CHAPTER 14

	For the next few weeks,  Joey threw herself into her writing.  She stopped only for
meals and her daily ride on Candita.  Surprisingly, Blake began spending more time with
her than he ever had.  He would tap on her bedroom door and be standing there with a
cup of coffee when she opened the door, or show up at her side out of no where as she
rode in the fields.  He began to enjoy their meals spent together, in the formal dining
room where they had eaten with the children, and conversation flowed more freely.  He
talked to her about the workings of the ranch, the care of the horses, the sickly foal that
had been born or the gelding that had sprained its ankle and needed extra care, and
Joey listened.
	She didn’t want her time at Silver Star to end, but as the days passed, she knew
eventually that time would come.  On one hand, she hoped to be home in time to
prepare for Mikki’s wedding, which was fast approaching.  On the other hand, she never
wanted to leave.  But when that day finally came, she knew she wouldn’t be able to put
off leaving any longer.
	Broaching the subject of leaving was harder than she had thought it would be. 
But the fact remained, there was no more reason for her to stay.  Mikki’s wedding was
only two weeks away, and Joey’s bride’s maid dress had been made from
measurements only.  She needed to be fitted in enough time to allow alterations if any
were needed, and then there would be the whirlwind of activities leading up to the
wedding. It would all be enough to take her mind off the Silver Star for a while, she
thought. 
	Off of Blake Winters was more like it!
	The day of her departure everyone was there to see her off.  Mable gave her a
big hug, and even Tilly looked sad to see her leave.  She bade her farewell to Candita,
who seemed to sense that things were changing, and to Ethan, who came right out and
told her he would miss her; and Clayton and Susannah were at the house to wave her
off when the truck was ready to pull away. Everyone was wishing her well and saying
how much they had enjoyed her stay. 
	Everyone except Blake.  She had left the draft copy of the book on his desk in
the study the night before.  He had sat staring at it for a long time, but he hadn’t even
picked it up to read it yet. When it was time for her to leave, it was Harvey who waited at
the driver’s side of the truck to drive her to Draper, where a plane would take her home. 
Blake made some excuse about having things to take care of on the ranch, and wasn’t
talking much at all. 
	As she climbed into the truck, however, he appeared at the doorway with the
fawn cowboy hat in his hand.  She had left it on the hat rack in the hall, thinking it
belonged to the ranch, but he gently placed it on her head.
	“Don’t forget your hat,” he said, in a low voice.
	“Oh Blake, it isn’t mine ...” she looked up at him, and the smile on his face nearly
made her melt into her seat.
	“Of course it is,” he said. “I wouldn’t think of anyone else wearing it.  Keep it as a
souvenir.”
	“Anything else you need to do before we go, Boss?”  Harvey called over the top
of the truck, a crooked grin on his face and a glint in his eyes.  Blake shot his ranch hand
a hard glance and straightened up.
	“That about covers it,” he said, daring Harvey to say more.  Harvey shrugged
and climbed into the truck.
	“Ready to go, Miss Joey?” he asked more softly.
	“Ready to go, Harvey,” she nodded, a pasted smile on her face. 
	On the drive in to Draper Harvey filled the time with conversation, and Joey
smiled to herself.  She was going to miss the friendly manner of the ranch hand and his
wife.  They had become friends and she would always think back on her time at Silver
Star with fond memories of them. Before she knew it, they were at the airstrip and she
was boarding the plane ready to head home.

	“Right this way, Mr. Winters.”  
	Blake followed the detective down a crowded hallway.  Less than two hours after
Joey had left, while he had been sitting staring at the unopened draft of his book again,
he had received a phone call from the Billings police.  Within minutes he had announced
that he would be away overnight, and headed for the city.  Now, as the detective led him
through a doorway into an inner office, a young boy slouched in a chair, turned a
downtrodden expression towards them.  Behind the desk, a woman in a professional
looking suit was leaning against a filing cabinet with her arms crossed. 
	“Blake!” the boy exclaimed, the expression on his face changing instantly. 
	The detective walked around the desk and sat down, while Blake took the empty
chair next to the boy. “This is Marcia Rosen, our children’s social worker, Mr. Winters.”
the detective said, and Blake gave the woman a polite nod and offered her his hand. 
The formalities over, he glanced at the boy who was drumming his fingers on the arm of
the chair.
	“You OK, Reggie?” Blake asked.
	Reggie shrugged, frowning slightly again.  “I didn’t know if you would come,” was
all he said.
	“I promised you, any time you needed me, didn’t I?” Blake reminded him, and
Reggie nodded, glancing cautiously at the policeman and the woman on the other side
of the desk.  Blake also turned his attention in that direction.
	“What happened?” Blake asked.
	The detective leaned back and tapped his pen on the desk, shaking his head. 
“We brought his brother in a few hours ago for dealing. We brought the boy here in to
the station because we couldn’t leave him alone.  When we asked him who to contact to
come and get him, he gave us your name.”  The detective raised his brow. “I gotta say,
Mr. Winters, I was kind of doubtful, but it seems he was on the up and up afterall.”
	“Reggie spent a week on my ranch a while back. I told him any time he needed
anything, to call, and I meant it.”  Blake glanced at the boy who say slumped in the chair
beside him.  “What happens now?”
	“The brother is looking at some heavy time.” Miss Rosen spoke in a clear voice.
“Even if he gets out, we will not approve Reggie going back into the brother’s care.  
Most likely he’ll be put into foster care.”  As the woman spoke, Reggie shot Blake a
pleading glance, to which Blake gave him a reassuring nod and turned back toward the
desk. 
	“He’ll be going with me,”  Blake stated without hesitation.
	Reggie looked visibly relieved, and straightened in his chair slightly, while Miss
Rosen and the detective looked at each other.  “You’re willing to take him, then, while we
make arrangements for placement for him, Mr. Winters?” she asked.
	Blake held her gaze.  “I think you misunderstood, Miss Rosen.  Reggie will be
going with me.  There will be no need to arrange for placement anywhere else.” 
	Reggie’s expression was becoming more excited as the conversation
progressed, and he now sat perfectly upright in his chair.  Miss Rosen said nothing for a
moment, then nodded curtly. 
	“You wish to arrange to foster him yourself, then, Mr. Winters?” 
	Blake’s gaze never wavered as he looked at the woman standing behind the
desk.  “Permanently,” he said, in a voice that dared anyone to question his motives.
	Reggie grinned widely, and Marcia Rosen stared at Blake trying to hide her
shock.  She glanced quickly at the detective, who had broken into a smile himself as he
had watched the exchange, then quickly closed her mouth and tried to regain her
composure.
	“As I understand it, Mr. Winters, you are a single man? You are proposing
adoption?  Raising a child on your own is....”
	Blake’s patience was beginning to wear thin. He clenched his jaws, stared the
woman down, and interrupted her. “Yes, Miss Rosen, I am single. However, I would
hardly be raising the boy on my own.  I have a very large permanent staff on the Silver
Star.  Two very capable women who run the household live right in the house with me. 
The boy will be well fed, clothed, and his medical needs will be attended to. He will also
be educated, and have enough hard work to train up a strong mind, as well as free time
to balance that.  What else would you require of me?”
	Miss Rosen found herself speechless for a moment, then she looked at the boy. 
“Reggie?”  she said, staring at the boy with a look meant to tell him this was his chance
to let her know if there was anything he feared about Blake Winters and his proposal. 
What she got in return was a wide smile and a frantic nod.  Again she tried. “Reggie,
we’re not talking about a week’s vacation here, we’re talking about a permanent living
arrangement.”
	“Yes Ma’am,” Reggie said with a nod.
	The woman took a deep breath, and straightened her shoulders, trying to look
like she was in charge of the situation. “I will release the boy to your care today, Mr.
Winters, but you do understand that someone will have to view the living arrangements
at this — umm — Silver Star is it, before any permanent adoption proceedings will be
approved.”
	Blake stood up, clearly having had enough of the red tape conversation. He
pulled out his wallet and leafed through it until he found what he was looking for.  On the
back of a card imprinted with the words National Children’s Welfare Mission above his
name,  he wrote the ranch phone number, then tossed the card across the desk. His
expression did not soften until he turned to face the boy who still sat in the next chair,
looking as if he dared not breathe or the walls would crash down on him.
	“Ready, Reggie?” Blake asked with a smile, and the boy beamed and stood up,
casting a cautious glance at the woman on the other side of the room.
	Miss Rosen nodded curtly, and Blake held out his hand and rested it on Reggie’s
shoulders as they left the office together. 
	“Anything you need to pick up before we fly out?” Blake asked, as they walked
down the hall.
	Reggie frowned. “I got stuff back home. Clothes and things,”  he paused, then
looked up at Blake.  “And my hat!” he said, smiling again. “I need my hat!”
	Blake smiled down at him and patted his shoulder.  “Alright then, you tell me
where to go and we’ll go get that stuff — and your hat.  Then maybe we’ll go shopping,
what do you say?”
	The hat was stored on the top shelf of the closet in Reggie’s bedroom in the
falling-down building he had called home the last few years of his life.  After stuffing his
clothes into a ripped duffel bag he carefully placed the hat on the top and closed the bag
around it. Blake sensed that, although the hat meant the world to the boy, he still wasn’t
going to be seen with it in this neighbourhood.  The gang of kids that had been hanging
around the steps outside the building hadn’t exactly looked like the cowboy hat type.  In
fact, Blake had been immediately wary.  Reggie had greeted each with a high five and
informed them that Blake was a friend of his and not to touch his car.  The fact that a
warning was needed at all had put Blake even more on edge.  When they had finally
gathered all of Reggie’s clothes and paraphernalia Blake had breathed a sigh of relief to
see that the car actually was untouched.
		After a shopping trip to buy the boy a good pair of boots and a few new
clothes, they were finally on the plane back to Draper.   Blake cast a sideways glance at
Reggie, who was sitting quietly looking out the window as they flew away from Billings
and out over the wilderness.
	“It’s gonna be different for you I guess.” Blake said. “New life, new friends.  When
school starts you’ll have to ride the bus all the way to Draper, you’ll meet kids there. “
	“Yeah,” Reggie said, without turning his head. 
	“You’ll have to help out around the ranch too.  Everybody pulls their weight.”
Blake paused as the boy nodded but said nothing, then spoke again.  “First thing you’ll
have to do is learn how to saddle your horse up properly, so you won’t be falling off
Pepper so easily.”
	There was silence, then Reggie turned a wary glance towards his benefactor. 
“My horse?” he asked, eyes wide in disbelief.  
	Blake grinned. “Well, I’ve always said, there’s nothing that can teach
responsibility as good as having a horse of your own to look after.  And Pepper, well, he
took a liking to you, young man.”
	Reggie was beaming from ear to ear now. “Wow! Thanks Blake!”
	Blake’s expression hardened slightly. “But don’t think you’re going to get
everything you want just because you’re living with me now.  Like I said, you’ve got to
pull your weight. You’ve got to do your chores, do as you’re told, and I’ll expect you to do
your best in school. “
	Reggie frowned. “Yes Sir,” he said, then glanced back at him with a grin.  “I can’t
wait to tell Joey you gave me Pepper!”
	Blake cleared his throat and looked back out the front window of the plane.
“Joey’s not there, Son.”
	Reggie looked at him. “When will she be back?”
	Blake shook his head. “She’s not coming back.”
	“You two broke up?” The boy asked in disbelief.
	“No, Reggie.  She finished her work, and she’s gone back home.  We weren’t a
couple, she was just working for me, writing a book about me.”
	“But...”  Reggie wrinkled his brow and looked at the man in confusion, then he
straightened his shoulders and glared at Blake.  “I don’t believe you! She liked you, I
know she did.  And you liked her. “
	Blake glanced sideways at the boy and chose not to respond.  Instead, they sat
in silence for most of the rest of the trip.  The fact was,  he’d been thankful for the trip to
Billings to bail Reggie out because it had taken his mind off the fact that Joey was gone. 
He had gotten used to having her around the ranch, seeing her riding Candita, having
his meals with her, chatting with her after dinner.  The house had seemed instantly
empty the moment he had walked back inside after watching Harvey drive her away. 
Having Reggie around would definitely help with that!

	At least, that was what he had thought.  Three weeks later, the house still
seemed empty.  Every time he walked past Candita’s stall and saw the horse’s sad face;
every time he sat at the dinner table alone with Reggie, and every time he went upstairs
and glanced at the door of the room she had used while she had been at the ranch, he
still felt something was missing.  
	I’ll just have to get over it, he scolded himself, as he threw himself into being the
new father-figure in Reggie’s life. 
	“You sulking around again?”  Harvey’s voice penetrated his thoughts.
	Blake grunted but didn’t turn to look at the ranch hand.  “I’m not sulking,” he
insisted.
	Harvey shrugged. “Sulking is what it looks like to me.”  He leaned against the
horse stall and glanced at Candita. “The two of you missin’ the little lady, huh?”
	Blake grunted. “Candita missed the daily rides,” he stated. 
	“Sure she does.” Harvey nodded. “And you?”
	Finally Blake shot a cold glance towards the other man. “I’m just fine!”
	Harvey laughed. “As fine as sagegrass in a drought.  Looks like you’re pining
after her if you ask me,” he said. 
	“I’m not pining after anyone.” Blake snorted, but it only served to make Harvey
laugh even louder.
	“Whatever you say, Boss. Have you read that book of hers yet?”
	Blake glared at him. “Mind your own business for a change.”
	Harvey shrugged again.  “Suit yourself.”  He leaned over the stall and reached a
hand to stroke Candita’s nose. “But I bet she’d come back here at the drop of a hat if
you asked her.”
	“Ridiculous.” Blake turned to look at the horse as well. “She’s a city girl,
remember.  This is no place for a girl like her.”
	This time Harvey’s laugh made Candita flinch. “A girl like her?  Damn it, Blake,
didn’t you  pay attention while she was here?”  The older man shook his head and
turned to walk away while Blake glared at his retreating back.   He opened his mouth to
yell something after him, but thought better of it and turned back to the horse.
	“What are you looking at?” he grumbled, and Candita nodded her head up and
down.  Blake frowned. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to pay attention, he thought. Maybe he
hadn’t wanted to hope that what he was seeing, what he was feeling, was real?
	He sighed, and strode out of the stable towards the house.  Maybe it was time he
read the draft of her book that had been sitting untouched on his desk since the day
she’d left.  He’d often sat looking at it, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to pick it up
and read it. It was just going to be hard to read about his own life, that was all, he told
himself. Harvey seemed to think he was missing the girl and should do something about
it.  So did Reggie.  Maybe it was time to prove them wrong!	With a purposeful stride he
entered the house and headed for his study.   He sat down and picked up the draft,
flipping it open to the first page, and started reading. He’d read more than half when
there was a tap on the study door. 
	“Mr. Blake, Mr. Nielson’s on the phone,”  Tilly said from the door of the study.
	Blake set the book draft down and reached for the phone.  “Make it quick,
Nielson,” he barked into the phone. “If you want the book, I’m reading it now.  When I’ve
decided if I like it I’ll let you know.”
	“Forget the damn book,” Clark Nielson’s voice came through the receiver. 
“We’ve got a situation here.”
	“And what might that be?” Blake asked, trying to ignore the man on the other end
of the phone.
	Clark’s voice became hushed and frustrated. “There’s a little girl sitting in the
waiting room outside my office and she won’t go away.  I’ve told her to go home, but she
just sits there and shakes her head at me. “
	“A little girl? Nielson, what on earth are you talking about?”   
	“She’s been here all day,” Clark hissed into the phone. “That damned secretary,
Holly,  you hired even went and got her some lunch. She won’t go away!  She’s like a
stray cat. Winters, you have to get her out of here!”
	“Nielson,” Blake said in a firm voice. “What little girl?”
	“The little blonde waif that’s staring at me through he window in my office.  She’s
giving me the creeps, looking all sorry for herself. Makes Holly dote all over her too!”
	“Blonde?” Blake sat up in his chair. “Clark, did she tell you her name?”
	“Yeah. Jane or Joan, or something like that.”
	“Jill?”  Blake demanded, becoming impatient now.
	“Yeah, that’s it.” Clark said, sounding as if he thought he was getting somewhere
at last. “What are you going to do about her?”
	“Let me talk to her,” Blake said. 
	“Talk to her? What good is that going to do? Winters, she’s not budging, you’re
going to have to do better than just talk to her.”
	“Put her on the phone!”  Blake demanded.