Lost Love (Cowboys & Angels 1)

I’d told Chloe stories about how I grew up on a cattle ranch with my six brothers and sisters. Each night when she went to bed, she’d ask for a story, especially if she was able to talk to my parents over Skype that evening. It had been hard keeping her from everyone. The memories of Paxton kept me from returning to Texas for the first four years after I left and then the nightmare called Kim was the next roadblock. But that was the past. I was looking to the future not only for me, but for Chloe.

“Is Texas like Oregon, Daddy?”

“No, baby. It’s a lot hotter and it doesn’t rain so much.”

She smiled. “More time to play outside! With my new goat!”

I chuckled. My father had told Chloe over Skype a few days back that he was going to buy her a pet goat. She had the name picked out already. Patches.

We drove down the drive, and Chloe took it all in. “Where’s the house?”

“Your grandparents own a lot of land, pumpkin. The house is pretty far back.”

With a nod, she turned and stared out the window. A little girl shriek came from her lips. “Cows! Daddy, look at all the cows!”

Even though I was queasy from the idea of being back home and the chance of running into Paxton, I was glad to see Chloe’s excitement. She was finally going to understand what normal was.

She gasped. “Is that our new house?”

I braked and stared at the house I’d grown up in. So many memories. All of them good. I couldn’t think of one bad memory I had growing up here on the ranch. Maybe Tripp putting that scorpion in my bed. Or Cord dropping the bale of hay on my head. I smiled. Yeah. That was what I wanted for my daughter. To grow up with family in the greatest place on earth.

My parents’ ranch.

The two-story sandstone house sat among live oak and pecan trees. Throw in a few magnolia trees my father had planted for my mother and it was the perfect setting. It wasn’t a small house by any means. Over ten thousand square feet.

“That’s the main house, pumpkin. We’re going to be living in the guesthouse.”

She studied me and I couldn’t help but be left breathless by the sight of my own daughter. Those bright blue eyes held so much hope in them. “How many houses do Granddaddy and Grammy have?” she asked, her blonde pony swinging as her head tilted in confusion.

Chuckling, I said, “One main house, two ranch hand houses, and two guest houses.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.”

“How many bedrooms does this house have?”

I laughed. “Ten.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s a lot of places to play hide and seek.”

“It sure is, pumpkin.”

Chloe’s life was about to change drastically. We had lived in a nice house in Oregon, but it was nothing like this. It was more your typical middle class twenty-three hundred square foot house. I worked for an investment firm right out of college. The only good part of that job was working from home, which allowed me to care for Chloe since Kim was pretty much gone every single day. Sometimes for days at a time on what she called her “spa trips.”

I lightly pressed the gas and we made our way up to the front of the house. I parked and got out. Chloe jumped out of the car, unbuckling her dolls from the back seat.

“We’re at our new home! Look how beautiful it is!” Chloe said while showing her dolls the house.

My chest ached as I smiled. I’d heard her so many times telling her dolls how much she would always love them and be the best mommy. Unlike her own mother who hardly ever sat down and played with Chloe.

I shut the car door and took everything in. Nothing had changed in the ten years since I’d been gone. The house still had fresh flowers hanging from pots across the front porch. The four black rocking chairs still sat in what appeared to be the same spots. My stomach dropped as a memory hit me of Paxton sitting on my lap as we talked about our future.

Chloe pulled my hand. “Daddy, why do you look so sad?”

I squatted down and placed my hand on the side of her face. “I’m not sad, pumpkin.”

She shook her head. “Your eyes are sad.”

I let out a soft breath. This little girl had a window into my soul, always had. For as long as I could remember, when I was feeling down, she would tell me my eyes looked sad. Never could hide anything from this one. “I love you, Chloe Lynn. All I want is for us both to be happy.”

She smiled, then frowned, her little eyes growing wet with tears. “Mommy won’t be coming to live with us, will she?”