Page 24 of Rancher’s Strength (Flying Diamond 5, #4)

Chapter Twenty

RYDER

G etting ready for winter always meant long days and taking advantage of every moment of sunlight we had. There were fences to fix, bales to stack, barns to prepare, and, on top of the work needed for the riding arena and stables, it was exhausting.

It had been almost a week since I had supper with my family, so I decided it was time to call it a day.

We had all taken turns getting down a little earlier so we could be there for our kids, but I was missing Ruby and Sawyer fiercely.

I longed to hear about their day, their laughter at the table, and honestly, their fighting.

Me: I’m heading out.

Linc: Say hi to the kiddos for me.

Griff: Have a good night. I’ll come out and help you finish that fence tomorrow.

Nash: See ya.

Kipp: Yep

I was going to have it out with that asshole again if he didn’t pull his head out of his ass, I fumed as I got into my truck and slammed the door.

Making the short drive home wasn’t enough time to brush off the anger I felt regarding Kipp, but everything melted away when I saw Ruby sitting on the porch steps, her head tucked into her arms and resting on her knees.

“Hey, what’s this all about?” I questioned as I sat beside Ruby, quickly realizing she was crying. Nudging her leg with my knee, she finally looked up at me.

“I got scared.” She shrugged and lowered her head back into her crossed arms.

“How come?” I gently rubbed her back and waited for her to talk. If there was one thing I’d learned in therapy, and something the kids’ therapist also encouraged, it was the importance of not pushing for answers. They would come when the person was ready.

Ruby was quiet for a moment and then turned her head in my direction. “You’ve been gone so much, and I haven’t seen you. Auntie Lexie said I didn’t need to worry, but I couldn’t stop thinking.” She managed to get out through her sobs.

“Tell me what you were thinking, Ruby.” Was that an open-ended question? No, that wasn’t even a question; it was more of a demand. I hoped I wasn’t messing this up. “Only if you’re comfortable,” I added quickly.

“I was so worried you wouldn’t come home like my mom and dad.” Tears streamed down her face when she looked up at me again, and my heart broke open for her.

“Oh, my girl.” Quickly, I pulled her onto my lap, and she flung her arms around me as I held her tight.

“I can’t promise I’ll always come back, that’s not for me to know, but what I can tell you is that I will be fighting with everything I have to get home to you, Sawyer, and Auntie Lexie.

I know losing your parents is awful.” How was I supposed to make sure she knew I was here for her no matter what happened?

I wanted to tell her I’d always come home, but that wasn’t realistic, so I hoped the words I told her would be enough.

“You don’t know how it feels,” she mumbled into my shoulder.

“Actually, I do sweets, only I lost mine in a very different way.” Talking about my parents wasn’t something I did often or, quite frankly, at all. It was part of my past that I liked to keep in its place, but I wondered if Ruby needed to know I was aware of her feelings.

“You don’t have a mom and dad either?” She sat up, her blue eyes wide and waiting for me to talk.

“My parents did some bad things when I was about Sawyer’s age.

They just didn’t come home one day. My older brother tried to pretend everything was okay, but one day, when we went to school, we weren’t allowed to go back home.

” My older brother. I hadn’t thought about Luke for years.

I wondered where he was and whether it was time to track him down.

“Where did you have to go?” Ruby’s soft voice brought me back to this moment.

“I went to a place called foster care. My brother Luke and sister Natalie were sent to different places than me.” I hated thinking about this, while I was pretty good at pushing it to the back of my mind, there were times of the year when it was impossible to ignore.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I saw them a few times when I was little, but it’s been more years than I can remember since I’ve seen them.

” That wasn’t the total truth. I’d tracked Natalie down to Louisiana years ago, but I didn’t have the desire to let her know I was there.

She seemed to be doing well and had a good life, so I didn’t want to upend the proverbial apple cart by showing up unannounced. But that had to be eight years ago now.

“I’m sure glad you and Auntie have Sawyer and me. My life would be over if I lost him too.” Her tiny voice cracked, and I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “So, what happened to your mom and dad?”

“Well, my dad passed away a long time ago. I hadn’t seen him again, but I found out years later.” I didn’t just stumble upon it; I found it when I was combing through information, trying to find any scrap I could hold on to when I was younger.

“Like mine,” she whispered. Not quite like hers. Mine was shanked in a prison brawl and bled out before they could get him to the infirmary, but she didn’t need to know that.

“As far as I know, my mom lives somewhere in Florida with a new family.” I shrugged, and it was as shitty as you might think. Part of me was glad she’d cleaned herself up, but there was still a part of me that was bitter that my siblings and I weren’t good enough to come back for.

“She just forgot about you?” Ruby scrunched up her face, and I could tell behind those eyes was a brain working full force to make sense of this.

“Seems that way.”

“I don’t like your mom,” Ruby said, a frown across her sweet little face.

“You’re amazing, and she just forgot you.

Well, she can’t have you back, even if she begs.

I won’t let her. Sawyer and I belong to you now, so she can stay away; we’re your family.

” With a curt nod, she ended the conversation and managed to heal something I’d thought I’d put behind me years ago.

Right here on these steps, I had the same conversation with Lexie’s dad, Aaron, years ago. And Ruby’s words were almost exactly the same as his. “We’re your family now and that’s all there is to it.”

A strange car pulled into the yard. It was flashy and expensive.

Both doors opened, and a man and woman got out.

The bleached blonde hair I’d know a mile away.

“Ruby, go in the house, get Sawyer and Auntie Lexie, and go up to your room. Stay there until I come to get you. Understand?” I said, my voice firm.

She nodded quickly before running into the house.

Standing, I walked down the porch steps and met Violet and Desmond Tucker before they had an opportunity to get to the sidewalk.

“What do you want?” I asked roughly.

“Oh, come now, Ryder, we’re just here to offer our congratulations,” Violet said in her fake sing-song voice. She smiled and batted her eyelashes up at him.

“We don’t want your congratulations.” Folding my arms across my chest, I glared at the man standing opposite me.

“Now, Ryder, surely we can be civil. Vi was just being neighborly,” Desmond drawled in his exaggerated Southern accent.

“I know all my neighbors, and you’re not one of them.”

The crunching of the gravel made me turn to see who else had decided today was a good day to drop in for a visit. The silver half-ton belonging to Lexie’s mom turned the corner and came to a stop beside the shiny black car.

“Get the hell off my property, you dirty cunt.” Helen was barely out of the truck before she started yelling. She didn’t bother shutting the truck door, so she flew to my side.

“That’s no way to talk to an old friend,” Violet huffed, placing her hand on her chest in mock embarrassment.

“Don’t see any friends, old or new, here.” Helen was barely over five feet, but right now, I swore she stood as tall as I was. “I think I told you to leave.”

“This isn’t over,” Desmond said as he pointed at me. “How are those kids doing? Their actual grandmother sure misses them.” His smug smile made my blood boil.

“They don’t have any other grandmother, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.

I suggest you put us, and Weston gap in your rearview mirror.

It would be best for you.” I took a step closer to him, and he backed up.

He finally got in the car, and I turned my attention to Violet, who was looking at Helen with such sadness it almost hurt to watch.

“What did she want?” Helen asked as she turned to look up at me.

“Offer their congratulations.” I shrugged. “Want something to drink?” Heading into the house, I pulled the pitcher of sweet tea from the fridge and poured us glasses.

“Ryder? Hi, Mom,” Lexie said as she came down the stairs and noticed Helen in the kitchen. “What’s going on? The kids are terrified, and all I know is Ruby said we had to go up, and she dragged Sawyer and me to the room.”

“Shit.” Racing out of the kitchen, I took the stairs two at a time.

Opening the door to Ruby’s room and finding it empty wasn’t what I’d expected.

I checked Sawyer’s room as well but found the same thing.

There was only one more room, so I opened the door to Lexie’s childhood room and found both my kids huddled under the covers.

“Hey, you two. You can come down now.”

“Are you sure?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah, I am. Grandma Helen is here to see you both.” They flung the blankets off them, bounced off the bed, and ran to find Helen. Pulling the sheets back up, I tucked them under the pillows and turned the lights off.

Helen stayed for supper, and the kids regaled us with tales of their day, which led to more laughter than eating.

The bus ride to and from school, which seemed to be nothing but a chaotic nightmare, dragged Helen out to see their horses.

"Dragged" wasn’t the right word. She suggested it because she could tell Lexie was chomping at the bit to ask what was going on.

“Spill it, Saffort.” She tossed the dish towel at me, and we both stood at the sink.

“Violet’s husband has been causing some trouble around town. No, not around town. It has to do with the ranch.” I reached for the plate she’d just put in the sink and dried it off before placing it in the cupboard.

“What kind of trouble?”

“He wants the ranch,” I said flatly. There was so much more to this story, but we didn’t really have time to get into it tonight.

“Well, good thing you’ve got a great lawyer on your side, and she’s made every deal you’ve ever done ironclad.” She looked over at me and popped her hip out.

“And she was sexier than fuck when she did it.” I took a step close to her, wanting to touch her, but just as I was about to, the screen door screeched and the kids came flying into the house.

I never realized how much of a cock block kids were.

I chuckled and pushed those thoughts away, giving the kids my full attention as they dove into their stories again.