K.N. Casper - As Big As Texas

“Except Birdsong stays here, right?”

He nodded.

“That’s the part she won’t be happy about. She’s been counting on having her horse in our stable.”

“One other thing. You—or she—also do half the chores. That means coming over here every other afternoon after school and mucking out the stall. Might as well find out if she’s serious about this horse business.”

Kayla laughed. He liked the sound and the way her face lit up.

“Try it for, say, three or four months. After you’ve gotten a taste of the care and feeding of horses and have a better idea of what you’re letting yourselves in for, if you still want to buy her a horse, I’ll help you find one.”

“BUT YOU SAID we were going to buy Birdsong.” Hands fisted, Megan stomped her foot. “You promised.”

“Megan, I said I would consider it if we could afford to and if Birdsong was available, but Mr. Ritter doesn’t want to sell her. I can’t make him.”

“You promised,” she shouted, red faced. “You said I could have my very own horse. I love Birdsong and she loves me.”

Under different circumstances Kayla might have laughed at her daughter’s notion of instant love.

“Calm down, honey. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

Megan glared at her, her mouth pinched. She didn’t often throw temper tantrums, but when she did they had serious consequences. Her breathing was already becoming rapid, raspy.

Kayla led her to a bench beside the old barn, sat her down and reached into her pocket for the extra inhaler she always carried.

“Here, use this,” she said.

“I don’t want it,” her daughter all but shouted, though her voice didn’t carry very well. “I want Birdsong.” Her breaths were coming in quick inhalations now. But it was exhaling that was most difficult.

Ethan finished filling a water trough over by the corral and strolled over. Kayla had been aware of him watching them. “What’s wrong?”

“Her asthma is acting up. She’ll be all right in a few minutes.” She again offered the inhaler.

Desperate now for air, Megan didn’t refuse it a second time. She sucked in two draws from the small canister, and her breathing immediately began to ease.

Kayla stayed with her for a few minutes before getting up. “Wait here while I get your purse. I think you left it hanging near the gate.”

Megan nodded.

Ethan trailed along beside Kayla. “Your daughter has asthma and you brought her to a stable. Don’t you know horses can set off an attack?”

She looked at him, impressed with his knowledge of the disease, displeased by his holier-than-thou tone.

“She’s not having a reaction to the horses, Mr. Ritter. She’s brought this attack on by getting upset.”

“What would have happened if she’d reacted to the horses?”

Kayla stopped and glared at him. “I would have taken her home immediately, put her on her nebulizer and not brought her back. As it is, I may not anyway.”

“I can’t believe you’d take that chance.”

Kayla prayed for patience. “Mr. Ritter, I’ve lived with my daughter’s health problems all her life. I’m well versed on what she can tolerate and what she can’t. She’s been around horses nearly every week for the past year without difficulty. Today has been no exception. She’s upset because she can’t take Birdsong home. It’ll pass.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“You offered to give her riding lessons a few minutes ago. Are you going to renege?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then you do your part, Mr. Ritter, and I’ll do mine. Can we agree on that?”

He clearly didn’t like being cornered. Daryl hadn’t liked it, either, when she called him on commitments he’d made.

“Bring her Monday after school. If she has another attack, though, the deal’s off.”

ETHAN FINISHED hanging up the last piece of tack and scanned the room for anything out of place. Order had always been a trademark of the Ritter barns and stables under Carter Dunlap. The old man had been a ranch hand on the Broken Spoke long before Ethan was born.

Satisfied, Ethan turned off the light as he exited, only to bump into the old cowboy outside the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Carter asked.

“Just finishing up.”

“I mean about the girl.”

“Giving her lessons. What are you so upset about? We can use a few more paying customers.”

“You can’t change the past. I’d have thought you’d understand that by now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ethan started to walk around him, but the old man grabbed him by the arm with strength that was surprising and a bit frightening.

“It’s over. She’s at peace. Let her go, for God’s sake. Torturing yourself won’t do no good. Get on with your life.”

Ethan yanked his arm away.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Carter called after him.

But it was his fault. Nothing could change that, either.

Ethan’s heart was pounding as he strode toward the back of the ranch house.

Was Carter correct? Should Ethan put distance between himself and this girl with the uncanny resemblance to Angela? Was he trying to relive history…and get it right his time?

It didn’t matter. He’d made a deal and he would live up to it.

“THE VINES SHOULD be arriving around ten,” Kayla’s father reminded her over the breakfast table Monday morning.

“Looking forward to getting your hands dirty?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

Boyd Crawford had been skeptical when she’d found this land opportunity in Texas, but he’d supported her and agreed to come along for a few months to help her establish her first vineyard. He understood how desperately she needed to make a new beginning after Daryl had walked out on her and Megan.

Over the past month they’d identified the ten acres that had the best potential, the optimum incline and drainage. They’d tested the water, analyzed the soil and installed an irrigation system. Last week he’d flown to California and personally arranged for the shipment of select vinifera vines.

Texas boasted a growing number of flourishing vineyards. All Kayla’s studies indicated this one should be equally successful.

“Finish your milk, honey, and then get your backpack,” Kayla told her daughter. “The school bus will be here in a few minutes.”

“I’m going to ride Birdsong this afternoon, Grandpa,” the girl sang. She’d been grounded over the weekend for her temper tantrum at the Broken Spoke on Friday, yet that was all but forgotten.

“You be careful now.” He smiled at his granddaughter.

At this point Kayla wasn’t sure she was as thrilled with the idea of Megan riding. Facing Ethan Ritter again wasn’t something she particularly relished. The man had a sharp tongue, which was aggravating, and other aspects she found disturbing in a different way. His good looks, for instance. The shape of his mouth and the warmth in his green eyes made her entertain possibilities she thought she’d dismissed from her life when she’d divorced Daryl last year. Distractions she didn’t have time for now.

She couldn’t deny that she found Ethan’s personality intriguing, too. He projected strength and self-confidence, but also vulnerability. He was obviously good with kids—at least he’d been with Megan—which added to his appeal. Still, something about the man unsettled her, something she couldn’t put her finger on.

He was opinionated and critical, yet she felt safe with him, perhaps because of the protective way he’d reacted to Megan. Whatever it was, it had her spending too much time thinking about the guy.

“We’ll go over to the Broken Spoke right after you get home from school and change clothes,” she told Megan.