in the first place. But this—Slade, his stepdaughter, Shea, the baby, the ranch, all of it—was her dream come true.
And it had been by no means a sure thing.
Now, though, she absolutely shone with fulfillment.
Tara, following Kendra’s gaze, smiled and said quietly, “There she is, the world’s happiest woman.”
Kendra nodded and blinked a couple of times, and they all sat down to enjoy the tea Joslyn must have brewed in advance. There were doughnuts with sprinkles waiting, too.
“Do you miss your mom, now that’s she’s gone home to Santa Fe?” Kendra asked Joslyn, deciding to skip the doughnuts because her stomach was still a little touchy.
“Of course I do,” Joslyn said. “It was lovely, having her here, but she has a life to get back to and, besides, we’re sure to see her again soon.”
“We shouldn’t have forwarded that webpage to you,” Tara interjected, looking fretful again. “I don’t know what we were thinking.”
“It’s all right,” Kendra said truthfully. “I would have seen it sooner or later anyway, and it was better that it came from the two of you.”
“You really went to see Brylee Parrish?” Joslyn asked, wide-eyed.
“No,” Kendra joked. “I just said that to get a rise out of you. Yes, I went to see Brylee, and I feel like an idiot. One of those people who are always on the lookout for something to raise a fuss about.”
“I’d say you had reason to raise a fuss,” Tara said, loyal to the end. “Sometimes things like that picture of you and Hutch being posted with a snarky comment start out small and then mushroom into a major hassle.”
“Well, anyway, it’s done,” Kendra went on with a little shrug. “Brylee is actually a very nice person, you know. She’s going to make sure the page gets taken down—so no harm done.”
“Did she ask if you and Hutch are involved?” Joslyn asked. No sense in pulling any punches; cut right to the chase—that was Joslyn’s way.
“She wanted to,” Kendra said, “but she didn’t.”
“Are you?” Tara prodded.
“Am I what?” Kendra stalled.
“Involved. With. Hutch. Carmody,” Tara said with exaggerated patience.
“No,” Kendra said, thinking, not if you don’t count that hot kiss by Whisper Creek yesterday afternoon.
“I heard he bought a pony for Madison,” Tara persisted.
“Who told you that?” Kendra wanted to know.
“Word gets around,” Tara said.
“Opal,” Kendra guessed, and knew she was right by the looks of fond chagrin on her friends’ faces.
“Don’t be mad at Opal,” Joslyn was quick to say. “We were talking on the phone and it just slipped out that Hutch bought a pony for Madison to ride and, well, it’s only natural to draw some conclusions.”
“Which, of course, you did,” Kendra pointed out sweetly. “It just so happens that you’re wrong, though. Hutch bought the pony because the people who owned it before said it was lonely, with their kids grown up and gone from home.”
Tara and Joslyn exchanged knowing looks.
“Every hardworking cattle rancher needs a pony named Ruffles,” Joslyn observed dryly and with a twinkle.
“It means nothing,” Kendra insisted.
“Whatever you say,” Tara agreed, grinning.
“You two are impossible.”
“At least we’re objective,” Joslyn said. “Unlike some people I could mention.”
Kendra picked up her teacup and took a measured sip. “You are so not objective,” she said at some length.
“We want you to be happy,” Tara said.
“Well, I want you to be happy, too,” Kendra immediately replied. “So why aren’t we trying to throw you together with somebody—like Boone Taylor, for instance?”
Tara turned a fetching shade of apricot-pink. “Oh, please,” she said.
Joslyn, comfortably ensconced in her own marriage and family life, grinned at both of them. Happy people could be downright insufferable, Kendra reflected, especially when they were trying to make a point. “There was a time,” she reminded them, “when I couldn’t stand Slade Barlow. And look how that turned out.”
“Oh, right,” Tara said grumpily. Her teacup made a clinking sound as she set it back in her saucer. “We’ll just go out and find men we absolutely cannot abide, won’t we, Kendra, and live happily ever after. Why didn’t we think of that?”
Joslyn’s eyes shimmered with mischievous amusement. “You might be surprised if you gave Boone even the slightest encouragement,” she said before turning her gaze on Kendra. “And as for you, Ms. Shepherd, we all know that Hutch Carmody makes your little heart go pitty-pat, so why try to pretend otherwise?”
Kendra sighed a long, sad sigh. “Maybe he does,” she confessed, almost in a whisper. “But that doesn’t mean things will work out between us. They