Once and Always (Women of Character) (29 page)

He lifted his arms and without
hesitation Anna slid down against him, her glance scanning the hard angles of
his face, loving him so much.

"I'll help you get Spirit
squared away," was all he said, and he led her horse inside the barn. Anna
followed, pushing damp tendrils from her forehead.

"Actually," she said,
"I'm glad you're here, I have something to tell you." His smile
started a flutter deep in her stomach.

Tyler slid Spirit's saddle and
blanket off and carried them toward the tack room.

Anna led Spirit to the outside
paddock and once inside the gate removed her bridle. She ran her fingers
lovingly through her horse's forelock, then shooed her away.

Tyler came up behind her as she
hooked the bridle over the fence post. "It's good to be home."

Simple, heartfelt words but they
stopped her heart and then made it beat furiously fast. "I've never heard
you call the ranch home," she said softly, wondering.

"Annie," he said in a
low voice, "There's something you should know. I've been obsessed for years
over what happened, what I was certain Martin had done to my father and what I felt
the town had done to us with their censure." He drew in a deep breath
while she faced him fully. "Or what I thought was their censure. I've been
thinking about this a lot, and when I think back, I realize you might have been
right. Maybe it was one shortsighted sheriff who thought he was doing what was
right by getting us out of town. I'll never know. I had it in my mind when I
returned here that I'd buy the place from you. I didn't think you could hold on
much longer. But gradually that changed, and I knew I had to help you make it
work.

"What amazed me is I found
acceptance where I expected none. I was ready to fight for my right to be here,
but you opened your arms and let me back in. I can't forget that. It speaks of
the generosity of your heart, and the heart of the town is the same. Without
knowing all the facts they were willing to give me a chance."

"So many people turned out
for the open house."

"That's what brought home to
me that I have a place here. I feel like I've come full circle." He looked
at her with wonder on his face. "Do you remember when you asked me about
how things come full circle? I was wrong when I said you couldn't go back to
where you were. We've revisited that place and made it better. I was wrong to
deny my love for you. Can you forgive me that, Annie?"

"I understand that I won't
let anything come between us," she said fiercely. "There's something
you should know." Anna frowned and pressed her fingers to her forehead.
"When Martin was diagnosed with brain cancer, his finances were so bad he
was on the brink of bankruptcy and that's why I sold off most of the horses.
Martin had a lot of pride. Can you imagine how he'd have felt if people knew?
Even I didn't know the extent of the problem until after he died."

"It seems like there was so
much against us."

She touched his arm. "But not
anymore. I've made no secret of the way I feel about the Double B, but I'll
sell the ranch. I love you and you're more important to me than this land. I
won't give up what we have." She gripped both his hands. There, she had
said it and with everything that was in her, she knew she had to be with Tyler,
wherever he was, but she needed his answer.

Anna laughed at Tyler's amazed
expression, then beyond his shoulder she suddenly saw a blue station wagon pull
into the parking area. "There's someone here. Why now?" she cried
softly. "We need to talk." She stared at the woman exiting the
driver's side. "It's Danny and his mother." She kept hold of one of
Tyler's hand and together they moved toward the vehicle.

Marie, Danny's mother, was a small
woman with short hair as brilliantly red as her son's. Danny sat in the
passenger's seat, unmoving, staring straight ahead through the windshield. Anna
turned to Tyler as Marie approached them. "Tyler, this is Marie, Danny's
mom."

Tyler could see worry in the
woman's pale blue eyes as she nodded at him.

"Hello Tyler," Marie
said hesitantly. "I hope you don't mind me calling you by your first name.
Danny has spoken so much this week of you and Anna."

"Of course not," he
said. "It's nice to meet you, Marie, after all this time."

Marie seemed to draw a trembling
breath. "There's something Danny needs to tell you both. I didn't know any
of this until one night Danny broke down and just started talking. It's like he
couldn't stop. He's had it stored inside of him all these years and he's been
scared." She looked at Anna. "Anna, Danny would do anything in this
world for you. There is no excuse for not telling the truth, but I think he was
so afraid you would make him leave. It's taken me most of the week to convince
him to come here." She looked at Tyler. "I'm sorry for the pain your
family has suffered, and I swear Danny didn't mean to harm anyone."

Anna tried to breathe normally,
but the fear escalated inside. She knew the moment had finally arrived. After
all this time they would learn what had really happened six years ago. Two good
men had died, and the survivors from each side of this controversy had had
their lives ripped apart because of a secret kept. Anna was anxious but
determined to know the truth once and for all. From the look on Tyler's face,
she could tell it was all he could do to keep himself from barking at Marie to
just get on with it.

"Please tell us what you
know, Marie," Anna said quickly.

"It has to come from
Danny." Marie turned and motioned toward Danny where he sat in the car.

Danny opened the door and climbed
out to stand beside the vehicle.

"It's time to tell the truth
about what happened six years ago," Anna said quietly, moving closer to
put her hand on his arm. "Danny, do you remember the last time we talked,
I told you secrets can sometimes hurt innocent people?"

He dipped his head. "Yes Miz
Anna."

She smiled at him, not wanting him
to be frightened. "You've always called me Miz Anna," she said.
"It's all right if you'd like to just call me Anna."

"Mr. Martin said I should
call you that."

"And you always did what
Martin said, didn't you, Danny?"

"He was the boss." It was
a simple, definite answer.

"You told me that Martin told
you to shut up. What did he tell you to shut up about, Danny? I need you to
remember."

Danny backed up against the car,
his big hands gripping the metal behind him. "He didn't want me to tell
anyone about you. Keep my mouth shut and do my work." Danny visibly
swallowed. "I did what he said." He dropped his head. "I didn't
want to be fired."

"What did you talk too much
about?"

"I told those people where to
find you."

Confused, Anna looked at his mother.

"Danny, start at the
beginning," Marie said gently.

He nodded quickly. "We were
at the rodeo in Ohio, you know, the one where you won that fancy buckle with
the pretty stones in it. When you were riding, two bull riders came by our pen
and asked me for your number and where you were staying. I didn't know I wasn't
supposed to say nothing. Martin run them off and told me to tend the horses. He
got in my face and said if I didn't keep my mouth shut from now on, I was
fired. He was the boss, he was right. He'd make it so nobody would want me to
work."

Anna was disturbed by Danny's
words, and the sheen of tears in his eyes. She took a deep breath and looked
over at Tyler, trying to figure out the simplest way to get the truth about the
breeding mix-up. Then again, maybe this was just another dead end.

"Danny," Tyler said
quietly, "we don't want to fire you and we don't want to send you away. We
need you here at the ranch. All we want is the truth. Can you understand
that?"

Danny nodded.

"Six years ago they accused
my dad of breeding McMyer's mare to the wrong stallion and there was a lot of
money involved so my dad got in a lot of trouble. Do you remember?"

Danny nodded and looked down at
his feet. "I liked Grant."

"Do you know how did that
mare end up with a spotted foal?"

"Rafferty's Appaloosa
stallion," he said promptly.

Every muscle in Anna's body
tensed.

"Who bred Rafferty's stallion
to that mare?" Tyler asked.

Danny clenched his hands by his
side and Anna swung her gaze to Tyler, saw the intensity in him, the need to
know that his father was innocent. Who did that leave as the guilty party?
Martin. She bit her lip, almost wishing now that Danny wouldn't speak, knowing
it wasn't right, but so afraid of what the truth would be.

"Who made that mistake, Danny?"
she asked.

"I did," he whispered,
hunching his shoulders.

Anna heard the small sound of
distress Marie made.

"Explain." Tyler's voice
hadn't risen, but Anna knew he had to be feeling outraged and angry.

Tears slipped down Danny's cheeks
as he looked at each of them. "Somehow that App got out of his stall in
the night. When I went to the barn the next morning, he was loose in the barn.
McMyer's mare was outside in a paddock but nobody was hurt, so I thought
everything was okay. I put the App back in the stall and didn't tell
nobody."

"Nobody knew," Tyler
muttered. "Did he jump the fence where McMyer's mare was pastured?"

"I guess so but I didn't
know. If I told, I knew I was gonna be fired. I couldn't be fired. I didn't do
it on purpose. One more mistake and I was fired. That horse was gone the next
day because he was so much trouble. At that rodeo I told Mr. Martin there'd be
no more problems. I didn't want to be fired."

Tyler stuffed his hands in his
pockets. "Why didn't you say something after my dad was in trouble?"

Danny's chest heaved, his
agitation clear. "I was scared. I tried to tell Mr. Martin but he was so
mad, his face so red I couldn't talk. Later I went to see the sheriff, but he
ran me off." He looked at Anna, his eyes wide. "I didn't mean to do
it. Mr. Martin died and everybody was very, very quiet. I went to tell you one
night, Miz Anna, and you were so hurt and crying and you had to go to the
hospital. It was a bad time and I couldn't tell you, Miz Anna. I know you hate
me. I tried to make up for being stupid. I came everyday for my job. I brought
you flowers to make you smile. I don't make any more mistakes."

His agitation wrenched at Anna's
heart. "Danny! You've always been a good friend, and you pulled me from
the fire. I could never hate you and you're not stupid!" Anna said
fiercely. "You know more about horses than I ever will."

"Thank you for telling us the
truth," Tyler said. "Finally, we know what happened. That's all I
wanted. I can't believe how simple it all was."

"What will happen now?"
Marie asked, her fear obvious.

Tyler looked at her.
"Nothing," he said, "it's over."

Marie began to cry and Anna looked
at Tyler, her heart swelling incredibly with love and admiration for this man,
but she also ached, because he had to be hurting anew over the ruin of his
father's life. . . over all their losses.

Marie reached out and gripped both
their hands. "Thank you for your understanding. I wish there was a way to
erase the pain you've had to bear."

"It's a relief to have it all
out in the open," Anna said. "Danny has been carrying this, but it
was really no one's fault." She pressed her lips together. "Maybe if
Martin had lived, it would have turned out differently."

"Danny!" Tyler called as
Danny ducked to get into the vehicle.

Danny straightened once more, his
shoulders slumped with resignation.

"Will you be back to work on
Monday?"

Danny looked confused for a
moment, and then his eyes widened and he gripped the door handle. "Monday?
I surely will." He nodded several times. "Yes, I'll be here Monday at
eight in the morning." He looked at Anna, his pale blue eyes wide and then
he looked at Tyler. "I promise."

As the car pulled away Anna hugged
her arms around herself and met Tyler's troubled glance.

"That night Danny got you to
the hospital, that's when you lost the baby, wasn't it?" Tyler moved away,
his shoulders stiff. "When I left I never called or told you where I was
going and you were rushed one night to the hospital. Dammit, what kind of
monster does that make me?"

"I should have told you
before you left."

Tyler clenched his fists, an
incredible anger filling him. "Intentionally or not, I abandoned you. When
the bus left I turned my back on you and this place." Whose fault was it
now, he thought? Annie, at nineteen, alone, scared, dealing with everything on
her own. His pride never let him call her, even just to hear her voice.

"It was an ectopic
pregnancy." Tyler heard the tears in her voice and the pain squeezed
inside him. "There was no chance of survival."

Annie grabbed his arm and he faced
her. The tears ran down her cheeks, ruining her makeup, her beautiful
greenish-hazel eyes awash in tears.

"We should have talked to
each other," she said. "We both acted badly."

Tyler felt the burn of his own
eyes. "Christ, Annie, I'm sorry for being so angry with you. As an apology
that's damned inadequate."

"Tyler, we've already lost
six years, do we want to lose even more? No more beating ourselves up over the
past."

Tyler closed his eyes and reached
out to hold her tightly. "I want to believe it can be left in the
past."

Annie's smile was gentle. "It
might not be easy, but we need to forgive each other."

Ω

They sat outside for a long time.
Tyler stared off across the fields. "It's strange, but after wanting the
truth all this time, having it feels almost anticlimactic."

"Now people will know the
truth," Anna said.