Her Cowboy Boss
Healing Their HeartsAfter nursing her ill father back to health, Meredith Billings must make a decision: Stay on the family ranch or go back to Oklahoma City. Problem is, the one man who could help her is the only one she’d never ask. Widowed veterinarian Stark Burns is desperate for assistance in his busy vet clinic, but his tragic past has made him wary of letting anyone into his life—especially Meri. Because falling in love again isn’t part of his plan. But working side by side with the pretty nurse slowly brings his heart back to life. This might just be the second chance at happiness he’s been missing…The Prodigal Ranch: Where wild hearts are welcomed home
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Healing Their Hearts
After nursing her ill father back to health, Meredith Billings must make a decision: stay on the family ranch or go back to Oklahoma City. Problem is, the one man who could help her is the only one she’d never ask. Widowed veterinarian Stark Burns is desperate for assistance in his busy vet clinic, but his tragic past has made him wary of letting anyone into his life—especially Meri. Because falling in love again isn’t part of his plan. But working side by side with the pretty nurse slowly brings his heart back to life. This might just be the second chance at happiness he’s been missing...
“What happened to your job in the city?”
“It’s still there,” Meri admitted glumly. “But I don’t want to go back. And now that Rex and Ann have come home to stay...” She shook her head.
“Just because they’ve come home doesn’t mean you have to,” Stark pointed out.
“You aren’t listening. I never wanted to be in the city. I want to be here.”
“I want lots of things I’ll never have again, Meredith,” he told her softly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
Struggling not to weep, she shrugged, then whispered, “Well, I have some time yet. Something might turn up.”
“You never know,” he said.
But she did know, all too well, and his tone said that he did, too. The truth was that if he didn’t give her a job, she wasn’t going to find one locally. The worst part was that it didn’t make sense. She could help Stark. They could help each other.
Why wouldn’t he take what she offered?
Grief is a tough, horrific, unavoidable part of life. Everyone deals with grief in his/her own way. Some ignore it; some wallow in it. Some soldier on, never quite whole or healed. For some, grief becomes a way of life.
When it comes to the death of a loved one, I find it helps to try to look at things from the perspective of the one who has passed on. How would he/she want me to go forward? Would one who loves me want me to forever be sad, guilt-stricken or lonely?
I’m reminded that Christ, though living, sent the Holy Spirit to comfort, strengthen and guide us when He removed His physical presence from this world. Won’t He also, then, send us new love when the old must leave us?
I believe so.
But we have to find the courage—like Stark Burns—to accept it.
God bless,
Arlene James
ARLENE JAMES has been publishing steadily for nearly four decades and is a charter member of RWA. She is married to an acclaimed artist, and together they have traveled extensively. After growing up in Oklahoma, Arlene lived thirty-four years in Texas and now abides in beautiful northwest Arkansas, near two of the world’s three loveliest, smartest, most talented granddaughters. She is heavily involved in her family, church and community.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him
twice as much as he had before.
—Job 42:10
Contents
“Stop fussing, Meredith,” Wes Billings rasped. “You look as tired as I feel and need to rest now.”
Meri sighed and smoothed the covers over her father’s chest once more. The weeklong trip to Oklahoma City for his final scheduled chemotherapy treatment had been grueling, and, no doubt, he was as glad as she was to be back at Straight Arrow Ranch.
She prayed that the drugs, which had followed extensive surgery, had done their work and rid her father’s rangy six-foot-four-inch body of any remaining cancer. Only time and tests would tell, as Meri, a nurse, well knew. Still, time seemed to slip through her fingers with alarming speed. Her leave of absence from her job at the hospital in the city would soon end, and she would be forced to return there to work.
The irony struck deep as she bent and kissed her dad’s bald head through the paper mask that she wore. Meredith had never wanted to leave home. She’d settled on nursing after her mother’s unexpected death more than four years earlier, only to discover that her chosen career left her few employment options within driving distance of the tiny town of War Bonnet, some six miles from the ranch. Neither her older brother nor her sister had intended to return permanently to their hometown, yet they’d both recently married locally and settled in to live there, while Meri had come up empty—again—in her search for a job that would allow her to remain near her family.
She disliked living in a large city for many reasons. The summers were hotter and the winters dirtier. Everything was more expensive. Green spaces were few and far too formal. She’d never thought to miss a red-dirt road so much. As time had passed, the hundred miles between War Bonnet and Oklahoma City had started to seem like thousands to her. Moreover, the quality and quantity of medical care to be found there had robbed the smaller communities of hospitals and clinics even this far out, which meant that she couldn’t find a job closer to home.
