Matchmaking with a Mission

“It’s our family ranch,” Eve said.

“That’s why I want a place of my own close to here,” McKenna said.

Faith shot her a surprised look. “Are you really staying around here?” Since high school graduation she and Faith had come home only for holidays and summer vacation from college.

“I think I’m ready to settle down, and this area is home,” McKenna said.

Faith groaned. “Well, I’m not coming back here to live,” she said, getting up to pad over to the kitchen counter to pour herself a cup of coffee.

“I don’t want to see this house fall into neglect, either,” McKenna told Eve. “But I want my own place. This house is…”

“Mom’s and Dad’s,” Faith said as she came back to the table with her coffee, tears in her eyes. “And now, with Mom and Dad divorced and her married to Loren and living in Florida, it just feels too weird being here.”

McKenna knew that Eve had come over this morning from her house down the road to cook breakfast in an attempt to make things more normal for her and Faith. Especially Faith.

“Where are you and Carter going to live after you’re married?” McKenna asked Eve.

“My house.” Eve had moved into what used to be their grandmother’s house when Grandma Nina Mae Cross had gone into the rest home. “We’re going to run cattle on the ranch, as always. It’s what put us all through college. It’s our heritage.”

Faith shot McKenna a look that she knew only too well. Here goes Eve, off on one of her legacy speeches.

The ranch had always been intended for the three of them. Since Eve had returned she’d been running the place and sending both McKenna and Faith a share of the profits.

“So what happens to this house?” Faith asked, clearly trying to cut Eve off before she got started.

“I guess if the two of you don’t want it, the house will just sit empty,” Eve said, giving McKenna one of her meaningful big-sister looks.

“That’s awful,” Faith said. “Someone should live here.”

McKenna watched her little sister run a hand along the worn tabletop and smiled. She didn’t know what it was about this part of Montana, but it always seemed to bring them back. She’d watched friends leave for college, swearing they were glad to be leaving, only to return here to raise their children.

It was a simpler way of life. A community with strong values and people who knew and looked after their neighbors.

She, too, had left, convinced there was nothing here for her, but here she was. And, like Eve, McKenna figured the day would come when Faith would return and want the house, since she seemed to be the most attached to it.

“If you want your own house, you could build on the ranch,” Eve suggested. “There’s a nice spot to the east….” Her voice trailed off as if she realized she was wasting her breath. McKenna had already made up her mind.

“Did I hear you mention Harper House?” Faith asked as if finally coming full awake. “My friend who works for the county said it’s going to be auctioned off.”

“When?” McKenna asked.

“This Saturday, I think.”

McKenna couldn’t help her rush of excitement. This was obviously meant to be.

Faith laughed. “You always liked that place. I remember when you used to sneak over there even though Dad told us not to.” She grinned. “I used to follow you.”

“You used to ride over there?” Eve asked with a shake of her head. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

“We never believed that story about old wells on the place,” Faith said. “I think Dad didn’t want us around the people who lived there. They weren’t friendly at all. But they sure had a lot of kids.”

Eve shot a look at her youngest sister that McKenna recognized. It was Eve’s can-you-really-be-that-naive? look.

“Harper House was a place for troubled boys,” Eve said. “That’s why Dad didn’t want you riding over there. I can’t believe you did it anyway,” she said to McKenna. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?”

“Why didn’t Dad just tell us that?” Faith asked, frowning.

“Because he knew the two of you,” Eve said as she rose to take her plate to the sink. “You’d have gone over there just to see if the boys were really dangerous.”

“Well,” McKenna said with a sigh, “it’s just an old, empty house now that Ellis Harper has died. But there’s forty acres with a creek, trees, a barn and some outbuildings. It’s exactly what I’m looking for and it’s adjacent to our ranch land to the east.”

Eve shook her head, worry in her gaze. “I think you’re making a mistake, but I know how you are once you’ve made up your mind.”

“I’m just like you,” McKenna said with a grin.

Eve nodded. “That’s what worries me.”

Chapter Three

McKenna called her Realtor friend right after breakfast to find out what she knew about Harper House.

“You heard about the auction? Minimum bid is what is owed in back taxes, but I don’t expect it to go much higher than that given the condition of the house. It’s really a white elephant. Why don’t you let me show you some houses that don’t need so much work?”

“Don’t try to talk me out of it,” McKenna said with a laugh. It amazed her that April sold anything the way she always tried to discourage buyers. “If the price doesn’t go too high, I intend to buy it.”

She had worked all through college, saving the money her parents and Eve had sent her. She also had money from a savings account her grandma, Nina Mae Cross, had started for her when she was adopted into the family.

“With auctions, you just never know,” April said. “But I can’t imagine there would be that many people interested in the place. The property isn’t bad, though. The fences are in pretty good shape, and it does border your family ranch, so that is definitely a plus. The barn needs a new roof. But you might want to just tear down the house and build something smaller on the land.”

McKenna couldn’t imagine doing that. Something about that house had always interested her. She had just hung up when her cell phone rang.

“Have I got good news for you,” a female voice said.

She was about to hang up, thinking it was someone trying to sell her something, when she recognized the voice. “Arlene?”

“Who else?” Arlene Evans let out one of her braying laughs. She was a gangly, raw-boned ranch woman who’d had her share of problems over the last year or so, including her husband leaving her alone with two grown children still living at home and her oldest daughter in the state mental hospital.

McKenna had signed up for Arlene’s rural online dating service at a weak moment—following a wedding and some champagne. She now regretted it greatly.

It wasn’t a man she needed but the courage to do what she’d always wanted: start a horse ranch. She’d loved paint horses from the first time she’d seen one. Descended from horses introduced by the Spanish conquistadors, paints were part of the herds of wild horses that once roamed these very plains.

With paints becoming popular with cowboys for cattle work, McKenna believed she could make a good living raising them. If she could get the Harper property for the right price at the auction Saturday. It was all she could think about.

“I’ve found you just the man,” Arlene gushed. “He’s perfect for you. I hear wedding bells already.”

“Slow down,” McKenna said, wishing she’d read the small print to see how she could get out of this.

“He’s handsome, a hard worker, loves horses and long walks and…did I mention he’s handsome?” Arlene laughed again, making McKenna wince. “He’s going to be out of the cell phone service area until Saturday night, so he’ll meet you at Northern Lights restaurant at seven. You’re going to thank me for this.”