Promise Them (The Callahan Series Book 6) Read Free

late, Mr. Beau. Besides, they’re good kids. They’ll be okay. Just be patient with them.”
    The faint scent of lavender sent his thoughts to the woman who had just left. She’d raised five children, every one of them a success. He had two, and the way it was going they wouldn’t succeed at anything except parties, good times, and doing what they wanted when they wanted.
    They had to grow up before it was too late. The free ride was over.
    He fought the urge to call the kids on their cell phones and check on them. They were so miserable, accustomed to having no responsibilities. Now they were thrust into the world and didn’t know how to handle it.
    His fault.
    An old-fashioned taste of reality was what they needed, Beau tried to convince himself. No more coddling.
    Could he stick to his guns? Could he make the kids come around and see he had their best interest at heart?
    He took a deep breath. Would they ever forgive him?
    Weary now, he gathered up the last of the dishes and, over Lela’s protests, put them in the dishwasher before he went to his room.
    ****
    Dawn brought the usual chores of ranch life. Beau mounted Taro, his sleek midnight-black stallion, and rode out with his foreman, Frank Gordon, to check the fences in the far south pasture.
    Responding to Beau’s pent-up emotions, Taro was skittish. Beau spent a few minutes calming him. “Don’t go all uppity on me, Taro. I’m low on patience today.”
    As if he understood, Taro settled down. Beau spent the next few hours with Gordon, a notebook in hand, making notes on which fences needed to be replaced and which ones could get by with repairs.
    When Beau had bought the ranch, he’d thought if he hired the right people to run it, he could take it easy and concentrate on his children. Wrong!
    His foreman was good about following orders and answered Beau’s many questions with respect. However, it didn’t take long for Beau to figure out that Gordon was happy taking short cuts instead of looking to the future and doing what would be best for the long haul.
    After a few neighborly visits with Donovan, Beau had ventured a few questions, learned he’d made some major mistakes. He’d planted seed that produced a fine crop of hay the first year, little the next. He’d bought a bull that looked good, but didn’t breed. It was sold at a loss. Donovan found a registered Angus in Abilene that sounded promising and took the day off to drive there for a look. Beau bought it on the spot.
    Beau had made his millions years ago, but his recent mistakes and the current financial crisis had eroded a goodly portion. He couldn’t afford too many more blunders.
    By noon, Beau was back at the ranch for a quick lunch. “Have you heard from the kids?” he asked Lela.
    “Dani called to say they were in San Antonio.”
    “They’re okay?”
    Beau hated the hitch in his voice, but he couldn’t stop worrying about them. They might be adults, but they were still his babies.
    Lela patted his hand. “They’re fine. They’ll come around. Just wait and see.”
    Beau chuckled. “Do I have a choice?”
    Beau had never re-married. There had been many women over the years. Some were eye candy, nice dates for political dinners and parties. Others had been short-lived affairs, none worth remembering. When he’d married Janine, he’d been head over heels in love. He’d expected to live with one woman the rest of his life. But Janine had been a troubled woman. He’d tried to help. But she started drinking after Dani’s birth, and everything he tried to do to help made her angrier.
    The accident that ended her life had ended his happy-ever-after illusions.
    Yet, Nellie Callahan moved him. Beau was past sixty, too old for youthful infatuation. Was he having a late mid-life crisis?
    Nellie was different. She wasn’t young and flirty. She wasn’t the kind of woman to condone unwarranted advances. Nor was she one to have an affair. She was a mature woman who had been a widow for