Page 60 of A Rancher's Vow

Maybe the social media storm had been the catalyst Dustin needed to see a good thing right under his nose.

12

One unexpected side effect of having been at Crooked Creek for the past week—Charity was disappointed to discover she had to make her own supper.

Or did she? One quick text was sent to Fern to see when her friend was done with work and if they could get together.

Fern marched in the door an hour later, pizza box in hand. “I want dirt.”

“I wanted meat lovers, so we’re definitely not sharing.”

Fern blew a raspberry. “I know you’ve been eating like royalty for the past week, so I didn’t splurge for wings, but I did nab salad fixings. You need to shop tomorrow. I did a good job cleaning out your fridge.”

They threw together the salad, loaded their plates, then settled on the couch.

“Tell me everything, or at least what you want to share,” Fern ordered. “But first, I’ve been watching social media and so far, the storm is settling. Shim was amazing, by the way.”

Charity paused with her pizza halfway to her mouth. “I’m terrible. I forgot he’d arrived.”

Fern waved a hand. “You were busy using your thinking muscles being mostly polite to Uncle Frank, and the rest of your brain was dissolved by the excellent sex.” She lifted a brow. “I assume it was excellent.”

Charity smiled. “Most excellent.”

Fern sighed happily. “I’m glad one of us is endorphin-ally satisfied.”

“Maybe it’s time you made a move on your guy.” Charity paused. “We did establish it’s a guy, yes?”

That got her an eye roll. “Yes. Now back to Shim’s excellent work—”

“You are so good at avoidance.”

“Thanks for noticing. Shim adjusted the Silver Stone website this week. Look at theAbout Uspage.

Fern held her phone up, already cued up to the right spot. She scrolled down slowly so Charity could peek.

There were three brief write-ups, but the pictures caught Charity’s attention first.

The black-and-white photo in the upper left corner was an older one. Two families were posed in front of or climbing on the massive wrought-iron gate to the ranch. The Stone parents, the Hayes parents, and all seven children grinned from the screen inThe Beginningportrait.

Fern scrolled down more, accidentally skipping over a few pictures, but Charity was too busy admiring the shots to complain.

The middle of the page was titledToday at Silver Stoneand had current day photos of all the grown Stone children with their partners. Kelli and Luke on horseback. Tamara and Caleb perched on a railing by the arena, animals milling in the background. Walker and Ivy seated on a porch swing. Ginny and Tucker on the dock extending into Big Sky lake, sunset glowing around them.

The bottom of the page was titledThe Futureand was a single shot of the next generation of Silver Stone. Hand in hand, the six children had their backs to the camera. In one unified line, from sixteen down to age four, they stood on the ridge overlooking the land, a herd of horses grazing in the near distance.

“Thatis a proper kids’ picture. Faces hidden.” Something settled inside Charity at seeing the image.

“Shim said he was warned multiple times to keep the kid’s images unidentifiable.”

“Good. He did a great job. This is amazing.” Charity poked at Fern’s thumb where she was covering part of the screen. “I can’t see the entire page.”

“First, I want you to acknowledge that it looks really good, yes?”

“Fantastic. Now move your fingers. Why are you hiding the picture of Dustin? Because I assume that’s what is under your big, fat thumb.”

“Here.” Fern handed the phone over.

Charity scrolled back up. “Oh.Wow…”