Page 144 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

Ford didn't get it either, but his heart sank when Emmett said, "Laney and Frankie were both barrel racing when they were Tanya and Nat's age."

Tanner laughed out loud and slapped Ford's shoulder as he said, "And this is just one of the many reasons why I'm so glad that Ash is a boy."

Chapter Thirty-Two

As soon as Amelia settled into Ford's spot on the sofa, Hunter climbed on beside her and snuggled up. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

"Hi, little man. We should probably pack you off upstairs for a shower soon." The kid smelled like wood smoke and ranch. Not that it was an unpleasant smell. Amelia had already gotten used to it. She'd come to love it. She smiled when it hit her that she'd come to associate the smell with home.

Hunter rested his chin on her shoulder and looked up into her eyes, and her heart overflowed. It was easy to see that he was beat, but he'd had such a good day. He seemed to have cemented his friendships with both Ashton and Mateo. And Amelia liked that all three boys included little Maya, too.

"I'll go up soon. I just wanted to sit with you. Today was a good day, wasn't it?"

Amelia touched the ring on her finger. "It was a fabulous day."

Hunter sighed happily. "I hope you and Ford get married soon. And then you can adopt us."

"I don't know how fast we'll be able to make it all happen, but we'll get there," she assured him.

Nat came wandering in, and when she saw them, she came to flop down on Amelia's other side.

"Did you have a good day?" Amelia asked.

Nat nodded. "I did. Thanks. Everyone was nice."

Amelia wished that she didn't say it as if she'd expected them all to be mean, but it was a start. Nat reached for Amelia's hand and ran her finger over the blue sapphire. Then she smiled. "When he said it was a Montana sapphire, I thought that was cool. But what he said about the land..." She nodded. "That's really cool."

Amelia had to agree with her. Ford was right that she wasn't a flashy diamonds kind of girl, but the Montana sapphire meant the world to her – especially once he explained it.

"Where is he, anyway?" Nat asked. "I'm going to go up soon." She held up her phone. "I want to go through all the photos from this morning and figure out the best ones for you."

"Thank you," said Amelia. "I want to go through the ones that Sierra took of the four of us together this afternoon. I want to get some printed and put them up around here."

Nat smiled at her. "When you do, can I have one? For my room."

Amelia swallowed as she nodded.

"I want one, too," said Hunter.

"We'll go through them all together," Amelia told them. "Decide what we want to print and where we want to put them." She checked her watch. "And as for where Ford is, he had to go down to the bunkhouse for something or other. He said he'd try not to be too long, but maybe..."

"And he wasn't too long," Ford said as he came through the door from the kitchen. "Sorry it took me a while, but I'm here now."

All three of them smiled at him.

"So, did we have a good day?" he asked.

They nodded. "We were just talking about that," said Amelia. "I think it was a success all around."

"What did you enjoy about it?" Ford asked Hunter.

The kid gave it serious consideration before saying, "I can't decide what I enjoyed the most. But all of it. I had fun with Ashton, and Mateo, and Maya. She's cool, too. And everyone was nice to me. And... oh, I got a grandpa, too."

He said it so casually that Amelia wondered if she'd misheard. She looked at Ford, but from the way he was smiling, he seemed to understand. When she glanced at Nat, she was relieved to see that she was smiling, too.

"He means Jim," she explained. "I really like him."

"What did he say?" Ford asked.