PROLOGUE
ELIAS BLACKWELL WAS ready to roll. His RV had a full tank of gas and a refrigerator stocked with plenty of snacks and drinks. He’d cleaned it up so his sister and niece had a comfortable place to sit for their next adventure. The only issue was getting these Blackwell women in the vehicle.
“You sure you don’t want me to come along?” Barlow Blackwell had been saying goodbye to his wife, Flora, for fifteen minutes now. Big E was beginning to lose patience, something he never had much of to begin with and certainly was lacking these days.
“I appreciate the offer,” Flora said, leaning into her husband. “But I’ve got this.”
Barlow kissed her forehead. “I’m proud of you for figuring out how to make things right. Once you’ve reconciled with our daughters, maybe they could come visit us next time.”
Big E caught Denny watching her son with a satisfied grin on her face. One of his sister’s main goals was to see those two together again. She had accomplished that, and he was happy for her.
Flora smiled up at her husband. “That sounds like an excellent plan. All this traveling has been wearing on me. It was nice to have some time with you. Makes me motivated to finish this so we can make up for lost time.”
After visiting with Iris in Cottonwood Creek, Flora, Denny, and Big E had needed a break. It was time to check in with the families they had left behind to begin the mission of getting the Blackwell Belles back together. Denny had gone back to Eagle Springs to get an update from Corliss about the Flying Spur, Flora had asked for some time in Flame to help Barlow move into her place there, and Big E had returned to Falcon Creek so his wife and grandkids didn’t think he had forgotten about them.
“Let’s hit the road so we can get you two lovebirds back under the same roof again.” They were already behind schedule. Flora wasn’t much of an early riser and was never ready when she said she would be. The trip itinerary included a stop in Austin to meet with a friend before surprising J.R. in Brighton this evening.
“You’ll be back by Thanksgiving?” Barlow asked Big E as his wife settled aboard the RV.
The old man shrugged from the vehicle’s doorway. “Your daughters have yet to make things easy. We could be back in a couple days or a couple weeks. Who knows how long it will take to get J.R. to come back to the fold.”
Barlow shoved his hands in his pockets. “Given how much my eldest is like her grandmother, what do you think?”
Big E hadn’t been aware that he was heading toward Denny Jr. He took off his hat and shook his head solemnly. “Looks like you’re going to be celebrating Thanksgiving alone. No way this is going to be easy if she’s like my sister.”
Denny harrumphed from behind him. “If she’s like me, she’ll be fair and wise. It won’t be hard to get her to make a reasonable decision.”
Barlow’s eyebrows lifted as he rocked back on his heels. “Right, Ma. Exactly.”
Her eyes narrowed and she pointed her finger. “You two think you’re so funny. As if you both don’t have the Blackwell stubbornness in spades.”
Big E couldn’t deny that. He put his hat back on and was about to swing the door shut.
“Maybe I’ll drive down for Thanksgiving if you’re still there,” Barlow said. “Drive safe and stay in touch.”
“We’ll keep you posted,” Big E said with a nod. Jasmine Rose Blackwell might be a carbon copy of her grandmother, but they were coming down there with the original. There was no way they would return empty-handed.
CHAPTER ONE
“TESSA! WE NEED to go...right now!”
J.R. Blackwell’s day was not starting off the way she had hoped. She had hit Snooze one too many times and was forced to speed through her morning routine. After pouring cereal into bowls for a fast and easy breakfast, she realized they had no milk. The clothes she had put in the dryer last night, which included the outfit Tessa wanted to wear today, were still damp this morning because J.R. had apparently forgotten to push the start button.
The bus had left their street fifteen minutes ago. The ten-year-old who was supposed to be on it was still upstairs. It wasn’t unusual to have to drive Tessa to school, but they weren’t typically in such a rush. A quick glance at her watch told J.R. they should already be on the road if she was going to get to the ranch on time.
“I’m coming,” Tessa replied as she skipped down the stairs with her head down. She pushed her hair in front of her face as she turned the corner, clearly hiding from her mother.
“Can you look at me please?” J.R. asked, trying to figure out what she didn’t want her mother to see.
Tessa kept her back to her mom and sidestepped around the kitchen table to get her pink backpack off her chair. “We have to go, Mom. Come on.”
“Show me your face, Tessa Jean.”
Another heavy sigh made Tessa’s shoulders lift and fall dramatically. She spun around and glared at J.R. It wasn’t the way she used her eyes to express her displeasure, it was the massive amount of eye makeup that caused J.R. to gasp.
It had been a valiant attempt, but it was clear Tessa had never put on makeup before. Her eyeliner was too dark under one eye and barely there under the other. The mascara had been applied a tad thick and she must have accidentally swiped the wand against one of her eyelids. For some reason, unbeknownst to J.R., she had dabbed white eyeshadow in the inside corners of her eyes.
“Sweetheart...” J.R. started.
“Mom! We’re going to be late. We need to go! I can’t be late for school again.”
“We are not going anywhere until you go wash that stuff off your face. You are ten. Ten-year-olds do not need to wear makeup. Plus, you are beautiful. You do not need to do anything to yourself to be prettier.”
“Everyone in my class wears a little makeup. It’s fine. I can’t be late again or I’m going to lose recess.”
A little was not the way to describe the amount of makeup on her daughter’s face right now. “I have a feeling not everyone wears makeup, and I am not everyone’s mom. I am your mom. I need you to go wash that off.”
Tessa ran upstairs shouting something about J.R. being the worst mother in the world. Funny, that was what J.R. used to say about her own mother. Of course, she did that because Flora Blackwell used to force J.R. and her sisters to wear makeup even earlier than ten years old. The last time J.R. saw that much eyeshadow on a child was when she was doing tricks for the Blackwell Belles, something she wished she could scrub from her memory permanently. J.R. hated that she used to get paraded around rodeos like some kind of pink bubblegum princess more bedazzled than a rhinestone cowboy.
There was no way she was going to repeat her mother’s mistakes. J.R. followed Tessa upstairs to help her get all that gunk off. There was probably little chance the girl knew waterproof mascara wouldn’t wash off easily.
“Here, you need to use this to get that mascara off.” J.R. handed Tessa some cotton pads and a bottle of eye makeup remover. “You don’t have to scrub hard. Be gentle or you’ll irritate your eyes.”
Tessa’s frown stayed firmly in place as she snatched the bottle of cleanser from her mother’s hand. Time was moving too fast. J.R. wasn’t ready for Tessa to grow up yet. It felt like yesterday she was rocking her to sleep and kissing her bald head. Suddenly, her baby girl had long blond hair and wanted to be a makeup artist.
“Where did you even learn about makeup?” J.R. asked.
“All you have to do is watch a couple makeup tutorials online. It’s not that hard,” she answered with a roll of her now bare eyes.
Online tutorials. Everything was online these days. Parenting was so much harder now than it was when she was growing up. J.R. and her four other
sisters didn’t have access to the internet. Their “influencers” were real-life people who they only saw in person. Their parents had known everyone they talked to, since they were constantly together on the road performing.
Being a single mom didn’t make it easy. Tessa was more often out of J.R.’s sight than in. She knew the names of the girls in Tessa’s fifth grade class, but she hadn’t met them all. Tessa spent afternoons at her best friend’s house next door. Addie was one year older than her and in middle school. Middle school was a scary place that J.R. was not ready to send Tessa to anytime soon. Throw in the internet and anyone could be telling Tessa what to do, what to wear, how to act.
Tessa finished the task of getting all that makeup off and stormed out of the bathroom like the perfect temperamental teenager-in-training she was becoming. J.R. followed her downstairs and out to the car. The sun was shining, but there was nothing bright and cheery about the day.
J.R. tried to ignore the fact that her grass needed to be cut and the vibrant, hot-pink Knock Out rose bushes she had planted last year were in desperate need of watering. Those chores would have to wait until the weekend. She had to stop at the grocery store after work or they’d have nothing to eat for dinner but the leftover Halloween candy from two weeks ago. The box sitting on the passenger’s seat reminded her she also needed to go to the post office sooner rather than later.
“I might be a little late picking you up from the Langleys’ today.” The Langleys were the neighbors who took care of Tessa after school. Hilde Langley was a lifesaver. When J.R. moved into the neighborhood six years ago, Hilde had immediately volunteered to watch Tessa for her since she was a stay-at-home mom. The girls had grown up together and shared interest in the same things. They loved horses, played on the same soccer team, and always had a new TikTok dance to show J.R.
“I need to make a couple stops on my way home,” J.R. explained.
Tessa said nothing in return. The cold shoulder must have been a trait she’d inherited from her father, who had been giving them both the cold shoulder since before Tessa was born. Getting involved with a rodeo cowboy while she was trying to finish college had not been one of J.R.’s better decisions. The only good thing that had come out of that relationship was Tessa. His lack of interest in his daughter was his loss, although that was sometimes a hard sell to a little girl who just wanted her dad to remember when it was her birthday.
When she pulled up in front of school, the makeupless child got out of the car and grumbled her goodbyes.
J.R. rolled down the passenger’s side window and shouted, “I love you! Have a great day!” An impatient dad behind her honked. She gave him an apologetic wave of the hand and exited the drop-off lane, praying she didn’t get to work too late.
Bucking Wonders Ranch was one of the largest bucking bull breeders in South Central Texas. It was family owned by two brothers, Walter and Jed Wonders. Walter’s son, Lou, was ranch manager. There were a couple ranch hands on staff, but the Wonders brothers liked
to keep their staff small. Walter was the businessman and the face of the company, shaking hands and going to all the events while Jed did all the behind-the-scenes work. Bucking Wonders was one of the up-and-coming stock contractors in the country. They’d soon be number one if J.R. had anything to say about it. The bucking bull business was all about genetics, and J.R. knew a thing or two about that. Her dream was to one day make a real name for herself in the business like Jed and Walter. It was a man’s world, though, and she would have to work harder and breed the best of the best to get the same attention.
She pulled into the dirt parking lot five minutes late. She gave herself a quick once-over in the rearview mirror. She hadn’t had time to flat iron her hair so there was a little wave in her golden locks today. She slipped the hair tie she kept on her wrist off and swept her hair up in a ponytail. Stepping out of her car, she hoped no one would notice her tardiness.
“Well, there she is! Happy Thursday, Ms. Blackwell. I was starting to think you were planning on taking the day off.” Hunter Robbins made sure no one was unaware of her late arrival. All six feet of him came moseying on over with two coffee cups in his hands. “I was worried I was going to have to drink both of these myself,” he said, holding out a cup and giving her that my-life-is-perfect smile.
“What makes you think I haven’t already had my caffeine for the day?”
“Well, something tells me if you had, you would have noticed that you skipped a button.” He nodded at her chest.
J.R. glanced down and quickly spun around while she fixed the buttons on her shirt. Must be nice to be Hunter. He didn’t live on only a few hours of sleep a night because there were bills to pay and dishes to wash and clothes to fold after the millions of other things that had to be done after putting in a full day’s work. He didn’t have to get a ten-going-on-twenty-year-old up and ready for school in the morning. He had enough time to stop at the coffee shop in town and make sure all of the buttons on his plaid button-down were properly fastened.
Turning back around to face him and his perfectly clean-shaven face, she took the cup from his hand. “Maybe I forgot to set the coffeepot timer last night. It happens.”
“It happens all the time,” he agreed. “Thankfully, you’ve got me around to help you out on days like this.” He winked and slid his now empty hand into the front pocket of his slim-fitting dark jeans.
“I need to find Jed to go over the schedule for today.” She forced a small smile and tried to remember her manners. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Anytime, J.R. It’s my pleasure.” The dazzling smile he gave her in return made her almost forget where she said she was going.
Hunter Robbins was a nuisance, she told herself. How did he manage to be that positive
and pleasant all the time? It was like the guy never had a bad day or a bad minute for that matter. For someone like J.R., who felt like she had bad years, it was a little much.
The two of them both worked under Jed. They were the team that managed the breeding, oversaw the training, and did the marketing and sales of the bulls. Hunter’s strength was the training. As a former bull rider, he knew what it took to get these yearlings ready for competition. J.R.’s passion was the genetics. Her strength was finding the right bull and the right cow to create the next great champion.
Just as J.R. was about to go into the main office, Jed came out. Jed Wonders was as big as a bull. He had broad shoulders and a round belly. His salt-and-pepper hair was the only part of him thinning. “Oh, good, you’re here. I need to talk to you and Hunter.”
As if Hunter knew he was needed, he appeared at her side instantly, smiling ear to ear. “Team meeting?”
“I guess you could call it that. I have a big announcement and it impacts both of you.” He ushered them inside.
The office space at the Bucking Wonders was small and a tad outdated. There were wood-paneled walls and industrial carpet that had more mystery stains than J.R. liked to think about. Off the main office area was a small bathroom and three smaller offices. Walter and Jed each had their own while Hunter and J.R. shared the third. When Hunter had joined the company, they had shoved a second desk into J.R.’s little space and forced her to have to look at his chiseled jaw five days a week.
Pam, Jed’s wife and secretary, sat behind the desk in the reception area. Her hair was styled like she still lived in the nineties. Her bangs needed their own zip code, but she was the sweetest. Sweetest, not exactly the hardest working.
She paused the show she was streaming on her computer. “Did you tell them?”
“I’m bringing them in here to tell them.”
“Well, tell them.”
“I would if you could just shush.”
Pam pushed her shoulders back, her tone indignant. “Did you just tell me to shush? I am the mother of your children. ...
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
