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“Belle has been so busy getting this event off the ground we haven’t had any time together. She’s already helping with the O’Learys Christmas party planning. Hey, Dylan. I bet you and Cameron are excited to see Celeste and Caitlin. I heard they are going to be there.”
“They are. My sisters can be a handful.” A rare smile spread across the superagent’s face. “The whole family is looking forward to their arrival. They didn’t make it to the wedding, so Erica is excited to see them, too. Mom and Dads are ecstatic.”
I’ve never heard Dylan talk so much in my life. The guy was usually quite precise and to the point. Married life was having a positive impact on him.
Shane turned his attention back to Belle, who stood next to Juan. “And of course, this last young man you already know.” She handed him the microphone, pride showing on her face.
Shane felt it, too. He cared for Juan deeply.
“Thank you, Mom.” Juan stood up straight. “It’s my pleasure to introduce the founders of Destiny’s Boys Ranch—Amber, Emmett, Bryant, and Cody Stone.”
More applause erupted from those gathered around as the Stones moved to center stage.
Emmett took the microphone from Juan. “Let’s have another round of applause for this young man, our very first resident of the Boys Ranch.”
Shane couldn’t help but smile for the boy who had won his heart.
“Before our young cowboys take you on tours of our new dormitory and barn, we would like to thank all of you for coming
today to welcome these young men to our community. This was my sweet wife’s dream and now it is a reality. We’re going to teach these boys everything we know about ranching. Our boys will also be working with Kaylyn Anderson, learning how to train guide dogs.”
Kaylyn came up followed by Jaris and Chance with their two guide dogs, Sugar and Annie.
Shane respected Jaris, as did everyone in Destiny. The man had taken a bullet for Nicole and had lost his sight. Chance, an African-American, had been blind since birth. He’d been coming to Destiny for years, getting dogs from Kaylyn for his students. Now both men were going to be living here and working with her.
Kaylyn definitely had eyes for Chance, as everyone in town knew. But today, it looked like she also had eyes for Jaris. Was something brewing between those three? “We’re going to be giving a demonstration with the help of some of these fine boys over by the new bus.”
“Thank you, Kaylyn.” Emmett put his arm around Amber. “Our goal is to not just turn these kids into cowboys but to see them grow into good men. Did I forget anything, baby?”
Amber smiled. “We’ve set up picnic tables out back for lunch, which is being provided by…”
As the Stones continued giving instructions about how the day was going to unfold, Shane turned to Black and Dylan. “Thanks for meeting me here.”
“Not a problem,” Black said. “Nothing new to report unfortunately.”
Communication between the team was difficult, since their ROC devices were still offline. Jena, Sean, and Matt were still working on securing Shannon Elite’s systems from Lunceford. They were getting closer but so far hadn’t nailed it down.
“Our tech trio is fairly certain that Lunceford is in the Northwest. They identified another Lunceford command center from the equipment that was retrieved from Aberdeen.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Montana this time, but still no Kip. The leads we’ve gotten from Cindy’s letter have been the best to date. I’m not sure where we’d be without her.”
The whole team seemed to be on board with Cindy now, believing her innocence. He remained a bit uneasy about Lunceford’s sister, though everything about her story seemed to check out.
“It’s been two weeks now since Trollinger came to town.” The frustration in his boss’s voice mirrored his own. “Something has to break soon.”
“I need to ask a favor, sir. Corey and I need to be on the same shift.”
Although they had planned on seeing Belle separately to keep her from bolting, it was time for him and Corey to change tactics.
“Done. I’ll make sure that happens. Give me a day or two to work out the logistics.”
“Thank you, boss.” If Belle refused to see him and Corey individually, then so be it. She was about to come face to face with them together, like she’d asked.
He grinned. She’s going to be surprised by what is going to happen.
* * * *
