“We must be doing something right. You found it,” Ty said.
Rachel sighed. “Only after looking through three pages of search results. If you want to get your business going, you need to have it ranking higher in the search engines. Add some advertising, follow the suggestions I have, and your business will explode.”
Ty took a sip of his coffee. “We do all right.”
“But you could do better,” Rachel said, leaning forward. She’d gone up against tougher customers than Ty, and while this wasn’t her primary objective, it would help them both. “I would love to put together a proposal for you. Present it to Ricky and see what he thinks. But as I told you, that’s not the only reason I’m here. I do want to take Katie to the ranch. To be around animals and in nature.”
“Like I said, we’re closed for cleaning.”
Della set a plate in front of him with a thud. “That’s not the kind of hospitality Ricky believes in, and you know it,” she said. “He’d tan your hide if he knew you were refusing a little girl the chance to experience the ranch.”
Ty took his hat off and ran his hand through his dark hair. “Ricky isn’t the one who’s going to have to deal with a lawsuit over someone not finding the ranch up to their expectations. He’ll hand it all to me and make me deal with it.”
Without his hat, Ty looked younger, more vulnerable. And while she’d initially thought that his objection to her coming out to the ranch was pure mean-spiritedness, the lines in his brow spoke of exhaustion.
What would he say when he realized her real intention in coming? Would her need for a kidney also create a legal hassle for him?
Ty was an attorney. He didn’t have a heart. He just wanted the facts and figures, and even when he got them, he’d twist them to suit his needs.
So where did Rachel’s situation fit into that picture?
Della, though, seemed more sympathetic. “You’ve certainly had your hands full lately. But you know how Ricky loves those little ones.”
Rachel glanced over at Katie, who’d only taken a few bites of her sandwich, declared herself full, then gone back over to the children’s area.
Maybe playing on Ricky’s love for children was the angle she should work, instead of trying to use her professional skills.
Ty nodded. “I know, but ever since word got out that he was looking for Cinco’s kid, we’ve had all kinds of crazies come out to the ranch, trying to take advantage of an old man in hopes they’d inherit.”
He turned his attention back to Rachel, giving her such an intense glare that she was almost afraid of making her request. She would definitely do so without Ty present. From the way he looked at her, he was clearly a very good lawyer who made his opponents cower in their loafers in the courtroom.
She had no idea what he was even talking about, and she was scared. But she had no time for fear.
“You’d better be who you say you are,” Ty said. “Ricky might be an old man, but he’s not stupid. And I promise, if you so much as think about taking advantage of him, I will go after you with everything I have.”
A lump caught in her throat. Would she be perceived as trying to take advantage of Ricky? That wasn’t her intention. Based on his age, he wouldn’t be a good candidate for transplant anyway. But she had to hope that Ricky could put her in contact with other relatives who might be. Surely Ty could understand a matter of life and death.
Then again, if Ty was as heartless as all the other attorneys she’d known, he might not be so understanding. And if he went after her with everything he had...
She nearly hadn’t survived when Katie’s father had done the same.
“I told you,” Rachel said. “I’m just looking to teach my daughter about the great outdoors, and maybe, if I get the chance to pitch to Ricky, I could also land a new advertising account. I know you say you’re doing just fine, but surely it doesn’t hurt to look at what I can offer.”
Della squeezed Ty’s shoulders like she was giving him encouragement before walking away to greet new customers who had just entered the café.
“I don’t suppose it would do any harm,” Ty finally conceded. “But I’ll be keeping my eye on you. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Ricky’s interests.”
Though she liked her job and her boss, Rachel couldn’t see herself ever being that protective of Dan. “It sounds like Ricky is a lot more than your employer,” she said.
Ty nodded. “Ricky has done a lot for me and my family. And for this community. Most of us see him as an extension of our own families. People think that because he’s old and alone, he’s an easy mark. My grandparents were bilked out of their savings by a con man when I was in high school. It drove me to become a lawyer. So be warned. When it comes to protecting others, I take no prisoners.”
More threats. If her life didn’t literally depend on it, she might have been tempted to walk away. Because somehow, she was pretty sure that if you looked at Ty the wrong way, you’d end up in court. That seemed to be her experience with all the lawyers she’d ever known. Or maybe it was her past talking—all the years spent in the foster care system with caseworkers and lawyers galore, and always feeling like no matter what they said to the contrary, none of them were really looking out for her.
Which was why Ty’s loyalty to Ricky seemed so strange. None of the people who were supposed to protect her actually did, and then, of course, there’d been the whole nightmare with Katie’s father. Even though Chris was dead, sometimes Rachel still looked over her shoulder for some lawyer to come after her and make good on all of Chris’s threats. Though their marriage had been brief, the damage he’d done would last a lifetime. Ty might be afraid of what Rachel might do to Ricky, but in all honesty, Rachel was more afraid of what Ty could do to her. Had it not been for Chris’s death, Rachel was certain she would not have her daughter.
But that wasn’t the sort of thing she was going to tell Ty. He’d use it, as well as anything else she said or did, against her. Hopefully, once she got to the ranch, she wouldn’t have to deal with him again. All she needed was a few minutes alone with Ricky, the chance to plead her case, and it would be enough.
What she wanted to say to Ty, but couldn’t because it would reveal too much, was that she didn’t have the time or energy to hatch a plot on how to bilk an old man for everything he had. She was too busy trying to stay alive.
They finished the rest of the meal in silence, and for that, Rachel was glad. Afterward, Ty led her out to the parking lot. “My truck’s that one,” he said, gesturing. “I assume that’s you.” He pointed to her lonely sedan in the sea of pickup trucks.
She nodded.
“With the bridge out, the route to the ranch is tricky, but I’ll make sure not to lose you. You won’t be able to find it on your own.”
She nodded. “GPS couldn’t even give me an alternate route.”
He grinned. It was the first genuine smile she’d seen from him, and she was surprised by how much she liked it. Once again that strange feeling of attraction came over her. Crazy. Not only did she not need a romantic complication in her life, but she was certainly not going to fall for some controlling, manipulative lawyer, either. Been there, done that, and the only good thing to have come from it was Katie.
“I’ll keep up,” she said, ruffling her daughter’s hair. Thankfully, Katie had been too young to remember the nightmares of the custody battle with Chris. But Rachel would never forget. She just hoped that she could get a kidney in time and live long enough to watch her daughter grow up. She’d always promised herself that if she ever became a parent, her child would never face being put in foster care.
But if she died, what else was there for Katie?
The custody battle with Chris had isolated Rachel from all her friends. People she thought she trusted had turned against her and spewed lies on the witness stand. Since then, she hadn’t been able to trust anyo
ne. The people she worked with were nice enough, but Rachel couldn’t bring herself to form a more meaningful relationship with them than the casual pleasantries one exchanged with coworkers.
As she followed Ty off the main road onto a dirt one, she hoped that yet again, she wasn’t misplacing her trust. Not that she planned on getting involved with Ty, other than following him to the ranch and convincing him that she wasn’t going to take some poor old man to the cleaners.
Maybe, as different as they seemed to be, she and Ty had a lot in common. Neither trusted easily, and it seemed like they both had their reasons.
They turned off the dirt road onto another that seemed even less maintained. It was barely a step above a four-wheel trail, and Rachel had to navigate the ruts and potholes slowly. As she looked at the scenery around her, the flat plain they were on, surrounded by mountains, the nearest houses were but specks in the distance. For all she knew, Ty could be a serial killer, leading her out to the middle of nowhere to murder them and leave their bodies behind.
No one would miss them. Her boss would be concerned when she didn’t show for work on Monday, and she supposed the school would wonder where Katie was. But other than that, she wasn’t sure anyone would care.
A sobering thought, especially since she was fighting so hard to stay alive. Just for Katie, but Katie was important enough to make it worth her time. Worth the effort. But it also meant that unlike a lot of other people needing kidneys, she didn’t have a huge network of friends and family to draw upon for donors. She was wholly reliant on the kindness of some stranger or the unfortunate passing of someone’s beloved.
Before she could reflect on that further, a large ranch house peeked through the trees, and she soon found herself within what seemed like an enormous ranch compound. The photos on the internet didn’t do it justice. From the majestic main building, which had to be the lodge, to another, equally impressive home that was likely Ricky’s personal residence, as well as various buildings scattered around the area, the ranch looked almost like a small town.
And even though Rachel had zero connection to this place other than a positive match from an online DNA test, she had the strange sensation that she was finally coming home.
* * *
Ty had already called Ricky on his way to the ranch, so Ricky wasn’t surprised by their arrival. He didn’t know what Rachel’s angle was, but something about her didn’t feel right. While he waited for her to get her daughter situated, he’d snapped a picture of the business card Rachel had given him and sent it to one of his investigator friends.
Ricky said Ty worried too much, but that was what Ty was paid for. Especially with all the crazies coming out of the woodwork. When Ricky’s son, Cinco, had died nearly thirty years before, Cinco’s wife had been pregnant. But because Cinco and his father had been estranged, Luanne hadn’t wanted anything to do with Ricky. She’d disappeared, and Ricky hadn’t known whether the baby was a boy or girl. He knew nothing about his grandchild, but now that he was looking at the latter part of his life, and the regrets he had, he’d been hoping to find Cinco’s child to make things right.
They’d made a few announcements, put out feelers to contacts Ricky still had in the rodeo world, but no one knew what happened to Cinco’s widow or unborn child.
Since then, it seemed like every other day, someone out there claimed to be Cinco’s child, breaking the old man’s heart just a little bit more. People heard the Double R name and saw a giant paycheck. The joke was on them. Before Ricky had decided to search for Cinco’s child, he’d put everything into a trust, preserving the ranch so that future generations could learn the ranching way of life that was slowly dying out.
Ty was proud to be part of this tradition. Having grown up in Columbine Springs, the Double R had always been a part of his life. He’d been too young when Cinco died to remember Ricky’s son, but it didn’t mean he didn’t love the Double R.
As a boy, he and his youth group would come up for campouts in the summer and various activities in the winter, and when Ty was older, he’d spent every summer working as a hand on this very ranch.
It had been an honor when Ricky had asked him to be the ranch’s attorney. Originally, he’d come to the ranch to sort out water rights and protect the watershed from encroaching developments of nearby ski areas. Ty had won that fight. And he’d won several others protecting the people and place he loved so much. While Ricky had always been a fixture in Ty’s life, working together had brought them closer. Ty and his family considered Ricky an extension of their family, as did many members of the community. Ricky might not have blood relations left, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t loved.
While Ty fully supported Ricky’s dream of finding his long-lost grandchild, he was also going to do everything in his power to keep the old man from being hurt.
As Ty pulled into his usual parking spot by the main house, Ricky stepped onto the porch.
Even though this woman hadn’t made the claim of being related to Ricky, she also wasn’t the first to visit the ranch under the pretext of one thing, try to ingratiate herself with Ricky and then drop the bombshell that it was all because they were truly family.
Maybe Ty was cynical. But he had good reason to be.
Something in his gut told him that Rachel wasn’t telling the truth. She had an agenda, and the way she stammered over working for an ad agency told him that she wasn’t being honest with him. He had that same feeling with every other charlatan who’d come to Double R. Not just with the Cinco business. Over the years, dozens of people had tried to cheat Ricky.
And Ty had sniffed out every single one of them.
Ricky had such a heart of gold that if it wasn’t for people like Ty who protected him, he probably would’ve lost everything by now.
No, that didn’t give Ricky enough credit.
Ricky was a smart man. A good businessman. An even better rancher.
But he always had a soft spot in his heart for people he thought needed him.
Rachel got out of her car, looking frazzled. With the bridge out, the back road into the ranch was tricky. In certain times of the year, it was completely impassable unless you had a four-wheel drive. But the bridge needed repairs, and the ranch was closed to visitors right now.
That was the other reason he didn’t trust Rachel. What kind of fool would show up to someone’s ranch, unannounced, without knowing whether or not you were welcome?
He waited for Rachel to get her daughter out of the car, and judging by the way Rachel lifted the little girl, he could tell she’d fallen asleep on the drive. How, Ty didn’t know, considering it was a rough drive, but he had to admit that something about the way the little girl rested her head on her mother’s shoulder made Ty’s heart skip a beat.
Ricky wasn’t the only one with a soft spot in his heart for children. Ty had to admit that none of the people coming here to take advantage of Ricky had tried using a child before. But it also didn’t surprise him. If you’d spent much time watching Ricky in town, or even as he interacted with the guests on his ranch, you’d know how much he loved children.
If Rachel had thought to use her child as a way of earning Ricky’s trust, she was a lot smarter than all the others who had come before her. He’d pay closer attention to her and dig a little deeper because she was obviously wilier than the others.
When she looked like she was settled, Ty smiled at her and gestured toward the porch. “Come meet Ricky. I told him to expect us.”
Instead of looking excited, she looked scared. Worried. Her brow creased in a way that made him wonder if she was rethinking her plot to take advantage of an old man. Good. It would be easier on all of them if she decided not to go through with whatever she was planning. He sent a quick prayer to God for protection, wisdom and the right way to handle whatever Rachel was bringing upon them.
He escorted Rachel onto the porch and made introduction
s. As suspected, when Ricky turned his gaze on the little girl, he immediately began trying to coax a smile out of her.
“What’s your name?” Ricky asked.
The little girl didn’t answer. Rachel patted her daughter’s back and said, “This is Katie. It takes her a while to warm up to new people. Give her time to figure you out, and then you’ll be sorry you befriended her. She’s usually quite the chatterbox.”
Ricky smiled as he shook his head. “I would never regret befriending a child. Children are precious gifts from God. I only wish our society valued them more.”
Rachel’s smile made Ty’s heart skip a beat. They’d had plenty of nice-looking women show up at the ranch, trying to seduce their way into both Ricky’s and Ty’s wallets. Even though Ty didn’t believe Rachel’s motives in being here were pure, he did know that her smile was genuine. And it took his breath away.
Maybe the real threat she posed wasn’t to Ricky, but to Ty. It made him doubly glad that he’d already sent Rachel’s info to the investigator. Women didn’t just use their pretty smiles to get what they wanted from Ricky; Ty had also been burned by it. He knew better than to trust that a person’s motives were really what they said they were.
Whatever Rachel was up to, her real plans would be exposed soon enough. Until then, he’d remain on guard.
Copyright © 2020 by Danica Favorite
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Starting Over in Texas Page 18