Page 141 of Johnathan
“Who did all this?”
“We have some pretty special friends.”
“I guess we do. Are we spending the night? What are we going to do about Katy’s presents?”
“Santa made sure they were in the back of my truck before we left the apartment. I was hoping you’d want to spend the night out here.”
“I do. How… How did this all happen?”
“When we got home from the hospital after Sam’s cardiac arrest, I knew I wanted to see if I could make a move out here possible. You’d just told me how you grew up loving this house, and then everything happened with Sam. I wanted you to be close to him, and we’re still reasonably close to Bell Ridge and my family, too.”
“But, there was a family living here.”
“I know. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair had been planning on moving to Arizona to be with their daughter and her family since they were getting older and things were becoming more and more difficult to maintain. When I explained how much my fiancee loved this house growing up, they were more than excited to sell it to me.”
“I wasn’t your fiancee then.”
“Okay. So I may have stretched the truth knowing the inevitable.”
“But your house and the insurance…”
John walked to the bed and laid Katy down, pressing a kiss to her forehead before turning back to Abby.
“There was no way we could go back there after everything that happened. I’ll work through what I need to with the insurance, but that’s not our home anymore, baby. We needed a fresh start for our family. One where it’s been the three of us together, from day one.”
“Our home together.” She snuggled into his arms.
“Forever.”
Forty-Three
Eight weeks later…
“You haven’t likedanyof the candidates I’ve sent your way?”
Sam peeled the label off the water bottle he’d been drinking from. What he wouldn’t give for a cold beer. But alcohol was just something he couldn’t chance with his heart. He’d rather be around for fifty more years.
The way Daisy was bugging him about finding an office manager for the ranch was about to drive him up a wall, though. He took a deep breath in and counted to ten.
“Am I stressing you out?”
“Yes,” he laughed as her eyes grew big. “But I know you’re doing this because you’re worried about me. Just know, there is no way I’m leaving Sunny to be influenced by Emma alone. I mean, I trust Jake to step in too, but I’ve got to see this thing through with her.”
Hank and Daisy had done Madison’s baptism right after Christmas, with Sam, Emma, Jake, and Grace all standing up as Sunny’s godparents.
“Glad to hear it. In that case, I need you to pick someone to at least interview. Maybe they aren’t coming across as the right fit on paper, but talking to them would show that they are.”
“I don’t think that’s the problem, Daisy. I ended up talking to that Dewayne guy from Kansas City, and he was the biggest asshole I’ve ever seen. I’d want to punch his face on day one. I don’t want someone like that on the ranch.”
“Sam, you need to find someone…”
“My cardiologist told me the other day he’s never seen a recovery like mine. That I’m stable and healthy. I’m fine.”
“You’re stable and healthy because we’ve all been working together to make sure you’re not working too hard. You can’t manage it all by yourself. Even your dad had more help than you do on the ranch and it was too much for him.”
“He also had high cholesterol for years before his heart attack. I’m fine. It was a random thing.”
“I’m not going to sit here and argue about your health with you. That’s a job for your wife one day. But I would like to hand you off to her with lower stress levels and a better sense of balance in your life. So, for the love of God and everything that is holy in this beautiful land that He gave us, please,please, pick someone to come help at the ranch.”