She still hoped that somehow Turk and Macy would end up back together.
Macy could sense Maude’s sadness in her voice each time she talked to her but she wasn’t going to let her change her mind.
Buck came in the house when he got back from delivering supplies to the lime shack one day about six weeks later.
“Miss Maude. I couldn’t find Turk. Nothing has been done to the shack since I was there last week. His fire was cold and has been rained on. It hasn’t rained in about five days so I would say he has been gone at least that long. Maude almost fell in the chair as she sat down. She called out for Megan.
Megan came running. “Mom what’s wrong?”
“Turks missing, Buck said it looks like he hasn’t been at the shack in at least five days.”
Mom where is his horse?”
“I don’t know Buck didn’t see it either.”
“We have got to call the sheriff.
Somebody could have killed him and hauled his body off.
“Miss Maude there is something I have got to tell you.
That first day I rode out there Turk told me he was thinking about riding up into the hills and ending it all.
I didn’t think anything about it. I thought it was his misery talking but maybe he meant it.”
Maude got on the phone to the sheriff while Megan saddled her horse to ride with the rest of the ranch hands to start a search.
Meanwhile when Maude got off the phone with the sheriff something told her to go out to the shed and see if his car was missing.
Sure enough when she opened the doors it was empty.
When she went back in the house the phone was ringing.
She picked up the phone and a voice said, “Hi Aunt Maude this is Macy. I just flew in from Chicago. Sorry I haven’t called you for a couple weeks but I have been so tied up trying to teach and going to business meetings out of town. How are things at the ranch?” Maude broke into tears.
“Not too good. Turk has been missing for five days.
The whole ranch is out looking for him and the sheriff’s department has a search party and a helicopter looking for him.
Some of the guys think he may have been killed or he may have ridden into the mountains and killed himself.
Maude heard the phone go dead on the other end as Macy passed out and dropped the phone. She had never thought he could be suffering from her leaving him.
Thinking he might have killed himself over her was more than her mixed up mind could take.
In a few minutes she called Maude back and in a visibly shaken voice.
“Aunt Maude it’s my fault. He did this because of me I can’t handle loosing another person I love. Aunt Maude what am I going to do I can’t take it anymore.”
Tears were streaming down her face. Maude could tell she was crying. She tried to comfort her the best she could but Macy had her bawling to.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get a flight out to Dallas and get a substitute for me at school. Could you send someone to meet me at the airport? I’ll call you back as soon as I know what flight I’ll be on.”
She hung up and called the airport.
She got a reservation for 10:00 to land in Dallas at 11:00 Dallas time.
She called her aunt back and told her she would be in Dallas at 11:00.
Maude broke down again and replied, “Macy please hurry. I need you.”
As soon as she hung up she called Michael and told him she had to go to Texas on an emergency and then she called the school and told them she would be gone for a while. She didn’t know how long.
As soon as she got her bags packed she called a cab to take her to the airport. She paid the taxi extra money to hurry. She made it to the airport in record time.
Macy boarded the plane and it seemed they sat on the runway for hours before they finally took off.
She wanted time to fly by. It seemed like the plane was flying in slow motion.
She stopped herself just as she started to chew on her fingernails.
When she arrived at the airport in Dallas she walked over to get her baggage. Megan was standing there waiting for her.
She hugged Macy’s neck as soon as she got to her. Macy looked at her. She had tears running down her cheeks.
“Macy I am so glad to see you. Macy nobody has seen him. It’s killing Mom. He came back to the ranch in the middle of the night and got his car. The police have a missing person on him. We know now that he is probably ok or someone stole his car.”
“Megan I feel like it is my fault. I should have considered his feelings a little more. If I hadn’t let him go as far as I did it wouldn’t have hurt him so bad.”
“No Macy that hard headed ass hole should have been more considerate of you. He had no right to try and force you into doing something you had already told him you didn’t want to do.”
They got in the truck and started the long ride back to the ranch.
When they arrived Maude was so upset she could hardly talk to Macy. Finally Maude was able to talk after they sat on the couch for a while.
“Macy my whole life has crumbled before my eyes. I raised Turk to take over the operation of the ranch and I wanted him to marry some of our kinfolk to keep it in the family. I should have just let everyone divide the ranch up when I died instead of trying to keep the ranch together.”
“Aunt Maude I know you wanted me to marry Turk but I want to stay in Boston. I am going with a real nice guy there and we will probably get married. I am not cut out for ranch life. I have to get back to Boston just as soon as we find him. I have a board meeting in San Francisco I have to attend.”
“I know Macy, it was too much to hope for. Why did I have to raise such a bull headed boy? Megan and I sat down and discussed it in detail. Megan says that Turk has always been too much like a brother to her to have any romantic interest in him.
She suggested you because your parents were dead and we didn’t think you were involved with anyone. She knew you had a level head and would be good for Turk.
You two don’t get along so now that Turk has left I am left to keep up the ranch on my own. I don’t know what I am going to do now. The ranch is already getting to be more than I can handle alone. I am going to have to try and sell it.”
Macy sat there listening intently to her Aunt pour out her heart as tears were dripping off her chin. She glanced up at Megan and saw her eyes full of tears too. The sadness in the room started bringing tears to Macy’s eyes to.
Buck came in.
“We were out all day. He is not within one hundred miles of this place. I guess it’s going to be up to the law to find him.”
Three more days passed with no word on him. The women were torn up so bad Roy came over to help them while Buck took over the operation of the ranch.
Hardly anyone at the ranch was working. They respected Turk and they missed his command of the ranch. Most of them were close friends with Turk.
Finally one morning the sheriff called.
“Miss Jackson. We have located Turk Jackson’s car. We found it at a motel outside of Houston.
He’s at the Lazy Day’s Motel on highway 64 just east of town.
Maude said, “Thanks were heading out right now.”
She woke up Megan and Macy.
“They found Turk. Let’s get going we have a long way to go.”
All three of them got in the truck and headed out.
It took them three hours to get there but finally they pulled into the motel parking lot. They parked beside Turk’s car in the lot.
Megan ran into the office to find which room he was staying in. She came out with the spare key and unlocked the door of the room and went in.
Turk was lying on the bed passed out with an empty liquor bottle in his hand. Maude tried to wake him up. He swung at her with the empty bottle almost hitting her in the head.
Megan jumped on him pinning him to the bed. She started hitting him in the face as hard as she could with her fis
t. Macy and Maude had to pull her off him because she wasn’t going to stop. Tears were pouring out of her eyes streaming down her face and falling on Turk’s face.
Maude threw a glass of cold water in his face making him gasp for breath and opening his eyes fully.
He looked around the room and then at the two girls. He tried to smile when he realized who it was but his face hurt too much from the fight he had the night before in a bar and the little extra Megan gave him. When he looked at Macy she turned and walked out the door.
Maude and Megan pulled him off the bed. Megan held on to him while Maude pulled his clothes off.
As he stood there in a stupor they forced him to the bathroom and threw him in the shower.
While he was soaking in the shower they straitened the room out and Maude went down to the office and paid the bill. He finally came out of the shower drying off.
Megan said. “Put on some clothes. No one wants to see your stupid little old goober.”
He looked down and quickly covered himself up. Macy walked back in.
He looked at Macy and ask, “Macy what are you doing back here. I thought you were gone for good.”
“I came back to help Aunt Maude find you, you stupid ass. You ran off and left her to run the ranch all by herself. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself you looser. Don’t you know you had worried her to death? I had to come back and comfort her because of your stupid stunt. I thought you had more since that to pull something so juvenile. You are a bigger idiot than I gave you credit for.”
Megan could see that Macy was getting madder and madder the more she fussed.
She grabbed Macy by the arm and said “Come on Macy let’s step outside and cool off. Macy jerked her hand loose.
“I guess your right Megan. He’s not worth getting mad over.”
Megan looked at him and said, “Don’t you feel any obligation toward her for adopting you and raising you as part of the family.”
Turk abruptly stopped her.
“I have you know I feel plenty of obligations toward her. I just had to get away for a while.
Macy has driven me crazy. I am so madly in love with her I can’t get her out of my mind and then she runs off to Boston just leaving me with her memory.
Then Mom puts me out on the range by myself with nothing to think about but what a fool I have been. I just couldn’t take the loneliness any longer.”
“Well Turk why didn’t you at least leave a note so we wouldn’t be worried out of our mind.”
Macy was listening at the door. Macy’s heart was being crushed with every word that came out of his mouth.
She was directly responsible for what he did and she felt so bad. She knew that in his eyes she was just a tease so why should he feel that way about her.
She had let him get to a certain point so many times and then pulled away. No wonder she was driving him crazy. She should have never let him get to that point unless she was willing to go all the way and she knew she wasn’t about to do that.
Macy stepped outside with tears running down her cheeks.
Turk got dressed and as soon as Maude got back they headed back to the ranch. Maude made Turk ride with her so she could talk to him. Megan and Macy took the corvette back.
They finally made it back to the ranch just in time for Maude to fix supper. All the hands came in to welcome Turk back.
The first thing Macy did when she got back was call the airport and get a reservation back to Boston. She knew she would have to get back right away and beside that she didn’t want to see are talk to Turk.
Maude told Buck to get a bunch of men together and go finish the shack tomorrow. Winter would be coming soon and they would have to use it when they went out to move cows.
Macy went to her room and took her clothes off to take a shower. She put on her bathrobe and went to the bathroom.
After she was in the shower she heard the bathroom door open and close. She peeked out of the shower and saw Turk setting on the toilet looking at her.
“What are you doing in here? I’m taking a shower. I need my privacy.”
“I have to talk to you.”
“Turk I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see your face and I don’t want anything to do with you.”
Turk looked at her with a sad look on his face.
“Macy I can’t wait any longer I have to apologize to you for what I did to you. You told me you weren’t ready and I didn’t listen to you. I was a worthless fool.
I didn’t realize how much I really loved you till you left. Macy I can’t live without you. Please don’t leave me again.
“Turk I have to go back to Boston. I have a job and Michael is waiting on me. I can’t trust you and I don’t want anything to do with you. You cheated on me. Go find your whore Mildred and leave me alone.”
“Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“No Turk now get your worthless ass out of here so I can get out of the shower.
Macy watched his face. She saw tears growing in his eyes.
Finally one of the tears broke loose and streamed down his face. That was more than Macy could take.
Her eyes filled with tears.
She stepped out of the shower and walked over to him without covering up. He looked up at her.
She leaned over took his face in her hands and kissed him softly.
She pulled back and said, “Don’t you understand Turk. You and I are through. I don’t want anything to do with you. I can no longer trust you.”
He reached out to her. She let him put his arms around her and hug her. He pulled her to him as he rested his face on her stomach. She let him hold her for a minute and then she pulled away and started drying off.
When she finished drying off she put her bathrobe on.
He followed her out of the bathroom to her room.
He sat down on the bed and watched as dried her hair. He never made a move to put his hands on her. He was content just too just set on the bed watch.
She put her make up on.
“Turk I have to put my clothes on. Why don’t you go downstairs and I will meet you there when I am dressed.” He stood up and walked out the door.
When she was dressed she went downstairs. Turk and Maude met her.
They both noticed that Macy was back in her business mode.
“Macy set down. Turk and I want to talk to you.”
Macy looked suspiciously at them and she sat in a chair facing them.
“Macy we had a long talk coming back from Dallas. Turk is very sorry for what he did to you and he wants you to give him another chance.”
“Aunt Maude I am not interested. I have made my reservations to fly back tomorrow. Turk cheated on our commitment to each other and I don’t trust him anymore.”
“Macy I didn’t do anything with Mildred. When you and Megan left the bar I took her straight home.”
“Turk how do I know if we had another spat you wouldn’t run straight to Mildred again?”
“I swear to you I would never cheat on you.”
“Turk I have too much going on in Boston just to pack up and come back out here again. The first time I came out here I just came out to rest for a few days.
Of course you all saw to it I didn’t get any rest. I ended up going back to Boston to rest up from being here. I should have never stayed as long as I did.”
Maude sat listening to them; as she had just about decided Macy wasn’t coming back. Megan came down the stairs about that time. She looked at them and decided they were trying to talk Macy into coming back. She wanted to join because she wanted Macy there to.
“Hay Macy what’s going on?”
“Megan I can’t convince them that I don’t want to live here. I told them I had too much going on in Boston to move out here.”
“Macy you have a lot more interesting things to do out here. I know a guy that lives out in Amarillo. He is cute and he owns a bunch of oil wells. I think you and him would hit it off prett
y good.”
Macy noticed Turk was getting fidgety.
“Macy you don’t need no oil man. You can have me. All you have to do is forgive me and I will be yours forever.”
“Maude had to get up. Turk pleading like he was she couldn’t take it.
Megan was starting to be effected by Turk’s pleads too.
“Macy please let me have another chance. I am pleading with you.”
Macy noticed his eyes were starting to tear up again.
She knew she wasn’t going to be able to say no if he started that again.
“Turk if I do forgive you I will never forget what you did. The first time you try to take advantage of me or mess around on me I am out of here. I will give you another chance but we are going to take it a lot slower this time. I have to think things out in my head before I do them.”
“Macy I love you and I never want to lose you again.”
“Megan suddenly got up and burst into tears. She ran into the kitchen to her mother. She had heard all she could take.
Macy got out of her chair and walked over to Turk. She looked in his tear filled eyes and kissed him.
She opened up her cell phone and cancelled her reservations.
CHAPTER VIII
MACY GIVES IN
After a few days things started to settle down and get back to normal at the ranch.
Turk started getting out and running the ranch again and Macy started helping her aunt with the house. She continued to talk to Turk but he didn’t try to force himself on her.
She appreciated it because she still had the doubt in the back of her head about getting intimate with Turk after he had been with Mildred.
She figured Turk had gotten over her when he didn’t make any moves on her so she started talking about going back to Boston again.
Macy was still torn between Turk and Boston. She had things to do in Boston and she wouldn’t have to face her feelings. She knew if she stayed there things would remain tense between her and Turk. She figured if she gave him some space he might just get over her.
Aunt Maude spoke up and said, “Macy I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to leave.
I called a realtor in Boston and she said she could put your house up for sale if you wanted her to. I can have your furniture put in storage and your personal belongings can be here in a few days. Next week they can start your house on the ranch anywhere you want it.”
The Boston Debutante (The Debutante Series Book 1) Page 12
