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Annalise was holding her sides, trying her hardest not to laugh as the next age group of children lined up down at the start line. They were racing chickens tonight, and no matter how intentional the children were about the direction they were aiming the animals, the chickens had different ideas. So far, three had ended up in the crowd, one had sat down and laid an egg, and two fluttered up and startled the toddler age group. Hopefully, the next group would do better.
She sipped on the apple cider she held and glanced about hoping to see Maxwell. Her heart flip-flopped when she saw him headed her direction with his mother and another lady she didn’t recognize in tow. She headed in their direction and was caught off guard when Maxwell’s mother broke loose and hugged her crazily.
“Nice to see you, Naomi,” she said, keeping her eyes on Maxwell.
“And you are,” she said as Naomi finally let her loose, and she turned to greet the woman with Maxwell.
“Trista Higgins,” she said, a moment before she also grabbed Annalise and squeezed the air out of her. “Thank you for the letter,” she whispered into her ear.
Annalise looked at Maxwell, who had tears welling in his eyes. “I don’t have any words.”
“I told you I was going to get a message to her through my friend Cameron,” she said, trying to keep the tone light. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn’t believe this was happening.
“I can’t explain it, but your note resonated, and I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Trista said, inhaling deeply. “Finally, I decided I just had to come out here and see Living River Ranch, my brother’s farm and make peace with my family.”
“Well, you picked the perfect time of the year. Pretty much all of the Living River Ranch crew and the rest of Little Bend are out tonight for this annual tradition.”
“Are the kids racing chickens?” Trista asked, pointing to where Annalise had just come.
“I think the chickens are exercising the children,” she said, as she took in the latest group of kids chasing the errant animals around. There was no better control with this race it would appear.
“That is new,” Trista said.
“I have to drop these off,” Naomi said, indicating the boxes she carried, “at the booth. Care to join me?” She asked Trista.
“Lead the way.”
Maxwell hung back as his mom and sister took off, just as he went to say something Katherine and Troy stopped by.
“Maxwell, good to see you,” Katherine said, giving him a brief hug. “Who did you bring with?”
“That would be my sister, Trista.” He said, in a matter of fact tone.
“I didn’t realize you had a sister,” she said, with a stunned look as she glanced between Maxwell and the retreating backs of his mother and sister.
“I had two, but one passed away. Long story that I’m certain will all come out soon enough.”
Katherine chuckled lightly, “the ladies of Little Bend are good at communication; you have to give them that.”
“Good to see you,” Troy said, extending his hand.
“How is the center doing?” Maxwell asked.
“Great. We are serving a couple of hundred people a week, way above the initial figures, and we have participation from a boatload of local businesses and farms in the area.”
“Fabulous,” he said. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Will do. I promised Katherine some fresh-cut fries,” he said, by way of explanation as to their departure.
“Enjoy,” Annalise said, as Katherine gave a small wave and they were off.
“I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank you,” Maxwell started, as he slipped an arm around her waist.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“I read the note, something about it spoke to her after all these years. I,” he stopped as he inhaled sharply. “Truly, I can’t tell you what this means to my mom and me.”
“Trust me; I remember the day I found Stormi by coincidence at Living River Ranch. I just wandered in for an internship and bam, there she was. The happiest day of my life.”
He nodded, “She is a writer by the way and was telling us about the various magazines she writes for in a freelance capacity. She never married, had kids, or settled down. She mentioned going through the brochure about Living River Ranch and asked to go talk to Belle.”
“Maybe she just couldn’t or wasn’t able to get some help for the root cause of her running away. Sometimes it takes years for people to talk about or reconcile themselves to trauma. She went through two momentous events in short order. I hope she can find some peace, and I’m sure Belle will make time for her if she makes it over to the ranch.”
“I hope so too,” he said, before lowering his head to her, suspending movement just shy of her lips. “You know if I wasn’t in love with you before, this one probably put me over the edge.”
“Hmmm, that works out well,” she said, as she slung her arms up and over his shoulders, “because Mr. Higgins I fell for you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Come on!”
“I can’t lie, there was just something so sweet and disarming about you, I had hoped you weren’t taken or averse to a younger woman.”
“Your age doesn’t matter to me,” he said as he planted a sweet kiss on her lips, “as long as you don’t have a problem with a geriatric suitor.”
She swatted him for that comment, “you aren’t geriatric yet, I mean, it’s just around the corner for you, but give yourself a little break.”
“Brat,” he said, kissing her again, as the happiness bubbled over inside of him. This was the best night of his life, and he had an inkling that his sister, mother, and Annalise were about to guarantee it wasn’t the last happy memory.
