I have a sign over the entrance that says the Double P Ranch.”
“Double P?”
“After Paige. It’s all for her. Her heritage.”
Julia retrieved the fishbowl from Ellie before she climbed up into the cab of the pickup. “I’ll be there by six.”
Evan opened the back of the horse trailer and took the reins from his daughter. “We’ll still be at the barn. Stop by there, Mrs. Saunders.”
After Paige scurried to the passenger door of the truck, Julia said, “It isn’t Mrs. Saunders but Miss Saunders. I’ve never been married,” then strolled toward her dark green Ford Mustang.
Julia drove east on Johnson Road, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel in time with an eighties tune blaring from the radio. She was running a little late and hated to be since she was usually on time unless Ellie was involved.
She’d had her hand on the doorknob heading out of her apartment when the phone rang. She’d thought about ignoring it, but as a social worker, she knew emergencies occurred even on a Saturday night.
“Mommy, I need ya to bring my movie, The Parent Trap. ”
Ellie gave her directions where to find her treasure box with the DVD in it. Julia smiled at the thought of the items in her daughter’s decorated shoe box. There was a plastic horse that her daughter had informed her was exactly the kind she wanted for her birthday, a picture of the two of them together in front of the apartment building in Chicago and a stack of letters from Grandma….
Thinking of her mother brought back memories that ladened her heart with sadness. Ellie hadn’t seen her grandmother much, even though they had lived in the same town for most of her young life.
Tears misted Julia’s eyes. I’m sorry, Dad, Mom. I’m so sorry.
She swiped at her cheeks and focused ahead on the asphalt pavement.
Suddenly, a loud pop exploded in the air, and her Mustang jerked to the left toward the ditch alongside the highway. She swallowed the panic down and tried to gain control of her car. She turned the steering wheel to the right but it was too late.
Chapter Two
I’ ve never been married. In his barn Evan stabbed the pitchfork into the hay to fill his wheelbarrow. She’d said that then left him to wonder what she’d meant, especially by the almost defensive tone in her voice. A warning? It shouldn’t mean a thing to him, but it did. He would chalk it up to his curiosity, except that it was more than that.
Julia Saunders intrigued him.
Against his better judgment.
If she’d said it to warn him away, then she didn’t need to worry because the last thing he wanted to do was get involved with a woman. Not after Diane.
If she’d said it to shock him, she clearly didn’t know him well. He didn’t shock easily, not after his experiences in the war. He’d seen the scope of human tragedy.
And human joy.
Life and death, at its elemental core.
“Daddy, we cleaned out the stall. Can we ride the horse now?” Paige skidded to a stop in front of him with Ellie right behind her.
“Let me finish putting fresh hay in the last one, then I’ll saddle Bessie for y’all to ride.”
“We’re really gonna get to ride a horse?” Ellie asked his daughter as they strolled to the mare’s stall.
Evan stared at the darkening sky beyond the opened barn doors, then checked his watch. Ellie’s mother was late. Thirty minutes, which for some reason surprised him. He figured her to be someone who would be on time. He shrugged and loaded his pitchfork with more hay. He’d been wrong before about a person—disastrously so.
The strains of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” blasted from his jean pocket. He laid the tool against the wheelbarrow and retrieved his cell phone.
“Paterson here.”
“Evan, this is Julia.” Her voice was quivering.
His military training taking over, he straightened, checking to see where the girls were. After he found them, he continued to sweep the area. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m in a ditch along Johnson Road, I’m guessing not too far from your ranch.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No—at least I don’t think so. Just shook up.”
“What happened?” His grip on the phone strengthened about the bit of plastic while his gaze fastened onto the two girls at the other end of the barn—safely out of earshot.
“I had a blowout. My tire is shredded. I lost control and went into the ditch.” Exasperation leaked into her voice. “I don’t have roadside assistance. Do you know a good wrecker service?”
“Yes, I have a friend who works on cars and has a gas station. I’ll call him and get him out there, then come pick you up.”
“You don’t—”
“What are you going to do? Walk here after he takes your car away? We’ll be out to get you in a few minutes. Bye.”
He cut the call off and then punched in Carl’s number. When his ex-army buddy came on the line, Evan told him about the situation and that he would meet him out on Johnson Road.
Three minutes later Evan started his truck with both girls sitting in the front with him. Dark shadows crept across the flat terrain.
Ellie squirmed around to peer up into his face. “Are you sure Mommy is okay?”
He gave her a grin and what he hoped was a reassuring look. “That’s what she told me. We’ll pick her up and bring her back here, then you can check for yourself.”
“My mommy is the bravest person I know. She banged her head last month and didn’t cry at all.”
“My daddy doesn’t cry. He fell off a new horse last week and got right back up on him.”
“My mommy…”
Trying desperately to contain his laughter, Evan turned onto the highway and tuned out the two dueling girls. There was no way he would get into the middle of that.
Almost a mile from the ranch’s entrance, Evan spied Julia and her Mustang off his side of the road in a three-foot ditch, which meant she’d gone across the lane of oncoming traffic when she’d lost control. She could have been in a bad wreck if anyone else had been on the road. The thought churned his stomach.
Ellie pointed. “There’s Mommy. She’s waving at us.”
“I don’t see the front of the car.” Paige sat forward as much as her seat belt would allow.
He parked as far off the road
