by Linda Warren
“Okay. You help Margie and I’ll go home and see what Miss Kate wants. I’m going to shower and change into my starched jeans, white shirt and good Stetson. You go home and change into something black that will keep my blood pressure at a dangerous level. Then we’re going out to eat someplace fancy and tonight we might not come home.”
She smiled into his eyes. “I love that plan.”
“See you back here in about an hour or so.” He kissed her in a long drugging kiss. Her knees wobbled as he walked out the door.
She touched her lips with a shaky hand and wanted to embrace all these new emotions they’d shared. But a niggling doubt was there poking at her like a mischievous child. He hadn’t said the words she wanted to hear. He hadn’t said I love you. Maybe he would have if the phone hadn’t interrupted. But now she had to brace herself for the fact that after all he’d been through, he might never say them again. Could she live with that?
* * *
RICO DROVE TOWARD Rebel Ranch feeling as if the world and its demons had lifted from his shoulders. At the thought of Dusty he didn’t feel that ache in his chest. With Ana’s help he’d tucked it away in his heart in a special place to be remembered, but never forgotten. He could breathe. He could live now.
He couldn’t imagine what the meeting was about. He just wanted to get it over with quickly and get back to Ana and their evening. If he hurried, he might have time to go to Temple to buy a ring. Yes! This time he was doing it right.
All the brothers’ trucks were parked at Miss Kate’s house and he went there. The cold north wind embraced him and he didn’t even bother buttoning his coat. Nothing bothered him today. He was flying high with all the emotions inside him.
“Rico,” Miss Kate said when she saw him in the kitchen doorway. “How about a cup of coffee?”
He rubbed his cold hands together. “Sounds good.”
“I’m making Grandpa a mug,” she said, and then leaned over and whispered, “It’s decaf. If I give him the real stuff, he gets all wound up.”
“I’ll never tell.”
She eyed him for a moment. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Yes, ma’am, I am.” And for the first time he didn’t feel any shackles or walls around him.
She handed him a mug of coffee. “Good. Let’s go into the den. I want to talk to everyone.”
He followed her into the large den. When he’d first come here, he’d been overwhelmed by the huge house. But then, he’d been overwhelmed about everything on Rebel Ranch.
The brothers sat on a brown leather sectional sofa watching a football game on television. The fire glowed in the stone fireplace and all Rico could feel was the warmth this family had brought him.
Egan turned off the TV.
“Hey,” echoed around the room, and then they saw him and shouted, “Rico.”
Grandpa sat in his recliner. “Hey, Rico. Come on in.”
Miss Kate took her seat beside Grandpa and Rico took the only available seat beside Falcon on the love seat.
“Rico, this meeting is about you,” Miss Kate said.
“Oh.” He looked around at all their eager faces and thought this might be an intervention or something. As was his nature he didn’t jump in and assure them he was okay. They had to see that for themselves.
“And it’s about family,” Miss Kate continued. “Whenever we mention that you’re part of this family, you get this stone-faced expression.”
He set his warm mug on the coffee table. He didn’t know how to explain that so he took a moment. “I’ve always thought that to be a part of a family you had to be blood and I’m not Rebel blood. But then Dusty wasn’t my blood either and I loved him as if he was my own.”
“Rico...” Egan tried to interrupt, but Rico kept talking.
“I’ve never been part of a family. There was just me and my great-grandma so I’ve never been sure where I fit in here.”
“I’ll tell you where you fit in.” Miss Kate sat forward in her chair. “I think of you as one of my sons and today I want to do something to make you feel comfortable in this family.”
“You don’t have to do that, Miss Kate. It’s just me.”
She shook her head. “No. I thought about this and spoke with the boys and Grandpa and we all agree. On December first you will no longer receive a weekly check.”
She was stopping his wages. That didn’t make sense.
“You will receive a monthly check just like my boys because I consider you one of them.”
He took a moment for him to process that. “Thank you, Miss Kate. May I ask how much that will be?”
Falcon told him.
“Oh.” He never imagined they made that much money. It was a shock.
“You see, Rico,” Elias spoke up. “You’ve been getting the short end of the stick. You and I do most of the work and these—” he thumbed to his brothers “—yahoos receive the same money.”
“We work just as hard as you do, Elias,” Paxton told him. “Everyone pulls their weight on this ranch or it wouldn’t be running at a profit.”
“Let’s keep the bickering down,” Quincy suggested. “This is about Rico.”
Miss Kate turned her attention to Rico. “We’re doing this because we hope it will make you feel more like family. And you certainly have earned it.”
She waved a hand toward his house. “That bunkhouse is yours. You can do whatever you want with it.”
“Thank you, Miss Kate.” Words failed him. He was overwhelmed by their generosity.
“And there’s something else we thought of that might make you feel more comfortable,” Miss Kate went on. “You said you never knew your father and you didn’t have any attachment to the Johnson name. He was a man your mother went out with, but he said repeatedly he wasn’t your father and didn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Yeah. My grandmother talked to him and he said he broke up with my mother a long time before she became pregnant and she wasn’t shoving that baby off on him. He didn’t sound like a very nice man.”
“Seeing the way you turned out, whoever your father was, he must have had some good qualities. I’ve never met a more loyal, caring, dedicated or honest person.”
Thank you was on his tongue, but he didn’t say it. The word was getting redundant.
“We...” Miss Kate looked around at her boys and Grandpa. “We thought you might like to change your last name to Rebel.”
Tears threatened and his throat closed up. He tried, but he couldn’t push words through.
“You don’t have to make a decision right now,” Miss Kate added. “You can think about it. I spoke with Gabe and he said it wasn’t difficult to do. He can draw up the paper and we take it to the courthouse and change your name. It’s that simple. But no pressure. It’s your decision and we won’t think any less of you for it.”
Rico swallowed the wad of tears in his throat. “Back...back in the summer when Anamarie was planning the wedding she said she wanted a church wedding. I told her I didn’t do big church weddings. She said it wouldn’t be big, it would just be her family and my family. I told her I didn’t have any family and then she asked me who are the Rebels? I can answer that honestly today. The Rebels are my...family.”
“Yes, we are,” Miss Kate said. “So does this mean...”
“Yes, ma’am. I’d be happy to take the Rebel name, but I have a question first.”
“Sure, what is it?”
He looked directly at Miss Kate. “How would John Rebel feel about it?”
A smile touched Miss Kate’s face. “My husband would give you this ranch for what you did for Egan. If not for you, those gang members would have killed him. There are just some things you can’t place a price tag on and that’s one of them. You gave us Egan back and my husband would be proud to call you his son.”
“You bet he
would,” Grandpa said.
Rico embraced the warmth and love in the room because Ana had opened his heart and he could breathe and accept love again. He was a Rebel and every day he would strive to live up to the name.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FALCON GOT TO his feet and held out his hand to Rico. “Welcome to the family.”
Rico stood and as he reached for Falcon’s hand, Falcon grabbed him in a big hug, and then all the brothers were hugging him and he hugged them back. No walls. No stone-faced expression. His heart was wide open and accepting what this wonderful family had given him—a home.
“Get out of the way.” Grandpa pushed through his grandsons to get to Rico. He wrapped his frail arms around Rico and then he looked up at him. “I know you’ll do that name proud. You already have.”
“Thanks, Grandpa.” His throat was thick again.
Miss Kate was the last and he looked at this woman who had given him so much. She touched his face like he’d seen her do a thousand times with her sons. “I want you to be happy. I want you to feel like this is your home and we are your family.”
“I do, Miss Kate. I do,” he said, and then he hugged her freely for the first time.
She patted his chest. “I know you and Anamarie want a place of your own and when you find it, I will help you pay for it. I’m sorry about the McGregor property, but you’ll find something.”
“The McGregor property was a pipe dream. I’d never in a million years be able to afford that.”
“Rebel Ranch can’t even afford it,” Falcon said. “I’d look for a subdivision to go in there.”
“Speaking of McGregor...” Miss Kate headed for the kitchen. “Rico, you haven’t picked up your mail lately and something came for you.”
“I usually just get junk mail.”
“This isn’t junk mail!” she shouted from the kitchen, and came back with a large FedEx envelope. “It’s from Robert McGregor.”
“What? What would he be sending me?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It came yesterday and Grandpa signed for it and forgot to tell me.”
Miss Kate handed Rico the envelope and he stared at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out what it could be. He noticed the Weiss, Kline and McGregor law firm return address. “I can’t imagine what this is. Robert McGregor thanked me after the funeral for visiting with his dad. Could this be another thank-you?”
“It’s kind of big for a thank-you,” Falcon remarked.
“Open it and find out,” Egan encouraged.
Rico sat down, as did all the brothers, and removed a large manila envelope from the FedEx one. He undid the clasp and pulled out a legal-looking document.
“What is it?” Egan asked eagerly.
“I don’t know, but there’s a letter attached.”
“Read it.” Quincy moved to the edge of his seat, as did the other brothers, anxious to see what was inside.
Rico looked down at the page and the words seem to leap out at him. He took a deep breath and began to read:
Dear Jericho,
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get this to you, but my wife fell two days after the funeral and fractured her hip in three places. She had to have a total hip replacement and it didn’t go well. After three surgeries and months in the hospital and rehab, she is finally home and walking with a walker. Now I have time to deal with my father’s estate.
Once again I want to thank you for what you did for our family. My father and I were able to talk for the first time in forty years. We really talked without the resentment and bitterness of the past. He found peace and so have I. Now I can live my life without guilt because of you.
The last week of his life we talked about what to do with the McGregor property. A developer from Dallas had offered him a large sum of money for the land. He wanted to cut it up into one-to five-acre tracts and build a country-style subdivision. My father turned down the offer. He did not want his land divided. But first he asked me if I wanted the money. I honestly couldn’t take the money with a clear conscience. Neither could my son. We don’t have an interest in ranching and we never have. My son only moved to Horseshoe to spend some time with his grandfather.
The last weekend of his life we were sitting at the kitchen table and I asked my dad what he really wanted to do with his ranch. He asked me for a pen and paper and I got it for him. Below is what he wrote on the paper. The original is at the back. I thought you might want it.
“For his random act of kindness to an old man who no one wanted anything to do with anymore, I bequeath to Jericho Johnson the McGregor Ranch in its entirety for the sum of five hundred thousand dollars. I would give the land outright, but a man has to work for something for it to mean anything to him. Jericho will love this land and care for it like I did. This is my last wish for the McGregor property. Francis McGregor.”
Rico’s heart raced as he flipped the pages to see Mr. McGregor’s note in his own writing. He touched the scrawled letters with a shaky hand. Could this be real?
“I can’t believe this,” he muttered more to himself than anyone.
“Wow, Rico.” Falcon looked over his shoulder. “That land is worth over two million and I’m sure that developer offered him more than that.”
“I don’t get this,” Rico said. “I only talked to Mr. McGregor. That’s all I did.”
“You must have said some powerful stuff,” Paxton remarked. “No one gives away that much land.”
“He’s not giving it away,” Phoenix pointed out. “He has to come up with five hundred thousand.”
“Is there anything else in the letter?” Quincy asked.
Rico flipped the pages back. “One hundred thousand is due March first of next year and then there’s a balloon payment every March first until the land is paid for. Oh, man, no interest.”
“Are you kidding me?” Egan looked at the document.
“That’s what it says.” Rico pointed to the page. “It says the money will be paid to Robert Francis McGregor, the grandson. And I’m to take this document to him next week to make it legal. Oh man, somebody tell me this is real.”
“Looks real to me,” Egan said and slapped Rico on the back. “It couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”
“What are you gonna do with all that land?” Falcon asked.
“I don’t know. I’m just trying to soak this in and figure out why someone would do this. Why wouldn’t Robert McGregor take the money? I don’t get it.”
“He told you,” Quincy said. “He has no interest in the land and he wants to honor his father’s wishes. I understand that and I’m sure everyone else does, too.”
“What did you talk about with Mr. McGregor?” Jude asked.
“We talked mostly about his son and how hurt he was that he didn’t love the ranch like he did. He had so much bitterness inside him and I told him bitterness doesn’t do anyone any good. It just eats away at your soul. I told him about my past and he never judged me and he accepted me for the man I am today. And I encouraged him to accept his son for who he was. I guess I got through. He was just so lonely and I identified with that. I was happy that he and his son had made peace. I never expected anything like this.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve driven by that place and admired it and wondered what it had looked like in olden days. Mr. McGregor showed me some old photos and it was more than I’d imagined. So many times I wanted to ask him about the land, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t disrespect him like that and deep down I knew I would never be able to afford it. It was just a dream.”
“Not anymore,” Falcon said. “You have to decide what to do with it.”
Falcon’s voice made them think of the conversation they’d had long ago about the McGregor property and Rico knew what he was going to do. He looked at Falcon. �
�You said you’d like to extend Rebel Ranch across the road. I think that would be a good idea.”
Falcon shook his head. “That’s your property, Rico. You need to do something for you.”
“I can’t work that ranch by myself and I can’t afford to pay anyone to help. And we’re family, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then Rebel Ranch will expand across the road,” Rico announced.
“That’s very generous, Rico.”
Rico looked down at the papers. “That’s what you do for family.”
“Then Rebel Ranch will pay the five hundred thousand,” Miss Kate stated.
“No, I have to do that, just the way Mr. McGregor wanted me to. And he’s right. It’s going to mean so much more to me if I put my sweat and tears into it.”
“I don’t want you to have that kind of financial burden.”
“Oh, Miss Kate, this burden is going to be a joy.”
“That land is a little less than each of my boys will inherit from their father. I can’t give you any Rebel land because it’s already been gifted, but I can gift you the McGregor property. If it’s going to be a part of Rebel Ranch, please let me do this.”
He was blown away by her generosity and her sincerity. If they were family, he had to accept her offer. If... There was no doubt in his mind now.
“Okay. But I’ll pay the hundred thousand in March. I have most of it saved up and was planning to put it on a house for me and Anamarie.”
“Deal,” she said with a slight smile.
Rico got to his feet, clutching the document in his hand. “I have to go. A beautiful woman is waiting for me.” There were hugs all around again and he hugged Miss Kate tightly. “If I don’t come home tonight, don’t worry about me.”
She touched his face again and he felt the warmth of being one of her boys. “Okay. I won’t. I’m so happy for you.”
Rico hurried to his truck and drove to the bunkhouse. He sat in his chair staring at the document, hardly believing that it was real. Things like this didn’t happen to people like Jericho, but then again, maybe they did. He found a card tucked under the letter with Robert McGregor’s cell number. He called it and they talked for about twenty minutes. He reinforced everything that had been said in the letter.