by Emerson Rose
“Oh my god, mom, are you okay? Why are you out driving around in this, I thought you were staying at home.”
“We were until the wind tore off a piece of the roof and we decided we would be better off here,” Stella says. Ash nods agreeing with his woman but mom and dad and Jack Jr. look less than thrilled to be standing in Beau Hill’s kitchen.
“I’m glad you came to your senses, come downstairs, this way.” I shine my phone out in front of us and take the lead back downstairs to the basement. The power is out now so there are no lights but every one of us has their phone out with the flashlight on.
Cub was ferocious before I opened the door upstairs but now that he sees I’ve welcomed the intruders into the house he is quiet.
“You got a dog?” Stella asks.
“Um, yeah. Beau got him for me today,” I say swinging my eyes to my mom and back to Stella.
“What?” Stella asks when she sees mom shake her head.
“Mom thinks Beau is the devil and he’s trying to steal my innocence with sinful tempting gifts like a puppy and a watch.”
“What the hell? Where is Beau anyway?”
“Did you see anyone wandering around out there?”
“Wandering around? No why? Did you lose your boyfriend in the storm?”
“No, his mother is missing and he went to look for her.”
“Missing? Why would she go wandering around in a storm like this?”
I hesitate, Beau hasn’t told anyone about his mom.
“Doesn’t that woman have more sense than that?” mom says and I seriously want to smack her.
“No, mother, she doesn’t. Angel has Alzheimer’s disease, she doesn’t even know who Beau and Mack are most of the time.” I spit my words at her with a fury I’ve never felt for my mother before.
“I hadn’t heard that,” Stella says.
“My grandma died after years of suffering from Alzheimer’s,” Ash says surprising the hell out of me. He has such a terrible reputation for being a total asshole it’s hard to believe he is the same guy.
“I’m so sorry, that must have been hard,” I say touching him on the arm.
“It was. Babe, I think we should go and help them look for her,” he says to my sister who also surprises the hell out of me by agreeing with him.
“Yeah, you’re right. We can take both cars and cover more area.”
“Mr. Deardon, you want to take Mrs. Deardon and Jack and Stella and I will take my truck?”
Dad freezes and mom’s mouth falls open. Apparently Ash Pride doesn’t know about the Hill/Deardon family feud. I eyeball my dad to see what he’s going to say.
“Uh, yeah sure.”
Yeah? Sure? My father Mr. Jack Deardon Sr. just agreed to go searching for a lost member of the evil satanic Hill family. Hell must be freezing over at this very moment.
“Jack,” Mom says, but dad gives her a stern hard look and she shuts her mouth. She shuts her mouth!
I must be dreaming like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Toto, or in my case, Cub and I are about to be swept away by a tornado. That makes more sense than my family helping Beau’s family find his mother.
“I’m coming with you,” I say to Stella and Ash.
“Okay, come on.” Stella leads the way followed by Ash, myself, and the rest of the gang. Beau is gonna be more than pissed when he finds out I left the house and Cub might just burrow straight through my chest, but I’m not staying behind while everyone else is out risking their lives for Beau’s mom. No way.
It’s only ten steps from the kitchen door to the driveway and maybe five more to the truck, but I’m soaked to the skin when I crawl into the back of Ash’s truck. Cub is dripping wet and shivering like a leaf inside my sweatshirt.
“Okay, which way?”
“Take a left when you pull out of the driveway. The road will take you to the main house. They were going to start close to the house and work their way out.” I shout. The wind is so loud and the rain is pounding the truck like a million bullets, his wipers are on high and you still can’t see anything.
“I can’t see shit,” Ash mutters and Stella reaches out to touch his arm.
“Don’t veer off the road, it won’t do us any good to be stuck in the mud.”
“I’ll try.”
And he does try. He does a damn good job making his way to the main house. I watch dad’s headlights behind us all the way to make sure he doesn’t slide off the road either.
“Keep your eyes peeled for any movement,” Ash says when we stop at the end of the Hill’s driveway.
“Are we getting out?” I ask. “You two stay here, and leave the headlights on so I can find my way back to you. I’ll get your dad and Jack Jr. and have your mom come up here.”
Wow, Ash is a take-charge authoritative kind of guy. So far I like him, a lot. No wonder Stella is still with him. Usually she hooks up with guys that she can control and when she gets sick of them, peace out.
Ash doesn’t take any shit and Stella has stars in her eyes when she looks at him.
Not a minute later Ash is helping my mom into the driver’s seat of his truck and the guys head out to join the search party.
“Good Lord almighty, I’m drenched,” mom says shaking her arms. Sprinkles of water spray everywhere and Cub ducks down into my shirt even further.
“Thanks for being a good sport, Mom,” Stella says. Mom shrugs and I wonder what kind of magical power Ash is using on my family.
“Keep your eyes peeled, I can’t imagine she got too far from the house in this rain,” Stella says.
“Right,” I say and cup my hands on the glass of my window to peer out into the black night.
We sit for what feels like an eternity cringing every time something big hits the truck or a sheet of rain sweeps over us rocking the truck back and forth.
“I saw something!” mom yells pointing out the front window.
“You sure it wasn’t one of the guys?” Stella asks.
“No, no, she had on a white nightgown, all the way to the ground. That way!” she says bouncing up and down in her seat.
Stella looks at me, “What do you think? Should we get out and go see or try to drive in that direction?”
“Ash said to stay here.”
“Yeah but he never said what to do if we saw something. Mom, drive,” Stella says and without a moment’s hesitation she shifts the truck into gear and starts driving.
The wind gusts so hard it moves the truck left a few feet and I hold onto the back of Stella’s seat. “Oh my god.”
“That’s right honey, you keep praying, that’s what got us through the tornado. I never prayed so hard in my life and it worked like a charm. We all walked away without so much as a scratch, every one of us.”
I never asked how they survived the tornado. I didn’t want to traumatize any of them any more than they already had been by making them relive that day.
She continues slowly to the tree line near the pond. “I saw her!” Stella yells and throws the door open running right out into the worst storm I’ve ever been witness to.
“Stella! I yell and scoop Cub out of my shirt and toss him to my mom. I put my hand on the handle of the door only to find resistance. It won’t open. When I look up Beau is standing outside glaring at me. “Beau! Let me out, Stella saw your mom, she went that way!” I scream and point in the direction that Stella went.
The roar of the storm is a thousand times louder with Stella’s door open. Cub barks and I turn to look at my mom, when I turn back Beau is gone. Shit.
I’m about to try the door again when Stella and Beau stumble into the front seat with Angel Hill between them. They fight against the wind to hoist her limp body up into the seat and after quite a struggle they succeed.
“Can you make it to the house?” he yells to my mom.
“Yes, I think so. We left Jack and Jack Jr and Ash a few hundred yards back though.”
“I’ll get them, just make sure my mom gets to the house.” He tur
ns to me, “And you stay in the damn truck!” he yells and points his long finger at me right before he disappears.
Stella climbs into the back with me, the door nearly snapping her leg when the wind blows it shut.
“Shit, I can’t believe I found her,” she says and I lean forward and take Cub from mom so she can concentrate on driving.
“Here.” I hand cub to Stella and scoot forward to check on Angel. “Mrs. Hill, are you injured? Can you hear me?”
She turns her head in my direction and her eyes light up with recognition, “Kylie Mitchel dear, how are you? Is your mother still working at the mill in Westberry?”
“Um, no Mrs. Hill, I’m Charlotte not Kylie.” I don’t even know who Kylie Mitchel is, but my guess is she’s somebody from her past since those are the memories Alzheimer’s patients usually get to keep.
“Oh. You look so much like Kylie.” Her words trail off and she looks out the window. “Oh my, it’s raining cats and dogs isn’t it Sarah?”
She remembers my mom, shit I hope she doesn’t remember how much she hates her
“Yep, Angel, this is quite a storm but we’re going to get you home now safe and sound with Mack don’t you worry.”
Who is this woman?
“Mom, stop, that’s the house,” Stella yells just in time to keep her from driving up onto their porch.
I’m considering my next move since Beau ordered me to stay in the truck. I should get out and help them get Angel into the house but at what risk?
Thankfully I don’t have to make that decision when Beau opens his mother’s door and scoops her into his arms and barks. “Follow me.”
All three of us struggle against the wind holding onto the truck until we reach the steps of the porch. I reach out and take ahold of the bannister and Stella links her arm with mine and mom does the same with her other arm.
Our human chain pushes against the wind up the stairs. At the top I feel Beau’s arms around me helping us along until we are inside.
“We should get to the basement, the tornado warning is still in effect,” Beau says.
“What about the others?” Stella asks.
“Dean’s got them, he’s bringing them in. They’ll be here in a second, everybody is accounted for, let’s move.”
Beau herds us like cattle down the steps into his parent’s basement where Mack is tending to a soaking wet Angel.
I tense when I see him worrying what he will say when he turns around and finds two Deardon’s in his house.
Beau leans in close to my ear and whispers, “It’s okay. Dad knows your mom and Stella found her. He also knows everyone in your family risked their lives to help.”
“Oh.” Well hell, maybe the Hill/Deardon family feud is finally over. Too bad it took a tornado almost sucking a woman with Alzheimer’s into the night sky to do it. Cub pokes his head out and Beau looks down at the two of us. “Are you mad?”
“Fuck yeah I’m mad baby. I told you not to leave the house, you leave the house. Ash tells you to wait in the truck and you almost end up in the pond. You could have been killed and I’m not good with that, not one fucking bit.”
He closes his eyes and smashes me to his chest in a hug full of frustration, fear and love. Cub yelps when he is squished between us. Beau reaches down, picks him up with one hand and without looking hands him to Stella. “Hold this, I need to kiss my fiancé.”
His what? Wait a minute, did he just… I don’t get time to finish that thought. His mouth is on mine kissing me hard, long and wet, really wet.
My legs buckle under me, my head is in a fog and pop rocks are exploding like crazy in my tummy. I raise my arms up and push my fingers into his dripping hair and forget where we are, who we are with, and how incredibly inappropriate we are being.
Beau holds me tight against his chest lifting me off the ground. We kiss for so long that the fog in my brain eventually lifts and I hear more than one person clear their throat.
When he finally pulls away he locks eyes with me. “Charlotte Marie Deardon, will you do me the honor of marrying me, so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t do any more stupid shit for the rest of our lives?”
“Yes, she will,” Stella, says elbowing me when I don’t answer right away.
“What she says,” I say smiling ear to ear.
“Did you find it?”
Now I frown. “Find what?”
“Your ring.”
“Um, no. You gave me a ring?”
“We did, it’s on Cub’s collar.”
Stella gasps and holds Cub up so I can see an enormous diamond ring dangling from a tiffany blue ribbon on his collar. How on earth did I miss that?
Beau reaches out to untie the ribbon and slides the ring on my trembling finger.
He tips his head to the side and smirks. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell you, since you talk to animals and all.”
I look at Cub and back to Beau. “He says he was keeping it a secret for you.”
“Hmm, I see. So, you like?” He nods at my hand where the most beautiful princess cut diamond I’ve ever seen in my life sits twinkling even in the dim light of the Hill basement.
“I love. But I love you more.”
Epilogue
Ten years later
Beau
Every time I look up and see the sign over the drive that says Welcome to the Whisky Hill Deardon Rose Ranch, I smile and shake my head.
Who would have thought that after a hundred year family feud these two families would join together in making the most successful ranch in southern Montana?
Not me that’s for damn sure. But we did it. Charlotte and I accomplished the impossible proving that love really does conquer all.
Five years later with three kids, two dogs, six chickens and I don’t even know how many goats both of our families are living in harmony.
Charlotte is the best damn vet and I am the proudest damn husband in Montana. She was born to care for animals and she’s not too shabby with humans either. She splits her time between the barn and the main house helping out with my mom who lights up like the sun every time she sees Charlotte.
We aren’t sure who she thinks Charlotte is, but whoever it is, she loves her like crazy. Sarah has taken over for Constance, who felt so guilty after mom wondered off in a storm that she resigned. We told Constance it wasn’t her fault but she couldn’t forgive herself.
Dad, Jack Sr., Jack Jr. and I work the cattle during the day and we take turns having dinner at each other’s houses every night.
We expanded across the main road combining the two ranches and we built the Deardon’s a new house on the hill where their old one used to stand. Nobody worries about who’s land belongs to whom and the sins of our families past have been left in the past where they belong.
Stella moved in with Ash a few years ago and they visit us often. She loves her nieces and nephews more than life itself and they feel the same about her and Ash.
Emma, Olivia and Liam keep us all busy. I thought it would be hard keeping Charlotte from doing stupid shit for the rest of her life, but that was before I met our children.
Emma is our oldest troublemaker at eight years old. She looks a lot like me and she’s stubborn like me. She loves riding horses more than anything. Keeping her out of the saddle when she’s supposed to be doing other things like homework or chores is a full time job.
Olivia is five and the mirror image of my Charlotte. She is sweet and kind and obedient. She listens to directions and worries a little too much for my taste about not being perfect but I couldn’t love her more.
Liam is the baby of the family and possibly the last child we will have. Charlotte had a very difficult pregnancy with him and we nearly lost her to preeclampsia. Doctors suggested we be done and I’m perfectly fine with that.
I got my little man, my two gorgeous daughters, my princess and a huge extended family, what else could a man ask for?
Absolutely nothing.
End Bonus Bo
ok One
THE END
Page ahead to begin Bonus Book Two in the Whiskey Hill Ranch Series – The Cowboy’s Nanny
Bonus Book Two
The Cowboy’s Nanny
By
Emerson Rose
COPYRIGHT 2017 PRISM HEART PRESS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COVER DESIGN: © 2017 Louisa Maggio
EDITING: Maria Alexander
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