A Family in Wyoming

by Lynnette Kent

  Garrett stood peering into the refrigerator. “I didn’t get anything to eat at the hospital tonight, so I’m foraging for leftovers.” He’d spent the evening with the family of a sick church member.

  Wyatt sat down at the table. “How’s Mr. Davis?”

  “Still in the intensive care unit but improving slightly.” Garrett brought an armful of containers to the breakfast bar. “A chicken sandwich sounds about perfect. Especially with some of the vegetables Susannah roasts in the same pan.”

  “How about making two of those?” Ford said. “I wouldn’t mind a late-night snack. Dinner was a long time ago.”

  “Heck, I can make three. Want one, Wyatt?”

  “I’ll pass.” The last thing he needed was food. His system was still stirred up over Susannah—his pulse drumming, his skin tingling. He couldn’t believe his brothers hadn’t noticed. If they had, they surely would have said something.

  Instead, Ford filled Garrett in on the situation with Travis Bradley. “Jail would have been a good solution,” Garrett said as he brought plates and glasses of milk to the table. “Can the divorce proceed without him?”

  “An excellent question.” Ford took a bite, chewed and swallowed. “I’ll work on the answer tomorrow. In the meantime, we have the junior rodeo coming up in just two weeks. Can we get Lena, Marcos and Thomas on livestock again before they compete?”

  “Seems like a good idea.” Wyatt welcomed the shift of subject away from Susannah. “They can use all the preparation we provide. I’ll call Dave Hicks in the morning, ask if we can use his arena and a few steers.” They had spent a day at Hicks’s Twin Oaks Ranch in July, giving the three kids who wanted to ride rough stock a chance to practice on young animals.

  Garrett finished his own food and half of Ford’s. “I’ll ask Rachel if she can spend the day with us. I like having her as medical backup.”

  Sitting on his other side, Ford punched him lightly in the arm. “You just like having Rachel around, period.”

  Their brother’s grin brightened the room. “I’m not denying that.” After a rocky start, Garrett and the new doctor in town had forged a strong relationship and they’d recently become engaged to be married. “In fact, I’m expecting her to call any minute.” Moving briskly, he cleared away the dishes and returned the food to the fridge. “So I’ll see you two in the morning.” Almost as soon as his door closed, the phone rang. Once.

  Ford chuckled. “Every day is Valentine’s Day for Garrett in love. Pretty entertaining.”

  “And you’re so jaded?” Wyatt shook his head. “You should see the way your face lights up when Caroline comes into the room.”

  “Yes, well...” His expression softened into his own version of a lover’s smile. “She’s a special woman.” Then he blew out a breath. “Too bad about Dylan, though. He’s missing Jess more than I realized he would.”

  “Healing from a breakup takes awhile.”

  “Right.” As Wyatt stood up, though, Ford raised a hand. “You and I have to talk. About Susannah.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.” He remained on his feet.

  Ford stood, as well. “You’re getting involved with her. It was written all over your face when you came into the kitchen.”

  So much for discretion. “It’s none of your concern.”

  “You’re my brother. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Not a problem.”

  “She’s not in a place to take on a new relationship, Wyatt. That bastard Bradley keeps her off balance.”

  “I understand that.” He could barely force the words through his teeth.

  “Caroline and I have talked about this. Susannah’s been married to him since she was a teenager. Assuming everything goes well and she gets a divorce fairly soon, she’s going to need time on her own, space to figure out what she wants to do with her life. I hate to say this, but that may or may not include you.”

  Wyatt managed not to flinch.

  “And Bradley is not going to vanish. Those are his kids, and he will be entitled to visitation, if not shared custody. Should you and Susannah share a life, he will be part of it for the next ten to fifteen years. I know that wouldn’t change your feelings for her, but you ought to consider what you’re looking forward to. A relationship with Susannah means inviting complications you can’t begin to foresee.”

  “I’m aware. And you’re way out of line.”

  “Then I’ll step a little further.” He put a hand on Wyatt’s arm. “A woman in Susannah’s situation is vulnerable. Not necessarily thinking straight—or she would have reported Bradley being here the first time and solved most of the problem. So you ought to ask yourself whether her emotions at this point are really what you’re hoping they are. You’ve given her a refuge and a job, taken care of her children this summer. What you’re interpreting as love might, in fact, be gratitude.”

  Without waiting for a response, Ford pressed on. “Are you prepared for her to realize one day that you’re not the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with? Or have her stay with you out of a sense of obligation?”

  Hands clenched into fists, Wyatt didn’t move.

  Darkness boiled inside of him. He wanted to rage against the facts, pummel the idea that he and Susannah weren’t meant to be together, even if that included battering the brother who said so.

  But part of him remained sane enough to walk away. He couldn’t form words, but he could turn, stride down the hallway and across the living room, out the front door. He jolted down the porch steps and headed up the hill. Behind him, Honey whined at the screen door, wanting to come along. Wyatt didn’t go back.

  At the corral gate, he whistled for Caesar. The gelding trotted over, looking sleepy and a little puzzled to be called in the middle of the night. After a quick and dirty brush down—just the area under the blanket—Wyatt tacked up and led the horse outside. As he settled into the saddle, he heard Ford call his name.

  Nope.

  Urging Caesar into a jog, he headed away from the house and the barn, away from the pain and out onto the land he tended, the fields he cared for, under the cloudless, star-flecked sky and the brilliant light of a full Wyoming moon.

  Chapter Seven

  “Wake up, Mommy. It’s breakfast time.”

  With a gasp, Susannah sat bolt upright in bed. Amber always slept till seven. That would mean...

  She swallowed the words that came to mind—she wouldn’t swear in front of her daughter. “Thanks, sweetie. I overslept, didn’t I?”

  “Why did you?”

  “I, um, don’t know.” She recalled lying in bed thinking about Wyatt’s hot kisses, his arms firm and secure around her, his hair soft and thick against her fingers. Last night, he’d made her feel cherished, valued. Most of all, desirable.

  And now he’d been waiting for his breakfast for probably an hour. Anxious to see him, to share a smile or even a brief—but knowing—look, she skipped her shower, changed clothes and twisted her hair up in about five minutes, deciding not to waste time on makeup.

  Then she took Amber’s hand. “Okay, let’s go cook some breakfast!”

  In the kitchen, three cowboys stood around the breakfast bar, coffee mugs in hand. They all stared at her as she and Amber came through the door.

  “I’m so sorry,” Susannah said right away. “I don’t understand what happened.”

  “Mommy slept too much,” Amber explained.

  Garrett laughed. Dylan raised his mug in a salute. “You deserve it, hard as you work around here.”

  Wyatt took a long drink of coffee. He didn’t so much as smile.

  “I’ll get breakfast started.” She hurried to the refrigerator to bring out eggs, bacon and butter. “Biscuits would take too long, but I baked some bread earlier in the week. I’ll make toast.”
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  “Sounds great,” Garrett said. “Don’t rush. Nobody here’s going to starve.”

  Something about Wyatt’s silence pressured her. “There are potatoes in the freezer, so I can get some hash browns going...” She pulled out the bag but dropped it on the floor. “Dammit,” she said, bending to pick it up.

  Amber gasped. “Mommy said a bad word.”

  “Tell you what,” Dylan said to Amber, “why don’t you and I go into the living room and play horsey while your mom cooks? Sound like fun?”

  “Yay!” Holding his hand, she led him through the dining room door.

  Back at the counter with the potatoes, Susannah found her hands shaking as she used a knife to open the package. Garrett came to stand beside her and took the knife out of her hand. “Let me.” He slit the bag and then handed it back to her. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course.” She was all too aware of Wyatt, who stood staring down into his mug.

  “I forgot to tell Rachel something last night,” Garrett said as if he’d suddenly remembered. “I’d better call her. See you in a few minutes.”

  Wyatt looked up to frown at him. “That’s not obvious.”

  His brother shrugged. “You two need to talk. That is what’s obvious. Call me when it’s time to eat.” In another moment, the door to his room closed with a thud.

  “We don’t have to talk,” Susannah said. “I’ll just get breakfast ready—”

  “No, we do.” Wyatt crossed to the coffeemaker and refilled his cup. “About last night.”

  “Don’t apologize,” she said vehemently. “I’m not sorry. I’m not.”

  “I’m not, either.” He gave her a slight smile. “But we can’t. I’ve thought about it all night. That’s not what you need.”

  With a glance, Susannah realized he was wearing the same shirt and jeans he’d had on yesterday. Had he not been to bed at all?

  Then she processed his words. “What I need?” She turned to face him. “I don’t understand.”

  “Your life has fallen apart. You’re confused, uncertain, weary.”

  Not a flattering picture. “It’s been hard,” she admitted.

  “You’re grateful for the help you’ve gotten this summer, grateful for the protection, a place to stay, a job.”

  “You think I kissed you because I’m grateful?” Her temper spiked. “And why did you kiss me? Because I owe you?”

  “No!” He avoided her gaze. “But we’ve been together a lot this summer. Maybe too much. You should take some time and space to get your life together, figure out where you’re going. You might decide that what you want for yourself and your kids is somewhere else. With someone else. And I... I don’t want to get involved with another woman who plans to leave.”

  Another woman. The words seared her heart. “So this is about you trying to protect yourself?”

  Now he glared at her. “This is about me trying to do what’s best for both of us.”

  “Thanks so much.” Susannah couldn’t remember ever being quite so angry—too angry to find words that would make sense or even to understand what was making her so mad. Hadn’t she thought exactly the same thing herself? “Then I had better get back to doing my job.” Deciding the eggs would be scrambled this morning, she fetched a bowl and began cracking shells on the rim, not caring for once if a little of the whites dripped onto the counter. Whisk in hand, she discovered that beating up yolks made a satisfying substitute for arguing with a stubborn, obtuse man.

  Wyatt stood where he was for a few moments, as if he couldn’t think of anything else to do. She ignored him, pretending to concentrate on her cooking, until he moved across the kitchen and sat at the breakfast bar. The distance between them didn’t lessen her disappointment, her distress over his conclusions. After last night, she’d expected something very different from this new day.

  Except...wasn’t that the same kind of impulsive reaction that got her involved with Travis in the first place?

  With bread in the toaster, she called Dylan, Amber and Garrett to the kitchen. Amber sat at the bar between Garrett and Dylan, chattering between bites with her usual energy, keeping the two brothers laughing. Wyatt ate in solemn silence. Susannah couldn’t force down a bite and cleaned up the kitchen, instead.

  “By the way, Susannah,” Garrett said, during a silence while Amber drank some juice, “I heard Kate at the diner wants to hire another server. It’s not a wonderful job, but it would be a place to start.”

  She dredged up a smile for him. “Thanks for the suggestion. I—”

  “Not a good idea,” Wyatt said, his voice stern. “She should get as far away as possible from Bradley, not put herself out in public, in the middle of his sights.”

  Susannah glared at him. “We shouldn’t talk about this right now.” But the damage was done.

  Amber set her glass down. “Are we going away, Mommy? I don’t want to. I like it here.”

  And how was she supposed to answer that honestly? “Don’t worry, sweetie, we aren’t going anywhere today.”

  Her little girl could be hard to divert. Eyes wide and troubled, she said, “I thought we would live with Mr. Wyatt forever.”

  Dylan tried an intervention. “You’re going to grow up and have a house of your own one day. What kind of house will that be? A castle, maybe?”

  Shaking her head, Amber stuck her lower lip out. “I want to live on the ranch. With Caesar. And Honey.”

  Sensing a tantrum in the making, Susannah scooped her daughter off her chair. “It is fun, isn’t it? Let’s go get you dressed for the day and then we’ll take a walk with Honey down to the creek. The kids are practicing their rodeo riding this morning, so we can watch them for a while before lunch. There’s lots to do on a ranch, isn’t there? We can visit the horses and feed them some carrots, too. They like that, don’t they?”

  Carrying the child to their room—that is, the room they were borrowing—Susannah managed to avoid a meltdown. She got Amber into clothes and shoes and then took her straight outside, where the wonders of rocks, trees, grass and animals distracted her. Honey ambled contentedly beside them.

  Though she loved the ranch, Susannah couldn’t find her own peace or distraction there this morning. Garrett’s suggestion of a job at the diner, while helpful, only reinforced what Wyatt had said. She’d spent the summer hiding from reality, letting the Marshall brothers protect her and her children while she ignored the problems in her life. When Travis had intruded, she’d allowed Wyatt to deal with him or, as had happened yesterday, just take her away from the situation. Even her progress toward getting her GED had been at Wyatt’s suggestion. Instead of taking responsibility for her own life, she’d accepted his directions. And, as he’d pointed out this morning, she was grateful.

  Amber interrupted her musings. “Can we swing, Mommy?”

  “Sure.” They had reached the cabin where the girls were staying. The bench swing on the front porch was one of Amber’s favorite places. Susannah followed her daughter up the steps and sat down as Amber clambered onto the seat. “Here we go.” It wasn’t an exciting ride, but something about the easy motion could make Amber happy for a long time.

  As they swung, the door to the cabin opened. The three girls emerged, stomped down the steps and headed single file toward the bunkhouse.

  Caroline stepped out a few minutes later. “Well, good morning, you two! I didn’t know you were out here. How are you today, Miss Amber?”

  “I’m good. We’re swinging.” She held up the doll she’d insisted on bringing along. “With Russell.”

  Susannah nodded toward the teenagers. “None of them said hi on their way out. Wrong side of the bed this morning?”

  “This week, is more like it,” Caroline said, leaning against the porch rail. “Ever since we announced the dance, they’ve been worse than wet cats wi
th each other, spitting and hissing. Nobody wants to cooperate.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t help that the boys have suddenly decided girls exist for more reasons than just to annoy them. Becky and Lizzie are at odds over Nate.”

  “Nathan? And a girl?” She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with that idea. He was only thirteen.

  “For Lizzie, it’s about the power. But Becky really likes him. He, unfortunately, is dazzled by blond hair. Speaking of which—” Caroline raised an eyebrow “—you’re looking a little less than your usual perfect self this morning, though only a little. Is everything alright?”

  “More or less.” Susannah got up and went to stand beside the swing, where she could still push Amber with her hand. “I overslept. And I’m just now realizing that I’ve spent the summer avoiding my life. I should have been making plans. But I’ve coasted along, letting other people—” With Wyatt on her mind, she took a deep breath. “Letting other people decide for me.”

  Caroline’s frown was sympathetic. “You needed time to recover. You were living in a difficult situation for a lot of years. Don’t shame yourself for getting some emotional and mental rest.” Putting an arm around Susannah’s shoulders, she gave her an affectionate squeeze. “Now that you’re ready, you can figure out what you want to do. Anything I can help with, just let me know.”

  Touched by her friend’s concern, Susannah leaned into the hug, blinking back tears. They stood for a moment in silence.

  “Push me, Mommy!” Amber said. “I stopped swinging.”

  “I’m sorry.” Susannah straightened up and went back to her job. “A mother’s work is never done.”

  “Neither is a camp counselor’s,” Caroline said, laughing. “I’d better check on breakfast and find out if they’re all sitting in there sulking. Have a good day!” She pattered down the steps and strode off toward the bunkhouse.

  This summer at the ranch, Susannah realized, had given her a taste of security, of caring and confidence. But there were only a couple weeks of camp left. The kids were busy practicing to ride in the junior rodeo, when they weren’t working on this dance they were all excited about. Then it would be time for school—and time for her family to leave the protection of the Marshall brothers and strike out on their own.