by Carrie Carr
Anna Leigh followed his gaze to the empty doorway. "I think he just needs time alone." Hearing the front door close, she shook her head. "Or maybe not. I believe our friend is on his way over to see the girls. I hope Lexington is up for a visitor."
THE SOUND OF a car door slamming jarred Amanda from her trance-like state. The sun had only been up for a short while, yet she was too keyed up to go back to bed. She had been sitting on the living room sofa wracking her brain for some way to help her lover, but kept coming up empty. She knew from past experience Lex would balk at any attempts to help her cope with the problems she was having. Lex was a proud woman, and thanks to the example her father had set, she felt as if showing any kind of emotion was a weakness. Amanda stood as a quiet knock came from the front door.
"Travis? What are you doing here?" Remembering her manners, she pulled the door open wider. "I'm sorry. Please come in and have a seat."
"Thank you." Travis sat on the sofa. "Join me?"
"Sure." Amanda sat next to him and turned, so she could see his face. "Lex is resting, but--"
He raised his hand to stop her. "That's quite all right. I'd like to talk to you, if you have a few minutes."
"Is there something I can help you with?" Amanda tucked one leg underneath her.
"Relax. I'm just concerned about a few things I heard last night. Your grandparents are very worried about you and Lex. They're afraid she's reverting back to her old ways of coping with problems."
Amanda sat up straight and her eyes narrowed. "What exactly did they tell you?"
Travis touched her arm, relieved when Amanda took the opportunity and captured his hand in hers. "They explained to me what happened when that woman left her a few years ago." His eyes clouded with unshed tears. "I just wish we had heard about it. Melanie and I would have been here for her in a heartbeat."
"I'm sure she realizes that. But why, after all these years, did they tell you about that time of her life?"
"I think Jacob and Anna Leigh are afraid Lexie is going down the same path again. Especially since your father had to bring her home from a bar last night. To tell you the truth, I'm a little concerned about the same thing. But I wanted to check with you and Lexie before jumping to any conclusions."
"I wish they would have done the same thing, before upsetting you."
"Hold on, Amanda. It's not like that at all." Travis tried to make her see the situation from the other side. "They both love Lexie. I can'st blame them for wanting to protect and take care of both of you."
"We're both adults, Travis."
"Yes, you are. But you have to see it from their perspective. They knew of her past history, and when your father had to bring her home--"
"Dad brought her home because she and Janna both had had too much to drink, and at least had the good sense not to drive themselves. They had been playing pool and simply didn'st realize how much beer they had gone through." Amanda released a heavy sigh. "It's nothing like before, honest."
"I believe you. I imagine she'll have one heck of a hangover this morning, though. I don't think she's used to drinking."
"She's already been up this morning, and you're right. But I'm hoping more sleep will help." Amanda scooted closer to him and lowered her voice. "She's hurting, Travis. All the mess with her father, and now with Hubert, is tearing her apart. I can'st think of what to do for her. Maybe if we were able to get away from everything for a few days, it would help."
"Don't you worry about a thing. We'll get her through this."
AFTER THE LONG talk with Amanda, Travis drove around town, trying to think of something he could do to help. He saw the sheriff's cruiser parked out in front of the diner, so he pulled his new silver Volvo into a parking space nearby.
Charlie sat at the last stool by the counter. He always dropped into the diner around ten in the morning for coffee to keep the riff-raff away. Although Somerville was a small town, it had some of the same problems as larger cities. Charlie was determined to keep the crime to a minimum, and the rest of his department shared his persistence. He set his mug down and glanced up as the front door opened. "Travis. What brings you out at this time of day?"
"Thinking, mostly." Travis sat on the stool beside Charlie. "Do you have a minute?" he asked quietly. "It's about Lexie."
"For you, I always have a minute. What's the problem?"
Travis looked around to make certain no one was trying to listen in on their conversation. He was satisfied they were being left alone. "I'm not real sure how to say this without sounding like I'm trying to poke my nose in their business, but I was wondering if you had any ideas on where we could send Lex and Amanda for a few days to get them away from everything." He leaned closer and lowered his voice even more. "Lexie's not doing too well. I think she needs some quiet time to regroup."
"I was afraid of that. She hasn'st been herself since Rawson came back. Martha's wanted to move the girls out to our place, so she could keep a closer eye them, but I don't think that's the answer." He leaned back and looked around the diner for a moment. "It would have to be someplace close, because we'd never get Lex to take a real vacation while the ranch house is being rebuilt." His eyes lit up with an idea.
"Let me check into something, and I'll give you a call later today. I may have a solution."
"Excellent." Travis stood and patted his friend on the back. "I owe you one, Charlie."
"You don't owe me anything, Travis." Charlie stood and shook the taller man's hand. "We're family." As he watched Travis leave, the sheriff couldn'st help but wonder how he was going to explain things to his wife. He was afraid that if she found out Lex wasn'st one hundred percent, she'd race over and drive both women crazy.
AMANDA SAT AT her desk, staring at the same sheet of paper for what seemed like the tenth time. Rubbing her eyes, she pushed the paper away and looked out the window of her office, unable to concentrate on anything except thoughts of her lover. Lex had stubbornly refused to spend the day at home, citing several deliveries scheduled at the ranch house she needed to be present for. Although Amanda couldn'st fault her reasoning, a stronger part of her wanted to keep the emotionally fragile woman tucked into bed for the entire day. She was so focused on her personal concerns that the buzzing phone startled her. "Yes?"
"I'm sorry to bother you, Amanda. But there's someone here to see you."
"Thank you, Wanda. Ask them to come on in." She pushed her chair back and stood to greet her visitor. When the door opened, her carefully neutral expression turned into a large smile. "Dad?" Racing around the desk, Amanda hugged him. "What are you doing here?"
After he had returned his daughter's hug, Michael took a folded piece of paper out of his coat pocket. "I thought I'd see if you would like to celebrate with me." He handed the page of parchment to her.
Amanda wrinkled her brow as she opened the paper and began to read. She scanned the print quickly and looked up in confusion. "Your divorce is final? I thought you'd be stuck fighting for years."
"Normally, I would have. But with the charges filed against Elizabeth and the fact she's serving time in a criminal mental hospital, the proceedings got put on the fast track. So," he held his hands out to his sides, "you're looking at a free man."
"That's great." Her enthusiasm was forced. "You'sve been waiting a long time for this."
Michael studied his daughter's face carefully. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure." Amanda sat in one of the two chairs in front of her desk, waiting until her father took the other one. "She did some awful things, and goodness knows she wasn'st much of a mother to me growing up, but I guess it's just a little hard to accept the two of you won'st be together anymore. You deserve to be happy, and Mother can'st give you that. I guess it's just the child in me, wanting my family to stay together." She paused for a moment. "We never were a family together, were we?"
Michael grasped his daughter's hand. "I don't suppose we were." He ached for the years he'd wasted, ignoring everything in his drive for money and
power. "You had a rotten childhood, didn'st you, Amanda?" To his surprise, she laughed.
"Not at all. I have so many happy memories, it would take years to tell them all."
"I guess Mom and Dad did all right by you, huh?" Although he was relieved, Michael felt regret at the thought he probably hadn'st contributed to his children's happiness.
"Gramma and Grandpa were wonderful. Would you like to hear one of my favorite memories?"
Not trusting himself to speak, Michael could only nod.
"I guess I was about four, or maybe five. I'm not sure why, but you had just bought this nice briefcase and were sitting at your desk cleaning your old one out."
"You came into my office, carrying a coloring book and crayons," Michael remembered. "Clomping around in a pair of your mother's Italian shoes and one of her best silk blouses."
"Boy, was she mad. But I wanted to look good enough to go to work with you, and my Pooh jammies weren'st quite it. When I kept dropping my work,'s you pulled me into your lap and put all of my stuff into your old briefcase."
"I was just going to toss the old thing out, anyway. But it seemed to make you happy." He never understood why she was so attached to the old case. "I figured it would end up in the bottom of a toy box within a week and then get thrown away."
"Not exactly," Amanda corrected. "I kept it longer than that."
"Really?"
Amanda took a deep breath, releasing it as a sad look crossed her face. "It was ruined when my car was washed into the creek last September." Laughing at herself, she wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Unable to look her father in the eye, she fixed her gaze on a picture of her and her lover that sat on the bookshelf behind her desk. "Lex must have thought I was crazy, crying over an old beat up satchel. She spent days trying to clean it up and fix it, but it was beyond repair."
"I had no idea. I blew it, didn'st I?" he said, referring to his inattention throughout the years. "It's a wonder you'll even speak to me."
"We're together now, that's the important thing."
"You have no idea how much your love and forgiveness mean to me." Michael pulled her up and wrapped his arms around his youngest daughter. "I swear I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."
"You already have."
LEX WALKED THROUGH the entire house, checking every detail until she was satisfied with the end result. She had spoken to McCormick's delivery manager earlier, and told them to bring the household furniture first thing in the morning. She couldn'st wait to move back home. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she almost ran into one of the contractors in the hallway. "Oh, sorry."
He glared at her, smarting from their last meeting. "We just finished the installation of the new intercom system. I thought you might want to check it out." Not waiting for an answer, the angry man stomped off to the office.
"Wonder what bug he's got up his ass?" Once in the office, she went to where the main intercom box was built into the wall. "Where are the other ones?"
"One in the kitchen, one in each bedroom, and we placed one in the horse barn, per your instructions."
"What about Martha's house? She should have one, too." Lex pressed one of the buttons. "Isn'st this hooked up, yet?"
"I just finished wiring it, and haven'st had the time to flip the breaker switch. It'll work. And as for the servant's quarters, we didn'st put one there because you didn'st tell me to."
Lex spun around and glowered at the contractor. "She's not a servant," she growled, grabbing the difficult man by the front of his shirt. "You need to walk your lazy ass over there and ask Martha what she wants. If she needs an intercom, then by God you'll wire her house for a fucking intercom, you got me?" She shoved him away and stormed from the room.
"Hateful bitch." The contractor remembered Lex's bruised face. "Maybe she needs another fat lip." He gathered his tools, intent on leaving the house before he went after the owner with a hammer. "She can just get someone else to wire the housekeeper's house. I'm sure as hell not going to do it."
Halfway to the barn, Lex noticed the rear door of Martha's Explorer open, with no one in sight. Still fuming, she changed her course and was almost to the vehicle when Martha came out of the small home and beat her to the truck.
"Hello, Lexie. I didn'st see you there." Martha noticed Lex's face. "Good lord, child! What on earth happened to your poor face? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Martha. I swear the damned contractor couldn'st pour piss out of a boot if the directions were printed on the heel." She ran her hand through her hair in an effort to calm down.
Martha stifled a laugh, fearing it would not be well received at this moment. "Come on into the house. I've got an apple cobbler that came out of the oven this morning, and you can have first dibs before Charlie gets home." She took the last grocery bag from the back of the vehicle and closed the door. With her free hand, Martha pulled her
frustrated charge into the house. "And while you're here, you can tell me who punched you in the face. I need to find out who I'm going to take a spatula to." Her threat got the desired effect, as Lex laughed and allowed herself to be escorted like a small child into the neat home.
Chapter Fourteen
"IF YOU'LL JUST have a seat, we'll get started as soon as the other party arrives," the middle-aged lawyer advised, as he directed Lex and Amanda to a pair of leather chairs across the desk from him. He lowered his corpulent frame into an expensively upholstered office chair and picked up his glasses from the desk.
Amanda turned and looked at her partner. Lex had come home from Martha's the night before quieter than usual. This morning she seemed to be just going through the motions, and Amanda was afraid Lex was close to the breaking point. Before they left the house, they had received a phone call from Melvin Taft, Lex's lawyer. He told them another judge had rescinded the restraining order against Hubert, and it looked as if he would be the same one hearing the case two weeks hence. Lex was livid, but Amanda was able to calm her down enough to get them here for the reading of the will. She was about to say something, when the door opened and a tall man slowly entered.
"Dook me vorever do vind dis blace." His mouth was swollen, and he was having trouble speaking due to his missing front teeth.
Lex stood. "Glad to see you could make it, brother." She stepped behind Amanda's chair. "Here, take my chair. You look like you could use it." Even in the mood she was in, it took all her considerable control not to laugh at the pathetic man.
Hubert's face was covered with mottled bruises, and the dark smudges under his eyes attested to the broken nose he had received. His stitches had been removed the day before, but the tiny red lines on his face appeared painful. "Puck you," he growled, dropping painfully into the chair.
"Heh. Are you inviting me to a hockey game, Hube?" Lex was immediately swatted on the arm by Amanda, who also gave her a warning glance. She decided she could offer to buy him soup for lunch, or send him an embroidered bib for his birthday.
The lawyer cleared his throat. "Ahem, yes. Since we're all here, let's get started. I'm sure you all have better things to do."
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Benton. We do appreciate you holding off on this until we could all be here," Lex told him, placing her hands on Amanda's shoulders.
"No problem, young lady." The attorney opened a file folder and began to flip through the papers. "I have all of Rawson's legal papers here, but I don't suppose we need to go through all of them, do we?"
Hubert shifted in his chair. "Can we ged on wid id? I'sbe god a dendisd boindmend."
The lawyer bit back a grin and nodded. "Of course." He looked down at the open folder and took a deep breath. "This is the last Will and Testament of one Rawson Lee Walters, which was updated a few days preceding his death."
"Whad? Days?" Hubert leaned forward angrily. "You'be god do be kidding!"
"Shut up, Hubert. Let the man do his job, and you can whine afterward." Lex stepped around Amanda's chair and tower
ed over her brother. "Don't make me toss you out of here."
Amanda pulled her lover back. "Lex, please. We're sorry, Mr. Benton. Please continue."
"Thank you. Where was I? Oh, yes. Here we are. As I was saying, the will was updated shortly before Mr. Walters's passing. It states all his belongings, including his saddle and, umm, other tack, go to his daughter, Lexington Walters. He also states his entire savings, which I show here consisted of two-hundred and forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents, go to you as well."
"Whad aboud duh wanch?" Hubert asked, looking somewhat smug. Since he was the oldest, he thought he was entitled to all the property. It was nice of his sister to rebuild the house for him.
"What about it, Mr. Walters? According to these other papers, your father signed it over to your sister years ago. She's had complete ownership for quite some time."
"Buh-shid! Dad wanch ids mine! He pwobised id do me before he lefd." He stood and pointed at Lex. "She wad only in charge dil he came back."
"I'm sorry, young man. All the papers are in order. Your sister is the rightful and sole owner of the Rocking W Ranch. It was legally granted to her when she turned twenty-five." He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a crisp one-dollar bill. "I'm afraid all that was left for you was this." He tried to hand the money to the angry man, but it was shoved back into his face.
"Puck!" Hubert stormed from the office, kicking his chair over in his rush to leave.
Lex felt embarrassed for how Hubert reacted. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ben-ton. My brother has always been short on manners." She shook the man's hand. "Thank you again for your time." She turned to pull Amanda to her feet but was stopped by the attorney.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Ms. Walters. Lexington," the lawyer held a sealed envelope in one hand. "When I met with your father before his passing, he gave me this. I was to give it to you when we were alone." Benton smiled at the woman by Lex's side. "But, I don't think he'd mind the company we're in."