Page 40 of Before You Can Blink
I’d need help—and a boatload of money—to make this happen. Not to mention patience. Ranching wasn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. From whatI’d heard from Murph, there were just as many lean years as there were profitable ones. But the most attractive prospect about it was that I would get to do something I loved—work with horses—while providing a stable home for my family.
God might have closed the door on my rodeo career, but this ranch was His way of opening a window for my future.
The message was crystal clear: playtime was over. With a wife and baby counting on me, I had no choice but to grow up.
“What brings you in today, Jett?” Marshall Hewitt leaned back in his chair, eyes assessing me from across his desk.
Wiping a sweaty palm against the rough denim encasing my thigh, I put all my effort into keeping my voice confident and strong as I replied, “I’m here to get a mortgage for the foreclosed property set outside of town and for a business loan so I can turn it into a horse breeding ranch. Bucking horses, specifically.”
Marshall’s eyes dipped to the sling keeping my left arm tucked tight to my chest. “Was mighty sorry to hear about your injury.”
With a dip of my chin, I wordlessly accepted his sympathy.
Shuffling papers around on his desk, set in the middle of the open floor of the bank, he got down to business. “What do you have in terms of assets?”
“Just what I’ve got in my account here.”
A heavy sigh sounded. “Jett . . .”
I’d done my research. I knew that without collateral, I was sunk before I even walked through the doors of the building. On paper, I was a bad bet, but I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
My gaze caught on the framed photographs of his wife and three children displayed proudly on his desk, and I sat forward in my seat. “I know what you see when you look at me: a banged-up wannabe rodeo champion who couldn’t hack it.” I shook my head sadly. “And you might be right about that, so I’m going to plead to the family man in you. I’ve got a baby on the way, and failure isn’t an option. If you’re willing to take a chance on me, I’ll stop at nothing to prove that I’ve got what it takes to make this work. More than that, to make it succeed.”
Eyes softening, Marshall offered me a sad smile. “As much as I’d like to help you out here, Jett, my hands are tied. I might be able to get you that mortgage if you’ve got the downpayment in hand, seeing as Daisy’s got steady employment, but the business loan is another story.”
He had severely underestimated my determination. I would gladly take what he was offering and figure out the rest later. “I’ve got the down payment.” Never mind that it would take every penny in my bank account.
The man sitting opposite me shot me a look of pure disapproval. “Jett, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t caution you against this. The property has already fallen into foreclosure once . . .”
“Your warning is noted. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get the ball rolling on this mortgage so I can make it home before school lets out.”
There was some grumbling under his breath, but Marshall set to work, gathering the necessary paperwork that would make me a landowner.”
I wasn’t as naïve as he thought I was. I knew this was only the first step and that I would be fighting an uphill battle for years to come, but nothing fueled me more than being an underdog.
Proving him—and everyone else—wrong would only be that much sweeter.
October
“Where are we going?” Daisy’s brow wrinkled in confusion as I pulled through the gates marking the boundary of the property that was officially ours as of two hours ago.
“It’s a surprise.” A grin teased at the corner of my lips even as nerves twisted my gut in knots.
There was a very real possibility that she would freak out when I painted the new picture of our future. It was a sharp one-eighty from the one she’d agreed to when she married me. I was hoping she could appreciate that the pivot from our fun and carefree life meant I was forever out of harm’s way, and she wouldn’t be too mad that I’d gone and bought a whole damn ranch behind her back.
“Hmm. Seems to be a theme lately.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her hand coming to rest on her belly, which now featured the tiniest swell—visible proof of our child growing inside her.
I reached across the bench seat to take her hand. “But we’re rolling with the punches, right?”
“Don’t see how we have much of a choice.”
That might be the case when it came to our unplanned pregnancy, but I still wasn’t convinced my city-born wife wouldn’t walk when she learned I’d poured every penny to my name and then some into this piece of land. Living above the bar would seem like a luxury resort compared to our new accommodations.
This right here would be the ultimate test of our wedding vows, to see if Daisy would still be willing to take me for worse and for poorer because that’s what I currently was.
The truck rolled to a stop out front of the only structure on the property, an honest-to-God log cabin built in the mid-1800s.
Daisy stared at it through the windshield before turning to me. “What is this place?”
