"I just said I was wrong," Robbie asserted.
Ray's anger grew as the old hurt freshened. "I was extended as far as I could take it. Bills were piling up, invoices needed paying, the bank note was past due. My baby needed food and shots. And you couldn't be bothered!"
Robbie winced. "You never told me all that."
"What was I supposed to do? Beg? I told you I needed it real bad. I told you the business needed it. That if I wasn't able to get hold of some money quick—" Ray stopped to take a breath, attempting to calm himself.
Cassie sat without moving. She felt a voyeur into parts of the brothers' lives that she knew neither would want open to her view.
Robbie said gruffly, "But you worked it out. You saved the store. And now you have others."
"No thanks to you," Ray returned bitterly. "I did it by myself, by the hard sweat of my brow. Ask Ray, Jr. how often he saw me at home when he was a boy. How do you think it made me feel to see him off fishing and hunting with you and your Johnny? I wanted to take him fishing!"
"You don't fish!"
"I could've learned!" Ray snapped.
A short stretch of silence. The brothers cut at each other in waves that built up and then crashed onto shore, only to form again.
"Well, I'm here to say I'm sorry." Robbie's apology was aggressive.
Ray rolled a shoulder, stretched his neck...then, just as aggressively, accepted. "Well, all right!"
Cassie shifted position slightly, the muscles in her taut body complaining. Neither brother noticed.
"So," Robbie said, his voice gruff, "if this is what's been gummin' up the works, I hope we can put it behind us. If not for me, for Will. He's not part of any 'a this stuff that's between us. An' it's the ranch we're about to lose, Ray. The Circle Bar-T. Haven't lost it yet, but it's close. One more hard hit an'…" He shook his head, the worry hard on him.
"Will's a fine young man," Ray said.
"That he is."
"But I still won't do it."
Robbie's head jerked up. For the space of a few seconds he seemed to wonder if he'd heard correctly. He got his answer from the stubborn set to his brother's jaw.
"I can't believe you can be this mean, Ray," he said softly.
A muscle ticked in Ray's cheek, but he made no denial.
Robbie stood and blindly made his way to the door. None of the cockiness of his entry remained. He looked a beaten man.
Cassie rose to follow him. But at the door, she turned back to check on Ray.
Ray remained at his desk, the impending Chamber of Commerce meeting seemingly forgotten, his expression far from that of a victor.
~~~~
ROBBIE SAID NOTHING as they got into the car and started back to the ranch. Cassie was concerned for him. She didn't like the bleakness of his expression or the hollowness in his eyes. Gone was the indomitable spirit she'd seen over the past few days.
"You tried," she said in an attempt to draw him out.
He humphed.
He wasn't ready yet to talk. He might never be ready to talk again...to her. She was in the unenviable position of knowing things she shouldn't. What Ray had said put Robbie in a bad light. And even though, at the time, Ray might not have told him the extent of his financial woes, it still didn't excuse Robbie's refusal to help his brother.
"I guess by now you wish you'd stayed in the car," he said tiredly.
Cassie glanced at him. "I'm all right."
"It wasn't easy, ya know, goin' to see him and apologizin'. But it was all I could think to do." He paused to shake his head. "Well, I was wrong. Now I've probably messed everythin' up worse."
"It was pretty bad before."
He pulled his gaze from the passing scenery. "I couldn't give Ray the money. The ranch was stretched as far it could go after five straight years 'a drought. We were sellin' off cattle just to keep from havin' to feed 'em. And getting' next to nothin' for 'em in the bargain. Screwworm was bad then, too. Had to spend all your time doctorin' or you lost 'em that way. I didn't have two nickels to rub together."
"Did you tell Ray that?" Cassie asked.
"Hell, no."
"Why not?"
"I had some pride left. It was hangin' on by a thread, but— I suppose pride was all I had. I know he's held it against me, but I didn't think he'd hold it against Will. I thought once he had me grovelin' at his feet—"
Once again, he turned his face to the window.
~~~~
AT THE RANCH, Robbie went directly to his room. He pleaded tiredness, but Sylvia sent Cassie a questioning look.
There was no time for the two women to talk, though, because the Warrens were about to leave. The horse ride might have been a put-up job, but both children enjoyed it so thoroughly they wanted to say a last goodbye to Polly before getting in the van. Hospitable as ever, Sylvia accompanied the family to the pasture before seeing them off, waving as they drove away.
Afterward, she flopped down in the rocker next to Cassie and the Duchess and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Whew! They're nice people—nice kids—and I hope they want to come back…but not anytime soon. I need a week or two to rest up! And to tend to things I kinda let slide. My poor flowers—" she looked at the beds hugging the porch "—and my garden! About all I managed to do was keep it all watered." She rocked for a few minutes before asking, "What was that about with Dad earlier? Did you really forget something in town, or was he the one wantin' to go?"
Cassie knew she had to walk on eggshells to protect what she could of Robbie's dignity. "He asked me to take him in to talk to Ray."
"Humm. And did it do any good?"
"No."
"I didn't think so, not from the look of him."
Sylvia sighed, and the Duchess, sensing her distress, abandoned Cassie's lap for her owner's. By force of habit, Sylvia began rubbing her ears and the cat started to purr.
Cassie moved restively. She needed a few minutes alone to think about what had happened, and what, if anything, she could do about it.
She used the excuse of wanting a glass of iced tea and offered to bring one to Sylvia as well. The offer was quickly accepted.
She had ice in the glasses and was just about to add the sweet refrigerated tea, when Will entered the kitchen through the back door.
Cassie temporarily lost all clarity. She didn't know how to react, how he would react. Like her, did a part of him wish that last night had never happened…and the other part wish that even more had?
He gave her one of those slow smiles.
"I'll take a glass of that, too," he said, flicking a finger toward the tea.
Cassie reached for another glass and felt his eyes move over her.
"You're all dressed up this mornin'," he said. "You been into town?"
Cassie nodded, rooting in the freezer section for more ice.
"Did Ray, Jr. call?" he asked.
"No." When Will had coached her on the familial history between the two brothers, he hadn't mentioned Ray's visit to Robbie to ask for help. Was he aware of it? Or was that something Robbie had kept to himself, once again out of pride? She latched onto the subject as a way to focus her unsettled feelings. "Will, did you know that years and years ago your uncle had some really bad financial problems?"
She poured the tea and handed him a glass. Their fingers brushed in the exchange and Cassie's heart gave a little flip.
Will was slow to answer. When he did, he surprised her by saying, "I've heard somethin' to that effect. Uncle Ray wanted to sell Granddad his part in the Old Home Place and Granddad couldn't do it. My daddy told me about it. He was just a boy when he overheard Granddad and Uncle Ray talkin', but Granddad never said a word to him about it. Not then and not later."
"Your Uncle Ray believes he could have helped and wouldn't."
Will frowned. "But Daddy said Granddad couldn't help. He didn't have the money."
"That's what Robbie told me, too. I believe him."
Will gave her a long look. "Do
you think this might make a difference?"
Cassie shrugged. She didn't know. Pride and stubbornness could build an impenetrable wall.
"I'll go talk to Granddad," Will offered and started to turn away.
Without thinking, Cassie caught his arm. She immediately let go, but not before every nerve in her body had zinged into acute awareness. "No—" she said tautly. "Let me handle this. Let me—"She lost track of what she planned to say.
Will's rugged good looks, the increasing warmth in his blue eyes… What was happening to her? Because this was more than mere physical appeal. It went deeper than that. It went— She instantly cut off the thought. She couldn't let herself think of Will in that way. She couldn't! She wouldn't!
The front screen door bounced shut and footsteps sounded in the hall.
"What's happened to the tea?" Sylvia asked cheerily as she entered the room.
Cassie and Will moved apart quickly, but it wouldn't take a detective to figure out that something had been going on. Sylvia paused, looking from one to the other. But she let the moment slide away.
"The Duchess abandoned me for a grasshopper," she said, "so I thought I'd come check."
"I was…just on my way," Cassie murmured, and carrying a glass in each hand, hurried back to the porch.
Sylvia stayed behind with Will, which gave Cassie a few precious seconds to pull herself together. She could not be in love with Will Taylor. All right, yes, she'd had a crush on him while growing up and there was, to this day, a residual attraction. She'd already admitted that. But love?
Sylvia selected her glass and settled again in the rocker. Cassie slowly sank into the rocker's twin.
Thankfully, Sylvia didn't seem in the mood for additional chatter. She contented herself with sipping her iced tea and looking sagely off into the distance, while Cassie did her best to keep up with her reeling emotions.
~~~~
"JIMMY?" CASSIE SPOKE into her cell phone. The connection was spotty. It kept cutting in and out.
"I'm here," he all but shouted, forcing her to jerk the phone from her ear.
She walked from one end of the porch to the other. Sylvia had left her on her own a few minutes earlier and she'd decided to make the call that, before today, she'd dreaded to make. "Is this better?" she asked.
"You sound fine to me."
"You, too. I must be in a good spot."
He brought his voice back to normal modulation. "You have that deal wrapped up yet?"
"Not yet, but I think I may be onto a possibility. A misunderstanding that happened many years ago."
"Good girl! I told you you could do it!"
Cassie laughed uneasily. "I haven't done anything yet."
"But you will. How's the country air? I sure as heck envy you. Makes me want to pack up and see some sights."
"It's…very nice," Cassie said.
"They got you up on a horse yet?" he teased.
"I went on a hayride," she admitted.
He laughed. A feminine murmur interrupted them—Cassie recognized it as belonging to Diane—and when Jimmy returned he was all business. "Gotta go, Cassie. Let me know when you get this deal signed and sealed." Then he was gone with a click, and Cassie, too, disconnected.
For a long time she didn't move. Had she been overconfident? Would simply telling Ray that Robbie had been equally hurting financially make that much of a difference? He'd accepted Robbie's apology, even if it he'd accepted it in hostility. Yet he still wouldn't budge.
She needed to talk to him. And the sooner, the better.
The sooner, the better...in every way.
CHAPTER TEN
CASSIE DROVE INTO town without the slightest idea of whether Ray Taylor would be in his office or not. He'd said he had a Chamber of Commerce meeting. It might be over; it might not. A quick check at the store informed her that she would have to wait.
Back in the parking lot, she looked around. Reva's was the only logical place for that. It was close enough to Handy's that she could keep an eye out through the front windows for when Ray returned to the store.
Within minutes she'd crossed the street and staked out a table. There weren't as many customers as the last time she'd been there, but there were enough to keep Reva and her assistant busy. A few looked to be visitors passing through; the remainder were from Love and its environs. Reva glanced up from filling coffee cups, waved, and promptly made her way over.
"Hi, Cassie!" she said warmly. "Good to see you again. What would you like?"
"I'll take a burger, no onions and an orange soda."
"No fries?"
"No."
"Comin' right up!" Reva said and hurried off to post the order for the cook.
Cassie was aware of people looking at her—some surreptitiously as they talked with their companions, others far more openly. Finally, one of the latter group, a woman in her sixties with silver hair, a small face, and a dimpled smile, broke ranks to approach her table.
"You may not remember me, Cassie" she began. "I'm Mrs. Lynn. I taught you in fifth grade."
Cassie remembered her. "Mrs. Lynn."
"Everyone's buzzing about you being back. About how nice—how successful—you look. Where do you live now, Cassie? Are you thinking of moving back to Love?"
"I live in Houston, and, no, I'm not moving back."
"Oh," the woman lost some of her smile. "Why, that's a shame. We don't like losin' our own."
Another woman, near Cassie's age with long red-brown hair pulled back with a clip, shyly joined them. "Remember me, too? Lottie Stewart? It's so nice to see you again. What have you been doin' with yourself?"
Cassie remembered her, too. Another classmate. "Hi, Lottie. Mostly working."
"Oh, who for? Are you on TV? Somebody said somethin' about maybe you were."
"No," Cassie shook her head. "Nothing so glamorous."
A short silence followed. Cassie still didn't like answering personal questions, but it wasn't as onerous as she'd once expected. Though, if this had happened the first day or two that she'd been back, she wouldn't have been able to handle it. Did she have Sylvia to thank for immunizing her with her gently probing questions? She glanced around. Most of the watchers had gone back to their meals. And the several who still met her gaze didn't seem to be disapproving. One of them, she was taken aback to see, was Wes Eastbrook. He'd been part of the group of boys who'd teased her at every opportunity. He sent her an uncertain smile.
Mrs. Lynn continued, "Well, it's good to see you again, Cassie. Don't make it so long before you come back."
"Yeah," Lottie agreed. "Don't make it so long."
The two women returned to their tables, where soft whispering with their tablemates ensued.
A short time later Reva delivered her hamburger and cold drink and Cassie made quick work of them. She was hungrier than she'd thought. She was just debating whether to pay for her meal and leave, or wait a little longer—she'd yet to see Ray return, although she hadn't been watching all that steadily—when Wes Eastbrook stopped off at her table on his way out.
Cassie's stomach tightened as she looked up at him. Several years her senior, he'd always been big for his age. Now he was a big man. Massive shoulders, thick trunklike body, powerful thighs.
"Nice to see you again, Cassie," he said awkwardly.
She couldn't make herself say anything. She just stared up at him, tongue-tied. He and his friends had been responsible for so many of her nightmares, and her "daymares" as well, if there was such a thing. For a long period during her adolescent years, they'd waited for her in the halls at school, in the school yard…outside the post office.
"Mind if I sit down a minute?" he asked and took Cassie's blink as permission. He seemed to fill the other side of the table. He also seemed to be having trouble finding what it was he wanted to say. His eyes slid to hers and then away and then came back. Finally, after a deep breath, he admitted quietly, "I owe you a big apology. What me and my buddies did…it was wrong. We shouldn'ta done i
t. I got kids now myself, and I wouldn't want one 'a them runnin' into someone like me. We prob'ly made your life a misery." He stared down at the table. "I've thought about you off and on for years, about what we did—what I did—an'…I just wanna say I'm sorry. And that I hope things are all good for you now."
Dumbfounded, Cassie strove to find her voice. Never in a thousand years would she have expected Wes, or any of the others, to express any form of regret.
"I—"
He lifted his large body from the chair. "You don't hav'ta say anythin'. I just wanted to set things straight with you. You can believe me or not—an' I wouldn't blame you if you don't—but if I ever catch one 'a my kids doin' somethin' like what I did..." He left the punishment hanging in the air. Then he started to walk away.
"Wes," she called after him, her throat tight. "I— Thank you. I accept…what you said."
He paused, nodded, then went out the door.
Cassie sat very still, her emotions turbulent as his words echoed in her mind. Her world seemed to be shifting. What she'd experienced, what she'd believed.
As Mrs. Lynn and her companions left the café, they took a moment to call goodbye. So did Lottie, who left on her own.
In a kind of dreamlike state, Cassie answered their well wishes with well wishes of her own, then she paid her tab and fled. She couldn't handle anymore of this "niceness" at the moment. She needed time to think, to absorb, to adjust to what had happened.
And she needed to speak to Ray.
~~~~
"YOU, AGAIN," RAY Taylor complained as she intercepted him in the parking lot of his store. "Don't you ever give up?"
"Not when I think there's been a misunderstanding."
"There's no misunderstanding."
"But there is! There's something Robbie didn't tell you today or all those years ago. He couldn't help you. He didn't have the money. It wasn't that he didn't want to, as you seem to think. He couldn't do it! The ranch was in as bad a shape financially as your store was. Think back. There had been a drought for five years. Other people must have been going through the same thing. It was probably one of the reasons why your store was having problems. People were having to pull in, to put off buying things. Everyone was hurting."
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