Bittersweet Promises

by Patricia Watters

  Zak's lips spread with a slow smile. "Then our problems will be over. Come on. They're grown men."

  "I really don't think we should leave."

  "Father?" Zak said, drawing Alesander's head around. "Why don't you sit down and finish the game for Tess. She and I are taking a little walk."

  Alesander looked from Zak to the chess board then his gaze rested on Gib.

  Gib glanced up and said, "You play?"

  "Some," Alesander replied, lowering himself to sit opposite Gib.

  Zak nudged Tess onto the porch and pulled the door closed behind, and said, "They'll be okay for the duration of the game."

  Tess glanced back at the door. "I hope you're right."

  Zak took Tess's hand and they scurried across the road and into the woods. Under a canopy of trees, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and she combed her fingers in his hair and kissed him back. When their lips drew apart, Zak said, "I have a small gift for you, but you have to promise me something." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small ring box.

  Tess's eyes glistened with excitement as they fixed on the box and she imagined the engagement ring Zak would have bought for her. She had no idea what it would be like—they'd never discussed rings—but whatever he'd chosen would be exactly what she wanted. "What do you want me to promise?" she asked.

  "That you'll never bury this again." He opened the box.

  "Zak!" Tess yelped, on seeing a small gold band with delicate gold beading along its edges. "How did you ever find it?"

  "I had to perform surgery on our tree, but the ring was still in the bottle where you'd left it."

  Tess removed the ring from the box and tipped it until she could see the engraving inside. "Eskauldun fededun. The Basque is faithful."

  Zak took the ring and slipped it on her finger. "Honey, will you marry me again? This time for real?"

  "Yes!" Tess threw her arms around his neck. After she kissed him soundly, she said, "When did you go back for it?"

  "A couple of days ago."

  Tess gazed in wonder at the ring she never thought she'd see again. "I wish I could show it to Rita," she mused. "We talked about you that night. She thought it would be best for me to find someone else. She said she knew some really nice fellas."

  Zak gave her a knavish grin. "Well, if you want to reconsider."

  "It's tempting, but since there's no man alive who could satisfy me the way you do, I wouldn't be interested. Besides, I'm really not into substance anymore and what you have is very, very sexy." She stretched out her hand and looked at the ring. It seemed natural to have it on her finger again. "So, you name the date."

  Zak kissed her on the forehead. "Very—" he moved to the tip of her nose and pecked it lightly "—very soon—" he moved to kiss her on the lips. "Now, I have something else to show you." He took her hand and started up the road.

  "Where are we going?"

  "To the grotto."

  Tess tugged him to a halt. "You're not serious. Our fathers could finish the game early and come looking for us and it would be very embarrassing."

  Zak laughed. "That's not what I had in mind." He led her into the woods and they followed the trail to where it crossed the logging road to the ridge, then scurried down the embankment and over to where their Adam and Eve tree stood. There, Tess released Zak's hand and walked over to the tree. The hole where she'd placed the bottle so many years ago gaped wide open, but with tool marks scarring the edges.

  Zak moved to stand beside her, and said, "I didn't want to do that to our tree, but when I pulled the bottle out I scratched my hand on something sharp, like wire, so I dug further. We can fill the hole with concrete later and I'll write our initials in it when it's wet, and our love will be referenced for all eternity."

  "That's fine, but you said you scratched your hand on something sharp. Did you figure out what it was?"

  "Yes." Zak pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and clicked it on. "Take a look." He handed the flashlight to her and she aimed it into the opening and peered inside.

  "What am I supposed to see?"

  Zak moved her hand with the light until the beam caught several pieces of rusty wire that groped out from the core of the tree. "That's old barbed wire," he said. "There are several strands embedded in the tree, and each one has a different kind of barb. They were sections of wire where old fences had been nailed to the tree at different times. Do you realize what this means?"

  Tess studied the wires. "Not really."

  "They show that fences have run through this area for well over a hundred years." Zak took the light from her and directed the beam to one of the wires. "The flat, twisted barb on the wire closest to the core dates back to the early 1900s. The next one over, with the S-shaped barb, goes back to 1915, and the one close to the outside, with the double-wire barb, is fairly modern."

  Tess stared at the three sets of barbed wire. "So the tree's grown around them."

  Zak nodded. "I checked the county records and found an old survey map and property description with reference to the oak as an original survey marker tree. When my father had the place surveyed recently, there was no way to tell where the old fence line ran, but it looks like the surveyor was off by about forty feet."

  Tess stared at him as realization dawned. "Then my dad was right all along?"

  Zak nodded. "I explained it to my father and showed him the tree and the old property descriptions, and he agreed I was right."

  "Then he's dropping the suit?"

  Zak shrugged. "He can't sue a man for cutting trees on his own land. I'm afraid my father and I misjudged your father. I'm just glad they're running out of things to fight about."

  Tess drew in a weary breath. "I'm sure they'll find something. When does your dad plan to tell my dad about this?"

  "About the same time he makes an offer on your place. He's wanting to plant more vineyards and he intends to present a written offer today. That's why he's here."

  Tess pursed her lips. "That's all well and good, but I can't imagine those two agreeing on anything long enough to make a deal. Meanwhile, we'd better get back there before the game's over and all hell breaks loose." She was feeling increasingly apprehensive about having left the two old men together.

  Zak sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

  They headed back, but as the they approached the cabin, loud voices could be heard coming from inside. Tess's heart hammered. "I knew we shouldn't have left them alone."

  "They were only playing a game of chess," Zak said, while lengthening his strides.

  They bounded onto the porch. When Zak hurled the door open, and Tess crashed to a halt behind him, Gib said, "What the hell's going on?"

  Zak's gaze zigzagged between the men. "We heard yelling and thought—"

  "Hardly a reason to knock down a door," Alesander said to Zak.

  "Then what was all the yelling about just before we came in?"

  Alesander squared his shoulders and glanced at Gib. "We were discussing a business deal."

  "Business deal?" Tess looked from one aged face to the other and realized neither man looked particularly angry. "Is this about the sale price of Timber West?"

  Gib nodded and looked at Alesander. "But I don't intend to get robbed blind."

  "Robbed blind!" Alesander growled. "You got this place for a song, and that dead horse you call a bulldozer isn't worth the cost of hauling it away."

  "Dead horse is it?!" Gib bellowed. "Then why are you so anxious to buy it?"

  "Hold it there." Zak stepped between the men and held up his hand. "Tess and I have an announcement to make then you two can continue your discussion." He wrapped his arm around Tess and pulled her against him. "Like it or not, we're getting married." When neither Gib nor Alesander spoke, Zak continued. "The two of you have been feuding for years. You've both meddled in our lives, trying to keep us apart, but not anymore. We love each other and we won't let either of you come between us ever again."

  "And furthermor
e," Tess added, "someday you'll be grandfathers to the rest Peio's siblings and they will be your heirs so think about that during your business discussion."

  For a moment Alesander said nothing, just stood, looking at Zak and Tess. Then he turned to Gib, and said, "I guess we should recognize when we're defeated." A smile cracked his face and he extended his hand.

  Gib stared at Alesander's hand, and for an instant, Tess thought her father wasn't going to take it. Then Gib returned the smile and clasped Alesander's outstretched hand, and said, "That boy of yours is damned persistent, but he got himself a helluva woman." He winked at Tess. "I just hope he can handle her."

  Zak gave Tess a squeeze and looked at Gib. "I'll do my best."

  "Good." Gib turned to Alesander. "Now about this land—"

  "Your asking price is completely unreasonable," Alesander cut in.

  "Unreasonable!" Gib's eyes flared. "There's over two million board feet of marketable timber left on this land, we're talking seventy to eighty-year-old second-growth timber."

  "Only if there weren't eagle nests around!"

  "Wait!" Zak broke in. He looked from his father to Gib. "Why don't you two settle the whole thing here." All eyes followed the direction of Zak's finger to the chess board. "First winner of two games in a row gets his price."

  Alesander's lips tipped in a confident smile. "I'm willing," he said, without question.

  Gib shrugged. "I'm game to go?"

  Tess looked at her father, then at Alesander. "Incidentally," she said, "who won the last game?"

  Alesander motioned with his head toward Gib. "He did. But not easily."

  "Not easily! You left yourself wide open. All I had to do was move in."

  "It wasn't my game to start with!"

  "Stop!" Tess cried. "Just sit down and get this over with."

  Gib and Alesander moved around the table and sat opposite each other. Tess saw the eagerness on both faces as they arranged the pieces.

  "Now, if you two won't kill each other," Tess said, "Zak and I have some unfinished business." She looked at Zak and nodded toward the door.

  Zak took her hand and they left the cabin. After they stepped onto the porch and closed the door, he gave her a quizzical look. "You never mentioned exactly what your father's chess rating was. You do remember it, don't you?"

  "Of course."

  "Well?"

  Tess smiled. "Nineteen hundred." She gave him a wry grin. "At least it was that the last time he was rated."

  Zak let out a sharp whistle. "It's gonna be close."

  As they stepped from the porch, the sound of loud voices caught them up short. They paused at the bottom of the steps to listen.

  "Partnership? What the hell are you talking about, Gib?"

  "Just what I said. You buy half interest in Timber West, I log the place and grub up the stumps, you see to planting vineyards, and once the grapes are in we can lease the place and sit back and play chess."

  "Sounds like a helluva good idea, Gib, but why lease when grapes bring in good money and wine even more. We'll start a new winery."

  Gib eyed him with suspicion. "Would it be called O'Reilly or De Neuville Winery?"

  "Neither. We'll call it Eagle's Perch."

  "Make it Logger Lady and you've got a deal."

  Zak's father laughed. "You drive a damn hard bargain but Logger Lady it is."

  Gib smiled. "Okay, Al, write down your price to buy in, I'll write down mine, and we'll settle it in three games.

  "You're on."

  Zak shook his head. "Like I said before, the only time I ever heard my father use profanity was when it involved your dad, but this time it's music to my ears." He draped his arm around Tess's shoulders and drew her to him. "Mrs. Zakhra Bertsolari de Neuville," he mused. "I like the sound of that."

  Tess gave him a wry smile. "Mister, you're either puttin' me on or that's a very weird name, but I love it."

  ###

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  MY STORY

  I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, but gave up city life the first chance I got. I now write from a log cabin nestled in the evergreen forests of Oregon's Coast Range. Being published in both historical and contemporary romance with Harlequin and Avon-Harper Collins in the past, I vacillate between wanting to write both, but love whatever I'm writing at the time, which for now is contemporary cowboy romances that feature courageous, self-assured heroes with endearing flaws and the gutsy women who capture their hearts, women, these unsuspecting cowboys would lay down their lives for. Although writing's my number one love, over the course of my lifetime I've raised a wolf dog, laying hens, milk goats, and Tennessee Walking horses, built, plumbed and wired three houses, been a professional photographer, and written photo essays for national and international magazines. I've published 24 romances which include my 13-book DANCING MOON RANCH series, a contemporary western that spans 30 years and two generations. I invite you to visit my website and view the video trailer for the series. I love hearing from readers and learning about their lives, and I answer all notes. In fact, I've even met fans traveling the country who find time to stop in at my place or visit with me at a near location. And please, if you post a nice review, let me know so I can thank you personally:

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