Her Last Chance Cowboy: A Sweet Western Romance (Prairie Valley Book 5)

by Ellen Joy

  “Oh my gosh, I’m so excited, and so is Rosie!” Olivia laughed as she set down a ceramic bowl of potato salad. “She can’t wait to have a whole group of little girls riding horses.”

  Hannah wondered if she should tell Emma to just invite two girls instead of four, but the invitations had gone out a week ago. She couldn’t ask her to change things, now.

  “Jess!” Olivia called from behind the refrigerator door. “How long until the brisket’s ready?”

  “Fifteen!” Jesse called back.

  “Oh, there’s Annie,” Olivia pointed to the newly arrived truck, and two boys running toward the house.

  “Hannah!” Maggie said, coming down the back stairs. “I didn’t know you’d arrived.”

  The matriarch of the Boudreau family wore a flowing dress with long johns underneath, slippers on her feet, her hair pulled back in a low braid. She gave Hannah a hug. “I’m so glad you came.”

  “Hannah and Emma are going to be babysitting for us on Friday nights,” Olivia said.

  “That’s a wonderful idea.” Maggie peeked into the living room. “I bet there’s going to be another teacher in the family.”

  The idea of Emma becoming a teacher made Hannah’s heart swell. She had always wanted to be a teacher. School had been her saving grace, her safe haven from the chaos that was her home. The idea of Emma living out her dream, made losing her own dreams worth it. She’d loved school so much. How badly she wished she could go back and do it all over again. Not that she regretted having Emma. No, Emma was the best thing that ever happened to her, but she’d love to go back and learn.

  It was why she didn’t quit when she got pregnant. She’d had to start earning something, and she couldn’t find a full-time job working nights. So, she started night school to earn her GED, and worked during the day. That’s where she’d met Georgie, who’d been teaching her first class in Prairie Valley.

  Emma took off for the barn with the other “cousins”, and Hannah held baby Mae in her arms. Thank God for babies. She could almost forget how bad things were at that moment.

  “Emma’s chicken is even fatter, if you can believe that,” Rosie said as she came in the door.

  “What’s for dinner?” Ryan asked. “Hey everyone.”

  “Probably one of Nana’s casseroles,” Rosie mumbled, leaning over to kiss Olivia on the cheek.

  Maggie was infamous for her hotdish dinners, especially her tuna and potato chip concoction. Hannah loved anything Maggie made. Staying with the Boudreaus had been a blessing. Before Georgie came into her life, she had been lost and broken. Now, she might have lost her job, but she was still blessed.

  “Dinner’s ready!” Olivia yelled out the door, and Hannah could see the kids running out of the barn just as Georgie and Sam pulled up.

  “Let’s go wash up.” Hannah scooped up the baby and carried her to the bathroom.

  She sat Mae on the counter and turned on the faucet, pumping soap into her hands. She had started singing the “ABCs”, accompanied by baby cooing, when she heard a new male voice in the kitchen.

  A neighbor had probably come to join them for dinner. The family table was often overflowing with friends as well as family.

  “Okay, now it’s time to wipe our hands.” She handed Emma a towel, patting her hands dry, catching a glimpse of her reflection. Dark circles discolored the skin around her eyes, and the new crinkles of crows’ feet seemed prominent in the harsh fluorescent light, making her look older. Much older.

  What was she going to do? Well, she guessed she’d start looking for another job while Emma was in school. She could probably get something at the diner. Or maybe at the bank? Were they hiring tellers? She was good with numbers.

  Mae flung her body around and squirmed to get down out of Hannah’s arms. Olivia was going to have her hands full with this one.

  “Come on, let’s go see Mommy.” She spoke in a cheery voice, bouncing the baby high on her hip. “Trot, trot, to Boston. Trot, trot, to Lynn.”

  Then she turned the corner, and saw Jake Malloy standing in the middle of the Boudreau kitchen, carrying on a conversation with Georgie and Maggie. The moment he saw her, the smile was wiped from his face, and he stopped talking.

  “Hannah!” Olivia exclaimed. “Come meet our new neighbor!”

  Jake knew Olivia and Ryan from the ranch, but didn’t understand the relationship between them and the girl from the grocery store. She was the last person he would have expected to see in this kitchen.

  Olivia had shown up at his place after he moved in, asking him to dinner. He had politely declined. But when he ran into her at church, he couldn’t refuse in front of his mother.

  Olivia turned toward Hannah, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Jake’s working over at Broken Eagle Ranch, building a new barn.”

  “Who’s this?” he asked, nodding his head toward the baby.

  “This is Mae.” Olivia made kissing noises at the baby and took her from Hannah.

  “Hi, Mae.” Jake waved and smiled. She waved back, then twisted to get free.

  “Time to sit at the table.”

  He glanced at Hannah again, and vague memories stirred. Stories about Troy Higgins getting a young girl pregnant, and then behaving like an ass over it. He couldn’t stand any of the Higgins, but most especially that little pipsqueak, Troy. The kind of person who acted entitled just because he existed. Who wasn’t ashamed to use his hands on a woman. Who reminded Jake of his father.

  How did women ever fall for guys like Troy?

  Especially Hannah. He thought about how she had stood with her chin raised, looking Troy straight in the eye while he yelled at her. How she didn’t show an ounce of fear, even when he swore and grabbed at her. She was steady and calm, and not afraid to speak her mind.

  Olivia turned to Jake. “Do you know Hannah and her daughter, Emma?”

  “We’ve met,” he said, wishing he could apologize again, even though he knew he had done the right thing. The heat radiating out of her eyes was pure disdain.

  “This looks great,” he said, turning away. The table seemed to be lined with half of Prairie Valley’s population, the children at a separate table in the kitchen.

  He glanced at Hannah often while he ate. He noticed her keeping an eye on a young girl he knew must be her daughter. She was the spitting image of Hannah.

  “So, Jake, when did you return from Afghanistan?” Olivia asked.

  “I was discharged a couple years ago.” He had been in Germany since then, recovering.

  He had been lucky, the doctors said. That what he felt was called survivor’s guilt. All he knew was that he didn’t want to close his eyes, because his friends, his brothers, lay dead behind his lids.

  “How do you like ranching so far?” Rosie asked.

  He let out a chuckle, thinking about how sore he was after working all day on the Gunderson barn, only to come home and work the ranch in the evenings. “It’s a lot harder than I expected.”

  The conversation moved on to ranching. He couldn’t help stealing glances at Hannah. Once she caught him looking at her, but he just smiled and nodded, hoping she wasn’t still too upset, wishing he could ask. As dinner wrapped up and the table was cleared, he tried to get her attention. But with so many people everywhere, he never got the chance, and she appeared to be doing everything she could to avoid him.

  Maybe he could talk to one of the Gundersons about the situation. Not that Hannah Destin and her life were any of his business, but something about Troy made him very uneasy.

  The Boudreau women sat on the living room rug around boxes and albums of photographs. Hannah pulled the price sticker off one of the new picture frames Rosie had bought.

  Jake had said nothing about the fiasco at work, for which she was grateful. She hadn’t told anyone yet, but she’d have to tell Emma sooner rather than later. Her afterschool program would have to be the first thing to go. She’d also explain that the babysitting money was for Emma to use, but use wisely. It
would be all she’d have for spending money, for clothing, fancy snacks, and any other extras that were outside their new budget.

  “This is a really neat idea,” she said to Olivia. The frames of family pictures would be the centerpieces for the tables at baby Mae’s christening.

  “It’ll get people talking.” Georgie held up a picture of Olivia in Maggie’s arms. “Look at her cheeks!”

  “Ugh, I was a fat baby.” Olivia scowled at the photograph.

  “You were adorable.” Rosie plucked the picture out of Georgie’s hand and cooed over it.

  The women had been planning this celebration for months. Pastor Phil would perform the ceremony at the church, then the reception would be held under a big tent at the farm. The whole town was invited.

  “We didn’t have a big wedding, so I figured we could go big for this.”

  Hannah loved the idea. Emma’s christening had just involved cookies and coffee at church after the service.

  Annie, the middle Boudreau daughter, held up a picture of their family at the Grand Canyon. “Look at Daddy’s belt.” The large turquoise and silver buckle practically covered his belly.

  Maggie smiled. “He loved that belt.”

  “Jake told Sam he knew you,” Georgie said to Hannah, as the others looked at the photograph.

  “Where are all the guys?” Hannah hoped Georgie wouldn’t notice her avoidance of the subject. She had thought Jake had gone home.

  She hoped he hadn’t told anyone about their encounter with Troy. She didn’t want to admit that he’d been coming to her work, sometimes just asking after her and Emma, other times asking for money. Mostly the latter, lately, she admitted with an inward sigh. She had mostly just given in, anything to get him out of there.

  Olivia had once told her to call the police.

  “It’ll be on his record.” Olivia said. “You could use it in the divorce.”

  “I don’t want to ruin him.” But why, really, did she continue to protect him?

  Well, Troy had enough of his own problems. She didn’t need to add fuel to the fire by calling the police on him. Not when it was pointless, anyways. She knew what they could legally do, and it wasn’t much. Domestic abuse wasn’t considered a serious crime. And it would just prompt him to go around town telling everyone more lies about her. His mother still loved to spread rumors about her sleeping around. The reality was that she had only given in to Troy after he told her it was how she could “show him her love”.

  She shuddered at her own stupidity.

  Olivia held Mae’s little hands so she could stand, then said, “You know, that Jake is very handsome.”

  Hannah shook her head. “He’s a bit uptight.”

  “You really think so?” Olivia seemed surprised. “He seems like a nice guy. You know, you two would be cute together.”

  Hannah nearly choked. “Oh no, I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?”

  Mae’s fingers slipped from Olivia’s hands, and she fell on her bottom. Her bottom lip began to wobble.

  All the women started laughing and cooing to distract the baby, but it didn’t work. She wailed.

  Olivia looked at her phone, checking the time. “Let me put her down, and I’ll be right back to open up that bottle of wine in the fridge.”

  Hannah picked up the Grand Canyon photo and slipped it into a frame, looking at the young Boudreau women looking up at her.

  “That was a fun trip,” Maggie said from her recliner. “Though the girls almost killed each other.”

  Hannah smiled at the idea of three sisters in the back of a station wagon, stuck together as they travelled across the country. Regrets crept in. A trip like that wasn’t in the cards for her and Emma. She’d never have enough savings to risk spending on such an adventure. She knew how this game was played. She’d learned from her mother. As a single mother, she either had to sacrifice Emma’s happiness, or sacrifice her own. She couldn’t have both.

  The summer Hannah’s mother left her with her father was the summer her mother met Mitch. He really liked Hannah… especially when her bra size changed. He always looked a little longer than he should, or hung around her until it got weird, or just liked to get a little too close. When her mother walked in just as he was reaching out to touch her knee, she exploded not at her creepy boyfriend, but at her daughter.

  “Are you flirting with my man?” she snarled at Hannah, after he left the room.

  “No!” Hannah cried out, pulling down her school blouse to cover her knees. She remembered being confused, and hurt, and then mad.

  When school finished for the year, Hannah would be alone in the house for the summer with Mitch, and her mother wouldn’t abide that. She packed her bags while she was at a friend’s house, and drove her to Prairie Valley that night.

  In the end, her mother didn’t stay with Mitch, but there had been so many more Mitches that Hannah lost count. She couldn’t remember when she’d last seen her mother. Long before Emma had been born. She didn’t even know if she was still alive.

  Her father didn’t refuse her, but he didn’t welcome her, either. He treated her like a maid. She had to cook dinner, clean the house, do his laundry, and still give most of her part-time job money over to him for bills. Once she got her license, she had to do the shopping as well. She did everything he asked, but he still complained constantly, delighting in pointing out her mistakes.

  When she met Troy, who seemed actually to like her, paid attention to her, and treated her nicely, she fell for him right away. Once in a while she’d see the red flags, like when he got angry about little things with school and friends. But none of his anger was directed at her. Not at first. Then she had been partnered up with a friend on a school project, a friend who happened to be a guy. Troy lost it, and the kid asked to have another partner.

  Hannah had been so embarrassed that she confronted him, and Troy balled up his fist. She’d thought he was going to hit her, but he stopped himself. They’d looked at each other, shocked at the moment that had almost just happened. He cried and apologized, promising he’d never hurt her. Said he didn’t know what he was thinking.

  Yet now, she knew that she should have heeded that warning. The last exit before things were out of control.

  She looked over at Maggie, who was leafing through a stack of photos. Should she tell the Boudreaus about Troy’s visit? Would they be mad at her for giving him money? Not following through by calling the cops? And for losing her job?

  The answer was yes. A hundred percent, yes.

  Chapter 3

  There was an old saying that no one just went into ranching, you were born into it. It wasn’t something that Jake had ever expected to be doing. It had really been his best friend’s ambition, not his own. But Victor wasn’t here to live his dream, so Jake had decided to live it for him. He had no real idea what he was doing. But as he herded the cattle toward the west field, he felt a satisfaction he hadn’t felt in a long time.

  His first goal was to improve the pastures. The better he could manage the forage, the faster and healthier his cattle would grow. These fields had been used to grow soy for many years, then left fallow for more years after that. He had sown them with a seed mix that would produce better nutrition than the thin grasses and weeds that currently grew there.

  That Saturday morning, even though he woke before the sun rose, he popped up out of bed, full of energy. Maybe it was the fact that he’d slept through the night for the first time in months. Or that it was Saturday, so he didn’t have to go to work and deal with Ted’s nonsense. Or maybe it was just because he had finally left the farm and talked to someone besides his pet.

  As he walked out of the barn, wiping the sweat from his brow, he saw Allison standing on the front porch, arms crossed against her chest. She was dressed as though she was going to a fancy night club, not the local bar.

  “You forgot, didn’t you?” she huffed.

  He had. “I must’ve lost track of time.”

  S
he flung out a hand at him. “Jake, this is like, the third time you’ve blown me off for some cows.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, but he knew it only made her madder.

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  “Look, let me just shower, real quick.”

  “I’m not the kind of girl who sits around waiting for a farmer to shower.” She stalked dramatically down the stairs. She was even more stunning when she was mad, but at this point, Jake didn’t know why she even stuck around.

  “It’s a ranch, not a farm,” he mumbled.

  “Whatever!” She slapped her hands against her thighs. “You’re still making me wait around for you again!”

  “It’ll only take a minute.” He kissed her on the cheek, guiding her toward the door. He already knew how their fight would go. First, he’d apologize.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot to do here if I want to make it work.”

  She’d pout.

  “I’m sick of being treated like an afterthought.”

  He’d apologize again.

  “I’m really sorry, come in and I’ll get you something to drink.”

  She gave him the silent treatment, but just as predicted, she came into the house. She wasn’t going to stay mad. Not when all their friends were waiting at the bar for them.

  When they arrived at Lumberjacks, his brother and girlfriend were already there, along with the friends who’d stuck around town after high school. Jake had it all back then, at least from the outside. First string quarterback, a state trophy, and good grades. But the truth was, he’d never really fit in with this kind of crowd. He hadn’t seemed to fit in with anyone until he joined the gang of Marine misfits. There were people who served for duty, for family, for honor, and then there were the ones who didn’t know what else to do, like him and Victor.

  Heck, Jake still didn’t know what to do, which was part of why he’d stolen his friend’s dream.

  They’d be sitting around the barracks, waiting for something to happen. Jake felt like they were always waiting. And while they sat, Victor would talk about moving to the country and living off the land.