Elly clears her throat. “What if it’s not a stranger?” I wonder if Elly is possibly thinking the same thing I am, and I wonder if anyone else has noticed the little things I have this past week.
Elly goes on. “Maybe the person who sent them knows you might feel uncomfortable accepting them and really wants you to have them, even if you never know who gave them to you.”
Marley looks up at me for guidance, it’s like we’re teenagers again at the horse auction. My chest squeezes because it will be no time at all before Lainey Rai is grown. “You do what you want, but whatever you do won’t look bad on you. Whoever sent this wanted you to have it.” I squeeze her shoulders again.
She reaches out and gently slides her finger down the side of the crystal figurine with the same care she would give one of her horses in her stable before resting her hand around the base. “It’s like someone stepped into my head and picked out the same thing I would choose.” Her voice is soft and a little dreamy. “I’m going to keep them.”
“It’s kind of romantic, don’t you think?” Hallie says dreamily on the other side of Sloane, who wraps her arm around Hallie’s shoulders.
Hallie escaped an abusive relationship about six months ago. When she first came to us, I worried her issues might follow her, but last I heard, her asshole ex is in jail. For a young girl beaten within an inch of her life and hospitalized by the man she thought loved her, she has a fighting spirit.
“It would be more romantic if we knew who sent them. Don’t you think?” Sloane smiles at her as she takes a deep breath.
“Oooh, pretty. Whose pickle did you tickle for that?” Kinley’s voice pipes up behind Elly and her head pushes between us to look at the figurine.
Marley sucks in a breath and her shoulders stiffen in anger under my arm, and I immediately get angry with Kinley. I look down at her and give a stern, “Kinley.”
At the same time Marley looks around my front and says, “Don’t be nasty, Kinley, we have a guest, and you need to mind your manners.”
Kinley turns her head to look at Elly and then looks back at Marley. “Her?” Lifting her hand, she turns her thumb in Elly’s direction. “She’s not a guest; she’s a vulture here trying to take our home.”
A sharp intake of breath comes from Marley before she angrily says, “Kinley!”
“What? Is someone making us leave? We can’t, what about the horses?” Cries Lainey Rai behind us in the doorway.
Every head in the room swivels in her direction and under my breath I mumble, “Damn it, Kinley.”
Dad is standing behind Lainey Rai with his hands on her shoulders and his angry glare is directed at Kinley.
Kinley whispers back, “Shit! I’m sorry!”
I close the distance between me and my daughter in a few strides and kneel in front of her. “No, we are not leaving the ranch. Someone has offered to buy it, but we told them we’re not interested.”
Confusion and panic have twisted Lainey Rai’s face and tears are filling her eyes. Her chest is rising quickly with each breath as a full-on crying jag is threatening. Her eyes flip to Elly and then back to me. “Then why is she here?”
Cupping her head in my hands, I put my face in front of hers, so she has to focus on me. “Pumpkin, there is nothing to worry about, I promise. She is stuck because of the ice and will be leaving as soon as the roads are drivable.”
A tear slides down her cheek, and I swipe it with my thumb. “So, we’re not leaving?” Her voice is so small and the underlying fear breaks my heart.
Shaking my head, I say, “Hell no, not even the devil himself could get us to leave.”
The heavy breathing that was making Lainey Rai’s chest heave has calmed, and she’s breathing normal now. I smile and say, “With me, deep breath.” We take a few deep breaths together and her lips turn up at the corners. “Better?”
She nods and looks up and over her shoulder at my dad. “Papa was going to show me how to refill the oil in the lanterns.”
I look up at my dad and cock my eyebrow as visions of oil bursting into flames pop into my head, and without skipping a beat, he says, “Only fill them. I was doing it when I was six, she has to learn.”
Somehow, I doubt that, and I grunt at him before I lookback at Lainey Rai. “Be careful and do what Papa says.”
“Okay.” she says with a shrug.
It’s not often that Lainey Rai falls into a crying jag, she never was prone to fits, it takes a lot to upset her. When it does happen, it breaks my heart. “Come here.” I say and pull her into a hug.
She squeezes my neck, and I can feel the smile on her face. When she says, “Love you, daddy.” A smile spreads across my face.
Standing back up, I watch them walk down the hall. My chest feels like it’s being squeezed as I think about what I have to do, and I can’t seem to get a full breath. I turn to the group of women standing behind me and Kinley steps forward, “I didn’t know she was back there Gray, I’m sorry.”
Holding my hand up, I look down at my boots and squeeze the bridge of my nose. I almost hear Kinley’s teeth clack together as she crosses her arms over her chest. Intentionally keeping my voice low and even, I say, “Kinley, if you could be more aware of your surroundings and your filter, that would be a big help.” Her eyes drop to the floor, and she gives me a brief nod. It’s a request made of her since she was a child.
