Chapter Twenty
When they arrived at the MacFarland place on Sunday, Tanya jumped out of the truck, calling, "I'll be with Nat. If you can't find me, we'll probably be out at the barn."
"Come back up to the house and check in every now and then, would you?" Emmett called after her.
"I'll go check on her," Alana offered when Tanya simply turned around and waved before sprinting over to where Nat was sitting on top of the fence at the round pen. "Do you want a hand down?"
Harper kept quiet; she'd intended to come around to see if Emmett wanted help getting out of her truck. She held her breath but let it out when she saw Emmett smile and rest his hand on Alana's shoulder as he got out.
"Thanks, Sprout."
This time, Alana didn't rebuff his use of the name. She rested her head against his shoulder for a moment as she said, "You're welcome, Dad. Do you need anything else?"
Alana had been quiet yesterday. Harper kept imagining that she somehow knew about—and disapproved of—how things had gone between her and Emmett on Friday night. There was no reason for it—no way Alana could know, and no reason to believe she'd have a problem if she did.
She relaxed a little when Alana turned to her.
"I know you can do it—whatever he needs—but I thought you might want to catch up with your friend.
Shelley, she's here, right? And Uncle Cash was saying that Uncle Jim misses seeing you around at his ranch.
I can hang with Dad if you want while you go talk to people. "
"Thanks." She glanced at Emmett. "I think I'll take you up on that."
Emmett gave her a slight nod.
As she headed over to where Jim was sitting in a big rocking chair on the porch of the main house, she glanced back over her shoulder.
Emmett had his arm around Alana as they made their way to where Blane and Trip were chatting with Kolby and Wade.
She smiled at the sight of Emmett laughing at something Alana said.
It was good to see them together like that.
She just hoped Alana wasn't closing her out.
She felt guilty even thinking it—it wasn't as though she wanted to muscle her way in.
But she had no real frame of reference for how this might all work.
Her heart sank at the thought that maybe it wouldn't, but then she straightened her shoulders and waved at Jim.
Even if things didn't work out for her and Emmett in the long term, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it for now.
Jim met her gaze as she approached. "There you are. I've been missing you, young lady."
She went right to him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I've missed you, too, Jim."
He chuckled. "Then tell Emmett he'd better start paying you more attention. I was hoping you wouldn't have a spare minute to give me a thought."
Harper glanced at Banner, feeling a little embarrassed, but he grinned at her. "You just don't get it," he told Jim. "We're all the same with you. No matter how busy we get, no matter what else we have going on, we miss you when we don't see you."
"He's just trying to make me feel better," Jim told Harper.
"About what?"
"I'm going to be away for a couple weeks next month," Banner said.
"Aye, and I already told you: If you go and meet yourself a pretty young thing, you make sure she's willing to move back here with you. Don't want to lose you to the city; that'd be a waste."
Banner chuckled. "There's no chance of that, and you know it. Oh!"
Harper followed his gaze when he jerked his chin toward the long line of pickup trucks out back. He was smiling as he watched a young woman climb out of the latest arrival.
"You didn't tell me the new vet was coming."
"And how was I supposed to know?" Jim asked. "And why would I tell you if I did?"
Banner chuckled. "No reason. But I think it's time for me to go and drag Boone out of the bunkhouse." He tipped his hat to Harper. "It's good to see you. I'll catch up with you later. And, you know, if you're not busy next Sunday, you should come home and have lunch with us."
"He's right, you know," Jim said as they watched Banner stop and talk to Ford before carrying on toward the bunkhouse. "You should come—if you can."
"Then I will. I miss you."
Jim waved a hand at her. "Then stop it. You have enough going on—and by the look of it, I'd guess it's going well?"
She nodded slowly, smiling as she watched Emmett with Trip and Blane.
Trip was pointing him toward one of the picnic benches, trying to make him sit.
Blane looked like he was teasing him. She laughed out loud when Blane said something to Alana, who laughed as he squatted down and she hopped onto his shoulders.
She kept laughing as he spun around with her up there.
Jim chuckled beside her. "It's good to hear her sound like a little girl again. She was quiet for the longest time after we lost Emily. Used to be a bundle of mischief and giggles while she still had her mom."
Harper didn't know what to say to that. She nodded and continued watching Alana with Blane—the smile on Emmett's face as he watched them was the best thing she'd seen in a long time.
"You're lucky Blane took a shine to you."
She swung her head to look at Jim incredulously. "Where on earth did you get that idea?"
Jim grasped her arm as he laughed. "Don't look at me like that. Sure, he's like a guard dog, but if he didn't think you were up to the job, you wouldn't have gotten near Emmett and the girls till his ribs were healed—and that can take months."
"He wasn't exactly thrilled to have me around."
Jim grinned. "If you're waiting for Blane to ever look thrilled about a damn thing, you'll be disappointed.
He let you in, Harper. If he hadn't taken a shine to you, you'd still be in my cottage.
He's been Emmett's friend since before either of 'em could say the word.
" His smile faded and he met her gaze. "He and Emily were the ones who knew Emmett best."
Harper looked away, watching Tanya and Nat walking down to the pasture to see the horses. "I bet Blane loved Emily."
"Aye, he did—we all did. I'm not going to pretend we didn't. Blane gave her a hard time at first, though. She won him over—didn't take any of his shit. And they had a special bond."
Her heart sank.
"Don't look like that. I think it's the same bond that'll bring you and him close over time, too."
"What do you mean?"
"They both loved Emmett."
Harper dropped her chin.
"I know, I'm an old fool, saying the words when it's not my place.
But it strikes me that you need to hear 'em.
That's what you've got me for. You might never have had anyone in your corner—not anyone who'd stick around, anyway.
You have me now." He gave her a wry smile.
"And I'll stick around for as long as I can, and when I go it won't be because I wanted to. "
She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Banner and his brothers are so lucky you and Kitty took them in."
"I'd say we were the lucky ones. And, you know, we always wanted a girl, too.
" He chuckled. "Those boys were a lot, especially when they first came to us, young and wild.
They were half grown by the time we met them.
" He gripped her hand. "I wish we'd known all them years ago, before the boys came along, that there was a little girl out there in the big city.
" He straightened up and sat back. "I may be a sentimental old fart, but I wish we could have given you a home when you were a young'un. "
Harper had to blink the tears out of her eyes. "I wish that too, Jim. More than you can imagine. But over these last few months, you've made me feel like I had a home."
"Aye, because you do, and you always will, whenever you want or need it. You hear me? Don't forget that. I hope you won't need it." He looked over at Emmett. "Hope you'll make a new one of your own with him and the girls, but even then, you can always come home to the ranch when you want to."
She sniffed. "Thanks, Jim. I've avoided saying it—didn't want to embarrass either of us, but I love you."
He sat up a little straighter still and nodded. "Yeah. Me too. And look, here comes Cash."
~ ~ ~
"Do you want to pick flowers with me?"
Emmett's heart clenched in his chest as he watched little Maya approach Alana cautiously. He held his breath as he watched his daughter glance over to where the boys were all poking at the dirt with sticks.
"They don't like flowers," Maya added.
Alana held her hand out. "Sure, I'll come. I know where some pink ones grow down the side of the barn. Have you seen them?"
"No." Maya grinned up at her. "Show me?"
Alana shot him a quick look, and he nodded.
He was fine; he didn't want her sticking by his side in case he needed help—he didn't. He just hoped that hanging out with Maya wasn't a different form of caretaking for her.
She'd seemed eager to come this afternoon, but he wasn't sure that spending it with him and his friends and a bunch of younger kids was the best way for her to be passing a Sunday.
She got to see her friends after school because of rehearsals, but she rarely got any downtime.
Blane nudged his shoulder. "She's good with the little ones."
"Yeah, but…" He didn't need to say it. Blane knew as well as he did that losing her mom had left Alana feeling like she needed to take care of both her sister and her dad.
"She's good," Blane assured him. "She enjoyed Friday night with Cash and me—Tanya did, too. But it's easier for Tanya."
Emmett looked up at his friend. "It is. She gets to be young—the younger one, you know what I mean."
"I do. Alana tries to be everything to both of you."
"You let her be a little kid."
Blane nodded. "I do what I can for her; it's easier for me because I'm not her dad. Same as you do what you can for Brooke."
Emmett looked around. "Is she coming this afternoon?"
Blane's usual stony expression fell back into place. "She had plans. Didn't say what."