After Tex

by Sherryl Woods

  “Who was that actress who bought a town down South awhile back?” Josh asked, his expression thoughtful. “You know, that real pretty one. Kim something.”

  “Kim Basinger,” Jake told him. “And she didn’t buy the town. She found some investors, sold them on the town’s potential and lent her name to the deal.”

  “Whatever,” Josh said, clearly not especially interested in the facts. He rarely had been. “Anyway, that’s the one.” He shoved a second set of papers in front of Jake. “Sign here and here. We’ll schedule the closing whenever you’re set with the money.”

  “Schedule it,” Jake said.

  Josh blinked. “You know, son, even in a small town like this, it takes time to get loan approvals, that sort of thing.”

  “Not a problem,” Jake assured him. “Just set the closing, Josh. I’ll be here with the money.”

  Obviously enthused by the prospect of a quick, hefty commission from the sale of the town’s abandoned property, Josh grabbed Jake’s hand and shook it. “A pleasure doing business with you, son. A pleasure.”

  Jake gave him a wry look. The older man must have a far shorter memory than he did. Not twenty years ago, Josh Wilson had been among the first to label Jake as a troublemaker. He and his wife had led the crusade to have Jake and his mother driven out of town. Only Tex’s intervention, his hiring Jake and advancing him the money to pay the rent on their ramshackle house—which happened to be owned by Josh—had kept the Wilsons from making good on their threat to see mother and son banished from Whispering Wind.

  Jake could remember seeing his mother coming home from yet another confrontation with their landlord, her shoulders slumped, her head bowed, her cheeks red from the humiliation he had subjected her to. Impotent fury that he’d had no outlet for had raged through Jake time after time. He had vowed with a child’s fervor that one day Josh Wilson would pay. Nothing that had happened in the intervening years had dulled his determination.

  If there had been another Realtor in town with whom he could have done business, Jake would have. Instead, he concentrated on lowballing every piece of property he bought, coming as close to stealing it as he legitimately could. He was collecting property like squares on a Monopoly board, accumulating them one by one so that one day there would be nothing left for Josh to buy or sell. Only when the Realtor was all but penniless would Jake be satisfied. He looked forward to the day when Wilson would need something from him and he could send him packing, just as the Realtor had done to Jake’s mother time and again.

  The walls were closing in on Megan. Funny, she thought, staring out the window. Here she was, surrounded by wide-open spaces, in a house that sprawled over several thousand square feet, and she felt more claustrophobic than she did in her comparatively cramped New York apartment with skyscrapers blocking every view.

  A lot of that feeling had to do with Jake’s sneaky attempt to back her into a corner that morning. It wasn’t so much that she’d hated the industrial park on sight. It was what it represented. She’d seen it as a trap. If she’d leased that property, even on a temporary basis, it would have been as much as an admission that she was back in Whispering Wind to stay. She wasn’t ready to admit any such thing.

  “I brought you a cup of tea,” Mrs. Gomez said, bustling in and giving Megan a welcome break from her dark thoughts.

  The housekeeper placed a tray on the corner of the wide oak desk that only a few days earlier had been Tex’s. Ranching books and magazines had been piled high, along with a haphazard array of bills and a box of the fancy cigars Tex had favored. Megan had dealt with the bills an hour ago and had moved the books and magazines to the shelves behind her. Now the desk was littered with her own papers, crowded with a computer and a fax machine and a three-line phone that the phone company had installed while she was out.

  “Two cups,” Megan noted, glancing at the tray Mrs. Gomez had brought. “And a very big slice of your sour cream cake. That must mean you want to talk.”

  The housekeeper nodded. “If you’ve got the time.”

  “For you, always.” She caught Mrs. Gomez’s worried expression. “What’s on your mind? Is there a problem?”

  “More than one, I’d say. I haven’t wanted to burden you before now. You’ve had enough to deal with.”

  “Just tell me,” Megan urged.

  “There’s the ranch, for starters. The men want to know if you intend to keep it operating or if you plan to sell out. Winter’s coming on. There are decisions to be made. Up till now, Jake’s been handling some of it, along with Tom Hagen, but you’re in charge now. You owe it to the men to give them fair warning if you intend to sell out. They’ll need to find other jobs, and winter’s not the best time for doing that.”

  Megan stared at her, grappling with the concept of being a rancher whether she wanted to or not. “I don’t know anything about ranching.”

  “Nonsense,” Mrs. Gomez said sternly. “Of course you do. Your granddaddy saw to that. He had you working with him from the day you arrived here. You’ve been on cattle drives. You’ve done your share of branding.”

  “But I hated it.”

  “That doesn’t mean you didn’t absorb at least some of what he tried to teach you,” Mrs. Gomez contradicted. “Tex always believed you had what it took.”

  “Tex was wrong.”

  Mrs. Gomez regarded her sympathetically. “Megan, I’m not saying whether you should keep the place running or not, just that if you do, then you’d best get to it. This ranch was your granddaddy’s pride and joy. It would be a shame to see it suffer from neglect. The men Tex hired work hard. They’re loyal. You won’t find a better foreman anywhere than Tom. But it’s not the same as having an owner who keeps a close eye on things.”

  The walls seemed to creep another foot inward, crowding her. “I see,” she said tightly. “Anything else?”

  “There’s my own position to consider. If you’re going back to New York, do you want me here? I’ve got a place with my sister in New Mexico whenever I want it. My other sister would move there in a heartbeat, if I’d agree to go, too. I’m at the age when the prospect of slowing down some holds some appeal. Tex’s legacy would be enough to keep me going.”

  Alarmed, Megan stared at her. “No. Please, I need you here.”

  The woman who’d been as close to a mother as anyone Megan could recall smiled softly at her response. “Is that just panic talking or do you really intend to keep this place going and me here with it?”

  Megan put her hands over her face. It was all she could do to keep from screaming in frustration and confusion. “I wish I knew what was right,” she whispered. “I only know what Tex wanted.”

  “Tex was wise in many ways, niña, but he didn’t know everything. You must look into your heart and see what is right for you.”

  “And for Tess,” Megan said. “Don’t forget about her.”

  “I could not if I tried. But she will be happy only if you are. If you stay out of a sense of obligation or duty and are miserable, you will only hold it against her. She is a very bright child. She will feel that, even if you do your very best to hide it.”

  “But when I so much as mention going to New York, Tess reacts violently. She loves it here. She feels secure. How can I take that away from her?”

  “She did not feel that way when she first arrived,” the housekeeper reminded her. “She was frightened and angry, just as she is now. Think back to how you felt the first few weeks you were here. You were lashing out at everyone, me included. Time helped you, as it has Tess. If she feels secure here, it is because Tex did what he could to make her feel that way. Could you not do the same for her in New York, if that is where your heart is?”

  “Are you telling me to go?”

  Mrs. Gomez smiled sadly. “No, niña, I am telling you that your options are still open. Do not make a decision for the wrong reasons.” She stood and patted Megan’s hand. “For the moment, we will leave things as they are. I will tell the men they are to go on
as they would have if Tex were here. Shall I tell Tom he has the authority to make whatever decisions he thinks are for the best?”

  “Yes, and thank you. I won’t take too much longer, I promise.”

  “Tell me one thing.”

  “Anything.”

  “Where does Señor Jake fit into all of this? Are you struggling with that decision as well?”

  “He doesn’t,” Megan insisted.

  “But he is coming for dinner tonight, Sí?”

  Megan had forgotten. “Yes,” she admitted with a sigh.

  “He is a good man.”

  “You always believed that, didn’t you?”

  “Always.”

  “Even when my father accused him of stealing the cattle?”

  “Even then.”

  Megan felt that sense of having failed Jake more deeply than ever. “I wish I had.”

  “I was old enough to reach my own conclusions,” Mrs. Gomez told her. “You were still very much under your grandfather’s influence.”

  “Do you think he lied about it deliberately?”

  “I would not like to think so.”

  “But you believe it’s a possibility,” Megan persisted.

  “A possibility, Sí. Your grandfather loved you very much. Just as now, he thought he knew best. It was a way to be sure you would go off to college as planned. Little did he know that it would wind up with you staying so far away. Perhaps if he had been able to see the future, he would have been less likely to interfere in such a way.”

  “He made it possible for me to go to New York.”

  “I think it might have been his way of punishing himself for being so foolish where a young boy was concerned.”

  “Not a boy,” Megan said fiercely. “Jake was a man even then.”

  “Sí,” the housekeeper agreed. “Perhaps that is what your grandfather feared the most.” She reached for Megan’s hand and held it in her own. “Let it go. It is in the past and cannot be changed. The present and the future are what matter now.”

  But the present and the future were filled with such uncertainty, Megan thought as she tried to concentrate on her work for the rest of the afternoon. Either because she was distracted or because she was overdue for a run of bad luck, nothing went well.

  She fielded a dozen calls from Todd, each one more frantic than the last, until she finally agreed to fly to New York on Sunday so she could be in the office first thing on Monday. She called Peggy right away to postpone their dinner party until her return. “I’m sorry to do this to you. Next weekend will be great, if it works for you.”

  “I’ll be looking forward to it,” Peggy said. “Don’t worry about me. You have a real safe trip, okay?”

  Only after she’d hung up did Megan realize there had been genuine disappointment in her friend’s voice. Obviously Peggy had been counting on their get-together more than she had realized. It was just one more thing for her to feel guilty about.

  To make matters worse, Jake spent the entire evening pestering her with a hundred little decisions that needed to be made about Tex’s estate. What annoyed her even more was that he never once looked her directly in the eye. He seemed to have distanced himself from her because she hadn’t immediately fallen in with his plans for that industrial park.

  Then, to top it off, right after dinner Tess disappeared. When Mrs. Gomez announced that the girl was nowhere to be found, Megan didn’t believe it.

  “She has to be around somewhere,” she responded with exasperation. “Did you look in the barn? She’s been spending a lot of time with the kittens.”

  “I looked there, in her room, in the attic, even in Tex’s room.”

  At Megan’s quizzical look, the housekeeper shrugged. “She seems to be more at ease when she sits in his chair by the window. I saw no reason to forbid her from doing it.”

  “No, of course not,” Megan said. She glanced at Jake. “Any ideas?”

  “Is it possible she overheard you talking about flying to New York on Sunday?”

  “It’s possible. In fact, if she was anywhere near Tex’s office at the time, it’s likely. Todd and I were arguing about it.”

  “The words or just the yelling could have frightened her,” Mrs. Gomez suggested. “Perhaps she assumed you would insist on her going, too.”

  “I actually thought about it. I thought she might enjoy a few days in New York. I told Todd to make a reservation for her, just in case. Afterward, I thought about the kind of schedule I’m going to have to keep and decided it was a bad idea.”

  “But, of course, she wouldn’t have known that,” Jake pointed out. “She would have jumped to the obvious conclusion that you were taking her with you against her wishes.”

  “You’re assuming this is because of something I did,” Megan retorted, not wanting to accept the blame he was all too eagerly heaping on her. “What about her mother? Is it possible that she’s shown up, contacted Tess in some way? Tess could be hiding from her.”

  Mrs. Gomez sketched a cross across her chest. “I hope you are wrong. The poor child has enough to deal with without that.”

  Jake stood up and strode toward the door. “We may all be overreacting. We’re accomplishing nothing here. I’ll search outside and talk to the men. You two go through the house again from top to bottom.”

  “Mrs. Gomez can do that,” Megan insisted. “I’m coming with you.”

  Jake regarded her with surprise. “Whatever. Let’s get going. There’s a storm blowing in tonight. We have to find her before it hits full force. If the temperatures drop much more we’ll have snow instead of rain.”

  Megan grabbed Tex’s old sheepskin coat off the peg by the back door. It was miles too big for her, but it was warm. The icy wind that smacked her in the face when she stepped outside proved it had been a wise decision. Jake had been wrong. It was already snowing.

  “Where should we start?” Megan asked.

  “I want to go back to the barn. I can’t believe she’d go far from those kittens.”

  “Mrs. Gomez said she’d looked there.”

  “Maybe not in the hayloft or in every stall.”

  But a thorough search revealed not a trace of Tess. Even though she desperately wanted to believe that Tess was merely hiding from them, Megan was beginning to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Years ago, on a night not so very different from this one, she had run away. She had set out to find her mother, to prove to herself that Sarah O’Rourke still loved her.

  She had plodded out to the highway, then turned toward town, intent on getting to the bus station. Snow had begun falling before she even reached the road—big, wet flakes that had soaked through her coat and piled up all too quickly on the slick highway.

  Her hands and feet had been so cold she’d barely been able to feel them. Tears streaming down her cheeks had all but frozen. She hadn’t gone far before she had wanted desperately to go home, to crawl back into her warm bed, but stubborn pride had kept her going.

  Tex had found her an hour later. He had blustered and carried on about how foolish she’d been, but she realized now how badly his hands had been shaking when he’d gathered her close, how frightened he had been. She knew that same kind of fear when she glanced toward the stall where Tex’s horse should have been.

  “Jake,” she called out, panic threading through her voice.

  He was at her side at once. “What?”

  “Midnight is gone.”

  “Tex’s horse?” Jake’s gaze flicked to the empty stall. “She wouldn’t have…”

  “She wanted to learn to ride. I gave her those boots today. Maybe she got it into her head that she had to earn them.”

  “Or maybe she just decided to run away,” he said grimly. “I’ll saddle up the horses. You round up as many men as you can find and let Mrs. Gomez know we’re going to search. She can start calling some of the neighboring ranches.”

  Megan raced from the barn. She alerted the foreman first. Tom promised to have the men ready to
ride out immediately.

  “We’ll find her, miss,” he said with quiet confidence. “Don’t you worry. The men all like that little gal. She was like Tex’s shadow. He pretended not to notice that she was never far away, but we could tell it pleased him. She’s learned a thing or two since she’s been here. She’ll be fine. She’s a real feisty one.”

  “That she is,” Megan agreed, then ran on to the house.

  “I will make the calls,” Mrs. Gomez promised.

  Megan swallowed hard, struggling with guilt and fear. “If something happens to her—”

  “Nothing will,” the housekeeper declared. “You will find her and bring her home.”

  Hearing the reassurances repeated so often should have helped, but Megan kept seeing Tess’s face the day of the funeral. She’d looked so lost and alone, so terribly frightened. Even when she’d been snapping and snarling, the vulnerability had been plain in her eyes.

  “Think back,” Megan ordered herself as she mounted the horse Jake had saddled for her. Would Tess have struck out for town the way she had?

  “Let’s try the highway,” she suggested, turning in that direction.

  Jake didn’t question her decision. He rode silently alongside her. When she turned toward town, he said, “You did this once, didn’t you?”

  Megan nodded. “But I wasn’t on horseback and I didn’t get far.”

  There was no sign of hoofprints in the deepening snow. After little more than a mile, Megan concluded she had been wrong.

  “Where else would I have gone?” she asked aloud, struggling to put herself into Tess’s place. Surely the same hiding places that would have lured her years ago would prove irresistible to Tess, as well.

  She’d always been drawn to the creek. But on a night like tonight, with the wind howling and snow piling up rapidly, surely Tess wouldn’t have wanted to be out in the open.

  But there was a place, Megan realized finally, that would be safe and dry.

  “I think I know,” she said suddenly to Jake.

  His gaze clashed with hers and it was as if her thoughts were silently communicated. “The cave,” he said at once.