Free Lonestar Sanctuary by Colleen Coble

interested."
    "Because he's not like Jon? Honey, you've got to let him go sometime. He's dead. I know it's harsh to say it, but you've got to face it.
You're still young. I want you to find someone else and love again."
    "I'll never love anyone like I loved Jon. And I don't want Betsy to
put someone else in her daddy's place."
    Yo sighed. "Girl, she can't remember him by now. Kids forget."
    "She won't forget," Allie said fiercely. "I won't let her."
    "Time has a way of smoothing out the bumps. You wouldn't want Betsy to grieve forever. I don't want you to, either. You've got to trust
again, Allie. Let go of that ironclad control."

    Allie pressed her lips together. Yo didn't understand. She hadn't
gone through the losses Allie had suffered. She turned to glance out
the window. "I've got a job, Yo. Doing bookwork and housekeeping."
    "Bookwork? Your specialty." Yolanda's chuckle lightened her poke
at Allie's problem.
    "Ironic, isn't it?"
    "So why marry this dude?You've got a job, a place to stay."
    "I thought about that. But it's a room in a ranch, not a home of our
own. That won't look good to a judge. It won't appear we're any better off than when we were living in a travel trailer." She heard footsteps outside the door. "Listen, I have to go. I'll call in a few days. Pray
for me,Yo, that I'll know what to do."
    "You got it, girlfriend. Love you."
    "Love you too." Allie clicked off the phone and put it down as
Elijah stepped back into the office.
    "Do you have any questions before I go outside?"
    "No, I was on the phone. I'll start work now."
    He tipped his head to one side and listened. "We have visitors."
    Allie heard it then too, the distant growl of an engine.
    "Set that aside for now. You shall find out what the ranch is all
about. The group I mentioned is coming. We go meet them, si?" He
held out his hand for her.
    She put her fingers on his forearm and rose, allowing him to escort
her to the door. The rough-and-ready rodeo riders she knew never
acted so courtly. She could get used to this treatment.
    There was something about Elijah that comforted her. What
would her life have been like if she'd had a relationship with him growing up? She'd always wanted grandparents. Rattling around the
rodeo all her life, she never experienced the stability of deep family
roots. Her parents loved her, but they were often busy.

    The ranch was a world apart, a place where she longed to scrape
away the hard surface soil and peer underneath to the reality. She was
certain she would discover something beautiful. She longed to ask
Elijah a million questions. Like did she have any other living relatives?
An aunt or uncle?
    Elijah opened the front door for her and followed her to the porch.
    A van appeared on the road between the rocky outcroppings on
each side. Dust billowed from its tires, and its engine revved up for the
final approach to the house. The vehicle stopped, and the back door
opened. Several teenagers emerged, blinking in the bright sunlight.
    Allie counted four two boys and two girls. A man exited the front
of the van and corralled the teens. She could hear him directing the kids
to get their luggage. The group moved en masse toward the porch.
    "Hello, are you the lady of the house?" the man asked, his dark eyes
sizing her up.
    "I'm the housekeeper," she said. "Allie Siders."
    In his forties, the man's eyes peered through metal-rimmed
glasses. His black hair lay in a sleek cap on his head, and he wore a gray
suit and black shoes that were already picking up traces of red dust.
    He shook her hand. "Emilio Valdez. You must be Elijah," he said,
glancing at the old man.
    "Si. You are new."
    Emilio nodded. "Yeah, they sent me since this bunch is a little hard
to handle. I'll ride shotgun over them and do schoolwork with them
as well. Where do you want them?"
    "Take the boys to the bunkhouse, out behind the barn. The girls have rooms inside the house on the second floor. If you'll show the
boys to