Winning Over the Rancher

by Mary Brady

  They wouldn’t see any more of Mrs. P for a couple days.

  KayLee listened while the kids practiced their lines.

  “Peter, see if you can project your voice more, and, Mandy, if you emphasize reptile in that line, the joke will come across better.”

  They were amazing teenagers. They could almost direct themselves by now.

  KayLee noticed a couple of teen boys milled nearby waiting for definitive direction.

  “I like what you’re doing with the scenery for the third act, Benjamin and Marshall. Get started on that last piece,” she called to the pair of set painters.

  “Samantha and Becca, I want to see what you’ve done with the changes we made for the beginning of act two.”

  The two girls jumped up, scripts in hand.

  “Can you do it without your scripts today?”

  Alarmed, Samantha tugged her long blond hair back, but Becca took her by the arm. “Sure we can.”

  When they performed flawlessly KayLee applauded them and had all the actors run the entire scene.

  After they had worked for over two hours, KayLee gave them their assignments, extracted promises that all homework would get done and sent them on their way.

  KayLee slowly walked home. The weather was still getting nicer by the day. Several people waved at her and when a silver pick-up truck passed, she thought of one blond rancher. There were many silver trucks, and she didn’t need them as a reminder to think of him.

  They would work side by side in the paneled office at the ranch, blinking at the computer screen or pouring over drawings. Now that they were friends, the details were easy, but spending time with Baylor was starting to make her fearful at the day he’d leave St. Adelbert.

  For the good of all involved, KayLee and Baylor decided to avoid letting people think they were a couple. None of them believed in temporary. Cora and Ethel would be planning a wedding and the whole town would have unfair expectations. Here in St. Adelbert it seemed that most of the village would suffer from a broken heart if KayLee and Baylor let them believe what could never be true.

  Never be true. All she had to do was remember how she and Chad thought they were in love, enough to get married after a week. Okay, so she was jaded, but she’d never wish that on anyone, on Baylor, on herself again.

  When KayLee arrived at home, Abby was across the street sitting on her porch with a knitted throw over her lap and reading by the warmth of the late afternoon sun. KayLee waved.

  Abby put her book down and started to get up. “I have something for you.”

  KayLee waved her off. “Stay there. I’ll come over.”

  KayLee clutched the orange canvas bag she was carrying over one shoulder and crossed the street.

  When she approached the foot of Abby’s porch, her friend held up a FedEx envelope.

  KayLee stopped dead still.

  The letter from Chad. She wondered if she should run away or get it over with.

  “Come up here.” Abby smiled kindly at her. “If you make a break for it, I’ll chase you and I’ll win.”

  KayLee slowly climbed the stairs. She dropped the canvas bag on the porch and huffed out a breath as she sat in one of the forest-green plastic chairs.

  “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get some tea and leftovers. You have got to be hungry after play practice.”

  KayLee started to protest, but Abby insisted. “It’s the least I can do for someone who volunteers to work with a bunch of the town’s teenagers.”

  When Abby returned a few minutes later, she placed a tray on the table between them with a steaming cup of tea, a plate of food that really smelled good and the envelope. She had also brought a lap blanket and handed it to KayLee.

  KayLee put the colorful throw on her lap and reached for the envelope.

  Abby stopped her. “Eat first. Your baby will appreciate it.”

  KayLee nodded and smiled. “You know how to apply torque to the right screws.”

  Abby grinned.

  KayLee chewed and swallowed a bite of food. “Where are your guys?”

  “Playing soccer. It’s kind of nice to get to read in peace once in a while. Reed’s here in town this week. I’m in heaven.”

  “Cora says your sister is coming home soon.”

  “Kyle is so excited he can hardly wait. He keeps asking if it’s really true.”

  “How long has she been gone?”

  “Over a year.”

  “That’s harsh.”

  “It has been good for her. She’s a different person. I’m so proud of her.”

  They chatted and KayLee ate. When she had eaten all she comfortably could, KayLee sipped tea, while Abby packed up the leftovers.

  “Now that you’re fortified, you can tackle the letter,” Abby said as she sat back down in her chair, wrapped in the blanket.

  KayLee paused, the envelope in her hands. “I guess so.”

  She removed the contents and scanned the documents briefly. The top one was a copy of Chad’s death certificate with a note attached by Randolph Sharring. You will need this. For what, KayLee had no idea. The rest seemed to be legal-sounding stuff, but then the letterhead caught her attention.

  “Life insurance. Chad had a life insurance policy?” KayLee was stunned.

  “I take it you never knew.”

  “No.”

  When tears flooded KayLee’s eyes, Abby reached out a hand. “Do you want me to read it for you?”

  KayLee shook her head.

  “The beneficiary. He made his child the beneficiary.”

  KayLee took the red-and-white hankie and wiped her face. “He did love our baby.”

  Abby got up and hunkered down beside her and KayLee appreciated the support.

  She turned the page and wondered if she was seeing correctly until she read the words that spelled out the policy amount.

  She looked at Abby, who grinned at her.

  “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Five hundred…”

  “Thousand dollars,” Abby continued when she could not.

  “Abby. Oh, my God.”

  “You could live anywhere for a long time.”

  “But it’s the baby’s money.”

  “Check with your attorney. It most likely belongs to you, since your child hasn’t been born yet and your husband’s estate went to you. It did, didn’t it?”

  “It did. Five hundred thousand dollars. He’s been gone for almost seven months and he can still surprise me.”

  “You and you’re child are set for a long time, but right now, however, you need to go home and put your feet up. Speaking of things on your plate—Baylor.”

  Abby nodded toward an approaching vehicle. This time the silver pick-up truck was Baylor’s. He stopped across the street and got out.

  Every time KayLee saw him she was amazed all over again. He pushed his hair back with his hand and put his hat on.

  “I love it when he does that,” Abby said. “He’s the most manly man I’ve ever known.”

  “Mmm,” KayLee said. “The two of you never…?”

  Abby laughed. “I’m older than he is and in grade school and high school, that meant something.”

  “Me, too.” KayLee grinned. “But it doesn’t mean as much now.”

  “As adults, it can be an advantage for you two.”

  By then Baylor was standing at the bottom of the steps with a questioning look on his face. “What’s an advantage for the two of us?”

  “Age is, if you must eavesdrop,” Abby said. “Now whatever outrageous compliment you are about to pay us, Baylor, I graciously accept and I gotta go.”

  She grabbed the blankets, leaving KayLee with cold tea, the dish of leftovers, the contents of the envelope and Baylor.

  “Hi. You scared her away.” She drank down the tea and collected the food and papers.

  “I don’t think much scares Abby Fairbanks anymore.”

  “I’m not going to like what brings you to my neighborhood, am I?”

  “We need to t
alk.”

  “Okay. Let’s walk down toward the river. I could use a little exercise.”

  They moved amicably in the direction of the river.

  “It looks as if you have everything under control with the construction,” he said quietly, almost too calmly. “Lance and Seth have a handle on the new livestock.”

  She nodded and for sure didn’t like where this was headed. He had said when everything was under control he was leaving. She had hoped that meant after her baby was born.

  “The first batch of framing studs had more bad than good pieces in it. I sent the whole lot back. I can’t have the laborers sorting wood when they should be building and ending up short in the middle of the day.” She didn’t know why she was telling him this.

  “You will be the hardest thing for me to leave in this valley.”

  “I had trouble getting them to match the stain on the spindles and the banister, but I think that’s all straightened out.”

  “KayLee.” He reached over and touched her cheek. “I got a call from Denver today.”

  KayLee wanted to shove her fingers in her ears. Instead she smiled not quite directly at him, more like over his left shoulder. “I suppose they want you there yesterday.” It felt like what it was—a preemptive strike—but it didn’t feel like much of a victory.

  “They want me there tomorrow. They’re having a problem with scours, a disease in the calves.”

  “Babies. Using the big guns, huh. How can you turn babies down?” How could she even think of asking him not to go yet, to stay until after her baby was born? Hers was safe inside and would be for another three weeks.

  “That’s kind of what I thought. I’m not sure when, but I’ll be back for my things.”

  Suddenly she wanted to kick and scream. How could she possibly tell him? Her feelings for him might be changing from lust to something more. She had practically promised not to hold him back. Their friendship was built on “you go your way and I’ll go mine.”

  Was it fair not to tell him? Could she let him walk away believing they were friends with benefits and nothing else? She had hated that term, never understood it, until she met Baylor.

  Did he deserve to know her feelings for him could change or would she be selfish to tell him?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  KAYLEE HAD A DECISION to make.

  Was it more important to keep her bargain with him or tell him things might be changing for her? If it would make a difference for him, she should tell him. But it couldn’t make a difference for him. He needed to get away from the valley and entanglements. And she could be a big-time entanglement.

  That wasn’t all.

  Something deep and painful pierced the heart and soul of Baylor Doyle. She’d like to think she could help him with it, but he kept everything too close, too buried, for her to even guess what it was.

  Even if she found a way to keep him at her side, that wasn’t where he wanted to be—whether she was in St. Adelbert or Denver.

  Baylor stopped her with a hand on her arm.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” He ran a fingertip along her jawline that started the usual fires and sent flashes of need sparking through her. She would deeply miss that when he left her.

  She captured his finger and kissed its fiery tip, then continued walking toward the stream of gray tumbling water. “When do you leave?”

  “Before sunrise tomorrow, that’s why I came this evening.”

  They stopped under the budding trees, where the stream ran inches from their toes. He put a hand on her shoulder and she smiled. He couldn’t help himself. He’d safeguard her as long as he could, until the deep and dark thing that drew him from the valley took him away from her forever.

  She started downstream, stumbling over a root her belly did not let her see and Baylor gripped her arm harder. “I take it scours is a serious problem.”

  A much as she tried to douse it, a fire burned where his hand touched her arm and the blaze spread.

  “Once scours gets started, it can sweep through the calves, killing many of them if they aren’t treated and many times even if they are treated.”

  “So it’s a disease then.”

  “It’s a symptom, and the Shadow Range seems to have a formula for treating it that’s superior to what’s out there.”

  “Saving the lives of babes, even if it’s baby cattle, seems like something you’re perfectly suited for.”

  He stopped again and brought her around to face him. “I didn’t come to see you so I could talk about calf diseases or banisters.”

  She looked up into his eyes and saw the pain there that Abby had talked about. He needed a friend and she’d be that for as long as he needed her to be. With benefits for as long as they both shall need. Well, that was out of line, but at least she didn’t say it out loud.

  He studied her face as if he might find some answers there, as if he were cataloguing her features for future reference.

  About the control? Maybe not.

  She rose up on her toes and he lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was long and soft and it was saying good-bye. No matter how often he returned to the St. Adelbert valley, his heart was leaving tomorrow and for good.

  And taking a big chunk of hers with it. Guard it well, my friend, she thought.

  He lifted his mouth from hers and she dropped back down into her flat shoes. “Abby asked me to see if I could use my influence to convince you to stay in the valley. I assured her my sway over you wasn’t as great as your need to leave.”

  “It’s the kind of thing she’d do. She left and when she’d been kicked around enough times, came back and found the love of her life. She feels safe and secure here. This valley is a good place for that.”

  “And you don’t like safety and security?”

  “Are you asking me why I’m leaving?”

  “It was just an observation, but if you wanted to tell me why you’re leaving, I’d listen.”

  He started them moving back upstream. “The bank needs the stability I can provide by taking this job.”

  “That was something I never thought of.”

  “The stability that will provide the next loan for the materials, and to keep the job going.”

  As he placed his hands on her imaginary waistline, she brought her hands to his powerful forearms.

  The fire never got old. Like chocolate and presents never got old. Like sunrises and new snow. Like looking up into the fathomless blue of Baylor’s eyes as she was doing now.

  “So you’re leaving to save them,” she said into the blue.

  KayLee thought of the five hundred thousand in life insurance, but knew that was the last money on earth Baylor would take to further his own agenda.

  His solemn nod felt like another door closing between them. He wasn’t telling her everything. Frustration crowded in, a hum inside her head until if felt like a high-pitched whine. She could help, she knew she could. If he’d just let her.

  “I’m the only one who can do this.”

  “Bullshit.” She stepped back and her hand flew to her mouth.

  He gave her one of his classic smirks. “I’m glad I’m finished kissing that mouth.”

  “Yeah, over the top. Sorry. You try being pregnant and starting a new life.” And loving a man who couldn’t love her enough. No, that wasn’t true. She had no idea what love was, but she knew what it wasn’t. “But those reasons you gave are so, so…so monetary.”

  “And your point being?”

  “You don’t play for money points in life.”

  “I don’t? Money makes a lot of people comfortable in this world. What kind of points do I play for?”

  She started for home again.

  “It’s the kind of thing a person needs to figure out for himself or herself.”

  He was right to leave.

  A tear trickled down her cheek.

  He reached over and touched the wet trail. “Yeah, me too.”

  Just as they stopped in fr
ont of KayLee’s apartment, Cora and Ethel bustled out their front door, grinning.

  “Bridge night.” Ehtel’s voice sounded like an excited chirp.

  “We’ll be gone for hours,” Cora clarified. She took her friend’s arm and the two of them hurried away without looking back.

  KayLee took her bag from Baylor and started up the sidewalk to her apartment.

  “Wait a sec,” Baylor called after her as he retrieved a foil-wrapped package from his truck.

  He held it up. “For you.”

  She reached for it and he held it away from her. “I get the feeling most of the people in this valley are trying to get us together.”

  “What does—” She nodded toward the package.

  “Cake.”

  “Oh, cake. Yummm. What does cake have to do with getting us together?”

  “Evvy Doyle raised responsible sons.”

  “She did, and…”

  He tipped his head back and peered down his nose at her. “My mother knows there is no way I’d let you carry a package up the stairs, that I’d have to bring it up myself.”

  “And are you going to?”

  He nodded solemnly. “A man doesn’t want to disappoint his mother.”

  She handed over Abby’s leftovers and led the way.

  Once inside her apartment, he placed the cake and leftovers on the old oak table.

  He stopped, his expression part sheepish, part hopeful.

  The deep purple light of the evening cast shadows that made the blond rancher seem troubled.

  “Are we freaks?”

  “You mean because we have sex whenever the opportunity presents itself and then we do it again.”

  “And again. What would happen to us if we were in a position to get married and live together forever?”

  “You mean we’d end up dry husks because we were too crazed to eat or drink?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Or that we’d get tired of each other?”

  She couldn’t reply. What could she possibly say to that besides the tired old things she had been telling herself for so long?

  “Afraid of repeating your marriage?”

  She nodded.

  “This valley is the best place for you and your baby. You’ll be safe here.”