A Promise to Keep

by ALLISON LEIGH,

  She hurried to the stairs leading down to the main floor and still couldn’t spot him. When she made it outside to the sidewalk surrounding the building and still hadn’t caught him, she leaned back against the stone wall, heaving a sigh of defeat.

  She was still there when the stream of people exiting the courthouse dwindled. Her grandfather was one of the last.

  “Never would have expected it of Lambert,” he said when he stopped next to her. “Man never shared anything he didn’t have to.” His gaze was penetrating. “Your Jed’s going to be a rich fella.”

  “He’s not my Jed and he’s not going to care about the money any more than I do. It’s just giving him a bigger reason to leave.” She could only hope that she was right and the ranch meant more to him. “What were you and the senator looking so thick about?”

  “Lambert wouldn’t deal on that pass I wanted, but state land is a different matter.”

  “Of course.” Squire was always Squire. She pushed away from the wall. “I need to find Gage.” It was an excuse. Her boss was probably already getting in the offer to Pastore. “We’re flying back to Denver later this afternoon.”

  “Hmm.” He tipped up her chin. “Try and see your grandma before you go. You missed the do on Memorial Day and she misses you.”

  April made a face. “She misses you and I wish the two of you would just end this stupid standoff!” Then, because no matter how frustrated she was with him, she loved him beyond measure, she pulled his head down to kiss his leathery cheek. “I’ll be back for July 4 for sure,” she promised thickly. “I expect to see both my grandparents there.”

  She hurried back inside the courthouse.

  There was an elevator, albeit aging and slow, but she took the stairs again to the upper level, where most of the courtrooms were located, and as she’d hoped, she found her boss and Archer in deep conversation with Pastore and his curly-haired associate.

  Aside from them, the courtroom had emptied.

  Gage certainly didn’t need her. She pushed through the doors and felt her knees actually go weak. “Jed.”

  He was standing in the corridor, a paper coffee cup in his hand. If he was surprised to find her still there or if he even cared at all was anyone’s guess. His dark brown eyes were as unfathomable as ever.

  She clutched the leather strap of her skinny briefcase. “You left the courtroom. Did you hear—”

  “I heard.”

  She exhaled, feeling even shakier inside. “Otis was full of surprises, wasn’t he? Turning around and doing what you said he’d never do? Leaving it for public use?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You weren’t entirely right about the rest. He might not have left you the Rad, but he did leave you what it’s worth.” She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Several million at the very least. You’ll be able to go where you want. Do what you want.”

  “Appears so.”

  Her chest was aching and she fell silent. Looked back at the courtroom. “I don’t want to keep you if you were going back in there. Nobody has more of a vested interest in what’s being discussed in there than you. Pastore’s got a copy of the will, too.” She made her legs move, aiming for the staircase again. “You can see what else Otis had to say to you.”

  “Already know what he put in the will. Just came from talking to the judge.” He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his back pocket. “Have my own copy now.”

  “Oh, well right.” Her head bobbed mechanically. “Good.” As anxious as she’d been to find Jed after the hearing was adjourned, she was even more anxious to escape now. She edged farther toward the stairs. “That’s really good. Considering how old the envelope it was in, the will turned out to be pretty recent.” It was an utterly inane observation.

  “You saw for yourself. He kept everything in that cabinet. Apparently, even old envelopes. Why the hell he hid it away like he did is just one more Otis mystery.”

  She managed a genuine smile at that. But holding it for long was too hard. “I’m glad it’s not going to drag on for you. The Rad won’t languish on the market, that’s for sure.”

  “Your boss not interested anymore?”

  She managed to lift her shoulders. “He’s got something up his sleeve. He’s in there now with Pastore, making an offer. You should go talk with him.” She gestured vaguely. “I think Squire’s downstairs waiting for me.” It was an outright lie and the tips of her ears burned even more because of it.

  His voice followed her when she made for the stairs. “Don’t you want to know what else he said?”

  She sent him a look. “It’s none of my business.”

  “It concerns you.”

  She stopped at that. “Since Otis wrote his will months before we even met, I know that’s not true.”

  He closed the distance between them and held out the folded copy. “Take a look for yourself.”

  She obviously wasn’t going to get out of there without a fresh new layer of torture. She took the paper from him, annoyed that she shivered when their fingers brushed, and slowly unfolded it.

  It was brief. Just a few paragraphs, really. In handwriting that was shaky, but not so badly as to be illegible. The judge had gone in order, she realized, as Otis’s first bequest dealt with the state park matter. The second, the sale of the ranch.

  The last paragraph, though, obviously included the additional comments the judge had mentioned.

  Ain’t leaving the ranch to you, Jed, though I thought about it plenty. Don’t want to see you end up like me. Too easy to hide away from things that matter when you’re holed up on the side of a mountain. You were right about the Rambling needing sharing. I’m right about this. Take the money even though I know how you’ll feel about it. You can give it all away like before, but I’m hoping you won’t. The point of you is to go back out there and live a life worth living. Ain’t nothing served by having your only companion be a past that’s dead and buried. I should know.

  Her vision blurred as she read the last line. “Your friend, Otis.” She sniffed and handed the copy back to him. She forced a smile. “Told you that he was your friend.” A movement behind them caught her eyes.

  Gage and the others had come out of the courtroom. Archer and her boss spotted them immediately and headed their way. “A slightly unexpected twist,” he greeted, quickly introducing Jed and Gage.

  She avoided the glance that Gage flicked her way. “You all have things to discuss. I’m going to—” she waved her hand “—find the restroom.” Before any of them could comment, she practically jogged away. Her heels sounded loud on the stairs. She was lucky she didn’t land on her face, considering the way she raced down them.

  The restroom was as much an excuse as finding Squire had been and she went straight out the exit.

  Gage was her ride, but this was Weaver. Everything downtown was in walking distance.

  The sun felt hot and she pulled off her jacket as she headed down the block. It didn’t really matter where she went, as long as it was away from Jed. Eventually, she’d have to see him if Gage secured the ranch. But that would still take time.

  She realized she’d reached Colbys when she walked right past it.

  She backed up and went inside, going straight to one of the stools at the bar. She tossed her briefcase and jacket on the empty stool beside her and rested her forehead on her hand.

  “I can serve you,” Jane said, “but frankly, most of the folks coming in to drink this early in the day don’t tend to look as classy as you. Hearing over?” she asked when April looked up at her.

  She nodded. “Surprised the news hasn’t already made its way in here. And I’ll take whatever cola you have.” She watched the other woman fill a glass with ice. “Nice of you to arrange the SUV for Gage.”

  Jane smiled. “Easy to be nice to Gage now we’re not married.” She set the filled glass on the bar top
. “How’d it go?”

  April told her the gist of the will.

  “And Gage really wants to buy the Rad.” Jane shook her head slightly as if it were hard to believe. Which, of course it was. “Well, knowing him, he’ll make a success out of it like he does everything else.”

  “Probably so.” April was glad when a sizable group of women came in, chattering like magpies and pushing tables together, because it meant a distraction for Jane.

  She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Gage so he’d know where she was and dropped it back into her briefcase. She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.

  “You look like you’ve been pulled through a knothole.”

  April opened her eyes to see Piper standing there wearing summer shorts and a sympathetic look.

  She got up and hugged her friend. “You said you were going to be in California with the youth group from your dad’s church.”

  “They didn’t need me as a chaperone, after all.” Piper squeezed her hard. “Last thing I want to do now that school is out is herd a bunch of thirteen-year-olds seeing the beach for the first time in their lives.” She pulled back to search April’s face. “I heard about the hearing. How’s Jed?”

  April blinked hard and slid back onto the barstool. “Who knows?” Her voice was thick.

  Piper sat beside her and bumped her shoulder companionably. “Everything’s going to work out. Just because Jed is going to get the money instead of the ranch doesn’t mean he’ll just disappear or something.”

  “Turning into an optimist now?”

  Piper smiled. “For the summer.”

  Jane was at the far side of the bar filling drink orders and April lowered her voice. “Gage is making an offer on the Rad.”

  “That guest ranch idea of yours?”

  She nodded and quietly told her the rest and when she was done, Piper sat back.

  “You don’t look as surprised as I thought you would.”

  Piper gave her a look. “That you’ve found something you care about that much? What’s surprising about that? Whether or not you think he’ll never get over his wife, you’re in love with Jed. When it comes to people you love, you’ll do most anything. And I know that trust fund of yours is hefty, but won’t turning the Rad into a guest ranch involve even more money?”

  “Yes.”

  They both startled at the deep voice.

  Piper pressed her lips together and widened her eyes at April. “Gotta go,” she said suddenly, and hopped off the barstool to brush past Jed, hurrying through the breezeway that led from the bar to the family restaurant on the other side.

  Which left April alone.

  With him.

  “You going to look at me or not?”

  She did. Through the safety of the long narrow mirror on the wall opposite them. She felt hot all over, but her face looked pale. And unfortunately, even in the reflection, his gaze trapped hers. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough.”

  Which told her absolutely nothing. She finally managed to look away and lifted her glass, taking a gulp. “Did you talk to Gage?”

  “He presented his idea.”

  Her hands felt shaky and she set the glass back down before she dropped it altogether. “And?”

  “And it bears some thought. What are your plans?”

  Confused and still wary, she frowned. “About what?”

  “Going to go back to Denver? Plan your next development deal with Stanton?”

  “For Stanton,” she corrected, feeling even more wary. “It’s my job. So—”

  “Not planning to be involved in morphing a hundred-year-old cabin into a viable guest ranch if Stanton succeeds in buying the ranch?”

  “Not really my forte.” Her hands were tight as knots but she managed to keep her tone more or less calm. “Unless you’re planning to head off for easier conditions with the money you’ll be getting, you could still be the one running the Rad.” She steeled herself. “Nobody would blame you if you washed your hands of ranching the hard way.”

  “I’m not still in love with my wife.”

  Her eyes snapped back to the mirror. Oh, she definitely had her answer now about how long he’d been standing there.

  The women at the pushed-together tables were laughing riotously about something and his brown eyes shifted away toward them for a moment.

  She swiveled around to face him. Her chest was tight. “I don’t believe you.”

  His lips compressed. Then he gestured at the bar. “That paid for?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but whipped out his wallet and tossed a few dollars on the bar top. “Come with me.” He wrapped his hand around her upper arm, seeming oblivious to the jerk she couldn’t quite hide.

  She barely had the presence of mind to grab her briefcase as he pulled her out of the grill. His grip didn’t ease when he paused briefly at the curb, and then jaywalked across the street.

  She had to skip a few times for the rest of her body to keep up with her arm. They were aiming for the park. “Jed—”

  “Don’t talk right now, April.”

  Despite the turbulence inside her, she huffed. “I beg your pardon?”

  They’d reached grass and he stopped abruptly, finally releasing her. “Have I ever lied to you?”

  Her mouth opened. Closed. She shook her head.

  “Then why think I’m lying about that?”

  Her throat tightened. She held the briefcase in both hands in front of her. It was paltry protection against the pull of him. “You still have your wedding ring,” she finally said.

  His brows yanked together as he squinted at her. “What?”

  She looked over his shoulder toward Rambling Mountain. Toward the Rad and his bunkhouse-for-one and that thick gold band in his bathroom with Forever etched inside. “Your wedding ring,” she repeated thinly. “I know you still have it. I saw it right next to your toothpaste the morning after we...we—”

  He swore under his breath and rubbed his hand down his face. When he looked at her again, his eyes were soft.

  So soft, they made hers burn.

  “Come on.” Instead of shackling her arm, he took her briefcase from her and closed his hand around hers.

  Resisting him took more willpower than she possessed and she walked with him across the grass. Around a young couple and their baby spread on a blanket and past a gaggle of teenagers tossing a Frisbee. He didn’t stop until they reached the empty gazebo. He set her briefcase on the weathered wood and nudged her down to sit, though he didn’t.

  “I need to tell you about Tanya.”

  There was no hope of squelching her tremble. “No, you don’t have—”

  “I do.” He propped his hands on his hips and studied her. “From the first time I saw Tanya, I wanted her. I was like the peasant—”

  “You’re not a peasant.”

  “Trust you to say that. You don’t think anyone is.” His eyebrows were lifted slightly. “Going to let me finish?”

  She clamped her lips together.

  “She was like the princess in the tower. We were the same age, but she was private schools and exotic summer vacations and I was public school and sweating alongside my dad all summer.”

  She sucked in her cheek between her teeth. Great. A fairy-tale love.

  “I was ten when she kissed me. The fact that she’d done it on a dare by her friends only made me more determined to get her.” He spread his hands, then dropped them. “And I did, but not until I’d scraped my way up from peasant to a position with Hampton-Tiggs and was pulling down seven figures. Until then, I was still the kid with dirt under my nails.” His lips twisted. “Just because I loved her didn’t mean I was blind to her. We were twenty-three when we married in the biggest damn wedding—” He broke off, shaking his head. “She liked playing the prince
ss to the hilt and I was ambitious and driven.” His eyes roved over her face. “We were already crumbling when everything hit the fan at Hampton-Tiggs a year later. There were months of investigations. Every time I turned around there was another deposition. Another hearing. I started working with the investigators, putting as much time in with them as I’d ever done with the firm. She wanted me to go to another investment bank. Then when I put all my money into a fund benefitting the victims, she moved out. But she was pregnant, and—”

  She reached out, her fingertips grazing him. “You don’t have to do this.”

  He closed his hand around her fingers and pressed them to his chest. “I may not have loved the princess the way I should have, but I loved the baby.” His eyes flickered. “Babies. You already know she was texting me when she had the accident. What is the point of you? That was the last thing she ever said to me.”

  Her heart felt like it was cracking. The point of you is to go back out there and live a life worth living. Otis had said it in his will. “I’m so sorry. Nobody should say such a thing.”

  He bent his head and kissed her fingers. “Nobody should. It doesn’t change the fact that if I had been at that appointment, she wouldn’t have been driving and texting me about it. She wouldn’t have died. There was no way we would have made it together, married.” The look in his eyes was heartbreaking. “But losing two babies before we even knew there were two.” The scar on his chin looked whiter. “That broke me.”

  Her vision glazed.

  “Three years later, I met Otis. He was in Texas because someone there had died. Maybe a relative of Snead’s. Maybe someone more important to him. I don’t know. He never said. But I do know he kept me alive that night when he didn’t have any reason to do so. Maybe he recognized someone more miserable than he was. When he bailed me out after the bar fight, he said I could come and work at the Rad. And you know the rest.” He tugged her to her feet and touched her chin, nudging it upward. “That wedding ring I keep was not mine. It was my father’s. He said he’d love my mother forever, and he did.”