“It’s a good thing the funeral’s tomorrow or all this food would go bad,” she said. “Not much of a loss, if you ask me. There’s not an enchilada in the lot of them.”
“Maybe folks figure your spicy cooking is what put Tex in his grave and they’re not taking any chances,” Megan teased, then regretted it when she saw the sheen of tears in the housekeeper’s eyes. Megan wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t you dare cry. If you do, you’ll have me weeping.”
“Crying might do you some good. Better to let your emotions out than keep them all bottled up the way Tex made you do,” the housekeeper said with undisguised disapproval. “You remember when that boy—Bobby Temple, Sí? He shoved you down in the mud in your brand-new winter coat. You were crying and carrying on. Tex gave you one of those looks of his and said, ‘Girl, an O’Rourke always holds his chin up high and we never, ever cry over things that are over and done.’”
Mrs. Gomez had captured Tex’s words exactly. Megan had heard them often enough. She gave the housekeeper another hug. “Oh, I’ll do my share of crying before this is over,” she assured her. “Right now, though, Peggy’s here and we were wondering if there’s any Dr Pepper around.”
Mrs. Gomez’s expression brightened. “I believe there’s some in the pantry. I’ll fill some tall glasses with lots of ice the way you used to like it, and I’ll bring it right along.”
“I’ll get it. You have enough to do.” Megan found an entire case of the soft drink in the pantry. Emerging with a couple of cans, she regarded the housekeeper with a wry look. “I take it you were expecting Peggy to drop by.”
“Of course, niña. She is your best friend. Where else would she be at a time like this?”
Some friend I’ve been, Megan thought as she took the drinks into the living room. Peggy was married and had three children Megan had known nothing about until today. She’d never even asked after her friend when she’d talked to Tex, and he wasn’t one to volunteer information.
In the living room she found Peggy perched on the edge of the sofa as if she still might take off at any second. Once she would have been curled up in a corner of that same overstuffed sofa with her shoes kicked off and a fat pillow hugged to her middle.
Megan handed a glass to her friend and sat at the opposite end. “Okay, then. Married. Three kids. What else have you been up to?”
Peggy gave her an amused look. “I can tell you don’t have kids, if you have to ask a question like that. Three of them, all under the age of ten, pretty much eliminates anything except sleeping six hours a night if I’m lucky.”
Megan thought of Tess and the disruptions she faced to her own life, and shuddered. “I imagine I’ll be finding out for myself soon enough,” she said, testing the idea aloud for the first time.
Though she’d been praying for some other solution, Jake’s words and a long night of restless tossing and turning had left her fully aware that she couldn’t simply abandon the girl, no matter how much either of them would have preferred it. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she simply walked away.
Peggy gave her an understanding look. “Then you know about Tess? I’d wondered.”
“Oh, yes, I know. I found out when I got here.”
“Sweet heaven! Not before?” Peggy asked, clearly shocked. “It’s been the talk of the town for months now. I thought surely Tex would have told you.”
“No one thought to tell me,” Megan said with undisguised bitterness. “Of course, Mrs. Gomez wouldn’t think it was her place. And apparently Tex didn’t think he should mention it in passing during one of his phone calls. Better to let the bomb drop when he’s not around to see the fallout. According to his lawyer, I’m expected to rise to the occasion.”
“It’ll be an adjustment, I’m sure, but it won’t be that bad. She’s a good kid,” Peggy said. “She’s spent some time at our house. She and my girl are friends, at least most days. Tess doesn’t make it easy. Then, who can blame her? It can’t have been easy having a mama walk out and getting left with a man she’d never even met before. That mama of hers ought to roast in hell for what she did.”
“Apparently that place in hell is going to be crowded with Tex’s women,” Megan observed. “The habit goes all the way back to my mother—beyond if you consider the fact that Grandmother died when my mother was barely five.”
Peggy’s cheeks turned bright pink. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. It’s just that it was so long ago, what happened to you. You’ve done so well, I suppose I never think about the scars it might have left inside.”
“No scars,” Megan insisted staunchly. “You’re right. My life is as close to perfect as anything I could ever have imagined.”
“Perfect, huh? That’s certainly the impression you give on TV and in your magazine. Makes the rest of us downright envious. How’s Tess going to fit into that?”
Megan sighed. “I wish to heaven I knew.”
“Well, if anyone can make it work, it’s you,” Peggy said with absolute confidence. “After all, aren’t you the woman who tells the whole world how to turn lemons into lemonade? I swear to goodness, I think you could take the rattiest old thing lying around and turn it into some fancy decorative accent. I watched that show of yours one day and dragged an old cradle out of the basement and turned it into a planter. Johnny thought at first I was hinting about having another baby, but then I stuck a couple of ferns in there and he admitted it looked right nice. Said the watering’s likely to rot the wood before the next generation comes along, but so what? I doubt they’ll appreciate anything that doesn’t come from some discount store, anyway. Plastic’s practical. Even my mama says that, though it makes me shudder when she does. Last time I went down to Arizona to see her, I swear to goodness I was shocked. Her idea of decorating is picking up whatever’s on sale at Wal-Mart. You should have seen the mishmash. It would have brought tears to your eyes.”
Megan chuckled. “Oh, Peggy, I have missed you. No one cuts through to the heart of things the way you do. Don’t ever change.”
“I don’t suppose I could if I wanted to. This is who I am and, thank goodness, Johnny loves me for it.” She paused and studied Megan carefully. “You’ve changed, though.”
“How?” Megan asked, expecting her to say something about the expensive highlights in the sophisticated, yet casually short hairstyle that had replaced the ponytails of her youth. Or maybe something about the elegant clothes that were a far cry from the worn-out blue jeans and frayed cotton shirts she had once favored.
“You’re warier,” Peggy said thoughtfully. “Jake’s responsible for that, I suppose. It must have come as a shock to find him here. I know everyone in town was certainly stunned when he came back. Then he and your grandfather got to be thick as thieves at the end, no pun intended, and no one knew what to make of it. To give the devil his due, Jake’s still the handsomest thing walking around Whispering Wind.
“Not that I’d trade my Johnny,” she added hurriedly. “No, indeed. Johnny’s a man you can rely on. No surprises. Jake Landers is the kind of man who can break a woman’s heart, but who would know that better than you?”
“That was a long time ago. Jake Landers means nothing to me now,” Megan said firmly. “Nothing.”
Peggy looked startled by her vehemence, then a slow grin spread across her face. “Oh, my, so that’s the way it is, is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Megan insisted, despite the heat she could feel climbing into her cheeks.
Peggy went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Of course, he’s a respected lawyer now. I suppose it could work. And Tex isn’t around to stand in your way—”
“Enough!” Megan interrupted. “I am not the least bit interested in Jake. That was over and done with a very long time ago. He stole Tex’s cattle, for heaven’s sake. How could I give two figs about a man who would betray my grandfather that way after Tex had brought him out here and given him work?”
Peggy regarded h
er oddly.
“What?” Megan asked.
“He didn’t do it,” Peggy said. “Surely you knew that.”
She sounded so confident, so sure of her facts that Megan was taken aback. “Jake didn’t steal the cattle? Are you sure?”
“Well, of course I am. I can’t believe you didn’t know that.” Peggy shook her head. “No, I take that back. It makes perfect sense. Tex certainly wouldn’t tell you. Not only was he a man who never cared for admitting a mistake, but he wouldn’t have wanted you running straight back to Jake. I always wondered if he didn’t have something to do with those charges being trumped up in the first place, but then I couldn’t imagine a man as upstanding as Tex O’Rourke doing such a low-down thing.”
“Peggy, what are you talking about?” Megan demanded, cutting into the rambling monologue.
“There were no stolen cattle,” Peggy said succinctly.
“Of course there were. Why else—”
“No, it was all some huge mistake. Or so they claimed once the dust settled. That’s why your grandfather paid for Jake to go to college and law school, to make up for midjudging him.”
“Tex paid for Jake’s education?” Megan repeated, stunned.
“Every penny.”
“And the cattle were never stolen.” She couldn’t seem to grasp the implications of that.
“Nope. They’d just wandered off to some other pasture, according to the story that came out eventually. They were grazing a few miles up the mountain, happy as could be.”
“He never said a word,” Megan whispered. “Not one word.”
“Who, Tex?”
“No. Jake. All these years he’s let me go on thinking the worst of him.”
“What did you expect? The man had his pride. You were supposed to know him better than anybody on earth and you thought he was a thief. Never even had a doubt about it, as far as I can recall. Is it any wonder he never said a word, after the way you let him down?”
The accusation stung, in part because of the truth of it, in part because it was coming from a woman who’d never been a particularly big fan of Jake’s back then. Now Peggy sounded like a blasted cheerleader. Obviously the tide had turned in Whispering Wind.
“I wonder if he’ll ever be able to forgive me,” Megan said, surprised and dismayed to find that it suddenly mattered. All those years of thinking of Jake as the bad guy were nothing more than wasted time and wasted regrets. It was just one more thing to hold against Tex. At this rate, by the time the funeral came along in the morning, Megan was going to be glad to see the sneaky old coot buried.
There was a light dusting of snow on the ground when Tex was finally laid to rest on the hill overlooking his spread of land. A mountain of flowers covered the grave, from the splashy, elaborate arrangements he would have loved to the simple bouquet of daisies that Jake had helped Tess pick out at the florist in town.
All during the service Tess had kept her hand tucked in his while huge, silent tears rolled down her cheeks. He had a feeling it was the only display of genuine emotion in the entire crowd of mourners. Most people were here because it was expected. Some had come out of curiosity, because they wanted to see the hot-shot from New York who’d once lived just down the road.
As for Meggie, she certainly didn’t appear all that broken up. Dry-eyed and coolly competent, she looked as if she were worried about nothing more than catering details, when he knew for a fact her heart had to be breaking. Still, five minutes after the service ended, she was back at the house, issuing orders to the temporary kitchen staff and putting the final touches on an elaborate buffet for the mourners. She did it all with a brisk efficiency that proved entertaining a crowd this size was second nature to her.
As he watched her place steaming platter after steaming platter on the table, Jake couldn’t help wondering what had happened to all the food the neighbors had dropped off in Pyrex dishes covered with foil. Probably not up to her fancy standards.
She stood by the table and frowned at some flaw Jake couldn’t detect. He wandered over to stand beside her.
“Something wrong?”
Megan barely glanced at him. “There’s something missing, but I can’t pinpoint what it is,” she said with evident frustration.
“Nobody’s going to notice if you’ve left off a saltshaker or a serving spoon. They’re coming by to show their support and their sympathy, not to see if Megan O’Rourke can throw a great party,” he reassured her, even though he’d been thinking exactly that about the mourners’ motives earlier.
When she would have protested, he tucked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to his. “Meggie, it’s not a test.”
For a moment tears swam in her eyes. She looked lost and surprisingly vulnerable. “I have to get it right,” she whispered. “For Tex.”
“Then you should have thrown a barbecue and been done with it. That was Tex’s style, Meggie. Not all this fancy silver.”
He’d meant it to be reassuring, but he knew instantly she took it the wrong way. Fire flashed in her eyes.
“Are you saying I’ve gotten this wrong, too? Well, who the hell are you to tell me what my grandfather would or wouldn’t like?” she exploded. “He was my grandfather, dammit. Just because you somehow managed to cozy up to him these last few months doesn’t mean you knew him better than me, Jake Landers. It doesn’t.”
With that she burst into tears and fled to the kitchen. Jake hadn’t intended to goad her into an outburst, but he couldn’t help being glad he’d broken through that tough act she’d been putting on for everyone’s benefit. He was about to follow her when the housekeeper put a hand on his arm.
“Let her go,” Mrs. Gomez said.
“I should have been more sensitive, I suppose,” he said, but without much real regret.
“No. She needed a good cry, but she won’t like you seeing it. You being the cause gives her an excuse she can handle right now. Thinking of Tex being dead and buried is still too much for her.”
“Is she going to be all right?” he asked, still staring worriedly after her.
“Oh, I imagine she’ll be just fine in time. Megan’s a strong, resilient woman. She’s had to be all her life. Her world’s a little topsy-turvy right now, but she’ll set it straight soon enough.”
It sounded kinder when Mrs. Gomez said it than it had when he’d sarcastically accused Megan of being adaptable. “Will she be okay with Tess?”
“As I said, she is resilient. She is also good-hearted. She will do what is right for the child.”
Still staring after Meggie, Jake sighed. “There have been a lot of times these last few months when I’ve regretted letting Tex talk me into drawing up that will of his. This is one of them.”
“If you hadn’t done it, someone else would have. Better that it was someone who knows Meggie, someone who cares about her and can see her through this.”
His gaze shot to hers. “I never said…”
She patted his cheek. “You didn’t have to. It is in your eyes. It always has been.” She gestured toward the table. “Now pile a plate up with some of this food and eat. You will need your strength for what’s to come, Sí?”
Jake had a feeling he could eat every last scrap on the buffet and still not be strong enough to deal with Meggie when she found out about Tex’s final devious scheme to get her back to Wyoming for good.
5
Tears streaming down her cheeks and, no doubt, destroying her carefully applied makeup, Megan retreated to the back steps, where she was pretty sure no one would find her. The fight with Jake had been absurd. She knew that. But it had set off a whole slew of insecurities and stirred up anger and resentment that she’d kept pretty well tucked away inside for the past couple of days.
The anger had been misdirected, of course. It was Tex she was furious with, not Jake. She was mad at him for being sneaky and conniving and, most of all, for being dead.
Now she’d never have the chance to tell him that she loved him, that she
owed him or that she was sorry they’d fought. It was too late to take back what she’d said—not that she would have—about belonging in New York, not Wyoming, no matter how much it hurt him to hear it.
The cold air was drying the tears on her cheeks and setting up goose bumps when she heard a soft, shuffling sound and noticed Tess creeping up beside her. The girl’s face was streaked with dried tears and dirt, and her hair was a tangle of mussed curls and straw. Obviously she’d paid another visit to the barn. As pitiful as she appeared, she still shot a defiant look at Megan.
“Why are you crying?” Tess demanded, as if Megan had no right to shed tears over Tex.
“Same reason as you, I imagine.”
“You didn’t care about Tex,” Tess accused.
“Yes, I did,” Megan corrected mildly.
“Sure didn’t show it. I been here six months and this is the first I’ve seen of you.”
“Because I work in New York.”
“So? You make a lot of money, least that’s what Tex said. You could have come home, if you’d wanted to.”
Megan sighed. “Yes, I suppose I could have.”
Tess seemed startled by the quick admission. “How come you didn’t, then?”
“It’s complicated,” Megan said, for lack of a better explanation.
“Complicated how?” Tess asked, refusing to be put off.
Was this what life was going to be like from now on? Was she going to be asked tough questions by a kid, rather than a reporter? Megan struggled to find a plausible answer that would satisfy an eight-year-old. “Tex and I didn’t always see eye to eye about the choices I made.”
“Like what?”
“Like me living in New York.”
“You liked it better than here?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t get it,” Tess said. “This place is the best. There’s stuff to do and it’s real pretty. Why would you rather be in some big, ugly city, all crowded in?”
After Tex Page 5
