Page 34 of Want You Back (Second Chance Ranch #1)

Chapter 34

Maverick

“You’re back.” Colt pulled me into a tight hug, which was a bad, bad idea because I was seconds away from crumpling like a tissue as it was. Not particularly caring who was nearby, I held him tightly because the alternative was to hit the dusty barn floor outside the riding arena.

“Uncle Maverick.” Hannah had been on Magnolia when I arrived, but she’d left the horse with Kat to dash to my side, joining in the hug. Colt stepped back, but Hannah continued to cling to me, gazing upward with big, liquid eyes. “How is Mom? You can tell me the truth.”

Hannah was so, so brave, and my chest swelled with pride even as my heart ached for what she was enduring.

“Faith is alive.” I started with the most important detail, the one that had been in question for several long hours. “In the ICU, but stable, finally. She had more internal bleeding that required another trip to the OR.”

“Is she going to make it?” Hannah’s voice was wary like she was scared to hope too hard. I understood the feeling all too well.

“I’m going to be honest that it didn’t look good for a while there, but the doctors think her chances are much better now.” I needed to name a horse or perhaps a whole barn after Dr. King and the work she’d put in to save Faith. She’d lost a lot of blood, to the point that I went and donated while she was in surgery for the second time, a small thing I could do to top up the supply of our uncommon blood type. “She has a long way to go, but I talked to her before I left.”

“Oh good.” Hannah exhaled so hard that her whole body shuddered. Faith had been even more groggy for our second conversation, but what she’d said had very nearly brought me to my knees.

Dreamed. Mom said get…back on the horse. I’m gonna fight, Mav. Want to get better. Be better.

“She wants to fight,” I told Hannah now. “She wanted me to come tell you in person how sorry she is.”

Hannah buried her head in my chest. “When can I see her?”

“I’m hoping for tomorrow.” The one visitor at a time and no visitors under eighteen rules were still in place. I’d also been ordered by Faith, Dr. King, and more than one nurse to come home to sleep. “There’s more you should know though.”

“She was drinking.” Stepping back, Hannah grimaced. She’d seen far more than any middle schooler should have. That much was certain. “I knew it. Is she going to go to jail?”

“Maybe. We don’t know yet.” I hated not having an answer for Hannah. Or me. So much remained up in the air. “She did a bad thing. I think she’ll probably plead guilty and see what can be worked out. She sounds willing to go to a facility to get help after she’s healed.”

“I hope she goes.” Hannah’s voice turned firm with no small amount of anger. “I don’t want her to go to jail, but I know what rehab is. That’s where you stop drinking. She needs that.”

“Yeah, she does.” I had to agree, but I’d also seen the most vulnerable side of Faith within the last twenty-four hours. “And she needs you. Whatever you’re feeling right now is normal—angry, sad, hurt. I’m feeling all that as well. But your mom also needs our love right now.”

“I don’t want to go back to Houston with her.” Gaze dropping, Hannah kicked at the dirt with the toe of her riding boot.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” I promised, pulling her in for another hug. “I’m here for you no matter what, Hannah. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Okay. I think I want to ride my horse some more.” She swallowed hard, shoulders back, chin jutting out. So damn stoic, and she shouldn’t have to be, but I was impressed nonetheless by her fortitude.

“You do that.” I gave Hannah one last hug. “I might go find some coffee.”

“Coffee? You need your bed,” Colt scoffed. He’d hung back while I talked with Hannah, but he stepped forward now. “I’ll walk with you.”

“Go. I’ll keep an eye on the girls.” Kat made a shooing motion with her hand.

“You okay to walk?” Colt peered at me as we exited the barn into the hot summer sun. “I could go get the truck.”

“I can walk.” I sounded disgustingly like my father, so I gentled my tone. “Slowly. But stretching my legs feels good.”

I wasn’t lying. It did feel good to move. Adler had stumbled to the upstairs bedroom as soon as we’d arrived back at the ranch, but I’d needed to see Hannah and Colt. And move. Breathe. Remember smells and sounds other than the hospital.

“You tell me if you need a hand.”

“I always need a hand.” Feeling bolder than usual, I grabbed his hand and held it tight, less for balance and more for the simple pleasure of holding it. “Did you mean it when you said you believed in me? That I can do anything I set my mind to?”

Hearing that after my long night had been more potent than a triple shot of espresso.

“You’ve always been impressive.” Colt swung my hand lightly, a little playful in a day of awful. “Great grades despite what was going on back here at the ranch. Put yourself through college. Great career. I saw what you did with the house here.” He stopped near the back steps, a fond expression in his eyes. “You always did have talent.”

“Thank you.” If I were less exhausted, I’d preen, but I settled for a grateful smile.

“And for better or worse, you have ranching in your blood.” Colt gestured around us at the land and outbuildings. “If you want to make a go of this place, not simply wait your year out, I believe in you. You’re more than capable.”

“I sense a however coming any second.” My tease had a certain wariness to it.

“No.” Colt pursed his lips, making me less inclined to believe him. “You asked me to fight for us. And I’m ready to do that. I want you to stay. Am I scared you’ll get tired of ranching? Yes. But that’s different from thinking you can’t do it.”

I want you to stay. I’d waited so long to hear those words my knees nearly buckled.

“Does it help if I tell you I’m scared too? Or does that make it worse?” Forcing my rubbery legs forward, I climbed the steps to the kitchen door, turning at the top of the porch. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I only know I have to try. It’s the right thing for all of us—Hannah, all the ranch hands, Grayson, Willow, you and me included.”

“And you?” Colt tilted his head, considering.

“Funny thing.” I ushered us into the house. “When I told you the other day that I was staying, I thought I was finally being selfless for once in my life, putting everyone else’s needs first, my own be damned.”

“What’s that you told me?” Leaning against the counter, Colt gave me a pointed look. “Your needs matter.”

“They do.” I nodded. I considered sitting on one of the stools, but I was so tired I might fall asleep right at the island. “And I need to stay. For my own reasons. I don’t want the story of the Lovelorns to be bad luck and disappointment, ending with a whimper of a land sale.” I took a deep breath.

I’d thought long and hard about luck while sitting in the hospital waiting room. The kind we make for ourselves, the kind the universe hands out, and the intersection of the two. I wanted to believe we were more than our bad luck and bad choices as a family.

“Makes some sense.” Colt nodded for me to go on.

“You and Grayson kept saying that this place was more than my father, and I didn’t see it until two a.m. or so when I started wanting to be home in the worst way.” My back tensed at the word home and all the power therein. Sitting in the waiting room, I’d been bone tired, but my craving had been for something more than a bed. “The ranch is home. My home. And it can be so much more than it has been.”

“I saw what you did to the house.” Colt gestured over at the family room, where I’d added more splashes of color. “Pretty remarkable.”

“I want to fill the place with joy. Fresh starts. Good energy.” My voice rose as I warmed to my topic. “I want to do it for Hannah, but also for me . I want to show that the ranch and I are both more than our pasts.” I’d made my share of mistakes, and here, making over the ranch, I’d finally found a path to forgiving myself and moving beyond missteps. “We’re the present and the future too. And I’m on a mission to prove it doesn’t have to be bleak.”

“Good.” Colt smiled, eyes staying solemn. “I believe in you.”

“That easy?” Shaking my head, I met his gaze.

“That easy.” He shrugged before pulling me to him, holding me close. “Believing in you is the easy part. Trusting the future to work out in my favor, that’s the hard part.”

“Believe in us.” I pressed a quick kiss to his mouth. “None of us know what the future will bring. I saw that really clearly last night. I’m optimistic, but I’m not unrealistic. We’ll have hard times. Good years. Bad years. Low cattle prices. Ruined crops. Kid drama. Sheriff stress for you. But I want to have all the times together.”

“I want that too.” Colt’s eyes were needy. He returned my kiss with a barely restrained hunger that stole my breath, but he released me before it could turn into something sexier. “We always did make a good team.”

“We’re a great team.” I went hunting for another kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you.” Hands on my shoulders, Colt spun me away from him with a gentle pressure. “And because I love you, I’m ordering you to go sleep. We can talk more after you crash.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“I’ll do my best.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. I liked that he wasn’t making an absolute promise. Doing our best was all either of us could promise right now, and that was more than okay.