Page 15 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“Yes, but he’s not drowning in it anymore.” Jackson looked at the woman who had helped bring about the change. “Neither am I. I’m happier than I ever thought I’d be again.”

“Hey, I’m just getting started,” Nic said, planting another kiss on his cheek as she got up to deal with the meal preparation debris.

Tucker watched his best friend watch the woman who had first upended, then changed his entire life, and that of his horribly wounded little boy. Nobody deserved it more than Jackson, who had walked away from a life most could only dream of for the sake of the child he loved.

On the thought Jeremy came running—he rarely just walked anywhere here, it seemed, another big change—back down the hall, a tiny bit of toothpaste lingering in one corner of his mouth. Tucker gave him a pointed look and swiped at the corner of his own mouth. Jeremy picked up on the cue immediately and the trace of white vanished.

They started down the hill, Jeremy running ahead as they walked down the hill to theThorpe’s Therapy Horsesfacilities. It wasn’t too far, he could see it, but it wasn’t next door, either.

“I’m surprised you’re not riding down there,” he said.

“We would, but this is good exercise,” Nic said.

“And time to talk, plan out the day, make sure we’ve got it all covered,” Jackson added.

Tucker looked from his friend to the facilities, then back. “Don’t miss the limelight?”

Jackson let out a half laugh, half snort. “The slimelight, you mean?”

Tucker couldn’t stop his short, sharp laugh at the word. “Yeah.”

“Nope,” Jackson answered happily. “I miss the crew, and the work, and the story we were telling on the show, but the rest? Not so much.”

“I won’t even ask if you’re ever going to come back, not when the answer is here—” he gestured around them, including Nic and Jeremy in the sweep “—all around me.”

“Sorry,” Jackson began, but Tucker stopped him with a shake of his head.

“You had to do it. Just looking at Jeremy now, you had to do it.”

Nic spoke then. “And I have to apologize.”

Tucker blinked. “What?”

“I was afraid you would be trying to talk him into going back.”

Tucker looked around again, taking in this Hill Country that was quickly latching onto his heart and soul. “No. I think he’s right where he—and Jeremy—belong.”

“Maybe you belong here, too.”

She said it with a warm smile that left Tucker in no doubt she meant it. He smiled back, because he couldn’t think of a darned thing to say. They reached level ground, and Tucker could see a couple of cars and a van already parked in the visitors’ area, with a few people milling about.

“I thought I was overdoing it, with the size of the barn,” Jackson said wryly as they neared the large, newly constructed building. “And now it’s full and we may need more room.”

“We have kids coming in from all over, all the way from Houston and Dallas even,” Nic said proudly.

“And my son,” Jackson said, a world of pride and emotion in his voice, “has appointed himself the personal ambassador. He greets every one of the kids, so they know there’s someone here who understands.”

“Takes after his father,” Nic said, sounding just as proud.

Yes, Jackson had found a home here. And Tucker knew that there was nothing Hollywood or its minions could come up with that would tempt him back to life there.

A rather enthusiastic whinny turned him around in time to see Sorry, saddled and ready for his small soon-to-be rider, near the closest fence and staring right at them.

“He’s really settled that much, that little kids can ride him?” Tucker asked.

“Logan helped him a lot, when he first got here,” Nic explained. “In addition to being a great farrier—”

“And sister wrangler,” Jackson put in with a grin, confirming Tucker’s recollection that this was the new man in Jackson’s sister Tris’s life.

---