so as not to disturb his parents, he grabbed his boots from the front hall and carried them until he was standing on the back porch. He quickly put them on and headed for the stables.
He pulled the doors open and looked around then walked slowly down the center aisle. When he reached the third stall he stopped. Zeus. His horse. He’d gotten Zeus for his fifteenth birthday. Some kids liked dogs and treated them like family, but Zeus had been all he’d wanted.
He reached out and rubbed his horse’s nose. Zeus snorted and then began stomping his feet, pawing at the floor in his excitement. Once the horse calmed down, Donovan led him out of the stall and quickly saddled him. Donovan put his foot into the stirrup and swung into the saddle.
The night was quiet and Donovan relaxed as he started across the moonlit grass toward the open fields. He and Zeus had traveled this way many nights. When he and Raven had been dating, they’d had a special place where they’d meet at night. It was on Cordero land but close enough to the Reynolds’ ranch that Raven could ride there easily. They’d rendezvous beside a babbling brook then wander hand-in-hand through the meadow. Donovan had carved their initials on the trunk of one of the many large trees. He’d told her it was a sign that he’d regretted all the ways that he’d hurt her in the past and a vow that he’d love her forever. It hadn’t been an original idea, but Raven had been so moved that she’d actually cried.
But then Raven had always worn her heart on her sleeve. There had never been any mystery to her heart or how she’d felt. She’d never played games so he had never felt the need to do so, either.
As he neared the meadow, he heard the sound of hooves. The sound was faint, but he caught a glimpse of someone riding away. The rider was too far off for Donovan to tell if the person was a man or woman. When he reached his destination, he put it out of his mind. He was there to reconnect with a special piece of land and to see if he could recapture some of the joy he’d felt back then.
Dismounting, Donovan walked to the tree. Though it had been a decade since he’d been here last, he could have found the spot where he’d carved a heart with their initials while blindfolded. He rubbed his hand over the letters and then sat. He’d visit Raven’s family ranch tomorrow and find out how she was doing. He didn’t expect to rekindle their relationship after all this time, but it would be good to catch up with her.
The horse neighed and Donovan rose. He needed to get back to the house. Ranch work started early and Donovan wanted to help out his dad the way he always had, so he mounted the horse and headed for home.
* * *
Raven Reynolds crept into the kitchen, hoping to get to her room without running into anyone. Not that she’d done anything wrong. She just didn’t feel like having a discussion with her mother about where she’d been. Marilyn Reynolds was nobody’s fool and she could put two and two together faster than anyone. And really, there was no mystery about where Raven had been. She’d been caught coming in from meeting Donovan many times when she’d been a teenager. They’d loved each other so deeply they couldn’t bear to be apart for an entire night.
But then he’d vanished without a trace ten years ago. Every rancher in the area and citizen of Sweet Briar, the nearest town, had looked for him, but they’d never turned up a clue. It was as if Donovan had existed one day then ceased existing the next. Despite evidence to the contrary, she’d believed in her heart he was alive and would return to her. Even now she refused to believe he was dead.
But even so, it was time to move on. She’d finally accepted that even if he was still alive somewhere, he was not returning home. As much as she loved him, it was time to say goodbye to him. She thought she’d done that when she’d accepted Carson Rivers’s marriage proposal five months ago. She’d been wrong. A part of her had still been holding on to Donovan and the future they’d dreamed of sharing. That future wasn’t going to happen. If she was going to be true to Carson and give their marriage a chance, she needed to actually say goodbye to Donovan for good.
So tonight she’d ridden out to their special place on his family ranch and watched as the sun set and the moon rose. Memory after memory flashed through her mind and she’d shed more than a few tears. She’d ranted and raved at the injustice of it all, releasing the pain she hadn’t been able to get rid of in all these years. When she’d been worn out emotionally, she’d gotten on her horse and ridden home.
Thankfully no one was in the kitchen and she was able to make it upstairs without discovery. She looked in at Elias and found that he’d fallen asleep while reading again. She turned off the flashlight and put a bookmark on the page before putting the book on his nightstand. It was a hassle to get him to do his math homework, but he willingly read at least two books a week, not including comic books that he read by the half dozen. She kissed her son on the forehead then crossed his room, closing the door behind her.
When Raven reached her room, she flung herself across her bed and began to sob. She thought she’d cried her last tears when she’d run her hand across the carved letters on their tree, but she’d been wrong. There were still tears left. But as she let them come, she vowed that this would be the last time. She needed to commit one hundred percent to her fiancé and to put Donovan Cordero in the past.
“I want to have a party,” Lena said, putting three slices of bacon on Donovan’s already overflowing plate. He’d awakened at the crack of dawn and gotten dressed to help his father with morning chores. His mother had been awake, as well, humming as she bustled around the kitchen. She’d always made a hearty breakfast for them, but this was above and beyond anything she’d prepared in the past.
“What kind of party?” Donovan asked then held up a hand preventing his mother from adding fried ham to his plate.
“For the neighbors and the people of Sweet Briar. I want to let everyone know that you’re back home.” Lena sat and began eating her own food. “Maybe we can have a cookout this weekend.”
Donovan chewed for a while, pondering how best to turn down his mother. He understood her enthusiasm, but he wasn’t ready for that kind of interaction with the community just yet. Actually he would prefer not to make a big deal of his return. He’d rather handle people one-on-one as he encountered them. “Maybe later. I’m not really up to seeing the whole town right now. I’d like to settle down a bit and spend time with my family and closest friends for a while.”
“I’m just so happy you’re home. I want to tell the whole world.”
“I’m not saying keep it a secret. You can tell anyone you want. I just don’t want to be around a whole lot of people right now.”
His mother sighed, disappointed.
“Lena, let the boy settle in first,” Mario said, patting Donovan’s mother on the hand. “Think of this time as ours alone. And in the meantime you can plan the biggest party this county has ever seen for when he is ready.”
“All right,” Lena conceded, to Donovan’s great relief. “A good party will require planning.”
They talked more as they ate. When Mario finished eating, he stood and Donovan did, as well. He’d spent the past ten years as a paid hand on other people’s ranches. He’d worked hard, earning every cent he’d been paid. It felt good to work just as hard on land that belonged to his family. “See you at lunch.”
Donovan worked beside his father and the ranch hands. He only recognized one or two of them
