Country Romance - Carolyne Aarsen

Chapter One

"I guess this is the ranch." Adele checked the map on her phone. The blue flashing dot showing her current location was right on the coordinates she received in Millar's Crossing.

She turned to look at her passenger in the back seat of her car.

Dean was fast asleep, his head cocked at an awkward angle, his chubby cheeks rosy red, his down-filled jacket open.

The five-year-old boy was exhausted, and Adele didn't blame him. Today they had driven for six hours. Eight hours the day before and seven previous to that.

Now they had arrived at their destination and her stomach clenched with nerves. Adele looked down the winding road leading to the cluster of buildings nestled against the rolling hills and back-dropped by the mountains in the distance. The hills were still blanketed with snow sparkling in the deceptive sunshine. The temperature gauge on her car showed that it was still icily cold outside, and a sudden gust of wind tossed snow from the freshly plowed ditch over the road.

If she was a praying person, like her foster mother had been, Adele would have been sending up many of them now. She wasn't looking forward to the trip down to the ranch or relaying the news she was about to drop into Wyatt Sutton's life.

Wyatt, the owner of the ranch spread out below her, had never met Dean. Had never even heard of him.

He had no clue Dean was his son, and she wondered if Wyatt even knew her friend Sally had been his mother.

Though Sally and her ex-husband hadn’t been married long, Adele always assumed that he was Dean’s father, and Sally had never told her different.

Then Sally was diagnosed with a fast-growing and inoperable stomach cancer. As she lay dying, she told Adele the truth. That Dean was Wyatt Sutton's child. That she hadn't told Wyatt, because after Dean was born, she found out Wyatt had gotten married. So, she had kept it secret all this time.

But now she was dying. Her parents were gone, and Sally had no other family. She wanted Adele to bring Dean to his biological father, the only living relative Dean had.

Adele hoped his wife would be understanding.

The plan had seemed straightforward. Show this Wyatt person Dean's birth certificate, remind Wyatt of his and Sally's brief relationship and his responsibility toward his son.

Hope and pray that Wyatt's wife would forgive him.

Now that Adele was looking at the buildings where the gas-station owner in the town of Millar's Crossing had told her Wyatt Sutton lived, the amorphous plan became scarily real.

All the long drive from Whitehorse Adele was still dealing with the grief of losing her friend. Was busy trying to keep Dean happy. Planning where they would stay in the next town they were headed towards.

Now they had come to the end of the road.

Adele had booked an Airbnb in Millar's Crossing but hadn't gone there, preferring to get the hardest part of her trip behind her.

She wished she could have called ahead, but she had no information on Wyatt Sutton. Only the town where he lived in thanks to the magic of Google and the directions she got in town.

"Okay, buddy, here we go," Adele said, sucking in a deep, calming breath. She put the car in gear, hoping the ancient tires on her vehicle would keep her on the winding, snow-covered road leading to the ranch. The car slithered and slid a few times, so with her heart in her throat she slowed to a crawl, trying to keep her focus on the road and not on the amazing view opening up in front of her.

Her nerves were jangling by the time she pulled up beside a black pickup parked in front of a large log house nestled against a copse of spruce and pine. Floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the house overlooked a frozen pond. A large wraparound porch held metal chairs and a table, all covered with snow.

Past the house she saw a hip-roof barn with corrals connected to it. A few horses stared over the wooden fence at her, as if wondering what she was doing here. Beyond the barn was a large metal shed housing farming equipment and, beside that, what looked like a shop with a huge overhead door. A few more outbuildings were scattered beyond that. What looked like an older house and a smaller cabin beside that.

She pulled in another breath, hoping this would go better than her imaginings.

He's a good man, Sally had assured