The Rancher's Family Thanksgiving. Cathy Thacker Gillen

Whit Jenkins tell you something tonight before you went to see her that you’ve yet to share with me?”

      Susie shook her head, still holding his eyes. “It’s not that. Whit told me Emmaline’s prognosis was good, that they are expecting her to make a full recovery as soon as she finishes the current course of chemo. Emmaline’s just depressed from the stress of treatment, and needed someone in her life who could relate. Since the hospital doesn’t have a support group for teens—currently she is their only oncology patient in that age group—and she refuses to go to the regular group, he thought—hoped—I would step in to be there for Emmaline.”

      Tyler frowned, all protective male again. “Having no idea how hard that was going to be for you.”

      Susie gave Tyler a look that let the handsome rancher know he did not have to go after Whit. “I’ve visited with adults who were sick and struggling with the disease. I’ve never talked to kids who were the age I was when I got diagnosed. I guess I just wasn’t prepared for how swiftly it would take me back to that place.”

      A place she never wanted to visit again.

      Suddenly aware how cold and damp the evening had become, how thin her sweater was, Susie shivered and wrapped her arms more tightly in front of her. “Or how overly emotional it would make me feel,” she finished, teeth chattering slightly.

      Tyler scowled, abruptly looking like a knight charged with protecting his queen. “I know you want to help Emmaline. She obviously needs comforting from someone who can relate to her. But it doesn’t have to be you,” Tyler instructed her firmly.

      He opened the door to her truck, and guided her inside, his hand lingering on her waist until he was sure she was settled behind the wheel. “I can go see Emmaline, in your place. I can take my aunt Kate. You know she does counseling here. She deals with stuff like this all the time.”

      Susie appreciated Tyler’s desire to shield her from hurt, as always. This time she couldn’t let him shoulder the burden. She was strong now, as capable of helping others as he was. And it was time Tyler realized that.

      Susie fit her truck keys into the ignition. “Kate is wonderful. I’m sure Emmaline would appreciate seeing both of you.”

      Tyler rested a hand on the back of her seat and propped one boot on the running board. Elbow resting on his thigh, he studied her expression and guessed, “But you can’t duck out on her.”

      Not and live with myself, I can’t.

      Susie bolstered her courage even as she turned the key. “I made a promise to her tonight, Tyler.” She waited until he had closed the door for her, then put down her window and stated, just as firmly, “It’s a commitment I intend to keep.”

      THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Tyler dropped by the Carrigans to see Susie’s parents. A Saturday, both Meg and Luke were working outside in the yard, raking leaves and weeding flower beds. As Tyler approached, he thought about how respected both were in the community. Meg was director of nursing at Laramie Community Hospital. Luke ran the family practice program that had recruited both Tyler’s cousin Riley, and their son, Jeremy Carrigan, to be on the hospital staff. They were good parents and they loved all four of their children dearly.

      But they were making a mistake and it was up to Tyler to help them see it.

      Hoping his meddling wouldn’t be taken the wrong way, Tyler headed up the walk. The last thing he wanted to do was make Susie’s life more difficult than it already was.

      “Hi, Dr. Carrigan.”

      “Tyler.” Luke put down his edger and ran a hand through his silver-blond hair.

      Tyler nodded at Susie’s mother. “Mrs. Carrigan.”

      Meg left her spade in the dirt and rose from her place beside the flower beds. Her auburn hair was mussed from the breeze stirring the fall air. Dirt and grass stained the knees of her coveralls. She smiled at Tyler, inching off her work gloves.

      “Mind if I have a word with you?” Tyler asked.

      “Of course not.” Meg motioned him to the screened-in back porch at the rear of the large turn-of-the-century Cape Cod.

      Unlike the evening before, the afternoon was pleasantly warm.

      She slipped into the house and came back with three glasses of mint iced tea.

      “What’s up?” Luke Carrigan always got straight to the point.

      Tyler sat in a cushioned wicker chair, opposite the long-married couple. “I want to talk to you about this plan to fix up Susie with four more guys.”

      Brows lifted. Meg and Luke exchanged the kind of husband and wife glances that brimmed with understanding but required no words. “She told you,” Meg said finally.

      Tyler nodded. “The first introduction didn’t go so well.”

      “Yes, we know,” Luke said.

      “Whit called this morning to say he and Susie were destined to be friends. The chemistry just wasn’t there.” Meg made no effort to hide her disappointment.

      The next was a little harder to broach. Tyler frowned. “She’s upset you paired her with an oncologist.”

      Meg and Luke clearly did not agree with Tyler’s opinion that it had been a stupid thing to do.

      Giving Tyler the kind of man-to-man look that held nothing back, Luke replied, “Who better, if it had worked out?”

      Me, Tyler wanted to say, though he had no idea where that thought had come from. He and Susie were not—had never been—a couple. They were crisis buddies, pure and simple.

      Most of the time they were busy living their own lives. But right now Susie needed his help in the worst way.

      Tyler approached her parents with the same mixture of tempered caution and compassion he used on his patients’ owners.

      “Susie is trying to put the disease in her past.”

      Meg’s expression clouded with remorse. It was clear she was reacting as much as a medical professional now, as a mother.

      “That’s not possible, Tyler,” Meg said.

      Luke added, with empathy, “None of us can ever forget what Susie went through to regain her good health.” He paused, looked Tyler straight in the eye, his aggravation plain. “I would think you would understand that better than anyone, given how much time you spent with Susie during her treatment.”

      “And every time since, when she has encountered some sort of difficulty,” Meg added, with a look at her husband.

      It hadn’t mattered what kind of problem Susie’d had, Tyler thought. Business, personal, whatever. If she needed a shoulder to lean on, he was there. And when she no longer needed him, he just as conveniently disappeared. That way, they could maintain the status quo. It was very important to Tyler to maintain their relationship just as it was. To not do anything that would risk what he hoped would be a life-long connection.

      “And we appreciate all that you’ve done for her, thus far, more than we can say,” Luke continued.

      Not about to be cast in the role of hero now, as he had been by the Carrigans back then, Tyler shrugged. As much as he pretended Susie was just another friend, deep inside, he knew that was not the case. Susie and he shared an intimacy, an ability to tell each other anything, he had with no one else, and that included his two triplet-brothers. Tyler sensed that for Susie, as close as she was to her family, she felt the same way about him. She could unburden herself to him in a way she could not confide in anyone else.

      It had been that way from his very first visit to her hospital room. It was that way now, and always would be, he figured, no matter who else came and went in their lives. And if the past was any indication, other people would always come and go, since neither he nor Susie had the desire to marry and settle down.

      Aware