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She’d seen what could happen when you let angst get the better of you. She recalled very well how her classmate, Petra, had been. She’d upset her folks and generally become a giant pain in the ass to everyone else who knew her. Convinced her adoptive parents had stolen her from a bright and shining future, she’d earned the nickname Petra the Pain. What Jenny remembered about her the most was how she was always getting into trouble at school. Petra had been convinced that her real family was looking for her, and when they found her, they’d lavish her with every single luxury her parents told her she couldn’t have.
That girl is just begging for a bad ending, if you ask me. She ought to just be grateful for the good life she has, for the probable heartache her parents saved her from.
Amen to that! She keeps that attitude up, I wouldn’t be surprised if her parents sent her back to where she came from. I sure as hell would.
Jennifer blinked. Where had those words come from? She closed her eyes…and the memory arose. She’d been…she couldn’t remember which grade she’d been in. The two women huddled together had been the classroom volunteers, two women she knew on sight but didn’t particularly care for. Since she’d been proficient in reading, she’d never needed assistance or attention from either one of them.
She recalled now they’d been talking about Petra, after she’d earned another time-out during recess. Mom had said Petra was feeling insecure and acted out as a way of asking for help. And then Mom had asked her if she felt insecure. Like Petra. But of course, she hadn’t. Everything was good. Everything was perfect. Jenny was happy. Jenny was nothing like Petra.
An internal light bulb lit up, and the shock of her personal epiphany reverberated throughout her body. Jenny was staring at a truth that had been living inside her all these years, a truth she’d never even guessed existed.
Everything had always been good, and she had always been happy. Always. And she’d never made waves, not a single one—because, deep down inside, still lived the little girl who had been terrified she would be sent back.
* * * *
All Parker had ever wanted to be was a rancher. And as the day wore on, he lost himself in the work.
Together with his brother, a couple of his cousins, and the two ranch hands Chase and Brian had hired years before—Alan Wilson and Duncan Moore—two men who were more like family than employees, they moved the small herd of Texas Longhorn to another section of pasture land. The sun beat down, the cattle lowed, and the horses nickered. There was heat and a bit of dust—which was why they were moving the heifers in the first place—and sweat trickled between his shoulder blades and down his back.
He loved every minute of it.
Right then, there was no difference between here and Montana. Cows were cows, horses were horses, and it was even the same damn sun.
The difference—the only difference—was in the attitude of his coworkers and bosses. Of course, he missed Apollo. He had to believe his brothers would treat the horse well. He’d raised that gelding from a colt. You couldn’t do that, work with an animal every day for a couple of years, and not get attached.
And wasn’t it a sad statement on the family that he missed his damn horse more than he missed them?
Dale practically flew past on the back of Sam, chasing a single critter that decided to split from the herd. Parker caught a glimpse of his brother’s smile. Chase was right. That gelding knows his stuff.
By the time they got the last cow inside the new pasture and the gate closed, it was nearly two in the afternoon.
There were now seventy head grazing in this area of the ranch. There was another similar-sized herd on a section of Cord and Jackson’s pasture land, only they weren’t Texas Longhorn. No, that heard was comprised of Santa Gertrudis, a breed that had been developed right here in Texas. He and Dale hadn’t known much about either breed, but they were learning. Together, the two herds made up the entirety of the company’s beef operation. The cattle were rotated on a regular basis, between five distinct pastures. This allowed the cattle fresh grazing space and for the recovery of the pasture to its natural state during the between rotations.
