Chapter One #2
“Coming out of the woodwork,” said Danica “Danny” Brand.
Danny was the consummate businesswoman and had built a multimillion-dollar business as the number one realtor to the rich and famous in California.
After her longtime business partner and fiancé Grant had announced that their office manager, Fallon, was pregnant with his child, and suggested a path forward as a thruple, Danny cut ties with Grant and went home to Hideaway Ranch.
Lady Love was on her side, too, because Danny met the most eligible bachelor in the county, Dr. Matteo Katz.
In the snap of a finger, Danny became his fiancée and a mother to a pampered pig by the name of Lu-Lu.
Ray, a softhearted dreamer, said, “Aww. I love it! Here we thought we were alone in the world, and now we are finding family everywhere!”
“Only because our ancestor was a prolific bigamist.” Danny tucked some strands of her sleek platinum blond hair behind her ear—an ear adorned with a fiery pink-and-white pig face with two round black diamond eyes. “But if it brings revenue to our ranch, bring on the long-lost Brands.”
“Is there such a thing as a trigamist? Or a quadramist?” Ray asked, pouring a second round of strong coffee for them. “I think he had more than two wives. Rowan hails from Wyoming.”
“Speaking of Rowan,” Danny said, “let’s get back on track. Anything new there?”
“Actually, yes,” Charlie said after a sip of coffee. “This isn’t a bachelorette trip anymore.”
“What?” Ray’s brows drew together.
“Why not?” Danny asked.
“Her fiancé broke up with her during their rehearsal dinner,” Charlie said.
Ray’s deep blue eyes welled up. “Oh no! That poor girl.”
“Ray. Please,” Danny said. “Can we manage to get through a state of the ranch meeting without tears? Last week, one of the horses got a summer sore on its lip, and you would swear one of us had died with all the tissues you ran through.”
“She’s sensitive,” Charlie defended Ray. “She must have gotten ours because neither of us is exactly touchy-feely.”
Danny contemplated and then agreed, “True.”
“So, Rowan didn’t cancel. I guess this is a ‘thank God I dodged the bullet’ trip,” Charlie said. “She extended her stay for another week.”
Danny nodded. “As long as the card is good and we have the availability.”
“Yes to both,” Charlie said. “She’ll be checking in around noon with Nash and Mercy. Cassady Abbot will be joining in at the beginning of next week. We’ll send a car service to the airport for her.”
“Well.” Danny sighed, typing on her laptop. “It goes against Hideaway’s brand of love is always in bloom and romance is always in season. But she is a cousin eighteen million times removed. So, I suppose I can make an exception.”
“Look at that, Ray!” Charlie teased. “Danny’s going soft on us.”
“Oh, I hope so. And you never know.” Ray’s expression said her mind was full of the possibilities that could unfold for Rowan. “Maybe Rowan will find love here. It happened to all of us!”
“True,” Charlie agreed. “Hideaway Ranch does have a secret sauce.”
Hideaway Ranch had brought each of the triplets fiancés, which had anchored the sisters to their legacy ranch.
Working together, they had turned their once embattled cattle ranch into a destination bed-and-breakfast. Hideaway Ranch had already inspired marriage, vow renewals, engagements and even a baby.
It wouldn’t be unheard of if Rowan Brand did find love on this magical land.
“Well.” Danny closed her laptop. “I wouldn’t mind adding another win in our column.
” In charge of all of the finances and marketing, Danny had put a romance counter on the website.
Potential clients could see that, even though the megamillion-dollar, glitz and glamour rental houses erected around Big Sky Ski Resort offered luxury beyond belief, they couldn’t bring them lasting love. But Hideaway Ranch could.
“Are we good here?” Danny asked, putting her laptop in her designer bag. “It’s time for Lu-Lu’s walk. She’s put on some pounds.”
Ray and Charlie exchanged a look, and then Ray said, “She’s a pig.”
Danny slung her bag over her shoulder. “And?”
Charlie said, “She’s a pig.”
“Look.” Danny pointed at each of them in turn. “Ray, you handle your goat yoga goats, Charlie, you handle your horses and let me take care of my fabulous Lu-Lu.”
* * *
Rowan was hungover. Even though she had traded water for whiskey halfway through the night, her head hurt, and she felt dehydrated and gross.
She could still smell the scent of stale beer on her clothes and the soles of her boots were sticky.
Nash was behind the wheel of their rental car, and Mercy was sitting in the front seat.
Rowan was gratefully in the back seat, seat belt stretched to its limit so she could slump over and put her head on a pillow she had brought from home.
“We have arrived!” Nash bellowed like an announcer for WrestleMania.
Mercy covered her ears. “Nash! Seriously?”
Rowan sat up and then had to close her eyes against the dizziness. “You need to tone that down.”
“Sorry.”
Once she felt steady enough to open her eyes, Rowan was immediately grateful to Nash for forcing her to sit up and take note.
As they drove along the gravel drive that had some dips and potholes from snow and rain, she breathed in and felt a shift inside of her body.
What was this? Yes, the ranch was even more beautiful in person, but wasn’t that true with most places?
Could this land have what she needed to heal her broken heart? Time would tell.
Nash drove up to the main cabin, the hub and heartbeat of Hideaway Ranch, both nostalgic and beautiful.
A large newly painted barn was to the left, and next to that was a building with a sign that read The Everything Barn.
An inviting firepit was surrounded by several log seats, no doubt harvested from the ranch.
Straight ahead were sweeping pastures with tall grass swaying gently in the afternoon breeze and a herd of horses, heads down and tails swishing at flies.
It was picturesque, but not all that different from Wyoming. But again, Rowan felt something in her body switch on, as quickly as one could switch on a light. It was both unsettling and curious.
“Welcome to Hideaway Ranch!”
Two women came out of the main house to greet them.
One had sun-flushed cheeks, tanned skin and deeply grooved lines at the corner of her eyes, silvery hair pulled back in a simple braid down her back, well-worn denim jeans and a broad smile.
The other woman had auburn hair twisted up in a topknot held together by what looked to be a pen.
Her jeans were dark-washed and neat, her glasses round, her blue eyes so clear, and her smile open and warm.
“I’m Charlie.” The cowgirl with a ruddy complexion introduced herself.
The second woman put her hand over her heart and said, “And I’m Ray.”
“Now!” Charlie rested her hands at her waist. “Who’s our long-lost kin?”
Rowan recognized them from their website and socials. Yes, her head still hurt, her mouth felt like she had been eating Elmer’s glue, and she was generally feeling devastated. But Charlie with her bold appearance, and Ray with her positive aura, made her feel a smidge better.
“That would be me.” Rowan held up her hand.
Charlie and Ray rushed to her for a double hug. Rowan could actually feel their unconditional acceptance of her as family, no matter how many times removed.
“We are so happy to meet you,” Ray said, her eyes swimming with tears.
Charlie must have read the concern on Rowan’s face. She pulled a wad of tissues out of her back pocket and handed them to Ray. “Don’t pay any mind to those tears.”
“Happy tears.” Ray dabbed her eyes.
“She cries at anything, for any reason, at any time,” Charlie said.
“Aw,” Rowan said in unison with Mercy. She felt compelled to hug Ray, so she did. “Thank you for such a wonderful welcome.”
“Thank you,” Ray said and then turned to Charlie. “See? She gets it.”
Rowan introduced Nash and Mercy to their hosts. When introductions were done, Charlie said, “Well, no sense chewing the fat. Let’s get you settled into your cabin so you can get started with what I am certain will be a trip to remember.”
In her own mind, Rowan said, I hope this is a trip that will help me forget.
Once in their cabin, fatigue from her life set in.
All she wanted to do was sleep so she could stop replaying the events that had unfolded at the rehearsal dinner.
No matter how badly she wanted to reach out to Dutton, she stopped herself.
There were so many questions in her mind.
Perhaps it was best that they weren’t answered; knowing was often worse than imagining what might have happened.
Rowan told her friends that she would be taking a nap. She shut the door to her room, left her suitcase unpacked and face-planted on the bed. Burying her face in her favorite pillow, she groaned. It was still difficult to accept what had happened. She was in shock, she supposed.
And the response on her socials was rather horrific. People could be brutal online, and her humiliation had emboldened the barracudas lurking in the slimy underbelly of social media. It was like being stabbed, killed, then brought back to life only to be stabbed in the heart again.
In full-on wallowing, Rowan thought she heard a knock on the front door, but she ignored it. Then, she heard Mercy calling out to her.
“Hey, Row?”
“Whaat-tuh?” she yelled so she could be heard through the pillow.
“Did you order a cowboy?”
Copyright ? 2026 by JoAnna Sims