He needed to tell Tacy that he still loved her. Now. What was the worst that could happen? She’d tell him that she didn’t feel the same way? His heart would be broken? It already was. At least then he wouldn’t have to waste any more time wallowing in regret. Today he was going to do what he should have done a long time ago. Fight for the woman he loved.
Steven’s motorcycle was parked in the middle of the driveway, keys dangling from the ignition. Seb cranked the throttle and sped out of the drive, turning at the fork toward the Tolberts’ ranch.
He took a shortcut along the path between the two properties. The ground was already cracked and dry despite all the rain that had fallen during the storm. As he passed the hill by the buffalo enclosure, he blinked at the blur of color headed his way—Tacy galloping toward him on a chestnut stallion. Her loose golden hair flowed behind her just like it used to when she was a kid, and for a moment, he felt like they were their teenage selves, meeting in secret to discuss their future.
Their future. That was what lay before them now. His heart lurched. Her horse came to a stop, and Tacy dismounted and ran toward him. A bubble of hope began form in his chest.
“I thought you were spending the day with Carl and Timmy at the ranch.”
She shook her head. “No. I have something to show you, and I couldn’t wait. My grandfather was going through Lois’s closet this morning when he was packing up some things to bring to her in jail.”
“Is he doing okay?”
“As well as can be expected. He’s glad that he won’t have to leave the ranch. But he still seems to be in love with Lois, so it’s hard to imagine what happens next. But what I came here to tell you was that he found my dad’s letter in one of Lois’s drawers. She must have been holding on to it as leverage over Gunnar.” Tacy reached into her pocket and handed him an envelope with a broken seal. “I read it to my grandfather this morning, but I want you to read it too.”
He opened the flap, taking out the note, and stared down at the two pieces of paper in his hands. The last thing he wanted to do was to get bogged down discussing Keith Tolbert. The man had exerted a tremendous influence on Tacy while he was alive. And it appeared that he was making his presence known once again, this time from the grave.
“Seb?” Tacy bent her head to one side, waiting for him to begin.
Okay. He’d do as she asked. But once he finished, he was determined to share the truth that was in his heart. That he loved her. He could only hope that she felt the same way.
She looked at him expectantly. So he read.
“‘Dear Dad and Tacy,’” he began. “Wait. I thought this was meant for your grandfather.”
“Just keep reading,” she said. “It will all become clear very soon.”
He hoped so. “‘I am addressing my words to both of you since this is something you both need to hear. A confession. An unburdening from a man who wouldn’t—or couldn’t—admit his mistakes until he was gone. A flawed man. But a man who loved his family more than life.’”
Seb paused again. This wasn’t what he had been expecting. He looked up at Tacy. Her eyes were full of tears. “Are you sure you’re okay with me reading this?”
She nodded, so he continued. “‘Mistakes. That’s a complicated word. Sounds benign, but it’s really quite the opposite. In any case, I seem to have cornered the market on messing things up. All done with good intentions, but that didn’t stop my actions from being wrong. So, indulge a dying man this bit of whimsy. If I could go back to do things over, this is what I’d do...
“‘One. I would have never shown such disrespect to the man who raised me and taught me about life. I was angry and upset about so many things, and I honestly believed that Tacy might die if I didn’t get her to that clinic in Colorado, but that’s no excuse. Dad, I know that you were just trying to offer support and help me see reason, but my heart was too closed to listen. I know I hurt you, and for that, I am so sorry. I love you, and I beg you to forgive me for shutting you out.’”
Seb brought his glance back to Tacy, who had tears running down her cheeks. “This is really personal. Are you sure you want me to keep going?”
“I’m sure,” she said.
“Okay.” He focused back on the letter. “‘Two. And this one’s for you, kiddo. Tacy-girl. Light of my life. I know you assumed that Seb left because he couldn’t handle the fallout from the accident. But that wasn’t true. I allowed you to think that because I believed that you needed to get on with your life, and I didn’t want you to end up stuck on some army base, alone and barely able to make ends meet. You had so many colleges to choose from, dozens of scholarships, such a promising road ahead. And I was convinced that you deserved a better life than Seb could provide. That’s what I told him that first day at the hospital—that he would never be able to make you happy. I took advantage of his sadness and confusion to make him feel guilty for what had happened on the cliff, and for the life you’d face with him going forward. I blamed him for ruining your life. I insisted that the honorable thing to do was to allow you some space to make your own decision.’”
Seb took a break to release a long breath. Everything Keith said was true, but he had never expected him to admit it. What had Tacy thought when she had read these words? He didn’t dare venture another glance in her direction. He felt too raw. Too exposed. He focused again on the letter. There was just one more paragraph to go.
“‘I said that he had coerced you into marrying him. I showed him a list of all the college acceptances you had received, and I asked him point blank why he thought you had applied to so many places if you were intending to get hitched.’”
Tacy reached over and touched his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me what my dad said at the hospital?”
He raised his head to return her glance. “I wanted to. But for a long time I believed that what he said was true. That you were better off without me and that getting married had been a mistake—or at least, that you believed it was, and that that was why you ignored all my attempts to contact you and then sent me divorce papers.”
“Do you still think that?”
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s why I was coming to see you. To ask for a second chance. Your dad talked a lot about mistakes in his letter. Well, I made plenty of them, too. I’m so sorry that you thought I didn’t care. But I’ll never let anything come between us again. I love you, Tace. I think I knew that from almost from that first moment I saw you standing in the field. It took me a long time to admit my mistakes, but I promise to always be there for you and our son.”
* * *
Tacy pushed back the tears. Her heart felt like it was about to explode in her chest. Seb loved her. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, too. But there was one last thing, the biggest thing that had come between them. He needed to hear the truth about the divorce. “There’s one more part to the letter. On the back of the page. It explains the reasons why we spent ten years apart.”
Seb took a deep breath and prepared to give voice to Keith Tolbert’s final words. “‘Last but not least, my greatest deceit, I lied when I told you that Seb had filed for the divorce. I was the one who initiated the paperwork, for a lot of the same reasons I stated above, but for some other, selfish ones, too. What you do with this information is up to you. As for me, I’ve asked for the Lord’s forgiveness as well as yours, and I pray that in time you can understand and forgive me, too.’”
Seb folded the notepaper in half and handed it back to her.
She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt.
She had already reread the letter so many times, but hearing Seb speak her dad’s words out loud had caused a seismic shift in her heart. The man she had kept on a pedestal for her whole life had feet of clay. He was flawed like all God’s creatures, but she found that she could forgive those flaws since she knew that everything he had done had been born out of love for her,
his only daughter.
But the grace of the moment was in the present, not the past. And her heart was brimming with love for the man standing before her. Seb had already lost ten years of being a father. A husband. A friend. The past didn’t matter anymore. They had their entire future in front of them.
“I love you, too, Seb Hunt.” She yanked on the hem of his T-shirt and pulled him toward her.
When his lips met hers, she understood what it meant to reclaim a forever love. And if that moment of clarity had to happen somewhere, why not in the middle of a pasture they once called never-never land? The most likely place in the world.
EPILOGUE
Six weeks later
The sun was already blazing in the eastern sky, and, even though it was early October, it looked like another hot one. Tacy paused on the threshold to the kitchen and took a deep breath, enjoying the scene unfolding before her. Timmy was at the table, slurping a cup of orange juice and chattering about his plans for the day. Her grandfather appeared to be reading the newspaper, but the twinkle in his eye suggested that his attention was on his great-grandson rather than the headlines.
“Tacy-girl.” Her grandfather spotted her standing by the door. “Come and join us. I’ve got oatmeal on the stove and coffee in the percolator.”
“Yeah, and Mom, you better eat fast. Remember we have to set up for the softball game this morning,” Timmy chimed in.
She grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and helped herself to breakfast.
It was still hard to believe that six weeks had passed since the confrontation on the cliff. So many things had changed since then. She sipped her coffee and considered again how very different life was now. She and Timmy had moved in with her grandfather at the ranch. Timmy had started school, and as soon as she got the news that she had passed the bar, she applied for reciprocity in North Dakota and found legal work checking deeds and handling property disputes. It wasn’t what she had envisioned when she had graduated law school. But little did she know how much better and richer a life God had planned for her. She still thought about her dad every day, but having her grandfather back in her life eased some of the pain.
Admittedly, she missed some elements of the city, the small luxuries of everyday life. A grocery store within walking distance. Parks. Sidewalks. And yet, when she had returned to Denver four weeks ago to pack up her old apartment, she’d realized that, although she had been happy there, it hadn’t been home. A glance through her father’s possessions proved it. She hadn’t realized how much of his life in North Dakota he had held on to until she had dug into his closet and discovered all the keepsakes he had kept hidden away. A buffalo-shaped coffee mug. His old cowboy boots and hat. Pictures—of the ranch, of her as a little girl, of her grandfather. Nostalgia panged in her chest, but it was tinged with happiness and gratitude.
“Mom! Mom!” Timmy’s voice cut through her musings. “You have to hurry. We only have a half hour before we’re supposed to arrive.”
She nodded her head as Timmy bounded away. Of course. The softball game. With the Hunts and all their ranch hands. And, of course, Seb. Her heart somersaulted. Even though they saw each other every day, she still felt a thrill every time their glances met or he held her hand. They both seemed to understand the blessing of this second chance.
She checked the time on the microwave. Eight forty. She really did have to hustle. The game was scheduled for nine, and her grandfather was a stickler about being on time.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the field, all decked out in custom T-shirts identifying them as Team Tolbert.
“You really don’t mind?” she asked her grandfather. “Spending the day with the Hunts?”
“Of course not.” His voice was craggy but sure. Since she and Timmy had moved in with him at the ranch, his life had changed in a big way too. After the shock of his wife’s and trusted attorney’s betrayal, he had stopped the sale of his property. He was even considering leasing a part of his land to Steven. “We buried the hatchet the day that you and Seb saved Timmy on Shepherd’s Peak. In fact, have you had the chance to draw up the new water rights lease? I told Scott we’d get it taken care of asap.”
Tacy hid a smile. Somehow, amidst all of the turmoil and change of the last few weeks, Scott Hunt and her grandfather had become friends. “I’ve got it drafted. I just need to double-check a couple of terms.”
Her grandfather gave a nod and then hurried over to chalk the line between the bases. Tacy watched him for a moment and then turned her eyes toward the handsome, dark-haired man making his way toward her. Her heart thudded as Seb pulled her in for quick kiss.
“I like your shirt,” he commented.
“Right back atcha.” She laughed at the handwritten letters across the front of his shirt. “Hunt Squad.”
Tolberts versus Hunts. The game started out slow, but excitement mounted in the sixth inning.
“Hit it out of the park,” Timmy cheered as Tacy came up to bat. Although no one was officially keeping score, Timmy and her grandfather were maintaining a tally in their head. And currently, Team Tolbert was down by two with Len on second and the tying run at the plate.
Steven did an elaborate wind-up and pitched his trademark change-up, but she was ready. With a swing, she made contact and sent the ball sailing into the air.
And she was off, running with all her might. One of the Hunts’ ranch hands must have stopped the liner in the infield because she could see Seb at first base preparing to make the play.
Maybe she could beat the throw. Ten more feet. Eight. She picked up her pace, her foot making contact with the base just seconds before Seb caught the ball.
“Out!” Scott Hunt bellowed from the outfield.
Out? She was clearly safe. She fixed Seb with a steely glare. “I was safe.”
Seb shrugged. “My dad’s the umpire, and he called ‘out.’”
She turned around to catch the eye of her grandfather and Timmy. Surely they would agree that it had been an unfair call. But no. They smiled and waved. She turned back around.
What?
Her heart thudded and a slow flush crept up her neck.
Seb was down on one knee. He reached forward and took her hand. Her eyes filled with tears even before he began to speak.
“Tacy, I love you. More than I did ten years ago. More than I did yesterday. But this time I want to do things right. Will you do me the honor of marrying me in front of God, our friends and family?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away. “Yes,” she said.
Seb pulled out a box out of his pocket and opened the lid. A familiar gold band nestled on a bed of velvet. It was the same ring he had given her ten years earlier.
“How did you...?” she sputtered.
“Your grandfather found it in your jewelry box when I asked for his blessing. Timmy’s too. They both agreed that it’s high time we became a family.”
He slipped the ring on her finger. It still fit.
“Oh, and one more thing. Dad called you out because we thought our teams needed a little shake-up. No more Team Tolbert or Hunt Squad.” He lifted his shirt. Then, everyone on the field did the same thing.
Underneath they all wore shirts with a new logo.
Hunt + Tolbert = Family.
“What are you waiting for?” Seb asked, tossing a folded shirt her way. “Get back on base. We’ve got a game to finish. And a future to build here in Chimney Bluff.”
* * *
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Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Accidental Target by Theresa Hall.
Dear Reader,
When I was in fifth grade, my teacher found a clever way to deal with cliques in the classroom. It was a little rhyme, and it went like this: “Secrets, secrets, are no fun. Secrets, secrets, hurt someone. NO SECRETS!”
In Fatal Ranch Reunion, Tacy’s determination to keep Timmy’s birth a secret hurt a lot of people. Of course, the deception wasn’t her fault alone. And not all secrets carry such momentous consequences. But in this case, Tacy’s duplicity denied Seb precious time with his son and further fragmented the trust between their families. Whatever the nature of our earthly secrets, one thing is certain. We can always trust the Lord. “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” Luke 12:2
It has been my great joy to share Tacy and Seb’s story with you, I love hearing from my readers. You can contact me on Facebook at Facebook.com/jaycee.bullard.1 or Instagram at Instagram.com/jceebullard/?hl=en.
Jaycee Bullard
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Accidental Target
by Theresa Hall
ONE
The setting sun cast a purple hue in the November sky. Pellets of sleet stuck to her windshield. “Great. Just what I need.”
Allison Moore turned on her wipers and adjusted the defrost. Dear Lord, please let me get to Maddie’s before these roads ice over. The Texas Hill Country was no place for driving in the winter. Growing up in Houston hadn’t given her much experience on these slick, hilly roads.
Fatal Ranch Reunion Page 18