Authors: Kristine Rolofson
“If you don’t mind if she spits up on your clothes.” Emily leaned over and tucked the baby, bundled in soft cotton, into Kate’s arms.
“I don’t mind.” She kept her voice quiet, as the baby’s eyelids closed. Her little lips pursed, as if she wondered where her lunch disappeared to. “You make all of this look so easy, Em.”
“It’s hard work—don’t let anyone tell you different,” Emily drawled. “But first, Kate, you have to decide what you want. If it’s that big career, then run—don’t walk—to the airport before you start breaking hearts.”
“And if it’s Dustin and the ranch?”
“The two go together?”
“I think so.”
“Then tell him you’re thinking about staying and see what happens.”
“You make it sound so easy.” She could hold this baby all day long, Kate decided. It was too
bad she had a barn to paint and her grandmother’s latest chapters to read, a mystery to solve and a mother to comfort—plus a man to love and his son to care for.
“It is easy,” Emily insisted, struggling off the couch. “You sit there and rock the baby while I go clean up, then we’ll plan your future.”
“Okay,” Kate agreed, inhaling the sweet scent of baby as she lifted her closer. “You win. I want one of these.”
“Don’t tell me,” Emily said. “Tell that cowboy of yours.”
“He’s not ‘my cowboy.”’
Emily laughed. “Sure he is. You’re the only person in town who doesn’t know it.”
There was a lot she didn’t know, Kate mused, rocking slowly so the baby would sleep. She didn’t know if Dustin loved her, didn’t know whether or not she should take over the ranch, and certainly didn’t know whose body was buried at the former Good Night Drive-In.
But she did know she was in love. That was something to think about.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
G
ERT DIDN’T UNDERSTAND
what all the fuss was about, but it boded well for the success of her book. Seemed like everyone in town wanted to know what she was writing about or if she knew the location of the gold—as if she’d tell if she did—and did Gert need any more stories or photos because so-and-so was going through her mother’s things and there was quite a bit of information there. The Jeffersons were upset, since they didn’t want anyone knowing their great-great-grandfather had come to town when he jumped off a train, having escaped a murder conviction in California. And Irene Gardiner wanted to make sure that no one found out her mother was illegitimate. The phone rang a lot more than it ever had, not that she had to answer it. Kate did that for her.
Kate did a lot of things that helped Gert spend more time writing. She made coffee and cleaned. She cooked and shopped and proofread each chapter of the manuscript.
“You’re a good girl,” Gert told her. “I don’t
know what I would do without you.” It was a pretty big hint, but Gert didn’t care. When a person was as old as she was, she was allowed to say anything.
So she said things like, “You’d have to go a long way to find a man as good as Dustin Jones” and “I hope I see your children before I die.” Sentiments like that were bound to make the girl think twice about leaving for New York.
The boy came around, too. He and Gert drank coffee milk and ate cookies. Gert promised to make cinnamon rolls as soon as her book was done because she had no time for baking now. She was in the 1960s already, so it wouldn’t be long before the book was done. She hadn’t much cared for the sixties—except for Martha’s wedding in 1969—so she didn’t intend to dwell on much of it. There were some things worth skipping over, some things just too painful to write about.
“Gran?” Kate stood in the entrance to the living room. “Do you want to take a break for lunch?”
“No, thanks, dear. You and Danny go ahead without me.” She wanted to finish this section before she stopped for a sandwich and a nap. Besides, Kate needed to get used to being with the boy. She would make a good mother, that girl would. Gert could see them from where she sat. Danny never strayed far from Kate’s side, which was good. Dustin
would be in soon, too, since he’d taken to eating lunch in the main house.
Kate was getting real good at fixing lunches, and painting outbuildings. And Gert had heard her talking to Dustin about cattle prices and land management. Danny started talking about getting his own horse and Emily’s little boy had been over to play three times in three days. Jake and Elizabeth were bringing the new baby over to visit tomorrow.
Yes, Gert thought, going back to her memories of the 1960s. Everyone was acting like one big happy family. Everyone but Martha, who refused to talk about her mother’s book except to beg her to stop working on it.
“A
RE YOU SURE YOU
don’t mind?” Dustin hesitated at the kitchen door. “I’m not going to be back from Marysville until evening. There’s no knowing how long these stock auctions will last.”
“It’s okay,” Kate said, though she wasn’t sure what she would do with an eight-year-old boy for the entire day. Danny was quiet enough, but there seemed to be a lot going on behind those serious brown eyes. She’d give a lot to know what the boy was thinking, especially when she caught him staring at her.
“Tomorrow’s Friday,” Dustin said. He lifted her chin with his index finger. “We have a date?”
“We’d better,” she said. “We haven’t been alone in a long time.”
“Between grandmothers and kids, it’s not easy,” the man agreed, then brushed a kiss across her mouth.
“Maybe we should sneak off to the hayloft tonight.” There hadn’t been much chance to be alone with him. Gert was typing and Danny was gathering his trucks together to play with by the back door, which meant Kate could at least get a few kisses.
“I can’t ask Gert to baby-sit Danny so her foreman can have sex with her granddaughter.”
“I guess not.” Kate sighed. “But you have to admit it’s tempting.”
“Tomorrow night,” he promised. “Let’s go out to dinner, just the two of us. We haven’t had much time to be alone this week,” he said, voicing her thoughts.
“I’d like that.”
“Okay.” The next kiss lasted much longer, until Kate’s knees turned weak and she wondered how on earth she could wait until tomorrow night before being alone with him. The only reason they stopped was because they heard Danny singing as he came around the corner of the house.
“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.
G
ERT 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.