Dropping the Hammer

by Joanna Wayne

  Rachel bypassed the dark gray suit she had planned to wear and instead chose a pair of chocolate-colored slacks and a wine-colored sweater.

  She pulled on a pair of brown, flat-heeled leather boots that had previously encountered mud puddles and proven their survival skills. She’d need to pick up additional clothing at her apartment if she planned to stay in Winding Creek through the following weekend.

  Any longer than that would definitely be taking advantage of Esther’s hospitality.

  Rachel found Esther in the kitchen, shelling pecans into a small bowl that was already half-full. “There’s a fresh pot of coffee,” Esther said.

  “Thanks. Have you heard from Grace?”

  “No, but I’m sure she’s up. This is the worst gully washer we’ve had in years. I do remember one June, though, when I thought we were going to wash plumb away. Charlie joked he was building an ark and swatting the mosquitoes before it started floating so he wouldn’t be saving them.”

  Rachel poured herself a cup of coffee. “Hopefully we won’t reach ark stage this time, but I do like his mosquito extermination program.”

  There was a loud banging at the back door followed by the sound of stamping feet.

  “About time Pierce got back here,” Esther said. She dropped the cracked pecan in the basket.

  But when the door opened, it was Luke, not Pierce, who was standing there. The gray slicker he was wearing pooled on the mat. His boots were caked in mud despite the stamping.

  Esther grabbed the nearest dish towel and rushed to the door. “Sakes alive, Luke, you look like you fell into Winding Creek and stayed for a fish dinner.”

  “Feel like it, too,” he agreed. “Never mind the towel. I’m too big a mess to come in.”

  “Of course you can come in. That’s what mops are for.”

  “I can just stay a minute.” He stepped inside and onto the indoor mat.

  “Is something wrong?” Rachel asked.

  “I got a call from Pierce. He says there’s been a mudslide out near the gorge. It took part of the fence line with it.”

  Esther covered her mouth with both hands as if holding in an exclamation. “Are the cattle okay?”

  “Most of them. Some of the young cows have gotten tangled in the downed barbwire or stuck in the mud. Three or four have slid partway into the gorge. Pierce and Buck have their hands full, so I came to help.”

  “Did they call Riley?” Esther asked.

  “Riley’s on his way. He’s bringing his own four-wheeler, since there’s no way to get a truck to that area without getting it stuck. Pierce says there’s another four-wheeler in the barn.”

  “There is,” Esther said. “The key’s in it. There should be some ropes in there, as well.”

  “I brought some with me. Pierce just wanted me to let you know what’s going on so you didn’t worry when he doesn’t show up for breakfast. And he wants someone to let Grace know what’s going on. He said try not to upset her.”

  “I’ll get you a thermos of coffee to take with you and a few tea cakes. You guys will need something to warm your insides and give you energy.”

  Rachel walked over to the door while Esther prepared the treats.

  “I’m sorry about this,” Luke said. “I’m not sure how long this is going to take, but I don’t want you going to Houston without me.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” she assured him.

  “That’s not the answer I’m looking for. I don’t want you facing that sick son of a bitch alone. Promise me you aren’t making that trip without me or I’m not leaving here.”

  He was worried and protective. And caring. Her heart caved. “I promise, Luke. Now go, cowboy. You have cows to rescue.” He kissed her hard on the mouth. Possessive, as if they belonged to each other.

  Esther handed him the thermos and a plastic tote full of disposable cups and the cake-like sugar cookies as he left. Into the storm and the frosty temperatures.

  Pierce needed him and he was eager to help. There was little room for doubt now. The odds were good that he was a rancher at heart.

  And that she was too crazy about him for words.

  * * *

  “NO USE TO cook breakfast for the men,” Esther said. “It will be lunchtime or later before we see them again.”

  “Do you really think it will take that long?”

  “I s’pect it will. Not fretting about it. Livestock and the land. That’s a rancher’s lifeblood. I can’t tell you how many plans of mine got canceled over the years because of an animal emergency.”

  “You must have gotten annoyed with that on occasion.”

  “Would’ve been a big, fat waste of time if I did. Besides, I knew my Charlie loved me. Deep down, I was proud of how responsible he was. Made me feel safe.”

  Safe.

  That was how Luke made Rachel feel. Safe. She’d forgotten how it felt until Luke had come along.

  “I can whip up some bacon and eggs for the two of us in no time or I can make us a nice peach cobbler from the summer fruit I froze. Some folks don’t like cobbler for breakfast, but I say if it’s good, time of day don’t matter.”

  “Please don’t go to that trouble for me. Toast is fine, especially topped off with some of your homemade fig preserves.”

  “That sounds mighty good to me, too, along with a tall glass of milk.”

  Rachel put two slices of artisan bread from Dani’s bakery in the toaster and set the table while Esther got out the preserves, butter and milk.

  “It sure was nice having Tucker and Sydney here this weekend,” Esther said as they sat down across from each other in the breakfast nook. “Having you here, too, made it extraspecial.”

  “I hope I’m not wearing out my welcome.”

  “Don’t you ever worry about that. Does an old woman good not to wander around a big house like this all alone every night. Not that I don’t have plenty of family, but there’s always room for one more if they’re nice as you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What do you think of the Dawkins boy?”

  Rachel didn’t think of Luke as a boy, but Esther had her own way of saying things. “He’s very nice.”

  “He was a good kid, too. Me and his mama were best friends before she died. She was a good twenty years younger than me, but we just hit it off right from the day we met.”

  “How old was Luke when she died?”

  “A couple of years older than Jaci is now, around eight, I suspect. Luke was her heart from the day he was born. He was all that mattered to her. Broke her heart when she walked away and left him behind.”

  “Why did she leave him?”

  “She didn’t leave him. She left Alfred. I think he was a good man deep down, but he was controlling and ornery.”

  “Alfred must have been a lot older than her.”

  “He was, but he was a good-looking man with a lot going for him. He adored her and she loved him at first.”

  “What happened?” Rachel asked.

  “He was jealous and that brought out the worst in him. He didn’t want her to leave the house and got too crotchety to bear. She was like a butterfly, flitting around, bringing beauty and light to everything and everyone she touched.”

  “Everyone except Alfred?”

  “I reckon he was so afraid of losing her that he eventually ran her off. Before she got settled and came back for Luke, she got killed in a head-on collision.”

  Esther picked up the napkin and dabbed her eyes. “I swear I can’t think of that day without getting all weepy.”

  That explained why Luke felt the way he did about his dad. He probably blamed him for losing his mother. Yet he’d come home to take care of his father when Alfred needed him.

  Luke Dawkins was an amazing man.

  * * *

  RACHEL TO
OK ADVANTAGE of a slowdown in the rain to make the ten-minute drive to Pierce and Grace’s cabin. The old blacktop ranch road gave way to a long, curving gravel drive for the last fifty yards. Driving was slick and water flowed like a river along the eastern edge of the road.

  There was no garage, but Pierce and his brothers had built a covered carport that provided a dry, mud-free path to the back door. Rachel parked, walked to the door and knocked. The damp, cold air chilled her to the bone. Her black waterproof trench coat would have felt good, but it was back in Houston.

  Jaci opened the door and did a twirl to show off her new yellow-flowered raincoat with matching yellow boots. Even the opened umbrella matched.

  “You look like you’re going out dancing in the rain.”

  “I wanted to, but Mommy won’t let me. Like, what’s the point of having a new raincoat if I can’t get out in the rain?”

  She twirled again as if that would make her point.

  “You don’t want to get those boots all wet, do you?” Rachel asked.

  “Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. That’s what my cousin Constance says.”

  “But you, young lady, have to do what Mommy and Daddy say,” Grace reminded her. “And we say it’s much too cold and wet to be jumping into mud puddles, especially before school.”

  Jaci’s hands went to her hips, but then she quickly went back to regaling them with her dance routine.

  Grace fell back into one of the kitchen chairs. She looked pale and frail.

  “How are you feeling?” Rachel asked.

  “Tired. I’m at that stage in the pregnancy where a good night’s sleep would be more exciting than winning the lottery.”

  “That’s tired,” Rachel agreed. And it showed in Grace’s face and the stoop to her shoulders. Her ready smile was nowhere to be seen.

  “Have you had breakfast?” Rachel asked.

  “I ate a few bites of yogurt, but I have no appetite this morning.”

  That didn’t sound like a good thing to Rachel, but she wasn’t going to push food on Grace when she didn’t feel like eating. “What about Jaci? Has she had breakfast?”

  “I had a peanut butter sandwich and it was yummy,” Jaci said, jumping into the conversation.

  “It’s what she wanted,” Grace said, “and I didn’t have the energy to argue with her. I figure peanut butter and jelly is as good for her as those sugary cereals she likes so much.”

  “Sounds healthy enough to me,” Rachel agreed.

  She was far more worried about Grace’s health. If you’d asked Rachel yesterday, she would have sworn the one thing consuming her thoughts this morning would have been the impending meeting with Roy Sales.

  Now she was seriously worried about Grace, and cows and the men taking care of them. She was also concerned that she was becoming so involved in this life that she really didn’t want to go to Houston today without Luke.

  “Perhaps you should call your obstetrician,” Rachel said, “just to be on the safe side. You don’t want to come down with a virus this close to your due date.”

  “I will if I don’t feel better soon, but I think I’m just tired. One decent night’s sleep would work miracles.”

  “My little brother is growing in Mommy’s tummy,” Jaci said. “That’s why she’s getting so fat.” Jaci put down her umbrella and patted Grace’s stomach. “I’ll be a big sister.”

  “That is very exciting,” Rachel said. “Would you like me to drive you to the gate to wait on your school bus?”

  “Yes. Can she, Mommy?”

  “Absolutely, but the bus won’t be here for about twenty more minutes. Why don’t you go and practice this week’s new words until it’s time to go?”

  “I don’t need practice. I already know them all. But I could go work on my coloring. Art is my favorite subject.”

  She skipped off, leaving Rachel and Grace alone.

  “You’re going to have your hands full with Jaci and the baby. Are you ready for it?”

  “To tell you the truth, it scares me to death. Jaci and I have bonded so beautifully and I don’t want to lose any of that. Still, I know the baby is going to require a lot of my time. Pierce keeps trying to reassure me, but I worry that Jaci will feel left out.”

  “You’ll have a lot of help,” Rachel said. “This family seems to stick together in everything.”

  “You’re right about that. It would be supernice if you lived closer. You may need a lot more time unwinding on the back of a horse if you’re really going to represent Hayden Covey.”

  “So you heard about that?”

  “Everyone has. It was on the news all day yesterday. The family just doesn’t want you to think they’re butting into your business, so they won’t ask about it until you mention it.”

  “The news media have jumped the gun. The decision hasn’t been made as to whether or not I’ll defend him.”

  Grace started to get out of the chair but winced in pain and grabbed her side.

  Rachel panicked. “Was that a labor pain?”

  “I don’t think so. I was just at the doctor’s yesterday. He said it would likely be at least another week, maybe two.”

  “Is that the first pain like that you’ve had?”

  “The second,” Grade admitted. “I had one when I first got out of bed this morning.”

  “I know next to nothing about labor pains,” Rachel admitted, “but I think you should call your doctor or at least call Esther.”

  “I will if...”

  Grace stopped talking and stood perfectly still as water began to run down her legs and pool around her feet. “I think my water just broke.”

  “Call your doctor.” This time Rachel ordered instead of suggesting. “I’m calling Esther and she can call Pierce.”

  Esther was at the door only a minute or two after Grace got off the phone with her doctor’s nurse.

  “They want me to come in now,” Grace said.

  “I can drive you,” Rachel said.

  “That’s what Pierce suggested, as well,” Esther said. “He’ll meet you there as fast as he can get back here and scrape off some of the mud.”

  “Can you drive Jaci to the school bus stop?” Grace asked Esther.

  “Of course I can.”

  Minutes later, Grace and Rachel were in the car driving to the hospital. Grace was having her baby.

  Roy Sales and even Eric Fitch would just have to wait. The biggest drama of life couldn’t.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Luke arrived at Esther’s house to pick up Rachel before eight o’clock on Wednesday morning. Every muscle in his body ached from the hours they’d spent saving a few cows yesterday.

  But it was a sunny fifty-two degrees this morning and he and Rachel were off to Houston with a stop along the way to visit a man he’d be happy to see dead.

  He’d been up since dawn working his own ranch. He could have used a few more hours of sleep, but other than that, he had no complaints. In fact, he wasn’t sure when he’d been happier.

  Esther opened the door and invited him in. “Glad to see you’re still kicking,” she said.

  “I spent years in the marines. A day of hard work isn’t going to slow me down.”

  “Good, because you were definitely christened into the life of a Texas rancher yesterday. Pierce couldn’t brag enough about you last night.”

  “All I heard was Pierce’s crowing about his new son.”

  “Charlie. They named him Charlie. I’m tickled pink. I figure my Charlie is wearing the biggest smile in heaven today.”

  “Pierce was smiling pretty good himself last night when I stopped by the hospital.”

  “He was mighty happy,” Esther agreed. “And Grace looked positively angelic holding her new son in her arms. Come on back to the kitchen. I’ll get you some cof
fee. Rachel will be out in a minute.”

  “Sounds good.” He’d hoped she’d back off the idea of having a face-to-face visit with Roy Sales, but she’d made it clear last night it was still on.

  Esther poured and then handed him a mug of black coffee. “There’s cream in the fridge if you want it and sugar in that chicken cup on the counter.”

  “No, thanks. I like it strong and black.” He took a sip. “This fits the bill perfectly.”

  “Rachel said you’re planning to bring Alfred home soon and that you’ll stay on awhile if it works out.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “That’s a really nice thing to do,” Esther said. “I know you and your dad have had some real differences, but he was always proud of you.”

  “If he was, he hid it well.”

  “You know, I’ve got something I’ve been saving for you a long time. Alfred told me to see that you got it when he died. I figure he came close enough to dying that you should have it. Wait here. I’ll get it.”

  Rachel arrived before Esther got back. As always, just seeing her made his insides melt. He kissed her and felt a longing that went far deeper than mere sexual desire.

  “Good morning, cowboy,” she said. “Or did all that work yesterday change your mind about adopting the lifestyle?”

  “I’m still in. My muscles are protesting.”

  The truth was he’d envied Pierce his lifestyle yesterday. Not just the ranch but his life. He’d never seen a man who fit so well in his own skin.

  He and Grace were a team and so in love with each other and their growing family. They seemed to have it all. Luke could get used to a life like that.

  Esther rejoined them in the kitchen. She held out a sealed letter-size envelope to Luke. “I can’t say if this is good or bad, but Alfred wanted you to have it. I’m just making the delivery a little soon.”

  He took the envelope but didn’t open it. “How long have you had it?”

  “I’m not sure. A year or two after you left home.”