by Sable Hunter
Work proved to be cathartic, Tricia found a rhythm and she followed it, turning out one floral tribute after another. She took a break around noon and called Bryn Harmon to introduce herself and follow up on Avery’s offer of employment. They agreed to meet and Bryn seemed excited about the prospect of working at the florist shop.
About the middle of the afternoon, she heard the back door open and knew Kristen had arrived. “I’m glad you’re here, girl. You have your work cut out for you.”
“Great!” Kristen seemed to always be in a good mood. “How are you feeling?”
“Oh, I’m good.” As she began to carry the arrangements to the van, Tricia stopped to help her. “Did you know I’ve never received flowers from a guy?”
Kristen was flabbergasted. “Seriously? How is that possible?”
Tricia shrugged. “I haven’t been on that many dates.” Two, if you counted the night she’d spent with Lance. “I guess now that I own a florist shop, I could send them to myself. I don’t really want to wait until I die, like this poor guy, to get them.” She picked up the card that accompanied a stand of mums. “Rooster McGruder. Isn’t that a strange name?”
“It is an unfortunate name,” Kristen agreed. “But he did get some nice flowers.” She continued to load the wreaths and potted plants, but just before finishing, she stopped and glanced at Tricia with an expectant smile. “Speaking of dates, Miss Yeager, I have one this weekend.”
“You do?” Tricia squealed with delight. “Who with?”
“Nathan McCoy.” She smiled as she blushed. “He’s so cute.”
“Oh, he is.” Tricia agreed. “Nathan is a very nice guy. So, where are you going?”
“Into Austin, to a movie and dinner.” Kristen grasped her heart. “I’m trying to decide what to wear.”
“Oh, you’ll be lovely in anything you choose.” Her mind began to weave a fantasy of her own. As Kristen drove off to make the delivery to the funeral home, Tricia imagined what it would be like if Lance called and asked her out to dinner. She pretended that none of the bad things between them ever happened. In her daydream, Lance kissed her awake the morning after they made love. When he left, he promised to call later in the day and when he did, he told her he would be by to take her out on the town, a real date.
Tricia closed the shop in a daze as her fantasy continued.
* * *
“This is the life, I don’t think I could be happy doing anything else. Could you imagine sitting behind a desk all day and adding numbers on a calculator?” Denver kept his eye on the right flank of the large herd of Santa Gertrudis they were guiding down from the foothills into the green pasture land closer to the river.
“No, ranch work is all I know,” Lance muttered, guiding his horse to coax one rambunctious steer back into place.
“How long have you been with the McCoy’s?” Denver asked, pulling his hat down over his eyes to shade them from the afternoon sun.
“Too long.”
Lance’s answer surprised Denver. “No kidding? Can I have your job?”
“Unfortunately, no. The only way I’d want to leave Tebow is if I had a place of my own and that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.” The nest egg he’d spent years building had gone for Skye’s legal defense, not that he resented it, he would’ve given everything he owned to save his sister.
“I hear you.” Denver understood. “There’s a lot to be said for job security.”
Lance cut away to the right when he saw a mama cow take off after a wandering calf. Really, all he had to do was nudge his mount in the right direction. Once the experienced mare caught sight of the errant pair, she knew just what to do. All he had to do was hang on for the ride. This is what he needed, a day out of the ranch office, where he could feel the sun on his skin and the wind on his face.
“Hey, Boss, do you know a lot about how women think?”
Denver’s question struck Lance as funny. He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, hell, no. They’re a damn mystery to me.” His inability to reconcile Tricia’s sweet nature with her secrets and lies was a prime example. “Having problems with Bryn?”
“No, not exactly.” Denver clicked his tongue to coax his horse to pick up the pace. “We had a good time on our date the other night, I thought. I took her out to dinner and over to the game arcade. When the evening was over, I tried to kiss her goodnight and she evaded me.”
“Evaded you, like a duck and weave?” Lance chuckled. “Maybe because you took a grown woman out to play kid games? She probably would rather kiss a man’s man.”
Denver shot him the finger. “She enjoys video games. It was her idea.” He frowned, deep in thought. “No, it’s something else. I just can’t put my finger on it. She seems to want to be around me, she just doesn’t want me to touch her.”
“Now, that could be a problem.” Lance sympathized with his employee. His thoughts flew to Tricia. She’d enjoyed his touch, or appeared to. He didn’t think she would fake something like that, but she sure had conned him about who she was. The woman never let on she was from a moneyed background. She’d never acted like she thought she was better than him.
“I like her, Lance. There’s just something about her. She’s real, no put on. You know what I mean?”
“Yea. I understand what you mean. Just be careful, Denver. Women are different than men.”
“Thank God for the difference!” Denver laughed.
“No, I mean they think differently. Most of their decisions are made on an emotional level, rather than logically.” He let out a harsh breath. “Just be careful. I would hate to see you get hurt. Take your time getting to know a girl, before you let your heart get away from you.”
“Have you been hurt, Boss?”
“Me?” Lance started not to answer truthfully. Maintaining his macho image in the sight of his men was important. Oh, hell, he was human. “Yea, I’ve been hurt. I was falling in love with someone and I found out she lied to me.”
“Tricia?”
“Does everybody know my business, Bolden?”
“Well, the ranch is big, but not that big.” Denver fidgeted in his saddle under Lance’s hard gaze. “People talk.”
“Well, this conversation is over. Let’s get these animals where they need to be.”
“Yes, sir.” Denver seemed properly chastised.
Over the next hour, they continued to move the hundred head of cattle across the rolling field. Lance’s mind hashed and rehashed his last meeting with Tricia. If the truth were known, he’d have to confess that the first sight of her in the restaurant had made his heart leap with joy. His body missed her. His soul missed her. He wished he could reconcile the knowledge in his head with the longing in his heart.
As they neared the pasture they were aiming for, Denver pointed to a rider headed their way. “Looks like your sister, Boss.”
“You’re right, she’s coming fast. I must be in trouble.”
When she drew closer, Lance was sure he was right. Skye had her back up about something. Her dark eyes flashed at him. She looked to be on the warpath. “What’s wrong, Princess?”
“I need to talk to you.” She cut her eyes toward Denver. “Alone. Now.”
Denver raised his eyebrows at Lance. “I can finish this up.”
“We’re close, Skye. Let me open the gate for Denver and as he guides the herd through, you and I can talk.”
She nodded, her lips pressed together in a straight line.
Lance did as he said, opened the gate and pulled his horse back behind it, giving the animals plenty of room to go through. Denver circled the herd from the rear, easing them forward, ready to take after any strays.
Skye’s mount sidled up next to his, unused to being so close to so many cattle.
Lance hoped to God this wasn’t about Tricia. He had no desire to defend his actions to his sister. “What’s on your mind?”
“I was in your office just now, retrieving some reports so Noah could file the paperwork on the la
nd he’s wanting to designate as a protected watershed.”
“Okay.” So far, Lance didn’t see a problem. “Did you find a mistake in my figures?”
“No, I answered your phone.” She looked at him with darts in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you took out a loan to pay the lawyer?”
Damn, he hadn’t been expecting this. He wondered if his previous thoughts had conjured up this confrontation. “What do you think a brother is for?”
“You went into debt for me! Don’t you think I’d want to know?”
Lance could tell she was hurt. “Look, I’d do it a thousand times over.” He still hated to remember how Skye had suffered after he’d left home at seventeen. If he’d had any idea she would be subjected to such unfair treatment and racial prejudice, he would’ve moved heaven and earth to keep her with him. “Don’t you know how guilty I feel about what happened to you?”
Skye tightened her hold on the reins as her horse sidestepped. “Don’t you know I love you? I can’t stand the thought of you doing without anything you want or need because of me! I’ll have Noah pay you back.”
Lance took off his hat and held it in his hands. “Oh, no, you won’t. This happened before you met Noah and I’m not going to him with my hat in hand. Having you near me and knowing you’re safe is worth it all.”
“You used the money that you intended for a down payment on your own ranch and you went into debt in the process.”
“I have a good job, Skye. I’m near you. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not fine. You were cheated! Lance, I remember every word you ever told me about Shenandoah. I only wish I could’ve seen it. My heart aches that you lost your birthright. Please, let us help you.”
“I don’t need help. I’ll make my own way with no help from anyone.” He was adamant, his eyes flashing. “If I can’t do it myself, I’d rather not have it.”
“You’re stubborn!” Leaning over and placing her hand over his as it rested on his saddle horn, she frowned at her brother. “You came to me when I needed you the most. I have Noah. I have Blue Dawn. I have a home and I have you. Can’t you see that I want to share your life, Brother? We must stick together. Please don’t shut me out. Don’t shut Tricia out, she loves you.”
Lance hardened his heart. “I want you and your family in my life. Tricia is another story. There are things you don’t know, things that I’m not prepared to tell you – not yet.” The temptation Marcelle Lambert had thrown in his lap galled him. He still couldn’t fathom the game she was playing with him. All he could come up with was that this bargain was some kind of sick trick. Hell, if marriage was what Tricia wanted, all she would’ve had to do was keep that picture hidden and bide her time. Didn’t she know he’d been head over spurs for her? If she’d just waited a little while, he would’ve had a ring on her finger and headed to the altar. No, it just didn’t make sense.
He wanted Shenandoah back, there was no doubt about it.
But not this way.
He’d longed for Tricia. No other woman had ever touched him the way she did.
But not this way.
Tying the two together tainted them both.
Now, he wouldn’t get anything he wanted.
Maybe, he was a fool.
“I don’t understand what happened with you and Tricia, but that’s not the most important thing.” His sister threw her regal head back and gave him a hard stare with her coal black eyes. “I am on your side, Lance. I won’t be mean to Tricia. When we’re together, I can see the hurt in her eyes. Whatever happened, she had no intention of betraying you or hurting you.” Skye held up both hands in surrender. “Nevertheless, you are my brother and my loyalty is to you. But please, don’t shut me out. Don’t carry burdens alone when Noah and I are here to help you.”
“I don’t need any help.”
Skye shook her head. “I hope you don’t live to regret the decisions you’re making.”
“I do too, Skye. I do too.”
She leaned over to kiss him, then nudged her mount to ride away.
Lance sat there and stared until his sister rode over the horizon, deep in thought. Had he made a mistake? Should he have just fallen into line and accepted Marcelle’s deal? Some men probably would have. But he wasn’t most men.
“All done, Boss. They’re settling down to graze. I’m going to head back. You ready?”
“Yea, I’m ready.”
Thankfully, Denver seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts and they made the ride back in silence.
After seeing to his horse, Lance stopped by his office to make sure there were no more messages. He hated Skye had learned about the debt he owed, but maybe it was for the best. Secrets never failed to come out. He wondered if Tricia had regrets about the secret that tore them apart.
He did.
Mountains of regret, but a mountain he couldn’t climb.
Settling down in his desk chair, Lance checked his messages. Seeing one from Zane, the family’s attorney, he placed a return call.
“Zane, this is Lance. What can I help you with?”
“We’ve got problems.”
Lance leaned forward over his desk, his hand going automatically to palm a paperweight. “What kind of problems?”
“I haven’t called Noah and Skye yet, I wanted to talk to you first.”
“What about?” He felt a tingle of apprehension wiggle up his spine.
“I was contacted by the paternal grandfather of Skye’s baby. He’s suing for custody.”
Lance sucked in much needed oxygen. Skye would be devastated if someone took Blue away from her. “I thought the natural father waved his rights.”
“He did, but his family thinks they shouldn’t have been left out of the equation.”
“What does this mean? What kind of shot do they have? Can they take the baby?”
Zane sighed. “Not so fast. I’m working on the answers to those questions. Right now, I’ve blocked the suit. I talked to the judge and explained the situation. She agrees the baby should be left where she is now until a determination can be made if the father’s family has any rights.”
“Oh, hell. How am I going to tell Skye?”
“I don’t know, buddy. I’ll certainly be available if you need me to talk to her. I felt the news would be easier coming from you.”
“I don’t know about that, I’m not in her good graces right now. She found out I went into debt to get her out of prison.” Not to mention her discontent over his love life.
“Well, you’re her brother, you know her better than anyone.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Lance hung up the phone with a heavy heart.
He felt deluged by problems.
“When it rains, it pours.” He sighed as he pushed to his feet. “What in the hell am I going to do now?”
* * *
“Just put this hospital gown on and we’ll get this test over quickly.”
Tricia submitted to the nurse’s assistance. “Will this take long?”
“About twenty minutes, but you’ll have to lie still.”
This was her first brain scan. Tricia didn’t really like the idea of lying in the sarcophagus shaped machine for so long. “I’m a bit claustrophobic. I hope I can do this.”
“Oh, we’ll pipe some soothing music in there. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“If you say so.” She let the nurse help her to lie back.
“Do you want something under your knees?”
“No, I’m good.”
The nurse patted Tricia on the shoulder. “I can see you’re worried, don’t be. We’re not going to be using any gadolinium today.”
“Any what?”
“Usually we shoot a solution into your blood stream that serves as a magnetic contrast. The doctor opted not to do that today, we don’t want to do anything that might risk the health of that baby. Right?”
Tricia was lying still, but every cell in her body froze. “Baby? What baby?”
“Your baby.”
“I don’t have a baby.”
The nurse laughed. “You will.” At Tricia’s confused expression, she picked up the chart. “It says so right here. You didn’t know?”
“I didn’t know,” Tricia said slowly, her mind blowing over the news. Now, she remembered her late period. “God, so much has been going on. I forgot about my period.” This was an impossible situation. A baby? “How far along am I?” Stupid question. She’d had sex once.
“It’s early. A couple of weeks, maybe?”
“Oh, God.” Tricia hoped she didn’t throw up. This explained a lot. The queasiness. The fatigue. She’d been blaming everything on the epilepsy. She closed her eyes as the reality of her situation washed over her. How would she manage?
A baby, in her condition.
“Just relax. Everything will be fine. A baby is always good news.”
The positive outlook of the nurse didn’t do much to assuage Tricia’s fears. She held her breath as the mechanical platform she rested on slid back into the cavernous machine. “Twenty minutes, huh?”
“That’s right. Take a nap.”
Tricia wouldn’t be napping. She’d be worrying.
As she lay there, she tried to get a handle on her condition. A baby. A baby! Could she do it? Oh, the shop made her a decent living. She had a place to live. Insurance wasn’t a problem. Daycare would be unnecessary, she could put a playpen down in the shop. The baby’s presence would probably draw customers and she could keep it with her all the time. Her little boy or little girl would have a playmate in David McCoy. A smile played on her lips. “A baby?” she whispered. “Lance’s baby.”
Peace enveloped her.
Yes, she wanted the baby.
More than anything.
Another thought swamped her. She’d have to tell him. It was only fair. She didn’t want anything from him. She wouldn’t be asking for anything - - but he needed to know. She would tell him before word got out. Knowing how news of her epilepsy reached his ears so quickly, Tricia resolved to speak to him as soon as possible.
