Second Chance Rancher. Brenda Minton

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СКАЧАТЬ saw your sister?” Essie asked as she sat on the edge of the ATV seat.

      “Yes, I saw her.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say to her aunt. Her sister was pregnant. As the old saying went, “the cow was already out of the barn.”

      Essie gave Lucy a long look with dark eyes that made a person squirm. “I hope you weren’t too hard on her.”

      “I wasn’t.” Lucy sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to do.”

      “Aren’t you?” Essie’s mouth pulled down. “I’m not going to tell you that she’s your responsibility, Lucy. But she has to be someone’s responsibility. She’s not even eighteen and she doesn’t have anyone. Your mother doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Your brothers are chasing pipe dreams. It’s like that poor girl is collateral damage. I love her but she doesn’t want to live with an old woman. And I sure don’t speak teen girl.”

      “It’s a different language,” Lucy admitted. “I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken it.”

      Essie’s eyes softened. “I know and I’m sorry. You were all victims and I wish I could have done more for you.”

      Lucy nodded, her gaze again drifting across the property. It was easier to deal with the land, the house and not her emotional well-being. “It’s a mess.”

      “Yes, it is.” Essie followed the direction of Lucy’s gaze.

      They were both talking about more than the condition of the ranch.

      “I’m not sure what to do about Maria.” Lucy leaned against the fence and watched as the few head of cattle stopped to graze before moving on to the water trough.

      “Not much you can do. I don’t think she wants to marry the boy.” Essie got off the ATV and joined Lucy as she crossed to the fence to look out at the property. “I worry that she won’t go to college. She’s a smart girl and I don’t want her to give up on her dreams.”

      Her sister had dreams. Lucy tried to remember what that had been like, to dream of something other than making it through a night without nightmares.

      “Take time and get to know her, Lucy,” Essie said. “She’s someone you will probably like.”

      Lucy nodded, her gaze remaining on the cattle. “I’ll talk to her. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.”

      “Talking is a start. She would probably like to have someone around. She gets lonely out here. When a kid get lonely, they get in trouble.”

      Lucy thought about her own teen years. She’d been lonely and she’d also found trouble.

      Essie patted her arm and headed for her four-wheeler. “I have to get to the café. I hired that silly Bea Maxwell to cook when I’m not there but I worry about leaving her alone. Why don’t you girls get cleaned up and come in for lunch? My treat.”

      “I’m not sure. It looks like I have a fence to rebuild and a few things around here that can’t be put off.”

      “Supper, then?”

      Lucy nodded in agreement and watched as her aunt slid the helmet over her head. Essie smiled at her and then, quickly, before Lucy could react, stepped forward and embraced her. Lucy stiffened beneath the unaccustomed gesture but Essie didn’t let go. She hugged a little tighter and finished the embrace by patting her on the back.

      “It will all work out, chica. Trust God that He has a plan.”

      Lucy stepped back, putting some distance between them, and drew in a deep breath, telling herself she hadn’t needed or wanted that hug. “I think I’ll leave the faith to you, Aunt Essie. I’ll deal with the ranch and making sure Maria is healthy. You and God work out the rest.”

      Essie laughed a little. “Oh, don’t you worry. Me and God are on very good terms.”

      “I know.”

      Unfortunately Lucy and God were another matter altogether. She’d had a childhood of God, sermons, the Bible and beatings. She avoided church and people who wanted to help her “get right with the Lord.” She admired people with genuine faith. She knew that it mattered. But she couldn’t make the walls disappear. The fortress around her heart was strong, built one beating at a time.

      She headed for the house. Again the putrid smell of neglect hit her the moment she walked through the door. First things first—she needed some bleach and pine cleaner. Maria was in the kitchen scavenging in the fridge. She mumbled something about “nothing to eat” and that she was eating for two. “Don’t people realize the tadpole needs nourishment?”

      Lucy couldn’t help but smile. The mischievous little girl Lucy had known had survived, still smart-mouthed and funny. She was the one good thing to come out of this place. And she could still smile. Lucy envied her sister.

      “Essie said she’d feed us tonight. Until then, is there anything in the cabinets that isn’t spoiled?” Lucy grabbed a bottle of water out of the door of the fridge, and then gagged a little. “What’s in there?”

      Maria slammed the door of the fridge, put a hand to her mouth and ran.

      Lucy followed her sister to the bathroom door.

      “Don’t come in,” Maria grumbled.

      “I’m not, but I’m here if you need me.” She leaned against the wall and waited.

      Her little sister was having a baby. It would take time to wrap her mind around this new reality. Maria had been seven when Lucy left home to join the Army. She’d been a terror in pigtails, with a dirty face and into all kinds of trouble.

      A bittersweet memory surfaced. Maria, insecure, crawling in bed with Lucy after everyone else went to sleep.

      Now that little girl was going to be a mother.

      “Luce?”

      “I’m here.”

      “I don’t want a baby,” Maria sobbed.

      Lucy took that as an invitation to step into the bathroom. Maria was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes closed, perspiration dampening her brow. She was pale and thin. No, not thin. The baby bump beneath her T-shirt was obvious.

      Lucy shoved back the dozens of responses to her sister’s statement. It wouldn’t do any good to tell Maria she should have thought about wanting a baby before she’d gotten herself pregnant. She couldn’t change what had happened. Instead there were obvious consequences. A child. A baby with two kids as parents, kids who didn’t want to be parents.

      “No, I’m sure you don’t want a baby.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say. Maria scrunched her nose and frowned. “Sorry, Maria. I’m not sure what to say. But I’m here. We’ll get through this.”

      “You’ve been telling me that for a long time,” Maria whispered, looking young and frightened in this new role life had cast her in.

      But not by herself.

      Lucy sighed and remembered back, to nights when she’d tried СКАЧАТЬ