Page 135 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

The next morning, Amelia sat at the kitchen table, drumming her fingers.

"It's all going to be okay, Lil’ Bit. They'll come out when they're hungry," said Ford.

She shook her head sadly. "I feel like we should have tried harder last night."

He shrugged. "I don't know what more we could have done. We asked them to come out. But..." He shrugged again.

Amelia sighed. After Cash had left last night, they'd gone upstairs to try to talk to the children. But Nat had taken Hunter into her room with her and locked the door behind them. When she and Ford had asked them to come out, Nat had said they were fine and that they'd see them in the morning. She'd tried explaining that when she'd said they'd have to see about adopting them, she hadn't meant that she didn't want to. But Nat had yelled, and Ford had said that it was best to leave it until now.

Except now it was eight thirty. They still hadn't come downstairs, and Amelia was beside herself.

Ford came and offered her his hand, wrapping his arms around her when she got to her feet. "It'll be okay," he said. "I promise you. We'll figure it out. They'll come around."

She clung to him as he lifted her off her feet, and they spun around when Nat spoke from the kitchen door. "Hey, guys."

Ford set Amelia down and she reached for his hand, clinging to him. She had no idea where to begin.

Ford smiled and said, "Morning. Do you guys want some breakfast?"

Hunter came in and nodded, looking subdued. "Yes, please."

Nat lingered in the doorway. "I want to apologize first. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you. It's not..."

Amelia went to her. "You had every right to get mad, sweetheart. No, I don't mean that how it sounds. I mean, you misunderstood what I meant. But given that you didn't understand..." She looked up at Ford, realizing that she was making a complete mess of this.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Why don't we all go and sit down? We can talk about it."

Nat nodded and went to sit at the table beside Hunter. Amelia went to sit across from them, and Ford sat beside her.

He shocked her when he said, "I think this is really all my fault."

"No, it was me," she exclaimed, and she could tell by the look on Nat's face that she agreed with her.

Ford shook his head slowly. "All Amelia meant when she said that we’d have to see about adoption was that we'd have to look into how it all works. And the reason she didn't immediately say yes, of course we'll adopt you, was that now that Cash sorted everything out, she already is your legal guardian."

He looked first at Nat, then at Hunter, and then back again. "I'm the problem."

Nat scowled at him. "You're not a problem."

Hunter shook his head, and Ford blew out a sigh. "Yeah, I really am. See, Amelia didn't feel like she could speak for me and say, 'Yeah, we'll adopt you' right away."

Amelia had to nod at that. "It's not that I didn't think Ford would want to," she said. "It's just that... it's complicated... legally."

Nat nodded grudgingly. "Yeah, I guess I can see that."

"So, you don't get to adopt us?" Hunter asked.

Ford reached for Amelia's hand under the table and gave it a squeeze as he smiled and said, "Well, things have changed a bit since last night. So, if you guys want me to, then yeah, I do get to be part of it."

Nat's chin quivered as she stared at them, and her voice cracked as she said, "We want you to." Then she turned to Amelia and said, "And we want you to, if you can. I'm sorry I got so mad."

Amelia got to her feet and held her arms out. Nat came to her, and Hunter scrambled to his feet, throwing his arms around both their waists. Ford smiled at her as he wrapped his arms around them all as best he could.

"I want us to be a family," he said.

Nat nodded with tears streaming down her face. Hunter nodded rapidly and Amelia had to swallow before she could speak. "Then that's what we're going to do."

Nat swiped angrily at her cheeks. "But how?"