“Merce,” Grace called when she reached the ladder that would lead up to the hayloft.
“She’s not here,” came the response.
Grace grinned. “Okay, I’ll just come back later,” she replied as she grabbed the wooden rung on the ladder and began propelling herself up.
“Don’t bother,” Mercy answered.
Was Mercy crying?
Grace didn’t say anything until she reached the wooden floor of the loft that was supposed to be used for storing hay. Sure, there were a handful of hay bales up there, but she knew they didn’t use this particular loft for storing the overflow. No, ever since Jerry had learned that Mercy used this place as her hiding spot, he had ordered the hay to be stored elsewhere. That was years ago.
Ducking beneath the beams that held up the roof on one side, Grace maneuvered through the bales that were scattered about until she came upon her sister, hiding in the back.
“Whatcha doin’?” Grace asked as she dropped onto the floor beside Mercy, sitting cross-legged as she faced her younger sister.
Grace’s breath stuttered in her chest when she saw the picture that Mercy was looking at. It was from their parents’ wedding. “Can I see that?” she asked softly, hardly able to speak through the emotion that had built up in her throat.
Mercy handed the picture over, and Grace ran her finger over the beautiful woman standing there in her brilliant white gown. The picture was black and white, and the edges had yellowed over time. But there was no mistaking that she was looking at her mother.
“Why would he want someone else?” Mercy asked while Grace continued to study the image, smiling sadly. God, she missed her.
Grace shrugged her shoulders. “Do you really expect him to spend the rest of his life alone?”
“Yes,” Mercy declared, but even Grace could tell the answer wasn’t honest.
No one should expect Jerry to spend the rest of his life alone. Just because they’d made it this far without having to deal with their father having a girlfriend, that didn’t mean it was the way it should be.
“I just don’t get it,” Mercy muttered, her head hanging down and her shoulders hunched as she stared at her boots. “After all this time, why would he want someone?”
“Geez, Merce, I don’t know. Maybe he’s lonely?” Even as she said the words, Grace was surprised to find that she really didn’t care that her father was dating someone. In fact, she was actually okay with the idea. He did deserve to be happy.
“He’s been actin’ weird lately,” Mercy said. “Do you think it’s because of her?”
“Weird how?”
“Weird happy,” Mercy replied. “He’s always smilin’. He laughs more. Hell, he’s even willin’ to race again.”
Yes, well, that was definitely odd behavior for her father. Not that he wasn’t pleasant to be around, because Jerry was nothing if not a good host at the ranch. But Mercy was right, he did seem happier lately.
“How long do you think they’ve been together?” Mercy asked.
“No idea. I think those are questions we should be askin’ him.”
Mercy lifted her head and met Grace’s gaze. She could see the battle going on in her sister’s head. Grace knew how she felt. It did sort of feel like a betrayal, but that was just her selfish side talking.
“I think we should ask him to bring her here.”
“He clearly has,” Mercy retorted.
“True. But he’s hidin’ out. Don’t you think he should be able to introduce us?”
“Pot, meet kettle,” Mercy muttered, and Grace knew exactly what she was referring to.
Okay, fine. She had been dating Lane and Grant for the last few months, spending as much time as physically possible with them, and as far as she knew, the only person who was aware of their relationship was Mercy.
“I wanted to tell him,” Grace admitted. It had been the perfect opportunity, and she was still pissed that she’d just let it pass her by.
“He’s not gonna be pissed, you know,” Mercy added.
“No?” Grace asked incredulously. “You think he’s gonna understand that I’m in love with two men?”
“You love them?” Mercy asked, looking clearly bewildered.
“Yes,” Grace said firmly. “I love them. Both of them.”
“I still don’t think he’s gonna be mad. Confused, maybe. It is kinda weird, you know that?”
Grace laughed because her sister was right. It was strange to be in love with two men. But more bizarre was that the two men loved her and each other. Okay, so, yes, strange was an understatement, but she couldn’t very well explain it. She hadn’t planned it this way; things had just happened.
“I think we should ask him about her,” Grace finally said when the conversation died.
“Yeah. Me, too. I still don’t know that I like it.”
“I get it,” Grace said, reaching out and touching Mercy’s hand. “But it’s really not our place to decide how he chooses to be happy.”
■□■□■□■□
Mercy didn’t want to agree with Gracie, but she did. Not that she was going to admit it, though. She needed some time to think about this.
Her father had a girlfriend.
She wondered whether Trin, Faith, or Hope knew. She doubted it because surely they would’ve said something. Then again, there were plenty of secrets being kept at the ranch these days. Gracie was dating two men, those two men were in love with her and each other, her father was apparently dating someone…
Then there were her other sisters and their secrets. Trin and the horrific incident with that son of a bitch, Garrett. Damn, they’d kept that one a secret for so long that people actually did believe Jerry had fired the asshole for using equipment. Well, some people believed that. Others thought it had to do with the fact that the guy had wanted to date Trin.
Mercy knew why they had allowed everyone to go on believing that. If word had gotten out just what Garrett had done, there would’ve been anarchy at the ranch. The people who worked there were like family. And everyone looked out for one another, even if they all liked to give each other a hard time.
That was the definition of family, right?
Then there was Faith and Rusty. The two of them could start a fire with the combustible energy they generated when they were in the same room. Granted, Faith didn’t know the real reason Jerry had fired Garrett Daniels, so her younger sister believed that dating one of the wranglers was off-limits. No one had bothered to set Faith straight, and Mercy still wasn’t sure why that was.
Of course, Mercy had a secret, but she had no intention of letting it out of the bag. What had happened between her and Cody had been a mistake. A huge mistake that she desperately did not want to repeat. She did not want to date someone who worked for her father. And she knew that the only reason they’d ended up together had been because… Hell, she didn’t even know why it had happened. It just had.
It was all so messed up. How could so many people spend day in and day out together and no one know everything that was going on?
Mercy sighed as she looked up at Gracie again. “Maybe he’ll bring her to the dance tomorrow night.”
“Maybe we should ask him to,” Gracie countered.
“I’m not gonna bring it up. As far as I’m concerned, if she doesn’t come here, she doesn’t exist.” Irrational, yes. But she really didn’t give a damn.
“Speakin’ of dance. You gonna help set up tomorrow?”
And just like that, Gracie single-handedly changed the subject back to a safe topic. If Mercy had to guess, her sister did it for her. She loved her for it, too.
“Of course I’m gonna help. I’m lookin’ forward to this one. After all, I get to watch while you try to explain the fact that you’re dancin’ with two different cowboys. You are gonna dance with them both, aren’t you?”
Mercy wasn’t sure how Gracie had managed, but she hadn’t yet danced with either man. She had a feeling that was about to change.
> Grace smirked, and Mercy knew what was coming. She plugged her ears with her fingers, singing loudly to avoid hearing what Grace had to say. When she stopped, Grace just smiled as she got to her feet.
Mercy watched as Grace eased herself onto the ladder, shaking her head, still grinning.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Mercy called after her, grateful that Grace had let it go.
“I’ll be sure to let Cody know you’re lookin’ forward to that dance,” Grace hollered as she climbed down the ladder.
Son of a gun. Just when she thought she was safe.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Friday afternoon
“Morgan, answer the damn phone. Seriously. I need to talk to you. Call me back as soon as you get this. And I mean call me. Don’t text. I wanna talk to you.”
Grant stabbed the end button on his phone, dropping it onto the kitchen counter before thrusting his hands through his hair.
Goddamn motherfucking shit.
What the fuck was going on?
He’d received a text from Morgan just that morning. His sister was inquiring as to whether he’d seen or heard from their mother. Of course, Grant hadn’t been able to answer the phone because he had been out with two of the wranglers, checking the fence line in one of the back pastures after word had come in that part of it was down. By the time he’d made it back to the barn, two hours had passed since Morgan’s text had come in. He’d tried to call her then, to no avail.
To add to his current state of panic, Grant had called his parents’ house, his mother’s cell phone, and his father’s cell phone repeatedly. No one had answered any of those, either, and he hadn’t bothered to leave a message, not quite sure what to say. Grant hadn’t heard a peep from the old man since yesterday morning when he’d confronted Darrell in Jerry’s office.
God, had that just been yesterday?
Nor had he had a chance to talk to Jerry about the incident, either. Of course, he had tried to do so, but … well … interrupting Jerry when he was … uh … doing what he’d been doing probably wouldn’t have been the best idea.
Which was why Grant was pacing his living room floor, unsure what to do.
Grant was tempted to call Gracie. Or Lane. Or both of them, but at this point, he really didn’t know what he was going to say. I’m pretty sure my mom’s missing; I need your help in finding her. But was she really missing? Was something wrong, or had she just escaped his father’s wrath and was now living the high life with some boy toy?
Gross.
He really couldn’t see his mother doing something like that, but what did he know? How his parents had managed to stay together all this time, he really had no idea. From the outside looking in, the two of them didn’t even like each other.
And now his father was gambling again.
Grant remembered how hard that had been on his mother when he was growing up. Morgan had left home already, but Grant had been just starting high school when things had gotten really out of hand. At one point, Sandy had been convinced they were going to lose their house.
Grant admired his mother’s strength, for the most part. Although the delivery left something to be desired, Sandy Kingsley did have the ability to stand up to Darrell. They’d never had much money, and he knew that Sandy could’ve easily used the inheritance she’d received from her mother to take a vacation or splurge on herself or whatever. But she hadn’t. She’d taken that money and paid off the trailer so that they wouldn’t end up homeless.
All the while, Darrell had continued to spiral out of control. His gambling had gotten to the point that they had little to no money to eat on, and Grant’s mother was resorting to getting food from the local food pantry. Of course, Darrell thought that was a brilliant plan because he then had the best of both worlds. He could eat and he could burn money betting on horses.
Grant stopped pacing and stared at his phone.
Yeah, he had to find his mother. She deserved that much from him.
Snagging his phone from the counter, Grant pulled up his text messages and shot Gracie a note, letting her know he had to leave town for a little while. After hitting send on that one, he pulled up Lane’s name and typed in seven short words before hitting send.
With that done, it was time to pack.
■□■□■□■□
I need you to come over. Now.
That was the text Lane had received just a few minutes ago from Grant, and the instant he’d seen it, he had dropped what he was doing.
Deep in conversation about bow hunting versus rifle hunting when his phone had buzzed on his hip, Lane had jerked the thing from his belt, read the message, and excused himself with the explanation that he had something important to handle.
He would’ve dropped everything even if he was busy — which he wasn’t — specifically after getting what he considered the equivalent of a 911 text. In this case, sitting on the porch of the main house talking to a couple of the guests about the activities had been easy to get out of.
Now, less than ten minutes later, Lane was walking up to Grant’s front door, a million things running through his head as to why Grant would’ve summoned him to his house in the middle of the afternoon with absolutely no elaboration whatsoever.
Rapping his knuckles on the wood door, Lane listened for Grant to tell him it was open, as was his customary greeting.
Nothing came. Not a peep from inside the cabin.
Rather than continue to swelter out in the oppressive heat, Lane tried the knob, finding the door unlocked. As he walked through the door, he was hit with a blast of cold air, along with a heart-stopping scene. He made his way inside just as Grant was coming out of his bedroom, a gym bag in his hand. It took a moment for Lane’s eyes to adjust, but, yep, that was certainly a bag Grant was holding, and the hair on the back of Lane’s neck stood on end.
“What the hell is goin’ on?” Lane asked, trying not to make any immediate assumptions and, more important, trying to keep his voice void of the worry that was now coursing through him.
“My mom’s missin’,” Grant said quickly, darting across the room toward the counter beside Lane.
Screeech!
That was the sound of Lane’s brain coming to an abrupt stop. Did Grant just say…? Holy shit.
With his eyes glued to Grant’s every movement, Lane stood by as Grant retrieved his cell phone and his truck keys while hefting the bag up onto his shoulder, looking as frantic as Lane had ever seen him.
“Slow down a minute, would ya?” Lane said, reaching out and gently placing his hand on Grant’s arm. “What do you mean, your mom’s missing?”
“There’s only one way to interpret that one, Lane.”
Yeah, okay, so the frustration levels were topping the charts.
Lane sighed, desperately trying to process what was going on. They’d gone from Grant’s father asking Grant for money, then storming the ranch, to Grant’s mother missing. He wasn’t quite following. Figuring it was best to lay out the facts as he knew them, Lane said, “Your mom’s missin’. Does that mean she left your father for good?”
“The only thing I know is that she’s gone,” Grant said frantically, turning to face Lane directly.
Oh, shit.
Grant was on the verge of a severe breakdown, Lane could sense it. Rather than let the man he loved go through this alone, Lane decided it was time to take the reins. Grant’s mother was missing. Regardless of where she might be, that didn’t sound good.
“Let’s talk this out,” he told Grant. “But first, have you let Gracie know you’re leavin’?”
Lane still wasn’t sure where Grant was going, but…
The words had barely left Lane’s mouth when Grant’s front door flew open, nearly hitting Lane as it swung back on its hinges. He’d had the good sense to jump out of the way just in time or he’d probably be sporting a new color on his face.
“Where the hell are you goin’?” Gracie demanded, her eyes wide as she stared up at Grant, her hand
s planted firmly on her hips. It only took a second for Gracie to realize Lane was standing there too, but as soon as their eyes met, her expression softened a little.
“Well, at least that answers my question,” Lane said softly. Gracie certainly knew. And from her wild-eyed stare, she must’ve received a curt text similar to the one Lane had.
“What’s goin’ on?” Gracie asked, a little less hostile than moments before.
Her question seemed to be directed at him, but Lane had no idea what to tell her.
“I’ve got to leave for a while,” Grant offered by way of explanation.
A shitty explanation, in Lane’s opinion.
“So you said in your text. What’s ‘a while,' Grant? And where are you goin’?” Gracie asked, closing the front door a little harder than was probably necessary and stepping farther into the room.
Poor door. It was getting the hell beaten out of it today.
When Gracie crossed her arms over her chest, Lane had to admire her. Not just because she looked sexy as hell when she got that dominant gleam in her eyes but for the fact that she wasn’t going to let Grant just walk out without some form of explanation, either.
Not that Lane thought any clarification would be forthcoming. Grant didn’t look like he was in the mood to talk.
“My mother’s missin’,” Grant blurted out for the second time since Lane had arrived. “I’ve got to try to find her.”
“Where are you gonna start lookin’?” Lane asked, hoping they could get around to the beginning. At this point, the only fact he had was that Grant couldn’t locate his mother by phone, but as for his reason for believing she was missing, rather than, oh, say, in Vegas living it up for the weekend or something, Lane still had no clue.
“I was gonna start at my parents’ house.”
“We were there yesterday,” Lane told him. “If they aren’t answerin’ the phone, what makes you think they’re home now?”
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