by Liz Botts
As Will and Lexi walked deeper into the site, Will began to pull back the first tarp. Underneath was a section of marked dirt, but nothing exposed. Just as it should be. Frowning to himself, Will repeated the process with the second and third tarps. Nothing amiss. Lexi followed after him, quiet but ever watchful. Will began to feel silly and a tad embarrassed for suspecting Steve of anything dubious. Steve and Gretchen could have simply come up to check the site and get it ready for the spring semester.
But in the middle of an ice storm? That part made no sense to Will. In frustration, he pulled another tarp out of the way. And stopped, his breath caught in his throat. A large bone lay mostly unearthed. Dropping to his knees beside the massive fossil, Will's heart raced and his breath came in short gasps. They had never uncovered anything like this here. The bone was a good three feet longer than anything dug up previously. The size alone told Will he was dealing with a different species of animal than the small deer-like creature they had excavated before.
"Wow!" Lexi said. "What is this?"
Will glanced at his daughter and saw that she looked like he felt. The awe and astonishment that came with a furrowed brow. He recognized the kindred spirit in her, like her mind was struggling to wrap itself around the enormity of what lay right at her fingertips.
"I don't know." Will took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. His thoughts were tumbling one right over the other. Why hadn't Steve told him about this? Clearly the bone was a major discovery. "Whatever it is, we need to get it to the Institute. Letting it sit out here in the elements isn't doing it any good. We'll have to bring the truck back. You up for a little adventure?"
Lexi's mouth dropped open. "You mean, you'll let me come along?"
"Absolutely. You helped me discover it."
His daughter's face turned a deep red. She looked down at her hands. "I didn't do anything. I mean, you moved the tarp."
Will laughed. "Doesn't matter. We were here together. Besides I think you'd find the work at the Institute really interesting. Let's get this covered back up, and we'll head back for the truck."
****
"It was amazing." Lexi dropped into a chair at the kitchen table while Charlotte prepared dinner.
Charlotte shot Will an amused look. Lexi's tone conveyed just how special and important the trip to the Institute had made her feel. Charlotte was glad. She'd been hoping that Will and Lexi would have a chance to cement a deeper bond, but a small part of her felt left out. She knew she was being silly, but she couldn't help but wonder if this was the beginning of a new direction. One that would not involve her. Shaking off her negative thoughts, Charlotte pulled up a brighter smile.
"So do you have any idea what you found?" Charlotte kept her tone light but she caught Will's gaze as she asked. At the clench of his jaw she knew that he understood the deeper meaning of her question. He gave her a slight shake of his head. She felt her stomach clench for him.
"The scientists at the Institute hypothesized that we may have found a mammoth bone like down in Hot Springs. One of them even said it could be from a triceratops. Further testing is required." Lexi gave her answer matter-of-factly but she grinned the whole time.
"That's pretty cool. Hey, Lex, would you mind running over to Grandma Karen's and getting Shane and Sierra? They went to bake cookies." Charlotte said.
"No prob. What else would they be doing?" Lexi grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter on the way out of the house.
When the screen door slammed shut, Charlotte turned her attention back to Will. "So what's really going on?"
Will sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He grabbed a chair, turned it around, and sat down. "Here's the thing, the bone is a big deal. No matter how I look at it, this is the most major find we've had at this site. I'm inclined to think that it's a mammoth bone, but one of my colleagues, Dr. Ryerson, firmly believed that he was seeing a triceratops leg bone. Regardless, it's huge."
Charlotte sat down at the table across from him. She folded her hands in front of her. "Okay. So this find is huge. That's both exciting and confusing. Why didn't Steve tell you about it?"
"That's what I can't figure out either. I keep going back and forth. On one hand, maybe Steve was just waiting. He liked to get the glory first, talk second. But, I keep coming back to the fact that he and his wife drove up here in an ice storm without so much as mentioning it to me. That just seems… shady. I hate thinking that about him, you know? He was my best friend and closest colleague for so many years. To think that he would, I don't know, steal from me, my site; it just cuts right through me." Will ran a hand over his face again. Charlotte could see the exhaustion lining his face. She reached across the table to grab his hand.
"Maybe there was a good explanation," she said. Her thoughts had been going down the same path as Will's so she tried to see things from a different angle. "Maybe he felt like the site belonged to both of you. The discovery would have been a huge coup for the Institute."
Will nodded as he laced his fingers through hers. "I keep hoping for that, but all the evidence points to the other explanation. And I just feel so angry right now. I don't even want to talk about it anymore."
"Okay. We don't need to talk about it. Now. We need to talk about it eventually. You can't keep it all bottled up inside, Will. It's not good for any of us." Charlotte stared at their intertwined fingers, afraid to move and break the contact. These moments seemed too few and far between for Charlotte's liking. She wanted more, but she was just too afraid of being rejected. The thought that this family that they were creating could get along without her, well, that just tore at her heart.
A moment later, Will let go of her hand, and stood up. He peered out the kitchen window as if looking to see if the kids were on their way back. When he turned back to her, something flashed through his eyes that made Charlotte shiver with delight. He had looked at her that way a handful of other times, and each time it had ended in a soul-melting, toe-curling kiss.
"I'm glad you're here," Will said, his voice raw.
"Me too," Charlotte replied, standing up, summoning all her courage, and walking to where he stood. She lifted her hands and placed them on his chest. The rough flannel of his work shirt snagged on the calluses on the tips of her fingers. He shifted against her, settling her between his hips. Flush against him, Charlotte felt herself heat, her limbs turning to jelly. She was glad Will slipped his arms around her back to help hold her up.
Charlotte tilted her head back to meet his eyes. A whole conversation passed between them without a word ever being spoken. As cheesy as it felt, Charlotte knew that his heart was speaking to hers and vice versa. When he dipped his head to capture her lips, Charlotte surrendered to the kiss with her whole being. His mouth felt warm against hers, and she tightened her hold on his shirt to pull him closer. Will's hands tangled with her hair, tipping her head back gently as he nipped at her lower lip with his teeth. He feathered kisses over her eyes, her cheeks, and her jaw. This was everything Charlotte had been dreaming of, and her heart felt like it might explode.
A sharp knock at the door caused them to spring apart like two teenagers caught making out in the rec room. For a moment Charlotte thought that the kids were back, but they wouldn't have knocked. They would have barged right in. Thank goodness that hadn't happened.
"I'll get that," Will said, a smug smile curving across his mouth. "You take a minute. Unless you want whoever is at the front door to know that you were just thoroughly kissed. Too bad they interrupted us."
The smirk he gave her as he headed to the foyer told Charlotte that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt her feelings for him. She wrapped her arms around herself and sagged against the counter for support. Now her soul had been laid bare to him. The vulnerability that Charlotte felt at the moment terrified her. Over the years she had learned, out of necessity, to close herself off, to protect herself from closeness. She had been hurt too many times. Lexi had broken down her walls, and Will had led her to a n
ew place entirely. Despite the fact that she had not wanted to admit the depth and breadth of her feelings for Will, Charlotte knew she was in love with him. In a few short months he had gone from a stranger that had threatened her little start at a family to the person she considered her best friend. He was her family, along with the kids. And after that kiss… well, Charlotte had a feeling Will could at least guess what was going on inside her.
"Charlotte?"
She started at the sound of his voice. The hoarseness was back, coupled with something else she couldn't identify right away. Then it struck her that he sounded afraid. The thought of Will being scared propelled her toward the front hall. She nearly collided with him as she rounded the corner. Standing at the door was an older couple, immaculately dressed, him in a casual suit, her in a tailored skirt and blouse. They looked completely out of place on the ranch. Charlotte guessed who they were before Will said a thing.
"Charlotte, these are Sierra and Shane's grandparents," Will said.
Bile rose in Charlotte's throat and the bottom dropped out of her world. She felt herself sway against Will as she forced a smile onto her face and a greeting to her lips.
****
Lexi frowned over her plate of spaghetti, casting surreptitious glances at the man and woman seated opposite her, eating quietly, occasionally making pleasant conversation. Dad had said these people were Shane and Sierra's grandparents, but really they were traitors. Couldn't they see how happy everyone here was? Ugh, why did they have to come and ruin it?
Sierra and Shane didn't seem to know these people any better. The little boy had taken to sucking on his fingers again, and he'd barely spoken three words since they'd gotten back from Grandma Karen's with a huge box of cookies. Sierra had been polite, but then again Lexi had noticed that her little sis…she halted the thought as it was in progress. She should never have started to think of Sierra and Shane as her brother and sister. She knew families never really lasted.
With an angry sigh, Lexi stabbed at her spaghetti with her fork, creating the ugly clanky scrapping sound Dad hated. She expected, even wanted, him to scold her. Just to have things feel normal again. Instead he barely blinked. So she did it again. And again. Finally Charlotte reached over and squeezed her shoulder gently. Tears sprang to Lexi's eyes. At least Charlotte seemed to understand what was wrong.
After they had finished eating, Shane climbed down from his booster seat, and came around the table. He leaned his warm little body against Lexi while he sucked on his fingers. She put an arm around his shoulders, and rested her chin on the top of his head. No matter what she told herself, she had come to think of Shane as her brother. She felt protective of him, and there was no way she was going to let these people ruin what they had. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she did know that she was going to save her family.
Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte took a shaky breath as the phone rang. By the fifth ring she was ready to hang up, but she gave it a few more.
Finally she was rewarded as a familiar voice said, "Hello?"
"Hi, um, Mom. Erm, this is Charlotte."
"Oh, sweetie! I'm so glad you've called. We haven't heard from you in forever. How are you? I tried calling you a month or so ago but your line was disconnected. I was so worried, but your dad told me to wait and you'd call just like you always do."
As she listened to her foster mom chatter, Charlotte felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She had been so swept up in her self-centered life that she hadn't even thought to tell them what was going on. They didn't have that kind of relationship. They talked a few times a year. That was it. At least that was how Charlotte had always rationalized it. And yet, she knew that the more likely reason that they only talked a few times a year, and that that was the type of relationship they had, was because of her. Charlotte knew she had to own up to the fact that she had issues that needed to be addressed. She needed to own her part in all of this.
"Mom, listen, I've got a lot to tell you. Is Dad around?"
After an hour on the phone, Charlotte hung up with her spirits flying high and a smile on her face. She felt amazing, and she knew that she would be hearing from her foster parents much more often.
She practically danced down the hall to the kitchen where Lexi was sitting at the table leafing through a feed store catalogue. Charlotte found it endearing that the girl was so motivated to learn everything she could about ranch life.
"Hey, Lex, how are you?" Charlotte crossed to fill a glass with water.
Lexi frowned at her. "Okay, I guess. Those people took Sierra and Shane out to see the sheep. They asked if I wanted to come. Why would they think I'd want to get to know them? They aren't my grandparents. And they're stealing our family."
Charlotte's heart tugged as she saw the pain in Lexi's eyes. She knew how the girl felt, she really did, but what could she do? Her conversation with her foster parents made her think that maybe it was time to try to reconnect Lexi with Mary. The move was risky, but deep down Charlotte knew that Lexi at least needed closure, if nothing else, with her birth mom.
"Hey, where's your dad?" Charlotte asked.
"Horse barn. I think he's avoiding Grandpa. Uncle Wyatt stopped by a while ago, and that's what he told me." Lexi shrugged and turned her attention back to the catalogue spread before her.
"Okay, then I think I'll go have a chat with him. You okay here by yourself?" Charlotte asked.
"I think I'll see if Uncle Walker is back at his place. Is that okay?" Lexi closed the magazine, and looked up hopefully.
"Don't bother him, though. He's had a lot of stress lately with the drought and cattle prices being down. If he's not up for a visit come home or head to Grandma's, okay?" Charlotte cringed as the words left her mouth.
Luckily Lexi only rolled her eyes and grinned. "Okay. I won't be a pain, I promise."
They headed out of the house together but went in different directions once outside. Charlotte paused to watch the girl practically skip down the gravel driveway. Walker's cabin would take her awhile to walk to, but maybe it would give her something else to focus on other than her growing irritation with Shane and Sierra's grandparents.
The horse barn was cool and quiet other than the whinnying of horses. "Will?" Charlotte's voice echoed, making the horses nearest the door nicker in response.
"Down here."
Charlotte followed the sound of his voice, stumbling a bit as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Will was crouched in a stall near the middle of the barn, a horse's hoof propped up on his knee, a hoof pick in his hand. He shot her a warm smile as she approached.
"Hey, I just got off the phone with my foster parents." Charlotte cringed at the awkward opening to the conversation, but she didn't know how else to broach the subject.
Will paused, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and quirked up one side of his mouth. "How'd that go? I know you were nervous about calling."
A shiver of delight skittered along her spin. She loved that he remembered that. "It was great actually. But, um, that's not why I came out here."
Finishing with the horse, Will let the hoof drop back down and he stood up. Charlotte tipped her head back to look up at him. She noticed that he hadn't had a haircut recently, and tiny curls were appearing around his ears. It took everything in her not to reach up and brush them back. There would be time enough for that later. Right now she needed to focus on Lexi.
"Okay," he said slowly. "This sounds kind of serious. Is something wrong?"
Charlotte shook her head quickly. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just, well, I think we need to talk about taking Lexi back to see Mary. Wait, before you say anything, hear me out. Before today I think I would have agreed that the best thing was just to keep Lexi protected from a repeat experience. But all we would be teaching her is how to shut out people who might care about her. I spent far too much of my life doing that. If Lexi hadn't come along and changed all that… well, I don't know where I would have ended up, or who I might have be
come. But let me just say, I don't want to know who that person was, loving this family has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. These kids have changed me into a far better person than I ever could have hoped to be."
Will reached out, and ran his hands along her shoulders. "I'm glad. And I don't disagree with you actually. I'm just worried about what kind of reaction Mary will have, not just to Lexi but to me. I guarantee that I'll be going along if we do end up taking her."
"Of course," Charlotte said, covering his hands with her own. "We can plan things out more carefully this time, give Mary advance notice. Prep Lexi better. Last time. Oh, Will. Last time she just showed up on Mary's doorstep. Kind of like what we did to you."
"Yeah, but I'm better equipped to handle that sort of thing emotionally, at least from what you told me about Mary. You know, it really breaks my heart. Despite all the anger I still feel toward her about keeping Lexi a secret, I cared about her once upon a time. And we do share a daughter. A daughter she should know. Do you mind taking the lead on this one?" Will searched Charlotte's face. She could feel his apprehension but she was so thrilled that he was open to this suggestion.
"Not at all. I'll make the initial phone call tonight. Let's not mention anything to Lexi until we know what's going on."
"You really are a remarkable woman," Will said before he leaned in to kiss her.
Charlotte's toes curled in her boots the moment their lips met. No matter what the future held, no matter how tenuous the strands of happiness seemed to be, this moment, right now, was perfect.
****
Will swallowed hard and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt for the fourth time in as many minutes. He hadn't been this nervous in a long time. With a glance in the rearview mirror, he could see that his daughter was not doing much better. She had insisted on dressing up for this trip, and was wearing the dress his mom had gotten her for her graduation gift. Either from nerves or discomfort, Lexi kept tugging at the collar of the dress, which Will thought was a bit too low for a thirteen-year-old. At least she'd agreed to wear a cardigan over it.