Love on the Buchanan Ranch (A Romance Story) (7 page)

“What does she have to do with Pop?” Emma asked, confused now.

“Remember the day the will was read?”

“Of course, it was an awful day, actually. I’m still angry at him for the situation he left you in.”

“Well,” Stacey said, trying to give Emma the news as gently as possible, “I met Victoria that day, before I went to Grunwald’s office. She came to the house, and told me that she had been seeing your Pops, and that she is also pregnant with his baby.”

Emma turned pale, and she didn’t say anything for a minute or two. At last she said, “Are you sure, Mama? I mean do you believe her? Maybe she was just looking for money?”

“I believe her, sweetheart. There was a lot you didn’t know about your Pops. I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want my issues with him to affect the way you felt about him. You two were so close, and you needed that.”

“He cheated on you…. before her?” Emma asked, piecing it together.

“Yes, honey. Edward didn’t even try to hide his infidelity from me towards the end.”
Emma hugged her, and then pulling back to look at Stacey’s face she said, “Mama, I’m so sorry he treated you like that. I really didn’t know. You two always seemed happy to me. I feel like I must have been awfully…. selfish not to notice.”

“No, baby. You have never been selfish. You were young and living life, as a young person should. You didn’t need to know or worry about grown up problems. That’s why I kept all of this from you. I never liked being dishonest with you, but Edward gave you a much better life than I would have been able to give you on my own, and I didn’t want you to resent him for what he and I were going through personally. He truly loved you, like you were his own.”

Emma only nodded and hugged her again. Before they fell asleep that night, Emma said, “Mama, will you promise me one thing?”

“Sure, baby, anything.”

“Will you promise me that you will remember that you deserve better than that, and you won’t let anyone treat you the way he did again, for any reason?”

“I promise baby. I love you.”

“I love you to the moon, Mama.”

The next morning Stacey left Emma asleep in her room and Greg asleep on the couch to go pick up her fresh fruits and vegetables from the local farmers as she did early every day before opening the diner. She also needed to pick up Vicki from Edith’s while she was out. Edith had kindly offered the girl a room in her home when she heard that Victoria was pregnant, and losing her own. They seemed to be becoming great friends and Emma was happy for them both. Her little group of employees were very quickly becoming like a little family.

With the car loaded full of aromatic fruits and crisp, fresh vegetables, Stacey pulled up to the curb in front of Edith’s house. Before she could get out, Victoria came out the front door and down the walk towards the car.

“Good morning,” Stacey said as Victoria stepped in the car.

“Hi,” Victoria said in reply, making Stacey wonder if she was okay. Victoria was never one for one-word replies. The past few mornings, Stacey’s “good morning” had been met with a fifteen minute long monologue about how the day was going thus far.

“Everything okay?” Stacey asked.

“What?” Victoria asked, looking as if she had been lost in thought.

“I just asked if you were alright. You seem a little distant this morning.”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” was all the girl said.

Stacey decided to let it go. After all, she didn’t know Victoria all that well yet, and it wasn’t her place to pry.

When they arrived back at the diner, Manuel and Noel were both already there, hard at work. Stacey had given Edith the morning off to take care of some personal business, so she was going to help Victoria with the waitressing today. She had left a note for Emma and Greg to come down to the diner when they woke up, and have some breakfast.

Just after they opened, the regular crowd of ranch hands and farmers merged in for their early morning omelets and coffee, including Owen the “cow whisperer.” Remembering Greg’s name for him made her smile. Nate Buchanan came in just a few minutes after him. When Stacey looked up and saw him coming through the door, she thought, “
Well, I guess this will answer the question of whether or not they are brothers.
”

Nate shook hands with a few of the farmers on his way in and waved greetings at the ranch hands. Owen was shoveling through a plate of scrambled eggs and hash browns. He barely looked up and gave the other man a lift of his chin. Nate seemed to lift his back slightly, and then continued on to the counter as if the two were only slightly acquainted. “
Well, I guess I was right. Same name, but I’m sure Owen Buchanan is a very different person
,” Stacey told herself.

Nate was dressed sharply again as he had been on the first day Stacey had met him. He wore a bolero tie with a turquoise clip and a matching turquoise band on his black Stetson hat. Stacey sat a cup in front of him and poured him a coffee.

“Good morning, Mr. Buchanan. How are you today?”

“I would be better if you would call me Nate,” he said with flash of perfectly straight, startlingly white teeth.

“Well then, Nate, let’s start over…How are you today?”

“I am doing well, thank you, Stacey. I had to stop by and drop off some things for my Dad. I thought I would stop in and see how things were going here.” He glanced around and said, “I see that you seem to have a full crowd. They all look fat and happy too, even my little brother.”

“Your little brother?” Stacey asked, not hiding her shock.

“Yes, Owen? Surely he’s introduced himself?”

“Um, yes, kind of. He never mentioned his last name though…so I didn’t put it together.”

Nate laughed, “Yeah, him and me get that a lot. He’s got Mom’s blonde hair and green eyes. I got Dad’s darker look.”

“Yeah, that was it,” Stacey said, acting as if the looks were what she thought separated them, and then Nate went on, “Not to mention he insists on running around acting like he’s just another ranch hand, instead of the son of one of the richest men in Texas.”

Stacey saw that same cloud pass through Nate’s dark eyes that she had seen the first day when he had spoken about his father. Again, it passed quickly and he flashed that thousand watt smile at her saying, “To each his own, I suppose, right?”

“Right,” Stacey said before leaving to go fill more coffee cups along the counter.

***

Emma and Greg finally showed up about ten. Stacey had been keeping an eye on Victoria all morning. She was doing her job well, but without her usual enthusiasm, and Stacey was worried about her. She wanted to ask Emma not to say anything to her about what they had talked about. She wasn’t sure the girl was up for it. Before Stacey could intercept her, however, Victoria had already stepped up to their table with menus and coffee pot in hand.

“How y’all doing today?” Stacey heard her ask.

“Good,” Emma said, “We had a great visit with my Mama. How is your day going?”

Stacey needn’t have worried. She had raised her girl well. It seemed that Emma knew this wouldn’t be the time or place to have that discussion.

“I’ve had better, sweetie,” was all Victoria said before pouring their coffee, setting down two menus, and walking away to take another order.

Stacey went over and sat down with Emma. “Glad you two finally made it,” she said, and then pretended not to notice the guilty look the two of them exchanged briefly. “
Just friend’s my ass
!” she thought, but didn’t say so. “Are you two hungry?”

“Starved!” Greg said, not realizing that his hunger only served to fuel Stacey’s suspicions as to why it took them so long to make it to the diner this morning.

“What can I have Manuel make for you?” she asked, a little less enthusiastically than she had planned.

“You okay, Mama?” Emma asked.

“I’m fine, honey. What do you want to eat?”

They gave her their order, and as she was going to give it to Manuel, Nate beckoned her over. “Stacey, I hope you won’t take this as me being too forward, but I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure, Nate, what is it?” she asked, turning to hang the order on the turnstile as he continued to speak, “I was hoping you might agree to go to a Cattleman’s dinner with me this Friday night,” he said before she turned around. She was glad for that, because she was sure her expression registered some shock. She had only just met this man. She did find it a little forward that he was asking her out, already.

Stacey turned around to look at him, “Well, Nate, I don’t know…” she began.

“Before you say no, let me just say that I’m asking because I thought it would be a great opportunity for you to meet some more of the locals, and network the business a little more.”

Stacey thought that over. She had to admit that a little networking couldn’t hurt. “Well, since you put it that way,” she said with a smile, “I’d love to.”

“Fantastic,” he said, standing up and dropping a tip on the counter. “I’ll touch base with you again before then and give you the details.”

“Okay then, thank you,”

“No, thank you,” Nate said, with a look into her eyes that lasted just a bit too long for Stacey’s comfort.

***

Edith arrived to work in time for the lunch crowd, and Stacey left to take Greg and Emma to the train station. They had said they would take a cab, but Stacey wanted just a little more time with her girl before she left. She wasn’t sure how long it would be before either would have time for a visit again.

She helped them load their bags and hugged Emma three times before she let her get on the train. Emma had tears in her eyes as she looked out the window and waved good-bye. Stacey said a silent prayer for God to keep her happy and safe before walking away.

That evening, Stacey finally had a few minutes alone with Victoria. “Vicki,” she said, “I don’t want to be intrusive, but I can tell that something is really bothering you today. Would you like to talk about it?”

Victoria sighed. She looked around as if to make sure no one else was listening, and then taking Stacey by the hands she led her to a nearby booth and they sat down. “I’m scared, Stacey,” the girl said, her eyes filling with tears.

“Scared of what, sweetie?” Stacey asked, reaching across the table to touch Vicki’s hand.

Vicki sighed again. “I got a letter, a few weeks back. I was a little freaked out by it, but I eventually just put it aside and went on with things. Then, last night at Edith’s house, I got a phone call…on her house line! I’ve never given anyone that number. I don’t know how they got it. How do they even know I’m staying there?”

“Okay, honey, slow down,” Stacey told her. The girl was getting worked up and not making any sense. “First let’s start with the letter. What did it say? Who was it from?”

“It only said it was from an ‘associate’ of Edward’s. It said that he owed someone a lot of money, and that he being dead wasn’t the end of it. The letter insinuated that Edward had some hidden money, and that I knew where it was. I swear, Stacey, I don’t know anything about that. That’s the biggest reason I just forgot about it. I thought they would just realize that they had made a mistake.”

“Did they threaten you in any way?”

“Not in the letter. It was just more of a strong suggestion that I should turn over the money to Edward’s lawyer, and he would know what to do with it. Like I said, though, I don’t know anything about any money.”

“So tell me about the phone call,” Stacey told her, trying to keep her voice calm.