Second Chance Rancher

by Brenda Minton

  “It won’t be easy.”

  Maria gave a watery laugh. “You’ve got that right. And you don’t have to lecture me. I lecture myself every day. I knew better. I should have made better choices. It’s easy to say those things now, when it’s too late to go back. But what do I do about tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow you do your best. Each day you make choices and live with the consequences but you do your best. If I could go back and undo choices I made in the past, I would. But I can’t. And so I live with it. But a baby, that’s a life. And you’ll treasure that life, no matter what.”

  “I don’t want to keep the baby, Luce,” Maria whispered.

  Dane quietly got out of the truck and removed Issy from her seat. He grabbed Issy’s doll and closed the truck door, leaving them alone.

  “So what do you plan?” Lucy asked. It came out harsher than she intended.

  “Oh, not that!” Maria swiped at her face with the palm of her hand, brushing away more tears that escaped. “I’m having the baby. But I meant it when I said I want to give it up for adoption. I want this baby to have two parents. Not a girl just out of high school. Maybe we can find some nice couple and they’ll be amazing and she’ll be happy. Because I think it’s a she. And I want her to be someone’s little princess the way Issy is Dane’s.”

  “If you keep her, she’ll be a princess.”

  Maria sighed. “Yes, that’s true. I know girls younger than me have babies and they do just fine. But I don’t think that’s the right choice for me. I want your support in this, Luce.”

  “You’ve got it. Whatever you decide, I’m here.”

  “Here, as in staying in Bluebonnet?”

  That took Lucy by surprise.

  The silence went on and on, while Maria waited for an answer. Only Lucy didn’t know what to say. Maria finally opened the truck door to get out. “Right. I didn’t think so.”

  Lucy caught up with her sister as they crossed the parking lot. “I didn’t say I’m not staying. We were talking about choices. I have to make decisions, Maria. I have a business to consider. I never thought that Bluebonnet Springs would be my home or my life. I never dreamed I would want to be back on the ranch.”

  “I know. You’re only here for me. But I don’t want to force you to stay. And does it really matter? I’m going to college. I might decide to settle somewhere else. It would just be nice to have you at the house.”

  “I might have to go away for a few days at a time, but no matter what I’m not going to leave before the baby is born,” Lucy assured her little sister.

  Maria blew out a sigh. “I’m sorry for doing this to you. Pregnancy makes me cranky. And really, it should be Mom with me.”

  “But I am here and we’ll figure this out,” Lucy answered, giving her sister a quick hug.

  With nothing settled, they both joined Dane in the lobby of the doctor’s office.

  * * *

  While Lucy and Maria filled out some paperwork, Dane sat in a corner of the waiting area. Issy sat next to him talking to her doll. He smiled down at his little girl, her unruly blond curls controlled by a hair band.

  His phone rang and he glanced at it. The caller ID showed his real estate agent’s number. Dane had to answer, even if he didn’t want to. He held the phone up, getting Lucy’s attention, and then he pointed to Issy. She nodded and headed their way.

  “I’ve got to take this.”

  “We’ll be fine. If you’re not back, we’ll take her in with us.”

  “Thanks,” he said as he headed for the door. He answered as he walked out into the heat of early morning. “Jeff, what can I do for you?”

  “I’ve got an offer.” The Realtor sounded like a man who knew he was about to make a lot of money.

  “Okay.”

  “You’re having second thoughts?”

  Dane walked down the sidewalk. “Not really.”

  But he was having second thoughts. He was having third and fourth thoughts, too. He reminded himself that he was doing this for Issy, then he questioned himself because would she really be better off in Austin, away from the ranch and from people she’d always known?

  He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he knew that Lucy Palermo had something to do with his second thoughts on the sale. That was a mistake, because he had to make the best decision for Issy.

  “Dane, you don’t have to do this.”

  “I know. But I’ll listen to the offer.”

  “That’s all I ask. If you don’t want to take it, you don’t have to. But if you’re changing your mind about selling, I need to know that pretty soon because I can’t keep showing the property, and then telling buyers it isn’t really for sale.”

  “No, I know you can’t. Email me the offer.”

  “Will do.”

  Dane walked back inside. Lucy was sitting with Issy. Maria was gone. He sat next to her and his daughter instantly climbed from her lap to his.

  “Maria go in?” he asked.

  “Yeah. She wanted to do this alone. She says she doesn’t want to keep the baby. She wants to find a couple who will adopt it.”

  “That’s a big decision.”

  Lucy closed her eyes. “Yeah, it is. Sometimes I feel like she’s the most mature member of our family. She’s been through a lot but she’s solid.”

  “She didn’t have to live it the way you and the boys did.”

  “No, I guess not.”

  They sat there in silence until he couldn’t take it any longer. He had questions. He wanted answers and he knew it wasn’t really his business. She wasn’t his business. But she needed someone to care. She needed to feel like she was more than the person who came to the rescue of her family.

  “Johnny Cash?” he asked as Issy curled into his shoulder and dozed.

  “Ah, you had to bring that up, didn’t you?”

  “You don’t have to tell me if you really don’t want to.”

  She lifted one shoulder as if it didn’t matter. “My dad’s favorite form of punishment. After he caught us together, he locked me in the storage room in the stable.”

  The boarded-up room. He remained silent, not wanting to stop her from sharing.

  “For two days. With Johnny Cash on replay.”

  His insides tensed and he couldn’t say he’d ever felt anger like he felt at that moment. He’d told his parents they needed to go check on her. He’d tried but her dad had turned him away at the front gate to the property. Looking back, he should have done more. But he’d been a kid and the complications of a relationship with Lucy Palermo had been more than he’d been prepared for.

  “Don’t get that look on your face, Dane. The days of a big rescue attempt are in the past. You couldn’t have done anything, not even if you’d tried.”

  “I should have tried harder, though.”

  “What would you have done? My dad had people convinced he was decent, a good dad, a family man.”

  “No one was convinced of that.”

  She brushed it off. “You couldn’t have done anything. And I survived.”

  “I’m still sorry.”

  The door to the exam rooms opened, ending the conversation. A nurse stepped out, motioning for Lucy.

  “She’s having an ultrasound. She wants you back there.”

  Lucy stood but didn’t immediately walk away. She studied him and his daughter, a soft smile easing her expression. She leaned down, placed a hand on his cheek, then she kissed his forehead.

  The gesture stunned him.

  It was as unexpected as a snowstorm in April and as warm as a breeze off the Gulf Coast.

  * * *

  Lucy stepped into the darkened room with her sister. Maria was on the exam table looking small, tense and younger than her almost eighteen years. Sh
e gave Lucy a tight smile and wiggled fingers in a greeting before clasping her hands over her stomach.

  “Have a seat,” the technician offered as she typed information into the computer.

  Lucy took a seat on the rolling stool next to her sister. She studied the screen as images appeared and then blurred, reappearing again as the technician rolled the ultrasound wand across Maria’s belly.

  “There’s your baby’s heart.” The technician added an arrow to the picture on the monitor, pointing to the heart beating in the tiny body that rolled and moved inside the bubble on the screen.

  Maria clutched Lucy’s hand and Lucy used her other hand to dash away the few tears that trickled down her cheeks.

  “Look at those ears.” The technician grinned back at them.

  It took a few minutes. There were more arrows, pointing to fingers, eyes, the baby’s nose.

  “The baby looks healthy and everything seems to be fine with Mom.” The technician hit a button and printed out a few pictures that she handed to Maria. “You’ll do great.”

  Maria studied the pictures of a tiny body. “I’m going to have a baby.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  Maria reached for a tissue on a nearby table. “But it’s going to be someone else’s baby.”

  “Maria...”

  “Just pray about it.”

  As Maria slid off the table and slid her feet into her shoes, Lucy was thinking of Dane. She wanted to tell him about the baby, about its tiny fingers and big ears.

  Chapter Ten

  Bluebonnet wasn’t crowded when Lucy got there early the next morning. She easily found a parking space on Main Street. She had a prescription to pick up for Maria at the pharmacy. She also needed a few things from the grocery store and she thought she might get lunch at Essie’s. Tuesday was chicken and noodles at the café.

  As she walked down the sidewalk toward the feed store, Bea Maxwell joined her. The older woman had her hair shoved beneath a hairnet. She wore a floral housedress, knee-high socks and tennis shoes. But Lucy didn’t care what Bea wore, the older woman was like walking sunshine.

  “Lucy Palermo. Well, land’s sakes, girl, you have grown up and gotten prettier than Angus Bradford’s best mare. My goodness, that hair of yours shines like silk. Do you use something special on it? I tried using egg whites and mayonnaise on mine but it was hot out and it didn’t take too long before that stuff smelled rancid.”

  That would have been the moment to tell Bea that a concoction like eggs and mayo had to be rinsed out. But before she could, Bea had moved on to her next topic.

  “I heard tell your sister, Maria, is in the family way. Jaxon Williams said he isn’t going to marry her. And mercy me, I don’t think I would want my girl to marry Jaxon. If I had a girl. Which I never did. I haven’t even been married. I almost got married once, when I was a young girl. But my mama said I needed to stay home and take care of her like a good girl. So I did. I took care of my mama until she was eighty and losing her mind. She didn’t know left from right at the end.”

  Lucy put a hand on Bea’s arm and patted her gently, hoping the older woman would calm down a hair. Bea was simple—that’s what folks around Bluebonnet had always said. Lucy would beg to differ. If anyone asked her opinion, she would tell them Bea was just about the most complex woman she’d ever met. Nothing slipped past Bea.

  “Bea, are you working at Essie’s today?”

  The older woman could also cook better than anyone Lucy had ever met. She might be scatterbrained and need someone to keep her on task. But oh, could she cook.

  “Oh, yes I am. Are you going to eat lunch at the café? Your aunt said she doesn’t know that you’ll ever get your head screwed on straight. It’s your daddy’s fault, apparently.”

  Lucy bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smile. “Apparently.”

  “He had chairsisms.”

  “Charisma?”

  “That’s it. They say he could talk all nice and get anyone to believe him. And then they’d just hand over their money.”

  Bea slipped an arm around Lucy’s waist and pulled her close. She breathed through the contact, not wanting to offend Bea because she never meant any harm. But her arm had the strength of iron and she held Lucy tightly against her as they walked. Even as they went up the steps of the café, Bea held tight.

  “I’m sure glad you’re home,” Bea repeated as they entered the café. “Apparently you won’t stay. But I think you might. Because folks in Bluebonnet are real good people. Did you know those Helping Hands people came and mowed my lawn today? The church isn’t like it was when your daddy ran it. No, these days the people are real kind and they say the Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself and that we have to practice what the Bible tells us.”

  “Hey, neighbor,” a voice called out from behind her.

  Dane appeared at her side. He grinned at her and pulled off his sunglasses.

  “Why, Dane Scott, you sure are good-looking.” Bea whistled and gave him a once-over. “I sure like them Wrangler jeans you’re wearing. And did you know we’re supposed to love our neighbor?”

  “Why, yes, Bea, I was aware of that. Did you know that Lucy Palermo is my neighbor?”

  Bea whistled again. “That sure is awkward. I don’t think it means to love her like that, Dane. I reckon my mama wouldn’t have liked that kind of talk.”

  He kissed Bea on the cheek and she turned bright red.

  “Bea, I do apologize.”

  Bea walked off muttering about sin and good-looking men.

  “Are you having lunch?” Dane asked, tagging along as Lucy headed for a table.

  “I am having lunch. Are you here to cause trouble?” She sat down and he parked himself across from her.

  “I’m not here to cause trouble.” He picked up a menu and glanced over it. “I just thought I’d be neighborly. Isn’t that what Bea was talking about?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  The front door opened and several men entered the restaurant. Bea hurried out of the kitchen to greet them. Lucy closed her eyes.

  “Wait for it. Wait for it,” Dane said with a wide grin on his face.

  “Stop it.”

  “Pastor Matthews!” Bea hurried to the pastor’s side. “Did you know that Dane loves his neighbor? I think you should talk to him about that verse because you say that we aren’t to use God’s word inappropriately, for our own purpose.”

  Lucy made eye contact with the man across from her. “I tried to warn you.”

  He pointed to himself and made a mockery of looking chastised. “I still think she is misinterpreting what I meant.”

  Lucy pointed at him. “Quiet, you.”

  Pastor Matthews, Chet and several others picked the table next to Lucy and Dane. She skewered him with a look that she hoped would keep him quiet.

  “Dane, it seems we need to discuss the meaning of the verse ‘Love thy neighbor.’” Pastor Matthews looked from Dane to Lucy. “To interpret that correctly, we need to care about the people that come into our lives. We need to show compassion and charity.”

  “Pastor, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. Lucy, could I buy you lunch?”

  “No.”

  Dane raised his hands in defeat. “Do you see? I tried to show charity.”

  Pastor Matthews grinned big and Lucy knew from that look that Dane had fallen into a trap of his own making.

  “It’s good that you’re feeling charitable,” the pastor started. “We’ve been mowing lawns for some people who are unable. After lunch I’m heading back to the shelter to work on the stair railing outside. It’s loose and I wouldn’t want someone to grab hold of it and fall. A guy with a charitable nature might want to help out.”

  Dane glanced at his watch. “I’ve got Doc Adams at
my place this afternoon to work calves but I’m game to help if you need my lack of expertise.”

  The pastor winked at Lucy, then he got out of his chair and joined them. “You know I’ll take whatever labor I can find.”

  The pastor put a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened beneath his touch. Dane caught and held her gaze, his expression going soft and kind.

  “Lucy, I wanted to thank you for the work on the security system. It definitely works. It was set and I forgot about it.”

  “Caught you by surprise, did it?” Dane asked, his gaze still focused on Lucy.

  “It did. But we know it works, and so do the county deputies.” As the pastor glanced back at the table of men he’d come in with, his hand slipped off her shoulder. “I’d best get over there and keep those men out of trouble. I think I just heard Essie growl at one of them.”

  “Always best to stay on her good side,” Dane offered.

  “I’m always good to the person cooking my food. Dane, I’ll see you later. Lucy, again, I appreciate your help.”

  The pastor walked away. Dane picked up the menu and quickly scanned it, even though he knew the offerings like the back of his hand. “You okay?”

  Lucy turned her coffee cup right side up for the waitress, who was making a beeline for their table.

  “Of course I am.”

  The waitress filled their coffee cups and left. Essie joined them, her hair pulled back but strands coming loose and curling around her face. She looked frazzled but Lucy wasn’t about to point that out. With a sigh, Lucy’s aunt sat down.

  “Goodness, they didn’t even wipe this table down.” She swiped crumbs into her hand. “Lucy, what are you having?”

  Lucy glanced up at the whiteboard near the register. The daily specials were written in red marker. Desserts were written in black.

  “Pecan pie,” she said. “And an order of fries.”

  “That isn’t lunch!” Her aunt didn’t look at all amused. “A chef salad it is.”