“Sure.”
And, while they exited, Tammy launched into every argument she could probably think of to sway her brothers.
After a little walking down the hall, Jenna pulled Donna into the dining room, the dark wood and stag horns above the long table looking more imposing than usual.
Jenna shut the double doors behind her. “You don’t seem convinced, Donna.”
Was it that obvious? “I’m sorry. But the ramifications of this decision could be…”
“A real challenge? We’re up to it.”
For the first time in Donna’s life, she actually felt as if she was close enough to her sister so that she could confide in her. The realization tightened her throat, and she had a hard time getting the words out.
“It’s just that we were about to mend all of our own fences because of our dads, and then Tammy found that clue about Savannah’s baby. We were doing so well for a while.”
“You’re still mad at Dad for being with Savannah, aren’t you? He didn’t try to fall in love with her, Donna.”
“He didn’t try to stop having sex with his brother’s girlfriend, either.” Harsh. But this wasn’t the man Donna had grown up idolizing.
She calmed down. “I just remember how he used to tell us to go after everything we wanted, Jen. It looks like he really practiced what he preached, and the fallout isn’t pretty.”
Jenna laid a hand on Donna’s arm. She was getting used to the contact. Donna’s friends didn’t even show this kind of sympathy, but since coming to the Flying B, Donna had begun to wonder if she’d actually had friends or just people she went out with after work at night to blow off steam.
“After I finally talked to Dad about this,” Jenna said, “I found out that he was inconsolable when Savannah left the ranch and disappeared afterward. He got hurt in this, too, and I only came to understand that after I fell in love myself.”
Was she saying that Donna didn’t have a chance in hell of understanding since she had no one?
An image of dimples flashed into her mind. Pale blue eyes sparkling with humor and lightness.
Caleb.
She shook him off. “Yeah, Dad was so inconsolable that he married Mom on the rebound. No wonder they split up.”
“Donna, you really should talk to him. We can call, right now.”
Her stomach turned with nerves. “No. I don’t want to say to him what I have to say over the phone.”
“Then when will you do it?”
“Soon.” She walked to the doors, paused. “Thanks for taking care of this, though. It means a lot.”
Jenna merely nodded as Donna opened the doors, closing them behind her, yet hardly shutting out her sister’s voice as she said, “Hey, Dad, it’s Jenna.”
As Donna walked away, her footsteps echoed off the walls, the sound mocking the dull thud of every isolated heartbeat.
Chapter Three
Chow time at the ranch employee cabins was never a dull affair.
The next night, while Caleb sat next to Hugh at a long dinner table outside the mess hall, the usual end-of-the-day cowboy talk swarmed around them, just as thick as the smoke coming off the barbecue. On the other side of Caleb, a young ranch hand named Manny plopped down on the bench, immediately pushing back his hat to reveal a patch of curly brown hair before chomping into his corn bread.
“Did y’all hear about the hot times in the main house last night?” he asked with his mouth full, nodding his head toward the Byrds’ domain.
Caleb, who’d already pushed away his emptied tin plate, leaned his elbows on the table while holding a beer bottle between two fingers. Donna was in that house, and he was all ears.
Hugh was nursing a ceramic mug of coffee. “There’ve been more than a few hot times since the Byrd kids came home to roost.”
“But last night was a real doozy.” Manny dipped his bread into his chili bowl. “Maria and I have both been working, so she told me about it only an hour ago when she took a break.”
Caleb glanced at Hugh, who cocked his bushy eyebrow in response. Manny was dating a housemaid, so she must’ve been dusting or some-such last night while the Byrds conducted business.
“How much of a doozy was it?” Caleb asked, turning back to Manny.
“On a scale of calm to loud, it was at about a bellow. Maria said that the little Byrds were going at it like they were on the Maury show, including a lot of who’s-the-daddy talk.”
Caleb recalled what Donna had told him about Savannah’s pregnancy test. “Is there a long-lost kid?”
“Yup, their P.I. located him,” Manny said. “And it really chapped some of their hides that Savannah named him in the style of Tex’s boys. James Bowie Jeffries is what he’s called.”
Next to Caleb, Hugh made a grumbling sound, seeming to be just as offended as some of the Byrds apparently were.
Then Hugh said, “Did Maria have her ear to the door or something?”
“Very funny, old-timer.” Manny polished off the last of his chili, standing to get seconds, like he always did. “No matter how Maria heard it, she didn’t like the news. That family is coming apart at the seams now that Tex is gone, and she doesn’t know how long we might have jobs here.”
Caleb put down his beer. “That’s a load of bull, Manny, and you know it.”
“Do I? Caleb, we don’t know these Byrd kids from seven holes in the ground. I like them well enough, but what if they end up dismantling the Flying B? What if Tex was all that was keeping the ranch together?”
Something seemed to crack in Caleb, breaking him in a thousand directions inside. This was his home—the only one he’d ever felt comfortable in after his mom had passed on.
Manny had gone back to the food station, leaving Hugh and Caleb alone.
The foreman chucked the rest of his coffee on the ground.
“Before Tex died,” Caleb said, “he told me that, under the conditions of his will, the ranch couldn’t be dismantled. The grandkids have to spend their inheritance on bettering it, so Manny’s worrying for nothing.”
“It’s not the ranch I’m thinking about.” Hugh ran a hand over his grizzled face. “You can’t have more than one person inheriting something and expect them to all agree on every decision.”
“So you’re worried about the family itself. Boss, you’ve sure become pessimistic about things lately.”
“And why shouldn’t I be? It might be time to retire, live off my savings, fish all day. Who needs all this nonsense?”
Hugh’s words were flippant, but Caleb knew better. Like him, the foreman loved this place, as well as the ragtag family of ranch hands that Tex had put together.
Gathering his plate, Caleb prepared to go.
“Where’re you off to?” Hugh asked.
“Where do you think?”
“Aw, no.” Hugh shook his finger at Caleb. “You’re not going to the house like I think you are.”
“I am. There’s no way I’m going to see a rift destroy Tex’s family.”
“So what’re you gonna do—help Donna Byrd carry in another rocking chair and chide her about family business at the same time? That’s no way to get into her