by SJ McCoy
“I thought it must be something like that. Before I met you, I half expected you to tell me that you owned land, that you weren’t just a hired hand.”
Chance smiled. “But that was before you knew me.”
“It was. I’m glad to be wrong—and I don’t say that often.”
Chance chuckled. “I don’t imagine you do. If it’s any consolation, I’ll admit that I’m glad I was wrong about you, too.”
Seymour raised an eyebrow.
“I thought you cared more about what you deem to be right than you did about Hope.”
“Well, now you know that’s not true.”
“I do.”
Seymour nodded. “I hope she learns to believe it.”
“I think she already has. Whatever happened between the two of you yesterday, it was good. She seems to have a whole new understanding of you.”
Seymour smiled. “And I have you to thank for that.”
“How?”
“She told me that you remind her a lot of me. That …” he stopped, seeming uncertain whether he should continue. “That we’re alike. That we’ve both wasted half our lives mourning the woman we loved and that she’d like to help us both find happiness again.”
Chance pressed his lips together and turned away to stare at the mountains. He didn’t want Seymour to see the tears in his eyes.
“Can we cross over there?” Seymour pointed to the irrigation ditch that marked the property line.
Chance nodded. “Sure.”
Seymour smiled. “Let’s go ride on my land.”
Once they’d crossed the ditch, they cantered across the pasture. Chance couldn’t help but notice how good the grazing would be here. There’d been no cattle on this land in all the time he’d been in the valley.
“I’m going to suggest something, and I want you to think it over before you answer.”
Chance waited, wondering what was coming.
“I own the largest parcel of the best ranch land in the whole valley, and it lies idle. My daughter is talking about moving here to be with you. What would you think of ranching the land for me? I wouldn’t interfere, you can run it as you see fit.”
Chance shook his head slowly.
“Don’t answer. I want you to consider it.”
Chance shook his head again, more firmly this time. “I don’t need to consider it. I have the Remingtons to think about. I run their cattle; I work their land.” He held up a hand when Seymour started to interrupt. “I know it’s technically my land now, but to me, it will always be theirs. It’s a great offer, and I appreciate where you’re coming from. I really do. This isn’t about pride or rejecting you or anything like that.” He nodded. “It’s about loyalty.”
“And not wanting to feel owned?”
“No. I don’t feel owned by the Remingtons. They’re my family. Maybe someday you and I will be family, but my loyalty is to them. They’ve been so good to me, done so much for me; I couldn’t walk away from them now. The cattle ranch isn’t the biggest money maker, but it contributes. The guest ranch and the horse stud make more money, but the cattle were Dave’s life. I’m keeping his legacy going—if that doesn’t sound too dramatic.”
Seymour smiled. “It doesn’t sound dramatic. It sounds like something I envy.”
Chance sighed. “I’d love to help you out, but it wouldn’t be right. Maybe you should come back here and ranch it yourself?”
“It’s a nice idea, but I couldn’t. I’m too good at finding the best person for any job and putting them in place to manage things. I’m not cut out to be a rancher.”
“I guess not.”
“I hope I didn’t offend you? I thought it could be good for all of us.”
“I’m flattered, not offended, but I have to stay where I am.”
“I understand.”
~ ~ ~
Hope paced the back porch of the cabin; she couldn’t make herself sit still while she waited for Chance and her dad to get back from their ride. She’d been surprised that they’d gone out together like that. Part of her was thrilled, part of her terrified about what might go on between them while they rode.
She was relieved when she finally saw them come walking up the path from the barn. “I hope you had fun?” she asked before they even reached the porch.
Her dad smiled. “That was the best time I’ve had in years. You should ride out sometime; you’d love it.”
“I know,” she said with a laugh. “But he’s usually working too hard to have time. You get special consideration because you’re you.”
Chance chuckled. “You get special consideration, too.”
Her dad smiled at them. “I’m going to head back up to the house. Let you two have some time together. I’m sorry I stole him away from you this morning.” He turned to smile at Chance. “But I’m glad I did.”
“Don’t you want to stay for some lunch?” she asked
“No, thanks. I’m going to head back. I hope I’ll see you again soon.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and then seemed to change his mind. “I suppose I could walk back to the car all by myself, couldn’t I? I don’t need to call Ivan to come get me.”
Hope smiled. “I think you’re safe here, Daddy.”
He smiled and tipped his hat to them. “Bye now.”
They watched him walk up the path to the parking lot at the guest ranch where Ivan jumped out of the SUV to greet him. Hope turned to Chance. “How did it go?”
“Better than I ever dreamed it might. I like him. I never expected to be able to say that. I thought at best I might learn to understand where he’s coming from and maybe convince him that I’m okay.” He shook his head. “But I like him; I feel a kinship with him.”
Hope grinned. “I’m so glad. I think the two of you have more in common than you know.”
His smile faded. “He told me that.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t expected her dad to tell Chance what she’d told him about them both wasting their lives.
Chance nodded. “And you’re right, but I think that we both have one more thing in common now. I think we’re both ready to move forward in life. Thanks to you.”
Hope flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I hope so. Is that what the two of you talked about? I’ve been worrying about you all morning, what he might say to you, what he might ask you. I hope he didn’t push you about anything?”
“He didn’t. He did ask me something, but I told him no.”
“What?”
We rode out to where the Remington land borders his, and he asked me if I wanted to ranch his land. If I wanted to run a herd for him up there.”
“And you said no?” Hope was surprised that her dad had come up with that idea.
“Yeah. I have a job. I run the herd here. This is my place; this is my family.”
Hope nodded. She wasn’t quite sure what to think of it—of her dad’s offer, or Chance’s explanation of why he didn’t take it. Part of her wanted to say that she wanted to be his family, but she couldn’t. “I see.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“A little, maybe, I guess.” She smiled at him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to think. I hope you didn’t say no because you think it’d be his way to control you?”
“No. That didn’t even occur to me.” He met her gaze. “If I was worried about anything it was about him maybe controlling you. In some ways, it would be him taking care of you if you came to live here.”
She frowned. “When I come to live here.”
“Don’t you need to figure out what you’d do here before you say when?”
She sighed. “Yes, but I know that I want to. I don’t want you to think of it as an if, anymore. I want you to know that I’m going to move here. I talked to Oscar this morning. He said I can have his place as long as I want it.”
“Okay.”
“What? You’re not happy with that?” Her heart sank, she could tell he wasn’t.
“The only part I’m not hap
py with is that you’re going to stay at Oscar’s.” He smiled. “I thought you said you love my cabin?”
“I do, but I wasn’t about to invite myself to live with you.”
“So how about if I invite you? Do you think you could stand it? Or would you be better at Oscar’s?”
“I’d love it. If you want me?”
“I want you, honey.”
He slid his arms around her waist. “I want you to live with me.”
“Then as soon as I get back from LA, I’ll move in.”
“You’re going back?”
“Yes. I was going to tell you that next. Toby called this morning. There are a couple of things I need to sort out. I’ll only be a few days, and I don’t need to go till next week.”
Chapter Eighteen
Seymour smiled at his brother and raised his glass to him. “It’s good to see you, Johnny.”
“It’s good to see you, too, especially to see you back here, and smiling.”
“It’s good to be here. I thought this was going to be a rough visit, but it hasn’t been that way at all.”
June smiled at him. “Do you like Chance?”
“I do. He’s a man I can respect, in many ways.”
“You still have doubts, though,” said Johnny. “I can tell.”
Seymour nodded and took another sip of his bourbon. “Wouldn’t you? He seems decent enough now. He has morals; he has a great work ethic, he’s honest to a fault. But come on, he beat a man half to death. What father wouldn’t have reservations?”
“It was a long time ago,” said June. Seymour already knew that she thought the world of Chance. And when it came to Hope, June always took her side. No, that wasn’t fair. June tried to step into the role of mother as best she could. She wanted to see Hope happy; that was all.
“It was, and I even understand what drove him to do it, but if a man’s got that kind of violence in him, does it ever leave him?”
Johnny shook his head. “I don’t think Chance has violence in his nature. I think he had a lot of pain, frustration, and anger about Chloe’s death. The violence was an outlet for him. The only outlet he had. And to be fair, he wasn’t a man. He was a kid back then; he’s become a man since.”
Seymour nodded. “I can see all the logic; I want to let go of my doubt.” He smiled at June. “I’m not as bad as you think I am. I want her to be happy.”
“Oh, Seymour.” She reached across and touched his arm. “I know you do. I just think it’s been so long since you’ve allowed yourself any happiness that you don’t really know what it is anymore—or what risks most of us will take to find it.”
He scowled at her, but she just laughed. “The big bad tough guy act doesn’t work on me, remember? I held you while you cried after Kate died. I know the real you, the one who hides behind the harsh exterior.”
He nodded. “You’re right, but how do I risk Hope’s safety?”
Johnny shook his head. “That’s not a question you need to answer. It’s not your risk to take. A better question would be how do you support her while she takes the risk—she’s going to do it anyway. You don’t get to make that decision. What you get to decide is what you can do to help her—hopefully to help her be happy. But if it doesn’t work out between them, how do you help her get over it? You stick with asking yourself those questions, and you and Hope will both be fine. Your relationship will be stronger no matter what.”
“You’re right. I’m so used to making all the decisions; I forget that when it comes to her, they’re hers to make. You’ve just helped me understand something I never have before though. I’ve stayed away from her because I understand—most of the time—that I shouldn’t try to control her. I thought that if I wasn’t making her decisions for her, then there was nothing left I could do for her. That I should stay out of the way and let her get on with it.”
June sighed and patted his arm again.
“It’s okay. I understand now. My role is to support her in whatever she decides.” He nodded to himself. “Even if I don’t agree, even if I think I can see a better way, I can only offer opinions and guidance. If she doesn’t want to take those, I can still give her support. Right?” He looked at them both, feeling rather stupid that he’d never figured that out before.
“Right,” said Johnny. “You don’t get to orchestrate their life.” He smiled. “Believe me. I’ve wished so many times I could do that with the boys, but it isn’t our job as parents. Our job is to support them, to love them through the choices they make—the good and the bad.”
Seymour nodded. He understood that now. “I think I screwed up today.”
June raised an eyebrow at him. “How?”
“I asked Chance if he wanted to take over my land, run a herd of cattle on it.”
“I’d say that was a lovely thing to do,” said June with a smile.
Seymour chuckled. “Is that the first time you’ve ever approved of something I’ve done?”
She smiled. “Not the first time ever, but the first time in about twenty years.”
“I agree,” said Johnny. “It was a nice offer. It wasn’t a mistake, but I’m sure he didn’t accept.”
Seymour shook his head. “No. His loyalty is to the Remingtons. Did you know he owns a fifth of that ranch? An equal share with the other brothers?”
Johnny smiled. “No. I didn’t, but it doesn’t surprise me. Dave and Monique have treated him as one of their own since they took him in.”
“He sees them as his own. He turned me down because his loyalty is with them. They’re his family.”
“You might end up being his family, too,” said June.
“I believe I will. I feel there’s something inevitable about him and Hope. They remind me of Kate and me in a way.”
Johnny nodded. “And why should he have to decide between different sides of his family?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, your land adjoins the Remingtons’, why not let him run it all as one big ranch. If he and Hope get married, that’s no doubt what’ll happen when you die.”
Seymour nodded slowly. “You might be onto something there.”
Johnny nodded. “It could work.”
“It wouldn’t help Hope, though, would it?” asked June. “It still wouldn’t give her any purpose here. What’s she going to do?”
Seymour shook his head. “That I don’t know. I hear from Bill that she’s not engaged with the Athleticwear anymore, but I don’t know what she’s going to do from here.”
“Again,” said Johnny, “it’s not for you to figure out. That’s for her to do.”
“I know, I know. I can’t help it, though.”
June smiled. “I, for one, am proud of you. I never thought you’d be trying to find a way to help her make it happen. I thought you’d be looking for ways to stop her.”
“So did I, but she asked me to come with an open mind, and, for once, I did.”
Johnny smiled at him. “I’m proud of you as well. And I don’t mind telling you that I’m selfishly hoping that things do work out between them.”
“Selfishly?”
“Yes. If Hope moves here, if they get married, I think I’ll get to see a lot more of you. If they have children, then I know you’ll be here more.”
June met his gaze. “Maybe you’d even move back in?”
He stared at them. “I’ve come to terms with a lot since I arrived here yesterday. I’m not going to make any rash decisions.”
June smiled at him. “But you’ll think about it, won’t you?”
“I will.” Seymour already was thinking about it. This visit hadn’t turned out anything like he’d anticipated. He’d come to rescue his daughter from the clutches of some gold-digger. He’d come back to Paradise Valley because he felt he had to—not through any desire to be here again. What he’d found was a man who loved his daughter, a man who wanted her to be happy; a man who, in some ways, was as broken as he was himself. Yet through that man, and what Hope saw
in him, Seymour had seen for the first time since Kate died, that perhaps he could be happy again, and that perhaps keeping his distance—from people and from happiness—wasn’t the best way to live the rest of his life.
He got to his feet. “I’m going to sleep at the house tonight.”
They both looked shocked. “I thought you were going to stay here?” asked June.
Johnny nodded his understanding. Seymour would need some time to come to terms with the past and with his memories before he’d ever be able to enjoy the present in the valley—and especially in the house. “Do you want me to come up there with you for a nightcap?”
Seymour nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak around the lump in his throat.
~ ~ ~
Hope opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Chance’s arm rested across her stomach, and she loved the feel of it. He made her feel safe and protected and loved. Things were going so fast, but so well. Her dad’s appearance had made things better between her and Chance. It had helped her understand him better. By comparing him to her dad, she felt she understood them both better. Knowing that her dad liked Chance and wasn’t going to stand in their way made her happy. That was one less obstacle they had to overcome. Now, she just had to figure out what she was going to do with herself when she moved here. Chance still had to figure out if he could love her; no, she already knew he did. It wasn’t whether he could love her so much as whether he could share his life with her—whether he could accept that the life he’d wanted with Chloe was gone, but that life with her was possible. She believed he’d already made his decision, on a conscious level, but she knew that a decision wasn’t enough to combat the feelings when they arose. She wasn’t so sure that he wouldn’t pull away from her as they started to move forward. He might find that he really couldn’t leave Chloe behind, even though she didn’t think he had to. There was nothing she could do about that obstacle—nothing except move forward and try.
Of the things she could control, they all seemed to be falling into place. She’d decided she was going to give Cassidy a call this morning. She liked her, and she was hoping that Gina had talked to her and that maybe she could come up with some ideas. Hope didn’t mind taking an extended vacation, and she didn’t mind; in fact, she quite liked the idea of reinventing herself and starting a new venture. The trouble was she had no idea what she might do. She’d worked as a model even before she finished college. As she’d gotten older, it had seemed natural that she should go on to create her own line of athletic wear. She’d never done anything outside the world of modeling and design. Even though she hadn’t been loving it, or feeling engaged with it for the last year or so, if she was honest, she had no clue what else she wanted to do.