The Rancher’s City Girl: Wells Brothers Book One

by North, Leslie

  They went out into the sun and walked side by side, following a path by the tree line. The same path led to the hot springs, but this time Cade took a left at the fork and went farther into the woods. The path rose up and down over the hills. They were thoroughly surrounded by green leaves and sunbeams when he spoke again.

  “Has anybody ever told you about Joey’s mom?”

  Cade looked straight ahead, and Becca’s pulse ratcheted up. “All I know is that she’s not there. Joey…” She searched her memory. “Joey hasn’t said anything to me.”

  “We had a whirlwind romance.” Cade’s voice was different—strained, yet nostalgic, and Becca’s heart ached. “We were young, and she was the prettiest woman I’d ever seen. I fell hard for her. It all happened fast, because I couldn’t wait to propose.” A smile stole over her face. Becca looked down at the dirt path, cheeks getting hot. This was far more intimate than anything they’d talked about, ever. “I thought we were going to have the perfect ranch family. A mess of kids, the ranch—it was going to be an ideal life. We got married. Angie got pregnant.”

  “It was all going well, then?”

  “At the very beginning, it was all going well.” Cade drew a ragged breath. “But a couple of months into her pregnancy, she changed.”

  “How?” Becca felt like she was hanging on to a fine thread. If anything interrupted them now, she might never hear the end of this story—and the pounding in her heart told her that it was at the core of him. Deeper than the core.

  “Angie—her name was Angie.” The sadness in his voice pierced her chest. “She started to act strange. Her moods were wild, unpredictable. It was like living in a house with a thunderstorm. One day, she’d be sweet, just like the girl I used to know, and the next she’d be in an absolute rage. I tried to bring it up with her doctor, but he chalked it up to the pregnancy hormones.” Becca couldn’t help but look at him now. His jaw had gone tight, the muscles working. “It all got worse after Joey was born.”

  She had a flickering vision of a tiny, vulnerable baby and her stomach turned over. “Oh, no.”

  They came out of the trees and back into the sun. Becca had thought it was a wide clearing at first, but they’d gone farther up the hills than she’d expected. Wide blue sky arced over miles of green grass, flowers dotting the landscape like tiny dabs of paint. In the distance Becca could see a few of the buildings from the ranch she’d stayed at. They looked like paintings themselves. Something out of another time, another life.

  Cade stopped next to her and took off his hat, then shaded his eyes against the sun with one hand. “This place keeps surprising me,” Becca admitted. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about the area, but now I think I only had a romantic idea of what it was.”

  “Camp will do that for you,” Cade said gruffly. “And childhood.”

  She felt the thread between them pull tight again. “Finish your story, Cade. I didn’t mean to start talking about the camp.”

  He swallowed hard. “One night, I was out in the pastures dealing with some fencing. We’d had a heavy rain in the morning and the fence collapsed under it. By the time Danny discovered it, the cows were in danger of getting out. So we decided we’d go out and fix it. The ground was mucky—I’ll always remember that, how hard it was to run.”

  Dread settled at the back of Becca’s throat. She stayed silent.

  “I was holding up a section of fence when I caught Danny staring back down in the direction of the house. He said, Is that smoke?” Cade shook his head. “One look and I knew the house was on fire. It was thick and dark, and you could see the flames glowing from all the way in that pasture.”

  “Oh, god,” Becca murmured. “Was it an electrical fire? While Angie was in the house? And the baby?” Sweat beaded underneath her shirt, and the fire was a decade in the past.

  “We all rushed down there on foot. Danny didn’t want to risk sprinting the horses in the dark, so we left them in the pasture and ran.” His hand brushed across his forehead. “It was chaos. Some of the guys had buckets of water, trying to put out the flames. I went into the house. Joey was in her crib, sleeping away while that smoke filled up the room.”

  Becca’s heart lifted, then broke all over again. “And Angie?”

  Cade steeled himself. “We found Angie on the side of the house. She was crouched down low with a gas can, pouring it around the foundation and muttering something about how it all had to go.”

  Cold realization came down on Becca’s shoulders like a chilly rain. “She set the fire?”

  “She set the fire.” Anger and sorrow mixed together in his voice and goose bumps rose on the backs of her arms. “When she saw me holding the baby, she lost her mind. Danny had to hold her back from me. That’s the situation the fire department walked into a few minutes later. By then, the fire had taken out a bunch of the exterior walls, but not the whole building. They put out the fire, and then they called the cops.”

  “The police?”

  “It was clearly arson. And Angie had clearly set the fire.” He shook his head, his eyes locked on the faraway ranch like he was watching the scene play out all over again. “They arrested her that night and took her in. The charges were pretty serious. Arson and attempted murder. Bec, the baby was in the house.” Cade’s eyes caught hers, and in that green gaze she saw a depthless hurt. “Our Joey. And I still—” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t want to see her in prison. She wasn’t well. She was so unwell that the judge had her remanded to a psychiatric institution instead of jail. She’s been there ever since.”

  Maybe Cade wanted to pretend nothing had happened between them last night, and that was fine. But she couldn’t let him stand there alone anymore. Becca inched to his side and took his hand. A question beat hard at her mind. “Are you still married?” It would explain why he’d left her in bed, and why he seemed so standoffish about the entire situation.

  “No. After she was in the institution for a while, it became obvious that she wasn’t ever going to get out. She got even worse for a couple of years. They’ve got her stable now, from what I hear. But it wasn’t a marriage. I’m not proud of it, but we got a divorce.” Crickets jumped in the grass by their feet, oblivious to all the pain hovering just above them. “And even though we’re divorced, I still take responsibility for her. She doesn’t know—” Cade’s voice broke and Becca squeezed his hand harder. He squeezed back. “She doesn’t know who I am, and she doesn’t know who Joey is. But that experience—I don’t know, Bec. It’s ruined me. And it destroyed me for a good long time.”

  She heard the warning in his voice, even if he didn’t come right out and say it. Cade Wells didn’t want a relationship. It was too much of a risk.

  He gave her hand a final squeeze and dropped it. They headed back to the path and followed it down to the other side. “You did rebuild it all, though,” she said as the farmhouse came into view. “And you did a good job.” If that wasn’t a sign of hope, what was? If he could make it through that awful situation, there was always hope. Becca kept that thought to herself.

  “I did the job I did.” Cade stopped walking. “Well, I’ll be.”

  “What?”

  He pointed. A shiny black truck, paint gleaming, rushed up the driveway. The sound of the engine carried over the air toward them. The truck disappeared behind the farmhouse, and then the engine cut out.

  “Who’s that?”

  Cade took a deep breath. “That’s my brother, Liam.”

  10

  Becca came awake in the gentle morning light. She’d been at the ranch less than two weeks, but her body had jumped headlong into the rhythms of the days here. Judging by the light—and confirmed with a quick check of her phone—it was just after sunrise. This was the most peaceful time at the ranch. She’d tossed and turned for part of the night. Her dreams had jumped between burning farmhouses and surprise audits at her city job, but even so, she felt rested. And no ranch emergencies had happened during the night—another smal
l win.

  Becca took her time bathing and pulling on her clothes, then made her way down to the kitchen.

  Somehow, she’d still expected an empty house, but Jayne had her beat. Jayne bent over the open oven and slid a pan in, then shut the oven door and clapped her hands together.

  “Good morning,” Becca said, and it felt like the whole world opened up for another day. Jayne grinned at her. Standing in the kitchen with her while everything geared up for the day—that was life. “You’re up so early.”

  “I’m up at my regular time,” Jayne said with a wink. “Breakfast should be up soon.”

  Becca scoffed. “You think I came down to watch you cook without helping? Not a chance.” She joined Jayne at the pristine counter. “What do you have going on?”

  “The usual. Scrambled eggs. Pancakes. Bacon’s in the oven, because everybody likes it crispy, just like they should. I always make a mess of eggs for all the men. I swear, they could each go through a dozen a day.”

  Becca washed her hands in the sink and rolled up her sleeves. “Put me to work.”

  Jayne laughed and slid a carton of eggs across the counter to Becca. “Crack them up. We’ll start with twelve, and I can whip up more if I need to.”

  She settled into the beat of cracking eggs—a quick flick of the wrist, then an equally quick toss of the shell into the garbage can under the sink. Beside her, Jayne whipped sugar into pancake batter. “So,” she said into the companionable silence. “How long have you been here at the ranch?”

  “Oh, longer than the hills,” Jayne said with another warm laugh. “I’ve worked here since the boys were little, running around and always underfoot. The Wells boys were always underfoot and usually naked. Couldn’t get through a day without a pair of tan little buns scooting by the kitchen window.”

  Becca laughed. “That must’ve been a sight.”

  “Always made me laugh.” A gentle smile spread across Jayne’s face. “Thirty years, give or take. My husband Chester was the foreman under the late Mr. Wells. He’s retired now, my Chester. We got him a new recliner for his retirement gift. It’s got electric motors inside to lift it up and down, but when he’s not fooling around with that, we’ve got a back garden that keeps him occupied.”

  “And you stayed on?”

  Jayne gave an easy shrug. “I like it here. Keeps me busy. Keeps me in company. Chester—he’s the kind of guy who keeps to himself. When he worked for Mr. Wells, he spent most of his time in the pastures. But I like the hustle and bustle of a full kitchen.”

  “Do you have any words of advice for me? Or—I guess for any potential buyer. If this ranch doesn’t work out, I’m thinking I might look for another property in the area.” The words surprised even Becca. She hadn’t seriously considered the idea of buying another ranch, but maybe…

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Jayne smiled down at the pancake batter. She whisked at a steady speed, pouring in egg whites as she went. “My first piece of advice is to learn my pancake recipe.”

  “No way,” said Becca. “It’s too complicated. I’d never measure up. Besides, if I buy this ranch, I don’t want anybody else running the kitchen.”

  The two women grinned at each other. “In that case, my best advice is to have a sense of humor about it. Ranch life is a lot of rolling with the punches. Cade can tell you all about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jayne sighed, the affection she had for Cade shining through in the sound. Her hands went still over the pancake batter and she looked out the window, the pink sunrise lighting up her face. “Cade’s always had to roll with punches. Some figurative, but some quite literal.” She clicked her tongue. “Cade—he was always earnest. Serious. The most earnest out of the three of them. He wanted his dad to be proud of him, and his brothers were mostly concerned with getting into trouble. Those two—” Jayne laughed again at the memories. “They’d let the chickens out of the coops, chase the goats out of the pastures, anything to cause a stir.”

  Becca could almost see a young Cade, his jaw set and his green eyes fiery. “Did Cade pick up the pieces?”

  “Whenever he could. No matter how many times they got themselves into trouble, Cade was right there, trying to get them back out again. He was always serious by nature, but I think his brothers set that characteristic in stone.”

  “That sounds about right.”

  “I think…” Jayne sprinkled in a pinch of cinnamon to the batter, then a tiny helping of vanilla. “That insistence on going with his gut and trusting his instincts that Cade has? He gets it from both his dad and from Chester. Those two men really believed in doing things the way they’d always been done. It was almost a matter of honor for them.”

  Becca nodded along. “It makes perfect sense when you say it like that. I thought he was just being stubborn.”

  “It’s a bit of that, too.” Jayne nudged her with one elbow. “You should know that Danny and the others have been pestering him for years to modernize things with the cattle management especially. Cade’s never wanted to let that go. Might be part of keeping his dad’s memory alive, but I think even old Mr. Wells would have changed his ways if somebody like you made a case for all the new technology.”

  Becca blushed. “I haven’t felt very persuasive.”

  “It’s on his mind, I can tell. And I’m real glad you’ve been able to help him see the value in it.”

  Pride bloomed in her chest. Changing Cade’s mind was no easy feat, but she was doing it. She was doing it.

  “Jayne, I’m starving. Starving, starving, starving.” Joey’s footsteps thundered across the wooden floor and she flung her arms around Jayne’s waist. “Tell me the pancakes are almost ready.”

  Jayne laughed. “How can you be so hungry, Joey? Didn’t I feed you just last night?”

  “It’s been hours,” moaned Joey. “I need pancakes.”

  “Have a seat at the table, honey. Pancakes are coming right up.”

  Joey threw herself into a chair at the table and picked up one of the place settings. She twirled it in her fingers and set it back down. Jayne bustled around the kitchen. She pulled the bacon from the oven and tipped it onto a plate lined with paper towels. She tested the heat on a portable griddle she had set up next to the stove. She poured helpings of the pancake batter on, steam rising from the tops. Inside of a minute, Joey was digging in to a plate of perfectly crispy bacon. Becca could hear the snap of it against Joey’s teeth from the counter. Becca could feel the girl watching her with those eyes that were so like Cade’s.

  “What were you guys talking about?” Joey asked around a mouthful of bacon. “I heard your voices.”

  “The ranch,” Jayne said. “Becca wanted to know about the old days.” She winked at Becca. “I told her what I know.” Jayne flipped two of the pancakes, let them finish cooking, and carried them on the spatula over to Joey’s plate.

  “Want to know what I know?” Joey darted away from her seat and returned with two more slices of bacon.

  “Tell us,” Becca said.

  “My dad’s happier now.”

  Becca’s heart skipped a beat. She cracked the final egg into the mixing bowl. “What makes you say that?”

  “I don’t know.” Becca didn’t have to turn around to know that Joey had shrugged. “He seems a lot happier this month. It’s gotta be you.”

  Becca laughed out loud. “Me? I don’t know, Joey. Maybe he’s just looking forward to the future.” Becca’s mind wavered between the two possibilities. Cade could just be excited to sell and leave the farm behind, or he could be happy to be with her.

  “He’s been unhappy for a really long time,” Joey said casually. “Ever since Mama got sick.” She shoved the last bite of her pancakes into her mouth.

  “If you’re finished, honey, run along and tell the others to come get breakfast,” Jayne said.

  Joey hopped up from her chair and brought her plate to the sink. Then she slipped an arm around Becca’s waist and gave her a quick side hu
g. “I’m glad you’re here, too.”

  Once Joey had gone out through the back door, letting it bang shut behind her, Becca stood silently at the counter. What did she say? Nobody else at the ranch had brought up Angie. Ever. And certainly not in such a casual way. Angie was like a set of invisible strings—Becca didn’t know what would happen if she pulled them. She wished she had another dozen eggs to crack, to busy herself with.

  Jayne came to her side and took the bowl. “Now, don’t go sharing this with anyone, but I often thought that Cade was more in love with the idea of being married than he was with Angie.”

  Becca barely saved her sharp inhale from becoming a gasp. “You did?”

  The other woman nodded solemnly. “Oh, he was smitten with her, all right. Angie was as darling and sweet as could be on her good days. But the two of them…” She stuck a clean whisk into the mixing bowl and swished the eggs with an expert hand. “But the two of them—they just didn’t see things the same way.”

  “I don’t see things the same way he does,” said Becca, a knot of unease tangling at the pit of her gut.

  Jayne waved this off. “The two of you both want the ranch to be successful. Angie didn’t know if she wanted to be here. She had trouble making up her mind about anything. That poor girl was waffling about Cade up to the morning of their wedding day. Oh, she seemed happy enough when they were married, but once Joey was born…” Sadness flashed across Jayne’s face. “That baby was Cade’s world from the moment she took her first breath. He couldn’t understand why Angie didn’t feel the same way.”

  “Did they think it was postpartum depression?” Becca said tentatively. “One of my friends from college had that after her first baby was born. Not to the extent that Angie did.”

  “It might have started as that.” Jayne nodded. “But it only got worse and worse until the fire.” Tears glistened at the corners of Jayne’s eyes and she brushed them away with a knuckle. “I tried to visit her the Christmas after they…after they sent her in. The poor thing didn’t know who I was. She tried—I could see it in her eyes. But she just had no idea. Didn’t recognize the baby either, or Cade.”