Flint laughed at the question, but his smile was genuinely friendly. “The Triple C is a big spread. The house has three wings. There are plenty of buildings. And there’s room to grow.”
Beatrice got up to make copies of the list of names. “And that property is going to be our new ranch. I’m just not willing to give up on this. Every day I get a call from the state. There aren’t enough foster homes or residential facilities. Macy put Colby on the list last winter, and it took us several months to get him a bed. It breaks my heart each time we have to turn away a child in need of a home, or counseling.”
Tanner stopped behind Beatrice and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We won’t let you down, Bea.”
He took one of the papers she’d copied and returned to his seat. Macy pulled out her phone and typed the name Avery Culpepper into the search engine. A slew of entries appeared. She held the phone up for the others to see.
“It isn’t going to be easy, but it won’t be that difficult. There are dozens of hits for the name Avery Culpepper. I’m sure you’ll have the same experience with your names. And then it’s a matter of tracking down the correct person.”
“I hope it’s that easy,” Flint grumbled.
“Me, too.” Bea stood. “I’m not sure what else we can do here today. I have a dozen boys waiting to be fed, and I guess some kind of chaos Tanner created before we left.”
Tanner grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I do, create chaos. But the kid whisperer, Macy, calmed them all down with a story.”
Kid whisperer. She wished that were true. If it were true, she wouldn’t be a failure with her own nephew. As they stood to go, Tanner stepped in close.
“He’ll survive this.” He said it with conviction.
“I’m sorry?” She looked up, unsure what he meant.
“Colby,” he continued. “I know you worry about him, but give it time. He’ll come around.”
“I hope you’re right.” She prayed he was right. Because she didn’t want to lose her nephew. For Colby she would stay in Haven. She would manage to be the person he needed her to be in this small town with people who commented, gave advice and offered help.
What other choice did she have? She’d given up her life and her career in Dallas. She’d given up the fiancé who didn’t support her decisions.
This was her new life.
As they left together, Tanner touched her back, a gesture that comforted. She was sure that was what he meant by the fleeting contact. But it did more than comfort her; it made her aware of his presence.
In all the months she’d been here, he’d struck her as a man who didn’t get involved. He was a successful rancher and business owner. He sometimes showed up at the boys ranch. He rarely took time to socialize.
Today she was in a vulnerable place, worrying about Colby and missing her brother. Tomorrow she would be back to normal and Tanner’s touch, his kind words, would make sense.
* * *
Tanner strode through the doors of the Haven Tractor and Supply. His sister, Chloe, looked up from the counter and smiled. He felt immediately on edge because she was wearing that look, the one that spelled trouble for him. She wanted something. And he’d probably give in and get it for her. If he could.
“Been busy?” he asked as he walked behind the counter. He saw that she’d been doodling on a piece of paper. Pictures of dresses. The wedding variety of dress. He cringed. She was twenty-four and old enough, but he didn’t think she was ready. As an older brother he doubted he’d ever be ready to see her walked down the aisle, by either himself or their brother, Major Travis Barstow.
“Not real busy. Larry has a customer on the lot, looking at a tractor. Or a stock trailer. I’m not sure which.” She tapped the pencil on the counter and sneaked a look at him.
He pretended not to notice, but he almost couldn’t hide a smile. She was pretty, his sister. Dark hair in a ponytail, she was all country with beat-up boots, faded jeans. She made it all feminine with a lacy top she’d probably spent a day’s wages on.
“Are you selling off steers this weekend?” She hopped up on a stool and slid the doodles under the cash register. Like he hadn’t noticed.
“Are you buying wedding dresses?”
She turned a little pink. “No. I’m a girl. We dream about weddings.”
“You’ve only been dating Russell for a few months.”
Her smile dissolved. “He’s a good guy, Tanner. He’s made mistakes, but he’s got a job, and he’s trying to make things right.”
“I know that. I’m willing to give him a chance, but I’m not willing to let him hurt you.”
Her smile returned. “I’ve been thinking that maybe you could let him volunteer at the Silver Star. They’re going to need help moving, and it would give you a chance to get to know him.”
“I’ll talk to Beatrice. But, Chloe, I’m not going to put up with nonsense when he’s around the kids.”
“I know and I appreciate that. Tanner, he made mistakes when he was young. His parents’ divorce really upset him. He did things he shouldn’t have. But that isn’t who he is.”
“He stole a truck and a stock trailer full of cattle.”
“He was seventeen. He hasn’t been that person in a long time.”
“People in town have their suspicions.”
Before he could finish, Chloe slid off the stool and closed the distance between them. Yeah, he was in trouble. She’d always known how to work him. With a soft smile, she kissed his cheek and then patted it.
“You’re the best big brother a girl could have.”
“And you always say that when you get what you want.”
She didn’t move away. Her blue eyes glistened with tears, and his own throat tightened in response because he knew she was going to drag them back into the past, into memories she didn’t have because she’d been too young.
“You’ve been taking care of me for a long time,” she started. “Since I was a baby you’ve been the one feeding me, changing my diapers and keeping me safe.”
“How would you know? You were a baby.”
“Travis told me. And Aunt May. She said she had a hard time getting you to let go and just be a kid. You were always the one. You took care of us. And then you took care of May.”
“Do you have a point?” he asked, his voice more gruff than he’d intended. It didn’t seem to bother her. No, not his little sister. She smiled and dug her heels in, intent on some emotional rabbit trail.
“Yes, I have a point. Find someone to love, Tanner. You’re not getting any younger, you know. And I’m past the age of really needing a caretaker.”
“Thanks for that reminder of my advancing age.”
She grinned at that. “It’s the truth. You are getting a little long in the tooth. But, seriously, you’d make an amazing dad and a great husband. So why not let yourself be loved? Stop thinking you have to be there for everyone else, and let someone be there for you.”
“Words of wisdom?”
She scooted around him and headed for the door. “I am wise. I’m also right. It’s time for you to find a wife. Travis is happy in California. I’m eventually going to get married. And then you’ll be alone in that castle you’ve built.”
“It isn’t a castle.”
“It’s your kingdom,” she countered. “Fill it with kids.”
She left, and he didn’t have a thing to say in response to her lecture. It was almost closing time. He walked to the front door and watched as his salesman and mechanic, Larry, walked past the building to an old farm truck. The customer was old Joe Falkner, known to be worth millions. Joe still drove a truck he’d bought new a couple of decades ago. He lived in a house that appeared to be falling apart. But he raised some of the best Angus in the state.
He joined Larry as Joe drove off
.
“Don’t tell me Joe is thinking of getting a new stock trailer.”
Larry laughed and pulled a stick of gum out of his pocket. He’d been trying to quit smoking for six months. So now he chewed gum. A lot of gum. He offered a piece to Tanner.
“Yeah, he’s going to have to buy a trailer. The floor rotted out of his. The guy who normally fixes it said no more, he isn’t fixing that trailer again.”
“Did you close him on one?”
Larry shook his head. “He won’t turn loose of a dime. He said in 1970-something he could get that trailer for, I don’t know, a ridiculous amount.”
“I guess if he decides to haul some cattle to auction, he’ll come back and buy a trailer.”
“Knowing Joe, he’ll go hire some drovers and herd those cattle to the auction like they did a hundred years ago.”
“Don’t give him that idea.” Tanner glanced at his watch. “I’m going to take a drive. You’ll be here for a bit?”
“Yeah, anything you need me to do?”
“Yeah, pray. We’ve got six months to find some people, or old Cyrus Culpepper’s place is going to be paved over.”
“I’d heard rumors about a crazy will. You can’t pave over that many acres, and Cyrus hated those types of developments.”
“Tell that to his will.”
Larry adjusted the bent-up cowboy hat he always wore. “He was an ornery old cuss. It’s hard to tell what he was thinking, but I’m sure he had some kind of angle when he came up with this plan.”
“I’d sure like to know what it was. If I don’t get back, will you close up?”
“You got it, boss.” Larry headed back to the building.
Tanner didn’t really have a plan when he left, but he found himself heading up the drive of the Triple C. It wasn’t too far from his own spread. When he pulled up, he saw another car in the driveway. He got out of his truck, surprised to see Macy sitting on the hood of her car looking at the old Culpepper place.
For a long minute he stood watching her. Her blond hair was pulled back with a headband, and sunglasses perched on the end of her nose. She looked out of place in jeans, boots and a plaid shirt, as if she was trying to fit, but she didn’t. She was city, from her manicured nails to the way she stepped around mud to keep it from getting on those boots of hers.
He admired that she wanted to blend, that she wanted to transplant herself in this community for the sake of a little boy who had already lost too much.
Admiring was as far as he wanted to let his thoughts take him on a sunny day in October when his sister was looking at wedding dresses, his brother was currently on temporary duty somewhere in the Middle East and Cyrus had strung them all up by their toes, asking for something that might be impossible. “I came to pray,” she finally said without turning to look at him.
The words took him by surprise, but they weren’t uncomfortable the way they might have been if someone else had said them. She was simply stating a fact.
He closed the distance between them.
“I came to take a look around. I haven’t been here in years. I don’t know if anyone has been up here. Cyrus kept a loaded shotgun, and he made it pretty clear he’d shoot first and ask questions later.” He grinned at the memory of the old guy.
“He didn’t like people?”
He leaned a hip against the hood of her car, leaving a good bit of space between them. “I guess he liked people okay. He just didn’t want anyone messing around up here. He must have liked people, because he’s making a big donation to the LSCL Boys Ranch.”
“He isn’t making it easy.”
“I guess that’s true. But we’ll work it out. Like most of us, Cyrus had baggage. I never knew he had a kid, let alone a granddaughter. I didn’t know he’d lived at the ranch.”
“There are several Avery Culpeppers in the area.”
It hadn’t taken her long to get started. He hadn’t even thought about where to start his search for Theo Linley. He doubted Gabriel would be much help.
“We’ll find them all,” he assured her. Or maybe he was hoping to assure himself.
They sat in silence looking at the big house with the pillared front porch. There were three wings. Plenty of space for kids to run and be kids. He’d looked over the will, and it said they could go ahead and begin moving. It would take weeks to get the process started. There would be supplies to purchase, as well as volunteers to organize. A place like this meant more of everything. More staff. More furniture. More food. More time. But it would be worth it.
It would be good to have the boys in this house so they could celebrate Christmas in their new home.
“I should be going.” She slid off the hood of her car.
“Me, too.” He paused, watching as she dug her keys out of her pocket. “Have you thought about what I asked you earlier? About reading to the boys?”
She glanced away from him, her hand going up to brush strands of blond hair from her face as the wind picked up a bit. “I don’t know.”
“Something troubling you?”
“No, not at all.” But the worried look in her green eyes said that something about the offer did worry her.
“It isn’t something you have to decide on today. The library as it is will be packed up and moved over here. We just got it put together. Now we’ll have to take it all apart and do it all over again.”
She moved to her car, and her hand settled on the door. “I can help with that, with getting things packed and then getting the new library organized.”
“That would be good. I hate to overwhelm you, since you’re new to the area, but you might have noticed if we get a willing volunteer, we use them.”
“I don’t scare easily. And I don’t mind helping.”
He reached past her to open the car door, the way Aunt May had taught him. A hint of something soft and floral, like wild roses on a spring day, caught and held him a little longer than was necessary or safe.
Chloe would have told him to stop living his life off a list he’d made twenty years ago. He couldn’t. That list had served him well. It had taken him from the gutter to the life he had now, and someday he’d find a woman to share that life with him.
He closed the car door and watched Macy drive away in her little economy car, and he smiled. She wasn’t at all the woman he was looking for. But something about her made him think about finding someone.
Chapter Three
Macy juggled her purse, book bag and keys in order to get her front door unlocked. As much as she wanted to just crash, she had more work to do and she was going to need a cup of coffee to get her through the rest of the day. It had been a few days since the reading of Cyrus Culpepper’s will. She’d been substituting at the Haven high school, so she hadn’t had much time to think about finding Avery Culpepper or even going out to the Silver Star.
Entering the house, she was met by silence. It was peaceful. But lonely. Colby should be here. He should be running to the kitchen to grab a snack, plopping in front of the TV to watch his favorite afternoon shows.
But then, in a perfect world her brother and sister-in-law would be here to greet him. Macy would still be in Dallas. Maybe she’d even be planning her wedding.
Instead she was standing in her brother’s kitchen fighting the familiar doubts that had assailed her since she’d learned that he’d named her guardian of his son. In the beginning she’d believed they would make it, she and Colby. His anger had proved her wrong. It had proved she wasn’t a parent, or even something close to a parent. She was twenty-eight, single, and hadn’t even begun the process of thinking about kids.
Grant’s and Cynthia’s deaths had changed everything. For Colby. And for her.
It had amazed Macy that her brother had found his way to the small town of Haven. Their mother, Nora,
had insisted he could do better if he stayed in the city. He would have moved up, made more, had a nicer home than the remodeled craftsman house with its large front porch, complete with porch swing.
Grant and Cynthia had been happy in Haven.
She worried that she didn’t have it in her to be the small-town librarian, mother of Colby.
She turned on the coffeemaker and found her favorite mug. As she waited for the water to heat, she stood at the window and looked out at the small but wooded lot behind the house. Not a high-rise in sight. No sirens in the distance. Not a sound could be heard.
She missed Colby.
The ready light flashed, and she put her mug under the spout and pushed the button. Coffee poured into her mug. She opened the book bag that she’d brought home from school, and as she pulled out her organizer she noticed another book. She tugged it out, trying to decide where she’d picked it up and when. Yes, she’d been distracted today. She didn’t think she’d been that distracted.
A note fell out of the book. She picked up the yellow piece of paper. A creepy, crawly feeling shivered down her spine.
The book was a middle grade book about a ranch. There was nothing remarkable about the title or the story. She set it down and turned her attention to the note. The feeling of apprehension eased.
Could you read this to the boys? Thanks, Tanner.
How in the world had the book gotten in her bag? Maybe when she’d stepped out of the room to make copies? But surely one of the students would have told her. She thought about the fifteen English literature students. No, they wouldn’t have told her. All that aside, why would Tanner Barstow have a sudden desire to get her involved with the boys at the ranch? She couldn’t even raise her own nephew.
Every single day she questioned why she was in Haven. She’d given up her career, her friends and her fiancé to be here for a little boy who only wanted his parents back.
She slid the note back into the book.
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