“This place is simply beautiful, Callum.”
He smiled, pleased that she thought so. “More so than Denver?”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Hey, there’s no place like home. I love Denver.”
“I know.” Just as he knew it would be hard getting her to leave Denver to move to Sydney with him. He would have returned home long ago, but he’d been determined not to until he had her with him.
“We’re on our way to your parents’ home?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Yes. They’re looking forward to meeting you.”
Surprise swept across her face. “Really? Why?”
He wished he could tell her the truth, but decided to say something else equally true. “You’re Ramsey’s sister. Your brother made an impression on them during the six months he lived here. They consider him like another son.”
“He adores them, as well. Your family is all he used to write us about while he was here. I was away at college and his letters used to be so full of adventure. I knew then that he’d made the right decision to turn over the running of the family’s real-estate firm to Dillon and pursue his dream of becoming a sheep rancher. Just as my father always wanted to do.”
He heard the touch of pain in her voice and sensed that mentioning her father had brought back painful memories. “You were close to him, weren’t you?”
When they came to a snag in traffic, he watched her moisten her lips before replying to his question. “Yes. I was definitely a daddy’s girl, but then so were Megan and Bailey. He was super. I can still recall that day Dillon and Ramsey showed up to break the news to us. They had been away at college, and when I saw them come in together I knew something was wrong. But I never imagined the news they were there to deliver.”
She paused a moment. “The pain wouldn’t have been so great had we not lost our parents and Uncle Adam and Aunt Clarisse at the same time. I’ll never forget how alone I felt, and how Dillon and Ramsey promised that, no matter what, they would keep us together. And they did. Because Dillon was the oldest, he became the head of the family and Ramsey, only seven months younger, became second in charge. Together they pulled off what some thought would be impossible.”
Callum recalled hearing the story a number of times from Ramsey. He had hesitated about going to Australia because he hadn’t wanted to leave everything on Dillon’s shoulders, so he’d waited until Bailey had finished high school and started college before taking off for Australia.
“I’m sure your parents would be proud of all of you,” he said.
She smiled. “Yes, I’m sure they would be, as well. Dillon and Ramsey did an awesome job and I know for sure we were a handful at times, some of us more than others.”
He knew she was thinking about her cousin, Bane, and all the trouble he used to get into. Now Brisbane Westmoreland was in the Navy with dreams of becoming a SEAL.
Callum checked his watch. “We won’t be long now. Knowing Mom, she’ll have a feast for lunch.”
A smile touched Gemma’s lips. “I’m looking forward to meeting your parents, especially your mother, the woman who captured your father’s heart.”
He returned her smile, while thinking that his mother was looking forward to meeting her—the woman who’d captured his.
Surprise swept across Gemma’s face when Callum brought his car to the marker denoting the entrance to his family’s ranch. She leaned forward in her seat to glance around through the car’s windows. She was spellbound, definitely at a loss for words. The ranch, the property it sat on and the land surrounding it were breathtaking.
The first thing she noticed was that this ranch was a larger version of her brother’s, but the layout was identical. “I gather that Ramsey’s design of the Shady Tree Ranch was based on this one,” she said.
Callum nodded. “Yes, he fell in love with this place and when he went back home he designed his ranch as a smaller replica of this one, down to every single detail, even to the placement of where the barns, shearing plants and lambing stations are located.”
“No wonder you weren’t in a hurry to return back here. Being at the Shady Tree Ranch was almost home away from home for you. There were so many things to remind you of this place. But then, on the other hand, if it had been me, seeing a smaller replica of my home would have made me homesick.”