True Colors

by Kristin Hannah

  “Aye, aye.” Aurora got out of the car and disappeared into the house.

  Winona found her dad in the arena, grooming the dirt for today’s jackpot. She waved at him and headed up into the announcer’s booth, where she started setting up the PA system.

  For the next few hours, she went through her list of tasks, making sure the barrier was set up, the timers were in place, the steers were brought in, their horns were wrapped, and the microphone worked. By ten o’clock she was in the announcer’s booth again, surrounded by entry forms, trying to organize the teams for the first go-rounds. Worse than all that was the handicapping. Each roper had a skill level, assigned by the roping association, and all those numbers had to be added up, handicapped, and assigned to the right team so that the roping results would be fair. You needed a damned Ph.D. in math to figure it all out.

  The door to the announcer’s booth opened with a little puff of dust and her dad stood there, looking irritated. “What’s takin’ so long, Win? You got seven years of college. Do the danged math.”

  “I can’t figure it out.”

  “Them colleges are a waste.” He grabbed the cash box off the plywood desk and left the booth.

  Winona followed him out to the parking area, where dozens of men on horseback were gathered.

  “What’s up, Henry?” Deke asked, tipping the cowboy hat back on his head.

  “We’re closin’ up today,” Dad said. “Everyone gets their money back. The handicappin’ is too much for Winona.”

  She felt her face heat up.

  He opened the cash box and had just begun to count out the money when another truck pulled into the lot. Winona was so focused on her own humiliation that it took her a second to realize that people were whispering Vivi’s name.

  Winona looked up sharply, peered through the crowd.

  It was Vivi Ann’s truck, all right.

  The men on horseback twisted in their saddles to look. Winona’s first thought was: Thank God. Then she saw Vivi Ann and Dallas come forward, holding hands as if they were just an ordinary pair of lovers come to watch some team roping, and Winona knew this was going to be bad. In worn jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, Vivi Ann managed to be so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her, and if she was sunlight, all glittering and golden, Dallas was shadow, cool and dark.

  The crowd was eerily quiet, aware completely of what was going on. They were unsure of how to respond, especially the men, who tended to let women lead on matters such as these.

  “Hey, Dad,” Vivi Ann said as if nothing were new. “Do you need my help?”

  Dad paused just long enough to prove his anger, but not long enough to show a schism in the family. “You’re late,” he said, thrusting the cash box at her.

  And just like that, Vivi Ann moved back into her place. The cowboys smiled down at her instantly, welcomed her home, while Dallas moved easily among them, giving advice to some of the younger guys.

  Winona couldn’t believe it. All of that—the sex, the lying, the slap—and still Vivi Ann could waltz back into Water’s Edge and be welcomed.

  Winona marched over to the cook shack, where Aurora was busy flipping burgers.

  “You will not believe what just happened.”

  Aurora turned to her. “What?”

  “Vivi Ann came home. And she’s with Dallas.”

  “Have they been together this whole time?”

  “Who am I? Carnac the Magnificent? I don’t know, but they looked lovey-dovey.”

  “This is going to be bad. Did you tell her you were sorry?”

  “Me? She’s the one who started all this.”

  “No,” Aurora said sternly. “You’re the problem.”

  “How do you figure that? Did I fuck Dallas Raintree while I was engaged to Luke? Please, enlighten me with your superior brainpower, Aurora.”

  “Luke is a friend, Winona. Vivi is family. When the chips were down, you chose Luke. The whole town knows it. How long did you wait before you told him and Daddy?”

  “I’m not listening to this,” Winona said as she walked out of the cook shack.

  In the arena, she felt suddenly conspicuous. As she looked around, she wondered what people were saying about her part in this. Once she began to worry about her reputation, she couldn’t stop. Climbing to the highest row of bleacher seats, she sat in the shadows until the roping ended and then went to the cook shack.

  “That’s what the whole town is saying, huh? That I told Luke?”

  Aurora turned off the griddle and wiped it down. “There are no secrets in a town like this.”

  “It’s not fair. I did the right thing. People will see that in the end.”

  Aurora sighed. “I’m going to find Vivi Ann. You coming? Or are you hiding out?”

  Winona bit back a mean retort and followed her sister out to the parking area. The trucks and trailers were pulling out, moving up the driveway in a multicolored snake of traffic. When they were gone and the parking lot was empty of vehicles, Winona and Aurora were by the fence and Dad was standing near the loafing shed. All of them waiting.

  Vivi Ann and Dallas strode toward them, hand in hand.

  The five of them stood there, in the purplish falling night, surrounded by black fields and the sounds of horses moving back and forth along the fence and the tide ebbing back toward the sea.

  “He ain’t welcome here,” Dad said.

  Dallas moved closer to Vivi Ann, put his arm around her. “We got married.”

  No one spoke; it felt for a moment as if time had stopped. Vivi Ann looked directly at Dad. “I want us to belong here, Dad, to keep running the ranch, but if you don’t want us . . .”

  Winona knew then that Vivi Ann was far from dumb. She’d painted their father into a corner to get her way.

  “I don’t suppose I have much choice now, do I?” he said. On that, he turned and went into the house, closing the door hard behind him.

  Aurora moved forward and hugged Vivi Ann. “He’ll come around. Don’t worry.”

  Vivi Ann clung to Aurora. “I hope so.”

  Aurora gave Dallas an awkward hug and then headed for her car. As the BMW’s engine roared to life, Winona stood there, too shaken to speak.

  Vivi Ann moved toward her, but didn’t let go of Dallas’s hand; it was a reminder that they were a couple now. Together. “How do you want to handle this, Win?” she asked quietly.

  “I only told Dad because Luke was beating Dallas up.” Winona heard the crack in her voice and it pissed her off. She sounded weak when she wanted to be strong. “I was trying to save Dallas.”

  Dallas stepped forward then, as if he belonged there, as if he had a place between the sisters. “You wanted everything she had,” he said.

  “That’s not true,” Winona said, but she knew—they all knew—that it was.

  “You did me a favor, Win,” Vivi Ann said, “even though you meant to hurt me. The truth is, I don’t care about all that crap now. I’ve found the man I love and we’re on the ranch. Nothing else matters to me.”

  She was right. Somehow, impossibly, Vivi Ann had broken all those rules, and a good man’s heart, she’d slept with a stranger and brought him home, and still she’d paid no price. Golden.

  “I know that forgive and forget isn’t your forte,” Vivi Ann said, “but it’s the only way we have now. I can do it. Can you?”

  Winona was as backed into the corner as her father had been. There was nothing she could say now except yes. Anything else would make her look petty and spiteful. “Of course,” she said, surging forward to give her sister a lackluster hug. “Forgive and forget.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Some things couldn’t be forgotten, no matter how hard you tried. Humiliation. Loss. Jealousy. They were buoyant emotions that kept popping to the surface. In the end, you grew too tired to keep them submerged. Winona knew: she’d tried. She kept trying, but sometimes, like tonight, the effort seemed unbearable.

  When she heard the doorbell ring, her first thought

was: What if I just don’t answer?

  It rang again.

  There was nowhere to hide in your own family.

  Turning away from the sink, she headed for the door and opened it.

  Aurora stood there, dressed and ready to go. She had teased her brown hair into a poufy banana-clipped ponytail and painted her face with layers of color. Shoulder pads emphasized her small waist, which was circled by a wide, rhinestoned leather belt. Her denim dress looked plain by comparison. “Don’t give me that sucked-on-a-lemon look. Let’s go.”

  Wordlessly, Winona followed her sister out to the road where her car was parked. Climbing into the Beemer’s backseat, she wished she were anywhere but here. “This is a stupid idea,” she said.

  “Your opinion is noted,” Aurora said.

  Winona made a great show of sighing and crossing her arms. “Where’s Richard?”

  “He’s working late tonight. He’d rather eat his shoe than come with us.”

  “I can relate.”

  “I’m so not interested in your theatrics.”

  They turned into Water’s Edge and drove up to the cabin.

  At the front door, they knocked, and in moments Vivi Ann answered.

  “Phew,” Aurora said, “they aren’t naked.”

  Winona rolled her eyes. “It’s not even dark out.”

  “What you know about hot sex is equivalent to what I know about beekeeping,” Aurora said curtly. To Vivi Ann she said, “We’re going to the Outlaw.”

  “Of course you are, it’s Friday,” Vivi Ann said.

  Dallas rose instantly and moved in behind Vivi Ann, putting his hand possessively around her waist.

  Aurora studied him, her eyes narrowing. “Do you love her, Tattoo Boy?”

  “It seems I do, Junior League wannabe.”

  Aurora smiled at that. “Then take her to the Outlaw. This is how it’s done.”

  “She’s right,” Winona said sharply. “The best way to stop the gossip in town is to show them how happy you are.”

  Dallas stared at Winona. “You don’t look too happy, Winona. I guess you like the gossip about Vivi.”

  “In your vast experience at judging my moods, you mean.”

  “I don’t know . . .” Vivi Ann said. “Luke might be there.”

  Dallas took her in his arms. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

  The softness of his voice surprised Winona. No wonder he’d sucked her sister in. Especially Vivi Ann, who saw the best in everyone.

  “You can’t avoid him forever,” Aurora pointed out.

  At last, Vivi Ann nodded. “Give us a minute,” she said, taking Dallas’s hand. When they disappeared into the bedroom, Winona said, “If I hear sex, I’m out of here.”

  “You would be,” Aurora said with a laugh.

  Fifteen minutes later, the Grey sisters and Dallas pulled up to the Outlaw and parked.

  They went in one after another. When Dallas came in—last—there was a noticeable ripple in the room. People looked up, drinks paused in midair, conversations halted. Even the drummer missed a beat.

  Winona noticed that their friends couldn’t look away from Vivi Ann and Dallas. They came together by the bar, ordering drinks. Once they were served, the four of them turned in unison to face the crowd. In the background, “The Dance” played on the jukebox.

  The first person to approach them was Luke.

  “Here he comes,” Aurora muttered. “Ex-fiancé at one o’clock.”

  “He knows how it’s done, too,” Winona said, forcing herself not to move toward him.

  Dallas moved in closer to Vivi Ann, took her hand in his.

  “Hey, Vivi,” Luke said.

  The bar fell quiet. The only sounds came from the back of the room, where one ball hit another on the pool table.

  “I heard you got married,” Luke said woodenly. “Congratulations.”

  “I should have been honest with you,” Vivi Ann said to him.

  “I wish you had been.”

  Winona studied every detail of his face, the way he closed his eyes for just a second before he spoke, the frowning around his mouth. She expected him to say something else, something cutting and cruel—the kind of thing Vivi Ann deserved for what she’d done—but the longer she stared, the deeper she saw. Luke wasn’t angry with Vivi Ann.

  He still loved her. Even after all of it.

  “I’m truly sorry,” Vivi Ann said.

  Her sister kept talking, piling meaningless words on top of each other, while everyone else listened and smiled and accepted. It turned to a roar of white noise in Winona’s head, so loud she couldn’t hear anything beyond the beating of her own heart. She was so caught up in her own thoughts, her own bitter disappointment (what about karma? what about paying for your sins?), that she hardly noticed when it was over.

  The music came back on. People moved onto the dance floor.

  She blinked and looked around for Luke.

  Dallas was watching her and something in those eerie pale gray eyes made her uncomfortable. He let go of Vivi Ann’s hand and moved toward her. Winona noticed the sexy, loose-hipped way he walked and recognized the motive behind it. Not that it would ever work on her.

  “Poor Luke,” Dallas said in a silky voice that made her nervous. “I’ll bet he needs a shoulder to cry on.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I know you,” he answered, smiling now.

  Winona thought then: He’s dangerous. And Vivi Ann had brought him into their family. It proved to Winona that she’d been right to try to protect Vivi Ann from this man. “You’d better not hurt her,” she said. “I’ll be watching you.”

  “She might forget what you did, Winona, but I haven’t. You betrayed her, pure and simple. So you remember this: I’ll be watching you. She might forgive. I won’t.”

  Winona sat in her car, parked outside the police station.

  She shouldn’t go in. She knew that. Some things were better left unknown.

  If only she were the kind of person who could ignore information. But such feigned ignorance was impossible for her to achieve.

  Once an idea got in her head she was like a crocodile death-rolling its prey. And suddenly she was worried that Dallas was actually dangerous.

  She got out of the car and walked toward the station, opening the door. Inside, the place was empty but for a few uniformed officers walking from one office to another.

  At the receptionist’s desk, Helen looked up from filing her hot-pink nails. “Hey, Winona.”

  “Hey. Is Sheriff Bailor in? I’d like to see him.”

  “Course he’s in. You’ve got an appointment, dontcha? He’s in his office. Go on back.”

  Winona walked down the busy hallway and found Sheriff Albert Bailor in his office, eating a breakfast sandwich.

  “Hey, Winona,” he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Have a seat.”

  She didn’t bother with small talk. It was a skill she’d never really mastered anyway. “I need to do a background criminal check on someone.”

  “This the Indian?”

  “Yes.”

  “I had the same questions myself when Vivi married him. To be honest, I expected you in here before now.” He left the room and came back a few moments later with a file, which he set down on his desk. “I’ll be right back. Nature calls.”

  As soon as he was gone, Winona opened the file.

  Dallas Raintree, DOB 5/05/65.

  She scanned through his criminal record, reading charges, arrests, and convictions. There were almost a dozen theft or possessing stolen goods charges, two assault charges that were pled down, an assault and battery conviction, and a couple of weapons charges. A notation was made that his juvenile record was sealed per court order and that he had, on several occasions, been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluations. It appeared that he’d been a juvenile the first time such a recommendation was made.

  “Holy shit,” Winona said.

  “Holy shit is right,” Al said, coming back into the office, closing the glass-topped door behind him.

  Winona looked up at him. “What does all this mean?”

  Al sat down at his desk. “I read it as your brother-in-law is a man with a bad temper and not much respect for the law. And somethin’ bad happened when he was a kid. There are a lot of psychiatrists’ reports in there. More’n a few think he’s unstable.” He leaned back. “Rumor is that you’re the one who hired him. I would have expected you to do a background check.”

  She gritted her teeth. “What can I do now?”

  “Now?” Al shrugged. “He’s married to your sister, Win. There’s nothing to be done now.”

  “Is he dangerous?”

  Al looked at her. “Under the right circumstances, we all are. You just keep your eye on him.”

  “I will,” Winona promised.

  In late November, an icy wind blew across the Canal, whipping the normally calm waters into a whitecapped frenzy. Waves smacked against the cement and stone bulkheads along the shore; foamy water sloshed onto the well-tended yards, turning the green grass brown. All at once, the birds disappeared, taking their early morning song and afternoon chatter with them. Bare trees shivered in the cold, their last multihued leaves plucked away by the wind. Those same leaves now lay in slimy, blackening piles in the ditches on the sides of the road.

  As if a memo had been sent to the trendy East Side, the tourists stopped coming. No boats dotted the Canal, no motors were heard purring in the afternoons. Instead, the portable docks were pulled ashore for the season and the permanent ones were shut down, their water spigots covered and turned off. All up and down the shoreline, barbecues were hauled off the decks and placed in garages for the winter months; planters full of precious, fragile flowers were taken in, too. Without sunlight, everything looked washed out, especially when it was raining, and it was almost always raining. Not hard, pounding storms, rather a steady, thready mist. On the day after Thanksgiving, the Bits and Spurs 4-H Club members and their families gathered at Water’s Edge to make wreaths. It had been a tradition for years. Vivi Ann had always been a part of it, first as her mom’s helper, then as a 4-H member, and now as the leader.

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