by Marin Thomas
“I didn’t realize that.”
Why not? He and everyone else in this town acted as if they knew all about her past. “How old are you?”
“Why? You gotta thing for seasoned men?”
“Seasoned? Is that what they call middle-aged males these days?”
“Fifty-four.”
“And you’ve lived in Oklahoma your whole life?”
“Grew up in Guymon. I bought the bar three years ago, after I quit the oil fields.”
Ruby nodded. “Brothers or sisters?”
“An older half brother.”
“He wouldn’t by chance work in law enforcement, would he? I’m not happy with the way Sheriff Carlyle and Deputy Randall are handling the investigation into the vandalism at Hank’s ranch.”
“Heard you’ve had problems out there.”
“I think Roy Sandoval is behind the trouble.”
“Really?” Stony sat up straight. “Why’s that?”
“After Hank got his pacemaker, Sandoval offered to buy him out.”
“Sounds like something my brother would do.”
Brother? “Your last name is Sandoval?”
“Davis. My mother had an affair with Benson Sandoval after his wife died. The old man refused to tie the knot with her after she became pregnant with me.”
“What’s the age difference between you and Roy?”
“Fifteen years.”
“Maybe you can convince your brother to quit harassing Hank and leave the Devil’s Wind alone.”
“Can’t help you there. Roy doesn’t acknowledge my existence.”
Ouch. Ruby finished cleaning the tables, then swept the pile of dirt across the floor, opened the door, and sent the clumps of dried mud flying. When she stepped outside to whisk the dirt into the street, she noticed Big Dan keeping company with the Indian statue outside his store. She waved, but he turned his head and stared off into space.
God, the men in this town were strange.
To pass the time Ruby dusted the liquor bottles behind the bar and washed shot glasses by hand. At four Stony turned on the sound system and country music rumbled through the speakers mounted on the walls. The first wave of muddy, smelly roughnecks flooded the bar, the men ignoring Ruby as they requested their drinks. While Stony filled the orders, she paid close attention to what each man was drinking.
“What’s she doing here?” a guy the size of Paul Bunyan asked.
“Ruby’s my new waitress.” Stony’s announcement quieted the crowd. “Treat her right or go somewhere else to drink.”
She jutted her chin. “If you tip well, you won’t go thirsty.”
Paul Bunyan offered a yellow-toothed grin. “Okay, sister. You gotta deal.”
Ruby set his empty shot glass in front of Stony. “He’s drinking whiskey—Ten High.” Her gaze traveled through the crowd. “I’m not your sister, mother, aunt, or girlfriend.” She pointed to the shit-kicker at the end of the bar. She’d confiscated the old cowboy boot when she’d searched the utility closet for the spray cleaner. “If I fetch you a drink, you tip me.”
A resounding “Yes, ma’am” reverberated through the group. The men resumed their conversations, and Ruby zigzagged among them, delivering drinks.
“Maybe I should hire a second waitress,” Stony said when she called out for six more longnecks.
“You’re smoking crack if you think any waitress can bring in drink orders like me.” Ruby wasn’t cocky—she was smart. She never asked a man if he wanted a refill. Instead, she delivered each drink with a smile and a hand on his shoulder. Rarely did a customer object to her VIP treatment or their growing tab. By the end of the evening, she’d earned the bar a lot of money and herself a nice bonus. She nodded to the cowboy boot, where dollar bills stuck out of the shaft. “It’s almost full.”
“You’ll need a pair of ropers next time,” he said.
“Speaking of next time.” She glanced at the clock on the wall—six o’clock. “I’m done for the day.”
“You’re leaving already?” Stony asked.
“Yep.” She wanted to check in on Poke and Mia and see how they were doing. She dumped her tips into her purse. “Maybe you’d like to change your mind about me coming in early to clean?” She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at his grumpy face.
“Come in when you want. Take off when you want. I don’t care.”
“Okay, see you whenever.” Ruby stood on the sidewalk for a full minute after leaving the bar in case one of the men followed her out, thinking he’d help himself to her tips. She had plans for the money—school clothes for Mia.
A shadow swept past the window of the mercantile, and without knowing why, she crossed the street and entered the store, almost bumping into Big Dan.
“You shouldn’t carry all that money in your purse,” he said.
The psychic had X-ray vision. “If this stupid town had a bank, I wouldn’t have to haul my tips home and hide them under my mattress.”
His gaze roamed over her. “You don’t look any worse for wear.”
She laughed. “Did you expect the men to behave like animals?” She curled her nose at the stuffed carcasses mounted on the wall. “Where did you get those things?”
“Souvenirs from my carnival days.” He picked up an empty box. “I was stocking shelves.”
Ruby pressed her hand to her chest, baffled by the odd sensation she experienced when she made eye contact with Big Dan. Had Cora felt the same pull around the man?
“Be right back.” He disappeared through the doorway behind the checkout.
Her gaze shifted to the counter, where a handful of photos was strewn across the surface. She went to take a look.
Oh, my.
The town seer had a fetish for scantily clad blondes. Make that one blonde—the same woman was in every photo.
When Big Dan returned from the back room, Ruby held up a snapshot. “Old flame?”
“No.” He climbed onto the stool behind the counter and opened his tobacco pouch. “That’s your mother.”
Ruby drew in a quiet breath and studied the images a little closer. Stony was right. She did look like Cora. Why had her mother posed for the photos? “Where did you get these?”
He selected the snapshot of Cora wearing red panties and a matching bra. “Your mother gave me the photos for safekeeping. She didn’t want Hank to see them.”
“Why not?”
“She was afraid he’d throw them away.” Big Dan cleared his throat. “Cora and I became friends.” He shrugged. “We were both misfits in this town of brawny beefcakes, and we understood each other.”
Ruby eyed the black fishnet stockings attached to a red garter belt. She’d always wanted to buy herself trashy lingerie, but there had never been enough money.
“You two have the same hair color,” he said.
True. Her mother’s hair appeared as wavy and thick as Ruby’s. Since Big Dan was willing to discuss Cora and Hank hadn’t opened up much about her, Ruby asked, “How old was she when these were taken?”
He flipped over a photo. “This one says seventeen.”
Seventeen? Ruby had been pregnant with Mia at that age.
“She’s twenty-eight in this one.” Big Dan held out the photo. Still beautiful, still slim. No visible baby pouch. “What age was she when she had me?”
“Thirty-six or thirty-seven. She was younger than Hank by a few years.”
“Who took these pictures?”
“Probably one of the girls at the ranch.”
“What ranch?”
“The Love Ranch Cathouse in Crystal, Nevada.”
“Cora worked in a brothel?”
“Thought you knew.”
Good Lord. Her mother had been a prostitute.
“Why would she keep these if she was startin
g a new life with Hank?”
“Cora came down here and tried to be someone else, but I think she felt lost and maybe a little scared. The snapshots reminded her of home. A place where she was accepted.”
Maybe after watching his mother turn tricks, Hank had sympathized with Cora’s plight and offered her a way out of the profession. Still, Ruby thought it was odd that he’d been attracted to a woman who sold her body for money.
And what about Ruby’s parents? Had they known about Cora’s background? Maybe Cheryl Baxter had mentioned it in her diary.
It was bad enough Ruby had to worry that her parents hadn’t loved her as much as they might have had she been their biological daughter, but now she wondered how they could have loved her at all knowing she’d inherited the genes of a prostitute.
“Was everyone in town aware of Cora’s profession?”
“She didn’t brag about it, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Since when was whoring something to boast about? “But the men found out.”
Big Dan nodded.
Ruby had gone through her share of boyfriends, but at least she’d felt something for them before she’d jumped into their beds. Had Cora loved Hank—really loved him—or had he been nothing more than her ticket to a new life?
Do you care?
Yes, she did care. Even though she’d been given up after birth, it would be nice to know she’d been conceived in love.
“Hank must have taken flack for being with a woman like Cora.”
“Some.”
“Was she faithful to Hank?”
“Tried to be.”
Empathy for Hank filled Ruby. If he hadn’t handed her over to the state, how would she have survived her mother’s reputation in a town like Unforgiven? Suddenly it was easier to forgive Hank for leaving her behind than to forgive him for not tracking her down until he’d become old and ill.
“Who did Cora have an affair with?”
“Roy Sandoval.”
Nice neighbor.
“I thought Roy might have been trying to shame Hank into selling the Devil’s Wind,” Big Dan said.
“And Hank forgave her?” It might have taken Ruby a while to see the light, but at least she’d screwed up the courage to finally shut the door in Dylan’s face after she’d accepted that he’d only wanted money and sex and not a permanent place in her and Mia’s lives.
“Things were never good between Roy and Hank, but they grew worse when Hank found out about the affair.”
Big Dan dipped his head, and the shiny bald spot spattered with freckles glinted in the overhead lights. “Did you sleep with my mother?” Ruby asked.
“It wasn’t like that between us.” He gathered the photos, plucking the one from Ruby’s fingers and then dropping them into a Priority Mail envelope and shoving it into the drawer.
One more question before she left. “Did Cora run off with a secret lover after I was born?”
“Don’t know. She never said goodbye.” Big Dan’s eyes glistened. Cora’s departure had blown a hole in his heart—one that rivaled Hank’s.
Her mother had left behind a trail of broken hearts as she’d made her way through life, and Ruby hated the thought that she might have more in common with her birth mother than she’d first believed.
Chapter 22
Ruby left the mercantile and got into Hank’s truck. At the four-way stop she remembered she wanted to check in with the sheriff, so she made a U-turn and parked at the end of the block near the jail. Leaving the engine running, she went inside. The front office and the holding cell were empty. “Anyone here?”
The sheriff’s door opened, and the instant he saw her, the smile slid off his face. “Ruby.”
“Sheriff.” She didn’t waste her breath on pleasantries. “Any idea yet who shot at my daughter?”
“We’re still interviewing people.”
“Which people?” She’d like to know the names of those suspected of foul play.
“That’s confidential. I’ll call Hank as soon as we have any news.”
“In case you haven’t heard,” she said, “I’m working at the saloon. I’ll keep my ears open for any gossip about the Devil’s Wind.” There was a chance one of the roughnecks might drink too much and let something slip.
“You’re staying, then?” The muscle along his jaw bunched.
“I’m worried about Hank’s safety, and I’m not leaving until you’ve caught whoever’s responsible for all these incidents.”
“I don’t believe Hank’s in any danger.”
“You better be right.” She left the jail and drove back to the ranch. After she parked in the yard, Joe signaled to her from the backyard. The lines across his brow deepened, and she picked up the pace.
“What’s wrong? Is Mia okay?”
“She’s fine.”
Right then Mia walked Poke out of the barn and waved at Ruby as she led the pony to the corral where Hank waited.
“Why the frown?” she asked.
Joe shoved his fingers through his sweaty hair. “How come you didn’t tell me you’d gotten a job at the Possum Belly?”
Actually, it hadn’t occurred to her to inform him. She didn’t think he cared where she worked. “I guess I forgot.”
He stared into the distance, his shoulders stiff, hands clenched. Then his gaze swung back to her. “It’s a rough place for a woman to work.”
Her heart tripped, then picked itself up and raced inside her chest. Was he worried for her safety, or more worried one of the roughnecks would make a play for her?
He opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind and walked off. Halfway to the barn, he stopped and turned, his long strides bringing him back to her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’d finally gotten used to the idea of being alone the rest of my life, and then you and Mia showed up. Watching you two and Hank work things out reminds me of what it was like to have a family.”
The intensity of his brown-eyed stare sent a jolt through Ruby.
“I don’t know what’s happening with me. And it doesn’t seem to matter that I don’t want this.”
“Want what?”
“Want to care about you.”
Ruby’s pounding heart insisted she was attracted to Joe and interested in seeing what developed between them. But caring was a big step. That involved trust, and it was way too soon to place any faith in him.
“I’ve been hollow inside for so long I didn’t expect to miss the emotional mess that comes with being part of a family. But you, Mia, and Hank have me thinking twice about wanting to live on the outskirts of people’s lives.”
Emotions were messy. She wasn’t ready to go that far with Joe. What if she screwed up again? He’d suffered enough pain after losing his son and wife. She didn’t want the responsibility of protecting his heart when she could barely protect her own.
“I admire you for trying to work things out with Hank.” His feet shuffled, kicking up dust. “You want to forgive him, but you don’t know how.”
So much for believing she’d successfully hidden her feelings from others.
“And you’re not giving up on your daughter. It takes guts to watch Mia grow closer to Hank when you wish it was you.”
She appreciated that he recognized what she was up against. Most days she felt like a one-man army waging a battle to gain a foothold with Mia and Hank. “What are you asking of me?”
“I’m worried about your safety and I don’t want you to work at the bar.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Maybe, but what if a drunk cowboy gets out of line?” He nodded to the corral. “What are they supposed to do if something happens to you?”
Feeling cornered, she lashed out. “I’m not your responsibility.”
“I know that, Ruby.”
He inched closer. “But I want to be someone you can lean on. If you’ll let me.”
Ruby had no experience depending on anyone but herself. Joe was asking a lot—could she deliver? The ranch was where she, Mia, and Hank were working out their issues. But what if it was also the right place and this was the right time for her and Joe to explore a relationship?
What if he was the one who wouldn’t leave her behind?
“Okay.”
“Okay what?” he asked.
“I’m not quitting my job at the bar, but I accept your invitation to be there for me.”
Joe brushed his mouth across hers in a quick kiss. Then he walked off with a smile on his face.
She waited for the doubts to creep in and change her mind, but they never materialized. Feeling proud of herself, she went into the house and was met in the kitchen by Hank and Mia. She hadn’t noticed the pair go inside while she and Joe talked.
“How was work, Mom?”
Ruby upended her purse on the table and all her tips spilled out.
“Holy moly, that’s a lot of one-dollar bills.” Mia began counting them.
“Since I have a job, I’ll pay you an allowance to help Hank with chores.”
“How much?”
“A hundred dollars a week.”
Mia’s eyes lit up. “Seriously?”
“You’re going to need money to care for Poke and to put toward school clothes.”
“Hank said he’d buy my clothes.” Mia separated the bills into ten-dollar piles.
“I can afford to buy my daughter clothes, Hank.”
“Thought you might want to save for a car,” he said.
She needed transportation, no doubt about that. Hank offering to help with the cost of Mia’s wardrobe would allow Ruby to save for a vehicle. But she’d wanted Mia to understand that she’d taken the job in town so she could support her daughter—not so she could buy herself a new car.
“Hank said there’s a carnival next weekend. Can we go?” Mia asked.
“Unforgiven has a carnival?”
“Halfway between the ranch and Guymon,” Hank said.
“Please, Mom.”
“Sounds like fun. I’ll leave work early on Friday.”
