10
Luke was reading through supply invoices when Edye stepped into his office, closed the door behind her, and stood there looking at him like she had been carrying a thought too long.
He knew that look.
It usually meant one of three things. She had made a decision. She wanted him to make a decision. Or she had already made a decision for both of them and was about to let him feel involved.
Luke set the invoice down. “What are you thinking?”
Edye smiled faintly. “That you know me too well.”
“Not possible.”
She crossed the room slowly, her fingers trailing along the back of one of the chairs before she sat across from him. “I was thinking about Gordon.”
Luke leaned back in his chair.
That name had been circling the ranch more often lately. Not loudly. Gordon never brought noise with him if he could help it. But his presence had changed. Shifted. He no longer moved through the place like someone expecting someone to ask him to leave.
“What about him?” Luke asked.
Edye folded her hands in her lap. “Do you remember when he first came here?”
“I remember.”
Two years ago, Gordon Windgate had stepped onto Stanley Ranch carrying information like it might burn his hands if he held it too long.
He had come to warn them about Beau and Logan.
About what his brothers were planning. About the ways they meant to destroy the ranch or at least hurt Luke through it.
Luke had not trusted him at first.
He would have been a fool to.
A Windgate showing up with warnings sounded too much like a trap.
But Gordon had looked nothing like Beau or Logan.
Not in the eyes. Beau had been all arrogance.
Logan all sharp appetite. Gordon had been quiet, careful, ashamed before anyone accused him of anything.
“He was thin and frail looking. I think that’s why Elise would give him double portions of food.
She probably thought that he would pass out from hunger working himself so hard.
He was desperate to show us that he could be relied on. ”
“He was so shy,” Edye said softly. “Not weak. Never that. But shy. Respectful. Always respectful. He kept himself away from everyone like he was afraid belonging too close to us would offend somebody.”
Luke grunted. “Or like he didn’t think he had a right to.”
Edye nodded. “That too.”
Luke looked toward the window, beyond the office glass to the ranch moving beneath the afternoon sun.
He could still see Gordon as he had been in those early months. Head down more often than not. Quick to work. Slow to speak. Always the first to step aside when the family gathered.
“He wouldn’t come to the table,” Luke said.
“No,” Edye agreed.
“Except Sundays.”
“And even then, barely.”
Luke’s mouth tightened with the memory. “He’d sit near the end, shovel his food down like someone might change their mind about feeding him, then leave before dessert.”
Edye’s expression softened. “Elise hated that.”
“Elise took it personally.”
“Elise takes every skipped dessert personally.”
“She still does.”
Edye chuckled, then shook her head. “He still barely comes to dinner with everyone except when we make it hard for him to refuse.”
“He comes more than he used to.”
“He does.” She smiled. “And he’s always been wonderful with the children.”
Luke looked back at her.
That was true.
It had surprised him at first, though maybe it should not have.
Gordon was careful around adults. Too aware of what they knew, what they assumed, what history stood between them.
But with children, something in him eased.
He never crowded them, never demanded affection, never used charm as bait.
He just listened. Helped. Answered questions plainly.
Let them climb close when they wanted to and gave them room when they did not.
“Luis liked him right off,” Edye said. “And Nia. Malik too, of course. Malik reaches for him every time he sees him.”
“Malik reaches for anyone who might carry him somewhere interesting.”
“Yes, but Gordon takes him seriously.”
Luke smiled despite himself. “That he does.”
Edye laughed softly, but her eyes stayed tender. “The other children on the ranch like him too. Even the shy ones. Maybe especially the shy ones. He doesn’t push.”
“No,” Luke said. “He knows what it feels like.”
Silence settled between them.
Comfortable, but weighted.
Luke tapped one finger against the desk, thinking. “I’ve been waiting for him to decide he belonged here.”
Edye’s eyes lifted to his. “So have I.”
“He works like he belongs. Helps like he belongs. Watches out for people like he belongs. But he’s been slow to let himself take anything.”
“I know.” Edye looked down at her hands. “For a long time, I kept expecting to find him gone.”
Luke’s jaw tightened.
“Without a word,” she continued. “No big goodbye. No scene. Just his things cleared out and maybe a note saying thank you.”
Luke had thought the same thing more than once.
He hated that.
Not because he blamed Gordon. A man raised in the shadow of Paul Windgate, then pushed into a hostile house full of people who saw him as evidence of betrayal, did not easily believe welcome could last.
Still, Luke hated the idea of him leaving like that.
Quietly.
As if he had never been wanted enough to stop.
“He’s finally understanding that he’s family,” Luke said.
Edye’s face softened into a smile. “Yes. I think he is.”
Luke studied her. “And?”
“And I can’t help but think it has something to do with Ms. Monroe.”
Luke’s mouth flattened.
There it was.
He had been thinking the same thing, though he liked it less when Edye said it out loud.
“You don’t think he’s interested in her, do you?”
Edye twisted her face in a way that meant she was trying not to look too amused. “He might be.”
“She lied her way onto my ranch.”
“I know.”
“She works for a newspaper.”
“I know.”
“She came here looking for a story about him.”
“I know that too.”
Luke scowled. “You don’t sound worried enough.”
“I’m worried.” Edye leaned back, thoughtful. “But I’m also watching him. Gordon has been different since he decided to call her. Not reckless. Not foolish. Different.”
“Different how?”
“Present.”
Luke did not answer.
That word found its mark.
Present.
Gordon had been more present. At meals. In conversations. In the way he looked people in the eye a little longer. Even in the way he took Talia around the ranch. He was not hiding behind Luke’s protection now. He was working, answering questions, setting boundaries, making choices.
That was good.
It was also dangerous.
People could get hurt when they stepped out from behind walls.
“We’ll need to keep an eye on them,” Luke said.
Edye lifted a brow.
“Not interfere,” he added before she could say it. “I know. But we need to make sure he’s all right with whatever is going on between them.”
“Of course.”
“I mean it.”
“I know you do.”
“I don’t want him cornered by her.”
“I don’t either.”
“And I don’t want him so busy proving he can handle himself that he ignores when something hurts.”
Edye reached across the desk and touched his hand. “Luke, nobody on this ranch will let Gordon disappear into hurt.”
His eyes met hers.
Her smile turned knowing. “Don’t worry. The ranch network will be watching.”
Luke groaned softly. “The ranch network.”
“It is very effective.”
“It is gossip with boots.”
“It is community observation.”
“It is you and Elise having spies.”
Edye’s smile widened. “That is such an ugly word for concerned citizens.”
Luke gave her a look.
She only smiled back.
It had been a running joke for years that nothing happened on Stanley Ranch without Edye or Elise hearing about it before the dust settled.
A horse could kick a bucket in the west barn and somehow Elise would know which horse, which bucket, who left it there, and whether the person responsible had eaten breakfast. Edye’s information came through schedules, staff, children, wives, and her own uncanny ability to read a room from fifty yards away.
Together, they were terrifying.
And usually right.
Edye sat back again. “There is something else.”
“Of course there is.”
“I think we should give Gordon one of the cottages.”
Luke went still.
Edye watched him carefully. “And his own truck.”
The idea settled into the room.
Not as a surprise.
More like something that had been waiting for one of them to say it.
Luke thought of Gordon in the bunkhouse. In shared space. Always useful, always available, never claiming too much. He thought of how often Gordon took whatever vehicle was free or rode with someone else. How little he asked for. How easily he could mistake being accommodated for being temporary.
A cottage.
A truck.
Not charity.
A statement.
You are wanted here.
You can put down roots if you choose.
Luke smiled slowly. “Come here.”
Edye’s eyes warmed. “Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“That has never been a convincing argument.”
“It works sometimes.”
“With horses, maybe.”
“Edye.”
She rose, pretending reluctance, and crossed the room.
Luke pushed his chair back just enough, caught her by the waist, and pulled her onto his lap. She made a soft sound of surprise, then settled against him like she had been doing it all her life.
He wrapped one arm around her and held her close.
“I like the idea,” he said.
Her expression brightened. “You do?”
“I do. It’s a good way to make sure Gordon knows we want him here for as long as he wants to be here.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“A cottage says he belongs. A truck says we trust him to move around this place as one of ours.”
Edye’s fingers brushed over his shoulder. “Exactly.”
“We’ll need to choose the right cottage.”
“I already know which one.”
Luke laughed under his breath. “Of course you do.”
“It has good light, enough privacy, and it’s close enough that he won’t feel pushed away.”
“You have thought about this.”
“I think about everyone.”
“I know.”
She tilted her head. “Can I pick out the truck?”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “That depends.”
“On?”
“Whether you intend to choose something practical or something that matches his eyes.”
Edye laughed. “I can do both.”
“That is what worries me.”
“It should be sturdy. Reliable. Not too flashy. Gordon would hate flashy.”
“He would.”
“But nice enough that he knows we didn’t give him something no one else wanted.”
Luke nodded. “You can pick out the truck.”
Her smile turned pleased.
“And,” he added, “you can choose the basic furnishings for the cottage.”
Her eyes lit.
“Basic,” he warned. “Let him put his own stamp on things.”
“I know.”
“I mean it. Don’t decorate the man into submission.”
“I have never decorated anyone into submission.”
Luke gave her a long look.
Edye’s mouth twitched. “Fine. I may have encouraged comfort aggressively.”
“Just remember, this is Gordon. If he walks into a fully furnished cottage that looks like a magazine spread, he’ll think he’s not supposed to touch anything.”
“You’re right.” Her expression softened. “Simple, comfortable, sturdy. A good bed. A table. Chairs. Lamps. Maybe a rug.”
“Basic.”
“A rug is basic.”
“One rug.”
“We’ll discuss that later.”
“No, we won’t.”
She smiled and leaned closer. “I love you.”
The words still hit him.
After all this time.
After everything.
They still moved through him like the first rain after a long dry spell.
Luke lifted one hand to her cheek. “I love you too.”
Her eyes softened.
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Not like the quick kisses between tasks, not the distracted ones in hallways or the familiar ones over coffee.
This one held gratitude. Years. The strange, impossible luck of having found the one person who could build a life beside him and keep making room for more love than he ever thought he could hold.
When he pulled back, Edye rested her forehead against his.
“We are lucky,” she whispered.
“The luckiest.”
They sat there in the quiet office, wrapped in each other, both thinking the same thing.
They had come so far from the people they used to be.
Luke, grieving and guarded, holding the ranch like it might vanish if he loosened his grip.
Edye, fierce and determined, arriving to take her sister home and finding a life instead.
Now their ranch held children, families, second chances, laughter, weddings, arguments, babies, grief, healing, and men like Gordon who needed more than a place to work.
They had not planned any of it.
Maybe that was why it felt like grace.
Edye kissed him once more, softer this time, then drew back with a smile already turning practical.
“I’ll make a list.”
Luke sighed. “There it is.”
“What?”
“The look.”
“What look?”
“The Edye-has-a-project look.”
She stood, smoothing her dress like she had not just been kissed senseless in his office. “Gordon needs a home and a truck.”
“He needs to be asked too.”
“I know.”
Luke pointed at her gently. “Edye.”
“I know,” she said, softer now. “We’ll offer. Not impose.”
He believed her.
Mostly.
She paused at the door and looked back at him. “He’s going to try to say he doesn’t need it.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re going to tell him it isn’t about need.”
Luke leaned back in his chair, smiling.
“It’s about family,” he said.
Edye’s expression warmed. “Exactly.”
Then she left his office, already carrying the next piece of their growing family in her mind.
Luke sat there for a long moment after she was gone.
Outside, the ranch moved on.
Somewhere, Gordon was walking beside Talia Monroe, answering questions that might hurt, asking questions that might change them both.
Luke did not know what would come of that.
But he knew this.
Gordon belonged here.
And it was time the ranch told him so in a way he could not politely ignore.