Matt

by R. C. Ryan

  Hours later the truck came up over a rise, and Vanessa gave an audible gasp at the panorama spread out before them. To one side were bleak, barren mountains rising up like a vertical wall from a half-moon-shaped lake, glistening in the sun. On the other side was a series of grassy ranges, each one folding into the next, for as far as the eye could see. And all of them ringed by towering mountain peaks in the distance.

  “Oh, this looks like some sort of lost world.”

  At Vanessa’s words, Grace nodded. “That’s exactly how I think of it. My very own uncharted, untouched piece of heaven.”

  She put the truck in gear, and they drove slowly along a high ridge until Grace parked the vehicle under a rock ledge.

  “I’ve used this spot before. It’s a good place to make base camp. There’s a stream over there”—she pointed to a rock-strewn bank and sunlit water meandering just beyond a stand of trees—“and a cave here, once we make certain there aren’t any bears calling it their home.”

  “Bears?”

  “Just a precaution,” Grace said with a reassuring smile. “Afterward, we’ll walk a bit, see if we can find any trace of the herd. But we’ll return and sleep here tonight. If the weather holds, we can sleep under the stars.” Her tone lowered. “There’s nothing quite like sleeping under the stars. Ever tried it?”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Not even when I was a kid at camp. We always slept in cabins.”

  “Then you’re in for a treat. But if it rains, we’ll have shelter under that shelf of rock.” She turned to Vanessa. “First we’ll check out this cave.”

  The two women exited the truck and Grace led the way, carrying a battery-operated lantern. She switched it on before stepping into the cave. Vanessa, trailing behind, looked around nervously, praying she didn’t see feral eyes looking back at her.

  When they’d checked out the cave and found it empty and, though small, high enough for them to stand in, they walked back out into the brilliant sunlight.

  Grace turned off the lantern and set it in the back of the truck, which was littered with her photographic equipment. She looked at Vanessa. “You ready to hike these hills?”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Grace smiled. “Let’s do it.”

  They hiked for nearly an hour, with Grace pausing every so often to kneel in the grass and examine the ground for signs of horses.

  Each time she stopped, Vanessa used the time to stare around with a feeling of awe. This amazing place was even more than she’d hoped for. Sweeping vistas of lush rangeland and breathtaking views of mountains towering in the distance, looking exactly like the pictures she’d carried in her mind.

  Here there were no highways. Not even rough roads or the tracks from farm implements. No man-made buildings. No people. The Old West. Raw and untamed. Looking as it had for centuries. A land untouched by human hands.

  “Ah.” Hearing the exclamation from Grace, Vanessa hurried over.

  “Look.” Grace pointed to something in the grass. “Fresh droppings. A lot of them.”

  “But how do you know it’s from horses and not some other animals?”

  Grace stood. “Each animal has its own distinct markings. In this area there are pronghorns, elk, even higher up there—” she pointed to the mountain peaks “—Rocky Mountain goats. But this tells me the horses are near. And since it’s fresh, they’ll be close by, giving the mares time to deliver their foals and grow sleek and fat on all this grass.”

  Vanessa’s heart was beating overtime. “Will we keep on climbing?”

  Grace shook her head. “This sunlight will fade quickly once the sun drifts behind that ridge. We’ll head back to camp now and settle in for the night. It’s time to figure out what we’ll have for dinner.”

  Vanessa touched a hand to her stomach. “I’d forgotten about food. But now that you mention it, I know I’ll be ready to eat after we get back.”

  “Nerves beginning to fade?” Grace asked with a grin.

  “Yeah.” Vanessa took a moment to look around before turning to follow Grace’s lead. “Now that I’m here, and it’s even better than I’d hoped, I’m feeling…relieved.”

  “You’re going to feel even better when we see what special things Yancy sent along.”

  “Oh, I hope he sent along some of that chicken.”

  “You can have my share. I’m just hoping he packed a big slice of that chocolate-hazelnut torte,” Grace said, laughing.

  “How did you find this place?”

  Vanessa sat with her back against a boulder, which was still warm from the fading sun, enjoying Yancy’s chicken cordon bleu and a roll heated over a firepit Grace had fashioned of some rocks and tree branches.

  “I was twenty years old, a college senior, using my spring break to do a film study of the Montana wilderness.” Grace paused to eat the last bite of Yancy’s torte before setting aside the plastic plate and filling a cup with coffee. “While up here, I saw my first herd of wild horses. There was this wonderful black stallion standing perfectly still on a rock ledge, keeping watch over his herd grazing in a meadow below. I turned my long-range lens on him and began filming. He was magnificent. I lost my heart in an instant.” Her voice lowered. “Sadly, he spotted me, leapt down from the ledge, and began herding his mares and their young in the opposite direction. I wasn’t just disappointed. I was determined to see him again, and to film him with his herd. It became my obsession.”

  “Did you ever find him?”

  Grace smiled. “Not that year. Before I could pack up and try to track the herd, the most handsome man I’d ever seen rode up out of the wilderness, and I lost my heart for the second time in a single day. Francis Xavier Malloy was simply magnificent. So much better than any of the Hollywood actors I knew who pretended to be cowboys. This man was the real thing. And when I learned that I was on his land, and that he didn’t have a wife and children, and he looked at me in the same wild, almost primitive way that stallion had looked, I knew that I never wanted to leave.”

  “It must have been a terrible shock to your parents.”

  “Shock is much too mild a word.” Grace chuckled. “You heard what Dad said last night. It was bad enough that I’d gone off to Montana without a chaperone. But to learn that I intended to stay and marry a rancher I barely knew—he was ready to have me committed.”

  “How did your mother react?”

  Grace smiled. “Mother was the one who really surprised me. I’d expected her to be too embarrassed to even admit to her society friends what I’d done. Instead, she called me to say that she wasn’t at all surprised that I was marrying my first love. She said she would expect no less of her daughter, and that she wished me and my rancher all happiness. She offered to come to the wedding without Dad, since he was sulking, but I told her we intended to marry quickly and without any fuss, and that she could come to Montana and meet him whenever she could persuade Dad to join her.”

  “Wow.” Vanessa poured herself a cup of coffee and wrapped her hands around it in the chill of evening. “What did she think of your Frank?”

  Grace’s voice softened. “Mother died that year, before she had the chance to meet him. But it was enough to know I’d had her blessing.” She brightened. “I’ve always felt that even after her passing, she was pressing Dad to soften his heart and get to know his only child’s husband. And, of course, you can see how successful she was.”

  She and Vanessa shared a smile.

  “That’s really sweet.”

  “Yes, it is. I’m a lucky woman.” Grace stifled a yawn. “And now, we’d better get our bedrolls ready. I have a feeling I’ll be asleep in no time.”

  After banking the fire, she and Vanessa set their bedrolls close enough to enjoy the warmth of the hot embers through the night.

  As Vanessa snuggled in, she stared at the canopy of stars overhead. Grace was right. This wasn’t like anything she’d ever experienced. She’d never before seen stars so big and bright, it felt as though she could reach up and touch
them. And the night air, though chilly, whispered over her face, leaving her feeling fresh and clean.

  Make some memories, Matt had whispered. And oh, wasn’t she just?

  Oh Dad, she thought. If only you could be here, safe and sound, away from danger, away from the all-consuming work that takes up so much of your time, to share this with me.

  And then she thought about Matt Malloy. How would she describe him to her father? A cowboy. A rancher. A businessman. A man she would trust with her life, though she’d known him a scant few days.

  With a feeling of deep contentment, she drifted into sleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Vanessa turned toward the warmth at her back before opening her eyes to see that Grace had added a fresh log to their fire.

  She yawned, stretched, then sat up with a start. “Did I oversleep? How long have you been up?”

  “Relax, Nessa. I just woke a few minutes ago, and thought I’d stoke the fire before breakfast.”

  Vanessa slipped out of her bedroll and pulled on her hiking boots before stowing her bedding in the back of the truck. “Tell me what I can do.”

  Grace was busy uncovering a metal storage bin and removing several packets. She handed over a blackened coffeepot that looked as though it had seen years of wilderness treks. “If you’ll take this to that creek over there and fill it, we’ll have coffee.”

  Vanessa returned and spooned ground coffee into the basket before placing the pot on a grate over the fire. Soon the air was perfumed with the wonderful fragrance of coffee, along with the mouthwatering aroma of onion-laced skillet potatoes, as well as ham and eggs.

  “All the comforts of home,” Grace proclaimed as she filled two plates.

  As the two women dug into their breakfast, Grace couldn’t help grinning at her young friend. “No loss of appetite this morning, I gather?”

  Vanessa laughed. “I’m starving.”

  “That’s what hiking these hills does to a body. I’m always hungry up here.”

  “I can understand why. We must have walked miles yesterday.”

  “We’ll walk even more today. But I promise you, we won’t even notice.”

  “I’d walk through fire just to see a herd of mustangs.”

  “I remember those same feelings of utter excitement. It’s always been the same for me. The magnetic pull of wild horses. Just knowing they’re close by has my heart beating faster. Now, tell me how you felt sleeping under the stars.”

  “It was just as you said. But I really never expected it to be so grand.”

  “You don’t mind the lack of modern facilities?”

  “What lack?” Vanessa lifted her hands to encompass the green hills, the blue sky with its puffy clouds, the stream gurgling behind them. “It seems to me we have all the comforts of home, and none of the annoyances. No phones ringing. No schedules or deadlines.” She sighed, searching for words. “Honestly? Though I would have never believed I could be saying this, I think I could learn to love this way of life.”

  “Now you’re in trouble,” Grace said with a laugh. At Vanessa’s expression she added, “That’s exactly how I got hooked. A night under the stars. A herd of mustangs. A handsome cowboy…”

  Vanessa felt her face grow warm.

  “Speaking of which…What do you think of my grandson?”

  Trying to be coy, Vanessa shrugged. “Which one?”

  Grace threw back her head and laughed. “Try that on someone else. I’ve seen the way you and Matthew look at each other. You’re not even aware he has two brothers.”

  Vanessa couldn’t help joining in the laughter. “Am I so transparent?”

  “To anyone who bothers to look at you, Nessa.” Grace turned. “Let’s get this campsite put to rights so we can get on the trail.”

  The two women worked together, banking the fire, cleaning their dishes in the stream, and stowing them inside the metal container stored in the back of the truck.

  After checking their supplies in their backpacks, and adding Grace’s rifle and the photographic supplies, which they divided between them, they set off across the high meadow in search of the herd, with Grace leading the way.

  As they crested a hill, they paused to enjoy the view. The hills around them, each one folding into the next, were green and gold, with a sky so blue it hurt to look at it. The sun shot the distant peaks with shimmering gold and mauve while a mist drifted over the lake far below.

  “I think you’re my good luck charm, Nessa.” Grace slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier day.”

  As they walked, they chatted amiably.

  “Matt said he was twelve when his parents died.”

  “Yes.” Grace paused to lower her backpack to the grass before sitting on a smooth, sun-warmed rock. “Sudden death changes the lives of everyone involved. Until then, Frankie and I had more happiness than anyone deserves in this life. Two sons who loved this ranch as much as we did. A beautiful daughter-in-law who loved us as much as we loved her. And three grandsons who delighted all of us, just by being.”

  She looked toward the brooding mountains. “We were all so carefree. Our biggest concern was doubling our herds and topping the previous year’s profits. And then, suddenly, none of that mattered. All of us were changed forever.”

  She met Vanessa’s look. “Matthew and his brothers were as carefree as boys can be, especially boys growing up on a vast ranch, being best friends, doing all the rough-and-tumble things boys do. But from the moment they were given the news of their loss, Matthew was no longer just a twelve-year-old boy. He became, in an instant, guardian and protector to two younger ones. My wild, fearless, dangerous grandson became—” she shrugged “—responsible.”

  She lifted her head, as though speaking to the air around her. “That singular event changed our entire family. Our son Colin had been the kid brother who had adored his older brother. All he’d ever wanted was to be like Patrick. And now he had to step up and become not only father to three lost boys, but also the only son to Frankie and me. And we were in such grief, we were nearly blinded by it. So was my father, who’d come to live with us so he could watch his family grow, and suddenly he had to bury a grandson and watch his great-grandsons struggle with their loss. And then there were Burke and Yancy, whose losses were as great as ours. They may not be blood, but they’re family just the same.”

  Vanessa caught Grace’s hand. Squeezed. “I’m sure you all struggled.”

  Grace nodded. “Of course you understand. Matthew told me you lost your mother as a teen. Once death touches you, you feel vulnerable. You—”

  Vanessa finished for her. “—You realize it can happen to you and to all those you love. You can never again take anything for granted. In the blink of an eye, it can all be taken away.”

  Grace stood and wrapped her arms around Vanessa, and the two women embraced, letting the tears flow as they shared a strange and painful bond.

  For Vanessa, it was an epiphany. She had never before shared her grief with a woman who had likewise suffered such loss.

  They’d hiked for several hours before Grace suddenly held up a hand and pointed.

  Vanessa was stopped in her tracks by the sight of a herd of horses just ahead. Their leader, a ghostly gray stallion, stood a little apart from the others, head lifted in the air, alert to any danger.

  Grace pointed again, and Vanessa smiled at the black-and-white spotted mare calmly grazing while her foal nursed.

  Vanessa stood perfectly still, savoring her first view of wild horses. Though she remained quiet, she was doing somersaults inside. In her mind she was wildly dancing and singing and clapping her hands in sheer delight.

  She was really here. In the Montana wilderness, just a hundred yards away from a herd of mustangs.

  She wasn’t even aware that she was crying until Grace drew an arm around her waist and offered her a handkerchief.

  Surprised, she dabbed at the moisture running down her cheeks.

&nbs
p; “I understand,” Grace whispered. “I’ve had that same reaction so many times.”

  Hearing her, Vanessa got past her embarrassment over being all weepy, and simply savored the moment.

  She was here. The horses were here. And her heart was nearly bursting with a feeling of wild joy.

  They spent the rest of the day watching the herd.

  Vanessa had assumed Grace would move closer and maybe even walk among them. But all the older woman did was sit on the boulder, aiming her camera at the various mares, and often at the stallion, snapping off picture after picture.

  By the time the sun had made its arc over the distant mountains, Grace beckoned Vanessa to follow, and they made their way back to camp.

  Once they were out of sight of the herd, Vanessa was free to give voice to her enthusiasm.

  “Oh Gracie, I can’t believe I’m here, doing something I’ve always dreamed of doing. I admitted to Matt that I was horse crazy as a young girl. I wouldn’t let up until my parents allowed me to take jumping lessons at a nearby stable. And then I grew up and life and work got in the way. But now…these wild horses…” She gave a dreamy sigh. “It’s my dream come true. They’re so beautiful. And those foals. Just so precious.” She danced around, unable to contain herself any longer.

  Then she paused as a thought struck. “Did you see the way the stallion watched us?”

  “I saw.”

  “Was he thinking of charging us if we moved too close?”

  Grace chuckled. “If we were predators, he would. But with people, whenever he feels threatened, he simply leads his herd to safety.”

  “So he knows the difference between people and other animals?”

  Grace smiled. “Indeed. And because this herd is so isolated, he may not even feel threatened if we moved among them. But for today, I wanted to let him get used to seeing us.”

  “Did you see how many mares had foals?”