You’re bringing home the bacon; he’d jovially laugh when he’d go online into their joint bank account.She never should have trusted a man so easily.But he’d been ultra nice…in the beginning.Looking back into her past she realized she’d been naïve when it came to the love department.
Before Tim, she’d been with only one man.
The One.Or so she’d thought.
Her ex-fiancé, Axel, who she’d known instinctively would be the father to her children.He’d been the one man she’d wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Well, that had worked out well, hadn’t it?Axel was in prison for murder, and she was pregnant by her late husband.Pregnant because she’d foolishly hoped Tim would settle down if he had a child of his own.Now he was dead and she would be a single mother.
She shoved away the gut wrenching emotions that threatened to well up and tried hard to get back to remembering how she felt that day when she’d first come here.It was the scent of freedom that had nailed this place for her.The enticing smells of the earth, the fragrance of pine and the aroma of decaying leaves that drifted out from the nearby forests.
Then had come the smells of freshly cut grass that reminded her of home and of watching her dad mow the lawn with his gas-powered lawnmower in their large backyard.But in this case it had been an old man sitting on a rusty old red tractor cutting the grass around the ranch house.His wife had died, and he’d been invited to live with his granddaughter and grandson-in-law and their several children on her farm in Saskatchewan, so he had wanted to sell fast.
He'd reminded her of her dad.Strong and cheerful.For as long as dad had been alive, she’d felt safe.
Jenna frowned.
Her husband Tim had never really been able to do that.
Yes, there had been red flags where Tim was concerned, but she’d ignored them because she’d loved how nicely he treated her at the time and she had wanted to settle down and have a family.
Well, Tim was dead now and she had this little ranch to deal with.To sell or not to sell was the magic question.
Should she finally put herself first and keep the ranch running, keep training the horses as she’d been doing every weekend, holiday, and spare time she’d had?Or should she just let go of the dream that she’d been breathing life into and trade it all in for the security of working for the Cowboys Online program?
Decisions.Decisions.
One thing she knew though, if she didn't stop moping around here, decisions would be made for her.And she preferred to remain in charge.But she just couldn't seem to make up her mind.
She was sad.Tim’s unexpected death had hit her hard and that meant her unborn baby wouldn’t have a dad.
A sob caught in her throat and a bubble of hot tears blurred her vision.She wiped away the wetness with the back of her hand just in time to catch movement between the quickly clearing swirls of mist.
There.About a quarter of a mile away on the gravel road that wound its way down into her valley.
She stood still and watched carefully as a black pickup truck spewing a faint trail of blue smoke entered the yard of her ranch house, its chrome briefly reflecting in the early morning sunshine that was poking holes in the white fog.
She didn't want to go and greet her visitor.She preferred to stay here at the edge of the tree line and watch her horses as they peacefully grazed in the early morning mist.
Why didn't people just leave her alone so she could grieve in peace?
Sighing, she started walking back toward the ranch house.
Chapter Two
“Hey, kiddo.How's it going?”Her eighty plus year old neighbour, Sam Green, said ten minutes later as he leisurely rocked on one of her two white-painted wood rocking chairs set on her porch.
Jenna blinked at the sound of his voice, the unexpected warmth of it tugging her out of her fog.
She noted he wore his traditional red shirt and denim blue coveralls, and his wiry white hair was greased nicely to one side, covering up his bald spot in front.
He rose to his feet with a whole-hearted smile.She enjoyed the joyful crinkles that lined the edges of his eyes and his mouth, and she noticed the tension in her shoulders dissolve.
He rarely dropped by but every time he did, he would extend his hand for a handshake which he did now.
Despite his age, he had a firm grip, but this time she noted a slight tremor there.And she could tell he’d lost some weight since the last time she’d seen him a couple of weeks ago.She’d make it a point to get over to his place more often with some nutritious home-cooked meals.She knew from her own experience that cooking for one wasn’t as exciting as cooking for more than one.
“Doing okay, Sam.How are you?”
