The barn was spotless. It had been cleaned to the point that there was no sign livestock had ever been inside. There was only the fresh scent of the new hay bales being brought in.
“Hey’ya, Tucker,” Wes called from his position on the top of the load of hay as he tossed the bales down.
“Hey, yourself, Wes. Looks like the good ol’ days of you and Joseph hauling hay all summer.”
Joseph grinned affably beside Wes. “Those were some fun times.”
“Yup, sure were,” Wes agreed, grabbing a square bale as if it was a tin can. “Tony, Jake, Caleb and my boy Abe over there held their own loading this stuff up today.”
Joseph gave a thumbs-up. “That’s right.”
“You two relax. You’ve got great backup taking up the slack, and we’re really proud of them. Couldn’t run the place without your dedication or theirs.”
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” Wes said. “My dudes are making me proud.”
Tucker gave them a tip of his hat, not missing that Abe didn’t look at him. At least he’d pitched in and was helping. Hanging out with the guys was the best thing for him.
Morgan came in and set a box down.
“Missed you at the rehearsal. Must have been bad.”
Tucker had called Morgan to let him know he wasn’t going to make it to the church on time. “Yeah, it was. I’ll fill you in later. You’ll make sure I know what I’m doing tomorrow, right?”
Morgan grinned. “I don’t know, it’s pretty hard to walk out there and stand beside your brother. Then watch a string of pretty ladies and a beautiful bride come strolling down the aisle.”
Tucker had to chuckle at that. “Yeah, I was afraid things might have changed in the months since your wedding.”
“Nope, still the same. You’ll be fine. Come help unload the boxes of decorations from my truck. I’ve never seen so much stuff. The gals must have been warehousing this stuff over at Lucy’s studio.”
“Be right there. Let me say hello to the women.”
“Sure, just don’t let them snare you into helping till we finish unloading the truck.” He laughed and headed back out the rear door.
Tucker didn’t stay long saying hi to the ladies. They were chattering like a bunch of magpies anyway, laughing and having a great time. Suzie was gathering a bunch of greenery wrapped with lights and she stepped away from the table as he walked toward her. She looked beautiful, and though she appeared to be smiling and in good spirits, he thought he could detect worry creasing the edges of her eyes.
He wanted to talk to her, ask her how her day went and how Abe had done. He wanted to hold her in his arms—he broke that thought off. “Are you about to hang that somewhere?” he asked, spotting the tall ladder in the center of the room.
“She’s about to climb that thing,” Ms. Jo called. “You showed up just in time, Tucker. Climb that ladder and hang that garland for her, please.”
“Oh, that is a perfect thing for you to do,” Mabel added, smiling like an opossum. “And you stay over there and make sure he gets it done right, Suzie. You know these men don’t know the first thing about decorating with flowers and such.”
Tucker wasn’t unhappy at all about the opportunity to spend time with Suzie. “I’d be glad to do that. You ladies just tell me what to do.”
The tension coiled inside of him eased as he and Suzie walked toward the ladder. She glanced at him, studying him for a minute. “You’ve had a hard day.”
It wasn’t a question and he shrugged it off; suddenly, looking at her, everything seemed better. “It had its tough spots. But it all turned out good.” And it had. It hadn’t turned out like the day Gordon died, despite the flashbacks that had hit him as the bullets flew past.
“Maybe, after we decorate, you can tell me about it if you need to talk. You’ve tried so hard to help me, it would be nice to repay the kindness.”
They just looked at each other for a moment. “How’s Abe today?” he asked, after a beat or two. “I see he’s helping with the hay.”
“Jolie said he was silent during class. That he didn’t participate, but he wasn’t rude. I’m worried about him, but he was helping Wes and Joseph with the hay when I got here and I thought that was a good sign.”
“It can’t hurt. So, what do you want me to do with this stuff?” he asked, reaching to take it from her hands. Their fingers touched.
“We’re wrapping it around those beams, so it’s going to take a little time. Are you sure you have time to do this? I’m not afraid of a ladder.”
“I’m here to help. But you will have to direct me or there is no telling what it will look like.”
She chuckled, and the sound sent his pulse racing. “I’ll stay close. Don’t worry.”
He nodded and climbed the ladder as fast as he could. He liked the thought of her staying close far too much to linger beside her listening to her laughter.
* * *
The evening had passed by quickly and Suzie stared at how lovely the barn looked. The garland was hung from the rafters, thanks to Tucker and Morgan, who’d been roped into joining in as soon as he’d looked as though he had nothing to do. It had been a fun experience listening to him and Tucker complain to each other, teasing the women with their moaning and groaning.
As soon as the boys had finished unloading the hay, they’d gone off and she’d lost track of Abe, though she’d relaxed a little during the evening seeing him interact with the boys. She just had to give it time. She couldn’t panic, and she couldn’t pull up stakes and move just because he wanted her to.
She was standing by the stables after waving good-night to everyone. The younger boys had been gathered up earlier by their house parents and taken to their homes on the ranch. The older boys had a later curfew on Friday night and were hanging out at the end of the arena under the lights, riding and cutting up. She could spot Abe and prayed that today had been good for him. She planned to talk to him before he went to bed.
She was standing in the shadows watching the boys, and remained there for a few minutes, not ready to go in just yet. She told herself she wasn’t lingering to talk to Tucker before he headed home, but she wasn’t convinced that was the truth. He’d gone into the stables with his dad and Pepper earlier and she wondered how long they would be. She got her answer soon when they emerged, all smiles. They greeted her, then Pepper waved and headed to his truck.
“Rowdy brought in a few new horses today,” Randolph said. “They’re beauties. You should get Tucker to show them to you. I’m heading to bed. Got to get my beauty sleep, you know.” He gave her a quick hug before leaving. His home was elsewhere on the ranch, as Morgan’s and Rowdy’s were.
Suddenly she found herself alone with Tucker. He looked so handsome in the moonlight. She’d known just by looking at him earlier that something had happened at work. Something stressful. She knew it had been important if he missed the rehearsal because of it.
But now, he seemed more relaxed. Still she’d been curious about what had happened. Had it been dangerous?
“Do you want to see the colts?”
“Sure, I’d love that.”
He smiled. “Then follow me.”
Single bulbs down the center of the alleyway lit the stable, and they glowed bright as they entered. Soft nickers came from the stalls as they walked toward the tack room on the right, down a few stalls to where a beautiful tan horse stood watching them. It was the color of caramel with a vanilla mane and huge chocolate eyes.
“How gorgeous,” Suzie said, loving the color.
“This is Bow. He’s going to be as good a cutting horse as he is beautiful once Rowdy finishes training him. And this next big fella is Cisco, and we have high hopes for him, too.”
Cisco was coffee-brown with black eyes and he jerked his head up and down, as if nodding
agreement. Suzie laughed at the sight. “Hey, boy,” she said to him. “You’re a confident fella. I like that.”
He nickered and pawed his foot on the ground. Tucker chuckled beside her, and she was suddenly very aware of how close they were standing. Her pulse skipped.
“I think he’s going to be competitive,” she said, running her hand down the side of his neck, which had Bow sticking his head over his stall gate and nudging her shoulder for some loving. “Okay, didn’t mean to leave you out, handsome. You’re both going to be competitive and confident.”
Tucker was watching her with a thoughtful smile. “They like you. They haven’t been this friendly to anyone. Rowdy may have you out here helping him if you’re not careful.”
“I think I’ll stick to flower arranging. No offense, boys,” she added, giving each horse one last rub on the nose. “This barn is really old, isn’t it? I mean, I think I heard your nana talking about it to someone.”
“Yeah, it is. My great-great-grandfather built it back in the early 1900s. We’ve diligently taken care of it over the years. Those harnesses hanging on the back wall over there are antiques, too.
“Come here and I’ll show you the saddles.” He opened the door to the tack room and flipped on a light.
Suzie entered first. It was a long room with saddle racks along both sides of the room. On a ranch with this many boys, one expected there to be a lot of saddles and there were. “Wow!” she gasped. “That is amazing. How many of them are there?”
Tucker moved into the narrow room with her, and when she looked up at him, butterflies immediately erupted in her chest.
“There’s about thirty in this room,” Tucker said, holding her gaze before looking back at the saddle. “One for each boy and then everyone else’s. We have a separate place for the hands to store theirs. But these aren’t what I was going to show you. It’s those at the back.”
“Oh.” Suzie was flustered by the way she was reacting and moved quickly toward the back wall, putting space between them.
On the back wall were six saddles, three on the bottom row and three sitting on wall-mounted racks above the bottom three. It was clear these weren’t regular saddles. The tooling on them was too fancy and there were also things written on them.
“These were my grandfather’s, my great-grandfather’s and my great-great-grandfather’s and grandmother’s saddles.”
“Oh, wow, they are amazing.”
“Yeah, it shows how, given a little tender loving care, things last. The initials TRM on this one here stand for Tucker Randolph McDermott, who was my great-great-granddad. This saddle is actually mine now. I just can’t bring myself to take it out of the place it’s always set, so I leave it here to remind the boys of the roots this place has.”
“I wouldn’t be able to take it from here, either.” She ran her fingertips over the smooth leather. “Abe hanging out with the guys today was a good sign,” she said, glancing at him, “I think he’s going to get over this abandonment issue, just like I have.” She couldn’t look away from him.
Tucker touched her then; he lifted his hand and cupped her jaw gently. “I think so. Whatever you need, I’m here. I’m glad we’re talking now, like this.”
She nodded, fighting the urge to close her eyes and enjoy the warmth of his touch. A noise outside the open door broke the moment and she smiled, stepping away. “Thank you. I think it’s going to be much better for Abe. I guess I’d better go in now.”
“Right,” he agreed, tucking the hand that had been cupping her jaw into the front pocket of his jeans. “I’ll go check on the boys. It’s time for even the older fellas to turn in. I’ll send Abe your way.”
“Great. I’d appreciate that.” She was moving fast now—needing space between them. She was not comfortable with the way his touch melted her mind and made her respond.
“Talk to you tomorrow,” she said, and left him there. It took resolve on her part not to jog across the lot to the porch.
Not being angry and blaming Tucker for Gordon’s death created a new problem. It allowed the attraction she’d been fighting to gain footing.
What was she going to do about that?
Chapter Twelve
Tucker wasn’t in the best of moods when he woke the next morning. He was in trouble and he knew it. He was falling for Suzie, and he wasn’t at all sure how to handle that.
Gordon weighed heavy on his mind all night. The guilt weighed heaviest—despite accepting that his friend was a marine, just as he was, and accepted the risk and responsibility that came with taking that oath.
He was in his SUV heading to the office when his cell phone rang. “Good morning, Pepper,” he said, having seen the caller ID.
“Tucker, you need to get back out here,” Pepper demanded, not bothering to greet him. “We’ve got problems here in the horse barn.”
He could hear the seriousness in his friend’s voice. “What’s going on?”
“You just need to get out here and don’t tell anyone why until you meet me at the barn. I need to show you something in the tack room.” Tucker started to say he’d just been there last night but Pepper wasn’t one to make demanding, ominous remarks so Tucker didn’t waste time, instead he made a quick U-turn and pressed the gas.
He walked into the barn a few minutes later, managing to avoid being stopped by anyone as he arrived. Pepper was waiting.
“What’s up, Pepper?”
He shook his head. “You’re not gonna like it.” He led the way to the tack room and unlocked it. He never locked the tack room. That room had been unlocked for all of Tucker’s life.
“I got here at sunup and saw the door open. The boys know the rules.”
The rule being that no matter what—the door to the tack room was always closed to protect the saddles and the other gear. Tucker replayed the night before, knowing he’d shut the door securely when he and Suzie had left. It had been nearly eleven o’clock by that time.
Pepper looked over his shoulder. “This is what I found.” He pushed open the door and let Tucker inside. Pepper slipped in and closed the door behind them.
Tucker’s heart jerked, his trained eye instantly going to the back wall. His saddle, the one that had belonged to his great-great-granddad, had been destroyed. It was spray-painted red and black, and the discarded spray cans had been thrown on the ground beside it.
From where Tucker stood at the far end of the room, it didn’t look as though anything could repair the ruined handcrafted leather. His great-great-grandfather had hand-tooled the designs himself, the hours and hours of labor and artistry now destroyed. Unless something could remove the paint it was ruined, but even then it would never be the same.
Tucker’s mouth went dry; the heat of anger swept through him like a grassfire. Swift and charring.
“I’m sorry, Tucker.”
Tucker had to clear the lump out of his throat. “Not your fault, Pepper.” He forced himself to walk the endless length of the room to the saddle. Close up, it was as bad as he’d thought. Vandalism at its highest. The letters TRM were filled with paint so thick that even the groove where Great-great-granddad Tucker had dug his tool into the leather was almost invisible.
Unless the culprit had worn gloves, the cans at his feet would make identifying the responsible party easy—if his fingerprints were on record. Tucker seriously doubted gloves had been worn. But he knew it didn’t matter. He knew who had done this.
This was the work of an angry teen. And Tucker hated it, hated thinking what he was thinking, and knowing with certainty in his heart who the prints would reveal.
Abe wasn’t getting better, as Suzie hoped.
“Who else has seen this, Pepper?”
“No one, I don’t think. I locked it up right after I found it and called you.” Pepper had worked at the ranch since bei
ng hired on as a teen by Tucker’s granddad in the early years when he’d first started the ranch. He knew the sentimental value that saddle held for Tucker. “There is a lot of hurt in this.”
“Yeah. I know I don’t have to tell you, but we need to keep this to ourselves for right now.”
“I figured as much, for more reasons than one. I’m thinking Rowdy and Lucy’s wedding doesn’t need to be marred by this, if possible.”
“Exactly. And the other is, I need to get the prints.”
“Not that you need the prints if my, and I’m sure your, suspicion is correct?”
Pepper knew the boys, and had seen every kid who’d come through Sunrise Ranch since its inception. He was a keen observer of behavior—both of human and horse. Not much got by him and that was why the wise older cowboy was such a valuable asset to the ranch. Tucker laid a hand on his shoulder. “I need some time. I’ll do an official investigation and gather evidence, then we can clean this up and no one will be the wiser. Till then, the door stays locked. No one is going to need a saddle out of here till after the wedding, anyway.”
“You got it,” Pepper said, as they slipped out and he locked up behind them.
Tucker left; he needed to think. He’d learned what was valuable in life and it wasn’t things acquired, whether they were sentimental or valuable. He’d live, even though he hated what had been done to the antique. The question was—what was the best thing to be done for Abe? And though a man was considered innocent till proven guilty, Tucker had good instincts honed from years of experience and this had Abe written all over it.
* * *
The church looked absolutely beautiful, but it didn’t even compare to Lucy as she stood in the doorway beside her father as the wedding music began. Suzie had come to love the beautiful blonde in the short time they’d known each other.
“She looks like a princess doll,” B.J. said, the moment he spotted Lucy standing in the door of the church.
“Wow,” Sammy echoed beside him.
Wes leaned forward. “Shhh, hold it down, little dudes. You’re going to make Rowdy jealous.” He chuckled, and Suzie and everyone else did, too.
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