Jenny looked at her with surprise. "You remember that?"
Kate nodded. "I was making my peace with God when I heard your voice."
"What do you mean?" Jenny said, her face going pale.
"I mean I was ready to die," Kate said honestly. "The pain was unbelievable, and I knew how much blood I was losing. Every time I would come up to consciousness alone in that draw I kept thinking it was the last time. I was ready to quit."
"You don't quit," Jenny said. "Ever."
"I wanted to that night," Kate admitted. "But then I heard your voice asking me not to leave you and I suddenly realized that I wasn't alone anymore. All the months before that when we were all getting to know each other again and settling in on the ranch, I think I half expected it to all fall through. I figured Mandy would miss Houston and you'd miss New York, and, well, I wasn't going to let myself count on you all staying."
"Katie. . ."
"No," she said, squeezing Jenny's hand. "It's okay. Everything happens for a reason. Even me getting hurt. I know I was God awful to be around while I was recovering, but getting shot made me start putting things in perspective. I started getting more peaceful. I started opening up to the idea of trusting again. I started figuring out how to get balanced. I think that's where you are now. Am I right?"
Jenny considered the words. "Yes," she said. "I think you are right. I don't ever want to be small and diminished again, but I don't want to be angry and defensive either. I'm looking for that middle ground. I think I'm looking for the person I haven't had a chance to be yet in my life."
"You need to find her," Kate said, "and get to know her before you're with Josh or anybody else."
"I'm glad you didn't give up that night," Jenny said softly.
"Me, too," Kate said, "because I want to live a long life and be able to say at the end of it that it was all good, just like Mama did. It doesn't have to be easy. I don't expect it to be, I just want it to be good. If I'd stayed by myself much longer, the bitterness I was starting to feel would have kept that from ever happening, the same way anger and fear has been eating you alive."
"I'm not sure I can make Josh understand that."
"He doesn't have to understand it," Kate said firmly. "He has to respect it. If he can't, then you grieve what you've lost and go on with your life."
"I almost wish we didn't have to go back," she said.
Kate chuckled low in her throat. "Well, we don't have to leave for another couple of days," she said, "but we do have to go back. For one thing, we have to pay a call on Dusty's son of a bitch of a brother."
"That I am looking forward to," Jenny said darkly. "I have a few things to say to Mr. Rafe Jackson."
"More like we have a few things to say to Rafe," Kate replied. "We're taking Dusty with us. Rafe isn't gonna want to hear what she has to say, but I'm going to see to it she has the chance to say it all the same."
"I'm glad you asked her to come on as manager of the Rocking L," Jenny said. "I always liked Dusty."
"She's a good person," Kate said, "and now that I know what Rafe was doing to her back then, I realize what all that wild, reckless behavior was about. I'm just sorry I didn't know then."
"Don't you ever wonder what really goes on behind the closed doors of that town?" Jenny asked. "How much pain gets glossed over and hidden in the name of not airing your dirty linen?"
"A hell of a lot, I imagine," Kate said, "which is actually what I'm counting on. I don't think we'll be having any more trouble out of Rafe Jackson when he finds out his sister is ready to tell the world what he did to her."
"Are you sure he won't call her a liar and try to turn the tables on her?" Jenny asked.
A look of grim satisfaction came across Kate's face. "I don't think he'll risk it, especially when I point out to him that Monica Lewinski isn't the only woman who hangs on to old clothes."
Jenny's jaw dropped. "Dusty kept something with his semen on it?"
"No," Kate said, "but he won't have any way of knowing that. I think the threat of a DNA test will be more than enough to get him to back down."
"My God," Jenny said admiringly, "no wonder you're such a good poker player. I swear you'd raise on a pair of deuces."
"It's not the cards in your hand, honey," Kate said. "It's the cards the other guy thinks you have in your hand. Rafe Jackson never saw the day he could out bluff me. He's too wrapped up in this 'leading citizen' image he's crafted."
"Does Dusty know what you're planning to do?"
"Not yet," Kate said, "but it won't be the first time she'd played straight man for me. Trust me. We're fixing to take the wind right out of that bastard's sails."
110
“Is there a single piece of ancient country music that isn’t on this iPod?” Kate asked, squinting at the screen as she thumbed through Jenny’s music collection.
“Oh come on,” Jenny laughed, keeping her eyes on the road. “It’s not that bad.”
“Seriously, Jenny?” Kate said, looking at her sister over the top of her sunglasses. “You have Patsy Montana on this thing.”
“Hey, ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart’ is a classic,” she protested.
“From 1935,” Kate said. “That was eighty years ago.”
“The stuff they sing today isn’t country,” Jenny grumbled. “Put on Bob Wills. You like Western Swing. Find that album he did with Mel Tillis.”
After a couple of minutes of searching through playlists, the strains of “San Antonio Rose” filled the cab. “This is just gonna make me want to dance,” Kate said, “but at least we’re up to 1967.”
“This is one of Bob Wills’ last albums,” Jenny said sadly. “He had a stroke in 1969 that ended his career, and then he died in 1975.”
“How have you survived?” Kate asked with mock sympathy.
“Asleep at the Wheel gave me a reason to live,” Jenny laughed.
Kate twisted in the seat so she could lean against the door and get a better view of Jenny in the driver’s seat. “All those years up in New York, you never quit listening to honky tonk music?” she asked.
“Nope,” Jenny grinned. “When I’d get really homesick I’d put on my jeans and a good white shirt and my best boots and two-step around my apartment.”
“I can’t imagine living anywhere but Texas,” Kate said. “I get antsy any time I’m over the state line.”
Jenny glanced at her watch. “Well, hang on for about another hour and you’ll be back in God’s country.”
They were on the second day of their drive home from Colorado after deciding to leave a day earlier than they originally planned so they wouldn’t arrive back at the Rocking L completely exhausted.
“How are you feeling about seeing Josh now that we’re getting closer to home?” Kate asked.
Jenny sighed and Kate saw her knuckles go white on the steering wheel. “Scared,” she answered. “I know I’m doing the right thing, but I’m dreading talking to him.”
“That’s understandable,” Kate said, “but I think you’re pretty clear headed about it all. Just be honest with him, honey.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if he starts being all sweet and trying to talk me out of it,” Jenny said.
“Do you have any doubts about your decision?”
“No.”
“Then hold your ground,” Kate said. “I don’t think Josh will try to manipulate you when he sees your mind is made up.”
Jenny started to speak and then stopped herself.
“What?” Kate asked.
“I’m also afraid of how I’ll react if he loses his temper,” she confessed.
“What are you afraid you’ll do?”
“Lose mine,” Jenny said. “If I start feeling threatened, I’m not sure I can keep myself from fighting back. I really do not want an unpleasant scene.”
Kate sighed. “Honey, you’re giving the man his engagement ring back. I think by definition that’s kinda unpleasant.”
“Fine, but I just don
’t want us to go from unpleasant to ugly,” she said. Then, changing the topic, she asked, “What time did you tell Dusty to meet us in the morning?”
“Nine o’clock on the courthouse square,” Kate said, smiling grimly. “We have a little bank business to transact.”
“You sure you want to confront Rafe in the bank?”
“You’re damn right I want to confront him in the bank,” she replied. “He won’t do anything to risk tarnishing his sterling reputation right there in his little personal kingdom.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kate said, “but I’m going to enjoy tomorrow more.”
The next morning at 8:30 Dusty Jackson sat in the same spot on the courthouse fence she’d occupied her first day back in town, waiting for two things: the bank to open and Kate and Jenny to arrive.
At a quarter of 9, her brother Rafe drove into the parking spot across the street marked “Reserved for Bank President.” He got out of his black Lexus and caught sight of his sister.
Even at a hundred yards, the air between the siblings was charged. Neither moved for several seconds, and then Rafe straightened his tie, took out his keys, and entered the bank building.
At 8:55, Kate and Jenny parked in front of the courthouse. Dusty pushed off the fence railing and walked to the driver’s side of the SUV as Jenny rolled down the window. “Morning,” she said, taking off her sunglasses and looking at Jenny. “You okay, honey?” she asked.
“I am,” Jenny said, “and I’m fixing to be more okay when we stick it to your brother.”
Dusty grinned and looked across the cab at Kate. “Hey, darling,” she said. “You taking the first shot?”
“Yeah,” Kate said, “but I’ll just wing him. You can go for the kill.”
The sisters got out of the SUV and the trio of women started across Main Street. “I feel like that music from A Fistful of Dollars ought to be playing,” Dusty said.
Kate chuckled, “You have no idea how I wish we could call him out here on this street at high noon.”
“Oh,” Dusty said, “I’ve got a pretty good idea.”
When the three of them stepped into the bank, the head teller looked up to call out a greeting, but her smile wilted around the edges when she recognized Dusty. The woman managed a limp, “Morning, ladies,” which Kate answered with, “Morning, Betty,” as they passed on their way to Rafe’s office.
His secretary made only a half-hearted attempt to guard the door. “Good morning, ladies. Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“We don’t need one,” Kate answered, brushing by her and opening the door to Rafe’s office.
He looked up from his desk, standing when he recognized the intruders. Behind them his secretary said, “Rafe, I’m so sorry . . . ”
“It’s fine,” he said in clipped tones. “Close the door behind you.” When the four of them were alone, he added tightly, “Well, I see you found your crazy sister.” He glanced down at his watch. “With twenty-two hours to spare. I guess I’ll have to cancel my appointment with the judge this afternoon.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Kate said.
Rafe sneered at her. “You’ve made your point with this little display, Kate. You won . . . for now . . . but I’ll be watching. The first time you Lockwoods make a mistake, I’ll see to it you lose your land. Every damned acre of it. I hope protecting this whore is worth it.”
“Sit down, Rafe,” Kate said. “We’re not done putting all the cards on the table.”
“Get out of my office before I have you thrown out,” he snapped.
Dusty stepped up beside Kate and asked, “Who did you start molesting after I put that pistol between your eyes, Rafe?”
A look of suspicious caution came in the banker’s face before his arrogance righted itself. Ignoring Dusty, Rafe spoke to Kate again. “Is this what she’s telling you? And you believe her? She spread her legs for every man in three counties, but I wasn’t one of them. I don’t like used goods.”
“You son of a bitch,” Jenny said.
Kate held up her hand. The air in the office became unnaturally still and when she moved around his desk, Rafe couldn't help himself. He backed up.
When they were standing face to face, Kate said, “You raped a 10-year-old girl and when she got old enough to threaten to expose you, you beat the hell out of her.”
“Prove it,” he hissed.
“Do you remember my pink nightgown, Rafe?” Dusty asked quietly. “The one you liked so much that suddenly just disappeared? I remember how angry you were with me the night I told you it was gone and how you worked that anger out. Do you know what happened to that nightgown?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
By now, Rafe’s back was against the wall of his office. “I still have that nightgown,” Dusty said. “And it’s covered in your DNA.”
“Bullshit,” he laughed harshly, but there was a tremor in the sound. “After all these years that will prove nothing.”
Jenny came around the other side of the desk causing Rafe to pivot nervously. “My goodness, Rafe,” she said pleasantly. “You sure are jumpy today. I take it you don’t know much about DNA, or how much the science has improved. Did you know they’re solving 50-year-old murders these days with DNA? We’re only talking . . . how long, Dusty?”
“Twenty three years.”
“Huh,” Kate said. “Gives you about 50/50 odds, eh, Rafe? Are you a gambling man?”
A glint of fear had come into his eyes, but his voice was still belligerent when he barked, “Without a sample to compare it to, that DNA could have come from anyone she was screwing.”
“Oh,” Dusty said, “but we do have something to compare it to. My DNA. All it will take to ruin your sterling reputation is for us to have that DNA tested and prove that the semen was deposited by someone related to me.”
Rafe’s eyes blazed. “Fine. You do that,” he threatened, “and I’ll say it was Daddy. You want someone’s reputation blackened? Let’s start on Saint Frank himself.”
“Nice try,” Jenny said, “but you and Dusty share your mother’s genetic markers as well as Frank’s. How are you going to explain that away?”
“What the hell do you bitches want?” Rafe asked through clenched teeth.
Kate smiled. “Oh, you’ll know if we ever actually want anything from you, Rafe. But for now, you only need to understand one thing. Come at me, come at my family again, including Dusty, and every bit of this comes out. That’s if I’m in a good mood.”
Beside her Dusty chuckled. “What will you do to him if you’re in a bad mood?”
“I have 10,000 acres and a back hoe that I know how to use,” Kate said. “Think about it. Anything you want to say to this piece of trash before we leave, Dusty?”
Dusty reached out and casually smoothed the lapel of her brother’s suit jacket and straightened his tie. “No,” she said, glancing down and back up, “I don’t bother with little men.”
Once they were outside again, Kate said, “Nice touch with the nightgown.”
As they stepped off the curb and started across the street, Dusty said, “I wasn’t kidding. I still have that nightgown.”
Kate stopped so abruptly a pickup came to a screeching halt a few feet back. A man leaned out the window and hollered, “For God’s sake, Katie! Are you trying to get run over?”
Jenny waved at him and said, “Sorry!” She took hold of Kate’s elbow and said, “Could we get out of the middle of the street to finish this conversation, please?”
No sooner had Kate’s boot hit the sidewalk then she turned on Dusty. “You actually have that gown? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You wouldn’t have run that bluff nearly as well if you knew you really were holding the ace, darling,” Dusty said, her eyes sparkling. “You’re not the only poker player in the family.”
Kate shook her head. “And here I thought you’d calmed down.”
“Not really,” Dusty admitted.
“Why haven’t you ever used that evidence against your brother?” Jenny asked curiously.
“At first because it would have killed Mama and Daddy,” Dusty said, “and then for my own sake. I had to let it go. He wasn’t worth ruining the rest of my life over.”
“Do you think he’ll try something else to get you out of town?” Kate asked.
“I doubt it,” Dusty said. “He’s too well established now to risk it. And like all abusers, he’s a coward. He came after me back then because I couldn’t defend myself. Like you said, Katie, he’s dealing with grown women now who are anything but defenseless.”
“You heading back to the ranch?” Kate asked.
“No,” Dusty said, “I’m gonna take a run to Kerrville and pick up a few thing for my place.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, darling, just need to drive a little bit, you know?”
Kate nodded. “I do know. See you tonight for supper?”
“I’ll be there.”
Jenny and Kate climbed back in the SUV, but before Jenny could back out, Dusty waved to her, miming the action of rolling down the window. When Jenny complied, Dusty said, “Good luck talking to Josh.”
“Thanks,” Jenny said, “I think I’m going to need it.”
111
Jenny maneuvered her SUV through the front gate of the Baxter ranch and came to a stop in front of the house. Josh stepped out on the porch and simply stood there looking at her. Sighing, Jenny got out and came around to stand at the bottom of the steps. “May I talk to you?” she asked.
A myriad of emotions moved over his features. Pleasure to see her. Hurt pride. Anger. All mixing together in a final, sick expression. “I don’t want it to be like that between us, honey,” he said. “Of course you can talk to me. Can I give you a hug?”
Even though it was against her better judgement, Jenny allowed herself to step into his embrace. The familiar smell of him washed around her and she felt her throat tighten. She had always loved the warm strength in his body, and it was all she could do not to turn her head and kiss him. Clearly he wanted the same thing, but held back, releasing her when she didn’t close the distance between them.
The Lockwood Legacy - Books 1-6: Plus Bonus Short Stories Page 73
