Travis Comes Home

“But I don’t blame you or anyone.”

Hank smiled at her. “I’m glad to hear that, but humor us males. We just want to take care of you until you’re healed. Now tell me, do you have anywhere else to go?”

Josie shook her head, feeling her tears threaten. “No…”

His hand covered hers. “Then let us help you.”

It was so hard for her to depend on anyone. Now with her mother gone, there was only herself…and the baby. “I’ll try.”

“Good. Now, let’s have a look at those pictures.”

Josie opened the sack and drew out the stack of glossy prints, surprised to find that Travis had gotten her two sets. Touched by his thoughtfulness, she went through them, examining each photo closely. Some hadn’t turned out as she’d hoped, others showed her lack of experience, but there were six pictures she thought captured the early morning beauty of the valley. She only hoped Cade and Abby felt the same.

“How did they come out?” Hank asked.

Josie forced a smile. “Pretty good. I wish I had taken more than just the one roll.” She had planned to take additional shots before Travis had interrupted her. At the time she hadn’t any idea that her photos would be the link to her father’s life.

She handed the stack of photos to Hank. “I hope these will be enough to give Abby and Cade an idea of what I have in mind for the brochure.”

It seemed like a tremendous amount of time passed as Hank scanned the pictures. She found herself anxiously waiting for his approval of her work. After a few minutes he smiled, causing the lines around his eyes to deepen. “These are really good. You sure caught the sunrise. No place is prettier than that valley at dawn. Oh, Lord, Mae and I used to ride out there many a morning…” He stopped, his kind eyes took on a faraway look and Josie knew he was remembering a happy time.