The Rancher's Homecoming

by Arlene James

  Callie didn’t like to admit, even to herself, how bitterly she felt the disappointment that swept through her. She hadn’t even realized until that very moment that some secret part of her had hoped he would say that he’d stay on at the Straight Arrow and make it his own. She hadn’t wanted to admit, even to herself, that on some level she’d been hoping to make it her own, too. Somehow, in a very short time, the Straight Arrow had become more than a job to her; it had truly become home.

  These last few days, staying at Meredith’s apartment, Callie had come to understand that such accommodations were the best that she and Bodie could hope for on their own in the future. It was fine, better than the rough cabin at the campground that she and Bo had enjoyed as newlyweds, but not the spacious, comfortable, somehow more meaningful place that the Billings’ ranch house represented. That wasn’t really why she’d hoped to stay, however.

  Wes and Rex had become like family to her, not to mention to her daughter, who crawled into Rex’s lap at the first opportunity. He made funny noises and faces to entertain her. Bodie giggled, her eyes dancing. Not satisfied with that, Rex blew raspberries against her cheeks until she squealed with laughter. With her little belly shaking, Bodie turned red in the face with her glee, while her mother sat there silently grieving the loss of something she’d never had, a partner in parenting, a home at the ranch.

  It was insanity. She and Rex were not a couple, and he hadn’t given her the slightest hint that they could be. Besides, she’d always intended to leave the Straight Arrow. Yet, suddenly, all she could think about was who would take care of Wes after she’d gone? And who would take care of Rex when he went back to his other life? Some as yet faceless, nameless woman would surely step into the latter role. Callie didn’t want to know or hear about her, which just proved that she was even more foolish than her baby girl.

  “You know, I think it’s too hot out here for her,” Callie suddenly announced, placing her hands over Bodie’s red cheeks.

  “Sure,” Rex said, rising at once to his feet, but when Callie reached for her daughter, he was already turning down the path, a happy Bodie riding in the crook of his arm. They looked so much like father and daughter.

  Why hadn’t he told that woman at the hospital that he wasn’t Bodie’s father? Maybe he’d thought it would be less embarrassing. Callie refused to think it was anything else. After all, not even sixteen months had passed since her husband had died.

  That was almost three times longer than they’d been married.

  Such thoughts seemed traitorous and sent her into silent prayer.

  Lord, take control of my thoughts and desires, guide me and help me stay in Your will. Make me want what You want for me.

  Suddenly, Rex spun in a circle, the baby safely clasped against his chest. Bodie’s laughter called a smile from Callie and sent her prayers onto a new trail.

  Thank You for the Billings family and all they’ve come to mean to us. Make Bodie and me blessings to them. Please heal Wes and return him to the Straight Arrow, and give them all the desires of their hearts, for all the good that they have done us...

  She felt steadier by the time they got back to the apartment. Rex didn’t come in because he wanted to get back to his father. Bodie tried her new clingy act, holding on to Rex and huffing piteously, but her attention shifted the instant Callie mentioned “kitties.”

  Though the cats had wisely avoided Bodie’s grasp, darting in and out of her proximity just enough to tantalize her and guarantee her interest, Bodie had developed an intense curiosity about the animals. She even tried to call them, clicking her tongue and squealing incoherently at them. Confident that the cats would keep their distance, Callie had allowed her to try to entice them. She’d even allowed her to safely pet them when Meredith was around to hold them. Watching them running through their indoor playground had entertained Bodie for hours, while Callie lay on the floor with her, reading.

  As for Callie, she welcomed the more productive pastimes of cooking and cleaning. Thankfully, she had to endure only one more day before she could pack their bags, collapse the portable crib and move the furniture back into its customary place.

  On the day of departure, Wes arrived at Meredith’s apartment on Rex’s arm, a bag of freshly filled prescriptions in hand and a wan smile in place. He looked a little grayer to Callie but seemed in good spirits, despite the surgical mask that the doctors had insisted he wear until he got home. It didn’t last that long as the jostling of the pickup seemed to upset his stomach.

  Soon, they arrived back at the house to find Duffy waiting.

  He helped get Wes into the house and the truck unloaded. Then he stepped aside with Rex.

  “It’s Soldier,” Callie heard him say, referring to Wes’s beloved stud. “He somehow cut a foreleg. We called the vet. He put in some stitches and applied a dressing. Now it’s wait and see.”

  Rex sighed. “Thanks, Duff. I’ll phone Dr. Burns and check on the horse myself later. Tomorrow we need to get back into the field. Make sure Woody and Cam are ready for an early start, will you?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Obviously, Rex intended to waste no time getting back to work. While Rex talked to his dad about the horse, Callie prepared a light supper in keeping with the dietician’s suggestions. Wes ate in his room, too tired and ill to come to the table. When Callie went in to pick up his dishes, he was talking to Ann on the phone, trying to sound jolly and reassuring.

  “I’m fine, sugar. Don’t worry about me. Rex and Callie are taking good care of me. Your sister’s a nurse. She sees too much, and it concerns her. You need to help her keep her spirits up.”

  Callie wanted to hug him and tell him what a good father he was. Even now, as he fought for his life, his concern for his children could not have been more evident. She couldn’t help envying his daughters and wishing that she had the kind of relationship with her dad that Meredith and Ann had with Wes.

  He soon drifted off to sleep under the influence of the antinausea drugs. Rex couldn’t seem to relax, however, and checked on his dad repeatedly throughout the evening. He pretended to watch television, but Callie could see that he was poised to go to his father at any moment, attuned to signals of distress from the back of the house. She doubted he would rest at all that night.

  “I have something that might help,” she said when he returned from another one of his quiet trips to Wes’s room. “Wait here.” Rising from her seat on the sofa, she quickly padded up the stairs and slipped into the room that she shared with her daughter.

  Bodie slept on her side, making sweet little breathing sounds. Callie smiled and tiptoed across the room to the nightstand. Carefully, she opened the drawer and removed the baby monitor set that she’d stored there. She’d received it as a gift but had barely used it. She and Bodie had always lived in very close quarters, either in the same room or right next door to each other. When she’d come here, she’d thought she might use it for Bodie’s afternoon naps, but she’d forgotten about it, and her daughter didn’t have any trouble making herself heard when she woke and wanted attention.

  Quietly, Callie slipped out of the room again and carried the box with the baby monitor and receiver downstairs. She handed it to Rex, who had resumed his seat in the recliner.

  “Put the main unit in your dad’s room, and keep the receiver in your room or with you when you’re around the house. That way, if he wakes ill during the night, you’ll hear him.”

  Rex looked up at her. “But don’t you need this?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. Mrs. Lightner used it a few times, but somehow I just...” She shook her head again.

  “You always know when she needs you, don’t you?” he asked, smiling. “I’ve seen it. You hear her before anyone else does. It’s almost as if you hear her before she cries.”

  Callie shrugged. “Just use it. You might sleep
better tonight if you do.”

  Rex nodded and started getting up. “You’re right.”

  He carried the set into the kitchen, where he unboxed it on the table and turned it on, making sure the batteries were still good. Then he took the monitor into his father’s room, returning a few moments later to pick up the small receiver and carry it back into the living room.

  “Thank you,” he told her, carefully tuning the thing. Wes’s soft snore and the rustle of bedclothes transmitted clearly. Rex looked up, and his blue gaze seemed charged with something more than gratitude, but Callie knew she’d be insane even to think about it.

  “I think I’ll turn in,” she quickly decided, hopping to her feet.

  He looked away then, lightly replying, “I’m going to sit down, rewind this program and actually watch it now.”

  She chuckled, nodded and turned toward the stairs again. “Good night.”

  “Good night, Callie. Will you pray for my dad tonight?”

  “I will,” she promised. “You, too.”

  “Thank you,” he said again with such feeling this time that she gave in to a very foolish impulse. Zipping across the room, she hugged him.

  She didn’t know why she did it. He’d just seemed so needy and worried, so alone in that moment. She’d wanted to help.

  He wrapped his long, strong arms around her and laid his cheek against the crown of her head. After a long, tender moment, he pulled in a deep breath and straightened. Callie stepped back.

  Gently tucking her hair behind her ears with both hands, he smiled. “I needed that. Seems you always know just how to help.”

  Smiling and shaking her head, she moved back toward the stairs. “Sleep well.”

  He picked up the receiver to the baby monitor and saluted her with it. “I will.”

  Hurrying away, she began to fear that she’d always want to help Rex Billings.

  Chapter Eight

  Wes slept well, and because Wes slept well, Rex rested well enough to start the day early the next morning. He hadn’t shared his plans with Callie because he didn’t think it fair to ask her to rise before dawn when he knew that she was going to have her hands full with his dad and Bodie. Creeping past her door with his boots in hand and his hat perched on the back of his head, he tiptoed down the stairs, only to find the light on in the kitchen and a box waiting for him on the landing.

  He sat down on the steps and pulled on his boots, then settled his hat and investigated the box, finding two large bottles of sports drink, a thermos of coffee, a fat breakfast sandwich and a bunch of grapes. Popping a grape into his mouth, he started down the steps to the kitchen, only to freeze when he heard a thin wail from above.

  Callie immediately appeared, clad in a floral print cotton robe, her feet bare. She smiled as she ran lightly up the steps. Fearing that any conversation on the stairs would wake his father, he stepped back to allow her to pass, then followed. Callie entered her bedroom, leaving the door open, and plucked the fussing baby from her low crib. Bodie rubbed her eyes sleepily and dropped her head onto her mom’s shoulder. Callie turned back to the door. Rex braced his forearms against the frame and smiled apologetically.

  “Sorry if I got you guys up early,” he said softly. “Wasn’t my intention.”

  “I know. I heard you talking with Duffy yesterday.” She kept her voice low, patting Bodie on the back as she swayed side to side.

  He hung his head, bowled over by Callie’s kindness. “You take on too much. I wanted to let you sleep in this morning.”

  “That’s not necessary,” she told him, carefully laying Bodie down on the foot of her bed to change a soggy diaper.

  “Will she go back to sleep?” he asked softly.

  “I think so,” Callie said as she worked. “I’ll nurse her and put her down again.”

  “I’ve hired some extra help,” he told her for some reason, watching her pick up the baby again, “all I could find, so I need to get out there.” He was painfully aware that he was stalling, enjoying the sweetness of these quiet predawn moments.

  Callie picked up Bodie and rose. Bodie rubbed her eyes again then reached for him. It was if she reached into his chest and squeezed his heart with that grasping little hand. He didn’t have time to hold and play with her, but he caught her hand and kissed her tiny fingers, carefully because he hadn’t shaved. Her bright baby smile induced him to step closer and kiss her soft, plump cheek. Wrinkling her button nose, she giggled. Callie laughed softly. Before he could even think, he turned his head and kissed Callie’s cheek, too.

  Both shocked, they stared at each other with wide, stunned eyes before his brain finally kicked into gear.

  He blurted out, “I don’t know why I did that. But, um, thanks, and...” He blinked before he could think what else he needed to say. “Gotta go.”

  “See you for lunch,” she whispered, ducking her head.

  Nodding, he quickly left, snatching up the box on his way. That woman would make someone an ideal wife. Some rancher, which he was not.

  If he’d had any doubt about that, the idea was reinforced when roughly half of his expected extra help failed to show up by the appointed time.

  A teenager named Jock Aster apologized for his father’s absence, telling Rex, “Dad meant to be here, Mr. Billings, but he had to work for Mr. Crowsen instead. He asked me to apologize for him. The thing is, we owe Crowsen a pretty big feed bill, and we can’t afford to be cut off.”

  Rex couldn’t quite believe that Crowsen would go so far as to punish Rex and Wes for hiring Callie by applying pressure to anyone else who might work for the Straight Arrow. That being the case, however, then Aster was to be commended for not keeping his son at home, too.

  “It’s okay, Jock,” Rex told the boy. “We’ll manage.” But not having the crew he’d counted on complicated matters substantially.

  Any doubts Rex had about the reasons for the situation vanished when he stepped up onto the porch at lunchtime and found young A. G. Carruthers waiting there. Tall, thin A.G. had been hired to drive his flatbed truck through the field so the stackers could toss the bales onto it for transport to the various storage barns throughout the property. When A.G. hadn’t shown up, their transportation had been cut in half, which had lengthened the hay harvest time by at least four days, so Rex was glad to see him, until A.G. explained that he couldn’t come to work for the Straight Arrow.

  “I thought I owed you a personal explanation,” A.G. said, turning his billed cap in his hands.

  “Let me guess,” Rex ventured. “Stuart Crowsen.”

  A.G. nodded, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing as he gulped. “When my dad died last year, we didn’t have a penny to bury him. I went down to the bank for a loan. Crowsen offered a personal loan instead, with my place as collateral. It was just six thousand dollars, with variable payments, which made it sound easy, but I didn’t read the fine print well enough. Every time I’m a dollar short or a day late, Crowsen jacks up the interest. I owe more on it now than I did when I started, and if it’s not paid by a certain date, he can make a claim on my place. I don’t dare go against him.”

  “That sounds downright usurious,” Rex mused, rubbing his prickly chin.

  “I don’t know about that,” A.G. said. “He keeps offering to buy my place, and it’s a fair offer, but I don’t want to sell.”

  “Have you got a copy of those loan papers?”

  “I do, and every letter I’ve had from him since I borrowed that money.”

  “I’d like to see them, if you don’t mind.”

  A.G. looked taken aback. “Well...what for?”

  “Legal curiosity,” Rex replied lightly. “Haven’t had my lawyer hat on in a while. Can’t hurt to take a look, can it?”

  Frowning, A.G. seemed to think that over. “Guess not.”

 
“But let’s keep it just between us for now. Okay?”

  That seemed to reassure the younger man. “Okay. I’ll bring ’em by later.”

  “Good enough. Now, my lunch is waiting for me, and since Callie Deviner is a fine cook, I’m anxious for it.”

  A speculative look entered A.G.’s pale gray eyes. “Is that so?” He ran a bony hand through his dishwater-blond hair. “Knew she was a looker. Didn’t know she was a cook, too.”

  Rex half expected him to shine his boots on the legs of his jeans and ask to speak to her. He’d completely forgotten that A.G. was single, and around here Stuart Crowsen’s daughter would be considered quite a catch, especially as she was completely lovely and sweet. Irritated with himself as much as A.G., Rex told himself to keep his big mouth shut where Callie was concerned. And his thoughts elsewhere.

  “I’d invite you in,” he explained, “but Dad can’t have company because of his chemo.”

  “Oh, no, I know. Callie explained it to me when I first got here. You tell Mr. Wes that Mom and me are praying for him.”

  “Thank you. I will.”

  The two men shook hands before A.G. departed. Rex went inside and straight to the small bathroom beneath the stairs to wash up before presenting himself in the kitchen. Callie had hung a clean shirt on a hook inside the door, so he stripped to the waist and put it on. Wes was not at the table, but Bodie played happily in the old playpen. She pulled up to one knee, lifting her arms. How could he resist that? He picked her up and clasped her lightly to his chest.

  “Hey, sugar. What are you doing up? Isn’t this usually your nap time?”

  She planted a sloppy, openmouthed kiss right over the end of his nose that made him laugh and wipe his face.

  “Yes, this is usually her nap time,” Callie said, carrying a plate to the table before taking Bodie from his arms, “but she slept later than usual this morning.”

  “My fault. Sorry.”

  Callie shook her head. “No one’s fault. Sit down and eat.”