we were set up the waste would be worth it in the long run because we’d save a ton of money in the summer.” When Ezra was alive, Rusty wouldn’t have doubted anything the old man said.
“How would that be saving money?” she asked.
“We wouldn’t be payin’ the summer help wages,” he answered. “But we’re really not here to talk about hay, are we?”
“No, but after loading and hauling this all day, I’m all for buying the new stuff for the big bales,” she said. “I’ll go first. The argument over the dogs was just so we didn’t have to face the real problem, which is the fact that I really do like you. One minute we’re arguing, and the next we get along pretty good. I don’t know if you’re just pretending to be nice so I’ll sell you the ranch, or if you feel the same sparks I do when you’re in the same room with me.” She pushed a strand of hair from her sweaty face.
He was speechless at her honesty. “I like you too. Always have felt a connection between us, but I’m having second thoughts about this place. I’ve had a love-hate connection to the ranch, though. Seems like it’s tainted when it comes to relationships. I don’t care if I had ten daughters and no sons, I’d never send them away, and they’d all inherit an equal share of whatever I had when my days on this earth came to an end. And Ezra shouldn’t have treated his wives the way he did. Far as I could tell, none of them did a thing wrong, and it wasn’t their fault their first child wasn’t a son. The second one might have been.”
“You won’t get an argument out of me on any of what you just said,” Bonnie agreed, “but a ranch is basically just dirt and grass. Is it really worth losing a friend, or the love of your life, over? Neither of my older sisters thought it was.”
“Sometimes the place is just dirt if we don’t get rain when we need it,” Rusty chuckled. “When y’all first got here, you were sure enough ready to put on the gloves and go to war for the ranch, and now all you can talk about is selling it and gettin’ the hell out of Dodge, or the Palo Duro Canyon, as this case is.”
“Yep, but then we bonded, and now I feel pretty alone. It’s not the first time. Every time Mama moved us, I had this same feeling of not knowing anyone. I hated walking into a new school three or four times a year,” she said. “But not putting down roots is part of me now, and I don’t know if I can stay in one place and be happy, Rusty. I’m afraid to even give it a try, but my heart has grown roots here and I have sisters who are living close by. Plus, you and I need to make the decisions about what happens on this place. Ezra is gone, and he doesn’t get a say-so anymore.”
Rusty moved over to sit beside her. “No, he doesn’t, but he’s buried right here on the property.”
“He left you his knowledge of ranchin’.” Bonnie nudged him with her shoulder. “I inherited his blue eyes and stubborn will. That’s all he should get credit for.”
“If you stay, and I hope you do,” Rusty said, “what will you tell your kids about him someday? You do realize, he’ll be their grandfather.”
“I’ll tell them the absolute truth, and then I’ll tell them that they have a father who is amazing and loves them, even if their grandfather wasn’t a nice person,” she answered.
“How can you make that kind of statement when you have no idea who the father of your kids will be?” Rusty turned and studied her face.
“Because I won’t ever marry until I can find a man that I can truly say is amazing and that will love our children. I grew up without a father, for no other reason than I wasn’t a boy. My kids, boys or girls, are going to have a daddy to love them, protect them, and provide for them, or I won’t have a husband,” Bonnie declared with so much conviction that Rusty could have sworn the temperature in the hot barn raised a few more degrees.
“Now, let’s talk about you,” Rusty said. “Are you staying or leaving?”
“Staying. I can’t let Ezra win, and besides, I kind of