Come Home To Me (Wild Creek Ranch Book 1)

Chapter One - All For Adelaide

Rhett reached Wild Creek Ranch and handed Featherlite to Sawyer, heading to the dairy farm to meet his right-hand man, Derek Smith. After attending the work, he went home, but his mind was still stuck on Adelaide.  

"Hey, Ryder, are you free?" Rhett asked his cousin. 

"Yes, sort of. Do you need me for something?" he asked, sitting casually on the porch steps, fiddling with his mobile phone.  

"Can you help me fish out something from Bear Head Creek?" asked Rhett hesitantly at seeing his cousin's eyes widen with curiosity.  

"Won't it be freezing right now? So, what are we to fish out, bro?" Rhett scratched his head, thinking of an answer, knowing that he couldn't tell him about Adelaide's bracelet! 

"I'll tell you when you reach there. Grab a few life jackets." 

"Sure, let's go. I'll get Ryan and some nets," he said, getting up and going inside to call his twin. Rhett called Sawyer and asked him to go to the riverside.  

"Wait for me beside the old maple tree at Bear Head Creek," he directed Sawyer. The maple tree was enormous and the oldest in the region and they had fond memories of playing underneath it when they were younger.  

"Sure, bro," said Sawyer.  

Ryan and Ryder arrived fully prepared to go into the water. They loved Rhett more than they loved themselves. Rhett's selfless ways of quietly helping everyone endeared him to the whole family. He was like a rock whom everyone knew they could depend on. He had never asked for anything, ever, so it surprised Ryder to hear him ask for help. 

"What's the precious thing that fell into Bear Head Creek, bro?" Ryder repeated his question curiously while they all eagerly waited for his reply.  Rhett scratched his head out of embarrassment, clearly in a dilemma. 

"It's actually a bracelet," he said as faint spots of colour appeared on his cheeks while Ryder and Ryan's mouths hung open. A bracelet and Rhett didn't go together, did they?  

"Who's bracelet is it, bro?" asked Ryan, wiggling his eyebrows but to his utter disappointment, Rhett just smiled.  

"I'll answer later, only if you find it," he told them and they groaned out loud. Rhett smiled, a rare, shy yet excited smile that lit up his face. His brothers had never seen their big brother as excited as he was now. 

"Okay, bro. Then we guess we ought to do our best to find it," said Ryder, straddling his horse, Stormy, while Ryan galloped away on his horse, Chestnut.  

"Whoa, Thunderbolt, let's go find that bracelet for Adelaide. You met her, boy, didn't you?" Rhett asked softly, as if it were a secret, his face widening into a smile, as he followed them. They saw Sawyer from a distance, lying under the maple tree. Sawyer was a year younger than Rhett and a very capable man, handling their whole ranch effortlessly. He was the most trusted person in the Wilson household, and they all treated him like a family member. He was an orphan whom their granddad Joe Wilson rescued from the river banks and brought home. Being abandoned at birth, it was a miracle that he was alive when Joe Wilson found him. The Wilsons were all he had, and he lived at the ranch house with everyone, just like a family member. He called himself Sawyer Grace since he was alive by God's grace.  

"Saw, c'mon bro, we need to hunt for a bracelet if we were to know about Rhett Wilson's one and only crush," yelled Ryder, much to Rhett's embarrassment. 

"What crush?" he asked, colouring a little.  

"Aww, are you blushing, Rhett?" asked a grinning Sawyer, eying Rhett with amusement.