He’d had someone once, but Lydia had wanted nothing to do with the ranch.
“I can’t afford to leave long enough to find someone to care about as much as I do this ranch.” He’d invested two years into the last relationship that failed.
“Maybe you won’t have to go anywhere. Maybe she’ll come to you.” Faith looked toward the hall.
“Emily? She’s a stranger, Mom. I’m fine with her recuperating here at the ranch, but don’t try to matchmake. We know nothing about her.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know her while she recuperates.” When Jake scowled at her, she raised her hands in resignation. “All I’m saying is maybe there’s a reason that car wrecked on your property. I think the Lord brought her here for a reason.”
Jake shook his head. He should have known his mom had ulterior motives in bringing Emily to the ranch.
“I’ve got work to do.” Jake headed to his room to change his clothes.
Chapter 7
Emily shifted on the couch, attempting to get comfortable. After sleeping for three hours, she woke up feeling much better and wanted to get out of bed. She hated being pushed around in the wheelchair, but Faith insisted it was the only way she’d allow Emily out of her room.
Sitting with her leg propped up on the large ottoman in the great room, Emily scanned her surroundings as much as her neck brace allowed. Tall windows let in plenty of late-afternoon light, offering a view of a front yard flanked by a pasture where horses grazed. The great room spanned the depth of the house, with double patio doors at the back letting in additional light. A large oak dining table occupied the far side.
Emily liked how the light complimented the room furnished with comfort in mind; leather furniture, a large flat screen television mounted over the fireplace, oak bookcases full of books and DVDs. Emily peered at the shelves from across the room while she listened to Faith talk about the additions they’d made to the ranch house over the years.
She recognized many classic literature titles and the extensive selection of musicals Jake and Robert must have found torturous. She smiled as she pictured a squirming teenage Jake who would rather rope steers, forced to endure the singing and dancing.
A gleaming baby grand piano sat in the corner of the room.Is that where Jake took piano lessons?Did Faith teach him? Had she stood over his shoulder to make sure he practiced? Or had she paid someone else to teach her unwilling sons, so she wouldn’t have to fight that battle?
Both Robert and Jake towered over Faith, but Emily suspected they respected their mother and wouldn’t dream of talking back to her.
Faith sat down beside her with a thick scrapbook. “This was my Robert as a baby. He was the busiest little guy...” she continued to talk as she showed Emily picture after picture. Happy family pictures in which younger versions of Robert and Jake grew to look like their handsome father.
Riley, their younger sister, looked like a younger version of Faith with darker hair. She saw countless pictures of the siblings working on the ranch, riding horses, branding cattle, and hauling hay.
Do I have a scrapbook?One full of happy family memories. Ignoring the twinge of longing and anxiety that swept over her, she focused on a picture of Robert and Jake with Ben.
A few minutes later, Emily studied a picture of adolescent Jake. “Is Jake holding a cat?”
“No, that’s a mountain lion cub.”
“A mountain lion?”
“Many years ago, our ranch hands kept coming across the carcasses of dead calves. We realized a mountain lion had taken up residence on the northernmost part of the ranch. We managed to trap it and turn it over to Fish and Game to relocate. When they caught it, they realized it was a female and had been nursing cubs. Blake sent Robert and Jake to search the surrounding area to see if they could find the babies. They searched for an entire day but found nothing. Jake insisted on going out again the next day but found nothing. On the third day, his father told him to forget about it, but Jake wouldn’t let it go. He hurried through his chores and searched again. He finally found two cubs, but one had died. Jake brought the other one, very sick and weak, home in his shirt and insisted on caring for it until it was strong enough to turn over to Fish and Game.”
Emily studied the picture. Jake couldn’t have been older than thirteen. There was no mistaking the same warmth in his brown eyes that she saw at the hospital last night. Most teenage boys wouldn’t care what happened to a couple of abandoned cubs, but Jake not only cared, he did something about it.
“I thought we would have a battle on our hands when it came time to turn the cub over to Fish and Game, but Jake recognized keeping it wasn’t an option. No amount of love and caring could change the mountain lion into something it wasn’t.”
They were still looking at the scrapbook when Jake came in the back door a few minutes later. His footsteps faltered when he saw them sitting together. He smiled and tipped his hat. “Ladies.”
A ripple of attraction for the handsome rancher danced through Emily’s stomach.
Continuing toward his office, Jake froze at the door. “Mom, the scrapbooks? Really? I’m sure Emily doesn’t care about any of those pictures.”
She smiled. “On the contrary, I find them very entertaining.” Emily couldn’t help herself—Jake’s discomfort amused her.
He made a noise akin to a groan and continued into his office.
Faith continued to point out pictures of her children throughout their high school years, commenting as she did so. Robert and Jake went from being attractive boys to handsome young men to gorgeous adults. No awkward, ugly stages for this family.
The way Jake’s eyes lit up when he smiled brought a smile to her lips
