“I know who she is,” Kate interrupted, “she’s that horse trainer’s daughter.”
“See what she has to say,” Dallas urged.
Kate pulled out the single sheet of paper and began to read aloud:
“Dear Dallas,
I hope you are doing okay. I sure am missing you. The ranch was always quiet but it’s awful now that you’re gone.
Dad bought me a Thoroughbred mare. She’s solid brown and very sweet. I call her Angel. Dad says she was part of my Christmas gift. I like her a lot. And I wish you were here to ride with me.
I haven’t seen Dad smile since you left. I hear him and Mick arguing all the time. It’s awful around here and I wish you would come back and make us happy again.
Love, Hayley”
As Kate folded the letter and slipped it back into the envelope, Dallas dabbed at her teary eyes.
“Do you have any idea how that letter makes me feel?” Dallas asked.
Leaning forward, Kate placed the envelope on the desk. “I think I have a good idea. You feel like your heart is ripping apart.”
Too choked to speak, Dallas merely nodded and Kate said, “When you first came back from Nevada, I could see that you were a changed woman, Dallas. I’ve watched you struggling to get back into your regular routine, but it’s not the same and you’re far from happy.”
Sighing, Dallas leaned back in her chair. Her grandmother was so right. She’d never been more miserable in her life. Since the day after Christmas, when she’d said a tearful goodbye to Boone and Hayley, nothing had been the same.
“You know, Grandmother, I always believed that no matter what occurred in my life, the Diamond D would always be my place of solace, would always make me happy. But it isn’t making me happy now.” With a shake of her head, she rose from her chair and began to move aimlessly around the spacious office. “That sounds awful, doesn’t it? I have so much here. You, all of my family. This wonderful riding program that helps so many needy children. I should be satisfied. But I guess I never realized that when you give your heart to a man it stays with him, and I’m not doing very well without it.”
Kate frowned at her. “Then why the heck aren’t you doing something about it? Moping around here, hiding in your office every night isn’t going to fix anything!”
Feeling more helpless than she’d ever felt in her life, Dallas lifted her arms and let them fall to her sides. “What am I supposed to do? Boone sent me away. He doesn’t believe I can be happy on White River Ranch.”
“Could you?”
“Oh, Grandmother, when I first arrived there, I thought I’d traveled to the end of the earth. It all seemed like nothing but lonely desert. His closest neighbor is ten miles away. There’s no cell phone reception and it takes more than forty minutes just to drive into town. And it’s so tiny that Hayley has to ride the bus over to the next town just to go to school. Boone has one ranch hand to help him and he doesn’t come in every day. Horse buyers do come to look at the mustangs, but I only saw one while I was there. That business won’t pick up until spring. But…I don’t know how to explain it—there’s a stark beauty about the place and it began to grow on me. Now I miss it almost as much as I do Boone and Hayley.” She looked directly at her grandmother. “To answer your question—yes, I could be happy there. But how do I convince Boone? He’s already had one bad experience with a woman who couldn’t deal with his lifestyle. He’s afraid to try again.”
“Hmmph. And for a long time after that no-account Allen you were afraid to try again. But you have. And if your Boone cares enough, he’ll see that he doesn’t have a choice in the matter.” Rising from the chair, Kate walked over to her granddaughter and curled a comforting arm around her shoulders. “My advice is to quit wasting time. Pack your bags and get up there. Show him that you mean business.”
“But he wants me to take time to think and—”
“Think, hell! He’s stalling. You get yourself up there and don’t give him a chance to say no.”
As she peered into her grandmother’s strong face, a glimmer of hope stirred inside Dallas. “Do you really think he’ll be glad to see me? He hasn’t contacted me since I left.”
“Have you tried to contact him?”
Dallas shook her head. “No. I thought— I didn’t want to push myself on him. I’ve been waiting—hoping he might call.”
“Waiting and hoping might be a good tactic for fishing, but not for catching a man.” With a hand at her back, she urged Dallas out of the office. “Come on, honey. Let’s go home and I’ll help you pack.”
Where the hell was she? Boone raced through the barn, desperately hoping he’d find Hayley tucked away in some dark corner, but there was no sight of her. And with Angel in her stall, and Rock out in the corral, he knew his daughter wasn’t out riding. He’d already hunted through the house and there’d been no Hayley there, either.
As soon as he’d picked her up at the school bus stop this evening, he’d driven straight home and let her out at the house. After that, Boone had saddled up and ridden out to work on one of the windmill pumps. When he’d returned a half hour ago, she’d been gone and now he could only fear the worst.
Had she run away? Had some evil person come to the ranch and hauled her away? Oh, God, it was getting dark and he had to do something!
Racing back to the house, he realized he had no other choice but to call the sheriff’s department. They might not consider her a missing child, but Boone sure as hell did. She was a responsible girl. She didn’t just go off on her own without consulting him first!
Inside the kitchen, he was about to reach for the phone, when it suddenly rang. He jerked up the receiver and then practically cursed out loud when he heard his father’s voice on the other end.
“Dad, I don’t have time to talk now. Hayley is missing and—”
“Hayley isn’t missing. She’s with me.”
Totally stunned, Boone stared blindly at the wall in front of him. “What? Where?”
“At my house in town. I picked her up at the ranch a couple of hours ago.”
“You—why?”
“She called me. Asked me if I’d come get her. I told her I would. I could tell she was unhappy and I thought it would be better than her trying to run away.”
Thank God his daughter was safe and that his father sounded perfectly sober. But there were a wad of questions rolling through Boone’s head, far too many to be hashed out over the phone.
“I’ll be there shortly.”
“Boone, I wouldn’t be too hard on her. She’s pretty upset.”
Since when had Newt cared about his granddaughter’s emotional health? Boone wondered grimly.
You’ve not exactly shown a wealth of understanding to your daughter lately, Boone. For the past month, ever since Dallas left, you’ve known that Hayley was depressed and moody. But you haven’t done anything to make things better for her.
How could he? He didn’t even know how to help himself, much less help his daughter to get past the pain of losing Dallas. Hayley blamed him for letting Dallas go, for not asking her to marry him and become a part of the family.
And now Boone could only blame himself for this whole mess.
When he arrived at Newt’s house in Pioche, his father and Hayley were sitting at the kitchen table playing checkers. She shot Boone a cold, stony look, but Newt was more affable and invited his son to take a seat.
Hayley turned an accusing glare on her grandfather. “You told him I was here!”
“I had to, honey. He would have been worried sick about you.”
“No. He wouldn’t have!” she practically shouted. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself!”
Before either man could stop her, the girl jumped to her feet and ran from the room. Boone started to go after her, but Newt quickly caught him by the arm.
“Let her go for right now.”
Boone couldn’t ever remember a time that Newt had given him orders. Maybe if he had, if he’d shown
enough interest to give his son orders, then things would have been different for the two of them.
Easing down in the chair across from his father, Boone let out a long, weary breath. “I understand she’s been unhappy with me lately. But what in the world set her off like this today? She was okay when I picked her up at the bus stop.”
Newt rose to his feet and shuffled over to the cabinet, where he began to put a fresh pot of coffee on to brew. It was a damned sight better than seeing him splash whiskey into a shot glass. “One of her best friends didn’t show up for school today because her mother had just had a baby—a boy. Hayley is jealous of her, you know. She wants brothers and sisters, too. She wants to be like her friends.”
“Hell, Dad, I don’t even have a wife. How does she expect me to give her siblings? She’s too young to understand—”
“She’s almost a teenager. She understands much more than you think,” Newt interrupted. “From what I can gather, she’s pretty cut up about this Dallas from New Mexico. Hayley had somehow gotten her hopes up that you were gonna marry this woman.”
Boone helplessly shook his head. “I want to.” Just admitting it made him feel better, but it sure didn’t fix anything. “But it’s not that simple.”
“Why not? She doesn’t love you?”
Boone grimaced. “She says she loves me.”
Newt walked back over to the table. “So what’s the deal?”
Boone’s shoulders slumped with defeat. “The ranch. She’d never be happy there. You know what it’s like. I could never ask another woman to live there. It wouldn’t be fair or right.”
Newt opened his mouth to speak and Boone braced himself for another long pitch to sell the place. But that didn’t happen. Instead, his father sank back into a chair and studied his son for long, thoughtful moments.
“Boone, I’m gonna tell you something. Something that I should’ve told you a long time ago. I just wasn’t man enough to do it.”
“Dad—”
He held up a hand to halt Boone’s protest. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to start lecturing you about selling the place. That—well, since your mother died I’ve been thinking a lot about things. Guess that’s about all I have to do anymore is to think. Anyway, I was wrong to push you to sell. But that’s not the issue now. You’re letting White River Ranch ruin your life. Just like I did. And that’s a waste. A shameful waste.”
Boone stared at him as he tried to comprehend. “You blame the ranch for your problems? That’s—”
“Hell, no! I made my own problems. That’s what I’m trying to say. All these years I’ve felt sorry for myself. I blamed the ranch for everything.”
“Because you didn’t like it? Because you never wanted to leave Arizona? That’s hardly any reason to feel sorry for yourself.”
The older man’s gaze dropped to the tabletop and for the first time that Boone could ever remember, he saw real sincerity on his father’s face.
“There was more to it than that, Boone. I let hatred fill me, consume me until…well, hardly anything else mattered. You see, there was more to it than what you were ever told. When I was in junior high, I made the decision that I wanted to be a doctor. I worked very hard to make perfect grades in all the right subjects. I wanted everything to go in my favor so that I would be accepted to a good medical school. Your grandparents went along with my plans and saved money for my college education. I contributed to the fund by working through the summers mowing lawns and sacking groceries at a local supermarket. I didn’t expect them to pay everything for me. I was more than willing to work to reach my goal.”
A doctor? His father had wanted to be a doctor! It was a stunning revelation. One that Boone could hardly wrap his thoughts around. And yet, he could see for himself that the old man wasn’t lying. “So what happened?”
“By the time I reached my senior year in high school your granddad decided he was tired of mining. He wanted a ranch and when he saw White River he wouldn’t let anything stop him from getting it. He used all of my college funds to buy the place. I was—” He shook his head. “I was devastated and so angry I couldn’t see straight. He’d squashed my dreams to find his. After that, I decided nothing mattered. I decided if my parents hadn’t cared any more for me than that, then to hell with them.”
Boone felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. All these years he’d never understood Newt’s behavior. He’d thought of him as a worthless rebel, when all along he’d actually been a crushed young man. “Why didn’t you tell me this before, Dad?”
Newt looked at him bleakly. “You thought the sun rose and fell on your grandparents. And I’d never been much good for you anyway. I didn’t want to make things worse by trying to paint them in a bad light.”
“So why did you decide to tell me tonight?”
“Hayley. I don’t want to see that damned ranch wreck her life, too. I don’t want to see you obsess over a piece of land when you could have the love of a good woman, the devotion of a wonderful daughter. You got to give a little, Boone, or you’re going to live the rest of your life alone.”
Boone wiped a hand over his face, then slowly rose to his feet. “I’d better go talk with her.”
“Boone?”
He looked down at his dad and was surprised to see a faint smile on the man’s face. “Ever since Christmas I’ve been trying my best not to drink. And this evening when Hayley called me—I was glad. Just to have her ask me for help did something to me in here.” He tapped his chest. “I’ve made some awful mistakes in my life. Instead of letting myself get all festered with hate, I should’ve been working to be what I wanted to be. I missed the boat with you, son. But from now on I can at least try to be a good grandfather to Hayley.”
His throat tight with emotions, Boone patted his father’s shoulder. “I’ve made mistakes, too, Dad. But from now on I promise things are going to be different. For all of us.”
Two days later, Boone and Hayley shoved the last of their suitcases into the backseat of the truck. It was Monday and normally Hayley would be in school, but Boone had talked with her teachers about letting her catch up on the classes she would be missing while they were gone for a week to New Mexico.
As Boone shut the truck door and mentally went over a checklist in his head, Hayley asked, “Will Mick make sure that Miss Holiday and her babies get fed?”
“The cat food is in the barn. He’s promised to take care of them. Along with Angel and Queenie and everybody else around here with a mouth,” Boone assured his daughter.
Hayley smiled, but just as quickly another worried look returned to her face. “But what if Dallas isn’t home? She might be gone with her brother to the racetrack or something. Then what will we do? Go find her? I think you should call first, Dad. Wouldn’t that be the smart thing to do?”
If he had to, Boone would go to the ends of the earth to find Dallas. But whether she would be glad to see him was another matter. When he’d first decided to drive down to New Mexico and propose to her, he’d wanted to do it as a surprise. And he sure didn’t want to give Dallas the chance to turn him down over the phone. But Hayley’s concerns were making him have second thoughts. Maybe he should call and make sure she’d be there? After all, a thousand miles wasn’t just a little leisurely drive.
“Okay. Let’s go back in the house and I’ll call before we leave.”
Taking his daughter by the shoulder, he urged her back toward the yard gate, but halfway there, she suddenly pointed to something in the distance. “Look, Dad. Someone is coming. Reckon it’s a horse buyer? You won’t let them stay long, will you?”
Boone squinted at the red pickup truck barreling up the driveway toward the ranch house. “I don’t have a buyer coming that I know of. But don’t worry, I’ll tell him or her that we have plans and need to leave.”
The truck braked to a quick stop and he stared in disbelief as he read the insignia on the door. Angel Wings Stables Diamond D Ranch.
“Dad! It’s Dallas! It’s Dall
as!” Hayley yelled as she began running toward the vehicle.
Boone’s heart swelled as he hurried to embrace the only woman he would ever love.
Epilogue
More than a year later on White River Ranch, Dallas wrapped her three-month-old son in a heavy blanket and carried him across the hard-packed ranch yard until she reached the big barn. Behind it, in a round training pen, Boone and Mick had been showing horses for the most of the afternoon. Now the last buyer was about to leave and Dallas waited in a secluded spot from the wind while Boone shook the man’s hand.
Once the buyer had driven away, Boone walked over to his wife and son.
“You must have sold something,” Dallas said with a grin. “You’re smiling.”
“I’m smiling because I didn’t sell her. He wanted Fancy and I told him I couldn’t let her go. She was going to belong to our son one day.” He smacked a kiss on her cheek and then on the top of his son’s red hair. “So what are you and little Bodie doing out in the cold? Were you missing me that much?” he teased.
“It’s not that cold,” Dallas insisted. “The sun is bright and warm today. It’s almost like spring is around the corner.”
“The sight of you two is just like spring to me,” he said with a grin.
Smiling, Dallas repaid him for the compliment with a kiss on his cheek. “Actually, I walked down here to see Mick,” she said slyly. “But I don’t see him around.”
Boone howled. “Mick! He’s got enough female attention without getting it from mine.”
Dallas laughed. “I only wanted to invite him to dinner this evening. I’m having your dad over, too. As a celebration of sorts for Hayley winning a spot in the choir trio at school.”
“That’s nice of you, honey. I’m sure Mick will want to stay and eat. I’ll ask him later. Now that all the buyers are gone, he’s ridden out to the west pasture to check on the calves.”
“Oh. So we’re alone,” she said, her eyes twinkling suggestively.
This time Boone laughed as he lifted Bodie from his mother’s arms and snuggled his son close to his chest. “Not quite. Bodie is here to make sure his parents don’t get too frisky.”
Christmas With the Mustang Man Page 18
