Chapter Fifteen
Peyton took a deep breath of fall air. Sunday markets were always a wash of smells, noise, and color. Despite the lateness of the year, there were still lingering corn and potatoes along with the apples and pumpkins of the season.
“I missed this.” Ryder smiled and twirled Melanie around with a finger.
Peyton couldn’t contain the warmth and contentment of seeing their daughter so carefree and alive with her father. The scene before her scared her. Frightened every plan-loving piece of her genetic makeup. Ryder couldn’t be controlled, planned, or dictated to. He had his own rules, own code, and still his own secrets, and yet the dream, the one that she would have denied ever existed until a day or two ago, rose up fully formed.
Could they be a family? Could she and Ryder provide Melanie with two parents who were a unit? Two people who loved her and each other. Did she still love Ryder, and if not, could she grow to love him again?
“Can we grab some pumpkins to carve?” Mel bounced from one foot to the other and Ryder ruffled her curls.
“I’m game if your mom is.”
Two sets of brown puppy dog eyes implored her, and she could do nothing but sigh and nod. Mel let out a whoop and yanked her father toward the far corner of the square where the pumpkins were set out.
“Peyton?”
She tore her gaze away from the two heathens, satisfied that at least here there was very little that could go wrong. Becky Jane stood a few feet away. Although she had worked as the vet for both the town and the ranch for nearly five years, Peyton knew very little about the young woman. Her grandfather was a lifelong resident, but Becky Jane had been raised elsewhere and only recently moved to their small town.
“Hey, Becky Jane, how are you?”
“Fine. Just wanted to check up on a rumor I heard.”
Warning bells sounded, and Peyton stepped closer to the petite woman. Their heights were near identical and they had both found themselves the butt of more short jokes than any two woman should have to put up with. Cowboys were not traditionally known for their humor.
“What rumor?”
“About Ryder.”
Well, crud. That could encompass any number of things. The one thing she did know about the esteemed vet was that she didn’t beat around the bush. She definitely lived up to her fiery red-haired persona.
“Could you be more specific?”
“That Sky Lake is going to change, that he’s swooping in and then out. That’s what his company is known for. I care for a lot of reasons, but most of all my concern is selfish and purely economical. Sky Lake brings in half my business. If that is going to change, I need to know so I can plan accordingly.”
Ahh, another thing they apparently shared. “I appreciate you being matter-of-fact and I’ll return the favor. Yes, Ryder is making some changes. Improvements on the property around the lake in the hopes of increasing the number of visitors and guests we have. If anything, I would say you might find yourself more overworked rather than the opposite.”
Relief traveled across Becky Jane’s peaches-and-cream complexion. “Thank you for the reassurance. And if he leaves, will that affect anything?”
Peyton started to say there was no way Ryder would leave again, but the words literally would not be spoken. Because that was her biggest fear. His father’s treatment of him sent him running all those years ago and he hadn’t trusted anyone. What if Mitchum continued with the ice-cold silent treatment? Would she and Mel be enough to keep him here in Fly Creek?
“Even if he goes, Sky Lake will remain.”
Becky Jane stuck out her hand and Peyton shook it. “Thank you.” And just like that, the redhead spun on her boot heel and was lost in the Sunday morning crowd.
…
Ryder kept one eye on Mel as she wove through the pumpkins, searching for three in the right size. The other kept glancing back to see what Peyton was doing with the redhead. He’d seen the other woman on the ranch several times over the past weeks and learned she was one heck of a vet who had garnered quite a following among the permanent ranch hands. They trusted her with the cattle and that was high praise from any cowboy or cowgirl.
It was most likely their conversation had to do with the ranch and yet from the lines of Peyton’s body he got the impressions things might be a tad more personal.
“Hey, Daddy, I found one.”
The tones of Mel’s voice washed over him, and he soaked up every ounce of warmth having his daughter call him that infused. They were feeling their way along well, and now that he and Peyton had mended enough of their past to possibly contemplate a future, he couldn’t help but think everything he might ever want was within grasp.
He hefted the pumpkin Mel pointed to. “Nice choice.” She smiled and took off looking for another.
“Want me to take that for you?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “I got it. I see she has your perfectionist gene.”
Peyton shrugged. “Not necessarily a bad trait to possess.”
Something in her tone had him examining her more closely. “Everything okay?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Ryder knew enough of Peyton to be leery of her simple straightforward answers. Before he could question her, Mel shouted about another find.
“I’ll take this one.” Peyton brushed by him and shivered, shooting a coy glance over her shoulder. Relief swept across Ryder. She may have something on her mind, but he was confident it had nothing to do with them. Or the potential of a “them.”
After the last pumpkin had been acquired, they were loading them in the back of his truck when Emily came scurrying across the street.
“Hey, you guys. I was wondering if I could use one of yours arms. Adam has restricted me on lifting anything above my head, and I need some help in the store.”
Ryder let the alluded pregnancy reference slide right off, leaving nothing in its wake. He was focused on the now and the future. He and Peyton and Mel were finding a way to be a family. That was all he could ask for.
“I’ll do it,” Peyton said. She brushed a quick kiss on his cheek. “Why don’t you take Mel back and get these pumpkins started, and I’ll hitch a ride with Emily later.”
Disappointment filtered into his chest. He’d hoped to spend the whole day as a family. To find out the little things that ticked between the Brooks women and make some memories.
“If you’re sure.”
He and Mel waved as they pulled away from the curve.
“Did something happen with Mom?”
Peyton had warned him about his daughter’s intuitiveness, but for once he’d wanted her to be wrong. Because if Mel thought something was off, then he couldn’t just brush his gut feeling away.
“No. Not that I know of. Now where should we start scooping out these guts?”
…
Peyton placed the last of the dishes into the dishwasher racks and shut the door. Turning it on, she wiped her hand on a dishrag and looked around the kitchen for anything else to do. She was stalling. Obvious probably to Ryder, too, who waited for her in the living room with some photo albums Mel had given him before she went to bed to look through.
This moment, this night, it was a dream come true and nothing frightened her more. Becky Jane had sent a little ripple of doubt into her almost full reformed heart. What if he did leave? What if that was how his company worked? What if the past still controlled his future?
“I’m pretty sure there isn’t a dirty surface left. Come on in here with me.”
Peyton smiled and switched off the light, passing under the archway into the living room. Ryder sat on her sofa, two glasses of wine on the coffee table. She narrowed her gaze. “Where did you get that?”
“When I’m courting a young woman, I come prepared.”
Peyton laughed and joined him on the couch. “I hope it tastes better than your attempt at hard cider all those years ago.”
He poked her in the ribs. “Hey, give a man credit for trying.”
She accepted the glass and took a sip. She closed her eyes as the sweet peach fizz woke up her taste buds. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “A man has to have his secrets.”
This time Peyton poked him. “It had to be Emily. She’s the only one who knows this is my favorite.”
Ryder took the glass from her hand and put it back on the table. He traced her cheek and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ears.
“Do you have to know everything? The facts, the reasons. Don’t you ever want to just see? Experience?”
He leaned forward and just before their lips touched, she whispered, “I’m scared.”
“Me, too. But I’m even more scared of walking away again. Of letting our second chance, this time as a family, be wasted because of fear.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I want to trust you. Trust in this. Trust that you won’t break my heart again. That no one will get hurt. That you won’t leave us again.”
Ryder kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer. “I’m not that man anymore. My pride is no longer dependent on my father’s love. Pride and selfishness are no longer driving me. I’m here. Now in the present and looking toward the future. I won’t hurt you or Mel, and I’m not going anywhere.”
She raised her mouth to his, and his lips met hers hungrily. Nips and moans echoed through the room as they each struggled to get closer, to feed off each other’s warmth. Ryder’s lips traveled down her throat and he kissed his way across her collarbone, leaving her skin burning to be next to his. She ran her hand down his back and tugged his shirt free, sliding under the hem and placing her palm onto his hard, smooth back. Muscles bunched under fingertips and he hauled her into his lap resuming his exploration of her chest with his lips.
This man was hers for the taking. They could have the family she had dreamed about in the early years if she was willing to move ahead without a plan. Without knowing the end result.
There was only one way to find out.