Page 56 of New in Town

“Are these,theletters?” he asks carefully.

“They are, this was his box. The letters, the keys to this place, and these other things were delivered to me in it.”

She picks up Henry’s horseshoe ring and holds it out for him to examine. Placing it on the table, she picks up the belt buckle next. “A Sterling Round-Up champ, huh?” he says with a grin, running a finger along the etchings.

“From what I’ve been told, Henry was a true cowboy. And he was good at it.” She smiles sadly. In the end, it does still feel good to brag on him and his legacy.

The last thing on the ground is the picture of Henry holding Maddie as a baby, or so she thought. Tucked under Grey’s boot, he notices another photograph that he leans over to retrieve. She hadn’t noticed this in the box before, the image foreign to her.

What’s more surprising though, is that it’s not foreign to Grey. He studies it for a minute before he looks up at her, his blue eyes piercing. “I’ve seen this. It’s hanging up in Floyd’s house.”

She leans over his arm to get a better look. In the photograph are three men atop horses, at Hayes Ranch. She recognizes the one as Henry, looking close to his age when she was born. This must have been when he returned to Sterling Ridge.

“Who’s with him?” she asks quietly.

“That’s Floyd in the middle, before his mustache turned white,” Grey says with a chuckle. “And that’s Brett’s dad. Brett Hayes Senior.”

Her mouth falls open, unable to find any words. Henry was a part of Hayes Ranch? A wave of emotion floods her that she’d found her way to the same people who knew him.

“I didn’t know your dad,” he explains. “But I asked Floyd about the picture once. I had just moved in on the ranch and was curious why I didn’t recognize the third guy in the picture. Why I hadn’t seen him around. Floyd said his name was Welly and he had been a wrangler with him. He said Welly left to be the producer for the round-up.”

“A wrangler, so he worked specifically with the horses? And producer? He ran the rodeo?”

Grey nods, reaching over and giving her leg a squeeze. “You’re right, he would have been the real deal.”

“I just, I wish I’d known all of this. I wish I’d known him. And I wish I could understandwhy. Why he chose to not be a part of my life.”

“I know the feeling. But I guess that’s the thing about life, we don’t always get a neatly packaged reason that makes everything better. And I’ve learned that it isn’t really the most important part.” He pauses and studies her with his earnest baby blues. Tapping the haphazard stack of letters between them, he offers, “This is important. Keep reading, get to know Henry.”

She plucks the next unopened letter from the top. “Read with me?” she asks, holding it out to him.

He accepts the letter and lays back on the couch, pulling Maddie with him. He tucks her into his side, opens the envelope, and begins.

Madelyn,

Some days are harder than others. There are days like today when I wake up and wonder if I made this choice for you or for me. I thought it would be better for you to have a stable life with your mama, I never was good at all that. I came up with a hundred reasons as to why I was doing the right thing by not trying to take you with me.

I had to come home. That was clear. But leaving you? Well, that was ‘bout as clear as mud. When I’m out there sun up to sun down, how could I take care of you? But then I sit out there, in the mountains, and look at the miles of wild west around me. And I think—I’m a damn fool for not giving you all of this. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I called your mama up when you were younger and asked if you could spend the summer out here with me. She said you were signed up for summer camp at the zoo. I was so pleased you loved animals, and I’m pleased to know you still do.

Anyway, I called the next year too. She said you were joining the cross-country team and had practice. I think your mama was afraid of what I hoped for. You’d get out here and not want to go back. If I do one thing for you in this life, it’ll be to give you a piece of the home you could have where maybe an old man’s hope and an old lady’s fear can’t bog you down.

Henry

Grey sets the letter on the table and turns to wipe a tear that’s started its way down her cheek. She sniffles, pressing against his sturdy frame. Grey, her stable ground.

“He called. She never told me.”

“I don’t expect it to make you feel better, but that sounds like a why.”

She nods into his chest. He’s right, it’s proof that Henry tried. All of this, proof that he thought of her after he left. He thought of her until the end. If only she could untangle what that means to her.

26

MADDIE

“Riding that cowboy is doing wonders for you, sweetie.”

Maddie rolls her eyes as a laugh escapes her. “Thanks, Jules,” she scoffs, switching the call to speakerphone and sitting it on the couch beside her.

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