Page 4 of The Maverick’s Legacy

Not that he could get involved with someone right now, so he needed to pull himself together. Because the only thing he should be focused on was his son and how he was adjusting to life in Tenacity.

Oscar didn’t say anything in return to the woman’s greeting, which wasn’t unusual, given how shut down he’d become lately.

The woman turned her attention back to Jesse and lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. Right. There was the matter of her thinking he’d trespassed.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding here. This is Abernathy property,” he said. When she opened her mouth looking ready to argue, he hurried, “Anything east of this creek is now Grayson Abernathy’s ranch, the Ambling Hills.”

“I…” the woman started to say before her face turned a fascinating shade of pink. “Well…this is embarrassing. I do seem to remember crossing a creek on my ride, come to think of it.” She gave him a sheepish grimace. “I was lost in thought and not paying attention to my surroundings. I’m sorry for my rudeness.”

“Not to worry. I didn’t take anything you said as being rude. It’s better to be safe than sorry these days,” he said, giving her saddle bag a knowing nod. He wondered again what she kept in there.

She gave him a weak smile. It looked like she was about to turn her horse around, but he really didn’t want her to leave just yet. He was enjoying this strange encounter. “I’m Jesse Abernathy, by the way. And this is Oscar.”

“Nice to meet you both.” She gave Oscar another sweet smile. “I’m Carly. Carly Hawkins.”

Oscar suddenly perked up straight. “Carly Hawkins?”

Jesse looked between his son and Carly, his eyebrows pulling together. Oscar rarely got excited about anyone or anything other than sports. While he was happy to see a little animation on his son’s face, Jesse felt like he was missing something here.

Carly seemed unfazed by Oscar’s reaction. “That’s right. And this is Nieve.”

She patted the gorgeous white horse’s neck who still seemed to be looking at Jesse judgmentally.

“You’re one of the Hawkins Sisters!” Oscar shouted, startling everyone.

“Whoa,” Jesse murmured to his horse as it moved sideways at the noise. “Oscar, remember what I told you. We can’t shout around the horses.”

“Sorry,” he told his dad, completely unfazed, even as he had to settle his own horse. He looked back at Carly. “But you are a Hawkins Sister, right?”

“I am that,” she confirmed.

“Dad,” Oscar said, giving his father an eager look that hit Jesse right in the center of his heart. He was used to Oscar’s encyclopedic knowledge of football stats, but Jesse was happy to see his son so interested in something other than football. Oscar continued, “This is Carly Hawkins. She’s set multiple National Finals Rodeo records, won three world championships, and Nieve won Horse of the Year three years in a row for barrel racing.”

“Is that right?” Jesse said, giving the horse a doubtful look. The beast tossed its mane and turned its head away as though it was already bored with him.

“And Carly has four sisters—Tori, Amy, Faith, and Elizabeth,” Oscar explained to his dad before turning back to Carly. “You and your sister toured Australia for years. You won the Ariat National Finals Rodeo a couple of years ago before your injury—”

“Injury?” Jesse asked. His mind raced with a million different meanings for the word injury in the span of a second before landing on the one he hated thinking about the most.

His mind flashed to the night that destroyed his life…

Love, hang on. Help is on the way. Don’t you leave me, dammit! Stay with me, MaryBeth. I need you. We need you.

“It was nothing,” Carly said, waving the injury away. “A couple of cracked ribs. It wasn’t anything that I haven’t had to deal with before.” She looked over at Oscar. “I’m impressed that you know so much.”

Oscar gave her a bashful grin. “I love sports. All sports.”

Jesse barely heard them. He was too busy fighting back the nausea rising in his throat. He could very clearly imagine Carly’s injury. In the blink of an eye, he saw her lying lifeless on the ground. He’d gone through something similar before. That horrific moment when he’d found his wife unconscious on the floor of their kitchen. He’d been too late to save her from the brain aneurysm that stole her from them. Nearly ten years later, he still had nightmares about that day.

“Are you okay?” Carly asked.

“What?” he said in a daze. He was going to be sick.

“You went a little pale.”

He forced himself to look at Carly, taking in the concern on her face. She was okay. She was right there in front of him, unlike MaryBeth. He gave himself a little shake of the head to snap out of it.

“I’m fine. I…” Jesse looked back at Oscar. “We should probably get going. I told your uncle we’d be back in time for dinner.”