by Alice Ward
“Come on, Frost. Let’s make your mommy a plate before she wastes away,” he cooed as he stepped through the door. My heart was full and content as I followed my little family into the cabin.
***
“You look nice,” James said as I stepped into the kitchen. I smoothed the jacket of my black suit and poured myself a cup of coffee.
“Thanks,” I replied as I joined him at the kitchen table. “Do I look professional enough?” When I arrived home from Denver, I called the DA’s office and faxed over Thunder’s paperwork. The prosecuting attorney had filed to amend the charges against Bradley. James, Matt, and I were about to go to the courthouse for the hearing.
“You look like a classy business lady,” he assured me. “Should I go back to the cabin and get my blazer?”
I shook my head. James already looked perfect in soft grey slacks, a white dress shirt, and a deep green tie that complimented the golden flecks in his eyes. “It’s too hot outside. I’ll probably melt before we get to the courtroom. Did you get Frost settled in the barn?”
James grinned. “Not exactly. We were on our way down there and Dallas spotted us. Frost will be getting his first cattle herding lesson while we’re in town today. And Huck wants to train him to ride on the ATVs.”
“Lord, we’re gonna have to get three more of them if we ever want to get our puppy back,” I laughed.
A knock echoed through the house and we heard the front door open. “Willow?” Matt called out.
James and I rose to our feet and met him in the hallway. Matt was dressed almost identical to James, but his slacks were khaki and his tie was blue.
“Good morning. We’re ready when you are,” I told him.
Matt nodded and turned back towards the front door. “I’m sure you’re even more ready to get this over with than I am. What did the prosecutor say when you talked to him yesterday?” he asked as we stepped outside. He pulled his keys from his pants pocket and we all walked towards his truck.
“He said that we should have no problem getting the charges amended,” I said. James held open the passenger door and offered me his hand. I took it and he helped me into the truck before sliding into the backseat.
“He also said that with the video evidence, there’s no way Bradley will get off,” I continued after Matt climbed behind the wheel.
“I can’t wait to see that bastard get what’s coming to him,” James said as Matt pulled down the driveway.
My stomach tied in knots as I thought about facing Bradley again. Lucas had destroyed the pictures and given Bradley plenty of incentive to keep his mouth shut about James and me, but I knew that there was still a chance he’d tell our secret… especially now, when he had very little left to lose.
“I’m not looking forward to seeing Dale and Jan,” I confessed. “I know they’re going to pressure us into dropping the charges… do they even know about what happened to Daddy?”
I’d spoken with my father several times a day since I’d left Denver, but I hadn’t asked if he’d heard from his former best friend.
Matt cleared his throat and stared straight ahead. “Lucas told Dale not long after I left the ranch on Sunday. He showed up pissed off and demanding to talk to Cole. Lucas told him what happened and basically kicked him off the property.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
He shrugged. “To be honest, with everything else that’s been going on I didn’t even think about it.”
I crossed my legs and frowned. I couldn’t believe Dale’s nerve. Bradley tried to kill two innocent animals and stole another, and his father expected us to roll over and take it with a smile.
“Maybe they won’t be confrontational, since they know what you’re dealing with,” James suggested hopefully.
“I doubt it,” I snorted. “I don’t know how we were ever friends with these people.”
I stared out the window and watched pasture land rush by as Matt drove towards Durango, paying careful attention to the homes we passed. I’d become fascinated by architecture since I’d decided to build my own house. I silently debated the pros and cons of two story verses ranch style and before I knew it, we were pulling up at the courthouse.
“Ready or not, here we are,” Matt said as he slid the truck into park.
“And there they are,” I added, staring up at the stone courthouse steps. Bradley and his parents were standing on the landing.
“If you want, we can wait here until they go inside,” James suggested. “I know you don’t want to cause a scene or make this any harder than it already is.”
I shook my head. I didn’t relish the thought of facing the Millers, but I wasn’t going to cower away from them. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said. “I have no reason to hide.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out of the truck. Matt and James did the same and both offered me their arm as we stepped towards the courthouse. I took Matt’s and whispered “sorry” to James. He gave me a silent nod as we approached the staircase. We were halfway up when Dale called down to us.
“Just the people I want to talk to,” he said. The whole family sneered down at us, their hands on their hips.
God, it’s like they rehearsed this.
“We have nothing to talk about, Dale,” I called back, my eyes fixed on the door.
We just have to get inside.
“Oh, I think we have plenty to talk about,” Dale said, his voice hard, his words clipped.
We reached the top of the stairs and Dale stepped in front of us, blocking our path to the door.
“Listen Dale, you need to back off,” James said, his voice patient but firm.
Dale turned to him, his face full of rage. “I don’t take orders from disgusting sister fuckers,” he spat.
I felt my face flush and watched James’s turn a deep shade of red. Matt tightened his grip on my arm, while Bradley and his mother stood a few feet away acting like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
“That’s right,” Dale continued. “I know all about the two of you and your disgusting relationship. Bradley told me everything. And to think, Willow. I used to believe you were good enough for my son.”
His condescending attitude was more than I could take. I straightened my back and stared at him, determined to stand up for myself. I narrowed my eyes and put my hands on my hips.
“I can’t believe you ever thought your piece of shit son was good enough for me,” I hissed. “I don’t know what Bradley told you and I don’t care. You can’t prove anything. But I can,” I finished with an evil smile.
“Our lawyer will get those surveillance tapes tossed out of evidence,” he growled. “You should save us all a bunch of time and drop the charges today. I’d hate for my dear friend Cole to hear about what you and James have been up to and have another heart attack.”
I couldn’t believe he was trying to use Daddy’s heart attack to blackmail me. Rage boiled through my body and James stiffened beside me.
“I wasn’t talking about the surveillance tapes, though good luck getting them thrown out,” I snorted. “I was talking about your financial ledgers. You know. The ones that prove you’ve been embezzling from your own company. ”
Dale’s mouth dropped and he visibly shrank in front of me.
“I guess Bradley left that out when he was telling everyone’s secrets,” I continued, still furious. “Let’s just say a friend stumbled across the info and saved it for a rainy day. I won’t drop the charges against Bradley, because your son is a criminal. So are you. And if you push me one inch, I’ll make sure the IRS gets copies of your ledgers. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a hearing to get to.”
I took Matt’s arm again. As we pushed past Dale and stepped into the courthouse, I felt like I was floating on air.
***
“Hi Daddy, how are you feeling today?” I held my phone to my ear with one hand and brushed Glory’s mane with the other.
“I’m feel
ing pretty good, pumpkin,” he assured me. “I did six laps around the cardiac floor today. Dr. Gulley’s confident I’ll be able to come home on Monday.”
“It’s about time,” I said, hoping the tone of my voice reflected the smile on my face. “James and I were thinking about driving up to visit on Saturday.”
“I’d love to see you, but I hate for you to make such a long trip. Besides, don’t you have a new baby to take care of? How’s my granddog doing?”
I glanced at Frost. He was curled up on a mound of hay, gnawing on a small deer antler.
“He’s already spoiled rotten,” I laughed. “He thinks he’s the king of the ranch.”
“And the foals, they’re both recovering well?”
I gritted my teeth, then relaxed my jaw to assure him, “Bradley still refuses to say what he gave them. But yes, they both seem to be back to their old selves.”
“Have you heard from the prosecutor since the hearing yesterday?”
“Yes, that’s actually why I’m calling,” I said. I hung the horse brush on the tack wall and leaned against the countertop. “Bradley’s attorney called the DA’s office this morning and accepted the plea deal.”
The judge had no problem amending the charge against Bradley from petty theft to grand larceny. With my permission, the prosecuting attorney offered him a plea deal. Accepting it meant Bradley would serve four years in jail, as opposed to the ten to twenty he would have faced if he’d been convicted at trial.
“I hate this for Dale and Jan,” Daddy sighed. “But I’m glad to see Bradley get what he deserves. Anything else going on I should know about?”
“I’m meeting with Stan Travers this afternoon,” I said. “We’re going over my plans for the barn expansion and my house. In fact, I think I see his truck pulling up the driveway now.”
“Well, that’s exciting! Tell Stan I said hello and call me after the meeting. I can’t wait to hear about your plans.” It was obvious that after almost a week in the hospital, Daddy was getting stir crazy. I was relieved that he’d be home soon, where he could relax and heal the way he needed to.
“I’ll call as soon as Stan leaves,” I promised. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, pumpkin.”
I ended the call and slid my phone into my pocket, just as Stan’s truck pulled to a stop outside the barn. I walked out to greet him, shielding my face from the sun with my left hand while offering him my right.
“Good to see you, Willow,” Stan said with a smile.
“You too, Stan. Thanks for coming out. I thought we’d start here and then we can ride out to my build site.”
“That works for me,” he agreed.
We stepped into the barn and I led him to my office. He sat down in front of my makeshift desk and I pulled two bottles of water from the mini-fridge before taking my seat across from him.
“How’s Cole? We were all real sorry to hear about his heart attack,” Stan said, twisting the cap off of his bottle. He took a long gulp while I replied.
“Thank you, he’s doing much better. I was just on the phone with him and the doctors say he’ll be able to come home on Monday.”
Stan nodded. “You know a man’s done something right when his family wants to stay close by. Your new stepbrother called me yesterday, said he may be building out here too.”
I choked on my sip of water and Stan jumped from his seat. “Are you okay?” he asked as I cleared my throat.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Sorry, I guess I swallowed too quickly.”
James has never said anything to me about building his own place… why would he even need to? If things work out between us, he can live in my house. And if things don’t… I can’t imagine he’d want to stay here.
“That happens,” Stan said with a nod, settling back into his chair. “Anyway, let’s get down to business. What do you have in mind for the barn? It looks like you have ample space already…”
“That’s because all of the horses are outside being worked,” I explained. “As it stands now, I don’t have a spare stall. And I plan on increasing my stock by at least double.”
“Do you have a copy of the floor plans, as it stands now?”
I nodded and pulled the blueprints from the drawer. “This is the entire facility, actually,” I said. “The pasture, the walkers and round pens… they’re all laid out here.”
Stan silently studied the plans while I racked my brain, wondering why James had called the contractor.
“I’m assuming that all of the equipment placement is flexible?” Stan asked, staring down at the blueprints.
I cleared my throat again and nodded. “Yes, I know the only direction we can expand is into the pasture. I can move all of the outside equipment to fit the new space. And if I need to, I can push back the east fence to expand the grazing area.”
“Perfect,” Stan announced, looking up at me. “Do you mind if I keep these?” he asked, tapping the plans.
“Those are yours,” I assured him with a wave.
“Great, thank you. Let me show you what immediately came to mind.” He pushed his chair away from the table and I followed him out of the office.
“What we could do is build an addition off the back that’s not quite as long as this area, but twice as wide,” he said, gesturing to the pasture. “We could turn your current office into a storage closet and build you a proper space in the addition.”
“It would be nice to have a professional place to meet with people,” I agreed. “I’d also like to add a bathroom.”
“That won’t be a problem,” he assured me. “I’m assuming you’ll want plenty of sinks and wash stations as well?”
“Definitely,” I said with a nod. Excitement coursed through me as I imagined my new barn.
“Give me a few days and I’ll draw up some plans for the addition,” Stan said. “Once I have everything down on paper, we’ll meet again and you can make any changes.”
“Sounds good. I’d like to get started as soon as possible. Do you have an idea of how long it will take to build?”
“Not nearly as long as the house,” he replied. “I have a great crew. I’d say a month, six weeks tops.”
“I can’t wait.” I beamed. “So, ready to ride out to my lot? It’s better if we take one of the ATVs. We haven’t cut a real driveway yet.”
“No problem, lead the way,” he agreed.
Stan followed me out of the barn and I spotted a battered red sports car coming down the driveway.
Who the hell is that?
“We’ll take this one here,” I told Stan, pointing at an ATV. “I’ll be with you in just a second.”
I stepped to the edge of the driveway and the car slowed to a stop beside me. I couldn’t make out the driver until the dark tented window began to lower.
What the fuck is she doing here?
I plastered a fake smile across my face as I stared down at Katelyn. I hadn’t seen her since the night I walked in to the Aztec rodeo and found her attached to James’s face. “Hi… can I help you?” I asked tensely.
“I hope so,” she replied, a look of annoyance flashing across her lovely her face. “I’m looking for James Parker. A couple of people told me I could find him here.”
“He may be up at his cabin,” I told her. “You can park at the main house and walk around back. His place is the first on the right.”
“Thanks,” she said, already rolling up her window. Katelyn sped up the driveway while I walked backwards towards the ATV. She pulled up next to the house and my heart hit my stomach as I watched her awkwardly climb out of the car.
Is she…? No, she can’t be…
“Willow, is everything okay?” Stan asked. “We can look at the house lot later if something’s come up.”
I snapped my attention back to him. “No, it’s fine. We can go now.”
I slid behind the steering wheel and put the ATV in reverse. We backed up, and I threw a final glance over my shoulder before putting the tra
nsmission in drive. There was no mistaking it. Katelyn had just shown up at the ranch with a tiny but obvious baby bump.
CHAPTER 3
I dreaded going back to the house and facing James, so I came up with excuses to linger at the build site much longer than necessary. I showed Stan exactly where I wanted my house to sit and he explained the pros and cons of each floor plan I’d picked out before our meeting. I finally decided on a very modern two story with lots of glass, natural wood, and rock.
“We’ll be able to harvest plenty of the materials right off the land,” Stan said. “That will keep some of the costs down.”
I glanced down at my phone. We’d been away from the main house for an hour and a half, but I wasn’t confident Katelyn would be gone yet. I looked up at Stan.
“There are some great rock piles up in the mountains. If you want, we could ride up and look at them,” I suggested.
He stared at the sky behind me and frowned. “I’d love to, but I think we’ll have to take a rain check… literally.”
I turned around and saw thick, black storm clouds rolling across the horizon. “Wow, those came out of nowhere. I hope we can get home before the storm hits.”
We slid onto the front seat of the ATV and I drove towards the main house. I was too anxious about what I’d find there to make polite conversation, but Stan seemed perfectly comfortable with the silence. Relief washed over me when we neared the house and I saw that Katelyn’s car was gone. But the relief was short lived. My stomach clenched again when I spotted James waiting on the porch. I felt his eyes on me as I pulled up outside the barn next to Stan’s truck.
“Thanks so much for coming out today,” I said as I climbed out of the ATV.
“Thank you for giving me the jobs,” Stan replied with a smile. “I’ll get the barn plans drawn up first. We can turn our attention to the house once the expansion is underway.”
“Sounds good to me,” I agreed. We shook hands and Stan climbed in his truck. I walked straight into the barn, hoping in vain that James would leave me alone.
I was greeted with a bark and looked down to see Frost waiting in his kennel. I walked over, dropped to my knees, and unlocked the gate. My sweet puppy jumped into my arms and covered my face with kisses.
