The covered body was being brought out on the gurney and Asher shuddered as he motioned towards it.
The Rydell River Ranch and Resort was a large enterprise, covering many acres and requiring many different occupations. They had everything from apple orchards to horse breeding, training, boarding, riding, lessons, and shows, not to mention the water adventures on the river, as well as cabins and a small hotel for lodging, and even a private golf course.
“Wow,” he said softly.
“Yeah, wow.” Calvin echoed.
They watched the ambulance drive off and stared at the dark, stark land before Asher left the arena. He feared he’d choke on his words if he tried to voice his thoughts anymore. Crossing the resort, he ducked under the fence that separated it from the rest of the ranch, and slowly walked up the road toward his parents’ house. They owned a plot of land directly across from the main gate. Asher first came to this ranch and the Rydell family when he was thirteen. Having spent exactly half his life here, he considered it his home now.
Like anyone moving someplace new at the tender and difficult age of thirteen, Asher struggled to adjust. Few people get to experience life on a horse ranch in a rural town in the mountains. At first, it seemed as foreign as the surface of the moon to his young mind. He came there after his great-grandmother died. She was his caregiver and the only family member left alive to raise him. He revered her and although she was quite old, dying at the ripe age of eighty-eight, she always did her best for him. Asher knew and appreciated that, even as a child. They subsisted on very little money, relying on her meager social security checks, welfare money, and the generous charity of others. His clothes all came from thrift stores and when he was old enough, he shopped at the local foodbank to feed the two of them. While other kids wore brand names, Asher didn’t even have access to the variety of food most grocery stores sold. But he knew his great-grandma tried her hardest and most of all, she loved him, even though she grew increasingly more forgetful and incapacitated during her final years.
He never told anyone about her fading health, of course. He couldn’t bear to be taken from her. He shuddered at the thought of living in foster care after hearing horror stories about group homes. His life, though modest, granted him plenty of peace, safety and loving care. Great-grandma adored him despite her deteriorating health, both physically and mentally, and she never stopped trying to care for and nurture him.
When she died, Asher ended up in the one place he hoped never to be: a group home. His case worker was a good guy who listened to him and soon found him a space with a couple who recently decided to foster a child. They actually preferred a child ten years or older. Asher fit the bill to a tee.
That was how he became AJ and Kate Reed’s foster child. AJ was a huge man that many mistook for a brute if they didn’t know him. Seeing his tall, muscled physique at their first introduction, Asher’s scrawny-ass kid’s mind didn’t know what to make of him. Terrified didn’t really cover it. Asher never had a father figure in his life before and AJ was a dad on steroids. A mild-mannered sort of man, AJ was exceptionally quiet, and he always used a low, kind tone. Mostly reserved with new people, but Asher in particular, AJ gave him tons of space. He let Asher find his own way to him, never pushing Asher to accept him. Despite his massive presence, AJ was quite shy and introspective. His physical being intimidated some strangers, preventing them from seeing his true soul. He was thoughtful and sensitive. As the years passed, Asher learned that AJ only spoke when he had something to say and when he did, it was worth listening to. AJ soon became his confidante, friend and dad, which never ended.
Kate was the polar opposite of AJ, as different as two people could be. Loud, confident, strong, and quite beautiful, she was in her sixties now. When Asher first met her, she became his champion at a time when he most needed one. Thirteen was a very confusing year for him. To wind up there, in a place so strange and unfamiliar, without the only person in his life he could ever count on was a painful experience. He missed his great-grandma so much, he often cried at night. Kate spent weeks that turned into months just talking to him about her. She asked about his memories of her and encouraged him to share them with her. They would sit together at the table and Kate would ask innocent questions until Asher finally relaxed long enough to talk. He wanted to tell her the answers but wondered how. His chest was knotted with grief and wrapped up in fear. Fear of the new residence, new people, new everything. Feeling uprooted without anyone whom he knew well enough to trust was a hard thing for him to latch onto.
Until he met these people.
They gave him the right combination of care, concern, support, and space, letting him decide the path and timeline to share and bond. They waited for him to tell them when he wanted to buy a new shirt or shoes for school. They provided him with all the basics and offered their help in school. But they also allowed him plenty of space, letting him reach out whenever he wanted more. At first, he refused to respond, disbelieving them. All the horror stories he’d heard of foster parents who only took in children for the money and abused them physically and sexually preyed on his mind.
But in time, Asher realized there was no horror here. They had a much older daughter. She was twenty-eight or twenty-nine when he showed up, and traveling the world with her husband, Charlie Rydell. On her visits home, Asher watched all of them interact and eventually decided AJ and Kate seemed pretty normal. He started to relax his staunch, hands-off attitude with them. Little by little, first in days, then weeks, then months, he started to trust them.
Of course, there were no other couples waiting in line to adopt him. It wasn’t long before AJ and Kate asked what he thought about adoption?
He agreed it was a good idea. Instead of answering in words, he hugged Kate for the first time.
He proudly chose to take their last name, going from Asher Newhouse to Asher Reed. His great-grandmother’s last name was different than his and the thought of sharing the same name with his new family made him feel safe. But something else blossomed inside him. A new sense. One of belonging. He was part of something. He belonged to them.
His adopted sister, Cami, was a longer sell for him. For a few years, he got annoyed when she visited. She usually traveled and lived in Europe with her husband, Charlie, who was Kate’s nephew. Asher learned that Kate was Jack Rydell’s half-sister. They didn’t know about each other, however, until they were both in their late thirties. Kate showed up at the ranch to meet Jack and instead, ran into their foreman, AJ. She married AJ, and AJ already had a daughter, Cami. So, Charlie and Cami were cousins by marriage, not blood cousins, but still…
Asher resented Charlie and Cami coming back and taking his new parents from him. Most of the time he felt like an only child, which was heavenly from his perspective. Until Cami and Charlie showed up. But in the end, Asher got used to having her as a regular presence in their lives.
Maturity helped him realize they could love her and him, without taking anything from him. Growing up so alone and isolated, he still struggled with that concept sometimes.
School came easy for Asher and he sailed through it, even the socializing part. Plenty of friends and acquaintances allowed him to lead a fairly normal academic life. He graduated high school but had no desire to go to college. He was used to the peace and quiet of the ranch, and the loving family that took care of him there. Spending his teenage years so isolated, with no sense of community, he cherished the family that adopted him. It was all a stroke of sheer luck, but he was more than glad for it. Although he valued his space and privacy, he also enjoyed being in close proximity to this family and the place that he wanted to continue belonging to. He was eagerly welcomed to work on the ranch. His career path led him to horse training. But he also had a strong back and volunteered for many of the projects and difficult repairs that came up. For many years, AJ ran that side of the ranch but was now looking forward to retiring and started backing off from the physical labor. Asher gained the many varied skills for all the work around the giant spread from his adopted dad. In a few years, Asher proudly called AJ “Dad.”