“I didn’t want to talk to him. It was silly, but I hoped I could avoid him.”
“When he approached us at the reception, I saw fear in your eyes. Why?”
“When I left home, he was Josh’s friend. I was afraid he might tell my cousin where I am. Then Josh would tell my mother, and she’d be out here faster than a duck on a June bug.”
“And she’d try to steal your money and generally make your life miserable.”
“Exactly. But she wouldn’t stop there. She’d do anything and everything she could think of to get money out of your family. She’d make y’all miserable too.”
“We could handle your mother. Dad is a wise man who isn’t easily fooled, especially after that incident with our cousin. He also has a lot of contacts in law enforcement and his ever-ready PI.”
“If Mom thinks there is any chance of squeezing money out of a mark, she won’t give up.”
“She’s never come up against the Callahans.”
“Aren’t you smug this morning.”
“Not smug. Just confident in my family’s abilities. Some people think we’re hicks from the sticks because we live out here.” He rocked back and forth in the chair a few times. “But the truth is, Megan, Aidan Callahan was a powerful man and a force to be reckoned with. So are we.”
“Now you’re bragging.”
“Just tellin’ it like it is. Dad’s the head honcho, but he’s taught his children well.”
He plucked a petal from the daisy. “The thing is, sugar, I’m falling in love with you.”
Off came petal number two. “But I don’t really know you.”
Petal number three drifted to the porch. “I care deeply for the woman I’ve come to know.”
Petal number four followed it. “But I’m troubled because she hides too many things from me.”
He laid the flower on the little wrought iron table between them. “Be honest with me, Megan. No more secrets.”
22
Megan couldn’t look at him. No matter what she did, she would lose his respect and his affection. Lose him. She’d had such foolish dreams, even though she’d known they could never come true.
Something Pastor Brad talked about in his sermon a few Sundays earlier came to mind. She couldn’t remember the exact Scripture, but the essence was that if you took Jesus’s teachings to heart and lived by them, then you’d know the truth, and the truth would set you free.
Then the opposite must be true too. If she didn’t live by the things she was learning, she would always be a captive of her past, in a prison of her fears.
As the words echoed in her heart, Megan knew what she had to do, what God wanted her to do. She needed to come clean with Will and his family. It might still destroy the good feelings he had for her, but she would no longer be burdened with the secrets.
“I guess the best way to do this is just to lay it all out there.” She moved around a little, trying to ease a mild backache. “Everyone in my family, except me, is a criminal.”
Will stared at her. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that. “Everybody?”
She nodded and began rocking at a slow, somewhat calming pace. “All of my mom’s family. At least all of them that I know or have ever heard of. I don’t know anything about my dad or his family. Remember when you were telling me about your cousin’s boyfriend attempting to rob Dub and Sue?”
“Yes. You commented that the thief must have been a pro. I had the impression that you knew what you were talking about.”
“My cousin Josh gave safecracking a try at one point, but he wasn’t any good at it. He griped for two weeks because he couldn’t find a pro to give him any tips. He’s pretty smart—in some ways at least. If he couldn’t do it, I figured the man who broke into your dad’s safe had to be a professional.” She’d always wondered how one crook asked another to share his knowledge. Wouldn’t they become competitors?
“Josh is six years older than me. He wasn’t good at opening safes, but he was an expert at stealing cars. He started when he was eighteen, stopped when he was twenty.”
“Did they catch him?”
“No. The guy he was working for was afraid his luck would run out if he kept it up. He was getting too sure of himself and taking too many risks.”
“I assume he didn’t find a real job.”
“Actually, he did. He worked as a bouncer at a bar for about six months. But he didn’t like regular hours or anyone telling him what to do. So he became a burglar. His partner knew security systems. Seemed like they could break in anywhere. Josh thought if he learned to crack safes, they might do better, but they really didn’t need it. They made some big hauls anyway. It’s amazing how many people don’t lock up jewelry and keep cash and extra credit cards lying around.”
“Y’all must have had some strange dinner conversations at your house.” He thought for a second and added, “Nix the dinner part. Maybe over beer and pretzels.”
What he must think of her. But sadly he was right. Discussions of successful thefts and burglaries or planning potential ones had been commonplace whenever the rest of the family was around.
“Option number two, with Josh telling us about it in great detail. Generally, no one was too keen on sharin’ the wealth if there was any. Although Josh bought me some clothes when I was fourteen. It bothered me that he had made the money stealing some lady’s diamonds, but it was a nice change to have something new that my mom hadn’t shoplifted.”
Will stretched out his legs, but the poor man didn’t look comfortable. “Is that how you usually got your clothes?”
“No. Most of the time she only took stuff for herself or to sell. I hated her stealing, and I was relieved when she didn’t get anything for me. It made me nervous to wear anything she swiped. I was always afraid somebody would know and call the cops.
“One time, when I was thirteen, I saw a pair of earrings I wanted in the worst way. They were on clearance and only cost two dollars, but Mom wouldn’t buy them. She pushed me to take them, telling me what a high I’d have when I got away with it. Later I read that a lot of shoplifters do it more for the adrenaline rush than wanting the item. Maybe it explains why she kept stealing even after she went to jail a couple of times.
“I gave in, slipped the earrings into my coat pocket, and walked out of the store. But I didn’t get a thrill out of it. I was really scared, and I felt dirty. I couldn’t stand it. It made me just like her, like all of them. I went back to the store a few days later and slipped the earrings back on the rack. I should have told someone what I did, but I was too afraid.”
“You returned them, that’s what counts. The Lord had his hand on you even then. He gave you a godly conscience when your upbringing should have molded you in the opposite way.”
“That’s a comforting thought. I’ve wondered how I could be so different from the rest of my family.”
Just when she thought he was beginning to relax, he tensed up again, his forehead wrinkling in a frown. “Mike mentioned that Josh was back in San Angelo. Where had he been?”
“In prison. A couple of years after I left home, he and his partner broke into an electronics store. They disconnected the alarm, but a man taking out the garbage at a nearby restaurant noticed their fake delivery truck in the alley. Since it was 1:00 in the morning, he called the police. They caught them red-handed with the truck almost full. I read about it in the San Angelo newspaper online. Plus you can learn a lot about people through public records online.”
She paused for a drink of water, then resumed rocking. “His sentence was for seven years, so he got out early. Unlike Grandpa, Josh didn’t have a hot temper. His daddy always told him to obey the rules if he got caught. Life would be better, and he’d get out quicker.”
Will frowned and sat up straighter. “Had his father been in prison too?”
She nodded and met his gaze. “When I was in the fifth grade, both Uncle Riley and Grandpa were sentenced to two years in a state jail for stealing cattle.”
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Will jumped to his feet and walked the length of the porch and back. “Mike said they’re working together and on the road a lot. Please tell me they aren’t rustling cattle.”
“I’m afraid they may be. Of course, I can’t be sure. It would be totally stupid because Josh has to be on parole.” She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “It gets worse.”
He slumped down in the rocking chair and watched her warily.
“Mike said they’re working Riley’s territory. I assume he meant the one he and Grandpa used to have. It was from San Angelo north to the Caprock, west to Odessa and east to Abilene. They bragged about it being their territory, named ranches that they’d hit. Grandpa threatened to shoot anybody who infringed on it.”
The area included Callahan Crossing and the Callahan Ranch.
“It makes me sick to think about it, but they may have stolen those heifers from y’all a couple of months ago.” If they had, she knew it wouldn’t sit well with Will or his dad, no matter how much they liked her.
“We may never know,” Will said. “Once the cattle are sold, often it’s impossible to trace who took them. Do you really think they’re stealing cattle up this way?”
“Maybe.”
“Were you even going to tell me?”
“I’ve been debating it back and forth. Y’all are already watchful about the cattle. I kept thinking that maybe I didn’t need to say anything, hoping they weren’t anywhere around here.”
Will began to rock. She took some comfort that he was moving the chair at a slow, steady pace, not fast and furious. “Cattle theft has increased all over Texas and many other states. Your uncle may have been at it longer than most of them, but he’s got plenty of competition. Would he follow up on your grandfather’s threat to shoot them?”
“I don’t think so. Riley was always the one who stepped in when Grandpa got rough with us. But I’ve been away from them for a long time. With Josh just out of prison, who knows how they are now.”
“What will they do if you run into them in Callahan Crossing? Won’t they assume that you’ll know what they’re up to?”
“Yes. But I don’t think they would necessarily believe that I’d go to the sheriff.” Looking away, she picked up her glass and set it back down without taking a drink. “I never turned them in before.”
“As you said, you’ve been gone a long time. They won’t know where your loyalty lies, especially since you’re living here at the ranch and working for us.”
Megan frowned. She’d been worrying about the same thing. “They’d have a problem with that, but I don’t know what they’d do about it.”
“Would you turn them in now?”
“What would I tell the sheriff? My relatives are in town, and oh, by the way, they may be rustling cattle?”
“That would do for starters.” There was an edge of irritation in his voice.
Did he think she’d try to protect them? “I can tell him who they are so he can keep on the lookout for them. He’d be able to find out about them easy enough. But he can’t arrest them for simply being in town, can he?”
“Probably not, unless they have an outstanding warrant or something. We have to tell the folks about this.”
“I know. I need to be honest with them about everything.”
“Cut to the chase. Dad is a just-the-facts kind of guy. Leave out the part about Josh trying his hand at safecracking.” When Will stood, she did too.
He surprised her by gently pulling her into his arms. “Thank you for being honest with me. Your kinfolk are a bunch of scoundrels, but you’re a good person, Megan. Don’t ever let anyone make you think you aren’t.”
“I’m afraid your parents won’t agree with you.”
“Dad won’t be happy about the possible rustling, but he’s a fair man. He won’t judge you by your relatives. I’ll be right there to back you up.”
“Will, why would you do that?”
Tipping up her chin gently with his fingertips, he kissed her lightly but with aching sweetness. He picked up the daisy and plucked another petal from the flower. “There, we ended on the right one.”
He loves me.
23
To Megan’s relief, none of Will’s siblings and their families were at the ranch house for dinner. Ace and Ramona ate quickly and left to go to Sweetwater for dentist appointments. Megan helped Sue with the dishes while Will and his dad discussed what work the hired hands needed to do later in the week.
When she and Sue joined them in the living room, she knew from Dub’s thoughtful expression that Will had told him she wanted to talk to them. Will sat on one end of the couch, so she sat down in the middle, next to him. Dub was in his big chair, and Sue sat near him on the other couch.
Sue glanced at her son and husband, and asked, “What did we miss?”
“Nothin’ yet.” Dub searched Megan’s face. “Will said Megan wants to tell us about her family.”
“Oh.” Sue gave her a bright smile. “Good.”
“Not really,” Megan said quietly. “I’ve shared a few things with Will, but I don’t know how much he’s told you. I’m guessing you know by now that my birth name was Moon Beam Smith.”
Dub nodded. “Courtesy of your hippie mama. Reckon it could have been worse. I met a girl once who went by Cosmic Yucca.”
“Where in the world did you meet her?” Sue asked.
“One of my army buddies went out with her.” He winked at his wife. “Don’t worry, honey, the yucca part was an accurate description of her personality.”
Sue shook her head and grinned at Dub. “Sorry, Megan. Go on with your story.”
Some story. A melodrama with bad actors more accurately described it.
“I don’t know anything about my father or his family. Mom divorced him shortly after I was born. My mother doesn’t stay with a man very long. She’s had three husbands, and I don’t know how many boyfriends. Like I told Will, basically she’s a drunk and freeloader.” She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “And a thief.”
Dub and Sue exchanged a quick look.
“Mostly shoplifting. And picking pockets.” She felt Will tense. Glancing up at him, she grimaced. “Sorry, I should have told you about the pickpocket part.”
“Her mother used their food stamps to get party money,” Will said, a faint thread of anger in his voice.
Megan knew he meant well and was trying to win their sympathy, but she hadn’t wanted to share that embarrassing part of her life with them. It had been hard enough to tell Will about it.
“Did you have food?” Sue’s face softened with concern.
“Yes.” When Will snorted, she slipped her hand around his and squeezed, hoping he’d take the hint not to elaborate. “There wasn’t a big variety, but I didn’t starve.”
“Barely,” muttered Will, causing both Dub and Sue to frown.
“That’s all in the past, and not worth fretting over now.” She eased her hand away from Will’s.
“So you figured you’d be better off on your own and left home,” Dub said quietly.
“Yes, sir. But my mom isn’t the only problem. You need to know about the rest of my family. Y’all have men like Aidan Callahan. My great-great-grandfather was a cattle rustler and bank robber.”
Dub tipped his head slightly, a faint smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “We had a distant female cousin a few generations back who ran off with an outlaw. Most families can probably find a desperado somewhere in the family tree.”
“I don’t know of anyone in my mother’s family tree that was an honest person.” That made their eyes widen in surprise. “When I was in elementary school, my grandfather and uncle went to jail for two years for cattle rustling. Later, Grandpa went back to prison for robbing a convenience store and shooting and wounding the clerk. He died in prison of a heart attack.” Dub and Sue were beginning to appear very uncomfortable.
“My cousin Josh used to steal cars. Never got caught. Then he became a burglar. His
partner knew all about security systems and alarms, so they were able to break in just about anywhere.”
“What do you mean by anywhere?” asked Dub.
“They focused mostly on rich people’s homes, but occasionally hit stores. They were caught robbing an electronics store because a restaurant worker spotted their truck in the alley. Josh went to prison for seven years. But he got out early. I guess for good behavior.”
“When was this?” Dub propped one boot up on the ottoman coffee table.
“Five years ago.” She could practically see Will’s dad running the numbers in his head. He knew she left home at sixteen. “I read about his arrest in the San Angelo paper online and learned of his conviction and sentence through public records online.
“You probably know that I saw an old friend, Mike Craig, at Lindsey and Dalton’s wedding. He told me that Josh was back home. Mike and my cousin were friends for a short time when I was in high school. I think once Mike realized what Josh was up to, he stayed clear of him.”
Will picked up the story. “Mike told her that Josh and her Uncle Riley were working together, on the road a lot, and covering her uncle’s territory.”
“Josh didn’t say what they were doing,” said Megan. “Or if he did, Mike didn’t catch it. He was at a convenience store when they ran into each other. They may be working at an honest job, but I’m afraid Josh meant that they’re rustling cattle. Maybe in this area.”
Dub’s boot hit the floor as he sat up straight. “Why do you think that?”
She explained about the territory her uncle and grandfather used to work when they were rustling. “So they may have been the ones who stole your cattle.”
To call Dub’s expression thunderous was an understatement.
“It’s just as possible that they weren’t,” Sue said softly. “Why don’t we have Peters look into it?”
Dub nodded. “What are their names?”
“Riley and Joshua Richmond. I really hope I’m wrong. Uncle Riley wasn’t too bad. He’d get legitimate jobs sometimes, but he never stayed with them too long. He did sell some of the things Josh stole though.”
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