Hopeful Cowboy: A Mulbury Boys Novel (Hope Eternal Ranch Romance Book 1)
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Nate didn’t even have to check behind him. His parents wouldn’t make such a long drive for a hearing like this. Bethany had her hands full. Nate was on his own, and he felt it more keenly in that moment than any other.
“No, sir,” he said, his throat tightening.
“Yes, he does,” someone said, and Nate spun around to see Warden Dickerson pushing his way into the courtroom.
“Warden, you can’t be a character witness for an inmate,” Judge Billings said.
“I’m not,” the Warden said. He stepped to the side, and Ginger stood there.
Nate’s heart swelled so big, it stuck in the back of his throat. That blasted hope that he hadn’t managed to scrub from his soul ballooned, lighting up the room and making his spirits soar. Their eyes met, and time slowed to nothing. Everything fell away, and it was just Ginger and Nate. Nate and Ginger.
“What’s your name, ma’am?” the judge asked.
Ginger cleared her throat and tugged on the hem of her pink blouse. She’d paired it with a black pencil skirt and a sensible pair of heels. She strode forward and said, “Ginger Talbot, sir. And I’m here as a character witness for Nathaniel Mulbury.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ginger worked to keep her hands at her sides instead of fidgeting with the folder she’d brought with her or adjusting her clothes. She’d already pulled down her already perfectly flat shirt.
She could feel the magnetism of Nate, and she also had to work not to turn and stare at him. Whispers ran through the courtroom, though there weren’t very many people there.
“Ginger Talbot,” the judge said. She couldn’t remember his name, but he looked like a wise, no-nonsense man she wouldn’t want to cross. “You own Hope Eternal Ranch, correct?”
“Yes, sir. Your Honor. Yes.” She cleared her throat and wished she’d accepted the bottle of water the Warden had offered her. Her head spun, because she still couldn’t believe she was here.
The judge peered over the top of his glasses at her. “Mister Mulbury worked at your ranch for almost four months, correct?”
“That’s right,” she said.
“Tell me about how it went.” He settled back into his seat and crossed his arms.
Ginger took a deep breath and opened her folder. She and Emma had been up for the last two nights to prepare the contents in the folder. When Ginger had finally admitted that she couldn’t go to work around the ranch as if she didn’t know Nate had a hearing this afternoon, everyone had chipped in to help her.
“Nate is an excellent cowboy,” Ginger said, her voice shaking the tiniest bit. She really didn’t want the judge to know how she felt about Nate, but Spencer and Emma had told her that it was obvious she was in love with him.
“I only have to look at you for half a second to see how miserable you are,” Emma said.
“Just go talk to him and get him back,” Spencer had said.
“Everyone knows you’re in love with him but you,” Nick had told her.
The last month had been torture for Ginger, and she’d spent a lot of time walking the road she and Nate had used to stroll together, wondering where she’d gone wrong. Nick had finally texted her in all caps: IT’S NOT WRONG TO FALL IN LOVE.
She cleared her throat and continued with, “Not only that, but he stepped up to the challenge of becoming an instant father. He was always concerned about Connor, his four-year-old nephew, and I have several statements from the cowboys that he lived with about how Nate would sit with Connor in the bathroom while the boy bathed, reading to him from a paperback book, doing voices for the different characters.”
She tried to breathe and focus on the letters that formed the words on the page in front of her. She did not want to cry in court, not in front of the judge. Certainly not in front of Nate. She’d never witnessed the reading during bath time, but it was just so Nate, and she wished she had.
“He always made sure Connor had what he needed, and most of what he wanted. We all helped take care of Connor on the ranch, and we’ve all grown to love him. But none as much as Nate, obviously.” She shuffled her papers, because she had too much evidence, she was sure. “And Your Honor, Connor loves Nate with his whole heart.”
She paused again, this time not caring that her voice had pitched up slightly. “Just this morning, when I went into his bedroom to tell him I was coming to speak for Nate, he said, ‘Tell Daddy I love him.’”
Ginger settled her weight on one foot. “But that’s just one side of Nate. He has a hard-working side too, which I’m sure if you asked his Unit Officers or Manager about, they’d tell you the same thing. He didn’t get selected to work in the Unit Office because he was lazy. I assigned him to build new bird blinds on the ranch, something he’d never done before. When he showed me the finished product, it was perfect. Only then did he admit that he’d rebuilt it four times to get it right.”
She looked up, hoping the judge was actually listening. He looked one breath away from falling asleep. “Who does that? Who builds something four times just to make sure it’s right?” She shook her head. “No one I’ve ever hired. They would’ve come to get me to ask a million questions, or they would’ve given up. Nate did neither. He figured it out.”
She could sense she needed to wrap things up. “I put him in charge of our eleven-year-old riding program. He interacted with the children, worked with horses, and managed a ton of moving pieces.” She closed the folder. “He’s a great cowboy, Your Honor. I’d take him back at the ranch in a heartbeat. But he’s more than a cowboy. He’s a good father. He’s a good friend. He’s a good man.”
Ginger nodded, because she didn’t have anything else to say. “He was only trying to make things right with his past, so he could move forward into the future without the baggage. Don’t we all have something we wish we could tie up so it can’t weigh us down anymore? I know I do. The difference between Nate and me is that he’s brave enough to do what it takes to cut ties with those things holding him back. I learned that from him, and I’m trying to do the same now so I can have a brighter, more hopeful future.”
She backed up a step, wondering where she was supposed to go now.
“Are you finished?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir.” She turned when someone touched her arm, and she let the Warden lead her to the first row of chairs behind the railing. Ginger’s heel caught on the leg of one chair, and she almost fell. Instead, she just landed hard in the seat, but the embarrassment felt the same as a fall.
“Mister Brandt? Your argument?”
The lawyer at the table opposite of Nate’s stood. “We have nothing, Your Honor. Nathaniel Mulbury was an exemplary inmate, and we believed him a perfect candidate for the RRC program.” He glanced at Nate and his lawyer. “We still do.”
“Your Honor,” Nate’s lawyer said, standing. “River Bay is over-crowded, and Mister Mulbury’s been in Administrative Detention since his return to the facility. That’s hardly ideal, and we request he be returned to Hope Eternal Ranch to finish out his sentence.”
“Ah, the sentence,” the judge said, and Ginger’s stomach clenched. She’d emailed Greg several times, asking what could happen to Nate, and the bottom line was, he’d probably have to complete his whole sentence now. “Let’s talk about that.”
The judge started talking, and honestly, Ginger got lost in all the legal talk about sentences served and punishments given and accolades for good behavior and how that affected the sentence.
In the end, he said, “I’m ready to make my ruling.”
Nate stood up, as did his lawyer. Everyone in the courtroom seemed to be holding their breath, Ginger included.
“Mister Mulbury, I don’t see you as a flight risk, nor do I believe you were fleeing when you took Miss Talbot’s truck. I think if Miss Talbot will have you back, you should go.” He looked down at his paperwork. “Let’s see, you were doing a reentry program of six months there. You were there for nearly four…back for one….”
He
sighed like this whole proceeding was just too taxing. “I can’t just look the other way when you’ve broken the number one rule of the reentry program. So, Mister Mulbury, do you think you can handle six more months at Hope Eternal Ranch?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” he said. “I can handle that.”
“Miss Talbot?” the judge asked. “Can you handle having this man at your ranch?”
“I think so,” she said, excitement parading through her. She tamped it down, because she didn’t think it would be appropriate to squeal in court. It definitely wouldn’t do to kiss him either.
So Ginger stood very still while Nate and his lawyer exited the courtroom, and then she went with the Warden.
“Thank you for coming,” Warden Dickerson said as they left the courtroom. “I think you made all the difference.”
“I doubt it,” Ginger said, looking over her shoulder. “So now what?”
“Now we process him, and then he’ll be ready to go back to the ranch.”
“How long does that take? The processing.”
“A couple of days.”
Ginger thought of Connor and Spencer, waiting for her at the hotel where they’d all stayed last night. They could stay for a couple of days. She could probably use the time to get the words of her apology in order anyway.
“Watch, Ginger,” Connor said, and Ginger was beginning to think the child didn’t know any other words. She looked up from her phone and employed her patience. He watched her for an extra moment to make sure she was watching him, and then he jumped into the pool.
Again.
She’d taken him to the beach again yesterday, but today, he said he was fine with just going to the pool. Ginger had brought her tablet and her wireless keyboard so she could at least go through the end-of-month statements for the ranch. She also had to submit all the items for the payroll by the fifth, and that was tomorrow.
She grinned at the little boy when he came bobbing up out of the pool. “Nice one, bud,” she called to him, wishing Spencer hadn’t met a woman at the beach yesterday and asked her to breakfast. It wasn’t like their relationship would last through the weekend, since he lived and worked hours from River Bay.
But neither he nor Cassandra seemed to care about that. He’d promised he’d be back by lunchtime, but Ginger had her doubts.
A sigh slipped through her lips as she tried to focus back on her screen. Her attention had been wandering after only a few seconds for days now, and she still hadn’t heard anything from the River Bay facility, Nate’s lawyer, or Nate himself.
She told herself it had only been a day and a half, and she could stay in the hotel as long as necessary. The ranch waited only a few hours southwest of here, and Ginger could easily take everyone home too. But she wanted to be here—and Connor had to be with her—the moment she got the call.
In her experience, the BOP didn’t usually call until things were already in motion, and that didn’t allow for a three-hour drive. She didn’t want Nate to have to wait one more moment to be reunited with Connor, and selfishly, she wanted to see him as soon as possible too.
She glanced at her phone, but it didn’t ring or flash. No messages. No calls. Nothing.
“Watch, Ginger,” Connor called, and Ginger looked toward the little boy. He sat on the side of the pool now and started kicking his legs and churning up the water when he was sure she was looking at him.
“Wow,” she said, infusing a lot of false enthusiasm into her voice. “Go faster, Connor.”
His face scrunched in concentration as he tried to make his little legs move quicker. Ginger giggled at him and added, “Don’t hurt yourself, Connor.”
The splashing stopped, and Ginger practically lunged toward her phone when it rang. But it wasn’t Greg or Lawrence or Warden Dickerson. “Hey, Emma,” she said, still using that fake tone. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want you to freak out,” Emma said, and that caused Ginger to start freaking out. “But, Jack just called in to say that Scalloped Potato was lying down in her stall this morning.”
“She’s going into labor,” Ginger said immediately. Her adrenaline kicked into gear at the same time her stomach dropped to the pool deck.
“We think so,” Emma said. “Okay, that was a lie. Jack is sure of it. He’s called the vet, and they’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“It’s fine,” Ginger said, wondering if she was going to use a normal voice at all today. “Can you get out there when it’s time and video chat me? I want to see the foal so I can name it.” Ginger liked to be present for all equine births on the ranch, because she could tell a foal’s personality before she named them. And she named all of them.
“Of course,” Emma said. “I was just going to suggest that.”
“How long do you think?”
“Jack didn’t say. I’ll call you back.”
“Thanks, Em.” Ginger hung up and let her phone fall to her lap while she watched Connor start to talk to another little boy that had arrived at the pool. The chair beside Ginger scraped, and another mom sat down.
“How old is your son?” she asked.
Ginger glanced at her and then Connor, trying to decide if this woman needed to know that Connor wasn’t her son. She really didn’t. “Four,” Ginger said.
“Mine too,” she said. “We’re from Chicago.”
“Oh, great,” Ginger said, though she wasn’t particularly great at small talk. She just wanted the BOP to call. The two little boys played well together, and Ginger went back to her books on the screen.
She worked steadily through the financial reports, and everything looked like it was in order. They’d sold an extraordinary amount of hay last month, and Ginger had more money in her ranch account than she’d had in a while.
Turning her attention to the payroll, she simply selected everything and kept the wage the same as last month. She had to go through the extra timecards and the overtime, but those typically weren’t too time-consuming.
“Watch, Ginger,” Connor called, and she looked up from her work. Both boys stood on the pool deck now, and they took a few steps toward the edge of the pool and jumped in, creating double splashes.
The mom next to her started clapping, and she whooped for her son as he came out of the water. Ginger realized she had no idea how to be a mom, though if what she wanted to happen with Nate actually happened, she’d be Connor’s stepmother.
She opened her mouth to tell Connor how amazing his jump was when someone said, “That was amazing, bud.”
She knew that voice.
Ginger turned toward Nate, shock moving through her so fast it rendered her immobile.
“Dad!” Connor ran toward Nate, though running wasn’t allowed in the pool area.
Nate chuckled as the two embraced, and Ginger felt the vibrations of that laugh way down deep in her soul. She stood up, practically throwing her tablet to the cement. She managed to put it in the seat she’d just vacated, her heart pounding so hard it entered every organ.
Nate said something to Connor she didn’t hear, and the little boy nodded. Only then did Nate turn his attention to Ginger.
He looked different somehow, but she couldn’t pinpoint why. He wore jeans and a T-shirt—what anyone would wear. He looked clean, his brown hair swooping to the side while those intense eyes drank her right up.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, glancing toward the door. “Who brought you? Do you—?” She cut off, suddenly remembering they weren’t alone at the pool. She couldn’t look away from Nate, though, to see if the other mom was watching or listening. Of course she was.
“I’ll tell you later.” Nate set Connor down. “Go jump in and show me how you can swim,” he said, and Connor ran off.
Ginger felt frozen though the sun was plenty hot already this morning. She met Nate’s eyes as he focused back on her, and it seemed like both of them moved toward each other at the same time.
He took her easily into his arms, and whispered, “I missed you s
o much.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said as they started to sway together.
“Thank you for coming to the hearing.” His lips caught on the bottom of her earlobe, and icy shivers ran through Ginger’s body.
“I’m in love with you,” she whispered.
Nate lifted his head and looked at her, a dozen things storming through his bright blue eyes. “I love you, too.”
And finally, finally, he kissed her, and everything in Ginger’s life suddenly made perfect sense.
Chapter Nineteen
Nate had never told a woman he loved her, and he’d never kissed a woman he loved. He’d just done one and was currently doing the other, and he’d never known such joy. How an amazing woman like Ginger could love him, Nate didn’t understand.
But he believed it, because he could feel it in her kiss.
He’d seen the other woman sitting beside Ginger at the pool, so he didn’t kiss her as long as he wanted to. He couldn’t believe the Warden had said he could walk through the hotel to the pool by himself, but he had. Apparently, the guy who owned this hotel used to work at River Bay as a Unit Manager, and when he’d retired from the prison system, he’d bought the hotel. He’d called to say Connor and Ginger were at the pool, and the Warden had simply let Nate get out of the car and walk inside.
No one had looked at him. No one could tell he’d been in prison just by looking at him.
“I have to be back at the ranch tonight,” he said. “It’s part of the release paperwork.”
“Do you have that paperwork?” Ginger asked, turning in his arms and leaning into his body. She kept her arms wrapped around his waist as they watched Connor adjust his goggles and dive under the water again.
“Yes,” Nate said. “I set it on the table back there.”
“So six more months,” Ginger said.
“I’m actually hoping for longer than that,” he said.
“You have always been quite hopeful,” she teased, and Nate liked that there was absolutely no tension between them. No need for more apologies. No wordy declarations. “My hopeful cowboy.”