Homecoming Ranch (40 page)

Madeline wanted to argue that point, but kept silent.

“I’ll tell you this, though. I’m still your mother, and I may not be a very good one, but I love you, kid. I want you to be happy. So go be happy! Go be in love! Don’t do what
I
did—find a good man, settle down, have kids. And stop feeling like you need to take care of me, because you don’t.”

It was the first moment of genuine clarity in her mother that Madeline could remember. She was shocked by it. Her first instinct was to argue, but a second, stronger instinct took hold. How funny was it that in that moment, she thought of Javon Walker. He figured out his talents fit another game better than the one he was playing. Maybe it was time Madeline figured out she didn’t fit in so well taking taking care of a mother who didn’t want her help. If she kept on this path, she might end up like her mother—entirely incapable of maintaining a lasting relationship. The thought made her shudder. Madeline
had
to change, and her mother was giving her the freedom to do it.

Madeline suddenly smiled. She stood up, kissed her mother. “Thanks, Mom. For the first time in my life, I can say with all sincerity,
thank
you.”

“About time,” her mother said, and as Madeline started for the door, she shouted, “Don’t forget about that back child support!”

Madeline shut the door behind her, pulled out her cell phone and called Stephen. “Hey,” she said when he answered. “I heard you were selling your SUV.”

At first, Luke’s decision to stay in Pine River had caused a huge argument between him and his dad. When he realized he would not win, his father had said angrily, “You’re throwing your life away, just pissing away everything you’ve worked for.”

“Who says success is only in Denver? I’m going to pick up here, Dad. Family is more important to me.”

“Does anyone care what
I
think?” Leo asked.

“No!” Dad and Luke had both shouted in unison, then looked at each other in surprise and burst into laughter. That was the last time they’d spoken of Luke’s decision to stay in Pine River.

The next two months were a blur. Luke’s heart hurt too much most of the time, and he covered it up with activity and, on occasion, a whole lot of beer. He sold his houses to Stuart Homes at a loss, which he expected. But he sold his bungalow for much more than he’d anticipated, which gave him a little nest egg to start a new business. Together, with Jackson’s help, he and Dad had bought the little green house on Elm Street for dirt cheap. Luke added a larger living room, helped the Methodists add some wheelchair ramps, and was in the process of building a new master suite for his father. When that was finished, he would move off the couch and into his dad’s old room.

It was a warm afternoon when the van they used to cart Leo around broke down again. Luke and his father were working to fix it, Luke on his back beneath the old thing, fighting a bolt beneath the oil pan. His dad was somewhere up top, directing him. He heard his father speaking to someone, but his attention was on his work. “Dad!” he called. “I need a different wrench.”

When his father did not immediately answer, Luke turned his head. He saw a pair of hiking boots and some festive socks. Luke’s heart stopped beating for one crazy moment—he would know those hiking boots anywhere.

He slowly rolled out from beneath the van and looked up. Madeline was standing above him. Two thick dark braids hung over her shoulders. She was wearing a wool toboggan hat on her head, in spite of the warm temperatures. And she was smiling. A brilliantly warm, happy smile. “Hi, Luke,” she said.

“Maddie?”

“Yep. It’s me. I’m back.”

“Back… for what?”

She laughed. “For
good
!”

A small surge of hope shimmied down his spine. Was it possible? Could she have really come back for good? Luke stood up, dropped his wrench.

“I’ll go check on the genius,” his dad said, and stooped to pick up the wrench as he moved away from the van.

Luke hardly noticed; he was eyeing Madeline suspiciously. “What do you mean, for
good
?”

She laughed again, that deep laugh he’d once heard from her in his house in Denver. “I mean, I left Orlando in my rearview mirror. My
new
rearview mirror. Well, new to me, anyway. It’s not a Pontiac, but it got the job done.”

He followed her gaze, saw a Chevy Tahoe parked at the end of the drive. He could see the back of it was completely stuffed with things, and his heart skipped a beat or two on its way to racing. She wasn’t kidding—she really had come back. “You drove here?” he asked incredulously.

“Yep.” She rose up on her toes, clearly proud of herself, then settled back down and locked her blue eyes on him, blue eyes he had seen over and over again in his dreams and his thoughts. “How are you?”

He was an empty, working machine, that’s was how he was. He had taken a painful heartbreak and had turned it into physical labor, the only thing he knew to do and the only thing that could drown out his thoughts and numb his pain. But to Madeline, he shrugged and said, “Okay.”

Her eyes narrowed on his. “You haven’t done anything drastic have you… like get married?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

He smiled. “No. You?”

She smiled, too. “No girlfriends
or
boyfriends. I’ve only got one person on my mind, and he is standing in front of me.”

The hope beating in his veins, picking up steam. “Is that right?”

Her eyes were sparkling with happiness in a way he’d never seen in her. She looked different to him—more relaxed. That was it, he thought. He didn’t see the worry, the anxiety around her eyes, and he realized that she was happy. He also realized he’d not really seen this side of her. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Well,” she said airily, “I don’t know how to put it, exactly, other than I have determined that my talents fit another game altogether.”

“What?”

She laughed at his utter confusion. “I’m not going to play baseball anymore, I am going to play football.”

That explanation did not help, and she beamed at him as she slipped her hand into his. “I love you, Luke. I love you so much,” she said, and pressed a free hand to her heart, almost as if to contain it. “I’ve thought of only you—well, and the mistakes I made, which were a lot, and how much I hurt you, which makes me sick to think about. But… my feelings haven’t changed. I still love you so much, and I am not going to run anymore. From you or from anyone. I’m staying put, right here in Pine River.”

“Maddie—”

“Wait, wait, before you say anything! I know that I’m taking a chance here. I know that
you
may not feel that way about
me,
and I am ready to accept that. But I would not be true to myself and my new outlook if I didn’t tell you exactly how I feel. So, Luke, I am telling you that I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my life, or ever will love anyone again, and whatever happens, I wish you much, much happiness in this life.”

Luke was momentarily stunned into speechlessness. After dwelling on what he’d lost when Madeline had gone back to Orlando, he’d finally pushed down all those emotions, along with the love he’d felt for her, into a tight little ball. He squinted at her, unsure if he could trust her or not, unsure if he could allow that ball to uncoil and set those emotions free again. “So what are you saying?” he asked. “That you want to get back together?”

Madeline laughed. She gripped his hand tightly, and like he’d done once, lifted it to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. “I’m asking you to marry me, Luke Kendrick. But I will settle for getting back together, openly and proudly. I mean, if you will have me.”

The ball exploded. Everything Luke had ever felt for this woman unfurled, filling him up. He couldn’t believe this was happening, that at long last, someone was doing something for him, giving him what
he
needed. That Madeline had somehow found her footing and had leaped off the cliff into life. He couldn’t believe how much he needed her, and with a fierceness that he’d never felt for another person. Nothing had changed for him—he still needed her beside him as he faced the uncertainties of the future. He needed her in his bed, at his table, and bearing his children.

Luke suddenly grabbed her up in his arms, pressed her cheek against his shoulder, closed his eyes and let the moment seep into him. “Yes,” he said. “
Yes
. I love you, Maddie. I always did. And I never stopped.”

She gasped with delight and lifted her head. “
Really
?”

“Are you kidding?
Really
.”

“Even when you knew how crazy I was?”

“Don’t remind me and ruin the moment—but yeah, even then.”

Madeline threw her arms around his neck, kissed his face, his mouth. “Thank God,” she sighed into his ear. “Thank you God.”

He pulled the cap off her head, closed his eyes, and buried his face in her neck. She smelled like lilacs.

He really liked lilacs.

Okay, Grant Tyler may have started this story, but it doesn’t end with him. So much has happened, starting with the magnificent news that I got a
killer
new game, “Aliens Attack IV.” I am the undisputed king. Many have tried and failed to best me. Guess who is my biggest competition. Guess! It’s not Luke, it’s Blue Eyes! Once that girl figured out how to use her opposable thumbs on the controller, she totally got into it, and now, Luke has to take the controller from her and put it away. She’s like a cat with catnip, a jock with a lot of bold talk about how she’s going to
beat
me.

Her trash talk needs a
lot
of work.

I know you’re wondering about me, and who wouldn’t be? I’m the spice in this pie! First, the new seizure medicine is working—I’ve only had one since the Big Kahuna. So forget that, because what I really want to tell you is that my brilliance has landed me a trip to the Denver Broncos home opener this fall! That’s right, yours truly will be sitting in a skybox,
with
Dante, who—drumroll—is in remission! No, we didn’t get the trip from Make-A-Wish Foundation, because apparently, they frown upon sending kids in remission with their color
commentators to big fancy skyboxes. But Marisol and Dani worked it out with a local charity. I am so
stoked,
and so is Dante. The last two times I saw him he was wearing these really ugly Denver Broncos orange sweatpants.

We had a picnic at Homecoming Ranch so Dad and I could see the changes. I haven’t been up there in months, but Luke goes every day. That’s what he does now, he sort of works for Homecoming Ranch. Jackson figured out how to pay him a salary to keep things zipping along up there, which is really cool. I asked Luke if they were going to really build cabins for people to stay in and he said he didn’t know, but it looked like there would be at least two weddings, and who knows after that? I wonder if one of them will be his. Because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out if he marries Maddie, we’re back in the ranch business, right?

Anyway, while we were up there, Libby told me she heard Julie Daugherty had divorced her husband and got a job at the bank, and that maybe she was dating Eric Kutzheimer. Look, the Kutz played football with me at Colorado School of Mines. Between you and me and anyone else who cares to listen, Eric had to be the dumbest right tackle who ever dragged knuckles across a football field. But then he went into business with his dad in some ore mining operation and now he’s dirty, filthy
rich.
So good for Julie and her stink-eyed baby.

Jackson Crane was there, too, of course. Dani said that she’d heard some things about him, like maybe there was something shady in his past, which totally wouldn’t surprise me, because Jackson knows way too many people and he just showed up in Pine River one day. Just showed up, rented that gray building, and hung out a shingle. But I dig Jackson. He has some really cool red pants that he rolls up at the ankles and wears with loafers. I think sometimes he thinks he is playing the lead in a movie in his head. Hey, it’s better than the sound of crickets up there.

Dani also told me something kind of strange about Libby. She said that Libby was driving around Ryan Spangler’s house in a sort of sneaky, weird way. I don’t know what is going on with that, but Libby better be careful. Libby is awesome. But sneaking around is
not
awesome. It’s weird.

Oh, I almost forgot! Marisol is pregnant. No, not by me! Not that I didn’t try and talk her into a little
sumpin sumpin,
but she always uses that “I’m married,” excuse with me. But, okay, that aside, you know what this means. It means another stink-eyed baby is going to be toddling around, messing with my controllers and probably gnawing on my feet. Not cool, man, not cool!

I’m going to set up a Facebook page for the little Stinker. Watch for it. It will be called, The Stinker.

As for Dad, he’s all happy that Luke is home. And he’s happy about Blue Eyes. She’s been staying out at the ranch, and Luke is here, but still, it’s like I told Dad, Luke seems super happy now that he has someone around to agree with him all the time. I finally just came out and asked Luke if they were going to get married, and he said something bogus, like “all good things in time, doofus.” Like that means anything. But I heard Maddie talking about rings to Marisol. You heard it here first, kids—there’s going to be some big damn deal around their engagement, like they are the first two people in the history of the world to get engaged. Which is totally okay with me, because I really like Maddie and it means another party. Hoozah!