“What?” His glance drifted of its own accord to her lips, glistening in the moonlight.
“When we were married, ninety percent of all our arguments were about business. Now look at how well we work together. Looking back, I can see the fault was mine. I’ll bet you thought I would never admit that,” she teased.
Oddly enough, her confession took the sting out of their past. Ty smiled back. “Quite honestly, I didn’t.”
“I guess it was only natural for me to believe that my father’s way was the only way,” Tara mused. “After all, he spent his life exploiting natural gas, oil, and coal reserves. I was raised in that world, Ty. But the ranch was totally alien to me. I didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. There was nothing I could contribute—no way I could help. And I am simply not the type of woman who is content with home and hearth. I need the mental stimulation that business provides. When Daddy wanted to mine the coal on the Triple C, I pushed for it. This was a business I knew. For the first time I could be useful. You will never know how important that was to me back then,” she explained, emphasizing it with a quick glance his way. “That’s why I sided against you all those years ago—and destroyed our marriage in the process.”
“I never realized any of this.” Ty stared, moved by her explanation. It was his first glimpse into their married life from her side of it. He suddenly understood the cause for all the restlessness and dissatisfaction she had exhibited back then.
“Why should you?” Tara shrugged, a beautifully rueful smile playing across her lips. “I spent two years on an analyst’s couch before I guessed at any of it. Most of the time I acted like a spoiled, petulant brat. In a way, that is exactly what I was. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself or flying off to some party or function where I felt important and my views mattered, I should have used that energy to learn the ranch business. I could have asked you to teach me. I knew about these private livestock auctions back then. Maybe if I had tried to learn more about ranching, I would have said something about them to you. But I was too busy trying to force you to become part of my world to take the time to become a part of yours.” Her eyes darkened with honest and profound regret. It stirred through his emotions, awakening them.
“I wish I had known. I wish I had guessed.” His husky voice echoed the regret in her eyes.
“I have wished that a million times. Even though I never meant to do it, I drove you away. But, Ty,” she took a step closer, her expression earnest and imploring, a look of utter longing in her eyes, “it was never because I didn’t trust you or believe in you. I truly loved you. That’s what is so horribly sad about this. That’s why it still hurts.” Tara whispered the last in a tremulous voice as tears brimmed in her eyes.
“I know.” Ty felt the same pain over this new insight into the past. It linked them closer than before.
“Do you? Do you really?” She looked at him, breathless with hope.
“Yes.” He gathered her close to him, seeking the comfort to be found in physical contact, something they both needed. Tara slid her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. It was an embrace without demand, full of warmth and closeness.
“Sometimes, Ty,” Tara murmured, “I can’t help wondering about what might have been if things had worked out differently.”
For the first time, Ty did, too. And it confused him. Suddenly nothing was black and white anymore. He felt again the same tear of loyalties between his feelings for Tara and Jessy that he had experienced back when he was still married to Tara.
“We can’t turn back the clock.” Ty said it as much for himself as for Tara.
She sighed and pulled fractionally away, allowing a wedge of space to come between them, her hands gliding to rest on his hips as she tipped her head back. “No, we can’t, can we? Too many other people are involved now. It’s too late for us,” she admitted, raising a hand and resting it lightly along his cheek, a fondness in its touch. “But I can’t help wishing that wasn’t so.”
She stretched upward, her lips moving onto his in a tenderly warm kiss of sweet longing. Ty responded in perfect accord, gripped by a sense of sadness and loss.
Some distance off to his right, there was a scuff of a boot on the graveled drive, followed by the tumbling roll of stones. The sounds signaled the approach of someone to the house. Breaking off the kiss, Ty lifted his head.
Tara stepped apart from him, but without haste or guilt. Innocent as the kiss had been, Ty felt unease over it.
“If I plan on leaving in the morning, I need to get my things packed.” Tara spoke clearly in a tone that carried without an increase in volume. “Enjoy your cigar, Ty.”
But it had gone out long ago. When she crossed to the front door, Ty dug another match from his pocket, watching the hatted figure moving out of the shadows toward the steps. Ty struck the match and held the flame beneath the cigar tip, his gaze on the man not yet close enough to identify. Smoke puffed from the corners of his mouth. He shook out the match, everything inside him hardening when he saw Ballard step into the light.
“What are you doing out and about this evening, Ballard?” Ty demanded, all the time wondering how much Ballard had seen and angered by the sense of guilt the question produced.
“I’ve been going over the construction billings with Matt Sullivan,” he said, identifying by name the Triple C’s bookkeeper. “We have a problem with the lighting supplier.”
“What kind of problem?”
Ballard climbed the steps and came to a stop in front of Ty. His expression was too bland to tell Ty anything. He detected a certain coolness in Ballard’s attitude, but that had been there ever since Ty jumped him for touching Jessy.
“He’s refusing to sign a lien waiver. He keeps insisting that we owe him for some equipment that was never delivered. Matt sent him copies of the bills of lading on all the deliveries from his firm, but he claims the equipment was shipped and we owe him for it.” Ballard paused, then added, “I thought I’d better go over it with you so you can decide how you want to handle it.”
Ty glanced at the sheaf of papers in Ballard’s hand, then back to the man’s face. “There is nothing I can do about it tonight. You should have waited until morning and saved yourself the walk.”
“You’re forgetting that I won’t be here in the morning. I’m driving in to Miles City tonight so I can pick up that load of antiques Tara bought to add to the barn’s
decor.”
He underscored the word with sardonic emphasis. But there was little Ty could read into that. Tara never had been exactly popular with the ranch hands. “I won’t make it back until tomorrow afternoon. By then, who knows where you’ll be.”
“You’re right. I had forgotten,” Ty admitted and turned toward the front door. “Come on inside and we’ll go over it.”
At no time during their meeting was there anything in Ballard’s manner to indicate that he had observed the embrace. Ty was left to wonder whether he had or not. It only increased his sense of unease.
Chapter Eleven
S
aturdays always brought a change in atmosphere at the Triple C, tingeing the air with an underlying crackle of excitement. Routines were altered. There was a slight spring in the step of those still on duty, and a hustle and bustle in the others, eager to get the odd tasks done so they could head into Blue Moon for a night on the town.
Standing at the top of the veranda steps, Chase felt the familiar pull of it and remembered the day when he had been as eager as the next cowboy to whoop it up after a hard, long week in the saddle. These last years since Maggie died, Saturdays hadn’t been different than any other days for him. He just couldn’t summon the old enthusiasm for a night out.
There was a time when he would have gone to town a couple times a week to check on Sally. Since she’d sold the restaurant and moved to the Triple C, he didn’t have a reason to go anymore. A dry smile tugged at a corner of his mouth as it occurred to him that he was the only one who felt the way.
Chase swung away from the view of the ranch headquarters and went back inside. “Sally!” he boomed her name. “Sally!”
“I’m in the kitchen.” Her shouted answer rang above the squeals and giggles of the twins.
“She is always in the kitchen,” Chase muttered to himself and set out in its direction at a hobble, his arthritis acting up again.
When he walked into the kitchen, young Trey was struggling to climb out of the playpen while little Laura sat contentedly in the middle of it, playing with one of their toys. Jessy was busy sweeping the floor. Sally turned from the countertop, a white-speckled roaster pan in her hands.
“What did you need, Chase?” Sally questioned with mild interest.
Ignoring the question, he frowned and asked, “What’s that in your hands?”
“A roast for tonight’s dinner. Why?”
“Let me have that.” He limped over to take it from her. Sally immediately hurried to the oven to open the door for him, but Chase walked over to the refrigerator instead.
“What are you doing, Chase?” Sally stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he retorted and opened the refrigerator door. “I’m putting this away. I’m taking you out to dinner tonight. It is time you ate somebody’s cooking other than your own.” The look of pleasure that leaped into her face made Chase wish he had thought of doing this before. “You want to go out, don’t you?” he challenged, a smile taking all the gruffness out of his voice.
“Of course, I do.” The corners of her mouth deepened in a smile that chided him for suggesting otherwise. “But I still have to put that roast in the oven so Ty and Jessy will have something to eat tonight.”
“If they want a roast for dinner, they can fix it themselves.” Chase immediately set about making space for the long roaster pan in the oven. “For all you know, they just might decide to eat in town, too.”
“Which shows how much you know,” Sally retorted. “Jessy’s parents are playing cards with the Trumbos tonight. There’s no one to baby-sit the twins.”
“And what is stopping them from bringing the twins along?” Chase countered. “It’s time they were taking them out and getting them around strangers. They need to learn how to behave in public sometime. Why couldn’t they start tonight?”
“Chase Calder, you know how raucous that place is on Saturday night. It will be packed with people, the jukebox blaring—”
Before Sally could complete her list, Chase interrupted, “You never know. All the commotion might keep them entertained. Isn’t that right, Jessy?”
Up to then, Jessy had stayed out of their conversation, preferring to be a fly on the wall while the two of them squabbled like an old married couple. Now Chase had drawn her into it.
“They are old enough now that they probably would enjoy it,” she agreed. “Trey would certainly be intrigued by all the action, and Laura would be fascinated by the music and dancing. But I don’t think we’ll go. You two deserve an evening without the twins underfoot.”
Startled by the inference that this was a date of sorts, Sally darted an anxious look at Chase. She had known him too long to believe there was anything romantic behind his invitation. And she was reluctant to have him think she might.
“That’s nonsense, Jessy,” she rushed in protest. “We wouldn’t mind in the least. Would we, Chase?”
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I did. We will make it a family night out,” he concluded.
“That sounds fun.” The more Jessy thought about it, the more it appealed to her. Lately she and Ty had been bickering a lot. A night out, away from the ranch, might be good for both of them.
The restaurant and bar, formerly owned by Sally, had been repainted a dark brown that was already dulled by a coat of dust. Newly mounted atop its porch roof was a huge neon sign that spelled out the letters
HARRY’S HIDEAWAY
in fluorescent green.
The summer sun had yet to set in the evening sky, but already the parking lot was full when they arrived. Stopping in the driveway, Ty let the others out, then headed across the highway to park at Fedderson’s combination gas station, grocery store, and post office.
Pausing near the base of the entrance steps, Chase surveyed the long, green-glowing sign and snorted his disgust. “Harry’s Hideaway. It doesn’t look to me like a place to hide. I’ll bet you can see the glow of that sign in Miles City.”
Laura had a different opinion as she stared up at the bright letters. She pointed a finger at them and jabbered excitedly to Jessy, her expression all alight.
“Laura seems to like it,” Jessy remarked with a smile.
Chase slanted a sideways glance at his granddaughter and muttered, “Sometimes I wonder about that child’s taste.”
Jessy had only to recall how fascinated Laura was with Tara to agree with him. “My mom says she’s at that age where she’s fascinated by anything bright and shiny.”
“That sign is definitely on the gawdy side of that,” Chase declared and glanced at the young boy hooked in his arm. “Don’t you agree, Trey?”
But Trey’s entire attention was focused on the building’s entrance and the steady hum of voices and muffled blare of music that emanated from it.
“Come on. Let’s go in.” Chase signaled for the women to precede him.
“As crowded as it is, we may be in for a long wait to get a table,” Sally murmured worriedly.
“We’d better not. I called ahead to reserve one,” Chase stated.
A cacophony of noise greeted them when they walked inside. Interspersed with the steady chatter of voices were hoots of laughter, and the clink and clatter of dishes and drinks. A honky-tonk song played on the jukebox, its volume cranked as high as it would go. From the bar side came the
crack
of a cue ball and the rumble of billiard balls rattling across the pool table’s slate surface.
The establishment’s new owner and namesake, Harry Weldon, pumped Chase’s hand in greeting. He was a barrel-chested man with an apron tied around his middle and sweat running down his flushed face.
“It’s crazy in here tonight, but it’s always like that on Saturday nights now. You can’t stir ’em with a stick,” he said with considerable pride, nearly shouting to make himself heard above the noise. “Your table will be ready in two seconds.”
The two seconds were closer to two minutes. By the time Harry Weldon returned, Ty had joined them and taken a squirming Trey from Chase’s arms. The toddler’s head was on a swivel, straining to see everything at once.
“I got ya’ a table fixed up over here in the corner.” Plastic-coated menus in hand, Harry started in that direction, parting a path through the crowd and glancing over his shoulder. “Sorry it took so long. I had to get another keg from the back.”
A soft shoulder bumped into Ty from behind. “Whoops, sorry,” a female voice said. Ty looked back and saw a familiar face among the throng of strangers. It belonged to a Trumbo girl, Emily, the youngest. She recognized him at the same moment. “Ty. I didn’t expect to run into you here, literally. I’m afraid I wasn’t looking where I was going. I was too busy giving Dick a hard time.”
His glance flicked to the man behind her and encountered Ballard’s cool blue eyes. Ty knew it was logical that Ballard would be here tonight. It was the only watering hole for miles, making it the natural gathering point for both sexes on a Saturday night. But the realization came as an afterthought.
Emily Trumbo didn’t appear to notice the sudden temperature drop as she continued talking. “Tell him what you told me, Dick,” she urged, then jumped in when he didn’t immediately respond. “He claims he saw a helicopter flying over the ranch on his way into town. I have never seen a helicopter except in the movies. And he says there was one flying over the Triple C. Can you believe it?”
Eyes narrowing at the possible significance of the sighting, Ty pinned his gaze on Ballard. “What kind of helicopter? Military or private?”
“It was too far away to tell. It could have been either.”
“Where was it when you spotted it?” Ty had to raise his voice to make himself heard above the din.
“Northeast of the road,” Ballard all but shouted his answer.
“Near Wolf Meadow?”
“That general area,” Ballard confirmed.
“Which way was it headed?”
“On an easterly course.”
“Toward Blue Moon?”
“Maybe.” Then Ballard asked the question that was on Ty’s mind. “Does Dy-Corp have a helicopter here?”
“I don’t know.” But he knew it wouldn’t be hard to find out.
“Do you really think Dy-Corp has a helicopter?” Excited by the thought, Emily turned to Ballard. “I know a guy who works there. Maybe he could get me a ride on it. Wouldn’t that be something?”
“Really something,” Ballard assured her, then turned her back around. “We’re headed for the dance floor, remember.”
“Right.” But as she moved past Ty, she was already craning her head trying to see above the crowd. “I wonder if Rick’s here tonight.”
By the time Ty worked his way through the crowd to the corner table, the others were already seated. After he had Trey buckled in the high chair, Ty relayed the information about the helicopter.
“Even if it wasn’t military, it still might have been a government helicopter, state or federal,” Sally suggested in an attempt to chase away the cloud that suddenly hung over their table.
“It’s possible,” Chase conceded. “But logic tells me differently. I can only think of one person with reason to fly over that section of the ranch, and that would be the new owner of it. They were bound to show up sooner or later. And I certainly didn’t expect them to drive up to The Homestead and introduce themselves.”
“You keep saying ‘they,’” Jessy inserted. “You are convinced it’s Dy-Corp, aren’t you?”
“Let’s put it this way,” Chase replied. “Dy-Corp knows we aren’t going to let them cross our land to get to the Wolf Meadow range. Their only access to it is by air. And nobody else in the area is likely to have a helicopter other than the government or military.”
“I know they want the coal on that land, but what good is it to them?” That was the part Jessy had trouble understanding. “They can’t get their mining equipment in, or the coal out.”
“They have something up their sleeves. You can bet on it.” Chase opened the plastic-covered menu and squinted at the small type.
Ty spoke up. “I’ll pass the word tomorrow for everybody to keep a lookout for any more helicopters in the area. Maybe next time we’ll get lucky and get an aircraft identification number—assuming there is a next time. Meanwhile we need to find out whether Dy-Corp owns a helicopter.”
“Or leases one,” Chase added, then frowned and looked up. “Aren’t there any barbeque ribs on this menu?”
“Right there.” Sally pointed to them, relieved by the change of subject.
“That’s what I’ll have.” He folded the menu shut and pushed it onto the table. “Although I doubt they will be as tasty and tender as the ones you make.”
It was the warm look he gave her more than the praise for her cooking that had Sally glowing like a schoolgirl. But Jessy had little time to dwell on it as Trey let out a gleeful shriek and struggled to get out of the high chair. She reached to push him back in his seat just as the cause of excitement ran up to the chair.
“Hi, Trey. I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight,” Quint declared.
Cat and Logan were only a few steps behind him. Chase leaned back in his chair, his surprise quickly giving way to pleasure at the sight of his daughter and her family.
“Look who’s here,” he declared and immediately began issuing orders. “Pull that table over here and join us. We might as well make this a night out for the whole family.”
After the initial confusion of moving tables and chairs, shifting positions, and everyone sitting down, Ty wasted no time mentioning the helicopter to Logan and their suspicion that it belonged to Dy-Corp.