LoversFeud

by Ann Jacobs

  It didn’t take that long for me to realize you’re exactly the woman I want. As they walked hand in hand down the hallway, he imagined his mother looking down from heaven, happy that he’d found not only his future wife but also a lifetime partner.

  * * * * *

  Karen’s nerves were on edge by the time she finished faxing the information she and Bye had put together to Joelle Hudson, her pop’s psychologist. She’d tried not to listen while Bye spoke with Four, or when they both went to the far end of the office and continued the conversation in front of the safe. She couldn’t help hearing the tumblers in the safe turning, though.

  When they both came to her, matching smiles on their faces, she knew it would be okay here. Bye wasn’t going to get thrown out or shot for falling in love with her. She wished she were as certain that her pop wouldn’t pitch one of his very special, memorable fits that sometimes over the years had ended up with people hurt or in jail.

  Four spoke first. “Welcome to our family, Karen. I’m glad Bye had the balls to go after what he wanted instead of letting the history between our two families stand in the way.”

  “Give me your hand, sweetheart. The left one.” When she did, Bye went down on one knee and put an old-fashioned-looking diamond ring on her hand. “Good. It fits perfectly.”

  She looked down at the ring, a large, sparkling solitaire set in an intricately carved platinum band. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It first belonged to my mother.” Four reached over and held up her hand. “That makes it close to seventy years old. If you want something more modern, Bye can always have the diamond reset. The stone’s a good one, but the appraiser told me it’s what’s called a rose cut that apparently was popular the early years of the last century.”

  She couldn’t imagine any setting prettier than the band she now noticed had been engraved with Texas bluebells. The tiny flowers marched all around the band. “I bet your grandmother loved the bluebells that grow all over the Bar C. I love them too, and I wouldn’t think of changing her ring. I don’t know anything about diamonds, but I love the way this one looks.” Even though it had been locked away in the safe, the diamond sparkled in the afternoon sunlight, and if it had been any bigger it would have looked like a headlight.

  “Mae said almost the same thing.” Four’s eyes were suspiciously damp, and he spoke more gruffly than usual. “Like I said before, Bye picked well. I’m glad you’ll soon be changing your name to Caden.”

  Karen hadn’t thought of that. It was one more thing that would likely set Pop off. Still, she was traditional enough to want to take her husband’s last name. “I don’t know how soon that will happen. I’d like to try to talk my pop into accepting our marriage, not that I believe that’s likely to happen.”

  “If you want, I’ll go talk to him. I owe him an apology that’s long past due.”

  Bye stood and looked over at his father. “What specifically did you do that you think calls for an apology?”

  Four looked thoughtful. “I should have gone to Slade and apologized at the time, for Churchill’s rampage that killed Karen’s mother. I didn’t, though, bullheaded idiot that I was. I was mad as hell because Mae had already told him how sorry we were and given him leave to shoot the bull since he was trespassing on the Rocking O. Hell, Churchill was just doing what came natural, and I was pissed at Slade for letting a cow in heat out loose in the pasture instead of locking her up in the barn. Still, losing a champion Brangus bull doesn’t hurt nearly as much as losing a wife. I didn’t realize that then.”

  Karen patted his hand. “It’s okay, Four. Our families have been fighting each other every generation. What you did was understandable.”

  “But it was wrong. I ought to have offered to help the man, no matter whether it was my bull or some other tragedy that left him widowed when you were hardly more than a baby. It shouldn’t have mattered that Oakleys and Cadens had been feuding for over a hundred years. Instead I told myself Mae had done enough, and that Slade wouldn’t accept anything from us, even if we offered it.”

  Karen had never felt so strongly that their fathers would eventually resolve their differences. Four had already come around. “Maybe you’re right. If you give Ms. Hudson a few weeks’ worth of sessions to spend with Pop now that she probably knows even more than he does about this feud, you might be able to help him resolve some of the anger he’s been carrying around all his life.”

  “Yeah, Dad. I want you to talk with him at the rehab facility, though, where they can control him. I’ll never forget the way he was acting the day they hauled him away, or the fact that he shot off a gun that might just as easily have hit Karen as it did that window and the toilet.” Bye laid his hands on her shoulders. “The last thing we need now is another incident to keep the feud alive.”

  Karen looked over at Four. “Bye is right. I don’t want to risk having anything happen to you. Pop has been drunk for longer than I’ve known him, and Ms. Hudson has assured me it will take a lot of time and patience for them to get him down to the root of why he’s been drinking the way he has. It’s good you want to talk with him, but let’s wait until Ms. Hudson thinks he’s ready.”

  “All right. You two tell me when the psychologist thinks the time is right. I’m going to drive out to the northeast pasture and see how the spring roundup is going. If you want, Bye, I’ll check on your windmills.” Four paused at the door, as though waiting for his son’s permission.

  Bye grinned. “Go ahead, Dad. I’m gonna stick around here this afternoon and try to talk my fiancée into eloping to Vegas or somewhere.”

  He didn’t mean that, did he? Karen had always dreamed of a pretty wedding with friends and family all around. “That may be a pretty hard assignment. What if I want a huge shindig with five hundred guests and twelve bridesmaids?”

  “Then we’ll do it here,” Bye said, taking her hands and drawing her out on the porch overlooking his mother’s beautiful flower garden. “Want me to call Maria out here and have her tell us how long it will take her to put your dream party together?”

  She took his cell phone out of his hand before he could dial the Bar C’s housekeeper. “Think, Bye. Your mom just passed away. It would disrespect her memory if we got married right away, especially here in her home.”

  “No it wouldn’t. There was nothing Mom wanted any more than to see me happily settled down. If you don’t think we should do it here, we can have a wedding at The Cliffs over on Possum Kingdom Lake or maybe White Bluff Resort. I’ve been to friends’ weddings there, and I’m pretty sure we could book something soon. There’s bound to be a wedding or two that have been canceled because the bride and groom broke up or the families decided they couldn’t handle the expense.”

  Karen shook her head. “I know it’s not likely to happen, but I’m traditional enough to want my father to give me away…”

  “Sweetheart, you have no idea when or if he’ll ever be well enough to leave rehab. I want us to be married long before that.” He pulled her back into a gentle embrace. “Don’t you?”

  “Of course I want to marry you. And I was only kidding about the twelve bridesmaids and such. To be honest, I doubt I know twelve girls well enough to ask them to be in my wedding. I’d be happy with just our families—hopefully not trying to kill one another over the wedding cake—and a few close friends. It’s the not killing one another part that worries me.”

  “Me too. But I’ve got to believe Slade will come around, particularly if Four breaks down and apologizes for that bull having broken through the fence. You know, I sort of remember Mom and Dad arguing about that, right after it happened. I was just six years old at the time, so it didn’t register exactly why she was so adamant that he needed to make amends. What say we schedule the wedding a month from now, and have it here in Mom’s garden?”

  Bye was right that it might take years, if ever, before her pop would accept her marrying him. She didn’t want to wait that long, either. “Let’s give it two months. We’l
l get married with or without my pop, and a little more time will have passed since your mother died. Also, I imagine Maria would appreciate the extra weeks to prepare.”

  “Six weeks. I’m willing to compromise. Where do you want to go for a honeymoon?”

  Karen’s brand-new fiancé was moving so fast it took her breath away. “I may not be able to postpone my court dates on such short notice—not that I have many yet.”

  “Four has an in with the judge. He can take care of that.” Bye laughed. “You see, I can counter all your arguments. Maybe I should have been a lawyer too.”

  “You’d be good. I don’t know how you’d have time to practice, though, with your duties around here, not to mention your wind farm.” She turned, went into Bye’s arms. “I’ve always wanted to go to the beach on Padre Island.”

  He laughed. “While I was in college, I spent plenty of weekends down there with my fraternity brothers. I’m afraid I was drunk most of the time. How about we go to Cabo San Lucas? Or maybe somewhere in the Caribbean? I’d like to take my bride someplace a little more elegant than my old weekend hangouts.”

  “Can I get a passport in six weeks?”

  Bye cupped her bottom. “I think so. But are you sure you don’t have one?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve never needed one. Trips out of the country were not on my agenda when I was working and going to school. I was lucky to find time for a weekend in Dallas every once in a while.”

  “We’ll check on the internet site. If I remember correctly, one of my fraternity brothers was able to apply and get a passport in less than a month.” He nuzzled her neck, and that sent delicious sensations all through her body. “How about we go up to my room and make more plans?”

  There was nothing she’d like better. “Okay, honey. Whatever you say.”

  * * * * *

  Hours later they decided to go see Buck at the Neon Lasso. It surprised Karen that she had no desire to watch the members playing, since none of them was Bye. He sat beside her at the bar, playing with a lock of her hair while her cousin read the paper they’d given him.

  “So a hundred-and-thirty-year-old feud breaks down to less than twenty events that take up about three typewritten pages to explain.” Buck shook his head. “I’ve always thought it was fucking stupid of everybody involved to keep at each other’s throats over that long a time, but it’s clear how every few years something seemed to happen that kept everybody fired up.”

  Bye nodded. “Yeah. It’s stupid, how things so insignificant as the first Slade Oakley asking my bitch great-grandmother to use a phone could make everybody remember that shooting and fire up the hatred again.”

  Karen sat quietly, sipping Coke and nibbling tortilla chips, content to let Buck and Bye rehash the harassment and insults that had taken place over the years since Luke Caden had decided to go up against her gunfighter ancestor and ended up dead. Both men had been in the wrong, and both men were long dead, as she hoped the feud the shooting had caused soon would be.

  “So you’re gonna marry Caden?”

  She looked up at Buck, whose gaze was fixed on the old-fashioned diamond ring that had belonged to Bye’s mother and grandmother. Both she and Bye had commented that his grandfather most likely hadn’t wanted to hand down his mother’s ring to his bride. After all, the man had built himself a new house instead of living in the homestead where he’d grown up. “Yes, we’re going to get married.”

  “Slade’s not gonna like it. I don’t have much faith that the shrink lady over in Lubbock will be able to persuade him it’s time to let the feud go. It’s worth a try, though. I just hope he doesn’t get himself put in jail when your old man tries to make things right.” Buck glanced over at Bye. “While Slade’s locked away, you ought to help Karen put the Rocking O to rights.”

  “Bye isn’t going to annex the ranch, Buck. It still belongs to Pop.”

  “Didn’t say he was. He is a rancher, though, and an oil man, even though he’s been playing most of the time lately with his windmills. At the very least, somebody needs to get hold of the oil companies that hold the leases and have them send somebody to fix wells where oil is seeping up around the casings.”

  Bye looked at Karen, concern evident in his expression. “What’s that about oil seeping up from some of your wells, sweetheart?”

  Buck answered before she could respond. “Take a look at the well outside Karen’s bedroom window. There’s crude oil puddled up around the pumpjack. A spark could set the stuff on fire. It would take a miracle to save the house if that should happen. That’s not the only well I saw on the Rocking O that needs repairs. There are plenty more out in the pasture.”

  Looking concerned, Bye turned to Karen. “I don’t want you going over there until we get those wells looked at. If I remember correctly, the one Buck mentioned is way too close to your house. Do you know who holds the leases?”

  “GreenTex. At least they’re the only company that’s paying Pop royalties. They’re out of Houston.”

  Bye scowled. “It sounds to me like whoever they’ve contracted with to service your wells isn’t doing his job. I’m calling Jake Green. He took over GreenTex from his father a few years ago. Nice guy. I met him in College Station, at my fraternity’s alumni weekend last fall. Meanwhile, if you don’t mind I’ll send over one of our well technicians to see what’s going on.”

  “You got your own well techs?” Buck sounded incredulous.

  Bye shrugged. “Yeah. We own some of the wells on the Bar C, outright. About ten years ago Four decided we shouldn’t keep giving away a percentage of royalties to some oil company that wanted to buy leases. I’m not sure, but I believe he may have spent more money drilling and maintaining those oil and gas wells than the extra he’s earned by not having to share revenue with an operator. Anyhow, the Bar C has to keep an engineer and several wildcatters on the payroll. In addition to keeping the wells pumping, the guys sometime come in handy when I need advice about the wind farm.”

  “And here I thought the Bar C was just a great big ranch. You guys have your fingers in more pies than I’d have ever imagined,” Buck said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of land to play with. Anyhow, I’ll be glad to have somebody go over to your place and assess what needs to be done.” Bye looked embarrassed, Karen thought when she watched him take a swallow of water. “Not too many folks know about Four’s dabbling in wildcatting operations. We’d like to keep it that way.”

  Bye had exposed her in a few short weeks to his world full of Learjets, Porsches, Mercedes sports cars purchased for six figures on a young girl’s whim and now this—some unknown number of producing oil and gas wells that poured not the usual quarter or three-eighths royalties but all of their earnings into the Bar C coffers! Karen glanced down at her ring and wondered if she ought to be afraid to wear it. “I’d appreciate it if you’d talk to the owner of the wells, Bye. I’m afraid Pop would go ballistic if you sent your people over, but I love you for offering.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips. “Okay, but at least let me take a look at the well that’s so close to your house, before I call Jake. I’m nowhere near as knowledgeable as a petrochemical engineer, but I can at least give Jake some idea of what may be going on.”

  “All right. I have to go home in the morning, anyway, or I’ll run out of clothes for the office. You can come with me.” Karen needed to go home and stay there until they married. It was too easy for her to fall in with Bye’s wishes and let him take care of her. “I need to move back home before I get too used to living practically in your pocket.”

  He raked her with a gaze that had her nerves on end, her pussy creaming with anticipation. “I sort of like havin’ you in my pocket, baby. Want to play a little?”

  Oh yeah. She wanted to play every time he looked at her that way, but since she’d fallen in love with him, she didn’t enjoy the prospect of public play the way she used to. “Wouldn’t you rather play in private?” She’d gotten the impres
sion Bye had never been much of an exhibitionist, with him wearing that hood the way he had the first time they’d played.

  “I like that idea. Let’s go home and get it on. Anything for my brand-new fiancée,” he told her as he stood and dropped a casual kiss on her lips. “Buck, we’ll see you later.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning Bye took one look at the pumpjack outside Karen’s bedroom window before forbidding her to move back home until it was fixed. From what she’d told him, he figured most of the wells on the Rocking O were in secondary or tertiary production, which explained why the income from them had dwindled to the point that the operator GreenTex had contracted with saw little point in servicing them. When Bye spoke to Jake Green, he gave the man hell about that, and a few hours later a GreenTex maintenance crew landed on the Bar C airstrip and went to work on the poorly maintained wells.

  Bye had never been quite so busy as he was during the coming weeks, between making wedding plans with Karen and Maria and taking part in the spring roundup at the Bar C. Four seemed to be giving him more and more responsibility around the ranch, which pleased him. One afternoon he was out in the northeast pasture, having just climbed up and checked out a windmill that had been damaged in a recent storm, when Karen called him from her office.

  “What is it, sweetheart?” He ducked into Diego’s pickup and put the phone on speaker because a gusting wind made it hard to hear. “Did you say something about your father?” Maybe the psychologist thought it might be time for Four to visit.

  “Jake Green called me. He believes they can rework a couple of the wells and get production up. Should I ask Pop to let them do that?”

  For an attorney working in oil and gas country, Karen seemed pretty clueless about how oil leases worked, but then she concentrated mainly on criminal law. “As long as the wells are in production, the lessee has the right to take them down and rework them whenever it wants to. If they’re capped and abandoned, then the lease terminates. It sounds to me like GreenTex wants to rework existing wells. If that’s the case, they don’t need to get the landowner’s permission unless there are unusual terms written into the original leases. Frankly, I wouldn’t fight them, because they wouldn’t commit the money it will take to do a rework if they didn’t believe the wells could be profitable again. If you want me to, I’ll talk with Jake and find out exactly what he has in mind.”