Page 17 of Long Past Dawn
“Hiring and firing?”
His nod was immediate. “You’ll be ranch foreman, which you are now, but now you’ll be getting paid for it. You won’t have to do all the chores either. We’ll also be providing Heavenly Lane Dude Ranch with bison for their guests, so there will be more hides, which means more leather for your work. I’d like to see you grow your hobby into a business. You’re crazy talented with leatherwork, which has taken me by surprise. Now that I see your passion, I want you to reap the rewards of your years of hard work. I want you to have time to make custom hats like these,” he explained, tipping his hat. “I think it could be a great little side business for you. We’ll certainly never run out of leather.”
My mouth was open, but I couldn’t force words out. Was he serious right now? “Wha—your daddy is okay with this?” I stuttered, my mind going a million miles a minute.
“I own the ranch now, Beau, but he did give me his blessing to make you a full partner. In fact, he said he’d thump me all the way from Dublin if I didn’t. He’s coming up for the wedding. You can ask him then if you don’t believe me now.”
My head was shaking back and forth in disbelief. If what he was saying was true, I finally had a reason to stay here. I finally had a reason to dig in and make something of this life. I’d been entrenched on this land for as long as Blaze had, but I was never more than the grunt work to keep it alive. My heart pounded at the thought that maybe I could make something of myself in this place after all.
Blaze tipped his head. “Beau, are you okay?”
I stood, my legs shaky and my mouth dry as cotton. “I—can I have a minute?”
The door to the barn was open, and I ran for it, stepping outside the door and leaning over on my thighs while my stomach heaved. I regretted the Jim Beam I’d drank last night, but I regretted, even more, the things I said to them. Worse yet, the things I said that no one else heard. The words I said in anger rang loudly in my head, and the shame of them made my stomach roil again.
The hand I knew like the back of my own came down on my shoulder while his other hand planted itself on my chest. “It’s okay, Beau. We have to forget about the stuff in the past, both distant and not so distant, and remember that we’re family first and foremost, right?”
I nodded, my head still hanging toward the dirt. I swiped my hand over my mouth and took a shuddering breath. “I’m still real ashamed of my behavior, Blaze. Real ashamed. Toward you, Heaven, and Dawn Lee.”
I stood up, and my bones sagged from exhaustion and spent emotion. Blaze kept his arm around my shoulder and walked me into the house, motioning for me to sit while he got me a glass of water. Before he handed it to me, he held it up. “See that?”
I shook my head slightly. “See what? It’s clear water.”
Blaze handed me the glass, and I drank some down, being careful, so I didn’t heave it back out. “It is, and that’s going to be us starting today. From here on, our water is made clear with honesty and forgiveness. We’ve filtered out everything else that muddied it for so long. Does that make sense, Beau?”
I stared at the glass for the longest time before I could meet his gaze. “That’s the most sense you’ve made in years, Blaze. Some of my water is still muddied, but I’m going to work harder at filtering that out, too.”
Blaze clasped my shoulder and nodded. “I think that’s a solid idea. The best place to start is with the one person who accepts all of you even when you don’t think she should.”
He lifted a brow, and I nodded once, his message received.
Five
“Dawn! Dawn!”
I ran for the back door and threw it open, surprised to see Heaven and Grover at the back of the house. I jogged down the stairs and grabbed Grover's reins. “Heaven, what are you doing here?” I paused when my mind registered what it was seeing. “Girl, what's with that saddle?”
Heaven wore a grin from ear to ear when she answered. “Cool, right? The saddle is Beau's handiwork. Watch!”
Heaven made all kinds of precise actions to the saddle and then motioned me over. “Spot me. This is the first time I’ve gotten down from the saddle, and Blaze made me promise to have help.”
I stood ready to grab her if she started to fall, but she was able to get down on her own, her smile widening when she did, if a wider smile was even possible. “I don't understand what I just saw,” I said, completely flabbergasted.
Heaven showed me all Beau's changes to the saddle and how it worked to keep her safe. She was always one wrong move from falling off Grover, and we all worried about her safety when she was riding. We couldn’t tell her that she couldn’t ride anymore, that would destroy her, but we did want her to be safe. Beau was the one to find the solution to the problem, which didn’t surprise me in the least. He spends a lot of time in his head, and I had a feeling this was the result of a lot of thinking.
“You should have been me about thirty minutes ago. Beau decided I should be able to mount and dismount without mounting stairs or making Grover lie down. Dawn, he made this system just for me. He even made it to match my saddle. I rode over here and was stable for the first time in years. It was just mind-blowing.”
I rubbed her back while she gathered herself. Tears fell down her cheeks, from what I imagined was happiness and gratefulness. “Why don't you put Grover in the barn, and we'll have some coffee?”
Heaven led the horse to the barn and let him into his stall, leaving the saddle on since she wasn't staying for long.When she came into the kitchen, she sat down at the table while I got coffee. “It's nice to see you so excited about riding again. I know riding has become more difficult for you over the last few years.”
“I guess you weren't the only one to notice.”
I set my cup down on the table and leaned my chin on my palm. “I can't believe Beau made all of that, though. I know he's handy and an excellent leatherworker, but that involves more than a little bit of design and engineering work.”
Heaven set her cup down, too. “All Beau said was that he wanted me to be safe when I was riding, and he thought he had a way to do that. He was right, but I can't wrap my mind around it yet. The braces he added to the saddle for my legs make all the difference. Balance has been hard for me, but those changed the game.”
“I'm happy for you, Heaven. Maybe we can go riding for fun now.”
