Page 21 of Rancher's Heart

“Perfect, you can come to girls’ night. We’ll pick you up on the way by.” Fallon said excitedly. “The guys are teaming up to look after the kids, and we’ll head to the Fencepost.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring Parker over and he can hang out,” Griff said quietly, and I looked up at him. “It’ll be fine.” He nodded.

“He’ll love having other kids around, even if they are younger. Parker’s deaf, but he wears a cochlear implant, so he can hear when it’s in.” Like Griff when I told him, none of his friends’ expressions changed, and nobody looked around at one another, trying to figure out what they should say; they just nodded.

“We’ll all start learning ASL if it will make him feel more comfortable.” His words were so nonchalant, and I relaxed, and my shoulders felt like they dropped to the floor. I didn’t realize how tense I’d gotten while telling strangers about Parker. Blinking quickly, I sure didn’t want to cry in front of these people, but nobody had ever accepted him that easily.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and Griff tightened his arm around my shoulders.

“No need to thank us. You and Parker are with Griff. That makes you one of us. We’ll do whatever we need to make you both feel like this is your new home,” Nash said.

“I’ve never felt like we’ve belonged anywhere. People aren’t always comfortable around Parker, so we don’t venture out very often.” My voice caught in my throat.

“You belong here,” An older woman said as she walked up the porch steps behind us, with a man who looked to be about her age following her. The soft smile on her lips and the way shemoved through the group, hugging everyone, was all I needed to know about her. She was a matriarch, and everyone here respected what she said.

“Sorry, we’ve been listening in. We didn’t want to interrupt. I’m Julie, the biological mother to two of this crew and a stand-in mama to the rest. Welcome to the ranch.” She and Phil sat on the porch swing Nash and Fallon vacated. “This is Phil. He’s my boyfriend. Lordy that term makes me feel ridiculous, I’m too old to have a boyfriend.” She laughed and Phil pulled her tightly to his side.

“Oh, sweetheart, we keep one another young, so I think it’s perfect.” He kissed her on the cheek, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said as I grew more comfortable in this group.

“Kipp, put the frown away. Your sister married your best friend, and your mother is sleeping with your former PI. Get over it.” Julie said as she looked over at her burly son. I watched his jaw flex, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but everyone around him laughed.

“Oh, I’d like that to be discussed at girls’ night.” I laughed, feeling slightly out of the loop, but I didn’t really think I’d stay that way for long.

“Any chance we can go get the rest of Elle’s things from the Hays place? I don’t want her going back there.” I looked over at Griff, and frowned. “You aren’t going back there. That’s final.”

“Has there been trouble?” Kipp asked as he leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and looked at Griff and me. All I could do was nod.

Griff turned to me and raised his brow. “Tell them.”

“Well, Billy showed up at midnight the other night, and then when we went back the next day to pick up her things, he waitedfor me to leave and tried to.” He stopped talking and I watched him crush the beer can he was holding.

“We’ll head over there with you the day after tomorrow.”

“And we’ll come help you unpack,” Nora said smiling, as she took Kipp’s hand.

“That’s asking a lot, I don’t want to take you from what you all need to be doing.” I shook my head, and they all laughed.

“I told you; you were family now. This is what we do.” Julie smiled sweetly at me.

“Think the Hays boys will continue to be trouble?” Ryder asked as he looked at Griff.

“Not sure, but if they try, it won’t be good for them.”

“Any chance this is why Billy’s driving around with a bullet hole in his side mirror?” Phil asked, arching his brow, shifting on the porch swing so he could rest his leg on his opposite knee.

“Chances are good,” Griff said as he grabbed a new drink and cracked it open, taking a long pull.

“Atta boy,” Julie said, smiling.

Who was this group of people? Griff had tried to kill someone, and they all acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. Someone was staring at me, and I looked over to see Linc’s focus squarely on me. “Elle, when we say we take care of our own, we mean it.”

“True words,” Fallon said. Everyone looked over at her, and they all nodded.

The night flew by, and thankfully, the mood had shifted back to laughter and light conversation. The sun set behind the mountain, all the uncertainty I was holding fell away and we all broke off into smaller discussions, and not once did I feel left out.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad was it?” Griff asked as we walked into the house.

---