Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

C harlotte had never seen so many people gathered outside of church, a funeral, or a wedding.

In fact, the number of men, women, and children currently crowding into the barn where Bennett had gotten married seemed to be twice as many people as any of those things.

Squire and Kelly's son, Finn, was leaving Three Rivers Ranch for service in the United States Army. Charlotte had met Finn, of course. He worked with her in the stables quite often, in fact.

He was tall and charming and young—and dating a pretty blonde his age named Edith. She was planning to go to France for an au pair job, and apparently Finn had decided his path included military service.

He also hadn't told anyone that—not even his parents—until a few days ago. Kelly's party-planning skills shouted from the rafters of the barn, where camouflage streamers hung down and chatter and party music lifted up.

"It's a buffet," Beau said, his hand in hers tight. She didn't want to lose him in this crowd, because this was way more than just the normal Three Rivers crowd.

"Come meet some of the Glovers," he said, taking her away from the food. The people thinned enough that she didn't have to brush past anyone here, and Beau led her over to a few couples. "Preach."

One man turned toward him and immediately stepped in to hug him. "Beau, brother, hey."

Beau stepped back smiling and indicated Charlotte. "This is Charlotte," he said. "Charlotte, this is Preacher Glover, his cousin Ward Glover, and the owner of Shiloh Ridge Ranch, Bear Glover."

"That's a lot of Glovers," Charlotte said, letting herself sparkle as much as possible. She shook all of their hands, and listened while they introduced their wives.

Charlie, Dot, and Sammy. They had little children with them, and by the time those names were said, they'd started to blur in Charlotte's head.

She did know one thing, though. "You play games with Preacher and Ace," she said.

"Yeah." A smile bloomed on Beau's face. "He's around here somewhere, I'm sure."

"He went to get a gluten-free tortilla wrap," Bear said. "As if they'd run out of those."

A beat of silence followed, wherein Charlotte wasn't sure if he was trying to be funny or if he'd literally just growled the words.

Then Sammy said, "Don't be a grizzly, Bear."

"I'm just sayin'," Bear said. "No one's going to take a gluten-free tortilla when there's a perfectly glutened one available." He took a little girl from his wife, and the child softened the cowboy considerably. He even smiled at her.

Preacher started to laugh, as did Beau, and Charlotte decided it was okay to smile too.

Beau stepped back to expand the circle as more cowboys arrived. "Hey, you." He grabbed onto one of them, the one with the darkest features, darkest hair, deepest eyes.

"Charlotte," he said. "This is Jeremiah Walker. The Walker boys own Seven Sons Ranch."

"Great to meet you," Charlotte said, shaking his hand. And he had six brothers. The families here…she'd never seen so many of them.

She and Beau managed to talk to at least fifty people before they got food, and then she sat down at a table with Bennett and Ellie, Rhett and Evelyn Walker, and Ace and Holly Ann Glover.

A feeling of acceptance streamed through her, and she noted that she was at this party as part of a couple—and she liked that. She glanced at Beau, who pressed a kiss to her temple before he turned back to his food, looked across the table, and picked up his non-gluten wrap.

"So," he said. "Rhett, you workin' on any cases right now?"

Before he could answer, a man said into a mic, "Thank you, everyone, for coming out to Three Rivers tonight."

It took a couple of seconds for the chatter to die down, and Charlotte took a bite of her wrap as she located Squire with the mic in his hand. Kelly stood next to him, an anxious look on her face, and Finn stood beside her.

Libby, Mike, and Sam—the rest of the Ackerman clan—stood there with them, and Squire looked down the row of his family, and Beau settled his arm around Charlotte's shoulders.

He leaned in close and whispered, "This is hard on them."

"I can see that," she said.

"Squire served in the Army for a handful of years," Beau said. "You've seen his limp, right? His tank got hit."

Charlotte had seen the man's limp, and she'd actually taken strength from it. No one treated him differently. No one told him he couldn't do something.

And she realized that out here, on this ranch, no one was limiting her either.

A week or so later, once Finn had left and ranch life had settled back to normal, Charlotte pulled up to her brother's house. While it looked like a very large farmhouse on the outside, she knew it was a high-end mansion on the inside. She sighed heavily, the weight of the secrets she carried keeping her in the driver's seat.

She hadn't been off Three Rivers Ranch and back here for Sunday dinner since she'd moved out, and it had been five weeks now. Felicity had been calling and texting a lot more this past week, so Charlotte had driven herself to church instead of going with Beau, and she'd made the quick drive southeast of town after the sermon.

She did miss the kids, and she laughed as the front door opened and all four of them came spilling out. That got her to get out of the SUV, and she hurried toward them, gathering them all to her the way a mother hen welcomed home her chicks.

"My babies," she said. "How are you? What have you been doing? Are you ready for school to start?"

They all talked over one another, and Charlotte seemed to be able to hear each of them and their concerns and excitement. School started tomorrow, in fact, and she suddenly remembered she'd gotten gifts for each of them.

"Oh, Ella, grab that brown bag off my back seat, would you?"

The teenager went to do that, and Charlotte herded the rest of the children up the steps. Felicity waited for her on the porch, and she pulled Charlotte into a hug. "Mm, it's so good to see you." She stepped back and held her at arm's length. "To know you're alive."

"Of course I'm alive." Charlotte shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "I text you all the time." She continued inside, where the scent of freshly baked bread lingered.

"Mason's grilling tonight," she said. "Ella helped me with the potato salad, and I made rolls, of course."

"It smells great."

"Did you want to make strawberry jam for real?" Felicity asked. "I got all the stuff, but it's okay if you don't want to."

"I do," Charlotte said. "Beau doesn't eat jam, and I had to resort to buying it from the grocery store."

Felicity blinked at her like such a thing wasn't even possible. "We'll make sure to get it done today. I just—no jam?"

Charlotte giggled and shook her head. "No jam."

"I don't even see how he's Texan."

"He's from New Mexico," Charlotte said.

"Sounds like you two are getting along." Felicity led the way into the kitchen and opened a cupboard to get down plates. "Garrett, Kennedy, time to set the table. Alice, you're on napkin duty."

Ella came inside and put Charlotte's brown bag on the counter. "I'll go help Daddy with the chicken."

"Take the platter," Felicity said after her, and Ella turned back to grab it before she headed outside. Charlotte got out silverware for the kids to use to set the table, and she wasn't expecting Felicity to go back to questioning her.

"Sounds like you and Beau are getting along," Felicity said in a forced casual way.

Charlotte jerked her head up. "Uh, yeah. He's nice. Great." She pressed her eyes closed. Nice? Great? What a disaster her mouth had just walked into.

Because Felicity knew her, and she'd heard the lame words Charlotte had just used. "Char…."

"We're dating," she said, the words just flying from her. "And I know it's a little crazy, but it doesn't feel that crazy to me when I'm there in the cabin with him, and I'm the one who has to handle it, so it's fine." She glanced over to Garrett as he picked up the stack of forks, and Charlotte's eyes moved to the back door to see if Mason was coming inside.

"I know Mason's going to flip his lid," Charlotte said. "But he doesn't get to decide. I like Beau. He's sweet, and handsome, and hard-working. He's got these mini donkeys that he loves, and all his cowboys do whatever he asks, because they respect and like him."

"He sounds nice," Felicity teased, and Charlotte's pulse relaxed.

"Could you tell Mason?"

"Heavens, no," Felicity said. "Believe it or not, your brother just wants what's best for you."

"Yeah, sure," Charlotte said as the back door opened. Ella came inside with a platter of grilled, glistening-with-barbecue-sauce chicken, which meant Mason wouldn't be far behind. "I just wish he wouldn't growl so much in the process."

Felicity laughed, but she knew she'd married a grumpy cowboy. Somehow, he softened for her, and they did love each other fiercely.

"Chicken's off," Mason said as he came inside with another plate, this one piled with steak. "We're ready."

"So are we," Felicity said, taking a moment to keep her gaze locked on Charlotte before she faced her husband. "Remember, we haven't seen Char for weeks, and we don't want to scare her off again."

"You didn't scare me off before," Charlotte said, though her pulse did drop to her toes with one look at her brother.

His eyebrows had already drawn themselves into a V, and he looked from Felicity to her. "Scare her off? I don't scare her off."

"Do too," Felicity said. "Now, everyone come sit down. It's time to eat. Alice, just bring the rest over. It's time to eat."

The kids started to gather around the table, most of them asking about the steak and whether they could have it or not. But Mason stayed in the kitchen, the plate of meat between them. "Charlotte?"

"I'm dating Beau." She looked straight at him, feeling stronger than she had in a long time. Her heart beat steadily, the way she imagined it did for someone without a health problem. "It's going pretty great, actually, and I would appreciate it if you didn't ruin this for me."

His mouth dropped open, and oh, a furious fire raged in this eyes.

"Babe, bring the steak over," Felicity said. "We're eating." She took the plate from him and looked at Charlotte. "Come on, you two. We can talk when we're not hangry." She nudged Mason, who startled and looked at his wife.

Felicity took the steak over to the table, and Mason watched her for a moment. Then he met Charlotte's gaze again. "I'm not going to ruin anything for you, Char," he said. "If you like Beau, great."

Charlotte gave a mirthless laugh. "It's not great, and you know it." She turned and moved over to the table, bending to get a napkin Alice had dropped at some point.

"But I'm not going to ruin it for you," Mason called after her.

We'll see , she thought, and then she prayed with everything in her that nothing would ruin the good thing she had going with Beau. He was the first man who hadn't treated her like she was broken and couldn't do anything, and she appreciated that so much more than she'd even known she would.

As Ella prayed over the food, Charlotte added her own silent prayer that dinner would go well, that Mason would let this drop, and that she could take home some of Felicity's delicious strawberry jam for her handsome boyfriend to try.

Exhaustion pounded behind Charlotte's eyes as she moved down the row in the stable. She had three more stalls to clean, and then she'd be done for today. At least for a couple of hours, and she could have Kenny do the evening feeding tonight.

The kids had been in school for a week, and she'd been getting texts every night about their teachers and how they'd settled in so well. She missed them so much, but she didn't want to go back even a year in time to where she'd been last August.

She led Bolt out of his stall, and the pretty Palomino plodded along behind her without complaint. He wouldn't, because she'd put him in a great pasture where he'd get to be outside with his friends. She made that trip two more times to get the other horses out of the stable, and then she wheeled the wheelbarrow down the aisle to the last three stalls.

Her back ached, and by the time she finished, the teeth on the right side of her face actually throbbed with their own heartbeat.

And Charlotte knew she was in trouble.

She left the last stall and closed the door behind her. But she didn't try to take the waste out to the bin or get back to the cabin. Instead, she moved as quickly as she dared down the hall to the small office.

She ducked inside and took a seat in the only chair in the room. It sat at a table where she kept her notes and files, and she put her head down and breathed in slowly, trying to control her emotions so they didn't add to her sudden stress.

Something told her to call Beau, but she didn't have the energy to even reach for her phone. With her eyes closed, she started to hum to herself. A lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was a little girl, and then in the hospital when they had to wait for tests.

She knew the words, but forming them took too much from her, so Charlotte just hummed while she rested. She didn't feel like she was going to pass out, but Beau would want to know about this situation anyway.

Charlotte tried to remember when she'd last eaten or drank, and she'd had lunch. She'd had a granola bar an hour ago, but she probably hadn't gotten enough water that day. She lifted her head and got to her feet slowly, really paying attention to the things that hurt.

She didn't normally suffer from headaches, so this didn't seem related to her heart condition. No, she'd just overworked herself today. Her big water bottle waited out in the stable, on the shelf across from the last stall.

After she made it there, she took a long drink, already feeling slightly better. What she really needed was some food, some painkillers, and an ice pack for her lower jaw, which still ached as if she'd had dental work done that day.

But she still had three horses to bring back in and all the waste she'd pulled out of their stalls to dispose of. She moved down to the stall where a tall, reddish-black horse had already been out and had a clean stall.

She started to sing to Bronco as she put both hands on either side of his head and stroked down his neck, using the horse to help stabilize her. She smiled at the equine, who had a calm, gentle spirit. Bronco worked with the clients at Courage Reins, not with the cowboys at Three Rivers Ranch, and Charlotte could tell a difference between the therapy horses and the others.

The ranch owned many great cutting horses too, and they had to have a certain attitude to work with a cowboy and separate cattle from the herd. Charlotte loved watching cutting competitions, and she needed to ask Beau if any of the horses here had ever competed in such an event.

"You're a good boy," she said to Bronco, and then she moved down to Woodstock and started singing to him. She calmed too, and while she didn't start to feel better, she started to think she could finish her job for the day without asking for help.

Then, as she moved down to Valentine, her legs shook about the knees. As she sang, she got out her phone and created a group text with Beau and Kenny. I need help in the third stable. I'm not feeling well, and I'm not done with the work.

On my way , Beau said instantly, before Charlotte had even sung the next note in her song. Satisfied that she'd done the right thing, but with her heart hanging heavily in her chest, she looked at Valentine and kept singing to her.

She sensed Beau as he approached, because he came with all the energy of thunder and lightning. And he didn't pause a distance from her, but moved right into her, his arm sliding around her waist. "You're still standing."

"I don't think I'm going to pass out," she said. "I just have this awful headache, and I need to go home."

"I can finish," Kenny said, his footsteps coming closer. "Just the last three stalls?"

"They're done." She looked over to him. "I just have to take out the wheelbarrow and bring the horses back in."

"They can stay out too," Beau said. "No big deal."

"It's hot," Charlotte said. "They were out all morning too."

"I'll get ‘em back in," Kenny said. "I'm done with the barn repairs."

Beau nodded at him, and Kenny went past them to get the wheelbarrow. They'd have to move for him to get out, and Charlotte let Beau keep her hand in his tightly as they went outside.

The sunshine made her squint, and a strong blast of pain shot behind her eyes. She groaned, and Beau glanced at her with a fierce look in his eyes. "Charlotte."

"I just need to take some medicine and lie down," she said.

"Then let's get you home."

Home . The word echoed in her head, and she hadn't felt completely at home anywhere, not like she did here. Not like she did at Beau's side.

He led her inside and right down the hall to her bedroom. "I'll bring you some painkillers." Before he left, he pulled her curtains closed, and Charlotte didn't bother to change her clothes. She took off her boots and lay back on her pillows, and when Beau brought her a bottle of water and some pills, she drank and took them readily.

"My teeth hurt," she said. "Can you bring me an ice pack?"

"Your teeth hurt?"

"When I get really bad headaches, it goes all the way into my teeth," she said, her eyes falling closed again. "And Beau?"

"What else do you need, little bird?"

She smiled at the beautiful pet name he had for her. At first, she hadn't liked it much, though she'd enjoyed how it rumbled in his voice. But birds were weak—or so she'd thought. But over the past several weeks, she'd realized that Beau didn't call her "little bird" because he found her weak.

He did it because he cherished her.

"Something to eat, please," she said. "Something easy. Just so the pills don't upset my stomach."

"Pizza coming right up." He left the room then, and Charlotte exhaled out and tried to relax. For some reason, she didn't mind when Beau took care of her, but she'd have been annoyed if she'd had to call her brother or her mother. She wasn't sure what the difference was, only that it existed.

When Beau returned, he brought the scent of marinara and pepperoni with him, and he sat on the edge of the bed while she scooted up and leaned against the wall to eat.

"I finally got to hear you sing to the horses," he said.

"And? What did you think?"

"I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world." Beau grinned at her, and she couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not. A flirt, he was, for sure.

"Because I sang a lullaby to a horse?"

"Because you sang a lullaby to a horse," he confirmed, and he certainly didn't seem to be joking. He threaded his fingers through hers. "You have a beautiful voice, and I'm sorry you aren't feeling well."

"I'm fine, really," she said. "Just a long day, and I have a headache."

"So, do you want to come lie on the couch and ice your teeth? I'll hold you and you can sing me your horse lullabies."

Charlotte grinned at him and reached out to cradle his face in one palm. His beard was soft and prickly at the same time, and he leaned into her touch as if he craved it. "Can you just hold me right here?"

Surprise crossed Beau's face, but he got up and went around to the other side of the bed. He lay down, and Charlotte scooted back down and pressed her back into his chest as his arms came around her. "Mm, this is nice."

She repositioned the ice pack so it covered her jaw and cheek, and she only grunted slightly when Ruby and Pepper joined them by jumping up onto the bed and finding spots near their feet.

Dozing, she finally felt every muscle in her body soften. So she couldn't be sure if she heard Beau whisper, "I'm falling in love with you, little bird," or not. Perhaps she simply wanted to hear it, or perhaps it had happened in her dreams.

No matter what, she liked hearing him say it, and she started wondering if she was falling in love with him too.