Second Chance Rancher

by Brenda Minton

  She loved her work. She’d spent the last few years building a business that she’d never planned to walk away from. It was going to be her life, this business. For years the ranch had been an afterthought, the place she least wanted to be. Her family had become strangers to her.

  That call from Aunt Essie a month ago had changed everything.

  * * *

  When she opened the door to her apartment in Austin she knew something wasn’t right. She stood in the hall and withdrew her gun from the holster. With cautious steps she peered through the opening, and then she stepped inside. The lights were on. The television was blaring. Something was burning.

  She stepped into the kitchen, where a pan had been left on the burner. Something black and fried beyond recognition sizzled in the pan. She turned it off and walked through the apartment. She went room to room, checking closets, under furniture, behind curtains.

  The apartment was empty. But she wasn’t imagining that someone had been there. Someone had left the pan on the stove. Someone had turned on lights. But who?

  Lucy dialed her phone. Because she needed a friend, and in the last few weeks she’d realized she had few people in her life that fit that role. She needed to talk this out with someone.

  A month ago she would have called Daron or Boone. But things had changed. In the past year they’d married and weren’t as accessible as they used to be. And tonight the first person she thought of was Dane.

  “Hey, neighbor.” Dane’s voice was strong and familiar, and as soon as she heard it, she cried.

  * * *

  Dane drove over to the Palermo ranch the next morning. He and Lucy had talked for almost two hours the previous evening. He’d stayed on the phone with her as she drove home. She’d finished the job in Austin, and she said she just wanted to get back to Bluebonnet.

  Last night she’d sounded like someone who really needed another person to lean on. He didn’t know how she’d feel in the light of day.

  “Daddy, is Lucy home?” Issy asked as he parked the truck.

  “Yes, she’s home.” He spotted her in the arena. She was working the grullo horse from the Murrays. When she decided to do something, she didn’t waste time. She must have gone and bought the horse that morning.

  He helped Issy out of her car seat and she pushed at him a little when he tried to lift her into his arms.

  “I can do it,” she said. She wanted to walk. Apparently she didn’t want to be carried through life. He got it. It wasn’t easy but he could let go.

  “I know you can do it, honey.” He put her down and held her hand.

  She stopped, cocking her head to listen. “Where is Lucy?”

  “She’s riding a horse in the arena.”

  “A big horse?” she asked with such a hopeful tone that he knew she wondered if Lucy might have the pony out.

  “Yes, a big horse.”

  She sighed and tilted her head down, dejected.

  “I’ll see if she can bring Cobalt out for you to pet,” he offered.

  Her face brightened, and she nodded as she hurried along at his side.

  Lucy saw them coming. She eased back on the reins and spoke to the horse. The animal, the softest gray with a hint of brown, slowed its pace. With minimal use of reins, she turned the horse toward the stable.

  “Hey, you two,” she called out as she slid to the ground in a graceful, fluid motion.

  “Daddy said you might get the pony out.” Issy tugged on his hand and he raised his gaze to meet Lucy’s.

  “Did he? Well, it just so happens that little pony is in the back corral and really wishing he could spend time with someone. But before we do that, would you like to ride Lolly here?”

  “I don’t know,” Dane said, because his daughter on a horse might be more than his heart could take.

  “Trust me,” Lucy said softly with a hint of a smile on her face.

  He wanted to say the same. But maybe that phone call last night had been a first step.

  She waited for him to make the decision. He nodded and she scooped his daughter up, making her giggle. He remained silent, although he desperately wanted to tell her to be careful. Instead he moved to the fence, where he could watch them.

  “I’m going to put you on first,” Lucy told his daughter. “Hold on.”

  She put Issy’s hands on the pommel of the saddle. The mare didn’t move. She didn’t flinch. With attentive ears she waited for her new owner’s command.

  Lucy put her left foot in the stirrup and swung her right leg over the mare’s back. She settled behind Issy and wrapped her arms around his daughter. And then she put the reins in Issy’s hands. Dane moved to the gate. He watched as the horse and riders made a lap around the arena. When they picked up speed, he heard his daughter’s giggles and watched her turn in the saddle to tell Lucy something that made them both laugh.

  The ride lasted only a few minutes.

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Lucy asked him, not his daughter.

  “No, not so bad.”

  “She’s going to help me brush Lolly, and then we’ll get Cobalt. Unless you want to get the pony while we take care of Lolly?”

  “I’ll get the pony.” He watched as the two of them led the big mare to the stable. After they were out of sight he headed for the back corral, where Cobalt was busy rolling in thick grass. He whistled and the pony came to his feet, shook himself from head to tail, then trotted to the fence.

  When he led the pony into the stable, Lucy was putting her new mare back into a stall. Maria had joined them. She rested her hand on her belly and knelt down to talk to Issy. The three of them looked up when he approached with the pony.

  “Hey, it’s Cobalt,” Maria called out. Issy clapped her hands at the announcement.

  “Let me get his bridle and saddle,” Lucy said as she opened the tack room door. But Dane saw her gaze slide to that room she’d left empty, even though she’d removed the boards that she’d hammered over the entrance.

  “After Issy rides Cobalt, can she come to the house with me?” Maria asked. “I’m making cookies.”

  “Can I, Daddy?” She reached for Maria. “Chocolate chip?”

  “Yes, chocolate chip,” Maria answered as she took a seat on an overturned bucket. She grimaced as she sat down and he wondered if she was okay. He would mention it to Lucy. Because someone needed to watch over her.

  “Daddy, chocolate chip!” She reminded him that she still needed an answer.

  “Yes, Issy, you may go with Maria.”

  A few minutes later she forgot all about chocolate chip cookies as she straddled Cobalt and Lucy handed her the reins. He followed along behind them as Lucy taught his daughter how to ride the pony. He wanted to remind her that Isabelle wasn’t yet four. She was his only child. She couldn’t see.

  But Issy was giggling and Lucy appeared carefree. Maybe they both needed this moment. One of them needed to be a child and the other needed to let go and not worry.

  They made their way over to the arena. Maria didn’t follow; she said she was happy sitting on that bucket. She would wait for them there.

  “Lucy, can we go fast?” Issy asked, trying to use the reins to encourage the pony to a faster pace. She had ridden with him a few times. And she’d paid attention.

  “No, we can’t run fast.” He and Lucy answered the same thing at the same time.

  “Okay, no running.” Issy sighed; the sound couldn’t have been more pathetic. She wanted her disappointment to be obvious.

  “But you’re riding your very own pony,” Lucy reminded her as they walked along the edge of the arena.

  “My very own?” Issy asked.

  Lucy avoided looking his way and she didn’t answer his daughter. But he should have known.

  “Do you want to feel him t
rot?” Lucy asked to distract her, he was sure.

  “Yes, please.”

  She led the pony back toward the stable and the plucky little animal gave them his best trot. Lucy held tight to Issy, talking to her the entire time. Dane stood at the gate. His daughter was having fun and she was safe. He was letting go. But it wasn’t easy.

  When they got back to the stable, he helped his daughter off the pony. A wide grin lit up her little face and she hugged him with all her might. She’d ridden her first pony. And Maria was waiting to take her to make chocolate chip cookies.

  Life at this moment was good.

  After Issy left with Maria, he gave Lucy his full attention. She was busy brushing the pony, pretending it was natural that she’d come home in the middle of the night, that they’d talked the whole drive home, and that at times she’d been tearful.

  “What happened?” he asked. It had to be something major because Lucy had called him. She’d been crying.

  She shook her head as she unhooked the pony’s lead rope from the rings on the side of the stable.

  “Someone was in my apartment.”

  She hadn’t said a word about it the previous evening. She’d only told him she needed to talk.

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. They left lights on and put a pan on the stove. I’m assuming they wanted me to know they’d been there.”

  He put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched beneath his touch. Her gaze lingered on that room. He wondered if the intruder had something to do with her past.

  He leaned to kiss her cheek from behind. She leaned back against him, her head tucked safely under his chin. For several minutes they stood like that in the quiet of the stable. Rain started to fall and a breeze blew through. Lucy shivered and he held her a little closer.

  “I came home because I didn’t know what to do,” she finally said.

  “About the person in your apartment?”

  “About that and other things.” She sighed, a soft sound that vibrated through him. “About the ranch. About Maria. About us. I always know what to do.”

  So there was an “us.” He had started to think so. But he was as confused as she was. He knew who he was without her. He didn’t know who he was with her. Or to her.

  “Us.” He let the word slip out in the silence of the stable. She nodded, although her back was to him and her head was still tucked beneath his chin.

  “I never saw myself as part of an ‘us.’” She said it as if it was her last confession. “I still have trouble being a part of this, of us. I’m standing here in your arms and it feels so right. But it feels so scary, too. Like you could just take hold...”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll never hurt you, Lucy. Never,” he said.

  “But you might. Because what happens when I go back to work. What happens when you sell the ranch? There are so many unknowns. What if I can’t be the person who stays in one place, and who’s happy being a wife and mother?”

  Ah, now she was tapping into all his fears.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  She was right; he could hurt her. She could hurt him, too. They could hurt Issy.

  But first things first—they had to figure out who had been in her apartment.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A week later Maria reminded her that she had a doctor’s appointment. They arrived early, checked in with the receptionist, and then sat down to wait.

  “I’m sorry that you have to stay in Bluebonnet,” Maria said as they waited.

  Lucy looked up from the magazine she’d been flipping through. “Is that what you think? I’m not sorry, Maria.”

  “I don’t know what to think anymore,” Maria said, her gaze focused on the window and the parking lot. “I know you have a lot of reasons why you don’t want to be here. Why you’d rather be in Austin. I know you don’t want to stay.”

  “It isn’t that simple,” Lucy told her sister, setting the magazine back on the table. “I will admit that I hadn’t thought about coming home. I have a business and friends in Austin. But I have family here. You are my family.”

  “What about Dane?” her sister asked with a hint of humor flashing in her toffee-colored eyes.

  “Dane is a friend. That’s all.”

  “Right, okay. A friend that you’re constantly with. His daughter loves you. The two of you are working together at the shelter.”

  “I’d rather not discuss this,” she said, shaking her head. “There isn’t a relationship. We’re friends.”

  The receptionist called Maria’s name and saved Lucy from further discussion. She followed her sister back to the exam room, where a nurse explained that they would be doing the ultrasound. She explained the procedure and Maria nodded the entire time, her face lighting up as she took in the magnitude of this moment.

  As she stretched out on the exam table for the ultrasound, Maria reached for Lucy’s hand. “Today this bump becomes somebody. A little boy or a little girl.”

  “I know.” Maria focused on the screen as the technician started the ultrasound. “It has a face and hands. And feet. It’s a tiny person.”

  Lucy was nearly speechless as a little person came into view on the screen. A tiny face. Tiny fingers.

  “It’s a girl,” the technician announced with a smile.

  Maria looked at Lucy. “I told you.”

  Maria squeezed her little sister’s hand. “Yes, you did.”

  “Raise her for me,” Maria whispered. “Be her mom, Lucy. You’ll be a good mom. I’m still a kid. I can’t do this.”

  “I’ll be here for you.”

  Maria shook her head. “No, you won’t. But I want you to be there for her.”

  “Maria, we’ll talk about this later.”

  The technician gave them a soft and sympathetic smile as she turned off the machine and told Maria she was all done. Maria sat up, visibly doing her best to pull herself together. She wiped her face with a tissue the nurse had given her and then she hopped down from the exam table. Without a look back, she walked out of the room.

  Lucy let her go, giving her a few minutes to calm down. When she came into the waiting room, she discovered that Maria was already outside. She was sitting on a bench at the front of the building, the tissue still in her hand. Lucy sat down next to her.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Maria told her.

  “I know. I’m sorry for doing that to you. It wasn’t fair. None of this is fair. Not really. You planned on going to college to be a doctor. I planned on building up my business. We both made choices because we had to do what was best for other people. I am here for you. You’re having this baby because you’re giving her a life. And the rest will work itself out.”

  “Right, of course it will. But when it’s all said and done, where will this journey take us? All because of one really stupid mistake on my part. I’m changing all of our lives because I messed up.”

  “You didn’t mess up, Maria. Look at it this way—the two of us have gotten closer. I’ve learned that church isn’t all bad. You have adults you can turn to for help.”

  “Thank you,” Maria said, leaning against her. “I’m glad we’ve gotten to know each other better. And I’m glad this bump is a girl.” She touched her stomach.

  “Stop it.” Lucy laughed as she got up and pulled her sister to her feet. “You have to give her a name.”

  Maria shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to name her, and then have to give her up.”

  “You’re serious about giving her up?”

  “I am,” Maria said with conviction. “I’ve made mistakes but giving her up is not a mistake. It’s one thing that feels right. I’ve prayed about it, Lucy. I’ve made peace with this decision.”

  “You k
now I’ll support you whatever you decide to do.” Lucy opened her truck door and waited for Maria to get in. “I want you to know, I’m proud of you.”

  Maria laughed. “Thanks. I’m proud of me, too. Let’s get this show on the road. I’m starving and the only thing that sounds good is that fruit dip you made last night. I can’t get enough of that stuff.”

  “Must be the pregnancy.”

  “I guess. But at least it’s healthy.”

  Lucy shook her head at that. “Fruit dip being healthy is debatable.”

  They were just a few miles out of Bluebonnet when Lucy’s phone rang. She saw Dane’s name on the caller ID.

  “Hey, what’s up?” She motioned to her sister to turn down the radio. It had been a fight to and from the doctor’s office. Maria liked pop music. Lucy was country all the way.

  “Are you all on your way home?”

  “Yes. Why?” She hesitated to ask. “What’s happened?”

  “There’s been a fire.”

  “A fire?”

  “At the church. They put it out before it could do any major damage.”

  “Any clues as to who did it?”

  “None. But whoever it was, they knew the code and deactivated the security system.”

  “We have a list of people who have that code,” Lucy said.

  “Yes, they’re questioning people now.”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Be careful. And, Lucy, I think you should tell the police about the break-in at your apartment. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”

  She agreed. “You’re right. And there have been other incidents that I’ve ignored. We’ll talk when I get back to town.”

  How had she not seen this? She provided security for a living and she had ignored the signs. She’d ignored the boards ripped off that room. She’d ignored that someone had been in the house.

  No more ignoring.

  “Do you know who did it?” Maria asked.

  “I don’t have a clue.” She focused on the road and shook her head. “That isn’t true. There is a clue. It’s someone with the code. Someone from the church.”