Saddled With Trouble

by A. K. Alexander

  “Good morning,” Davis said and went to pour her a cup of coffee.

  Ethan wiggled his eyebrows at her, his expression reminding her of a Cheshire cat, confirming her worst fear: He assumed Davis spent the night because the two of them had slept together. The heat on her neck turned to perspiration. “I came by to check on you and Leo. From the looks of it though, you’re doing a-okay.”

  She couldn’t resist giving him a dirty look. “Thank you.” What had Davis told him? Or not told him?

  “I need to use your restroom,” Davis said.

  As he left, Ethan smiled at her. “You and the detective, huh?”

  “No, Ethan, it’s not like that. I can explain.”

  He held up a hand. “No need to explain. I don’t care what you do. Actually I think it’s good you’re moving on with your life, and Davis seems like a nice guy.”

  She walked over to where Ethan was standing and put another scoop of sugar in her coffee. Her stomach tightened. “Yes, he is.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Mick? What’s that bruise on your forehead from?”

  Oh-oh. Well, she got her answer about what Davis had told Ethan: nothing. Good. Knowing Ethan, he’d be all up in arms about the accident and make a big deal, feeling the need to hover over her. And, Davis was doing that duty. She should never have called him last night. She would’ve been just fine. She touched her forehead. “Oh that. It’s nothing. I banged it.”

  “I’ll say you did. What do you mean it’s nothing? How did you do it?”

  She really did not want to go into it. “I . . . uh, I opened this cupboard here”— she pointed to the cupboard above her, where she kept her plates—“last night, and I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” She had actually hit her head on that damn cupboard quite a few times in the past. Lying to Ethan did not come easy, and she despised herself for doing it, but having him worried would make it worse, in her opinion.

  “Okay. You better be more careful. You always have been a klutz.” She smiled and sipped her coffee, silently thankful he’d believed her. “There’s something I came by to tell you, and I need you to hear me out.”

  Oh brother. She definitely did not like the sound of this. She sipped her coffee and nodded.

  “This weekend, while I’m on the vet staff in Vegas . . . well, I thought timingwise it would be a good thing because Summer isn’t quite showing yet, and it really is the right thing to do. I know that it is.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “We’re . . . getting married this weekend, and I want you there.”

  Michaela about spit her coffee across the room. “What?”

  “Y-yeah,” Ethan stammered. “It’s uh, really why I came here to see you.”

  “I think that’s great,” Jude Davis replied, walking back into the kitchen. “Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. Congratulations.”

  “Thank you. Hey, why don’t you join us? It’s not a long drive over and we’d love to have you. I’m sure Michaela would want you there, too.” He looked at her and winked.

  She was going to kill him.

  “I’d like to. But I’m working until five tomorrow, and then I have plans.”

  “Well it’s not a long flight, in case you change your mind or your plans fall through—”

  “No! He said that he had plans,” Michaela interrupted. Both men looked at her. If looks could kill, she was doing her best to take Ethan out at that moment.

  “Why don’t I go out and take care of the horses for you? Relax for a change. Enjoy the morning,” Ethan said.

  Michaela wanted to make a smart-ass remark back, because he’d really done it to her this time. It would have felt good to say something about his being sure that his bride would show up this time, but she decided against it. It wouldn’t do any good. How could he marry Summer? What the hell was he thinking! Why did he have to race to the altar? And after what Summer had put him through before. “The best thing for everyone.” Stupid. That’s what he was being— stupid. She had a good mind to go drag Camden’s skinny ass out of bed and have her whip up several pitchers of her killer concoction. And what about Davis? Surely he’d picked up on Ethan’s not-so-subtle hints that he thought they’d slept together. Men!

  As Ethan left for the barn, Davis asked, “How’s your head feel?”

  “Fine. I guess we better go and get my truck.” She looked out the window and watched Ethan heading out to the barn to feed the horses. She was done chasing fantasies.

  On the way to her truck Davis said that he didn’t mention to Dr. Slater about what had happened the night before. “I didn’t feel it was my place. I know you two are close and I figured I’d let you be the one to tell him.”

  “We’re not that close.” Now, why did she say that?

  “Really?”

  “We grew up together, sure, and he’s my vet and yeah, he’s a friend, but that’s it. He’s getting married this weekend.” Davis glanced at her. She needed to change the subject. “When do you get to see your little girl?” That was safe.

  “Katie. This weekend. I can’t wait. Those are the plans I have. I promised her dinner and we’re going to see The Nutcracker in L.A.”

  Michaela sighed. Funny— she was relieved. She’d thought Davis’s plans surely involved a woman. “That sounds fun.”

  “The kid is great. We have a great time together.” He beamed, and his love for his daughter was almost infectious as Michaela felt herself smiling while he talked about her. “She’s a bright kid. You know, she’s doing sixth-grade math in fourth grade. Whoever said girls aren’t good at math doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And she loves ballet. She started taking lessons a couple of years ago.”

  “Wow. I envy you. A daughter.” Listening to him talk about her started a bit of that yearning again inside her. What it must be like to love someone so much. A child. She could only imagine.

  “She’s the best. Hey, do you give riding lessons?”

  She thought about Joey and her promise to teach his daughter Genevieve how to ride. “Yes, I do.”

  “I bet you’re wonderful with kids. My daughter would love to ride. Do you think maybe you could give her some lessons?”

  Teaching Davis’s kid to ride would mean that she would see him, maybe quite a bit. How did she feel about that? She flashed back to Ethan and his words about her moving on. “Sure. That sounds good.”

  “I can’t wait to tell her. Of course, you probably want to wait until after the holidays. I know things aren’t easy right now. And between you and me, I don’t how this case is going to go.”

  “You have doubts, don’t you, about Bean?”

  “I think you know that I do. Technically I’m not supposed to talk to you about it, but since you’re the one who opened some of these new doors, Miss Detective . . .” He pointed a finger at her. “There will be no more police work on your end. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.” She would try to let it all go and allow Davis to do his job, but it would be tough, because her uncle’s murder and the surrounding circumstances troubled her. “I guess you’ll be talking to Dwayne Yamiguchi today? And Kirsten? And Brad.”

  Davis didn’t reply as he pulled up next to her truck. “Take care of that head, Miss Marple. See you this afternoon. The Honey Bear Cottage.”

  “Best lattes in town. Until then, Sherlock Holmes.”

  “Ah, but I have a license to investigate, and the training. You need to go train horses.”

  “I get it.”

  He waited until she drove off. What a gentleman Davis was. And, Ethan . . . well, he was one royal pain in the ass, and she’d had it up to there with his antics. First keeping secrets about what was going on between him and Uncle Lou, and now marrying Summer. Okay, so they were supposedly friends now, but Michaela still had reservations about the woman. She simply was not Ethan’s type. Or, maybe she was. Who was she to determine Ethan’s type when it came to women?

  When she arrived home, Ethan was still there. “Just
finished feeding everybody.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  “Ethan?”

  “Yes?”

  “What the hell are you thinking? I need to know. And I also need to know what happened between you and Lou.”

  He looked away for a second then back at her, his eyes filled with an intensity she didn’t often see in him. But when she did, he meant business. Good, because so did she. “I suppose I owe you.”

  “You do.”

  He went around to the cab of his truck and opened the glove compartment. He handed her a photo, one of her uncle and another man, circa the late 1960s, she figured. “What’s this?”

  “That’s Lou and . . . my dad.”

  “Your dad?”

  He smiled sadly. “All my life, I wanted a dad. Right? Sure, I never verbalized those exact words to anyone, but you even once said to me when we were kids that if you could, you’d get me a dad for my birthday.” He laughed. “I think we were like five or something. I don’t know, but I never forgot you telling me that. And I knew that you would be my best friend for life, because anyone who wanted what I wanted so badly for myself without me having to say it was someone I would always be close to.”

  Where was he going with this? She did remember telling him that when they were kids, and he’d replied that it was impossible to give him a dad. That a dad wasn’t someone you could go buy at a store. Ethan had told her that dads were men who wanted to be dads, that there was no one who wanted to be his. Michaela had always wished she could have changed that for him.

  “Growing up, your family was like my family. Our mothers were like sisters. I know they still talk all the time, even though my mom is so far away.” Ethan’s mother had moved to Florida a few years back to be with a man she’d met on a cruise. The relationship hadn’t worked out, but Ethan’s mother found she liked living on the Florida coast. “Your father wasn’t exactly like a dad to me, just because he keeps to himself, but Lou treated me like a son. Remember how he used to take us trail riding? And, he’d come watch my football games when we were in high school? He was even the one who advised me to become a vet. I looked up to him. I loved him, always wished he were my dad. Then, when Summer cancelled our wedding, he let me stay at the guest house and didn’t expect a dime from me. Of course, I paid him. But my bank statements show he never cashed the checks.”

  He sighed. “Lou obviously knew my dad.” He pointed to the photo. “He knew my dad and he knew he wasn’t dead, like I’d been told by my mother. He’d known all these years, even knew where he lived. He knew.”

  “I’m sorry. I am so confused.”

  “Summer was the one who discovered it. While doing his books she saw checks for significant amounts written to a Tom Beckenhour. She asked Lou who the guy was. He told her that it was a buddy he’d bought some horses from. She asked him which horses so she’d know how to organize it on the books. He got a bit gruff with her. She mentioned something about looking at some of the previous years on the books and that this Tom received these checks on a regular basis. Lou told her to mind her own business. But it still bothered Summer because of the way Lou was acting. He even told her that he’d handle those transactions, and for her not to worry about it. Then, she found this photo while looking for some transactions from a few years back that the IRS asked for during that audit they did of the ranch last year.”

  Michaela remembered that well. Uncle Lou was angry about being audited, but Summer had done a decent job preparing for it, and the government found that all the deductions he’d taken on his taxes a few years back were legit.

  “She noticed the resemblance to me.” Michaela studied the picture, and it was true. The man in the photo with Uncle Lou did bear a striking resemblance to Ethan. “Well, she started looking into it, and she found out that Tom Beckenhour is some washed-up rodeo cowboy that Lou knew back in the ’60s. They’d been buddies on the circuit. He introduced this guy to my mom one night and . . . well, I’m the product of that one night.”

  She shook her head. “Whoa.”

  “Right. It gets worse, though. Tom Beckenhour knew about me through Lou, who tried to get him to do the right thing. But this loser was a drunk and ran away from my mom and me.”

  “So, your mom and Lou did do the right thing not telling you about him. Did you ever think of that?”

  Ethan shrugged. “No. I didn’t, because I guess the guy did sober up when I was around ten years old and wanted to be a part of my life, but Lou has spent the last twenty years sending him cash to keep him away from me. That’s why we had the falling-out. That’s why I took off and was so angry and didn’t tell you why I left to go rafting. I didn’t say anything to you until now, because I had to make sure it was all the truth. Then on top of it, Summer tells me she’s pregnant. I had to process it all, but now I feel like I have to tell you. I know you’ve been having doubts about me and my loyalty to Lou. I’m sure you’ve even wondered if I could have killed him.”

  “It’d be a waste of time to deny it.”

  “I loved Lou and I was hurt by the lies, but knowing him and knowing the extremes he went to, to shine the light on the real Brad for your sake, I understand why he did what he did for me. Lou wanted to protect the people he loved from being hurt. So he kept secrets, buried lies, and held on tight to all of us. Maybe too tight, and secrets and lies always catch up with you. The thing I don’t get is why he continued to pay this guy off even when I got older. Why he didn’t let me make my own judgments. Again, I’ve come to the conclusion that was him holding on as tight as he could, afraid of losing those close to him.”

  Michaela nodded. She took Ethan’s hand and held it for a moment before saying anything. “Funny how you can love someone so much, you’ll do almost anything to keep them from walking away, even if it means hiding behind a lie. Don’t you wonder though, just what kind of man this guy who’s supposedly your dad is? To continue to take money from Lou after all these years, and agree to stay away, does not bode well in my mind as to what your father would be like. I mean, if he really wanted to know you he would have told Lou to go to hell.”

  Ethan looked hurt by the words as he pulled his hand away from her. “I suppose that’s true.”

  Why did she have to be so blunt? “What about your mother? Have you spoken with her about it?”

  “No. I can’t. Not yet anyway. I need to go and see her about this. I’ve been so angry though.”

  “She may be able to shed more light on it. I think you need to get to the bottom of it, Ethan, or you’ll never be able to move on.”

  He nodded. “I did contact him. Tom. My father.”

  “You did?”

  “Yep. He’s married and has two kids. Weird, huh? I have two brothers.”

  “Are you going to meet him? Are you going to ask him why he did what he did?”

  “I don’t know if I want to or care to. But I want you to know that I forgive Lou. You know that the man was a father to me. Someone who loved me so much and wanted to protect me because he felt it was the right thing to do, even though it may not have been, proves to me that I was wrong to ever be angry with him. All he did was love me like a dad should, and now I feel horrible. The guilt is almost unbearable.” He teared up.

  Ethan rarely ever cried and her heart ached for him. “You and I both know that Lou would have understood. He loved you a lot. That’s obvious. So please, don’t do this to yourself. Promise me? Don’t keep going down this road. Talk to your mother, maybe meet this man, but most of all forgive yourself. Lou did not take your anger to his grave.”

  Tears streamed down his face. “I hope not.”

  “He didn’t.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve done a lot of thinking about Lou, and you, and what you said about Summer over the past few days, and loving someone . . . and family. All of it. What I needed and wanted growing up was a dad. Sure, I had Lou, but there’s a difference between someone who treats you like you’re their kid and someone who
is your dad. There just is. I can’t explain it. Maybe I’m old school and believe that blood is thicker than water, though my heart knows it’s ridiculous. You get love where you’re supposed to. Right?” He wiped his face with the back of his hand. “Look at me, crying like a baby. Stupid.”

  “No. It’s not.”

  “You’re a good friend. I love you for that and more. Like I said, I’ve been doing a ton of thinking and through it all I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to be a father to this baby Summer and I are having. That’s why I have to marry her, Michaela. I told you earlier, it’s the right thing to do.”

  Michaela nodded. “Well, you have always been good about doing the right thing. But do you have to rush into it? It all seems so sudden.”

  “I know. I guess I’m just old-fashioned. I don’t want Summer to have to walk down the aisle while seven or eight months pregnant, or after we have the baby.”

  “If you were so old-fashioned, you wouldn’t have jumped in bed with her. Oops. That one kind of slipped out. I’m sorry, but it’s how I feel. And another thing, how do you know this is your child?”

  He looked wounded by the suggestion. “The timing is right. Of course it’s my child.” Oh God. Typical man. As if after sleeping with him a woman would never go to bed with another man. “Mick, it’s my life. It’s my child’s life. I’m going to do this. With or without your support.”

  “So, it’s this weekend, huh?” He wasn’t going to listen to reason.

  “Might as well be.” He smiled.

  “I guess there’s nothing more that I can say, if this is what you want.”

  “Will you be there for me?”