The Cowboy's Surprise Baby. Ali Olson

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СКАЧАТЬ was gone so much, and it hurt Amy to see the toll it took on her. To avoid it, Amy rummaged in her bag and pulled out two packages, handing one to Ma and the other to Cassie. “They’re some different spices and a grinder,” she explained.

      Cassie thanked her, but Ma looked skeptical. “Smell them and give them a shot,” Amy said, sure her adopted mother would manage to make something magical and somehow still completely Southern with them.

      Then Amy turned to her soon-to-be nephews. “I brought y’all spices, too!” she told them.

      “You did?” Carter asked, not sounding too enthused at the idea.

      “No. I want to be your favorite aunt, and I have some catching up to do, so I brought you fez hats and drums,” she said, pulling out the items and handing them to the boys.

      Zach immediately began giggling to see the funny little hat on his brother, and they both started hitting the drums enthusiastically. Brock appeared at Amy’s elbow. “Drums? Really?” he asked his little sister.

      Amy shrugged. “There were some really cool knives I considered getting them. This seemed like the better choice.”

      Brock and Cassie winced at the noise. “I’m not so sure about that,” Brock commented.

      Cassie whispered quickly to Zach and Carter, and they both ran over to Amy, giving her a big hug. “Thanks, Aunt Amy,” they said in unison.

      Amy nodded to them, fighting tears. She didn’t want to admit how much it twisted her heart to be around these two sweet boys. They reminded her too much of truths she didn’t like to think about.

      “Time to get inside,” Ma said, ushering everyone through the door. “Dinner’s ready and will start getting cold any minute.”

      Amy, thankful for the interruption, followed the rest of them inside after giving Pop a quick hug. She only paused at the door for a second, looking in the direction of Stuart Ranch, and wondering what her life would be like if things had been just a little different.

      Suddenly, she wished she was on a plane to Panama. Or Indonesia. Heck, Idaho would work. Anywhere, so long as it was a couple thousand miles from the painful memories that were threatening to come back to the surface now that she was here.

      But those painful memories were the reason she was here, so she bit back the desire to flee and walked inside her childhood home, closing the door behind her.

      Amy soon found herself sitting down at her parents’ table, already piled high with Ma’s famous cooking. “So, update me on what’s going on with everyone,” she said, hoping talk would keep her mind from wandering back toward Stuart Ranch.

      “Pop’s working himself too hard fixing the barn when he could just let me do it. Or hire someone,” Brock began as they all began filling their plates.

      Pop cut into Brock’s scolding. “I’m not so old I can’t lift a hammer, Brock,” he said around his mustache. “And the horses will appreciate it, which is good for the riding school.”

      Pop had always been such a strong, consistent force in her life that it was hard for Amy to imagine him ever slowing down, but she could see that Brock was concerned. Still, he didn’t seem willing to push the topic any further than he already had.

      “Speaking of riding,” Brock said, pointing to the twins, “these two have been doing a great job learning to ride and care for horses.”

      Zach and Carter beamed. “Mr. Stuart says we’re naturals,” Carter declared.

      Amy about choked on her water. “Stuart?” she asked in between coughs.

      Brock nodded, looking proud. “Tom Stuart’s taken over the school since his father passed a year ago. The boys go there twice a week.”

      Amy’s heart started again. She hadn’t known the boys were going to the Stuarts’, and hearing the name out of the blue like that had done more to her than she liked to admit. She suddenly hoped to heaven that Jack was still out on the circuit. Maybe he would even be gone the entire month she was there, and she could board her plane to Thailand after the wedding and just forget about her resolution to speak to him, which seemed awfully daunting now that she was home.

      Brock gestured to her with his fork. “Jack’s back in town right now, too. Weren’t you two an item for a while in high school?”

      Amy felt her heart jolt again at the sound of his name. Of course, Brock had been on the rodeo circuit when they’d started dating. He didn’t know how serious their relationship had been, didn’t know that his name cut through her like a knife.

      But Ma and Pop knew some of it. Pop stood, clearing his throat, and all the attention turned to him. “I just want to thank y’all for being here. It does an old man good to see so many people he loves around the table together.”

      There was a round of “hear, hear!” and a lifting of glasses, and then Pop sat back down. “Now, stop with the chatter and get to eatin’. I don’t plan on having leftovers,” Ma added.

      With that, they tucked in, eating heartily. Amy didn’t look at Brock, in case he decided to start up the conversation again. She did, however, risk a glance at Pop, who was looking at her with concern. Amy gave him a little nod of thanks, then turned her eyes back to the plate in front of her.

      Jack Stuart was in town right this minute, just a few miles away. When she’d bought her ticket to come home, she had hoped he would be, but now...

      The mix of emotions he evoked was too much to analyze. All she knew for sure was that she couldn’t run and hide any longer, and she needed to be prepared to talk to him. Tell him the truth.

      * * *

      AMY AWOKE LONG before sunrise, her internal clock still not quite on Texas time. Once awake, her mind immediately turned to Jack, her stomach twisting. She lay in bed wondering if he already knew she was home, if he would decide to confront her about her disappearance after graduation, or if she would be the one to seek him out. And if she could force herself to actually do so.

      She knew that her eighteen-year-old self hadn’t handled things particularly well, and she still felt guilt rise in her when she thought of the messages he had left, asking her to please call him and tell him why she hadn’t talked to him, why she had just left without saying goodbye.

      She had listened to each one over and over again, torturing herself just so she could hear his voice, but she hadn’t had the nerve to call him back, to talk to him, to explain why she’d gone away.

      She was stronger now, though. She had made the decision to come clean to him, and she could handle it, however difficult it might seem. After all, their relationship had been a long time ago. About a decade now. Shouldn’t that be long enough to wipe away everything that had happened between them?

      She knew, though, that it hadn’t been long enough for her.

      Amy sighed and pulled herself out of bed, determined to get her mind off her high school sweetheart.

      For an hour, she struggled to write an article about her experiences in the Sahara Desert, but the camels and tribesmen and women felt impossible to capture in words when her brain was so full of other things so much closer to home.

      Finally, СКАЧАТЬ