The Cowboy's Homecoming. Carolyne Aarsen

away. If anything, it had become worse.

      “I don’t know. Maybe I should do this,” she said softly. “Like I said before, this whole thing with Lee and my dad has taken up too much of my thoughts. I think it’s because, before today, I hadn’t seen Lee since the sentencing, let alone talk with him. Maybe if I spend some time with him, on his ranch, it will help put things in perspective.”

      “Can’t see how that’s a good idea,” Louisa warned. “I doubt your mother would appreciate you working with the enemy, so to speak.”

      “She might not, but I don’t think I have much choice.” Abby sorted through her thoughts, trying to find the right motivation for what she had just agreed to. “For the past year I’ve been praying to find a way to get some closure on everything that happened. This might be my chance.”

      “Maybe, but I hope this doesn’t make things worse for you,” Louisa replied.

      Abby shrugged as the familiar buildings of the town she had grown up in slipped past the window, each one bringing back a myriad of memories. Some good. Some not.

      She sincerely hoped taking on this assignment would help her finally put Lee Bannister and all that he had done in her life behind her.

       Chapter Three

      “I’m so blessed. All my children home at one time,” Ellen Bannister said, folding her hands, looking over at Lee, who was already sitting down at the dinner table. “And soon Tanner will be a part of this family.” She beamed at Tanner, Keira’s fiancé, and Heather and her fiancé, John, who were also seated with them.

      As Lee caught her loving glance, he couldn’t help but agree. Though he’d been back to the ranch a few times since he left, either Heather or Keira had been gone when he’d been here and vice versa. Now, for the first time in years, they were all gathered together at once.

      “The family is growing,” Lee mused.

      “We’re doing our part,” Heather said, the rich scent of a roast beef wafting through the dining room as she set a large steaming platter of sliced meat on the table beside the salads.

      “You need to catch up, mister,” John quipped, giving Heather a wink as she sat down beside him.

      “I don’t know about that,” Lee said. “You guys are a tough act to follow.”

      John with his blond hair and chiseled features was the perfect match for his sister, Heather, a stunning former model who was always looking picture-perfect.

      “I know you’ll have a hard time finding someone as glamorous as my future wife,” John returned with a laugh as he let his arm rest across Heather’s shoulders. “But I have faith in you. You never seemed to have any trouble in high school getting the girls.”

      Unbidden came a picture of Abby with her pretty auburn hair and her sprinkling of freckles.

      He shook his head as if to rid himself of the notion, getting up to take one of the bowls his sister Keira was carrying into the dining room. He sniffed as he put it on the table. “Ginger-glazed carrots. You read my mind. These from the garden?”

      “You bet,” Keira said, setting a bowl of baby potatoes beside it. “We might have been premature picking them, though. None of them are very big.”

      “I’ll say,” Tanner put in, pulling a chair out for his future wife. His dark hair, brown eyes and dark eyebrows gave him a hard look, but Lee knew the former bronc rider was a softie when it came to his sister. He also knew Tanner was the complete opposite of his deceased brother, David Fortier, Lee’s former friend. “We had to dig up a quarter of a row of carrots and four potato plants before we got enough for supper.”

      “It’ll be worth it,” Keira said, brushing her blond locks off her face. Her green eyes sparkled with humor as she sat down beside Tanner, flashing him a loving smile.

      “I’ll say it was. This looks and smells amazing,” Lee raved, his stomach growling.

      He hadn’t eaten since that single granola bar he’d grabbed at a gas station on his way up here. A combination of nerves and excitement at coming home had made it hard for him to eat. And after he’d met Abby Newton, any appetite he might have had faded away. Her veiled antagonism stuck in his throat, and he still cringed at the memory. He knew he would be facing the shadows of the past coming back to the ranch, but he didn’t think those shadows would take the form of actually encountering Abby so soon.

      “So, where’s Adana?” he asked, finally realizing that John’s daughter wasn’t with them.

      “She’s with Sandy’s parents,” John said. “They wanted to take her to put some flowers on Sandy’s grave.”

      “That’s pretty heavy for a two-year-old to deal with,” Lee remarked.

      John shrugged. “Sandy was their only daughter. They don’t want Adana to forget her.”

      Silence followed that pronouncement. John had been married to Sandy for two years before she died giving birth to Adana. Sandy’s parents still lived in Saddlebank and, from what Lee understood, took care of Adana from time to time.

      “And that’s only right,” Ellen said finally. “I like to think my children would remember me if something happened.”

      “Something already did,” Monty said, referring to the break in her neck Ellen had suffered over half a year ago. “And thank the good Lord you made it through that.”

      Guilt suffused Lee at the thought that his mother had gone through all that pain while he stayed away.

      “And thank the good Lord that the brace came off in time for Keira’s wedding,” Ellen said brightly. “I would have a hard time finding a mother of the bride outfit wearing that silly thing.”

      “You’d look good no matter what you wore,” Monty murmured, patting her on the arm.

      Lee couldn’t stop a tinge of envy at his family’s obvious happiness. Though he knew both his sisters had had their trials in the past, they had overcome them and had found happiness and someone who loved and accepted them exactly as they were.

      He hadn’t had the same experience. Abby had been the last woman he was serious about. Then it was prison and after that, trying to find work. He had tried dating but couldn’t seem to connect with anyone who he wanted to spend time with. Of course, once any decent woman heard about his prison term, she seemed to back off.

      “I think we can get started,” Monty said. “Like you said, Ellen, we are richly blessed. A wedding coming up next week, the anniversary celebrations and all our children home.”

      Then he bowed his head and thanked the Lord for the food, for their family and the many blessings they’d received over the years. He prayed for strength and for wisdom and thanked the Lord for his sacrificial love.

      When he said amen, Lee kept his head bent a moment longer, letting the prayer soak into his weary soul. The offshore drilling rig work he’d been doing—camp jobs and being on the road for weeks at a time—didn’t allow for much faith community. And he truly missed being a part of a robust spiritual life.

      He lifted his head to catch his father looking at him, a pensive expression on his face as if he guessed where Lee’s mind had been wandering. Then his sisters started chatting, people started passing bowls and plates and he was drawn into the give and take of family conversation and dinner around the Bannister table.

      For the first few moments, Lee was more spectator than participant. Other than the two years she’d worked in Seattle, Keira had stayed at Refuge Ranch working with their father, Monty, at his leather-working business, expanding it and putting her own mark on it. Heather had returned this spring and was settling into her work, teaching barrel-racing clinics. John had bought in to the ranch, and he and Heather were making plans to build an