Dead Ringer & Classified Christmas

by B. J Daniels

  “No,” Travers said. “I’m going to drive down to the Crandall place. I need to talk to Tough.”

  “Dad—”

  “Cull, I heard him just fine. He isn’t interested in being a McGraw. I can live with that. But I believe he’s my son. I can hope for some sort of relationship, can’t I?”

  * * *

  LEDGER FOUND ABBY standing outside on the cabin porch, looking out at the ranch in the distance. For so long, smoke had curled up from the ruins of the house he almost thought he could still see. He would be glad when the debris was gone and the new house started.

  Mostly, he wanted a fresh start with Abby. She’d been through so much. All he wanted to do was make her happy. He knew it couldn’t be easy for her hearing about her soon-to-be ex-husband’s arrest.

  “Are you all right?” he asked as he joined her at the porch railing.

  “I’ve made so many mistakes. If I had just followed my heart...” Abby began to cry.

  Ledger pulled her into his arms. “Abby, we’ve all made mistakes. The moment I heard you married Wade, I should have come to you then. Maybe we could have sorted things out and you could have gotten an annulment since your marriage was based on a lie.”

  She nodded against his chest. “I should have trusted in our love.”

  “That’s all behind us. I will never give you any reason to doubt it ever again.”

  “Your home, your beautiful...” She was crying harder. “It’s all my fault.”

  He held her at arm’s length. “Abby, it’s just a building. No one was hurt. Dad is excited about rebuilding. You heard him. That house had too many ghosts.” He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “I’m just sorry for everything you’ve had to go through. But that, too, is behind us.”

  She nodded and gave him a smile through her tears. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  “You’ll never have to find out. I love you.”

  “I love you. My heart would break when you came into the café—and when you didn’t.”

  He smiled at this woman he’d almost lost for good as he got down on one knee.

  Abby’s eyes widened as he squeezed her hand and asked, “Abby, will you marry me sometime in the future when you’re a free woman?”

  * * *

  ABBY LOOKED DOWN at this man she’d loved for so long. He’d hung in, determined to be there for her even when she’d tried so hard to push him away. If it hadn’t been for him, she knew she would be dead.

  “Yes!” she said, her voice breaking. She’d never thought she’d see this day. “Oh, Ledger.”

  She dropped to her knees in front of him, falling into his arms.

  He laughed and held her. “Don’t you want to see the ring?”

  She shook her head. “You can put a piece of string around my finger, for all I care. It doesn’t matter. All I care about is being with you always.”

  “I guess I’ll have to take this back,” he said after pulling them both to their feet and opening the little black velvet box.

  Abby gasped as she looked down at the pear-shaped diamond glittering up at her. “It’s beautiful!”

  “Just like you.” He slipped it on her finger and then met her gaze. “I can wait as long as it takes.”

  “You’ve proven that,” she said with a laugh.

  “You can have any kind of wedding you want.”

  “I would love to marry you right now, right on this porch with your family as witnesses, if I could.”

  “I’ll call the preacher the moment you’re free—if that’s what you want,” he said, only half joking. “But I think we should do it up proud instead. I want you to have a wedding that you’ll always remember.” He looked into her eyes. “Meanwhile, I’ll start building our house on the ranch. I need you to make it a home. You’ve seen my cabin.”

  She smiled. “But I’d still like to keep working at the café—at least until the baby comes.”

  “The baby?”

  “The one you and I are going to make tonight,” she said.

  “Oh, that baby.” He kissed her, knowing that things were finally as they should be. Ledger and Abby. Their marriage would be stronger because of the rough road that had gotten them here. And they would get married right here on the ranch.

  But tonight they would be together again. He put his arm around her as they went inside and up the stairs to their room.

  * * *

  “ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” Ledger asked late that night when he found his father standing outside in the moonlight.

  “I’m fine,” Travers said, wrapping an arm around his son and pulling him over next to him for a moment. “I was just thinking about when your mother and I started this ranch. We had such dreams. I think that was the problem. We didn’t want this much. It kind of snowballed as the ranch became so successful. We had no idea that our luck was about to change.”

  “You can’t blame your good fortune on what happened,” he said.

  “Can’t I? Your mother never wanted all of this.”

  He heard something in his father’s voice that sent his pulse pounding. “The twins?”

  His father had never looked so old as he did in the moonlight. “You boys were her pride and joy. She was happy with the way things were. I was the one who wanted to give her a girl.” He shook his head. “It was all too much for her.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Travers smiled at him. “How are you, son? I feel as if I haven’t paid enough attention to the children I didn’t lose.”

  “We’re all fine.”

  “Your brother Cull is in love. Boone, well, who knows if he will ever find anyone as contrary as he is.” He smiled when he said it. “And you and Abby?”

  “We’re good. We got engaged tonight.”

  Sadness filled his father’s eyes. “Years ago when you came to me—”

  “You were right. I was too young to get married.”

  “But not too young to lose your heart.”

  “No,” he agreed. “I gave it away. There was no getting it back.” He smiled. “I’ve always loved Abby. Nothing changed even when she married Wade.”

  “Well, that is all behind you now.”

  “Yes. We all have a chance for a new beginning.”

  His father sighed. “Let’s just hope Boone finds Jesse Rose. Even if it is to know that she’s alive and happy. That will be enough.”

  Epilogue

  THE SUN SHONE in a cloudless blue sky on Abby and Ledger’s wedding day. Standing with her friends around her, Abby felt a shiver of excitement. This was how it was supposed to be, she thought, remembering her other wedding day.

  It had been just the four of them, she and Wade, her mother and Huck. She’d worn a pink dress with navy flowers. It was one she’d had in her closet, one that Wade said he liked on her. Huck had gotten her a rose to hold as they drove to the judge’s chambers to be married.

  Afterward, she and Wade had gone back to the house he had bought. A honeymoon had been out of the question. “Honeymoons are for people with money to throw away since they have nothing to do with marriage,” her mother had said.

  Abby remembered crying herself to sleep that night after Wade had dropped off. He’d drunk too much champagne, some cheap bottles that Huck had opened on the way from the judge’s chambers.

  She pushed those memories away like a rainstorm moving on. The sun was out; her friends were all around her. She could feel their excitement.

  “You are absolutely glowing,” said Sarah, one of the young women she worked with at the café. “I always knew the two of you would get together. The way Ledger always looked at you when he came into the café, it was clear that he loved you.”

  “It’s nice to have you back,” another fri
end said. Abby hugged her. Wade had kept her from her friends, saying they would just put bad ideas into her head.

  Ella stuck her head in the door. “You ready?” Her boss looked beautiful in a red velvet dress. It was the first time Abby had seen her in anything other than a white uniform. She’d asked Ella to give her away.

  “I’m not even going to ask about your mother,” Ella had said. “I’d love to give you away.”

  Now Abby looked down at the bouquet in her hands. She lifted the flowers and sniffed the tiny white roses. Was this really happening?

  She looked up. From the huge terrace behind the new house Travers had built, she could see the Little Rockies in the distance. Horses ran across open foothills, their manes blowing behind them. The day couldn’t have been more perfect.

  She’d always thought of this ranch as paradise. The times she’d spent here before Ledger went away to college and she married Wade were something she’d hung on to for the past few years.

  Now she looked out over the ranch realizing that in a few minutes she would be Mrs. Ledger McGraw. It felt like a fantasy, something she hadn’t dared let herself believe was possible.

  She thought of Ledger. He’d never lost faith. She felt tears burn her eyes.

  “Can you ever forgive me?” she’d asked him that night after they’d made love.

  “There is nothing to forgive, Abby. You didn’t burn down the house.”

  “No, Wade and his father did because of me.”

  “Honey,” he’d said, pulling her to him. “Huck Pierce has had it in for my father since they were boys. This has nothing to do with you.”

  “But I believed their lies. I didn’t trust you and I should have.”

  “Oh, Abby, I knew you’d been lied to but there was nothing I could do. If I’d had my way, I would have ridden into the café and swept you up on my horse and rode out of town with you.”

  She’d smiled through her tears. “I dreamed of you doing that.”

  He’d laughed. “So did I. But I couldn’t. Not until I knew you were ready to leave him. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, waiting. But now there is nothing keeping us apart. The past is just that.” He’d kissed her with such passion she’d let go of the guilt, the grief, the feeling that she could never be happy again.

  With Ledger McGraw she could finally know passion, love, tenderness and happiness.

  “I’m ready,” she said to Ella. “I’ve never been more ready.”

  * * *

  LEDGER LOOKED UP and saw Abby as the wedding march played. She stepped out in a shaft of sunlight. She wore a string of daisies in her long hair. The dress was a pale yellow that flowed as she moved. She had never looked more beautiful.

  His heart soared, making him have trouble catching his breath. He’d dreamed of this day for so long. Now it was finally happening.

  “You going to be all right?” his father asked, standing next to him with Cull and Boone.

  “I am now,” he said.

  “Didn’t you ever want to give up?” Cull had asked him last night after everyone else had gone to bed. “I think I would have given up.”

  “You wouldn’t have if it had been Nikki. Once you fall in love...nothing can change that.”

  “I’m happy for you, Ledger,” Cull had said and slapped him on the back. “Hope you’re as happy as Nikki and I are being married.”

  “We will be.”

  As he watched his soon-to-be wife walk toward him, she smiled and their gazes met. He smiled back at her. The future couldn’t have looked any brighter on this beautiful Montana summer day. Some things, he thought, were definitely worth waiting for.

  * * * * *

  CLASSIFIED CHRISTMAS

  This one is for Jody Robinson, for her encouragement and support and friendship.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Rough Rider by B.J. Daniels

  (Book One of Rough Rider and Matchmaking with a Mission).

  Chapter One

  THIS YEAR WAS DIFFERENT. Cade Jackson couldn’t swear why exactly, just that he wasn’t anticipating the anniversary of his wife’s death with as much dread.

  Maybe time did heal. Not that he didn’t miss his wife. Or think of her. Especially with the anniversary of Grace’s death only days away. He just didn’t hurt as much when he thought of her. Nor after six years did he think of her as often.

  There was something sad about that, he thought, as he watched the other ropers from the top rung of the corral. The thunder of hooves raised a cloud of dust that moved slowly across the enclosed arena.

  Outside, snow continued to fall, promising a white Christmas. He breathed in the comforting scent of leather and horses, both as natural to him as the lay of the land beyond the arena walls.

  Snow-covered open prairie ran to the deep cut of the Missouri River as it wound its way through Montana, the dark outline of the Little Rockies that broke the horizon.

  He felt as if he’d come of out of a coma. Everything looked and smelled and felt new and different. He’d missed a lot of holidays with his family, lost in that dark place that his grief had taken him. But this year he felt as if he might make it through the holidays without having to hide out at his cabin or in his ice-fishing shack until Christmas was over.

  Cade felt an odd prickling just under his skin and looked toward the window. Snow fell in huge flakes that floated down blanketing the earth with both cold and silence. He frowned at the sudden sense of apprehension he’d felt just moments before. What had that been about?

  He shook it off. He wasn’t going to let the old ghosts get to him. He was finally feeling as if he might make it.

  * * *

  ANDI BLAKE DISCOVERED a manila envelope on her desk when she got back to the newspaper from lunch. She’d spent her first morning at the Milk River Examiner cleaning off her predecessor’s desk, only a little unnerved by the fact that he’d been murdered, thus the opening.

  Glen Whitaker hadn’t been neat. After boxing up all of his notes, she’d cleaned the desk, scrubbing away months if not years of grime.

  She gave the envelope only a sideways glance as she slipped off her jacket and hung it over the back of her chair.

  The envelope was addressed to her and had a Whitehorse postmark. Nothing unusual about that except for the fact that it was addressed to Andi West, the name she’d gone by as a television newscaster in Fort Worth, Texas.

  She felt a shiver of trepidation. No one here knew her as Andi let alone Andi West. Her full name was Miranda West Blake. She had been named after her father, Weston Blake. He was the one who’d nicknamed her Andi.

  To put Fort Worth and the past far behind her when she’d applied for this job, though, she’d used Miranda Blake and now wrote as M. W. Blake.

  She’d thought by moving to Whitehorse, Montana, and using her real name that she would be able to escape from the terror that had run her out of Texas. Had it followed her?

  Her heart pounded. All her old fears came back in a wave of nausea. Was it possible there was nowhere she could get away from it?

  Fingers trembling, she picked up the envelope, turning it in her fingers. The contents felt light. And the package didn’t sound like it was ticking. Something slid inside ma
king her jump.

  Her fear, though, gave way to anger. She was sick of being scared. She’d given up everything she loved because of some psycho. If he’d found her...

  Taking out her letter opener, she sliced through one end of the envelope and carefully dumped the contents onto her desk.

  She’d gotten enough of these at the television station that she knew what to expect.

  A white cassette tape thudded to the desktop an instant before a piece of newspaper fluttered down beside it, surprising her.

  She frowned and picked up the tape. It was file card size. There was nothing written on it. She glanced at the CD player on her desk and wondered where she might find a cassette player that played this size tape.

  Not that she would play it. She’d learned it was better not to listen to the calls although she’d read most of the letters before handing them over to the police. Except the police hadn’t been able to find her stalker let alone stop him or the threatening letters and calls.

  Putting down the tape, she turned her attention to the other item from the envelope. As she unfolded the newsprint, she saw that it was a clipping of a local newspaper brief about a woman named Grace Jackson who’d died in a one-car rollover south of town.

  She felt a wave of relief. Apparently someone thought the story warranted a follow-up. That’s all this was.

  True it was odd because the accident had happened six years ago Christmas Eve.

  But at least it wasn’t connected to Texas. Or her. She tried to relax.

  Still the fact that it had been sent to Andi West bothered her. Who besides the newspaper publisher, Mark Sanders, knew her television name?

  Just then Mark Sanders came in the door.

  She held up the clipping and he took it from her as he walked by her desk, glanced at the story and handed the clipping back saying, “Yeah, that was real sad. They hadn’t been married long.” He started to walk off.

  “Do you want me to do a follow-up?” she asked his retreating back.

  He stopped to glance over his shoulder and frowned. “Can’t see any reason. It’s been what—”