Page 50 of The Cattleman’s Unforgettable Love: Ford and Amelia (MacFarland Ranch #11)

Amelia’s breath caught in her chest. She didn’t even know what to say. It seemed that the others were all as stunned by Natalie’s reaction as she was – and Natalie made the most of the chance to twist away out of Cash’s grip and run at Ford, yelling,

“Put him down! Let him go!”

Amelia could only watch as Ford set Hunter back on his feet and said in a low, soothing voice, “I was trying to protect him. That kid knocked him down. But then – you know that, don’t you? That’s why you jumped on him.”

Natalie glared at him but didn’t answer as she pulled Hunter to her side and asked, “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“I told you, Nat – I found Amelia. And these guys are all our uncles.” He took a step back toward Ford. “This is Uncle Ford.”

Amelia’s heart broke for her niece as she watched the play of emotions on the girl’s face. It was easy to see anger, disbelief, and fear.

What saddened Amelia was that she didn’t see anything that looked like hope.

“You don’t even know who they are, Hunter,” she hissed. “They could be anyone. They could be human traffickers, for all you know.”

“We could,” Ford agreed. “But we’re not.”

Cash took a step closer and smiled at Natalie. “Looks like you have a choice, darlin’. You either trust your brother and trust us – or you trust your instincts to keep you safe around the kind of people who prey on stray kids at the airport.”

Amelia’s heart sank when he added, “I reckon you’ve already met a few of that kind since you’ve been here, haven’t you?”

And Natalie dropped her gaze.

“I thought as much,” said Cash. “Listen, I know you don’t have enough to go on yet – but I promise you, we’re your best bet. Your Auntie Amelia and the rest of us.”

Amelia flinched when Natalie swung around to glare at her again.

“You never even looked for us,” she spat out.

Amelia stood a little straighter. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t look for you because I didn’t know you existed.”

It was a horrible admission to have to make, and even worse to have to live with. Silence hung in the air after she spoke, and she felt as though every single one of them must be judging her – knowing what a terrible person she was that her own brother hadn’t even told her he had children.

Ford came and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

She wanted to be stronger than that. Wanted to stand on her own two feet to face the awful truth, but she wasn’t that strong. And so, she leaned against him gratefully.

“That’s right,” Natalie spat out. “Mom didn’t want you to know about us because you would have taken us away from her!”

“I would never have done that. I would have wanted to help. I want to help now – if you’ll let me.”

She watched as Hunter went to his sister, and Natalie hugged him close to her.

“We should get out of here,” she told him.

“You should,” said Ford. “You should come with us. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

Natalie stared at him, and it was easy to see the mixture of defiance and something that might be longing in her gaze.

Amelia wanted to be able to say something that might persuade her, but she was lost for words. The voice of guilt in her own mind sounded a lot like Natalie’s.

Emmett stepped forward and said, “I can’t say I know how you feel, Nat. But Cash was right that you have a choice to make. And while you’re weighing that choice, I want you to think about this… If you don’t come with us, then you’re asking Hunter to stay here with you.”

He turned deliberately and looked toward the end of the hallway where the bigger boys had disappeared – including the one who’d pushed Hunter to the ground.

“I know you want to take care of him,” Emmett continued. “But do you really think you can defend him against them?”

He pointed at Amelia and Ford and then around at the rest of them. “Or would you rather have these guys – and all of us – looking out for the both of you?”

Amelia’s eyes filled with tears when Natalie’s shoulders sagged.

“It’s okay,” Hunter told her. “I promise. Auntie Amelia and Uncle Ford will take care of us now.”

Natalie glanced at Amelia before turning Ford. “You saved him from those kids,” she said.

Ford nodded.

“Thanks.”

Cash stepped forward with a big smile on his face that would seem out of place if Amelia didn’t know him so well.

He was good at that – at moving situations along, at stepping out of tension and danger as soon as they were over and moving on.

Not only moving on to whatever came next but also making it seem like nothing untoward had ever happened, and everyone needed to just chill out and cheer up.

~ ~ ~

Ford clasped his hat to his chest and rested his head back against the seat. The cabin of the jet was dark. He glanced over at Amelia. She'd fallen asleep a little while ago, and he was glad. She needed to rest.

This whole situation had stressed her out to the max.

And he knew that it wasn't just stress, but guilt that was getting to her.

He didn't believe that she was guilty of anything.

From what she'd told him, she'd done her best to support her brother Danny until she'd reached the point where she knew she couldn't do any more.

He looked over to where Hunter was curled up over two of the club seats. He got the impression that the kid needed sleep even more than Amelia did. She'd had a stressful day – Hunter had been living in a stressful situation with that so-called foster family.

Ford shook his head. He'd probably been living in stressful situations his whole life. He leaned forward in his seat a little to check on Natalie. She wasn't sleeping. She sat sideways in her seat, her feet up on the one next to her, arms folded across her chest defensively.

Amelia had tried to talk to her a few times but hadn't made any progress. When Cash had tried, the girl had been openly hostile. Although Ford could kind of understand that, since Cash had been the one to manhandle her earlier.

Of all of them, Emmett was the only one who'd managed to get through to her. But that wasn't so surprising since Emmett had daughters himself. Alana was a couple of years older, and Tanya was right around the same age.

Ford sucked in a deep breath and pushed to his feet.

Of course, he'd wanted to talk to her before now, but he'd kept waiting to give her a chance to gather her thoughts first – and each time he'd left it too long, and someone else had gone to try to get through to her.

As he stood, he checked on the other guys.

Wade gave him a chin lift from his seat in the back.

Ty looked up from tapping away on his phone.

Cash and Ace, who were sitting together further forward, glanced in his direction, and Cash gave him a nod.

He went to sit by Natalie and had to smile when she closed her eyes.

"I'll go away again if you want to pretend to be asleep.”

Her eyes opened, and she looked him over cautiously. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I'm just checking in, seeing if there's anything you want."

"Why does it matter what I want? It's not like you're going to turn the plane around if I say that's what I want, is it?"

He shook his head slowly. "No." He pressed his fingertips to his temples, wondering how best to approach this. Eventually he met her gaze and said, "But I don't think that really is what you want, is it?"

She shrugged.

"You want to look after Hunter, right?"

She nodded.

"And you were on your way to spring him from that house where he was staying, weren't you?"

She nodded again.

"And what was the plan from there? Were you going to bring him back to the airport with you?"

She blew out a sigh. "I thought the airport was a good place."

Ford nodded. "I'd have to agree with that."

She looked surprised and continued as if she still needed to defend the idea.

"If you think about it, there are bathrooms. It's air conditioned, and the rain can't get in.

There are hundreds of kids wandering around, coming and going from their vacations.

" She dropped her gaze before meeting his again as she added, "And there's plenty of food. "

She was obviously judging how he'd react to that last part. He hated that she thought he might be mad at her for needing to steal food.

He gave her a half smile. "I'd have to say that you're far smarter than most people twice your age to even think of going there."

She seemed to relax slightly, and he saw her smile for the first time when she said, "Mom told me it was something Dad used to do when he didn't have anywhere else to go." Her smile vanished and she shot a venomous look at Amelia and added, "After his family disowned him."

Ford closed his eyes. It was easy to see how it must look to Natalie.

"She loved your dad very much, you know."

Natalie scowled and crossed her arms over her chest again. "If she loved him so much, why did she never see him? Why did she disown him?"

"She didn't disown him. What do you know about your dad?"

Ford didn't want to tell her that Amelia had taken him to rehab multiple times and had tried for years to get him cleaned up before she eventually cut him off.

Natalie made a face. "I know he was an addict. So was my mom. That doesn't make them bad people, you know."

"I know. But it does make it hard to help them." He met her gaze. "I bet you know what I mean, don't you?"

She turned away, and Ford didn't want to imagine what she was thinking – how a girl in her situation might have had to help her addict parents over the years.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway," Natalie said. "They're dead."

"And I'm sorry," said Ford. "Now, you're all that Hunter has, and you want to do your best for him. I get that, believe me, I do. But as smart as you are, you're only 13, right?"

She nodded.