She undid the saddle cinch, took hold of the saddle and threw it over a sawhorse. The muscles tightened in her arms and she smiled. Oh, yeah. She was getting stronger. When Caitlyn had called her sisters home to face a financial crisis, Maddie had been skin and bones. Now she was healthy again, or she prayed she was.
After the crisis had been settled, she’d planned to return to Philadelphia. But she’d found peace here at High Five and her grandmother needed her.
Caitlyn had married the man of her dreams and moved to the neighboring Southern Cross ranch. They needed someone to run High Five. Maddie didn’t know a lot about ranching, but she was happy to stay and take over the reins.
Removing her worn felt hat, she placed it on the saddle horn and tucked stray blond hairs behind her ears. After the chemo, she’d lost all her hair. It was growing back now even thicker than before. It was long enough to pull back into a ponytail, although her hair had a way of working loose by the end of the day.
Three years and she was cancer-free, but to save her life the surgeon had taken everything that mattered to her—the ability to have a child.
The ache around her heart pulsed for a moment. She allowed herself to feel the pain, and then she let it go. It was an exercise she’d practiced many times.
Rubbing her horse’s face, she said, “Ready for some feed, ol’ gal?” The horse nuzzled her with a neigh, and Maddie relaxed in the comfort of something warm and real.
Cooper, the foreman, said the horse wasn’t worth much, but with her speckled gray coat, black mane and tail, Sadie looked beautiful to Maddie. Soon she learned that with a little coaxing Sadie could fly like the wind. Finding the good in Sadie was something she never let Cooper forget. She firmly believed there was good in everyone—no matter how flawed.
She led Sadie into the corral and removed her bridle. Cooper had put out sweet feed earlier. Sadie trotted to the trough, knowing exactly where it was.
With a sigh, Maddie turned back to the barn, looking forward to soaking in a hot bath. Her muscles screamed for it. So did her aching feet. Her arches were still getting used to living in cowboy boots.
As she secured the bridle on a hook, she heard a noise. It sounded like a sneeze. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone. The open-concept barn had a dirt floor; horse stalls were on the left with stacks of hay on the end, saddles and tack on the right with a supply room. A hay loft with more bales was above—a place where she and her sisters had played many times. The big double doors opened on one end to the corral and the other to the ranch.
It must be the old tomcat that lived in the loft, making the barn his home. Then she spotted the feet barely visible under a horse stall door—two sets of sneakers, one trimmed in pink. They certainly didn’t belong to ol’ Tom.
What…?
Mystified, she walked over and opened the door. There stood two wide-eyed young girls. One was blonde and about ten, and she had a small boy at least three or four cradled on her hip. His face was buried in her neck. The other girl had dark hair and was older, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and she was very pregnant. They all wore jeans and heavy Windbreakers. Maddie was at a loss for words for a full thirty seconds. This certainly wasn’t predictable.
She cleared her throat. “What are you doing hiding in the stall?”
“We’re not hiding,” the younger girl replied in a defensive tone, “we’re waiting for someone.”
“Who?”
“Brian Harper,” the older girl said.
Maddie frowned. “There’s no one here by that name.”
“He works for Ms. Belle.”
“You mean Caitlyn?”
The girl nodded.
“Caitlyn doesn’t live here anymore. She married Judd Calhoun and lives on the Southern Cross.”
The girl’s face fell. “She still owns this ranch, doesn’t she?”
“Yes. She’s part-owner with our sister, Skylar, and me.”
The girl made a sucking lemon type face. “Who are you?”
Maddie didn’t feel she had to keep answering questions, but the worry in the girl’s eyes swayed her. “I’m Madison Belle.” Her glance swept over the trio. “What are your names?”
“I’m Ginny,” the girl responded readily. “And this is Haley and Georgie.”
The boy raised his head. “I’m Georgie.”
“Shh, Georgie.” Haley cradled the boy closer against her. Even with the winter clothes, Maddie could see the girl was very thin, and she didn’t seem to have the strength to keep holding the boy.
“I wanna go home,” Georgie wailed.
“Shh.” Haley stroked his back.
Maddie watched this with a sense of trepidation. Something was very wrong, and she decided to get to the bottom of what the kids were doing here. They surely had parents, and those parents had to be worried.
“Why do you want to see Brian Harper?”
Ginny rested her hands over her swollen stomach in a protective gesture. “He said if I ever needed anything, he’d help me.”
“And we need money to buy bus tickets to Lubbock,” Haley added. “My mom lives there and we have to see her.”
“Mama,” Georgie mumbled.
Maddie listened carefully, but none of it made any sense to her. “So basically you’re running away. I assume you have family in High Cotton.”
“That’s none of your business,” Haley spat in a defensive tone.
Maddie lifted an eyebrow. “You made it my business by hiding in my barn.”
Before the kids could form a reply, the pounding of hooves caught their attention. Cooper Yates and Rufus Johns rode in and dismounted. The cow dogs, Boots, Booger and Bo, followed. Rufus began to unsaddle and feed the horses, seeming oblivious to the kids. But that was Rufus. He spoke very little and minded his own business.
They were the only two cowboys on the ranch and both were ex-cons. Caitlyn trusted them with her life and Maddie now knew why. They were as honest and reliable as the day was long.
Rufus was in his seventies and had worked on High Five all his life. His wife, Etta, was the cook and housekeeper. In his younger days, he’d gotten into a fight in a bar, trying to protect a woman from her abusive boyfriend. Rufus was a big man and one blow from his fist sent the man flying into a table. He hit his head and died instantly. Rufus spent three years in a Huntsville prison for involuntary manslaughter. He came home to Etta and High Five and never again strayed from the straight and narrow.
“Stay here,” Maddie said to the kids, and walked over to Cooper. He removed his hat and slapped it against his leg to remove the dust.
Cooper was a cowboy to the core. There wasn’t anything he didn’t know about ranching, cattle and horses. His passion was horses, and he had worked at several thoroughbred horse farms. The one in Weatherford, Texas, had been his downfall.
Several expensive horses had died from the feed being mixed incorrectly with pesticides to kill weevils. The owner pointed the finger at Cooper. In anger, Coop had gotten into a fight with the man, who’d filed charges. Coop had been convicted for assault and killing the horses.
He spent six months in prison before the truth came to light. The owner had mixed the feed incorrectly to collect the insurance money. Cooper was released, but people now looked at him differently. He was an ex-con and people didn’t trust him, but Caitlyn and Dane Belle had. At Cait’s urging, their father had given Coop a job when no one else would.
Maddie nodded at Cooper’s bay gelding. “I told