by Alison Kent
Now the real work began. All she knew was solitude, T-shirts, work boots, and blue jeans. Home cooking had only recently become a part of her vocabulary. She didn’t know a thing about being a wife or a mother. But she could do anything she set her mind to. Especially now that she’d experienced that “willing” part. Talk about incentive. And lessons learned.
She shook her head at the ironic state of rights and wrongs. Her judgment of passion as a destructive force had been so incredibly accurate. It had destroyed her mother, driven away her father, ruined her younger years, and tainted her outlook on the relationships between women and men. But that’s because the passion she’d witnessed involved bodies and nothing more.
Tyler had taught her a new definition, a passion that transcended mere flesh and encompassed the soul. And what she felt for him… Oh, what she felt for him. That sense of completeness came from a place deep within. A place she’d never known to look for, had never had reason to look for. A place that was waiting to be explored.
It was a thing of life mates and destinies and if she got any more poetic she was going to cry.
She didn’t have time to cry. There were too many things she needed to settle. But she needed a truck to get started.
She had no idea when Tyler would return and quite frankly she didn’t have the patience to wait to find out. Camelot wasn’t that far away and was probably her best bet for securing temporary wheels.
After a longer than planned hot shower and the realization that not all of her muscles were as toned as she’d thought, Sophie pulled on her T-shirt and jeans and a black and yellow plaid flannel shirt.
She added her denim jacket and boots, leaving Tyler a note that said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take good care of my dog. And extra good care of yourself.” She left the note on her pillow, then set off on foot for the five-mile trek down the county highway to Camelot’s main gate.
By the time she reached the ranch an hour later it was nearly noon. She heard workday sounds coming from the barnyard and pastures. Shouted orders. Machinery. Dogs barking. The low of cattle.
She walked around the house to the screened-in back porch, climbed the steps to the sound of a child’s laughter. And Harley’s. It was a sound of happiness, pleasure, one that had been absent in the home she’d grown up in. One she wanted to make a part of her new life.
Feeling the smile spread over her face, she reached up and knocked on the back door.
“In here,” Harley called and Sophie stepped into the room.
“Am I disturbing you?”
“Of course not. C’mon in. Sit down.” Wearing a huge navy sweatshirt and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, Harley sat on the far side of the long kitchen table. Cody sat to her left, propped up on a booster seat. “Have you had lunch?”
Shaking her head, Sophie pulled out a chair across from the pair. “I haven’t even had breakfast. I’m still recovering from the barbecue last night.”
“Tell me about it” Harley puffed out her cheeks. “I cannot believe how much I ate. But Cody here of the bottomless stomach was ready for lunch. So, since Dani’s sleeping, we decided to play alphabet soup.”
Sophie noticed the wad of soup-stained paper towels in the center of the table and the tiny pasta letters lined up on a carrot stick on Cody’s plate. A learning lunch. She would never have imagined.
“Did Tyler drop you off so I could keep an eye on you?” Harley asked.
Sophie appreciated the way Harley so casually asked the question. She had to know Tyler hadn’t returned to Camelot last night, that he’d stayed at the cabin. But she didn’t seem anything but accepting.
And why wouldn’t she be? She’d told Sophie exactly how it was to be loved by and love a Barnes man. Sophie relaxed her clenched fists and pulled her hands from the deep pockets in her jacket “No… he left early this morning. I walked over.”
Harley blinked once. “You walked over?”
“It’s only about five miles.”
“Yeah. Five miles down the county highway. It’s at least another two from the main gate to the house. Is everything okay?”
Sophie shrugged. “Yeah. I just felt like a walk. And it really didn’t seem that far.”
“Maybe not to your twenty-something-year-old legs.”
A smile pulled at Sophie’s lips. “And how many times a day do you go up and down that flight of stairs?”
Harley glanced over her shoulder to the staircase then back at Sophie. “About seven miles worth.”
“Momma. Can I be scuzed now?”
Harley looked over and ruffled Cody’s hair. “Are you full?”
He nodded, his bottom lip solemn.
“Too full to eat that last red car?” Harley asked, pointing to the letters on the carrot.
Cody giggled. “My tummy doesn’t have room for a car.”
“All right, sweetie.” Harley cleaned his mouth with a paper towel. “You run upstairs and pick out a book for quiet time.”
Cody scrambled down out of the chair and stopped at the bottom of the staircase. “Can Sophie come, too?”
“Sure she can but she and I have some grown-up talk to do first, okay?”
Cody rolled his eyes. “Aways gwown-up talk,” he said and stomped his little boots up the stairs.
“He’s really cute,” Sophie said, wondering what Tyler’s children would look like.
“He’s really cranky,” Harley replied, gathering the soiled towels into a single heap. “I don’t blame him, though. He gets lonely during the day while Austin and Ben are at school, especially now that I’m tied up with Dani. The days Gardner spends in the Rover instead of on horseback, he’s been good to let Cody tag along.”
“Today wasn’t one of those days, I guess.”
“Ah, but it was and that’s why he’s especially cross.” Harley got to her feet, her chair legs scraping against the tiled floor. She carried Cody’s near-empty bowl to the sink. “He’s getting over an ear infection and too much fresh air yesterday sent him to bed with an earache. I’m determined to keep him inside today.”
“Even if it kills him?”
“Even if it kills me.” She tossed the towels in the garbage and wiped down the table with a rag. “I promised him we’d have an extra story time.”
“Then I should go and let you get to him.” Sophie started to rise but Harley waved her back down.
“Not until you tell me what was worth walking seven miles for.”
Good point. “I really came by to ask a favor.”
Harley moved Cody’s booster seat and plopped down in his chair. She pulled her knees to her chest, tucked the heels of her Keds close to her backside. “Anything. What do you need?”
Sophie looked down, ran her finger over a scar in the wooden table. “I need to borrow a truck. I have some loose ends I need to tie up…”
“And you’re stranded here, aren’t you?” Harley slapped her palm against the table. “I can’t believe Tyler didn’t think of that and lend you one of the trucks around here.”
“It really wasn’t much of an issue before today. I mean, up until yesterday I had access to a crew truck.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to anything we have around here.”
“I may be gone a few days.”
One of Harley’s neat brows arched then lowered. “Are you leaving?”
“No. I mean, I’ll be back.” She traced the scar on the table again. And again. “Cowboy, my dog, still isn’t totally healed. And then there’s… Tyler.” Sophie moved her hands back to her jacket pockets and slowly raised her gaze.
Harley had the sweetest smile on her face. A big sister type of smile. Or a best friend type of smile. And Sophie found it hard not to cry.
Her arms wrapped around her knees, her head cocked to one side, Harley said, “You know, you are so perfect for him.”
Sophie wanted so badly to believe that was true. To believe that beyond his declarations and demonstrations of love, that deep down she met his
needs the way he so completely met hers.
“I think he’s pretty perfect all by himself,” she said.
“Well, yes, that he is. But then, he is a Barnes.” Harley grinned then grew sober. “The thing about Tyler is that as much as he needs someone to care for him, he needs someone to care for. The work he does with the animals, the healing and caregiving, has helped him channel those feelings. But it’s not enough anymore.”
Sophie hated to sound desperate to know, but… well, she was desperate to know. “Can you, I mean, will you…”
“Tell you why? I’ll do my best,” Harley said. Then added, “You have to understand that when I married Gardner, Tyler was already eighteen and on his way to college. But it hasn’t been hard to figure out where Tyler comes from after piecing together Gardner’s stories. He was always more a parent than a brother to Tyler, even before their mother and father died.”
“Is that when Jud came to live with them? After their parents were gone?” Sophie asked.
Harley nodded. “Tyler was ten. Gardner, twenty-two. Gardner and Jud worked the ranch and Tyler did what he could between regular chores and school. That kind of exhaustion doesn’t leave much energy to expend on nurturing a family.
“Gardner was older. He’d convinced himself that he didn’t need anyone. He blamed his determination to remain uninvolved on the demands of the ranch when it was really the only way he knew to keep from making a mistake,” Harley said with the certainty of a woman who knew her man.
“I think that’s what’s called self-preservation,” Sophie said with equal conviction.
Harley unfolded from the chair and sat forward, squeezing Sophie’s hand in a silent gesture of understanding. “Self-preservation. Exactly. But Tyler… he was just a boy when his parents died. His needs were huge. And Gardner and Jud could only do so much.”
“And so he turned to the animals?”
Nodding, Harley got to her feet. She filled a teakettle with water and set it on the stove. “Do you want a cup of tea? Or coffee?”
“Tea would be nice. Thank you.”
“You’re quite welcome,” Harley said, grabbing two mugs, cream and sugar, and a tin of aromatic tea bags. She settled back into her chair, chose her tea, and continued her story. “I don’t know if Tyler expected to come home from school and pick up where he’d left off but I do know that he’s not as happy here as he was ten years ago. At least he wasn’t until you came along.” When the kettle whistled, she hopped up and poured. “And that just proves my theory.”
“Which is?” Sophie asked, warming her palms on the sides of her mug.
“That the focus he’s missing is the love of a good woman, of a life partner. Oh, I’m sure if he heard my analysis he’d call it bunk but I doubt if he could come up with a better one.” She pointed a finger in Sophie’s direction. “And that’s because there’s not a rational explanation for the whys of what goes on between a man and a woman.”
Wasn’t that exactly what Tyler had said? Sophie stared into the transparent liquid, searching for an equal clarity of mind. “His intensity frightens me at times. Or overwhelms me, I guess I should say. I haven’t had any experience with love to speak of. I’m afraid I won’t be able to love him back the way he deserves.”
“Oh, sure you will, honey. Lovin’s an easy thing to do.”
“I don’t want to disappoint him,” Sophie said, feeling a rush of emotion well in her eyes.
“At this point, the only way you can disappoint him is by leaving and not coming back.” Harley raised her mug, then asked, “You are coming back?”
Sipping her tea, Sophie nodded.
“All right, then.” Harley got to her feet. “Let’s go find you a set of wheels.”
They headed out the back door and were halfway down the steps when Gardner pulled his Range Rover to a stop. He climbed down and walked in their direction, meeting them at the foot of the stairs.
“Afternoon, wife,” he said, giving Harley a quick kiss before glancing in Sophie’s direction. “Afternoon, Sophie. I see you managed to escape my brother long enough to pay us a visit.”
Sophie adored the relationship Gardner shared with Harley and was quite sure it showed in the smile on her face. “He’s out making rounds with Doc Harmon.”
“Did he drop you off here for safekeeping?”
Harley laughed before Sophie could say a word. “That’s exactly what I asked her. But Tyler doesn’t know she’s here. She walked over.”
“She’s young. She can do that sort of thing,” Gardner said to Harley. Then, to Sophie, “Did you want a lift back? Or do you need to make a grocery run into town? I’d be glad to give you a ride.”
“I think she has a few more errands in mind than she can accomplish in Brodie, Gardner,” Harley said from her husband’s side, sending a wink at Sophie. “I told her we’d lend her a truck. One we won’t be needing for a day or two.”
Gardner frowned. “You’re not leaving town, are you?”
“Only long enough to take care of a few things. Oh, and here’s the DayLine number in Houston if Tyler needs to get in touch with me about Cowboy… or anything,” she said, pulling a business card from her pocket.
Harley took the card from her hand. “You know Tyler’s going to freak when he comes home to find you gone.”
“I know. But I have to do it this way—”
“Or else you might not do it at all,” Harley finished for her and Sophie nodded, appreciating this woman’s understanding.
Making a sweeping glance of the yard, Gardner seemed oblivious to their small female interchange. “I don’t think we’ll have a bit of trouble fixing you up with a truck. Either the blue pickup over there”—he pointed toward the vehicles parked between the bunkhouse and the barn—“or the Jeep beside it would be the best. Depends on whether or not you need the cargo area.”
“The Jeep will be fine. I don’t need a lot of room.”
“Then I’ll go get the keys,” Harley said and turned to go.
“Uh, Harley. I’ll get the keys.” Gardner pointed toward the second-story window where Cody’s little face was pressed to the glass.
“Oh, good grief,” Harley exclaimed as Gardner headed inside. “I’d better get upstairs before we find out they were kidding when they called it safety glass.” She stepped forward and gave Sophie a hug. “You take care, okay? And I’ll see you soon?”
Sophie nodded, adding another notch of comfort to the decision she’d come to. “Tell Cody I’ll read him a story when I get back.”
“I’ll do that,” Harley said with a wave as she walked into the house.
Gardner appeared a moment later and Sophie fell into step beside him as he headed toward the Jeep. “Tyler took this thing out across the pasture after an injured calf not too long back but I think we got it all cleaned up.”
While Gardner checked the fluid levels under the Jeep’s hood, Sophie stood back and took in the vastness and stark beauty of her surroundings. When Tyler had talked about the lure of home, the dream of setting up his practice, he’d talked mostly of the people, his extended family.
He hadn’t talked much about the land or his need to return to this piece of God’s earth he called home. But she knew that had to be a part of his decision. Even she could feel the pull of the untamed skies, the sense of forever in the land. For the first time in all her travels, she knew she’d found a place she could stay. A reason to stay. And a man to make her happy.
The Jeep hood slammed and Gardner walked toward her, wiping his hands on a rag. “You know, Sophie. Things with you and Tyler are none of my business but I’ve gotta say I’m glad you came along when you did.”
“Why?” she asked. “Am I keeping him out of your hair?”
“Well, there is that.” Gardner grinned. “But more so, you’re keeping him happy. I’m grateful.” He held the key ring on one finger. “She’s all yours.”
Sophie took the keys and climbed into the Jeep. “Thanks. For everything.”
> He shrugged. “I thought you might like to know. I mean, if it was Harley, she’d want to know.”
“You figured that out about her, huh?”
“She took my failure-to-communicate gene and beat me with it, up one side and down the other. And that was before we were married.”
That must be the mistake Tyler had mentioned. Sophie started the Jeep. “I haven’t run into that problem yet. If I do, I’ll keep Harley’s solution in mind. Thanks again. Tell Harley I’ll see her soon.”
Anxious to stop by the clinic and check on Cowboy before hitting the road, she put the Jeep in gear, started forward then stopped. “And tell Tyler…”
“Tell Tyler what?”
She smiled to herself. “Tell Tyler that I changed my mind. The game’s not over.”
TWELVE
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU loaned her the Jeep?” Tyler asked, slamming the door of his truck.
Gardner parked his hands at his hips. “She asked for a vehicle and I gave her one.”
“You gave her one?”
“To use, Tyler. To use.”
“When did she say she’ll be back?”
“A couple of days at the most.”
“A couple of days?” It didn’t matter that he told himself to calm down. It wasn’t happening. “Where did she go?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You didn’t ask?”
Gardner cupped his hand to his ear. “Is there an echo out here or is it just me?”
Tyler slammed a fist into the shiny red hood. “How could you not ask?”
“She told Harley she had a few things to take care of,” Gardner said, looking from the fist-size dent to Tyler’s face. “I don’t think she’s used to asking for permission to take care of her personal business.”
“Yeah, but I don’t even know where she is,” Tyler grumbled, kicking his heels at the packed earth as he walked around to the front of his truck.
Gardner followed. “She left Harley a number in Houston. In case of an emergency, they’ll contact her. Look, Tyler. You’ve picked yourself a strong-willed woman. Don’t think you’re gonna change that about her.”