On Sunday afternoon, Kate, Eddie, Travis, Jodie and baby Marsha piled into Travis’s old pickup truck and drove across the pasture. They figured there would be a big crowd from town, so there was no reason to clog Luke’s driveway. They parked on the other side of the fencerow, shaded by hackberry trees, and walked the rest of the way to the “open ranch.” Sure enough, it was packed with people.
“Wow, he went all out,” Jodie said as they walked through an unoccupied pasture, dodging an occasional bluebonnet and staying far away from low clumps of blooming cactus. They climbed through the fence and stopped on the driveway, which was lined with cars and pickups. A large “moon walk” inflated jumping platform nearly eclipsed the house. White tents shielded tables laden with large metal urns of iced tea, plastic-wrap-covered platters of sandwiches, hot dogs, chips and pickles.
“This is bigger than the Fourth of July festival!” Travis proclaimed, impressed despite his continued suspicion of Luke.
“He told me he was planning something big,” Kate said.
“Mommy, can I go to the petting zoo?” Kate squinted at the shaded area on the other side of the house, surprised to see Cheryl Jacks’s petting zoo set up for the children.
“Let’s all walk over there,” Jodie suggested.
They spent the next half hour walking around, greeting neighbors and friends, and sharing their amazement over the ranch. Kate pretended to observe all the changes, but she kept looking for Luke. She’d gotten a glimpse of him inside the barn, but lost him to the shade and the crowd. Then she’d seen him beside the pasture of the miniature horse, Precious, and her foal. But Brittany had pulled him away to meet her teacher, whom Kate recognized, and Kate’s attention had been called away by Hank and Gwendolyn McCauley. When Kate tried to see him again, he’d disappeared.
And she became more and more irritated at herself, which she tried very hard to hide from her family.
Eddie went off with his friend Pete and Pete’s parents, and Jodie and Travis stayed in conversations with Hank and Gwendolyn. “I’m going to get something cold to drink,” she told them, and took off on her own.
Before she could get a soft drink and spend a few minutes alone, she saw Luke step onto the bed of his pickup. Apparently he was wired with a micro-phone, because suddenly he was asking for everyone’s attention.
It took a few moments for the crowd to gather, the noise level to decrease enough for him to be heard. The sound of insects and birds, broken by a baby’s occasional squeal of delight, suddenly seemed over-loud in the warm, sunny afternoon. Then he began to speak, words of welcome to everyone.
“This ranch is a special place for animals who had no place else to go,” he said, and then told them about his dream to save the old, sick or crippled performance animals.
“I saw many animals put down during my time doing stunts. It’s not fair, and I’m going to do my best to save as many as I can,” he finished.
The crowd applauded. “I’m not asking for any donations. I have a trust fund that provides income for the upkeep of the ranch.”
“But what can we do to help?” someone shouted.
Luke seemed surprised. Kate smiled as she imagined how he was feeling right now. Nervous, no doubt, at standing in front of a crowd of strangers. But maybe his heart would be warmed by the generosity of his neighbors.
Several other people shouted out offers to help, taking center stage away from Luke. He let them speak, agreeing when appropriate. When the din died down again, he continued. “I’m humbled by your offers. I never thought anyone would want to clean out stalls or pull weeds from fencerows,” he said with a grin. The crowd laughed. He looked down for a moment, then shook his head as if clearing his thoughts. “I’ve been told this is a great town. You’ve proved my friend Hank right. And I also want to take this time to thank another friend, Kate Wooten. She helped get me and my house ready for my daughter Brittany, and I’ll be eternally grateful to her and Branson Construction, and Robin Parker. Thanks, everyone!”
Once again the crowd applauded. Kate felt her cheeks heat, but not with embarrassment of being mentioned. She felt mortified that Luke was “eternally grateful” to her for her help. As if she’d performed a job, which she had. As if she wasn’t any different than any other friend of his, or anyone else who had worked to get the house ready. While the attention of the crowd was still focused on Luke, she turned away, determined to flee before she had to face anyone about all her “help.”
She grabbed a can of soda, then kept walking. The shady interior of the barn, where she’d watched Luke work with the ponies and do his chores, beckoned. They’d kissed there, fallen into the hay, and even quarreled. So many memories had been packed into two weeks.
She paused beside the empty stall where the little mare she’d named Precious stayed with the foal. Had Brittany named the baby yet? Had she made new friends at school? Did the commercial spoofing the Clydesdales get filmed, or was Luke still training the ponies?
In just a few weeks, Kate realized, Luke’s life had become her own—not that she’d given up her own time with Eddie and her family. Then, in just a moment of passion, everything had changed. She’d made the assumption that she and Luke were even closer, but he’d seemed angry. He’d pulled away more every time she’d seen him since, and there was nothing she could do to regain the camaraderie they’d shared as they’d worked to get ready for Brittany.
“Taking a break?” Luke asked from behind her.
Kate whirled, sloshing soda over her hand. “You startled me!”
“You must have been thinking pretty hard not to hear me walk in. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
Kate took a deep breath and shook the soda off her hand. “I was just looking around. Uh, did Brittany name the foal?”
Luke took the soda from her hand, placed it on a post and whipped a clean handkerchief from his pocket. Before she could protest, he took her hand in his and began to wipe her fingers. “Not yet.”
She pulled her hand from his. “I should get back to Eddie.” She should get out of this barn, away from Luke, and sidestep the memories of everything that had happened this past month.
“I want to talk to you, Kate.”
“Why? Don’t you have enough new friends?” Oh, God, that was so mean. She closed her eyes, bowed her head and ran her fingers through her hair. Her head was beginning to hurt. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“It’s okay.” His brow furrowed. “Are you upset because I mentioned you when I spoke earlier?”
“No, of course not,” she said, trying to appear casual.
“Because I was trying to make people think that we were just friends, because some of them thought we were dating and that might upset you.”
“I’m not upset!”
“You seem upset.”
“Well, I’m not,” she lied.
“If you were upset, I could certainly understand, because maybe I haven’t handled things, like our relationship and my place in this town, too well in the past.” He pulled her hands down and looked into her eyes. “Kate, you were right. Everyone has been supportive. They aren’t prying into my past, just trying to get a sense of who I am. I think if I told them about my parents, they wouldn’t be judgmental or try to take advantage. I didn’t expect it, and I’m just glad you aren’t saying, ‘I told you so.’”
“I would say, ‘you know me better than that,’ but that’s not true, is it? We really don’t know each other all that well.”
“I think we know the important things.”
Oh, God. Why was he looking at her as though she was the most important person in the world? And why was he saying these things when he didn’t mean them? At least, not the way I’m taking it, she said to herself.
“I know that you’ve got your hands full, settling into your role as father and taking care of your new ranch. Like you said, you’ve had a lot of changes in your life.”
“Every one of them have been changes for the better. If I sounded like I was complaining, I didn’t mean to.”
“No, you weren’t complaining, but I can see why you…well, why you need the support of a lot of friends.” And no one special someone.
Luke tilted his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck. “I have to admit, Kate, that I got a little confused about what I needed.” He stepped closer, making her step back until she rested against the wooden boards of the little mare’s stall.
“What do you mean?” she said, barely above a whisper.
“That I knew you were getting over your divorce—”
“Believe me, I’m well over Ed Wooten.”
“Okay, then let me say you were recovering financially from what he did before the divorce.”
“That’s true.”
“And you had a whole new life to start.”
“Yes, I did. I do. I don’t have any other choice. At the time it seemed like a cruel twist of fate, to have everything yanked from beneath me. Our house, Eddie’s school and activities, our friends, our future. But now I see that it was the best thing that could have happened. Oh, I wish Ed hadn’t done what he’d done, and that he hadn’t hurt Eddie by running away, hiding from creditors and maybe even lawsuits from investors.”
“I know. Eddie is a great kid. When I first met you, I didn’t realize what he’d gone through. He and Brittany have a lot in common, don’t they? I can see that now.”
“Yes, I suppose they do. They both lost people they love and the lives they knew.”
“Kind of like us. I lost my mother. You lost your marriage.”
She shook her head. “I don’t miss Ed at all, just the things, the life, the security, he represented.”
“And I hadn’t thought about my father with anything but fury in a long time. And you were right about the real source of my anger, too. I wanted to know him, or at least know a father, but since I never had that, I couldn’t put it into words or even rational thought.”
Kate ducked her head and smiled sadly. “I’m not a trained psychologist, but I sometimes masquerade as one when given the opportunity.” She looked up at Luke. “I’m sorry that I took the liberty of confronting you on what I saw as personal issues. I didn’t have the right—”
“Since, as I reminded you at the time, we were both naked, I think you had that right. I’m sorry I wasn’t ready to hear it then.”
Kate flushed from the memory and felt warmed by his apology. “It’s okay.” She looked away from his earnest expression, from the handsome face she’d grown to love in too short a time. She didn’t have any self-preservation instincts when it came to men. Travis said she was naive, but Kate thought she was just too susceptible to Luke.
He tipped her chin with his hand. “The thing is, Kate, that it’s only okay if we’re ready now.”
“What do you mean?”
“That I’m ready to move forward, not dwell on the past. And I want to move forward with you. And Eddie and Brittany, of course.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
He suddenly pulled her close, hugged her tightly and rested his chin on the top of her head. “I’m not saying this well, am I? I want to be with you, Kate, every day and every week. Not just the two we spent together, which were two of the best weeks in my whole life, I might add. I don’t know much about family. I never had a father, and my mother and I were all the family we had. I’ve never had a home before now. But now I have a daughter and a place I love, and I want to share it with you and your son.”
Kate pulled back in his arms and looked at Luke. “You do?”
He grinned. “I do.”
She blushed when she realized what they’d just said.
“I know you need time to get used to me. And Brittany. And maybe even the idea of committing yourself to us. I’m willing to give you time, Kate, as much as you need. Just don’t give up on me. On us.”
“I never stopped thinking you were a very special man. And I told you that you’d be a wonderful father, didn’t I?”
“Well, yeah. But that doesn’t mean I have what it takes to form a family. I understand if you’re a little cautious—”
“I’ve been—or tried to be—a cautious person all my life. But Luke, I don’t need time to get used to you. Don’t you know that you’re in my thoughts all the time? Don’t you know that I wonder about you and Brittany, about how you’re getting along. What she’s doing each day? I’m so used to you that I was angry with myself for loving a man who couldn’t love me back.”
Luke’s body went tense and he gripped her tightly. “You love me?”
“Of course I love you,” she said, tears forming as she gazed into his surprised face. “How could I not love a man whose goal in life is to provide a ranch for homeless animals, who embraces the idea of his eight-year-old child, who loved his mother and yearned for his father all these years? How could I not love a man who has so much to give, but at the same time, expects so little from everyone else around him?” She framed his face with her hands and whispered, “I love you, Luke Simon, for the man you are today. And I respect you for the way you got to where you are today. And if you’re asking me if we have a future, then my answer is yes.”
His expression changed from wonder to love as he looked down at her, then he pulled her close and kissed her, the kiss of a man in love, the kiss of someone who believed in forever. She responded, clung to him, kissed him with all that was in her, until they were both winded and aroused and still in wonder.
“Isn’t there something you forgot to tell me?” she asked, breathing heavily as she leaned back enough to see his face.
He frowned. “I think I told you all the family secrets.”
“There’s nothing else that you haven’t said?”
She could see his mind working, going over their conversation, maybe even their entire relationship. Then he started to smile, and his body relaxed against hers.
“Yeah, there’s something. One little thing,” he said with a grin. “I love you, Kate Wooten, with all my heart.”
She smiled back. “That’s all I needed to hear.” She leaned up and kissed him again. This time, when they came up for air, she added, “And the answer is yes.”