Those weren’t his walls—they were hers.
He just prayed that while God was working out Ember’s good, that He would remember Casey, too. Because he’d marched so long that every single part of him was deeply tired. Especially his heart.
Ember’s ankle was a little sore as Patience started to move, following Casey’s large stallion, but she wouldn’t complain. She could tell that Casey wanted to show her something important, and the curiosity if she waited longer would be more agonizing than the ride, in her opinion. There was a throbbing place in her heart that wished she could find some proof that this had been the Harpers’ land, but maybe Casey had found a hint that would mean something to her... Because it wasn’t just about her therapy center—it was about coming home.
The day was bright and warm, and she could feel summer coming in that fragrant wind. She sucked in a chestful of spring air as Casey led them out of the corral and then through the gate.
“Are we going through the woods again?” Ember asked.
“No, we’re heading across a pasture. It’s through open fields,” he replied. “It was when I was dealing with that difficult calving that I saw something you’ll be interested in.”
“And that’s all you’ll say?” she asked with a rueful smile.
“Yup.” He grinned back at her.
“Are you sure this ranch won’t kill me yet?” she asked with a low laugh.
“Not entirely,” he replied, then chuckled. “I told you that ranch life wasn’t what you were expecting. There is no living peaceably with nature. You live peaceably in spite of it, and you’d better know what you’re doing.”
“For every story in that old journal about catching crayfish in the creek and running around outside or befriending some animal, there was another story about someone just about dying,” Ember said, her mind going back over those well-worn stories told and retold by her mother.
“Oh, yeah? Like who?” Casey said.
“Oh, like Bernard—that was the oldest son in the family. He went hunting with his father, and they shot an elk. He went up to finish it off and he got a hoof to the head. They had to carry him back to the house and bandage him up. He was unconscious for a week. They sent for a doctor from town who said he’d die. But he didn’t. He eventually woke up. He was never the same, though. Walked with a limp, even though his leg hadn’t been hurt, and he slurred his words. A brain injury, I’d imagine. They didn’t have an explanation for it back then.”
Ember sighed. Was she crazy to want this rugged, unforgiving patch of land? But even with the risks involved, if this was Harper land, then she did! She wanted to come home to those stories and the ancestors who battled the elements to make a life in these wild Montana plains.
“So why did your ancestors choose to come out here to homestead?” Casey asked.
“No idea,” she admitted. “That was never mentioned. They just did. But I think it must have been a sense of adventure. Pa—that’s what the journal called the father of the family—was the adventurous sort. He was the kind of man who could build a log cabin by himself with an ox and a hatchet. He was a big man—stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else—and he hardly ever talked. Mam adored him and did all the chatter for him. And she...trusted him to keep them all alive, I suppose.”
The horses plodded comfortably forward, and Ember adjusted herself in the saddle, trying to find a better position for her ankle. She bent down to rub a hand over the tensor bandage. She was trusting Casey to keep her alive, too, so she felt like she could understand Mam a little better now. With the right man to rely on, a woman could face more than she ever thought possible.
“You sore?” Casey asked.
“Yeah.” She winced. “I’ll be okay.”
“You want to stop and rest?” he asked, and there was concern in his voice. “I knew it was too early to take you on horseback.”
“No, I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “I want to see—whatever it is you’ve got to show me. My car will be ready soon, and I have a feeling I’ve come close to outstaying my welcome with Mr. Vern, so if you have something to show me, I guess I’d better see it now.”
Casey nodded, but the smile slipped from his face. “Yeah, of course.”
“I doubt you want me around here getting in your way any longer than necessary, either,” she said, trying to sound more jovial than she felt.
“I don’t know about that,” Casey said. “I’ve been getting used to you around here.”
She smiled sadly at that. She’d been getting used to him, too. Maybe even more than that... It was hard not to lean into him, trust him. It was hard not to get comfortable in those arms.
Was that what she was looking for in her family land—a man of her own to stand by her side and fend off the wolves? If she was, she needed to stop that fantasy right now and see this ranch for what it was.
“I have patients who are waiting for me in Billings,” she said. “I have a whole life waiting for me.”
“I know,” he said.
What was he thinking? She wished she knew, but his expression was granite and he rode facing straight ahead, his hat low and shielding his face from both the sun and her scrutiny.
“So tell me some family story of yours,” she said.
“Is it going to say something about me?” he asked, shooting her a rueful smile.
“Very likely,” she retorted. “But I told you mine, so you tell me yours.”
Casey was silent for a moment, then said, “Okay... So when my grandfather was a teenager,
