Santa In Montana (3 page)

There had never been any doubt in Laredo's mind that Jessy had never liked Tara. But the other woman had always had an uncanny knack for insinuating herself into the lives of the Calder family. Wisely Tara had focused her attention on her ex-husband's children, fully aware that the rest of the family merely tolerated her presence. Laredo had long ago decided that Tara found some perverse form of pleasure in that.

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Chase was right; Tara was doing it again; this time from the grave.

And that might be the very thing that was sticking in Jessy's throat at the moment.

Deciding a slight change of subject would be welcomed; Laredo provided the opening to Jessy. “This might be a good time to mention that suggestion Dallas made.”

“What suggestion is that?” Trey wondered.

“Selling off the main ranch house at the Slash R along with the necessary acreage to encompass the helipad and access to the highway,” Jessy replied. “I thought it was a very practical idea, considering that we've already decided we want to maintain our headquarters at the Cee Bar. The Slash R ranch house is much too lavish to be used as a foreman's quarters.”

“Would you be comfortable with that decision?” Chase directed his question to Sloan; aware—as they all were—that Max Rutledge had been her childhood guardian.

“Absolutely,” she replied without hesitation. “I have few good memories left of the place.”

Trey exchanged a glance with his mother. “Looks like we can add one more thing to Quint's list of things to do.”

“Which is one more reason I won't be going to Texas for Thanksgiving,” Cat declared and proceeded to clear away the soup dishes while Jessy passed around the makings for sandwiches.

“Isn't anyone going to bring up the other elephant in the room?” Chase challenged.

“What elephant, Greypa?” Jake looked around the dining room with wide-eyed interest. “I don't see it. Where is it?”

“It's just a figure of speech, bud,” Trey told him. “There isn't a real elephant in here.” He smiled at Jake's obvious disappointment, then glanced at Chase. “I think Grandpa's talking about the summerhouse Tara built over in Wolf Meadow.”

“Summerhouse.” Chase snorted at the phrase. “If that's what you call it, then the Homestead is a log cabin. That place rivals anything Rutledge built at the Slash R, plus she added an airstrip. He just had a teensy little helipad.”

“Trey and I were talking about it just the other day,” Sloan began.

Chase pinned her with an arrow-sharp look. “Are you two thinking about moving over there to live?”

Catching his combative tone, Cat spoke up. “It would give them a lot more privacy than they have here.”

“I'm not interested in
us
living there,” Sloan said quickly. “But I am convinced you would have no trouble at all leasing the place as a summer retreat to various companies, or even individuals.”

There was a full second of heavy silence at the table. When Chase spoke, it was in a carefully controlled but terse tone.

“The Triple C will not be turned into a dude ranch while I'm alive.”

“Trey told me much the same thing,” Sloan admitted. “Still, it seems such a waste for the place to sit unused, all locked up.”

“She has a point,” Cat agreed. “Someone needs to be living there. Otherwise it's just going to slowly deteriorate.” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she pointed a warning finger at Chase. “And don't you dare suggest that I go live there!”

“I wouldn't waste my breath suggesting it.”

“I should hope not.”

“A decision of some sort has to be made about it. We can't keep putting it off,” Chase stated, then glanced at Jessy. “When was the last time anyone checked on the place?”

“Fall roundup,” she replied. “When we made our gather at Wolf Meadow, I rode over and took a look around. I didn't have a key so I couldn't go inside, but everything looked fine.”

“Just the same, you might as well fly over there this afternoon and inspect the house inside and out, as well as all the outbuildings. See if it can be converted to an outcamp for that corner of the ranch.”

“That would mean building a road to it, Gramps,” Trey inserted, reminding Chase that the site was only accessible by air.

“That's a cost we'll have to weigh against its potential use,” Chase replied.

“I have a meeting this afternoon, but I can fly over there in the morning,” Jessy told him. “Would you want to ride along, Chase?”

He shook his head. “After riding an hour in that cramped cockpit, my arthritis would have me so stoved up, you'd have to pry me out of the plane. You and Laredo go. Why don't you ride along with them, Cat?” he suggested. “Do you good to get away for a bit. Have a change of scenery.”

“You just want me out of the house so I won't be around to nag you,” she retorted.

“That wasn't my reason at all,” he stated, his exasperation showing.

“I'm sure it wasn't,” Cat agreed. “But I can't go tomorrow anyway. I want to get a jumpstart on baking the pies for Thanksgiving, and get a few casseroles made ahead as well so all I'll have to do is pop them in the oven.”

“Can I go with you, Grandma?” Jake piped up, eyeing Jessy with unabashed eagerness. “I like riding in planes.”

“True. You've flown so often,” Trey teased, but the observation sailed over Jake's head.

“I'd love to have you fly with me, as long as your mom says it's okay.” Jessy smiled her answer.

“Mom won't care. Will you, Mom?” He turned an earnest look on Sloan.

“You can go, as long as you promise to be good.” Sloan qualified her permission.

“I'm always good. Aren't I, Grandma?” he asserted with confidence.

“Almost always.”

Through the rest of the meal Jake peppered her with questions. How high would they fly? Would they go through any clouds? How does a plane stay in the air? Could he take his gun along—a toy—so he could shoot any coyotes he saw? Why are some clouds gray and some white? Jessy tried to answer his questions truthfully, but she had to be quick to keep Laredo from offering one of his tall tale answers.

Finished with her own meal, Cat stood. “Anyone want dessert? There's some cake in the kitchen. Or fruit if you like?”

“Not me.” Chase pushed his chair back from the table and reached for his cane. “I've got some phone calls to make. I'll be in the den if anyone wants me.”

Cat watched him leave, then mused aloud, “I wonder who he's going to call?”

“Ask him,” Laredo told her.

“I did. He wouldn't tell me, just went all mysterious and said it wasn't any of my business.” An answer she clearly didn't like.

“Maybe it isn't,” Laredo countered.

“More than likely he's calling some store to buy a Christmas present for one of us,” Cat decided. “After the patrolman left this morning, Dad did talk about this being a special Christmas we'll be celebrating this year with the whole family getting together.”

“I bet I know what he's gonna buy,” Jake declared, then smugly pressed his lips tightly together rather than confess the secret he shared with his great-grandfather. He was a bit disappointed when no one took the bait and asked him what it was.

 

The single-engine Cessna Skylane swept through the wide blue sky while its shadow raced across the rough and broken land below it. Jessy was at the controls, automatically scanning the country before her. Every low mesa and wide coulee had a distinctive characteristic that enabled Jessy to pinpoint her location in this vast emptiness. Laredo occupied the co-pilot's seat, his glance idly turning to look out the side window.

Buckled into his child's seat directly behind Jessy, Jake strained forward to tap the back of her seat. “Hey, Grandma. Are we there yet?”

“Almost,” she answered with a slight turn of her head in his direction, then pointed to a spot slightly to the left of the airplane's nose. “Did you see that butte just ahead of us?”

Jake craned his head to the side. “The big one?”

“That's Antelope Butte.” As always Jessy used any excursion with her grandson to teach him more about the Triple C. “The landing strip is just below it. Won't be long now.”

Behind her, Jake settled back in his seat, content that his confinement wouldn't last much longer. Jessy pushed the plane's nose slightly below the horizon line to begin the descent.

Feeling the movement, Laredo looked back at Jake. “We're starting down, bud. Make sure your seatbelt's tight.”

“Right.” Obediently Jake gave it a tightening pull.

“I want to do a flyby to make sure the strip is in good shape,” she said to Laredo. “Keep your eyes peeled for any buckling of the concrete.”

“Will do.”

Jessy made a low pass over the strip. Its lack of use in recent years was evident in the mix of tall grass and weeds that hugged the runway's edges. Some had taken root wherever there was a crack in the concrete surface. But the visual examination found no potentially hazardous break-up or heaving.

The plane landed without incident and taxied to the padlocked hangar. After nearly forty minutes of forced inactivity, Jake was all raw energy when Laredo swung him to the ground.

“Where are we gonna go first, Grandma?”

Drawing in a bracing breath, Jessy let her glance sweep over the stables and adjacent corrals to the left, the idle blades of windmill eleven, and the half hidden grounds-keepers' quarters before coming to a halt on the low profile of the sprawling main house. It had been Tara's summer base, built on land she had purchased from the government, preventing Chase from gaining title to it until after her death. As always, the sight of it evoked memories—some bitter, but most just remembrances of the past.

“That first building,” she told Jake, nodding in its direction.

“Bet I beat cha there,” he challenged.

“I'll bet you do,” Jessy agreed and watched him take off at a run. She and Laredo followed at their usual striding pace.

“It's been a good many years since I was here last,” Laredo remarked. “Not that I ever came here all that often. Still, I forgot how well it blends into the butte's face.”

Jessy studied the roof that was almost the same brownish color as the earth wall behind it. “It's one of the rare times Tara showed some restraint.” A sudden smile flashed across her expression. “At least until you get to the inside.”

As they crossed the driveway's paving stones to approach the house, Jake came running back to meet them. “I rang the bell, Grandma, but nobody came to open the door.”

“That's because no one lives here.” Continuing toward the front door, Jessy slipped the key from her jacket pocket.

“How come?” Jake persisted.

“To make little boys like you ask questions.” Laredo reached down to give the front brim of Jake's cowboy hat a downward push over his eyes.

“'Redo, don't.” Jake frowned in displeasure and tipped it back up, but it served to distract him from that line of questioning. “Are we going inside, Grandma?”

“We sure are.”

The prospect of exploring the unoccupied house clearly appealed to him, as evidenced by the way he sprinted back to the front door. With barely disguised impatience, Jake waited while Jessy unlocked it. He darted through the opening the instant she gave the door an inward push.

Everything inside was just as Tara had left it. But to Jake's disappointment, there was little to be seen. All the furnishings were shrouded in dust-protecting cloth, even the antlered chandelier that hung from the coffered ceiling. Jessy's inspection of the house amounted to little more than a cursory walk through of each room to check for any signs of a leaking roof or broken windows.

When they exited the last room and started down the wide hallway, Jake heaved a big, bored sigh and looked hopefully at Jessy.

“Are we done yet, Grandma?”

“All done.” She smiled, as glad as he was that the task was complete.

With an uninhibited shout of “Yippee!” Jake ran ahead of them, the rapid clump of his booted feet echoing through the emptiness. He beat them to the front door, but was still struggling with its oversized handle when they joined him. Laredo opened it for him, then waited outside while Jessy relocked it with the key.

“Chase pegged this place right when he called it a white elephant,” Laredo remarked when Jessy turned, tucking the key back in her pocket. “What are you going to do with it?”

Jessy shook her head. “I wish I knew.”

“Where to now, Grandma?” Jake stood poised at the edge of the weed-invaded stone walk.

“We're going to check the other buildings,” she told him. “You can run on ahead.”

Immediately he took off and Laredo fell in step with Jessy. “Let me rephrase my question,” he said. “If you could do anything you liked, what would you want to do with it?”

“Anything?”

“Anything,” Laredo confirmed.

“That's easy. I'd bulldoze it.”

“Then do it. Auction off everything inside, give the proceeds to some charity, and tear the place down.”

“You're serious.” She eyed him with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.

“You're damned right I am. What else are you gonna do with a white elephant out in the middle of nowhere that you can't sell or give away?”

“True,” she agreed, but he could tell she wasn't convinced.

“You're letting that practical streak get in the way,” Laredo chided. “White elephants and practicality don't go together. If they did, someone in this family would have come up with a solution a couple years ago after all the paperwork came through giving the Triple C clear title to this place.”

“You have a point,” she conceded.