Maggie’s gut writhed like she’d swallowed a nest of live snakes. She’d called her mother when she’d first arrived in Grape Seed Falls, but the conversation hadn’t gone well. Maggie hadn’t cared then. She had two more days with the man she loved, and she wasn’t going to let her parents ruin that.

But the fact remained that she still lived in their house, and her apartment wouldn’t be ready for another ten days. She didn’t have much of a social life as she’d spent every weekend last summer and fall in Three Rivers and she worked six days a week at the store.

She sat by her parents and sisters at church, and if she had to leave before her apartment was ready, she had no idea where she’d go.

Her thoughts bounced around her head and her emotions started on a roller coaster. One moment she’d be fine, dismissing what her parents thought of her, and the next, she’d be almost crying at the thought of not having the close relationship with her parents and sisters that she’d always had.

“Drop me off at the store,” she told Chase as they entered the outskirts of Amarillo. “I want to check on Bridgette.” She didn’t want to tell him that she was worried about having Chase at her house.

And the emotional roller coaster took a dive. She wanted her parents to love Chase as much as she did. She didn’t want this chasm between them.

Maybe there’s a better time than now to bring him around, she thought. Chase didn’t argue, just kept singing along to the song on the radio. He pulled up to her store and swung toward her.

“Thanks for comin’ with me, Mags.” He beamed at her and she tilted her head back to receive his kiss.

“I hope you get the funding for that ranch,” she murmured against his mouth. “Call me tonight, okay?”

He agreed and she slid out of the truck. After retrieving her bag from the back, she pushed her way into the store. An unfamiliar scent met her nose, and she immediately looked left and right for the source of it.

The shelves had not been restocked last night, as she’d instructed Bridgette. Her sister sat behind the counter, a magazine in front of her. “Hey,” she called down the aisle, completely unconcerned about anything.

Maggie sighed. “Hey.”

“You just missed Daddy.” Bridgette returned her attention to the magazine, completely unaware that Maggie’s stomach had just plummeted into her sandals. “He asked when you’d be back. I said I didn’t know.”

“I’ll call him in a few minutes.” She stowed her bag in the feed room and got the shelves restocked. She swept the aisles, aware that Bridgette hadn’t done it once, and broke out the air freshener.

Bridgette asked endless questions about the trip, which Maggie happily told her the answers to. “So you love this guy,” Bridgette finally said, making Maggie pause in her work.

“I do,” Maggie said, a stream of fear and happiness rushing through her. A groan followed. “Mom and Dad are going to kill me, aren’t they?”

“They weren’t happy when they got your note on Monday.”

“I called that night.”

“I was there. Mom cried, and then she went in her room and didn’t come out for the rest of the night.” Bridgette smiled, a sisterly smile that Maggie used to get from Heidi. “For the record, I think you should be able to date whoever you want. You’re almost twenty years old.”

“You date whoever you want.” Maggie sniffed. “And they don’t have a problem with your boyfriend. He’s older than you.”

“They don’t know about my boyfriend.” Bridgette’s grin turned a tad wolfish. “But you’re special, Mags. You always have been Daddy’s favorite, and it’s really hard for him to think about you leaving this store.”

She nodded and swiped at her eyes. “I know.” Her father had worked his whole life in this store, starting at age twelve when all the girls had. She couldn’t imagine selling the store, but Bridgette and Kayla didn’t fit here either.

Maggie glanced around the farm supply store, a wave of nostalgia washing over her. She’d loved her time in this store. She’d met Chase here. She couldn’t imagine leaving it.

“Time to close.” Bridgette moved toward the front door and locked it, flipping the open sign to closed. “See you at home?”

Maggie nodded and watched her sister leave through the feed room. She pulled the book out of the drawer and began counting money in the till. She hadn’t worked that day, but the numbers allowed her a reprieve from the chaos in her mind.

Eventually, she couldn’t put off going home any longer. As she grabbed her bag from the back room, she realized she didn’t have her car here. So she employed her bravery and picked up the phone.

“Daddy, can you come pick me up at the store?”

Twenty minutes later, her father arrived at the store. Maggie ran out the back exit and noticed her mother in the passenger seat. Her pulse seized, but somehow her legs kept moving. She slid into the backseat behind her mother and balanced her bag on her knees as a makeshift shield. “Thank you,” she said.

Her dad twisted to look at her. He swallowed but didn’t say anything. It was what he didn’t say that always cut the deepest. As usual, her mother spoke. “We’re glad you’re home safely.”

“I was fine, Mom. I told you that on the phone.”

“So, tell us about Hill Country.”

Maggie didn’t feel like talking, so she simply said, “It was beautiful,” and left it at that.

“Maggie, are you being…careful?” her mom asked.

“Careful? Chase drove, Mom. We were fine.” She cursed herself for letting Bridgette leave her at the store without a car.

“That’s not what I mean,” her mom said, shifting in her seat. “I mean, where did you stay down there? You and Chase, you’re not…I mean, are you sleeping together?”

“No,” Maggie said, horrified. Embarrassment heated her face. “Mom, no. We stayed in two separate rooms the whole time.”

Her mom fluffed her hair, much to Maggie’s annoyance. “This is so stupid,” she said. “I’m an adult. I’m moving out next weekend. I can date Chase if I want to.”

“Of course you can,” her mom said. “What did you two do down in Grape Seed Falls?”

“He’s looking at buying a cattle ranch down there.” Importance infused her voice and she straightened. “It’s ten thousand acres, with a few thousand head of cattle. The homestead is huge and beautiful, and it has eight cowboy cabins.” She couldn’t stop talking, her tongue stumbling over the description of the ranch. “He’s going to buy it, and we’re going to get married, and Daddy, I’m so, so sorry.” Her voice broke as tears flooded her eyes. “But I can’t choose the store over Chase. I love him.”

The silence that followed held an electric charge. Her mother sniffled and her dad slowed the car. She waited while he turned into the Dairy Queen. He often brought the girls here when they’d had a hard day at school, or one of them had just gotten their immunizations, or just as a daddy-daughter date.

“Twist?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Sure,” she said.

He ordered three ice cream cones, and the sound of the idling car filled the space between them.

When the worker passed the cones over, he reached back and handed Maggie hers. Her stomach clenched, and she couldn’t get herself to lick the ice cream.

“Daddy,” she said.

He pulled forward but didn’t turn onto the street. “Maggie, I just want you to be happy. You took so naturally to running the store. I thought—” He swallowed, his own ice cream melting in his hand. “I was wrong to ask Chase to stay away. The fact that he stayed away for five months just to respect my wishes says a lot about his character.”

He licked around his cone and pulled into the street. “You should invite him over for dinner on Sunday.”

Maggie half-laughed, half-choked. “Thanks, Daddy.”

With that out of the way, Maggie was finally able to enjoy her chocolate twisted with vanilla ice cream cone.

* * *

Sunday came and went, and Chase didn’t see Maggie. Their phone call on Wednesday night had happened with her in tears—the happy kind. She’d invited him to dinner, but he couldn’t get away from his ranching duties. He’d taken too much time off to go to Grape Seed Falls, and it wasn’t fair to make someone work when he hadn’t.

He was covered in mud by the time he got back to his cabin, his mood fouler than it had been in a while. Basically penniless, Chase was grateful part of his wages included his cabin, and that Heidi would feed him whenever he showed up at the homestead.

Problem was, he didn’t feel like hashing everything out with her and Frank, so he’d stayed in his cabin, eating sandwiches.

“Maggie just called,” Matty said from his place on the couch. He looked like he hadn’t gotten dressed that day.

“I’ll call her after I shower.” He went into the bathroom and stripped off his dirty clothes. Once he was clean and a little calmer, he made himself a grilled cheese sandwich and took it into his bedroom to make the phone call.

A conversation wasn’t enough for him, and while he liked the sound of her feminine voice, it wasn’t the same as holding her, breathing in her flowery perfume, kissing her delicious lips.

“What about next week?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “Maybe I can tell you on Friday when you come to the dance?”

“Yeah, sure.” She wore a smile in her voice, and that made Chase happy before he hung up. That week, he fed cattle and saddled horses and filled out the supply forms for what he used.

Friday afternoon, he stopped by his cabin to grab something to eat before he had to go out to the bull pens and rotate them to a new pasture. He hated working with the bulls, because they were stubborn and dangerous.

The light on the answering machine caught his attention when he stepped through the door. He punched it before continuing into the kitchen for an apple.

“Mister Carver, this is Mister Gallivan from the First National Bank in Grape Seed Falls.” The apple fell from Chase’s hands. He swung his attention to the answering machine. “The appraiser has been out to the ranch, which was much sooner than expected. I have some good news and some bad news. Please call me when you get a moment.”

Chase lunged for the phone, his heart beating irregularly. He scrambled to dial the number as the loan officer rattled it off, and waited impatiently while the call connected.

“Mister Gallivan, please,” he said to the secretary who answered.

“Mister Carver,” the man said after several long seconds of silence. “I’m glad you called back. Shall I start with the good news or the bad news?”

“Let’s go with good,” he said. The room spun a little, and Chase sank onto the arm of the couch.

“The appraiser thinks the ranch would be profitable right away, and would provide enough for you to make your loan payments.”

Relief rushed through Chase. That wasn’t good news. That was great news. “All right.” A smile played with Chase’s lips.

“Bad news is, he thinks you need a down payment to lower the initial payment, and we still want a second signer.”

Chase’s gut tightened. “How much of a down payment.”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

It might as well be a million, Chase thought. “Thank you, sir.” He swallowed, and then swallowed again. “What’s the next step?”

“I can fax or mail you the papers you need for the co-signer. You can have your bank transfer the down payment, and then the loan will be generated to purchase the ranch.”

A signature from someone he didn’t have. A payment from an account that currently held thirty-four dollars.

Chase felt like he was trying to go to the moon. “Thank you. Will you mail me the papers, please? I don’t have any way to receive a fax.”

“I’ll put them in the mail today.”

Chase hung up, his arms and legs turning numb. His brain didn’t quite seem to work. What was he supposed to tell Maggie? She’d be wearing one of her pretty sundresses and waiting for him at the park in only a few short hours. He didn’t want to leave his cabin, because he now knew he’d never be leaving Three Rivers Ranch, and Maggie Duffin would never be his.

“No,” he said. “This isn’t happening.” He pushed himself off the couch and strode out the door, down the steps, and over to the homestead. “Heidi!” he called as he entered the house. “Heidi?”

She came around the corner, her expression concerned. “Chase? What’s goin’ on? Where’s Frank?” She practically ran to the bank of windows overlooking the deck, the yard, the whole ranch.

“I’m sure Frank’s in his office.” It was an hour past lunchtime, and Frank was routine to the minute. “This isn’t about Frank. It’s about Maggie.”

Heidi turned back to him, her worries fading. “Oh. I heard things were going well.” Heidi moved to the counter and folded a towel she’d left there. “I was told in no uncertain terms to make sure you had Sunday evening free this week.” She gave him a friendly smile. “It seems we’ll be related soon enough.”

Warmth chased away the ice in Chase’s blood. “I sure hope so, Heidi. But, uh, I have a problem.” He explained the situation with her, ending with, “What else can I do to win over your father? I don’t think I can work at that store—no offense—for very long.” He swiped off his cowboy hat and scrubbed his hair until his scalp hurt. “Help me, Heidi. If I have to go over there and eat with your parents on Sunday, I have to have something to tell them.”

Heidi laughed, which did nothing to ease the desperation coiling through Chase. She put her hand on his forearm. “Chase, you need to calm down.”

Chase looked into her brown eyes, switching them out for Maggie’s bluer ones. If he did that and sprinkled a smattering of freckles across Heidi’s cheekbones and nose, he could be looking at Maggie. “Help me.”

“Let me talk to Frank, okay?”

Chase had no idea what Frank would be able to do in this situation, but he had gotten Heidi’s father’s approval, so maybe he did have some tips. “All right,” Chase said.

“All right.” Heidi gave him a knowing look and moved around the island to the fridge. “Here, take this. You’ll feel better soon.” She handed him one of her homemade pudding cups. He didn’t argue; he took the treat and got out of the kitchen. His problem still existed, but at least he had chocolate to go with it.

That evening, just as he dashed down his front steps, Frank stepped out of the barn that sat across from his cabin.

“Chase,” he said. “You goin’ to the dance tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m meetin’ Maggie, and I’m already late.”

“Can you spare a couple more minutes?”

Chase didn’t want to, but Frank wore a serious look that meant business. He schooled his facial expression and voice into nonchalance. “Sure. What’s up?”

Frank stepped out of the doorway and handed Chase an envelope. “What’s this?” It didn’t have any writing on it, and barely seemed to weigh anything.

“Open it.”

Chase did, almost ripping the single slip of paper inside. He pulled out the check, his heart thundering in his chest like a herd of wild horses. “Frank, this is ten thousand dollars.”

“I know how much it is,” he said. “I wrote it.”

Chase tore his eyes from the numbers, his mouth hanging open, and found Frank smiling at him from the doorway of the barn. “Frank—” He didn’t know what else to say. All at once, horror slammed into him. “I didn’t go talk to Heidi in the hopes you’d give me the money.” He thrust the check back toward his boss. “I already took money from you this month. I can’t accept this.”

Frank didn’t even twitch. “Sure, you can. It’s our wedding present to you and Maggie.”

“We’re not—”

“But you will be.” Frank pushed off the doorway and walked down the gravel path, leaving Chase holding what felt like the answer to all his prayers.