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Hope's Healing Love

By Jenna Hendricks

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“Hope, we can’t thank you enough for agreeing to come and help us out.” Annie Baker pulled her niece in for a hug. “This means the world to us.”
“Can’t…breathe…” Hope feigned as she returned her aunt’s hug. It wasn’t that the hug was too tight, it was that she felt awkward with all the gratitude. Truth be told, she was the one who should be grateful. If she had to stay home one more week, she was going to commit hari-kari, or something worse—like take her ex back.
Annie pulled back and smiled from ear to ear. “Oh, sweetheart.” She pinched Hope’s cheek and sighed. “It’s going to be nice having another woman around. Your Uncle Jesse and the two ranch hands we have aren’t the same as having a woman to talk with.”
Heat made its way up Hope’s neck and into her cheeks. She couldn’t believe all of the fuss about her coming to help her aunt and uncle on their farm. The moment her cousin Dana had come home from her honeymoon, Hope had called and asked to come visit. Hope and Dana had been very close, until this past year. They had spent summers visiting each other and kept in touch all year long.
While Hope had been at the wedding, she was only there as a guest, and didn’t get to see much of her cousin. And when she watched Dana walk down the aisle, Hope realized how much she had missed out on while she had been under the spell of that scoundrel.
The only reason Hope wasn’t a bridesmaid was because she had been too wrapped up in an unhealthy relationship. When it finally went sideways, and Hope reached out to her cousin, Dana had already picked out her bridesmaids. Hope really regretted ignoring her cousin all those months. But she knew if Dana had heard her voice, she’d know exactly what Hope had been up to, hence the radio silence on her part. The last thing she wanted was her cousin finding out what she’d been doing.
So, when Aunt Annie invited her to come and help at their farm, she jumped at the chance to renew her closeness with her cousin, who was really more like her sister. Hope had been at the Baker Farm for only three days, but she’d seen Dana twice already. And they had plans to go out to dinner tonight, just the two of them.
“Really, Aunt Annie. I’m so glad to be here. You know how much I love you and Uncle Jesse. And this ranch.” A sense of belonging hit Hope right in the chest, and she knew she’d made the right choice. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with her family or their ranch, she just needed a change. And this was the perfect place to get her head screwed back on straight. And her heart right.
“Remember that one summer when you were here? I think you and Dana were about twelve. You two had a running bet all summer long on who’d win the most races.” Annie leaned back and looked off into the distance, remembering when the girls were younger, and a smile inched across her lips. “Those were the best summers.”
“I agree. I always loved coming here and having Dana over to my ranch.” Hope giggled when a distant memory came back.
“What’s so funny?” A line Hope couldn’t remember seeing on her aunt’s forehead stood out prominently before her brows moved together in confusion.
Hope rubbed her nose, trying to hide her grin. “Oh, nothing.” It was something, but she didn’t want to rat out her cousin.
Annie put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “Out with it.”
Hope never could defy her aunt when she gave her that look. Hope felt the disappointment in her aunt’s glare, and the last thing she wanted was for her aunt to be upset with her. Even as a kid, she’d never wanted her aunt to be mad at her. Now her mother… Well, that was another story. But Aunt Annie was the adult she had always looked up to and confided in growing up.
With a sigh, Hope quirked her lips to the side and nodded. “Well, I guess it won’t hurt now. Dana is married and not living here anymore.” Hope looked around and lowered her voice, as though she was about to convey a state secret. “When Dana came to see me one summer, we were thirteen and just starting to like boys.” She stopped and covered her mouth, trying to stifle a giggle.
“Oh, please don’t tell me that my Dana was caught kissing a ranch hand.” Annie looked to the sky and shook her head, almost regretting what was to come.
“Not quite.” The boy she had caught her cousin with wasn’t exactly a ranch hand. “James was the son of the ranch foreman. And I walked in on them making out in the hay loft.” Hope giggled with the memory. James had turned out to be pretty wild. She should have known he would be. The rest of the summer, he’d been caught with two other girls around town, and the boy wasn’t even old enough to drive yet. But he did have that cowboy swagger down pat.
Annie laughed, the kind that drew a snort and caused her cheeks to turn pink with embarrassment. “Oh, my. Please tell me James and you never went out?”
Hope waved a hand before her face. “Please, James turned out to be the town player before he even graduated high school.” She grinned. “And besides, Dana and I had a motto: sisters before misters. We always stuck to that. If she liked a boy, I never even gave him a second look, even after she left. And if I liked one, she would always investigate him.” Hope wished Dana had been there when she had met her ex. Things would have been so much better if she’d never fallen under his spell.
“Sooo…” Annie looked at her niece out of the corner of her eye. “Did you leave anyone special back home?”
Hope snorted. “Goodness, no.” She shook her head. “I’ve sworn off men. I need to focus on helping you and Uncle Jesse get back on track since Dana left you high and dry for a man.” She shivered, knowing good and well that Dana did whatever she could to help her parents in addition to working at the local coffee shop and helping her new husband at his own ranch.
Annie sniffed and pretended to swipe a tear from under eye. “I don’t know what we would have done without you, dear.” But she couldn’t hold the charade up for long and a smile crept up her lips before she started laughing outright.
“It feels like I’m home, you know?” Little lines indented between Hope’s brows, and she pursed her lips. “I know I have a home with my parents, but this place, this town, has always felt special.” She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know if I’m saying it right, but I love his place as though it was my own home.”
Annie pulled her niece in for another hug. “Dear, this is your home. And it always will be. Our door is open to you no matter what. And we’ve never changed your room.” She pulled back and a sly smile began. “Now, Dana’s room. That’s a different story.”
Both laughed thinking about how Annie had already begun making changes to Dana’s childhood room. Since Dana had married and moved to the Crooked Arrow Ranch with her new husband, Jerod, Annie had plans to turn the space into her own personal sewing room.
“Do you think I can take a corner and set up my crafts?” Hope grinned, knowing full well that she rarely had time to craft. Most of her free time was spent on horseback. In fact, she looked down at her watch and winced when she realized how late it was. She had a date.

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