“But none of them were part of the family! We left you with strangers!” Miranda’s expression turned from shocked to horrified as her mind raced with the possibilities of everything that could have gone wrong.
“No, silly, I stayed with Emily the whole time. I was fine!” Gracie beamed proudly. “Besides, you needed to get away. You’ve been taking care of me for so long that you probably forgot how to be a regular person.”
Miranda was somewhat relieved when she remembered that the Carson’s head cook, Emily, had promised to take care of Gracie, but her heart still raced at the thought of her little sister traveling halfway across the country without so much as a distant cousin she was related to.
“Well, I’m here now. And I’ll be sure not to abandon you again,” Miranda said in a serious voice.
“Oh, goody. You’re not going to turn all-weird and possessive, are you? I mean, you’ll want to spend some time with your new husband, right?” Gracie hinted, her own fears of being smothered and mollycoddled showing through.
“Nice try, kiddo. There’s time for ‘spending time with my new husband’ when we’re all safely back home. And to answer your question, yes, as a matter of fact, I am going to be all weirdly protective.” The look of surprise on Gracie’s face made Miranda laugh. “Yeah, mind reading is this skill adults develop when they suddenly find themselves in charge of teenage girls! Come on, let’s get going.”
They climbed up on their horses after checking that their carry bags were strapped firmly in place behind their saddles, and then followed the line of cowboys and temporary ranchers away from the campsite. As they helped guide the herd along winding trails, Miranda couldn’t help but feel a small sense of connection to the generations who’d done this for hundreds of years, knowing that for many of those years, it was Carson ancestors who led their herds to market across an open, dangerous landscape. It made her appreciate Bernard all over again, first that he chose to conduct his farm in the old ways but also for his conniving interference that had brought her here. She said a quick prayer of gratitude for the old man and for his entire family, especially her new husband.
A husband! She thought to herself, her breath hitching for only a second. Oh my God, I’m married. A smile of blissful disbelief broke out across her face and she looked down so no one would catch her giddy expression. But one person saw her before she could turn away.
“Whatcha smiling about, wife?” Casey asked teasingly, bringing his horse up beside hers. “From the looks of that gorgeous smile, it’s something good!”
“Oh, it is. It’s very good,” she said, meeting his gaze with a knowing look. “I was actually just thinking about you, and I couldn’t help myself. Realizing for a second that this is real and that we’re really married just made me smile for some reason.”
Casey reached over and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing her warmly before looking at her with a serious expression. “You make me smile, for every reason. I love you, Miranda.”
She grinned again and blew him a kiss before answering, “I love you, too.” He gave her his best heart stopping smile and kicked his horse forward, rejoining the lead riders who would watch out for the herd. Beside her, Gracie made obnoxious gagging noises at their sappy display. Miranda couldn’t help but laugh. “Just wait, missy, you’ll know what this feels like someday!”
“I can only hope,” the girl said with a sigh. “But I’m looking around and seeing nothing but cows. You know I really do love it here, but how am I supposed to go on dates or go to my prom and do normal kid things like that? There’s not even a mall here!”
“Luckily for both of us, we have a few years until finding your soulmate is an appropriate cause for concern! But I know what you mean about a social life, I’ve been a little worried about that, too. I want you to have a normal life, so we’ll just have to work together to come up with what ‘normal’ means around here. In the meantime, there’s school and work on the ranch. I mean, it’s not like there aren’t any kids close to your age.”
“I know,” Gracie said, trying really hard not to whine. “But there aren’t any girls. Who am I supposed to swap secret crush stories with, and talk about hair and clothes? The boys? Give me a break!” Her good mood was gone, just like that, replaced by slumped shoulders and a self-pitying scowl.
“Gracie, I promise it'll be okay. We’ll just have to take lots of trips to do our shopping and socializing, and you’ll make friends online. Have you even checked in with your friends back home?”
“What’s the point? It’s not like I can invite them over for a 'spend the night' party,” she answered grumpily. “Besides, what would I tell them? ‘Hey! Guess what I did today? I brushed a horse and chased some cows! Yeah, I know I totally did that yesterday, but now it’s today!’ No, thanks.”
Miranda was quiet for a minute as they rode along, the two of them shouldering some members of the herd back in line with their mounts. She couldn’t be sure how much of Gracie’s attitude was from being left alone while she went on her honeymoon, and how much was from genuinely missing out on some of the normal teenage things she should be doing at her age.
“Do you want us to leave?” She asked her sister quietly. Her heart almost stopped when Gracie didn’t answer right away, afraid that she was going to have to make a costly decision where her sister was concerned.
“No,” she finally answered. “I really wish I could stay here forever. I just want to have both worlds, one where there’s normal stuff happening, and one where I get to live at the ranch. I know it’s not possible, so it just makes me frustrated.” Gracie blew her hair out of her eyes with an angry sigh.
“Are you sure? This isn’t about anything else, is it?” She asked, ducking down to meet her sister’s eye.
“Like what?” Gracie asked, looking up in confusion.
“Well…you’re sure it’s not about me suddenly being a member of their family and making you feel like an outsider, is it?” Miranda asked, genuinely worried about how her sister would feel as the outsider on the ranch, not exactly part of the nuclear family, and not part of the beloved staff.
“No! Everyone’s been super nice, whether I’m family or not!” The girl insisted.
“Oh, sweetie, that’s the thing…you are family! The day I married Casey, I became a Carson. That makes you their sister-in-law. You went from having no one in the world but me, to having a huge family, all when I said, ‘I do’. You’re not an outsider!”
Gracie didn’t look convinced. She stared down at her hands, where they sat folded on her saddle horn, watching them move on their own as her horse swayed side to side. “Where am I going to live?” She whispered softly, a tear sliding down her cheek and splashing on her pants leg.
“What do you mean?” Miranda asked in surprise, reaching over and lifting the front of Gracie’s hat to see her face.
“When you and Casey go live in your little love nest, where am I supposed to go? I can’t go with you because I’d just be in the way. Am I supposed to just stay at the Carson’s ranch with strangers?” Her lower lip trembled in a way that broke Miranda’s heart.
“You are never in the way, Gracie! You and I are a package deal, and I made sure the Carsons knew it before we ever set foot on that bus. And
