blood work revealed she was already pregnant. There had been no way to reach out to Mac to let him know, but she figured he would eventually be happy about the news. Everything was going fine, but then four months later she’d miscarried.
She fought back the sob rattling her chest. When she was told she was having a boy she’d started thinking of names and in private moments called him TT. Tiny Thurston. She had wanted to share the news with Mac and had worried that by the time he returned, she would have had their son without him.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she finished the rest of the coffee before forcing her mind to remember something else...namely that phone call she had received from the man who’d been her grandparents’ attorney and the news he’d given her. The couple she’d sold her ranch to, close to twelve years ago now, were putting it on the market. According to the terms of the contract, they had to give her the first opportunity to buy it back. At the time she’d made that stipulation, she didn’t think they would go for it, but the Jacobins had wanted to buy the ranch badly enough to agree with her terms. And of course, she’d thought they would never sell the ranch, but according to her grandparents’ former attorney, because of Mr. Jacobin’s failing health, they had no choice.
For her, that offer was a dream come true. She’d only been given ten days to take it and it had to be done in person. Unlike when she’d sold the ranch, she and Mac now had the means to buy it back. But the time frame meant the decision had to be made without Mac’s input. So, she had.
She had weighed the advantages against the disadvantages and, in the end, she’d decided that buying the ranch would be good for her family. A bigger house. More land for their kids to spread out and enjoy. Getting back to nature. A way to supplement their income after Mac retired, if they decided to raise cattle for market.
Remembering her days spent on the ranch while growing up, she wanted the same kind of memories for her girls. There were good schools in the area and although most of the neighbors who’d been her grandparents’ friends had passed on, their heirs were people Teri had grown up with and whom she looked forward to sharing friendships with again.
Teri had figured she wouldn’t be gone but for a day and appreciated her neighbor and friend Carla for agreeing to watch the kids while Teri flew to Terrell, Texas, to finalize the sale. The day after she returned to Virginia was when she began having stomach pains. Within twenty-four hours, she’d lost the baby. Although the doctor claimed her traveling had nothing to do with it, she couldn’t help wondering if it had.
She’d gained the ranch she’d thought lost to her for good, but lost the baby she’d never expected to have.
Losing the baby had been hard and she appreciated her in-laws for their love and support during a very difficult time for her. She’d tried pulling herself out of the slump she’d felt herself slowly sinking into, and when she’d been nearly at her wit’s end, she’d called her in-laws after her grief counselor suggested she get away for a while.
Had the home she’d repurchased been empty she would have gone there, but the sellers had asked to remain in the house three months before they were required to move out. She had no problem with that since Mac was gone on a mission and she didn’t want to move their family to the ranch without letting him know what she’d done. She could just imagine Mac returning home to find a for sale sign on their home in Virginia without knowing all the details of why.
So here she was trying to deal with a number of things and wishing her husband was here with her. But then, maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t. She believed he would understand how she felt about losing the baby and give her all the support and love she needed, but there was also the issue of the ranch she’d purchased. Would he understand that she’d done what she felt she had to do in the time limit she’d been given? They’d talked about getting a new house, but how would he feel about moving from Virginia to Texas? To the house that used to be her childhood home?
The other piece was that she’d paid a lot for the purchase, deciding to pay cash instead of getting a mortgage. How would Mac react when he found out she’d used their money to do so, without consulting him?
All those questions with no answers were issues that had kept her up at night.
She had endured long weeks of foreboding and her senses were filled with unease and worry about both situations. The surgery to have her tubes tied had been rescheduled and she was having apprehensions about that, and although a part of her wanted to believe that buying the ranch had been for the best, she wasn’t sure how Mac would feel about it.
Being here at this ranch had helped soothe her mind and she didn’t regret coming here, although she did miss the girls. There were so many activities to enjoy, and yesterday she’d even helped with the branding of the cattle and participated in a roundup. After today, she would only have four days left here and then she would return to Virginia, to her daughters and to wait for Mac to come home.
Mac.
Lately things hadn’t been so great between them.
They seemed to argue more when he returned after being away. She didn’t think it was related to PTSD; it was just a case of two strong-willed individuals not always agreeing on certain things. It was so hard for him to understand that while he was away, she was both mom and dad, and when he returned it wasn’t easy for her to relinquish one of them. Usually by the time she did, he was gone again. Why was it becoming a vicious cycle that seemed to threaten their marriage to the point where she’d begun feeling that she was taken for granted?
There it was again.
Questions with no answers. Problems that needed solving.
She wanted, for the time being, to clear her mind of all of it and to recall a time when she didn’t have any worries. Or at least not too many—for even back then she had been trying to decide how she would run a ranch without her grandparents. But all those years ago she had been a young girl who’d met a man she knew was meant to be a part of her life and she a part of his.
As she stood there sipping her coffee, her mind drifted back to that time...
Ten years ago
Less than an hour after her friend LaDorria had introduced them, Teri had known Thurston McRoy was a take-charge kind of man who was military through and through.
In addition to being breathtakingly handsome, he was also incredibly charming and outrageously kind. She’d discovered just how kind when they’d left the rodeo and they’d gone, along with LaDorria and Lawton, to this bar-and-grill for food and beer. He’d opened doors for her, pulled out chairs and hadn’t tried taking control of their conversations.
He hadn’t come on too strong, yet he’d managed to overwhelm her just the same. She had discovered he was someone easy to talk to, someone who had the ability to make her feel comfortable around him. It seemed LaDorria and Lawton had intentionally left them alone by staying on the dance floor. But she hadn’t minded. It was during that time that she’d gotten to size him up. To see how he treated people, from the waiter who took their order to the busboy who’d come to clear off their table. He’d treated everyone with respect and gone out of his way to make their servers feel appreciated.
Although she had enjoyed that night with Mac, she hadn’t been certain he would want to see her again. He’d asked for her phone number at the end of the night, but that didn’t particularly mean anything. She’d long discovered that some men didn’t care about dating a girl who not only loved horses but who was an ace on the back of one. Then there was her skill with a rope and her expertise with barrel racing. They preferred women who
