The Promise of Forgiveness (27 page)

W
hen they arrived in town, the dark sedan, the sheriff's patrol car, and a pickup with the Bar T logo sat parked in front of the Possum Belly Saloon.

“Wait in the diner for us, Mia.”

“I want to go with you.”

“Listen to your mother, young lady,” Hank said.

Once Mia was safely inside the Airstream, she and Hank got out of the truck. “What are you looking for?” she asked when he ducked his head behind the seat.

“A little persuasion.” He stepped back and shut the door.

She nodded to the shotgun. “How many of those do you have?”

“Keep one in the house, one in the truck, and had one in the barn.”

“Is it loaded?”

“Wouldn't do much good if it wasn't.”

“Maybe you should leave the bullets—” He marched past Ruby, and she hurried after him.

They found Randall speaking to Sheriff Carlyle, no doubt trying to cover his tracks before his boss heard Ruby's version of the events.

No one in the noisy room paid any attention to them. But Hank solved that problem. He fired the shotgun at the ceiling.

Plaster rained down on their heads, and men dove for the floor. If Ruby weren't so pissed off, she might have laughed at the beef necks taking cover under the tables.

Sheriff Carlyle yanked the shotgun from Hank's hands. “Give me that before you kill someone.”

“Don't believe a word your deputy told you.” Ruby glared at the lawmen.

Randall puffed out his chest. “He was driving like a maniac.”

Hank waved a crooked finger at Randall. “You tried to run us off the road.”

“Let's take this discussion over to the jail.” When the sheriff made a move toward the door, Ruby blocked his path.

“Did you ask your deputy why he isn't in uniform?”

The sheriff stared at Ruby as if she were a petulant child. “After our earlier visit, Paul said he wasn't feeling well and decided to go home to rest.”

The corners of Randall's mouth twitched.

The bastard's cockiness irked her, and she lashed out. “What happens when the parents of those Little League boys find out their hero set a rancher's barn on fire? They'll never let you near another baseball field again.”

Randall glanced over his shoulder at Stony, as if he expected the bartender to step in and defend him.

“It all makes sense now why your investigation into the trouble at Hank's ranch has gone nowhere. Deputy Randall's the one who shot at Mia the day she went horseback riding near Fury's Ridge.”

The sheriff glanced between Ruby and his deputy. “What's she talking about, Paul?”

Randall turned to Stony and said, “I'm not taking the fall for this.”

The bartender picked up a shot glass and dried it with a towel, looking bored with the drama playing out in his saloon. “I have no idea what the deputy is talking about.”

“The hell you don't.” Randall's chest heaved. “Stony's the one who wants the Devil's Wind. He paid me to harass Hank to get him to sell.”

Stony locked gazes with Ruby, and her skin crawled at his cold stare. “Randall's lying.”

“I've got a canceled check for twenty thousand dollars to prove I'm telling the truth,” the deputy said.

“Shut up, you stupid ass.” Stony flung the towel at Randall's head.

Eyebrows squished together, the sheriff asked, “Why would you do this, Paul?”

Randall perspired profusely, large wet stains spreading under his armpits. “They were going to cancel the Little League unless they came up with a way to fund it. I asked Stony for a donation, but he said I had to earn it by doing him a favor.”

“He's lying.” Stony banged the shot glass on the bar.

“He wants the Devil's Wind for himself.” Randall threw the bartender under the bus.

“You don't know when to shut the fuck up, do you?” Stony said.

“You son of a bitch.” Sandoval stepped from the shadows behind the sheriff. He glared at his half brother. “All this time you made it appear as if my ranch hands were vandalizing Hank's property.”

“What the hell do you care?” Stony came around the bar and got in Sandoval's face. “That land was supposed to go to me, but you lost it in a poker game.”

“This isn't about the land.” Sandoval balled his hands into fists. “You're angry because you're the bastard son.”

“I deserved half the Bar T when our father died.” Stony swatted the air with his hand. “I got nothing.”

“You got nothing,” Sandoval said, “because your mother tried to blackmail our father.”

“Bullshit. You—”

“Enough!” the sheriff shouted. “Stony, you're coming with me.”

“I didn't touch Hank's ranch.”

“Doesn't matter. Get over to the jail or I'll slap handcuffs on you.” The sheriff looked at Randall. “Same goes for you, Paul.”

Stony shoved Randall aside. The deputy careened into a table, knocking beer mugs to the floor. Then Stony stopped in front of the sheriff. “Why don't you ask
Paul
how he knows your wife has a butterfly tattoo on her right ass cheek.”

The air in the bar went out as everyone held their breath. The sheriff kept his temper in check. “Go.” Then he took Randall by the shirtsleeve and dragged him out the door.

A few seconds later the rest of the men vacated the premises. “My condolences on Cora's passing,” Sandoval said.

Hank nodded.

“Are you staying or selling?”

“We're staying,” Ruby said.

“Let me know when you're ready to put up a new barn. I'll send my men to help.”

Ruby took Hank by the arm, and they followed Sandoval outside. “I'll fetch Mia,” she said, “while you give the sheriff your statement.”

Hank hesitated. “Ruby?”

“What?”

“You sure you want to stay? There's nothing out here but wind and dust.”

“There are good people, too.” She'd met several at the Little League game. “Besides, I'm getting used to dirt in my teeth.”

“We've got a lot to talk about, then,” he said.

“We do?”

“I won't live forever, and I've got plans I want you to carry out for me.”

“Can we hold off talking about you dying until tomorrow?”

He chuckled. “I suppose my funeral plans can wait.”

Ruby kissed his cheek. “See you in a bit.” She walked to the diner, her thoughts switching to Joe. She wanted to tell him what had happened today. Assure him that Mia was out of danger and he didn't have to worry about keeping any of them safe. She wanted to ask Joe to come back to her—to give them a second, third, or as many chances as they needed to get it right.

•   •   •

J
oe parked his pickup in front of a three-bedroom, two-bath brick ranch—the home he and Melanie had purchased after Aaron was born. The shrubs he'd planted in front of the house were twice their original size. A flower wreath hung on the door, and a
w
elcome
mat sat on the stoop.

It didn't look like a house where a little boy had died.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was different. He scanned the homes along the street and realized the hedges were missing. Every house up and down the block had removed the four-foot hedges next to their driveways—the evergreens that had hidden Aaron from view before he'd flown into the street on his bike. Anger squeezed the air out of Joe's lungs. Why did it have to be his child who died before the parents realized the danger the hedges posed?

His gaze moved down the sidewalk to the sign at the corner—S
LOW,
C
HILDREN
P
LAYING
. That was new. And so were the speed bumps in the street.

The days following Aaron's death had been a blur. Neighbors had come by to pay their respects, but Joe had been so numb he couldn't remember their faces, let alone what they'd said to him. Melanie had taken a sleeping pill each night. But Joe had sat in Aaron's room, staring at his empty bed. And then one morning he'd woken up and realized Melanie was gone. Her clothes were gone. Her makeup in the bathroom was gone. Her medications were gone. The only thing she'd left behind was him.

Joe pulled away from the curb and drove to the end of the block, then turned the corner and pulled into the neighborhood park. It was the middle of the afternoon, but the playground was empty. He got out of his car and walked over to the monkey bars. Aaron's face flashed before his eyes. Laughing, smiling, shouting to his friends as he swung by one arm.

He hadn't recalled there being any trees on the playground when Aaron had played here, but one had been planted across from the swings. A bench sat in its shade. He went over to sit down, but stopped short when he noticed the engraved placard on the backrest.

I
N
M
EMORY OF
A
ARON
D
AWSON

Life had gone on. Kids still played, laughed, and grew up on the same street that had taken Aaron's life. But they hadn't forgotten him. Joe wanted to believe his son's spirit remained here, riding his bike through the neighborhood, swinging on the monkey bars.

Joe sat and bowed his head.
Aaron, buddy, I'm sorry
.

If he could go back and do that day all over again . . .

I'll always love you, son.
He gave in to the memories, to the good times he'd had with Aaron and Melanie, and let go of the bad memories, the darker days, the sleepless nights, the drinking.

A car door slammed shut and he opened his eyes. Three young boys raced to the swings, and their mother walked over to the bench and sat at the opposite end from him.

“Hello,” she said.

Joe nodded.

“Are you new in the neighborhood? You don't look familiar.”

“My wife and I lived here several years ago.”

“Oh? My neighbors Margie and Gary Johnson have been here forever.”

Joe remembered the Johnsons. Melanie and Margie had played Bunco together.

“What's your name? I'll tell them I ran into you.”

“Joe Dawson.”

“Cindy Nelson. My husband and I moved here last year.” She clapped her hands to get the boys' attention, then shook her head and the kids stopped arguing. “Boys are a handful.” She smiled. “Do you have any children?”

“I had a son.” Joe stood. “I better get going.”

“It was nice meeting you.”

He cut through the playground, taking one last look at the monkey bars. He would never return to this park or this neighborhood. Before he pulled out into the street, he glanced in the rearview mirror and caught the young mother reading the plaque on the bench.

He'd never forget the day Aaron died, but it was time to move on. With his son's memory safely tucked inside his heart, Joe turned the pickup north and headed back to the Panhandle.

“M
ia's worried about you.” Hank sat next to Ruby on the front porch.

“I'm fine.”

“Could have fooled me.” His fingers dove inside his empty shirt pocket, and then his hand fell back to his lap. “You've been watching the road every night since he left.”

She didn't want to talk about Joe. It hurt too much. “Sears called earlier. They're delivering the new appliances tomorrow.”

Two weeks had passed since the barn fire, and with Hank's encouragement Ruby had begun renovations on the farmhouse. The kitchen had been first on her list. They'd hired a woodworker from Guymon to refinish the cabinets. He'd stripped off the stain and painted them white. The linoleum floor had been pulled up and neutral cream tile put in its place. The baseboards had been repaired and painted to match the cabinets.

Hank had grumbled when Ruby bought a Keurig machine to replace the coffeemaker. She insisted they'd waste less grounds if they made a cup at a time, even though the real reason she'd purchased the expensive gadget was because she'd always wanted one for herself. But Hank complained that his coffee was never strong enough, so Ruby gave in and put the ancient appliance back on the counter next to the Keurig.

Usually after a loved one passed away, a person kept a piece of jewelry, a trophy, or a painting to remember them by. Ruby already knew the Mr. Coffee machine would remain on the counter long after Hank's footsteps no longer echoed in the house.

“Hank?”

“Yeah?”

“After we finish the renovations, I was thinking about enrolling in a couple of classes at the community college in Guymon.” She would register for night classes so that Mia would be home with Hank in case he fell ill.

“What are you interested in studying?”

“I don't know.” She thought she'd answered Hank's letter not only to learn about her medical history but because she wanted to discover if she was meant to be anything more than a waitress or a desk clerk the rest of her life. Thanks to Joe, Ruby finally understood that she'd always possessed the power to determine her own future—she just hadn't had the courage to exercise it until now.

“I won't start classes until after the winter break.”

“Why not?”

“I need to apply for financial aid and—”

“I'll pay for your school.”

“I'm capable of paying my way.”

“I missed out on all the things fathers do for their kids.” He winked. “I'd like to send my thirty-one-year-old daughter to college.”

When he put it like that, she couldn't refuse.

“I'll make a deal with you,” he said. “If you flunk out, you have to pay me back.”

“That's fair.” She reached across the space between their chairs and grasped his hand.

“Are you in love with Joe?” he asked.

Not a day went by that Joe wasn't inside Ruby's head, messing with her thoughts. Inside her heart, messing with her feelings. “I want to be.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I've never been in love before, but I think I could have been with Joe, if we'd had more time together.”

“After Cora left, I didn't want to go on living.”

Ruby's eyes stung.

“Don't look at me like that. I'm still here, aren't I?” He dropped his gaze to their hands. “Every morning I'd get out of bed thinking this was the day I'd look out the window and see her walking up the road. Days turned into weeks. Then months and finally years.”

“When did you stop looking out the window?”

“The day after we brought Cora home.”

Dear God
. Ruby didn't want to watch the road for Joe every day for the rest of her life.

“Go after him.”

She wasn't a chaser. She was a kicker-outer—a woman who told men to beat it, not one who begged them to take her back. “I don't think he's ready to be part of a family again.”

“Convince him to stay here while he figures it out,” Hank said.

“And if he says no?”

“Life goes on. You've got your daughter and me. We love you.”

“You're going to make me cry.” She wiped her eyes. Each day with Hank was a gift. There was no guarantee he'd come down the stairs tomorrow morning, much less a month or a year from now.

“Don't make the same mistake I did,” he said.

“You regret not going after Cora.”

“If I had, I might have been able to change her mind and talk her into coming home.”

“What if you had found her but she'd refused to return to the Devil's Wind?”

“Then I would have had to let her go. After a while I might have found the courage to open my heart to someone else.”

All her adult life Ruby had been afraid of being left behind. Because of that fear she'd never allowed herself to trust a man and at the first sign of trouble she'd cut him loose rather than risk him leaving her.

Joe had left her, but she was still here. Still breathing. Still okay. And she still had Mia and Hank. Ruby was far from perfect, but she was a good person with a good heart. She deserved to be happy, and if Joe made her happy . . .

“Okay. I'll go after him.”

“You want me to ask Charles to contact his private investigator?”

“Give me until the end of September.” If she couldn't find Joe by then, she'd ask for Hank's help. “Joe mentioned his sister and her husband live on a farm in Nebraska.” That was as good a place as any to start.

“We'll come with you. I'll pay one of Roy's hands to take care of the animals.”

“I have to do this on my own. And Mia can't miss school.” Each morning Hank drove Mia out to the highway to catch the school bus into Guymon. And each afternoon he was there waiting for her when she got dropped off.

Her gaze shifted to Hank's jalopy parked in the front yard. “I'll need your truck.” But she didn't like the idea of Mia and Hank stranded at the ranch without a vehicle.

“Take it. There's an old ATV in the shed I can use to drive Mia to the school bus.”

“Or she could walk the mile to the road.” The exercise would do her good.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“I'm concerned about your health.”

“Don't worry. Mia will call the Bar T if I bite the dust.”

“That's not even funny.”

“When are you leaving?”

“First thing in the morning.”

Hank went into the house and Ruby went back to staring at the road.

•   •   •

“
Oh, come on!” Ruby coasted to the shoulder of the highway and turned off the engine. Go figure. She'd finally screwed up the courage to chase after Joe, but she'd made it only forty miles before the truck broke down. Forget checking the engine—she had no idea what to look for. She turned on the flashers, then retrieved her cell phone from her purse. No signal.

Crap
. She'd figured it would take time to find Joe, but she hadn't counted on hiking to Nebraska. She'd wanted to look pretty if she caught up with him by the end of the day, so she'd worn the peach dress and cowboy boots that he'd said looked good on her. She wasn't sure how far she'd make it in boots, but she for sure wouldn't get anywhere sitting on the side of the road. She took her purse, locked the truck, and started walking.

A horn honked and she jumped inside her skin. A white utility van pulled up alongside her. The passenger window lowered. The driver wore a blue work shirt with T
ED
embroidered above the pocket. “That your truck back there?”

The guy is an idiot
. “Ah, yeah.”

“Want me to call a wrecker for you?”

No, actually, I'd like you to call a pizza-delivery service and have them send out a medium pepperoni and mushroom
. “That would be great.”

“I'm turning off a mile up the road. I can take you that far.”

A lot could happen in a mile—she'd seen the show
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
. “Thanks. I'll wait with my vehicle.”

“Suit yourself.” He sped off.

Once Ruby was confident Ted wouldn't turn around, she retraced her steps, then removed her luggage from the backseat and used it to sit on. An hour later she worried that Ted had forgotten her. She stowed the suitcase in the truck and shut the door. She'd hiked only fifty yards when she noticed help approaching in the opposite lane. She waved her arms.

The pickup slowed—a black Dodge. The driver crossed the center line and parked facing Hank's vehicle. She held her breath . . . waiting . . . hoping . . .

Joe
.

He got out of the pickup and strode toward her. “Don't you know hitchhiking is dangerous?” His brown gaze skimmed over her. “Damn it, Ruby, you could have been hit by a car or abducted and left to rot in a ditch.”

She stared wide-eyed, afraid to blink for fear he'd disappear. His gaze softened as it swept over her. “I tried to leave, Ruby. I tried so damn hard, but you kept calling me back.”

His confession split her heart wide open.

“For years I buried the pain of Aaron's death, hoping it would go away if I ignored it. I knew if I allowed myself to feel, I'd fall apart, and I was afraid I wouldn't make it back from that dark place a second time.”

Tears burned her eyes, and she sniffed.

“But you made me do things with you and Mia, and before I realized it, I was living again. Feeling again. Then I panicked after the fire and the scare with Mia. All I could think about was how I'd failed Aaron, and I didn't want to be responsible for losing someone else I cared deeply for. So I left.”

“Where did you go?”

“Back to the house where Melanie and I raised Aaron.”

He'd returned to the place his son had died.

“I realized that punishing myself will never bring Aaron back.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “My son wouldn't want me to stop living.”

“No, he wouldn't.” She gripped his arm, wanting to never let him go.

“I'm ready to start living again. I want to learn to laugh and smile without feeling guilty.” He caressed Ruby's cheek. “And I want to do it all with you by my side and Aaron in my heart.”

The tears she'd held at bay leaked from her eyes. “I was coming to get you. To bring you home.” She gathered her courage and put her heart on the line. “I think I'm falling in love with you, Joe.”

“I want to say those words back to you, but not until I know I mean them.” He pressed her hand to his heart. “No matter how long it takes or how hard I have to fight to get there—I will say those words to you, Ruby. And when I do, you'll know it's for forever.”

Ruby vowed that each day she'd show Joe he was worth loving. And with Hank and Mia's help, she'd convince him that he was worthy of a place in their family and in their hearts.

“I don't want to lose you, Ruby.”

“You won't.” She pressed her lips to his, the kiss filled with the promise of forgiveness.

Then Ruby rested her cheek against Joe's chest and listened to his heart pound strong and steady. As the sun rose higher in the sky, Ruby's life righted itself and the world around her took on a rosy glow.

Even the dirt carried off by the wind shimmered like gold dust.