A Father's Stake

by Mary Anne Wilson

  Jack stared at Gage, then turned to Adam. They both watched him, waiting. “Court, a drawn-out process, then pulling the deed, reclaiming the land and it’s done,” he muttered.

  “Exactly.”

  “And Grace and Lilly and Grace’s mom get evicted and sent on their way,” he thought to himself, the idea making him sick to his stomach. “That’s time-consuming and expensive,” he said out loud.

  “It might not be. Maybe the woman on the property...Evans, is it?”

  “Grace,” he said in a low voice.

  “Okay, maybe she’ll do the right thing and leave. Maybe not. That’s her decision, but if you want to make it a bit easier on her, let Dad put up some money for her. A relocation fund of some sort. Maybe twenty-thousand.” He didn’t add, “That’s the least he could do,” but it hung between them.

  “A relocation fund,” Jack echoed.

  “Yes, and that should grease the wheels. Maybe go higher if he needs to.”

  Jack swallowed the tightness in his throat, not sure why the image of Lilly running toward him at the ranch came to him in a jarring flash. Or why Grace’s soft voice, talking about her awe at owning the land, rang in his mind.

  “I don’t know,” Jack said as he sank back in the chair.

  “What don’t you know?” Gage asked. “Dad’s dead serious about this. He’s willing to take any fallout. He’s doing it for you.”

  Jack frowned. “No, he’s doing it for himself, so he can live with himself.”

  “You don’t think it could work legally, no matter what his motive is?” Adam asked.

  “No, it could work. It probably will work,” Jack conceded.

  “But?” Gage prodded.

  “But, I don’t know. I don’t know.”

  Adam sat forward intently. “You don’t want the old ranch anymore?”

  Jack shook his head. “Of course I want it. I’ve always wanted it.”

  “Another but?” Gage asked.

  A huge one. He wanted it, but Grace wanted it, too. In fact, he had a feeling that she needed it. As much as he did. He just couldn’t make himself say, “Let’s do it.” Abruptly he stood and lied. “I need to check into this from a legal perspective.”

  Both brothers were on their feet. “Good,” they said in unison.

  Jack looked at both of them. “Two things?”

  Both nodded.

  “Nothing is done or said to anyone until I figure it out, and I don’t want Dad involved in it beyond going to court to testify, if I decide to go ahead.”

  Both hesitated, then Adam said, “It’s your call.”

  Jack left first, striding out to his Jeep. He drove by his office on his way through town. When he finally parked, he was out in front of the hospital. He made his way to reception, but passed the desk and headed for an office he knew well. Moses Blackstar was behind his desk, and he looked up as Jack walked in.

  He sat back, nodded. “I was expecting you sooner or later.”

  Jack stood at the desk, ignoring the plush leather chairs. “You heard, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I did, from Adam this morning.” Moses motioned Jack to sit. “It makes sense,” he said, “No matter where the idea came from.”

  Jack agreed. “Absolutely.”

  “Then what’s wrong with it?”

  He looked at his old friend and told him the truth. “I want the land, but I don’t think that I can pay the price for it.”

  “What’s the price?”

  “Throwing Grace Evans and her family off it.” He swallowed hard, his stomach knotting again. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” Moses asked, eyeing him steadily.

  He couldn’t answer his friend, because he didn’t know that himself. Then again, maybe he did. Maybe he just didn’t want to say it out loud. What he was feeling didn’t make sense, and he didn’t want to feel that way. He exhaled and finally sank down in the nearest chair. “I don’t know.”

  Moses was silent for so long, Jack felt his nerves tightening. Finally, Moses said, “I think you should speak to Mallory.”

  “Why, she isn’t part of this,” he said quickly.

  “I think she could be part of...whatever. She’s smart and might help you out a bit.”

  Jack didn’t understand what he meant, so he switched the subject. “That’s not what I came here for.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s Dad. He got the idea, and he’s running with it. If you have any control over him, can you tell him to back off, to let me handle this my way?”

  “Sure. That’s what you came here for?”

  Jack stood. “Yes, I don’t want Gage and Adam to get caught between us.”

  A smile played at the corners of Moses’s mouth. “And I’m expendable?”

  Jack actually laughed. “No, never, just a good fighter, a smart fighter, and I think, after all the time you were with us growing up, Dad thinks you might be his son.”

  Moses laughed out loud. “I like that idea.”

  “Then take him,” Jack muttered. “He’s all yours.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  GRACE SORT OF expected Jack to call or come by the next day, but by midmorning he hadn’t shown up, and she knew her disappointment was all out of line. Lilly was at school, and her mom had headed down to the stables after starting a pot of soup on the stove.

  Grace sat on the porch, knowing she had a lot to do, but wanting to look at the pictures she’d taken over the past week. Lilly, her mother, the ranch, Parrish, Mosi the horse, the fat cat, the inside of the house. Jack. She’d only taken a couple of pictures of him, one while he was riding in front of her, and another by the windmill.

  She missed him. It was that simple. Or maybe not. Nothing with Jack was simple. Her feelings certainly weren’t. She shut off the camera, stood and looked around. She needed to go into town to speak to the owner of the restaurant she’d gone to with Jack to see about a job. If she didn’t put in an application, they wouldn’t call her.

  But she couldn’t make herself leave the ranch right then. The sun was warm, not hot, the air bright and clear, the land rolling off in both directions and the sound of birds chirping.

  That sense of peace she’d felt the very first time she’d come here returned with a vengeance and she embraced it. She hoped she could make this work. She really did. The sound of laughter drifted up from the stables, and she found herself smiling. This was good. She sighed, then turned as she heard an engine approaching. Jack? She was surprised to feel her heart leap at the idea that he had come.

  She stood, watching a huge black truck crest the rise and slowly drive up to the front of the house. But Jack wasn’t behind the wheel. A woman who looked quite small in the big beast stopped the truck and smiled at Grace through the lightly tinted side window.

  By the time Grace went down the stairs, the woman was stepping out of the truck.

  “Hello, there,” the woman said. “I’m Lark Carson, your neighbor to the west.”

  Jack’s mother. Grace didn’t know why she’d expected her to be tall and slim. Mrs. Carson was about Grace’s height, with long, dark hair, just starting to streak with some gray. It fell halfway down her back in a single braid. Although Grace knew she had to be close to sixty, she didn’t look it. Not with those bright chocolate brown eyes and a brilliant smile that revealed a duplicate of Jack’s single dimple.

  “I’m Jack’s mother, and please call me Lark.”

  “Oh, right.” Grace couldn’t figure out why the woman was being so friendly when this used to be her family home, a home that she’d lost to Grace. But there wasn’t a hint of phony emotion in her expression. “I’m Grace Evans.”

  “Well, Grace, I came to welcome you to Wolf Lake, and to this land. It’s been a place of happiness and peace for as long as I can remember, and I’m glad that there’s a family living in it again.”

  She couldn’t believe what the woman was saying. What about her son, his stunning disappointment, his determination to get the land back
sooner or later? This made no sense. And Grace found herself apologizing.

  “I’m sorry this all happened the way it did, but I promise we’ll take good care of this place.”

  Before Lark could respond, Gabriella came out of the stables with Parrish. “Mom, come and meet Jack’s mother, Lark Carson.”

  She turned to Lark as Gabriella got close. “Lark, this is my mother, Gabriella Michaels.”

  The two women greeted each other, then her mom turned to Grace. “It’s time to get Lilly. It’s a short day today. Do you want me to go?”

  “Lilly is your daughter?” Lark asked.

  “Yes, she is. She’s six, and she loves it here.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Lark said. “I love her name. My Nana Wolf was Lilly Song Wolf.”

  “That’s nice,” Gabriella said.

  “If you’d get her, Mom, that would be great.”

  Lark stepped in. “I have to go to town for a minute. Why don’t you let me drive you in to pick up your Lilly and we can visit?”

  “Would you?”

  “Sure, come on. We’ll get her and stop for an ice cream cone at Oscar’s, if you don’t mind?” She glanced at Grace for confirmation.

  “Oh, no, she’d love it.”

  “Okay, then, let’s go,” Lark said, just the way Jack would have.

  Grace wanted to ask Lark about Jack, where he was, but she kept quiet and watched the two older women climb into the monster of a truck and leave. As they drove out of sight, Grace stood there watching the deserted drive. Parrish must have gone back into the stables, because no one was in sight. She felt alone, not a bad feeling, even with an added restlessness that made her want to do something, but she didn’t know what.

  She went back to the house, got her camera, then wandered around outside taking random shots. An hour later, she was on the stone steps again, going over the new photos. She clicked back to the ones of Jack. Did he look sad in them, or was he just serious? She couldn’t figure him out. One minute he seemed to want to be close to her, to spend time with her, and the next he was leaving with barely a goodbye.

  If things were only different. But that really wouldn’t change the situation. There was the whole issue with the ranch, and she had Lilly to think of. She’d made bad choices in the past and couldn’t risk making another one. And it was obvious Jack still loved his late wife—not a great start for them to get to know each other. Maybe they could at least be friends. She’d like that, if that’s all she could have from him. She’d really like that.

  She was ready to go inside when she heard the engine, then the black truck was rumbling up to the house. Lilly jumped out of the passenger side, followed by Gabriella and Lark. The traces of chocolate ice cream were still on Lilly’s face.

  Gabriella came up to her granddaughter, took her hand, and spoke to Grace. “A good day at school and a better time at Oscar’s, as you can see.” She tugged Lilly’s hand. “Come on inside and let’s get you cleaned up. But first, thank Mrs. Carson for the treat.”

  “Thank you for the ice cream,” Lilly said with great seriousness.

  “We’ll do it again, okay?”

  “Okay,” Lilly said, then her grandmother took her inside.

  When they were gone, Lark turned to Grace, her expression serious now. “I think I need to say something to you, and I don’t want you to take it in a bad way. But, no matter what you hear, or what Jack might say, I am very pleased that you and your family are in this place. It feels right to me.”

  That was the last thing Grace had expected to hear. “Do you mean that?”

  “Yes, absolutely.”

  “Oh, thank you. Everyone in town’s so nice, but you can tell they think I’m an interloper who doesn’t belong here.” She could feel heat in her face, and she added quickly, “I don’t mean that they’re unkind, but it’s been a bit awkward, you know, and I really want to make a permanent home here for Lilly, like your boys had.”

  Lark came closer and hugged Grace. “Sure you do. A mother wants to provide that for her children if she can. This will be the best gift you can ever give her.” Then she stood back.

  “I just....” Grace bit her lip. “I hate the fact that Jack wants this so badly, and I’m keeping it from him because of...circumstances.”

  “Oh, dear, Jack wants this land, that’s true, but it’s not the most important thing that he wants. He wants a place to find an anchor, to rebuild his life.” She looked incredibly sad for a moment. “You know about his wife?”

  Grace nodded. “A little.”

  “He and Robyn, well, they were together from childhood on, then suddenly she was gone. It was like half of him dying. He’s just trying to figure out how to live on his own, and he thinks this place is the answer.”

  Grace felt an ache deep inside her. “I can’t imagine losing someone I love,” she said softly. “If anything happened to Lilly, I don’t know...it’s unthinkable.”

  “Yes, it is,” Lark agreed. “I came close to losing Jack’s dad, a heart attack, oh, not a serious one, but it was terrifying for me. Despite all his problems, he’s my life.”

  Grace knew that she’d never really found that sort of love with a man, not even close. “Well, I’m very grateful that we’re here, and that you aren’t angry that we are.”

  Her smile returned. “Not even close,” Lark said. “I need to get back now. Tell Gabbie that I’ll see her tomorrow, okay?”

  Grace had a thought. “Can I hitch a ride to the mail box at the end of the driveway?”

  “Of course, climb in.”

  Grace went around and opened the door, then grabbed both sides of the frame and used the running board to haul herself up. “This is huge,” she said, sitting back in the soft leather. “Getting in is like trying to get on a horse.”

  “I have to use a step box to help me get on a horse, but not for this thing,” Lark said, laughing.

  When they reached the highway, Grace got out and Lark drove off for home.

  Grace gathered the mail, just two fliers and a thick envelope from the post office, a “welcome” kit filled with lots of information about Wolf Lake. She turned to head back up the drive, but stopped when she heard an engine approaching from the west.

  She thought Lark might be returning for something, or maybe the truck that was bringing their belongings from L.A. was finally arriving. Instead, a red Jeep came into sight and Grace stood absolutely still by the stone post at the gate. Jack. Her pleasure at the sight of him as he slowed to a stop was all out of proportion, but she couldn’t help it. The passenger window rolled down. “I need to talk to you. It won’t take long.”

  There was tension in his expression and it made her uneasy. “I’ve got time right now.”

  He motioned her to get in. “We can talk in here with the air conditioner running.”

  She hesitated, his obvious tension killing the happiness she’d felt moments ago. But she opened the door and climbed in. Jack sat back and let the car idle while the vents blew cool air.

  “What did you need to talk to me about?” she asked.

  “The ranch,” he said.

  Something in her had known this conversation was coming. The other shoe had just fallen. She didn’t miss the intensity in his expression, the lines fanning out from his narrowed eyes. “Okay,” she said, clasping her hands in her lap to keep them from shaking.

  He turned, gripping the top of the steering wheel with both hands so tightly his knuckles grew pale. “If you weren’t here, where would you be?”

  That stopped her thoughts in their tracks. “Excuse me?”

  “You said you’d give living here a chance, but if it doesn’t work out, where would you go?”

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly. She hadn’t let herself make any plans, maybe because she hoped she wouldn’t need to. She just wanted so much to stay here, make a life with her family. The man so close to her was the one who had shown her the uniqueness of the place, its beauty despite the hardships tha
t came with it. And that feeling of peace that overwhelmed her at times, the feeling that she belonged here.

  She took in his dark eyes, the set of his jaw, the strong hands that had rescued her when Lucy had bolted, and a thought came to her that jolted her. Maybe Jack was part of why this land seemed so right. His kindness to her, the help he’d given them with the two horses, riding the boundaries with her, teaching her about windmills and snakes. Maybe she owed more of her love of the land to him than she’d thought. And something in her stopped her from just telling him that she was here for good or bad. That she would never leave. She couldn’t do that to him, and she didn’t even want to try to figure out why she couldn’t hurt him like that.

  “I don’t know,” she repeated softly.

  Jack turned from her. “Okay, that’s none of my business.”

  “I would tell you if I knew,” she said, not sure if she should get out of the Jeep now, “but I don’t know.” She couldn’t say that there was no other place she wanted to be, so why bother choosing an alternative location unless she was forced to. “I really don’t know. I mean, if someone asked you where you’d live if you didn’t live here, what would you say?”

  “Atlanta,” he said in a flat voice.

  She was shocked. “Really? Why?”

  “My wife’s brother, Robert, lives there with his family. I went there over Christmas and almost stayed.” He exhaled. “But I didn’t. I came back here. Honestly, I realized I didn’t want to live anywhere else.”

  * * *