Vickie Britton, page 8
The night was solemn and still. Night-birds rustled in the shrubbery near the house. Rings of smoke rose from the bunkhouses, filling the air with a pleasant wood-smell. Cattle grazed silently on the slopes of the winter pastures, vague, dark patches against the corrals and buff-colored rocks.
The Devil’s Gate was mine. Pride of ownership momentarily filled me.
A familiar voice burst indignantly from the heavy grove of trees in Alice’s garden. “It’s just not right. Surely, you’ll
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have to admit that, Guillermo. He might as well have cut Ivan and me off without a cent.”
I stopped the creaking porch swing to listen, the steaming mug burning my fingers.
The voice, which I recognized as Brad’s, continued, with growing resentment. “Never dreamed he’d pull a crazy stunt like this.”
“He’s put her in a hell of a position,” Guillermo conceded.
“I’ve a notion just to take off and see her try to keep this miserable place running without my help. Give her a month or two and she’d crack like a China doll.”
I sat motionless, the chocolate slowly growing cold in my cup.
He resents me. Brad, my sworn friend, my confidante. I’d expected such a reaction from Colleen, but not from him. I shivered slightly, but not from the cold. Is everyone, then, suddenly turned against me? I felt betrayed. And if Brad secretly felt this way toward me, I could only imagine how much more animosity Ivan must feel.
I don’t know how long I sat there, gently rocking, staring out into the darkness. “Ohh…” The porch swing creaked suddenly as someone sat down heavily beside me. I looked over, surprised to find Guillermo next to me. Brad was nowhere in sight.
“You heard us talking,” he commented softly.
I nodded. Hurt and surprise had rendered me speechless. After a long silence, he spoke. “Tavas had a tough decision to make and he made it. Sure, he stepped on some toes, ruffled some feathers, but that can’t be helped now.” Warmth filled Guillermo’s voice as he said soothingly, “Even though Brad and Ivan should have known
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by now that old Tavas was full of surprises, they can’t help feeling hurt and left out, maybe even a little cheated.”
“Just put yourself in their place. The ranch means every bit as much to them as it does to you.” He gave my hand a little squeeze. “You give them time. They’ll come around.” I was suddenly reminded of a time long ago when I’d cut my knee on some glass in the yard. Guillermo had comforted me then on this same porch swing, his strange, soft voice soothing my pain away. “I wouldn’t hold this against Brad,” he advised me now. “Don’t take words not even meant for your ears to heart.”
Then he was gone.
Back inside the house, I washed the pot I’d used to heat the milk and put my cup upon the drain-board, still thinking about what Guillermo had said to me. Then I climbed the stairs back up to Tavas’s room.
I was surprised to find a light still glowing through the doorway. Alice must have forgotten to turn it off. I stood for a moment outside the closed door, a sudden longing for Tavas, for his strength and guidance, overpowering me. The eerie feeling crossed my mind that if I opened the door, surely I’d discover him inside, sitting at his desk like he had so many evenings in the past. Ever so slowly, I turned the handle and gave the door a little shove.
I gasped, jumping back like a startled cat as Tavas’s desk chair swiveled around. Alice’s face, twisted with sheer horror, stared back at me from the chair. I realized that similar thoughts must have gone through her own mind as she saw the door handle turn. She looked almost as if she had expected Tavas’s ghost to come walking through the door, swinging his silver cane.
“I…I didn’t expect to find you still here,” I stammered. I’d come to take a last look at Tavas’s room, to be alone to
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think. “I saw the light glowing…” A strange sensation swept over me as I realized she’d been sitting at Tavas’s desk, crying.
It was so disturbing to see her cry. A heavy smudge of black mascara smeared her cheek as she brushed the dampness from her eyes. “Tavas would be ashamed of me, carrying on this way,” she declared. Ah, but the Basque traditions were buried deep.
“It’s only human to show your grief.” How foolish my words sounded. What hollow consolation they gave. I began to back away, toward the door.
“Don’t leave.”
Ivan’s mother. Her hair had fallen from its pins, tumbling thick about her face in dark, loose waves. I’d never seen her quite like this before. With awe, I realized she was almost beautiful.
“Nobody understood our relationship, Anna. After Lucas died and I stayed on at the ranch, there was gossip. None of it…was true. Tavas was my friend, Anna. My dear, dear friend…”
How Tavas’s death had affected us all. I reached out to her, sharing her sorrow, comforting her as Guillermo had, in his own way, attempted to comfort me. I felt her shoulders tremble as I moved to embrace this aloof woman who’d always been part mother and part stranger to this frightened, orphaned child. It was a touching moment. In its strange, bitter warmth, I let my own scalding tears flow.
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Chapter 10
Alice and I had just finished up the last of the breakfast dishes when Colleen sauntered through the kitchen, rounded hips swaying in skin-tight jeans. The keys to her sports car jingled noisily in her gloved hand. She didn’t speak, but paused long enough to throw us a haughty, disdainful look over her shoulder before stepping outside.
“Don’t expect any politeness out of her,” Alice said. “She’s been living here like a paid-up guest.”
We could hear wheels spinning in the driveway as the little red car pulled recklessly away from the house. “Does she always drive like that?”
“Probably afraid she’ll miss ‘happy hour’ somewhere,” Alice replied scornfully. She made no attempt to hide her dislike for her daughter-in-law from me.
Alice wiped at the last dish and hung the towel back upon the rack. When she turned to me, her voice was lowered conspiratorially. “I think she meets some man in town.”
“You mean—a lover?”
Alice nodded. “Don’t look so shocked. You’ve seen the way she plays up to that Esteban—not to mention the other hired hands. Truth be known, I doubt she’s been faithful to Ivan a day since they were married.” Her face was set into
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the customary scowl she assumed whenever she spoke of Colleen. “The girl’s used to playing with dynamite, but I hope for her own sake she doesn’t take my son for a fool. If my suspicions about her are true, then heaven help her if Ivan ever finds out.”
Brad stuck his head into the kitchen from the doorway, ending our gossip about Colleen. “Ready, Anna? We’ll go out to the corral first. Bring a jacket. The wind’s chilly.”
We walked, hands in our jacket pockets, toward the corral and barn. “Have you seen Ivan?” I asked.
“We talked this morning before he went out on the range,” Brad replied. His amber eyes clouded as he added rather guiltily. “I think he suspects we’re keeping something from him. He was asking me all kinds of questions about the Cult of Akerra.”
“Oh?” I was surprised that Ivan hadn’t confronted Brad with the knowledge of the mutilated bull directly. I’d expected him to demand outright why Brad had been keeping it a secret from him.
“Have you given much thought to what you’re going to do now, Anna?” Brad asked suddenly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, about school and all.”
“I’ve written to the University and asked them to drop my classes for this semester. Too late to get a refund, but that doesn’t really matter.”
“What about your apartment, then. And your job. I know you left in quite a rush.”
“As for my apartment, the girl who’s sub-letting will gladly take over my lease. And to be completely honest with you, Brad, I despised my job.”
“No kidding.”
“Every minute of it.”
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“But your letters sounded so convincing.”
“I…guess I wasn’t nearly as happy in Reno as I let on, Brad. In fact, I felt separated from everything that had ever meant anything to me, if that makes any sense. I’ve never admitted this before, but there were so many times when I just wanted to hop into the car and come home.”
It was natural to resume my easy friendship with Brad, so simple just to push aside the doubts that had been gathering like cobwebs in my mind since the outburst I’d so unintentionally overheard last night.
“Then you plan to stay.”
“Does that disappoint you?” His biting words about how I’d only make a mess of things came back with sudden clearness. Had he spoken, as Guillermo had been so quick to assure me, in haste and disappointment? Or did his bitter words reveal his true feelings toward me now? Perhaps he even harbored vague hopes that I’d move back to Reno and leave him in charge.
“I was just wondering,” he said, looking stung by the unexpected sharpness in my voice, “if you were considering selling out.”
“Selling the Devil’s Gate?” I echoed “Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Well, there’s sure to be offers.”
“I hadn’t really thought about that.”
“DeGarza has.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wants the Devil’s Gate, Anna. Tried to buy Tavas out several times. I know Colleen was going to persuade Ivan to sell out to him if he inherited the place. Talked her uncle into a sweet deal, from what I’ve heard. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes you an offer soon.”
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No wonder Colleen had been so disappointed over the outcome of the will. She already had a buyer lined up for the ranch. Her uncle. She doesn’t know her own husband very well if she believes for a minute that Ivan will give up the Devil’s Gate.
“I’m not interested in selling out, Brad. Especially not to Martin DeGarza.”
“I’m glad we got that straightened out.” Brad sounded relieved. The thought of Martin DeGarza owning the Devil’s Gate obviously didn’t appeal to him any more than it did to me.
One of the farm dogs came up to meet us, sniffing anxiously at our heels as we reached the corral where several of the men were busy with wire and posts. “We’re going to string new fence all along the winter pasture.” Brad’s gaze met mine knowingly. “To tighten up security.” He took a cigarette from the crumpled pack in his shirt pocket and lit it. Brad had taken up smoking lately. I wasn’t used to this newly-acquired habit. It still seemed odd to me to see a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“Good morning,” he said, as we approached the three men working on the fence. “I guess you all know by now that we take our orders from Miss Anna here.”
Carl extended a tattooed hand to me. “You told us we were getting a new boss, Brad, but you never mentioned what a pretty little filly she was,” he said, giving my hand a little squeeze. He grinned, his slightly uneven teeth showing silver at the corners of his mouth.
“Best watch that Carl,” drawled a voice from behind. The voice sounded menacing, like the rattle of a huge, coiled snake about to strike. “He’ll give the little lady a hard time if she lets him.”
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Esteban moved toward us, soft mouth curved into that familiar, unbecoming smile. He regarded me casually, thumbs hooked into the pockets of his tight Levi’s. “But you’re right, man,” he finished, his thick upper lip curling slightly. “She’ll do.” His disturbing eyes took silent liberties as his gaze brushed over me, pausing deliberately in all the wrong places, savoring my discomfort. “She’ll do fine.”
I felt sickened. His veiled impertinence was much harder to stomach than Carl’s bold, good-natured remarks had been.
Manuel listened silently, but said nothing. The large, somber eyes and fringe of short hair gave him a kind, almost priestly air. He was a little older than the other two, about the same age as Guillermo.
“Manuel’s a good man,” Brad said as we moved away. “Hard-working and loyal. It’s the other two that have been causing me trouble.”
“Carl and Esteban? What kind of trouble?”
Brad shrugged. “Had to buy them off. It was the only way to keep their tongues from wagging.”
“Has Guillermo found anything out about the Cult?”
Brad shook his head. “The men have been pretty closed-mouthed. Probably afraid to talk, if they know anything.” He pointed to where, a short distance away, Victor worked, setting one of the heavy cedar posts for the new fence into a deep hole. “We should hire more men like him,” Brad said. “Hear no evil, see no evil.”
Victor was shirtless despite the chilly morning. The thick, sinewy cords of his back muscles rippled with each pull and tug of the heavy wood. He worked slowly and steadily, seemingly as oblivious to us as he was to the cold as Brad and I passed him by.
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But I could feel him watching. I turned my head to glance back. He was standing there, knee-deep in the dirt, smiling stupidly. Those strange, glittering eyes of his were fastened dead upon me.
Some of the men would accept me with casual indifference as Manuel and Carl had done. Others, like Esteban, would challenge my authority. At least, I thought with mingled relief and exasperation as Victor continued to gape at me in unabashed admiration, I could be certain of one man’s approval.
“He asked about you all the time,” Brad commented with a wry grin. “I think the big lug really missed you.”
“Why?” I asked, surprised. “We’ve barely spoken.”
Brad shrugged. “Sometimes it’s the little things that get remembered,” he added thoughtfully. “You’ve probably been kind to him at one time or another. Just like you’re kind to everyone.”
“Many of the men are afraid of his peculiar ways. I’m not. Maybe he can sense the difference.”
We’d reached the barn. Brad got a syringe out of the kit in the office and slowly measured the antibiotic.
“Old Boss got tangled up in that new barbed wire again.” He sighed. “Don’t think she’ll ever learn. It’s a nasty cut, but I think it’ll heal easy.” I could see Old Boss in one of the stalls ahead, where the sick or injured cattle were kept.
“Okay, I’m going to let you inject her. Sing to her, now. Funny how she responds to the sound of your voice. Don’t worry. I’ll hold her steady. Watch out for that hind leg, now. She’s got a kick like a damn mule.”
Brad had good reason to be apprehensive of Boss. That hind leg of hers had sent him sprawling on more than one occasion. Brad always seemed to forget the old adage that
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horses kicked backward and cows kick forward. Boss had never once kicked me. The temperamental old girl must prefer my singing.
I approached her slowly, humming the bars to an old nursery tune. My hand trembled only ever so slightly as I plunged the needle in. Boss balked in protest, tail switching violently as she glared at Brad, but she didn’t kick.
“Say, you haven’t lost your touch, Nurse,” Brad teased. With gentle hands he cleansed the wound on the old cow’s rough, yellowed hide.
“It’s not as if I haven’t had practice. I used to pester Tavas relentlessly to let me help him with the newborn calves, remember?”
“Yes, but you were just a freckled-faced little twerp then. When you got to high school, Tavas complained that you never had time to help him anymore, if I remember right.”
“That must have been the year I discovered disco dancing…”
“And boys…” he teased. “Ah, those were the good years. You haven’t had much fun since your homecoming, have you?” Suddenly serious, he said, “You know, we’re going to have to do something about that. I’m going to drive you into Bly tonight and take you out for the best, biggest steak you’ve ever eaten. Remember ‘Al’s Sirloin’?”
“Mmm…do I ever.”
“Well, what do you say?”
It would be a blessed relief to get away from the isolation of the Devil’s Gate for a while, and I was anxious for a chance to look over Bly again. “I’m suddenly starved,” I replied.
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We were just packing up the veterinarian supplies back into Brad’s small doctoring kit when Guillermo came driving up in the old pickup.
“You get the tractor part?” Brad asked.
“Right here beside me on the seat, Old Pal,” Guillermo replied, his smile revealing good, though tobacco-stained teeth. A friendship had grown between the two of them through the years. The same easy relationship Brad seems to cultivate with everyone.
“You about ready?” Guillermo was saying.
Brad glanced up at him, puzzled.
“What, I hurry my only trip into town in two weeks to get the truck back on time, and here you don’t even remember?”
Brad snapped his fingers. “That’s right.” He turned to me, disappointed. “Martin has a sick horse on his hands. I told him I’d come by. We may have to take a rain check on that steak. By the time I drive out to the DeGarza place and back, it’ll be nearly dark.”
“I’ve got my car. Tell you what. I want to do some shopping anyway. What if I drive on in now and meet you at Al’s—say, around six-thirty?”
“Better make it seven. That’ll give me a chance to clean up.” With a worried look, he added, “You sure you don’t mind driving in alone, now?”
“Of course not. I still know this old road like the back of my hand.”
“Then it’s settled.”
As I moved away, I heard him say to Guillermo, “You bring back any beer?”
“Some in the truck, still cold. Stopped in at the Red Garter on my way back.” Their voices trailed away as I hurried back to the house, lured by the anticipation of a
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nice, hot bath, a change of clothes, and an afternoon in town to be completed by one of Al’s well-done, juicy steaks.
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Chapter 11
I sat brushing out my damp hair, planning my excursion into town. I was nearly out of shampoo, and I could use some more hand lotion. If there was time, I’d browse the few shops in the mall for a pullover sweater and jeans, practical additions to my fall wardrobe. My sense of excitement at such a small thing as an unexpected trip to town made me realize how oppressive the last few days had been.
