by B. J Daniels
“You aren’t going to just leave me here?” the collector cried.
“You’re damned lucky I don’t kill you.”
Clay turned, his only thought to get back to Josie, get help. Medical help for her. Rescuers for Ivy. Then they would comb the caverns. The guides would know all the secret hiding places in the caves. He would search every inch of it. They’d find Ivy. They had to.
He almost ran back through the caverns toward where he’d left Josie, a promise on his lips to make everything up to her. First by finding their daughter.
He hadn’t gone far when he thought he heard voices. The sound sent a chill through him. His heart pounded harder. He had to be imagining it.
He slowed, suddenly afraid that he might be losing his mind. As he neared the room where he’d left Josie, he saw the flicker of light. The candle he’d left her. He thought she must have been talking to herself. She sat huddled in a corner, the candlelight flickering on her body. Then he saw that she held Ivy in her lap.
They both looked up, their faces glowing in the light, as he stumbled to them. He could barely breathe around the lump in his throat. Or see, his eyes so blurred with tears. How? Where?
He fell to his knees beside them, his heart bursting.
“You found her.” It was all he could say as he wrapped his arms around them both and burrowed his face into them, overcome with emotion.
He felt Josie’s hand on his face.
“It’s all right,” she whispered. “Everything is all right now.”
“I have to go get help,” he said after a few minutes. He didn’t want to let them go. Ever.
“Ivy and I will be fine.”
The candle had almost burned out. He handed her the flashlight he’d taken from Williams. “I’ll be back as soon as I make the call.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m counting on you.”
Chapter Fifteen
It had to be the longest night of his life.
From his cell phone in the truck, he called for an ambulance and the sheriff. Mildred stayed to meet the rescue team when they arrived and Clay went back to wait with Josie and Ivy.
When they’d finally gotten out of the caverns, he had ridden in the ambulance with Ivy and Josie, while Mildred drove his truck to the hospital to meet them.
In a separate ambulance, the sheriff had taken Brandon Williams. The coroner would take care of Odell. This time he would stay dead.
By the time they reached the hospital, Josie’s ankle was swollen and she was drifting in and out of consciousness with the pain medication the EMTs had given her. Ivy seemed fine after her ordeal, her eyes bright with excitement. Whatever Odell had given her seemed to have worn off.
Clay counted his blessings while he waited for the doctors in the emergency room to set Josie’s ankle. Ivy had checked out fine. She’d only been given a mild sedative.
Just as the sun was coming up over the Bridger Mountains, Ruth joined him in the emergency room waiting room.
“How are you holding up?” she asked.
He’d had a lot of time to think. About the past. And the future. It was the future that he’d thought about the most while he’d waited.
“Fine,” he said, giving her a smile. “Now that I know Ivy and Josie are all right.”
She nodded. “You and Josie did great. Mildred told me all about it.”
He didn’t want to think about how it could have turned out.
“You have a beautiful daughter.”
He glanced over at her in surprise, then realized Mildred must have told her.
She laughed. “Only a fool couldn’t see that Ivy is yours.”
“Yeah, well you’re looking at one.”
“You’re too hard on yourself. You and Josie have that in common. I was hoping Josie would learn something from the horses. You don’t force a horse. Maybe it’s a lesson even a man as stubborn and narrow-minded as you can learn.”
He laughed. “You don’t think it’s too late for me?”
“Not if you stop acting like a damned fool.”
He heard Ivy’s sweet laughter and looked up to see Mildred coming toward her with his daughter. Mildred had taken her down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Pancakes, Ivy’s favorite.
Behind them, Josie limped toward him on crutches, her foot and ankle in a large white cast. She smiled at him, and he thought he’d never seen anything more beautiful.
“RUTH IS THROWING US a little party at the ranch later,” Josie said, and looked at Clay, not sure of his plans.
“I’d love to go,” he said. “You and I have to stop by the sheriff’s office first. He needs a statement from us both.”
“Mildred and I will take Ivy on home,” Ruth offered. “The sheriff’s office is no place for her, and I’d imagine you two have things to talk about.”
“Subtle, isn’t she?” Josie said after Clay had helped her into his truck.
“She’s right, though. We do have to talk.” He pulled out of the hospital parking lot and headed downtown toward the Law and Justice Center.
She braced herself, afraid of what he was going to say. Her heart didn’t dare hope they could work something out with Ivy. At one time she’d feared Clay, as angry as he’d been, would try to take Ivy from her. After what they’d been through, she knew he wouldn’t do that.
“There’s something I need to say to you,” he began. “I’m sorry. I was wrong about so many things.”
“You don’t have to apologize—”
“Yes, I do. I was afraid of getting involved with you and I suppose it was my clumsy way of keeping my distance from you. But I still got involved with you, anyway. I’m sorry.”
She said nothing. He was sorry he’d gotten involved with her. Isn’t that what she’d thought all along?
He must have seen her hurt expression. “Heck, Josie, what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry for the past. If I’d just faced my feelings for you none of this would have happened. But I’m not going to let another day go by without telling you how I feel. Not even another minute.” He pulled over to the side of the road. “Josie, I want to marry you. I want us to be a family.”
She let the words sink in. How long had she waited for this? So why wasn’t she jumping up and down? Why wasn’t she throwing herself into his arms? She’d trusted Clay with her life—and Ivy’s. Why couldn’t she trust this?
“I know you love your daughter,” she began, but he cut her off.
“You think I want to marry you because of Ivy, so I don’t lose my daughter?” He obviously could see that was what was bothering her.
“Josie, this has nothing to do with Ivy. I’ve thought of little else but you for the past two years. I looked for you in every face I passed on the street. I—” He stopped and shook his head. “Oh, hell.” He slid over and, taking her in his arms, kissed her.
“Oh, Clay,” she said when their lips parted. She knew she was holding back, but she couldn’t help herself. There was still a lot they hadn’t resolved.
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG to give their statements to the sheriff. Brandon Williams had spilled his guts, hoping for a reduced sentence. Just as Clay had suspected, Williams had sold off all of the real jewels separately and replaced them with glass. The jewelry show at his gallery had just been staged to set up the robbery and collect the insurance money.
But Odell and Raymond, probably more Odell than Raymond, had gotten greedy and decided to keep the jewels for themselves. Odell had hidden them in Josie’s great-grandmother’s antique rodeo saddle just in case anything went wrong.
Things had definitely gone wrong when Josie took off with the saddle. But Odell had also underestimated Williams, not realizing just how desperate the jewel collector was. Williams had hired an unsavory acquaintance of Odell’s to kill both Odell and Raymond.
Raymond had gotten away. Odell had gotten the better of the hitman, someone he’d done business with before in stolen goods. That had made it fairly easy for Odell to steal and switch their dental recor
ds and then stage his death, using the thug’s body, complete with Odell’s class ring.
It would have worked. But Odell couldn’t stand the thought that Josie had the jewels in her saddle. Or that she had Clay’s baby. The two things ate at him until he found her. But he’d wanted Clay, too, in his revenge scheme, so he’d had Raymond lead Clay to Josie and the jewels with an anonymous tip.
It seemed that Raymond had gotten squeamish, though, when he’d realized Odell planned to kidnap Ivy. Or maybe he’d hoped to get rid of Odell and keep the jewels for himself. Whatever his logic, that seems to be when he’d made the three calls to Texas, to tell them that Odell was alive.
He’d been too afraid of Odell to do more, the sheriff speculated. He’d probably also been worried that Odell would try to cut him out of his share.
Whatever his reasoning, he’d underestimated Odell. Odell didn’t even wait until they had the jewels. He got rid of Raymond the minute he didn’t need him anymore, following him back from the Toston bar to his motel to kill him.
Williams had trailed Clay and Raymond to Three Forks. He had to get those jewels before Odell tried to sell them. Or before Clay got his hands on them. The last thing Williams wanted was anyone to find out that they weren’t real.
“Williams was broke,” the sheriff told them. “He’d sold off the real jewels for cash to keep up his life-style. They were his to sell. Too bad he didn’t stop right there. But he got greedy. Says he had a reputation to uphold.” The sheriff shook his head. “Guess he didn’t think he’d get caught. Imagine how a fellow with his demeanor is going to do in prison.”
Clay could imagine, but he felt no sympathy for Brandon Williams. Or for Odell.
On the way back to the ranch, Clay put the past behind him and thought only of Josie and Ivy. He wanted them both at the Valle Verde Ranch, under his roof. He wanted Josie in his bed. What did he need to do to convince her?
THE PARTY RUTH AND MILDRED threw was nothing short of amazing, considering how little time they’d had to prepare. Josie sat with her leg propped up on pillows, watching the festivities whirl around her. Many of the neighbors had come along with people whose horses Josie had trained.
Ivy was decked out in her party dress, her eyes bright and shiny. Josie had to fight the urge to hold on to her, to wrap her in her arms and never let go.
Ivy was safe. Finally. She had to trust in that.
It would be hard to leave here. Hard to leave Ruth and Mildred, but she’d already extended invitations to them to come to Texas and both had accepted. Mildred had asked if she could bring Charley. It seemed that relationship had blossomed. Josie couldn’t have been happier for her.
So much had happened. She felt overwhelmed. Clay wanted to marry her. Hadn’t that always been her dream?
“You look like me,” Ruth said, putting her cast next to Josie’s. “Except you got a cooler cast. I can’t hardly get any sympathy with this wimpy one.” She lowered herself into the chair next to Josie, her laugh as warm and caring as her gaze. “Are you all right? Really?”
Josie nodded. “I have Ivy back.”
“What about Clay?” she asked.
“He says he wants to marry me.”
Ruth nodded. “Remember what I told you the first time you stepped into the pen? Don’t let fear hold you back. Just figure the horses are as frightened as you are. Probably more. But if you show trust—”
Josie nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “You’ll get it back.”
Ruth smiled as she gave her a hug. “You’ve always been a quick study, Josie.”
As Ruth released her, Josie looked up to see two pairs of dark brown eyes on her. Clay stood with Ivy in front of her.
“I want to be the first to sign your cast, if that’s all right,” Clay asked.
She nodded, her gaze locked with his. How could she deny this man anything?
“Ivy wants to be next,” he said.
“She does?” Josie asked with a laugh, and noticed that they both had felt-tip pens in their hands.
Ruth excused herself to check on the food.
“I told Ivy that I didn’t even think she knew how to write,” Clay was saying. “She tells me I’m sadly mistaken.”
He sat down next to Josie and, taking the cap off the pen, leaned over her cast. Ivy got close to watch him, anxious for her turn. Josie couldn’t see what he was writing, her daughter’s fair head was in the way.
Just having him this close warmed her, made her feel happy. She loved the smell of him, the feel of him, the nearness of him. And she loved the way he was with Ivy. Her heart cried out for her to give this man a chance.
When he’d finished, he uncapped Ivy’s pen and let her sign next to where he’d written. Josie watched her scribbles as Clay pretended to read “I love my mommy bigger than the sky, Ivy.” He looked up at Josie with feigned surprise. “Not bad for a fourteen-month-old. I think our daughter is a genius. Must take after her mother.”
Josie laughed. “I think she got her writing abilities from her father,” she said, trying to see what he’d written. She looked down at the words neatly printed and large enough that she didn’t have to bend close to see them.
Tears filled her eyes. Her heart swelled. She swallowed and read the words one more time to assure herself that she hadn’t read even one of them wrong.
“I love you, Josie. Will you marry me?”
She raised her gaze to his and saw the expectant, hopeful look on his face. “Clay—” From the silence in the room, she knew everyone was looking at her, waiting.
“Just a minute,” he interrupted. “Before you say anything, there is something else, something I didn’t think should be said in felt-tip on a cast. Josie, I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t just love you. I admire you. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He stopped. “I’m crazy about you. I know you and Ivy don’t need me, but I need you. I love you, Josie.”
Tears filled her eyes. Those were the words she’d needed so desperately to hear. But it was the love she saw in his dark eyes that convinced her, love she knew she could trust.
She cupped his wonderful face in both of her hands. “You’re wrong, Clay. We both need you. And love you.”
The next thing she knew she was in his arms, his lips on hers. Very persuasive lips.
Clay pulled back to look into her face. “I want the three of us to go back to the Valle Verde and build a family. The sooner the better. You can train all of my horses. Please, Josie, say you’ll marry me.”
“Oh, yes, Clay,” she whispered.
She could hear applause. She looked over Clay’s shoulder and saw Ruth. Ruth had tears in her eyes as she gave Josie a thumbs-up.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6163-5
INTIMATE SECRETS
Copyright © 2000 by Barbara Heinlein
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