“I caught a fish,” Katie said. “His name is Nathan. Ty said we could keep him as a pet, but he has to live in the lake.”
One of the cowhands snickered. “A pet fish named Nathan? You’re not getting soft on us, are you, Warner?”
Some of the other cowboys joined in the teasing, and though Ty flinched for a moment, it was obvious they hadn’t gotten to him.
“I’m not going to break a little girl’s heart,” Ty said. “Unlike you knuckleheads.”
They filled up the plates and when they went to sit, Ricky gestured at the place to his right. “Rachel. Come sit by me. Bring that little girl of yours. I want to hear about this fish called Nathan.”
Rachel couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. Sitting by Ricky at dinner, he could get to know her and realize she wasn’t a threat. Ty sat on the other side of Ricky, and though she still felt uneasy at having him so close, maybe he, too, would give her a break.
As they ate and talked, Rachel was surprised by the camaraderie of everyone at the table. These were all Ricky’s employees, and yet they acted like family. Maybe Ricky said he was a lonely old man, but from where Rachel sat, he was surrounded by people who loved him. In a way, she envied Ricky that.
Rachel didn’t have that in her life. The biggest tragedy of her health issues was that if she did die, she would do so without ever having experienced this kind of life for herself. She’d promised herself she would give it to Katie, but so far her attempts had been miserable failures.
When they finished dinner Ricky led them back out into the great room, where the back doors had been opened onto an expansive deck.
“Some of the boys are going to be playing some music,” Ricky said. “We like to have live music for our guests, but the people who usually do it can’t this year, so some of the guys wanted to audition and see if I like their noise well enough to inflict it upon my guests.”
Ricky grinned, then stepped outside the door. Rachel turned to see that Katie had paused at a horse statue.
“Katie, don’t touch,” she said, scurrying over to her daughter. After the great hospitality Ricky had provided, the last thing she wanted to do was have her daughter ruin a priceless treasure.
“But it’s so pretty,” Katie said. “I bet it’s real soft and smooth.”
Ty stepped up behind them. “Cinco carved that when he was a boy.”
As Rachel looked at the display, she noticed a photograph of a young cowboy hanging on the wall above the statue. “Is that him?”
“Yes,” Ty said. “It was his senior picture.”
Rachel studied the photograph, trying to see if she shared any features with the man who was probably her father. Would others notice the resemblance? She had so many questions, ones she’d never thought to ask, ones she didn’t think she wanted the answers to. But being here, seeing a carving her father had made with his own hands, it made all the questions she’d asked as a child come racing back.
Dark eyes, like her own, and a familiarity in the expression on his face. Yes, a lot of people had brown hair and brown eyes, but there was something of her in this man. Her father.
Her mother had said she destroyed all the pictures of her father, so this was the first she’d even seen. A tickle caught the back of her throat. Why was she getting so emotional? She’d long ago accepted not having a father. Even though it would be nice to have a connection to Ricky, finding a family she’d given up hope of ever having wasn’t why she was here.
Ty pointed at another picture. “That was his wedding picture.”
When Rachel glanced at it, it didn’t feel right. Wedding picture? Her mother hadn’t said anything about her father being married. But the woman in the picture was clearly not Rachel’s mother.
“Why would Ricky keep Cinco’s wedding picture?”
Ty shrugged. “Luanne might not have wanted anything to do with Ricky after Cinco died, but Ricky still loved her as his daughter. Hopefully someday, we’ll find the baby she was carrying, and Ricky can have a relationship with his grandchild at last.”
Wait a second.
Since Rachel wasn’t Luanne’s daughter, somewhere out there, Rachel had a brother or sister.
“Do you have any leads at all?” she asked.
Ty shrugged. “A lot of charlatans. Luanne didn’t want us to find her. I don’t know why. Ricky would’ve taken good care of her, and the baby. But Cinco always thought Ricky was too controlling, so maybe she was afraid that Ricky would take the baby away from her or something.”
He shook his head, then held his hand out to Katie. “Why don’t we go sit outside by the fire? You don’t want to hear about Ricky’s family tragedy.”
A brother. Or sister. Rachel had always envied people with siblings. Even in her foster homes, where Rachel had foster brothers and sisters, it had always seemed unfair that the actual siblings had a deeper connection than anything she could have with them. She always felt like an intruder. Even in the families that said there was no such thing as step or foster, there was definitely a difference in how she was treated versus how they were. Rachel always wanted to be part of that exclusive club. Would this sibling see Rachel as an equal? Or would the revelation that she was an unexpected sibling cause pain and turmoil for him or her?
She shouldn’t be asking these questions, reflecting on the wounds of her childhood that had been less than ideal.
Her only focus had to be finding someone who was willing to donate a kidney to her.
Ty gestured at the open doors. “We should head outside now.”
She must’ve been staring
