Neil’s hand came to rest on her back, and she leaned into the comforting touch. “Oh, Will. I don’t know what to say.”
He gripped her shoulders. “Say you’ll listen to my idea, that you’ll keep an open mind and heart. Because it’s not just me who wants you to. It’s Sarah.”
Pain racked her chest. Even now, she ached for those cold winter nights when they’d read under the covers with a flashlight, giggling together and holding hands as they went to sleep. “All right, Will, I’ll listen.”
“Let’s sit down,” Neil quietly said, guiding her back to her chair. “Have some water. Take a couple of cleansing breaths. You too, Will. It can’t be easy talking about having a near-death experience.”
Will eased slowly into the metal chair he dragged from the corner. “It’s not. The only other person I’ve told was my dad—and I’m not sure he knew how to take it. You know how he is, Hannah. He’s there to help when you need him, but listening isn’t one of his strengths. I’ve had to learn that one myself. I felt like I was drowning after you left. Probably because Ben’s my twin and I could feel his anguish. That’s not something I want you to take on. I’m just saying you mean a lot to us—not just Ben.”
She swiped away more tears. “Whew! And here I thought I was coming for a PowerPoint presentation.”
“I could make up slides, if you want,” he joked, taking thebottle of water Neil handed him before gulping half of it down. “All right, let’s turn to my presentation. You remember my grandma Elena?”
“Of course. She was a trailblazer in botany and helped women back in a time when it was a rarity.”
Will set his large hands in his lap. “Neil, a little background. She’s my triple-great-grandma, who met and married my grandfather when he went down to Texas to buy cattle in the late 1880s. She was from a wealthy Spanish family and had been sent to a finishing school in Switzerland.”
“But she was no debutant, Neil,” Hannah interjected. “You should hear the stories about how she made Sanctuary Springs a haven for women who had no place to go after closing down the town’s whorehouse as a bet in a high-stakes poker game with the owner. She ran ads in newspapers in Chicago and San Francisco, telling women they could find sanctuary in the town. That’s why the town changed its name. She gave them vocational training and then found them jobs all over the country.”
“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Neil said, sitting calmly next to her.
Will took off his cowboy hat and set it on his thigh, ruffling his matted black hair. “I grew up with stories about her. I mean, she grew up with an interest in horses like her father—in the breeding and racing of them. Later, she became interested in cattle through my grandfather, but only as a means to improve the ranch’s botanical offerings, making them the best. In meat and show. You might know that in Switzerland, certain kinds of flowers and other plants are grown to optimize meat and milk production. She brought that to Wild Mountain and a whole bunch of other innovations—including the winemaking that ended with Prohibition—something I’d love to reignite, but that’s another story.”
“There’s a winegrower in the Hebrides using Black Muscat vines,” Neil mused.
“Neil, I would credit her with being a self-taught naturalist and herbalist.” Hannah smiled. “Wild Mountain has a rare ecosystem all its own due to some quirk of temperature and the way the wind currents blow, but Elena invested heavily in planting and early seed libraries.”
“Yes, she did.” Will sent her a wink. “Sarah told me some other things before she disappeared, but one was that I needed to read Grandma Elena’s diaries. Which I did while I was laid up for those horrible four months of bed rest. I discovered Grandma Elena had another pet project she’d wanted to bring to Wild Mountain—one that fell through when my grandfather suddenly caught pneumonia and almost died one winter. She’d planned to open a resting place using the hot springs, especially for people who were sick. They were a big draw back in the late 1800s, if you might remember. She even had a famous architect from Chicago design it to suit Wild Mountain’s terrain.”
“She did?” Hannah gasped. “People have talked about the commercial value of those hot springs forever.”
Will was back to grinning broadly now. “Yes, they have, and rightfully so. We’ve even had a billionaire interested recently. Now I can fully attest to their healing powers. I dragged myself out to them every day when I left the rehab facility. But Grandma Elena did something even better for our purposes.”
She was feeling the thrum of excitement. “What was that?”
“That dear, intelligent woman secured a permit for her project, and I’ve checked it out with numerous lawyers.” He tapped his hands on his thighs. “It’s grandfathered in.”
“Meaning…” Neil asked quietly beside her.
Will sat forward. “Meaning, that our ranch can go ahead with the project without being out of accord with the current laws governing our land, water, and grazing rights. Hannah, Iwant you to work with me, running the herbalism and wellness center.”
She put her hands to her cheeks. The thought of running her own practice… She’d been applying for positions with other herbal practices, a couple she even planned to interview with on this trip, but her own practice had seemed five to ten more years off.
“Oh, Will! I love the idea, but it’s…”
“Complicated?” Will filled in.
The angry image of Ben on horseback that last horrible day rose in her mind. “Yes.”
He dragged his chair closer and reached for her hand. “Hannah, that’s why I’m proposing a trial period to see if you and Ben can coexist. I’d like to offer you my cabin on the ranch to live in, since I can’t imagine you’ll want to live with your parents. Plus, there’s a housing shortage in town.”
Live on the ranch? Or with her parents? “Now I feel a little sick to my stomach.”
Neil reached in his pocket and pulled out the ginger candy he always had on hand. “Try this.”
“Even ginger might not be strong enough to cure my queasiness.” But she unwrapped the candy and savored its sweet-and-spicy flavor as she considered the proposal. “So tell me how it would work.”
“Every penny I made racing would go into building the center, where your practice would be lodged. You can see any clients you wish. I’ll prioritize people who need serious long-term care on the rehab side, people doctors have given up on. Hannah, when my rehab wasn’t progressing, your salve worked wonders on my leg, and later, Neil’s exercises gave me new strength and mobility.”
