by Janet Dailey
The silence between them was magnified by the shuffling sound of the horse's hooves on the sandy ground. The firm tilt of her chin and the squared shoulders were reminiscent of earlier childhood scenes when she had been hurt by those she had wanted to please. A capricious wind danced with the long silken strands of her hair, uncaring that grey eyes watched its intimate play.
'The next time you go for a walk,' Lije broke the silence, 'I suggest you pick out landmarks, whether it's a mountain peak, a peculiar rock formation, or a twisted pine tree. When you've walked past them, turn around and see what they look like from the other direction. Landscapes appear totally different when viewed from the opposite direction. Leave a note to say which direction you're going. Just don't go wandering off like that again, Diana.'
She nodded briskly. It wasn't necessary to add that, at the moment, more explorations were the last thing on her mind.
'All the arrangements have been completed. I have to pick up the health certificates on the horses this afternoon, which means I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow to deliver the horses to Cord,' Lije went on. 'Will you be all right while I'm gone?'
His solicitous questions amused her as brittle laughter rolled briefly from her throat. She let her gaze move up to his.
'I managed to get by by myself for quite a few years.' Her voice sounded colder and more independent than Diana meant it to be, but she didn't regret it, not even when he regarded her through narrowed eyes.
'When I get back, I'll take you on that tour of the ranch.' The statement was drawn out of the grim line made by his mouth.
Diana was prevented from flinging the offer back in his face by a third voice coming from the hilltop where her walk had started.
'You found her already,' Jim Two Pony said.
'She hadn't gone very far,' Lije replied, while Diana surveyed the two in tight-lipped silence. 'She was walking along the wash.'
'It isn't good for her to wander out of sight of the house.' The Navajo fell into step beside Lije as they topped the rise and started down towards the dark roof of the house.
'I think she learned her lesson.'
'Will you two stop talking about me as if I were some dumb animal incapable of speech? Diana demanded shrilly. 'Or do you both consider me as a prize mare to be cosseted and admired, but never to be more than a show specimen?'
Not waiting for a reply, she quickened her stride, letting it carry her ahead of them. Any moment she expected Lije to catch up with her and let his displeasure at her rudeness be known, but he didn't.
A dreary grey dawn muted the morning calls of the early rising birds as Lije rechecked the lashings of the horses in the van before locking the door. The remnants of the briskly cool night air made his movements crisp and hurried to keep the coldness from nibbling at an unmoving limb. Diana watched his progress from the kitchen window, her quilted robe clutched together with one hand. When he turned towards the house, she quickly busied herself with the coffee pot, pouring herself a cup and retreating to the table. A rush of cold air raced in as Lije walked in the door.
'Do you want another cup of coffee before you leave?' Diana asked quietly, observing the unspoken rules of their truce.
He stood just inside the door, his cynical gaze taking in her perfectly poised features. 'No.' He reached for the thermos sitting on the counter near the door. 'It's time for me to leave.'
Yet he made no move towards the door, his eyes holding hers in a compelling gaze. Diana knew what he was thinking, that she didn't have the nerve to carry out the mockery of their good-bye to its final stage. Striving for all the nonchalance she could obtain, she rose from her chair and walked to him, fighting the desire to slap the ridiculing expression off his face, as well as wishing he would take her in his arms and kiss her the way he used to do.
'Drive carefully, Lije,' she instructed, rising on tiptoe to brush her lips against his.
Before she could step away, his hand came out to rest on the side of her neck, tilting her chin towards him. The kiss he gave her was firm and possessive as if to remind her that she belonged to him.
'I'll be back in about four days. Try to miss me while I'm gone.'
There was another rush of cold air and Lije was out the door and striding briskly towards the pick-up truck with its horse van hitched behind. There wasn't a backward glance or a final wave as Diana watched him leave. It was difficult to ignore the aching void he left in her heart, regardless of any petty quarrel they had had. Both of them just had too much pride.
Surprisingly the morning hours passed rather swiftly, mostly because Diana tried to convince herself that Lije was only out on the range and not journeying away from her. After a lunch of green salad with cheese and crackers, she spread out a jigsaw puzzle that she had found several weeks ago in one of the trunks in the attic. It was a gigantic picture of a European cathedral which made all the tiny pieces a myriad shades of tan and gold.
In only a matter of moments, Diana was completely engrossed in the puzzle's complexities, so completely that she didn't hear the arrival of an automobile in the ranch yard. The loud rap on the door startled her right out of the chair and she walked hesitantly to the door. In all the time she had lived on the ranch they had not had one single visitor other than Cord and Stacy. The rare people calling for business reasons who stopped usually found Lije out in the ranch buildings, discussed whatever it was that had brought them and left.
So it was with a mixture of excitement and curiosity that Diana opened the door. A man of medium height and build, dressed in a sports suit of plaid slacks and a dark green jacket, stood with his back to the door surveying the ranch buildings. A cream stetson was pushed back on his head.
'Can I help you?' Diana asked, bringing the man around with a start. He had a wide friendly face with dancing brown eyes. He was in his late twenties.
'I heard Masters had married, but no one told me his wife was so very lovely,' the man drawled softly as he let his gaze roam over her in respectful admiration. His hand reached up and deftly removed his hat while he extended his right hand to her. 'My name is Ty Spalding. I own about the only well-drilling rig around these parts.'
'I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Spalding,' she acknowledged.
'I stopped out to let Lije know that my rig will be free all this week.'
'I'm sorry, he isn't here.'
'Maybe I could check with him this evening. I know he wanted a new well drilled in the turtleback out in the south section.'
'Actually Lije is out of town. He won't be back for a couple of days,' Diana explained. 'I'm sure my husband probably discussed this with our foreman.'
'You mean the Indian?'
Diana was surprised to find herself flinching at the man's condescending tone. 'Yes, Jim Two Pony. He's in charge while Lije is gone.'
'Well, where could I find him?' A resigned expression turned the corners of his mouth in a grim line as the man named Ty Spalding looked over the ranch yard.
'I'm afraid he's out on the range somewhere checking fences. I'm not certain whether he'll be back before supper or not.'
'Here's my card with my home and business telephone number,' he said as he reached in his pocket and withdrew a square white card and handed it to her. 'Have him give me a call when he gets back.'
'I'll do that, Mr. Spalding,' Diana smiled, glancing down at the card briefly.
'The name is Ty, ma'am.' The cream hat was set back on his head at a rakish angle. 'It's been a pleasure meeting you. I hope I get to see more of you in the future.'
In a very subtle way, Diana realized the man was flirting with her. Yet his obvious discreetness was oddly pleasing, so that instead of being offended, she felt complimented. Her ego had been a big deflated, but this stranger had just given it the boost it needed. She stood in the door until Ty Spalding had crawled behind the wheel of his car and drove off.
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Chapter Ten
IT was after seven o'clock before Diana saw the
jeep parked near the barn, signalling the return of Jim Two Pony. The dinner had been warming on the stove for the last half hour. From the kitchen window, she saw that Jim was preparing to feed the horses, which meant at least another three-quarters of an hour before he was done. With a sigh of irritation, she walked to the closet and removed her tan jacket.
Her temper was simmering close to the surface when she walked into the barn where Jim was calmly measuring grain into a collection of buckets. She stopped a couple of feet away, her toe tapping out a nervous tattoo.
'I have dinner ready at the home, Jim,' she said, striving to keep her voice calm.
'I thought it would be best if I ate at my place while Lije is gone,' he replied, not a break in the rhythm of his work.
'Lije didn't mention that there was going to be any change in the meals.' It was difficult talking to someone when they wouldn't even look at you.
'It was my decision.'
'It's too bad you didn't consult me, because I have the food all prepared. And I certainly can't eat all of it by myself,' Diana said crossly.
'The horses have to be fed first.'
'The food is on the stove.' Exasperation rimmed the edges of her voice. 'In another forty-five minutes it will be dried up.'
'The horses have to be fed. They should have been given their grain an hour ago,' Jim answered with quiet persistence.
'What has to be done? Maybe I can help?' Diana didn't know what had prompted this unusual offer from herself, but the sudden gleam in the dark eyes that met hers led her to believe that Jim Two Pony expected her to retract it.
'You can take these portions of grain and put one in the manger bins at each stall,' he suggested.
Diana hesitated for only a second before reaching down and picking up two of the buckets. Eager, tossing heads leaned as far over the stalls as wood partitions permitted. The simple task of emptying the grain from the buckets into the square bins demanded that Diana put her arms in the stalls, brushing against the horses' heads that were pushing and butting to get their meal. She eyed the first horse nervously. It looked gentle enough. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the bucket past the inquiring nose and dumped it into the bin. The horse completely ignored her in favour of the more nutritious grain. Diana was filled with triumphant glee when she returned to gather more buckets of grain, but Jim didn't seem to notice. He had finished measuring the buckets of grain and was busy tossing hay into the larger manger bins.
'A man named Ty Spalding called this afternoon to see Lije,' Diana called to the briskly moving man several feet away. 'Something about drilling a water well here on the ranch. He asked if you'd call him tonight.'
'Spalding was here?' Jim eyed her sharply before a thoughtful look stole over his face.
'Yes. Didn't Lije mention it to you? About the drilling?'
'Spalding had told him his rig wouldn't be free for another week,' he answered, resuming his distribution of the hay.
'He told me it was going to be free all this week.' Diana emptied the last bucket of grain, and turned with a flourish. 'Is there a problem?'
'No. It just would have been more convenient if Lije were here,' Jim shrugged, ending the conversation in his own enigmatical manner.
'Are we ready to eat now?' Diana cocked her head at him with just a shade of defiance in the pose.
'There's still the stallion to be fed.'
'While you take care of him, I'll go and see what I can save of our meal.'
There was the faintest trace of a smile around Jim's mouth as he nodded. 'I'll be up when I'm finished.'
The conversation at the table threatened to be as non-existent between them as it had been in the past. Diana had thought those brief moments in the barn where they had worked in harmony would have brought an end to theme uneasy silences.
'Do you have any family, Jim?' she asked, looking at him with pointed interest. 'Brothers? Sisters?'
'I have no brothers or sisters, only some aunts and uncles and cousins.'
'Where do they live? Do you get a chance to visit them very often?'
'They live on a reservation in Arizona. I haven't seen them for several years. Not since my mother died.'
Slowly with more precise questions, Diana was able to draw more information from Jim Two Pony. None of his answers were ever specific, but she did perceive a picture of his early life. It was after his father's death in an auto accident that he and his mother had come to this ranch where she worked as a housekeeper and cook as well as keeping an eye on her son and Lije. Jim did not reminisce as Lije had done of their escapades as boys, summing it up simply that they had grown up together. Although their conversation brought no new startling discoveries, Diana still felt she had pierced some of his reserve.
When the meal was finished and she had risen to do the dishes, Jim went into the living-room to telephone Ty Spalding. With his catlike quietness Diana didn't hear him hang up the phone, or walk into the kitchen and out of the door. Only the click of the door latch signalled that he had left—apparently not for good, became a few minutes later Diana heard him pounding away with a hammer just outside the home. Wiping her hands on the dish-towel, she walked to the door and looked outside. He was standing on a ladder hanging something on the side of the house. Puzzled, Diana slipped into her jacket and stepped outdoors.
'What are you doing?' In the semi-darkness of the coming night, she tried to discern what the dull gleam was near his hands.
He didn't answer until he had completed his task and started down the ladder. She could see then the thick rope dangling from a large grey bell mounted on the side of the house.
'The sound of a bell ringing carries a long way out here,' he said quietly. 'If you should ever need Lije or myself when we're out on the range, you can ring the bell.'
For a moment Diana was at a loss for words. It was such a simple gesture of kindness on his part that she didn't know quite how to react. Here was her bond, her means of communication when she was left alone for hours at the ranch house. A large metallic clarion that pealed a sense of security.
'Thank you,' she whispered fervently.
A bronze hand touched his hat, then he gathered his tools and the ladder and faded into the darkening twilight. How infinitely safer Diana felt looking up at the faint gleam of burnished grey. She was still smiling serenely when she walked back into the house.
The morning sun broke with brilliant radiance on the eastern horizon. A bubbling effervescence seemed just below the surface of the day as Diana walked out of the kitchen door and glanced up at the comforting bell. It was strange, the suggestion of a promise to a new golden happiness that radiated with the sun's rays.
Rolling clouds of dust acted as ancient smoke signals to announce the arrival of a vehicle approaching the ranch yard. Matching the eagerness of the new day, Diana turned towards the car, recognizing it almost instantly as the tan sedan belonging to Ty Spalding. It was nice to have visitors, especially someone as charming as Ty. In only passing thought did she wonder why he was coming to the ranch yard instead of joining his crew at the drilling site.
'Good morning,' she called out gaily as the car slowed to a stop a few feet away. 'It's going to be a lovely day, isn't it?'
'It does make you believe spring is just on the other side of that mountain.' He had stepped out of the car and pulled his gaze away from her inwardly shining face with difficulty to look at the golden-kissed eastern horizon.
'Jim told me this morning that he was meeting your crew to take them out to the drilling site,' reverting their conversation back to practicalities.
'Yes, he did. I was just heading out there myself, but I thought I'd stop and … ' He halted, a pair of dancing brown eyes turning on her with marked directness. 'The truth is I stopped because I couldn't really believe you were as beautiful as you appeared yesterday. You have my permission to slap my face if you want to.'
The audacity of his words brought a quick gasp of surprise before her sense of humour took over and Dian
a burst into laughter. His candour and directness were refreshing after being surrounded by the enigmatic remoteness of her husband, especially in the face of their recent quarrels.
'I think I'll reserve the right for a later time,' she ended with a laugh.
'I can't bring myself to call you Mrs. Masters. In the first place, it reminds me that you're married, which I would prefer to forget.'
'And in the second place?' She tried hard to be properly prim and serious, only to succumb to his teasing and flirtatious spirit.
'In the second place, I'd like to find out what name goes with that face.'
'Diana.'
'The name of a goddess, what else?' Ty commented with a mocking widening of his brown eyes. 'Well, Diana, you can just put Ty Spalding's name on the list with all your other admirers.'
'I'm sorry, Ty, but I can't do that.' Her expression bordered on teasing and regret. 'Since I got married, I only keep a list of my friends.'
'That's a pity. I hate to straddle platonic fences.'
'It's either the fence or the gate.'
A rueful yet respectful gleam entered his eyes at her gentle and firmly worded statement. 'In that case, you tell those other fence-sitters to move over, 'cause I'm climbin' on.'
'Welcome aboard, friend,' Diana smiled, holding out her hand to him which he shook with a warm grasp. 'Do you know that outside of the townspeople we trade with, you're the first person I've met from the area?'
'Then I count myself lucky, real lucky. Come spring and summer is when the socializing starts around here, and you're bound to be gobbled up in all that whirl of activity.'
'I can't visualize there ever being a "whirl of social activity" around here,' she laughed.
'That is an exaggeration,' Ty admitted. 'But in our rural little way, we do all right.'
'In that case, come up to the house and have some coffee and sweet rolls while you tell me all about it,' Diana invited.
As they walked to the house, Ty gave her a very embroidered account of some of the more widely attended functions in the area. Her previous assessment at their first meeting that Ty Spalding could be a very charming and amusing companion proved doubly correct. Over coffee, his lighthearted conversation kept a smile on her face, and Diana felt more at ease with herself than since the first day she had set foot on the ranch.
