Unrepentant Cowboy

by Joanna Wayne

“I’m fifteen.”

  “And no longer a kid, I know. Still, I can’t imagine your mother letting you make the trip without checking with me first. What if I’d been out of town on business?”

  “I was supposed to call, but then I forgot and...” She was never easy with lying. She’d actually hoped he’d be out of town. “If you have plans for the holiday, you don’t have to change them on my account.”

  “I have no plans. If I did, I’d definitely change them. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you.”

  His expression didn’t mimic his words.

  She turned away, aware of all the leather, glass and mirrors that surrounded her. The room felt more like an impersonal waiting room in a fancy office than a home.

  “When did your mother go to England?” he asked.

  “Two weeks ago.”

  “That’s a long time to be away from home. Does that happen often?”

  “It has this year. Mom’s working on a big project.” And a new life. Which meant a new life for Effie, as well. It definitely wouldn’t be here in this condo. Not in London, either, if she got her way. Which was the real reason she was here.

  “I didn’t realize she’s away so much.”

  “It’s her job, Dad. And it’s not like I need her around every second. I have school and my friends. And I’ve been helping out at a local horse stable in exchange for riding lessons.”

  “I heard about that. Your mother emailed a picture of you in the saddle. She said you were becoming a full-fledged cowgirl.”

  “Not so much a cowgirl, but I like horseback riding.”

  “So do I, though I haven’t done much of it lately. Who stays with you when your mother is away?”

  “If she’s on a short trip, you know, less than a week, then she usually lets me stay with my friend Betts—not that I need a babysitter.” Try telling that to her mother.

  “And when it’s a long trip, like this one?” he questioned.

  “Grandma and Granddad drive down from Portland. They dropped me off at the airport before they drove home today.”

  “How are your grandparents?”

  “Grandma’s doing fine. Granddad’s having problems with his arthritis. He can’t get around as well as he used to.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She was tempted to bring up her other grandparent now, but she decided to wait. As her mother always said, timing was everything. And she couldn’t risk any problems with her plan.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “I could eat. All they gave us on the plane was peanuts. They were selling sandwiches, but they looked as lousy as some of that stuff they pass off for food in the school cafeteria.”

  “I can order pizza. You do still like pizza, don’t you?”

  “Sure. As long as it doesn’t have weird stuff on it like asparagus or pineapple.”

  “No way. I’m talking real pizza. Pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, the works. But first we should probably call your mother and let her know you arrived safely.”

  “I texted her when the plane landed and told her I’d made it to Dallas.”

  “You should have called me from the airport. I would have picked you up myself or sent a car for you.”

  “I called your office. They said you were in court so I took a taxi.”

  “How did you get inside the building?”

  “Easy. When the driver let me out, I dashed for the awning over the front door and just walked into the building with a woman who was fighting to close her umbrella in the wind. I figured if you weren’t here, I’d try calling your cell phone.”

  “Thankfully, I came straight home from the courthouse. I got here a few minutes before you.” He took a phone from his pocket and ordered the pizza.

  Effie looked around a bit more. There were several framed photographs sitting around of her and her dad together. Guess that meant he didn’t totally forget her when she was out of sight.

  One of the photos was of him holding her in his arms when she was a baby. At least she guessed that was her. Another was of her holding his hand, a pair of Mickey Mouse ears propped on her head, the Disneyland sign in the background. Both of those had to have been taken long before the divorce.

  The other photos included a shot of the two of them in the surf on Oahu and another with them zip-lining over a Puerto Rican rainforest. She remembered both of those trips well. Trips were okay, but she’d felt as if she were traveling with some big-shot stranger.

  “You should slip into some dry clothes,” he said. “I can throw those in the washer for you.”

  “Sure.” Stupid washing machine was probably so fancy he didn’t trust her to use it.

  “I’ll show you to the guest room. There are clean sheets on the bed and clean towels in the adjoining bathroom. There’s also a guest robe in the closet if you want to get comfortable.”

  Like they were going to spend a kick-back night together. He picked up her bags, and she followed him to a room that looked like it belonged in one of those Scottish castles they’d visited last Christmas. She couldn’t imagine throwing her jeans across the pristine white love seat or kicking out of her shoes and flopping onto a bed covered in a silk coverlet and piled down with designer-coordinated pillows.

  “Has anyone ever slept in here?” she asked.

  “No,” he admitted. “The room has never been used. Saving the christening for you.”

  “How long have you lived here?”

  “A little over a year. I was hoping I could persuade you to come here for Christmas vacation, but this is even better. It will be my best Thanksgiving in years.”

  Her father set her bags down and opened the closet. “I can get more hangers if you need them.”

  “That’s okay. I didn’t bring any dresses. My jeans and T-shirts are just fine folded.” And if things went as planned, she wouldn’t be here long enough to unpack or to spill a soft drink all over his expensive coverlet.

  He opened the top drawer in a tall chest. “When do you have to fly back to California?”

  “I have a flight for Sunday afternoon.”

  “Great. That gives us almost a full week for me to show you Dallas—unless you’d rather go somewhere else for Thanksgiving. It’s late to set up a long trip, but there are some great dude ranches within a few hours of here. We can go horseback riding and hiking and toast s’mores around a campfire.”

  Now they were getting somewhere. She hadn’t planned on rocking the boat quite so soon, but she was never going to get a better opening than this. She took a deep breath and took the plunge.

  “I’ve been to dude ranches in California. They’re fun, but kinda corny. What I’d really like to do is visit a real working Texas ranch.”

  “I can probably work that out. One of the attorneys in our firm has a spread in the Hill Country and he’s been trying to get me to come up for a long weekend. I’ll give him a call while we’re waiting on the pizza.”

  “No.” The protest flew from her mouth before she could stop it. If she wasn’t careful, this would get out of hand. She didn’t want to go to just any ranch. “Why not visit the Dry Gulch Ranch?” she asked. “It’s only an hour from Dallas.”

  From the look on her dad’s face, you’d think she’d just suggested they visit the devil himself. Her mother had warned her it would be like this.

  “How do you know about the Dry Gulch Ranch?”

  “I got a letter from my grandfather.”

  Her father’s face turned a fierce shade of red. “R.J. wrote to you?”

  “It was just a note, Dad. No big deal.”

  “What did he write?”

  “The basics. He said he was getting old and his health isn’t so good. He’s got a brain tumor. He said you knew about that. Anyway, he
wants to meet me before he dies, so he invited me to his ranch.”

  “Oh, he did, did he? Did you show your mother that note?”

  “I did. She said that was between me, you and my grandfather.”

  “It would have been nice if she’d prepared me for this.”

  “R. J. Dalton is my grandfather. I don’t see why you’re getting so freaked out about my wanting to meet him.”

  “I’ll tell you why. R.J. has never been a part of my life. He’s my father by blood only.”

  “Blood is thicker than water, they say.”

  Her dad was clearly not amused. “Did you answer R.J.’s note?”

  “Yes,” she said, seeing no reason to lie about it. “I’ve written him several times. We have a lot in common.”

  “Like what?”

  “He’s into horses. So am I, and I’d really like to visit the Dry Gulch Ranch and meet him and the horses.”

  Her dad looked as if he was ready to throw her back out into the storm. “That explains why you’re here in Dallas.”

  She couldn’t deny that. “I told him I’d spend Thanksgiving with him. I thought we could both go. I mean, if your father’s dying, don’t you want to at least go say goodbye?”

  “We said our goodbyes years ago. His choice.”

  Kind of like he had when he’d moved out of the house and then across the country, ripping her life apart in the process. But she wasn’t there to deal with that, not when she needed him to take her side against her well-meaning mother.

  She crossed her arms. “I didn’t mean to upset you, but I’d really like to meet my grandfather. It’s important to me. Really important, Dad. It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving Day. We could drive out tomorrow.”

  “R. J. Dalton is not the man you think he is.”

  “Don’t you think I should find that out for myself?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Well, I do. I’d like to meet him, and this might be my only chance.”

  Her father raked his fingers through his hair. He looked older than she remembered him, but he was still handsome. And she didn’t just think that because he was her father. Betts thought he was handsome, too.

  Now she just needed him to be reasonable. “Please, Dad,” she pleaded. “Can’t we just drive out to the Dry Gulch Ranch? We don’t have to stay long. If nothing else, I could see the horses.”

  Her dad looked away and then exhaled slowly.

  “Okay,” he said. His agreement took her by surprise. “I’ll drive you out to the ranch tomorrow, but don’t expect too much in the way of R.J.’s becoming a grandfather to you. Family relationships are dispensable to him.”

  A trait her father had obviously inherited.

  But R.J. had a ranch and horses and he wanted to know her better. He could be the answer to all her problems—if her father didn’t ruin her plans and her life yet again.

  Chapter Three

  Joni Griffin leaned over the injured horse, gingerly applying the flexible vet wrap over the pillow wrap. Her hands moved with precision as she made sure the bandaging fit snugly enough to hold it in place but not so tight it caused undue pain.

  R.J. watched the procedure over Joni’s shoulder and muttered reassurances to the beautiful filly. “Poor girl. I should have been watching you more closely. Instead I let you get hurt.”

  “Horses get wounds just like people do,” Joni said. “You can’t prevent all of them. The good thing is you caught this one early and the cut’s not all that deep.”

  “You think Miss Dazzler will be okay then?”

  “I think she’s going to be just fine, but you’ll need to keep applying the hydrotherapy a few times a day until the swelling goes down, and the bandaging will have to be replaced each time. I also recommend one gram of phenylbutazone twice a day to help with the swelling.”

  “I can handle the bute and probably the treatment and bandaging if I have some help from Corky or Adam, but I don’t wanna go trusting Miss Dazzler to anyone who’s not a trained vet.”

  “I’m sure Adam can judge if the wound is healing right,” Joni said. “Your son is amazing with horses. So is his wife, for that matter.”

  “Right on both counts. I notice you and my daughter-in-law have spent a lot of time together of late.”

  “Can’t help but like Hadley. And your granddaughters are adorable.”

  “Yes, they are, but they’re a handful. That’s why I hate to ask Hadley to take on the full responsibility of Miss Dazzler, especially with Thanksgiving just two days away. She and Mattie Mae have been cooking up a storm.”

  “Sounds delicious.”

  “It will be. How about you join us for lunch that day?”

  “I just may do that. Actually, Hadley has already invited me.”

  “Good. I s’pect we’ll have enough food to feed half the citizens of Oak Grove.”

  “Then I’ll definitely come and try to eat my share.”

  “Good. Now back to Miss Dazzler. I want somebody who knows what they’re doing to take a good look at that wound every day, just to be sure it’s healing right.”

  “I could show Adam what to look for.”

  “He’s off at a cattle auction today.”

  “What about Corky?”

  “He’s a good enough cattle wrangler, but I don’t trust him to take care of Miss Dazzler’s injured fetlock. Not that he wouldn’t like helping you do it. I think he’s got a crush on you. Can’t say that I blame him, mind you. If I were younger—”

  “Okay, enough with the flattery. I’ll see Miss Dazzler once a day until the fetlock is completely healed.”

  “I sure would appreciate that.”

  Joni smiled. It was hard to turn R.J. down, even though she already had a full plate this week. But R.J. loved his horses. That was always a plus in her book.

  And she admired the way he hadn’t given up on living even with the inoperable brain tumor slowly stealing his health and his life.

  Miss Dazzler nuzzled Joni’s neck as if she understood that she was to be treated like royalty.

  “Hiring you to join his practice was the best decision Doc Benson made since he married that pretty little filly of his,” R.J. said.

  “Thank you. Be sure and tell him that.”

  “I do, every chance I get.”

  The decision had been great for her, as well. Blake Benson’s practice offered the perfect opportunity for her to utilize her equine vet training. And he definitely had enough work to keep both of them busy.

  Joni walked over to the freshwater spigot and washed her hands with a bar of soap hanging from rope attached to a large nail. “Will any of your other children be joining you for Thanksgiving?” she asked.

  “Probably not.”

  “So, no takers except Adam on the terms of your will?”

  “Nope. Haven’t heard from nary a one of them except my oldest son, Jake. He’s called a time or two to bombard me with questions.”

  “That shows he’s concerned about you.”

  “Weren’t none of those questions about my health. I guaran-damn-tee you that.”

  “Then what does he ask about?”

  “The ranch. The will’s provisions? My sanity, though he don’t say that directly. I s’pect he wants to buy the ranch for himself—or find a way to beat me out of it.”

  “Ah, an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree,” she teased.

  “Probably why the two of us don’t gee-haw in harmony.”

  Joni didn’t question R.J.’s sanity, but she could see why his children might think he was sliding into senility. He’d invited them all to the reading of his will without letting them know he was still alive.

  Then he’d insisted they move back to the ranch and take part in its
operation for one full year if they wanted to inherit their share of the eight-million-dollar estate. So far only Adam had moved back, but he hadn’t actually had to disrupt his life.

  According to Hadley, Adam was just getting over injuries sustained while on active duty as a marine in Afghanistan and hadn’t even had a job, much less a successful career, when he’d made the decision to move onto the ranch.

  Besides, R.J. had jumped in to help when Adam’s young daughters were abducted. That had given Adam a bit more incentive to get to know his father.

  R.J. stepped away and spit a stream of tobacco into a spittoon near the back of the barn. “I don’t blame my kids for having no use for me,” he said once he’d wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his flannel shirt. “I was never a decent father to any of them. But it’s my money and I’ll do what I damn well please with it.”

  “The one with the gold makes the rules?”

  He scratched his ruddy, whiskered jaw. “Call it what you please. Blood kin or not, I’m not leaving my ranch or my money to someone ’less I get to know them first and figure they’re worthy.”

  “Did you define worthy in the will?”

  “No, but I should have put it in there. Might have my attorney go back and take care of that.”

  Joni doubted he’d go that far. She was fairly certain that R.J. just wanted a chance to get to know all his children before the brain tumor claimed his life. And from what she knew of the crusty old rancher, he definitely wouldn’t be beyond a little manipulation to get what he wanted.

  “Did I tell you that I’ve been in contact with one of my granddaughters?” R.J. asked.

  “No. How exciting for you.”

  “Yep. Effie Dalton. She lives in California, but she’s going to be in Dallas visiting my son Leif this week. She wants to come out to the Dry Gulch and spend a few days.”

  Joni struggled to remember the basics of what R.J. had told her about his children in extensive detail over the past few weeks. “Is Leif the divorced defense attorney?”

  “Yep. That’s the one. Haven’t heard a word from him since the reading of the will, but Effie thinks she can convince him to drive her out here.”

  “I know you’d love that.”