She let go of the steering wheel for a brief moment to touch the locket around her neck. Inside was a tiny picture of wildflowers as a reminder to never give every bit of her heart to a man again. She’d taken the picture the last night she and Cody were together, and she didn’t have to open the locket to see the photo of the sun setting over a field of yellow, purple, and red flowers. She had taken the picture out the window of the bunkhouse out on Sunflower Ranch. In the foreground was a blue vase filled with wild daisies and small purple flowers. That had been more than twenty years ago, and she had moved on since then, but the picture was still with her urging her to go on with life like the wildflowers that popped up every spring.

Stevie really thought she had moved past that teenage love until Cody Ryan came back to Honey Grove. Just seeing him again made her angry—proving that she still carried a little torch for him.

The cria began to hum, which meant the poor little girl was missing her mama.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. In another hour or two, we’ll have you in a herd of your own kind, probably in a nice warm barn. You’re going to be fine,” she told the baby. “Just hang on. I’m going as fast as I can.”

Stevie still thought she could get home before the storm hit—right up until the gray skies opened up and began to dump flakes on her so thick that she couldn’t see two feet in front of her van. The wipers could hardly keep up, so in between swipes, she felt as if she were driving blind down the country road. She was still a long way from Sunflower Ranch when she felt a pull to the right and realized she was getting a flat tire. At the same time, she remembered that she was already using her spare tire and had left the other one at the garage to be fixed two days before.

“Sweet Jesus in heaven!” She turned in to the next lane she saw. “I hope I’m where I think I am,” she muttered as she slowed to a crawl and fought with the steering wheel. “Max Hilton’s barn should be right up ahead of us. If I am right, we can stay there until this damn thing passes over us, and we can get some help. Don’t you worry, little darlin’. I’ve got alpaca colostrum in the van to get you started and milk to mix up for you after the first twenty-four hours.”