by Amanda Renee
Harlan’s body immediately stiffened. “What about it?”
“Ryder told me everything last night.” She set the mug on the small table between them. “And I’m hoping between the two of us we can convince him and your mom to tell everyone she was the driver that night and finally clear Ryder’s name.”
“Wait, what?” Harlan stood. “My mom was driving and not Tori?”
Oh God. This isn’t happening. “You didn’t know? Ryder told me you knew. He said you never believed his story from that night.”
“I didn’t. I’ve always known he wasn’t the driver. That left only Mom and Tori. For years I thought it was Tori and I’m ashamed to say I had hoped it was, because who wants to believe their mom ran over their dad, right? The other day I—”
Ryder’s Jeep rolled to a stop in front of the porch, startling them both. She hadn’t even heard him pull up, and apparently neither had Harlan.
“Chelsea, what are you doing here?” His face paled as he unlatched the gate and walked toward them.
“Why did you take the blame for something you didn’t do?” Harlan asked from the top step.
Ryder’s eyes narrowed at Chelsea. “Why did you tell him?”
“You told me Harlan had never believed your story and it was all out in the open now.” Chelsea’s legs shook as she rose from the rocker. “I thought he knew.”
“That’s not what I meant when I said you both saw through my story. I never planned on telling Harlan.” She saw Ryder’s jaw clench. “How could you betray me like this? You didn’t even wait twelve hours.”
“Betray you?” Dread washed over her. “I went to Harlan so we could build your mom’s legal defense.”
“Who asked you to?” Ryder attempted to climb the steps, but Harlan blocked him.
“Chelsea didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, and you should have told me when it happened,” Harlan said. “All these secrets and lies. Look what it’s done to this family.”
“How dare you say that to me,” Ryder growled. “I protected this family. I sacrificed everything so Mom could get the help she needed. She doesn’t remember and she doesn’t need to remember.”
“Yes, she does if we’re ever going to clear your name.” Chelsea squeezed between them, afraid one of them might punch the other.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Harlan and I know now.” Chelsea reached out to touch him, only to have him back away as if she’d wielded a branding iron in his face. “You have to tell the police what really happened that night so you can reclaim your life.”
“No, I don’t.” Ryder hopped down from the porch. “I’ve already reclaimed mine and I thought you were a part of it. I made the biggest mistake of my life trusting you.”
The weight of his words almost caused her knees to buckle. “You can’t mean that.”
“Oh, I do. Even if I had told my brother, you had no right to come here and discuss it with him.”
“Would you have preferred I had gone to the police?”
“That’s exactly what you did!” Ryder shouted at her. “He is the police!”
“Stop it!” Harlan held up his hands as if he were directing traffic. “Chelsea had an obligation to report it, Ryder. She came to me because she wanted my help. In my heart I already knew the truth, I just needed confirmation.”
“The only reason Chelsea wants to clear my name is to protect her reputation, not mine. Time has already been served for that night.” He glared at her, his eyes colder than she’d thought possible. “You’re only worried about yourself. Your sworn duty. Your image. You couldn’t handle being with someone people think killed their father. Accident or not. It wasn’t enough for you to know the truth.”
“You’re wrong.”
Ryder shook his head. “I trusted you because I wanted us to have a chance at a future together. For that to happen, you needed to know who I truly am.” Ryder looked at Harlan. “And what about you, brother. Are you going to turn us in?”
“No.” Harlan sagged against the railing. “It needs to come from you.”
“I am not telling anyone Mom killed our father.”
“Oh my God!” Bernadine stood in the middle of the path alongside the house. Her face paled as she blindly reached out for something to grab on to. “It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered. “I really killed Frank.”
Ryder ran to his mother and wrapped an arm around her for support.
Chelsea’s heart sank. How long had Bernadine been standing there? “Mrs. Slade.”
“Don’t you dare say a word to my mother.” Ryder’s eyes blazed with fury. “I never want to see you again.”
* * *
“I called you all here this morning because you asked me to sleep on it.” Bernadine Slade stood in the middle of Harlan’s living room, next to her husband who’d flown in last night. “Well, I slept on it, but my decision hasn’t changed. I’m turning myself in tomorrow. Please don’t try to talk me out of it and I don’t want to see any tears from any of you.”
“Mom.” Ryder crossed the room and stood before her. The woman he’d always seen as strong even during her weakest moments seemed so fragile in front of him now. “I will never agree with your decision, but I respect it.”
Staring the unknown in the face for the second time terrified him. He didn’t know what his punishment would be this time, but he’d take whatever the courts gave him if it meant they would never have to speak, think or talk about that night ever again.
His mother placed her hand against his cheek and wiped away his tears with her thumb. “I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to you and Tori. You’ve already lost so much, I can’t bear to see you lose any more.”
“Then don’t do this, Mom,” Ryder pleaded. “We just got you back. Don’t leave us again. Please.”
“Shh, it will be okay.” She smiled. “I want us to celebrate Wes and Jade today as we had planned, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend their wedding next weekend. Let’s enjoy today and not worry about tomorrow. It will come soon enough.”
Tori reached for Ryder’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s out of our control now.”
“I know.”
“When this is all over—” his mother patted his cheek “—I want to see you and Chelsea back together.”
Tori scoffed beside him. “Good Lord, I hope he doesn’t.”
“Now you listen to me.” Bernadine leaned across Ryder and waggled her finger. “Who do you think you are meddling in his life. He can date whoever he wants, whenever he wants, and he doesn’t need you telling him otherwise.”
Ryder covered his face and laughed. “Pot meet kettle. Kettle meet pot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tori asked.
“It means I don’t need either one of you meddling in my... I don’t even know what to call it anymore except that it’s over. Chelsea and I are over.”
“I know you want someone to blame. Life is easier when you can box everything up and put it away when you don’t need it. The problem with that is when something is your fault, you can’t put it away. You have to live with it and deal with it. I love you, Ryder, with all my heart, but your biggest mistake was covering for me in the first place. That’s what this all comes down to. I love you for wanting to protect me, but that wasn’t your job. I should have been protecting you. And that’s my fault. I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most.”
“Mom—”
“I’m not finished.”
Ryder groaned. He didn’t care what his mother had to say, there was no going back to Chelsea. He couldn’t be with someone who didn’t love him for him. He didn’t need someone always trying to fix him or improve him. He needed someone to accept him with all his flaws.
“At least tell me why you’re so mad at Chelsea
. Because from where I’m sitting she was only trying to do the right thing. You needed to clear your name.”
“She only wanted to clear my name for her benefit. So people didn’t look at her and wonder how she could be with a man who killed his father.”
“What’s wrong with that?” his mother asked. “She has a child. What woman in her right mind wants to bring a man who just got out of prison for killing one of his parents into her and her child’s life? I would think if you really loved her, you would want only the best for her and her daughter.”
“She kind of does have a point there,” Tori said. “She accepted you not knowing you were innocent.”
“No, she said she always knew I was innocent.”
“She suspected but she didn’t know for sure. Just like Harlan didn’t. I kept pushing her toward you because I knew you were innocent. But if the situation had been reversed, I probably would’ve knocked her on her butt for even suggesting it.”
“Right on.”
“Mom, no one says ‘right on’ anymore.” Ryder laughed.
“Who cares? Where I’m going, we make our own rules.”
“Mom, you’re not going to jail. Me on the other hand... I’m out on parole. They may put me back in until this is settled.”
The thought of spending another second behind bars was enough reason for Ryder to never forgive Chelsea. She’d destroyed everything he’d carefully protected, and there was no going back from that.
* * *
Chelsea sat in the grass overlooking the Silver Bells ranch. Harlan and Bernadine had invited her to the Slade family gathering, in hopes Ryder would talk to her after ignoring her calls and text messages. If he’d just give her a chance to explain, he’d realize she hadn’t betrayed him.
She scanned the ranch again, wondering if he’d spotted her and hightailed it in the other direction. She hated confronting him in public, but after she’d convinced Dante’s owner to sell her the horse yesterday after the man had accepted her name-your-price-offer, both Harlan and Bernadine had thought the grand gesture would change his mind. Now she wasn’t so sure. Looking around at all his family, it felt a little too public.
Chelsea watched Peyton and Harlan’s daughter, Ivy, sign under a shade tree a few feet away. Two years younger than Missy, Ivy had learned many words when Missy had been a part of the family. Harlan had continued to encourage her to expand her vocabulary so they could always communicate.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Tori’s voice caught her by surprise.
“I could say the same about you.” Chelsea had wanted to talk to Tori about Ryder yesterday afternoon when she picked up Peyton from her school trip, but in front of the school wasn’t the place. She’d contemplated calling, then decided to wait until Monday when they could sit down and talk in person. “For the record, I thought Harlan knew the truth when I told him. Regardless of how it happened, Ryder needs to clear his name.”
“Since you’re so big on honesty, when are you going to be honest with yourself?” Tori knelt in the grass beside her. “You needed Ryder to clear his name so no one thought you were dating a killer.”
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
“No, no I don’t. Not when you consider what you’ve done to me, to Ryder? We covered up a crime, destroyed evidence and Ryder perjured himself. You forced that issue, now I’m forcing this one.”
“I thought it would help them heal as a family.”
“Bullshit. That may have been one of the reasons, but it wasn’t the main one. This was about your image. Both yours and Peyton’s. And I get that. But don’t pretend that was only a small part of it.”
Chelsea refused to deny that she cared what other people thought about her or her daughter, but she had more substance than that. “I’ve worked hard to advance my career and provide a good home for my daughter. You forget I have an extra salary to make up for as a single parent. I’m not getting child support. I can’t afford to lose my job.”
“There it is. You just proved my point. You were afraid your relationship with Ryder would cost you your job.”
Chelsea opened her mouth to argue, then shut it. “Oh my God. You’re right, I did.” She buried her head in her knees. “I hadn’t thought it all the way through. I wanted to help. I swear I did, but yeah, I hated the looks people were giving me at work. I hated losing clients because of my relationship with Ryder.”
“Chelsea?” Belle walked over to them. “Ryder arrived a few minutes ago and they’re about to bring Dante out. Maybe that will help smooth things over between you two.”
“Dante?” Tori asked. “He’s here?”
Chelsea rose to her feet and looked around. “I convinced the owner to sell me the horse and Harlan picked him up so we could surprise Ryder. But now I’m having second thoughts about doing this in front of everyone.”
“May I have your attention, please.” Jade Scott, Wes’s fiancée, stood on an overturned apple crate in front of everyone. “Next weekend is the big day for me and my hubby-to-be and while that’s special, today is special, too. Bernadine and Ryder are finally back home in Saddle Ridge.”
“Too late,” Chelsea said.
Ryder’s family began clapping while Wes blew everyone’s eardrums with his two-fingered whistle.
“Even though we’re never promised tomorrow,” Jade continued, “we’re thankful for every day we have together. And Ryder, we hope you’ll consider our offer to join Silver Bells because we’d sure love to have you.”
“What was that about?” Chelsea asked Belle.
“Ryder’s brothers offered him a percentage of the ranch in exchange for him living and working here.”
“That’s wonderful. I hope he said yes,” Chelsea said before realizing that would leave Tori without her ranch hand. “Tori, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, it’s okay. We’ve already discussed it. I think it’s a good idea, too.”
“They’ve asked Harlan a few times, but he’s always turned them down,” Belle added. “They asked again this morning, and he said he’d do it if Ryder does, making Silver Bells a true Slade ranch.”
“I’m sensing there’s some hesitation though.” Chelsea couldn’t imagine any reason why Ryder would pass on such a tremendous opportunity to own part of his family’s ranch.
“His stubborn pride is getting in the way.” Tori dug a buried stone out of the grass with the toe of her boot. “He appreciates their generosity, but since he can’t afford to pay for the shares, he says it makes him feel like a charity case.”
“Why doesn’t he take the percentage now and put money in as he makes it?” Chelsea said. “He can keep contributing until he’s matched what they’ve paid and then he’ll have paid them back. It may take some time, but eventually it will even out.”
“Now there’s an idea.” Tori slapped her thigh. “I wish I had thought of that.”
“Maybe you’ll have a chance to tell him that later.” Belle nudged Chelsea’s arm as Ryder stood before everyone.
“Thank you.” Ryder’s voice went hoarse and Chelsea wished she could give him the support he needed to deal with the days ahead. “I’m glad to be home. I’m still not sure about working here, but I’m strongly considering it. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
“In the meantime, there’s someone here who’s been waiting a long time to see you.” Bernadine pointed toward the stables where Harlan rode toward him on a sorrel-colored quarter horse.
“Oh my God, Dante!” Ryder ran toward his brother. “That’s my horse.”
Chelsea covered her mouth to keep from crying as Ryder ran his hand down the animal’s coppery-red mane. The horse nodded his head and snorted, and Ryder knew he recognized him. “Can you still count for me, boy?” Ryder rubbed the white blaze that ran along the bridge of the animal’s nose. “One, two, three, four.” On each
count, Dante pawed the ground. “That’s my boy.” Ryder patted his chest. “That’s my Dante.”
“I never should have sold him.” Bernadine held a tissue to her nose and quickly began walking toward Dylan’s house.
“Mom, wait.” Ryder started to chase after her. “Mom!”
“I got this.” Wes grabbed his arm. “Why don’t you go thank the woman responsible for bringing Dante home.”
“I don’t understand. Isn’t Mom responsible?”
Harlan slid from the saddle and handed him the reins. “Chelsea made this all happen.”
Belle’s not-so-subtle shove in Ryder’s direction almost sent Chelsea sailing into Dante.
“He’s all yours. He’s my way of saying I’m sorry.” She held her hand out for the horse to sniff. “Now your family’s complete.”
She detected a flicker of emotion behind his eyes, before they flashed ice cold once again.
“Thank you. It’s a very generous gift, but it doesn’t change anything between us.” He patted the horse on the neck. “It’s good to see you, ol’ boy, but you don’t belong to me.” He handed Chelsea the reins. “You bought him, he’s yours.”
“No, Ryder. I bought him for you. Please take him. He belongs with you. I don’t need anything in return. I just wanted to bring him home.”
A long silence fell between them before Ryder nodded. “Thank you.” Without any further acknowledgment, he turned his back to her, slid the toe of his boot in the stirrup and swung up into the saddle. He gazed down and for a second she thought he’d say more. Instead, he clicked his tongue as he nudged the horse into a trot. Within seconds, they were gone. And so was any hope she’d had of winning his heart.
Chapter 12
The following morning after he’d spent the night with his horse in the Silver Bells stables, Ryder saddled Dante and took him out for another ride. Yesterday had been their reacquaintance, today he wanted to see if Dante was still in shape. He and his family had to leave for the police station in a few hours and Ryder needed to keep busy so the worrying about what was to come wouldn’t eat away at his gut.