Cowboy to the Rescue
Page 16
The bank had been quite clear on that. Nothing was to be removed apart from their personal effects. No machinery or stock was to be touched. Anything of value would be sold off to put against the debt. Not that they had much anyway. Life was too tough for extras and that had never been a problem for any of them. They were happy living on the station, working the land as they had. There weren’t many trips into Alice Springs apart from the drive for supplies once a month. It was then that Callie got excited. They picked up the lessons from the post office for home schooling when they were younger, and her favorite treat of all was the magazines they were allowed.
While the twins had been into fashion magazines, Callie’s favorite had been the Horse and Cattle Digest. She would climb up on the hay bales in the barn and lose herself between the pages for hours. After she’d read every single word, she would take her ever-suffering, old quarter horse and put him through the paces as if she was in the rodeo and he was a stud-worthy, blue-ribbon winner. Her mother, an American by birth, had told Callie bedtime stories of the rodeo and encouraged her to dream big, hoping that one day her daughter would get her own chance at the rodeo she so craved.
As she’d grown older and more realistic, she’d dreamed that one day the farm could afford to buy stock like those between the pages of the glossy magazine. Sadly it was not to be, and the reality had hit hard when the local police had come to inform the girls of the accident that had taken both parents from them.
Callie’s things were already packed and sitting on the end of her bed ready to go. Her work visa and passport were tucked in the side of the old canvas carryall bag along with a photo of her parents and the three girls sitting together on the old, rickety veranda. She was leaning on her father’s shoulder, her arms draped over his chest and he was holding her hands, laughing up into her face. Her sisters were both perched on their mother’s lap, faces close together and hands linked. Callie couldn’t remember who had taken the photograph, but it was the only one of them all together in recent years.
The sound of a car traveling over the cattle grid by the roadway caught her attention. Her grandfather was here. She watched as he drove down the drive, doing his best to avoid the large pot holes that jarred even her teeth. She winced as he hit a particularly big one and the bumper made contact with the red rock of the driveway.
“Callie.” Jock Lister pulled up beside her and opened the car door, got out, and stood in front of her. He held out his arms and she fell against him, giving into one last bout of tears before she said goodbye to everything she knew and loved. He patted her back as she cried and pulled out a handkerchief when she moved away from him.
“Thanks, Grandpa. I didn’t mean to cry all over you.”
“Honey, I don’t care. I just wish your grandmother and I could do more for you. We both want you to come back and stay with us in the city, you know that. There’s no reason to go flying off to another country to make a decent living. You can do that right here in Australia.”
“No, I can’t. I’m not qualified to do anything other than run a station, as much as we might like to think differently. I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m twenty-six years old for goodness sakes. Probably time I left home anyway. I might even be able to catch up with some of Mum’s family while I’m over there.”
“That would make this old man feel better. At least you have a job to go to anyway. Better than rocking up with nothing planned.”
Oh, Grandpa, if only you knew what I have planned. You’d hog tie me to a fence and not let me go. But I have no other choice if I want to clear the debts on this place and make a future for my sisters.
How could she tell him she knew they would struggle on their pension to bring up two teenagers let alone have the money for them to go to university? His pride would be damaged beyond repair. Losing his only son and his wife had been bad enough, finding out the debt they left behind had forced her to sign up to marry a stranger because she felt backed into a corner with no choice would kill him. She wouldn’t do that to her grandfather.
Her sisters were relying on him to keep them safe while Callie tried to bring home the money that would keep them out of the poorhouse and lift their parent’s reputation out of the dust. And she was relying on the wages she brought in to make a nest egg for the girls. They’d get enough education to enable them to qualify for a decent job.
Find out what happens next in Chance for Love…
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About the Author
After moving to the lush green wine region of Australia’s Hunter Valley, Ann has the perfect surrounding to let her imagination to run wild. She alternates her time between writing western romances, women’s fiction romantic and playing in her garden.
Two kinds of hero make Ann to a mass of nerves. The hot cowboy with a slow sexy drawl (she used to live out in the desert and enjoyed every minute) and a man in a kilt. (Imagine Jamie Fraser) She can’t wait to visit Scotland where she can get her fill of the tartan clad hotties for, um research purposes, of course.
In the meantime, her dear husband puts up with her talking to her characters and getting lost in worlds only she can imagine as she battles to bring stories to the page for everyone to enjoy.
Visit her website at AnnBHarrisonRomance.com
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