Marisa’s feet seemed stuck to the floor. She wanted to run after Ace and promise to always believe in him. But that would be a lie. She’d doubted him, accused him, and she wasn’t sure she could ever trust anyone. People failed her. People let her down. People hurt her.

What had happened to her Jesus-peace?

Suddenly the door of Chance’s room burst open and the wheelchair clattered into the hallway.

A moment later, Chance rolled up to the bar faster than she’d ever seen him move. “Are you completely nuts?”

Marisa slashed a hand across her face. She wasn’t crying. She wouldn’t cry. “What are you talking about?”

“This is a small house, in case you hadn’t noticed.” He stabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I can hear every word in there in my bedroom. I tried to be discreet, but this is ridiculous.”

“I’m sorry you overheard. And what’s that bruise on your arm?” She jumped up from her chair and rushed to his side.

He shook her off. “I fell off a horse.”

“He put you on a horse?” Anger stung through her nerves. “You could have been killed. What was Ace thinking—”

“Leave Ace out of it.” Chance cut her off, his handsome face stern. “Getting on the horse was my idea. I insisted, and I’m man enough to make my own decisions. I don’t need you or Ace to make them for me. Get that through your head. Stop babying me. I can’t take it anymore.”

Marisa blinked at her sandy-haired brother, stunned by his vehemence. “What are you so fired up about this morning?”

“You. Ace. This whole ordeal. I’m going to ride a horse, Marisa. And drive and get a job. I have a life to lead and so do you. Stop smothering me. I’m a grown man, not your eleven-year-old kid brother.”

“But you’re—”

“Paralyzed? Yeah, I am. And I’m dealing with it. It’s time for you to deal with it too. I can make the best of it, like Ace says, or I can wallow in self-pity and let my big sister turn herself into a martyr over me the rest of my life.”

Marisa stiffened. “I’m not martyring myself.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No! You’re my brother, my responsibility.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He extended his palms, pleading. “Sis, hear me. You’re the best big sister in the world. You’ve given up everything for me. But that ends today. From this moment on, I’m my responsibility.”

What had come over him this morning? She placed a hand on his forehead. “Do you have fever?”

Chance laughed, but not a happy sound, and ducked to one side. “You are as hardheaded as that cowboy of yours.”

“He’s not mine.”

“More wrong thinking on your part. You’ve got to clear out the brain cells. Ace came over here this morning with his heart in his hands. He offered it to you. And you tossed it in his face.”

“If you heard that, you heard the rest.”

“Yeah. You accused him of partying it up with some AA buddy.” He made a sheeshing sound and shook his head. “Pathetic.”

“We don’t know that he wasn’t.”

“Then, you’re hopeless, and you deserve to lose him.”

“Chance!” She stared at her brother in wide-eyed hurt. “Are you taking Ace’s side against mine?”

“There are no sides. Ace is crazy for you. He told me so last night when he was arguing against me getting on that horse without proper gear.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. Now, I got one more thing to say before I go back in that room and take a shower. Without your help.”

“Okaaay.” She was almost afraid to hear anything else.

“You’ve never trusted anyone in your life. Not even me.”

“That’s not true.” But it was. She hadn’t even trusted Chance to make his own adult decisions.

“Ace is a good man, not perfect, but he’s trying hard, and he loves you so much that he basically blackmailed you into moving out here where he could be close to you. He wanted you to see him in action every day. To be with you during down times. To have breakfast and Sunday dinner with you. To show you the kind of good man he really is. To make you laugh again.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Yeah. We talk about stuff. He’s breaking his back to give you reasons to trust him again, to forgive him and to love him.” He rolled his chair away from the bar. “You gotta stop being scared, Sis. Let it go. Ace isn’t Mom or Dad. He’s not even the Ace we knew before. He’s better. Open your eyes and accept what he’s freely offering before it’s too late.”

“I don’t know if I can.” The same words she’d said to Ace when he’d pleaded with her to trust him.

“You can do anything. Just open that heart of yours and take the risk. You won’t be sorry.” He spun the chair around and started back to his room. Over one shoulder, he called, “Hold on, I want to read something to you.”

Puzzled, pensive, Marisa refilled her coffee and, out of long habit, poured a cup for her brother.

He returned with a Bible in his lap. “I was reading this the other night and it reminded me of someone.”

“What is it?”

“Corinthians 13. Listen up.” He glanced down and then up again. “Talking about love. God’s kind.”

Marisa listened in amazement. Chance had been turned off to God since before the accident. Was this Ace’s influence too?

“Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” He glanced up when he read that part, and his navy-blue eyes nailed her.

She’d been guilty of remembering wrongs. Especially against Ace. She’d been focused on herself. Not on Chance, though that’s what she’d told herself. Yes, she’d wanted to protect him, but she’d only made things worse. And this time, Ace hadn’t been selfish at all. Everything he’d done had been for her and Chance.

“Listen to this part.” Her brother continued reading in his baritone voice. Not a boy’s voice. A man’s. “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” He put his fingers on the thin paper. “Sounds like someone we know, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” And she’d been the total opposite. While Ace had been protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering, she’d fought against him with her doubt and fear.

But he hadn’t given up. Until today.

All she had to do was look at the positive changes in her brother to see the good in Ace Caldwell. All she had to do was stop expecting the worst and choose to trust. A choice.

Something shifted inside of Marisa, like an iceberg jostled loose. Blinders placed there by years of bad experience suddenly fell away.

Her pulse clattered against the side of her neck. “I wonder if he’s still at the house.”

“One way to find out.”

She needed no other encouragement.

As she flew across the gravel road, the back door to the main house opened and her cowboy exited. With long, strong strides, Ace met her halfway. She reached for him. He never even questioned. He simply pulled her into his embrace and rocked her back and forth, back and forth. He gripped her with such restrained strength, his arms quivered, and she felt cherished.

He’d taken her in, no questions asked, no recriminations. Oh, she loved this man. What a fool she’d been!

A firestorm of emotion erupted from her throat. “I’m sorry. I trust you. I love you. How did you know?”

His laugh was soft against her hair. “Chance texted. Said you were headed my way.”

“I love that boy. I mean, man.”

“Me, too. In a brotherly kind of way.” And they both laughed.

“Can you forgive me for being so stupid?” she asked.

“Already have. Can you forgive me?” Still holding her as if afraid to let go, he gently moved her away so they were face to face, heart to heart. His serious green eyes bore into her, pleading. He was desperate for her forgiveness, her love, her trust.

She’d hurt this good man. But never again.

Marisa didn’t know what had happened or at what point she’d let go of their ugly past, but as she searched her heart, she discovered the truth. “Love doesn’t remember wrongs. And it always trusts.”

“And protects. Let me protect you and love you, Marisa. Can you trust me to do that?”

Fear tried to raise its ugly head. What if— Marisa stopped the thought half-formed. No more what-ifs. No more mistrust. “I do. I will. And if I ever get crazy again, do something drastic.”

“Like this?” His beloved face moved closer until their lips met in a short, sweet kiss.

Marisa smiled. “Not drastic enough.”

She pulled him back for another kiss, this one longer and filled with all the love and trust she could give.

When the moment ended, she didn’t let go, didn’t step away. She stroked the sides of his face the way he’d done for her so many times. His eyes sparkled, happy and loving, but they were tired too. Not hung-over, as she’d thought. The eyes of a man sacrificing his rest to do a good deed.

“I have a question for you.” She pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth.

“Keep doing that and I’ll tell you anything.” His hands rubbed up and down her back, distracting her, but she didn’t want him to stop.

“Just one.” She kissed the other corner.

“And it is?”

Her heart ricocheted against her ribs. “Am I really the only person you’ve ever taken to the Sanctuary?”

“You are.”

“Why?”

“You know why. I’m in love with you. The way my dad loved my mom. Someday, when you’re ready, I want to marry you.”

She tilted her head, heart singing. “Are you saying you’ll wait for me?”

“I tried breaking up with you for about thirty minutes this morning. I hated it.”

“So did I. Let’s don’t do that anymore.”

“Deal.”

In the pastures, cows mooed for their babies. The morning ebbed around the two people standing between the guest house and the Triple C Ranch house. Truck doors slammed. Voices lifted on the barely breeze. Family coming home for breakfast, though Marisa knew now that family came in all shapes, sizes and colors and didn’t have to share blood to share love.

Ace had brought her here, had known what she needed even when she’d fought against it. Home. Family. Him.

“Breakfast is ready,” he said. “Will you come in?”

A loaded question. She’d been on the outside looking for too long. Today, as Chance insisted, all of that would change.

Full of joy and release, she slid her arm around the lean waist of her cowboy and began the journey toward her future.