Page 28 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

Dustin smiled. “Smarty-pants.”

“I am.” She twisted to a more comfortable position. “What’s up?”

He offered it up simply. “Remember when Uncle Frank was being odd? Turns out he’s started to think about legacy planning. He has no heirs, but he wants Crooked Creek to stay in the family.”

Oh. Oh boy. “Does that mean—you?”

“Maybe.” Dustin played with her fingers, rubbing his thumb over her skin gently as he stared at their joined hands. “You know, I thought Frank was terrible for a lot of years.”

“He was,” she agreed. “He’d be the first to admit that he was a total ass.”

Dustin’s lips quirked. “He would, but it’s not the fact that he’d now admit to his faults that made me start to like him. It’s the fact when someone pointed out his asshattery—ahem, you—he changed.”

She wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Go on.”

“He changed, and he did it to become a better person. But then he didn’t ask or demand or do anything more. The rest was up to us to decide if we wanted to be with the new-and-improved Frank.”

Oh. Dustin was right. Charity nodded. “Unlike my mother, who thinks it’s her right.”

“It makes me like Frank a whole lot more that his first thought in all of this wasn’t what was best for him and Crooked Creek, but what was best for Silver Stone. Best for me as well, but I think Frank would honestly give the ranch up before he’d do something that might hurt Caleb or me.”

“Frank’s a good man,” Charity agreed. “At least now he is.”

“He is. And I’d like to honour that if it makes sense. He’s family, real family. Years ago, I vowed to help my family the best I could.” Dustin straightened and looked out the window. “I get where he’s coming from because I’ve been stewing over this for a while. If my answer was a straight up no, then I didn’t need to bother you with it. But I don’t know what’s the right answer.”

It was impossible not to laugh. “I’m not sure there is a right answer.”

He turned back to face her. “Would you want to move to Crooked Creek? You know it’s pretty, and while we wouldn’t be part of Silver Stone in the same way, we’d still have lots of contact with family. We’d be close enough to visit often.”

She reflected on his words, because the question had obviously been bothering him for days and deserved proper consideration.

But the truth was too bright and shiny to ignore.

Crooked Creek was close, but not close enough for Dustin to drop in at Luke and Kelli’s to babysit Kyle. He wouldn’t be able to randomly stop at Tucker and Ginny’s to hold Demi on a regular basis. Not close enough to pop over to the main ranch house and read Tyler a bedtime story. Or stop at Walker and Ivy’s and build Lego castles and paint pictures with the nieces and nephew there. It wouldn’t be a world where Dustin could pause to chat with his brothers every day, an act that filled his soul with happiness.

Not to mention the other truth—they’d have to leave Fern and Cody, who’d become friends to the core.

Charity spoke carefully. “We don’t need to decide this minute, but if you want to know what my heart already says?”

“Always.”

“It says we belong at Silver Stone.”

Dustin took a deep breath. “I think so too. Which means disappointing Uncle Frank.”

“No, it means considering other options that could keep Crooked Creek in the family.” Utter confusion flitted over his face, so Charity held up a hand for him to let her finish. “One of which involves a young woman who’ll soon finish the first major step in growing up, and it’ll be time for her to figure out the next thing.”

His eyes widened. “Sasha?”

Charity nodded. “Sasha.”

7

Late afternoon, with only a few chores left to do, Caleb walked around the corner in the barn to discover Sasha standing beside a very patient Firecracker as she helped Tyler drag the curry comb over the horse’s withers.

“Nice and smooth. Keep your other hand on her so she knows you’re there,” Sasha guided.

“Firecracker likes me to groom her,” Tyler declared. He stood on a three step mounting block so he could reach high enough, and the sight of him fearlessly caring for the animal lit both a warm spot inside Caleb’s heart and a touch of cold fear.