The Rancher Risks It All

by Debra Holt

  “I didn’t doubt your word last night. I thought you needed to be able to say the words out loud to be rid of them and the weight that you had carried for too long. And today, you needed to hear the words of reassurance from people who could do just that. I trust that group, and I hoped you would feel the same. I imagine you have a lot on your mind now. You and Jessie have your freedom at last. That’s all that matters.”

  Annie knew she had jumped to the wrong conclusion almost as soon as she had said the words earlier and saw the wounded look in the eyes of the man beside her. The last person she wanted to hurt was Truitt. He had been the catalyst for so much since the moment he rescued her and Jessie.

  “It’s hard to let it sink in. It’s difficult to describe the feelings. But it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t found ourselves in that storm. And then having you there at that same moment. Some people might call it destiny. Whatever it was, it will be the moment that our lives began to change for the better. I don’t know how else to describe it. And I can hardly wait to tell Jessie.”

  “Well, things turned out for the best. You and she have a lot of things to take care of, I imagine. Now you can build whatever life you want, wherever you want. I better get you back to the ranch so you can begin doing that.”

  He turned and walked back to the truck. Annie knew he wouldn’t say anything else. It was Truitt’s way of saying goodbye.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Annie and Jessie are leaving tomorrow.”

  The words met Truitt as he walked into the kitchen through the back door, having just spent the last twelve hours on horseback on the ranch, trying to bury himself and his thoughts from the reality that was coming, by immersing himself in one mind-numbing, back-bending job after another. He only stopped when the light of day faded. Now, he couldn’t escape it. It met him head-on as Aunt Sal’s words hit him with the force of a sucker punch to the gut. He only thought he had prepared himself for the inevitable. The actual event was much worse. Placing his hat on the rack beside the door, he moved to the refrigerator, opened the door and reached for a cold bottle of water.

  “They’ll fly to Nevada and tie up loose ends. And then they’ll decide what their plans are from there. I understand San Antonio is still in the cards. Gray volunteered to drive them to the airport.”

  Truitt carried the drink to the table, pulled out his chair, and sat down. The plate of food waiting for him might as well have been cardboard for all the interest it held for him. He picked up the fork and pushed around the potatoes on the plate.

  “Don’t you have something to say about that? Is it of no interest to you at all?” His aunt sat down across from him at the table, a scowl of lost patience on her face.

  “Makes sense. They have a life they need to get back to now that it’s safe for them.”

  “What are you doing about it?”

  “In case people have forgotten, I have a horse business to run and a circuit to complete with Tori and Trey. Of late, I got a little distracted from doing just that. Now, it’s back to a normal routine.”

  “Coward.”

  His fork came down on the side of his plate, the sound brittle in the space of the kitchen. His eyes met the cool blue ones waiting to challenge him. “I have no idea what you mean by that ridiculous remark. I’m not a coward.”

  “You’re going to let the best thing that ever happened to you…to all of us…walk out of our lives tomorrow. You’re afraid to see Annie and tell her how you feel about her leaving.”

  “I love you, Aunt Sal, but there are some things that are not open to discussion, even with you. That includes whatever feelings I may or may not have for someone. I’ve got work to do in my office. Thanks for keeping the plate warm for me, but seems I lost my appetite.” He shoved back from the table and stopped long enough at the refrigerator to grab another bottle of water. His boots sounded on the wood floor as he stomped down the hallway.

  The bottle was left unopened on the desk in front of him. After his aunt dropped the news of Annie and Jessie’s departure on him like a bolt out of the blue, he wasn’t certain of anything he did or said. No matter what he tried to concentrate on, nothing could keep the bare fact from taking center stage in his mind… Annie was leaving. She had decided. There would be no postponing, no more ploys to keep her in town a little longer. There was nothing to hold her in Faris. He had done all he could do to clear the path for her to make the choice of her own free will.

  Annie’s life had been given back to her. She was a hotshot event planner in the life she had left behind. He knew it wouldn’t be long before she would be right back where she belonged. He and Faris would just be a memory.

  Gray. Gray was taking them to the airport. Some friend he was turning out to be. Erase that. His thinking was all messed up. Of course, Gray would offer to take them. Truitt was glad he did. At least there would be a friendly face bidding them farewell. As for him, he would have a long day tomorrow, and he would push himself until he couldn’t go any further and then drop in his bed. If he were lucky, he could keep that up until there came a day when he wouldn’t even remember Annie Sims…or Samantha Stephens. He prayed that day would come in his lifetime.

  *

  Annie closed her suitcase. And then helped Jessie finish up with hers. Gray was waiting downstairs, and Aunt Sal was trying to be supportive. But the sooner they were on their way away from the Four T Ranch, the better. It wasn’t lost on her that Truitt had left for work before sunrise that morning to the farthest area of the ranch. He made it clear that he was moving onward just as they were doing. She and Jessie walked down the stairs with slow steps.

  Gray hastened to take her suitcase from her when he saw her on the stairs. Everyone was being so kind. She just needed to be in the car and moving away from all that she was leaving behind as soon as she could. She felt that any moment she might well and truly burst out into a crying fit. She should be happy and overjoyed that this day had come. But her heart was not listening to her head. However, she had to maintain some normalcy to help Jessie get through the goodbyes. Her little sister had decided that she didn’t want to go back to being Marissa Stephens. She was going to remain Jessie…period. Annie couldn’t blame her.

  “I’ve got magazines and some snacks in here,” Aunt Sal said, passing the colorful bag into Jessie’s hands. “You know how awful the food can be on planes. You’ve got our emails and cell numbers and…”

  “We have it all.” Annie smiled. The woman had repeated herself more than a few times already. “We’ll keep in touch, we promise.”

  “You won’t forget to take photos of Sheba and her pups, will you? I won’t get to see them grow up.” Jessie’s eyes darkened again, and Annie was afraid more tears might not be far off.

  “Let me get the bags loaded. We don’t want to be late getting you through security and all. How about you help with the small case, Jessie?” Thankfully, Gray stepped in at that moment in his usual understanding way. He drew Jessie ahead and out onto the porch. That gave the two women a moment alone.

  “Look, I’ll say it again, but I hope you and Jessie will come back to the ranch whenever you get things settled in Nevada…even if it’s just to stop in for a day or two and say hello.”

  “I know we’ll always have an open invitation, and we appreciate that. Right now, we need to get things situated that we left behind, take care of the trust fund, and say proper goodbyes to the people we left so abruptly. It just seems the right thing to do. Once we get all that behind us, then Jessie and I need to figure out what to do with our future. But we’ll never forget how everyone in Faris made us feel welcome for the short time we were with you. You all gave us our freedom again. I can never repay you.”

  “No thanks and no repayment needed, sweetheart.” The two women shared a final hug. Aunt Sal whispered her final words. “Truitt is stubborn and pig-headed, but you brought him back to life again. His heart is trying to protect itself from losing you and Jessie.”

  Annie
drew back first, not trusting the tears to stay at bay. She nodded her head quickly, moving her bag over her shoulder. She fixed a smile on her face. “I know. Tell him…just tell him bye for us.” She left the woman then and caught up with Jessie and Gray. A final round of hugs from Jessie to Aunt Sal and they were off. Annie would not look back.

  *

  “This isn’t how I thought things would go. I didn’t think you’d actually be leaving here.” Gray tried to find the best words as he drove. Annie sat beside him and Jessie had placed her headphones on after the final wave and look back and settled into her own way of dealing with sadness.

  “It’s for the best. I’m just sorry that I didn’t confide in you sooner. There’s a lot I’m sorry about. But I won’t regret meeting you or the family or any of the others who have been so good to Jessie and me while we were here.”

  “I guess I expected one of those movie endings for you and Truitt. That’s what I get for sitting through too many of those movies that Tori likes to watch. But I know that guy is suffering. Guess we all have to handle pain in our own ways.” Gray tried to find the best words he could and Annie appreciated his effort.

  One more curve and they would be off the ranch. Annie steeled herself for that moment. Everything connected to Truitt would be behind her then.

  “What the heck?” Gray’s words brought her eyes from the scenery beside her window to the front and the car came to a halt.

  “It’s Truitt!” Jessie’s exclaimed from the back seat as Annie took in the sight of the horse and rider standing crosswise in the center of the road, still as a statue. His gaze was narrowed on hers even at the distance between them. He wasn’t going to move.

  “I could go around him… It might be bumpy, but…”

  “That’s okay, Gray,” Annie spoke in response. “Maybe this is what he needs and then we can be on our way. I’ll be right back.” She exited the vehicle. For whatever reason, the cowboy had chosen this spot and this way to have his final say. So it was up to her to listen and let him get whatever he needed off his chest. She just hoped it was short, because seeing him sitting there so proud and handsome made her heart threaten to break in half big-time.

  She came to a standstill a couple of feet from him. There was silence, just the sound of a dove calling out somewhere in the brush line and the whisper of wind blowing through tall grasses and across the endless landscape. She wasn’t sure if he planned to speak or not and was just about to do so when he finally said something.

  “You were planning to leave without saying goodbye?”

  Those were not the words she expected. They threw her off for a moment. “Excuse me? I seem to think that is what you wanted since you haven’t exactly been around the last couple of days. You knew where I was, but I had no idea where you were. I took it that you said all you needed to say to me beside the river. And Jessie mentioned you and she said goodbye last night at the stables. I thought you might be glad to see the last of us on your ranch.”

  There was a long pause then. “I never claimed to be good with words. I got used to just keeping my thoughts to myself.”

  “I know the feeling, but for a different reason. But seems you have something you want to say or you wouldn’t be here right now I’m guessing. So, if…”

  The words were cut off when he moved the horse to stand inches beside her. His boot left the stirrup and his hand reached down to her.

  “We need to talk…in private. Put your foot in the stirrup and let me do the rest.”

  “But Jessie and Gray and…”

  “They’ll wait and there are other planes. Unless you don’t want to hear what I have to say?”

  He had her there. She placed her hand in his and then in the next moment she was situated in front of him, across his lap, holding on for dear life. He turned the horse and they headed toward the nearby ridgeline of trees. They began a climb and didn’t stop until they reached the top, and Annie saw they were a lot higher than she gauged at first. There was a valley below them and then another ridgeline ahead that was even higher.

  Truitt swung his leg over and stepped down. He reached his arms up for her. She was tempting fate by being up close and personal during the horse ride up the hill that was pure torture and now she had a chance to have his arms around her again. Annie was a glutton for punishment. She slid down from the saddle with his help and that was as far as she got. He dropped his hands and began walking away. She followed until he stopped. His gaze was on the distant line of hills.

  “This is one of the best views on the ranch. That ridge over there was a bit too far to take in today, given your need to make a plane and all. But I wanted to show it to you at least from here.”

  “It’s beautiful up here. I can only imagine what the view is like from over there.” She had no idea where he was going with all of this.

  “I’ve never been accused of being the best at discussing things like feelings and such. I was angry, hurt, confused…all sorts of feelings.”

  “I understand. You have every right to be all those things at me,” Annie spoke up.

  That’s when his gaze left the vista before them and turned to land squarely on her. Those cobalt-blue eyes had her in their sights, and they weren’t letting her get away from their clarity.

  “I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the way I felt because for whatever reason you had, you couldn’t trust me. You wouldn’t let me help you and Jessie. I understand all the reasons you said you kept it inside and away from us. I understand that now. I guess what I need to say now…out loud…before you leave is what I am thinking and feeling today.”

  Annie couldn’t speak. She could see how important this was to the man.

  “I might have rescued you both that night in the storm. But you rescued me on all the other days that came after. You pulled me out of the last remnants of self-pity and self-loathing that I couldn’t do more to protect the ones I loved when I lost my family and Skylar. I sensed there was something in you that I recognized in me, and I wanted to reach out and fight whatever it was that was clouding your eyes with pain and causing nightmares for Jessie. I realized that I was guilty of being a dragon slayer just as you said. But I won’t apologize for that. I will be that way until the day I draw my last breath when it concerns the people that I love. I wanted to be that to you and Jessie because I wanted you safe and secure and here…here on this land with me. You know how to stand up and fight for the ones you love no matter the odds. I watched you with Jessie. And I’ve seen how people I trust act around you. Your heart is big, and I think you wouldn’t shy away from slaying a few dragons yourself. You are everything and more, Annie. I fell in love with you that night in the pouring rain and lightning. Only I was too blind to that fact for a while.”

  He paused. And Annie was hearing that one word he had just said…over and over in her brain. “You love me…in spite of all I did to keep the truth from you. All the times I pushed you away. And yet you were going to let us leave here today.”

  There was the slightest hint of a smile as he faced her full-on. “Yes to all of that. You challenged me and my scars. You saw right through my defenses. And you did so because you recognized yourself along the same lines. I don’t have fancy words and speeches. But if you need to leave, I will understand. I can’t make you stay where you don’t want to be. I have no right to even think I could. But I plan to build a home on that ridge over there.” He nodded in the direction of the far-off hill. Then his gaze turned to her once more with all the warmth of a summer’s day even at the beginning of fall. If she lived to be a hundred, Annie knew that would be the look she would remember all the days until she left the earth.

  “I want to build a home that I fill with love and laughter and a few children…and hopefully, the woman standing in front of me might find that idea acceptable, too. I want you to stay a spell and be beside me in that rocker on a front porch that will be filled with children and grandchildren and all the memories we make together. I
had to say the words and let you know my thoughts before you left today. I can take you right back to the car and let you be on your way. Or I can go down on one knee and ask a very important question. I just need to know what you’re thinking right now. If that proposal means anything at all.”

  Annie couldn’t begin to put her thoughts in any sort of order. Truitt had just said the most incredible words to her straight from his heart, and she couldn’t imagine any others to ever be more perfect.

  She brushed away the moisture that was clouding her eyes. “I wish I could say all the things I know are in my brain and my heart, but they would all come out jumbled. Because your words are the most beautiful and perfect. They’re words I never thought anyone would say or think or feel about me…ever. So my words may not be in any particular order.” She took in a deep breath and then a calm settled over her.

  “I love that you have such a dream for a home and family. I think that spot over there would be pretty close to Heaven on earth. And I don’t want to go back to the car. I don’t want to go anywhere that I can’t see your eyes and the way they look at me and the way they make me feel. It means that I know where I belong and where Jessie belongs and that is right here with you and your incredible family and friends. Because I love you Truitt Tremayne. I’m not going anywhere. I love that you asked me to stay when you offered me a rocking chair on that front porch of yours; so I’d really like to claim that spot for the next sixty years or so.”

  This time when he took her in his arms, there were fireworks and music and cheering…mostly because of the blaring of a car horn and the screaming of congratulations from the pair of people down below the hill who had witnessed quite a proposal, jumping up and down and waving arms. Truitt lifted her off the ground and into his arms, sharing laughter and heart-stopping kisses. Annie had found home and the sun was shining bright after the storm clouds disappeared, because she was right where she always belonged…in the arms of her blue-eyed cowboy.