This Place Called Home: Includes Bonus Story! (Forget-Me-Not Ranch)

by Sara Richardson

Emery went to put the brushes back on the shelf, but the pony followed, nudging her butt with his head.

  “He wants us to keep brushing him,” Bri said with a giggle.

  “We’ve already brushed him for a half hour.” They’d combed him first, then sponged him down, then brushed him, and it still wasn’t enough.

  She’d never seen such a high-maintenance animal. “Sorry boy.” Emery gave him a good scratching. “But we have to head down for breakfast.” She’d heard Nash’s truck rumble up the driveway a few minutes ago, which meant Kyler was back too.

  There went her smile again. “Come on, Bri.” She tucked the girl under her arm. “Let’s go see if we can help Mack get breakfast on the table.”

  “Okay.” The girl planted a kiss on the pony’s nose and then let Emery lead her out the door. “Uncle Kyler said we might move here,” she said as they stepped outside.

  Cupid came running to greet them. He’d probably been hunting rabbits in the meadow. Not that he’d ever caught one.

  “Oh wow.” She pretended to be surprised by the girl’s revelation, even though she’d thought about the possibility of Kyler moving here all night long. “And how would you feel about that?”

  “I would be so happy.” Bri smiled up at her. “I hope we can. Then we can be with you and Cookie and Cupid, and Miss Agatha and Miss Mack and Mr. Nash all the time.”

  “That would be wonderful.” How long would it last for her though? If Nick was looking for her, he wouldn’t give up. He knew she’d reported the assault. And he’d promised he would find her…

  “There you are.” Kyler strode up the driveway and met them.

  Of course, Cupid did his happy dance, wiggling his whole backside as he wagged his tail. Emery felt the same way, though she couldn’t exactly run into his arms with his niece right next to them.

  “Uncle Kyler!” Bri hugged him tight. “I rode Cookie for a really long time and then we gave him a bath and brushed him.”

  “Wow.”

  Emery loved how he gave his niece his undivided attention when she spoke to him. “Sounds like you two have gotten a whole day’s worth of work in already.”

  “But we have more to do this afternoon, right Miss Emery?” She took Emery’s hand and then took Kyler’s hand and the three of them continued down the driveway with Cupid weaving between them.

  “We still have to feed the kittens and play with the goats because they need exercise and Emery promised she would show me how to ride one of the big horses later.”

  “Sounds like a full day.” Kyler glanced at Emery over his niece’s head and melted her heart with a grin.

  Thanks to him, she’d gone from having a heart of steel to having a heart of fluff in the span of only a few days.

  Just before they reached the porch steps, Kyler paused and knelt in front of his niece. “Why don’t you run in and wash your hands real good for me? I need to talk to Emery for a few minutes.”

  Talk to her? Or kiss her? She wouldn’t mind doing a little bit of both.

  “Okay!” Bri jogged up the porch steps. “Come on, Cupid. Come on, boy. Let’s go get some bacon.”

  “Not too much bacon,” Emery said with a laugh.

  The two of them disappeared into the house while Kyler faced her.

  “What did you want to talk about?” She rested her hands on his chest, ready for him to tease her or kiss her, but his weighted expression snuffed out the warm glow inside of her. “What’s wrong?”

  Kyler took her hand and guided her to sit down on the porch steps next to him. “When Nash I were in town, I went to see that private investigator who’s looking for you.”

  “What?” She gaped at him. Was he serious? “Why would you do that?”

  “I wanted to talk to him,” Kyler said in the same gentle voice he used on Bri. “To see if we could figure out if Nick really hired him to find you.”

  Emery pushed off the steps, her blood alternating between hot and cold. She hadn’t thought about Nick this much in years. She’d blocked it all out of her mind. But now he seemed close again, and it sent her fear spiraling.

  “It’s good news, Em.” Kyler stood too. “Nick didn’t hire him to find you.”

  He approached her, but she backed up. She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe she’d told Kyler her secret.

  “There are a group of female veterans who want to bring Nick down. Somehow, they found out you were under his command before you were discharged, and they want you to be a part of bringing him to justice.”

  “Justice? Justice?” She’d already tried to report him, to get justice for herself, and it had failed miserably. That haunted her every bit as much as the assault itself.

  She’d been made to feel like she’d done something wrong when they’d gotten rid of her, like it was her fault it had happened.

  “You had no right to do this.” Her voice shook. “You had no right to talk to him without my permission.” He’d taken away her control, her power in the situation.

  “I was trying to help.” He reached out his arms as though he wanted to touch her, but he seemed to know better. “We can fix this. You won’t have to be afraid anymore.”

  “I didn’t tell you about the biggest trauma in my life so you could fix it,” she spat. “I don’t want to go back. I can’t go back.”

  She’d already moved forward, and even just the thought of having to look at Nick, let alone sit in a courtroom and relive every horrid detail in front of everyone, made her want to drop to her knees and vomit.

  “Emery…this is your chance.” His eyes begged her. “Don’t you see that? If you help them bring Nick down, you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  That statement right there proved he didn’t understand. He would never understand. “I will always feel the impact of what that man did to me, whether he’s in prison or not. It will never go away.”

  That scar would remain on her soul for the rest of her life.

  “I know.” A defeated sigh lowered his shoulders. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.” He shook his head and walked away a few steps before turning back to face her. “Let me at least take you to talk to him. We can do it together—”

  No. They wouldn’t be doing anything together. Not after this. “I don’t want to talk to him. I’m not interested.”

  The front door opened and Agatha poked her head through. “There you two are. Breakfast is on. Don’t want that marvelous egg casserole to go cold, do we?”

  Kyler wouldn’t take his eyes off Emery. “We’ll be in soon.”

  “I’m not hungry.” She turned and walked away.

  “Wait.” He followed her, so she walked faster.

  “I need space.” She needed time to pack up her things and get out of here. Now that Kyler had given her away, it was only a matter of time until the private investigator came looking again.

  The footsteps behind her stopped, but she refused to turn around and look at the man. She wouldn’t be able to see him through the tears anyway.

  She knew better than to let her heart get attached and yet she’d done it anyway.

  That would make it all the more painful to leave.

  Usually there were no blues a good fishing trip couldn’t cure, but Kyler couldn’t seem to focus on the trout.

  Even sitting out on the pond in Nash’s canoe, with the sun shining on his face and the mountains looking perfect in the distance and Bri humming a sweet song, he couldn’t seem to inhale a deep breath.

  “I don’t like touching the worms,” his niece informed him, peering into the carton they’d picked up at the bait shop in town. “They’re slimy and gross.”

  “You might change your mind when you see the fish they help you catch.” He tried to smile at her, but it likely fell flat.

  After Emery had asked him for space earlier, he had no choice but to give it to her. He didn’t want to be forceful, didn’t want to run her off, and yet he felt this desperation to find her so he could tell her what he�
��d realized the moment she’d walked away from him.

  He was falling in love with her.

  He hadn’t known her long, and they still had a lot to discover about each other, but he knew. He wanted to be with her. Now he might not get the chance.

  “What’s wrong, Uncle Kyler?”

  He realized he was still holding the worm between his fingers.

  Right. He had to actually put it on the hook and teach Bri how to cast the fishing pole.

  He’d spent all day with his niece trying to drown out his regrets about how he’d handled things with Emery.

  She’d made a good point. He shouldn’t have gone to talk to the investigator without her permission. He should’ve given her say in that decision. It wasn’t his to make.

  “You seem sad,” his niece reached over and patted his knee. “Is it because Miss Emery didn’t eat breakfast with us? Where’d she go? I haven’t seen her all day.”

  “I’m not sure where she went.” When they’d come back from picking up the bait, he’d noticed her truck was gone. “She’s probably running some errands. I’m sure we’ll see her for dinner.”

  He tried to sound more hopeful than he felt. If their last conversation was any indication, Emery didn’t wouldn’t want to see him, let alone talk to him.

  But he couldn’t burden Bri with his mistakes.

  “Okay, small pint.” He got the worm secured on the hook and handed her the pink Barbie fishing pole they’d picked up at a gas station.

  “To cast this baby out there, all you have to do is push this button right here.” He showed her the white lever on the pole. “And then fling it out like this.” He helped her make the casting motion, and the worm went hurtling out into the water.

  “Then we sit and wait while we watch the bobber.” He pointed to the bubble sitting on the surface about ten feet away. Who knew they made pink bobbers?

  “We have to wait?” Based on the scowl on her face, Bri hadn’t anticipated that patience would be part of this process.

  “I’m afraid so. We have to wait for the fish to bite the worm.” He knew from past experience that could take a while.

  “Wait.” The girl’s eyes popped open wider. “The fish eat the worm? Oh no! The poor worm!”

  Despite the heavy rock of regret sitting in his gut, Kyler had to smile. Maybe he should’ve done a better job explaining how this fishing thing worked. “I thought you didn’t like worms.”

  “I don’t but that doesn’t mean the poor little wormy should have to die.” She started to turn the crank on the fishing pole, reeling the line back in. “It’s okay little guy! I’ll save you!”

  “You have a big heart, Bri.” He couldn’t wait to see what she would do with it someday. Even with all she’d been through, she was still kind and compassionate.

  “You have a big heart too,” the girl told him, setting aside the fishing pole. “Do you love Emery?”

  Eventually he’d likely get used to questions coming out of the blue, having a kid around and all, but this one took him off guard. He considered the best answer.

  “Because it sure looks like you love her. You stare at her a lot,” she said before he could come up with something.

  “I guess I do.”

  “She stares at you a lot too,” his niece informed him. “So even if she’s mad at you, I think she’ll still like you.”

  “Thanks.” It seemed his niece was more perceptive than he’d given her credit for. And maybe more optimistic than him as well.

  “Kyler!” Agatha frantically waved at them from the dock on the other side of the pond. “Have you talked to Emery?”

  “No!” his niece yelled, answering for him. “She’s mad at him!”

  Leave it to kids to tell things like they really were. He started to row back to the dock.

  “Did she tell you where she was going?” Agatha asked when they pulled up alongside her. He’d never seen that worried frown on her face before.

  “Because her stuff is gone. All of it. She must’ve cleaned out her room while I was running errands earlier.

  “She’s gone?” She couldn’t be. Not that fast. Not without at least telling him and Bri goodbye. “There’s got to be a mistake—”

  “Her clothes are gone. Her suitcases…Cupid…” The older woman looked at him helplessly. “I don’t know where she would go. This was her home. I told her it could be her home as long as she wanted it to be.”

  But then he’d gone and scared her away. “She couldn’t have gotten too far.” He helped Bri climb out of the boat and then made it to the dock, adrenaline coursing through him.

  “I don’t understand.” Bri grabbed his hand as though she needed reassurance. “Why would she leave without telling us goodbye?”

  “She’s afraid, honey.” Instead of easing her fears, he’d fueled them. “But we’ll look for her.”

  He couldn’t just let her go, let her keep running. “We can drive around. Maybe go in opposite directions.” He and Agatha and Bri hurried across the dock to the meadow.

  “Agatha, you can drive east, and I’ll drive west.” He would follow the same path they’d taken up the pass. “Maybe she’s still nearby.”

  Maybe it wasn’t too late for him to tell her how much he cared about her.

  Chapter 11

  Cupid whined at Emery from the passenger’s seat.

  “Don’t look at me like that.” She couldn’t face those puppy dog eyes right now. “I don’t have a choice, buddy.”

  All afternoon, she’d run on adrenaline, waiting until Agatha left to go through her room and box up her few belongings.

  But now that she’d made it thirty miles away from from the ranch, the sadness and despair had started to settle in.

  Despite her best efforts to remain independent, Agatha had become like a mother to her. Nash and Mack like her siblings. Bri had been her friend, and Kyler…she hadn’t known her heart was capable of expanding that way.

  “He asked too much of me though,” she told her dog. She wanted simplicity, anonymity. The truth was, she’d given up on justice a long time ago.

  They could try to take Nick down—all of them together—and there was still a chance that they would lose. That his impeccable military record would invalidate their claims.

  They could seek justice and lose.

  The dog whined again and rested his chin on his front paws as though resigning himself to their fate.

  “It will be okay.” The promise sounded empty, even to her. “We’ll figure things out.” She would go somewhere no one could find her. Not investigators, not Nick.

  She would simply start over again and someday her heart wouldn’t hurt this way. “It’s for the best,” she repeated willing herself to believe it.

  In front of her, the highway stretched out for miles—one thin line between two mountain ranges.

  She’d decided to head east—toward Denver—but now the vastness of what lay ahead made her feel small and alone.

  She’d always been fine being alone until she’d found herself at the Forget-Me-Not Ranch.

  A shudder coursed through her…or maybe through the truck. Emery glanced at the dashboard, feeling the steering wheel quake beneath her fingertips.

  Something wasn’t right…

  A clunking sound seemed to reverberate under her feet, and the whole truck lurched and gasped. No. Not here. Not now.

  Easing her foot onto the brakes, she carefully steered the truck off onto the shoulder where it completely died.

  This time it wasn’t just the starter. From the sound of things, the engine had finally given out.

  Cupid whined and scratched against the door, trying the handle. Emery unlocked it and the dog let himself out of the truck.

  She climbed out too, the dread thick in her chest. She couldn’t fix something like this with a few taps of the hammer.

  “Ahh!” She screamed into the wind and kicked the truck’s tire. Why had Nick taken so much from her? Why had he ruined her?

>   She kicked the tire again and again and again, releasing her anger, her fury, her anguish. Why was he still doing this to her? Making her run? Making her hide?

  Cupid howled, standing up on his hind legs so that his front paws came to her shoulders like he was hugging her.

  Emery wrapped her arms around the dog and crumbled to the dirt in a crying heap. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” She wasn’t as strong as she pretended to be. Maybe it was her fragility that scared her the most.

  The sound of a car in the distance lifted her head. Rising to her knees, Emery watched a familiar SUV move closer and closer until her salvation was there.

  Agatha got out of the car. Agatha with her long braids and tattered overalls and her colorful rubber boots.

  Before a word could even escape Emery’s lips, the woman’s arms came around her, holding her together.

  “Oh, my poor sweet, Em,” she murmured, exactly like a mother would. “Everything will be all right, beautiful girl. You’ll see.”

  She peeked up at the angel who’d give her a lifeline more than once before. The angel who always seemed to know when she was about to fall. “Why do you believe that?” she asked.

  “Because when it comes down to it, faith is all any of us really has.” The woman helped her up off the ground, supporting her with an arm around her waist.

  “Everything else can be taken away from us. We can be wounded and hurt. But faith will hold us together. Even if you’ve lost yours. I have enough for us both.”

  “I did lose mine.” She’d lost her faith in love as a little girl. She’d lost her faith in justice. She’d lost her faith in herself.

  Agatha led her to the passenger’s seat of her SUV and then opened the backdoor for Cupid.

  Emery tried to settle herself, but she couldn’t seem to staunch the steady flow of tears.

  When Agatha got into the car, Emery turned to her and let everything come out. Her story. Her pain. Her secrets. The woman sat and listened with a calm presence.

  “I’m too afraid to fight,” Emery told her. That was the truth. She hadn’t been angry with Kyler for talking to the investigator. She’d given in to her fears again.