He drew her close again. “I want that for you, Birdie.” Even if it meant that she would leave the Powder River Basin, her job here done.
HOLLY JO HADN’T wanted to see a doctor, but HH had insisted. She’d been reminded of her promise to not cause trouble if she made it back home. So she’d gone. She liked Yvonne Shepherd, the young woman psychologist. Yvonne let her talk about anything she wanted. Most of the time, Holly Jo wanted to talk about her horse and her trick-riding ambitions to be the best.
But they also talked about other things that had been bothering her—like getting herself kidnapped. Yvonne said she understood how Holly Jo might feel guilty, but that she shouldn’t. “If they hadn’t grabbed you that day, they would have some other day. You did nothing wrong.”
She wasn’t completely sure that was true and told Yvonne how it seemed like everyone in the Powder River Basin knew her, but she didn’t know them. It was why she’d walked up to that pickup to talk to the woman. How could she trust anyone now?
“You will in time,” Yvonne promised. “The majority of people can be trusted.”
She’d even had the nightmare about a burning Darius Reed chasing her less often. She felt herself getting stronger.
After one session, she had the courage to ask HH something. “That man who kidnapped me,” she said, her voice breaking, “was he my father?”
HH looked upset. “No, of course not. He was a man who felt I had wronged him and his family. I had. It was many years ago, when I was just sixteen, not that age is an excuse.”
“Then who is my father?” Holly Jo had seen the way people around Powder Crossing looked at her, wondering who she was, what she was doing on the McKenna Ranch, wondering if she was HH’s daughter. She’d heard the whispers behind her back.
She’d told herself that it hadn’t bothered her. Let them all wonder. She wondered too, but HH swore he wasn’t her father. Not that she’d ever known her father. Her mother had only told her that he was gone, which she’d accepted until she was older. Then she’d wanted her mom to tell her what gone meant. “Dead?”
“Just gone, okay?”
“Gone where?”
“Holly Jo, stop asking me about him. It makes me sad.”
“Because he isn’t coming back?”
“Exactly.”
HH looked sad now. “I honestly don’t know who your father was. Your mother never told me. It wasn’t Bobby Robinson, the man who married her after she became pregnant. She never told him either. I’m sorry. But you don’t have to worry. I’m going to legally adopt you as my own.”
“Adopt me? But what if he tries to kidnap me, too?”
“No,” he said hurriedly. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m never going to let anything like that happen to you again.”
She knew he meant well. Just as she knew that was something he couldn’t promise. She still blamed herself for walking over to talk to the lady in the pickup.
“I learned something from all this,” HH said. “The way you treat other people...it matters. Be kind, do the right thing. I know you will.”
She wanted to ask, What if they are mean to you? She couldn’t believe he was telling her to just take it. She thought of Gus, who was afraid of his own shadow. She didn’t want to be like that. “Can I go ride my horse?”
HH looked relieved and then concerned. “You aren’t planning to leave the ranch, are you?”
She shook her head. “I never want to leave.” That made him smile, but there was still sadness in his eyes. “Maybe tomorrow we can ride together, but today I just want it to be me and Honey.” She wanted to feel the wind in her hair, experience that feeling of flying. Honey made her feel safe. Honey made her believe that one day she wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
“Go, have fun,” HH said, though she could tell it was hard for him. Would he worry now every time she left the house? “Elaine said she’s still going to take you to Billings to buy what you want for your room when you’re ready.”
“Okay, thanks.” But decorating her new room when the house was finished was the last thing on her mind. Which reminded her how much she wasn’t that girl anymore.
“Holly Jo?”
She stopped at the door and turned back to look at HH. He too had changed. He seemed older, and she felt bad about that. Maybe when he healed more, he wouldn’t look so afraid for her. “Yes?”
“Just...enjoy yourself.”
She smiled her thanks, knowing he was going to tell her to be careful but had stopped himself. “There’s Pickett,” she said at the sound of a car horn. “He’s taking me over to the ranch.”
HOLDEN WATCHED HER GO, his heart breaking. He’d wanted to hug her to him, to not let her out of his sight, but she was too old for a hug from him, and that had never been their relationship even if he could have hugged her with his injuries.
He’d been given another chance—not just raising a child, but also establishing a relationship with her. He’d been afraid of making the same mistakes he’d made with his own children. Now he’d already jeopardized her life. He couldn’t keep worrying about messing her up. He told himself that he’d already done the worst.
“She’ll be fine,” Elaine said, coming into the room as Holly Jo went out the front door of the Stafford house in her jeans and boots and Western shirt and hat. “Children are resilient. I would imagine that once you live through something like that, you grow stronger. At least, that’s what I hope for her.”
“We almost lost her,” he said, voice breaking with emotion.
She nodded and stepped to him to cover his hand with her own. “We almost lost you as well.”
He scoffed, hating to think how he’d let his temper get the best of him. It was a wonder he hadn’t gotten the sheriff and Holly Jo killed. “Am I ever going to learn?”
“Are any of us?” She smiled down at him. “Maybe you are, though. You accepted Charlotte’s offer. That seems like a huge step.”
He groaned, remembering his reaction when Elaine had told him about Charlotte’s offer. Live in the Stafford Ranch house? What had Lottie been thinking? His first impulse was to turn her down flat.
“You would be doing Charlotte a favor,” Elaine had said. “She won’t be there. I think she might be trying to make up for the past a little. Would you deny her that?”
He’d groused for a while, but it had been Brand who’d convinced him his mother had been sincere in her offer. “The house is pretty much empty and right next door to your ranch,” Brand had said. “It might be a way of putting all that old animosity between the two families to rest. I really wish you’d take her up on her offer. Ryder and I will be around occasionally, but that’s about it. She’s let go of the staff.”
“This is your chance to get to know your son, a working rancher like you,” Elaine had said, and he’d finally agreed.
