by Marin Thomas
“You told Deputy Randall that you were leaving me the ranch. Were you telling the truth, or did you just say that to piss him off?”
“I meant it.”
“What if I don’t want the place?”
His eyelids rolled back, and he looked at her. “Why wouldn’t you want the land?”
Ruby might have been born there, but . . . “The Devil’s Wind isn’t home.” She didn’t have any ties to the property. And if she accepted her inheritance, Hank would assume she’d forgiven him for not keeping her after Cora had run off.
“I’ll be dead,” he said. “You can do what you want with the ranch; just find the horses a good home.”
If Mia had her way, Hank’s beloved four-legged misfits would end up in Ruby’s backyard.
Once they arrived at the house, she offered to make lunch, then went inside to check on Mia, but her daughter was nowhere to be found. Ruby walked out to the barn. “Mia, are you in here?”
“She’s with the horses in the corral.” Joe stepped from a stall, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a blue bandanna.
“No, she’s not.” Heart pounding, Ruby left the barn. “Mia! Mia!” She stopped in front of the storm shelter and opened the door. “Mia? Are you down there?”
Hank came outside. “What in tarnation’s got you all fired up?”
“I can’t find Mia.”
Joe jogged across the yard. “Pretty Boy’s missing.”
“Oh God.” Ruby’s voice shook. “I bet Mia took the horse for a ride.” Channeling her fear into anger, she pointed a finger at Joe. “How could you not know she took off on one of the horses? Mia doesn’t even know how to ride. She might have been thrown.”
Miles of hostile emptiness stretched between the house and the horizon. This was Ruby’s fault—not Joe’s. She should have made Mia go with her and Hank into town.
“I’ll find her.” Joe got into his truck and backed it up to the horse trailer behind the barn, then hopped out and secured the hitch before speeding off.
“Mia will be okay.” Hank’s fingers curled around Ruby’s arm, pressing into her flesh until they hit bone.
A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she covered Hank’s hand with her own. She had to believe Mia would be fine. Nothing mattered but getting her daughter home safely.
Chapter 14
“You’re gonna plow a furrow deep enough to plant corn in.”
Ruby paced over to the cellar door, then spun and followed the worn path back to the cottonwood tree. “It’s been an hour. Mia and Pretty Boy couldn’t have gone that far.”
“Depends on when she rode out after we left for town.”
“Mia might be hurt or kidnapped or—”
“Don’t think bad thoughts.”
Ruby opened her mouth to argue—she had a host of fighting words stockpiled inside her—but she choked them back. A missing daughter was enough to worry about without having his heart attack on her conscience.
“Here they come,” he said.
Dust billowed in the distance, and then Joe’s pickup came into view. “Why’s he driving so slowly?”
“I’m guessing he’s got the horse in the trailer.” Hank pushed himself away from the tree.
If Joe had Pretty Boy, he must have found Mia. Ruby wouldn’t allow herself to believe otherwise. Her hammering heart didn’t slow a beat as they hurried across the driveway to wait by the barn. When the vehicle drew near enough for her to see through the windshield, she spotted Mia and exhaled a sigh of relief.
As soon as Joe parked, Ruby opened the passenger-side door and tugged her daughter from the cab, then hugged her. “What the hell were you thinking, riding off alone like that?” Ruby’s gaze roamed over Mia’s sunburned face, arms, and legs. Thankfully, there wasn’t a scratch or a trace of blood on her. “Are you okay?”
“Dehydrated,” Joe said. “She drank a bottle of water on the way back.” He opened the trailer doors and unloaded Pretty Boy, then escorted him into the barn.
“What happened? Did you get lost?” Ruby asked.
“No.” Mia brushed away the sweaty strands of hair sticking to her face. “I wanted to check out Fury’s Ridge, but when I got close, I heard a gunshot.”
Ruby sucked in a quick breath. “Someone shot at you?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t see anyone, but Pretty Boy got scared and he reared. I fell off, and he raced away.”
Ruby envisioned her daughter flying through the air and hitting the ground hard. “You could have cracked your skull open.”
“After I started walking home, Pretty Boy showed up again.”
Home? How could Mia refer to the ranch as home after only a couple of days? Had she already forgotten the trailer she’d grown up in at the Shady Acres Mobile Home Park? The bedroom Ruby had painted pink, then aqua blue, and eventually mint green because Mia liked to change the color on a whim.
Ruby’s heart, which had pounded with fear, now thumped against her ribs in pain. It wasn’t the run-down house or the dusty Panhandle that symbolized home for Mia—it was Hank. And Ruby could hardly paint over him.
“Why didn’t you ride Pretty Boy back?”
“He was limping.”
“Taking off on your own was a foolish thing to do,” Ruby said. The person who fired the gun was either a lousy shot or had intentionally missed his target. Regardless, Mia had been lucky she’d escaped without injury.
“I’m sorry for scaring you,” Mia said, addressing Hank.
What about me? Ruby’s hurt morphed into a fuming heap of pissed off. “Why are you apologizing to your grandfather? You should be begging me to forgive you for being irresponsible.”
Mia’s eyes narrowed. “You’re irresponsible, not me.”
Ruby didn’t want to fight with her daughter, but Mia had scared ten years off of her life and she was ticked. “That’s it. We’re leaving on Tuesday for Elkhart.”
Mia kicked the ground, sending a puff of dust into the air. “You’re such a bitch!”
Speechless, Ruby stared, expecting tiny horns to pop through the top of Mia’s skull.
“You always get your way. Like when you made Sean move out. You never asked how I felt about him going.”
“That’s not true.” Was it?
“The only reason you want to leave the ranch is because you’re jealous that Hank likes me better than you.”
Ruby opened her mouth to dispute the charge, but the words got jammed up in her throat.
“You know what?” Tears dribbled from Mia’s eyes, leaving muddy trails on her cheeks. “I slept with Kevin to hurt you because you only care about yourself. You don’t pay any attention to me and what I want.” Mia ran into the house.
The blood rushed from Ruby’s head. Her gaze swung between the two men. Joe had the decency to look away, but Hank’s rheumy-eyed stare socked her in the gut.
The miles of vast nothingness in every direction closed in on Ruby, and she fled to the front of the house. She sat for more than an hour, eyes dripping until Oklahoma’s frickin’ never-ending winds dried out her tear ducts. The sun had dipped in the sky when the front door squeaked open.
Hank lowered himself next to her on the porch step. “Thought you might be hungry.” He offered her a bologna sandwich. “Mia said you like ketchup on your bread.”
Ruby took a bite and chewed, barely tasting the food.
“Cora had a lot of boyfriends before me,” he said.
After two swallows, the gummy lump landed in her stomach. “I’m not a whore.”
“Some women can’t commit to one man.”
“That’s not my problem.” Or was it?
“What happened between you and this Sean fellow Mia liked so much?”
I slept with Kevin to hurt you because you only care about yourself.
Mia’s admission
screamed inside Ruby’s head, threatening to deafen her. Learning her daughter had given herself to a boy she didn’t love or care about in an act of revenge against her mother made the pain even worse.
“Did he mistreat you?” Hank wasn’t going to drop the subject.
“Sean didn’t return my text messages.” Saying it out loud made it sound trivial, but it hadn’t been. “I thought he was losing interest in”—me—“our relationship, so I ended it.” If she couldn’t trust him, why drag it out until he found someone else who made him happier?
“Did you ask him why he didn’t return your texts?”
“He said the guys at work made fun of him because he was always checking in with me.”
Ruby had yearned to give Sean the benefit of the doubt because he’d treated Mia like a daughter, but the agony she’d experienced when Glen Baxter had turned his back on her hadn’t weakened over time—if anything, it had grown stronger. And Ruby knew that if she gave Sean a second or a third chance, it was still only a matter of time before he, too, turned his back on her.
Because that’s what the men in Ruby’s life did—they left her behind.
“Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith,” Hank said.
“Like you did with Cora? Look how that turned out.”
“I had two good years with her before she left.”
Ruby’d had less than a year with Sean. She didn’t want to consider it, but maybe she was just like Cora and wasn’t capable of committing to one man. “What if Mia never forgives me?”
“She’ll forgive you.” He slid his arm across her back and clasped her shoulder.
Did he assume that all he had to do was wait long enough and she’d forgive him? Ruby wanted to lash out at Hank. Instead, she curled against his side and sobbed like a baby, because if anyone understood her fear of abandonment, it was him.
• • •
“Dusk’ll be here soon,” Hank called out as he approached the barn.
For the past two hours Joe had watched his boss sit on the front porch, staring at the road—as if he could will Ruby to return from wherever she’d driven off to. He doubted Hank had anticipated this kind of drama when he’d invited his daughter to visit. Joe had been surprised to learn that Mia had slept with a boy. He understood why Ruby would be upset that her daughter blamed her, but at least Mia was alive and healthy. He’d give anything to be in a similar situation with Aaron. “Did she say where she was going?”
“No.”
Joe didn’t want to get involved in a mother-daughter squabble, but he hated seeing Hank look miserable. “Do you want me to go after her?” Someone had to chase down Ruby before the old man shorted out his pacemaker again.
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Let me grab a quick shower.” Joe went into the storage room for a change of clothes, then returned to the house with Hank. They parted ways inside the front door—Hank retreating to the kitchen and Joe heading upstairs to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later he climbed into his Dodge and drove off. After he crossed the cattle guard at the entrance to the ranch, he hit the brakes. Turning left would take him into town. Turning right would take him somewhere else.
He thought about Mia disappearing on Pretty Boy and how Ruby’s accusing glare had reminded him that he’d failed his own son. He should have given in to Aaron that day and allowed him to stay home and play with his friend instead of insisting he tag along with Joe to check on the oil rig. The whole time Joe had driven around searching for Mia, he’d imagined the girl hurt or worse.
The relief he’d felt at finding Mia alive and uninjured had bled him dry, and he hadn’t said a word to the teen during the trip back to the house, afraid the hurt and pain that had been bottled up inside for seven years would spill out and wound her.
He eyed the lonely stretch of highway leading away from Unforgiven. The white stripe down the middle of the road beckoned him. He could take the easy way out and keep running from his past, or he could turn left and face his demons.
Hank hadn’t been the only one shaken by Ruby’s and her daughter’s visit. Watching the three get to know one another brought back fonder memories of Joe’s past—the numerous fishing trips with his grandfather and father and the dinners on Sunday after church. Joe hadn’t realized how much he missed being part of a family, and he was questioning his desire to go it alone the rest of his life.
He moved his foot to the accelerator and turned left. Twenty minutes later he arrived in town and parked next to Hank’s truck in front of the Possum Belly Saloon. Ruby had the right idea—he could use a drink tonight, too.
He found her sitting at the bar, rolling an empty shot glass between her fingers. He slid onto the stool next to her and caught Stony’s attention.
The bartender wandered over. “Hank driving you all to drink?”
“I’ll take a beer.” Joe would rather have a whiskey, but he’d better avoid the hard stuff if he intended to get himself and Ruby back to the ranch in one piece. Stony set a longneck in front of Joe and filled Ruby’s empty shot glass with tequila.
She downed the liquor in two swallows, then grimaced. “How’d you know I was here?”
“Lucky guess.” He studied her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. Aside from her blue eyes, he couldn’t see much of Hank in her. Her tongue swept across her lower lip, and she exhaled a shaky breath. She looked like she hadn’t a friend in the world, and he gripped his beer bottle with both hands so he wouldn’t be tempted to hug her. “Hank’s worried about you.”
“Am I a horrible mother, Joe?” She clutched his forearm, her nails digging into his flesh. “I was trying to protect me and Mia from getting hurt when I sent Sean away.” She released his arm, leaving four half-moon marks behind on his skin. “Is it too late for me and my daughter?”
“I’m the last person who should give parenting advice, Ruby.”
“Aaron loved you, didn’t he?”
“Yes.” Joe envisioned his son’s smiling face. “Every day he’d wait in the yard with his baseball mitt for me to come home after work.”
Ruby pressed her knuckles against her eyelids. “I think Mia hates me.”
“Mia doesn’t hate you. She’s an angry teenager.” He swallowed a sip of beer.
“If she doesn’t hate me now, she will when I make her leave the ranch.”
“Then stay.” The words slipped past his lips before they’d registered in his brain. “Stay until you work things out with Hank and Mia.”
Ruby waved her empty shot glass at Stony—he ignored her. She turned pleading eyes on Joe. “Mia wants me to forgive Hank for giving me up for adoption.”
“Do you want to forgive him?”
“Forgiving him won’t make him love me.”
“Hank hired someone to search for you, Ruby. That shows he cares.”
“No, it proves he has a guilty conscience.”
Joe knew all about guilty consciences. Maybe that’s why he felt at home at the Devil’s Wind—misery loves company.
“Does it matter if Hank loves you or not?”
“Yes, it matters. Hank might take his last breath at any moment and all I’ll know the rest of my life is that he couldn’t take care of me after I was born.”
“Don’t let fear control you.” Joe was one to talk. His fears had sent him on the run for years. “Focus on your relationship with Mia. Once you two work through your problems, things between you and Hank will fall into place. The three of you are family now.”
“A family for how long?”
No one knew the answer to that question.
“Losing Mia’s love hurts more than not ever having had Hank’s.”
“Then fix what’s broken between you and your daughter.” He chugged the rest of his beer.
“Joe?” Ruby’s hand covered his fist, and his fingers unfurled one at a time. He ro
lled his wrist sideways until their palms touched. “What?” he whispered.
“Thanks for caring.”
He threaded his fingers through hers. He was beginning to believe Ruby was the kind of woman he could fall apart in front of and still walk away with his pride intact. “You ready to go home now?”
She pulled her hand free. “The Devil’s Wind isn’t my home.” She slid off the stool, and he followed her to the door.
“Hey, Ruby!” Stony’s voice carried over the noise in the crowded bar. “You gonna pay for those shots?”
She flashed her middle finger. “Put it on my tab.”
Once they stepped outside, Joe took her arm and led her across the street.
“I can drive.” She stumbled. “Oops.”
He helped her into his pickup, then slid behind the wheel.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For coming after me.”
“No big deal.” But it was. For the first time since Joe had split with Melanie, he found himself concerned about another woman.
Chapter 15
“Thanks for giving Hank a lift into town to get his truck this morning.” Ruby had taken three aspirin before she’d put on her sunglasses and screwed up the courage to face Joe.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like the worm at the bottom of a tequila bottle.”
He grinned.
She pointed her finger at him.
“What?”
“I had no idea your teeth were so bright and straight.” His pearly whites transformed his average looks into a face a woman wanted to stare at. “You should smile more often.”
He frowned.
“The sheriff’s deputy is on his way.” Feeling light-headed, Ruby sat on the flatbed.
Joe loaded the last bale, then joined her on the trailer. “I’m surprised Randall’s working on a Sunday.”
It was tough to make eye contact with Joe after she’d bellyached in the bar. “He’ll want to speak with you, too.”
“I’ll watch for his patrol car.”
