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Oklahoma Reunion
Tina Radcliffe
Facing Her Past Single mother Kait Field is back home in the small Oklahoma town she left eight years ago. It’s time to empty the family home, close the door on the past and introduce her daughter, Jenna, to her daddy. Ryan Jones hasn’t quite forgiven his teenage sweetheart, who left him with unanswered questions and a broken heart.But Kait was never accepted by his controlling family, and they don’t seem any more welcoming this time around. Yet now Ryan and Kait are resolved that nothing will come between renewed promises of faith, forever—and the second chance that neither expected.
“I’m guessing you don’t still have that promise ring I gave you.”
Kait found herself speechless. Why was she surprised? That was Ryan. Bold as you please.
The silence stretched until Ryan cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “Could I just ask you a question?”
“Only one?”
“Oh, I’ve got a dozen or so more, but I’m guessing maybe it’s best for both of us to take it one at a time.”
“Ryan, I …”
He held up a palm. “No. A long time ago I convinced myself that you must have had a really good reason for leaving. Whatever I did, well, there’s not much I can do about it now. So I’m just praying that in your own good time you’ll tell me.”
Their eyes met, and she glimpsed the pain in his eyes. She raised a brow, ready to hear his one question.
“Did you ever think of me?”
Kait swallowed, focused on the faded gray boards of the porch floor. “Yes.”
In truth, she’d never stopped thinking about him.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Ryan and Kait’s story. Ryan Jones was a secondary character from my first Love Inspired release, The Rancher’s Reunion. Ryan is such a bigger-than-life character that it seemed only fitting that I write his story. While this was a fun story to write, it was also a difficult one. I had to really dig deep to understand these characters and why they made some of the life choices they did.
Life would be so much easier if we would travel from point A to point B in a straight line. But that isn’t the way it always works, is it? However, God never leaves us no matter how many detours we make. His promise is that He will be with us always and He will complete what He promised.
Like Ryan and Kait, in Oklahoma Reunion, I, too, stand on those promises.
I hope you enjoyed this story. Please let me know by dropping me a line at tina@tinaradcliffe.com or my website, www.tinaradcliffe.com.
Tina Radcliffe
About the Author
TINA RADCLIFFE has been dreaming and scribbling for years. Originally from Western N.Y., she left home for a tour of duty with the Army Security Agency stationed in Augsburg, Germany, and ended up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While living in Tulsa she spent ten years as a certified oncology R.N. A former library cataloger, she now works for a large mail-order pharmacy. Tina currently resides in the foothills of Colorado where she writes heartwarming romance. You can reach her at www.tinaradcliffe.com.
Oklahoma Reunion
Tina Radcliffe
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Many thanks to my sister Anne, who is my patient, long-suffering first reader and is willing to tell me what I don’t want but always need to hear. Thank you to Julie Lessman and Mary Connealy for listening with two ears and one mouth. I am ever grateful for my wonderful husband, Tom, who gets me and can cook.
Thank you, K.C. Frantzen, for proofing my vet stuff and a shout-out to Michael Joseph Russo for your inspiring vet clinic stories and pictures. The iguana tail, however, I could have done without.
Thank you to Melissa Endlich and Rachel Burkot for patiently helping me dig inside myself to find the writer I can be. And a final thank-you to my wonderful agent, Meredith Bernstein, for always being positive and encouraging and for taking time from her vacation to contract this book.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.
—Genesis 28:15
Chapter One
“Unca Ryan, that mama pig has six babies.” Five-year-old Faith’s pudgy fingers clutched the fence surrounding the Tulsa State Fair’s animal birthing pen.
Ryan Jones pushed his straw Stetson to the back of his head. “Yes, she does, darlin’,” he answered.
“That’s lots of brothers and sisters,” Faith continued, her gaze intent upon the plump sow and her suckling brood.
Those who overheard chuckled. Ryan merely smiled, proud of his precocious niece.
When Faith finally looked up, she wriggled her button nose. “It stinks in here.”
Ryan laughed. “Yeah. I guess it does.” As a vet, he was accustomed to the pungent hay and animal smells, but the air in the huge livestock building had become unusually thick and dank as the number of spectators increased.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of a dark-haired woman at the other end of the barnyard.
He froze, then shook his head.
Knock it off. It’s been eight years, Jones. Time to stopthinking every brunette with a certain gesture or walk is Kait Field.
While he’d routinely convinced himself he was long over his first love, his stubborn heart refused to release her memory.
It didn’t help that his imagination worked overtime in crowds. And this was quite a crowd.
He knelt down next to his towheaded niece. “Are you about ready for some cotton candy?”
Faith’s wispy ponytail bobbed as she nodded.
“Pink or blue?” he asked.
Dimples appeared. “Pink, please.”
It didn’t take long to guide her through the jammed arena and back outside to the main strip of the fairgrounds.
Faith ignored the noise of the carnies vying for their attention and the loud barker at the entrance to one of the sideshows. Her short, chubby legs propelled forward on the midway, past the Ferris wheel, carousel and the sweet and greasy trailing aroma of a funnel-cake stand.
When Faith picked up her pace, Ryan reached for her hand before she got too far ahead. Not even a flamboyant clown on stilts could stop the little girl now that she had a mission.
“There.” Sugar radar intact, Faith pointed to a concession stand shaded by a bright blue-and-white-striped umbrella.
“Taste good?” Ryan asked as they settled on a bench, out of the wilting heat and humidity. Early autumn in Tulsa, it was still seventy-five degrees in the shade.
Faith nodded, not wasting time on words, simply stuffing pink fluff into her mouth. When the last of the treat disappeared, she licked each finger one by one and looked up.
“I have to go to the little girls’ room.” She hopped off the bench and straightened her shorts and matching top. “Now,” she added.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ryan stood and glanced around, spotting the nearest facility. They quickly headed over.
He narrowed his gaze, assessing those who came in and out the gray metal door. All he had to do was find a nice elderly lady or a mother with a baby to watch her inside.
“Now, please, Unca Ryan,” Faith cried, reaching up to tug on his rolled-up shirtsleeve.
“I heard you, darlin’.”
“Do you need some help?”
His head jerked at the sound.
That voice.
The air whooshed from his lungs as he connected with familiar dark eyes. He froze, realizing he’d just been poleaxed by the ghost of Kait Field.
“I … we …” His thoughts were as muddled as his speech.
One thing was certain. This time it wasn’t his imagination. Kait had been in the livestock barn this morning.
Faith released a loud wail and crossed her little legs like miniature pretzels. Though Ryan heard her plea, he couldn’t seem to move.
Kait, however, wasted no time. “Jenna, take the little girl into the restroom, sweetie.”
“Sure.” The young girl at Kait’s side smiled at him before she pulled open the door and followed Faith inside. Merely a few years older than his niece, her long hair was the same rich black shade as Kait’s. In fact, except for the fringe of bangs, she looked exactly like Kait.
“That’s your—”
“Jenna,” Kait quickly added.
He frowned, trying to piece the picture together. Kait was married and had a daughter? Regret slammed into him with the force of an Oklahoma twister.
“Your daughter is adorable, Ryan.”
“Faith is my niece—Maddie’s daughter.”
Kait shook her head and shifted uncomfortably. When she pushed the long hair off her shoulders in a nervous gesture, he glanced at her hand, noting the light band of skin on her ring finger, evidence she’d recently removed a ring.
Hope flared and his breath tightened in his chest. The last ring he’d seen on Kait’s hand was his promise ring—eight years ago.
Ryan tensed, clenching his jaw. Was she married or not?
He sure intended to find out.
“Um, well, it certainly is nice to see you,” Kait finally said.
Numb and speechless, he could only stare. His world had been knocked off-kilter, and she’d just responded like they were old friends who ran into each other once a week at church.
“Come again?” Ryan bit back the slow, simmering anger deep in his gut.
“I said, it’s nice to—”
“Yeah. I heard you.” He jammed his hands into the pockets of his Wrangler jeans and glanced down at the ground. There was no way he could play a game of nonchalance and repartee.
No, this was too cruel, carrying on a polite conversation while sneaking glances to see how she’d changed.
Had she changed? Not really. The woman in front of him was still tall and slim, with high cheekbones hinting at her part-Cherokee heritage. Her hair hung like a satin sheet around her shoulders—not unlike the picture he carried in his heart.
“You look good, Kait. Real good.” The words slipped from his lips before he realized he’d said them.
Her face turned pink. “Thank you,” she said, while fidgeting with the silver chain tucked inside her blouse. As he recalled, she used to keep her mother’s wedding ring on the end of that necklace.
Kait glanced around the fairgrounds, looking anywhere to avoid the intense green eyes of Ryan Jones. What were the odds of finding this particular cowboy among all the cowboys at the Tulsa State Fair?
Yes, she’d come home to deal with the past. But she hadn’t expected it would be today, her first day back in Oklahoma.
When she’d spotted Ryan, she and Jenna were walking and chatting. Suddenly there he was, giving life to the memories she’d put on a shelf eight years ago.
The same unruly golden hair peeked out from beneath his hat, and he wore a familiar uniform of a denim shirt rolled up to the elbows, faded but creased Wrangler jeans and dusty boots. Tall and lanky, there was still a sparkle in his eyes and an irreverent grin on his face.
Flustered, and with her blood beating loudly against her temples, Kait scrambled for a course of action. Her initial instinct had been to hide, but Ryan looked in need, as did the child with him. Her heart kicked in well before her brain.
Now as they stood awkwardly, waiting for the girls to come out of the restroom, she tried not to stare, but again and again her gaze returned to the tall cowboy.
“Hey, Doc, how’s it going? Good to see you out having fun for a change.”
Ryan’s head swiveled around as he nodded a greeting to a man passing by.
“Doc?” Kait repeated the word.
“Doctor Jones. Princess says to tell you hello.”
“Afternoon, Ms. Anderson.” He tipped his hat to an elderly woman
“Princess?” Kait asked.
“Red tabby Persian.”
“Excuse me?” Confused, she cocked her head.
“I’m a vet, Kait. I told you I was going to go to vet school.”
“Your mother said you were going to law school.”
