Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

Jesse took her in his arms and held her close to his chest. “You are one amazing woman, Addison Hall.”

“Thank you for that, Jesse, but just for the record, how many women are we talking about?” she asked.

“Show me yours, and I’ll show you mine,” he teased.

“Fair enough.” She giggled as she went up on her tiptoes for a kiss. “We’ll just nail that box shut with tenpenny nails.”

“I agree, but I can promise you one thing,” he whispered. “There won’t be any children coming out of the woodwork.”

“Other than Mia, you mean?” she asked.

“That’s right, and I can promise you another thing. I’m right proud to be Mia’s father,” Jesse said. “Now, I hear folks coming in for dinner and the noise of Dad’s cane tapping on the hardwood floor. Let’s eat and get a visit before we head off to Bonham. I was right to measure all the other women by your standard.” Jesse took her hand in his and led her across the hallway into the kitchen. “You always put other folks before yourself.”

“Hey, what was Grady doing here?” Sonny asked.

“I’ll tell you all about it after you say grace.” Jesse was in a state of shock that Addy had shredded the file without even looking inside it. He doubted that the thing was as complete as Grady had thought because it simply didn’t look thick enough to have covered all his military commendations plus the women that he had spent time with through the years. Besides, how on earth would anyone know about some of those ladies? They were scattered all over the blasted world.

Sonny bowed his head and said a short prayer, then reached for a couple of sandwiches. “I’m ready now. Did Grady have bad news about me?”

“Nope, it was bad news about me.” Jesse chuckled and told them what Grady had done.

“Sweet Lord!” Mia gasped. “That’s downright dirty of him, and to think I actually liked the man at one time. Why would he do that anyway?”

Addy poured chips onto her plate and then passed the bag over to Jesse. “He wanted me to be his friend and tell him how to live his life. When I refused, he gave me that file.”

“That makes him even worse,” Mia said.

Jesse kept quiet and let Addy tell the rest of the story. With every comment from Mia, his heart got lighter and lighter. After those first few rocky days, it was great to see his daughter standing up for him and her mother.

“If he goes through with joining Doctors Without Borders, he will probably get sent to one of the small African villages.” Cody reached for the pitcher in the middle of the table, refilled his glass, and then passed it around the table. “If he’s not fully committed to this, he’ll be miserable. When he puts his name on that contract, they don’t come get him until the time is finished.”

“He deserves it,” Pearl said, “but he seemed so nice when he was treating Sonny and was Addy’s friend. I can believe he has trouble making decisions. He was one of those kids—one that his parents did everything for him, and he never really had any hard knocks in life. He was married to Amelia when his folks died. I guess he just never learned to take care of things on his own. Hard to believe he’d do something so shady as to have Jesse investigated.”

“Yep, but then one never knows what they’ll do if they want someone to do something they won’t do,” Addy said and then focused on Jesse. “You ready to drive to the lumber yard and get these folks some more building material?”

Jesse laid his napkin on the table and stood up. “Only if they’ll promise that they will slow down a little so I can, at least, say I got to have a hand in building our new barn. I’ll want to tell future generations that I helped build the barn the year I came home from the military.”

Cody picked up another sandwich with one hand and the bag of chips with the other. “We promise we’ll save a nail or two special just for you. Mama, it’s so nice to be able to sit down to a meal in air-conditioned comfort. I’ll never take home for granted again.”

“Me either,” Jesse agreed.

Driving to Bonham, even with a trailer hitched up behind his truck, took fifteen minutes, barely enough time to cool down the cab. Jesse turned the radio to the station that played the older, traditional country music, and the first song the DJ played was Shania Twain’s “From This Moment On.”

He braked and pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, parked in the gravel, and turned up the radio as high as it would go. He hopped out of the truck, rounded the front end, and opened the door. “My name is Jesse Ryan, and I’ve been admirin’ you for a while now. May I have this dance?”

Addy put her hand in his, slid out of the truck, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He two-stepped with her all around the truck and didn’t even miss a beat when two vehicles went by and honked.

The lyrics said that life had begun from this moment, and that she belonged right beside him. Jesse breathed in the scent of her hair and hummed along with the song.

Addy leaned back slightly and sang right along with Shania, saying that from this moment she had been blessed, and that she would give her last breath for his love.

When the song ended, Jesse dropped down on one knee and took her hands in his. “I don’t have a ring, and this isn’t romantic, but after listening to that song, I want to say this. I love you, Addison Hall. With my heart and soul, I love you. Will you marry me?”