Levity and laughter painted the faces of the grandmother, daughter and granddaughter, the trio dressed like the makings of a s’more—graham cracker, chocolate bar and marshmallow.
Nina was happy for them. Truly. She just hoped there was some of that magic left for her family. She kept turning the past two days over in her mind, how she’d been so sure Douglas was going to kiss her in the corn maze, how good he’d been with Kelsey. Something seemed to have changed in him. She could almost forget the way he’d stormed off when the machinery broke and then refused to talk to her.
Almost.
An upbeat electric guitar note hummed in the night air as couples and families made their way to the makeshift dance floor. Toying with her pigtails, she picked her way across the perimeter of the dance floor.
Off to the right of the purple-hued stage, Hollie and Jacob paid homage to their Scottish heritage in a matching red-plaid kilt set. Hollie held her small Scottish terrier pup in her arms, its pink tongue licking her face.
“I don’t even know how to thank you for all of this over the past two weeks,” Nina said by way of greeting, hands stretched to encompass not only the Fur Ball, but the ranch.
A hand fell to rest on her shoulder. Startled, she looked back and found her husband, looking so big and handsome and adorable in the wholesome milkman’s costume she’d picked for him.
“Thanks, Jacob,” Douglas called out. “Thanks for everything. I’ll get back to you about your offer once my lovely wife and I have a chance to discuss it.”
Surprise rooted her feet to the floor. Discussion? She tried to unscramble her thoughts, which would have been difficult to do regardless, and was virtually impossible with the music, dancing and chatter of the gala all around them.
Then Douglas slipped a strong arm around her waist and guided her out of the barn. God, it was scary feeling this hopeful. Although hadn’t he said something similar to her? Something about being afraid something else bad would happen?
How had they both become so distrustful of everything?
Douglas stopped outside the corn maze, swept off the white cap and tucked it in his back pocket. He scrubbed a hand over his strong jaw, his gaze sliding back up to meet hers and hold with an intensity in his electric blue eyes that broadcast just how important this moment was to him. “So, about my conversation with Jacob, if you’re still on board, I’d like us to try to save the farm.”
Shock rippled through her. She wavered a little on her feet, one arm brushing the rough edge of a hay bale stacked near the entrance to the maze. “Really? You want to try to hang on to the farm, even though it’s more of a risk now with the latest machinery break? You’re serious?”
“I’m skeptical that it can work, but I’m willing to consider options.” He cupped her arms. “Together. Jacob is looking to expand, and we have land with the perfect setup for Top Dog II.”
Hearing the excitement in his voice, seeing his eyes alive with hope, she couldn’t stop from swaying toward him. She just barely stopped herself from leaning the rest of the way in and kissing him, which would end what promised to be the most important conversation of her life. “Jacob and Hollie have been talking about their long waiting list.”
“Exactly. Jacob wants to discuss the possibility of using that list as a start-up to get the new site up and running,” he said confidently. “It would be a massive undertaking and we wouldn’t be the sole owners of our farm anymore—”
“But we wouldn’t have to move,” she whispered the miracle that she’d barely dared hope for. Her husband was offering the dream she’d prayed for since losing her parents.
“We would probably work even harder than before at a time we should be spending more time on our relationship. And that’s where Ashlynn—I hope—would come in.”
The surprises kept coming. He had her complete attention. “How so?”
“If you agree, I would like to ask her to move back and work for us. I want you to have family close.”
She brought a trembling hand to her mouth, overwhelmed in absolutely the best way. “You’re ready to welcome magic into our lives.”
“Yes, I am. If you’re by my side.” He took her hands in his. From the barn, a whisper of a slower song with warbling vocals drifted out over them. “I love you, Nina. I’ve never stopped. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to let you know how important you are to me.”
“How important the girls are, you mean?” Her heart thundered, her ears ringing with the weight of years and her long-lasting desire for his touch, his voice. For him.
“How important you are. You are my life.” He cradled her face in his hands. “I can’t promise I’ll ever be able to get over my fear of having more children—”
“Douglas, I—”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Hold on. Please let me finish.” His blue eyes focused solely on her. “I can’t promise I’ll ever be able to get over my fear of having more children, but I won’t get a vasectomy.”
His compromise took her breath away, so unexpected now that she fully understood how deep his scars ran from the girls’ difficult birth. The love in his eyes, in his voice, wooed her and humbled her all at once.
Her artistic mind filled with snapshots of the last few weeks. New angles on old scenes. A relearning of her life. Kelsey researching this place, trying to bring and keep her family together. Enlisting Kacie to work so hard with her. Both girls had been instrumental to making this new chance for their future together. And Kelsey had made this trip happen even when she felt alone, frightened that her sickness might be a burden.
If her little girl could do that and be brave beyond her years? Nina could, too. “And I’m sorry for not seeing you.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“It’s like I put a camera in front of my face and viewed the world through that lens as an excuse to avoid what was really there. I should have seen your pain. Just because you don’t express your grief the way I do doesn’t make it less valid. That’s my fault.”
“I didn’t give you much to go on,” he said drily, pulling her closer. His familiar aftershave comforted her as the slow country melody continued.
“And I was so intent on what I thought a family should be, I missed seeing how absolutely perfect the one I have already is.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, Nina Archer. With everything that’s inside me, I love you. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want the honor of growing old with you.”
Nina’s heart overflowed with joy at hearing her husband say the words she’d always dreamed, having him open up to her in ways beyond what she could have imagined.
Drawing back to take him in, every inch of him so dear. “I love you, Douglas Archer, husband of my heart, love of my life.”
She drew his face to hers for a kiss to seal her vow. Douglas was her love...he was her home.
Epilogue
Six weeks later
With laser focus, Kacie eyed her target racing around the corral. Her hands twitched with anticipation, everything she wanted just within reach.
There was just one problem. Her perfect sister was eyeing a different target, and Kacie’s heart would break if Kelsey won.
Putting her hands together, Kacie pleaded, “Please, Mom and Dad, please, I want the chocolate-colored boy puppy.”
Tail wagging, the chocolate puppy nudged her hand. Kacie’s heart surged, already attached to the sweet boy.
Kelsey pressed her hands to her heart. “But I want the yellow boy puppy over there. I’ll do double chores for a month.”
Kelsey’s preferred puppy rolled on the ground onto his back, tongue hanging out to the side. Yips and woofs filled the air as her family clustered together in the fenced area outside the Top Dog Dude Ranch’s barn. They’d driven up for the day to visit the puppies and take one back to the farm with them.
The litter she and her sister had found in the woods were ready for homes of their own. All the pups had been given a clean bill of health, and the mama dog had already been adopted by the firefighter and his fiancée, the couple who’d been at the ranch with them.
Nine puppies scampered around, so cute and cuddly. The vet said they appeared to be Labrador puppies, with some collie mixed in, making them shaggier. Two golden-colored puppies played tug-of-war with a rope. Four pups chased one another and climbed over a fat tractor tire in a little obstacle course. A couple more snoozed under a wooden bench.
The chocolate boy, the one Kacie wanted with every fiber of her being, sat in front of her with attentive brown eyes that said he was eager to learn. Adventures they could have together danced through her mind. He would be the best buddy to rope and ride together. She just knew it.
Kacie upped the ante. “I’ll do all my homework, without complaining, for the rest of the year.”
Her parents looked at each other for a long moment in that parent kind of silent talk, in their own bubble, something they had lost for a while, but that had come back now. Thanks to the Top Dog Dude Ranch. Her mom and dad were even having a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien today to sign some paperwork that would make their dairy farm Top Dog II. Her mom would get to use her photography skills taking photos of the guests and people who got married there.
She still could hardly believe it was true. Her dad said it was going to be a lot of hard work, but Kacie wasn’t afraid of that. She would be doing what she enjoyed most, and would even get to teach little kids how to use a lasso. Aunt Ashlynn was moving to their farm, too. How cool was that?
Kelsey was doing a lot better, too, not so stressed out all the time. The doctor had given Kelsey a lot of advice. Who would have thought they would all be doing goat yoga? But yoga was now a regular part of their lives when Kelsey needed help calming down.
Then it hit her. What if her parents said they had to get the puppy Kelsey wanted because she was struggling with anxiety?
Of course they would. And she would have to be okay with that, because they were a family. She loved her sister, and never wanted her to doubt that again.
“Okay, Mom and Dad. It’s okay if we get the one Kelsey wants.” It was hard to smile, but she did it anyway. Kacie knelt to stroke her puppy to say goodbye, while her sister squealed and scooped up the yellow fur ball.
Her dad ruffled her hair. “That’s really kind of you, Champ. I’m proud of you.”
Then her parents exchanged another one of those looks where they talked without words, finishing up their silent “conversation” by nodding.
Her mom knelt beside her. With a really big smile, she tucked one of Kelsey’s loose hair strands behind her ear. “How about this? What if you each got a puppy? Do you think you could handle all the work it would take since you wouldn’t be sharing the responsibility of just one?”
Kacie looked fast at her sister, and already Kelsey was squealing, “Yes, absolutely yes. We can walk our dogs together. They’ll be twins like us.”
So excited her chest was about to burst, Kacie stood and locked arms with her sister. “And we know how much work animals are. We won’t let you down.”
Her dad put his arm around her mom, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Kacie thought for a moment she actually heard their silent conversation, because there was no mistaking that they’d just said they loved each other. They said that a lot lately. There really was something special about the four-legged creatures at the Top Dog Dude Ranch that had given her back her family.
And now, they would be bringing that magic home.
* * *
Don’t miss the next book in the Top Dog Dude Ranch miniseries,
The Cowboy’s Christmas Retreat
Available November 2021 from Harlequin Special Edition!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Family She Didn’t Expect by Helen Lacey.
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The Family She Didn’t Expect
by Helen Lacey
Chapter One
Joss Culhane had planned to spend his Friday evening at home, watching a game on television, after making tacos and hanging out with his daughters. But at eight o’clock he got a message from his auto shop’s twenty-four-hour service, informing him that a car needed a tow out on Route 14, at the base of Kegg’s Mountain.
He called the sitter, Mrs. Floyd, a woman who had been watching the girls for him for a number of years, and asked if she could come by the house for an hour or two. Although the nearly thirteen-year-old Sissy and ten-year-old Clare were responsible girls, he wasn’t quite ready to leave them home alone at night. Mrs. Floyd lived only a few houses away and took about ten minutes to arrive.
“Thank you for doing this,” Joss said to the older woman as he grabbed his coat.
“Of course,” she said and smiled. “I’m always happy to help.”
“I don’t know what we’d do without you,” he said and looked at his daughters. “Behave yourselves for Mrs. Floyd, I’ll be back soon.”
“Promise?”
He gazed at his older daughter, a hint of concern in the back of his mind. Sissy always made him promise he’d return, as though she feared his sudden disappearance. “I promise.” He thanked Mrs. Floyd again, repeated his assurance to his daughters he would be back soon, and headed out.
The weather had turned bad that week, with snow falling intermittently for two days—common for South Dakota in January—but not welcome when he was called out in it. He drove through town, passing a snowplow and stopping briefly at the only set of traffic lights on Main Street to give way to a group of twentysomethings clearly heading for Rusty’s Tavern.
Joss had lived in Cedar River all his life. The small town at the foot of the Black Hills had once been a vibrant mining community. Now it was more of a tourist destination or a brief stop for commuters heading for the state line. With just over three thousand residents, Cedar River was a good town with good people, and he was content to raise his daughters in the only place he’d ever called home.
He slowed down outside the famous O’Sullivan’s. The hotel’s parking lot was full, and the place looked busier than usual. There was a convention in town and he made a mental note to stay clear of the busy streets for the next few days. He had plenty of things that needed doing around the house and at the rental property he owned down the street from his own place. The house was getting a new tenant the following Wednesday; the painters had been in the place for the last two days and the plumber was scheduled for Tuesday to finish installing some pipes and tapeware in the bathroom. Plus, since the weather was so bad, he’d decided to keep the girls home for the weekend and not send them for their usual fortnightly visit to Rapid City to spend time with their grandparents. His in-laws. Lara’s parents.
They’d never really liked him—never thought he was good enough for their only daughter. They were probably right, he figured. But at sixteen, he and Lara hadn’t cared what anyone else thought. They’d been in love and planning their life together—which had included them both heading to college in Boise and getting an apartment together. But two weeks before their high school graduation, they’d found out Lara was pregnant. College was quickly off the table, Lara had got a job at a boutique in town and Joss’s Saturday-morning job at the local gas station had become a full-time gig while he trained as a mechanic to pay the bills.
Joss pushed the memory away and drove toward Kegg’s Mountain. The snowfall was getting heavier and it took fifteen minutes to reach the site. He spotted two police cars pulled over on the side of the road. Recognizing his brothe
r’s SUV, he pulled in behind the other vehicle. An ambulance was in front of the police cars and he realized that it might be more than a simple tow. His brother’s tall and broad silhouette came into view immediately as Joss grabbed the flashlight off the seat and got out of his truck. Henry “Hank” Culhane was younger than him by seven minutes, and as well as being his twin, was his closest friend. He was also the chief of police in Cedar River.
“Hey,” Joss said and turned up his coat collar as the cold bit into his skin. “What’s happening?”
Hank greeted him at the rear of his police SUV and pointed down the embankment. “Car skidded on the ice and swerved off the road.”
“Anyone injured?” he asked, flicking on the flashlight and pointing the beam off the edge of the road, noticing that the small white sedan had come to an abrupt halt in front of a deep shrub thicket, landing down the steep embankment. Fortunately, the vehicle didn’t look as though it had sustained any significant damage, and seemed to be at a reasonably easy and accessible angle for a tow.
“Nothing serious. Single-vehicle accident, only the driver in the car.”
He gestured to the ambulance. “And that?”
“Just a precaution,” Hank said as they moved further past the police vehicle. “The passerby who reported the incident said the driver hit the brakes hard. But I can’t see any tire marks in all this snow.”
Joss was about to respond when he heard a female voice speak loudly.
“I’m fine, please stop making such a big deal.”
He heard a paramedic respond in an even tone about it simply being procedure, but the woman still resisted.
“Look, I appreciate your need to check me over. So, you’ve checked me over and you can clearly see that I’m okay. I just want to call a cab and find a hotel.”
Joss flicked the flashlight downward and headed for the ambulance. He spotted a woman in a thin, shapeless black coat, standing beside two paramedics and a uniformed police officer, her hands flapping expressively in the air. She wore a red knitted hat, matching scarf, dark-framed glasses and gloves without fingers, and ridiculously high heels he knew were bound to send her tumbling on the slippery road at some point.
Last-Chance Marriage Rescue Page 18