Second Chance Rancher

Her aunt gave her a half grin. “He’s still a good-looking man.”

“I suppose, but he’s a bit young for you.”

Essie cackled at that. “Pity, but it’s true. But then, I was never in love with him.”

Had she been in love? It had been years ago and she’d convinced herself that it had simply been infatuation. Or maybe she’d been attracted to him because he’d seemed strong and safe.

She no longer needed a man to make her feel safe. She no longer needed to escape this life.

“I guess you saw your sister?” Essie asked as she sat on the edge of the ATV seat.

“Yes, I saw her.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say to her aunt. Her sister was pregnant. As the old saying went, “the cow was already out of the barn.”

Essie gave Lucy a long look with dark eyes that made a person squirm. “I hope you weren’t too hard on her.”

“I wasn’t.” Lucy sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Aren’t you?” Essie’s mouth pulled down. “I’m not going to tell you that she’s your responsibility, Lucy. But she has to be someone’s responsibility. She’s not even eighteen and she doesn’t have anyone. Your mother doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Your brothers are chasing pipe dreams. It’s like that poor girl is collateral damage. I love her but she doesn’t want to live with an old woman. And I sure don’t speak teen girl.”

“It’s a different language,” Lucy admitted. “I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken it.”

Essie’s eyes softened. “I know and I’m sorry. You were all victims and I wish I could have done more for you.”

Lucy nodded, her gaze again drifting across the property. It was easier to deal with the land, the house and not her emotional well-being. “It’s a mess.”

“Yes, it is.” Essie followed the direction of Lucy’s gaze.

They were both talking about more than the condition of the ranch.

“I’m not sure what to do about Maria.” Lucy leaned against the fence and watched as the few head of cattle stopped to graze before moving on to the water trough.

“Not much you can do. I don’t think she wants to marry the boy.” Essie got off the ATV and joined Lucy as she crossed to the fence to look out at the property. “I worry that she won’t go to college. She’s a smart girl and I don’t want her to give up on her dreams.”

Her sister had dreams. Lucy tried to remember what that had been like, to dream of something other than making it through a night without nightmares.

“Take time and get to know her, Lucy,” Essie said. “She’s someone you will probably like.”

Lucy nodded, her gaze remaining on the cattle. “I’ll talk to her. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.”

“Talking is a start. She would probably like to have someone around. She gets lonely out here. When a kid get lonely, they get in trouble.”

Lucy thought about her own teen years. She’d been lonely and she’d also found trouble.

Essie patted her arm and headed for her four-wheeler. “I have to get to the café. I hired that silly Bea Maxwell to cook when I’m not there but I worry about leaving her alone. Why don’t you girls get cleaned up and come in for lunch? My treat.”

“I’m not sure. It looks like I have a fence to rebuild and a few things around here that can’t be put off.”

“Supper, then?”

Lucy nodded in agreement and watched as her aunt slid the helmet over her head. Essie smiled at her and then, quickly, before Lucy could react, stepped forward and embraced her. Lucy stiffened beneath the unaccustomed gesture but Essie didn’t let go. She hugged a little tighter and finished the embrace by patting her on the back.

“It will all work out, chica. Trust God that He has a plan.”

Lucy stepped back, putting some distance between them, and drew in a deep breath, telling herself she hadn’t needed or wanted that hug. “I think I’ll leave the faith to you, Aunt Essie. I’ll deal with the ranch and making sure Maria is healthy. You and God work out the rest.”

Essie laughed a little. “Oh, don’t you worry. Me and God are on very good terms.”

“I know.”

Unfortunately Lucy and God were another matter altogether. She’d had a childhood of God, sermons, the Bible and beatings. She avoided church and people who wanted to help her “get right with the Lord.” She admired people with genuine faith. She knew that it mattered. But she couldn’t make the walls disappear. The fortress around her heart was strong, built one beating at a time.

She headed for the house. Again the putrid smell of neglect hit her the moment she walked through the door. First things first—she needed some bleach and pine cleaner. Maria was in the kitchen scavenging in the fridge. She mumbled something about “nothing to eat” and that she was eating for two. “Don’t people realize the tadpole needs nourishment?”

Lucy couldn’t help but smile. The mischievous little girl Lucy had known had survived, still smart-mouthed and funny. She was the one good thing to come out of this place. And she could still smile. Lucy envied her sister.

“Essie said she’d feed us tonight. Until then, is there anything in the cabinets that isn’t spoiled?” Lucy grabbed a bottle of water out of the door of the fridge, and then gagged a little. “What’s in there?”

Maria slammed the door of the fridge, put a hand to her mouth and ran.

Lucy followed her sister to the bathroom door.

“Don’t come in,” Maria grumbled.

“I’m not, but I’m here if you need me.” She leaned against the wall and waited.

Her little sister was having a baby. It would take time to wrap her mind around this new reality. Maria had been seven when Lucy left home to join the Army. She’d been a terror in pigtails, with a dirty face and into all kinds of trouble.

A bittersweet memory surfaced. Maria, insecure, crawling in bed with Lucy after everyone else went to sleep.

Now that little girl was going to be a mother.

“Luce?”

“I’m here.”

“I don’t want a baby,” Maria sobbed.

Lucy took that as an invitation to step into the bathroom. Maria was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes closed, perspiration dampening her brow. She was pale and thin. No, not thin. The baby bump beneath her T-shirt was obvious.

Lucy shoved back the dozens of responses to her sister’s statement. It wouldn’t do any good to tell Maria she should have thought about wanting a baby before she’d gotten herself pregnant. She couldn’t change what had happened. Instead there were obvious consequences. A child. A baby with two kids as parents, kids who didn’t want to be parents.

“No, I’m sure you don’t want a baby.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say. Maria scrunched her nose and frowned. “Sorry, Maria. I’m not sure what to say. But I’m here. We’ll get through this.”

“You’ve been telling me that for a long time,” Maria whispered, looking young and frightened in this new role life had cast her in.

But not by herself.

Lucy sighed and remembered back, to nights when she’d tried to reassure her little sister.

Long-ago nights when Maria would crowd onto the twin bed in the room the two shared. They would hug each other and Lucy would whisper that it would be okay. Tiny Maria would pat her cheek or trace the bruise on Lucy’s face.

She’d never thought about it before, but the two of them had survived the way soldiers survive—together.

“I guess I’ve never known what else to say, Maria. We will get through this. Yes, you’ll have a baby. But it isn’t the end of the world.”

“It is for me.”

Lucy sank down to sit next to her sister. “It isn’t. I promise. You’ll graduate soon. You can take classes online.”

Maria gasped and looked at her. “I graduated early. In December. You didn’t know. I wondered, because you weren’t here.”

Stunned, they sat in silence for several minutes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

“We didn’t make a big deal out of it. I got my diploma. Mom told me I’m brilliant. Alex sent me a postcard from California, and Marcus called.”

And Lucy had done nothing.

Maria patted her leg, a reassuring gesture for a young sister to give an older sibling. “Don’t let it bother you. Mom is like that. She probably thought you were too busy. Or that you wouldn’t want to be here.”

“I should have been here. I wish you’d called me.”

Maria leaned against her. “I want to be a doctor.”

Another thing she hadn’t known about her little sister.

“That’s pretty impressive.”

“I’m going to give the baby up for adoption.”

The words hung between them for several minutes. Maria remained quiet, her eyes closed, her breathing ragged. Lucy took a minute to process what her sister had told her because it felt as if she were trying to avoid land mines as she navigated the situation she’d walked into. When Aunt Essie had called and told her to come home, she hadn’t given the slightest bit of a hint to what Lucy was walking into. Lucy had convinced herself she was heading home to take care of livestock and nothing more.

“What about the father?” she asked belatedly.

Maria shrugged. “He told me he isn’t ready to be a dad. And I know he isn’t. Besides, he left last month. He joined the Army.”

“Whatever you decide about the baby, I’m here for you.” It was the only response that made any sense. Of course she would be there for her sister.

But she hadn’t been, had she? Guilt coiled around her heart, giving it a tight squeeze.

“Are you going to leave again?” Maria didn’t move; her head remained on Lucy’s shoulder. “I’m tired of being alone.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She glanced at her watch. “I take that back. I’m going to town. We need real food in this house and cleaning supplies.”

“Dane’s fence?” Maria reminded.

“I’ll take care of the fence.”

She had a list of things to take care of. Her sister, for now, was at the top of that list. She also needed to call Daron McKay and Boone Wilder, her partners in the bodyguard business and let them know she wouldn’t be back, not for a while. Maybe not ever.

That was the last thing she wanted to consider at this moment, that she might have to give up her career.

Maria gave her a quirky grin. “Dane Scott is yummy, thirty and single. If I was you, I’d take my time mending that fence.”

The only fence she and Dane Scott would be mending was the one Maria had driven the truck through. And when it was finished, he could stay on his side and she’d stay on hers. He was nothing more than a distraction and she didn’t like to be distracted.

* * *

Dane followed the Realtor, Jeff Owens, across the lawn. They’d driven most of the property, toured the barns, the stable and the house. The only thing left to do was sign on the dotted line. But when a man was signing a piece of paper that would effectively put not just a property but a family tradition up for sale, signing wasn’t an easy thing to do. He was a rancher. His parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had been ranchers.

Being a father, a good one, meant making sacrifices.

Haven, his sister, younger by three years, joined them. She studied him as he looked the paper over.

“You’re sure?” she asked as they leaned against Jeff Owens’s truck. The man was discreet. That was the reason for choosing him.

“If you are,” Dane answered. “It’s a family decision. You know that Mom and Dad are settled in Dallas. They have no intention of coming back. So that leaves it up to the two of us.”

“I know.” She shifted away, scanning the horizon, the land that belonged to them. “I know you have solid reasons for doing this. I know that I’m not here a lot. It just seems like we’re walking away from what our grandparents built.”

“I know.” He’d had the same thought too many times to count. That was why he hadn’t yet put his signature on the paper in front of him. “If it wasn’t for Issy...”

His daughter meant everything to him.

Haven touched his arm and gave a quick shake of her head. “Don’t ever apologize for doing what’s best for her.”

“Is it best?”

Jeff cleared his throat. “What about a three-month listing?”

Haven shrugged.

Dane glanced from his sister to the paper. A three month contract would give them the opportunity to sell. And the opportunity to make sure this was what they wanted.

“I think that would work. No signs. No listing it publicly. I don’t want our neighbors to know that the place is up for sale.”

“Discreet is my middle name. If I have buyers looking for a property that fits this description, I’ll call you.” Jeff pulled a briefcase out of his truck. “I have the paperwork we wrote up last week. I just need your signature.”

Dane accepted a pen and the contract, and after a deep breath and a prayer, he signed. Then Haven signed. It was done. Jeff shook their hands and left.

“I have to go. Issy and Lois are reading a book.” Haven glanced at her watch. “Lois is a gem.”

“I couldn’t do it without her,” Dane acknowledged. He started to walk away. “She’s going to be gone, what with her daughter having a baby. But Maria Palermo said she’d help out.”

“Maria is really good with her, Dane. Let her help.”

Let someone else into his daughter’s life. Yes, he knew that he needed to ease up a little. He had to trust people. He had to trust Issy. It was easy to say, but then he would remember how it had felt to hold his little girl at night while she cried for her mama. A mother who had walked away without a backward glance.

“Was that Lucy Palermo I saw sliding back into town?” Haven asked. He could hear the humor in her tone. Great that she thought it was amusing.

When a man put a woman at risk, he had a hard time recovering his sense of humor. He’d been too young to realize that their secret meetings would create such an uproar at the Palermo ranch. He hadn’t known how to handle it when she’d told him they were done, that she couldn’t see him anymore. After that she’d closed herself off from him and everyone else.

“Yeah, it was Lucy.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

He shrugged and managed a smile for his sister. “It’s okay. She’s here to take charge of Maria and the ranch.”

“She won’t stay long. She never does.”

No, she didn’t. He didn’t blame her.

“I’ve got to head to town and pick up some supplies I ordered from the feed store. Need anything?”

“No, nothing.” Haven glanced at her watch. “Pastor Matthews called. He’s putting together the groups that will help with the shelter renovation.”

“I’ll call him. Or stop by there. Tell Lois I won’t be gone long.”

The shelter. As he got in his truck he wondered if anyone had told Lucy what the new pastor had done with her father’s church.

Less than a half mile from his driveway he saw Lucy’s truck parked on the side of the road. She was in the ditch, pulling fence. She stopped, wiped her face with the bandanna tied around her neck and went back to work. She had to know he was there but she didn’t spare him a glance. He smiled. She’d always been so self-contained.

Except that summer thirteen years ago. It had all started when he saw her riding the back fence of the Palermo property. She was pretending to check fence but later she told him she’d just needed to get away from her dad so she’d offered to clean out the weeds along that fence. They’d been neighbors their whole lives but that summer something shifted. When he saw her on that horse, he saw a woman, not the little girl in raggedy clothes and pigtails he’d always known.

But she hadn’t been a woman. They’d both been kids. They hadn’t been mature enough to handle what they felt, or her home life.

He got out of his truck and joined her at the fence, pulling on gloves before grabbing the line of barbed wire she was stringing between new posts. She gave him a quick look but kept working.

“I told you I’d have a couple of my guys do this,” he said as they worked together.

“I told you I would do it myself.”

“Stubborn,” he said with a smile and some admiration.

“Yeah, you’ve said that before. So let’s not go back there.”

“Because you still won’t talk about it?” Suddenly he wished he’d taken her advice and let it go. There was no point in going back.

Lucy stopped working. She pulled off her gloves and shoved them in her pockets. “You were right. Let your guys fix this. I’ll cover the cost.”

She stomped away. He let her get a few feet ahead of him, then he followed. He didn’t really know when to quit. It was something his mom had been telling him for as long as he could remember.

“Lucy, wait.” He caught up with her on the shoulder of the road. “I’m sorry for pushing.”

“Good, so don’t do it again. I’m here to take care of my sister and to make things right on our ranch. I don’t have time for anything else. I don’t want anything else.”

That couldn’t be any clearer than the nose on his face. It was the same message she’d given him that long-ago summer.

“I understand.” He held out a gloved hand. She gave it a long look before accepting the gesture. “Friends?”

“Neighbors.” But she smiled as she said it.

Neighbors? He could handle that.

“How’s the bodyguard business?” he asked as they headed for their vehicles.

“Busy.” She folded her arms in front of herself. “Is this really what we’re going to do?”

“Safe conversation. Isn’t that what you want?” He should walk away. Because nothing felt safe with Lucy. But he kept going.

“Let’s stick to the weather.”

“Okay.” He glanced up at the blue sky. “I sure love spring but we need rain.”

She walked away from him but he saw a flash of a smile on her face. “I have to go.”

He debated telling her about the shelter—he didn’t want her to be blindsided. If she didn’t know about the church, she should.

“Lucy, they have a new pastor at the church. They’ve changed the name.”

She froze, her hand on the truck door. “Okay. Good to know.”

“It isn’t the same.” They both knew what that meant. Her dad had called it a church but it had been a cult. He’d controlled his flock, taken their money and left them empty and lost.

He’d done the most damage to his own family.

“I’m sure it’s not,” she answered.

“It’s a good place now. They’re starting a shelter for abused women.”

Women like the ones who had attended the church her father pastored. A church where men were encouraged to force their wives and children into submission.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said with a catch in her voice.

He started to reach for her but he knew she wouldn’t welcome his touch. The very last thing he needed to be doing was building a connection. She was still broken. He had his own life now. He had a daughter who needed his full attention and he didn’t have time for relationships that were destined not to end well.

“You should stop by and see what they’re doing,” he suggested. “It might be good for you, to see it in a new light.”

“I’ll think about it. But you don’t know me well enough to give me advice.”

“I’m trying to be a friend,” he offered. “Sorry, a neighbor.”

She smiled, the gesture softening her features in a way he hadn’t expected. “Neighbors bring casseroles but they don’t pry.”

“This neighbor isn’t much of a cook,” he confessed.

“Really, Dane, thank you for telling me about the church. I’ve had enough surprises for one day.”

“You’re welcome.”

She glanced at her watch. “I have to get ready for dinner. Essie wants us to eat with her tonight.”

As he watched her drive away, he realized what Essie had done. Lucy was in for another surprise. One she probably wasn’t going to like.

Chapter Three

Main Street Bluebonnet was busy for early evening. It took Lucy by surprise when she cruised down the two-block-long street that had once been the business district. The stores had long since been turned into antiques shops, flea markets and craft stores. Hadley’s Tea Room graced a corner building and the Bluebonnet B & B next door to it catered to tourists passing through Texas Hill Country.

Essie’s Diner was at the end of the two-block strip of businesses. It was next to the Farm and Feed Store, making the locals happy and the tourists charmed. The diner boasted a covered deck that overlooked the spring and the railroad tracks, where an occasional train rumbled along, blasting a horn that shook the tables.

New businesses, including a grocery store, clothing store and discount chain store, were located in a strip mall on the main road going through town.

Lucy parked up the street from the diner. She didn’t allow herself to glance down the side road. She didn’t want to lay eyes on her father’s church. Church of the Redeemed, he’d called it.

Maria reached for her door but stopped.

“Lucy, I think Essie is trying to drag you into something you aren’t going to like.”

“Is that a warning?” Lucy asked as she pulled the keys from the ignition.

“Yeah, it is. It’s Saturday night. Essie is closed on Saturdays.”

“Then why is everyone in town?” Apprehension grew in the pit of her stomach.

“The church,” Maria said. “It’s new. A community thing. People meet for dinner.”

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me until now?”

As Maria opened her mouth to explain, Lucy held up a hand to stop her.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve survived a lot. This is just stuff. We’re going in. We’ll have dinner with Essie. End of story.”

Maria’s features relaxed. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything, other than lure me here so you could have fried chicken.”

They walked the short distance to the diner, entering to find the tables filled and conversation buzzing. Essie hurried from table to table, barely pausing to give them a distracted smile as she refilled water glasses. There were people Lucy knew, quite a few that she didn’t.

A few of the locals glanced their way, quiet whispers following as they moved through the crowded dining room. Essie caught up with them.

“I have a table for you.” She pointed to a table marked with a reserved sign. There were six chairs and only one was taken. By old Chet Andrews, a local farmer who had never remarried after his wife of forty years passed away. And that had been a good twenty years ago. He was dapper, with his silver hair and silver mustache. He stood up as they approached and held out a chair for Maria.

“Hello, young ladies. What a fortunate man I am, to be able to share a table with the two of you.” Chet winked at Lucy as she sat across from him. “Lucy, I’m glad to see you back in Bluebonnet.”

“Thank you, Chet.” She reached for a menu but Maria shook her head. “No?”

Chet handed her a paper. She browsed it, her skin going clammy as she read. Essie had quietly moved away from their table.

The paper trembled in her hands as she read. The evening menu was catfish, hush puppies, fries and coleslaw. The profit from the sales would be given to the Bluebonnet Shelter for Abused Women and Children. Located in the Community Church building. No mention of the Church of the Redeemed. The irony hit her and she laughed a little. The place that had once hidden abuse now sheltered people from it. She knew that Essie had something to do with this. She’d bought the building. She’d closed down the church her nephew had started. She’d always told Lucy that she meant to use the building to rebuild lives, not to destroy them.

A man approached. He wore an open, friendly smile on his middle-aged face. His blond hair was thinning. Laugh lines crinkled at the corners of pale gray eyes.

“Ladies, mind if I sit with you for a few minutes?”

Maria cleared her throat. “Lucy, this is Pastor Matthews.”

He held out a hand to Lucy. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Duncan Matthews. Some of the residents prefer just to call me Preacher.”

She took his hand briefly. “Pleased to meet you.”