And Cowboy Makes Three

by Deb Kastner

  “You should have told me you were coming back,” Jo chided, weaseling through the door and into the house without waiting for an invitation. “I had to hear it from the three old men that sit in their rockers outside Emerson’s Hardware. They said they saw a moving van passing through and I knew it would be you.”

  Angelica didn’t ask how she had known.

  “I’m sure you have more than enough to do getting your furniture into Frances’s ranch house all on your own. Give me an hour and I can round up some fellows to do the heavy lifting for you.”

  “Oh, no. That’s okay. I’ve got most of it already done—or at least what I need for now. I had no use for the furniture I was using in my small apartment in Denver, so I sold it off. I’ve already unloaded everything I need for Toby.”

  She relieved Jo of the box of food, which was surprisingly heavy, and placed it on the kitchen counter.

  “What is all this?”

  Jo chuckled with glee.

  “I simply mentioned to some of the ladies of the church that you’d been seen entering town with your moving van, and before I knew it, casseroles were coming in right and left.”

  Tears burned in Angelica’s eyes.

  “But I—I—” she stammered.

  This was the last thing she’d imagined would happen—her neighbors, especially anyone from the church, offering their support.

  “I know what you’re thinking, dear.” Jo wrapped her in a motherly bear hug. “It’s going to be okay. Let it go, honey.”

  Try as she might, Angelica could no longer hold in her grief. This act of charity from people who had every reason to turn their backs on her broke her emotional dam wide. Sorrow for all she had lost, and all the mistakes she had made, flooded out of her. Jo simply patted her back and made quiet, reassuring shushing noises.

  At length, she had no tears left to cry. She pulled back and brushed the tears from her eyes with her palms.

  “I’m sorry for blubbering all over you,” she said with a hiccup.

  “That’s what I’m here for, dear. Anytime you need a hug, or just to talk, I’m your woman.”

  “I know.”

  “So, it looks like you’re moving in, then.” It wasn’t a question. In fact, Jo sounded as if it had been her idea in the first place.

  “I am. I decided I needed to finish what I started here. I need some time to figure out what I’m going to do next.”

  “What about your job in Denver? Are you taking a leave of absence?”

  Angelica laughed, but it sounded more like a snort.

  “My boss at the hotel was none too crazy to hear I needed to be in Serendipity to work out the wrinkles in Granny’s estate. I believe his exact words were, ‘Don’t expect a reference.’”

  “Oh, no, dear. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s for the best. I had hoped for better, since I gave him the news face-to-face, but I suppose I can’t blame him. When I asked for extended leave without notice, I put him short one banquet server, and the hotel was hosting a dinner for an enormous Fortune 500 company conference that was arriving for the weekend.”

  “He’ll live. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.”

  “Truthfully, I’m relieved to be rid of the high-stress job. Trying to keep the dishes flowing and the diners happy while management constantly looked over my shoulder isn’t my idea of a good time, but I managed to get by on the wages I earned, at least until Toby came into my life.”

  “Babies are expensive,” Jo said. “Diapers, clothes, supplement formula. And that’s to say nothing of his crib and car seat.”

  “So true.” Angelica had shifted most of her food budget to covering Toby’s needs, and there were many days when she only ate one meal. Not ideal for a nursing mother.

  But Granny’s passing had changed everything, and Angelica knew Granny would be happy she had given her granddaughter a way out of the rat race, even if it wasn’t quite what Granny had in mind.

  A sheep farmer she was not.

  Still—that was that.

  Her job in Denver, such that it was, no longer existed. She had severed her last ties to the big city and would be able to make decisions based on what was best for her and Toby, no matter where she decided to live and what she decided to do in the end.

  Maybe, with the money Granny had left her along with the sale of the ranch, she could go to school and become—

  Well, she didn’t know what she wanted to become, only that an overglorified waitress wasn’t it.

  “I’d like to try to figure out my own head and heart in the slower pace of Serendipity while I stay here at Granny’s ranch.”

  “That’s exactly what Frances wanted to provide for you,” Jo assured her.

  Angelica knew she was facing a whole new set of challenges if she was going to follow Granny’s directive—how to feed sheep, for one thing.

  How a ranch made a profit. Or what she might be able to get by selling the land to Rowdy.

  What the messages in the envelopes meant.

  And where the paper trail or scavenger hunt or whatever Granny had considered it would end.

  “About this Feed My Sheep thing,” Angelica asked. “Am I supposed to be learning how to feed Granny’s sheep, or am I missing the point? And how many envelopes are there, anyway?”

  “All I can say is you’re on the right track. And you can expect more from Frances when the time is right. These letters are your granny’s last wishes to you. It was her fervent prayer that you and Rowdy would follow her instructions.”

  Angelica didn’t know about Rowdy, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to deny Granny what she wanted. Not when she had missed Granny’s final days and even her funeral.

  In good faith, what else could she do?

  “I’ll get out of your hair, then. You holler if you need anything.” Jo patted Angelica’s arm and leaned down to kiss Toby on the forehead before letting herself out, disappearing as quickly as she had appeared.

  Jo left Angelica with much to think about. It seemed that Granny had known all along that Angelica would need time after becoming a mother to work out what she wanted to do with her life, to see her future with more clarity.

  Granny was the one person in Serendipity—well, one of two, if Angelica counted Granny’s bosom friend Jo—who knew how hard Angelica’s life had been after leaving town.

  Angelica would follow Granny’s directives, but she didn’t know what good it would do. How would hanging out with a bunch of smelly sheep, not to mention the hodgepodge of other animals Granny raised, give her a better idea of what she should be doing with her life?

  The pungent aroma of country living might clear out her nostrils, but it would hardly clear her head.

  Still, she had experienced a moment of homecoming when she’d taken what little she and Toby owned and moved it into the sprawling ranch home. She had settled into one of the spare bedrooms across from where Granny used to sleep, and had arranged a small nursery in the other.

  Granny’s one-level ranch house was as country inside as out, with wooden furniture, homemade quilts and the scent of evergreen from the wood-burning stove Granny had used to heat her home.

  Living at Granny’s, at least, would be peaceful and a happy reminder of the past spent with her favorite relative. Not having to pay rent was a huge boon, as well, since she’d dropped her month-to-month lease apartment in Denver.

  But balancing that with the amount of work she would have to do to keep the ranch going tipped the scales the other direction. She was overwhelmed by the mere thought of trying to do all that and care for her special needs son, too.

  How was she supposed to take care of the animals? Rowdy had said the sheep were in the far pasture, and she’d seen the coop of chickens on her way in. The hay fields would be ripe for harvesting come fall. She would have to learn how to
herd the flock with the two border collies and ascertain just how Granny’s Anatolian shepherd guarded the flock at night. At this point she didn’t even know their names. Granny had always taken the border collies inside with her at night. Even as unfamiliar as she was with dogs, Angelica couldn’t help but think she ought to do the same thing.

  She wondered if Granny’s old mare was still stabled on the ranch. And then there was shearing the sheep and gathering the chickens’ eggs and who knew what other chores awaited her?

  She had a new appreciation for Granny, who had done it all herself after Angelica’s grandfather had died twenty years ago. Granny brought in a few men to harvest her hay crop, but other than that she was a one-woman talent show.

  The sheep, the dogs, the chickens—that was all her.

  Angelica didn’t feel nearly up to the task. It was all she could do just to learn to be a mama to Toby. It gave her pause once again to wonder if she’d made a mistake coming back here.

  She finished setting up the crib and left a message for Rowdy on his answering machine to let him know she was back in town to take care of the whole Feed My Sheep business, as dubious as that was. And the longer she waited for him to return her call, the more she wondered what in the world she thought she was doing.

  If Rowdy wasn’t the man in question, she would suspect he might not call back at all, that he might be avoiding her on purpose. But it was Rowdy, and he wasn’t the kind of person to be intentionally unkind, even if it was to the woman who held the town record on heartlessness.

  Now that she was back in the hometown she’d never thought to see again, and waiting on the man she’d once left at the altar—it all felt surreal and it made her a little sick to her stomach.

  What was she really doing here, anyway?

  She folded a basket full of Toby’s clothes while she waited for Rowdy to return her message, but instead of phoning he showed up on her doorstep, the second unexpected visitor of the day, covered with a day’s worth of dirt and grime and smelling cowboy fresh.

  Definitely not the most romantic scent in the world, by any means, but the combination of old leather and outdoor living was inexplicably appealing to Angelica, at least on Rowdy.

  And the all-male smell of him tripped memories long hidden, reminding her of old times in a way she’d rather not think about.

  When they were happy together.

  Before everything had gone south.

  “Rowdy,” Angelica exclaimed in surprise, shifting Toby to the crook of her arm. “You didn’t have to come over. I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know I was back in town.”

  “No bother. I come over every afternoon to care for Granny Frances’s stock, anyway.”

  Of course he did.

  It wasn’t just the sheep. Angelica wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. She hadn’t toured the ranch yet, but it wasn’t falling down around her and all of the animals she’d seen looked healthy.

  Animals that couldn’t possibly be there unless someone was caring for them.

  Duh!

  Someone would have had to take over for Granny when she became too ill to work.

  Who else but Rowdy, the friendly young rancher next door, and one of the only men in town who knew how to properly care for a sheep farm?

  And he’d clearly continued after Granny had passed.

  Angelica’s heart sank.

  She had no idea how to care for sheep—hence, she suspected, the letter from Granny with Rowdy’s name on it as well as her own.

  Rowdy was the one man who could truly help her. And the man who had the most to gain from continuing to work the stock, assuming she would be selling both the land and animals to him.

  The sooner she got the hang of this, the sooner she could send Rowdy on his way—or he could send her on hers. She was so confused and grieving she couldn’t see up from down.

  At the very least, if Rowdy showed her how to feed Granny’s sheep they would both be able to move on to whatever was in the next envelope. Jo hadn’t said how many they were to expect, but Angelica had to believe they were near the end of this crazy chase.

  She gestured Rowdy inside. Without a word, he hung his hat on a peg near the door and removed his boots, placing them on the mat next to the hat rack, just as Granny had always insisted he do when Rowdy and Angelica were dating as teenagers.

  Her throat burned with grief at the memory and she had to blink back the tears that pricked against the backs of her eyes. Rowdy was the same cowboy he’d been back then. The only difference now was time, distance and the slight limp in his left leg.

  And Granny was gone.

  Her bright personality that always lit up the atmosphere had disappeared, leaving Angelica’s heart dim.

  She mentally shook herself. Now wasn’t the time for her to break down. She’d done that enough with Jo, and besides, Granny wouldn’t want her to spend her days crying. She saved her grief—for Granny, for Rowdy and for the way her life had turned out—for the middle of the night when she was nursing Toby. Her sweet little baby was the only person who could soothe her as she offered tears and whispered prayers into the darkness.

  Rowdy hesitated until she’d taken a seat on the rocker before he propped himself on the edge of the couch, clutching his hands in front of him and leaning his forearms on his knees, his gaze on the carefully polished hardwood floor.

  She wondered if he was trying to gather his thoughts to say something, but when he didn’t speak, Angelica jumped in with the first question that came to mind.

  “How much has Granny been paying you?”

  His head popped up and his gaze widened in astonishment.

  “What?”

  “You must have been doing all the chores around here for quite some time. I assume Granny gave you something for all the help you’ve been to her.”

  He frowned. “You really think I would do a thing like that to Granny Frances? Ask her to pay me something when she was on her deathbed? That would be a horrible way to treat a friend.”

  The sound that emerged from deep in his chest was very much like a growl.

  “Wow. You really have a bad opinion of me, don’t you? It makes me wonder why you ever agreed to marry me in the first place, if you think I’m that kind of man,” Rowdy said. “Then again, I guess when push came to shove you weren’t much on follow through, now, were you?”

  His barbed words and resentful tone caught on to Angelica’s tight nerves and yanked at them, but as much as she wanted to, she didn’t bite back.

  What good would it serve?

  And anyway, he was right.

  He shrugged. “I did what had to be done. Out here in the country it’s called being neighborly. Maybe you forgot about that after all your years in the city.”

  “No need to be touchy,” she said, trying to keep her voice even for Toby’s sake. “It’s just that taking over all the chores for the entire ranch, despite its small size, is a tremendous thing to ask, even of a man with as much integrity as you have. Especially since you have—” she gestured toward his bad knee “—health issues. I can’t imagine it’s easy for you.”

  “Then don’t bother yourself about it.” He frowned in objection. “My knee rarely hurts anymore. And it doesn’t stop me from doing my job. Ever.”

  She held her hands up in surrender.

  He narrowed his eyes on her, taking her measure. She met and held his gaze.

  She no doubt came up wanting in his eyes. But that wouldn’t be news to Rowdy.

  “Granny Frances wanted to pay me,” he finally admitted. “I wouldn’t let her.”

  Angelica nodded. That sounded like Granny. Likewise, it sounded just exactly like Rowdy.

  “I don’t have much to offer. The money Granny left me is enough for me to live on for a few months, but not enough to pay for a ranch hand to help me.
”

  She shrugged. “Frankly, without you, there’s no way I’m going to be able to take care of all these animals. I know I’m not Granny. Not even close. I can’t do it all.” She paused. “Although maybe that’s to your advantage. The sooner I fail, the sooner you get Granny’s ranch.”

  “I’m not going to sit here and tell you I don’t want this ranch. You know I do. My own ranch is barely keeping up with the cost of inflation. The extra land and stock will be just the shot in the arm I need.”

  “I figured.”

  “But as far as you failing this test, if that’s what it is, I don’t think that’s what Granny Frances had on her mind,” he said thoughtfully. “Why was her letter addressed to both of us if she didn’t really want me to give you a hand? She even specifically mentioned the sheep. And anyway, if I am going to eventually own this place—and I’ve already put it all out on the table and admitted that’s what I want in the end—I’d rather keep the ranch in shape than have to do extra work getting everything back in order after the land becomes mine.”

  Angelica brushed a long strand of hair behind her ear and shifted Toby to her other shoulder. “I’m willing to accept your help, for Granny’s sake, but I realize this is asking a lot of both of us. There is one obvious factor we haven’t really talked about. She is pushing us together for a reason.”

  He grunted in agreement and threaded his fingers through his thick blond curls.

  “Can we really get along well enough to work together after—well, everything? Because to be honest, I’m not sure that can happen no matter how badly I need this to work out for my own peace of mind.”

  “I want to honor Granny Frances’s memory. And if this is what she wants—” He left the rest of his sentence unspoken. His voice was strong and even—everything Angelica wasn’t feeling.

  She blew out an audible breath. “I know you don’t want me to be here. I’m not exactly sure why I came back. Only that I’m here for now.”

  “You quit your job?”

  Her lips quirked. “That’s one way of putting it. My boss practically shoved me out the door. Apparently, I was more expendable than I’d believed.” She chuckled at her own joke, but there wasn’t much mirth to it. “So now it’s Granny’s ranch or nothing, at least until I can make other arrangements. In the meantime, I feel obligated to try to meet Granny’s last wishes as best I can and keep this ranch in working order. For you, or whatever,” she finished with a vague gesture of her hand.