True Belonging ( Two Hearts THE COMPLETE SERIES ): A Cowboy Romance

Chapter One

Flint

“Well, here I am,” I said to myself as I drove the truck through the gate with Heaven’s Peak Ranch scrawled across it in letters made of rotting wood. That would be the first thing that I fixed. Ahead, the dusty road split into four. I took the turn-off to the left that led to the main farmhouse.

Trepidation traveled through my body as I saw the building creep upward in the distance. I could spot a group of people milling about near the entrance, obviously waiting for me. I had to wonder if they were there to help, or if they were going to lay into me the moment I got out of the truck.

Parking horizontally in front of the farmhouse, I took a deep breath and tried to convince myself that it was all going to be fine. None of them were going to try anything physical in front of the rest of the family.

“Don’t be stupid,” I chastised myself. Of course they weren’t going to try and murder me. Even cousin Lawrence wouldn’t go that far, despite the fact that he must have been absolutely furious at this turn of events.

“Hey, y’all,” I said as I got out and landed in the dust in front of the group. Lawrence was the first to step forward, holding his hand out to me for a good shake. There was something hidden behind his eyes, but it looked like he was going to keep the whole situation civil. Behind him, his wife, Kate, stood together with Brett, Lawrence’s sister. I wondered where the rest were, but I assumed that they were still too angry to come and look me in the face.

“Thought we could help you unpack.” Lawrence shrugged when I let go of his hand and he stepped back. “Hope you didn’t bring too many things.”

“Honestly, Grandpa’s barely in the ground, and you’re already here to rule his land,” Kate snapped, her face betraying how difficult it had been for her to keep that inside. I glanced at her with a sigh. Even if I had expected it, her words still stung. It was going to be difficult to get them all to accept that the ranch was mine now and not theirs.

“Kate, please.” Lawrence looked over at her. “We’ve talked about this.”

“More like you gave orders about it.” Kate shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. “Some of us still think he should do the right thing and give it all back to us.”

“You disappear for years, go do your stupid college degree,” Brett added snidely. “Pretend like your family never existed, and yet here you are, the moment you stand to gain something from us.”

“I didn’t make this choice,” I answered, already making my way around the truck to start unloading boxes while keeping my eyes on them. “If you have a problem, then you should take it up with Grandpa. He’s the one who gave me the ranch.”

“We all know you did something to him for it,” Kate sneered, but this time, Lawrence shot her a look that shut her up.

“If anyone wants to go home and leave the packing to us, then go,” he said angrily. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Brett was the first to come around and take a box from me. “But don’t think we’re just going to leave it there.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” I replied as I handed it over, and the rest of them started making their way over. I didn’t have a lot of belongings, so it would take less than half an hour if all of them stayed to help. Knowing that I would be expected to feed them all afterwards, though, already had my heart in a knot.

I wasn’t the best cook if I had the right ingredients in the first place, and I wasn’t sure if there was anything that I could use in the house. I’d brought groceries, of course, but they were supposed to last me several weeks.

Ahead of me, the family walked in a line toward the front door, which seemed to have been left unlocked. I wondered if they’d simply forgotten to do so, or if they’d hoped a coyote or something would break in and ruin my new house. Knowing how petty they could be, I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised.

“You can leave it all in the living room,” I called out as I followed them onto the porch in the tense silence that had been building up.

“Yes, boss.” The sarcasm that laced Kate’s voice had me rolling my eyes. Boxes were haphazardly dropped on the floor in the living room before everyone snaked back out to the truck. It took three more trips, but we finally had everything inside. It was going to take me some time to sort through the boxes, especially with the way they were simply thrown around.

Still, I couldn’t exactly complain. At least they had all helped me to carry things. I’d spent most of that time avoiding the pictures of my grandparents and the rest of the family on the wall. Only two of them contained me, from when I was still in grade school. Everyone else had adult versions of themselves captured forever in the frames.

When I placed the last box on the pile that sat atop the coffee table, I noticed that a circle of folded arms had formed around it. Eyes were filled with expectation, and I sighed.

“Make yourselves at home,” I said, stretching my arms above myself. “I’ll get started on dinner.”

“And poison us with your lack of talent?” Janice shook her head firmly. “Absolutely not. You get the ingredients. Kate and I will do the cooking.”

It seemed a good alternative to me. Brett and Lawrence shoved boxes out of the way to sit down on our grandfather’s old furniture. I twitched, hoping that they hadn’t scratched any of the wood. Belle followed her mother and aunt meekly to the kitchen.

“You should tell him about the barn.” I heard the sentence come from Brett as I was making my way to the kitchen, wondering what Janice was planning to make. The words made me pause, and I turned back to the living room.

“What about it?” I asked, arms crossed and eyebrow raised as I went to stand in front of the two men. Brett clearly didn’t think that I had been listening, but he now bumped an elbow into Lawrence’s ribs to encourage him to talk.

“I’ll sort it out myself,” Lawrence answered with a shrug, but I wasn’t going to be happy with just that.

“Sort what out?” I tapped my foot on the floor to illustrate my annoyance. “Is one of the animals sick? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Lawrence sighed heavily, as if I was making a big deal out of something ridiculous. “No. At least, I don’t think so. Just some odd things going on.”

“I think it’s a wild animal. Cat, raccoon, coyote maybe.” Brett counted the fingers on his hand as he went down the list. “Some of the hens haven’t been laying eggs as well as usual. One of the cows isn’t giving the milk she should. I reckon we’ve got a sneaky thief on our hands.”

“Animals don’t steal milk,” Lawrence pointed out. “Would explain the eggs, though.”

“Cows give less when they’re stressed.” Brett shrugged lazily. “Sure a crazy raccoon could stress her out like that.”

“And you’re planning on doing what exactly?” I turned my attention back to Lawrence. I needed to take the reins right now so that they knew who the boss was on this ranch. As soon as the deed was in my name, it all became mine. Things were going to change around here, whether they liked it or not, and it was going to start with Lawrence no longer being in charge.

“I’m setting out traps.” Lawrence eyed me with sly annoyance. “See if I can’t catch it.”

“I’ll do it,” I insisted, continuing to stare him down. “Next time something strange is going on, I expect to be told. This is my ranch now.”

“Is that so?” Lawrence tensed, but he seemed to think twice about a fight. “Well, then, whatever you say, boss.”

“Are you bringing those groceries?” Kate called from the kitchen, and I could feel my cousins’ eyes burning into my back as I grabbed the bags and walked out of the room. I wasn’t the kind of person who really enjoyed confrontation, but I wouldn’t be a pushover, either.

I remembered Grandpa’s complaints about my cousins from before his mind left him. I remembered the rumors that my mother told me about, and how she’d confirmed them. All of them seemed to think that the ranch should have gone to Brett and Lawrence, and they’d never paused to question why Grandpa would choose to give it to me instead.

Maybe one day, I would bring it up over a casual dinner. I’d remind them of everything they’d done to him and insist that they were lucky I even let them stay. Right now, however, didn’t seem like the exact right time to do something like that. Maybe they’d stop their nonsense now that I was here.

I wondered about the eggs and milk, though. It could be that it was the kids that stole the eggs and stressed out the cows. Brett could also be right, since there were a good number of wild animals out here. Still, it seemed like something simply wasn’t adding up. Were they just messing with me? I wouldn’t be that surprised. Of course, the two of them would look for any way to prove I was too incompetent to run this ranch successfully.

“Just going to stand there?” Kate ripped one of the bags from my hands and went through its contents. “Ugh, you barely brought anything worth making.”

“I didn’t think you’d all want to stay for dinner.” I shrugged, leaning against the counter once I’d put down the rest of the bags. “After all, I’m sure I’m not exactly your favorite person.”

Kate glanced over her shoulder at me. “Tradition is tradition, Flint. Maybe if you hadn’t abandoned us, you’d know that.”

“I didn’t…” I paused, deciding that I wasn’t going to go down that road. “Look, there are enough steaks and potatoes for all of us. They were supposed to last me a few weeks, but I guess I can live on whatever else.”

“Typical man.” Janice shook her head as she started rummaging through the cupboards. “No vegetables at all.”

“Potatoes are a vegetable,” I pointed out, but they looked at me, irritated. “Anyway, I’ll bring the fellas a beer, okay? Let’s loosen up.”

I carried the beers back to the living room with me, hoping that this whole dinner would be over fairly quickly. Knowing Janice, she’d want to get to bed by seven-thirty. That was still a whole three hours away, but I could handle that.

“Bud Light?” Brett made a face as he took the beer from me and cracked it open. Drops of the liquid landed on the carpet, making my jaw tighten. He’d never really had respect for our grandfather’s belongings, and it seemed like that wasn’t going to change any time soon.

“Know anyone in town looking for work?” I pushed the subject of my choice of drink away. “Sign out front has seen better days. I figure there’s a lot more that needs to get done around here.”

“Of course.” Lawrence peered at me before he took a deep swig of his beer. “You barely get here, and you already want to change everything.”

“You can help me if you like.”

“Go ask in town,” Lawrence insisted. “Sure there’s a kid or two who will work for a couple of bucks.”

“Am I not still paying you a salary?” I sat down on an open arm chair, eyeing the both of them strictly. I wasn’t entirely sure how much they got from our grandfather every month, but I was almost certain it was more than they deserved. The time for those kinds of games, however, was over. If they wanted money from me, then they would have to earn it.

“Not for fixing shit,” Brett answered calmly, but I could see something in his eyes that told me he was getting uncomfortable. “We look after the animals. You want a handyman, hire one.”

I nodded, not wanting to push much further. At least if they were competent in what they had to do, it was one less thing for me to think about. I would still have to keep an eye on them, but I knew that they at least cared for their animals. It was the one thing none of the rumors said anything about.

“Fine, then.” I crossed my legs at the ankle and pretended I was deep in thought. “You keep up with the animals, and I’ll fix up the farm myself. Except for your houses. That’s all on you.”

The room remained quiet for a while as the three of us drank our beers in the stale, tense atmosphere. A few times, I checked my phone, wondering how long I’d still have to entertain my family.

I did want to at least remain civil. It was what I’d promised myself when I decided to move back to the ranch. Still, it didn’t look like they were going to make it easy for me to do so. Hopefully, things would settle down as time went on, and they’d see that it wasn’t so bad. Except, of course, that I wasn’t going to allow them to steal from me like they did to our grandfather.

“Kate!” Brett shouted at one point, clearly starting to become impatient. “How’s the food coming?”

I got up from my chair, my beer empty and my mind wandering. “I’ll go and check on it.”

The aroma coming from the kitchen had my stomach rumbling. You could say a lot about Kate and Janice, but they knew what they were doing when it came to cooking. I only now realized how hungry I actually was. I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

“Smells fantastic.” I mentioned when I entered the kitchen and dumped my empty can in the trash nearby. “Thanks.”

“Didn’t say you could come in here.” Kate snapped over her shoulder as she started gathering plates and cutlery.

I didn’t point out that this was my house, but I didn’t leave, either. I simply watched them work, thinking that I would offer to do the dishes myself afterwards. I was already tired of having so many people around, and I had a lot of unpacking to do. On top of all of that, I wanted to get up early to check out the situation in the barn.

“Right, it’s ready. Get the boys, Belle.” Janice finally said, carrying plates past me to the dining room. From what I could see, they’d worked magic with the few groceries that I’d had, creatively weaving together a meal fit for kings. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have my family around if I could get that kind of food more regularly.

We gathered around the dining table, and luckily, Lawrence and Brett didn’t try to take a seat at the head of it. That was one sign that they were, though reluctantly, allowing me to take the reins. I sat down, waiting for them to start the prayer that I knew they’d want to give before we started eating.

Something caught my eye outside, flashing far down in the field. It happened so quickly that I almost thought that I’d imagined it, but I was sure I’d seen something. Was that the wild animal that they’d been talking about? I wanted to jump up and run out to see if I could catch another glimpse of it. On the other hand, if it really was an animal, it was already gone. There was no way I’d be able to catch up.

Brett cleared his throat. “What are you looking at?”

Lawrence had taken over the prayer, and when they’d said amen, they must have noticed that my eyes were still open. I sighed, knowing that they were all silently judging me for that.

“Thought I saw something out there,” I answered simply. “Wondered if it was that animal you’ve been talking about.”

“You want to go check it out after dinner?” Lawrence perked up, slicing into his steak violently. “If it’s still there, we can catch it red-handed.”

“No, I don’t think we’ll be fast enough.” I began eating with the rest of them, savoring the taste of the meat with the first bite before I continued. “I’ve got a lot to do here tonight. We’ll get it in the morning, see how much it’s taken.”

Dinner went on, mostly silent, with only the sound of clinking cutlery breaking up the monotony. At my suggestion, they left the dishes to me and finally disappeared down the dusty road back to their side of the ranch. I was alone with my boxes and my thoughts, and I suddenly realized just how tired I really was.

Everything could wait until morning, even cleaning up. I’d get a good night’s sleep and monitor the state of the farm when I woke up. After all, everything didn’t have to happen immediately. It wasn’t like there was anything chasing me anymore.

I went upstairs and wondered for a moment if I’d sleep in my grandfather’s room, but I decided against it. Instead, I turned to one of the guest rooms, which hadn’t been used in years, and got under the dusty covers. It wasn’t going to be the best sleep I’d ever had, but it would be good enough.