The Cowgirl's Sacrifice by Tina Radcliffe

Author:Tina Radcliffe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-05-13T16:00:33+00:00

Chapter Seven

“Uncle Jess, are we really going to give Miss Kate a cooking lesson?” Olive asked. She glanced at Kate’s house and then looked at him.

“It was your idea, O favorite niece.” He yawned before smiling down at the sweet girl at his side.

“You don’t have any other nieces, Uncle Jess.”

“That too.”

Olive giggled as she followed him up the walk to the door. He rang the bell and stepped back, waiting for Kate to answer, fighting off another yawn.

Jess had lain awake last night, unable to sleep. He kept seeing his mother in that hospital bed, so pale, her arms hooked up to the IVs and her dialysis graft site visible in the hospital gown. Hospitals scared him. He was a guy who liked to be in control, and he had no control over anything once he walked through those glass doors and down those antiseptic-scented halls.

His mother had been hospitalized only a few times since her diagnosis, and each time, he’d felt helpless. While he knew that the cell phone issue yesterday had not been his fault, guilt gnawed at him because he’d let his mother down.

Seeing Kate at his mom’s bedside had been a powerful wake-up call that he needed to accept help when it was offered. It didn’t escape him that he’d preached the same sermon to Kate.

He was more than grateful for Kate’s quick willingness to step in. According to his sister, Kate had done so without even being asked. She’d been a real friend to their family, which made him regret how he’d jumped to conclusions at his mother’s house. Yeah, yesterday had been a turning point. He’d apologized to Kate. Now he wanted to prove he meant it.

“I don’t think she’s home, Uncle Jess.”

Shifting the box in his arms, he knuckled a tune on the door. “Yeah, she is. I called her after church and told her I would drop something off, and she said she’d be here.” Jess nodded to the rust bucket in the drive. “Her truck is here.”

A loud clang sounded from the backyard, followed by a shout of exasperation.

“That sounds like Miss Kate,” Jess said.

They followed the path around the garage to the gate and into the yard, where Kate sat on the thick grass in jeans and an orange-and-black Oklahoma State University T-shirt. She was surrounded by a long cardboard box and various lengths of metal pipes, all spread around her. When she saw his niece, she grinned. “Hi, Olive.”

Olive offered a shy wave of hello.

“Nice yard,” Jess said. His gaze spanned the cozy expanse of green lawn shaded by the lazy branches of a tall magnolia. A breeze tickled the chimes on the back porch, and they sang a soft melody.

“Thanks. Tucker did everything. I’m the groundskeeper du jour.”

“And an excellent one.” He frowned at the disarray around her. “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Not really.”

“I’m putting a hammock together. It’ll be perfect beneath those trees over there, in the shade.” She sighed. “Me, a good book, a tall tea and a hammock.

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