from the truck. His stomach growled at the mention of supper—Gabe hadn’t had time to eat lunch today. He’d spent the time after seeing Avery in an endless stream of appointments for his role as president of the Lone Star Cowboy League’s Waco chapter. The civic organization did important work supporting area ranchers, but lately it seemed the league devoured all his time. Gabe was a highly organized and precise man, and the length of his list of undone tasks was making him nuts. “We’ll eat in thirty minutes,” Marlene advised. “We’ve got enough for Harley, if you want to fetch him over.”
Harley Jones was an old ranch hand who had been here since Gabe’s stepfather owned the ranch. Gabe could never bear to put him off the property, even though the man had long outlived his usefulness.
Much as he liked Harley, Gabe was too tired and hungry for extra faces around the table tonight. In fact, if he thought Marlene would let him get away with it, he’d prefer to spend the evening eating at his desk, working through the pile of emails and other documents that still needed tending today. “Put some in the freezer and I’ll drop a pot of leftovers over on Friday.” Gabe grinned at his cleverness—it might serve him good to pile up a bunch of reasons to visit Harley and escape the house once those girls descended.
Marlene cooed at a doll she had plucked from a box. “Your mail’s on your desk.”
“Thanks. Did you manage to make it out for extra groceries?” he asked as he walked up his ranch house’s wide front porch. The house was expansive—“too large for one man alone” Marlene never stopped saying. He would always point out that he wasn’t alone—he had her and Jethro—but she would just scowl and give him a “you know what I mean” motherly glare.
On his worse days, Gabe called her Meddling Marlene. On his better days, he tolerated her attempts to fix up his life as well as his house with a begrudging affection. Much as he preferred solitude, the Franks were good company. Big-hearted people, faithful, loyal and kind. What would the state of that beloved solitude be after the three weeks he needed Avery to stay? Shredded, no doubt, but the boys ranch was worth the price.
“We stocked up at the store,” Jethro informed him. “Marlene’s baked cookies already.”
Gabe’s stomach paid attention to those words. “Cookies?”
“Gingerbread,” Marlene said. “You don’t want something too sugary with little ones in the house.”
Marlene had better be more worried about her cookie jar being raided by the big guy in the house. “Better hide those cookies,” Gabe teased as he pulled open the door. “I’ve always liked gingerbread.”
“I knew that,” Marlene declared. “Why do you think I made a double batch? No sneaking till after supper, Gabriel.”
Gabe laughed, but detoured through the kitchen to what he knew to be Marlene’s hiding spot. He grabbed half a dozen of the delicious-smelling goodies before dragging himself to his desk. Only a fool would attack the mail on an empty stomach, he justified.
On top of his far-too-tall stack of mail was a hand-addressed envelope from Mike Tower. Gabe smiled as he broke the seal to open an invitation to Mike’s thirty-fifth birthday party in Houston.
That’s why I’m doing this. Mike had been a best friend during Gabe’s years at the boys ranch. They’d both had tough starts in life, but turned out fine. Gabe ran a prosperous ranch and was president of the Lone Star Cowboy League. Mike ran one of Houston’s top law firms. The boys ranch turned lives around and deserved to expand. If he had to suffer a pair of little girls for three weeks—three weeks! He surely hadn’t thought this through carefully—to ensure that the ranch could continue its good work, he could ride it out.
He started to fill out the reply card, then changed his mind and picked up the phone. The mountain of mail could wait another five minutes.
“Howdy there, Gabe!” The sound of a squalling baby filled the air behind Mike’s distinctive drawl.
“Caught you at a bad time, did I?”
“It’s Terri’s night out with the girls. Me and Mikey are just a couple of happy bachelors tonight.”
Gabe winced at the weariness that tugged at the corners of Mike’s joke. “One of you fellas doesn’t sound too happy.”
“Teething,” moaned the new father. “I’ll never take a set of pearly whites for granted ever again. My little buckaroo’s been miserable for days, and he’s taken Terri right down with him. She needed to get out of Dodge tonight, that’s for sure, and I’m coming to realize why.” As if to underscore Mike’s point, Mikey let out an enthusiastic howl.
Gabe tried to imagine the halls of Five Rocks Ranch reverberating with a pair of such howls. Just the five minutes of crying on Roz’s porch had set his nerves on edge. Four-year-olds didn’t cry as much as babies, did they? “I guess I should let you go, then.”
“No, please,” Mike begged above the wailing, “I need the human contact.”
“Aren’t lawyers humans?” Gabe replied with a laugh.
“Only barely. One of my cases has the staff in fits, so work isn’t as much fun as usual. Speaking of fun, how are those investigators working out? My or Phillips’s guys turned up anything on your grandfather yet?” Mike had added the best private investigators he knew to a set hired by local attorney Fletcher Snowden Phillips. All in an effort to find Theodore. All without success. After today’s complication, Gabe had a few choice words for the late Cyrus and his preposterous demands.
Gabe tossed his hat onto the bentwood coatrack that stood in the corner of his office. “Nothing past the jail term we knew about before. Honestly, Mike, it’s like the guy disappeared into thin air. I hate having to hunt him down. The only good side to finding him is that I can finally give him a piece of my mind. What man gives his daughter the slip like that? Leaving Mom and me to scrape by in the world?”
Gabe tamped down the burn of resentment that rose too easily these days and eased himself into the big leather chair behind his desk. Right now he could see exactly why Avery might want to put Cyrus and all of Haven behind her. Not much in life stung worse than being abandoned by the family that was supposed to love and care for you.
He heard Mike’s sigh above the baby’s noisy cries. “Think of it this way. That’s what makes the boys ranch so important. A boy can go so wrong so fast when he’s ignored or abandoned.”
“True, counselor.” Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose and reached for a cookie.
“And that’s why you’ve got to find him,” Mike said. “It’s up to you to ensure the boys ranch won’t lose the chance to expand. That place can’t be sold to a strip mall and half those kids sent elsewhere. You and I both know that.”
“I know, I know. And I’ve gone to extremes, Mike, believe me.”
“How so?”
“I invited the real Avery and her girls to stay here since Roz Sackett was fixing to kick them out of the boardinghouse on account of their ‘rambunctiousness.’”
“You what?” Mike was understandably shocked at a move so far out of character for Gabe.
“You remember Roz Sackett.”
“I remember she can
