The Cowboy's Homecoming

“I know you’ll have a hard time finding someone as glamorous as my future wife,” John returned with a laugh as he let his arm rest across Heather’s shoulders. “But I have faith in you. You never seemed to have any trouble in high school getting the girls.”

Unbidden came a picture of Abby with her pretty auburn hair and her sprinkling of freckles.

He shook his head as if to rid himself of the notion, getting up to take one of the bowls his sister Keira was carrying into the dining room. He sniffed as he put it on the table. “Ginger-glazed carrots. You read my mind. These from the garden?”

“You bet,” Keira said, setting a bowl of baby potatoes beside it. “We might have been premature picking them, though. None of them are very big.”

“I’ll say,” Tanner put in, pulling a chair out for his future wife. His dark hair, brown eyes and dark eyebrows gave him a hard look, but Lee knew the former bronc rider was a softie when it came to his sister. He also knew Tanner was the complete opposite of his deceased brother, David Fortier, Lee’s former friend. “We had to dig up a quarter of a row of carrots and four potato plants before we got enough for supper.”

“It’ll be worth it,” Keira said, brushing her blond locks off her face. Her green eyes sparkled with humor as she sat down beside Tanner, flashing him a loving smile.

“I’ll say it was. This looks and smells amazing,” Lee raved, his stomach growling.

He hadn’t eaten since that single granola bar he’d grabbed at a gas station on his way up here. A combination of nerves and excitement at coming home had made it hard for him to eat. And after he’d met Abby Newton, any appetite he might have had faded away. Her veiled antagonism stuck in his throat, and he still cringed at the memory. He knew he would be facing the shadows of the past coming back to the ranch, but he didn’t think those shadows would take the form of actually encountering Abby so soon.

“So, where’s Adana?” he asked, finally realizing that John’s daughter wasn’t with them.

“She’s with Sandy’s parents,” John said. “They wanted to take her to put some flowers on Sandy’s grave.”

“That’s pretty heavy for a two-year-old to deal with,” Lee remarked.

John shrugged. “Sandy was their only daughter. They don’t want Adana to forget her.”

Silence followed that pronouncement. John had been married to Sandy for two years before she died giving birth to Adana. Sandy’s parents still lived in Saddlebank and, from what Lee understood, took care of Adana from time to time.

“And that’s only right,” Ellen said finally. “I like to think my children would remember me if something happened.”

“Something already did,” Monty said, referring to the break in her neck Ellen had suffered over half a year ago. “And thank the good Lord you made it through that.”

Guilt suffused Lee at the thought that his mother had gone through all that pain while he stayed away.

“And thank the good Lord that the brace came off in time for Keira’s wedding,” Ellen said brightly. “I would have a hard time finding a mother of the bride outfit wearing that silly thing.”

“You’d look good no matter what you wore,” Monty murmured, patting her on the arm.

Lee couldn’t stop a tinge of envy at his family’s obvious happiness. Though he knew both his sisters had had their trials in the past, they had overcome them and had found happiness and someone who loved and accepted them exactly as they were.

He hadn’t had the same experience. Abby had been the last woman he was serious about. Then it was prison and after that, trying to find work. He had tried dating but couldn’t seem to connect with anyone who he wanted to spend time with. Of course, once any decent woman heard about his prison term, she seemed to back off.

“I think we can get started,” Monty said. “Like you said, Ellen, we are richly blessed. A wedding coming up next week, the anniversary celebrations and all our children home.”

Then he bowed his head and thanked the Lord for the food, for their family and the many blessings they’d received over the years. He prayed for strength and for wisdom and thanked the Lord for his sacrificial love.

When he said amen, Lee kept his head bent a moment longer, letting the prayer soak into his weary soul. The offshore drilling rig work he’d been doing—camp jobs and being on the road for weeks at a time—didn’t allow for much faith community. And he truly missed being a part of a robust spiritual life.

He lifted his head to catch his father looking at him, a pensive expression on his face as if he guessed where Lee’s mind had been wandering. Then his sisters started chatting, people started passing bowls and plates and he was drawn into the give and take of family conversation and dinner around the Bannister table.

For the first few moments, Lee was more spectator than participant. Other than the two years she’d worked in Seattle, Keira had stayed at Refuge Ranch working with their father, Monty, at his leather-working business, expanding it and putting her own mark on it. Heather had returned this spring and was settling into her work, teaching barrel-racing clinics. John had bought in to the ranch, and he and Heather were making plans to build an arena so she could train horses right on the ranch. Their lives were entwined with the daily rhythm of ranch life.

Lee envied them the peace that suffused their lives. But he had grown up on the ranch as well, understood the language and the way of life, so he was soon drawn into the conversation as the topics moved to pasture management, maximizing profits and alternative feeding methods.

An hour later, after dessert and coffee, Lee sat back in his chair, replete.

“I haven’t been this stuffed in a long time,” he said, rubbing his stomach. “I’m sure I gained six pounds tonight.”

“Three helpings of apple pie probably didn’t help,” Keira teased.

“That’s the best apple pie I’ve had since I left here,” Lee said with a groan.

“Guess we’ll have to add apple pie to the wedding menu.” Tanner grinned at Keira. “Cheesecake and trifle might not be enough for your brother.”

Everyone laughed at that, and Lee was about to make a rebuttal when the phone rang.

Monty got up to answer and Heather started clearing the table. Lee stood to help her and as they passed Monty, who was still talking on the phone, his father shot Lee a troubled glance.

“Well, if that’s the way it’s gotta go, doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it,” Monty said, scratching his forehead with one finger. He said goodbye and then set the phone back in its cradle.

“What was that about?” Lee asked as he set the plates by the dishwasher.

“That was the editor of the magazine doing the piece on the ranch.” Monty crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the counter behind him. “Apparently the guy that was supposed to do the story on the ranch won’t be coming.”

“Oh no,” Heather said. “And you were so excited about having that feature done.”

“Does that mean I’m off the hook?” Lee asked. Since everyone else was tied up with preparations for the wedding, he had been volunteered to show the reporter around. Take him on a few rides up in the hills and show him as much of the ranch as he could. They had planned a cattle drive for the cows and calves they had to move to pasture, and had even talked about a campfire out in the hills like the way they used to do during fall roundup.

Monty settled his gaze on Lee, who felt a shiver of apprehension at the concern on his father’s face. “The editor, Maddie, found someone else to do the story.” He paused and the shiver became a chill. “Abby Newton will be coming tomorrow. She’s the reporter slash photographer who is replacing Burt.”

* * *

Abby took her foot off the accelerator as her car crested the hill leading down into Refuge Ranch, its many buildings clustered in the basin below her. The sprawling ranch house sat off to one side tucked into a copse of spruce. Its large stone chimney soaring skyward from the house was framed by large panes of glass overlooking mountains cradling the basin.

There was another smaller house to the left of that. From the information Maddie had forwarded her, she suspected that was John Argall’s house, the new partner in the ranch. A large shed housing some tractors and haying equipment dominated the rest of the yard. Beside that was another barn and various outbuildings, one of which sported a sign, swinging from a wrought-iron frame. Abby couldn’t read the writing from here, but she suspected the building was the leather-working shop where Keira Bannister toiled away. Large corrals took up a few more acres of space, and beyond that pastures rolled away for endless miles. Though it wasn’t operating at capacity—Monty had downsized after Lee left—it was still a large ranch. And the Bannister name was embedded in Saddlebank history.

Part of her wanted to turn, run back and tell Maddie she couldn’t do this.

How could she deliberately spend time with Lee? Or face the family she insisted pay for what had happened to her father?

But she had said yes, and Abby wasn’t someone who went back on her word.

Ever.

So she tamped down the anxiety, stepped on the gas and headed down to Refuge Ranch.

As she got closer to the ranch, she saw a tall, solitary figure leaving the house, head covered by a brown cowboy hat. He looked up when she pulled into the graveled parking pad by the main house. Dark eyes narrowed as he stared in her direction, his hands dropping on his hips, and she guessed Lee was as happy to see her as she was to see him.

No turning back now.

Abby parked her car and turned it off, whispering a quick prayer for strength and courage. Then she grabbed her knapsack and stepped out. She limped to the back door and pulled out a crutch, willing the flush that was even now heating her cheeks to go away. It was embarrassing to need a crutch, but the doctor she had seen last night recommended it for today. Just to make sure the cut healed properly.