The Cowboy's Homecoming Surprise (Fly Creek) Read online

  “I brought this by for Mel. I believe Ryder has some plans for it, and I thought it might help with the healing.”

  His father’s words. The catch in his voice. The love he so obviously had for his granddaughter. Ryder clenched his fists following the surge of jealousy. Why not him? He knew he could be loved. Knew he was capable of loving.

  He caught Peyton’s leery glance and gave her a firm, short nod. She opened the door and gestured his father in.

  Mitchum met his son’s appearance with nothing. No hardening of the eyes, no smile, just a blank canvas of a face. He’d brought the moose rack Mel had found during camp.

  Peyton closed the door and came up beside Mitchum. “Can I take that for you? Mel’s asleep right now, but I’ll let her know you dropped it off.”

  The strain, the plea in Peyton’s voice was obvious. She didn’t want the scene to play out any more than he did, but the thrumming in Ryder’s veins told him that something had happened. Shifted. His father, while not happy, was definitely not in attack mode. His shoulders were hunched, his gaze locked firmly on the moose rack he’d brought for him. He looked weary and even more aged than when Ryder had arrived home just two weeks ago.

  Mitchum placed the rack on the floor, leaning it against the couch. “If you need the tools to finish it, let your mother know. You might want to engrave it, too.”

  Although he’d spoken basically to Peyton’s carpet, Ryder couldn’t help but smile at the small olive branch his father had extended. He could have sworn just a few hours ago that there was no hope for the two of them. That Mitchum probably would have finished the rack for Mel anyway despite knowing Ryder had told her he would do it.

  Peyton smiled and looked to Ryder. She shrugged.

  “Can I get you something to drink, Dad?” Ryder hadn’t known what else to say. Didn’t know how to respond to this shift. It wasn’t his house but at this point formalities seemed out of context.

  Faded blue eyes met his and he shook his head. “I need to say something to you. Drinks will just delay that.”

  “I’ll leave you two alone.” Peyton brushed by Ryder, squeezing his hand in support.

  Ryder crossed his arms and waited. Mitchum would just get riled up if you tried to speed things up. He did things his own way and in his own time, but it didn’t help that although Ryder may have looked solid and stoic on the outside, inside he was a five-year-old begging his dad to put him on his shoulders and toss him in the lake.

  “I looked over your plans for the lake cabins. I think it’s going to be a good enhancement to Sky Lake.”

  Ryder nodded. “Thanks. Alex and I have tried to keep and preserve as much of the area as possible.”

  “And you’re right. I wouldn’t have listened if you had called and offered to buy it.”

  “Can I get that in writing?”

  The corner of Mitchum’s mouth shifted a bit. “No. Can’t have something like that floating around to haunt me. Your mother would hold it over my head until I was long in the ground.”

  Ryder smiled. “True. She does know how to capitalize.”

  They stood in silence each looking anywhere but at the other. So much history and baggage between them and yet Ryder knew in that moment that his father did love him.

  “Have you ever believed something for so long that it becomes the truth and you can’t remember any other way?”

  Ryder nodded. He knew that demon by a first name basis.

  “This issue, this thing between you and I. It was on me. It was never about you. My failings, my insecurities. Every time I looked at you I was reminded of my failure and how Sky Lake might not be around for you, my son. And then you started making suggestions, and to me they came out as ‘here is another way you screwed up.’ When you left I used it to convince myself that I had been right. That we were better off without you. But we weren’t. We aren’t.”

  “You didn’t fail, Dad.”

  His face hardened “Didn’t I?”

  Ryder stepped closer and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. It felt smaller, less strong, and he hadn’t realized how much burden his father had carried all these years. A burden he’d increased by leaving instead of trying to figure out how to work with him.

  “Sky Lake is still here. It’s still strong and going. That’s not failure, Dad. That’s perseverance.”

  Mitchum grabbed him and hauled him in for a hug. “I’m proud of you, Ryder. Proud of the man you’ve become, and I do love you, Son. I haven’t been a good father or even a good person but I never stopped loving you.”

  They broke apart. Emotion clogged Ryder’s throat and he cleared it several times. “I’m sorry, Dad. I handled everything poorly all those years ago, and I let my pride get in the way but I never stopped caring. About you, Sky Lake, or Mom.”

  Mitchum picked up his hat from the couch and adjusted it on his thinning hair. “The past is over. Let’s keep Sky Lake running for you and Mel.”

  Ryder nodded, and his father let himself out. Peyton came down the hall a few minutes later and walked right into his arms.

  “You okay?” she asked, planting a kiss on his heart.

  He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m perfect.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Glad to hear. Now where were we?”

  She pulled away and grasped his hand. He followed her willingly down the hallway and into her bedroom. She’d lit a few candles and he remembered the first night in here less than two weeks ago. When they’d still been reeling from the past. Now they were firmly planted in the future.

  “Welcome home, Ryder.” Peyton pulled him into her willing body and when their lips met in a crushing kiss, his heart reared up in triumph. Ten years had led them, him, to this moment of pure perfection. A family, a home, and a future.

  …

  Two months later…

  Pinned to the aspen was a green card. Peyton trotted Trixie over and shifted in the saddle to reach it.

  She cried like a waterfall that day but it became the first step toward middle ground.

  What kind of hide and seek game were they playing? She made her way to the indoor roping arena. She circled the building and on the back set of doors was another card, this one blue.

  I didn’t punch him. You remember the spot.

  Her face heated as she remembered that night. The crest before they’d come tumbling down. She turned her mount toward the river and followed it coming up on the back side of the paddock. Circling the fence, the horses inside trotting along with her, she found the next card blowing in the wind attached to a post. Snagging the red card, her fingers shook as she read the words.

  Though devastating at the time, the moment she broke was the moment we came together.

  The card slipped from her fingers and she tightened the reins and kicked her heels. The climb up Roaming Trail seemed to take hours when in reality only minutes had passed. She worked her way off the trail, allowing the mount to pick and choose her hoof placement even as she wanted nothing more than to spur her faster. If the anticipation thrumming through her veins was even remotely accurate, the last thing she needed to do was fall off her horse.

  She broke through the clearing to find Mel sitting on a fallen tree. She wore a card around her neck and a smile as big as the Grand Canyon on her face.

  “Hmm, hide and seek is usually handled without sitting someone in the open.”

  Mel just smiled and hopped down, meeting Peyton halfway. Peyton slid to the ground, drawing the reins over the horse’s head. Mel took off her card and exchanged it for Peyton’s reins. Her daughter led the horse over to the tree and looped the reins around a thick, sturdy branch. Satisfied both equine and offspring were safe, Peyton opened the card.

  Ten years of loss can never be reclaimed, but from the moment my boots touched home you claimed my heart with every word, action, and kiss. Our history helped build the present and I hope you’ll let it continue to build our future. I love you, Peyton Brooks. Will you marry
me?

  Tears dripped onto the card. She looked up to see Mel jigging up and down, her gaze fixed on something to Peyton’s right. She spun and there, on bended knee, was Ryder. Choking on a sob, she walked toward him, each step quicker than the next until she was all-out running. She slid to a stop and dropped to her knees in front of him. They were partners, lovers, and parents.

  “I love you,” she said, cupping his face with her hands. She kissed him, melting into his body as his arms slid around her. They overbalanced and went tumbling backward, and still she sought his lips for more. The loud laughter of a ten-year-old broke through, and she shifted to the side to see Mel standing over them. Her cheeks pink and her smile from ear to ear.

  “Did she say yes?”

  Peyton looked back at Ryder and he flipped open the wooden box. There, nestled in green, sat a ring. Two horseshoes supporting a diamond, the band wrapped as if made of rope. She wanted so badly to reach out and trace it but the moment, the emotions sought to paralyze her. After everything, the years, the pain, the anger, the resentment, it all rolled together to bring them here with Mel. To their joining.

  Ryder, in yet another moment of understanding, helped her sit up and with painstaking determination, love pouring out his expression, lifted her hand and slid the ring on her finger. She nodded, words failing her, and crushed his hand in hers. He extended his other hand toward Mel and their daughter joined them on the ground. The three of them tightly entwined in a moment of happiness. A family moment. They’d finally come home together.

  Epilogue

  Peyton collapsed onto the edge of the tub and stared at the words in front of her.

  “Mom, open up. I’m going to be late for school and my favorite headband is in there.”

  Peyton spied the purple and silver metal band Ryder had given their daughter for Thanksgiving. She grabbed it and slid it under the door. “Here. Ask your father to drive you to school please.”

  “Umm okay. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yep. Fine, sweetie. Have a good day. Love you.”

  She listened through the door until she was sure both Mel and Ryder had left. He would no doubt be back in record time and grilling her. She had at most fifteen minutes to prepare what she was going to say.

  By the time he came back through the door she’d calmed herself down enough to make some tea and toast. Her stomach couldn’t handle much more than that.

  He knelt beside her. “What’s wrong? What can I do?”

  She burst into tears, no doubt a byproduct of the extra hormones she now knew were raging through her body. “I think you’ve done enough,” she said with a laugh.

  He looked so confused and worried, wiping her tears with a napkin, even as she continued to cry and laugh.

  “Peyton, you’re scaring me.”

  She grabbed his cheeks and pulled him close for a kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Do you think I might name one of the new cabins?”

  “That’s what this is about?” He stood up and scrubbed his hands on his face, the beard he was growing not quite back to full mountain man. “I mean, sure, if you want. Nothing could probably be worse than Mel’s contribution.”

  Peyton burst into laughter again. Their daughter upon hearing she could name a cabin had promptly decided on Apple Tart. Shelby had beamed when she heard.

  “So what’s it going to be? The Best Laid Plans or maybe Peach Schnapps.” He laughed. “At this rate I wonder if anyone is even going to bother staying in them.”

  “I was thinking ‘Nine months later.’”

  “I’m not sure if…” His eyes grew round and he opened and closed his mouth, clearly unable to finish his statement. Dropping to his knees beside her, he placed a hand on her stomach. “Are you? Are we? Am I?”

  She smiled. “I am. We are. You’re going to be a daddy again.”

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  Acknowledgments

  To Heath, for loving me through the craziness and pushing me to reach further for my dreams. I love you.

  To my girls, for drawing me pictures during deadlines and making me smile even when it is tough. I’m so proud that you’re mine.

  To my editor, Alycia. Thank you for all your hard work that makes my books shine. I hope you like Ryder a little bit more.

  To Judy, thank you for the moonshine, hush puppies, and friendship. In no particular order.

  To Jody and Kyra, thank you for being the best release day buddies a debut girl could ask for and for continuing to support and encourage me. I’m blessed to call you friends.

  To everyone at Entangled Publishing, Thank you for being a joy to work with and for all the hard work and support you provide me in producing the best book possible.

  To my mother, I hope to be even half as strong as you are throughout life. Thank you for always being in my corner and telling me “It will all work out” even when we both know it might not.

  About the Author

  Jennifer lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. When not writing, she can usually be found elbow deep in flour or inhaling chlorine as she cheers her daughter on at a swim meet. She loves musicals, caramel, and roller coasters, and lists Machu Picchu at the top of her bucket list. She is a member of RWA and Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers. Find out more about Jennifer and sign up for her newsletter at www.jenniferhoopes.com.

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