by Sara Orwig
“I know he wants to lease the land and he wants the mineral rights. I think he intends to drill gas wells. I’ve gotten several calls from energy companies, geologists. I told you a while back, Dad, for right now, I’m talking to three companies to see which one will be the best deal for us. None of them belong to Jake. I’ll let you know before I do anything. I want you to approve.”
“Thanks, that’s very nice, Madison. I’m sure Mom and I will be happy with whatever you decide.”
“I don’t know that I’ll make any decisions before your trip, but I’ll keep you in the loop.” Her parents were leaving in November to go to Paris, Switzerland and the Italian coast. Her aunt Edna was staying at the house to watch the dogs. “Is there anything I can do while you’re gone?”
“Thank you, but no, Madison,” her mother answered. “If there is, we’ll let you know.”
“You should have a wonderful trip.” They spent the next half hour talking about the upcoming vacation and their plans.
“Mom, I have a legal problem I need to discuss with Dad. Would you excuse us? I think this will bore you terribly.”
“Of course. And you’re right—I don’t need to hear a legal problem unless you’re in trouble with the law.”
Smiling, Madison shook her head. “Hardly. Old stuff and nothing illegal.”
“I’ll give you an hour and then I’ll be back. That’s long enough for legal talk,” Evelyn said as she left the room, taking the dog with her. Madison followed her to the door.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll come get you,” she said, closing the door after her mother had walked away. She walked back across the room to face her dad.
He sat in his favorite chair with his feet propped on an ottoman, his feet crossed at the ankles. He looked relaxed, friendly, supportive, but a glance into his alert blue eyes and she knew he was paying attention and ready to listen.
She wanted to catch him off guard, hoping to be able to tell by looking at him if he had been honest in what he had said to Jake.
She pulled a wingback chair close to the ottoman to face him.
“What’s happened, Madison?” he asked.
She leaned forward, placing her hands on his knees. “Dad, when I was in high school, I was going to elope with Jake Calhoun. He never showed up. Why?” Her heart pounded hard. She had never questioned her father before. As a child she had thought every word he said was the absolute truth and the way things should be. She had always obeyed, never rebelled; when he wanted her to do something, she had always done it unquestioningly.
His expression never changed. There was not even a flicker of an eyelid, yet she knew something was wrong. Her dad had waited too long to reply. She couldn’t get her breath and her head swam.
Jake had been telling the truth.
She gulped for air.
“Madison, are you all right? Do you need to lie down?”
She shook her head, but she couldn’t get her breath. She closed her eyes and held her head in her hands, gulping for air while her whole world shifted and changed.
The father she had always implicitly trusted had deceived and hurt her. Jake had walked out because of her father.
“Dad, how could you have done that to me?” she said between her gasps for air. Jake had been right. That was all she could think. And she hadn’t believed him at all. “I didn’t think you would ever hurt me like that,” she whispered, staring at him while hot tears spilled from her eyes.
“Madison, I love you and I did it for you. You were way too young to get married then.”
“There were so many other ways to handle it that wouldn’t have hurt us that badly.” Her father’s betrayal had caused a lasting hurt that might be with her all her life. “I’ve been so awful to Jake and accused him of terrible things.”
“First of all, he’s a Calhoun and this family would never accept him. His family wouldn’t accept you. Second, both of you were children and you were way too young and immature to go into marriage. I see too much suffering and unhappiness. I couldn’t let you throw away your future.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me? I’ve always done what you wanted.”
“You have, but you were growing up and getting more headstrong. Your elopement would have divided both families and brought that old feud back to life, stronger than it had been in over a century. Those who sided with you and were ready to end the feud would have split with those who would have opposed you and felt you betrayed your family. Some family members would never have recognized you as part of the family again.”
“Did you physically threaten Jake?”
“I did bring some pressure to bear because Jake would understand that kind of threat.”
Shock gripped her as she stared in silence.
“Honey, I’m sorry. Maybe you and Jake would have worked things out and been happy the rest of your lives, but the odds were not on your side. And neither of you had your education completed. You hadn’t even finished high school.”
“I don’t know you. I don’t know how you could have threatened Jake and gone behind my back to be cruel and deceitful,” she said, feeling her pride in him and her high regard for him crumble.
“I wasn’t exactly happy about it, but I had to stop both of you. I didn’t even know you were seeing each other until Charley saw you climbing out and leaving the ranch. I started asking quietly and it didn’t take long to find out.”
She covered her eyes and cried quietly. “What you did was so awful and hurt badly all these years.” She looked at him. “I’ve always trusted you totally, but I never will again.”
“I hope you do. I hope you fall in love and marry, and if you do and have your own children, you will see that in life you have to make tough decisions. I know few people who haven’t had to face them with their children. Then maybe you’ll understand.”
“I’ll never understand you threatening Jake. I can’t understand you being underhanded. If you had come to me and said we couldn’t marry, I would have argued, but I wouldn’t feel this dreadful deceit. If you had said, ‘You can’t elope. I’ll annul it,’ you know I would have done what you wanted even though I wouldn’t have liked it.”
“You might have, but Jake wouldn’t have been so obedient to me, a Milan. Besides, I didn’t know how much influence he carried with you. Honey, I apologize,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t handle it right. But babies don’t come into the world with instructions on how to raise them, you know.”
“I sat by the phone all that afternoon and evening and Jake never called, but he told me he called repeatedly. Why didn’t I get his calls?” she asked, ignoring his apology that came way too late and only because she asked.
He looked away and ran a hand through his hair. “It was the weekend. I had the calls forwarded to the line in my toolshed. It simply rang and no one answered. On Monday I switched it back.”
“Did Mom know?”
“Partly. She didn’t want you to marry a Calhoun and she wanted me to stop you. She didn’t know exactly how I did so.” He looked at her, and his shoulders somehow didn’t seem quite so broad. “I’ll call Jake and I’ll try to talk to him. Being a Calhoun, he will probably always hate me and I may have added years to this archaic feud.”
She tried to take in her father’s explanation, painful though it was. But one thing didn’t make sense. “I didn’t get him when I called him. You couldn’t change his phone.”
“That was the one thing I worried about, but by the time you tried to call him, he had already left town. I knew his folks were out of town that weekend and all his siblings were furious with you.”
He sat forward and reached out for her, but she pulled back. “I’m sorry, Madison, but I still feel it was for the best, and at this point in your life, I’d think you’d agree. You have a marvelous career in art, a field that is difficult and
competitive. You and Jake are free to marry now and if you don’t want to now, my guess is that a marriage at sixteen and nineteen would not have lasted anyway.”
“If I had called him right after talking to you, I might have learned the truth.”
“It was a chance I had to take. But I thought I’d made him so angry with you, that he wouldn’t have taken your call or believed anything you said. I’m amazed he tried to call you. If you had gotten through, then I would have tried other ways to stop you and I would have called his parents to intervene. I don’t think the two of you could have fought both families.”
Each revelation made her pain deepen. “All these years I thought he just left me waiting with no explanation,” she said, thinking about Jake and the intervening years.
“Jake went home, packed and left for college that afternoon, way, way early. I had someone check on him.”
She fished a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes, standing and turning away from him. The tears wouldn’t stop. When she thought how furious she had been with Jake all these years, her stomach churned.
“Dad, for thirteen years I have been angry with Jake. I’ve shed a million tears over his walking out on me. I married someone I didn’t love just to get back at Jake—”
He stood in front of her. “I was afraid of that. Madison,” he said, frowning and looking more worried than she had ever seen him look, “your mother and I were afraid you were doing that, but we hoped the marriage would work out and you would find happiness. Will was a nice fellow and quite acceptable to the family.”
“Our marriage was dreadful.”
“That’s behind you now. I’ll call Jake and talk to him. I owe you both that much, but if I had it to do over, I probably would do things the same way. I don’t think I could have stopped the two of you otherwise.”
“There had to have been better ways to handle it and you could have been honest. That’s what I’m having a difficult time with.” She walked away from him. “It’s going to take me a while to get accustomed to all this. I would never have believed you could have done such a thing if you hadn’t told me yourself.”
“I apologize, Madison, and I hope someday you’ll understand and you’ll forgive me. But let me ask you something. Do you think you would have been the artist you are today if you had run away and married Jake?”
Startled, she turned to look at him and thought about the years and the work, the hours she had poured into her art career, especially after being so hurt.
“Maybe not, Dad, but a career doesn’t trump love.”
“You wouldn’t have had this wonderful success,” he replied solemnly.
He reached out to hug her, but she stood stiffly. He released her and stepped back. “I love you, Madison. Always remember that. I’m human and not infallible in spite of being a judge. And judges may be the worst with their own families.”
From out of nowhere a thought struck her. She remembered the tree across the bridge on the ranch. “Dad, someone cut down a big cottonwood and it blocked the bridge over Rocky Creek. Did you have anything to do with that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t even know where you’re searching. Trust me, I haven’t been out on the ranch sawing down big trees.”
Before she could answer, there was a light knock at the door and the door opened. Evelyn thrust her head into the room. “Ready for company yet?”
“Sorry, Mom,” Madison said. “I have to go. I should get back to the ranch so I can hear how the men did today.” She cast a glance at her father. “We’re finished here.”
Her mother studied her intently and gave her dad a penetrating stare. Madison wanted out before her mother realized the problem and they started discussing it all over.
She felt she had to get out or suffocate. She needed fresh air and to get away by herself for a while before she went back to the ranch to face Jake when he returned tonight. Jake had been right all along. She hurt all over for what her dad had done. She felt betrayed, hurt and filled with regret. She owed Jake an enormous apology.
Her folks followed her out to hug her before she left. When her dad hugged her, he brushed her cheek with a kiss. “You just remember always that I love you. That’s always my motivation.”
She nodded and turned away.
“Madison,” her dad said and she paused to turn back. “Be careful. I don’t think Jake can really care that much about his ancestors’ bones. He’s still a Calhoun and he’s got a reason to want revenge.”
“I’ll be careful,” she said stiffly. The chauffeur held the limo door for her and she climbed in. She didn’t look back as the limo drove away. She didn’t want to cry in the limo so she fought tears and emotions that rocked her.
She was still in shock, reeling and adjusting to seeing a side to her father that was tough and hard, a side she had never seen before.
Tonight she had to apologize to Jake. She thought of all his pent-up anger. He had never told her about her dad until now. What had her dad threatened to do to him that had scared Jake off? He didn’t scare easily and he especially wouldn’t as a nineteen-year-old. There had been something. Some kind of leverage. Her dad had been a powerful attorney back then with a lot of influence. At one time he had been with the district attorney’s office before she had even started school. They were wealthy, influential. Her mother was also from an old Texas family.
At the same time, Jake’s family could match them in power and wealth, and the Calhouns were an old Texas family with roots that went back to the 1800s.
It wouldn’t have mattered, though. Jake would never have had any help from his own family because some of the Calhouns still hated the Milans with a vengeance. Jake’s mother was one—she had never spoken to Madison or any other member of the Milan family that Madison knew about. His grandparents disliked Milans also, but she suspected the animosity worsened steadily with each previous generation. Lindsay Calhoun would not speak to any Milan and Tony’s fights with Lindsay as his neighboring rancher were notorious.
Madison wanted the truth, all of it. She felt dazed, shocked that her own father had been the one to destroy her plans to marry Jake.
If she had confronted her father back then, would he have admitted what he had done?
She would never have an answer to that question.
Frowning, she stared out the limo window, but she didn’t see the surroundings. She saw Jake’s angry dark eyes. His anger ran deep and now she could understand it.
They would all get in about dark and she had to be ready to face him.
* * *
The minute she entered the kitchen her eyes met Jessie Lou’s and Madison was swamped by the emotional upheaval of the day. She couldn’t control her feelings as tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Jessie Lou, Dad admitted everything Jake accused him of doing. All these years—” She couldn’t talk. And then Jessie Lou’s arms wrapped around her and she clung to Jessie Lou to cry.
“You finally know. I always thought Judge Milan might have been behind whatever happened. He’s very close to Charley and Charley keeps an eye on you for your dad. Charley has never liked Jake.”
Madison stepped back. “Charley? Yesterday someone cut a big cottonwood so it fell on the bridge and blocked the way. Jake and the men moved it, but it gave us a delay. Do you suppose my dad told Charley to try to interfere?”
Jessie Lou stared back with a slight frown. “I’d be careful around Charley.”
Madison cried, trying to get control of her emotions. Finally she wiped her eyes. “I was just so shocked that my dad would do something like that and not be open and honest about it.”
“You’re his daughter. He thought he was protecting you.”
“Instead, he hurt me badly and I feel terrible for the hateful way I’ve treated Jake all these years.”
“It�
�s over now, I’d say,” Jessie Lou said. “I have dinner all fixed and I think I will go along and leave you two to discuss the past with no interference. I won’t be here until after lunch tomorrow because I have a dental appointment in Lubbock in the morning, so you should have the privacy you need to talk this out.”
Madison wiped her eyes and tried to smile. “Thank you. I’m going to shower and get ready. Jake will be here by dark.”
Jessie Lou nodded and patted her shoulder. “You’ll both be better off now that you can clear the air between you.”
Madison nodded, but she wondered if they could ever get back even some of the friendship they once had. “I’ll get ready for Jake.”
* * *
Jake glanced at his watch as he walked toward the Milan ranch house. He was tempted to go on home, but staying here was easier and they could have slightly more time each day to hunt. The days were flying past and his options dwindled with each one. They hadn’t found anything. Madison would never give him another chance so he wanted to find the deed this week.
He was hot, dusty and disgusted that they didn’t know any more about a buried treasure than they had when they started. He wondered how it went with Madison and her dad. He hated Judge Milan and would be more than happy to take a big chunk of the judge’s ranch from him. And if he did find treasure and a deed and got the land, he was going to go tell the judge himself. How sweet that would be. Madison had no idea how harsh her father could be or what he had really done in the past. Would Judge Milan lie to his daughter now? If he did, could Jake ever convince her otherwise? Soon they’d part again and he didn’t expect to see her after they did.
Jake rang the bell at the locked back door.
In minutes the door opened and she stood in the shadowy interior. She stepped back. “Come in.”
He entered and paused. Her hair was down, hanging loosely over her shoulders and framing her face in a brown cascade that was longer than he had guessed. She had on makeup and a short-sleeved hot-pink cotton dress with a scoop neck that revealed her curves and took his breath away.
