A Forever Love(22)

Her heart thumped faster. In blue jeans and a T-shirt, his black hair unmistakable, Justin walked down the green hill toward the timber. “What is he doing?”

Nina stood and looked out the window. “Maybe getting lost?”

“Don’t joke. He’s as city as they come. Why would he be heading in there? Alone?”

“Who knows, and I don’t care. He’s come to take my nephew, so I hope he falls in a ravine.”

“Nina! You can’t say those things.”

“What? He’s causing all kinds of hell. I can see it in your face what with the puffy eyes and the circles. You look like you didn’t sleep at all last night.”

So she looked bad as she felt. The scalding-hot shower and the three cups of coffee before coming down to The Barn hadn’t hidden that she’d awakened in Max’s room at two a.m. and not been able to get back to sleep.

Nina turned from the windows and walked toward the office door. “There’s fresh coffee. Have a cup before you go see the cows.”

Aubrey nodded and met Nina’s gaze.

Her little sister’s brows were pulled tight, and worry etched lines around her mouth. “You’ll let me know if I can help.”

Aubrey fought the tears heating the backs of her eyes. There was nothing Nina could do. She and Justin needed to have a rational, adult conversation and come to a reasonable compromise, but last night, when Justin had said he’d come for his son, there certainly hadn’t appeared to be any kind of compromise that he was willing to entertain. Only a complete victory would satisfy him.

“Okay.” She pushed herself to standing. “Up to the barn to see the cows.” She followed Nina out of the office, grabbed a to-go cup of coffee, and walked to the back door. She slipped off her shoes and pulled on her green Wellies. At least the cows wouldn’t have anything negative to say to her about her past, her present, or her future.

She opened the door and Scout jumped to attention. He wagged his tail and shook his entire body. Thank God for a happy dog. A smile curved over her lips with Scout’s joy. “Good boy. Let’s go see the cows.” He hopped and pranced and ran toward the far hill, then turned and looked back as though to say, Come on, lady. Let’s go!





Chapter 8




“We got the sweet butter grass just coming in,” Bob said. He placed his hand on the rump of one of Rockwater Farms’ Holstein dairy cows. “But I wanted to check with you because once I start feeding it to the girls, you know the flavor of the milk changes and that changes everything for Nina.”

Aubrey waked over to the stainless steel holding tank where all the milk was transferred by giant plastic hoses. A metal paddle stirred the whole milk so the cream wouldn’t separate. Giovanni, Rockwater Farms’ cheese specialist, would arrive in an hour, and he’d supervise the separating process. Rockwater Farms had just begun crafting cheese, and Giovanni had moved from Italy to help them build their artisanal cheese-making business.

Aubrey took a silver cup from the wall and dipped it down into the giant vat. The milk was still warm from the cows’ udders. She took a long drink. Thick. Pure. Fresh. This was milk the way milk was meant to taste. With a satisfied smile, she took another long drink. Smooth. Rich. Wonderful. She pulled the stainless steel cup from her lips and Bob grinned. He’d thought she was crazy when she told him she’d wanted to start a dairy cow herd in Kansas. Cows in Kansas were for beef, and while Rockwater Farms had those too, Nina and Aubrey had wanted to use fresh Rockwater Farms ingredients, and that included fresh milk, butter, and cream.

“You got yourself a real good mustache right there.” Bob laughed.

Aubrey pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and smiled. Yes. This was right. This was what she wanted. What she’d missed living in New York City and working in the financial markets. This was tangible; you could see your success, taste your success. This success wasn’t a number blinking from a computer screen or some transaction that worked but of which you’d never see the real elements. No. Here, standing amid a small herd of dairy cows, they discussed the taste of fresh milk and how sweet grass would impact Rockwater Farms’ new cheese-making endeavor, and the baking that went on in the restaurant, and the butter, and the milk, and all the things that Rockwater Farms made that included milk as an ingredient.

“I’ll check with Nina. She loved the taste last year. Check with Giovanni to see what he thinks. I don’t know if they have anything similar in Italy or how he feels about the taste for cheese.”

“Will do,” Bob said. He stroked the cow’s back. “They love that sweet butter grass. You know I can mill some of it for the chicken feed too.”