Page 14 of A Rancher's Heart
Caleb eyed his brother. “Did you take a tumble you need to recover from we don’t know about?”
Walker paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Do I look as if I took a beating? Don’t worry about me. You’re the one I saw limping as you walked into the room.”
Shoulders lifting in a gentle shrug, Caleb focused back on his plate. “Wouldn’t be the first time you were black and blue and didn’t say a word.”
“On a different note, did you girls figure out what you’re wearing for Halloween, yet?” Luke asked. “It’s just over a week away.”
“I want to be an astronaut, and Emma wants to be a cat. We get to wear our costumes to school all day, and my teacher, Ms. Miller, says she’s going to dress up like Mrs. McGonagall. I thinkallof the teachers should dress up, but Kelli says some of them take themselves far too seriously to let their hair down and have fun.”
“Kelli said that?” Luke asked, a smirk twisting his lips as he glanced across the table at Tamara to explain. “Kelli’s one of the ranch hands.”
Sasha rolled on. “Kelli said she’s going to dress up as a cowgirl, but I don’t think that’s a very good costume because that’s how she dresses all the time.”
“Ahh.Cowgirl. Now that makes sense.” Tamara made eye contact with Emma. “You know, that’s pretty much what my sister has been for every Halloween as far back as I can remember.”
Emma leaned across her plate, wonder in her eyes as she checked out Tamara closer. She bumped her shoulder against Sasha.
“Emma wants to know if you have a Halloween costume,” Sasha claimed before staring pleadingly across the table at Caleb. “Can you take us trick-or-treating this year, Daddy? Can you, please?”
In the split second before everyone’s attention turned to Caleb, Tamara swore she saw frustration on Emma’s face. She wondered how often Sasha spoke for her little sister and got it wrong.
Caleb lifted a brow. “Don’t I always take you?”
“Yes, but I just thought maybe…” Sasha glanced at Tamara suspiciously.
“Ahh.” Caleb refilled his water glass thoughtfully before he answered Sasha’s unspoken question. “Some of the things you used to do with me, or Ginny, or Dare, you might do with Tamara. That’s what she’s here for—so you don’t miss out on fun stuff if I get too busy. But I’ll always be there for the most important events.”
Conversation twisted to new topics after that, like Dustin asking Walker for advice on his truck, and Sasha telling her Uncle Luke a long story about one of the ranch dogs who went by the auspicious name of Demon.
Tamara joined in at moments, but for the most part she listened and watched, trying to learn the rhythm of this new family. They had a kinship and a deep sense of love amongst them, but there was a missing piece as well.
Growing up on the Whiskey Creek ranch, it had been her and her two sisters with her dad for as long as she could remember. She loved her sisters, and she and her dad tolerated each other, but that same sense of something missing had sent Tamara from working the land to get her nursing degree. Working with her hands to help heal people had been a way to be accepted and appreciated for her skills, and the longer she sat at the table, the more certain she was thatthiswas where she needed to be.
Settling in at Silver Stone ranch wasn’t going to be completely comfortable. She was pretty sure she and Caleb were going to butt heads more than a few times, but there was something that felt right about being here.
When the meal was over and they’d finished clearing the dishes, Tamara didn’t fight when Caleb all but dismissed her.
“The girls and Dustin can do the dishes tonight,” he insisted, ignoring their groans. He looked Dustin in the eye. “Part of being a family—cook or wash, right?”
His youngest brother sighed heavily, but he hauled a stool into place in front of the sink and plopped Emma up on it with the ease of a well-known routine. “Come on, kiddo. You wash, I’ll dry, and Sasha can put things away. Then you can show me what you got planned for your costume.”
Moments later, Tamara took a second look around the room it was to discover she was alone. Caleb, Walker and Luke had all vanished.
She wandered back through the house examining the homey touches here and there, some older than others. Gingham fabric curtains framed the tall living room windows that faced to the east, the same frilly material topping the glass window of an exit door to the side of the kitchen, but the fabric was faded by the sun. In contrast, there were bright new cushions on the couches and easy chairs.
The pictures on the walls were the same, some old, some new, along with the knickknacks displayed on shelves and bookcases. Each shot and item a bit of memory on display, all pointing to events and details she knew nothing about.
It was strange to be so…ignorant. Uninformed. Tamara wasn’t sure she liked not knowing things.
She ran a finger over the edge of a gilded frame. Two families next to each other, a family of four and a family of seven. They stood under a tree, with a lake shining in the background. Caleb was clearly recognizable even though he was years younger. The smile on his face far more innocent and lighthearted than she’d seen so far.
Everything around Tamara held secrets—clues to this family she’d dropped into the midst of. There was so much she didn’t know. Not just about them, but herself. Would Heart Falls be a long stop on the new journey she’d begun, or a short one?
All she knew for certain was she couldn’t go back, which meant the future was wide open and very, very unclear.
