Blame It On Texas

by Kristine Rolofson

  “Gotta go.” Dustin released her, then called goodbye to his son. “Be good,” he reminded the child.

  “You’re coming back, right?” the boy asked.

  “Yeah. After I buy some cattle, and maybe a horse or two.”

  “I can’t come?”

  “It’s too long a day, pal,” Dustin said, giving the kid a hug around his skinny shoulders. “And you have to be a little older before you can go. I think you’ll have a better time here with Kate and Grandma Gert.”

  “Kate could go with us,” Danny said, obviously unwilling to let his father out of his sight.

  “I can’t,” Kate answered. “I promised Gran I’d make fried chicken for dinner tonight. And I bought all the stuff to make homemade ice cream.” She almost laughed at the expression on Danny’s face. Fried chicken and ice cream made up for missing an auction, if Danny even knew what an auction was.

  “Well,” the boy drawled, unconsciously mimicking his father. “I guess that’s okay then.”

  Kate looked up at Dustin. “See ya.”

  “Yeah.” He glanced at her lips and then frowned. “How many hours until tomorrow night?”

  “Too many. Bye.” Falling in love was ridiculous, she knew, but it was also the best thing that had happened to her in a long time. She watched him leave, watched Danny dump a load of metal vehicles by the back door, and thought she’d never been happier. And that meant, according to her one experience with falling in love, that something was about to go dreadfully wrong.

  Or maybe, she thought, going back into the kitchen, she’d been writing soap opera story lines for too long. Maybe she didn’t recognize something normal and uncomplicated when it landed in her lap.

  GERT SAW THE WOMAN first. She’d dozed off in the chair, but she woke when she heard the car. Even an old woman could hear a car with no muffler when it chugged up the road. So she wasn’t too surprised when the woman who got out of the driver’s side of the car looked pretty scraggly. Gert didn’t think she’d ever seen her before.

  “Kate?” Gert didn’t like the looks of this. Too many years living alone gave her a suspicious nature, especially when a beat-up station wagon with a tough-looking young woman entered the ranch yard. “Kate.”

  “What?” She poked her head in the living room. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone’s here and I don’t like the look of her.”

  “Her?”

  Gert pointed to the window. The young woman took a final drag of her cigarette and tossed it to the ground before walking toward the front door.

  “You don’t know her?”

  “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. I forget faces once in a while.” Gert hauled herself to her feet. “Where’s Danny?”

  “Out back with his trucks. I gave him a bucket of water and he’s dug a hole—”

  “You answer the door then,” Gert said. “I’m going to check on the boy. Keep the screen door locked, though. Don’t open it and let her in. You just never know these days.”

  Kate was at the door when the knock came, and she opened it and peered through the screen at a woman her age who looked as if she could use a shower. “Hello?”

  “Hi.” Pale and very thin, the woman wore her dark hair past her shoulders. A blue T-shirt hung to her hips, and her blue jeans were faded and worn. “Does Dusty Jones work here?”

  “He’s not here right now. Can I give him a message?” The woman looked familiar, but Kate couldn’t come up with a name to fit the face.

  “But he works here, right? That’s what they told me at the Dead Horse.” She looked around the yard as if she expected Dustin to come around the corner of the house.

  “He works here,” Kate agreed. “But he’s not here right now.” She tried again. “Can I give him a message?”

  Once again Kate was ignored. “You’re Kate McIntosh. I know you.” She smiled, but it wasn’t the kind of smile that made Kate relax. “I’m Lisa Gallagher.” She chuckled. “Well, I was Lisa Gallagher and then I was Lisa Jones.”

  “Sure,” Kate said slowly, but she didn’t open the screen door and invite Lisa inside. “I remember you from high school.”

  “I came for Danny,” the woman said. “I had a little trouble, but I got out of rehab and here I am,” she announced, as if she expected Kate to be happy to see her. “So tell my kid that his mom is here.”

  Kate hesitated. Rehab? Danny’s words rang in her head. My mom drank a lot of beer. We don’t have a family. The child rarely mentioned his mother, and Dustin hadn’t said anything good about her either. She didn’t think he’d want Danny to see her unless he gave his permission.

  “I don’t think so,” Kate said, attempting a pleasant smile. “He’s with his father.”

  “His father?” Her confused expression cleared. “Oh, you mean Dusty.”

  “Yes. They went to Marysville.” Let Lisa head somewhere else to make trouble, because Kate just knew this woman was up to no good.

  “I saw Dusty in town. Alone.” Lisa moved closer to the door and raised her voice. “So where’s my kid?”

  “He’s not here.” Kate thought about shutting the inner door in her face, but worried that Lisa would head around back and find her son. She hoped Gert brought the boy inside and locked the back door behind her.

  Her eyes narrowed. “You lying bitch. You have my son and I want him. Dusty has no right to keep him from me.” She tried to push the door, but Kate had made sure the screen door was locked.

  “That’s it,” Kate said. “Get out of here.” She shut the inner door, locked it, and hurried through the house to the back door. Gran had Danny by the hand in the kitchen, so Kate rushed across the room to make sure the door was locked.

  “Is my mom here?” Danny’s eyes were huge in his little face.

  Kate sighed. The woman pounded on the back door and yelled Danny’s name. “Yes. I guess she’s upset. She wants to see you, but—”

  The child nodded and threw himself into Kate’s arms. “Don’t let her take me away,” he cried. “I want to stay here.”

  “I called the sheriff’s office,” Gert said. “They’re going to send someone over as soon as they can.”

  Meanwhile the screaming continued at the back door. Lisa was threatening to sue everyone and make sure Dustin never saw Danny again. Kate knelt on the floor and gave Danny a hug. “No one’s going to let her take you away from your daddy,” she promised.

  “She’s mean,” he whispered. “And she was in jail ’cuz she hurt me. And she took drugs. And my real daddy’s in jail ’cuz he took drugs, too, and he hid it in our house and then the police came.”

  “Real daddy?” Kate looked at Gert, who shrugged. “I thought Dustin was your daddy.”

  The child shook his head. “I pretend Uncle Dustin is my daddy,” he whispered, then wrapped his arms around Kate’s neck in a viselike grip as Lisa’s shouting grew louder. “He lets me.”

  “Well, I told your…daddy that I would take good care of you, so we’re all going to go upstairs,” Kate told the two of them. She would think about this “Uncle Dustin” revelation later. “There’s no reason why we have to listen to this. Danny, you run up there and watch for the sheriff’s car, okay? I’ll help Grandma Gert.”

  “Okay.” He hugged her and then did as he was told.

  “I have my grandfather’s hunting rifle,” Gert muttered, opening the utility closet. “I can’t remember where I locked up the bullets, but I’ll bet just the sight of it would scare the living daylights out of that woman.” She rummaged through the closet and pulled out a rifle that had seen better days.

  “Gran, I don’t think—”

  “Kate, mind your business,” Gert said. “The young woman outside needs to learn some manners.”

  “I’m going to call the sheriff again.” She picked up the phone and hit the redial button. “Don’t shoot anyone, please?”

  “I remember now,” Gert said, going to the cupboard above the stove. “I locked the bullets up with the liquor.
” Kate had never seen her grandmother move so fast.

  “Gran, I don’t think—oh, hello, this is Kate Mc-Intosh out at the Lazy K. Yes, she called a few minutes ago…yes, she’s still here. Lisa Gallagher, I mean, Lisa Jones. She’s causing a real scene and we’re not sure what to do.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Gert muttered, loading the rifle with stiff fingers.

  “Great. Thank you.” She hung up and eyed her grandmother, who was now heading toward the back door. “Put the rifle down, Gran. Someone’s on the way. Besides, I think Lisa’s gone.”

  Gert peeked out the kitchen window. “I don’t see her. Check and see if the car’s still out front.”

  It was. Kate saw Lisa sitting on the steps, her head on her knees and her shoulders shaking. She didn’t know why she felt sorry for the woman, but Kate opened the front door and went over to her. She didn’t dare look up at the front bedroom window, because she knew she’d see her grandmother’s rifle. Kate didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  “Lisa?”

  She didn’t lift her head. “Go away,” she mumbled, or at least that’s what Kate thought she said.

  “You don’t have custody of Danny, do you,” Kate said, sitting beside her on the wide step.

  “No. I’m a lousy mother.”

  Candid, too. “So why are you here?”

  “I just wanted to tell him I was sorry for everything. I’m going to California,” she said, raising her head to look at Kate. “A friend there’s gonna give me a job in his bar.” She sniffed and wiped her face with the edge of her shirt. “I’m sorry I lost my temper. I do that sometimes and it gets me in trouble.”

  “My grandmother called the sheriff, Lisa. You scared us.”

  “I just wanted to see my kid.”

  “He’s afraid of you, especially after all that yelling.” Kate thought for a moment. “Would you like to write him a note? I’ll see that he gets it.”

  “That’d probably be better, I guess.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Kate went inside and grabbed a legal pad and a pen from Gert’s desk, then hurried back outside. She handed them to Lisa and then returned to the house to assure Danny and Gert that everything was okay. Danny was under her bed and didn’t want to come out, so Kate left him there while she convinced Gert to unload the rifle.

  Three minutes later she went back outside to find Lisa waiting by her car and the notepad and pen on the front steps.

  “Thanks,” Lisa said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and securing it with a leather strip. “Tell Danny I won’t be back.”

  “I will.”

  “Dusty will be really pissed when he finds out I was here. Can you explain it to him?” She opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel.

  “Sure. If you explain something to me.” Lisa nodded. “You weren’t pregnant with Dustin’s baby nine summers ago, were you?”

  Lisa’s eyebrows rose. “Not me. I had the hots for Darrell, his older brother. We got married.” She grimaced. “What a mistake that was. When we weren’t trying to drink ourselves to death, we were doing coke.”

  “And what about Danny?”

  “When we got arrested, that’s when Dusty found out what was going on and took Danny. He’s not a bad kid, but when you’re a junkie, having a kid around is a real pain in the ass.” With that, she turned the key in the ignition and Kate backed away and let her leave.

  When Kate looked back at the house, sure enough, Gert still had the rifle in the window. Sheriff Jess Sheridan, arriving five minutes later, turned out to be the only person who could get Gert to put down the gun once and for all.

  “WHAT DO YOU WANT to do?”

  “I dunno.”

  Kate lay on her stomach beside Danny underneath the iron bed that used to belong to her mother. The boy stretched out beside her, his chin resting on his folded arms. She wished she knew the magic words that would comfort him. He’d been under the bed for an hour, even after being reassured that his mother had gone away for good. “Want to go for a walk?”

  “Nope.”

  She slid the plate of cookies closer to him. “Help yourself.” The boy hesitated, then reached out to take one.

  “I’m glad I cleaned under here,” Kate said, hoping to make him smile. “Otherwise you’d be eating dust bunnies.”

  He didn’t smile, but at least he still had his appetite. “When’s my dad coming home?”

  “Tonight. After supper, I would think.” She’d thought about having the sheriff find him at the auction, but maybe this way was better, with Danny having a chance to calm down and the three of them going on with their afternoon as they’d planned.

  “You still making ice cream?”

  “We’re still making ice cream,” she said.

  “When?”

  “When we get out from under the bed.”

  Danny sighed and closed his eyes. “Not yet, okay?”

  “Okay.” Kate was more than willing to wait until the little boy wasn’t afraid anymore. And oddly enough, lying on the floor under the bed, a curtain of white chenille fringe surrounding them, made a good place to think.

  So Dustin had been lying to her all along. Well, maybe he’d never come right out and said it, but he certainly hadn’t explained that he was the child’s uncle. He’d let her think he got Lisa pregnant. But why? Because that was an easy way to break up with her so many years ago? An easy way to get rid of the gawky girl who thought he was her first love?

  Kate looked over at Danny, who had fallen asleep with a half-eaten cookie in his hand. She wanted to smooth the hair from his face, but was afraid she’d disturb him. He was a sweet boy who needed a mother. Maybe that’s what Dustin wanted this time, a mother for the boy and—as a bonus—his own ranch. Not bad for a man who never had much of anything of his own.

  She wanted to be angry, but she felt more like crying. Loves of Our Lives was simple compared to the goings-on in Beauville. She’d return her boss’s phone calls later on. She’d book herself a seat on the first flight to New York Saturday and from now on she’d never look back. Gran would finish her book; Mom could have her mysterious nervous breakdowns, her real estate developer and her new apartment; Jake would have more babies; Emily would have her tubes tied; and life would go on.

  Kate didn’t think she’d be taking many more vacations in Texas.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  DUSTIN ARRIVED BACK at the ranch feeling pretty good about the heifers he’d bought. Gert was going to like the price, too.

  “Hello?” he called at the back door, but there was no answer and the door was locked. Good thing the animals weren’t going to be delivered until Saturday, or he’d be herding cows all by himself tonight.

  There was a note tacked on the bunkhouse, informing Dustin that the women and Danny had taken food over to Jake and Elizabeth’s ranch and would be back later, before dark. He would clean up and get some paperwork done before they returned.

  He was pleased with the way the afternoon went. Danny was going to get a large pony named Boomer, outgrown by his previous owner. Kate was going to get a marriage proposal. And poor Martha McIntosh was going to get a cowboy for a son-in-law, if Dustin was lucky.

  And he felt pretty damn lucky.

  “YOU’RE LUCKY SHE didn’t hurt you,” Gran said, still fuming over Lisa’s invasion of the home place. She waved goodbye to Danny, who had paused at the door of the bunkhouse as Dustin held the door open for him to go inside.

  “I told you, I felt sorry for her,” Kate said, turning the car around. The headlights swept across the windows she knew were part of Dustin’s bedroom. She wouldn’t be spending any more time in that room.

  “Better she should have seen my gun.”

  “Gran, for heaven’s sake. You’ve got to get rid of that thing. At least get it out of the closet and put it in the attic.”

  “I keep the bullets locked up,” she muttered. “But all right, you can put the rifle away. I guess you’ll know where it is when you need it.�
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  It would have been a good time to tell her she wasn’t staying, but Kate figured her grandmother could wait another day to be disappointed. She hadn’t come up with the right way to tell her yet, either. Hopefully, after a long night thinking about this, she would think of the least painful way to leave.

  “Jake’s baby is beautiful,” Kate said, hoping to change the subject. “She looks just like Elizabeth.”

  “She does,” Gran agreed. “She’s a good little thing. Snuggled in my arms like she belonged there.”

  “How does it feel to be a great-grandmother?”

  “I’m glad I lived long enough to see it,” she said. “Jake will be a good father.”

  “Yes.” Her cousin was as devoted a husband and father as she’d ever seen. Jake had always been the steady one, the man everyone depended on in a crisis. The last man in the family.

  “I didn’t know Dustin was that little boy’s uncle,” Gran said, shaking her head. “But I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

  “Why?” She parked the car and opened the door to illuminate the interior, then gathered up the empty casserole dishes.

  “He’d never had a chocolate milk shake.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. It was just something that struck me as odd at the time. And he said those strange things about his family, remember?”

  “Yes.” And Dustin hadn’t explained. Not a word. He’d let her go on thinking he’d made Lisa pregnant, let her go on assuming that he had married and divorced the woman, that he had a son. He hadn’t been honest. Again. And she supposed that’s what hurt the most. He’d let her into his bed but not into his life.

  It was exactly what happened nine years ago.

  “Kate?”

  “Oh, sorry,” she said, and hurried over to help Gran out of the car. “I guess I’m tired.”

  “I guess we both are,” Gran said, “but your cowboy is heading our way, so you’d better perk up. He’s going to want to know what happened here today.”

  “Danny must have told him.”