A Cowboy In Love
Chapter 2

-Miss Blake... Excuse me, Mr. Ford has just arrived.

-Thank you Melissa, but I told you to call me by my first name. -Excuse me, sir... -Megan, I just can't get used to it.

-It's okay. Send Mr. Ford in and bring us two coffees, please. -Right away.

It had been three months since Megan had hired a private detective to track down the whereabouts of her paternal grandmother, and Mr. Ford was the best man in Atlanta for the job. There was a knock on her father's office door, ushering in a tall, slightly older

man.

-Good morning Mr. Ford, please come in and sit down.

-Good morning Miss Blake, I bring you good news this morning.

-I'm very glad, it's been a long time since you sent me your last report.

That investigation was costing Mr. Ford, his grandmother had disappeared from all of Atlanta. He was beginning to fear that his grandmother was dead, leaving him alone with no family.

Since the tragic accident that her parents had suffered on the trip to London, her father's private plane where they were traveling that morning, crossed a storm in which one of the lightning strikes had hit the engine, crashing, costing the lives of all its crew members, that was three months ago leaving Megan devastated by the loss of her loved ones.

A whole week had been a nightmare for her, taking care of everything related to the rescue of the bodies and then burying them. A month after burying her parents, the family lawyer read the will, stipulating that as an only child she inherited absolutely everything. Her father, as owner of another of the largest and most important banks in Atlanta, had amassed a great fortune over the years. However, she did not know how the bank worked, so it was difficult for her to take charge of it, delegating everything to the vice- president, an older but quite competent man for the job. Weekly meetings were held to keep her up to date on the operation and management of the business.

-Well, here is the last address of the place where her grandmother lived. I am not sure if she is still there, but this is the information I have for the moment.

That was a lot of progress, since she was left alone in the world she made the decision to look for her grandmother something her father refused to do. He said that if her mother had left home and abandoned him and her husband she had no right to be found. Megan was four years old when her grandmother had left home, for a little girl she had vague memories of the old lady, she remembered her in the kitchen baking apple pie, as long as her grandfather was not at home since he used to say that his wife had no reason to do that kind of work, that for that there was a staff who would take care of it. And unfortunately his son had chosen to instill the same in his wife and daughter.

It was not at all wonderful to come from a family of macho men, imposing their will. He detested those kinds of men, domineering and possessive.

-Let me check. She picked up the envelope nervously, afraid to replace out where her grandmother had been all that time. - It says here she was in San Antonio!

-That's right. San Antonio! The detective repeated.

-According to your research it says my grandmother is at a ranch called "The J.M. Pride."

-That's also correct, she was living on that ranch I don't know in what capacity she was doing it miss. It is a fairly large ranch, it has many acres of land and lots of cattle, they also raise horses. The owner is an older man named Eduard Manson. But unfortunately I didn't manage to replace out anything else, the people in that locality are very secretive. As far as I know, that's his last address.

-I understand Mr. Ford, this is a great start. Since the address is here, I will take the abuse of writing a letter asking for my grandmother, someone must know her whereabouts.

-I hope you have the best of luck Miss Blake.

-Keep investigating, take the agreed payment and any information you have let me know, thank you very much.

Megan understood why the detective could not replace her grandmother's whereabouts, she was not in the city, but in South Texas. What had driven her to go to such a place, so far away from her family. But she would replace out, she would write a letter either to the owner of the ranch or to her own grandmother. She was determined to reunite with her so they could be together.

A light knock on the door made her look up from the papers the detective had handed her, she looked at Melisa who was entering her father's old office, she could still smell her father's pine fragrance.

It gave her a deep pain to remember their last conversation or rather discussion, to lose them and now she was sitting there at her desk taking care of her business.

-I'm sorry... Megan, young Dixon is in the living room waiting for you. He told me he needs to talk to you.

-Send him in, Mel.

Gerald always dressed in a suit just like his father, but that day he was too formal for a simple visit.

-Hi Megan, it's nice to see you again, it's been a long time since we last saw each other.

-Yes, long time Gerald, what brings you here?

At that moment Melissa came in with two cups of coffee, left them on the table and left.

-Well you see, I know it's a bit premature but I wanted to invite you to lunch to talk about some things we have pending.

-I don't think we have anything pending Gerald, in fact I am quite busy I have a lot of things to check and....

-Oh come on, just lunch. Besides I have something very important to tell you.

-Gerald. He said getting up from his chair and walked to the window that overlooked a splendid swimming pool that the house had in the garden, it was a great view and that morning it was a wonderful day. - I want you to know that I'm not interested in you Gerald, I don't want to get married, I'm sorry! He cut to the chase without beating around the bush.

-Megan, that was a surprise to me. I like you and I wanted to propose to you to go to another level of our relationship as friends, I thought you liked me.

-I accepted your invitations because my parents made me do it, they wanted us to get married Gerald but I didn't want to, I'm sorry.

He stood up slowly and looked straight back.

-I misinterpreted your feelings, I thought otherwise and got carried away by my father and yours. Then I have nothing to do here, I'm sorry if I bothered you. -I'm sorry, Gerald.

-Don't worry! I can't force you to feel anything for me.

She couldn't fool him, nor herself by getting into a relationship she didn't want just to please her parents' memory. It was her happiness at stake and she would fight for it no matter what. She returned to her desk and began to write the letter to her grandmother, hoping for a positive response.

-Do you think she will get an answer to the letter she sent? Melisa asked as she dressed Megan's bed.

-It's been three days since I sent it, I didn't expect them to respond the next day. In fact, they may not respond at all.

-And what will you do if your grandmother is still at that ranch?

-Go get her. I don't know what she could be doing on a ranch in Texas.

-And if it was that his grandmother remarried, maybe to the owner or something and doesn't want to go back.

-She left because my grandfather was too much of a caveman for her taste, she was too independent and my grandfather smothered her.

-We already know from whom you have inherited your desire for independence. Her friend laughed.

-Yes, maybe. I'm a bit like my grandmother, and now that my grandfather and my father are gone I would like her to come back with me, here she could do whatever she wanted. And if you don't like this house, I'll sell it and buy another one, less ostentatious and with less luxury.

-Would you do that, Miss? Melisa asked alarmed.

-Don't worry, no one will be unemployed in this house. They will all leave with me, and if I would do it, I would do it for my grandmother, besides, I don't like this house so overwhelming.

-Well, Miss, you are the owner and you will know how to make the right decision.

-We have already talked about calling me Miss Melisa, my parents are no longer here so please call me by my first name.

-Yes, sorry.

Melisa was three years younger than Megan and they grew up almost together, they had to play hide and seek because Megan's parents were very selective with their daughter's friends and so the girls played hide and seek.

Melissa's mother worked for years for the Blake family and besides being the one who ran the house was Megan's nanny, she had passed away five years ago leaving her daughter in charge of most of the housework. But now Megan's parents had passed away, she imposed absolutely nothing on any of her employees unless it was strictly necessary, and therefore Melisa had gone from being an employee to being her friend.

-If my grandmother is at that ranch, I'll go look for her and you will accompany me, Mel.

-Of course I will. The bed is ready, do you want me to draw your bath?

-No, for God's sake! Stop doing that kind of chores you know very well I can do them myself, I hated that they had to do everything for me first.

-All right, I'll leave you to it. Call me if you need anything. Melissa left the room leaving Megan alone with her thoughts.

She sighed and thought where could her grandmother be if she was healthy, she missed her so much.