The Healing Ranch

Chapter 5

"Good morning ma'am!" Tate slid out of his truck the next morning, surprised to see Megan sitting on the porch, obviously waiting for him.

"Good morning Tate. Please call me Megan." She smiled at him, something he hadn't seen much of. Her blonde hair was in a braid this morning and hung down her back like a long rope. He realized now that he had never seen her with her hair down.

"As you wish." He winked at her and she looked away, a tinge of red staining her cheeks.

"I thought first I could show you the horses. Obviously you are going to need one if you are going to be doing any riding work around the ranch." He nodded and followed behind her as she wheeled to the barn. He noticed the path to the barn was well taken care of, as where the paths surrounding the barn and leading to different corrals, which made it easy for her to maneuver around. They entered the barn and he looked around. Everything seemed to be modified to fit her needs, down to stall door latches being lower where she could reach them. He had noticed yesterday that the kitchen had obviously been done with her in mind. All the dishes were in her reach and the counter tops were low, allowing her to work easily at them. He marvelled at how she managed to live almost completely alone.

"Hey guys!" She called out smiling. Six horses popped their heads over the stall doors and nickered happily at the sight of her. She laughed, a beautiful rich laugh, and stopped to rub the nearest horses nose. "This is Lucky, Diesel, Luke, Blair, Jazz, and Midnight." She pointed to each of the horses in turn and wheeled to give each of them a pat at the nose. They were all beautiful horses, and there was a mix of all breeds. Lucky was clearly an Appaloosa while Luke, Midnight, and Diesel looked like quarter horses, Blair was an Arabian while Jazz was a beautiful palomino.

"They are gorgeous." He said honestly, stepping up to pet the pure black one, Midnight.

"Yup. Diesel's my horse, but other than that, take your pick. You'll probably have to ride all of them at some point since they do need to be exercised." She pointed at the brown quarter horse with the white socks and the white blaze down it's nose. He was shocked.

"You ride?"  She looked down as a sad expression crossed her face.

"Well no. I haven't in four years but..." she trailed off and shrugged letting her hand fall from Diesel's mane. He wished he hadn't brought it up.

"I see." She showed him around the rest of the bran quickly, explaining where everything was and how everything worked around there, also giving specific instructions on the diet of each horse.

"I usually feed them, but you should know in case I can't do it someday." She explained. Next they walked back to the house and she led him to the living room.

"Dad there's someone here to meet you." He noticed she had painted a fake smile onto her face, trying to look cheerful. In the corner an older man sat, staring out the big bay window. He had dark hair, and tan skin, looking nothing like his daughter. He didn't turn at the sound of his daughters voice.

"Dad?" He heard the tone of sadness in her voice and instinctively stepped closer to her, wanting to offer some sort of comfort. Her dad turned and he saw the same green eyes that were on Megan's face, except these ones were almost lifeless.

"Margaret is that you?" His voice was deep and Tate saw Megan physically flinch as if hit. Something came over him and he laid his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She just smiled sadly over her shoulder at him and the expression in her eyes made his heart clench. Why was he feeling this way? He had only known her for a few days.

"Yes. This is Tate. He'll be helping out around the ranch and living in the old bunkhouse so you'll see a lot of him."

"Hello sir. Pleased to meet you." Tate strode forward and held out his hand to the man. Whether he would remember it or not, Tate wanted to make a good impression. A light seemed to turn on in the mans eyes, making them look more like Megan's. He took Tate's hand in a surprisingly strong grip, as the gleam of understanding burned steadily in his eyes.

"Pleased to meet you boy. I'm James Brooks. You a good hand?" Tate grinned.

"I try my best." James nodded and let go of his hand, looking over to his daughter.

"Megan, get the man some coffee will you? Me and this boy here are going to have a chat. He needs to know how to run this place." Tate obligingly took a seat across from James, and caught Megan's eye from over her father's shoulder. She smiled at him and mouthed "thank you" before wheeling away. It had him feeling all kinds of special inside.
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Megan watched with a sad smile as her dad slipped back into the unresponsive, and confused man he often was now. Tate also seemed to realize this and stood up to go, making a polite excuse that her father didn't seem to hear. He followed her into the kitchen.

"I like your dad. He seems like a good man." He said, leaning on the counter. She wanted to cry, could feel her defences slipping down and the way he was looking at her softly didn't help either. The hope she had felt while Tate had talked ranching with her dad for a good hour felt cruel as she noticed her dad slipping away towards the end. She knew he would never be normal.

"He is. I guess we caught him on a good day." The words caught in her throat a little and she turned her wheelchair so he couldn't see the line tear that escaped.

"Megan. I'm sorry." A warm hand clasped her shoulder and squeezed gently, while a sob broke through her defences.

"It's ok. Sometimes it just gets hard." She squeezed her eyes shut and felt his hand slip off her shoulder.

"I understand." He whispered and she opened her eyes to find him crouched in front of her, looking at her with eyes so soft and concerned. His heavy southern accent coating the words, made her insides flip.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I'm like this right now."

"Never apologize for not bein able to be strong all the time darlin." He was still crouched in front of her, and looked hesitant. Then he asked "do you mind if I give you a hug?" She shook her head and his warm, strong arms came around her. It had been a long time since anybody had hugged her and comforted her, so she sank into his arms and let the tears overflow. They stayed like that for a couple minutes before she pulled back with a watery laugh.

"I'm sorry about that. I don't even know you and I'm breaking down in front of you." He smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it. 'Sides we are gonna get to know each other workin together aren't we?" She nodded finding herself looking forward to the days ahead, just so she could work with him. It was a weird feeling but one she couldn't help, so she just smiled warmly at him before bringing him out to see the bunkhouse.
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Ok so that ones been in the making for almost a week. I just couldn't seem to get this chapter written so sorry about that! I'm hoping to post another one tonight or tomorrow so stay tuned! Hope this chapter was ok! :) ~S