True Love Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan

Trinity finished her meal and downed two glasses of water. She felt better. But she didn’t like the way Emmy stared at the TV, not speaking, not looking at her or Tate. The little one was never this quiet.

Trinity left the dining table and sat on the sofa at Emmy’s feet. “Hey, sweetheart, do you want to play a game?”

Emmy stared at the TV, unresponsive.

“We could do one of the puzzles in your room or have a tea party.” She wasn’t up for much, but to engage the little girl, she’d do just about anything right now.

“No.”

She’d take the one word and call it a victory for now, but she wanted more. Emmy needed to talk about whatever was going on in her head. “I’m feeling a little better today.” She held up her hands and wiggled her sore fingers. She needed to trim and file the broken, jagged nails. Her broken fingers hurt, but not too bad. “Are you feeling better?”

“No.”

Okay. Good. An honest answer. “I had a bad dream right before I woke up. It made me feel scared and a little confused. How are you feeling?”

“Sad.” A tear rolled down her cheek and dripped onto Emmy’s favorite stuffed bunny.

Trinity’s heart ached. “Why are you sad?”

Emmy peeked up at her from behind Bunny’s head. “What happened to the kitties?”

Trinity gasped. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry we forgot about Puff, Dot, and Razzle.”

“Puff and Dot are hers. Puff scratches me all the time. Dot won’t let me pet her. But Razzle is mine. She sleeps with me.” Emmy’s lips trembled. “I hate her.”

Trinity knew she meant her mother, not her beloved Razzle.

Well, she got Emmy talking. And she could do something about the cats. But she didn’t know what to do about Emmy hating her mom. That feeling was real and justified after all Steph had done.

“Tate,” she called, wondering where he went.

Surprisingly, he came from down the hallway. “Yeah. You okay? You need something?”

“It seems in all the drama that happened we forgot about Steph’s cats.”

“Razzle is mine.” Emmy gave her a stern look.

“Um, yes. Razzle has two friends. Puff and Dot. Can you find out what happened to the cats? Are they still at Steph’s place? Did a neighbor take them? Maybe Jon can pick them up on his way home?”

Tate pulled his phone from his back pocket. “On it.”

Trinity stared at him. “What are you doing back there?”

“Looking into something. Let me find out about the cats, then you and I need to talk.”

“Okay.” She had no idea about what, but when something got Tate’s attention, he held on to it like a dog with a bone.

“There we go, Emmy. Tate will make some calls and see if we can get the kitties.” She had no idea if Jon even wanted them here, but if it made Emmy happy, he probably wouldn’t care.

Emmy finally stopped hiding behind Bunny and sat up next to her. “What if no one fed them?”

“I’m sure someone thought about the cats before they locked up your mom’s place. The police are very helpful. They wouldn’t leave the cats alone in there with no one to care for them.” She hoped that was true.

Steph hadn’t been very cooperative. They’d had their hands full with her, their investigation, and making sure she and Emmy got the medical care they needed.

Trinity put her arm around Emmy’s shoulders and drew her into her side even though it cost her. “Is there anything else you want to talk about now that we’re looking into the cats?”

Emmy hesitated, hugged Bunny close, then looked up at her. “Will I get to live with Daddy all the time now?”

“Yes.” No matter what happened with Steph, however the charges against her played out, Jon would never allow Emmy to go back and live with Steph. It would be a travesty if the court didn’t side with Jon now.

“Are you going to stay here with us?”

“Trinity,” Tate called, and waved for her to join him in the kitchen.

“I’ll be right back.” She hated not answering the little girl, but Tate stood just outside the kitchen staring her down, imploring her to hurry up with his intense gaze.

It took her a second to get up off the couch and be sure she had her balance, but once she made it to the kitchen, Tate took her arm and frowned.

“So the cat situation is tricky. I called Jon. He had no clue what happened with the cats and gave me the manager’s number at the apartment complex.”

Trinity rolled her eyes and wished she hadn’t. It sent her brain and vision into a tailspin. She closed her eyes for a moment, then refocused on Tate.

“You good?”

“Yeah. Fine. My head,” she said by way of explanation. “So the manager has the cats?”

“No. He knew that an older woman in the building had recently lost her dog, so he asked her if she’d like to take the homeless cats.”

“Okay, can we talk to her and get them back?”

“Well, here’s the thing. She took two. The gray-and-white and the black one.”

“Puff and Dot.”

“The orange one went to a single mom, who has a little boy.”

“Crap. That’s Razzle. Emmy’s favorite.”

“I have the number for both tenants, but it sounded like Emmy really only wanted her cat back. I mean, the older lady lives alone. She’ll probably spoil those two cats rotten.”

Trinity agreed, but if Emmy really wanted all of them back, she needed to try. “Call the single mom. Tell her that Emmy really loves her kitty and wants her back and because of the circumstances the other night, Razzle was rehomed without us knowing. See if the mom is willing to give the cat back. If we can make that happen, then maybe Puff and Dot can stay at their new home. But if Emmy wants them, too, we can always call the lady tomorrow and work that out.”

“Okay, give me a few minutes. I’ll see if I can get in touch with her.”

“Thanks, Tate. My brain just isn’t functioning on all cylinders today.”

“I got this.”

While Tate went back down the hall to make the phone call, she rummaged through Jon’s kitchen, taking inventory of what he had on hand. Cooking always relaxed her, and she thought maybe she and Emmy could make something together. That would get both of them out of their heads and stop them from obsessing over what happened.

Unlike Steph’s place, Jon kept the refrigerator stocked with Emmy’s favorite fruits and veggies. She took out a package of chicken thighs from the freezer to cook for dinner later. In the pantry, she found a box of rotini. She could make some Parmesan butter noodles to go with the chicken. Emmy would love that. She smiled at the sweets Jon kept on hand to bribe Emmy and reward her for being good. Next to the jar of mini chocolate bars she left in his pantry sat a bag of miniature peanut butter cups and a bag of gummy worms. Behind them were two boxes of vanilla cake mix, three tubs of chocolate frosting, and three boxes of brownies.

She grabbed one of the brownie mixes.

Tate caught her before she called Emmy into the kitchen. “Okay. Single mom, Savannah, agreed to return Razzle, even though her son fell in love with her. She felt bad for Emmy. Liz is off work in thirty minutes at the spa. She’ll swing by the apartment complex. I told the manager Liz is pregnant and can’t be around the cat litter box. He said he’d go over to Steph’s, clean it out, find the food, the cat cage, and have everything ready for Liz to pick up when she gets there.”

“We owe him a nice thank-you and something for his trouble.”

“I’m sure Jon can take care of it when he deals with Steph’s place. Liz will get the cat from Savannah and bring it here.”

“Thank you. I think this will make a huge difference to Emmy.”

“I’m supposed to bring the horses over tomorrow. Maybe I should postpone with everything you two have going on.”

“No. Bring them. It’s another distraction for Emmy. She’ll love it.”

“Okay. Then that leaves you.”

“Me?” She had no idea what he was talking about.

“You accused Jon of cheating on you.”

She shook her head, setting off another round of dizziness, and silently scolded herself for not being more careful. “That’s not what I meant. My brain . . . I have trouble finding the right word sometimes.”

“You’re doing well now.”

“I slept a long time. My brain got the rest it needed, but I can tell the longer I’m up and doing things, the slower I start to feel.”

“Then maybe I should hold off telling you what I found.”

She gave him a dirty look. “Well, now you can’t, can you?”

“Yeah, your mind is sharp enough to hear what I have to say. Come with me.”

She followed Tate down the hall to the office Jon redecorated. “We shouldn’t be in here. This is Jon’s place. We should respect his privacy.”

Tate ignored her. “Do you love him?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to make a life with him?”

“Yes.”

“Did you believe him when he said he never wanted Almost Homemade, he just wanted you?”

“Yes.”

Tate picked up a bound set of papers. “This is the proposal Jon was telling you about. I found it and this folder”—he tapped the file on the desk with his index finger—“in the trash, just like he said.”

“Okay. He told the truth. I didn’t think otherwise.”

“But he never told you what he proposed.” Tate waved the business proposal.

“No. We never got a chance to discuss it.”

“I’m no businessman, but even I can see the genius in this plan. You know what else I see in these papers?”

“What?”

“That he really, truly means it when he says he wants you more than anything else.”

Her eyes glassed over. “I know that, Tate.” Her heart burst to overflowing with how much she loved Jon.

“Then you should accept both of these proposals.”

She looked at them, but her vision still had floaters and stars and it was so hard to focus on the printed pages. “I can’t read them right now. My eyes . . .”

“That’s why I read them for you. I’ll start with the business proposal. He didn’t want to buy Almost Homemade. He wanted to expand it with you. He proposes giving AH an influx of cash to open new stores and sell your products at grocery stores. Some he owns. A couple he plans to buy, including the one right here in town. You will be partners. You and Adria own Almost Homemade. He owns the groceries and markets.”

“Really?”

“You know your business. He knows his. The money he loans you will be repaid over time with a modest interest rate. If you pay it off early, your profits will soar way beyond what you’re making now.”

“We’d be working together.” She liked that.

“He would oversee the business side of things, leaving you and Adria to focus on what you really love—cooking amazing meals for your customers. You’d of course have a say in all business decisions, but he’d take the lead on the expansion.”

“That kind of sounds amazing. Adria and I have loved opening the new stores, but we spend more time focused on finding a building, renovations, hiring new people, and getting the operation up and running than we do being in the kitchens.”

“You’d still be involved, but he’d take a lot of that off your shoulders because that’s what he’s good at. He also proposes having one of his business managers take point, and he’d direct that person and you’d all oversee him.”

“Adria and I have talked about possibly hiring a business manager of some sort. Someone to help us with the logistics and things.”

“I don’t think you could do better than Jon and his people based on this very detailed and well-thought-out plan he has for working with you two.”

“Wow. I had no idea. Why would he keep this from me?”

“It’s like you said. You never got a chance to discuss it. I think while he was making his plans, he wanted to have it all perfect to present to you because if you said yes, that meant you’d be working together for a very long time to come.”

“Is it strange that I can already see it? I know Adria dreamed of Almost Homemade, but it’s become my life’s work, too, and I love it and I want Jon to be a part of it.”

“Then I think you should see this.” Tate turned the folder on the desk and flipped open the top so she could see the papers inside.

“A prenuptial agreement?” They’d talked about sharing their life. He’d basically asked her to move in. “I guess that makes sense. He’d want to protect his wealth.” He’d probably learned to protect himself dating Steph.

“This document isn’t to protect him per se. It’s to protect you.”

“I don’t understand. He’s got way more assets and money than I do.”

“But you were suspicious of his intentions. Nathan accused you of wanting to sell AH to him. Steph made you think he only started dating you because he wanted AH.”

“All of that was wrong. Jon’s not like that. I never thought he’d do something like that because of a business deal.”

“He wanted you to be sure, so he put it in this document. He’s not asking you to take one deal, he wanted to ask you to take him and the deal. If you agreed, and later down the road you two split for any reason, AH remains yours, any debt owed to him on the loan is forgiven, and you walk away clear. He keeps the grocery stores he owns.” Tate tossed the last part out like that didn’t really matter, because what mattered was that Jon wanted her to know the only thing he wanted was her.

It wasn’t about the companies and money. It was about them working together and building on what they already had, but more than anything he wanted them to be husband and wife, equal partners in business and life.

“You should also know that I asked him about running cattle here.”

It made sense. “He wants Emmy to grow up on the ranch.”

“Declan and I want to expand the herd, but we’ll need more land. Jon’s got the land to run a herd as large as the one we’ve got at Cedar Top. You guys will expand the business, and you’ll need more beef. Jon can supply it.”

“He loves business, but his dream to run the ranch got trampled under all the Steph chaos.” She thought more about it and realized why he’d put everything on hold. “He thought she might want to move back to California, which meant he’d have to go back, too, so he could be with Emmy. He’d have given all this up for Emmy.”

“After what Steph did, Jon will more than likely get full custody. He can stay right here with you.”

They could make a life together right here.

She touched her fingers to the papers. “I can’t believe he threw this away.”

“Your happiness is more important to him than money or any business deal. You had reservations about his offer, so he took it off the table and trashed it. He knows you love him, so he chose you over everything else just like he’d have chosen Emmy and gone back to California if that’s what it took to keep his daughter.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“You are his true love, Trinity. Is he yours?”

Her heart overflowed with love for him. “Yes.”

“Then tell him you’ll take the deal.”

Everything became clear in her mind and heart. She knew exactly what she wanted and needed to do. But she needed a little time.

“How long until Declan and Skye’s wedding?”

“It’s next Saturday.”

“And the rehearsal dinner is on Thursday?” She tried to remember the details stashed in her cloudy mind.

“Yeah. The whole family should be there, including Adria’s sisters and Mom and Dad.”

“Perfect.”

“For what?”

“You’ll see.” She took the business proposal and the prenup and held them to her chest. “Whatever you do, don’t tell Jon you told me about this.”

Tate held out his hand, a black velvet box in his palm. “Then I guess I shouldn’t tell him or you that I also found this in his desk drawer.”

“Is that a . . .”

Tate grinned. “Want to see it?”

She shook her head. And regretted it again.

“How many times are you going to do that before you remember it hurts?” Tate scolded.

“I don’t know, a dozen more maybe.” She closed her eyes, waited a few seconds, then opened them again. “Are you sure that’s for me?”

“I can’t imagine he got it for Steph.”

She cringed at the thought. “Okay. I’ll need that for Thursday, but I’ll leave it there for now.”

“What exactly are you planning for Thursday?”

“If I can get Declan and Skye on board and Adria to agree, I’m going to accept Jon’s proposals.”

“Not sure what that all means, but if you need any help, count me in.”

She’d need her whole family’s help to pull this off, but they loved her, she loved Jon, and they’d help her make her dream a reality.