A Rancher's Pride

by Barbara White Daille

  Kayla smiled.

  She looked over at Sharleen, who had started in on the plate of pancakes. “I’ll be right outside with Becky if you need something,” she said.

  Out on the porch, she sank to the top step.

  When Becky saw her, she snapped her fingers and pointed. Dog. She covered her eye with her hand. Pirate.

  Kayla laughed. A good name for the little pup. And so nice for Becky to have a friend.

  Keeping a watch on the clock, she let the two play together. After a while, she looked through the screen door again and found the kitchen empty. Sharleen must have made her way into the living room or up the stairs again without help.

  As the morning wore on, Kayla glanced more and more often at the time. She wanted to be in town at the Double S long before Sam arrived.

  It might take a while to get Becky cleaned up. She and Pirate had spent their time running back and forth across the yard and tramping around the barn.

  Kayla waved Becky over to her.

  The sooner they got to the café, the more opportunity she would have to talk to Dori. To find out what the woman could tell her about Sam. Because, obviously, Sharleen Robertson wouldn’t say anything but good about her son.

  Much as Kayla understood that, she felt frustrated by it, too.

  Somehow, she’d have to find someone who would open up to her about Sam.

  AS SHE NEARED THE DOUBLE S, Kayla eased her foot off the gas pedal. Slowing to a crawl, she almost unwillingly glanced toward the front of the building at the sign Sam had made. Creative and quirky and wonderful. All things that the man himself was not.

  From the backseat, Becky squealed. She had seen the café, too. In the rearview mirror, Kayla saw her tap the fingertips of her right hand against the palm of her left. Her eyebrows climbed toward her hairline.

  “Cookie?” Becky asked.

  And the message said, obviously, she wanted one.

  “We had all those sweet pancakes at breakfast this morning,” Kayla told her, signing the sentence in the language her niece would understand.

  And Becky did. Still, she ran those same fingertips she’d used to sign cookie down the length of her T-shirt. “Hungry.” And she grinned.

  Kayla rolled her eyes. She had always made it a point not to spoil the child. Not too much, anyway. But Becky sure knew what buttons to push.

  Yet it had been a long while since breakfast. And Becky had expended a lot of energy playing with Pirate that morning.

  Besides, the cookie would keep Becky occupied while Kayla talked with Dori.

  After parking the car, she released Becky from her booster seat and ushered her through the doorway of the Double S.

  Most of the tables and booths in the café were filled with customers. Becky ran ahead to the dessert case. Kayla crossed to the counter at the rear of the room. Maybe she should have come earlier, instead of letting Becky and Pirate have their fun. Dori might not have a chance to chat immediately, and Kayla would risk Sam walking in during the middle of their conversation.

  Fortunately, after just a few minutes, Dori bustled across the room toward them. “Good morning. You’ve come for more of my sweets, yes?”

  Kayla laughed. “Since Becky has her nose nearly glued to the dessert case, I guess I have to admit she has, at least.”

  “Very good.” Briskly, Dora turned to pour a cup of tea for Kayla. “I am happy to see you.”

  She soon settled Becky on the stool next to Kayla’s with a chocolate-chunk cookie and a glass of milk in front of her. “Sam is at his ranch this morning, I’m sure. A very hard worker, that man.”

  “Yes.” Kayla leaned forward eagerly. Dori couldn’t have given her a better opening. “He doesn’t seem to leave the ranch very much at all.”

  “Now he does, more than he did before. But there was a time…” Dori’s eyes looked sad, her face grave.

  “You mean…?”

  “When he would not come in to town at all. When he wouldn’t talk to anyone, after his wife went away.”

  Kayla swallowed a groan. This was not where she’d expected the conversation to go. Worse, thinking of that time only reminded her how much Sam resented her for helping Ronnie. How much he hated her for wanting to take Becky from him now. She pushed the thoughts away. She should be focusing on what she needed to do to accomplish just that, not on how Sam felt about her.

  “But if he never bothered to spend any time with his wife…” At Dori’s incredulous expression, she faltered.

  “What is this, not bother? He works hard on his ranch from morning to night. For his wife. And now, for his little girl.”

  They both looked at Becky, who had pushed hard against the counter to make her seat swivel in a circle.

  “I know,” Kayla said, “but—”

  “He’s a good provider,” Dori interrupted, nodding emphatically. “Like my Manny. Is that not right?” She directed the question to the person who had just slid onto the stool on the other side of Kayla’s.

  Kayla turned quickly to find Ellamae, the court clerk, looking at her.

  “If you’re talking about Sam Robertson, Dori, you’re one hundred percent right. Now he’s grown-up and gotten over his teenager ways, you couldn’t find a better daddy this side of the Mississippi.”

  So Ellamae was fighting her, too, in her own way. She was probably here this morning directly from the judge’s courtroom, trying to find out anything she could to help Sam.

  The two women began an intense discussion about a new item on the menu.

  Kayla took a deep breath and let it out. Of course these women would support Sam. He’d probably deceived everyone in town. They wouldn’t know about all the things Ronnie had said, about the way Sam had treated Ronnie and rejected Becky, about all Sam’s lies.

  Look at that story he had told about not even knowing he’d had a child. No matter how Sharleen defended him, Kayla couldn’t believe that. Ronnie had contacted Sam repeatedly, hoping he would want to get in touch with his daughter. Finally, after years of no response, she had stopped trying.

  Yet, knowing all that, Kayla had let herself get swept up in thinking crazy thoughts about him yesterday afternoon. Then she had almost let herself reach out in sympathy last night. She’d come so close to falling for that hurt look in his gray eyes.

  Her thoughts wavered just as her words had faltered at Dori’s disbelief. Had Sam really tricked everyone into thinking he was so wonderful?

  Or had Kayla been the one deceived—by Ronnie?

  Before she could even begin to recover from that shocking thought, Becky cried out. Kayla recognized it as a sound of happiness.

  It wasn’t Becky’s cry or Ellamae’s satisfied nod, but the thud of boots on the hardwood floor of the Double S that made Kayla’s spine stiffen.

  Slowly, as Becky had done, she swiveled her own stool to face the room behind them.

  Heading across the café came the one person she had feared it would be.

  Sam.

  Beside her, Becky tapped her thumb against her forehead, then waved her hands palm up in the air. She made the signs over and over again. The words rang in Kayla’s head as clearly as if Becky had spoken them.

  “Daddy’s here. Daddy’s here. Daddy’s here.”

  The sight of her niece’s elated grin nearly broke Kayla’s heart.

  She forced her gaze to the other side of the room again, only to see Sam rapidly closing the space between them. Unable to stop herself, she found herself meeting his eyes. A tiny shiver ran through her, but when she tried to look away again, she couldn’t.

  If Sam planned to stay home from working on his ranch very often, they could be spending a lot of tension-filled time together.

  Six weeks suddenly seemed an eternity.

  She wondered if she would survive them.

  Chapter Nine

  For some reason, it took all Sam’s willpower to cross the room to the women on the other side. He felt as though he was trying to forge a raging river. Just which
of the four females over there would throw him a rope?

  All of them, it looked like—although Kayla would probably then hog-tie him with it and drop him in deep water.

  Why not? He was already in way over his head with this whole situation. He wanted her gone.

  A quick glance at Becky almost made him trip over his own boots. Suddenly, he felt the urge to pick her up off that stool and give her a great big hug. But he held back, afraid of frightening her. He was a stranger she’d met only a couple of days ago.

  Thanks to his ex.

  Forcing the bitter thought away, he swept the hand holding his Stetson wide in greeting and gave them all a small bow. “Morning, ladies.”

  “Morning,” Ellamae said with a grin.

  Dori frowned at him, her eyes nearly squinted shut. “Sam, you’re never here in the mornings. Is your mama all right? Is there something wrong on your ranch?”

  There were lots of things wrong at his ranch. Things he didn’t want to think about right now. But the biggest problem was right here at the Double S. And he was looking right at her.

  Again, he needed some willpower to get him through. When he could finally tear his gaze from Kayla’s sparkling blue eyes, he smiled at Dori.

  “No, Mom’s okay. Everything’s fine. Just here for some lunch. And then after, I reckon I should show Kayla and Becky some of the sights around town.”

  Dori clapped her hands. “What a good idea, Sam.”

  Ellamae snickered.

  He would shoot her a look, but she’d probably give him a shot in the arm in return. Getting what he deserved for rude behavior was more than he wanted to handle in front of his daughter.

  Not to mention, in front of Kayla.

  She sat watching him still, and her unblinking focus had started to do something strange to him. Had made him feel even more unsteady, as if the undertow of that deep water tugged at him. Or as if that rope he’d wondered about had just been given a mighty yank. Whatever the cause, he felt…funny.

  And not in a good way.

  To cover his confusion, he reached out and plopped the Stetson on Becky’s head.

  She gave her little trilling giggle, same as she’d done last night when he’d stood outside her bedroom. Again, it rocked him. His breath caught in his chest. This time, he’d made her laugh.

  Judging by the stunned look on Kayla’s face, Becky’s reaction had hit her hard, too. He’d have thought she’d be used to it.

  The reminder that she had seen everything of his daughter’s life, while he’d seen nothing, left him struggling not to glare at her in front of the other two women.

  Silently, he vowed to get this situation resolved right quick.

  That barbecue Judge Baylor had harped on might do the job. Kayla could make sure Becky behaved, while he spent his time making a good impression on Judge Baylor. Letting the man see that he had the means to take care of his child. That Becky needed to stay with her daddy.

  Meanwhile, today, he would show his little girl off to all the fine citizens of Flagman’s Folly. If Ellamae had spoken the truth, then he’d see to it every one of the judge’s spies got back to the man with a good report.

  Things were looking up.

  He didn’t have to force himself to grin at Kayla. “Well, how about it?” he asked. “Why don’t we have some lunch and then get our tour started?”

  The expression on her face could have dropped a coyote in its tracks from across a half acre.

  KAYLA COULD BARELY RECALL what she had ordered from the menu at the Double S. She’d eaten her lunch while in a near daze and, even as she followed Sam and Becky from the café, she had trouble coming back to the present.

  She couldn’t seem to forget the look on Sam’s face when he’d put his cowboy hat on Becky’s head and heard her laugh.

  The wistfulness in his eyes had started a hollow ache in her chest, and the sensation hadn’t gone away yet. She had a bad feeling it was somehow connected to her heart breaking.

  She needed to do something to save herself. And Becky.

  “Let’s leave the car and the pickup here,” he said as they stood outside the café. “We’ll do the length of Signal Street, but I have to say, it won’t take very long to walk it.”

  “Oh?” she asked, forcing a cool tone. “Even so, I’m surprised you’re taking the time away from your ranch to give us a tour. Ronnie once told me you were never free to do anything with her.”

  He looked taken aback by her response. What he should have realized was, she had just pointed out something she could use against him with the judge. A father who would never have time for his daughter. Guilt warred with elation over this, and to her annoyance, the decision came to a close call. Elation finally won.

  Becky skipped down the street ahead of them. Kayla and Sam fell into step behind her. She had thought he would ignore her previous statement, but to her surprise, he replied.

  “Kind of hard to go on tours when I normally leave the house early and get back late.”

  “Yes, I’m sure that’s true.” Point number two, no matter what Dori and Ellamae thought.

  At this rate, she’d have enough to go to the judge in no time.

  Before he could have a chance to figure that out, she asked, “Just how did Flagman’s Folly get its name?”

  He looked at her for a long while, as if wary of the change of subject. Or as if, for some reason, he felt reluctant to tell her.

  At last, he said, “Back a century or so ago, there wasn’t a town here, just a small crossroad station in the middle of nowhere. Trains pulled in for refueling and picking up passengers. The flagman stationed here had the job of signaling to make sure two trains didn’t try to come in at the same time.”

  “And something happened?”

  Sam laughed. “Yeah, something happened. The flagman was so busy making his moves on a waiting passenger, he messed up. And the trains collided.”

  Kayla gasped. “Were there many hurt?”

  “No one, fortunately. The first train was slowed to a crawl getting ready to pick up passengers, and the second was a freighter with only the crew aboard.”

  “The flagman got off lucky.”

  “Real lucky.”

  At the amusement in his tone, she looked at him.

  “As it turned out,” he explained, “the man up and married the lady he’d been sweet-talking.”

  She shook her head in disgust. “Well, that was a lot more than he deserved.”

  “You could be right. The woman came from money and he was just a down-and-out bum until he got the job with the railroad.” He tilted his head, and she could see his eyes twinkling beneath the brim of his hat, but he didn’t say anything else.

  Her heart thumped. Not only were they having a normal, peaceful conversation, Sam was teasing her, almost flirting with her.

  “All right,” she said after they had walked several yards down the street and he still said nothing. “I give up. What’s the punch line?”

  He grinned. “Those were my great-grandparents. They wound up settling here and, after a few others came along to join them, the town was incorporated. They named it and the main street from their story. You might say I have a vested interest in the place.”

  Or I might say you come from a long line of bums.

  What would that do to their nice conversation?

  The story of his family history made Kayla recall what Ellamae had said about Sam’s “teenager ways.” Something she would have to look into at a later date—and let Matt know. Maybe Sam had inherited the flagman’s incompetence as well as his genes.

  And maybe, in that, she’d find point number three for the judge.

  As Becky neared the next building, she slowed.

  The day had gotten overly warm, with the humidity high and the temperature now at ninety-eight, according to a thermometer hanging in the sunny front window of Lou’s Barbershop. Good thing Kayla had remembered to ask Lianne to throw several pairs of shorts into the boxes of clothing s
he’d sent.

  Through the plate-glass window, one of the barbers, a gray-haired man in an old-fashioned long white apron, saw Kayla looking at the thermostat. When he noticed Becky beside her, a smile touched his face. He waved at her, and she grinned and waved back. He came to the open front door of the shop.

  “Well, hey, Sam. Looks like you got yourself some company.”

  “Sure have.” Sam introduced Becky then, after a pause, Kayla.

  Lou made an instant hit with Becky when he pulled an orange lollipop out of his apron pocket.

  Kayla tried not to shake her head. More sweets. Catching her niece’s eye, she put her finger near her chin, then gestured with her upraised palms. “What do you say?”

  In one swift movement, Becky raised her hand to her mouth and pulled it outward.

  “Thank you,” Kayla voiced for her.

  “Anytime.” Lou smiled.

  They stopped next at the hardware and feed store.

  Sam went about his job with a vengeance, she noticed, introducing Becky to everyone he knew—which seemed to be every single person they came across. As an afterthought, almost, he would remember to mention Kayla.

  She decided to let that pass. For now.

  At the small department store, she looked through the packages of curtains, searching for a set for the window in Becky’s guest room. Which reminded her…

  “Sam,” she said.

  He turned from his inspection of a display of window hardware.

  “The headboard of the bed Becky’s using. I told you I’d never seen a design like that before. Did you make it?”

  He hesitated, looking away, as if he didn’t want to answer the question. She couldn’t understand why.

  Finally, he nodded. “Yeah.”

  “You do beautiful work.”

  “I try.” The words came out grudgingly.

  She shrugged. If the man didn’t want compliments, she’d keep them to herself in future. She selected a set of curtains in a bright floral print that would pick up the colors in the throw rugs. “I’m ready to check out.”

  When Becky came up beside them, Kayla held out the package to her.