Before he could answer Ricky, he saw Nicole and Shane arrive. Even though it killed him to have her witness his humiliation, at least now she’d understand why having a future together would be impossible. Whenever things went missing anywhere near Fernando, he’d always be blamed.
Fernando squared his shoulders and looked at Ricky. “I didn’t take your knife. I have no idea how it got in my cabin. But I didn’t put it there.”
Ricky looked him up and down, then over at Jesse. “How’d you find it in Fernando’s cabin?”
“I was looking for Fernando, and the door was open. I saw the knife on the counter, so I came to talk to you, since I knew it was missing and you were asking folks if they’d seen it.”
Jesse turned to Fernando. “I’m not necessarily accusing you of stealing. Just wondering how it came to be there.”
Oh, he was accusing. Fernando knew the look. Even though he and Jesse got along fine, as far as Fernando knew, he also knew that sometimes the people he thought he could trust were the ones who stabbed him in the back first chance they got.
“Of course Fernando wouldn’t steal it,” Nicole said. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for how the knife got in his cabin.”
Fernando turned to look at her. Why did she have to involve herself? He hadn’t asked for her help, and the last thing he wanted was for her to alienate her friends by sticking up for him.
“What is it?” Ricky asked.
Steve joined them, looking gleeful that there was trouble and Fernando was in the middle of it.
“I have no idea how your knife got into my cabin,” Fernando repeated. “I’m sorry. I have no explanation.”
“Wasn’t he admiring your knife the other day?” Steve asked.
How did Steve know that? Fernando examined the other man’s face. Yes, Fernando had admired the knife. He and Ricky had shared a great conversation over it. But that didn’t mean Fernando would steal it.
Ricky looked thoughtful, then pulled the knife out of his pocket. “He was.”
Turning the knife over in his hands, Ricky seemed to be thinking back to that evening. Was he trying to remember if there’d been a greedy look in Fernando’s eyes?
“If I was going to steal something,” Fernando said, “why would I steal something so obvious? That knife has been in your family for generations, and I’m sure everyone knows it’s yours. If anyone found me with it, people would know I’d stolen it. Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
“Of course you’re not,” Nicole said. “Plus, you’d never steal.”
He brought his attention back to her. “I can tell you’re trying to help, but please don’t. I know how this is going to go. We’ll talk about it for a while, but because the knife was found in my cabin and no one can explain how it got there, I’ll be asked to leave.”
Fernando exhaled sharply. “This is why I didn’t want to do this. I’m just glad it happened before I got too attached, because it’s how things inevitably work out.”
Then he turned to Ricky. “I didn’t steal your knife. I know how much it means to you, and our conversation meant a lot to me. I’d never do something like that to someone who’s done so much for me.”
Fernando took a deep breath. “I’ll go pack my things.”
As he turned to leave, Nicole stepped in front of him. “No, you won’t. Number one, you didn’t take the knife. Number two, no one can prove that you did. And if they want to try, then they need to get the sheriff in here to treat it like a real crime.”
He closed his eyes and said a brief prayer. He loved that she believed in him, but she didn’t understand the difficulty in getting a fair hearing with his record.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” he said. “But you need to understand that even if I fight this time, there’s going to be a next time. And a next time.”
She squared up against him, her small frame a contrast to his own. Her expression was that of a fierce warrior, and oh, how he wished he had that same fight in him.
“Or maybe if you stood up for yourself, people would know they can’t railroad you. Maybe your real crime is that you’re not willing to stand up for yourself.”
The fury in her eyes wasn’t about him being falsely accused, he could see that. And suddenly, he had to wonder if maybe she was right.
Did he want to leave the Double R?
No.
Did he want a life without Nicole?
Absolutely not.
And as he thought about his conversation with Ricky and all the old man’s regrets, he realized that in some ways, the two men were the same. Ricky hadn’t fought for the ones he loved or been willing to risk making another mistake.
How was Fernando any different?
Fernando turned to Ricky. “Nicole is right. I’m not going to give up without a fight this time. I’m not sure how the knife got on my counter. My cabin, like many of the other cabins on the property, was unlocked. Who’s to say that Jesse or someone else didn’t put it there?”
Then he remembered what Steve had said about him admiring it. “And how does Steve know that I admired it? I was in the barn, doing his chores, because he hadn’t shown up to do them himself. Was he listening in on our conversation rather than doing his work?”
As he spoke, he could see the wheels turning in Ricky’s head. Ricky nodded. “You do have a point. It is an interesting coincidence that my knife went missing right after we talked about it in what should have been a private conversation, and it was found in your cabin.”
Then Ricky turned toward Steve. “And I am interested to hear why you hadn’t fed the horses on time even though you were on the schedule to do so. It does seem mighty suspicious, especially since you’ve consistently been complaining about Fernando and saying you don’t think he’s right for the job.”
Ricky pulled the knife out of his pocket again. “If we fingerprinted my knife, I know we’d find Fernando’s prints on it, because I let him use it. But would we find yours, Steve? You’ve never had my permission to use my knife.”
Steve didn’t respond.
Then Erin stepped forward. “With the trail cams you’ve installed on the property, while there isn’t one we’ve had specifically trained on Fernando’s cabin, I think there’s one with enough of a view that we could easily see if Steve entered the cabin at any point.”
Fernando hadn’t seen Erin join them, but as he looked around, he realized that quite a crowd had gathered. People always wanted to witness the drama. But for the first time, Fernando wasn’t as fearful of everyone running him off the way he’d always figured they would.
No one had ever been on his side like this before.
Erin turned to Fernando. “Has Steve ever had permission to be in your cabin?”
“No,” Fernando said. “I’ve never given him permission to be in my cabin, and he’s never come by, to my knowledge.”
Ricky looked at Steve. “Is there anything you want to tell us? If not, we’ll go watch the trail cam footage to see who’s been in and out of Fernando’s cabin. If there’s any reason to believe someone was there without his permission, we’ll be looking into whether that person could have had anything to do with my knife being in Fernando’s cabin.”
Even though Fernando knew Ricky to be a fair man, and even though Ricky had already given some indication of not believing Fernando had taken his knife, it finally hit him. Ricky didn’t think Fernando had done it. And even before the crowd had gathered, Ricky hadn’t accused Fernando of taking the knife. He’d simply asked what Fernando knew about it, and if Fernando knew how it had gotten into his cabin.
Maybe Ricky had never believed Fernando had taken it at all.
“I could have done like Jesse did, just gone in to see if Fernando was there. Maybe I had something to talk to Fernando about,” Steve said.
“Like what?�
� Fernando asked.
Suddenly, all these years of taking the fall for things he hadn’t done weighed upon him. He’d thought it was easier not fighting back because he’d never thought anyone would believe him. Especially since it hadn’t mattered with his court case, even though the DA knew he was innocent. People had their own agendas and wanted to use Fernando to accomplish their ends.
But what about Fernando’s ends?
His dreams? His goals? The woman he loved standing beside him, who’d practically begged him to fight for her?
He’d been willing to walk away from it all.
Not anymore.
Steve still hadn’t answered, but Fernando didn’t need him to.
“I get it,” Fernando said. “You wanted my job. I’m sure it must be disappointing to want something and not get it, but setting someone else up for a fall isn’t the way to do it. I’d have worked with you, helped you. And, just as Ricky had suggested, I would have taught you how to train horses so that you’d be able to move up, maybe into a position like mine someday.”
Steve only looked angrier at Fernando’s words. But that wasn’t Fernando’s problem. He’d done everything he could to do the right thing, and he wasn’t responsible for how Steve responded. What was Fernando’s responsibility was doing the right thing for himself, and for the people he loved.
Fernando looked at the gathered crowd. He figured word about his past had already gotten out, but it was time for him to own it and let the chips fall where they may. The people he cared about already knew and accepted him for it, so maybe it was time to stop fearing the rest of the community finding out as well.
“I can see why someone would want to make it look like I’d stolen Ricky’s knife. In case any of you didn’t know, I spent some time in prison. I was convicted of being an accomplice to a robbery in which a woman was killed. I had nothing to do with the crime, but I was too scared to speak up and tell the truth about what I knew. For that, I am guilty. And even though I lost a lot of my life because of that mistake, I don’t regret my time in prison. There, I learned to work with mustangs, and I learned to bond with the horse. I gained confidence in everything but myself.”
As he spoke, he could feel a weight lifting off him. “However, I’m done paying for my crime of silence. I keep committing that crime, fearing how people will treat me because of my record. But according to the law, I’ve paid my debt to society. And according to God, I’ve been forgiven. I just haven’t been willing to accept it. Maybe that means some of you folks don’t trust me. But I hope, in time, just like these good people have, you’ll learn the kind of man I am.”
Fernando looked over at Nicole, who had tears in her eyes. He held his hand out to her. “And I hope you can forgive me for pushing you away. I thought I was acting out of love for you, but really, it was out of fear for myself. I can’t promise an easy life, but I can promise that whatever life throws at us, we’ll handle it together.”
Nicole came forward and wrapped her arms around him. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you.”
As he held her tight, he never wanted to let go. He kissed her gently as he whispered, “I love you.”
She gave him a soft kiss back, then said, “I love you, too.”
Her words brought tears to his eyes, and as she kissed him again, he couldn’t imagine why he’d been so crazy as to fight this for so long. Applause rang out among the crowd, and he broke off the kiss, keeping Nicole close to him.
“We’ll save the rest of this discussion for later, when we can be private,” Fernando told her softly.
“Oh no, you won’t,” Shane said, stepping forward. “If you’re going to kiss Nicole like that, you’d better be putting a ring on her finger first.”
Fernando kissed the top of Nicole’s head. “In time.”
He’d have loved to have done so right then, but it wasn’t like he was rolling in cash. He’d barely gotten a decent job, and even though it came with a nice enough cabin, there was no way he’d be able to buy her a ring anytime soon.
But as he looked at Nicole, who’d had a huge diamond when she’d been engaged to Brandon, he knew that wasn’t what she wanted. He remembered Adriana rolling her eyes because Nicole hadn’t been comfortable with such a big ring and Adriana would have killed for one.
Fernando took a deep breath as he gazed on the woman he loved. “The truth is, I can’t afford a ring. But I know that isn’t the kind of thing that matters to you, so rather than holding off on the proposal until I can afford one, if you’ll agree to marry me, I promise we’ll find a way to work it out.”
“I just want you,” Nicole said, pulling him in for another kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry you. And I don’t want any of those things I thought I had to have in the past. No big fancy wedding, no stress, just you, me, the people we love, and if the ring has to come from a gumball machine, it’s good enough for me.”
As he kissed her, he thanked God for the beautiful woman in his arms. Yes, she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen, but mostly that was because she had the biggest heart of anyone he’d ever known.
When she finally let go of him, she stared up at him and smiled. “But if you gave me a horse instead of a ring, that would make both me and Snookie happy.”
Then she looked over at Shane and Leah, who were holding hands with eyes full of love, and grinned. “Shane did give Leah a whole herd of cows for their engagement. I don’t need an entire herd, but I do think we need at least one more horse so we can go riding together.”
Fernando hugged her close. “I think I can manage that.”
Then Ricky stepped forward. “As for the ring,” he said, “you come on up to the house. I don’t have anyone to pass stuff on to, so you come and pick something out from Rosie’s jewelry box. I’ve hung on to it all, and it’s not doing anyone any good. I think she’d be happy to know that her things are being put to good use.”
There was a slight catch in his voice as he looked at Fernando. “I always wished I could have talked with Cinco the way we did that night in the barn. I wasn’t sure if you’d take my advice or not, but you’ll never know what it means to me that you did.”
Then Ricky hesitated. “Just so you know, I never thought you took my knife. I figured there was a reasonable explanation for it, and I wanted to hear you out. I’m sorry if you thought I was accusing you.”
Fernando moved out of his embrace with Nicole and held out his hand to Ricky. “I realize that now. Thanks for pushing me to face my fears rather than run from them. Maybe, since I’ve taken your advice, you might think about taking mine.”
“Maybe I will,” Ricky said slowly, taking Fernando’s hand, then pulling him into a bear hug. “Thank you.”
After their hug, Ricky looked over at Nicole. “And I meant what I said about that ring. Fernando did a service for me that I can never repay, and while it’s none of anyone else’s business, I will say that I will never forget the kind of man he is.”
Then Ricky turned his attention to the crowd. “So if any of you have a problem with a good man who spent some time in prison, learning to be a better man and an even better horse trainer, you’d just as well get off my property and never come back.”
He glanced over at Steve. “Including you. I’ll leave it up to Fernando whether you stay or go, but this is your only warning that I won’t tolerate any more shenanigans. You should fess up and apologize if you did it, knowing I’ll be looking at camera feed to verify. And if you didn’t do it, I apologize, but whoever did better come forward.”
Steve shook his head, then he turned and started walking off. Obviously, whatever problem Steve had was Steve’s problem. And while Fernando felt bad for the guy, it wasn’t his responsibility. Everyone else remained standing where they were, and where Fernando had once feared judgment, he now only felt acceptance.
Ricky waved his hand. “Now skedaddle! There’s food
to be eaten, and we’re going to have some music a little later. Let’s give these lovebirds a little privacy.”
Then Ricky grabbed Shane’s arm, steering him toward the food table. “And you let them be. There’s nothing wrong with a little smooching. Especially when there’s some apologizing to do and a life to plan.”
Fernando looked down at Nicole. “I guess I have more than just a little apologizing to do. Can you forgive me for being such a fool?”
She pulled him closer to her. “As long as you don’t make me wait too long to marry you. We’ve wasted enough time with all this nonsense.”
“Absolutely,” Fernando said, kissing her again. “It’s time to move forward with our lives, wherever that takes us.”
With Nicole in his arms, Fernando had no doubt that whatever happened, he could handle it with such a strong woman by his side.
Epilogue
Nicole looked out the window to see Fernando pulling in with a horse trailer behind him.
“What are you doing?” she asked when she ran out of the house to greet him. “You were supposed to be picking up your suit for the wedding tomorrow, not messing around. I thought Ricky was giving you the day off.”
He grinned at her. “He did. I had some errands to run besides getting my suit. Come see.”
Fernando led her around the back of the horse trailer. “I’ve been talking to Walt, my old mentor from prison, and he’s been keeping an eye out for me for any good mustangs coming in. And I think we finally found the perfect companion for Snookie. Meet Elmer.”
The bay gelding looked almost like he could have been Snookie’s brother. Fernando opened the trailer and led him out. As Nicole petted him, she could sense there was something special about him. And, as Snookie came to the fence and whinnied, Nicole could tell that Snookie agreed.
Since the incident that had landed Nicole in the hospital, Snookie hadn’t bitten anyone. In fact, most people wouldn’t have known that Snookie had been such a problem horse. They’d even let the boys ride on her a time or two.
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