Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2)

by Liza O'Connor

  Steel choked on his food and stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.

  Jack smiled. “Maybe… Can we use the same trolley system we did yesterday?”

  Steel eyed Jack. “And how do you plan to tie that monster to the zip-line.”

  Jack grimaced. “Something Tess said last night made me think she had a solution for that.”

  Tess nodded happily.

  “Okay, but if Tess weren’t here, how would you do it?” he challenged.

  “Well, the cart has metal eyes on its base, so I guess we could attach four straps from the trolley to the cart.”

  “Well done,” Steel replied, then looked at Tess. “Was that what you were planning?”

  “No. I didn’t know the cart had eyes. We should use Jack’s idea on how to attach the GPR to the trolley.”

  “And his idea for getting the cart down?”

  “I have a better device there. Grams and I made it for situations like this. It’s called a drag. We let it lead or follow the trolley. It will keep heavy items from going downhill too fast. For example, on the way to the mound, we’ll put it behind the GPR so, if God forbid, you lose the rope, you’ll have time to recover.”

  “Why didn’t we use that yesterday?” Frank asked.

  “Because it’s a slow pain-in-the-ass. I wasn’t wasting our time for some lumber. However, this is a forty-thousand-dollar piece of equipment.”

  Steel smiled at her. “Makes sense. Let’s get moving.”

  Once they brought the GPR out and Tess saw the eyes, she changed her mind. “I’m not sure these will hold. Would you mind if we use the platform I have?”

  “Let’s see it,” Steel said.

  “Come outside, and I’ll give you a dog and pony show.”

  With Jack and Sonny’s help, Tess brought out a giant block of plastic. She unfolded the sides. Upon sliding an aluminum pole into the interlocking holes, she had a plastic four-foot-tall box with a six-by-six floor. They rolled the GPR into the box, and Tess fitted stiff foam cushions between the machine and the walls of the box. She then secured the back and attached the cables to the heavy-duty eyes stamped into the metal strips along the floor of the box.

  “This is the safety. We’ve carried five ton of stone in this bucket, and the plastic rim held, but if it failed, this safety will catch in less than a second.

  She then strung the cable from the rim of the box through a half circle of aluminum pipe on the two sides. “The curved pipe enables the cart to adjust to declines and inclines while remaining horizontal. This will help protect your machine’s internal components from excessive tilting. We did this because we feared five tons of stones would break the downward panel if the load didn’t remain horizontal.”

  “That’s brilliant,” Dan said. “Did you patent this?”

  “No.”

  “You should.”

  Steel pulled her into a hug. “Dan’s right on both accounts.”

  The moment Steel released her, Jack, Frank, and Sonny hugged her, too.

  “Okay, we can’t be overly-cautious here. I need all but one of you to zip-line down. The one who stays to help will be walking down with me.”

  “I’ll do it,” both Steel and Frank spoke at once.

  Dan cleared his throat and gave Steel a slight shake of his head.

  “Frank, the honor is yours,” Steel said and turned to Tess. “You be careful.”

  “With your equipment?” she teased.

  He tilted his head in challenge.

  “I’ll be fine. This should be much easier than hauling five tons of stone.”

  He brushed his fingers against her cheek, then got in the line to zip down.

  Jack went first. When he came to a halt, Tess sighed in relief. Once he gave the signal and the trolley was retrieved, Sonny went down. Oddly, he came closer to the tree, but Jack snared his hand and stopped him. Dan insisted Steel go next. Then he zipped down like an old pro and stopped with ease.

  Frank’s brow furrowed heavily as he studied the white, heavy, plastic box.

  “It’ll keep your baby safe,” she promised, then retrieved two loaded backpacks. “Want to help me secure this backpack to the top of the crate?”

  “What’s in it?” Frank asked.

  “Shingles for the shed roof.”

  Frank grunted as he picked up the backpack and placed it on the top. “This is over a hundred pounds. How’d you carry it out here?”

  She laughed. “You’d be surprised at what I can do if I’m determined enough.” She secured the second backpack next to the shingles. After pulling up the trolley, Tess attached it to the box and placed the drag behind it. Then they pushed the box off the edge and followed it as it crept slowly down the hill.

  Frank smiled at her. “You should be an engineer. This is incredible.”

  She chuckled. “I thought you were going to complain it was too slow.”

  “It’s damn slow, but I’m okay with that. However, the fact the box stays horizontal is fantastic. Why didn’t you suggest this when we brought the equipment to the cabin two nights ago?”

  “Because it was late and the zip-lines weren’t strung.”

  “Makes sense. Any chance you’d like to come to work for me at Harper Ferry?”

  “Then you don’t want to work here?”

  “I think that’s been decided for me.”

  “By whom?”

  “Who do you think?”

  “Not Steel.”

  “Maybe he just hasn’t told you.”

  “If he wanted to get rid of you, he would have told me, and he hasn’t.”

  “Then I guess it’s me who’s decided.”

  “That’s not fair, Frank. Yesterday was a disaster. Everybody was in a bad mood. Tom yelled at me for getting Luke to a hospital in a timely matter.”

  When Frank didn’t reply, she persisted. “Frank, you know Tom better than I do, but I’m pretty sure that was not his usual self.”

  “Not at all.”

  “It’s my opinion that you’d be making the worst mistake of your life if you give up now.”

  “Says the one person Steel doesn’t yell at.”

  “Ha! I had barely met him when he yelled at me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep. But when I understood the situation that set him off and saw things from his view, I forgave him entirely. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do the same with Tom.”

  He smiled at her last statement, but she still sensed he planned to leave. “Frank, is it possible that part of the resentment you have from yesterday is how you handled Luke? And maybe you’re just transferring that guilt and anger in other directions?”

  “You a shrink, too?”

  “Maybe. Grams was really good at getting me to face my own anger. And believe me, when I arrived here, I was one angry teen. And my fury lashed out at whoever was before me. I was mouthy, resentful, and frustrated.”

  “I don’t see any of that now,” Frank assured her.

  “Thank you. But to get to where I am, I had to stop blaming my father for all my troubles. I had to take control of my own actions and face the fact that I screw up sometimes, and when I do, I have to make it right.”

  “So we’re back to Luke and me now. Did you tell Steel my reaction to Luke’s screw-up yesterday?”

  “No, nor do I plan to. You’ve clearly been the boss of Luke and the others for a long time. And while you are not technically their boss here, I understand why you might feel responsible for their actions.”

  He stopped and stared at her. “Are you telling me that if I stay, I’ll just be one of the staff?”

  “No, I’m definitely not telling you that. If you can show Steel you two work well together, then he’ll probably hire you as his number two guy on the archeological side.” She secured his arm to get him moving. “We need to stay with the crate.”

  He smiled. “It seems to be doing fine.”

  Seeing a potential problem, she ran downhill past the slow moving crate and s
tarted pulling at a log in its path.

  Within seconds, all four guys waiting at the base were at the log and helped her to pull it to one side. The cart crept down the hill and came to a soft stop fifteen feet past where the log had laid.

  Steel pulled her into his arms. “Sorry for not seeing the roadblock.”

  She shook her head. “No, that was my fault. I should have told you to look for rocks and logs that might tangle underneath the cart.”

  She pulled from his arms, then high-fived all four of them. “But you guys were great, coming to my aid within seconds. Super teamwork.”

  She turned and high-fived Frank, too.

  “Why does he get a high-five?” Dan challenged.

  “Because he taught his team to act with immediacy. No ‘What’s she doing?’ ‘Why’s she doing that?’ They just came running.”

  Frank smiled at her.

  “She’s right,” Steel added. “Now, how do we get this cart over to the mound zip-line?”

  Tess recommended they remove it from the cart, roll it over, and bring the empty plastic box. However, when the guys learned the box added only a hundred pounds to the total weight, they decided they could carry the two together.

  “Well, let me get the backpacks off,” Tess said and removed the carabiners that had secured them on the way down.

  Dan gave her a hand and frowned at the weight of the one he’d grabbed. “What’s in here?”

  “The shingles for the shed,” she replied. “You can leave them here, and I’ll pick them up later.”

  “I got this,” Dan said and pulled the backpack on.

  Tess secured her backpack filled with tools to build the shed, then unlatched the trolley and drag to use on the other zip-line. Jogging past the four carrying the GPR in its crate, she attached the drag to the mound zip-line and helped them secure the plastic box for its uphill climb.

  She studied them. No one was rubbing their arms or the small of the back so their plan had been a better one. “All right! All your muscles just saved us a half-hour. Now you can all carefully walk up the path and get ready to pull for all you’re worth.”

  “Do you need me to help down here?” Frank asked.

  “No.” She saw the disappointment in his eyes. “I’ll be in front of the cart to ensure its front edge doesn’t catch on anything.”

  “I can help with that,” he stated softly.

  Frank needed redemption. “Okay, you can take the lead on this, and I’ll go up to coach the guys on the best way to get this monster up.”

  She patted Frank’s back and headed up the hill.

  Steel frowned as he came to her side and whispered, “You sure Frank can do whatever you were going to do?”

  “I am, and I think I can help you make this easier on your arms up here.”

  “You planning to pull?” Sonny asked as he approached them.

  “Not with this much superior muscle available. I plan to be the guy who sits at the front of the boat and yells ‘row’.”

  They all laughed, even Dan.

  Once they arrived at the top, she gathered her four pullers in a small circle. “Under no circumstances can we allow this machine to go sailing down the hill.”

  “That would be bad,” Jack said. “Can’t we use the drag to prevent that?”

  “We will. But if you pull too fast, you’ll either waste your strength fighting with the drag mechanism or worse yet, you might pull the drag off the cable entirely, allowing for the scenario we don’t want to happen. So instead we are going to make use of the drag to give you time to regroup on your rope pulling. The box will probably go down an inch as you re-adjust the rope, but I believe your muscles will appreciate the moment of relaxation.”

  “We’ll follow your command,” Steel said.

  And to her amazement, they did.

  Frank attended to the few rocks she thought might catch the bottom of the box. Otherwise, he walked slightly to the front and left of the GPR.

  The drag proved a life saver at the end. As did Frank who had fresh arms. The box was a half inch lower than the top platform. He joined Steel, Tess, and Jack who were trying to lift the box over the top. With his fresh strength, the front edge of the cart lifted over and slid onto the wooden platform.

  Everyone credited Frank for his assist.

  Tess rubbed her aching arms. “Sorry about not checking the clearance.”

  Jack ruffled her hair. “Don’t even go there.”

  “Ditto,” Steel said and ruffled her hair. That caused a tsunami of ruffling her hair from every one of the men. When they finished, her hair felt like a bird’s nest gone mad.

  “Great,” she said as her fingers tangled in the knots. She gave up and huffed. “Well, you guys gotta look at it, not me.”

  “You have a brush,” Sonny insisted.

  She stared at him in challenge.

  “All females carry brushes,” he added.

  “How old are you?” she snapped.

  “Twenty-three.”

  Steel chuckled. “If you plan to make twenty-four, you might want to shut up now.”

  ***

  Steel tugged at Tess’s tangles with gentle fingers, while Frank and Jack freed the pampered GPR.

  “Try it out and make sure it works,” Frank said.

  “You think it couldn’t make that trip?” Steel challenged.

  “No. A baby could have slept through that trip. I’m worried about the trip to the cabin two days ago. I should have checked it when we got there, but it was dark and I got distracted by wanting to see what we’d found.”

  Steel stopped untangling her hair. “You may have to cut your hair when we get home.”

  “Better not,” Tess growled. She couldn’t even pretend anger when Steel went to Frank and placed his hand on the man’s back. “I could have done the same. As could have any of your men. We all wanted to see the output. Let’s just hope for the best.”

  They all watched Jack as he moved it to a section not covered with lumber and attempted to start the machine.

  Nothing.

  Everyone groaned in unison.

  Jack removed the panel and stared at the electronics. Dan knelt beside him. “Mind if I touch things?”

  Jack sighed. “Can’t kill it worse.”

  Something Dan pressed made a decided click.

  “Did you just break something,” Frank demanded.

  “Try it now,” Dan said and looked at Frank. “One of the chips had come loose. I snapped it back in.”

  Jack closed the panel and flipped the switch. Green lights glowed, and the screen went from dark grey to light blue. “It’s alive!” Jack cried out.

  Frank smiled and gave Dan a man hug.

  Dan pushed him away. “In the future, if you feel compelled to send a hug my way, send it through Tess.”

  Tess pointed to someone running up the hill. “Luke’s here!”

  Frank scowled. “He should have been here over an hour ago.

  When Luke arrived breathing too hard to speak, Frank bellowed, “I told you to be here by six. I was beginning to think I’d be running the magneto meters on my own.” Frank handed him his probe.

  Having caught his breath, Luke grimaced. “It was touch and go.” He glanced at Tess. “I don’t think you should call the path up here a road.”

  “How many ravines did you cross?” she asked.

  “Lost count. Seemed like a hundred. One was so wide I used the planks to drive down into it and back up the other side.”

  He had to be exaggerating because that wasn’t even possible with only two planks, but she decided not to make an issue of it. “I’ll have to call Andy and see how the other side is. If he can’t deliver, then we may need to send a convoy shopping.”

  Luke eyes narrowed. “Is Andy another one of your boyfriends?”

  Everyone, including Tess, stopped working and stared at him.

  She didn’t like the angry challenge in his eyes. “I don’t have nor want a boyfriend.”


  He sneered. “Not what I hear.”

  “Then you heard wrong,” she snapped and focused on building the shed.

  “Shut your mouth, get to work,” Steel ordered, giving Luke an I’m-talking-to-you glare.

  When they stopped for lunch, Frank pulled Luke halfway down the hill. Sonny and Jack immediately followed.

  Tess took the moment to lean into Steel’s chest. “Can you find out what Luke heard about me? I need to know if whatever people are saying is going to rile my father into action.”

  “I’ll get the down-low right before I send him packing. Your shed looks almost finished.”

  She shook her head. “Roofs and doors take a lot of time.”

  He kissed her temple. “You are amazing. You know that?”

  She smiled and basked in his admiration for nearly a minute before all hell broke loose farther down the hill.

  “You’re a damn liar!” Sonny yelled.

  “And you’re an idiot!” Luke countered. “When I was at the bar, every guy there claimed to have done her.”

  Tess gasped in horror and looked up at Steel. She gripped his hand as he tried to leave. “That’s not true.”

  He closed his eyes and breathed in and out before finally speaking. “I know that, but I’m sending Luke off now because I don’t want him ruining any more days with distractions.”

  She released his hand. She didn’t want Luke in her house any longer either.

  Dan followed Steel down, leaving her all alone to listen to her boss fire Luke in no uncertain terms, declaring him unprofessional, unreliable, and disruptive.

  “You really believe she’s only sleeping with you?” Luke replied.

  “She’s not sleeping with me or anyone else here,” Steel countered. “And she has nothing to do with my decision to fire you. I’m firing you solely on your actions. Frank, will you escort this ass back to the house and watch him as he packs his stuff? Make sure he doesn’t take anything that doesn’t belong specifically to him. And get him in his truck before two so he has a reasonable chance making it down the road before nightfall.”

  “With pleasure,” Frank replied. “Come along, asshole.”

  The rest of the guys returned to the mound, but only Steel and Dan would look at Tess.

  She approached Jack and Sonny. “Whatever he told you was a lie. Someone is trashing my name. I don’t know why yet, but I will find out.”