Noah and Harper got up and came over. Blushing, Shay showed them the ring just as Reese entered the kitchen. They smiled, each of them giving her a hug of congratulations.
Smiling over at Reese, who hooked his Stetson on a peg next to her cap, Garret turned and brought two cups down, pouring them coffee.
The vets went over to Reese, each shaking his hand.
“Finally did it,” Garret teased him.
“Best thing I’ve done in my life,” Reese said.
Garret returned to the stove, pushing around the meatballs frying in the skillet. “Hate to ruin your happy moment, Shay, but your old man called about half an hour ago.”
Frowning, Shay felt her heart squeeze. She’d just seen her father Friday. What was he calling about?
“Anything urgent?” she asked, taking the cups to the table. She saw Reese frown with concern. They both sat down.
Garret shrugged. “Well, I hate spoiling this happy moment for you, Shay.” He gave her a look of regret. “I was the one who picked up the phone and answered it. He said to tell you that he wants to move out here and live in one of those new homes we just got finished.”
A bolt of shock plunged through Shay.
Reese reached out, gripping her hand. “He told you that?”
“Yeah,” Garret said, taking the meatballs out of the skillet and placing them in a bowl next to the stove. He put a dozen more into the frying pan. “I asked if he wanted to talk to you, because I know you gave us orders to always refer his calls to you, not Shay.”
“Right,” Reese said. “So he just came out with that demand?”
“He sounded like it was his right to come back here.” Garret shrugged his thick shoulders. “Someone should tell that dude he needs to get socialized and vaccinated first. Either that or he can wear a permanent muzzle around his mouth so he stops biting and infecting everyone.”
Noah grinned but quickly wiped it off his face as he looked over at Shay.
Harper cursed softly beneath his breath. “Shay, you don’t need this right now.”
Garret twisted a look across his shoulder at Shay. “Yeah, you’re going to get married to a stand-up man. We want to see you happy. Not having to deal with your old man’s shit.”
Shay tried to gather her shattered emotions. She glanced at Reese, whose expression had gone into that warrior-mask mode, hard to read, and his mouth was tight. A flash of anger glinted in his narrowed eyes as he listened to what the other vets thought. Swallowing, she whispered unsteadily, “That fourth house was empty, and he knew it because I told him Friday that we are going to get married, Reese. He knew you’d be living here, in the main ranch house.”
Reese puckered his lips, holding back a lot of emotions. “This is your call, Shay,” he told her. “No one can do this for you.”
She gave him a pained look. “I-I . . . God, Reese, when I first got home, I begged my father to come out here as soon as he went through rehab and got better.”
“But he refused that,” Garret reminded her darkly.
“Yes, he did.” Moving her fingers through her loose hair, Shay closed her eyes, struggling to contain her guilt. How could she turn down her own father? Not allow him to come out to the ranch that he’d worked so hard to keep going? Although his drinking and gambling had brought the ranch down, too.
“If he came here,” Reese told her quietly, “there would be some very firm rules in place. If he thinks he’s coming back to reclaim this ranch, he can’t. Legally, it’s yours.”
“Legal is one thing, but he’s my father, Reese.”
Nodding, Reese said, “I understand. And I’m fine with whatever way you want to go on this. If you do decide to allow him out here, there’s a lot of things to consider. How mobile will he be? What are his needs? Can he cook for himself? Take care of himself ? Can he keep his own house clean?”
“I know,” she said, frowning. “That was why I told him no when he wanted to come and have me take care of him full time. I said I couldn’t. I wanted to try to save the ranch, instead.”
Reese squeezed her hand. “I think the first step is for both of us to go in, sit down, and talk with him. We need to understand what’s really on his mind, what his expectations are of you, of us, and your ranch.”
She dragged in a breath of air, grateful for his warm, calloused hand around hers. Reese gave her stability and that overriding sense of protection that she could literally feel around her right now. He was in guard-dog mode. And so were the other three vets. Reading their faces, none of them wanted Ray Crawford at the ranch. And she knew why. He’d bad-mouthed them, cursed them, called them weak, and accused them of so many untrue things. Word got around town, and Ray made no bones about telling the nurses and supervisor at the nursing home what he thought of her hiring vets who needed a hand up. What was she going to do?
Noah gave Shay a sad look. “Your father is sort of like a wounded dog. He’s hurt, and you’re not about to ignore that.”