The Texas Rancher's New Family

Chapter Two

The next morning, Tess pulled a Blue Thorn Ranch truck up to the main house after being buzzed in at the Larkey ranch. She’d have to stop calling it that if Cooper stayed. It had been the Larkey ranch—often said with a derisive sneer for the wily, backstabbing former owner—for her whole life. Well, lots of things were changing around here. The loss of Larkey as a neighbor could only fall into the positive column as far as she was concerned.

She adjusted the basket on her arm and rang the doorbell on the big, beautiful old home. A startling squeal—a distinctly little-girl sound—came from inside the house. Could it be that Cooper Pine’s little lady really was little? The thought surprised her as Cooper’s face peered through the door’s small upper window before he pulled the door open. “Well, hello there.”

“You said it was somebody’s birthday. Blondies—even Lolly’s—aren’t enough for a birthday in my book. So I brought over some Buckton brownies.” She held out the basket. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Well,” Cooper said, looking genuinely surprised, “look here. Buckton birthday brownies.”

From behind him came the smiling face of a young girl—eyes as green as her father’s, but with a wild tousle of strawberry-blond curls rather than Cooper’s darker hair. Definitely Cooper Pine’s daughter. Was she the birthday girl? Or was it her mother, whom Tess thought was probably back somewhere in the house—maybe in the kitchen, munching down a blondie?

Then came an odd clicking sound as a pair of Canadian crutches came into view, flanking the ruffles of a frilly party dress. Tess told herself not to stare as the ruffled skirt ended in only one white cowboy boot.

Cooper was clearly accustomed to smoothing over such moments for his daughter. “Sophie, this is the lady who told me about Lolly’s blondies.”

Sophie’s eyes grew wide. “They were super yummy!”

Tess felt a smile spread easily to her face. “I know. They’re among my favorites. But another of my favorites is my grandmother’s brownies, and she insisted I bring some over when she learned there was a birthday girl in the house today.”

“I’m six now,” pronounced Sophie with regal emphasis. So the birthday was hers. “That means I go to first grade in the fall.” She shifted on the crutches to show off her solitary boot. “Do you like ’em? They’re my birthday present.”

There was something brave and bittersweet in how the child referred to her single boot as a pair. Tess liked her immediately, feeling guilty for her momentary stumble. “Mighty nice,” she said. “I’ve always felt white boots were extra special. Never had white ones myself—you must be extra special.”

She’d called a little boy in Adelaide “extra special”—a little boy she’d never get to buy birthday presents for now—and the words sat bittersweet on her tongue.

Sophie, oblivious to Tess’s memories, somehow executed a twirl on the crutches. It flounced her ruffled skirt out in girly splendor. “Thanks. Daddy says so all the time.”

Still no mention of a “Mommy.” And this “Daddy” was not the Cooper Pine of the Pine Method empire or the man with the gleaming toothy smile from the television show. His off-camera persona was quieter, calmer, less imposing, but still in full possession of the charisma she imagined made him a star. And probably won him the heart of some strawberry-blonde who had given him this beautiful daughter. So where was the mother? The noise and chatter at their doorstep would have sent most women Tess knew out to see what was going on.

“Good for Dad,” she said. “I don’t mean to interrupt if you’ve got a party planned.”

“Can you braid?” the little girl asked.

“Huh?”

Sophie tugged on her curls. “Braid. Hair.”

Cooper shrugged. “I’m kind of out of my league here, and someone wants birthday braids.”

But wouldn’t her mother...? Oh, Tess thought with a momentary shock of understanding, remembering being a little girl herself with no mother to fix her hair anymore. Apparently this precious child was Cooper’s one and only little lady, after all.

Tess stared down at those sweet eyes. “Birthday brownies and braids, that’s me.”

“Well, then,” said Cooper as he gestured her inside, “come on in. As a matter of fact, your timing is downright great. Glenno will want to know if we got the blondies right, and you’re just the taste-tester we need.”

“You’re right!” Sophie cheered, suddenly taking off down the hallway in a tumbling three-legged canter that Tess had to admire. “Glenno! Glenno!” Her cries echoed as she disappeared to another part of the house.

“Our cook, among other things,” Cooper explained as he relieved Tess of the basket. “I call Glenno our culinary lyrebird. Likes to figure out other people’s recipes and imitate them. I gave him one of the blondies yesterday.” He looked down at the basket. “Um...these aren’t a secret family recipe, are they?”

Tess felt a little knot pull at her stomach. “As a matter of fact...”

Cooper pulled open a door on a hallway credenza and slipped the basket in. “I’ll hide ’em for now. Later, Sophie and I will dig in on the sly.” He tapped the door shut with his cowboy boot. “No point baiting Glenno’s curiosity.”

Tess heard the click-click-clop of Sophie’s boot and crutches long before the girl popped up from around a corner down the hall. “Are you coming yet? Glenno thinks he got it on the first try.”

Tess threw a sideways glance to her “host.”

“I doubt Lolly will be happy to hear that.”

The resulting grin did belong on a charming television star. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

* * *

By the time Cooper led his short-order hairstylist to the kitchen, Sophie was seated on one of four stools in front of a kitchen island, her crutches dispatched to a nearby corner. She spun on the stool’s swivel seat, her leg swinging in anticipation.

“I’ve got a niece not too far from your age at Blue Thorn, you know,” said Tess. “You’d like Audie.”

A friend? Cooper pondered the possibility. His travel schedule hadn’t afforded Sophie many chances to make friends—one of many things he was set to change—and one just across the road would be a blessing. All Sophie really needed was one soul her age who would see past the crutches to the treasure that was his darling daughter.

“Miss Tess,” Sophie said in an amusingly formal tone, “this is Glenno. He’s kinda everything.”

“G’day to you.” Cooper watched Glenno chuckle at the “job description” as he extended a hand in greeting. “From the Buckton place, eh?”

Cooper had heard bits and pieces of the past tension between the former owner of this property and the Buckton family. Sophie neither knew nor cared about such neighbor relations. She simply grabbed the plate from one end of the counter and pulled it toward the middle open stool. “Taste ’em.”

Tess’s glance bounced among Copper, Sophie and Glenno before she sat. “They look like Lolly’s,” she offered, tilting a smile toward Sophie’s eager eyes. Actually, Glenno’s eyes looked just as eager.

“But do they taste like Lolly’s?” he encouraged, sitting beside Tess so that she was between him and Sophie. “That’d be the million-dollar question.”

With all three sets of eyes fixed on her, Tess picked up the square and had a bite. It seemed like ten minutes went by, even though Cooper was pretty sure it had only been seconds, before she smiled.

“Mr. Glenno, I think you lived up to your reputation.”

Glenno beamed. Sophie giggled happily. The tension Cooper had felt tighten his chest all day in how he was going to give Sophie the best day he could unwound a bit at the culinary victory.

“These are ninety-nine percent Lolly’s. And I couldn’t rightly say that the lacking one percent isn’t just pure loyalty to Lolly.” She took another bite as Sophie leaned in to watch.

Cooper made a big show of absconding with one of the blondies from the plate and began eating.

“Hey!” Sophie cried out. “No fair. I can test again, too, can’t I?”

As if he could deny Sophie anything on her birthday. Cooper slid the plate toward her while Glenno gave a grunt of victory and picked up the last confection. For a moment everyone ate in blissful silence. Cooper sent a prayer of thanks heavenward for the tiny, spontaneous party.

“You can’t tell her you’ve done this,” Tess said eventually. “I love Lolly too much to let her know you’ve figured out her recipe.”

“I promise you,” Cooper said, not bothering to hide his grin, “she’ll never know.”

“I’d never undercut the woman who made these,” Glenno said. “I’m not out to get anyone. I just like the challenge.”

“I just like the results,” Cooper said as he licked his fingers.

“I just like the eating,” Sophie said, sending them all into laughter. “Glenno, you’re the best. You should do Miss Tess’s brownies next.”

Tess shot Cooper a look. Cooper shot his daughter a look. “Sophie, hon, I promised Miss Tess we wouldn’t let Glenno swipe her grandma’s recipe.”

“Brownies?” Glenno looked intrigued and put out at the same time.

“I saw Dad hide ’em in the hall cabinet.” Sophie pronounced. “Want me to go get ’em?”

She began to slide off the stool until Cooper popped up and snatched the crutches out of her reach. “We’d better have another little chat about the virtues of discretion.”

“Dis-what?”

“Not telling secrets that aren’t yours to tell,” Cooper explained. “What do I always say?”

“Everybody doesn’t need to know everything.” Sophie turned back around and plunked her elbows on the counter. “But you love Uncle Hunter and you say he likes everybody to know everything.”

Proving my point exactly. Sophie was a little sponge, picking up on everything he said whether he liked it or not. “I do love Uncle Hunter. But I don’t always agree with him. Brothers are like that.”

“How would I know?” Sophie had been on a rant lately about not having siblings. He hated how lonely her childhood had been. He had good reasons to keep her from the Pine Method fans and fans from her, but that made for more seclusion than Grace would have ever wanted for their daughter.

Grace, God rest her soul. He seemed to miss his late wife more than ever these days. Back when it had been the three of them, their family unit had felt perfect and complete. But now he was constantly aware of just how thoroughly he’d let Grace carry the burdens of parenting—and how inadequate he was to handle it without her, even with Glenno’s help. There just weren’t enough hours in a day to be the Pine Method professional the world expected him to be and the father Sophie needed him to be at the same time.

And it wasn’t like there was other family to turn to. Hunter had no interest in domesticity and with Grace’s parents halfway around the world and his own folks gone, family was in short supply. Cooper didn’t really feel connected anywhere.

And that was going to change. He pulled Sophie into a hug, ruffling the curls that were so much like her mother’s. “You don’t know, that’s why I’m telling ya.” It was one of the reasons he was trying to get off the Pine Brothers’ tour so he could make a go of settling down somewhere good for her. It had been different when she was very small and Grace was around, but hopping from tour to tour with Glenno and him was proving no way to grow up.

“Do you have brothers, Miss Tess?”

“Two of them. And a sister, too.” She’d caught on to Sophie’s pout, for she added, “They’re not as much fun as you think some of the time.”

“Miss Tess here’s a twin.”

As diversionary tactics went, it was a fine one. “No fooling! Does she look just like you?”

Tess laughed. “I hope not. My twin is my brother Luke. My older sister, Ellie, she’s having twins and they’ll be a boy and a girl, too. Luke and I are going to be their godparents. They’ll be here in June, and I’m sure they’ll be cute as buttons.” She turned her eyes to Cooper. “Will you be here in June?”

“We’ll be here forever,” Sophie cut in.

He really needed to watch what details he gave that girl—or at least make her understand which ones to keep to herself. They still needed to play this close to the vest until he could get over the hump of extracting himself from Hunter.

“Forever?” Tess repeated. She’d caught the split-second exchange of glances that flashed between him and Glenno. “So you are buying?”

Sophie said, “Yep!” at the same time Cooper said, “Maybe.”

How to cover that? Cooper wasn’t foolish enough to doubt his secrecy led to speculation within the Texas community. It was perfectly reasonable for folks to think this ranch would simply take its place on the Pine Brothers’ tour the way Hunter’s ranch north of Houston had. Clearly, the Bucktons wouldn’t be lining up to buy tickets.

This would all be better once he told Hunter. He just had to play it quiet until he could settle it within the family. Then he could exit the show and move forward with his plans to open a therapeutic horse ranch for kids like Sophie

For now he just nodded at his daughter and said, “How about those braids now?”

Chapter Three

“So...” Ellie said as she eased her swollen frame next to Tess on the overstuffed wicker couch on Gran’s front porch the next day. “What’s Cooper Pine like?” Ellie and her husband, Nash, had a house in town near the office where Nash was sheriff, but on days when Nash was on duty Ellie often came out to the ranch house where Gran loved to fuss over her very pregnant granddaughter.

“I’m just taking care of my girl,” Gran would always say—even though at eighty-five Gran ought to start letting other people take care of her. Some days it was hard to judge which woman’s body gave her more grief; swollen Ellie or aging Gran.

“He’s nicer than he looks on television,” Tess offered.

Gran gave a scandalous wink. “That must be pretty nice. Those Pine brothers are some fine-looking men. Good horse trainers, too,” she added when Ellie rolled her eyes.

“His little girl is darling,” Tess explained.

“So he’s not married—or not married anymore—but a single dad?” Ellie asked. “How come no one knows about his little girl?”

Fishing for the right words to explain the girl’s situation, Tess offered, “I hope it isn’t her disability. She doesn’t seem to let the fact that she has one leg slow her down a bit.”

“One leg?” Gran’s eyes popped. “Like an amputee?”

“I don’t know,” Tess answered. “She was wearing a frilly dress long enough that it was hard to tell anything beyond the fact that there was only one boot and that she walked with crutches. I didn’t think it was right to ask. She wasn’t wearing a prosthesis, though, and it certainly wasn’t a new injury. She was faster than me on those things.”

“I had no idea,” Ellie said. “Like I said, they never mention a daughter on the show. Yes, I watch,” she admitted when Tess gave her a look. “I have to spend a lot of time off my feet these days and they’re entertaining when they bicker. Reminds me of Luke and Gunner.”

“Or Luke and you, for that matter,” Gran said to Tess. “There were days I thought you two would skin each other alive the way you fought. Did you find out his plans for the place? Is Gunner right to be worried that it will become some tourist attraction?”

Tess thought about the way Cooper had dodged her questions about his long-term plans. “Sophie said they would be there ‘forever,’ but he only said a very vague ‘maybe.’ Why hide plans no one would object to? I got the clear impression he isn’t eager to tell anyone what he’s up to.”

“Well, he hasn’t bought yet.” Gran stirred her iced tea and looked out over the Blue Thorn pastures. “That gives us some time to figure out what’s going on.”

Tess followed her gaze, seeing the ranch with fresh eyes after being gone for as long as she had, traveling around the world on freelance photography assignments for a collection of travel guides. Over a hundred bison now roamed the grassy stretches Gran and Grandpa and then Dad had worked when the Blue Thorn was a cattle ranch. Gran had a right to be fiercely protective of what happened around the Blue Thorn. Bucktons had fought long and hard for generations to keep this ranch up and running, and no one wanted it to become the sideshow to a Pine Brothers’ publicity circus.

Gran set down the glass. “We should get to know him. It’s the right thing to do, and useful besides. How old did you say his girl is?”

“Six as of yesterday. Although she reminds me of Audie—a lot smarter and more mature than her years. I get the feeling nothing gets by that girl.”

“Even better. You go on back over there tomorrow, bring them some bison burgers, and invite them to supper Saturday. Audie won’t have school so the two girls can meet, and we can throw us a barbecue like he’s never seen.”

Tess laughed. “They barbecue in Australia, Gran. They barbecue in Korea, for that matter. And he’s spent a fair amount of time in Texas. I think he’s seen barbecue.”

Gran grinned. “Not ours. The man’s already tasted my brownies—how could he possibly turn us down?”

Tess envisioned Glenno dissecting Gran’s brownies behind Cooper’s back and just gave her grandmother a sigh. A second unannounced visit to Cooper and Sophie? Would that look odd? It wasn’t like they had a phone number she could just call. She was pondering about how to word her invitation when she became aware of silence on the porch, and Gran’s eyes fixed on her. “I’ll go over there tomorrow.”

“That’s fine and dandy, but let’s talk about you.” Gran picked up her knitting—a baby blanket in cheery blocks of turquoise and white. Ellie was working on a sweater of the same color combination from her spot on the couch. “I’m glad you’re back, but you still haven’t really said why.”

“I’m home to see Ellie’s twins being born. To do the whole godparent thing with Luke. For Luke and Ruby’s wedding. There are plenty of reasons to be here, so why wouldn’t I visit now?”

Ellie shifted her weight on the couch. “You came home with four suitcases and two cameras. This isn’t a visit.” After a moment Ellie added, “Is it?”

How could she give an answer she didn’t yet know herself? It was so, so good to be home and yet at the same time, she didn’t know what her place was here anymore. Her other siblings had settled so thoroughly into the running of the ranch and its side businesses. Where did she fit? Tess felt like the missing piece in a nearly finished puzzle—everything else was in its place but her. “I’m staying through the wedding, but I don’t know my schedule after that.”

That was a very sketchy way of glossing over the fact that she’d sold all the rest of her equipment and her furniture, walked out on an apartment lease and didn’t have new work lined up. “I don’t know my schedule” was miles away from “my life is in total collapse because of what happened in Adelaide.”

Gran let the knitting fall to her lap. “Don’t get me wrong, sugar, I’m thrilled to have you back on the ranch. I just get the sense there’s more to why you’re here than babies and weddings. I know you. You won’t tell me till you’re good and ready. But I just want you to know I’m ready to listen when the time comes.”

She’d have to tell them eventually. Gran was right—she always did in the end. But sharing this story would be harder than anything she’d ever had to confess before. She’d loved sending back reports from exotic places all over the world, swooping in for short stays where she could dole out bits of news at her own speed. The months she’d spent in Adelaide had turned her life upside down—in both good and bad ways—and she hadn’t yet come up with the words to tell even these people—who loved her—what had transpired. Both intertwined stories were long, emotional tales, and she couldn’t find the words to start the telling. Or to whom.

Should she confide in Luke, who knew her best despite their long estrangement, which had now ended? Gunner, who’d become such a wise leader of the family she hardly recognized him from the rebellious teen who’d left before their father died? Compassionate Ellie, who knew what it was like to have a relationship go sour on a grand scale? Or Gran, who would never judge no matter what Tess revealed? Gran would understand how you can love in an instant for no good reason, how someone can yank the foundation out from under your life in ways you never saw coming.

She could start with Gran, but not here and not now. This had to go in bits and pieces, one bit at a time—only she couldn’t figure out which bit to tell first. For a split second Tess thought it might be easiest to tell Audie, whose “soul was far beyond her years” as Gran used to say. But Audie was far too young to hear about how people you thought you loved could rob you blind.

Tess thought about Bardo. How could she ever explain the way her heart had moved when she’d looked into the little boy’s sweet brown eyes? How he’d told her his name meant “river”? How the orphan’s sadness clung to her in a way she knew would never subside? Four was far too young to be so old and sad. She thought back to yesterday, when she’d seen Sophie all dressed up for her birthday and radiating happiness at her presents. Watching that little girl’s joy only made her ache for the little boy from the Australian foster home she’d met on a photo shoot.