Once and Always (Women of Character) (3 page)

 "The front pasture fence is
the only one that's been maintained and the rest of the fencing is in bad shape.
If we decide to go ahead with this, I'd want the guesthouse to live in. The
remainder of the grounds would be yours."

She dismounted and leaned back
against her mare. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm bringing Spirit into the
barn." She tugged gently on the reins and the horse followed her. Despite
what she considered to be an obvious dismissal, Tyler fell into step beside
her. Ignoring him, Anna walked around the barn and past the small corral.

As she neared the barn Danny Kirk
hurried out to meet her. Danny's habits were like clockwork. He was always on
hand to help her. His dark red hair was neatly combed and his long-sleeved work
shirt was buttoned to his neck as usual, despite what promised to be a warm
morning.

Anna smiled. "Good morning,
Danny!" she called, almost relieved to see him. He was a good distraction
from Tyler.

Danny gave her his ready smile,
his pale blue eyes wide and slightly innocent looking, despite the thirty two
years she knew him to be. As he turned toward her, he kept one hand behind his
back. Anna didn't know what she'd do without Danny since Martin died. Even
though she'd told him two years ago she couldn't afford to keep him on, he
showed up for work every morning, as he'd done since she arrived at the ranch
eleven years ago. She just didn't have the heart to turn him away when he so
obviously wanted to be here.

"Miz Anna." Danny
approached them slowly, darting glances at Tyler. "Are you done with this
girl? I'll cool her down and put her out on grass." He held up the hand
he'd hid behind his back and held out a small bunch of blue flowers.

"Thank you, Danny." She
accepted the flowers and put them to her nose. "You're always trying to
spoil me."

He shook his head immediately, his
expression serious. "No, no, you're not spoiled. You're just right."

Anna laughed, touched by his
sincerity. "You can take Spirit." Danny took the reins. "Thank
you." She looked at Tyler, then back at the other man. "Danny, do you
remember Tyler Stanton?"

Danny froze and Anna saw the
recognition in his eyes, but then Danny ducked his head down and hunched his
shoulders.

"I remember," he
mumbled.

"How are you, Danny?"
Tyler asked quietly.

"I do good work," Danny
said, shifting from one foot to the other. "I show up for work. I get Ms.
Anna groceries. She needs me." Danny looked at her as if for confirmation.
"You need me to work for you."

"That's right, Danny,"
she said. "I don't know how I'd get along without you." She put her
hand on his arm. "But you know I may be leasing the ranch for a year,
which means you'll have a new boss." When Danny made no response, she
said, "You can take Spirit inside now and we'll talk about it later."

Danny led the mare inside, but
Anna could tell it was with great reluctance that he left as he kept looking at
Tyler over his shoulder. She chewed her lip, wondering what thoughts went on in
Danny's mind. She didn't want her leasing of the farm to interfere with Danny's
work here. She turned to Tyler, "You know how Danny can be. He hasn't seen
you in some time and change throws him. It might take him awhile to adjust. But
he will adjust."

"I can't see that there'd be
a problem. We used to get along all right. What have you told him about
me?"

Anna raised a brow. "Are you
implying I've tried to influence Danny? I haven't told him anything. In fact,
I'd say telling Danny about you wouldn't even warrant a footnote on my to-do
list. Danny may be different, but he's got eyes in his head. He probably knows
as much as anyone about what happened six years ago, maybe even more. He looks
out for me, especially since the fire."

"He brings you flowers―I
used to think he loved you, Annie, the way he followed you around."

"Danny's caring is
simple," she said sharply. "He's never let me down. He's the only one
I've been able to depend on these last six years." She moved away to lean
against the split rail fence, careful not to crush her flowers. Her easily
stirred anger didn't make her feel good. "I don't want to revisit the old
anger. Is that too much to ask?" She turned her head to look at him.

He narrowed his eyes. "It's
like you're implying everyone abandoned you."

She stared at him in silence.

Impatiently, he said, "You
made choices, Annie. We all did. And we have to live with them."

She looked away from him, closing
her eyes as dust swirled on a sudden breeze. "If we go through with this
lease one condition is that Danny continues to work here. I haven't been able
to pay him much, but he comes every morning regardless and he knows what to
do."

"He was always good with the
horses, but if he creates problems, then all bets are off."

"You have to take into
account he's special."

"I'm not a monster, Annie.
Does this mean you'll let me have the lease?" he asked bluntly.

Anna swallowed hard. There was no
going back. "Are you sure―I don't want to get things underway and
then you change your mind?"

"There's been no doubt since
I saw your ad. Once I make up my mind, it's set."

"Yes, I know." Anna
nodded coolly. "Like a stone." She felt ill and her vision blurred a
moment. Could she be in close contact to Tyler every day and expect to survive?
"Look at the rest of the property and then we can talk." She turned
and walked back the way she'd come. She needed a walk, some time to clear her
thoughts and settle her emotions. No one had forced her to make the choices she'd
made, but she hated the road she'd taken and the dead end she'd run down. As
Tyler had said they'd all had to make choices. For her, there had only been one
choice and she had paid for it ever since. That choice had lost her Tyler, and
then she'd lost her grandfather.

Ω

Danny gently patted Spirit's
muzzle as he kept an eye on Miz Anna and Tyler where they stood talking just
outside the barn door.

"You can hear everything they
say," he said to the mare. "Mama always said you wasn't supposed to
listen in on other people's private talks. Maybe we shouldn't be listening. But
it's not like they're whispering . . . and some of it is about me."

Danny had a tight ache across his
chest, kinda like when he was eight and his dad run off. He ran the brush over
Spirit's flanks carefully, knowing the horse's every muscle and contour by
heart. When she moved restlessly, he smoothed his hand down her neck and hushed
her. "Shh, shh, girl," he whispered, "it's okay. You're gonna go
out and play real soon." Danny carefully unhooked the crosstie chains from
Spirit's halter and led the mare down the aisle.

"Now Spirit, you know how I
take good care of the barn and you for Miz Anna. Isn't that the truth? She
doesn't have to worry about anything. If it breaks, I can fix it."

Danny thought about what Miz Anna
said and it worried him. "Miz Anna is giving up the ranch. How can I
believe it? Years and years Miz Anna had been alone and now she had to get
help, even though I'm here every day."

Danny led Spirit down the barn
aisle and out the back door. "It's just hard that she doesn't have money
to fix stuff. I told her one time I'd ask at Taylor's hardware about nails and
boards for work, but she got all mad. I thought she was gonna cry." He
shook his head. "I didn't talk about it again." Danny frowned. It was
her place but she was letting Tyler come back and tell her what to do. He used
to like Tyler, but he'd made Miz Anna cry back then.

Danny sighed, not sure what to think about all this. Maybe
he should ask his mama about it. She would know how to figure this stuff out.
Danny heaved a sigh of relief. "Yup, Mama would know." Maybe they
could fix a way to make things go back the way they were.

Tyler watched Annie leave.
He couldn't shake the questions filling him. He needed to know what had
happened to her in the six years since he'd left. There was such an emptiness
about her compared to the Annie he'd known, who'd always been so full of
questions and life. Had it been the scarring on her face that affected her so
deeply or something else? She still wore her emotions on her face. He knew she
thought he was a cold bastard. Maybe she was right. He wasn't that kid anymore
who believed the sweet words she used to whisper. He had nothing to lose by
prying into her business. He'd find out about the real Annie.

He'd been taken back by Danny's
apparent indifference to his return. They'd worked closely together six years
ago. He had known Danny since he'd come to work at the Double B when they were
both in their early teens. Danny had a learning disability and had dropped out
of school early, but he'd always had an uncanny knack with horses. Tyler had
always thought of them on good terms, if not friends. Tyler wondered if Danny
did have feelings for Annie and resented that he'd returned. He'd have to talk
to Danny and make sure they didn't have any problems working together.

Tyler looked across the fields at
the mountains covered by a light blue haze. He thought of what she'd said, that
his return to the Double B was all about revenge. He'd denied any emotion, but
that wasn't entirely true. Walking around this ranch, he remembered how much
he'd liked being here, but it had always revolved around her, since the first
time he'd seen her when she was just fourteen and he'd been sixteen. Martin had
brought her home to the ranch one day, a skinny kid, her big eyes taking
everything in. Martin had uncharacteristically given everyone the day off, and
Tyler wasn't supposed to be there either, but he'd run back to the small
cottage he shared with his father and he'd seen them arrive.

She'd been dressed in clothes that
were threadbare and sneakers that were tightly laced and clearly too big for
her slender feet. It wrenched his insides when she'd told him years later how
Martin had come and found her. She'd been at the last of a series of foster
homes after her mother died following an emergency appendectomy. Annie was the
only child of Martin's dead playboy son who'd abandoned her mother when she had
gotten pregnant. Tyler had felt privileged that she'd shared her story with him
and silently applauded Martin for finding her when he'd discovered her
existence. Martin might have been a rotten old bastard in some ways, but he'd
always taken care of Annie.

Tyler shook those thoughts from his
head. He intended to look around, but he knew deep down it didn't matter what
the ranch looked like, he'd already made up his mind. After seeing this place
again, after seeing Annie, he could no more walk away then he could cut off his
hand. Besides that, for a moment when they'd talked he'd almost felt like he'd
abandoned her all those years ago. That was ridiculous. He had been run out of
town and she'd chosen to stay with Martin.

Now, being here, smelling the air,
filling his senses with everything the ranch had to offer, he wanted this ranch
more than ever. He'd come cross-country to bring his father back for the last
time and he intended to stick around, at least for now.

Tyler walked quickly away from the
barn. His feet followed the narrow footpath to the house instinctively.
Everything looked so familiar, yet overgrown. The hedges alongside the path
hadn't been trimmed back in a long time. The footpath itself was rutted from
the weather and would have to be smoothed out and filled in.

Once out in front of the house, he
retrieved his camera from his rental car. Taking pictures would help him decide
what areas of the ranch needed attention first. He'd developed the habit of
taking before and after pictures when he took on a new project.

As Tyler walked past the split
rail fence along the front of the house, his glance fell on the empty
flowerbeds in front of the fence. Annie used to take pride in the abundance of
flowers planted each year around the house and barns. Now, the beds lay barren,
reflecting the overall neglect the house and property had fallen under.

Tyler stopped a moment as he
stared at the house. The wide verandah wrapping the entire house had ivy
creeping uncontrollably around one side. The white two-story looked pretty
rough with the window frames peeling and badly in need of paint. The once fancy
lattice under the verandah had split and in some places was nonexistent.

Tyler walked the uneven stones to
the verandah and climbed the creaking stairs. Several steps were loose. When he
reached the dark wooden door he pushed it open. Entering the house, he was
brought back in time as his boots echoed on the cerulean blue tile.

It felt strange to be in the
house. When he'd worked here Martin had rarely invited him inside, and his
father had only entered through the back of the house. The only time he'd seen
the rest of the house had been when he and Annie had snuck upstairs together.
There had been a definite distinction made between the stable hands and the
Barlow's by Annie's grandfather.

Tyler glanced at the rich maple
paneling on the walls as he walked through the short foyer. He stopped to look
at the framed awards hanging there. Annie's barrel racing certificates and
ribbons. He paid attention to one shelf in particular. Enclosed in glass was an
ornate silver buckle with rose flower accents and a gold plated hoof pick
engraved with the name Annie Barlow. The numerous awards were all dated two
years or older. Not a hint of dust on any of the frames told Tyler they were
meticulously looked after. This wall told its own story. He knew Annie well
enough to know she had to miss competing. She used to thrive on the cheering
fans and the crowd. The rodeo arena had been her stage and she had shined like
a star.

Light spilled in from the narrow
floor-to-ceiling windows. Tyler whistled softly, crossing the foyer to the room
on the right that had been used as an office. He stopped inside the room with
its familiar dark interior. Crossing the worn wooden floor, he reached up to
push aside the maroon drapes. Early morning light filled the room. As he looked
at the huge oak desk, he pictured Martin sitting there with small yellow
envelopes in neat piles before him. Tyler remembered standing beside his father
that first week waiting for his first real pay, suppressed excitement fidgeting
through him while he waited his turn. Martin had seemed interested in him then,
asking questions about how he liked working with the horses. He'd even promised
him a raise if he stayed on and did well. Everything had changed when Martin
brought Annie to the ranch. As Tyler and Annie became friends, it had seemed to
drive a wall between him and Martin.