoid land mines as she navigated the situation she’d walked into. When Aunt Essie had called and told her to come home, she hadn’t given the slightest bit of a hint to what Lucy was walking into. Lucy had convinced herself she was heading home to take care of livestock and nothing more.

  “What about the father?” she asked belatedly.

  Maria shrugged. “He told me he isn’t ready to be a dad. And I know he isn’t. Besides, he left last month. He joined the Army.”

  “Whatever you decide about the baby, I’m here for you.” It was the only response that made any sense. Of course she would be there for her sister.

  But she hadn’t been, had she? Guilt coiled around her heart, giving it a tight squeeze.

  “Are you going to leave again?” Maria didn’t move; her head remained on Lucy’s shoulder. “I’m tired of being alone.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” She glanced at her watch. “I take that back. I’m going to town. We need real food in this house and cleaning supplies.”

  “Dane’s fence?” Maria reminded.

  “I’ll take care of the fence.”

  She had a list of things to take care of. Her sister, for now, was at the top of that list. She also needed to call Daron McKay and Boone Wilder, her partners in the bodyguard business and let them know she wouldn’t be back, not for a while. Maybe not ever.

  That was the last thing she wanted to consider at this moment, that she might have to give up her career.

  Maria gave her a quirky grin. “Dane Scott is yummy, thirty and single. If I was you, I’d take my time mending that fence.”

  The only fence she and Dane Scott would be mending was the one Maria had driven the truck through. And when it was finished, he could stay on his side and she’d stay on hers. He was nothing more than a distraction and she didn’t like to be distracted.

  * * *

  Dane followed the Realtor, Jeff Owens, across th
e lawn. They’d driven most of the property, toured the barns, the stable and the house. The only thing left to do was sign on the dotted line. But when a man was signing a piece of paper that would effectively put not just a property but a family tradition up for sale, signing wasn’t an easy thing to do. He was a rancher. His parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had been ranchers.

  Being a father, a good one, meant making sacrifices.

  Haven, his sister, younger by three years, joined them. She studied him as he looked the paper over.

  “You’re sure?” she asked as they leaned against Jeff Owens’s truck. The man was discreet. That was the reason for choosing him.

  “If you are,” Dane answered. “It’s a family decision. You know that Mom and Dad are settled in Dallas. They have no intention of coming back. So that leaves it up to the two of us.”

  “I know.” She shifted away, scanning the horizon, the land that belonged to them. “I know you have solid reasons for doing this. I know that I’m not here a lot. It just seems like we’re walking away from what our grandparents built.”

  “I know.” He’d had the same thought too many times to count. That was why he hadn’t yet put his signature on the paper in front of him. “If it wasn’t for Issy...”

  His daughter meant everything to him.

  Haven touched his arm and gave a quick shake of her head. “Don’t ever apologize for doing what’s best for her.”

  “Is it best?”

  Jeff cleared his throat. “What about a three-month listing?”

  Haven shrugged.

  Dane glanced from his sister to the paper. A three month contract would give them the opportunity to sell. And the opportunity to make sure this was what they wanted.

  “I think that would work. No signs. No listing it publicly. I don’t want our neighbors to know that the place is up for sale.”

  “Discreet is my middle name. If I have buyers looking for a property that fits this description, I’ll call you.” Jeff pulled a briefcase out of his truck. “I have the paperwork we wrote up last week. I just need your signature.”