Libby pushed herself up, too, and sat beside him. A wind swept through the field, and Libby leaned over, rested her head against his shoulder. Sam put his arm around her and pulled her into his side.
“I’m not saying I’m on board with that,” she said. “Because I’m not. I’m pretty mad at you.”
“I know.”
“But if I were to get on board, and I said that I would do whatever it took to earn your trust, too, how exactly would I do that? What would happen?” She looked up at him. “Where do we go from here?”
“We start over,” Sam said. “But without the restraining order.”
“Or the birdhouses.”
He smiled. “Deal.”
She nestled closer to him. “I don’t really want you to give up making birdhouses. But maybe you could bring one or two up to the ranch?”
He could feel the tide turning, could feel Libby turning back to him. “Sure,” he said. “Maybe I’ll teach those guys how to make them.”
“Perfect. They can squeeze in birdhouse construction between yoga and equine therapy.” She laughed. “I’m kidding. Sort of.” She looked at him again, her gaze searching his. “Do you really think we could start over? Do you really think we could squash all the little demons that seem to dance around us?”
“I do,” he said, and pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. “It won’t be easy, and I think we have to be smart about it. But I at least want to try, Libby. More than anything I have ever wanted in my life, I want to try and make it with you. Do you?”
Libby sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Me too. More than anything, Sam. More than you could possibly imagine. But not until I’m through being mad at you.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, and kissed her, his tongue meeting hers, his hands going around her, pressing her warmth to him.
“Show me.”
That was it for Sam. He rolled again, putting her once more on her back in the middle of the field. He kissed her deeply, with all the longing that had kept him awake and eaten away at him this last month. His hands moved down the body he’d missed in his bed, slipping under her hoodie and up to her breast.
Libby giggled into his mouth. “We’re on the high school track. Won’t we get in trouble?”
“Who cares?”
“Well, I do,” she said. “I’ve turned over a new leaf and I’m trying very hard to stay out of trouble.”
“Impossible,” he said against her neck. But he stood up, helped her up, and with his arm around her waist, they ran for his truck.
They made it as far as the backseat, the heavily tinted windows hiding them from the world. And as Sam slid into her, he knew it was right, that his life had never been so right. For the first time in a couple of long, hard years, he wasn’t worried. He wasn’t afraid. He was filled with happiness and relief.
THIRTY-FOUR
On Thanksgiving Day, Libby, Sam, and Luke completed the 5k Turkey Trot. Libby’s event did indeed raise more than enough to buy Leo’s van, as well as provide some starting funds for the Homecoming Ranch Veteran’s Rehabilitation Center. It was truly a day of thanks and celebration.
They rushed back to the ranch to prepare for the feast. Bob Kendrick was already there with Leo, who was in the living room, expounding on what his van would look like.
Libby and Madeline had made a turkey and all the Thanksgiving trimmings. They were a long way from the uneasy place where they had started out as newly discovered sisters. There were still a few bumps in the road, but on that day, Libby felt as if she and Madeline could have been doing this all their lives. Madeline felt like a sister.
It was a cold and gloomy day, but Luke and Tony had made sure the heaters were going in the barn, where they intended to dine.
Emma was not impressed with the idea. “So country,” she said.
“It’s fun,” Libby reminded her.
“If you like hoedowns and rodeos, maybe,” Emma had said, and had wandered into the living room to sit next to Leo.
When the meal was ready, Libby instructed everyone to grab a dish and head for the barn. Bob Kendrick took Leo down to the barn. They were followed by Jackson Crane, Dani, Libby’s mother and her family, Patti and Greg Kendrick, Marisol and Javier and their newborn, Tony and the three vets who were living up at the ranch now, and, of course, Emma, Libby, and Madeline. Only Ernest was missing, having gone to Albuquerque to spend the holiday with his mother.
Libby stood to one side in the barn, watching them all put the food on the table and argue over who sat where.
This is it, she thought, happily. This was the thing she had sought all her life. A family, big and extended, all hers. She’d found that place to belong.
She’d had that feeling about Homecoming Ranch from the moment she’d learned of it, that it was hers. Even though she didn’t understand all the reasons she’d needed to fight for it, she’d always understood she had to fight. She was fighting for more than a ranch. She was fighting to heal, to grow, to move on with her life, and she’d never felt more content than she did that Thanksgiving Day.