Rancher's Perfect Baby Rescue

But Nathan had stayed busy, studying his books and manuals on how to best manage exit counseling for ex-cult members. He just wished she had other family members whom she already trusted. The process of exit counseling depended entirely on establishing a reasonable and respectful level of communication with the ex-cult member.

The two of them had hardly gotten off to a reasonable and respectful start. But he would try. He thought she was worth the effort, and the baby deserved a whole mother who could think clearly.

“I’d enjoy a little walk. I’ve always wondered what a working ranch would be like.”

“Get your coat.” He waited at the bedroom door as she pulled on her tattered jacket.

He stared at the patched coat. Obviously, she needed a few decent things to wear. But she’d been ordered not to leave the ranch to go shopping. Nathan supposed they could order clothes off the internet, but that would still leave a few days for shipping. He came to the conclusion his original idea for gaining her trust might prove to be the perfect trick for solving both problems.

“Most of the work on the ranch happens well before dawn,” he told her as they moved through the house toward the kitchen door. “Not too much going on late in the afternoon. But you’ll probably get a glimpse of the stock as they settle for the night.”

She nodded as he opened the door and escorted her out into the sunshine.

“There’s also a couple of important people you haven’t had a chance to meet yet, and I thought now might be a good time.”

“Oh? Who are they?”

He slid her arm through his as they strolled out into the yard. “That’s a long story. Mind if I talk while we walk?”

“Not at all. But we’ll have to take it slow, I’m afraid. I didn’t realize how weak I’d be.”

Turning to her, he tried to keep his voice calm and reassuring. “Are you sure you feel well enough to walk?”

Her facial expression suddenly drew down in a frown. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your walk. I can try harder. Or you can take me back so you can go alone. I’m really sorry.”

There, that was the first sure sign of cult programming. He’d just finished reading about the typical signs: anxiety, paranoia and constant fear of not pleasing the person in charge.

But why was this particular former cult member affecting him differently? Why was the idea of giving her counseling and trying to help her overcome her issues becoming so important to him? All he knew for sure was that seeing her weak and trembling, and knowing she had no one to trust, gave him an ache deep in his chest the likes of which he had never felt before.

Certainly he had a few trust issues of his own, but he felt positive he could get past them long enough to help her open up. He might not trust her completely, and he’d found himself fighting his base impulses where she was concerned. Impulses such as the way his heart thundered whenever her eyes welled up—or the way his gut clenched each time they touched. But his every instinct told him she would be worth all the effort.

He unwound their arms and then placed his arm around her shoulders to hold her upright. “You’re the reason for the walk. When you get too tired, just let me know. All we’ll do today is stroll to the fence to see the cattle and then back to the house for a short visit. Okay?”

“I’m sure I can make that. And I want to hear your story. What’s it about?”

“Um … me, I guess. Or rather, about the ranch and my family.”

“Oh, good. Go on.”

“See, it was my granddaddy who first came to this land as a young man. He built the ranch from a few acres into the place it is now. But when his daughter, my mama, died young, he tried his best to give the rest of us a deep love of the land and the animals.”

Susannah looked thoughtful, and he knew she was hearing between the words. Good. At least she was still capable of analyzing situations. Maybe her cult training hadn’t had time to completely overpower her mind.

“Granddaddy’s lesson took with me. I love everything about the land and the place and wouldn’t want to ever live anywhere else. But I can’t say as much for my siblings or my father.”

“Is that who we’re going to meet? The rest of your family?”

“Sort of. My father is still out of town on a buying trip, and my brother may or may not turn up for supper tonight. He has his own interests. And my little sister …”

Nathan tried to find a way to phrase this properly. “Well, Tara never did care much for the ranch. She was always a little wild. And she became lots worse after Mama died. When she was nineteen, she had a baby and didn’t know who out of her many lovers should be named the father.”

“Oh.” Susannah’s expression seemed to say she might be sympathizing with the woman she’d never meet.

“I don’t think Tara tried all that hard to figure it out, frankly. She was happy letting Maria and her older brothers take charge of her baby’s welfare.”

“Lucky she had family to count on.”

Interesting comment. Didn’t she ever have family to count on?

“Yeah, I’ll say,” he agreed. “You see, her little girl was diagnosed with autism when she was only two years old. Not three weeks went by after that before Tara hooked up with a new fellow. They left on the back of his motorcycle in the middle of the night. A few months later, we were notified she’d been killed in a motorcycle accident.”

“Goodness. What happened to the baby?”

“That’s who we’ll be meeting. My niece, Sara. I’m her legal guardian. She’s a wonderful little girl but needs a lot of help. I give her as much time as I can, and we’ve hired a woman who works with her and lives in her quarters.”

A dark cloud crossed over Susannah’s eyes, and she got a glassy look. “I’m not … I don’t know if …”

Ah, hell. He hadn’t given any consideration to the idea that meeting a child with special needs might make her worry about her own daughter’s future. But he felt sure that was the fear he was seeing in her eyes.

What an idiot he was. He’d hoped to add to her trust by showing her how well loved and taken care of Sara was.

But how could he have hoped she would trust him about this when she obviously didn’t trust him enough to tell him the whole truth about her background? Trust took time. He got that. But saving her was too important to give up.

“Trust me, Susannah. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

“I want to trust you. Really, I do.” Her face was a mask of indecision. Then she said, “I’m glad you told me about your sister. I have something to tell you, too. I wasn’t completely honest when I said my ex-boyfriend, Melody’s biological father, was a traveling salesman.”

He felt his jaw tighten but he couldn’t help it.

“Uh, well, he did travel.” Susannah’s eyes grew large as she watched his reactions carefully. “And he was selling stuff. But the stuff he sold was drugs. He told me he was a wholesale dealer.”

Nathan took half a step back. He should’ve known there was more to her story. He’d been right not to trust her completely.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the whole story before,” she added quickly. “I just didn’t think we’d be staying on the ranch long enough for it to matter. And I never got involved in his business. Really. I never saw him take the drugs, either. He could’ve been selling anything for all the difference it made in our lives.”

It was easy to see how sorry she was about lying. And the longer he stayed silent, the more her eyes welled up again. Ah, hell.

“It’s okay,” he finally managed, and was surprised to find he meant it. “I believe you weren’t involved in his business. And that maybe your relationship had just been a bad choice. Let’s put it behind us and go on from here. I still want to help you, and I still want you to meet my niece. Okay?”

She nodded and blinked her eyes a couple of times. She looked so vulnerable and afraid that his gut turned over again. Apparently, she still hadn’t told him the whole truth. But whatever this new little untruth was would have to wait.

Jeez. Why he was so determined to help her was still a mystery. But, by heaven, he vowed she would be free of her cult programming before she and her child had to leave the ranch for good.

Maybe helping her would make a good start to easing his guilt over the death of his ex-wife. And a start, but by no means the end, of what he intended to do in the memory of all the women who’d been taken in by that slippery con man Samuel Grayson.

Chapter 4

Trembling, Susannah followed Nathan down a winding path ringed with rosebushes. Had she done the right thing by telling Nathan about Melody’s father? She’d almost confessed the whole ugly truth of her past. But the look on his face when she’d told him about the drugs made her hold back.