by Marta Perry
“I guess not.” Violet’s hands were clasped in her lap, as if she needed something to hang on to. “Mom certainly couldn’t have foreseen a situation where she’d be incapacitated. She’s always been so strong and capable.”
“Do you think there’s anything else Maddie could do to get in touch with her father?” Landon found it hard to believe that the man, mission trip or not, could be so completely out of touch in a world of cell phones and computers.
“I don’t know.” Violet’s troubled gaze met his. “I haven’t wanted to push her. She seems sensitive where her father is concerned.”
“Your father, too,” he reminded her.
“I know. Or at least I guess I know.” She bit her lip, as if undecided. “Landon, do you think we’re right to dig into the past? What if…well, if it’s better left alone?”
One part of him wanted to agree that she should leave it alone, but it was probably already too late for that. “You mean what if you find out something you’d rather not know?”
Violet nodded. “I’m glad to have found my twin. I’d never want to take that back. But it seems as if everything we learn just leads to more questions, like this business of why Mom changed her name. Sometimes I feel as if digging into our past is like digging into a minefield,” she said.
He couldn’t help but smile a little. “Waiting for something to go boom? I know the feeling.”
“Maybe we’d be better off not doing the digging.” Violet rubbed the long, graceful slope of her neck, as if the tension had knotted the muscles there. For an instant his fingers warmed with the longing to do that for her, and he had to fight off that feeling.
“Some people are satisfied with comforting lies. I have a feeling that you’re someone who’d rather know the truth.”
“Maybe I’m more the ostrich-in-the-sand kind of person.” She managed a faint smile. “You haven’t known me very long, after all.”
“Not long in terms of time,” he admitted. “But it’s been a pretty intense few days. You can learn a lot about a person by seeing him or her under stress.”
She looked at him, as if measuring how honest he was being. Well, he deserved her doubts. He never should have tried to push Maddie into leaving or insinuated that Violet knew about her mother’s secret past.
His cell phone rang before he could say anything else. It was Dave. Maybe he had more answers.
“Dave. Anything new?”
“A few more details. Can you talk?”
He glanced at Violet, but if he meant what he’d just told her, he couldn’t start hiding things now. “Yes, go ahead.”
“I finally got hold of copies of birth certificates for both girls.”
“And?”
“Maddie Wallace’s seems pretty straightforward, except for one thing.”
“And that is?”
“She and Grayson were both adopted by Brian Wallace’s wife when she married him. So that made the wife—whose name was Sharla—their legal mother. But she wasn’t their birth mother.”
“At least that fits. What about the younger brother, Carter?”
“Carter is the child of Brian and Sharla Wallace, born about a year after their marriage.”
The fog was beginning to lift a bit. He glanced at Violet. She was obviously waiting. “What about Grayson and Maddie’s birth mother? Were you able to find a name?”
“It took a lot of digging, but we came up with it, finally. Isabella Wallace. I couldn’t find a maiden name, which would help in tracing her. Still, there’s one interesting thing. Isabella. The nickname Belle might be from that.”
“You said you found birth certificates for both of them,” Landon said slowly, trying to process everything that the P.I. was divulging. “What about Violet?” He heard her suck in a breath and wished this call had come any time other than when she was there, waiting.
“Violet Colby’s lists her mother as Bethany Colby and her father as Jason Colby, deceased. Her place of birth is supposed to be Fort Worth General.”
Landon frowned. “That doesn’t seem to fit.”
“That’s because Jason Colby didn’t exist, either. The whole thing’s a fairy tale from beginning to end. And the hospital records have been doctored, as well.” Dave sounded satisfied. The tougher the case, the better he liked it.
“How would Belle Colby have been able to do that?” As Violet had said, every answer brought more confusion, it seemed.
“Good question,” Dave said. “All I can tell you is that she has a new identity, and it runs back pretty far. We’re still tracing it. I assume you want us to keep going?”
“Definitely.” He might, a time or two, have been tempted to wash his hands of the whole tangled mess, but he couldn’t stop now. He was in way too deep.
“One interesting thing has come up in the records about Belle Colby,” Dave said. “She shows up in Grasslands when Violet would have been about three or so. She took a job as a sort of housekeeper/secretary to the owner of what’s now the Colby Ranch. Elderly man, name of James Crawford.” He took a breath. “She and the kids apparently lived there on the ranch, and when Crawford died, he left everything to her—lock, stock and barrel.”
“All right.” He tried not to think about what that might say about Violet’s mother. “I’ll see if I can get any information on that. Meanwhile, just keep digging.”
He hung up, and turned to see the questions in Violet’s face. They were questions he had to answer, and once he had, he somehow had to persuade both Violet and Maddie to let him continue to help them. He’d thought he was coming here to protect Maddie, and that was a big enough job. Now he had to protect Violet, too, and that might be a tall order.
Chapter Seven
Violet walked along the rows of tomato plants, trying to concentrate on her work, not on that conversation with Landon the previous day. The information his private investigator had come up with simply managed to cloud the issue, rather than clarify it.
At least she felt as if the quarrel with Landon had ended. They’d all three overreacted, but in the long run, they wanted the same thing—the truth. Unfortunately, that seemed to be in short supply right now.
She stopped by a row of Roma tomatoes. The Romas were especially productive this year, but she always had to keep an eye on them. Too much or too little rain at the wrong time could spell disaster.
“Going to be a good harvest this year, even if it’s a little late.” Ricardo, Lupita’s husband, rose from inspecting a plant.
With an inward qualm, Violet realized that it took him longer to get up these days. Still wiry and strong, Ricardo would not admit that, just as he would never admit needing help with anything, and his age was a closely guarded secret. He had that in common with Harriet Porter, the farm stand manager.
“It does look good. All the canners in the county will be busy making sauce and salsa.” She lifted her straw hat and wiped her forehead with the back of her arm.
“Your momma—how was she yesterday?” Ricardo’s dark eyes seemed to grow even darker.
Not surprising. He adored her mom, treating her like a much-loved sister instead of his employer. And she relied on him and Lupita, as well. They had been her support system when she was bringing up her kids without a father.
“No change.” She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. “We mustn’t give up hope, though.”
“We will never do that,” he said. He glanced toward the house. “Your sister went alone to see her this morning?”
Violet nodded. “If I’m at the hospital, I feel guilty because I’m not here. And if I’m here, I feel guilty because I’m not there. I think Maddie wanted to spend a little time alone with Mom, so she went today.”
“That will be good for your sister, I think.” He leaned over to pull a weed that had dared to pop up under the leaves of the tomato plant. “I have not talked to her very much, but Lupita says she is a good person. Like you, but different, too.”
“We keep surprising ou
rselves at how alike we are in some ways, despite being raised apart.” She hesitated. “I just wish I could understand. Why did they break us up that way?”
Ricardo’s face, creased by all the years he’d spent in the sun, radiated sympathy. “You will know one day. Until then, you already know that your momma is a person of deep faith. She would not do anything without a strong reason.”
The words reassured her. Ricardo, with the patience and wisdom that came from dedication to growing things, had put his finger on the important aspect of the puzzling situation.
“You’re right.” She looked at him, her heart filled with gratitude. “I do know that about Mom, no matter how bad things look on the surface.”
The sound of hooves attracted her attention and she turned to see Ty riding along the edge of the field. She waved, and when he pulled up she walked over to him.
“How are things going?” She shielded her eyes with her hand, looking up at him.
His strong-boned face seemed to tighten a little, unsettling her. If there was bad news she didn’t want to hear it, as selfish as that might sound. She had enough to deal with at the moment.
“No problems,” he said, his tone as laconic as ever. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Good.” But was it? She had a sense of things left unsaid, but she didn’t know quite how to approach it. She liked and respected Ty, but it was her mom and Jack who worked with him.
He took the decision out of her hands by touching the brim of his hat. “See you later, Violet.” He rode on, leaving her unsettled.
“Ty is a good man.”
Violet turned, surprised that Ricardo had come up behind her. She nodded. “He does a fine job as foreman.” She waited, sensing that now Ricardo had something else to say.
“People get restless when they don’t know what is going to happen,” he said carefully. “It makes them worry and wonder, and they don’t do their jobs so well.”
She was surprised at the turn this conversation had taken. “You mean Ty?”
“No, not Ty. And not my people.” He gestured toward the three or four men in the soybean field, most of them relatives of Ricardo or Lupita. “But the cowpokes… I hear them talking. Wondering what will happen to their jobs. To the ranch. Thinking maybe they should be looking out for a new place.”
The blow was unexpected, and for a moment she couldn’t think how to respond. The cattle part of their operation was always handled by Jack and her mom, along with Ty.
“Well, the ranch isn’t going anywhere, that’s for sure,” she said finally. “Do you think it would help if I talked to them?”
Ricardo shook his head. “It should be Jack. Your brother must come home and take on his responsibilities.”
He didn’t add the obvious—that she should call him.
“He was upset.” She knew her voice sounded defensive.
“You were upset as well, but you did not run away.” His voice was firm. “Jack must come home,” he repeated.
She’d wanted to give her brother more time—time to deal with his anger and guilt, time to realize he had to come back on his own.
“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I promise.”
What if she called him and he refused to come back? He wouldn’t do that, she assured herself hastily. Jack would come if she needed him.
Unaccountably, her thoughts strayed to someone else who hadn’t left. Landon had every reason in the world to go back to Fort Worth and his business, but he hadn’t. He’d stayed to help.
* * *
Landon had spent several hours on work that day, eating a take-out sandwich for lunch. His hotel room wasn’t the most comfortable of surroundings, but it was cool and clean, and most important, it had the internet connections he needed. He could conduct business there as long as he had to.
Thanks to Dave, he now knew a good bit more about Maddie and Violet’s parentage. In his opinion, and he knew in Dave’s, it was highly likely that the Isabella who had apparently been Brian Wallace’s first wife was indeed Belle Colby. But until they made that actual link, he had no proof of anything.
Still, Violet had seemed to take it for granted after she’d heard what Dave had reported. She would have talked to Maddie when she got back to the ranch. With any luck, Maddie would have forgiven him for trying to tell her what to do. Maybe.
He walked out the front door of the hotel to feel a blast of heat strong enough to make him want to retreat inside again. But something far more interesting drew him forward, because both Maddie’s car and Violet’s SUV were parked by the Colby farm store. Apparently Violet had come out in the open about her twin sister. How was she explaining that unexpected acquisition?
He crossed the street and approached the store. If Maddie was still angry, she’d at least have to be polite to him in a public place.
Landon stepped inside, pausing for a moment before he spotted Violet at the counter. As he moved toward her, she looked up and saw him. Her face warmed.
“Landon, hey. I thought you were probably hard at work.” Her face grew suddenly more serious. “What is it? Have you found out something new?”
“No, nothing.” He leaned on the counter, keeping his voice down. “I’m just appreciating the values of telecommuting. Give me a phone and an internet connection, and I can work from anywhere.”
“I’m sure it’s inconveniencing you, staying here,” she said. “If you need to go back to Fort Worth…”
He touched her hand briefly. “I’m in this for the duration.” He lowered his voice still further, not wanting anyone else to hear that admission. “Are you okay with that?”
He smiled into those deep brown eyes, hoping to see an answering smile in return. She studied him for a moment that felt as if it lasted an hour.
Finally, she nodded. “I’m glad for your help. But I can’t speak for Maddie.”
“I know. Is she still angry?”
Violet shrugged. “I told you. I won’t answer for her.”
“Right.” He glanced around, looking for something that would let him continue talking to Violet and refusing to think about why that was so important. “It seems as if you’re having a big day today.” At least three times as many people were inside the store than he’d noticed the last time he’d glanced through the window.
“That’s thanks to Maddie, although I’m not sure she’s enjoying it.” Violet wrinkled her nose in distaste.
“Maddie?” He was startled. “Why? What did she do?”
“She’s here, that’s all.” Violet gave a rueful smile. “We decided it was time she made a public appearance, so when she got back from visiting our mom at the hospital this morning, she came in to work. We’ll let everybody satisfy their curiosity and hopefully get over it.”
“You think they will get over it?”
“No,” she admitted. “I’m quite sure they won’t move on that easily. We’ll be the talk of the town until some more interesting topic comes along.”
“How’s Maddie taking it?” He’d think something like that would send her fleeing back to Fort Worth, if anything would.
Violet refused to be drawn. She just smiled. “Go and see for yourself. She’s working the back counter.”
Landon walked back through rows of vegetables, piled high in glossy, colorful stacks. People were buying, he noticed, along with satisfying their curiosity. They could hardly come in and go away without a purchase. Still, he doubted that the additional income would balance the embarrassment.
He found Maddie, as Violet had said, at the cash register in the rear of the store. Several people stood at the counter. Oddly enough, when he approached, they melted away, suddenly taking an interest in sweet corn or okra. Maybe they recognized him as a stranger.
Maddie eyed him warily. “Landon. I might have known you’d show up.”
“Sorry I chased away your customers.” He leaned on the counter, keeping his voice low again. He wasn’t eager to add to the supper-table conversation in Grasslands to
night.
“They’ll be back,” she said, sounding resigned. “Everyone wants to talk to me, apparently. But why are you here?”
“To apologize. I already made my amends to Violet. She was kind enough to forgive me for overreacting yesterday. I hope you’ll do the same.”
“She doesn’t know you as well as I do,” Maddie said. “She wasn’t the one you were bossing around.”
He might have realized this would be more difficult with Maddie. “I’m sorry I overreacted to what I found out about your mother. And I had no right trying to tell you what to do. My only excuse is that I was worried about you. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
He wanted those words back as soon as they came out. Maddie was bound to resent his assumption that he ought to protect her from hurt.
To his surprise, she just looked at him as if measuring the amount of his remorse. Maybe Maddie had matured in the face of all she’d learned in the past few days.
“All right,” she said finally.
That doubled his surprise. “All right?” He had a feeling there must be a catch.
She nodded. “Violet and I agreed that finding out the truth is best in the long run, even if it’s painful. Believe it or not, I respect your abilities, Landon. You and your investigator can find out more than Violet and I possibly can on our own. So we accept your help.”
Little Maddie really had grown up. “Thank you, Maddie. You won’t mind if I hang around Grasslands for a while, then?”
She frowned at that idea. “You’re not thinking of proposing again, are you?”
Her suspicious expression actually made him smile. “Maddie, believe it or not, I’m convinced. You and I were never meant to be anything more than friends, and I was wrong to propose to you. All right?”
She nodded. “And I was wrong to accept.” Her smile flickered. “I’m glad to be your friend, Landon, but I’m not getting married until I find someone I can’t live without. But I’m still not sure it’s necessary for you to stay here while this is going on.”
