Jillian turned her head to study it for a long moment and decided it suited the man to a T. The building was low and long, with a stone front porch that seemed to run around the perimeter of the place. There were two stone chimneys jutting into the sky from a slate gray metal roof and a wide set of double front doors in the center. The house itself was wood and glass and managed to look masculine and cozy all at the same time. There were chairs, rockers and swings dotting that porch and she could imagine sitting there in the evening, watching a sunset. With that image came another of her and Jesse sitting on one of those swings together, and the instant she realized what her brain was up to, Jillian shut it down fast. Thankfully, no one else seemed to notice that her imagination was working against her.
“There are three guest cottages along the back of the big house,” Lucy was saying, “so whoever’s staying there has easy access to the pool and—”
“What’s that house there?” Jillian pointed to what looked like an oversized bungalow with chimneys on each end of the house. Again, a wide front porch graced the building, but here, there was a balcony on the second floor, too.
“That was my house,” Lucy admitted. “Mine and my husband’s.” Her voice dropped and a small sigh escaped her. “We were in the process of building it when Dane’s accident happened. When he died, I just stayed at the main house. I didn’t want to live there without him.
“The house was finished before I gave birth to Brody, but we never moved in. The big house works for us.”
Jillian wondered if she could push her foot any further into her mouth or if even she’d already reached her limit. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Cora Lee said, speaking up for her daughter. “Life happens whether we’re ready or not, doesn’t it, little man?” She turned her gaze on Brody.
“Can I have cookies?” he asked.
“You bet.” Cora Lee hitched him higher on her hip and looked at her daughter. “Brody’s with me.” Then she added, “If you’re going to be here a while, Jillian, why don’t you bring Mackenzie by, too? We’ll all have cookies together.”
“Thank you,” she replied without agreeing to anything.
When it was just she and Lucy again, Jillian said one more time, “I’m really sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
Lucy laid one hand on her forearm. “They’re not bad memories at all. How could they be?” She shook her head and looked out at Jesse and the little girl squirming excitedly in the saddle.
“You said Dane had an accident?” Jillian asked quietly, since her friend seemed willing to talk about the past that no doubt still haunted her.
“He did. I loved Dane like crazy and he was eager to be here on the ranch. Of course he didn’t know anything about horses, but he wanted to learn.”
Lucy stared into the corral but Jillian knew she was looking at images much further away. Her gaze was fixed on the past and the memories brought a smile to her lips and a film of tears to her eyes.
“What happened?” Jillian’s voice was a whisper.
“Just a freak twist of events that Dane was caught up in,” Lucy said wistfully. “Jesse loves training horses. I mean, the ranch is his now and he loves that too, the cattle, the feed crops, all of it. But horses,” Lucy said on a sigh, “hold his heart. Like they do mine. Dad left me in charge of the stud program, breeding exceptional saddle horses. And I’m also taking in rescue horses. Horses that have been abused or neglected—” Her features tightened and anger shone in her eyes. “I can’t stand seeing animals hurt.
“But Jesse, his specialty is training the untrainable horse. He’s got a good reputation, too. People from all over Texas bring their problem horses here and he finds a way.”
Jillian wanted to say something, but damned if she could think of anything that would either stop Lucy now or make it easier to go on. Instead, all she could do was stay silent, stay close.
“A man from Waco brought Jesse a stallion to break and train.” Smiling, Lucy added, “That was the meanest horse I’d ever seen. Hated everybody. But Jesse knew he could tame it. Jesse asked Dane if he wanted to help and he jumped at the chance.”
Jillian’s eyes closed briefly as she braced herself for what must be coming.
Lucy took a deep breath and blew it out. “The horse broke free and went a little crazy. Dane rushed in to help Jesse contain the stallion—and he was trampled.”
Instantly, Jillian’s gaze flicked to Mac astride that horse and she wanted to run out there and grab her girl, keep her safe. Yes, irrational, but the need was there.