Back in the Rancher's Arms (Trinity River #1)

by Elsie Davis

  “We’ll probably have him back safe and sound before she could even get here from the city. We’ll be okay without her.” Liar. He’d never be okay without her.

  An hour and half later, and there was still no sign of Derek or Patches. At least twenty people from town had already shown up to join in the search. Dylan was grateful for their help, but so far, they hadn’t picked up any other clues, and they had to find him before nightfall.

  It would be dangerous for him to be alone and unarmed with predators roaming the territory, including several coyotes that had been spotted not more than thirty miles south of here. Too close for comfort.

  Lou’s words rang in his ears for the hundredth time. She knows the property better than anyone. For someone who prided himself on not needing anyone, now wasn’t the time for his stubborn pride to rear its ugly head. For Derek, he would call Kayla and beg if that’s what it took, anything to find his brother.

  Scrolling down his recent call list, he located her number, and pressed dial. He was surprised when she answered on the first ring.

  “Kayla, it’s me, Dylan. I need you. I, um, I mean, we need you. I know you don’t owe me a thing, but I think Derek’s run away with Patches, and we think he’s on your farm somewhere.”

  “I already heard, and I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry? That’s it? I thought you cared about Derek. I promise to stay far, far away and never lay another hand on you if you’ll help us. Please.”

  “I never said I wouldn’t help. I was saying I’m sorry he’s missing. Sorry I caused all this. I realize I shouldn’t have interfered. You were right. Of course, I’ll help look. In fact, if you get your stubborn self to my house in about ten minutes, I’ll meet you there and we can go look together.”

  “How? You father said you went back to Houston. And who are you calling stubborn? I’m not the one who left and who refuses to acknowledge what’s still between us.”

  “First things first. Let’s find Derek, and then we can talk. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “My father called me right after Derek turned up missing, and I’ve been driving ever since. I love your little brother, and I’ll do anything I can to help bring him home.”

  “Thanks. People are still showing up from town to help, but we can’t have too many looking.”

  Dylan drove over to the Anderson ranch and waited. Kayla pulled in the driveway, a cloud of dust engulfing her SUV as it came to a sudden halt fewer than twenty feet from where he stood. She jumped out and made her way to his side.

  “Get in the truck.” Dylan didn’t want to waste a single minute.

  “I’ll drive.” Kayla’s tone wasn’t asking.

  For once, he didn’t mind her taking charge. Hopefully, she had better ideas than he did where to look for Derek. “Sounds good.”

  He’d tried not to need anyone, but the truth was, he needed Kayla. He needed everything about her. She understood him better than anyone.

  “Thanks for coming back, Kayla. Any ideas?”

  “A few. We’ll pick some of the areas a little farther out since we don’t know exactly what time he left. Dad said the others are starting in close and fanning out.”

  Kayla drove slowly through the fields and past the river. There was still no sign of Derek. As the minutes slipped by and dusk edged closer, the knot in his stomach clenched tighter and tighter.

  She stopped the truck on top of a knoll and they got out to scan the horizon for signs of movement.

  They heard a bark seconds before they spotted the welcome sight of Patches bounding toward them. Their eyes met, hope reflected in hers, and it was a feeling he seconded wholeheartedly. He couldn’t have loved Patches any more than he did in that moment.

  “Where is he, boy? Can you show us?” Dylan hoped the dog would understand. Patches tugged at his arm in response, and Dylan was more than happy to let him lead.

  “Wait, Dylan.” Kayla stood looking in the direction Patches was trying to pull. She raised her hand to shade her eyes.

  “I know where he’s going,” she said, her words laced with excitement.

  “Quick. The old well shaft isn’t far from here. Get in the truck.”

  Dylan scooped Patches up and held him tightly as he climbed into the front seat.

  “Easy boy. We’ll take you to him.” He stroked the dog’s head to calm him down.

  Kayla looked over at him, a king-size smile on her face. “Glad to see you two getting along.”

  “Yeah, we sorta came to an understanding last night, but Derek didn’t get the message. Let’s hope he’s okay.” He said a little prayer for his brother, hoping he wasn’t injured. Or worse.

  “Step on it,” he said, the image of Buster as he lay dying in his arms twisting his gut hard.

  Kayla came to a skidding halt, twenty feet away from the old covered-up well. “We’re here.”

  Dylan ran toward the opening and noticed a large piece of wood missing from the cover. “Derek,” he called out desperately.

  “Down here,” his brother’s voice echoed back up the shaft. “My ankle hurts real bad, and I’m scared, and I’m sorry.” Thank God, he was alive.

  Dylan breathed a sigh of relief, but the jackhammer pounding in his chest continued.

  “Hang on, Derek. I’m going to get some rope, and I’m coming down for you.”

  A silent look of understanding passed between him and Kayla. If it was only his ankle, they had a lot to be thankful for.

  “Call the others and let them know, and I’ll get the truck in position and hook up some ropes. You okay to drive and pull us out?”

  “Is it safe?” she asked, her eyes narrowed in concern.

  “If you drive forward slowly, I can walk us up the wall and out of the well. Understand?”

  She nodded her head but still didn’t look convinced.

  He was ready by the time she hung up the phone. “I’m going down on the rope. I’ll holler when you need to start driving forward.”

  Dylan dropped a kiss on her lips. “For good luck.” He winked.

  Dylan shimmied down the rope, relieved to see his brother in one piece. “I swear you took twenty years off my life. We’ll talk about this later. Right now, we need to get you out of here and to the hospital to get that foot looked at.”

  A lopsided smile creased Derek’s face and then quickly disappeared again.

  “How’s Patches?” Derek asked.

  “He’s fine. In fact, he led us to you. Special dog you have there. Reckon I ought to let you keep him.” Dylan smiled.

  “Really? You mean it this time?”

  Ouch. “I mean it. And it’s not because you ran away and worried me sick. I’d already decided to let you keep him, you know. I left you a note this morning.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He shrugged.

  Dylan had expected more than the nonchalant response he got. Maybe he was destined to never understand kids, or at least not his brother.

  “You ready to get out of here?” Dylan asked when he finished tying the ropes for their ascent.

  “Yup. I need to thank Patches.”

  “And Kayla,” Dylan added.

  “She’s here? With you?” His brown eyes shot wide open.

  “Yes. She came back from Houston the minute she heard you went missing. She’s probably up there wondering what the holdup is.” Dylan smiled, hoping his brother would give him a sign everything was going to be okay, but if his expression was anything to go by, there was still something troubling the kid.

  “But why would she come?” he asked, his voice so low Dylan almost missed the words entirely.

  “Because she cares about you.”

  Derek looked at him funny. “She cares about you, too.”

  “As a friend, yes.” Stuck in a well with his injured brother wasn’t the time or place for this conversation, especially not with Kayla waiting on them thirty feet above their heads.

  “No. As more than a friend. I think she like, likes you. I’ve seen
her watch you, and I heard her talking.”

  He took off his shirt to wrap Derek’s ankle for the climb. “Oh. About what?” he couldn’t help but ask.

  “I heard her talking in the barn. Something about loving you. And something else about you. Something not very nice,” Derek said, his voice trembling.

  Dylan stopped immediately, shocked by his brother’s words. He didn’t know which part to focus on more, the loving or the something else. In the end, he chose the something else. Derek was fighting tears, and Dylan suspected it wasn’t because of his foot.

  His brother was obviously trying to understand something he’d heard, something bigger than he could understand, and he was failing miserably. The loving part was a conversation best had with Kayla, but it gave him renewed hope all wasn’t lost.

  “What else did she say? You can ask me anything. You and I don’t have secrets,” he said as he finished adjusting the ropes.

  “Why haven’t you ever told me you have a son?” Derek mumbled.

  His question came out of nowhere, shocking Dylan speechless for a few seconds.

  “I don’t have a son. Where on earth would you get such a damn fool notion?”

  “From Kayla.” The two words slipped from Derek’s mouth as if his source was beyond question.

  “Kayla said I have a son?” he asked in disbelief, ready to strangle the woman waiting up above. Why would she say such a thing? “Surely you misunderstood her.”

  “I know what I heard,” Derek mumbled in defense of his statement.

  “I would know if I had a son. A man doesn’t father a child and walk away. You know me well enough to know I take my responsibilities very seriously.”

  The first shadow of doubt crossed his brother’s face.

  “It’s why I left, you know. I was upset thinking about you taking Patches from me, and then I heard what Kayla said, and I thought everything you’ve been preaching to me didn’t apply to you, and that worst of all, if I had a cousin all these years, I wouldn’t have been so lonely.” It all came out in a rush, but Dylan understood every word.

  “I’m sorry, Derek. I don’t have a son.”

  “So why did you hurt her? She loved you, and I really like her. It’d be nice if she stuck around. Maybe you could work things out. Seems to me, a woman crying over you should mean something.”

  Smart boy for such a young age, and he managed to drive the nail right into the heart of the matter, not understanding the significance of his own words. Loved, as in past tense. Nothing with Kayla had been easy. More than ever, he was determined to make Kayla talk about the past and to find out why the hell she thought he had a son. It would explain some of her anger toward him, but not all.

  “Ready to go?” Dylan asked.

  “Yep. Moving around is making my foot hurt more.” Poor kid was trying hard to be tough, but the grimace he tried to hide was probably closer to the truth.

  “Next time, leave your shoe on. It helps hold down the swelling. Hold on tight around my neck and let me do all the work.”

  “Okay.” Derek wrapped his arms around Dylan tighter than needed, but he welcomed the trust.

  The discomfort was worth it if it meant Derek was coming home safe and sound. He yanked on the rope and called up to Kayla. “Pull us up!”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Inch by inch, Kayla edged the truck forward, stopping every foot or so to get out and check their progress. Ten minutes felt like hours, but finally, Dylan hollered for her to stop. Kayla latched on to Derek’s arm to help pull while Dylan pushed, careful of his foot as they maneuvered him to safety.

  She wrapped her arms around Derek, unchecked tears streaming down her face as she stood off to the side to watch Dylan pull himself up and out of the well.

  “You gave us quite a scare, young man,” she said, holding Derek tightly.

  “Sorry. I, um, needed to get away to think.” He looked away.

  “You should have called me. I thought we were friends.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He was acting strange, but now wasn’t the time to figure out what was wrong. Something had changed between them, and it left her with a cold loneliness she didn’t like.

  Dylan brushed off his clothes and hoisted his brother into his arms, leveling her with a hard look. “We need to get him to the hospital to have his foot checked. When he’s settled in, you and I need to talk,” Dylan said. The way he said it wasn’t a question.

  First Derek, now Dylan.

  No smile, no hint of a smile, no nothing. She’d driven all the way here to help, and neither of the brothers seemed overly grateful. Even if giving Derek the dog had caused the problem in the first place, it was no cause for the silent treatment. But she would do exactly as Dylan demanded.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, opening the door for Dylan to slide Derek onto the front seat carefully.

  They both looked at her funny. “More or less,” Dylan answered.

  “Thanks for coming back for me,” Derek said, his face tense with pain.

  “Oh, honey, of course I’d come back for you. I just hope you don’t do this again. I think you scared ten years off your brother’s life.” She grinned, trying to ease the tension in the air.

  “He said twenty, so I reckon it just means a lot.” Something had happened down in the well, and whatever it was, these two seemed a whole lot closer, but it also seemed to involve her. What, she couldn’t imagine.

  She pulled up to the front of the emergency room. Dylan carried Derek inside, and she went to park the truck. It had been a twenty-minute drive from the farm, but there had to be at least thirty people from town already here to see Derek. She knew every one of these folks, and yet she felt alone.

  Kayla stepped off to the side as everyone assured themselves he was okay and offered their well-wishes while they waited for Derek to be called to one of the back rooms.

  Derek was in his element with all the attention he was getting. Kayla scanned the excited crowd crooning over the boy and stopped when she recognized the face she didn’t want to see.

  Becky. The growing ache twisted deep in her gut when Becky touched Derek’s face with tenderness. Whatever she said had the power to make the kid smile.

  When Derek’s name was called, Dylan carried his brother to meet with the doctor.

  Kayla didn’t belong here, and she shouldn’t have promised Dylan she’d stay. The minute hand on the wall clock moved slowly. Ten minutes had passed, and it was more than she could take. The room started to close in around her. She needed fresh air. The doors slid open, and Kayla slipped outside and headed for the truck. Several of the town folk were already leaving, and she wanted nothing more than to be one of them.

  “I’m glad you didn’t leave,” Dylan said from behind.

  Lost in thought, she hadn’t seen him coming. “How is he?” she asked.

  “Sprained ankle. Nothing a few pain meds and the attention of several of the nurses can’t handle.” His half smile disappeared as quickly as it came.

  “He’s a lucky boy.”

  “Yeah, he is. I’ve only got a few minutes before I need to get back inside, and this probably isn’t the time or place, but what we need to discuss can’t wait another minute.”

  “Okay. Let’s have it. I sensed something is wrong by the way you’re both acting. Might as well get it out in the open.”

  “Well, for starters, why do you think I have a son? And why would you be talking about it with someone when Derek could hear you?”

  Talk about being blindsided. She’d never told a soul about the baby. Kayla closed her eyes. Dizzy. Kayla thought she’d left the barn door open or a cat had been creeping around, but what if it had been Derek who’d run out and caused the door to slam?

  And if so, how much had he heard?

  She felt weak in the knees.

  “Answer me, damn it.” He towered over her, hands on hips. “For five years, you’ve treated me like I had the plague because I walked away after we made love. For five
years, I’ve hoped you would come home, to me. Instead, I discover you think I have some secret son stashed away somewhere. Do you really think I’m that kind of man?” he asked, his voice cold.

  “I don’t think it. I know it.” If he wanted to air the past right here and now in the parking lot of the hospital, so be it. Because then she was leaving. Back to Houston and away from everything Riverbend represented.

  “What is it you think you know?” Dylan asked between clenched teeth.

  Kayla saw the hospital doors slide open. Someone was coming their way, preventing her from answering. This wasn’t intended to be a public argument.

  Becky.

  Great. Just what she needed.

  “Hope I’m not interrupting, but there’s quite a crowd gathering inside watching you and wondering what the two of you are heatedly discussing.” Becky looked from her to Dylan. “Everything okay?”

  “No. Everything isn’t okay.” Kayla was tired of everything being hidden away and yet never forgotten. She wanted to put it behind her, and maybe this was the way to finally move on.

  “It hasn’t been okay since you two hooked up behind my back down at the swimming hole. I was a fool to believe you could ever love me,” she added, looking directly at Dylan, needing desperately to see his reaction.

  But instead of the guilt she expected to see, his face was filled with confusion. Becky on the other hand, looked agitated. What the hell was going on? Had Becky never told Dylan she’d seen them? It was unthinkable.

  Kayla glared at Dylan. “Do the math, hot shot. Didn’t it ever occur to you the timing of her son’s arrival could make it yours?” There she’d said it. Let the cat out of the barn, so to speak.

  Becky’s face drained of color.

  Dylan on the other hand appeared to relax.

  “No, it never occurred to me, because I’ve never hooked up with Becky. Your words, not mine,” Dylan said, a smile on his face.

  Kayla glanced at Becky who still hadn’t spoken.

  “But I saw you both together, and Becky confessed,” Kayla insisted.

  Lines of tension re-creased his face, and his smile vanished. Dylan turned back to Becky, his stern gaze almost frightening. “How could you confess to something that didn’t happen?”