Ridden Hard - Kim Loraine Page 0,48

is the first girl to show up on our doorstep like this.”

“Sera,” Sam chastised. “You’re way too young—”

“Oh, don’t act like you have a say in this, Sam. You’ve been checked out of here since before Daddy died. We’ve been here. Working hard. I left for college, but I came back every break and helped. You abandoned us all.”

“He had his reasons,” Buck said.

“Sure. Sponsors and fancy hotels.” She snorted. “Forgive me if I don’t bow at your feet, Sam. I’m tired of letting you off the hook for everything. You didn’t come back for longer than a day when Daddy died. When Clint and Ever got married, you were gone so fast we wondered if you’d been here at all. So you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.” Shoving her chair back, she stormed out of the dining room and up the stairs.

“Well, that went about as well as squattin’ with your spurs on.” Buck stood and grabbed his plate. “She’ll cool down, and we can talk some sense into her in the morning.”

“Or, you could just let her make up her own mind,” I said, resting my palm on my belly. “She’s a grown woman. If she wants to help out the show by taking this on, she shouldn’t be made to feel like she’s less than you guys.”

“Hazel, this isn’t something you should be…” Tristan started, then stopped when I let out a sigh.

“So now I don’t get to have an opinion either?” I stood, my hips hurting from sitting so long.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It’s exactly what you meant. Don’t worry about it. You guys need to really think about what you’re saying to her by dismissing what she wants to do. It’s no different than Tristan doing the same thing, or you, Buck. A fake romance to avoid a scripted one is the same thing.”

I carried my plate into the kitchen and found Mama scrubbing dishes by hand, even though there was a perfectly good dishwasher right next to her. So I took up a place next to her, and the two of us silently washed and dried every single dish we’d used to cook the meal. I wasn’t really mad at them, just frustrated. I’d been that girl. The one who had all her decisions made for her by men. Did I think it was a good idea for someone her age to be taking on such a responsibility? No. But at the same time, I was thirty-one, a grown woman, and I’d made a choice that ended with me knocked up. I couldn’t really offer much advice.

Mama sighed and handed me a glass dish to dry. “She’s doing this because of me. To make sure we’ve got enough money to pay all my medical bills.”

“Do you need her to do that?”

“No. We’re just fine. But the fact that she thinks we aren’t kills me.” The guilt in Mama’s voice broke my heart.

“Then you need to talk to her and make sure she knows she doesn’t have to. She can’t make up her mind if she doesn’t have all the information.”

Mama took my hand and squeezed. “You’re gonna be a real good mama, Hazel. I’m so glad you’ll be my grandbaby’s.”

Tears sprung to my eyes. “Me too.”

“Tristan can be hard-headed sometimes, but I’m glad he was about you. My boys always go after what they love. Come hell or high water.”

Love.

That word had been hovering over us, unspoken, like a storm about to unleash. I just didn’t know what it would do once it happened. Wash us away, or keep us from burning to the ground.

17

Tristan

A week had passed since Sera told us she was gonna be the star of the new season of Saddle Up, and the girl hadn’t changed her mind. Even after Mama told her we didn’t need the extra income. I had to admit, I was glad someone else was going to take on the task of flirting for the cameras. My eyes were only on the woman I’d moved in with. Hazel and I seemed to fit together seamlessly. Our daily routines started and ended at the same time, me getting up to start my chores around the ranch, her going to check on Mama, making sure she took her meds and keeping her from doing too much.

At the end of another cold day of light snow and early dark, I watched Hazel and Mama standing at the sink, low voices murmuring together. God,