Rancher's Double Dilemma

by Pamela Browning

  Still, Cody, when Garth phoned him, was undeniably enthusiastic about the changes Lacey had wrought in the house, which put Garth’s mind at ease some.

  “I’ve got clean clothes all the time now,” Cody told him happily. “She’s a work horse, this nanny.”

  Garth was inclined to agree. Maybe the reason he was so eager to get home after the governor’s conference was that things were running smoothly at his house for the first time in nearly a year. Maybe it wasn’t that he was worried about some nebulous indefinable something after all.

  When the conference ended, he hitched a ride home with a fellow rancher on his private plane and alerted Lacey on his cell phone to come pick him up at his friend’s airstrip.

  “Bring Ashley to the strip to meet me,” he said. “Your little girl, too, of course.”

  A silence ensued, and it was a mite too long. “I can’t,” Lacey said finally, sounding guarded.

  “Why not?”

  Another silence, this one not as long. “Well, Michele is acting fretful.”

  This was annoying. He’d never thought about what Lacey would do if her own child needed attention. He hadn’t considered that her child would come first.

  “Send Cody for me,” he said abruptly. “Have him bring Ashley. I’ve missed her.”

  “Well, all right. I’ll tell Cody.” Lacey sounded worried, and he hoped that there was nothing really amiss.

  When Cody arrived at the airstrip, Garth was overjoyed to see his daughter. He swung Ashley out of her baby seat and walked her over so she could see the plane he’d flown on. She cooed and gurgled, and he wished she would talk. “Can’t you say Daddy?” he asked, but his daughter only replied with a stream of babble.

  “What’s going on with Lacey?” Garth asked Cody on the way home.

  Cody was driving. “Lacey? She’s fine, Garth,” he said, turning onto the highway and looking puzzled.

  “Is there some problem with her daughter?”

  “Not that I know of. Lacey’s baby seems like a quiet kid. Never a peep out of her when I’m in the house, but I haven’t been around much since you’ve been gone. I’ve been sleeping over at Kim’s.”

  “Everything all right with her?” Kim had been complaining bitterly about Cody and his long working hours lately. Garth had his doubts about the stability of that relationship; Kim and Cody had been engaged for six months with no wedding date in sight.

  “Kim and I are having our problems,” Cody admitted, and then, as if Kim wasn’t a subject he wanted to discuss, he started talking about how much he liked Lacey. “She’s a hard worker, and she’s smart. She’s got a good head on her shoulders,” he said.

  It wasn’t Lacey’s head but other more interesting parts of her anatomy that Garth had been thinking about for the past week. “I take it you and Lacey are hitting it off?” It hadn’t escaped his attention that Cody’s beard stubble had disappeared.

  “Lacey’s a sight better than any of the other housekeepers or nannies we’ve had. She stays mighty busy with the babies. She cleans a lot. Why, you won’t recognize the pantry. She reorganized it top to bottom.”

  Garth was accustomed to rooting around in the depths of the pantry and proud of being able to put his hands on whatever he needed despite its chaotic state. But he was looking forward to setting eyes on Lacey, though he wouldn’t have said so.

  Right about then, Ashley started fussing, and she refused to be bribed with a cookie or juice.

  “She been like this long?” Garth asked Cody. Maybe Ashley was cutting a new tooth, he thought. Maybe she didn’t feel well.

  Cody shrugged. “I don’t know. Like I said, I haven’t been around the house much lately.”

  Garth settled back into the seat. Well, he should have known that Cody would make himself scarce around the Colquitt Ranch after they found someone to look after Ashley. And he couldn’t blame him. Life had changed a lot around their house in the past year or so, and Cody had been pretty patient, considering.

  AFTER CODY DROVE OFF to pick up Garth, Lacey raced upstairs to the attic. The room there contained a bed, a dresser and now a portable crib. Both the room and the small adjacent bath were decorated in blue and white, and Lacey had found that the bedroom was a good place to put Michele for naps. The baby monitor, which she wore on her belt, kept her in touch with her child, and today, when she was worried about Michele’s uncharacteristic crankiness, it was a necessity.

  Michele’s forehead felt hot, but the baby seemed willing to sleep, so Lacey went back downstairs and threw together the chicken salad that she’d been planning for lunch.

  After she’d put the chicken salad in the refrigerator, she went around and picked up toys off the floor in the den. She’d let the babies have their run of that one room. It was big, with massive beams in the ceiling and a large-screen TV at one end. Two couches arranged in an el sat in front of it, and their upholstery was green-and-white plaid. The rug was burgundy and green with a border of gray leaves.

  She liked the house’s layout. There was a living room and dining room on the first floor as well as the kitchen, den and Garth’s little office. She found pleasure in keeping the rooms neat and clean. It was gratifying to see the fine wood furniture gleaming after she’d rubbed it with lemon oil and pleasing to find a comfortable dining room chair under a stack of flattened cardboard boxes that nobody could say how they got there.

  “Cody?”

  The decidedly feminine voice interrupted Lacey’s thoughts, and she went to the back door to see who was there. It was a tall redheaded girl in a business suit. Her red convertible was parked in the driveway.

  “Cody’s gone to the airstrip to pick up Garth. I’ll bet you’re Kim.”

  The girl smiled and pushed strands of straight, blunt-cut hair behind her ears. “You’d win that bet. I’m Kim Jenrette. You must be Lacey.”

  Lacey opened the door and extended her hand. “Why don’t you come in and wait for Cody? He’ll be back soon.”

  “Why, I’d like that. I’m on my lunch hour from the bank.”

  Lacey thought Kim looked downright curious about her, and considering that she, Lacey, was occupying the ranch with Kim’s fiancé, she supposed she couldn’t blame her. She thought she might as well put Kim’s mind at ease, so she smiled at her. “You could have lunch with me, if you like. I made chicken salad earlier.”

  Kim smiled back. “Well, I haven’t eaten yet,” she said.

  “Pull up a chair. I could use the female company.”

  Kim removed her suit jacket and draped it over the back of her chair before she sat down. Lacey spooned chicken salad onto some elegant cut-glass plates that she’d found in the cupboard and poured them each a glass of iced tea.

  “You’re a lot prettier than the last couple of nannies Garth hired,” Kim said frankly. She took a bite of chicken salad, and Lacey did the same.

  “Have there been all that many?”

  “Oh, yes. They got turned off by the amount of work to be done around here, if you ask me.”

  Lacey knew what she meant. It had taken her days to wash the dirty clothes, and she was still coming across dried crusts of baby food everywhere. “But Garth and Cody both seem pleasant,” she ventured.

  “Cody is, but Garth has been moody and hard to deal with ever since Joan died.”

  “It must have been a terrible shock, losing his wife like that,” Lacey said carefully. Maybe, she thought, Kim would offer some clue about how her baby had ended up with the Colquitts.

  “Oh, it was awful when Joan died. She and Garth were so happy, too. You see, Joan had been told not to try to have any more children. She hadn’t been in good health. And she got sick after Ashley was born. Some say it was because the strain of delivery was too much for her. Anyway, it was a sad thing. I think Garth would have gone crazy if it weren’t for Ashley.”

  “He does seem to love that child.”

  Kim smiled. “He adores her. Now that you’re here, though, he won’t have to spend as m
uch time being a daddy. He’ll finally have enough time to look after running the ranch. That means that Cody can finally make up his mind.”

  Lacey took a sip of tea. Too much sugar; she’d know next time how much to put in the milk-glass pitcher when she made it. “Make up his mind? About what?” She was distracted; she wanted to talk about Garth and Joan and Ashley, not about Cody.

  “Cody needs to think more about leaving the Colquitt Ranch. Ranching is hard work, Lacey. Cody could get a good job in Wichita Falls and not have half the misery he does here. Why, he not only rides herd, but he fixes machinery, takes care of sick cattle, mends fences, and handles whatever Garth can’t do.”

  “He does seem to stay fitfully busy,” Lacey allowed.

  “That’s what it’s like on a ranch. Garth seems to think that because Colquitts have been running cattle on this land since time out of mind, they ought to stick with it. I’m here to say that Cody doesn’t have to.”

  Lacey didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t want to seem disloyal to Garth or Cody.

  Kim leaned forward earnestly. “I have a job offer at a bank in Wichita Falls. If Cody would agree to go, I’d put Mosquito, Texas, behind me so fast it would make everybody’s head spin.”

  “Don’t you like it here?” Lacey was intrigued with the town herself.

  Kim shook her head. “No way. I grew up in Wichita Falls and moved here when my father got a job at the farm machinery store. I’m ready to go back, and I hope Cody will come with me. If he doesn’t…” Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. “I shouldn’t burden you with all this. It should be between Cody and me.”

  “I don’t mind listening.”

  “You’re sweet, Lacey. I don’t have anyone much to talk to, my mother being dead and my girlfriends not too sympathetic. My friends say I think I’m too good for Mosquito. I don’t think that, but I know Cody and I could have a brighter future if we went our own way.”

  “What does Cody say?”

  “He was reluctant to leave Garth too soon after Joan died. Cody didn’t think that would be right, since Garth depends on him so much. But now that Garth is doing okay, and if you’re planning to be here awhile and can take over the house and Ashley, why, I told Cody there’s no reason he can’t leave.” She patted the manila envelope that she’d brought. “These are job application forms. I’m hoping to persuade Cody to fill them out and mail them.”

  “All I can say, Kim, is good luck, and if you ever need someone to listen, I’m the person. It’s lonely out here, if you want to know. Of course, I haven’t been around long enough to make any friends.”

  “Oh, you’ll probably hear from Francelle Spurlin. She told everyone Garth had hired you, the day she first saw you in town. Don’t tell anyone I said so, but she writes the Social Hi-Lites column for the local newspaper, and she uses it as an excuse to be the town busybody.”

  Francelle was the woman she’d seen in the drugstore, the one who had said she was happy that Garth had hired a new nanny. At the time, Garth hadn’t even met her nor she him, but the woman had given Lacey the idea of applying for this job.

  “I hear Cody’s truck! Perfect timing,” Kim said.

  “I’m going to run up and check on my baby,” Lacey said.

  “Oh, Cody said you have a little girl, too. I’d like to meet her.”

  “She’s not feeling up to par today,” Lacey said quickly.

  “Well, I’ll clean off the table while you’re doing that.” Kim started to transfer plates and glasses to the sink.

  On her way upstairs, Lacey heard Garth and Cody coming in and Kim’s retort after Cody said something. When Lacey got to the attic room, Michele was sleeping, her rump up in the air. Her baby still looked a mite flushed, Lacey thought, but she didn’t seem any worse off than she’d been when she had put her down for her nap. She hurried downstairs again.

  When she arrived in the kitchen, Cody and Kim were talking on the back porch and Garth was standing at the kitchen counter, jouncing Ashley in his arms. “She’s been fussing,” he said to Lacey with a scowl.

  Ashley held her arms out to Lacey. At that, Garth scowled even more fiercely. “Here, princess, let’s go get reacquainted,” he said, turning his back on Lacey and heading toward the den, but Ashley began to howl big-time as they moved away from Lacey.

  Lacey knew Garth was intentionally shutting her out, and she didn’t know what to do. All her instincts were to snatch her baby out of Garth’s arms and to comfort her any way she knew how, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do with Garth already glowering at her like he was. She wrapped her arms around herself and followed them helplessly.

  It seemed like, with Garth so focused on Ashley, that some remarks about the baby were called for. “Ashley pulled herself up on the coffee table again this morning,” she offered, trying desperately not to show her own pride in this achievement. “She looks like she might be going to take that first step pretty soon.”

  Garth sat down on the couch. “I want to be here when she does it.”

  Lacey didn’t know what to say to that. Garth kept long hours; it wasn’t all that rare for him to work eighteen hours straight. Chances were that when Ashley did take that first step, Garth would be hassling the man at the feed store or talking to one of the guys at the livestock market or trying to get the vet to come out and deliver some kind of medicine.

  “All right,” Lacey said. “When it looks like she’s going to push off from the coffee table and take a little stroll across the room, I’ll be sure to call you.”

  He shot her a keen, assessing look, and Lacey knew she had gone too far. She hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic. Sarcasm usually wasn’t a component of her character. But it was so hard, with Ashley holding her little arms out to her the way she had in all those dreams. The baby wouldn’t take her eyes off Lacey, but she had stopped crying, and every once in a while she’d whimper. Lacey couldn’t stand not being able to comfort her.

  “Maybe Ashley would like her juice,” she said, fleeing for the kitchen, which started a whole new spate of crying. She gripped the edge of the sink, closing her eyes against the sick feeling she had when her baby cried and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. They had bonded while Garth was gone, she and Ashley. It was only natural. But Garth clearly didn’t like it, and Lacey had no idea what to do to make things better.

  When she opened her eyes, she noted that Cody and Kim were still deep in conversation out in the driveway, Kim gesturing with much animation and Cody staring steadfastly at the ground. Then, suddenly, Cody grabbed Kim and planted a big kiss on her lips, and Kim went sort of limp and clung to him. Watching this little tableau made Lacey feel unaccountably wistful. She wished somebody loved her as passionately as those two seemed to love each other.

  After a moment Lacey made herself take Garth a bottle filled with apple juice and watched while he handed it to Ashley. The baby stopped crying, finally, and settled back in his arms and drank.

  “All right, another crisis passed,” Garth said. Lacey could tell he was trying to be jovial, but somehow the attempt fell flat. Tension hung in the air between them.

  “You want to tell me everything Ashley did while I was gone, or will I have to drag it out of you?” Garth said. His eyes twinkled appealingly, and Lacey knew that he was trying to make up for his gruffness when he’d first come in. The question popped into her head, and it was all she could do not to blurt it out: Did you steal my baby, Garth Colquitt? Still and all, this man did not look or act like a baby stealer.

  She made herself answer his question. “Ashley decided she liked eating squash, and she let Michele play with her tick-tock clock for the first time,” Lacey said, naming Ashley’s current favorite toy.

  “Are they on the same schedule yet?”

  Lacey shook her head. “Not hardly.”

  “But otherwise things are going all right?”

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “Ashley likes you. I hope you’ll decide to stay awhile.” />
  “I reckon I—”

  Her words were interrupted by the back door banging and a curse from Cody. Outside, a car door slammed. Through the window, Lacey saw Kim’s convertible kick up a spurt of dust and race away, which was surprising considering the passion she’d witnessed only a few minutes ago.

  “Cody? Anything wrong?” Garth called.

  “Nothing you can help, but thanks.” Cody came to the doorway and stood there looking peeved.

  “You and Kim have a fight?”

  “I’d say so. It’s the same old thing, Garth. Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard Kim mention the place.”

  “Your future is right here, Cody, like our father’s and our grandfather’s and our great-grandfather’s.” Garth sounded stern.

  “You can’t tell me what to do,” Cody shot back, quick as heat lightning.

  “I’m not,” Garth said forcefully.

  The words were barely out of his mouth when Cody retorted, “You sure are.”

  The two men glared at each other.

  “Look, I’m going to check on the cattle in the far west pasture.” Cody jammed his Resistol down on his head and left.

  “Kim puts too much pressure on that boy, in my opinion,” Garth said.

  “He’s hardly a boy,” Lacey said before she thought.

  Garth seemed to take this under consideration. “That’s exactly the problem,” he observed without further explanation. At that point Ashley stirred in his arms and threw her empty bottle on the floor.

  Lacey moved to get it, and as she did so, Garth bent over. Their heads met, cracked, and Lacey fell back, seeing stars.

  “I’m sorry!” Garth exclaimed, sounding sincerely remorseful.