Page 9 of Bryson's Treasure

Chapter 4

Hannah,the owner of Brighter Days, insisted Lynn recover and spend some time in the house. She argued with Taz that Hannah was overreacting, but neither of them would budge. After Lynn complained for two days, Hannah finally threw her hands up and let Lynn return to work.

Lynn put on her coat and scarf and practically ran out the door before someone could stop her. The cold Montana wind hit her the second she stepped outside. After being kept in a house for the last few years, Lynn loved spending as much time as she could outside.

Collin, one of the ranch hands, was standing by the pen with Taz and a couple of the horses. She waved as she rushed into the barn toward the back stall. She hadn’t seen Midnight since the day of the accident.

Midnight came to the door the second he heard her coming. She couldn’t hold back her smile for her favorite horse. She grabbed the carrot out of her pocket and held it out. He practically inhaled the treat. “Did you miss my treats?”

“I made sure I gave him a treat each day. He wasn’t as excited to see me as he is to see you.” Taz smiled, coming to stand next to her.

“You have everyone spoiling you.” She scratched Midnight’s ear for a second. “Thank you for taking care of him. I know he’s not mine, but something about him clicks with me.”

A new ranch hand came running around the corner. “I didn’t know anyone was in here.” Two seconds later, another man came running and threw a snowball before he saw Taz and Lynn. The first guy ducked in time. Lynn was not so lucky. The snowball hit her dead in the chest. Last week it wouldn’t have hurt, but it was right on her bruise from the seat belt.

“I’ve told you two numerous times not to throw snowballs in here. You could have spooked a horse, and what if we had a stall door open? Go muck the stalls.”

“I’m sorry, Lynn.” The two boys turned and marched out.

Any other day, she would’ve made her own snowball and had fun with the two ranch hands. Both men were in their early twenties and close to the end of their therapy. Physically she couldn’t see anything wrong with them. Taz had told her they were serving together when their Humvee was hit. Both suffered from brain injuries along with PTSD. They were excited to leave together and move to Arizona to work on a ranch that needed help. Friday was their last day at Brighter Days Ranch.

Hannah was doing great work with the men and women Lynn had met. Taz had asked her a few times to talk. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would need to let them know everything about the cult. Her past before then was not something she wanted to talk about either.

“I think we should take you to see a doctor. The snowball was mostly powder, but you looked like you got punched.”

Lynn frowned. “I know my ribs aren’t broken.”

“So you’ve had your ribs broken before?”

“Will you drop it if I say yes?”

Taz took a seat on one of the square bales. “Nope.”

Lynn had been the one to open her damn mouth a second ago. “I broke my ribs when I was younger.”

Taz raised his brows and tilted his head. “You need to give me more than that. I’m worried about you. Something in your life was bad enough to drive you to join Faith of the Glorious One, and you were there for three years, Lynn. That’s a really long time to be locked away from civilization. Sebastian told us the women weren’t allowed out of the house.”

Midnight helped ground her as she petted the horse’s neck. “One of my foster families had a bully, and we were fighting over a toy. He pushed me down. When I landed on the edge of a cement stair, my rib cracked.” Lynn held up her hand for Taz to keep quiet. “The boy was immediately removed from the home. A few months later, I was moved into Ms. Jackson’s care, and I stayed with her until I graduated.”

“Did she have horses?” Taz asked.

Lynn shrugged. “She owned a ranch outside of Seattle. Horses weren’t the only animals she raised. Ms. Jackson had a heart of gold and took in foster kids all the time. The ranch was like this, a therapy center for kids who needed help.”

Taz nodded. “Is she still running the ranch?”

Lynn wished Ms. Jackson were still alive. She would’ve run back home with her tail between her legs when she caught her husband cheating on her. Instead she’d joined a cult and had almost been auctioned off to some crazy person.

Brighter Days felt close to the life she knew before going to college. With how technology had changed, she probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a computer anymore. Cell phones had already advanced a lot in three years. At the place where she lived for those three years, they had a landline, no cell phone. The only time she’d used it was to make sure the papers she had filed for divorce were taken care of. That was the one thing she did before leaving the state and her crappy marriage.

“No, she died my senior year of college.”

Taz frowned. “What did you go to college for?”

“Computer programming.” Lynn sighed. Taz wasn’t going to stop since he had her talking. “I promise to go get a job soon so I can pay you back for the truck. Not sure how much my degree will help now. A lot has changed in three years.”

“You don’t owe us for the truck,” Taz huffed. “I’m just happy you’re alive. Noah sent pictures over this morning. You would’ve died if you’d stayed in there any longer.”

Lynn turned at the sound of heavy footsteps. Her face immediately flushed when she saw the handsome man who had saved her life. She’d come to in the middle of the road after he’d pulled her out. When she’d looked up, she’d gotten lost in his crystal-blue eyes. Everything had happened so fast after that. He’d left without giving her his name.

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