The Rancher's First Love

He cleared his throat. “So you know he’s in town?”

“Yes, I know.” She could have said more, but she didn’t want to make this easy for him. She didn’t want to let him off the hook. Her brothers had hurt her. They’d meant to protect her, to make things right. But they’d hurt her along the way.

It still ached. Not the way it had before, but from time to time it would sneak up on her. She closed her eyes tight for a moment, long enough to fight back the tears.

Jake touched her back. “I’m sorry, Sam. I don’t know what else to say. We were young. We were doing the best we could. And we didn’t know how to raise a younger sister.”

“I know. So why did you feel the need to tell me you saw Remington?”

“I didn’t want you to be surprised.”

“Oh, I was surprised. He showed up at the hospital with a crew of cowboys who minister to kids.”

“Ah.”

He said it as though he understood. She doubted he did. He hadn’t lived with Aunt Mavis. He hadn’t lived through the Bible lessons, the lectures and the condemnation.

She’d always thought her aunt well-meaning. She’d given the older woman the benefit of the doubt. That didn’t ease the pain.

“I should go. Lilly is in there with the dog and she wants me to help her with her horse.”

Before she could step away, Jake stopped her, his hand on her arm. “Sam, we’re all glad you’re home. We want you here. But we want more than that. We want you in our lives.”

She nodded but her throat was tight and tears burned her eyes. “I know. I don’t go to work until three. I can watch the twins if you need me to.”

The twins. Rosie and Violet. They were the daughters of Jake’s twin, Elizabeth. She and her husband had died in a plane crash, devastating the family all over again. They’d had too much devastation in their past. A mother who had walked away. A father who drank himself to death. Then Elizabeth’s death.

But they were making up for those hard times. Jake had found Breezy, the sister of Elizabeth’s husband, Lawton. Duke and Oregon had found each other. Brody had Grace.

They all had someone. Except her.

Sam shook off the melancholy. She had her family. And that was good.

She was saved from darker thoughts when Lilly ran out of the barn, a big grin on her face. “Nine. There are nine puppies!”

“I should go home and leave the two of you to your labor and delivery.” Jake leaned to kiss Sam’s cheek. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do.” She glanced away, hoping he didn’t see the truth. She needed him. She needed all of her brothers.

“Sam, I hope you’ll forgive us.”

She stopped, unsure of how to process that request. She was forced to look at Jake, to see the tenderness in his expression. She nodded, brushing hair back from her face as the wind kicked up. She started to tell him there was nothing to forgive, but it didn’t seem honest. She’d been angry with them. She loved her brothers, but they’d hurt her.

“I’m working on it,” she said. It was a candid answer and he seemed to accept it.

“Good. That’s all we ask.”

When he left, she headed for the barn and Lilly. What she needed was an hour or two on horseback to clear her mind.

* * *

Remington had spent his morning with a family that had lost a father during the night. It hadn’t been easy, watching them say goodbye to a man they’d expected to be in their lives for years to come. As much as he loved ministry, he was still adjusting to this part of the job. Standing in front of a crowd on a Sunday morning was easy compared to sitting one-on-one with a wife, telling her God would help her through the coming days, weeks and months.

He slowed as he drove past the Martin’s Crossing Saddle Club. He recognized the truck with the horse trailer hooked to it, and the woman sitting on the showy palomino. Good old common sense told him to keep driving. He sure didn’t need distractions in the form of Samantha Martin. He didn’t need to get caught up in the past when he had the present to concern himself with.

Good advice, but he couldn’t quite make himself listen. The past six hours had drained him. Seeing Sam, even from a distance, shifted things.

He hit his brakes at the first road and headed back in the direction of the rodeo grounds. He spent the next few minutes telling himself all the reasons he should let it go. Let her go.

He still took the road that led to the saddle club. Because the girl he’d known ten years ago was buried inside the composed shell of the woman he’d met yesterday. The wild teenager who’d grabbed hold of every adventure, who could race him across the field and never stop laughing as she beat him, she was in there somewhere.

Didn’t anyone else realize that the real Samantha Martin was missing, replaced by this stranger?

He parked, got out of his truck and headed toward the arena. Sam stood next to her niece Lilly as the younger girl settled into the saddle of her horse. She glanced his way, shook her head and went back to the conversation she’d been having. Lilly held the reins in one hand and patted the neck of the chestnut gelding with the other. She smiled big, as if being there with Sam was better than Christmas.

The two talked for a minute, then Sam said something. Lilly moved her left foot from the stirrup and Sam swung onto the back of the gelding and sat behind Lilly. Remington watched as the two walked around the barrels. At each one Sam would lean into the turn, moving Lilly with her.

Two times they went around the barrels like that, and then Sam dismounted, landing lightly next to the horse. She patted Lilly’s leg and faced him.

“We weren’t expecting an audience,” Sam said as she walked past him to her gelding that she’d tied to the gate.

“I drove by and then thought...” He left the words hanging. He didn’t know what he’d thought. But here he was. He could fight it, but the attraction was still there. It felt like they were tethered together, like her blue eyes were the only eyes he should ever look into. He could get lost in those eyes, in the emotions that flickered through them.

“You thought what?” She leaned against the fence, still inside the arena.

“I thought I’d see what you were doing and how your dog is. I guess she had her puppies?” He headed for neutral territory, which was a lot easier than admitting he’d been a little wrung out from the time spent with a grieving family and he’d been drawn to see her.

“How’d you know she had her puppies?”

“I saw Brody earlier. He was heading to Dallas.”

She watched Lilly, pretending for the moment that she hadn’t heard him. He’d seen the slight shift in expression, the indrawn breath.

“It’s Brody’s business if he wants to visit Sylvia,” she finally answered. “But that isn’t why you’re here, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.”

She continued to watch her niece. The breeze picked up and Sam pushed her hair back, holding it in place as it tried to sweep across her cheek. Lilly rode up to them, pulling her horse in as she got close.

“Take him again. And this time with some speed. You have to trust your horse, Lilly.”

“Trust my horse. Got it.” Lilly grinned big at Sam and then at him.

“Go,” Sam warned her niece. The girl turned the horse and rode away. “So, why are you here?”

“I’m not really sure,” he said, watching her niece take the barrels. “No, that isn’t entirely true. I had a rough night with a family from Jamesville. I saw you down here and thought I’d stop and say hello.”

Her hand touched his arm. “The car accident?”