Chapter Sixteen
Summer
We spent the afternoon exploring the ranch until the thunderclouds unleashed an insane storm with lightning and giant balls of hail. As the hail mellowed into rain, the boys spent half an hour gathering all the hail they could before it melted, getting soaked in the process. But by the time we headed back up to their rooms to change for dinner, they were laughing and smiling.
I left them with their mom and she was grateful enough for the break that she didn’t say anything about their sopping and dirty clothes, even though I caught her sour scowl.
“Sorry, we got a little carried away in the rain,” I apologized.
The twins were showing her their cups of hail and she brushed the hair back from their foreheads. “It’s okay. It looks like they had fun.” Her hand dipped beneath their chins. “And that’s why we’re here. Right, boys?” Her scowl mellowed into a frown and then softened into the slightest of smiles. She’d come around, I had no doubt.
“Sure!” They ran into their bedrooms, manners forgotten for the moment, but no less cute than they were when they arrived. I was secretly pleased that Marlene was taking this as well as she was. She seemed to have calmed down and dropped some of her East Coast propriety as surely as her kids had. And that was a damned good thing—something that made me happy for her. If nothing else, that woman needed to remove that stick up her ass…
“Thank you,” Marlene said, catching me by surprise as I turned to face her. She looked refreshed and a thousand times calmer than when I’d left her.
“You’re welcome.” I stood there awkwardly, feeling an odd kinship with her even though I didn’t belong in her world anymore, but I had for so long. “We’ll eat in about thirty minutes,” I finished as she thanked me and I went to help Rue get dinner ready.
The day had been a whirlwind. The kids had definitely kept me busy and I hadn’t had time to think about anything, but it was the most fun I’d had in... well, maybe ever.
“Are they settling in okay?” Rue asked as she handed me the dinner plates.
“Seems like it.”
“You did a good job with them.”
I preened beneath her praise. This place was so strange, the things that I accomplished here—that I wanted to accomplish were so different than anything I’d ever wanted to accomplish before. Here, there was no pretense, no awards, no newspaper write-ups. No one would ever know what I “accomplished” here... Yet, I wanted to succeed so much more now than I ever had back... then.
When Marlene and the kids came downstairs, Rue plied them with appetizers. I checked the clock and wondered where Brady and Jake were. I knew they had gone back out to check the cattle, but they should have been back by now.
Rue glanced at me and waved me into the pantry. She pulled the door halfway closed to shield us from Marlene and the kids, then gripped my hands.
“Do you want to run out to the barn and see if they’re back yet?”
I glanced out the pantry door to the dark sky and the rain that hadn’t let up since lunch and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. “Does the rain make it harder to bring the cattle in?”
“Yes, but even so, they should have been back hours ago. They didn’t have to go far, only to the north pasture.” She glanced out the window and pointed in what I assumed was a northward direction. “I’m worried.”
A cold sweat broke out on my palms. If Rue was worried, that didn’t bode well. “I’ll hurry. Do you want to start dinner and I’ll go see if I can find them?”
Rue nodded. “I’d better.”
“Oh, no!” My hands flew up to cover my mouth, and I scared the crap out of Rue. “I just remembered I was supposed to work at the café tonight.” My heart sank as I thought about heading into town while Jake and Brady were out there in the cold and dark somewhere.
Rue squeezed my shoulder. “Sharon’s a rancher and she knows how things happen. Besides, tonight will be slow with this storm. I’ll call her.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
She turned me and patted my butt. “Now you head out and find our boys.”
Marlene looked up as I walked past but once she was out of sight, I took off running toward the barn, ducking my head to keep the rain out of my face. It was a freaking downpour and I was soaked before I’d even gone ten feet. The barn was a blurry image behind the sheets of water, but it was also instantly obvious that neither Brady nor Jake were here. I stood in the aisle and Aria stuck her nose out. I didn’t know what to do, so I walked to the end of the barn where the rain was blowing inside and soaking the alley nearest Aria’s stall.
I pulled the doors mostly closed and stared across the pastures. Rivers of water ran down the road and off the roof. “Where are you guys?” I asked myself.
The horses fidgeted and whinnied and I was sure they were getting hungry too. Jake usually fed them before we ate, which was a sure sign that something was wrong. Jake was never late when it came to feeding the animals.
I took another glance outside and then hurried to the feed barn and loaded a bale into the back of the Gator along with Aria’s feed. I gunned the engine and peeled out, throwing rocks and mud on the wall.
I shoved my wet hair back from my forehead and eased the pedal, feathering it so I didn’t tear up any more of the road. I drove it straight into the barn, not really caring what a mess I made because I could sweep it up later and it wasn’t worth trying to wrestle the hay from outside. All the horse faces peered over the stall doors and whinnied their gratitude. I wasn’t sure how much everyone got, so I tossed them each a flake and hoped I wasn’t hopping them all up because now was not the time to have a barnful of crazy horses.
I finished feeding them quickly and then checked the perimeter outside again, but there wasn’t a single cow or rider headed this way. I chewed my lip and pulled the doors closed. I didn’t know what to do. Slipping inside Aria’s stall, I watched her eat, but I was too nervous and fidgety. In turn, it made her all twitchy and she tossed her head at me.
“Sorry.” I patted her neck and wandered the alley again.
Jenny was munching away contentedly in her stall, but Jake must have been on Breezy because she was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure who Brady was riding. Thunder crashed overhead and I swore the lightning hit right outside the barn because my hair suddenly started standing on end. It was so freaking loud! The horses moved around nervously, their food forgotten for a moment, and I tried to get my own heartbeat under control.
There was no point in going back up to the main house; Rue had dinner under control and, what was more, I didn’t want to further worry her once she realized I hadn’t found the boys. I paused outside Jenny’s stall as I tried to figure out what I should do next. She slipped her nose through the bars on her door and blew warm air at me. I stepped closer and held my hand up. “What do you think? If I take you out there to look for him, will you be a good girl?”
My hand shook as she nudged it. I rubbed her nose and she went back to eating.
I bit my lip and looked at Aria’s stall as I considered taking her out instead of Jenny. But Aria would be a basket case in this weather. We’d both been far too pampered to take on a rainstorm of this magnitude. Loud noises sent her into orbit and even standing here in her stall, she was trembling.
Another clap of thunder rattled the barn and I pulled Jenny out of her stall and stuck her in the crossties. Whatever I was going to do, I needed to start doing it.