by R. C. Ryan
Meg stared hard at her hands to keep from letting this man see the depth of her feelings. Right now, she wasn’t in the mood to hear about her father’s success, when she was achingly aware of his many failures.
She looked up and realized the judge was speaking to them both.
“Porter was, however, withdrawn since the death of Arabella. The day before his death, when I ran into him as he was leaving the bank, he seemed depressed. I attributed it to the sense of loneliness and self-imposed isolation. Instead of getting better, he seemed to be getting much worse. When I asked him about it, he said he was trying to stay focused on what was best for his boy.” He turned to Cory. “I hope you’ll always remember how much your father loved you, son.”
His tone changed from observant to businesslike. “I’ve enclosed a copy of your father’s will, along with whatever information about his estate that I had in my file.” Standing, he came around the desk and handed a large manila folder to Meg. “Because of your knowledge of the law, I’m sure you’ll want to go over everything carefully. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.” He indicated his card, stapled to the corner of the folder. “Speaking of the law…” He seemed to think about what he was about to say before charging ahead. “If you should decide to stay here, our town has a desperate need for good legal counsel.”
“Isn’t that what you do?”
He shook his head. “I’m juggling too many balls and finding that I can’t keep them all in the air. I was a lawyer before I became a judge. Now I’m a full-time judge, and a part-time lawyer to those in need, but I can’t really give my clients the time they deserve. This town needs a smart, compassionate expert. They need a Meghan Stanford. They would welcome you with open arms. And so would I.”
His gaze met Meg’s. In his eyes she thought she saw kindness and understanding. “Your father was a friend. We didn’t hunt together, or play poker, or do any of the things most friends do together. But I considered him a man of his word. He knew it was the same for me. I gave him my word, as his friend, as his lawyer, that I’d do whatever necessary to see that his wishes were carried out.” He offered his hand. “I’d like to be your friend, too, Miss Stanford.”
“Meg,” she corrected.
“Meg.” He smiled. “And I’m Kirby. You should know that your father followed your famous trial, and he was as proud as a peacock.”
She fought to keep the pain from her voice. “It’s too bad he didn’t bother to let me know how he felt.”
“He didn’t want to intrude on the life you’d made for yourself.” When Meg said nothing, he added, “If I can do anything to ease this transition, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you. And thank you for contacting me so quickly about my father’s death.” Meg stood and waited until Cory shook the judge’s hand.
Kirby Bolton dropped an arm around Cory’s shoulders. “I know you miss your father and mother, son. I hope you can trust that both your sister and I will do everything in our power to ease your pain.”
The boy nodded.
Meg headed for the door. She couldn’t wait to get out of this place. Her father’s words were still rolling around in her mind, challenging all the neat, tidy plans she’d already put into motion.
She felt as though she could barely breathe.
Chapter Fourteen
As Meg and Cory walked from Judge Bolton’s office, Jake stepped from his truck, which was parked at the curb. He took one look at Meg’s face and turned to Cory, dropping an arm around the boy’s shoulders.
“You have to be starving. Neither of you ate a thing this morning, and dinner will be over by the time we get back to the ranch.”
Cory shot a glance at Meg. “I guess I could eat something.”
“Good.” Jake squeezed his shoulder. “So could I. How about stopping at Flora’s Diner for some supper before heading back?”
Meg nodded. “I’m not sure I could eat a thing, but I could really use some strong, hot coffee.”
“Flora’s place is just down the street, but with all this rain, I’ll drive.” He paused to hold open the door to his truck.
When they were seated, he walked to the driver’s side and climbed in. Within minutes they were stopping in front of the diner with its gaudy pink and purple letters. They made a dash through the rain and stepped into the tiny restaurant, where a crowd had already gathered.
“Looks like we’ll have to sit at the counter.” Jake indicated the long counter with its round, shiny red stools.
Framed behind the pass-through window was Flora, the eighty-something owner and cook, flipping burgers, lifting fries from vats of hot grease, slathering thick slices of home-baked bread with mayo, mustard, or ketchup, as she turned out more than a dozen different sandwiches, and all of it done while she kept an eye on every customer who walked through the front door.
Her white hair was held back in a hair net that resembled a spider’s web. Her familiar white dress and apron bore the smudges of the many meals she’d prepared since putting them on early this morning.
Her daughter, sixty-year-old Dora, moved between the tables and the counter, tending to everyone and everything with an efficiency that made her mother proud. The two plump women, as wide as they were tall, were fixtures in the town of Paintbrush, and everyone agreed that they fully expected to see them still here, and still working, twenty years down the road.
“Well, well. Look who’s here.” Flora’s face was beaming. “Jake Conway. And with a pretty woman, I see. Not that I’m surprised. I’m guessing there isn’t a beautiful female for a hundred miles around that hasn’t been part of your herd.”
“Herd?” Meg arched a brow.
“Don’t mind Flora. That’s just her way of teasing.”
“Uh-huh.” Meg watched as the old woman waddled out from behind the kitchen to grab Jake by the shoulders and plant a big, wet kiss on his mouth.
“Now my day is complete,” Flora said with a deep rumble of laughter.
“Mine, too.” Jake framed her face and kissed her again, much to her delight. “I needed your sunshine on a gloomy day like this.”
“Oh, you.” She slapped his chest and stepped back behind the counter before glancing at Cory. “Aren’t you Porter Stanford’s boy?”
Jake answered for him. “Flora, this is Cory Stanford.”
Flora leaned over the counter to touch a hand to his cheek. “I heard that the funeral was this morning. I’m sorry, sweet boy. Your pa was a good man.”
Cory lowered his head and stared hard at the counter.
“And this is Porter’s daughter, Meg Stanford.”
At Jake’s words Flora studied Meg and Cory. “Of course. Now that you say that, I can see for myself, though I should have known right away by that pretty red hair.” The old woman extended her hand. “My apologies on your loss, Meg. You and your daddy used to come in here when you were a little girl.”
Meg nodded. “I remember. I never dreamed you’d still be here.”
“You mean still alive, don’t you?” Flora cackled at her own joke. “That’s what everybody says. But I’m still standing. So’s my daughter, Dora.” She turned to include the woman who had walked up to take their orders. “Dora, do you remember Porter’s daughter, Meg?”
Dora nodded. “I sure do. Every time you came in, even before you ordered, Ma would start making an extra-thick chocolate shake and a burger with no onions.”
Meg knew her jaw had dropped, but she couldn’t hide her surprise. “You remember that from all those years ago?”
Dora shrugged. “I’m getting more and more like Ma. It’s easier to remember things from years ago than from yesterday. But you were easy. Whenever you came in here with your pa, the two of you always ordered the same things, with no exceptions. And you’d ooh and ahh over those chocolate shakes like you’d just died and gone to heaven.”
Meg laughed. “Now that you mention it, I think it’s exactly what I need right now.” She turned to Cor
y. “Want to try one?”
He looked surprised before giving a nod of his head. “Okay.”
“Two chocolate shakes,” Meg said. “Extra thick. And I’ll have a burger with no onions.” Again she glanced at Cory. “Want to give the burger a try?”
He nodded.
“Coming right up.” Dora turned to Jake. “The special today is slow-cooked roast beef on Ma’s sourdough.”
Jake brought Dora’s hand to his lips. “You had me at slow-cooked roast beef.”
She was giggling like a girl as she turned away and filled three glasses with water.
Jake turned to Meg. “I thought all you wanted was strong, hot coffee.”
“That was before Dora reminded me of that burger and shake.”
Jake leaned past Meg to say in a loud whisper to Cory, “That’s why this place is always so crowded. Those two women know how to make you hungry even when you’re not.”
All three were laughing as they waited for their lunch.
Meg leaned back, thinking how good it was to be able to laugh again. Back at the cemetery, and later in the judge’s office, she’d felt as though she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Right now, right this minute, she was remembering how it had felt to be eight years old, and sitting at this very counter next to her dad, nibbling a juicy burger and slurping a thick chocolate shake, without a single worry in the world.
When their order was ready, Flora carried the tray to the counter herself instead of serving their plates to Dora by way of the pass-through. As she handed them around she peered at Meg and Cory.
“Your daddy had a reputation in this town for being a hard-nosed, no-nonsense rancher, and he was that.” She leaned closer, so that she couldn’t be overheard by everyone in the place. “But anybody who found themselves dealing with private misery knew they could always count on Porter to lend a hand.”
Meg shot her a puzzled look. “Private misery?”
Flora shrugged. “A rancher who couldn’t pay his taxes might find a note from the county saying his bill had been paid by a mysterious benefactor. A girl in trouble—” Flora shot a quick glance at Cory and was careful with her choice of words “—in need of somebody to pay for a doctor to deliver her baby, or maybe help her relocate to a new place for a fresh start, would find an envelope with cash or a bus ticket.”
“And you think my father—?”
“I don’t think. I know.” Her tone lowered, softened. “Let me tell you what I know. When I was younger, I used to spend all my time making plans. Oh, the grand plans I made. And then one day, while I was busy making my plans, life happened. My husband died, leaving me with a baby, a ranch I couldn’t run, and a pile of debts. I was in here, cooking and crying on old Harding Pool’s shoulder, when he told me I could have his diner if I could come up with fifty thousand dollars so that he could retire to Florida to be with his granddaughter. He may as well have asked for the moon. I didn’t have two dimes to rub together. All I had was a failing ranch. But the next day, out of the blue, a very young, very brash, and handsome man offered me fifty thousand dollars for my ranch.”
Meg shook her head and turned to Jake, who looked every bit as surprised as she felt. “I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t, either. But that same handsome, brash young cowboy had been the only customer in the diner the day before, when I’d been spilling my troubles to Harding. And within a week that same handsome, brash young cowboy brought me a check for fifty thousand dollars, which I then signed over to Harding Pool in exchange for the deed to this diner.”
“So a cowboy you’d never met before changed your life?”
Flora nodded. “He took my failing ranch off my hands, gave me a chance to raise my baby while earning a living, and never told a single soul. And neither did I.”
Meg’s jaw dropped. “Wait a minute. Are you talking about—?”
Flora laughed and patted her hand. “I am. That brash cowboy was your daddy. And that old ranch, that had become hardscrabble and neglected, thrived under his care. Just like this old diner has thrived under mine.”
Meg shook her head in wonder. “He never said a word.”
“That’s just like your daddy. He never told anybody about all the nice things he did. But I hear things.” Flora smiled. “I know my reputation for spreading news. It’s true. Every bit of it. But I also know when to keep a secret. And your daddy knew that if he asked, I’d carry his secrets to the grave. And so I have. I’ll continue to keep quiet about most of the things I know about him until I meet my Maker. But I just figured his children ought to know there was more to Porter Stanford than the face he showed this town. That man knew what heartbreak felt like. He knew what it meant to be alone, and desperate for comfort. He knew that his hair-trigger temper in his younger days contributed to his problems and got him in more trouble than he could shake a stick at. But he learned from his mistakes. Instead of wallowing in misery, he put on a good show, strutting like a peacock, courting the ladies, spending his money like a drunken cowboy after roundup, and pretending that nothing mattered except a good time. But underneath, he had a heart of gold. A heart that was broken too many times to count.”
She put a plump hand beneath Cory’s chin and lifted his face so that the shy boy was forced to meet her eyes. “And the things he was most proud of in his whole life were his two children. He felt that he’d failed the first, and that he’d been given a chance to make amends with the second. And that’s the truth.”
Meg and Cory were so startled, the two of them merely stared at her in stunned silence.
As she started to turn away Meg grabbed her hand. “Wait. Flora.”
The woman turned.
Meg swallowed, wondering how to put into words all that she was feeling. Instead, all she could manage was “Thank you.”
Flora’s eyes softened. “You’re welcome, honey. I hope you’ll stick around long enough to get to know the town and the people your daddy loved.”
“I…” Meg glanced sideways toward Cory. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing. I was planning on being gone by the end of the week. Now, I guess I’ll just take it a day at a time.”
“And that’s the way it ought to be, honey. A day at a time.” Flora turned. “Now I’d better get back to my grill. I’ve got a lot of hungry customers to take care of.”
“Well?” Jake watched as Meg polished off her burger and took the last few sips of the shake. “Was it as good as you remembered?”
“Better.” She sighed. “I haven’t had a lunch like this in years.”
“Yeah. Poor thing. Having to make do with spinach salad and sparkling water while you go over a million points of the law with your clients. I can imagine that those fifty-dollar lunches in the big city could be pretty boring.”
Meg laughed. “If you’re trying to goad me into an argument, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I’m feeling lean and mean. Right now I’m feeling so mellow, I doubt there’s anything you could say or do that would even tempt me to rise to the bait.”
“Quick, Cory.” Jake winked at the little boy. “If you’ve done anything really rotten lately, this is the time to confess, while your sister can’t work up the energy to get mad at you.”
The boy managed a grin before returning his attention to his milkshake.
Dora walked over to slide the bill across the counter to Jake. “How was Ma’s roast beef sandwich?”
He put a finger to his lips. “Don’t breathe a word of this to Phoebe, but it may have been the best I’ve ever tasted.”
Dora was cackling as she turned to the pass-through and shouted, “Better watch out, Ma. Phoebe Hogan might come gunning for you.”
“What did I do this time?” the old woman called.
“Won Jake’s heart with your slow-cooked roast beef.”
“It gets ’em every time,” Flora said with a laugh. She peered at Meg as she added, “Cowboys are so easy to please. Good cookin’, good lovin’, and they’re yours forev
er.” As an afterthought she said, “No charge for the advice, counselor.”
Meg chuckled. “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind. But I doubt I’ll be around here long enough to add a cowboy to my conquests.”
Flora looked from Meg to Jake. “Oh, I’d say it wouldn’t take you much time at all for that cowboy next to you. He looks primed and ready.”
She was still laughing at her own joke as Jake paid the bill and led the way toward the door.
As he held it open for Meg and Cory he turned and winked at the old woman. “You’re a sly one, Flora.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Jake.”
“That’s how I meant it. By the way, thanks for the history lesson. You’ve certainly altered my perception of Porter Stanford.”
With a grin he strolled out and climbed into his truck, where Meg and Cory were already settled.
“I can drive you back to the church to pick up your car, or we can leave it there and you can ride home with me. Your call, Meg.”
She thought a minute before saying, “I’ll follow you back to your place in my car.” She turned to Cory. “Want to stay with Jake, or ride back with me?”
The boy shrugged. “I’ll ride with Jake.”
So much for building a bond with her half brother, Meg thought. Aloud she merely said, “Okay. I guess we know who won that popularity contest.”
All she could manage on the ride back to church was a weak smile.
Chapter Fifteen
Jake parked the truck at the back door of the ranch house. As he climbed out he called to Cory, “Want to check on Shadow?”
The boy nodded.
Jake turned to Meg, who’d parked behind them and was just climbing out of her car. “How about you?”