The Texas Rancher's Return

by Allie Pleiter

  DelTex built homes for families. Mr. Markham himself was a family man. Sure, it was harder as a single mom, but Brooke could show him how she balanced work and home. She had been showing him. One day she and Audie would move into Ramble Acres, and Audie would attend the state-of-the-art school that went with it. Their future had a bright horizon, even if now felt hard.

  You are good at what you do. Mr. Markham makes snide comments about everyone, not just you. Your job is not on the line—you’re on the fast track. You’re in a position to make yourself invaluable here—take the opportunity and run with it. “Good, then.” Brooke rose with confidence. Leaving at 5:30 p.m. was no crime and no weakness. “And thanks for the gala tickets. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  * * *

  Gran gave one of her long-suffering sighs over dinner. “I wish you’d have come to Sunday service this weekend, Gunner. You could do with a dose of church.”

  One of Gran’s friends came over every Sunday to drive her to church, and it was always accompanied by some polite—and not so polite—arm-twisting to come along.

  He offered his usual reply. “You know what Dad always said—it’s better to be on the ranch thinking about church than to be in church thinking about being on the ranch.”

  She swatted him with her napkin. “That only works if I believe you ever think about church.”

  “Those folks would just about fall over dead to see me walk in that door, Gran.” Too many people in town still looked sideways at him for him to try anything as hypocritical as showing up in that stiff little white church with the hard wooden pews. He knew God was there, but Gunner had a ways to go before they’d get on closer terms.

  “So don’t go to my church. Go somewhere else. Go to one of them big fancy high-tech churches young people like these days. Ask Brooke where she goes—Audie told me she loves it there.”

  For a second, Gunner considered asking Gran how she’d already gotten to the topic of the Almighty with Audie Calder, but this was Gran. The woman never met a stranger. Everyone loved her and told her everything. It was one of the reasons the prospect of ever running Blue Thorn without her kept him up nights. He knew how prickly he was, how people didn’t take a shine to him right away the way they did with Gran. He’d seen what Dad’s sharp demeanor had done to the health of the ranch.

  He silenced her by leaning in to kiss her cheek. “I love you, Gran, but you need to back off on this. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  “All the more reason to get your soul in the right place, boy.”

  Gunner groaned and took his plate to the sink. “Haven’t I cleaned up enough for you?”

  She came and stood behind him. “You’ve cleaned up plenty. And don’t think I don’t know how hard that was. I’m proud every day of how you’ve turned out. Takes a real man, a strong man, to turn around and face what’s his to face.” She grabbed his hand and shook it. “But there’s more to life than work. I know it. You know it.”

  He grinned at her, helpless to be annoyed at the boundless affection and optimism Gran had for him. “Are there gonna start being elbow marks on my bed again?”

  “’Course not,” she said, but before turning she added, “I can’t get down that far at my age.”

  Chapter Ten

  Thursday morning, Gunner could hear kids yelling and singing almost before the big yellow school bus came into sight. He stood among the gingham-checked picnic tables—Gran had outdone herself so much that he was a little worried about her—and felt his gut tighten. What had ever made him think this was a good idea? Surely no community awareness was worth the chaos the next two hours would bring.

  “Children on the Blue Thorn!” Gran came up and tucked her arm into Gunner’s elbow. “It does my heart good to hear all that wonderful, noisy energy.”

  “It’s noisy, and it’s energetic, but I’ll save the wonderful for after it’s all over.” He fought the urge to swallow hard as the sound grew louder. “Listen to that. And we’re gonna give them lemonade and ice cream? Won’t that just make it worse?”

  Gran tugged on his arm. “You may surprise yourself by having fun today.”

  He gave Gran a dubious look.

  “Although I do think it was a good call to keep Daisy and the calf out of this. Has Audie given you a name yet?”

  “She’s going to tell me today. She wants to do it in front of the whole class.”

  Gran smiled. “So everyone can enjoy the moment.”

  Gunner frowned. “Actually, I think it’s so I can’t back down. Poor little Rainbow Sparkle back there doesn’t know what he’s in for.” He couldn’t stop thinking of the doomed beast in terms of that silly name—and that bugged him immensely.

  “She’s not really going to use a name like that,” Gran chided. “She’s smart, that Audie. Besides, I think her mama’s been coaching her.”

  Oh, that makes it all better, for sure, Gunner thought. “How do you know that?”

  “Because Audie sent me an email yesterday saying she and her mama had been using a thesaurus to help pick out the calf’s name. That’s a book that—”

  “I know what a thesaurus is, Gran.” He was a bit impressed, but not prepared to admit it.

  “Well, I don’t know too many third graders who know how to use one, so I’m guessing Brooke’s been in on the nominations. That ought to keep the rainbows and sparkles out of things. At least for a male calf.”

  Children were spilling out of the bus in squirmy groups of two and three. “Let’s hope so.” He was glad to see at least two adults climb out of the bus alongside the children, gladder still that one of them was Brooke. She caught his eye right away, and he couldn’t decide what that meant.

  “Well, here we are,” she said, walking straight up to him and gesturing for the woman he guessed to be the teacher to follow. She tossed her hair out of her eyes, and he felt the motion tickle his stomach. He’d always been a goner for a great head of hair, and Brooke Calder had fabulous, wavy, golden-blond locks that looked even better today than the last time he saw her. “Mrs. Cleydon, this is Gunner Buckton Junior and his grandmother, Adele Buckton. We’re here at their kind invitation.”

  Mrs. Cleydon smiled and extended her hand. “Thank you so much for having us. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children.”

  “I made sure there were no nuts in the brownies like you asked,” Gran said as she shook Mrs. Cleydon’s hand.

  Brownies, too? She’ll be scraping them off the classroom ceiling this afternoon, Gunner mused. He was glad he got them for education first, while Gran supervised the snacks afterward.

  “You’ve really outdone yourselves,” Brooke said, motioning toward the tables where the other adult was filing the kids onto benches. As the teacher walked back toward her class, Brooke leaned toward Gran and whispered, “You’ve made me classroom volunteer of the month, I think. I owe you.”

  “Nonsense. The whole thing was Gunner’s idea.”

  Funny, I don’t remember it that way, Gunner thought. “I’ve arranged for some of the feed bags to be put out over there in about fifteen minutes.” He motioned to the rolling portion of pasture right in the children’s field of view. “That should bring most of the herd right up to where the kids can see them. And I printed out a fact sheet for each of them.” Mrs. Cleydon had suggested Gunner talk for about ten minutes, giving basic bison facts that were also listed on a paper where the children could write down key words in blanks. He’d felt out of his league making up a child’s worksheet, but when the teacher had told him it was perfect, he’d felt a silly sense of pride. He could talk for hours on the amazing things about bison, but he’d never done it to an audience who barely came up to his waist.

  “Welcome to Blue Thorn Ranch, children!” Gran had been assigned the official welcome, and the huge smile on her face tugged at Gunner’s heart. Gran
was always a bundle of vitality, but today—despite the huge number of tasks she’d set for herself—she seemed to light up with twice the usual glow. As he listened to her welcome, he saw the Gran he’d adored as a child—full of love and warmth and smiles. Despite all the tough spots in his life, even as an ornery and troubled teen, Gran had made him feel as if he had a special place in her world. He’d do anything for that woman.

  Including play host to a gaggle of wiggly third graders.

  “But before we go any further, I understand Audie has an announcement to make.” Gran’s voice brought his thoughts back to the present. “Why don’t you come up here, dear, and explain to your classmates?”

  If Gran glowed, Audie positively radiated happiness. The girl was grinning from ear to ear—a goofy, crazy echo of her mother’s engaging smile. “My mom got to meet Daisy a while ago, and I got the special chance to meet Daisy’s calf when he was born. They need to be alone for a while, so we can’t see them today. But because Mr. Buckton is such a nice man, y’all get to be part of announcing the calf’s name.” Audie’s chest puffed up with pride. “I got to pick his name. I thought long and hard and even studied a—” she worked to get the word right “—thesaurus to come up with just the right name.”

  Here it comes. Gunner braced himself, determined to show nothing but approval no matter what came out of Audie’s mouth in the next ten seconds. He even caught Brooke flashing him a glance as if to check his reaction.

  “I’ve given Daisy’s calf the name Russet. It’s a word for the pretty orange color he is right now. He won’t stay that color—he’ll be brown like his mama someday—but this way he’ll get to keep the color with him his whole life.”

  Stunned didn’t even begin to cover it. Not only had Audie picked a name that wasn’t embarrassing, she’d gone and picked a downright brilliant name for the calf. One he liked. One he wished he’d thought of. Audie was looking right at him when she made the announcement, and he hoped his face showed more of the pleasure he felt than the shock currently echoing through his system. That’ll teach me to underestimate an eight-year-old girl, he thought, nodding in such a way as to give Audie no doubt of his approval. When Gran started applauding, he joined in without hesitation.

  “I’m sorry y’all can’t see Russet and his mama today,” Gunner announced as he walked over to stand next to Audie, “but new calves need to be left alone. We’ve got another animal that you’ll get to meet up close later.” The new name felt smooth and perfect on his tongue—just the right mix of rugged and artistic. Ellie would go wild when he told her the story. Ellie was always for anything that took Gunner down a peg; and getting his comeuppance from an eight-year-old would be just the icing on the cake for his kid sister. If Gran used a smartphone, she’d probably be texting Ellie in all capital letters this instant.

  Gunner went through the worksheet with minimal chaos. He was interrupted twice with questions, but they were good ones, so he didn’t mind. What made it hard to think, however, was the beaming look on Brooke Calder’s face as she sat in the back row of tables. A sweet, wide-eyed look that was half proud mama and half grateful female. Something about the way that woman glowed when she was happy—the polar opposite of the impatient, harried woman he’d met that first time on the road with Daisy—made him want to keep her glowing.

  She’s getting to me. The thought buzzed a certain spot under his collarbone. He would have preferred to ignore his pleasure at having her on the ranch again, but the truth wouldn’t stay put. It crawled under his skin like an unscratchable itch.

  I ought to leave her be. I ought to keep a wide distance between her and me, he scolded himself, reminding himself that Kayla had already schooled him well in what a conniving woman can do to a man. And he had double the reason to distrust Brooke, given her affiliation with DelTex. If he was smart, today should be Brooke and Audie’s last visit to Blue Thorn Ranch.

  As he left the children to complete their coloring pages—something to occupy them while he saw to the feed bags being set on the pasture to draw the bison—Brooke smiled. Gunner allowed himself a long, slow gaze of that sunny smile and knew he was long past being smart about those two. Audie and Brooke would be back.

  * * *

  It was one of the most amazing things Brooke had ever seen. The pickup truck rolled onto the hillside with two ranch hands sitting in the back, slicing open huge bags of feed to spill out of the truck bed onto the grass. At first one brown hump rose up over the ridge, followed by a small group, until what looked like a hundred bison thundered full tilt toward the truck.

  Magnificent was the word that came to mind again, but she quickly paired it with dangerous as the hands stayed well inside the truck bed, out of the way of each bison’s massive head and sturdy horns. She remembered how big Daisy looked up close. To be surrounded by so many, and when they were so hungry?

  “They never leave the truck near the herd. No one’s ever gotten trampled” came Gunner’s voice over her shoulder. “One or two have come close, but only because they didn’t take the animals seriously. You have to respect a two-thousand-pound bull or you may not live to change your mind.”

  “It’s like a movie.” Brooke shaded her eyes against the bright sun and marveled at the moving, grunting wall of brown fur encircling the truck. “An honest-to-goodness buffalo stampede.” She turned to look up at Gunner. “Thank you. I mean, really, this is so much more than I was expecting.”

  He shifted back on his hips and adjusted his hat. “Gran tends to go all out.”

  His dodge of the compliment only charmed her further. “Gran did not arrange that spectacle for a bunch of eight-year-olds. Look at them. Even the boys are impressed.”

  “Well, then, my work here is done. Of course, Audie made it a mite easier for me by choosing such a fine name.”

  She’d seen his shock at Audie’s announcement. “You were worried, weren’t you?”

  Gunner scratched his chin in a display of nonchalance Brooke didn’t believe for one second. “Nah.”

  She poked his arm. “Yes, you were. What? Did you think she’d come up with some fluffy name you’d hate?”

  Gunner shook his head, but he’d flinched just enough at the words fluffy name that she knew she’d hit it on the head. “What did you think you’d end up with?”

  “I hadn’t given it much thought.” The smile hiding at the corners of his eyes gave him away. Brooke crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay,” he admitted, “maybe I gave it a bit of thought.”

  Now she wasn’t going to let him get away without a further admission. “What name did you think she’d give you?”

  Gunner scuffed one boot on the gravel and lowered his head. “Fluffy about covers it.”

  “What? Buffy Bobbie Buffalo or something?” She’d actually worried about the same thing before the thesaurus session, given Audie’s tendency toward pink, sparkles and ruffles, but Gunner’s reddening neck told her he’d imagined much worse. She poked his arm again, suddenly aware that she wasn’t acting much older than a third grader herself. “Tell me. I won’t laugh.”

  That drew him to look straight at her. Goodness, but that man’s eyes were blue. “Oh, you will. You’ll fall over laughing and I’ll be hung.”

  “Will I? Oh, now you have to tell me. Out with it.”

  He hedged, fidgeting a bit before stuffing his hands into his back pockets as if to shore himself up for the ridicule. She wasn’t going to make fun of him no matter what he was about to say. She was nicer than that.

  “Well, I was pretty sure I was going to end up with something like—” he actually cringed, but with such an endearing smile that Brooke felt her heart skip a little “—like Rainbow Sparkle.”

  She’d told herself she wasn’t going to laugh. He deserved her restraint after all he’d done for Audie and for the class. Despite all that, she burst out laughing, even though
she’d covered her mouth with her hand.

  “See?” he said, settling his hat down farther on his head as if that would hide a man of his size and presence. Several children turned to look at them, forcing Brooke to hide her laughter behind a mock cough. “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

  “Given Audie’s love of rainbows and sparkly things, it wasn’t a bad guess,” she offered, feeling her cheeks turn pink even as she watched the color on his neck rise. He rubbed his neck as if he’d followed her gaze. “But I can’t even fathom your brain coming up with anything like Rainbow Sparkle. It’s hysterical, really.” She recalled his deep voice saying the name with such a sense of embarrassment that she broke into laughter again. “I’m sorry, that’s not fair.”

  “No, ma’am, it ain’t fair.” Now, at least, he was laughing a bit along with her. “Your Audie picked a fine name, and I’ll thank you to keep my unfounded fears to yourself.”

  She owed him that much. “Your secret is safe with me. Russet will never know the bullet he dodged.”

  “Oh, he knows.”

  “You told that poor calf he could end up as Rainbow Sparkle? To his face in front of his mama?” It occurred to her there wasn’t much logic in talking about a bison in such human terms, but lots of things about Gunner Buckton and Blue Thorn Ranch defied logic for her.

  “I figure I owed the poor little guy an apology for what I thought I was letting him in for. Maybe the person I ought to fess up to is Audie. I doubted her, and she came through like a champ.”

  She looked over to the crowd of children watching the bison feed. Audie was talking excitedly to the group, relating everything she’d learned on her visits to the ranch. While Audie wasn’t anything close to shy, she didn’t take the lead at school very often. A glow of mama pride bubbled up in her to see Audie so engaged and confident with her classmates. “She is amazing, isn’t she?”