Second Chance Ranch (25 page)

Normal. Her camp offered normal.

Jennifer drew a shaky breath as she continued to look up and study the rough hewn logs that comprised the ceiling, each timber shaved and fitted into place to provide a sturdy shelter against the mountain storms. Memories of countless snowy afternoons spent in the house talking with Arthur Eklund wove through thoughts of her mother, cancer survival and those lost to the disease. Arthur talked of his life spent in Hawk Ridge and the trials and joys of raising his family, and Jennifer listened.

She’d ramble about school, her years working oncology at the hospital, her aching heart for each family she’d consoled as their children endured vicious bouts of chemo.

She’d talk about her mother. And her father.

Arthur listened.

Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest. My work is easy and my yoke light.

The words from the book of Matthew squeezed her heart. Wasn’t that what she was doing? Laboring for the Lord, caring for His sheep? Her work for the Lord was easy, rewarding.

A chill ran down her arms and she wrapped the afghan tighter about her. She remembered the conversation she and Arthur had when she’d been accepted to medical school, changing course from nurse to doctor, to fight for a cure. The skin on her shoulder tingled as if Arthur’s weathered hand still grasped her, his faded blue eyes boring into her with a strength she’d never encountered.

Why are you chasing after your father’s dream and forsaking your own? The world has enough doctors. The world needs more compassionate hearts able to comfort the lives of the hurting, one child at a time.

The memory of his voice comforted her as if her old friend sat beside her, his simple presence and companionship her anchor in the tough decisions in life. Arthur had been there when she needed someone to talk to, to help her sort out life’s choices. Arthur had been there for her.

Not her father.

Dr. James O’Reilly had tended others, caring for the pain and disease in the world, confident his own children could handle things for themselves.

And she had. She’d held it together her whole life all by herself.

She couldn’t hold it together anymore. Her armor buckled and cracked. Her entire fortress crumbled around her.

“Lord, help me. What do I do?”

Come to me…

“I can’t hold it together anymore, Lord.” No more strength; no more fight.

Surrender…

A gust of wind blew from the north rattling the rafters of the old homestead. Jennifer buried deeper into the afghan, tucking her feet in the cushions of the chair. Tears flowing and her nose running, she begged forgiveness for…everything.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Looks like Nick’ll be a contender at the National Finals Rodeo again this year.”

Zac looked up as Gabe set his cup of coffee on the table and leaned back on the couch beside him. The pain in his back had gone numb and his head offered a dull throb as Zac picked up his daily routine. Nothing about his life at the Circle D had changed, only an aching loneliness strangled his heart. “Are you thinking about going to Las Vegas to watch? He’ll have tickets if he’s a contestant. If not, Cauldwell Cattle will since they provide stock for the NFR.”

Gabe glanced over and studied him. “I think with your surgery, the twins coming, and all the unexpected surprises around here, I’ll have enough excitement to keep me a good, long while.”

“Guess you’re right. Someone’s got to keep a level head around here.” Zac shifted and slumped back down on the couch. His oldest brother, Nick, dealt with the pain of losing his wife the only way he knew how…sitting on the back of two tons of angry bull and inciting its full rage by pressing his heels in its sides while it bucked an arena. They’d all thought it was a passing phase. Years later, he was still punishing himself. “Mom and Dad will want to go.”

“What? And watch Nick get tossed like a yard dart from some brute of a bull? I think they’d rather hide out here and hold their breath in the comfort of their own home waiting for the call that he’s been hurt.”

“That’s not showing much faith in him.” An odd camaraderie filled his heart for his brother. “Nick knows how to ride a bull or he wouldn’t be one of the top names.”

“He’s the oldest cowboy on the circuit, and for what? He doesn’t need the glory; he doesn’t need the money.” Gabe linked his fingers together behind his head. “He can’t keep running from his problems. We need him here, doing his part for Davidson Enterprises.

There were a lot of things he didn’t need, but he did them anyway. “He’ll come home when he’s ready.”

“Stubborn runs mighty deep in this family.” Gabe shrugged and gave him the evil eye. “So what are you going to do?”

“About what?” Zac stopped his normal spiel in mid breath. No sense in hanging on to an illusion that no longer existed. “I’m going to talk some sense into Jennifer as soon as I can walk fast enough to keep up with her. She won’t answer my calls. The two times I’ve stopped by the ranch, she hasn’t been there. Her dad hasn’t seen her either. She’s avoiding me and that’s a bad sign.” What an understatement. He didn’t have it in him to survive more of her soul-gripping revelations. “Jen fights for what she wants.”

Gabe lowered his arms and slid to the edge of the cushion. He squared Zac with a penetrating stare that only stable, logical Gabe could pull off. “How can you fight for something that’s no longer available? What’s the point?”

“Just because we don’t get what we want doesn’t mean you give up trying some other way.” He’d witnessed her crusading determination more times than he could count. “Especially Jen. I’ve seen that girl fight for causes that had nothing to do with her at times, but the injustice of it all sucked her in.”

“Injustice,” Gabe repeated. “How fitting.”

“Come on, Gabe.” Zac’s hackles rose. “Don’t put this on me. I was just as surprised as anyone to find out the Trails’ End still belonged to the family. The courthouse made the ownership and deed right; I’ve made it right with Jess. Now I’m trying to make it right with Jennifer and she won’t let me.”

Gabe threw his hands in the air as if Zac had just uttered the most nonsensical thing he’d ever heard. “Jess never cared two bits for the ranch growing up. He’s a money man, always after his next investment. You financed a business deal with him and that was all he was looking to get in the sale of the Trails’ End.”

Lowering his arms, Gabe seemed to regained a bit of composure. “But Jen? Her heart’s in that place. Remember the story about King David and Bathsheba? David could have had any woman in the kingdom. All Uriah had was Bathsheba. He was a faithful friend and loyal officer, he would have laid down his life for David. Instead, David took it all from him, including his life. David knew what he wanted and he stopped at nothing to get it.” Gabe skewered Zac with his dark stare. “You can have any ranch you want. Why take hers?”

Everything Zac knew about Jen crashed together in his mind. She’d seen no other way to give their child all she deserved - and allowed him to have all he wanted - unless she made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up her child. Pressure built behind his eyes. She’d lost her mother, she’d forfeited her daughter, she’d felt betrayed by him. “So you’re saying I’m devious and ruthless?”

“Little brother.” Gabe stood and looked down at Zac. “I know the Trails’ End belongs to us, and no way am I arguing your assuming ownership of it. Deep down, you always believed the ranch belonged to us no matter who said what. But Arthur Eklund believed his ancestors, too. Great grandpa Jeb lost it to Efrain in a bad poker hand. It’s not Arthur’s fault Efrain never filed the deed. Arthur made his offer to Jennifer in good faith. If I were you, I’d try a little good faith myself.”

“How?” his voice cracked, the strain of the last days wearing on him. “There are other ranches around here for sale. I’ve mentioned them to her, especially the McMillan place. It has everything she needs for her camp without the management headaches. She won’t even listen. She’s got a stubborn streak a mile wide. I’m trying to make it right.”

“Maybe it’s not the land she’s looking for. Maybe she’s looking for something entirely different.”

The wheels spun in Zac’s head as Gabe sighed and shrugged.

“Zac, for the sake of forever after.” Gabe’s voice dropped to that tone Zac knew well. ”Are you going to choose right, or love?”

* * *

Slowing at the end of the row, Zac took a wide turn and followed another line of raked hay over the rutted ground. The inflamed muscles of his back ached from the marrow extraction, but a few pain killers kept the worst at bay. The main thing was getting the job done. If he stayed on task, he’d have this field finished by sundown. The entire ranch put up a day ahead of schedule.

Now that was something to smile about.

Are you going to choose right, or love?

His smile faded as Zac bounced on the seat of the tractor, Gabe’s question an irritating burr on his conscience. What kind of question was that?

Right or love?

The ranch, or Jennifer?

Since the afternoon he and Gabe had talked, Zac couldn’t shake the feeling that he was fighting a battle that no longer mattered. As a boy, he’d stood firm in his belief that his great-grandfather might have been a lousy card player, but would never lose anything as important as a family legacy. As he grew older, Zac understood that gambling debts held merit, and by a miscalculation of face cards, GG Jeb had sacrificed a piece of his soul. A plot of acreage had changed hands, GG Jeb had lost his land and the other three brothers had been spurred into action, making certain that mistake could never happen again.

The remaining properties banded together creating the Circle D under a single deed.

Zac shifted gears and pressed the accelerator as shadows lengthened on the newly baled hay one row over. The whole field glowed as the sun inched down toward the towering pines along the fence line. The sun set quickly once it dipped behind the mountain peaks. Zac loved the night up here on the ranch. Countless stars covered the inky sky, something he’d sorely missed seeing when he lived in Denver. He looked forward to staring at the stars as he sat on the porch of the ranch house, just has he had the other evening with Jen. His chest constricted. Only now, it would be without Jen.

Tomorrow, she planned on turning her business plan on the ranch back to the bank, her long and arduous journey to ownership of the Trails’ End over. She’d put up a good fight and came away with an extensive knowledge base of ranching. Once she got over the sting of losing, she’d see reason. She didn’t need twenty-five hundred acres for her camp. If she wanted to stay in the Hawk Ridge area, there were any number of smaller spreads for sale and easier for her to manage. He’d always be around to help her.

Over the past few weeks, Jen had reclaimed that part of his heart that had always been hers. Being there for Jennifer O’Reilly was the most important thing in his life. He wouldn’t fail her again.

He slowed at the end of the row and turned up the next, the sun to his back. After setting the tractor on course, Zac looked beyond the field and over the valley. Golden fields spread down the gentle slope, a series of lateral ditches criss-crossing the property making it look like a country quilt. The Trails’ End Ranch offered a unique combination of hay field, grassy plateau, and forest rim. A grin stretched across his face. He’d wanted the Trails’ End for so long, he couldn’t believe it was truly his.

“GG Jeb, the Trails’ End is back where she belongs,” Zac said aloud over the low drone of the tractor engine.

The row ended leaving Zac only one more row to bale and the job would be done. Maneuvering into place, he squinted against the late afternoon sun. At the end of the field, a fence marked the boundary. He glanced above the three strands of wire to the rooftop of the old equipment shed, and off to the side, the barn. The angle of the sun reflected off the metal corrugation making the remodeled structure shine next to the log house a bit further up the incline.

The log house Jen had turned into a home.

He gripped the steering wheel and almost turned the tractor off course. The first day he’d stopped by the ranch house she’d been battling a broken water pipe…and losing. The house was old; it needed a remodel. Did she really want to tackle that? He could name any number of repairs the house needed.

As his brain tried to justify Jen’s inability to fix one disaster after another, his heart reminded him of the day he’d walked into her kitchen. She’d sat at the table, maps spread across every horizontal inch of the room. He grinned at the memory of her juvenile reaction to her planting scheme. But to her credit, she’d sat and listened as he explained crop rotations and time lines. She’d asked questions; she wanted to learn. She’d trusted him to teach her.

He shook his head and popped back to reality. You didn’t
learn
to farm on a place as big and complex as the Trails’ End. The harvest was your livelihood, it paid the bills. One bad year and you’d be in a world of hurt.

Even as he fought to keep reality in the forefront, memories of Jen sitting on the porch in the moonlight filled his mind. Her hair a tousled mess as if she’d dozed off on the swing. He remembered her smile when she had invited him to join the kids for their dance night. The same evening they’d walked along the path as he saw her back to the house after the dance…where he’d kissed her goodnight.