“Hi, beautiful.” Carefully, he smoothed his hand over her neck, consoling and praising the horse.
The mare stood docilely as Hannah eased over and checked her for injuries, too. After a few minutes, Hannah glanced at him and smiled.
“They’re all okay,” she said, her tone half relieved, half astounded. “They’re exhausted, hungry, and could use a bath, but they’ve had plenty to drink from the stream, and only a couple minor burns as far as I can tell.”
Travis stroked the mare’s back gently, then looked up at the sky. A sense of peace unfurled inside him and gratitude swelled in his chest as he eyed the sun shining through the gray mist overhead. “Thank you,” he whispered.
To God, the powers that be, or the universe at large. To whatever merciful force had descended on Paradise Peak to protect and defend, saving so much for Red, Hannah, and Margaret when others had lost everything.
“Take those champion horses to the stable and get ’em cleaned up,” Red said, clapping a firm hand to Travis’s back. “Margaret and I’ll check the lodge and the deck to make sure everything’s sound.”
“Wait,” Travis said, stopping Red with a hand on his arm. He looked at Hannah, who stood by the horses, stroking their backs and watching him expectantly. “Do you remember how small that motel room felt?”
Her mouth twisted. “Yeah. It was fine for the first few days, but got cramped real quick once everyone else settled in.”
Travis motioned toward the fields, the lodge, and the cabins. “Look at how much room we have here.”
He hadn’t meant to say “we,” to include himself in the close bond holding Red, Hannah, and Margaret together. To place himself within their family. But he had. And none of them objected.
Encouraged, Travis smiled at Red. “We have so much to offer right now, when others have so little. We still need help renovating, and a lot of people will need a place to call their own.” He glanced at Margaret. “Imagine how excited Gloria and Vernon would be to know they have a place to stay, free of charge, while they rebuild their cabin and business.” He returned his attention to Hannah. “And how much room Zeke and Blondie would have to run, play, and recover.”
“And Liz,” Hannah whispered, tears filling her eyes. “She wouldn’t be alone.”
“She’d have all of us.” Travis rolled his lips together, hesitating, then added, “But it’d mean opening the ranch to more than just them. It would mean welcoming strangers—”
“No,” Hannah said firmly.
Travis grew still, his breath catching at the finality of her words.
She smiled. “It would mean welcoming our neighbors into a safe home they could call their own.”
Relieved—and falling more in love with her by the second—Travis nodded. “Paradise Peak Ranch would become a haven.”
For a moment, the grounds were silent, save for the whisper of the breeze and the soft neigh of the horses.
Then Red stepped forward, gripped Travis’s shoulders, and smiled. “And that’s exactly what it’ll be, son.”
Red’s low, approving tone went straight to Travis’s heart, relieving some of his guilty burden and raising his spirit and hopes for the future.
“The officer who stopped us on the way in said the phone lines are working,” Hannah said.
Margaret smiled and clapped her hands together, rubbing them briskly. “Then I have calls to make, invitations to extend, and rooms to tidy.” She headed for the lodge, saying over her shoulder, “Come on, Red. You’ll have to help me move some furniture.”
Red laughed and shook his head. “There she goes—bossing me around already.”
But he followed her, even whistled along the way.
Hannah patted Ruby’s back. “I’ll get these beauties to the stable, washed up, doctored, and fed.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” Travis said.
Hannah skipped to his side and kissed his cheek, the soft press of her lips lingering on his cheek as she led the horses away.
Travis stood still for a few minutes, watching Margaret and Red cross the field, walk up the front steps, and enter the lodge. He studied the horses as Hannah led them to the sta
ble, and his attention lingered on Hannah’s smile as she waved back at him before ducking inside.
He studied the open fields sprawling across the ranch, then stared at the mountains in the distance, his heart filling with emotions so strong they spilled over his lashes and tickled his cheeks.