The horse wasn’t sweating anymore, telling Shep that whatever was impacted in his stomach to have caused the colic had likely passed. The trail of manure following him only confirmed that thought. Little did Emma know, she was walking beside a Bentley who wasn’t in pain anymore, but still likely very tired, and yet he was happily walking next to her.
A moment like this could warm even the coldest of hearts.
While that thought ran away with Shep, he noticed a gray truck coming down the driveway. He pushed away from the fence, moving closer to Emma, in case Bentley spooked.
His concern wasn’t necessary. They simply carried on walking around the ring, and Emma’s voice drifted over to him.
“The thing is, it’s really special here too. The air seems fresher. The grass greener. Everything here is so quiet. Peaceful, really.”
A truck’s door opened then closed, followed by a couple more doors, then Alan’s low voice carried through the air. “Whatcha got, Shep?”
Reassured Bentley wasn’t going to hurt Emma, Shep turned, discovering Alan, the longtime vet in River Rock, and his twenty-something brunette assistant, Cheryl, entering the sand ring. “Colic,” he explained. “I think we might be out of danger now.” Walking a horse during colic could, and often would, either pass the stomach pains the horse endured, or loosen things up enough that the horse could pass whatever impaction was causing the trouble.
Wearing a dark cowboy hat, matching boots, jeans, and a T-shirt with the River Rock Veterinary Clinic logo on the front, Alan regarded Bentley with his wise dark-brown eyes, surrounded by wrinkles. “Are those his droppings?” At Shep’s nod, he asked, “Recent?”
“A couple of minutes ago.”
“That’s a good sign.” With Cheryl following behind holding onto the black vet bag and a jug of mineral oil, he moved to Emma’s side. “I take it you’re Daisy Monroe’s granddaughter.”
“Yep, I’m Emma.” She smiled.
“All right, Emma, let’s take a look at your boy here.” Alan held out his hand, taking the lead from Emma and handing it to Cheryl. “We’ve got it from here, go rest up. I’m sure you’ve been walking a while.”
Emma nibbled her lip, obviously not wanting to leave Bentley. Shep couldn’t fight his smile. Never did he think the time would come that not only did Emma become close to Bentley, but she wanted to protect him. Slowly, though, she must have begun to realize she’d just be in the way and ventured over to Shep.
He gathered her in his arms and kissed her forehead. “You did good.”
“That was so scary.” She stared up at him with those green beauties sparkling at him. “Thanks for helping me.”
He nodded, not wanting the appreciation. There was nowhere else he’d rather be than right here, but he didn’t want to tell her. Fuck, he didn’t want to scare her again. And last night was a reminder about how truly skittish she was. One second, she was melting under his touch. The next, she was cold as ice. That was her fear of being hurt again, he understood that. But he didn’t like it.
Emma glanced out at Bentley, so Shep followed her gaze. Alan covered his arm with a long glove then picked up the manure and squished it between his fingers.
“Ugh,” Emma grumbled. “I could never be a vet.”
Shep arched an eyebrow. “Examining horse shit doesn’t sound like fun to you?”
“Not particularly.” She laughed.
Christ, when she looked at him so unguarded, he became undone. It was easy to get caught up with the idea that he’d actually met a woman that made him happy. Almost as easy as it was to forget the biggest obstacle of making a relationship happen was Emma herself.
Time.
That’s all he needed. She had to forget Jake. Shep needed to prove himself, and that he would do.
Intent on bringing her closer, he squeezed his arm around her neck. He was kissing the top of her head when a soft voice behind him said, “Hello.”
Shep sighed, turned, discovering a big smile on a face that he didn’t expect here today. “Emma,” he said, controlling the annoyance in his voice. “This is Jenny, my mother.” She must’ve driven up when Alan had, but because Shep had been keeping a close eye on Bentley, he hadn’t noticed her.
“Hi.” Emma glanced from Shep to Jenny, her cheeks turning pink. “It’s nice to meet you.” She offered her hand underneath the top wood plank of the fence.
“It’s my pleasure to meet you, my dear. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by like this uninvited.” Jenny smiled at Shep before addressing Emma again. “I’ve brought you some soup.” She held up a big bowl. “It’s beef barley.”
Shep snorted, shaking his head at his mother. So that was why she was making soup. Obviously, his mother planned on stopping by Emma’s today no matter what Shep wanted. While his mother tended to do things her way, Shep couldn’t fault her, he lived by those same rules too.
“Beef barley is my favorite.” Emma smiled. “Thank you so much.”
“I thought it might be.” Jenny smiled in return. “Did you know that it was your grandmother’s favorite soup too?”
“No, I didn’t,” Emma said.
“She made it every year for the Christmas celebrations downtown.”
“Grams was an excellent cook.”
Jenny held up the bowl. “Well, I hope I can do her justice.”
Shep cocked his head, watching the two of them. He liked the way Emma looked at his mother. He suspected this was how she had looked when she spoke with her grandmother. There was a softness in Emma’s expression that Shep hadn’t seen yet from her.
“Shep, we’re going to need your help here.”
He blinked out of his thoughts and away from the two women, removing his arm from around Emma’s shoulders. Alan held a long tube in his hand, while Cheryl began opening the tub of mineral oil. Shep sighed. Bentley wasn’t going to like this one bit.
Before he headed off, he pulled Emma in close again and brought his eyes level with hers. “Don’t listen to a damn word she says.”
Emma laughed. “Oh, that means I should listen to every word.”
“See? I like her already,” Jenny replied, placing a hand on her hip. “There was absolutely no reason for us not to meet. You’re so silly, Shep.”
Emma winked.
Shep heaved a long-suffering sigh and strode away, hearing their laughter, hoping to hell his mother was going to help his cause, not hurt it.
* * *
A handful of minutes later, the screen door shut behind Emma as she strode from the house, carrying two glasses of cold sweet tea. Jenny sat in the rocking chair that Grams always sat in, and Emma thought out of all of the brothers, Nash resembled his mother most. When Emma stopped next to her, emotion tightened her throat a little. The way the sun hit Jenny’s hair, it was easy to forget that it wasn’t Grams sitting there. They had a similar round body type; Jenny’s salt-and-pepper hair was even pulled back in a bun like Grams’s always was. Though when Jenny turned her head and smiled, that glimmer of Grams faded away.
“Here, I hope this hits the spot,” Emma said, handing Jenny the glass.
“Thank you, honey.” She sipped her drink.
Emma sat in the other rocking chair, crossing her legs. She downed half of her drink, not realizing how thirsty she’d been from walking Bentley. With the liquid swirling in her mouth, she looked in Bentley’s direction and she nearly coughed, quickly swallowing and placing her glass down on the table before she spilled all over herself. “What are they doing to him?” she gasped.
“It looks worse than it really is,” Jenny said, rocking herself in the chair, holding the glass on her lap.
Emma blinked once, realizing she was seeing things right. Shep pressed one hand to Bentley’s neck, the other hand holding the halter, while the vet fed a long tube into Bentley’s nose. “What it looks like is murder,” Emma commented.
Jenny laughed softly. “That tube is going into his belly, is all, to flush him out. Alan will want to make sure whateve
r caused the colic in his guts is washed out.”
Emma wasn’t sure she felt any better. Poor Bentley. “He’ll be okay after that?”
“He’s okay now.” Jenny gave a soft smile. “This is a precaution, nothing more.” She took another sip of her drink then turned to face Emma, apparently unconcerned. “So, you’re from New York City?”
Emma nodded. “Born and raised.”
“That’s quite the change, from that to being here in River Rock.”
“It’s a huge change, for sure,” Emma agreed.
Jenny tilted her head, examining Emma with a motherly stare, almost as if she could see right through her, just like Grams used to. “Are you not missing the big city at all?”
Emma almost answered, but then she paused. Up until this point, she’d been forcing herself not to miss New York City, telling herself it sucked, the people sucked, and her life there sucked. Because that’s what she had to do to move on. Now she supposed she didn’t need to lie to herself anymore. “I do miss New York City and the life I had there. I miss seeing my parents every day. I miss the smells, the unique people, the noise. Living in the city was what I thought I always wanted.”
“That kind of fancy life, you mean?”
Emma nodded. “The corporate life. I loved working in a high-rise, walking with the crowds in the morning, the dinners, the parties. I loved every minute of that life.”
“It does sound very exciting.” Jenny rocked in her chair, giving a gentle, warm smile. “I always knew I’d be a rancher’s wife.”
Emma’s friends in New York City would think that such a boring life, far too simple. Emma knew better. “Grams shared that dream too. She loved being outside all day, cooking for her family, making them a priority.” Emma remembered the advice Grams gave her: The people you love are who matter in the end. Emma’s heart squeezed; she’d been so busy in New York City, so far from Grams when she passed away. Regret on top of regret, Emma wished she could change so much.
Emma’s emotions must have shown on her face because Jenny’s voice warmed. “Daisy was quite the lovely woman. She’d be so delighted you were here, taking care of things. Every time I saw her, she always mentioned you.”
“Did she?”
Jenny gave a firm nod. “She was proud of you. She’d tell me how you were blowing people’s minds in New York City, stealing jobs from people with far more experience.” Jenny hesitated then nodded again. “Unbelievably proud, she was.”
Emma smiled but quickly looked away, trying to hold it together. Though when she saw the vet begin dumping the clear liquid into the tube, she almost wished she hadn’t looked. She focused on Shep then, while he stroked Bentley’s neck. His tenderness made her hopelessly mushy.
“I worry about Shep,” Jenny said.
When Emma glanced her way, Jenny gave her a measured look. “He will never complain or ask for help, but I see the strain on him. He’s worried for me, for the business.”
Emma didn’t know how much she should say of what Shep had told her. She decided “I’m sorry that you lost your husband,” was a safe bet.
Jenny drew in a long steady breath. “Thank you, but these things happen, I’m afraid.” She exhaled nearly as slowly, then added, “I’m only sad that my husband didn’t share all that was going wrong. We could have helped him. At least taken some of the burden off him, so he could see that we’d all be fine, no matter what he had to do. Now all these troubles have been put onto Shep’s shoulders. He’s a fixer, did you know that about him?”
Emma nodded. Frankly, she was still learning all the things about Shep. Though he’d proven he was a fixer by how he’d taken on her problems and Bentley’s. “Yes, I’ve come to discover this about him.”
“When he sees someone he cares about hurting, he wants to fix whatever is troubling them,” Jenny explained. “Of course, he’ll never admit that, but can you do me a favor?”
“Of course,” Emma said.
Jenny sighed, tears welling in her eyes. “Don’t let him take on too much. I will be fine, no matter what he decides to do with the land and the company. The Blackshaw men have a terrible habit of taking on too much and not letting anyone know of their troubles.”
That’s what Shep’s father did, Emma knew that. By all appearances, Shep also didn’t open up with his mother. But Emma realized he had opened up to someone. Her. “I’m not really sure what I can do to help, or even if I said anything, that it would matter to him.”
“Oh, what you say matters. Don’t think otherwise.” Jenny leaned forward, leveling Emma with a hard look. “There is another thing that Blackshaw men don’t mess around with.”
“What’s that?”
“Their heart. When they know, they know.” Jenny rose then, as if she had made the point she wanted to, and placed her glass down on the table in between the chairs. She took Emma into a warm hug and said softly, “Shep knows, honey.”
When Jenny leaned away, Emma remained speechless, only giving a smile goodbye, her mind racing a mile a minute. Shep seemed to take care of everything and everyone. Always being the big brother, always being the good son, even being the good man who took on her troubles, as well as her broken horse. He’d given her the room to trust him, and he’d built that trust on action alone in less than a week.
Emma had so many regrets. Lord, she had so many, but Shep wasn’t one of them. He shared so much with her, had been open and honest . . . Maybe it was time she did the same.
Chapter 13
Dust drifted up beneath the tires of Alan’s truck as he and Cheryl vanished down the driveway. In the sand ring, Bentley lay on his side, resting. It’d been a few hours now since Shep arrived at the farm, and a good hour since Alan administered the liquids. Bentley would be fine, after he slept and rested. The hay had been pulled from the ring, much to Tadgh’s dismay, but he’d survive the night, and so would Bentley.
Shep sighed, turning away, and headed up the porch steps, knowing his troubles weren’t over quite yet. His mother and Emma had been chatting. Of course, he wondered what they talked about. He hoped nothing his mother said had rattled Emma. Regardless that he was sure she had said things that would probably annoy him, he was pleased his mother had liked Emma. He could tell by the smile she’d given him before she left. A smile that basically said Emma is special. That was precisely why his shoulders were tight, chest heavy.
Emma was special. Very special, indeed.
He didn’t want to take a wrong step with her.
After he made it to the front door, he removed his boots on the welcome mat, not wanting to drag the sand inside. When he opened the wooden screen door, he discovered Emma staring out the living room window overlooking the sand ring, arms folded over her chest.
“Is Bentley okay?” she asked, without looking back.
“He’ll be fine.” Shep closed the front door behind him, carefully regarding her. She still hadn’t looked at him. He began to wonder if she was crying.
Then came her sniffle, making his assumptions right. Fuck repeated in his mind when he moved to her, that soft sound of her sadness breaking him apart. “Are you okay?” he asked, stepping close to her, but not too close, giving her distance in case she wanted that.
She sniffed again. “I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“Come here, darlin’.” He gathered her in his arms. One look into her pretty eyes told him all he needed to know. Everyone had an emotional limit. Where all they’d been fighting suddenly broke free. “You’ve been through a lot lately. Today, with Bentley, was stressful. I’m sure the effects of that are all toppling over.” He rested his chin on top of her head, holding her tight against him.
All that had felt wrong since he’d last seen her suddenly felt better. Since day one, everything with Emma had been so natural. He allowed the silence to flow between them, a comfortable silence that he’d never quite felt with anyone before.
“I missed you,” she eventually said.
A flush of adrenaline t
ingled through his body. He tucked a finger under her chin, staring into her emotion-packed eyes. “You missed me?”
“Last night, I . . .” She blinked, a single tear falling down her cheek. “I wanted you here.”
“I wanted to be here.” He caught the tear from falling farther, brushing the moisture across her cheek.
She blinked again, then stepped out of his arms, glancing back out the window. “But that’s confusing because I’m not supposed to miss you. I told myself that I needed a day apart from you and that I’d be fine. In the end, all I did was spend the day missing you.”
Like hell he’d let that statement pass. He took her hand again, tugging her toward the couch. He sat on the armrest, bringing her between his legs, coming eye-to-eye with her. “Are you expecting that to annoy me or something? I certainly like the fact that you’re missing me.”
She paused, her eyes searching his. “A bit of honesty?”
“Please.”
Her gaze cast down, her deep inhale obvious before she addressed him again. “You have to understand, Shep, that I’m not someone who makes the same mistake twice. I live with my heart, yes, but I’m also ruled by my thoughts. I gave Jake too much of myself, that’s on me. I can’t let my heart run away with me again. I mean, this is all so crazy. We barely even know each other. I shouldn’t be missing you like this, needing you so much, and I can’t help but think that I’m needing you so much because I’m lonely.”
His lips parted to refute that. She pressed her finger to his mouth, hushing him, then continued, “But then when I sit and think about you, I know it’s not that at all. You’re this amazing guy who makes me feel all these amazing things.” She paused then, focused on him, and she admitted something he suspected was hard for her. “I want to trust you.”
The power of those five words brushed across him. Not only because he knew saying them put her in a vulnerable spot, but because it was honest, real, and raw, and he wanted her to trust him too. “Jake has left a mark on you,” he said gently, stroking his knuckles over her cheek. “It’s there, and I see the mark.” Now he gave her his truth. “It’s okay to be a little lonely. You’ve lost your Grams and your life in New York City in one big sweep. You should be sad about losing both of those things. Because Jake broke your trust, you are looking to explain why you’re feeling the things you feel for me. Is this all happening fast? Yes. But it’s happening, and it’s real, and I’m also feeling everything you are.” He paused for a moment, letting that sink in before he cupped her face, knowing it was now or never. She needed a push. He couldn’t wait any longer. “I would never do what Jake did to you. Not ever. If you were mine, I would cherish you, parade you around, not hide you. And if I hurt you, that would be my greatest failure.”
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