“You’re overstepping, Caleb.”
Was he?
Would Tex have told him that, too?
The last time Caleb had seen him, lying in bed, looking like half the hale-and-hearty man he’d always been, Tex had told Caleb that he would be leaving him a bit of money. Not a whole lot, but enough to tell him that he valued him.
“Money doesn’t show everything that’s in a person’s heart, though,” Tex had said.
“Of course it doesn’t.”
He had closed his eyes, so weary. “If I could buy goodwill from my sons and their children, I would. I’d do anything for them to realize that they could have something wonderful out here on the Flying B together. At least you’ve always known what you’ve got on this ranch, Caleb.”
“That’s right, Tex.”
The money hadn’t been the point, though. In fact, Caleb had never expected to be treated like Tex’s blood, and he’d been blown away that the man had even given him some seed money for his own future. Naturally, he’d spent it well, on the new house he’d purchased for his dad and aunt, but it was too bad money couldn’t buy a positive word from his father during one of his more lucid times, either.
Now, Caleb began to walk away from the table, saying over his shoulder, “Tex would’ve wanted me to interfere, all right. The Byrds need to know that their decisions affect more than just the few of them.”
He left Hugh sitting on the bench while he scraped off his plate into a receptacle and then headed for the main house, where the dim lights buttered the back windows in the falling dusk.
And where Donna Byrd was about to get an earful.
NEEDING PRIVACY, DONNA had come outside to the wraparound porch, where she sat on the new cottage-style swing she and the girls had chosen for the renovation.
Just do this, she thought, looking at the cell phone in her hand. Go. Now. Dial!
But she couldn’t, even if Dad and Uncle William had finally checked in this morning with their own votes after one heck of a long night of waiting.
They both wanted to find James. And they were both evidently done with their Hill Country trip, on their way back to their respective homes in Houston and Uncle William’s ranch. Even the most clueless person in the world could infer that there’d been a setback with the brothers because of last night’s news, but Donna and the rest of her relatives had promised each other that they would do everything within their power to make things right between them again.
Yet there was this to deal with, as well. And, since Donna had been riding their P.I.’s tail this whole time about Savannah and a possible child, she was the one who’d volunteered to give him the go ahead on tracking down James.
Still, the phone was incredibly heavy in her hand, almost as if it was something that could drag her down until she wouldn’t ever be able to get back up.
Was she going to let one phone call beat her, though?
She dialed without another thought, listening to one ring. Two.
Then, an answer.
“Walker Investigations,” said the P.I.’s rusty-nail voice.
“Hi, Roland, it’s Donna Byrd.”
“Miss Byrd—I haven’t heard from you for a whole day. I thought you might’ve dropped off the face of the planet.”
Hilarious. “We were only waiting for our dads to weigh in on Savannah and James.”
“And?”
She closed her eyes, opened them. “We’d like you to go forward on finding out more about James and setting up a possible meeting.”
“Consider it done.” She could hear Roland tapping on a keyboard. “What about Savannah?”
“Right… Savannah.”
Donna bit her lip before giving a real answer. Last night, the Byrd children had discussed James’s mom, too, after they had called their dads and then met in the living room again. That’s when Donna had told them what she’d left out during their first gathering—news about Savannah Jeffries that just hadn’t seemed as important as the more urgent revelation of James; facts such as how Savannah was a very successful interior designer with her own business and how she was going by her late husband’s last name and how it seemed that she had gotten married long after James Bowie Jeffries had come of legal age, hence the reason he used his mom’s maiden name.
So much information. And so much conflict, because after Donna had filled in the family, they’d been just as divided as ever—this time about including Savannah in a reunion.
Donna sighed. No turning back now. “If you could go ahead and contact Savannah, we want to invite her to meet us, as well.”
It would be a smash-up family reunion, emphasis on the smash-up.
After she took care of particulars with Roland, then hung up, she stayed on the swing.
Dammit, she only wished she had zero interest in Savannah. But she had voted yes both times last night, and part of the reason was because the idea of the woman just wouldn’t leave Donna alone. She was everything Donna had ever looked for in her role models—obviously ambitious, based on her business skills. Donna also liked that she knew how to decorate a room—a hobby that she, herself, had recently turned into somewhat of a vocation with the B and B.
Most of all, though, Donna respected that, from what she knew, Savannah had raised James by herself.
An independent woman in every way, she thought. And even though she hadn’t planned on ever having a family herself…
Well, there was an empty place in Donna that actually perked up at the thought, now that she finally did have a family she was starting to feel closer and closer to.
But really? Her? The überprofessional Donna Byrd?
A mom?
It would’ve been laughable if there wasn’t a string of yearning tying her up because of the lingering notion.
The wind stirred and, from the side of the porch, she could hear some chimes tinkling. The sound reminded her of a soothing song that a baby mobile might make above a crib. Someday.
Maybe.
The porch swing was creaking back and forth in a lazy rhythm when Donna saw someone coming around the side of the house.
And guess who?
But instead of groaning with exasperation, her heart gave a jaunty flip.
Oddly, though, Caleb Granger’s grin wasn’t as dimply as usual. And she could’ve used one of his sexy grins right about now.
She spoke first, just as he began to mount the porch steps, coming into the light from the caged lantern near the door.
“Are you here to say a good evening to me?”
He stopped near the top, his hands planted on his hips. “I heard some talk, so I thought I’d come over to let you confirm or deny the rumors.”
Whatever kind of peaceful bubble she’d just created for herself busted like a balloon.
“Rumors?” she asked tightly.
“About the new Byrd. About all the arguing you and your family were doing about him.”
“Maybe the next time we Byrds have a conversation,” she said, “we can broadcast it to the entire ranch. Do you know anything about installing closed-circuit television?”
He ignored her sarcasm. “Just listen to me on this. For years, this ranch has been what you might call ‘harmonious.’ Tex made sure everyone was happy, inside and outside the main house.