Once and Always (Women of Character) (23 page)

"Good morning, Danny,"
she said now as he entered the barn.

He stopped just inside the
entrance, his red brows drawn up in surprise. "Miz Anna, I didn't see you.
You scared me out of a day's growth."

Anna pulled the mane comb through
Lady's tail as she smiled at Danny, genuinely pleased to see him. "At
six-foot-two, I think you can spare a few inches. I've already taken care of
the horse's hay, but I need you to look at the watering system. There's no pressure
and Tyler won't be back until later today. He went to look at some mares."

He nodded quickly and moved down
the barn aisle. Anna finished brushing Lady and led her outside. Returning to
the barn she found Danny systematically checking the line for leaks.

"I think it might be real
easy to fix," he declared, turning to look at her. "Shouldn't only
take me a short while." He gathered tools from the toolbox and began to
work a wrench onto the pipefitting. "I need a light," he muttered,
starting to rise.

"Let me get a
flashlight."

Anna returned from the tack room
with a light and knelt beside Danny. As she shone the light down, she noticed
white lines and a puckering of the skin on the back of his hands. Without
thinking, she reached out and touched his hand. "Danny, what happened to
your hands?"

He jerked away, dropping the
wrench and thrusting his hands behind his back. "Nothing."

"You have scars."

He stood and his bulk towered over
her.

"Danny, please let me
see."

He shook his head.

Anna felt an urgency to know what
had caused the scarring. "Why haven't I noticed those scars before? I
won't hurt you Danny, but I need to see what happened." When he remained
motionless, she stepped back, her hands trembling. "It happened that
night, didn't it―when you pulled me from the fire?" It was a stab in
the dark, but she saw a glimmer of emotion in his eyes and anguish touched her
deeply. "You were burned and I never knew," she whispered. Anna
stumbled back, her breath coming so fast it hurt her chest. "How come I
never knew?"

He blinked quickly and shifted his
feet. "Miz Anna, it's okay. They don't hurt me the way you were hurt.
People don't care about them."

Emotion choked Anna, hot tears
filming her eyes. "Just because they're not easy to see doesn't make them
less important. You should have told me. I thought it was a miracle you got me
out without getting burned." A sudden thought occurred. "Where else
were you burned?" She reached forward and gripped his arm, felt the hard
muscle through his flannel shirt. "You always wear long sleeve shirts, no
matter what the weather." She looked at him, her eyes wide with shock.
"Oh God. Danny, your chest and your arms were burned too."

Danny didn't answer, but Anna
suddenly knew she was right. She slumped back against a wooden post while Danny
patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"Did you see a doctor?"
she finally asked. "Did anyone take care of you?"

"Mama's real good at that
stuff. She put on special cream and it was okay. I had to work."

Anna closed her eyes, her
fingertips against her cheek. "I feel so selfish. It's my fault you're
scarred. You pulled me out of that fire." Vaguely, she recalled fighting
him, not wanting to leave her horses if there was the least chance they were
still alive. "I can never make it up to you."

"It's okay." He gave her
a happy smile and knelt, intent on returning to work as he retrieved his pipe
wrench. Anna watched him for several moments, then realized he was waiting for
her to direct the flashlight.

She pointed the light at the pipe
again, but it kept wavering so Anna gripped the flashlight tighter.
"Danny, there's something else I need to ask you."

He looked up at her expectantly.

"Do you remember the time
before Martin died, when we boarded Rafferty's spotted stallion here at the
ranch?"

He frowned. "Sure. He'd bite
you if he got the chance and cow-kick you at the same time."

She nodded in agreement.
"That's right. I remember being afraid of him after the time he cornered
me in the stall. If you hadn't been around, I could have been hurt. Nobody wanted
to work around him, so Martin had you take care of him. You always had a gentle
hand and you weren't afraid." She paused, then said carefully, "Did
anything bad happen while that horse was here?"

Danny worked the wrench back and
forth while Anna held her breath.

"Danny? Do you recall?"
She tried to see his face but he'd turned away from her. Anna had the feeling
he was deliberately avoiding looking at her.

"No."

Anna bit at her bottom lip.
"No, you don't remember or no―nothing happened?"

He stood abruptly. "Just no.
I don't like to remember the bad stuff." He indicated the pipe. "I
have to fix this so Tyler likes my work. If he gets mad at me I won't be able
to come back. There's lots of people here now. He might like somebody better
than me."

"You'll always have a job
Danny, as long as I'm here." Anna studied his set expression. "Did
Martin know about the bad stuff?" Apprehension filled her. It couldn't be
her grandfather behind all this mess. Lives had been ruined, all their lives
touched by what had happened. She didn't think she could handle it if Martin
had caused all the trouble and let Tyler and his father take the blame.

He pressed his lips tightly
together, then finally said, "Miz Anna, you gotta promise you won't
tell." He looked up and down the barn aisle, then sat cross-legged on the
floor at her feet. "Mr. Martin yelled at me and told me to be quiet or
he'd fire me. He was the boss, he was right." He shook his head with a
worried frown. "I didn't say anything. I shut up so there wasn't any
trouble."

No, her mind shouted. No. What had
Martin done? She wet her lips. "What did you shut up about, Danny? I know
it was a while ago, but it's really important that you tell me exactly like it
happened."

He rubbed his knees, fists
clenching and unclenching. "Please don't ask me. I promised I'd shut up. I
don't tell nobody anything."

Anna felt dizzy. Tyler was right.
Danny knew and he didn't. . . or couldn't tell.

She wanted to scream with
frustration, but it wouldn't do either of them any good. "Okay, Danny, go
ahead and get back to work." She took a calming breath. "But you know
we're going to have to talk about it again. Sometimes a secret can hurt
innocent people."

Slowly, he nodded, his eyes never
leaving her face. She smiled at him, not wanting him to guess how desperately
she wanted the truth, not only for Tyler, but for herself. What had Martin made
him promise? Was the secret Danny had kept all these years so devastating that
it had shielded Martin and the ranch but in turn ruined Grant's life?

Danny went back to working on the
pipe, but as Anna watched him, her mind raced. There had to be an explanation
of why Martin had told Danny to keep quiet. The truth had to be brought to
light, but right now Anna felt only heaviness in her heart. For the first time
she knew real apprehension over what the truth might reveal. Tyler could be
right, the truth might drive them apart forever.

Ω

For several hours after her talk
with Danny Anna concentrated on her stained glass. Working with the bright glass
soothed her, pulling her concentration away from troubling thoughts of what
Danny might know, disturbing questions of why Martin had told him to keep
quiet.

She stepped back from her
worktable, kneading with her fingers the ache in her hip from bending over for
so long, pleasure filling her as she looked at the glass panel she'd just
completed. It was the first of a pair she'd planned for the house entryway.

With her finger she followed the
wisps of green as they twined their way over the glass and her thoughts slipped
to earlier that morning when she'd awakened beside Tyler. How wonderful it had
been to wake beside him. At five a.m., she'd been drowsy, but her senses had
responded immediately to the site of his long, muscled back as he'd reached for
his jeans. She had touched that warm skin and he'd turned to her, pulling her
from the warm cocoon of the sheets and up against his chest. She remembered
seeing her splayed fingers in the dusting of hair on his chest, and then the
rest of memory had blurred into pleasure. Their lovemaking had been slow and
yet searing. Even after he'd left with a brush of his mouth across hers and a
murmured word, she hadn't wanted to leave the bed. Was she truly in love with
this man? How could she tell him what she'd learned from Danny? She'd agreed to
go forward to discover what had occurred six years ago, but what if it split
them apart? She didn't want to lose him again.

Anna pushed her fingers through
her hair, leaning against the table, looking up to see Tyler striding across
the lawn toward her now. Long and lean, his body muscled and hard, she thought
about how strong he was when he held her. When Tyler reached her, she kissed
him, loving the sizzle burning up her insides.

"Hey," he said, his eyes
deep blue and intent, the same intensity when they made love. A shiver worked
its way across her shoulders and up the back of her neck. With a sweeping
gesture she indicated the glass. "What do you think about this as a
sidelight for the door?"

He ran a finger over the panel.
"If there's even a hint of sun, this glass will draw it. I like it. You've
done a great job, Annie." Tyler gently touched the pink scar on her arm.
"How's the arm, does it still bother you?"

"Sometimes it itches, but
that's about it. Nothing compared to the way my face itched after it began to
heal," she added.

"You're lucky it wasn't
worse," he said. "I still think about it, when I saw that glass
cutting into your arm."

She squeezed him arm reassuringly.
"It turned out okay." She smiled and pointed out the pots of flowers
she'd planted. "Come and look at my flowers."

They walked the narrow path lined
with flame red blossoms in stone pots.

"They look great. You've done
a good job."

"Martin always liked the
southerly side of the house since it gets sun most of the day." Anna bent
down and snapped off some dead buds. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at
Tyler. "The renovations really make the place look classy. If people see a
place that's well-tended, it makes a good impression."

"This ranch will always draw
people. There's a certain old world elegance here."

Standing once more, she looked
beyond the house at the newly mowed lawn and painted fence along the front
yard. "You're right, but I remember when Martin brought me here, I felt
intimidated and out of place. I didn't know anything about animals or living on
a ranch." She gave a sigh, recalling the fear and uncertainty of that
time. "After being in foster care, shuffled from place to place, I thought
the only thing I had going for me was my looks. People―men, took notice
of me. It was flattering, but frightening. When Martin appeared, he seemed to
care about me. I let him mold and protect me and I was happy to let his money
cover my insecurities about fitting in."

"You made your own mark on
this ranch, Annie. No matter how you started out, you've created your own
style."

She smiled ruefully. "Which I
more or less abandoned."

"You just need to decide if
you want to reclaim that person."

"It sounds simple but I still
need my camouflage makeup as a safety net." She stared up at the
scaffolding beside the house where the men had been painting. "I'm making
progress. At least it's not tearing me apart like it used to." She pressed
her hands together. "There's something you should know. I've been
wrangling with this all afternoon and I almost don't want to tell you, but I
spoke to Danny and I think you're right. He knows something."

Tyler gripped her shoulder.
"What does he know?"

"He gets upset so I wasn't
able to find out. I almost didn't tell you. . .I didn't want to."

Tyler stared at her grimly.
"You weren't going to tell me?"

Anna chewed her lip. "I know
I said I wanted to know the truth for both our sakes, but I'm scared. If we
leave it, we can go on the way we are, growing closer. If we pursue it, it
could be a can of worms." She looked up at him. "Deadly worms."

"We have to know," he
insisted, his voice hard. "Tell me what Danny said."

Her heart beat so hard it hurt her
chest. "You have to remember Danny has limited recall, and sometimes his
recall seems to be skewed." She told him what Danny had said. "When I
pressed him about the secret, he wouldn't talk anymore. It's like talking about
it really scared him."

"I'll find out."

Anna recognized his hard urgency.
"That's not a good idea right now. He looked pretty uneasy when I
questioned him. Let it rest for a day or two."

Tyler set his jaw. "He's
going to have to talk. I'm not coming this close to the truth and just let it
go."

"I'm not saying let it
go." Anna grabbed his arm. "Not today, not right now."

He pulled his arm away, his glance
hard and accusing. "You don't get it. My dad was ruined. If there's
something Danny knows, I want it out in the open. Right now this minute. We're
talking six years too late."

Anna stood back, anger making the
hair on the back of her neck stand up. "Why? So you can yell it all over
town that it wasn't Grant, it was Martin or Danny. . .or me? Will that suddenly
make you feel better after six years of being angry? You'll blow everything
we've worked at here just for a few minutes of satisfaction?"

"Annie, you know I'm right
about discovering the truth," he said harshly. "And I never once said
it was you."

Her mouth twisted. "Oh,
that's right. You only said I had you run out of town."

"How many times can I
apologize? I messed up."