Ginger settled her weight on one foot. “But that’s just one side of Nate. He has a hard-working side too, which I’m sure if you asked his Unit Officers or Manager about, they’d tell you the same thing. He didn’t get selected to work in the Unit Office because he was lazy. I assigned him to build new bird blinds on the ranch, something he’d never done before. When he showed me the finished product, it was perfect. Only then did he admit that he’d rebuilt it four times to get it right.”
She looked up, hoping the judge was actually listening. He looked one breath away from falling asleep. “Who does that? Who builds something four times just to make sure it’s right?” She shook her head. “No one I’ve ever hired. They would’ve come to get me to ask a million questions, or they would’ve given up. Nate did neither. He figured it out.”
She could sense she needed to wrap things up. “I put him in charge of our eleven-year-old riding program. He interacted with the children, worked with horses, and managed a ton of moving pieces.” She closed the folder. “He’s a great cowboy, Your Honor. I’d take him back at the ranch in a heartbeat. But he’s more than a cowboy. He’s a good father. He’s a good friend. He’s a good man.”
Ginger nodded, because she didn’t have anything else to say. “He was only trying to make things right with his past, so he could move forward into the future without the baggage. Don’t we all have something we wish we could tie up so it can’t weigh us down anymore? I know I do. The difference between Nate and me is that he’s brave enough to do what it takes to cut ties with those things holding him back. I learned that from him, and I’m trying to do the same now so I can have a brighter, more hopeful future.”
She backed up a step, wondering where she was supposed to go now.
“Are you finished?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir.” She turned when someone touched her arm, and she let the Warden lead her to the first row of chairs behind the railing. Ginger’s heel caught on the leg of one chair, and she almost fell. Instead, she just landed hard in the seat, but the embarrassment felt the same as a fall.
“Mister Brandt? Your argument?”
The lawyer at the table opposite of Nate’s stood. “We have nothing, Your Honor. Nathaniel Mulbury was an exemplary inmate, and we believed him a perfect candidate for the RRC program.” He glanced at Nate and his lawyer. “We still do.”
“Your Honor,” Nate’s lawyer said, standing. “River Bay is over-crowded, and Mister Mulbury’s been in Administrative Detention since his return to the facility. That’s hardly ideal, and we request he be returned to Hope Eternal Ranch to finish out his sentence.”
“Ah, the sentence,” the judge said, and Ginger’s stomach clenched. She’d emailed Greg several times, asking what could happen to Nate, and the bottom line was, he’d probably have to complete his whole sentence now. “Let’s talk about that.”
The judge started talking, and honestly, Ginger got lost in all the legal talk about sentences served and punishments given and accolades for good behavior and how that affected the sentence.
In the end, he said, “I’m ready to make my ruling.”
Nate stood up, as did his lawyer. Everyone in the courtroom seemed to be holding their breath, Ginger included.
“Mister Mulbury, I don’t see you as a flight risk, nor do I believe you were fleeing when you took Miss Talbot’s truck. I think if Miss Talbot will have you back, you should go.” He looked down at his paperwork. “Let’s see, you were doing a reentry program of six months there. You were there for nearly four…back for one….”
He sighed like this whole proceeding was just too taxing. “I can’t just look the other way when you’ve broken the number one rule of the reentry program. So, Mister Mulbury, do you think you can handle six more months at Hope Eternal Ranch?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” he said. “I can handle that.”
“Miss Talbot?” the judge asked. “Can you handle having this man at your ranch?”
“I think so,” she said, excitement parading through her. She tamped it down, because she didn’t think it would be appropriate to squeal in court. It definitely wouldn’t do to kiss him either.
So Ginger stood very still while Nate and his lawyer exited the courtroom, and then she went with the Warden.
“Thank you for coming,” Warden Dickerson said as they left the courtroom. “I think you made all the difference.”
“I doubt it,” Ginger said, looking over her shoulder. “So now what?”
“Now we process him, and then he’ll be ready to go back to the ranch.”
“How long does that take? The processing.”
“A couple of days.”
Ginger thought of Connor and Spencer, waiting for her at the hotel where they’d all stayed last night. They could stay for a couple of days. She could probably use the time to get the words of her apology in order anyway.
“Watch, Ginger,” Connor said, and Ginger was beginning to think the child didn’t know any other words. She looked up from her phone and employed her patience. He watched her for an extra moment to make sure she was watching him, and then he jumped into the pool.
Again.
She’d taken him to the beach again yesterday, but today, he said he was fine with just going to the pool. Ginger had brought her tablet and her wireless keyboard so she could at least go through the end-of-month statements for the ranch. She also had to submit all the items for the payroll by the fifth, and that was tomorrow.
She grinned at the little boy when he came bobbing up out of the pool. “Nice one, bud,” she called to him, wishing Spencer hadn’t met a woman at the beach yesterday and asked her to breakfast. It wasn’t like their relationship would last through the weekend, since he lived and worked hours from River Bay.
But neither he nor Cassandra seemed to care about that. He’d promised he’d be back by lunchtime, but Ginger had her doubts.
A sigh slipped through her lips as she tried to focus back on her screen. Her attention had been wandering after only a few seconds for days now, and she still hadn’t heard anything from the River Bay facility, Nate’s lawyer, or Nate himself.
She told herself it had only been a day and a half, and she could stay in the hotel as long as necessary. The ranch waited only a few hours southwest of here, and Ginger could easily take everyone home too. But she wanted to be here—and Connor had to be with her—the moment she got the call.
In her experience, the BOP didn’t usually call until things were already in motion, and that didn’t allow for a three-hour drive. She didn’t want Nate to have to wait one more moment to be reunited with Connor, and selfishly, she wanted to see him as soon as possible too.
She glanced at her phone, but it didn’t ring or flash. No messages. No calls. Nothing.
“Watch, Ginger,” Connor called, and Ginger looked toward the little boy. He sat on the side of the pool now and started kicking his legs and churning up the water when he was sure she was looking at him.
“Wow,” she said, infusing a lot of false enthusiasm into her voice. “Go faster, Connor.”