reached for his son’s hand. Kylie wondered if he noticed that his dad used his children’s names. If only Jack would tell him the truth. About everything. But that would mean opening himself up. Men were so stubborn.
She knew firsthand how stubborn a man could be. They didn’t open up. They didn’t ask for help. They kept everything inside until... She blinked back tears, unwilling to go down the path to her own painful past.
“I’m on a tight schedule. I have a job interview in Chicago in three days. We have a hotel reservation in Missouri for tonight.”
“Mercy Ranch is almost a hotel,” Jack said with humor.
“I’m not staying a single night on this ranch.” Carson said the words sharply, and the little girl in his arms leaned back, her eyes widening.
Carson closed his eyes and drew in a breath. He leaned in to his daughter and whispered that he was sorry. Andy and Maggie needed to be rescued from this situation, just until the men talked and worked out their differences. Not that she expected them to be able to do that in a five-minute conversation.
“I’m taking your children to the house.”
Carson looked shocked at her announcement. She was just as shocked. Getting involved in this was the last thing she wanted to do. What she wanted was to keep her world nice and safe without having it stirred up. She loved her life on this ranch. She had dealt with her past, both distant and recent. She’d come to terms with the things she couldn’t change. For the first time in her life she was truly happy.
And now Carson West was here shaking things up and threatening that happiness. But his children were innocent, and she couldn’t let them stay and witness their father and grandfather working out their differences.
She reached for Maggie and the little girl willingly shifted herself to Kylie’s arms. Carson held on for a moment, but then released his daughter. With Maggie situated on one hip, she held out her free hand to Andy. He took it, though he looked unsure.
She didn’t blame him. She was a little bit unsure herself. Actually, she wasn’t unsure at all. Carson back in Hope, back in her life, wasn’t what she’d expected or wanted. She’d known Jack’s plans for the new medical clinic in Hope. The doctor originally hired had worked for only a month, then decided he wanted something different.
For some reason she hadn’t thought about Carson for the job. She’d thought it would be another nice, safe stranger. Someone she didn’t remember for the sweetest first kiss, or promises he’d made to a girl who would have given anything to escape her life.
It could have been anyone other than Carson West.
Not the one man who could undo everything she’d built.
Carson watched as Kylie walked away with his children. When he turned around, Jack had walked off. His hand trembled as he reached for a lead rope and unlatched a stall. Carson stepped aside as his father led a horse to the center aisle. The gelding sidestepped a bit and tried to pull back on the lead rope. Jack held him tight and crosstied him.
“What are you doing?” Carson asked.
“What I had planned on doing before you came stomping in here bent on retribution. I have a buyer coming to look at this gelding and I plan on having him ready to be looked at.”
“That horse is mean.” Carson eyed the animal as he stomped, trying to be free of the lines that held him steady while Jack brushed him out.
“Yeah, he is. But the fella buying him doesn’t care. He works cattle and he says he’ll ride it out of him.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about horses,” Carson reminded his father. “I came to tell you I’m not interested in your clinic. I’m not interested in whatever other way you want to make amends for what you did to me. To us. You had no interest in us for twenty years. Don’t start now.”
“I’m not starting now,” Jack said as he brushed the sleek red neck of the horse. “I thought you might like a change of pace so I sent you the offer. The least you could do is stay here and take a look at the clinic.”
Stay and be tied to Jack. The next thought took him by surprise. He couldn’t stay here and face Kylie each day either. And he had a feeling if he was on this ranch, she’d be here, too. All hazel eyes and sunshine smiles. He still pictured her as a kid of thirteen, laughing, riding bikes, swimming in the creek. She’d changed. But hadn’t they all?
The ranch had changed, too. Not just the obvious: new cabins, new stable, new livestock and fancy fences. The name had changed, too. Mercy Ranch. Mercy. He did wonder about the name change. From the Rocking W to Mercy Ranch.
“Why Mercy Ranch?” he asked.
“Mercy,” Jack said as he stroked the back of the horse with a soft-bristled brush. “Mercy means to offer forgiveness when it is in one’s power to punish.”
“I know the definition of the word. Why did you rename your family ranch?”
Jack grinned at him. “Because of mercy. I didn’t deserve it, but I received it. And now I can pay that forward. All of the men and women you see on this ranch are wounded warriors. Military veterans. It’s a place for them to start over. Or a place to settle down. It’s about mercy. Even the mercy we show ourselves.”
“Kylie?”
“Her story is her business. I can only tell you my story.” Jack grimaced and dropped the brush he’d been using on the horse. “Well, this is bad timing.”
Carson stepped forward, saw the lines of pain in his father’s face and the perspiration beading across his brow. “Jack?”
Jack slid a bottle from his pocket and managed with shaking hands to get the lid off. Carson took the pill bottle from him and shook one into his hand. With a sigh Jack put the pill under his tongue and he didn’t object when Carson led him to the office where there were several chairs.
“You need to sit down. We don’t want you standing up as your blood pressure decreases. You’ll end up facedown on the floor.”
“Kylie will think you knocked me out.”
“Yeah, right. I’m prone to violence. I’m calling 911.” Carson pulled his phone out.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Jack growled. “I’m fine. Give me a minute. While we wait, you can finish that horse and put him back in the stall.”
Carson reached for Jack’s wrist and felt his pulse. Rapid but steady. “How often does this happen?”
“Often enough that I need pills. Go take care of the horse.” He took a deep breath. “Please.”
“I’ll put him in the stall.”
“Too citified now to do some chores?” Jack badgered as Carson left the office.
Carson gave the horse a quick brushing. He was untying him when another man came walking down the aisle.
