Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch (21 page)

In the next
instant, he started swearing. “Ow-w-w. God, that hurts.” His hands gripped her
shoulders and pushed her away, not roughly but with unanswerable force. Then he
rolled to his stomach, pressing his face against the tablecloth, pounding a
fist against the rock beneath. “Damn, damn, damn.”

She put a hand
on his back. “Are you okay?”

He shook his
head and didn’t answer. Gradually, the pounding fist slowed, stopped, relaxed. His
shoulders loosened and lifted on a deep breath.

“Sorry.” He
turned his face to the side. His eyes were still squeezed shut. “My back and
hip are about as flexible as this boulder.”

“It’s okay.” Now
she could breathe, and her pulse had steadied. Her brain was working again. “There
are better places for…that kind of thing.”

With his hands
flat against the rock, Daniel pushed himself backward until his feet touched
the ground, then straightened up. He wiped his sleeve across his face and gave
her a rueful smile. “‘That kind of thing?’”

Willa scooted
off the boulder, grabbed up the tablecloth and started folding. “You never know
who might be watching.”

He made a show
of looking around them. “I see your point. We had a whole audience of cows,
just for starters.”

She couldn’t
help smiling as she stuffed the cloth into the saddle bag. “Exactly.” Then she
glanced at him. “Are you ready to go on? Can you ride?”

He took a couple
of experimental steps. “I’ll be okay.” A few more steps brought him to stand
right in front of her. Putting a finger under her chin, he tipped her face to
his.

“I meant what I
said. You don’t have to do or say anything right now. Just remember. I love
you.” He kissed her mouth, quick and hard, then turned to limp stiffly toward
the horses.

Willa believed
him. And she would remember. But what she wasn’t sure of, as they rode through
the rest of the beautiful afternoon, was what she wanted—needed—to tell him in
return.

J
UST
BEFORE DINNER THAT
NIGHT
, Willa opened the
front door to find Hobbs Sutton on the veranda. “Good evening, Sheriff. Come
in.”

He stepped
inside and shut the door behind him. “Nice to see you, Willa. How’s
everything?”

“You mean,
except for my son who’s still on suspension from school and the rustlers
working out of the desert around my ranch?” She grinned at him, then led the
way into the parlor. “Great. Just great. Have a seat.”

He nodded as he
took the chair she indicated. “I just looked at the two fence breaks with
Daniel. I’ll be filing a report, of course. And I’ll put out a notice with
auction houses and feed lot managers about the missing cattle. Not that I’ll
get much cooperation, ’specially on the other side of the border. Short of
catching the rustlers red-handed, I don’t have much to offer.”

“I know. I’m
most worried about what Daniel might decide to do on his own.”

“Yeah, I could
see the wheels spinning in his brain. Unless he keeps a twenty-four-hour watch
all along the fence, he doesn’t have much recourse. And I don’t think he’s got
enough hands for that kind of operation, does he?”

“No, though I
wouldn’t put it past him to hire more.”

“Deep pockets, I
guess.” Hobbs leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “Listen, Willa,
the main reason I stopped by is…” He took a deep breath. “There’s a…a good
movie coming to Laredo next week, one of those prize-winners everybody talks
about. I wondered if you would have dinner with me on the weekend, and see the
film. Whatever night works best for you.”

Willa couldn’t
quite hide her surprise. “I—”

The sheriff
raised a hand. “You can think about it, let me know later in the week.” On his
feet again, he looked down at her with a gentle longing in his eyes. “I’d
really like to see you more often. You’re a special woman, Willa. Special to
me.”

She dropped her
gaze to her own fingers, woven tightly together in her lap. After a few
seconds, she realized what she had to say. Getting to her feet, she stepped
forward and took his hands in hers.

“Hobbs, I really
appreciate your invitation. I like you, and I know you’re a good man.”

His face
changed. “But?”

“But I don’t
want to lead you on. I’ll always be your friend, but that’s all I’ll ever be.”

“It’s been two
years, darlin’. You don’t have to mourn forever.”

“I won’t.” Willa
took a deep breath. Was she ready to say this? “There’s someone…someone else.”

After a long
silence, he said, “Daniel.”

She nodded. “I
don’t know what will happen. But—”

“It’s okay. I
understand.” Hobbs stepped back, out of her reach, and stared at her for a
moment, then turned and went toward the entry hall. “Let me know if you get
anymore rustling out this way. I’ll see what I can do to muster up additional
help.” Opening the door, he stepped outside without looking at her again. “’Bye,
Willa. Good luck.”

“Goodbye,
Hobbs.”

The thud of the
door against its frame sounded permanent. Final. One part of her life ended,
another just beginning.

As she walked
toward the kitchen, she came face-to-face with Robbie in the hallway. He
carried a bowl of ice cream in one hand and an entire package of chocolate
cream–filled cookies in the other.

“Health food,”
she said, trying for a joke.

Rolling his
eyes, he brushed by her. “Whatever.”

She whirled and
caught his arm. “Roberto, I am your mother and you’ll treat me with respect. You
know that is the very least your father would demand.”

At the mention
of his father, Robbie’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, ma’am.”

Willa released
him. “Thank you.”

“Can I go now?”

“Yes.”

The slam of his
bedroom door told her all she needed to know about her older son’s state of
mind.

A
S THEY CLEANED UP
THE
kitchen after
dinner, Rosa shared with Lili what she had learned during her ride home with
Luis. Then she waited for her sister to volunteer an account of her afternoon
with Nate Hernandez.

But when the
counters had been wiped, the dishwasher started and the light turned off, Lili
hadn’t said a word. As they folded the latest load of laundry from the dryer,
Rosa couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.

“Did you enjoy
your afternoon?”

Lili carefully
smoothed imaginary wrinkles from a pillowcase. “Oh, yes.” Her cheeks turned a
delicate shade of rose.

“Where did you
go for lunch?”

“Um, The
Trellis.”

“My goodness,
that’s a very fancy restaurant.”

“It was nice.”

When she didn’t
say more, Rosa sighed in frustration. “What did you talk about?”

Lili jumped, as
if startled out of a dream. “Um, things. About the children, and Willa and
Daniel. About Jamie, a little. About when Nate worked here.” She smiled. “We
used to talk while he worked in the barn. I would bring him lunch, out in the
farthest pastures, when he rode the fence line.”

“I remember.”
Rosa nodded. “Where did you go after lunch?” When Lili looked puzzled, she
clarified. “Yesterday.”

“Oh.” She
finished another pillowcase before answering. “We walked around the historic
part of Laredo. Then we went back to the church, the youth group arrived, and I
brought the children home.”

“Did he kiss
you?” Lili looked up, eyes wide, mouth an
O
of surprise. Rosa gave a
smile of satisfaction. “That’s good. Did you make plans for another date?”

“He didn’t ask.”

“Did you ask
him?”

“How could I do
that?”

Rosa grabbed up
a stack of towels for Willa’s bathroom. “You say, ‘Nate, come for dinner
Wednesday night.’ Or, ‘Nate, I’d like to see a movie next weekend. Will you go
with me?’” She glared at her sister. “I wash my hands of the two of you. If you
can’t think for yourselves any better than this, you really don’t deserve your
own happiness.”

She ran into
Willa in the hallway and shoved the towels into her arms with a mumbled “Good
night.” Then Rosa went to her bedroom, curled up on her bed with her bracelet
next to her heart and shed bitter tears—for her sister, and for herself.

A
FTER THREE WEEKS OF
R
OB’S
silent, unquestioning labor, Daniel decided to
precipitate a reaction—rage, sorrow, defiance, he didn’t care. The kid needed
to talk…or yell. Maybe that would be easier with somebody he hated.

On Tuesday, he
sent Nate with the hands to check the herds and kept Rob with him to work on
the old storeroom in the barn, which he was turning into an office. Under
Nate’s supervision, Rob had carried out grimy tins, tubs, boxes and buckets. Today,
they would rip off the rough boards nailed up as makeshift shelving, then wash
down the ceiling, walls and floor.

“After that,”
Daniel told Rob as they began prying the first board, “the room will be fit for
human habitation.”

Rob applied
leverage to his hammer but didn’t say a word.

“You go back to
school next week?”

No answer.

“You’ll have to
do some hard work to make up for the failing grades, I guess.”

A nail screamed
as it tore loose, but Rob didn’t reply.

The gradual
approach wasn’t working. Daniel aimed straight for the heart. “Do you think
your dad would be proud of what you’ve done?”

Rob threw him a
furious glance. “None of your business.”

“Was he the kind
of man to lie and steal and cheat?”

Finally, the boy
faced him. “You know he wasn’t. He was a soldier. He did the right thing.”

“Maybe the real
reason you’re so mad is because he left in the first place. If he’d cared about
you, and your mom and Toby and Susannah, he would have stayed home. But he
left, because you weren’t—”

“Shut up! Shut
up, shut up!” Rob came at him, both arms swinging. He butted his head into
Daniel’s belly, punching and kicking. “He cared about us, he cared about his
country. You shut up!”

He landed some
solid hits before Daniel got hold of his arms and forced them wide apart. His
fury far from spent, Rob kept trying to kick, aiming at Daniel’s bad leg.

“That’s enough.”
Daniel grunted at a direct slam to his knee. He shook the boy hard. “That is
enough!”

Rob stood still,
glaring and panting. “Take it back. Take what you said back.”

“I take it back.
I believe your dad loved his family very much.” Daniel released his grip. “The
question is, do you?”

For a long
moment, Rob didn’t speak, didn’t move. Then his hands clenched, unclenched. He
spun around, and Daniel thought he would take off out the door.

Instead, he dove
to pick up the hammer he’d dropped.

Daniel held up
both hands. “Rob…” For a second, he feared for his life.

But Rob laid
into wood instead of flesh. He pounded the shelf he’d been working on and the
wall behind it, over and over, as fast as he could draw back his arm.

There were words
between the blows. “Why? Why didn’t
you
die? Why couldn’t
he
be
the one who came back?” Tears streaked through the dirt on his face. “Why did
he have to go there, anyway? We wanted him here. I needed him here.”

Daniel closed
his eyes, hearing the echo of Willa’s words.

“I hate him for
going.” Rob spoke softly, then louder. “I hate him for leaving us! I hate him.
I hate him.” He stopped hammering and stared at Daniel, across the room. “I
hate you!”

The hammer flew
into the corner farthest from where Daniel stood. As it landed, the boy broke
for the door. Through the window, Daniel saw him race across the ground,
heading toward home.

Nate came in a
short while later and took stock of the room’s condition. “What’s happened
here?”

“A hurricane,”
Daniel told him. “Here’s hoping it cleared the air.”

Some advantages
of a military background were the skills you developed and the contacts you
came away with—like the friend specializing in counter-terrorism technology who
was currently on leave at home in Dallas. After several phone consultations and
a drive to the Big
D,
Daniel had assembled the equipment he required to
deal with the enemy stealing his cattle. Three fourteen-hour days of work got
the system up and running. With Nate’s help, he set up a command center in the
barn, complete with receivers for the signals from sensors on the fence lines,
a phone connection and satellite computer hookup. Now he would know when his
fences were cut and he could catch the bastards in the act.