Free The Rancher's First Love by Brenda Minton Page B

“I want to go.”
    Samantha closed her eyes as the little girl was pulled away. Her arms slipped to her sides and Remington saw the tear trickle down her cheek. He reached for her hand and she laced her fingers through his. Mrs. Baker gave him an apologetic look.
    â€œThank you all for coming. I do hope you can come back again.”
    â€œWe’ll make it a regular visit, if that’s okay with you.” Remington pulled John up to his side.
    â€œWe’d love that. I’ll give you a call.”
    She walked away, rounding up the children and herding them inside. The workers helped, taking smaller children by the hands.
    â€œAre you okay?” he asked as they headed for the back gate.
    Sam nodded. “I’m good. I just didn’t expect that.”
    â€œNo, of course you didn’t.”
    They reached the driveway where his truck and trailer were parked. He gave her the lead rope for John Wayne as he opened the back of the trailer. Sam led John to him and the little horse stepped right in, heading for hay and water that were always waiting for him at the end of an event.
    It didn’t take five minutes to put away their props, close up the trailer and head out of town. They were driving when Sam spoke up.
    â€œI’m sorry for being so emotional,” she apologized.
    He glanced her way and saw that she was looking out the window. “No need to apologize. I get that way, too.”
    â€œDo you?”
    â€œOf course. How could a person not get emotional, seeing those kids and hearing their stories?”
    â€œYou’re a good man, Remington Jenkins. And I’m sure you’re a wonderful pastor.”
    â€œThank you. I think that’s a compliment.”
    â€œIt is.”
    â€œThen you’ll come sometime, to Countryside? I’ll let you sit in the front pew and make fun of me.”
    â€œOh, that’s tempting.”
    â€œBut no?”
    â€œMaybe someday. When you’re least expecting it.”
    He drove a little while without talking, then he had to ask. “The little girl, Jalee. She reminded you of yourself?”
    There was a long stretch of silence on that long stretch of road.
    â€œYes,” she said. “That little girl reminded me of myself. I know how it feels, to want a mommy to hold on to. A mommy who isn’t there. But that little girl has Mrs. Baker. I’m so glad she does.”
    â€œHave you considered seeing your mom? Gus said she’s in Dallas in a nursing home. Duke found her?”
    â€œYeah, she’s in a home. She has dementia. And of course everyone thinks I need to see her. I need closure. But I don’t. I’m fine. I don’t need to work through this.”
    He disagreed, but he wasn’t going to tell her. He guessed she probably knew she was wrong. “I would go with you, if you wanted.”
    â€œI don’t need someone to go with me.”
    â€œOkay.” He left it alone. He was starting to see a pattern emerging. Sam the invincible, pushing everyone out of her life.
    They drove a little farther as he tried to find the best way to break through the walls she’d put up. “What happened, Sam?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAfter you left. What happened? I know it hurt because I lived it, too. But why the anger?”
    â€œI’m not angry, Rem. I’m really just...”
    â€œShut down?”
    She shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. No. I don’t know. One day I’m happy and living my life. And the next I’m on a plane to an aunt who decides I need an altogether different life. Even my faith wasn’t the right faith. I was a sinful, willful child, who needed to realize that God would probably forgive me, but it was going to take hard work on my part.”
    â€œSam, she was wrong.”
    â€œI know,” she said, her voice soft. “But it felt as if she was right.” She pointed to an abandoned feed store. “You should pull in