Chapter 1

The sun was starting to rise when Grace finished her chores out at the ranch. In the four months she had been helping out, she had established a routine that coincidentally got more efficient the higher the outside temperature. The smell of horse poop was no joke, even at five-thirty in the morning.

She was about to find Cole when she spotted his ex-wife, Valerie, coming up the drive. As per usual, she was dressed like she was heading to a nightclub, not a farm. But that was Valerie for you. "What can I do for you?" Grace asked with a fake smile.

Valerie looked her up and down, her face contorting in disgust at Grace's dirt-covered (she hoped it was dirt) jeans and old t-shirt. "Why he would ever want...that," she pointed at Grace, "When he can have...this," she said, pointing to herself, "Is beyond my comprehension."

Grace rolled her eyes; this was not the first, nor even the third time, she had heard Valerie utter those words. "Cole is a rancher," Grace said patiently as if addressing a toddler. "He prefers me because he wants a partner, not a trophy wife. You weren't happy here the first time, Valerie. And since you haven't changed," Grace eyed her up and down, "Why do you think you'll be happy now?"

"Not that it's any of your business," she huffed. "But Cole was my first love. The one that got away. I know that now, and I am determined to right the wrong that was done to us."

"Wow," Grace said with a snort. "You are far more delusional than I thought. Nothing was done to you, Valerie; you did it all yourself when you decided to cheat on Cole and leave him for another man."

"I was a different person back then," she said defensively. "And so was Cole. He had just bought this place, was always working, and was broke. Things are different now."

"By "things," you mean he's no longer broke," Grace stated as she rolled her eyes for the second time. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

Valerie stepped forward and pointed her finger at Grace. "Now, see here, you have no right to judge me. Just because you're happy rolling around in horse poop while dressed like a hobo doesn't mean I have to be. A woman is allowed to have needs, and my needs cost money. There's nothing wrong with wanting the finer things in life."

"Maybe you're right," Grace shrugged. "But if you want the finer things, maybe you should work for them yourself. Regardless, you're unlikely to find what you're looking for here."

"We'll just see about that—"

"Enough, Valerie," Cole said from the side of the barn. Grace and Valerie turned to see him leaning up against his truck, his arms crossed over his chest. His cowboy hat shaded his face from view, but his tone of voice made it crystal clear he was unhappy.

"Baby, there you are," she said, her voice dripping with honey as she moved toward him.

Grace watched with interest as Cole held up his hand, stopping Valerie in her tracks. "I've told you more times than I can count that you're not welcome here," he growled. "If I see you here again, you'll leave in the back of a police car."

"You don't mean that," Valerie pouted. "We had a good thing, you and me, and we can have it again."

"It's been eight years since you left, Valerie. I have moved on with my life, and there is absolutely nothing you can say or do that will get me to change my mind. Now, please leave my property."

Grace was sure that Valerie was about to protest again, but she surprised them both by turning on her heel, an impressive feat given their size, and stomping away. Before she reached her car, she turned around one last time. "This isn't over," she yelled.

Cole and Grace watched as she flung herself into her small sports car and sped off in a cloud of dust, flinging gravel along the way. Unsure of whether or not she should approach him, Grace stayed where she was, suddenly very self-conscious of how she looked and smelled.

"I'm sorry about that," Cole said, breaking the silence.

"It's not the first time I've had to deal with an over-zealous ex," Grace shrugged. She looked at the ground as embarrassment heated her cheeks. How long had he been standing there? Valerie's comments about rolling around in poop and dressing like a hobo flashed through her head. The worst part was that they were true. Well, minus the rolling around in horse poop. Cole would have had to have been blind not to notice the difference between her and Valerie.

"Hey," he said, lifting her chin with his finger until their eyes met. "Whatever you're thinking, you need to stop. It's not true."

"Are you a mind reader now?" she retorted, her voice a mixture of sassiness and sheepishness.

Cole frowned. "Your emotions are written all over your face. At some point, you'll have to learn to trust me, Grace. We can't go on like this forever."

"I don't know what you mean," she stammered.

"You keep comparing yourself to other women and somehow always find yourself lacking. I'm with you because I want to be. Because I think you're beautiful and sweet, smart, capable, and most importantly, because I love you. I don't want Valerie or any other woman; I want you. Please accept that already."

Grace felt thoroughly chastised and tried to look away, but he wouldn't let her. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

He let go of her face and pulled her close to him. "I don't want you to be sorry," he sighed. "I want you to trust me. To trust my feelings for you.

"I do trust you, Cole," she whispered into his chest. "It's just that next to Valerie, I feel like a mule standing next to a thoroughbred."

She heard him chuckle as his arms wrapped tighter around her waist. "The only thing you have in common with a mule is your stubbornness."

"Hey!" she said as she playfully swatted his chest. "I am not stub—" His lips were on hers before she could finish her sentence, and by the time they came up for air, she had entirely forgotten what she had planned to say.

"I'm afraid I have to go, baby girl," Cole said, disappointment clear on his face. "But I'll be by later this evening and we can finally spend some time together."

"That would be great!" Grace replied enthusiastically. "Do you have time for that, though? Now that you've taken over Ray's farm, you've barely had time to breathe, much less come by to see me."

"I've got a guy coming by in a little bit to interview for a farmhand position. As long as he's at least halfway competent, I'm going to hire him. The extra help should hopefully free up some time, and I can think of only one way I wish to spend it."

He kissed her again, long and slow, causing her to shiver a little despite the heat. "In that case," she said when they broke apart, "I'll have your favorite dinner ready when you arrive."

"Sounds good, but I'm far more interested in dessert…" he winked at her, then gave her one final kiss. "I'll see you later, darlin'."

Not trusting herself to respond, she smiled and gave him a little wave before driving down the gravel drive. As she went, she thought about her earlier confrontation with Valerie, and if she was honest, she didn't blame the woman for wanting Cole back. Instead, she blamed her for ever letting him go in the first place. A mistake that Grace herself would never make.

When Grace got home, she found Molly pacing in the dining room, her surprise quickly turning to concern when she saw how agitated her friend was. "What's wrong?" Grace asked. "Is it Granny? Gladys? The baby?" her eyes were immediately drawn to Molly's small but pronounced baby bump.

Molly stopped in her tracks and turned to face Grace, despair written clearly on her face. "Oh, Grace, I'm so sorry," she said, her words coming out in a rush. Then, when she saw the look on Grace's face, she put her hands up. "Oh no, I'm doing it again. Everyone is fine," she quickly assured her friend.

It took a minute for Grace's heartbeat to return to normal, her confusion over Molly's behavior wreaking havoc on her nerves. "Can we sit down, please?" she asked, certain the stress of whatever was going on could not be good for the baby.

While Molly sat down, Grace hurried to put a kettle of water on the stove to heat, then joined her at the table. "Let's start at the beginning. What has made you so upset?"

Molly took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I put the wrong dates on the Mother's Day Experience package," she said as she shook her head. "I don't know what happened, pregnancy brain, I guess."

Grace had known Molly for almost six months and had never known her to be anything less than meticulous with details. "What dates did you put down?" she asked nervously.

"I thought Mother's Day was on the seventh instead of the fourteenth. So, the guests are scheduled to arrive on the fifth instead of the twelfth."

"But that's tomorrow," Grace gasped. The sound of the kettle whistling interrupted the start of her panic attack, and she quickly got up to grab it. Back at the table, with two teacups in hand, she tried again to make sense of the latest predicament. "Okay, so we'll celebrate Mother's Day a week early. I guess that's not the end of the world."

"That's not all," Molly winced. "I sort of forgot to put an end date. So the guests expect to be here from Friday the fifth until Monday the fifteenth."

"Please tell me this is a joke." When Molly hung her head, Grace knew she was serious. "That means we'll have to feed and entertain ten people for ten days. Shall I assume they only paid for three of those ten since the dates got messed up?"

"Financially, I think we'll be okay. I raised the prices since we're starting to get a pretty good following, which will help, and I'll do my best to negotiate discounts with some of the bigger businesses. Of course, that doesn't make up for the extra cooking and cleaning you'll have to do, but I swear I'll help as much as possible. I really am sorry," she blew out her breath, causing her bangs to fly up.

It was difficult, but Grace managed to suppress the urge to scream. People made mistakes; she had certainly made her fair share, and getting upset would solve nothing. "It's okay. Right now, we need to focus on getting ready for the guests," she looked at her watch. "It's almost time for breakfast; once that's done, I need to clean the bedrooms and the bathrooms. Luckily, I did a deep clean after the Easter guests left, so I only need to make the beds, dust, and vacuum. After that, I'll need to clean the downstairs areas."

"What can I do to help?"

"Honestly? The biggest problem we're going to have is entertainment. We already have plans for next weekend, so we need something for them to do in the meantime. The city has a lot more options than we do, so if you can try to find some activities, that would be really helpful."

"I can help clean, too. This is my mistake, Grace. You shouldn't have to pay for it."

"That's very kind of you, but I'm not doing anything I wouldn't have done anyway. The only difference is I'm doing it a week early. The cleaning I can handle; it's the rest that's giving me heart palpitations."

Molly looked at her hesitantly. "If you're sure…" she trailed off.

"Trust me, I'm sure. You definitely have the more difficult job." Grace got up and took their empty teacups to the sink. "I'm going to start breakfast," she called over her shoulder. "The rest of the gang should be here soon. Maybe they'll have some suggestions of things the guests can do."

"Thanks for being so understanding," Molly said with a small smile. "I was certain you were going to want to kill me."

"I'll admit I was tempted," Grace returned her smile. "But it's okay. Nothing to do now but make it work."

"You really are the best." Molly got out her laptop and got to work, presumably on finding things for the guests to do.

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