Page 59 of Rancher's Strength

“Can’t blame me for asking, with you five you can’t be too sure,” I said as I let my head rest back against the seat.

“She tried to come crawling back to Nash, hoping he’d take pity on her.”

“Are you serious? She basically led that man to the doorstep and stood by while he terrorized her son’s family and friends. That woman’s lucky she’s gone or I’d be the one going after her.” Rage boiled out of me—today’s therapy appointment hadn’t helped one damn bit.

“She tried to go to your mom also,” Ryder said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Her fucking husband shot me twice, and she thought my mom would be sympathetic? Come to think of it, she probably had better luck with Nash.”

“Want to know what your mom did?” His gin spread wider across his face, and when he took his eyes off the road, they were beaming with pride.

“Umm, yeah.”

“She grabbed the gun out of my truck and threatened to put her down just like we’d done to her husband. Lex, don’t cross your mother. She’s terrifying.”

“All these years, you thought she was so sweet and kind. Well, now you know the dark side of Helen Paulson. That’s the woman Lydia and I grew up with, not the sweet person she makes everyone think she is.” Him seeing her like that made me feel vindicated. I was going to have to tell Lydia that our mother’s sweetness and light mask had slipped. Ryder laughed, and I looked out the window as we pulled into the yard.

My kids were standing on the porch, looking like they were ready to leap off it and come running to me. Mom stood behind them, with her arms around their shoulders, making sure they didn’t leap on me. Lydia and Faith were also there, smiling and holding hands. Tears filled my dry eyes as I looked at my sister, smiling and, for the first time in ages, looking at ease.

“Come on, let’s get you in the house,” Ryder said as he opened my door and helped me out of the truck. Helped wasn’tactually the word since he lifted me out and carried me, cradled in his arms, into our home.

“Ryder, I can walk,” I grumbled as we entered the house and walked down the hall to our room.

“Auntie Lex, I’m so glad you’re home,” Ruby said as she gingerly hugged me. Sawyer crawled up on the bed with me and snuggled next to me.

“You saved us,” he sighed as he took my hand. Tears ran down my face as I looked at the little boy, whose eyes were filled with awe.

“You’re my kids; there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe,” I said as my voice cracked, and they both gently cuddled up next to me.

I didn’t know how long they’d stayed beside me. I fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t wake up until Jake came in to help me get settled. He seemed happy with how my healing was progressing. Tayla had offered to take the kids for the night, but I couldn’t bear to have them away from me just yet.

Ruby and Jake’s oldest daughter, Libby, had become fast friends, and I imagined they’d be trouble if they were anything like Tayla and me when we were together.

I dozed on and off most of the afternoon, and when I woke up, Ryder was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed. “You know you don’t have to watch me sleep. There’s work you probably need to catch up on.” Shifting my shoulders made him jump from his chair and help me fix the pillow that had moved so it wasn’t under my arm anymore. He grabbed the bottle of pills Jake had left beside my bed and gave me two and a sip of water.

“There’s four other people to get the work done, six if you count Phil and Wes. Just so you know, Faith isn’t a bad cowgirl. The ranch might just have to steal her from you,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“She grew up on a ranch in North Dakota, and I’m not surprised a bit about her abilities.” Smiling, I ached for him to lie beside me. A knock on the door stopped me from asking him to do that.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I need to tell you both something.” Kipp stood in the doorway, his hat in hand, avoiding eye contact with both of us.

“You really think this is the time?” Ryder asked, annoyance dripping from his voice.

“Ry, it’s fine. Come in, Kipp. I just woke up, and my pain meds haven’t kicked in yet. Which is too bad for you because I’m hilarious when they do.” I snorted as I laughed, trying not to laugh harder.

“I think they’re kicking in,” Ryder said dryly, and that made a smile crack on Kipp’s face.

“Lexie, I owe you an apology. When you returned with Ryder, I was angry that he’d let you back in so easily after everything.” He shuffled on his feet and raised his eyes to look at me. “What I see now is that you two make one another whole. There’s a light in his eyes that’s been gone for a while. I’m sorry, what I said at your wedding wasn’t my place. And I’m glad you’re back, for good.” He smiled awkwardly, and I shifted, trying to sit up.

“There’s a lot of things I could say about my wedding day, and I can’t believe I’m even going to say this —but thank you. Hearing your words wasn’t easy, but I’m not sure I would have ever been privy to the information if you hadn’t.” I shifted my gaze to Ryder. Because if I knew my husband as well as I thought I did, he would have carried that to his grave just to save me from the hurt. “Your timing sucked, but I needed to hear it.” I held out my hand and was overjoyed when he took it.

“Okay, now that we’re all happy, I just want to say if I ever catch you upstairs in this house with my wife, I’ll punch youagain.” Ryder stood from the bed and crossed his arms, glaring at Kipp.

“You told him?” Kipp slapped his cowboy hat against his leg.

“Yeah, I did. It seemed to be a night of confessions.”

“Did you tell him it was weird as hell and awkward, and we never did it again?”

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