by Kat Brookes
Autumn’s gaze moved past him to the window. “Oh, no,” she gasped. “It’s raining.”
“Sleeting, actually,” he told her as he tucked the box under the crook of his arm. “Looks like our tour of the ranch will have to wait until tomorrow.”
He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that it pleased him to see the disappointment that registered on her face with his announcement. It meant that Autumn had been looking forward to their outing and learning more about the business he and his brothers ran.
She glanced once more toward the sleet-splattered windowpanes and then turned back to him, a sweet smile moving across her pretty face. “Until tomorrow, then.”
Tucker found himself wishing their tour didn’t have to wait. Surprisingly, he was eager to share that part of his life with Autumn. For Blue’s sake, of course. At least, that was what he was trying very hard to convince himself of.
Chapter Eight
Tucker pulled up to his house, his mouth caught up in a wide grin. The cold front from the day before had long since passed. The afternoon sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky above. Even the temperature had risen, making it feel more like a September afternoon than a mid-October one. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to tour his and his family’s ranches.
He was about to go fetch Autumn and Blue when they stepped out onto the porch, offering waves of greeting. His daughter was dressed in blue jeans and her fall coat. She was wearing the pale pink cowgirl boots Tucker had bought for her. The ones with the tiny silver, glittery stars on the outer sides of the boots’ shafts. Autumn was in jeans as well, but instead of cowgirl boots she wore hikers that were both stylish and low-heeled enough to be practical for the outing they had planned. Not that his daughter’s aunt wasn’t quite skilled when it came to moving about in heels of any height.
It took a moment for it to dawn on him that Autumn was lugging Blue’s car seat with her. He mentally kicked himself for being so distracted by Autumn’s choice of footwear that he hadn’t even thought to jump out and retrieve it from her. He was out of the truck and moving toward her in long, hurried strides.
Blue skipped ahead of her aunt. “Hi, Daddy!”
“Hi, sweetheart,” he replied, his heart swelling as it did every time his daughter called him Daddy. His gaze lifted to Autumn’s pretty face and he gave a slight nod. “Afternoon. Here,” he said, reaching for the seat, “let me get that for you.”
“Thank you,” she said, relinquishing her hold on it.
They walked to his vehicle where Tucker placed the seat inside the back of the roomy cab and then attempted to secure it properly. Only he couldn’t figure out exactly how to do so. If only he had paid more attention when Autumn had done this before.
For a moment, Tucker considered winging it and then decided it was better to admit his inability to perform the task at hand than to take even the slightest risk with his daughter’s safety. Glancing back at Autumn with a frustrated frown, he said, “I can saddle a horse, but I can’t figure out how to buckle in a car seat.”
She smiled in response as she stepped up beside him to demonstrate. “I was the same way at first. You’ll learn.”
He would learn. Her words gave him more hope that his daughter would soon be living with him. Bending, he scooped Blue up and placed her into the car seat Autumn had managed to secure.
“Do you need help?” Autumn asked from behind him.
“Thanks, but I can at least handle this part.” He gave the shoulder harness belt a tug to make certain it was firmly latched in. “Are you ready to go see Daddy’s other horses?” he asked Blue, unable to deny his own excitement. He’d been wanting to do this for a while, but had waited until he felt Blue was ready. Her growing interest in Hoss and Little Joe and her willingness to be near them convinced him it was time to see how she did around the rest of the horses.
His daughter’s head gave a slow bob up and down. “Can we go see the butterflies, too?”
“We’ll have to do that another day when you’re both wearing your tennis shoes. We wouldn’t want those pesky little stones scratching up your and your aunt Autumn’s pretty shoes.”
“Then can we go to my grandma and grandpa’s after we see the horses?”
Tucker’s smile softened even more. Blue had taken to her grandparents like a honeybee to a brightly blooming flower. “I think we can make that happen if it’s all right with your aunt.”
Blue tipped forward to see past his large frame. “Can we, Aunt Autumn?”
“If time allows. We wouldn’t wanna interrupt their dinner.”
“Okay,” his daughter said, settling back against her car seat, seemingly satisfied by her aunt’s response.
Tucker stepped back and closed the passenger door. Then he looked to Autumn. “I think we’re ready.” Reaching past her, he opened her door and then helped her up into the truck’s cab before making his way around to the driver’s side.
“Don’t forget what I said about asking questions if there’s something you’d like to know,” Tucker said as he settled behind the steering wheel. Putting the truck in gear, he pulled away from the house.
A short distance down the road that ran past all of his family’s ranches, Blue exclaimed, “Look at all the big brown chickens!”
Tucker glanced out Autumn’s window, chuckling as he spied the flock of wild turkeys his daughter had caught sight of. “Those are turkeys. They run wild in these parts.”
“Do they lay brown eggs?”
“More of a beige,” he answered. “They’re bigger than the eggs a chicken lays, and are usually speckled.”
They came over a rise, and Blue’s attention shifted elsewhere. “Tiny horses!”
Autumn gasped as she watched the young horses race across the range. “They’re adorable.” She looked to Tucker. “I take it those are the weanlings.”
He nodded.
“That’s the main barn up ahead,” he said, indicating the large building that sat off to one side in the distance.
“I remember seeing it when we stopped by your momma and daddy’s to collect eggs that day.”
“It’s the largest of all our barns and was already set up with fencing to hold a lot more horses. We use it to store grain, equipment for training green horses, rodeo equipment, those kinds of things. The horses themselves are free range.”
“Meaning?” Autumn asked.
“Meaning they spend their days and nights out on the range.”
“Don’t they get cold?” Blue asked.
Tucker met his daughter’s questioning gaze in the rearview mirror. “No, sweetheart, they don’t. Broncs are strong and adaptable, and made to survive in this kind of country whatever the weather.”
“It’s back,” Blue said.
“What’s back?” Autumn asked.
“The bee,” his daughter replied. “I hear it buzzing again.”
Again? It was too cold for bees. How could... Tucker suddenly recalled having left his cell phone in the pocket of the coat he’d been wearing when he went out to work that morning. As the day had warmed up, he’d switched to a lightweight jacket he kept in the back seat of his truck.
“That would be my phone.” He pulled over, placing the truck in Park. Then he jumped out and opened the passenger door. Reaching into the coat’s pocket, he pulled out his cell phone which, at this point, had stopped ringing.
Tucker pulled up the missed call list to find that he hadn’t answered several calls from the nursing home. Concern filled him. “Excuse me a moment,” he said apologetically to Autumn and his daughter. “I need to make a call.”
Closing the truck’s door, he returned the call.
“Sunny Days Nursing Home,” a woman answered. “Susan speaking. How may I help you?”
“Susan,” he said, “Tucker Wade calling. Someone there has been trying to
reach me.”
“That was me,” she said, sounding relieved.
“Is it Wylie?” he asked worriedly, praying complications from his recent surgery hadn’t set in.
“I’m afraid so,” she replied. “He woke up from a nap disoriented and has been out of sorts ever since. We were wondering if you might be available to come by and see if you can settle him down before we have to call the doctor in.”
He glanced toward the truck where Autumn and Blue waited for him. Once again, their tour was going to have to wait. Maybe the good Lord was trying to tell him something. Like giving Autumn a glimpse of who he was might not be in his best interest. But he couldn’t figure out why that would be. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” As soon as he swung by and dropped Autumn and Blue off at the house.
Guilt stabbed at Tucker as he settled in behind the truck’s wheel and started the engine.
“Tucker,” Autumn said worriedly. “Is everything okay?”
“A friend needs me. It’s nothing to worry yourself over,” he said as he turned the truck around. Glancing her way, he added with a sigh, “But I’m afraid we’re going to have to put off our tour until I get back.”
“You’re leaving?”
“There’s something I need to see to that can’t wait. I’ll drop you and Blue off at the ranch on my way. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, but I’m hoping it won’t be too long.” He didn’t see any need to get into the details. Telling Autumn about Old Wylie would only bring back sad memories of her own grandma’s failing health before she’d passed.
“No grandma’s?” Blue said with a pout.
He hated disappointing his daughter, but this couldn’t be helped. “We’ll head back out when I get home and finish our tour. Afterward we’ll stop by and visit with Grandma and Grandpa Wade.”
* * *
Autumn tried not to show her displeasure with Tucker’s abrupt change of their plans. One he didn’t care to offer an explanation for, other than a friend needed him. Well, his daughter needed him, too. Blue had been so excited to go on a tour of her daddy’s ranch and see the weanlings. It was still hard to believe how much she had overcome since arriving there, most notably her intense fear of horses. Not that her niece’s uneasiness when it came to the four-legged, doll-swiping creatures was completely diminished. But with Tucker’s help, Blue had made great strides in reconnecting with her love of horses again.
“We’ll just play it by ear,” Autumn said stiffly.
“Thank you for understanding,” Tuckered muttered distractedly, his fingers tapping the steering wheel in a nervous rhythm.
Her understanding? If he only knew how wrong he was. Despite Tucker’s reassurance otherwise, something, no make that someone, had gotten him all out of sorts. She doubted it was one of his brothers. She felt confident Tucker would have told her so. The sheriff? She didn’t think so. This was someone he preferred not to make mention of by name. Her troubled thoughts began to stir. Could his caller have been a woman? Tucker had never said anything about being in a relationship with anyone, but it stood to reason that a man as handsome and as personable as Tucker Wade would have plenty of women vying for his attention.
If Tucker were seeing someone, then it only made sense that whomever she was would feel understandably neglected. Tucker had spent all his free time with Autumn and his daughter since their arrival there. More troublesome was the possibility that if there was a woman in Tucker’s life, one who had the ability to make him drop everything, plans with his daughter included, to run to her in all haste, Autumn was going to have to reevaluate Tucker’s commitment to his daughter.
Tucker made no further attempt to explain his being called away. In fact, he drove in silence the rest of the trip back to his place. If not for Blue singing silly little made-up songs about horses and chickens and kitties, the drive would have been beyond uncomfortable.
When Tucker pulled up in front of his ranch house, Autumn was more than ready to get out of his truck. “Stay there,” she told him. “You’re in a hurry. I’ll see to Blue.” She didn’t wait for his assistance before jumping down from the truck’s cab and getting her niece out of the car seat.
“We’ll talk when I get back,” he called after her.
“If you can spare the time,” she cast back over her shoulder as she led Blue away toward the house, unable to look back as Tucker drove away.
“Are you mad at Daddy?” Blue asked as they made their way inside the cedar-sided ranch house.
Autumn forced a smile. “No, honey. Just a little disappointed that we couldn’t finish our tour.” And a lot disappointed in your daddy, she struggled not to add. Blue had to come first to whomever she ended up with. If Tucker weren’t willing to do so, then Autumn most certainly would.
“I’m hungry.”
“Let’s go see what we can throw together for dinner,” she told her niece.
“Can I have a grilled cheese?” Blue asked.
Autumn smiled. “I think I can manage that.”
They made their way into the kitchen where her niece settled herself onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Daddy likes grilled cheese.”
As far as she was concerned, Tucker could fend for himself. “It would be cold before your daddy gets home.” Whenever that would be. And what would Tucker have done if she hadn’t been there to leave Blue with? Drop her off with one of his brothers? His parents? That was not what she considered taking on responsibility.
A short while later, a knock sounded at the front door. Before Autumn could go answer it, the door cracked open. “Tucker?”
“Jackson?” she called out as she stepped from the kitchen.
“Did the nursing home get ahold of my brother?” he asked as he moved toward her with that slightly off-kilter gait of his. He looked every bit as troubled as Tucker had been after he’d made his phone call.
“Nursing home?”
“Apparently, Old Wylie is having a bad spell. They’ve been trying to reach my brother for over an hour with no luck. I told them I would see if I could find him.”
“Uncle Jackson!” Blue exclaimed from the kitchen doorway, a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich pinched between her fingers.
A wide grin spread across his face at the sight of her. “Hey there, kiddo.”
“Did you come for a grilled cheese sandwich?”
“Not today,” he told her. “I have an errand to run.”
“Sweetie,” Autumn said, “go back to the table to finish your sandwich. I’ll be in as soon as I’m done talking to your uncle Jackson.”
“Okay,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich and then added around a mouthful of cheese and bread, “Bye, Uncle Jackson.”
“Bye, cutie-pie.”
She smiled at the affectionate nickname her uncle had given her and then disappeared back into the kitchen.
All of the anger that had been building up inside Autumn toward Tucker after he’d left without any real explanation was immediately replaced by guilt as she turned back to his brother. “I take it Old Wylie is a relative of yours?”
Tucker’s brother shook his head. “No. He’s an old rodeo rider who took Tucker under his wing when my brother was first starting out, teaching him the ins and outs of bronc riding. Unfortunately, Old Wylie has been having bouts of dementia and sometimes he has these panic attacks. Tucker’s the only one who seems to be able to calm him down.”
Autumn put a hand to her mouth. She felt ill. She’d judged Tucker so badly. So wrongly.
“Autumn?” Jackson said, his worried frown deepening. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “I just know how frightening it can be for an older person when they are feeling panicked or confused. My grandmother...” She didn’t finish her explanation. Instead, she said, “Tucker is already on his way to the nursing home.”
That announ
cement didn’t appear to relieve Jackson at all. “I’d best get going. He’ll need Hank.” No doubt seeing the confusion on her face, he added, “His guitar. He left it in the back of my truck.”
Tucker played guitar, she thought in surprise. Confused, she asked, “What does his guitar have to do with your brother being called to the nursing home?”
“A great deal,” he replied. “My brother goes to the home a couple of times a month—that is when we’re not on the road with the rodeo—to sing and play for Old Wylie and the other residents there.”
“Your brother sings?” Summer had never made mention of it. And since arriving at Bent Creek she’d never even heard Tucker so much as hum a tune.
Jackson nodded. “He does. But most people don’t know about his musical ability. He never played or sang around anyone other than family until he started doing it at Sunny Days. Old Wylie is a fan of old-time campfire songs, so Tucker took his guitar in one time to indulge the old man. His playing and singing there ended up becoming a regular thing for all of the residents.”
“That’s so sweet of him,” Autumn said, Tucker’s kindness touching her deeply.
“Don’t tell him that,” Jackson said with a grin. “We cowboys don’t like to be thought of as sweet. Makes us sound soft.”
Autumn laughed. “You are soft. All of you Wade brothers. I’ve seen you around my niece. Marshmallows have nothing on you three.”
He chuckled in response. “You might be right. At least when it comes to Blue. I should get going. I need to get Hank to Tucker. Hopefully, my brother will be able to calm Old Wylie down.” He started back out the door.
“Jackson...”
He paused to look back at her.
“Would you mind if I took Hank to Tucker?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I could stay here and keep an eye on Blue while you run Tucker’s guitar to him.”
