Chapter 14
Lacey
I don’t give my alarm time to go off before I am out of bed and dressed for the day.
I’ll regret not sleeping much later this morning, but right now I need to make it downstairs to make sure Beckett is gone before Carson gets back.
Tip-toeing slowly down to the first floor, I am stunned when I reach the bottom step, the blankets and pillows are folded neatly by the armrest, and it smells like fresh coffee is brewing in the coffee pot on the kitchen counter.
I am too stunned to speak, and for a moment, a wave of disappointment pulls at me for telling him to leave so early.
I brush it off as fast as it came.
A sticky note lies in front of the pot with a clean coffee mug beside it.
Lacey, thank you for letting me crash here last night. I figured the coffee would be a good thank you.
I smile, picking up the note and filling my cup. What a thoughtful gesture; it makes me wonder why Carson hates him so much.
Bang.
The front door opening startles me, making me jump placing my back to the counter.
“You’re up early.” As a tired-looking Carson walks toward me. I roll the note Beckett left in my palm, so he won’t see it.
“Yeah—uh—I wanted to get a head start on the filly and chores.” I frantically rush to the kitchen table and sit down with my mug, sipping the warmth inside.
He reaches for a coffee mug for himself, “Man, am I thankful you already have the coffee going. It was a long night.”
I smirk as my brother pours himself a cup that his ex-bestie made. He would not be drinking it if he knew that, but I won’t be the one to tell him anything different.
“Did you get any sleep?” I ask him. Judging by the way he looks, I can already assume his answer.
He groans, taking a sip of his mug, “Maybe a few hours. Bobcat and coyotes kept us up. We got a shot on one coyote, though. Brought the herd back right at sunrise. All of them are in the arena. We will brand them all around lunch or after, told the men to go back to the bunks and sleep some.”
I nod, “You need to go shower and sleep, too.”
“Not until I help you with chores.”
I shake my head, no. “Nope, I will be fine doing it alone. You go rest up.”
He sighs; I can see the battle in his eyes. He knows I am right, but he hates leaving me alone to do all the work myself.
“Go, Car.” I gesture to the stairs where his room is.
“Okay, but just feed the horses in the barn and water the cattle up front. The guys and I will do everything else when we get up.”
He looks down at his cup of coffee, contemplating whether he needs it. Regretfully, he pours it in the sink and rinses the rest out before turning up the stairs.
I smirk, watching him exit and finish my coffee before walking out onto the front porch and taking a deep breath.
The sun is setting up a beautiful pink color over the mountains on the back side of the ranch.
The dew on the grass shimmers in the morning light, and our roosters are crowing off into the distance.
Horses and cattle are in the pasture, grazing on grass and drinking out of the water troughs. You will never be able to change my mind: This is heaven on earth.
The cattle the guys brought in are just about forty yards in front of me in the big arena and they all look happy with their morning grain. A few calves running around and playing make me grin.
The morning air is a little chilly this morning, but I know in no time at all, it’ll get warmer as the hours go on and the sun rises fully. Summer days here in Georgia get toasty quick!
I pass by the bunk house, which is a smaller cottage next to the main house; all lights are off, indicating all of the guys are in bed.
Up the hill from the bunk house is a smaller house, with one bedroom and bath, where Briggs stays. Dad had it specifically made for our foreman. He always said he deserved to have a place away from all the cattlemen since he’s the leader.
Excitement fills me as I get closer to the barn; the first day of seeing what my new girl is all about.
My boots halt as I enter the barn—my filly is gone.
Her stall door is wide open, she is absent.
I run to the tack room and grab a halter and a small bucket of feed, hoping maybe she is out in the field somewhere, grazing.
Outside the barn, I look around but don’t see her. The overwhelming sense of dread pumps through me—where is she?
Walking toward the cottages, I hope maybe she hasn’t gone too close to the creeks, or she has been out too long, coyotes may have gotten to her, but instantly I stop my racing worried thoughts as I notice her grazing beside the back pasture a few yards from the cottage Beckett has taken residence in.
My eyes follow from her halter down the lead rope attached to her and end on the cowboy in Wranglers, his beige Stetson, and tight-fitted green t-shirt. He stands only inches from her, watching her graze on the freshly dewed grass.
“What the hell, Beckett?” I ask as I get closer to them. Her head pops up startled, and I sigh, “Sorry girl, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He grips the rope a little tighter, watching her before she relaxes again, “Just thought I would see what she was like. Do you plan to break her?”
I eye him, curiously, “I do.”
He nods, “Your dad always said you could break anything with four legs better than any cowboy he knew.”
I’m stunned, “He told you that?”
Beckett grins, “Lacey, he told everyone that.”
I blink a tear away before it had a chance to escape. “I miss him.”
Beckett sighs and looks at the filly, “Make him proud with her, Lace.” He walks closer to me, handing me the end of the rope.
I reach for it, my hand slightly touching his, “Beckett, why is my brother so upset with you?”
He eyes me, “I don’t know the full answer to that, Lacey. I guess because I left and never came back. He hasn’t told you?”
I shake my head, “No. No one will tell me anything. All I know is you were always here, and then one day you just vanished.”
He looks away, swallowing heavily, before turning back to face me, “There are some things in life I regret, Lacey. And if I could do it all over again, I would.”
I am not sure what to do with that information, so instead of asking more questions I am sure he won’t answer I ask, “Want to hang out with me and her this morning? All the men are asleep, and I might need help. I don’t know how she will act.” I pause, “Oh, and thanks for the coffee.”
He pats the filly on the neck with a smirk, “Sure and thanks for letting my drunk ass crash on the couch.”
“Don’t make a habit of it.” I grin.
I put some tension on the rope, getting the filly’s attention, and she picks her head up from the grass, following beside me. I am amazed at how well she leads. The Mapleson’s did a fantastic job getting her started.
Beckett stays behind us as he follows us to the smaller arena near the creek.
* * *
Beckett
I didn’t sleep much last night, and the hangover I felt this morning makes me huff at how old I am getting. Nineteen and twenty-year-old Beckett could drink his way under the bar and still get up the next morning like it was nothing.
Thirty-three-year-old Beckett feels like death if I drink more than a beer or two, much less liquor. Plus, my anxious mind wouldn’t let me sleep. The memories of my past, being back in that house again; it put my wandering mind into overdrive.
Through the years, I have been good at hiding it. No one knows how bad it can get; some days it feels like it gets harder and harder to put the mask on.
I laid awake for most of the night with memories of my childhood; Carson and I running through the farmhouse, Mrs. Taylor cooking in the kitchen for us, and then the vision of Lacey pops into the forefront of it all.
Back then, she was just an annoying little girl who Carson and I tried our hardest to stay away from.
She was always trying to follow us or get us in trouble.
Carson, though, even then, was protective of his little sister. No matter how annoying she could be, he always tried to include her. I envied their relationship when I was around; they had one another and I had no one like that.
Besides the Taylor family, I was alone.
Lacey stops at the gate of the smaller round pen near the creek and leads the filly in. I find a place up against one of the panels and watch her closely.
The once little girl has now turned into a woman clearly in her element on this ranch.
She takes the lead rope off the filly’s halter and lets her walk around the arena on her own to check everything out and get familiar with her surroundings.
Lacey makes her way to me, a smile on her face, the simple act making blood rush to my balls. “Is she not so beautiful?”
“She sure is.” I smile back, my eyes never leaving her as she fixates on the filly.
I don’t care about the horse, but Lacey is everything Holden would have been proud of in a daughter, and she sure is beautiful.
Lacey turns back to me, and she eyes me curiously, “What?”
Damn it, I lose my cool when this girl is around.
“Nothing.”
“Mhm.” She doesn’t believe me, nor should she.
Thankfully, she moves away so I can breathe again and walks up to the filly, twirling the rope to the side to make her trot around the pen so she can pull the energy out of her with soft movements.
With each step the filly takes, Lacey keeps her eyes on her new horse, while I keep my eyes on Lacey.