13
Charlie Grace juggled a lunchbox, a water bottle, and a pair of sneakers as her daughter, Jewel, hopped around the kitchen, trying to wriggle into her pink jacket. The smell of sizzling bacon and the faint, floral tang of Jewel’s detangler lingered in the air, mixing with the piney scent of wood smoke from the stone fireplace in the adjacent living room. Outside, frost still clung to the windowpanes, and the hum of the school bus echoed faintly in the valley below.
“Mom, I can’t find my other mitten!” Jewel whined, her voice tinged with eight-year-old urgency.
“They’re by the back door, Puddin’,” Charlie Grace said, setting down the sneakers and reaching for the lunchbox lid. Her hands moved quickly, tucking a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the box next to carrot sticks and a cookie wrapped in foil. “Go grab them, or you’ll miss the bus.”
Jewel darted off, her socks skidding on the hardwood floor, and Charlie Grace exhaled sharply, tucking a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear. She glanced at the clock. Seven twenty-seven. Three minutes to go before bus pick-up.
The back door creaked open, letting in a sharp gust of cold mountain air as Aunt Mo stepped in, carrying a wicker basket of fresh eggs. Her cheeks were pink from the crisp morning, and her gray-tinged hair was tucked neatly under a knitted hat. “Mornin’, darling,” she said, shaking the cold off her boots. “I thought I’d pop over and see if you needed an extra hand.”
Charlie Grace’s polite smile was automatic. She turned off the stove and plated up the bacon. “I’ve got it, Aunt Mo. Thanks, though.”
Aunt Mo didn’t bother with niceties. She planted the egg basket on the counter, her brow lifting in a way that reminded Charlie Grace of a ranch foreman inspecting the hired help. “You’ve always ‘got it.’ That doesn’t mean you don’t need help. When’s the last time you sat down, hmm?”
Charlie Grace sighed and pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, brushing aside the creeping tension. “Really, I’m fine. Jewel’s ready, and the bus is coming. After that, I’ve got a schedule to keep.”
“Which is exactly why you do need help.” Aunt Mo leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. “Look, you’re not Superwoman, Charlie Grace. You’re runnin’ this ranch, raisin’ a little girl, lookin’ after your dad, and keeping things from falling apart. Let me take something off your plate.”
The faint rhythmic sound of wheels squeaking down the hall broke the brewing argument. Charlie Grace’s father, Clancy Rivers, rolled into the kitchen in his chair, his weathered hands spinning the wheels with practiced ease. His hat, as always, sat perched at a jaunty angle, the brim shadowing his sharp, lined face. His boots—polished but worn at the edges—rested on the footplate.
“Morning, ladies,” he said, his deep voice rumbling like a storm on the horizon. “What’s all the fuss about?”
“Nothing, Daddy,” Charlie Grace said quickly, sliding Jewel’s lunchbox into her backpack.
Aunt Mo gave Clancy a knowing look. “Your daughter’s stubborn as a mule. Won’t let anyone lighten her load.”
Clancy chuckled, the sound rich and surprisingly warm. “Runs in the family.”
Charlie Grace’s lips twitched at the corner, and she shook her head. “Don’t start.” She pointed to the table. “Your bacon and eggs are waiting.”
She crouched to zip up Jewel’s jacket as her father maneuvered his chair to the table.
The accident that had put Clancy in the chair was years ago, but its shadow still loomed. He’d been thrown from a horse while rounding up cattle during a thunderstorm—a freak bolt of lightning had spooked the animal. The fall left him paralyzed from the waist down and changed everything for the Rivers family.
For a long time after the accident, Clancy had been angry—at the world, at himself, and most painfully, at Charlie Grace. She’d made the hard decision to turn their sprawling cattle ranch into a guest ranch to save them from financial ruin. Clancy had resisted, calling it a betrayal of their heritage, but the mounting medical bills and dwindling income left no choice.
The battle between them had been fierce, with words thrown like daggers, but time and resilience softened the edges of their conflict. Eventually, they’d found a delicate peace. Clancy, though still resistant to change, had come to respect Charlie Grace’s determination and resourcefulness.
“You know,” Clancy said now, breaking into her thoughts, “Mo’s got a point. You don’t have to do it all on your own, Charlie Grace. Stubbornness is admirable, but it ain’t practical.”
She glanced at her father, his gray eyes steady but soft. He wasn’t lecturing—just reminding her she wasn’t alone. She straightened and gave a half-hearted shrug. “I have plenty of help. Do I need to remind anyone you hired Gibbs? I fired him after finding him in the hay with Albie’s niece, and you hired him back.”
Was that a grin on her father’s face?
She shook her head, knowing this was an argument that couldn’t be won. “Fine. I’ll think about it.”
Aunt Mo snorted. “She won’t, but at least I’ll have tried.”
The sound of the school bus rattling up the lane in the distance saved Charlie Grace from replying. Jewel moved for the door, mittened hands waving. “Mom! It’s here!”
Charlie Grace grabbed her backpack and slung it over Jewel’s tiny shoulders. “Okay, go on. I’ll watch from the porch.”
She followed Jewel outside, the cold biting her cheeks as she stood on the wide front porch, waving as her daughter ran for the end of the lane and clambered onto the bus. The engine growled, and the vehicle lumbered down the icy road, leaving a faint trail of diesel in the crisp air.
As she turned to go inside, her gaze swept across the sprawling ranch. The barns stood sturdy against the pale morning light, their red paint vivid against the snow-dappled fields. Smoke curled from the chimney of the main lodge, and a distant neigh carried on the wind. A horse-drawn sleigh, loaded with hay bales stood waiting.
Gibbs stepped out of the barn, adjusting his hat before leaning against the fence. A cigarette dangled between his fingers, a thin trail of smoke drifting upward as he waited for her to join him in feeding the cattle.
