Stars & Stripes (43 page)

Beverly hadn’t changed her mind after the attack on the ranch, too stubborn and too proud to admit that she might have been wrong. Or the alternative: she didn’t think she was wrong at all. If Harrison supported Beverly’s decision to write him out of the will and essentially out of the family . . . Zane shook himself, not even able to think about it.

“Hey,” Harrison said, voice gruff.

“Hey.” Zane’s wounded thigh pulled as he held himself straight and tall.

Harrison shook his head and reached out to pat Zane’s shoulder. “Relax, son,” he said.

Zane thought he might drop in relief right there. He swallowed hard and nodded, stepping back to let Harrison into the house.

Harrison walked to the kitchen table and dropped the envelope onto it.
“You two doing okay?”

Zane glanced up the stairs to the loft. “Yeah. Ty hit the bed and fell asleep before I could make him take his boots off. He lost a lot of blood.”

Harrison pursed his lips, which made his mustache twitch. Zane smiled fondly. “Got a little time?” Harrison asked.

“We’ve got another hour or so until we need to go to catch the plane.”

“I’m glad I came right over, then. Sit down, Z. We need to talk.”

The apprehension hit Zane again like a hammer. He edged into one of the chairs, babying his leg.

Harrison sat opposite him, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “I’m proud of you, son. What you did was damned brave.”

The words warmed Zane to his toes. “I could say the same of you. I never realized how lucky I was to have you as a role model.”

Harrison raised an eyebrow, and his mustache twitched again.

Zane grinned. “Thank you for teaching me how to stand my ground, Dad.”

“Garretts got iron in their spines. You remember that.”

Zane nodded.

“What your mother’s done is a terrible thing, Z, and I won’t excuse her for it.” He sighed and shook his head. “Not that it matters much to her what I think.”

“Dad, what happened to her?”

“She’s always been a person who saw things in black and white, Z. Either it’s good for business, or it ain’t. You must remember what that felt like.”

Pain shot through Zane’s chest. He did remember. It had been a cold world. The only people who’d ever been able to see through his own icy exterior had been Becky and Ty. Was his father able to do the same with his mother?

“Are you happy, Dad?”

“I always have been.”

“But—”

“The love of my life is my ranch, Zane. It’s all I need to be happy. Beverly runs the money side of it and she’s good at it. I run the people side. Horses run themselves.”

Zane nodded, finally seeing a glimpse of the real marriage between the two of them. He didn’t understand it, but he believed his dad when he said he was happy.
He stared out the glass wall over the rolling hills, seeing nothing but blurry grass and trying to ignore the awful, hollow feeling in his chest.

“I don’t put my nose into her side of the business, and she leaves her opinions out of mine. But this is one decision she won’t be making alone. I won’t allow it to tear my family to pieces.”

Zane blinked at him in shock.

“If she wants to take the Carter name and all that goes with it from you, she can.” He reached out and clasped Zane’s shoulder. “But you’ll
always
be a Garrett. Nothing she does or says can ever change that.”

Zane nodded, blinking against the stinging in his eyes.

“Now, when you were born, your granddaddy set up the Garrett Ranch in a revocable living trust,” Harrison said, his grip on Zane’s shoulder loosening. “I’m the successor trustee, so I’ve run the Garrett Ranch right along with the Carter Ranch ever since your granddaddy passed. But they’re still two completely separate entities.”

Zane frowned. “So you own the Garrett Ranch separate from the Carter Ranch?”

A smile played around the corners of Harrison’s mouth. “No, Zane.
You
own the Garrett Ranch.”

Zane stared at Harrison, his mind gone blank. “What?”

“You own it. You’re the beneficiary of the trust.”

Zane shook himself. “That’s not possible. There would have been paperwork.”

“Oh there is, and there has been since you were a baby. Trust takes care of itself,” Harrison said as he pushed the envelope under Zane’s hand.

“I own . . .
own
half the ranch?”

“The Garrett half. The Carter half was originally Garrett land, deeded to the Carters when we married as a dowry. Your mother inherited it and it folded back into the Garrett Ranch. Now, if something like, say, divorce papers got filed, the Carter half would revert back into the Garrett name, and that half is in my name alone. Beverly would walk away with nothing.”

Zane gaped, unable to say anything.

Harrison smirked. “We Garretts, we may be a lot of things, but we ain’t stupid.”

“Jesus, Dad.”

“Now, Beverly knows all that, and she knows if she raises a hand against you, or speaks against Ty as long as you’re with him, I got no need for her.”

“So . . . I own the Garrett half, and you own the Carter half?”

“That’s right. Meaning, one day, you’ll own the whole thing.”

Zane opened his mouth to speak, but failed. He’d never had any inkling the Garrett half of the ranch was the ranch in power. His mother always ruled the roost as if her family’s money fed it. It made sense now, all those years of her heavy-handed ways; she was compensating for having no monetary importance in the alliance of the families. Harrison’s mellow temperament made it easy for her to control things, and her savvy business sense had made it a good arrangement.

Now, though, Harrison was flexing his muscle. And it was a lot of muscle.

“Dad,” Zane whispered. He shook his head.

“Your granddaddy wanted you to have it, wanted you to know you had a place, no matter what.”

“What about Annie?”

“He left a significant cash inheritance for her. And I’ll do the same when I pass. She and Mark used it to set up her vet business. But the ranch follows the Garrett name.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Harrison sighed and leaned back in the chair. “I wanted you to live the life
you
wanted, Z. Texas held more bad memories for you than good. Becky was gone, Beverly wouldn’t leave you alone, and I knew
here
was the last place you wanted to be. But if you’d found out, you would have dropped it all and come back here, no matter how miserable it made you in the end, simply because it was your granddaddy’s doing.”

Zane inhaled sharply, trying to swallow down the swell of emotion. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

“Well. Now you know. The Garrett Ranch, and the Garrett name, are yours to do with what you will. The envelope’s got copies of all the legal paperwork, banking information and so on, but there’s really nothing you have to do. Beverly and I got it all set up to sustain itself and then some. I just need a few new hands, is all. Just like Cody.”

Zane laughed in surprise at his father’s rueful words.

Harrison winced. “Too soon?”

“Probably.”

“Ah, well. Three-quarters of profits are folded back into operations, the other quarter splits into three accounts: one for Annie, one for Sadie, and one for you to do whatever you want with.”

They sat in silence for long minutes while Zane tried to let it sink in.

“What about you, Dad?” he finally asked.

“What about me?”

“If the Garrett Ranch is mine, and Mother is . . . what do you have?” Zane was sure there were more questions to ask, but that one loomed large.

Harrison waved a hand. “What do I need when I’m running the place anyway? I got a son and daughter who love me. I got a grandbaby whose eyelashes are going to take over the world someday. And I have my horses.” He leaned forward and covered Zane’s hand with his own. “Don’t worry about me, Z.”

Zane laughed despite himself. “And I thought I was a stubborn ass.”

“You come by it honest.” Harrison sighed and patted Zane’s hand a couple times, and then glanced up at the loft. Zane could hear the topic change coming a mile away. Harrison met his eyes and smiled. “You hang onto him with everything you’ve got. Not every man gets a second chance.”

Zane eyes strayed to the loft, where Ty probably still lay sprawled on the bed. Zane smiled as the warmth of contentment spread through him. “I know.”

They lucked into plane tickets that took a short hop from Austin to Houston, and then carried on in a single leg to Charleston, West Virginia. Zane even upgraded himself and Ty into first class.

They both looked like they’d been dragged behind a tractor, and trudging through the airport in Houston didn’t help either of them. As they sat waiting for the connection, they watched the local news about the heroic tiger outside of Austin and sank lower in their seats. After the news story was over, the man beside Ty joked about his bandages, asking him if he’d been mauled by a tiger too.

Ty managed a smile as the stranger chuckled, then gave Zane a look that said if they didn’t move he was going to end up with blood on his hands.

The rest of the flight home was uneventful. It was dark and quiet as Zane drove up the last mountain road before they got to the Grady’s winding driveway.

Ty kept glancing over at him, as if he wanted to ask if he was okay but already knew the answer. He gave Zane directions instead. Zane pulled the rental beside the old truck in the gravel driveway and turned off the car. They sat in the darkness, the engine clicking as the silence settled over them.

Ty cleared his throat. “Should we tell them about the shooting and violence and tigers, or just stick to the basics?”

Zane rubbed his thigh. He could feel bruises and strained muscles all over his body, little bangs and cuts that you never noticed when you were scrambling for dear life. Ty looked and probably felt even worse. Zane sighed and pointed at Ty’s brand new cast and the sling he now wore because of the gunshot to his shoulder. “They’ll figure it out anyway.”

“Alrighty,” Ty said. He unbuckled, but stopped and glanced at Zane again before getting out of the car. “Tell me something, Zane.”

Zane stared at him in the darkness, wallowing in the relief of simply being with Ty. “Anything.”

“Was it you or Mark who shot me?”

Zane bit his lip, trying not to smile. “Totally Mark.”

Ty narrowed his eyes. Then he smiled and leaned over for a quick kiss. Zane couldn’t help but laugh. He had a feeling Ty knew he was lying. It was one lie he didn’t mind paying for later.

Ty lingered over the kiss for another moment, then pressed their foreheads together. Calm settled over Zane, and then Ty pulled away and slid out of the car. As soon as the car door shut, the porch light came on and the front door of the house opened.

Zane waited for the anxiety to strike, but it never came. He was happy to be here, and the relief was overwhelming. Even the uneasiness between himself and Earl didn’t register as important anymore.

He opened the door to climb out of the car, stifling a groan as the stitches in his thigh pulled.

Earl stood on the top step. “You boys look like something the cat dragged in.”

“The cat jokes lost their luster a while ago, Dad.”

“Not ’round here they didn’t.”

“Wait ’til he hears about the tiger,” Zane muttered.

Ty laughed, not even trying to stop himself. Zane grinned, falling victim to Ty’s infectious laughter and beginning to chuckle. Suddenly, it all seemed funny.

Ty was still snickering as he trudged up the steps. Earl offered his hand to Ty in greeting, but Ty bypassed it and hugged his father instead. Earl looked shocked for a moment, but he hastily returned it, gingerly patting Ty on the back at first, and then truly embracing his son.

Zane merely smiled as he watched. Mara came out just as Ty let Earl go, and she shouldered past Earl and pulled Ty into another hug. Ty gave a pitiful cry as she grabbed his arm.

“Oh my good gracious, what happened?” She took Ty’s face in her hands, then turned her sharp eyes to Zane. “You too! What did you do to yourselves?”

“Just a little scuffle,” Zane said as he dropped his bag on the front step and turned back to the car for Ty’s.

“Zane Garrett, you get back here and give me a hug!” Mara called after him. “Earl, get their bags.”

Zane spun in place and returned to the porch, a little bemused by how he reacted to her orders without thinking. “We’re fine,” he said as she pulled him down into a tight hug. It was still awkward for him, but he was beginning to realize just how special it was.

“Both of you are liars,” Mara grumbled, though her voice was affectionate. “Come on in and tell us what happened. We wasn’t expecting you back.” She turned and led them into the house, where they could smell something with cinnamon cooking.
Mara
hooked her arms through both of theirs and dragged them into the house.

The smell of cinnamon was stronger in the kitchen. Mara pointed them toward the table and then sat across from them. “What happened in Texas?”

Zane met Ty’s eyes, wondering what Ty wanted to tell them. Zane wanted to tell them every word of it. He wanted to speak it to someone who would understand and give him a hug to make it better.