Chapter 22 - Delilah
Morning sunlight stretched over the paddocks, golden and soft—the kind that promised a fresh start, a new dawn, if you wanted to get cliché about it.
Freedom Reins was opening today. The air smelled like fresh hay and coffee, and somewhere a horse snorted, restless with morning energy that also coursed through me.
It had taken months—plans, permits, sleepless nights, an absurd amount of Pixy Sticks, and more tears than I’d ever admit—but standing here now, hearing the low murmur of voices and the shuffle of shoes on gravel, it all felt worth it.
Every single setback, every doubt, every moment I’d wondered if I was out of my depth.
I clutched my clipboard to my chest, watching as our first ten patients looked around.
With every step they took, I felt the weight of responsibility for them and their well-being settle on my shoulders.
It was a foreign feeling, but one that I welcomed.
I hadn’t realized just how badly I wanted this until Ethan had pulled his funding.
Emmett’s hand found mine. “You did it, sugar,” he said quietly. “Look around.”
I did. Claire was directing vets where to put their luggage.
Tess and Savannah were talking to some of them, laughing as if this were a party instead of the start of something bigger than all of us.
Beau and Colt were checking the fences, making sure everything looked picture-perfect.
Some of the veterans even recognized Weston from his rodeo days and were getting autographs and pictures.
Even Ethan Carmichael was here, finally getting his tour. He looked just as proud as I felt. As well as some Cavendish Academy reps, checking in on their investment. They walked around with clipboards and crisp suits, nodding to themselves, pleased.
A man with a cane and a prosthetic leg went over to the horses.
I recognized him from the intake forms. Sergeant Harlan, forty-three, discharged ten years ago, with PTSD and anxiety.
The same diagnosis that had followed Emmett home.
I watched as he reached out towards Willow, tentative.
She lowered her head, letting him stroke her muzzle.
Something in his shoulders loosened. Willow snorted softly, and Harlan laughed. Really laughed.
I blinked hard, wondering how I’d gotten lucky enough to turn something I was so passionate about into an actual career.
This wasn’t about proving I could build something successful. It wasn’t about headlines or reputation. It was about this—connection. Healing. Peace.
“Hey,” Emmett murmured, squeezing my hand. “You okay?”
I looked up at him, vision blurred with tears. “I’m perfect.”
He smiled, eyes crinkling in that way that still made my stomach flutter. “You sure?”
I turned toward him fully, my heart so full it hurt. “I used to think I had to prove myself to everyone,” I admitted. “To your family, to the town, to myself. I don’t feel that way anymore.”
Emmett brushed my hair off my face. “You don’t have to prove anything, Lilah. You never did.”
“I know that now,” I said, smiling. “But it feels good to finally believe it, too.”
He kissed me then. Slow and unhurried, the kind that didn’t hide, didn’t apologize. No more secrets. No more fear of what anyone thought. Just us.
When he pulled away, I pressed my forehead against his.
“We’re really doing this, huh, Cadet Hayes?
” He smirked. Emmett had agreed to take Colt up on his offer.
Starting at the Police Academy in Dallas in two weeks.
He’d be commuting back and forth for the next six months before he could begin field training with Colt at the Wild Creek station.
“Yeah, sweet girl, we are,” he whispered.
I linked our hands. “Proud of you, baby.”
“Not as proud as I am of you.” He pulled away, eyes sparkling with pride. “Now go enjoy what you’ve built.”
I walked around, introducing myself to the veterans.
I saved the most timid-looking one for last. Lucinda.
She’d been hovering away from the crowd since she got here.
She reminded me of Emmett, and the way he’d looked when he first came home two years ago.
Brittle around the edges, convinced he had to carry it all alone.
“Hi,” I said with a soft smile. “You must be Lucinda.”
She lifted her chin. “That’s me.”
She still carried that stiff posture that had worn off the other vets—off Emmett.
That determined glint still shone in her eyes.
She had been discharged just six months ago and was struggling to adjust. Her unit had been ambushed, and she was taken hostage, hidden away for weeks.
I remembered crying when I read her file and knew I had to get her here.
I extended my hand. “I’m Delilah. We talked on the phone last week. I’ll be your therapist.” She stared at my hand for a moment, skeptical, before taking it. “I want to show you something, if that’s okay.”
It was important to me that every decision was theirs. Especially Lucinda, when her agency had been taken from her. She had told me about her concerns about the lodging being mixed gender, and I assured her that everyone was thoroughly vetted before being selected.
Lucinda looked around the ranch before nodding. I took her bag and she followed me into the lodging. “You said you grew up on a cattle ranch?”
“Yes, ma’am. In Montana.”
I stopped on the stairs. “You don’t have to call me ma’am. Unless that makes you more comfortable. But I’m not your superior here. I’d rather you think of me as a friend more than anything else.”
Her eyes widened some. “O-Okay.”
We walked down the hallway of rooms, and I went to the first one on the right. “This will be your room. You have an en-suite bathroom and”—I went over to the window and opened the curtain—“it overlooks the cattle ranch.”
She looked out the window at the pen of cattle, their mooing just loud enough to hear. Her eyes turned glossy. “Wow,” she whispered.
“Thought you’d like a little reminder of home.”
I also showed her the reinforced locks on the door. While I was explaining that she could see the cattle whenever, as long as she gave Beau and me a heads up, she threw her arms around me.
“Thank you so much, Delilah,” she whispered, voice shaking.
I hugged her back. “You’re welcome.”
“You have no idea how much this means to me.” She looked around the room, wiping her tears. “I was so nervous to come here, but I really think I can start to heal here.”
This was my why—why I fought so hard for this and why I entered this field in the first place. It all started with Emmett and my dad, but at the core, I just wanted to help people. Knowing I was making a difference was more rewarding than any external recognition I could receive.
Lucinda and I went back outside. I watched from a distance, leaning against a paddock, while she mingled with a few of the other female patients.
Claire came beside me. “Remind me to never be a bitch and doubt you again,” she said, and handed me a lemonade. “This is amazing.”
I chuckled. “It’s okay, not everyone can be perfect like me.” I smirked into the rim of my drink. She elbowed me in the ribs, laughing.
“Mama and Dad would’ve loved this, Delilah. What you’re doing here is really special.”
My throat tightened. “I hope so.” Charlotte and Ben Hayes might not’ve been my parents by blood, but they certainly felt like it.
With my dad dying when I was a baby, and my mom in and out of the picture, the Hayeses were the closest thing I had to parents.
I wanted to do right by them just like the rest of their children.
Claire smiled, soft but sure. “They’d be proud of you. I know I am.”
Three months ago, I would’ve second-guessed that. Today, I just believed her. I lay my head on her shoulder. “Thanks, bear. That means a lot.”
A few minutes later, Emmett came back over. He never did leave my side for long. “You leaving me for my sister, sugar?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t leave her unattended,” Claire chuckled. “Heard she has a thing for curly hair.”
I snorted. I definitely did. “Yeah, you can’t leave me to my own devices.”
“Oh, I learned that lesson a long time ago.” He smirked, sliding his hands around my waist. “Lucky for you, you never have to do anything on your own again.”
I slipped my arm around Emmett’s waist, resting my head against his chest as the sun rose higher over Freedom Reins.
“I love you.”
He kissed my temple. “I’m in love with you,” he whispered into my hair.
The sound of laughter drifted from the paddock, and a breeze lifted my hair. I looked around at all of it—the horses, the people, the family we’d built out of chaos—and felt something settle deep inside me.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I was chasing anything. I was right where I was supposed to be.