Rich Rancher's Redemption

“It really was. Nothing on this earth should be treated with such vicious neglect. But with a lot of love and good food and time, she’s healthy now and even pregnant for the first time.”

Jillian smiled, looking at the horse with new admiration. Ivy hadn’t let her past get in the way, either.

“She’s the most gentle animal on the face of the planet. And lazy with it, if truth be told. Likes nothing better than standing still under a shade tree and avoids running as if it would kill her.”

Jillian’s lips twitched. “Well, that’s good then.”

Cora gave her a quick look. “And not only that, but Jesse’s a good hand with children. Patience. He got that from his father, not me.”

Glancing at the woman beside her, Jillian waited, sure there was more. She wasn’t disappointed.

“His biological father, I mean. That was the most patient man on the face of the planet.” She chuckled, then added, “Now, Roy Sanders, the man who raised Jesse and Lucy and was their father in every possible way, was as impatient as I am.” She laughed a little harder, gave a sigh and shook her head. “It’s a wonder the two of us got along at all. But my, we had some good times. Some wonderful fights, too.”

“Wonderful fights?” Even Jillian could hear the doubt in her voice. But she had too many memories of her own parents before they’d abandoned her, indulging in shouting matches that had terrified her.

“If you’re arguing with the right man, yes.” Resting her chin on her hands, Cora Lee said, “My own mother used to say, don’t fight in front of your children. But Roy and I figured that wasn’t healthy, either. Children grow up expecting everything to be sunshine and roses all the time and then they’re never happy. But your kids see you arguing, then see you hugging and making up, they know you can disagree without the world crashing.”

Jillian smiled. “I never thought of it like that, but I think you have a point.”

Nodding, the older woman said, “You kids today don’t know how much good a clearing-the-air fight can do for a marriage. Keeps things hopping, that’s for sure.”

The only fights Jillian had experienced were blurry memories of raised voices, tears and drama, with one or the other of her parents vowing to leave and never come back. There’d never been any hugging and making up. Maybe if there had been her parents wouldn’t have left.

“There you are, Mom,” Lucy called as she and Brody walked up to the fence to join the party. “We went to your cottage because Brody said you’d have cookies.”

“You bet I do,” Cora Lee said, scooping her grandson up onto her hip. “Who’s my favorite four-year-old in the whole world?”

“I am!” Brody shouted and threw his arms around his grandmother’s neck.

“Displaced by Grandma and her cookies,” Lucy mused.

“Must be nice,” Jillian said without really thinking about it, “to have your whole family right here on the ranch.”

“Oh, it is,” Lucy agreed. “But thank God we don’t all live in the same house.”

“Thank God,” Brody parroted.

“That’s enough of that, little man,” Cora warned and shot her daughter a hard look.

Lucy just grinned. She pointed to where a small, English-style cottage sat amid a stand of oak trees. It had dormer windows, a stone chimney and a bright red door behind the snowy white porch railings. Roses, dormant now, climbed a trellised arch just in front of the porch.

“That’s Mom’s place. She moved in there once we were grown, said the big house should belong to Will.”

“It was only right,” Cora Lee said. “Time for my kids to build their own lives and they didn’t need their mama watching their every move.”

“There wasn’t any point trying to talk her out of it, either.” Lucy nodded and swung around to point toward another house not far away. “That’s Jesse’s place.”

Jillian turned her head to study it for a long moment and decided it suited the man to a T. The building was low and long, with a stone front porch that seemed to run around the perimeter of the place. There were two stone chimneys jutting into the sky from a slate gray metal roof and a wide set of double front doors in the center. The house itself was wood and glass and managed to look masculine and cozy all at the same time. There were chairs, rockers and swings dotting that porch and she could imagine sitting there in the evening, watching a sunset. With that image came another of her and Jesse sitting on one of those swings together, and the instant she realized what her brain was up to, Jillian shut it down fast. Thankfully, no one else seemed to notice that her imagination was working against her.

“There are three guest cottages along the back of the big house,” Lucy was saying, “so whoever’s staying there has easy access to the pool and—”

“What’s that house there?” Jillian pointed to what looked like an oversized bungalow with chimneys on each end of the house. Again, a wide front porch graced the building, but here, there was a balcony on the second floor, too.

“That was my house,” Lucy admitted. “Mine and my husband’s.” Her voice dropped and a small sigh escaped her. “We were in the process of building it when Dane’s accident happened. When he died, I just stayed at the main house. I didn’t want to live there without him.

“The house was finished before I gave birth to Brody, but we never moved in. The big house works for us.”

Jillian wondered if she could push her foot any further into her mouth or if even she’d already reached her limit. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Cora Lee said, speaking up for her daughter. “Life happens whether we’re ready or not, doesn’t it, little man?” She turned her gaze on Brody.

“Can I have cookies?” he asked.

“You bet.” Cora Lee hitched him higher on her hip and looked at her daughter. “Brody’s with me.” Then she added, “If you’re going to be here a while, Jillian, why don’t you bring Mackenzie by, too? We’ll all have cookies together.”

“Thank you,” she replied without agreeing to anything.

When it was just she and Lucy again, Jillian said one more time, “I’m really sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Lucy laid one hand on her forearm. “They’re not bad memories at all. How could they be?” She shook her head and looked out at Jesse and the little girl squirming excitedly in the saddle.

“You said Dane had an accident?” Jillian asked quietly, since her friend seemed willing to talk about the past that no doubt still haunted her.

“He did. I loved Dane like crazy and he was eager to be here on the ranch. Of course he didn’t know anything about horses, but he wanted to learn.”

Lucy stared into the corral but Jillian knew she was looking at images much further away. Her gaze was fixed on the past and the memories brought a smile to her lips and a film of tears to her eyes.

“What happened?” Jillian’s voice was a whisper.

“Just a freak twist of events that Dane was caught up in,” Lucy said wistfully. “Jesse loves training horses. I mean, the ranch is his now and he loves that too, the cattle, the feed crops, all of it. But horses,” Lucy said on a sigh, “hold his heart. Like they do mine. Dad left me in charge of the stud program, breeding exceptional saddle horses. And I’m also taking in rescue horses. Horses that have been abused or neglected—” Her features tightened and anger shone in her eyes. “I can’t stand seeing animals hurt.

“But Jesse, his specialty is training the untrainable horse. He’s got a good reputation, too. People from all over Texas bring their problem horses here and he finds a way.”

Jillian wanted to say something, but damned if she could think of anything that would either stop Lucy now or make it easier to go on. Instead, all she could do was stay silent, stay close.

“A man from Waco brought Jesse a stallion to break and train.” Smiling, Lucy added, “That was the meanest horse I’d ever seen. Hated everybody. But Jesse knew he could tame it. Jesse asked Dane if he wanted to help and he jumped at the chance.”

Jillian’s eyes closed briefly as she braced herself for what must be coming.

Lucy took a deep breath and blew it out. “The horse broke free and went a little crazy. Dane rushed in to help Jesse contain the stallion—and he was trampled.”

Instantly, Jillian’s gaze flicked to Mac astride that horse and she wanted to run out there and grab her girl, keep her safe. Yes, irrational, but the need was there.

“Nobody’s fault, really,” Lucy said quietly. “The horse wasn’t to blame, either. He was just mad and scared and reacted the only way he could. Dane had a lot of broken bones, spinal injuries, but it was the head injury that killed him.” She rested her chin on her joined hands on the rail fence. “He was in a coma a week before I finally accepted that he was gone. They pulled the plug that afternoon and the very next day I found out I was pregnant with Brody.”

“Oh, my God.” Jillian slumped against the fence, heart hurting. For all the troubles she’d had in her life, nothing could compare to what Lucy had already endured. Admiration filled her, because this woman was strong enough to get past her own grief and build a life for her son. She didn’t hold on to bitterness or sit in a corner and scream Why me? She just went on with her life, taking care of Brody and focusing on the future. Jillian understood that.