Now, though, she lifted the tiny, eight-pound human from his protective carrier and settled him into her arms. He grunted and groaned as if she’d disturbed him mightily, stretching one skinny arm above his head, and she cooed at him, smiling all the while.

  Bronson settled quickly, and Cherry sank into the rocking chair Will and Travis had made for Rissa. They’d brought it over this morning, and Cherry began to hum as she toed herself and the baby back and forth softly.

  Her eyes drifted closed, and such contentment filled her. Only the rhythmic sound of the chair on the hard wood floor sounded in the house, along with her breathing. Warmth from the baby seeped into her, and Cherry swore she heard choirs of angels singing.

  Through all of that, keen understanding that the past was in the past filled her. Cherry sighed, the fight with herself finally over. She still had some hard conversations to have, but in that moment, with such a beautiful baby in her arms, she felt like she could say anything.

  A light knock sounded on the door, and her eyes flew open. Lee entered, followed by Rosalie. “Hey,” he whispered, his face filled with the same light Cherry felt inside her. “We just brought dinner.”

  Cherry nodded and said, “They went to nap and shower.” She smiled at Rosalie, the perfect complement to Lee’s gruffer personality. “Where’s Ford?”

  “We left him and Autumn at Will’s,” she said, perching on the edge of the couch nearest the rocking chair. “Thought they might be too noisy.”

  “Do you want to hold him?”

  Rosalie definitely looked like she wanted to hold the baby, but she looked up at Lee as he came back into the living room. “No, you look so comfortable with him.”

  “You can feed him,” Cherry said, though she did want to be the best auntie to this little boy. If she didn’t live here, she had no idea how that would be possible. Rosalie would live right down the road. Gretchen and Shay too, and Cherry suddenly felt far more left out than she knew possible.

  For so long, she’d chosen to be the black sheep. The sister who didn’t live here, who didn’t want to live here, who liked her freedom and independence in the city.

  Her throat closed, and she stood and carefully passed baby Bronson to Rosalie. “I’ll get his bottle.” She met Lee’s eyes, and they’d always been able to talk without saying a word. He followed her into the kitchen, where she set about the task of making a bottle.

  As she had no children, she had to read the instructions on the side of the formula can, but she got the job done. “Here you go,” she said, handing the bottle to Rose. She smiled at Cherry, not really seeing her, because the baby had blinded her.

  Cherry knew how she felt.

  “C’mon,” Lee said under his breath. “Come talk to me out back.”

  Cherry went with him, her pulse shooting through her body at the speed of light. On the tiny back porch, she and Lee looked over the fields, now recently planted with their red winter wheat.

  “You’ve got a snake in your belly,” he said.

  “I have to tell you something,” she said. “Everyone.” She swallowed. “But maybe I’ll start with you, and then you can tell me what to do.”

  “I’m terrible at knowing what to do,” Lee grumbled, but he looked at her, and his gaze held acceptance and love, and Cherry knew he’d do whatever he could to help her.

  She linked her arm through his and said, “Don’t look at me.”

  “My word,” he growled, but he trained his eyes out on the fields. “Happy now?”

  She wasn’t, but it would be easier to talk if he didn’t have his eyes boring into her. “Remember how I said there was more to me leaving Sweet Water Falls than Charlie?” Just mentioning her once-boyfriend made her skin grow cold.

  “Yeah,” Lee said. “I know you and Daddy sometimes don’t⁠—”

  “It’s not Daddy,” Cherry said, cutting him off. She had no idea how to push these words out of her mouth. “I was upset one night,” she said, wishing she hadn’t. “It doesn’t matter. I left when I found out I was pregnant.”

  Lee held very still. His breath hissed out of his mouth, no shape or syllable to it. “What?” he finally said.

  Exactly, she thought. She’d never been married. Her parents would’ve been so disappointed in her. In her mid-thirties, she should know better, right? She knew how babies were made.

  “I didn’t want anyone to know,” she said, familiar self-loathing creeping up her throat. “So I left. I was almost done with my master’s degree, and I just thought…no one will have to know. Everything will be fine.”

  Lee looked at her, but Cherry leaned her cheek against his bicep so she wouldn’t have to bear the weight of his gaze. “Cherry,” he whispered. “You could’ve told me.”

  Those four words made her whole world better, and she smiled as tears rolled down her face. “I didn’t want you to think badly of me.”

  “I don’t,” he said. “I wouldn’t have.”

  “I was scared,” she said, her voice too high and not even her own.

  “I’ll bet.” He tightened his arm against his side, and in the next moment, turned and drew her into a hug. “No one else knows?”

  “You’re the first person I’ve told,” she said.

  “Even Mama?” he whispered.

  “Even Mama.” She couldn’t even imagine telling her mother about her misdeeds.

  “Where’s the baby now?” Lee asked.

  “I lost it,” Cherry said. “Only a few weeks after I moved to San Antonio.”

  Lee exhaled again and held her right where she wanted to be. Safe within his arms. Safe with her brother. Safe and loved, no matter what.

  There was a lot more to the story, but Lee didn’t ask for the details. Cherry didn’t want to talk about them. “Seeing that little baby just made everything…churn up, I guess.” She stepped back and wiped her face. She blew out her breath as she faced the fields again. “Thank you, Lee.”

  “For what?”

  “For saying I could’ve told you.” She finally dared to look at him, and Lee wore compassion and worry on his face. “I want to come home.”

  He graced her with a warm smile. “Then come home.”

  “I need a job first.”

  “No, you don’t. Just go pack up and come back. You’ll find something.”

  Cherry moved into his side again, and it sure was nice having a tall, strong cowboy for a brother. Especially one as kind and wise as Lee. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  “Not a soul,” he said.

  “Not even Rose,” Cherry said.

  “Not even Rose.” He wouldn’t either, Cherry knew that. Lee was a man of his word, and he was extraordinarily gifted at keeping secrets.

  “All right,” she said, breathing out a sigh. “Who’s cooking tonight?”

  “You’re not?”

  She looked at him, sure he was joking. “You’re kidding,” she said.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I thought you were. Rissa and Mama usually do, but…”

  “I’ll go get pizza,” she said, an idea forming in her mind. “Can you guys stay and help with Bronson so Spence and Rissa can rest?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Lee said.

  “Great.” Cherry stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Love you, brother.”

  “I love you too, Cher.”

  She left him standing on the back porch, and she called in her order for pizza, salad, and breadsticks the moment she got behind the wheel of her car. She texted everyone in the family that she’d have dinner on the farmhouse table in a little over an hour, and then she texted Jed about joining her.

  He called, which said Jed to her more than anything else he did. “I want to,” he said instead of howdy. “But we’re clearing the corn maze tonight to start to get it ready for our Christmas thing.”

  “All right,” she said, a hint of frustration creeping through her. “How about I bring you some dinner, then?”

  “You already brought breakfast yesterday.”

  “Yeah, and I haven’t seen you since,” she said, starting to feel some attitude. “Maybe you don’t want to see me.”

  “Cherry, don’t say that,” he said with a sigh.

  “What were you going to eat for dinner?”

  “I don’t know. Frozen pizza?”

  “This’ll be better than that,” she said. “Just say no if you don’t want me to come.”

  He didn’t say anything, and Cherry smiled to herself. “All right, cowboy,” she said. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  “Cherry,” he said, almost like he was afraid she might hang up on him. “Hurry.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, clearly flirting with him, and then she ended the call. She was starting to see a future for herself again. A future with a woman who had hopes and dreams, after a few years where she’d stopped allowing herself to think or imagine or hope for anything in her life beyond what she currently had.

  But Sweet Water Falls, her family, the farm, that baby, and Jed… Yes, Cherry was ready to start dreaming again, and instead of running from the hometown she’d thought she hated, she wanted to return to it.

  “Pizza?” Jed said with a laugh a few hours later. He jogged the remaining distance between the two of them, took the two boxes of pizza she’d brought, and put them on the roof of her car.

  He swept her into his arms, twirling her around. “You want me to fall in love with you, don’t you?” he teased.

  Cherry held onto those glorious shoulders and grinned at him. “Is that what it takes? A couple of pizzas?”

  “It doesn’t hurt,” Jed said, smiling as he lowered his mouth to hers. He kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in a month, not just over twenty-four hours. “Mm, you taste like chocolate.”

  “Guilty,” she murmured against his lips. “Mama made her cookie pie.”

  “Tell me you brought that, and I’ll ask you to marry me tonight.” He searched her face, but Cherry laughed and shook her head.

  “You’d have to fight off my brothers for leftover cookie pie,” she said.

  “Dang,” Jed said good-naturedly. “I guess the proposal will have to wait.” He reached for the boxes and led her toward his truck. He helped her up onto the tailgate, then flipped open a box of pizza, and pulled out a slice.

  He ate it in silence, and Cherry just enjoyed being outside, in his presence, the scent of cheese and marinara floating on the air.

  “I have to tell you somethin’,” he said, real serious-like.

  She looked at him, nerves pouncing through her chest. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin from the box. He couldn’t look at her, and tension descended on the two of them. “I guess I’ll just blurt it out.”

  “You’re pretty good at doing that,” she said, teasing him as she reached for his hand.

  He squeezed her fingers tightly. “Forrester Farms needs a new office administrator, and I think you’d be perfect for it.”

  Cherry opened her mouth to respond, but she hadn’t been expecting him to say anything like that. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” He sighed and reached for another piece of pizza.

  “I thought you might be telling me one of your secrets.”

  Jed looked at her, and Cherry smiled. No, she wasn’t just going to accept the job outright without thinking things through first. He was her boyfriend. This was his farm. He’d be her boss. All of that knotted and tangled inside her, and no. She wasn’t going to accept the job right now. He hadn’t even offered it to her.

  He’d told her about it.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “That wasn’t a secret.” He frowned. “Or maybe it was. I don’t know. Easton said I shouldn’t tell you, but Chris has been needling me since yesterday afternoon to offer you the job.”

  “So that’s why you were distant last night,” she said.

  “I wasn’t distant,” he said. “I was arguing with Easton.”

  “Ah.”

  He finished his pizza and said, “We can swap secrets later if you want.”

  “Later? As opposed to just sitting here and doing it?”

  “Yeah.” He took out a third piece of pizza and hopped down from the tailgate. “Right now, I want to show you something.” He offered her his free hand, and Cherry looked from it to his face. He wore a mischievous smile that went so well with his dark brown cowboy hat, that navy blue shirt, and those jeans. He was cowboy perfection, and he had to know it.

  The thing with Jed was, he didn’t.

  So, wanting to go on an adventure with him, she put her hand in his and said, “All right, cowboy. Show me something.”

  8

  Jed could’ve eaten three more pieces of pizza, but he’d felt awkward chowing down while Cherry sat there, her legs dangling from the tailgate of his truck. He felt fifteen again, ducking around the corner of the barn so no one would see him sneak a kiss with her.

  She wore jeans that tapered to her ankle and a pair of shoes that couldn’t go far on the farm. Her pink blouse slipped through his fingers, and she giggled against his mouth. “Is this what you wanted to show me? The side of the barn?”

  “No,” he said, gaining control of his hormones. “But it was nice, right?”

  “Mm.” Cherry looked up at him, happiness dancing in her eyes.

  “You seem…different,” he said, cocking his head slightly to see her better. She ducked her head, which he could’ve predicted, and Jed backed up. “Come on.” He took her hand and led her along the side of the barn. “So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while.”

  “Is this one of your secrets?” She stumbled slightly behind him, but Jed didn’t try to catch her. He’d already said something to push her away, and he wasn’t going to act the knight now. It had only made her angry in the past.

  He’d spoken true. She was different, but he couldn’t put his finger on why or how. He did want to whisk her away from her life in San Antonio, but only if she wanted to come to Sweet Water Falls of her own volition.

  “Yeah,” he said. “It is.” He paused suddenly and gripped her hand. “You can’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t,” she said, her breath coming in a couple of quick spurts. “Do we have to run there?”

  He grinned at her. “You’re never happy.” He started walking again, slower this time.

  “I am too,” she argued back.

  “You don’t want to kiss me by the barn. I’m walking too fast,” he said. “It’s fine. I know I’m a pedal-to-the-metal guy, and you’re not.”

  “Well, I hope not,” Cherry said. “I’m not a guy at all.”

  “You know what I mean.” He’d been teasing, but the conversation turned sober. “I like to go fast, and you’re…more cautious.”

  “Only in some things,” she said, refusing to give in to him. He half-liked that and half-wanted her to just let him be right for once.

  “You’re doing it again,” he said, keeping his eyes forward. He suddenly wasn’t sure he wanted to show her his secret.

  “Doing what?”

  “Arguing with me about how the sky isn’t blue.”

  Cherry said nothing, and a slip of vindication moved through Jed. The fact that she didn’t argue meant he’d been right—about her moving slower than him and that she’d been arguing with him on purpose. She didn’t mean to, he knew, and guilt seeped into him for feeling victorious that he’d called her out.

  “You’re not wearing the right shoes,” he said, coming to a slower stop once more. “We can see it from here.” He gazed past all the fields and cattle in front of him, his focus on the horizon.

  Cherry, in the kind part of her heart, looked and waited. Looked some more, even going so far as to shield her eyes from the sinking sun in the south sky. “What am I lookin’ at, Jed?”

  He swallowed, the lump of fear really hard to get down far enough that he could speak. “I’ve been talkin’ to Lady Jones for the past couple of years.” His voice stuck in his throat, and he cleared it out. “Betty Jones?”

  “I know the name,” Cherry said, her grip firm against his.

  “She owns all the land you can see way out there on the horizon.”

  “Back behind yours,” she said, not asking.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Her husband died five or six years ago, and she’s been doin’ the best she can. I started helpin’ her with some of her bigger tasks one day when I was out on the ATV checking the herd.”

  “Of course you did,” Cherry said.

  Jed filed that for now, but he wanted to ask her what she meant by that. Should he not help a neighbor who needed it? A widow, with grown children who’d left their ranch and not returned, even after their daddy’s death? Betty had hired help, but it was never enough, a feeling Jed knew well.

  “She’s getting ready to sell, and she asked me if I wanted to buy her place.”

  Cherry pulled in a breath, but she didn’t ask him if he was going to do it. The question sat there between them anyway.

  “My secret is that I want to,” he said quietly into the fading light. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it yet—besides Betty. And now you.”

  “You should do it,” Cherry said, and that got Jed’s eyes off the dark line on the horizon. He focused on Cherry, his smile curving his lips.

  “Yeah?” he challenged. “Why should I?”

  “Because you’d be a great farm owner,” she said.

  “It’s a ranch,” he said. “And not cattle.” He looked back out across the land he loved so much.

  “What kind of ranch?”

  “A rescue ranch,” he said. “Right now, she takes in horses, cattle, ducks, pigs, anything really. Any animal that needs help, and she nurses it back to health. She just got a couple of llamas, and she’s been over here, trying to figure out how to help them.”

  “You gave her Petals, didn’t you?” Cherry asked, her tone as quiet and reverent as his.

  He chuckled and ducked his head. “I’m that transparent, aren’t I?”