by Janet Dailey
A dozen yards ahead, a jackrabbit streaked through the dry brush and into the road. Kyle hit the gas, wanting to slake his anger by crushing the animal under his wheels. But the rabbit bounded out of the way, escaping the SUV’s oversized tires by a whisker’s breadth.
Still in a black mood, he parked in front of the house and stormed inside. His mother was arranging store-bought flowers in a vase on the sideboard. She seemed to spend most of her time fussing, cleaning, and arranging, as if making things look pretty could cover up the ugliness that seemed to hang like a dusty curtain over everything in their boxy, tract-style house, including the family. The only thing that kept him here was the expectation of marrying Erin and moving into that big, fancy home on the Rimrock.
“Back so soon, Kyle?” she asked. “I thought you were going to spend time with Erin.”
“Erin was busy.”
“Are you going to the funeral tomorrow? I’m sure she’ll expect you there.”
“Maybe. It’s not like I knew the old goat.”
“Kyle! You mustn’t talk that way about someone who’s died.” She paused, brightening. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I go to the funeral with you? It would be the neighborly thing to do, paying our respects and all.”
Kyle turned away and headed up the stairs, pretending he hadn’t heard. Showing up at the funeral with his mother wouldn’t just be embarrassing. It would be like having a ball and chain clamped around his ankle, having to escort her around, go where she wanted to go, and leave when she wanted to leave. Maybe he should stay away just to make Erin wonder if he was still mad at her. That might make her think twice about shoving him away the next time.
He’d reached the top of the stairs when she spoke again. “Kyle.”
This time her voice was too demanding to ignore. He stopped and turned around.
“Let me know about the funeral,” she said. “By the way, how is that computer course coming along?”
“Fine. And I’ll let you know about the funeral.” He walked into his bedroom, closed the door, and locked it behind him.
If his mother ever saw what he was really viewing on the old desktop computer that was all he could afford, she’d probably have a heart attack. But that wasn’t his problem. He was an adult, and what he watched and did for pleasure was his own business.
With a quiver of anticipation, Kyle pulled out the chair, sat down at the desk, and switched on his computer.
CHAPTER FOUR
IT WAS MIDAFTERNOON ON FRIDAY WHEN A WHITE TOYOTA CAMRY with rental plates swung into the yard and pulled up below the porch. Rose had been waiting, watching through the front window. She’d kept in contact with Will over the years, but she and Beau had long since lost touch. What would he be like now—the sweet but fiercely independent young boy she remembered so well?
As the Camry came to a stop, she burst through the front door, crossed the porch, and raced down the steps. The sound of light, eager footsteps told her that Erin was close behind her. But Will had remained inside the house.
The driver’s side door opened. The man who stepped out, dressed in jeans and sneakers, was tall, with a lean runner’s build, light brown hair, and finely drawn features. Only when he smiled did Rose catch a glimpse of the young boy she remembered.
“Rose! I can’t believe it.” He opened his arms and twirled her off her feet as if she were a little girl, then set her down. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“There was no way I wouldn’t have come,” Rose said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“And Erin!” He caught her as she flung herself into his arms, then eased her away so he could look at her. “My stars, girl, where did the time go? You’re a grown woman!”
“I’ve missed you,” Erin said. “All of you.”
A pretty, dark-haired woman, visibly pregnant, was helping a child out of the backseat. “Rose, this is my wife, Natalie, and our daughter, April,” Beau said. “Natalie, I’ve told you about the lady who saved my life, and Will’s, when we got kidnapped by the drug cartel. Here she is, in person.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rose.” Natalie gave Rose her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you. I wish we had more time to get acquainted, but our flight is leaving early Sunday morning.”
“Why so soon?” Rose asked, although she suspected the reason. It was as she’d been made to understand—Beau and Will were barely on speaking terms.
“We’ve both got work commitments,” Beau said. “The DEA could only spare me for a couple of days, and Natalie has her veterinary practice.”
“But you’ll miss the burial,” Erin said. “We’ll be taking Jasper’s body to his old home in the Hill Country. If we leave Saturday, after the funeral, it’ll be dark when we get there, so we’ll need to take him the next morning—that’ll be Sunday.”
“I wish I’d known that,” Beau said. “But it’s too late to change our plans now. We’ve already booked our flight.”
“Well then,” Rose said, putting on a cheerful smile. “We’ll just have to make the most of the time we have, won’t we?”
Will had come out on the porch. He waited there, unsmiling, as Beau and his family climbed the steps, followed by Rose and by Erin with one of the suitcases. Tension, as heavy as water, seemed to thicken the air as the two brothers stood face to face. Then Will held out his hand and spoke.
“We’ve come together to mourn an old friend. Let’s not dishonor his memory with our differences.”
“Agreed.” Beau accepted the handshake.
“I figured you’d be hungry,” Will said. “We’ll be eating in an hour. That’ll give you time to rest and freshen up. Erin, will you show our guests to their rooms?”
Our guests? Will’s words struck Rose as odd. How could Beau be called a guest when he’d grown up in this house?
Rose was tired of second-guessing. When Beau and his family had gone to their rooms, and Erin hadn’t returned, she walked into the den, where Will was pouring himself a shot of Jack Daniel’s. “Can I get you a glass, Rose? It’s good stuff. Takes the edge off whatever’s troubling you.”
She shook her head. “I’ve found it doesn’t help much,” she said, “especially since what’s troubling me is you.”
He emptied the shot glass and poured another, his silence inviting her to explain.
“The most vivid memory I have of you and Beau,” she said, “is the two of you running away from those drug dealers, to your dad. I see your hand, hanging on to your little brother’s, so tightly, as if nothing in the world could make you let go.”
“That was a long time ago,” Will said.
“Erin told me that you’d bought out Beau’s share of the ranch,” Rose said. “But what happened between the two of you, Will? I need to understand.”
Will exhaled. “I guess I owe you that much. But you won’t be surprised.” He took another sip of whiskey. “Beau never really wanted to take responsibility for his share of the ranch. Oh, he’d come home on and off. He’d make a show of trying to work the ranch with me. But being number two never set well with him. He likes that fancy government job, and the DC lifestyle. I think his wife likes it, too, especially things like having their little girl in that snooty private school.”
Will put the glass down on the bar and walked to the window, gazing out at a dust devil whirling across the yard. “Whole damned ranch is blowing away,” he muttered.
“So how long ago did Beau leave?” Rose asked.
“Three years. We had a blowup that ended everything. He announced that he had an offer to take his old job back at a higher level and salary. I told him it wasn’t fair for him to own half the ranch while I did all the work to run it. He pretty much told me that I could take the ranch and go to hell. He wanted nothing more to do with it, or me.
“As things got even nastier, it became clear that the only way to settle things was for me to get a loan and buy out his share. I didn’t want to do it, Rose. I knew it would be a hardship, and tha
t it would put the ranch at risk. But Beau wouldn’t back down. When he signed over the deed and I handed him that big check, I told him I wouldn’t care if I never saw him again. And I didn’t see him—until today.”
“I take it you called him about Jasper.”
Will nodded. “It was hard. I almost asked Erin to do it. But I figured that would be the coward’s way out. And I knew he loved Jasper. We all did.”
“At least the ranch is all yours,” Rose said.
“Only if I can hang on to it. When I took out that mortgage, the ranch was in good shape. We’d had plenty of rain, plenty of graze, and beef prices were up. Even then it wasn’t easy to come up with the payments on the loan. But now . . .” Will’s shoulders sagged. “We haven’t had a decent rain in a year. The whole damn county is blowing away. And with everybody selling off their cattle early, the prices are down.”
Will stared out the window for the space of a long breath. “The way things are going, I won’t have enough cash to pay the bank this fall.”
“Beau’s got money. Can’t he help you out?” Rose asked.
Will shook his head. “The money he got for the ranch is tied up in his house and in the clinic he built for his wife’s practice. Even if I thought he might help, I’d rather cut off my arm than ask him. That would mean reneging on the deal we made, something I’ve never done in my life.”
“What about Erin? Does she know?”
“Not yet,” Will said. “I’m still waiting for the right time to tell her. She needs to be prepared, but it’ll break her heart. Chances are, unless some miracle happens, we’re going to lose the Rimrock.”
* * *
Jasper had never been a churchgoing man. But with a crowd expected and no way to hold a funeral outdoors in the dust and heat, the local community church was the only option.
Erin, in the blue dress she’d bought for her high school graduation, sat in the front pew between Will and Beau. She could sense the cold resentment flowing between the brothers, making her feel like some sort of safety barricade, placed there to protect them from sniping at each other.
Her mother’s funeral was painfully fresh in her mind, as it would surely be in Will’s. Erin remembered the service in the same church, the spring bluebonnets on her mother’s casket. She remembered sitting exactly where she was sitting now, clasping her father’s hand until her knuckles ached. Beau and his family had been in Europe at the time, so they hadn’t been here. In Will’s book, Beau’s absence had been just one more strike against his brother.
Beau’s wife and daughter filled out the pew on his right. April, a sweet, sunny six-year-old, looked like a miniature of her dark-haired mother. She sat with her hands folded in her lap like the little lady she was. Rose occupied the spot on Will’s left, with Sky, his wife Lauren, and their three lively youngsters taking up the pew behind them.
The rest of the seats were filled with friends, neighbors, and cowhands who had worked with Jasper. Glancing back, Erin caught sight of Kyle, sitting with his mother. She forced herself to put him out of her mind. Today wasn’t about him or their relationship. Today was about honoring the end of a life.
Jasper’s casket, a plain pine box adorned with an arrangement of wildflowers, golden chamisa, and sage, spoke of the man who lay inside—honest, brave, wise, funny, and kind to the bone. The pallbearers—Will, Beau, Sky, and three long-time ranch hands—had carried the casket into the church. Now it sat on its stand in front of Erin, so close that she could have reached out and touched it. Jasper had always been there for her, to offer support and unconditional love. It was still sinking in that the man who’d been a vital part of her whole life was gone.
Now, with so many decisions to make and challenges to face, she needed his salty wisdom. What would he say to her about Kyle if he were here? What would he advise her about getting married? But she would never know the answer to those questions. She would never hear Jasper’s voice again.
* * *
The service was mercifully short. When it was over, Rose walked with Will and Erin to the car for the drive back to the Rimrock. There, a feast of donated casseroles, salads, breads, and desserts would be laid out on the buffet table in the great room for folks who’d come to pay their respects to Jasper’s ranch family.
As she waited for Will to climb into the car, she watched people coming out of the church to their vehicles. Not far away, Sky Fletcher was loading his attractive family into their SUV. Rose had yet to be introduced to Sky, but she’d recognized him on sight. Half Comanche and half Bull Tyler, with sharp cheekbones and riveting blue eyes, the foreman of the Rimrock was unmistakable. His wife was, as Will had described her, a stunning woman. Tall and willowy, with cinnamon hair and a model’s elegant carriage, she was busy strapping her three young children into the backseat of the vehicle. It was hard to believe she was Garn Prescott’s daughter. Maybe they would get a chance to talk at the house.
As Will drove out of the parking lot and swung the car onto the main road out of town, Rose settled back against the seat.
Tomorrow she would make the long, sad drive with Will, Erin, and Sky to the church cemetery in the Hill Country. By the time they arrived, with the casket lovingly cushioned in the bed of Will’s truck, the sexton would have dug the grave in the spot Jasper had reserved for himself when he’d buried his sweetheart so many years ago. By the time they got back to the Rimrock, it would be dark.
And then what? Rose asked herself. She hadn’t booked a return flight to Wyoming because she hadn’t known how long she would be staying here. She still didn’t know. But something told her it might be a while. She still had the issue of her neglected property to resolve. But there was more.
Sitting with her in the cab of the truck were two people she’d come to care about—a troubled man and a young woman on the cusp of adult life. Both of them were grieving. Both of them were facing loss. Maybe she needed to be here for them, to lend her support and pass on what little wisdom she’d gained over the years.
Maybe this was where Jasper, her oldest and dearest friend, would have wanted her to be.
* * *
Erin had offered to help Carmen with the buffet. As the guests streamed into the great room, she busied herself filling the glass pitchers with iced sweet tea, making sure the casseroles and salads had serving utensils, and checking the supply of paper plates, cups, and napkins.
Kyle and his mother had arrived together. There was no sign of Kyle’s father. Not that Erin cared, since she’d never liked the man. Hunter Cardwell struck her as bossy and self-important, and he treated his poor wife as if he owned her.
If she married Kyle, the Cardwells would be her in-laws, she reminded herself. But right now she had other things on her mind. Ignoring Kyle’s attempt to catch her eye, she hurried back to the kitchen.
After the first rush of guests, the traffic around the buffet table had slowed. For now, everything appeared to be under control. After telling Carmen she’d return to help clean up, Erin wandered back into the great room.
She could see Will standing next to the tall river-stone fireplace, greeting the guests who came by. Kyle and his mother were talking to him now. Vivian Cardwell was clasping Will’s big hand between her palms. Her eyes gazed up at him almost tearfully as she offered her condolences. Kyle was shifting restlessly, looking around the room, probably for her, Erin thought. But after his caveman behavior, she wasn’t ready to be with him again—not until she was sure he’d learned his lesson.
“Need a break?” The voice at her shoulder was Beau’s.
Erin had been hoping to talk with her uncle while he was here. Grateful for the chance, she gave him a conspiratorial nod. “Out the back,” she said.
Like two schoolchildren playing hooky, they cut through the kitchen, slipped out the back door, and headed across the graveled yard to the horse pastures. Beau had always been Erin’s favorite relative. She was happy just to be with him. But she also had some serious issues to bring up.
The sun was blazing hot. Erin tugged away the ribbon that tied back her hair, letting the light breeze cool the sweat-dampened roots. Beau had taken off his jacket and slung it over his arm.
“Congratulations on the new little one,” she said. “Boy or girl?”
“It’s a boy. We just found out. But this trip has worn Natalie out. I talked her into lying down with April for a bit. With luck they’ll both get in a nice nap.” His eyes followed the flight of a circling hawk. “I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I was about your mother. Tori and I were best friends growing up. And then I couldn’t even make it to her funeral.”
“It all happened so fast,” Erin said. “I understood why you couldn’t come, but I can’t say that Dad did.”
“That’s just one more thing he’ll hold against me. But I’m worried about Will, Erin. He doesn’t look good.”
“I’m worried about him, too,” Erin said. “Losing Mom almost killed him. And now Jasper. He’s reeling under the weight of it all. To make matters worse, he blames himself for Jasper’s death.”
“That doesn’t make sense. The old man was ninety-three. He probably had a stroke or heart attack and ran that ATV into a wash. At least that’s what I heard. You could say that he shouldn’t have been out there alone in the first place, but nobody ever told Jasper what he couldn’t do.”
“Maybe so. But Dad’s beating himself up because he didn’t check on Jasper the night before and send out a search party right away.” Erin brushed a lock of windblown hair out of her eyes. “The sheriff took a quick look and ruled Jasper’s death an accident. But I’m not satisfied with that. What if somebody killed him, Beau?”
“Crazier things have happened on this ranch.”
“After the burial’s done, I plan to do some investigating on my own. I owe it to Dad—and to Jasper—to find out what really happened.”