by Naomi Niles
Galloping in a wide circle to build up speed, I urged Whiskey to jump the fence at the exact same spot. We followed the trail of prints, plodded slowly through the forest, as I called out Bethany's name.
Suddenly, Whiskey perked up her head and whinnied excitedly. I let her lead the way, and she came to abrupt stop.
"What is it?" I asked her, and the horse simply snorted in reply. I dismounted and walked slowly forward through the dark forest, my eyes and ears straining for any information.
Suddenly, Bethany appeared from the darkness, with a large tree branch she held like a bat. When she saw me, her eyes brightened with happiness and she dropped the weapon the ground.
"Colton! I'm so glad you found me."
Without saying a word, I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms. I'd never been so happy to see anyone in my life. My mouth took hers in a powerful embrace as my hands ran through her hair, clutching her to me. She kissed me back with equal passion, wrapping her arms tightly around me as we clung to each other like drowning souls.
"Are you all right?" I asked when we finally broke apart, gasping for air.
"Yes. I'm okay. Rosie and I got lost, and I couldn't find my way back to the ranch. Of course, I'd left my cell phone in my bedroom, along with my jacket. When the sun set, I was terrified I would have to spend the night out here."
I kissed her again, feeling so grateful to have her safely in my arms. Then a thought occurred to me, and I asked her, "What are you doing way out here?"
"I don't know. I was in the pasture, talking to Frank, and he..." Her voice halted, and she unexpectedly burst into tears. Unsure what to do, I put my arms awkwardly around her shoulders and held her against my chest.
"What's wrong? Did that son-of-a-bitch hurt you?" I was going to kick his ass if he had, but Bethany shook her head. She told me the whole, ugly story about how that jerk broke her heart and turned her away. It made me sick, and I wanted to kick the crap out of him more than ever. How could he reject someone so sweet?
"You don't need his acceptance," I said, firmly. "You have mine. I love you, Bethany Foster."
"You do?" She looked at me with her robin's egg eyes. "I love you, too."
We kissed then, long and deep, and I could feel her heart beating in rhythm with my own, as I held her against my chest.
"We'd better get back. Mama has been worried sick and has my brothers – and probably half the town – out looking for you."
"All that trouble just for me?" Bethany sounded surprised.
"Of course. My entire family cares about you."
I helped her onto Rosie's back and with me and Whiskey leading the way, we headed home.
"How did you get back here in the forest?" I asked her as we rode.
"Through the opening in the fence," she said matter-of-factly. "I was so upset after talking to Frank, I didn't pay attention where Rosie was going. I thought it was the opening leading out of the pasture back to the ranch house. It never occurred to me there would be another opening leading out into the forest."
"There isn't," I stated, feeling ticked off. "What kind of a gap? Like a small hole somebody missed patching?"
"No. Like a gate. It swung open on a hinge, and when Rosie ran through it, it swung shut behind us. That's why I thought it was the regular entrance I had come through."
"Could you show me where it is?" I asked her, and Bethany looked surprised.
"You don't know?" she said, and I explained to her my suspicions.
"Of course, I can," she agreed.
""Good." I plucked my cell phone out of my back pocket and called William. "Call off the search for Bethany. I have her."
"Thank God. I'll tell the others and head back to the office," my brother said.
"Don't," I told him. "Meet me out in the east pasture. I know why the ranch has been losing money. Someone's been stealing our cattle."
Chapter Nine: Bethany
"I know it was here somewhere," I said, feeling like an idiot as Colton, William, and two of his deputies followed behind me on horseback while I sat on Rosie's back, trying to retrace our steps. "There was a gate, I swear it."
"I know there was," Colton said in support of me, while William and his deputies exchanged a look that said they had their doubts.
"Maybe she just jumped the fence or ran through a wide gap in the boards." William suggested.
"No. It swung open, like the entrance gate. That's why I steered her through it when I saw it open," I insisted, although I was beginning to wonder if I actually had imagined the whole thing. I had been really upset when it happened yesterday. Then there was my horrible ordeal in the forest, wondering if I'd die of exposure in the night or be attacked by a cougar.
When Colton had found me, I'd never been so happy to see anyone in my life, and when he told me he loved me, I knew I felt the same way. I felt terrible for having to give him the bad news that someone had made a gate in his pasture without his knowledge, and I wanted to show him where it was that night so they could catch the bastard, but when we got home, everyone else had a change of plans.
"Thank the Lord you're all right," Margie had greeted me and Colton in the front yard the moment we rode up. She wrapped a blanket around my shivering shoulders and escorted me into the house. "Sit by the fireplace and get yourself warmed up. I've got a bowl of shepherd's pie all dished up for you. You must be starving."
I was, but there were more important things to do. "Thank you, Margie. But I've got to go with Colton out to the pasture and show him where I got out."
"That can wait until the morning," she insisted, shoving a bowl of food in my hands. My stomach rumbled at the delicious aroma, making it harder for me to object.
William was there, and he nodded in agreement. "We won't be able to conduct an investigation until daylight. We might as well wait until then to go out there."
"Besides," Colton put his arms around me in a loving embrace, "you won't be any good to us if you get sick from exposure. Get some good food and a good night's rest."
"Okay." I smiled in acquiescence.
The next morning, Margie fed me a big breakfast and everyone looked at me like some kind of fragile doll. I really felt fine, though. When William's deputies showed up, I took everyone out to east pasture to show them the gate.
Only now, there was no sign of it. Exasperated, I climbed down from Rosie's back and put my hands on the wooden fence. William and Colton climbed down beside me as the deputies did the same. The five us walked up and down the fence line for the better part of an hour, but still came up empty handed.
"It was here. I swear it," I sighed with defeat. How could I be such a failure?
"It's okay," Colton said. "I'll have the ranch hands perform an extensive search."
William said to his brother, "Call me when you find it, and we'll come back out."
"Aren't you going to help?" Colton glowered at him.
"I've been elected Sheriff," he snapped back. "All the citizens of Riverbend depend on me to keep this community safe. I can't just focus all my resources and time helping you."
"I'm a citizen of this community, or have you forgotten that?" Colton gave William a shove on the shoulder.
"I haven't forgotten anything. Like how you wouldn't campaign for me when I was running for Sheriff." William shoved him back.
"You know damn well why I couldn't do that." Colton shoved him back, hard.
Suddenly, William tackled his older brother, knocking him to the ground. I stared at the two deputies, wondering why they wouldn't do anything to break up the fight.
Colton and William rolled on the grass, each trying to get the upper hand on the other. They crashed into the fence, and suddenly a portion of it swung slightly ajar.
"Holy crap, she was right," Deputy Carlson cried out, making Colton and William pause mid punch. They got to their feet and looked at the slight opening in the seemingly solid fence.
As they studied it, they saw someone had very carefully hidden a hinge in
the fence post, allowing it to swing open like a gate. To the casual onlooker, the fence appeared to be solid and could have been there for months, or even years.
"Son of bitch," Colton swore under his breath. The secret gate opened up into the forest land, and a hoof trodden path could be subtly detected through the brush, ending in a wide clearing with a dirt road stretching out to the main highway in the far distance. A pile of tracking tags that had been removed from the cows’ ears lay in a pile by the road.
Colton was furious. He kicked the pile, scattering the tags and shouted, "Son of a bitch. We'll never find them now. Anyone could have taken our cattle from the pasture through this path, loaded them into a truck, and driven them away to sell. No wonder we've been losing money. We're being robbed blind right under our damn noses."
"Take it easy," William tried to calm him. "Now that we've discovered this, thanks to Bethany, we can figure out who's responsible and bring them to justice.
“I need you to get me your records on all the employees. We'll do a complete background check on all of them and match them against any forensic evidence we find. I'm going to have my team do a complete investigation of the area, and collect as much evidence as we can find. Don't worry; we'll get whoever's responsible."
The promise of justice seemed to soothe Colton, as well as being able to take action. He looked at me and said, "Come on, Bethany. I'll accompany you back to the ranch house on my way to the office. You can keep Mama company."
"If it's okay, I'd like to keep working on my painting," I said. "It keeps my mind occupied, and it's soothing. I guess it's kind of therapeutic in a way."
"Sure. Whatever you want." Colton gazed at me lovingly. He moved in close, as if to kiss me, and whispered, "Thank you for this. Without you, we may have never discovered this. You may have single-handedly saved our ranch."
"I wouldn't go that far." I blushed. "I'm pretty sure most of the credit is going to go to Will and the Sheriff's Department."
"Well, you saved me." Colton kissed my lips then. "I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. When you were missing last night, I knew I had fallen in love with you. Now that you're back safe, I never want to have to be without you again."
"You know I'm only here for another month," I flushed, even though I felt the same way.
"We'll talk about that later. Right now, I have to get the records for Will."
I got my supplies and set up my canvas and easel in front of Margie's garden. I was just putting on the last touches on this piece. The painting was basically finished, and would be done that day. Tomorrow, I would start my third painting. It was weird to think that I was already about halfway through the project.
"That looks incredibly beautiful," a vaguely familiar male voice said. I startled to see Frank Hill standing there.
"Thanks," I said in a tone that reflected just how unhappy I was to see him. "It's done. I only have three more to do and then I'll be out of your way."
I turned my back on him and hurriedly started backing my paint supplies away in my case, anxious to get as far away from him as I could.
"The painting is great, but I was talking about you." Frank flushed awkwardly, and I paused to stare at him. "I saw you standing out here, painting with the sun shining on your blonde hair. You looked so peaceful and lovely; just like your mother used to look, only different. I can see pieces of myself in you, and traces of how you looked when you were a baby.
“It's hard to explain, but ever since our talk yesterday afternoon, I can't get you out of my mind. All these memories and feelings keep tugging at me; and then when I saw you looking so beautiful, I had to come talk to you again."
"I think you said everything you needed to say yesterday," I angrily.
"I'm sorry about all that. I didn't mean any of it. I was just surprised to see you and ashamed at what I'd done. I didn't want anyone to know I was a deadbeat dad, and I didn't think I'd ever have to face it. Then suddenly, there you were, and I was just embarrassed and angry at having been caught. Not angry at you; angry at me for having screwed up so bad."
"You told me you wished I'd never been born." I wasn't ready to forgive him yet.
"I said that, but I didn't mean it. Jillian was a mess. I knew she'd make a bad mother, so I tried to talk her out of having a baby – but you were amazing and from the moment you were born, I loved you. I was crazy about you."
"So, why did you leave?"
"I didn't. Is that what Jillian told you?"
"She told me you abandoned us on my second birthday."
"That lying bitch," Frank muttered under his breath. "She told you that. I'm so sorry. That was never true."
"She blamed me because she was stuck raising a kid alone. She said I drove you away."
"No, never. I loved you. It was Jillian I couldn't stand. I wanted to leave her and take you with me, but she threatened to call the cops and tell them I kidnapped you. I took the coward’s way out and just left you."
"Is that true? You really wanted to take me with you?" I couldn't believe Mom would lie like that, but then again, I kind of could. It was a case of he said/she said, and I didn't know who to believe.
"It sure is. I never should have let that bitch bully me into leaving you behind. I went back once looking for you, but Jillian had moved and no one could tell me where. My life has been a wreck ever since, and I've never been able to outrun the guilt of wondering what life would have been like if I'd stayed with her. Where the hell did you end up, anyway?"
"Chicago," I said softly.
Frank rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Chicago. I should have known. She had an ex-boyfriend who moved there. I guess she went back to him."
I told Frank about my childhood. He wanted to know all about my life growing up, and he told me all about his life travelling around the country, going from ranch to ranch, always trying to outrun the guilt of having left us.
We walked all around the ranch, strolling side by side as we talked. It was amazing how many similarities we had. He liked the same foods that I liked and had the same allergies to shellfish. He liked nature just like I did, and confided that when he was young he liked to draw, but his father had told him it was for sissies and beat him for it.
"That's terrible that your father was so abusive," I said and touched his hand.
"I vowed that when I became a father, I'd be a good one. Looks like I failed at that pretty bad."
"It's not your fault. You didn't know where Jillian had taken me." I had forgiven him; he needed to be able to forgive himself.
"Yeah, but I could have tried harder. After all, you were able to find me. If I hadn't given up so easily, I could have found you and we could have had a real relationship."
"It's not too late," I said, squeezing his hand. Frank gazed at me with watery eyes.
We hugged then, and I closed my eyes, relishing the paternal embrace I'd longed for all my life. I'd found my father, and he really did love me and wanted to know me.
I could feel the scars of my lonely childhood beginning to heal. So why was it that something still didn't feel right?
Frank realized that his break was over and said, "I'd better get back to work before Colton notices."
"I have a feeling he's preoccupied with other things today," I said. We walked back across the ranch together, and as we drew closer, we saw the flashing lights of a police car.
When we approached, we saw William and his deputies arresting two ranch hands, while Colton, Brett, and Margie looked on. Frank stopped short and squeezed my hand.
"What's happening?" he asked.
Colton answered, saying, "Just getting rid of a few cattle rustlers who have been stealing from the ranch. Today is the start of a whole new day where everything is going to be better."
I smiled at my father as he grinned back at me with the same grin, and said, "It sure is."
Chapter Ten: Colton
"Congratulations on finding the rustlers," Bethany said to me after everyone had gone
.
Jackson Horn and his cousin Floyd were strangers in Riverbend, but I'd hired them when we were short staffed during calving season, and they'd stayed on ever since. The tire prints on the path leading from the pasture matched Jackson's truck, and they both had piles of cash hidden in their cabin that they couldn't explain. William and his deputies had taken the criminals to jail, and my only hope was that William could get them to tell us where my cattle had gone.
After the arrest, Mama had gone back to the house and everyone else had returned to their duties.
"Thanks." I grinned at Bethany, unable to contain my feeling of relief. I had finally figured out the reason the ranch was bleeding money when all my analysis said we should have been making a profit. Better than that, I had solved the problem by finding the thieves and having them arrested.
Well, in all honesty, it was William and his incredible staff who had done that, but it was still a huge weight off my shoulders to know that the ranch was no longer going to lose any more money. The pressure to figure out what was going wrong had been enormous, and now I was free of it.
Beaming at Bethany, I said, "Congratulations on reconciling with your father."
"Thanks. It's been quite a day."
"It really has. What do you say we celebrate together? Just you and me, at the Riverview Vista."
"You mean, like a date?" she asked, and I'd never seen her blue eyes so wide.
"Yes. A date. I think it's about time I took you out formally. What do you say?"
"All right." She blushed adorably, and I wanted to shout out in the air, but I kept my cool.
"Terrific. I'll pick you up at seven."
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. I had to go down to the Sheriff's office and make a statement. Then there were some last minute things I had to do in the office. Before I knew it, it was nearly time to go.
I looked at my closet of suits that I had always hated. Dad had felt it was important to have a professional image, and he was right, it did greatly improve our business dealings. I'd always felt out of place in them, though, while my brothers were walking around comfortably in jeans and flannel shirts.