Determined not to give in to the fear that sent goose bumps skittering up her arms, she strolled fearlessly ahead. Her bravado didn’t help. The feeling of dread persisted.

In that instant she understood. It was an emotional understanding and it told her why she’d come, what had driven her back to the ghost town. Standing in the middle of town, she looked up and down the barren street and saw nothing but tumbleweeds and dust.

The street was stark. Empty. Bare. Even the land refused to nurture growth.

This town, this lifeless unproductive street, was like her life. She lived holed up on the ranch with her unmarried brothers. Her entire life revolved around their needs, their wants, their demands.

Her roses and her mail-order business were tolerated, but no one had offered her one word of encouragement. Except Laredo. Grady cared about her; she didn’t mean to belittle his concern. But he hadn’t the time or energy to invest in understanding her or her needs. As for Richard, although she loved him, she knew he’d never been able to look past his own interests.

Until Laredo, her existence had been empty. Outwardly focused, with no regard for her own happiness, her own growth. Before Laredo. After Laredo. Savannah smiled to herself. It seemed her entire life would now be divided into two parts. Before he’d come and after he’d left.

How odd that she’d find herself smiling like that. Just when she’d recognized her life for what it was. Shallow. Without a center.

The restlessness she’d held at bay all this time felt as though it would crush her. Ignoring the unhappiness had done no good. Repressing it hadn’t worked. For weeks she’d been fighting headaches and listlessness. For weeks her body had tried to tell her what standing alone in the ghost town had finally made her understand.

She saw a small corral across from the hotel, a large rock beside it. Savannah walked over and sat there, trying to assimilate what she’d learned about herself.

A memory came to her. One she’d long forgotten. She’d been barely ten when her father had been tossed from his horse. He’d badly broken his leg but had somehow managed to crawl to safety and avoid further injury.

Savannah remembered how her mother, frightened and ashen-faced, had run to his side and held his hand while she drove him to the clinic. Mel Weston had smiled and, between deep breaths, assured his wife that the pain told him he was still alive.

That was what this pain told Savannah. She was alive. She could still feel and love and be. Laredo had taught her that, and so much more. For the first time in her adult life, she recognized how much love her heart could hold.

No matter how much it hurt, she’d do it all again.

She bowed her head against the wind as it blew sagebrush about her feet. Tears filled her eyes, but they weren’t the same tears that had burned her face in weeks past.

Savannah had made peace with herself.

***

Grady noticed a difference in Savannah the minute she got out of the truck. Her face radiated a serenity, an acceptance, one that had clearly been hard-won.

His sister hadn’t told him where she was going, but Grady could guess and he hadn’t liked it. Not one damn bit. How she’d come away from Bitter End with any kind of tranquillity was beyond him. Half a dozen times he’d considered going after her and talked himself out of it, knowing Savannah wouldn’t appreciate his interference.

She joined him in the kitchen and put on water for a pot of tea. “I’m going to be all right now,” she told him.

Grady wasn’t sure what to say. He’d wanted to talk to her about the last conversation he’d had with Laredo, wanted to comfort her, but he feared he’d do more harm than good.

“I won’t be going back,” she said next as she took the china teapot from the shelf above the stove. She didn’t say where and he didn’t ask.

“Good,” was all Grady said, at a loss for words.

“Would you care for a cup of tea?” she asked, sounding almost like her old self.

Grady preferred dark strong coffee and Savannah knew it. The offer was more a gesture of reconciliation, an outstretched hand. “Tea sounds wonderful,” he said.

Savannah smiled and brought down an extra cup and saucer.

In the days that followed, the transformation in his sister became more apparent. Color returned to her pale cheeks and a radiance to her face. She started to sing and hum once again and baked his favorite chocolate-chip cookies. Savannah was back, and yet it wasn’t quite the same Savannah as before. These changes were very subtle.

His sister had always been a fearless advocate for people she believed in. Now she believed in herself, too. Her fledgling mail-order business took off like gangbusters once she finished her catalog. Orders poured in from across the country—surprising even Savannah, who’d barely got her catalog mailed out when the responses started to arrive, at a fast and furious pace. The fax machine was in constant use. She soon became known as an expert on old roses and two awards came in quick succession. First she was honored with the grand prize by the Texas Rose Society for one of her premier roses, which she’d named Laredo’s Legacy. The following day, she was asked to speak at next year’s Rose Festival in Tyler, Texas, known as the rose capital of the world. Public speaking terrified Savannah, and Grady suspected she’d politely decline. To his amazement she accepted.

Grady wasn’t the only one who noticed the changes in Savannah. Caroline did, too. Even Richard, self-centered as he was, commented on her new attitude. Grady was proud of her, exceptionally proud, and he wanted to let her know. He could think of only one way. He ordered her prize-winning rose, Laredo’s Legacy, and together with Savannah, planted it at their parents’ grave. Savannah had thanked him with tears shining in her eyes.

His sister, Grady realized, was quite possibly the most incredible woman he’d ever known. How odd that it had taken him so long to realize it.

Twelve

Humming softly to herself, Savannah checked the living room one last time to be sure everything was in place. Laredo had been gone more than six weeks now, and she’d stopped waiting for him, stopped dreaming he’d return. Her life had settled back into a comfortable groove, and the happiness she’d found with him would forever be part of her. That happiness, that sense of possibility, was what she chose to remember, rather than the emptiness she’d felt at his leaving.

It was Savannah’s turn to host the women’s group from church, and her nerves were fluttering. Within a couple of hours twenty women would crowd into the living room to plan a church dinner.

Earlier in the day she’d baked apple pies, and because Grady had been such a good sport about everything lately, she’d made a lemon meringue pie for him, too. The scent that lingered in the house was an enticing mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon.

“Is Caroline coming?” Grady asked, walking into the kitchen. Just as he was about to stick his finger into the lemon pie, she slapped his hand.

“You can have a piece later,” she told him. “And, yes, Caroline’s coming.”

“What about Maggie?”

Savannah carried the pie to safety. “She’ll be with Dovie Boyd.”

“Dovie?” He sounded almost disappointed. “She’s old enough to be Maggie’s...”

“Grandmother,” Savannah supplied. “Caroline’s mother and Dovie were good friends, and Dovie likes to fill in as Grandma every now and again. Why are you so curious?”

He shrugged and strolled out of the kitchen. Savannah didn’t have time to wonder about it. As soon as she finished the last of the dishes, she needed to shower and change clothes.