The Rancher Next Door

Chapter Two

Katie turned left at the bridge and crossed onto the Darby ranch. Enemy territory, she thought with a smile as she looked out over a vast emptiness made temporarily beautiful by acres of wildflowers. Spring in Texas was her favorite time of year. There were moderate temperatures, the bright colors of new leaves, flowers and grass and the wild thunderstorms that made staying indoors in front of a roaring fire the most perfect way to spend an evening. While she’d been at college she’d heard dozens of students complain that Texas was too hot, too flat and too big, but for Katie, that was the charm of living here.

She drove nearly two miles before she spotted low outbuildings in the distance. She saw horses grazing in oversize corrals and, past them, cattle. Even from nearly a mile away she could see that the buildings looked freshly painted and repaired. Times had changed for the better on the Darby ranch. Between Jack’s forays into oil and horse breeding, cash was no longer a problem. When beef prices dropped, he could afford to wait until the market was better. He could finance expansion and ride out hard times. She’d had an earful of Jack’s good fortune over the past couple of days, all delivered by her father. His angry voice had betrayed his lack of goodwill toward his neighbor, but that wasn’t news. Darbys and Fitzgeralds had hated each other since the beginning of time, or at least since Joshua Fitzgerald and Michael Darby had first settled on adjoining ranches nearly a hundred and forty years before. Time had changed the land and circumstances of the heirs to that land, but it hadn’t changed the feud.

Katie pulled up in front of the two-story sprawling ranch house and put her forest-green Explorer in park. Then she rested her hands on the steering wheel and stared at the well-tended flower garden in front of the wide front porch. A swing hung by a bay window that overlooked the main pasture. There were several rockers on the other side of the porch.

Katie smiled as she remembered being all of fifteen and desperately in love with Jack Darby. She remembered how he’d sworn that one day they would be able to tell the world they loved each other, and they would sit on the swing in front of his house and no one would say a word to either of them. It had been a foolish dream, dreamed by children. She and Jack had both become very different people.

She found herself wondering about the man he was now. Were there any similarities to the boy she’d known? When she’d seen him in town she’d noticed that he was a couple of inches taller and a little broader through the chest. He’d seemed harder, somehow, as if time had added muscle as well as experience. According to her stepmother, who kept her apprised of the local gossip, Jack had been married and divorced while Katie had been gone. Suzanne had been able to give generalities about the beginning and ending of Jack’s marriage, but she hadn’t filled in the particulars. Such as, who had ended the relationship and did Jack still miss his ex-wife?

“Not that it matters to me,” Katie said aloud as she turned off the engine and grabbed her bag of equipment. “This is about business, nothing more.”

She almost believed it, she thought as she made her way to the front of the house. Unfortunately, instead of knocking, she found herself wondering why she’d never been able to put Jack completely out of her mind. Had his ex-wife had the same problem? Jack seemed much more able to get the past behind him. Whenever he and Katie had met in town over the years when she’d been home for holidays and birthdays, he’d offered a polite hello but nothing more. Two days ago, he’d acted as if they’d barely been acquainted with each other. Eleven years ago she’d declared her love and had begged Jack to run away with her. Apparently that had mattered a whole lot more to her than to him.

Forget it, she told herself as she knocked firmly on the front door. From inside, a voice called that the door was open. Katie let herself in and stepped into the front room.

When she’d been little, her family had been the affluent one and the Darbys had been struggling. Looking around at the new furniture and refinished hardwood floor, she saw evidence of Jack’s success. Times had certainly changed.

“Katie, I’m hoping that’s you,” Hattie Darby called. “Head down the hall. I’m in the first room on the right.”

“Yes, it’s me,” Katie said, following the directions.

She crossed the huge front room, filled with three comfortable sofas and two sets of wing chairs, all done in dark blue, then entered the hallway. The first room on the right was a recently converted library. Shelves still ran around three of the four walls. The fourth contained a big window. In the center of the room stood a hospital bed, a table on wheels and two stationary nightstands. Several floor lamps would provide illumination in the evening.

Katie turned her attention to the bed and the woman sitting there. Hattie Darby had to be in her fifties, but with her long, dark hair hanging in a thick braid over one shoulder and laughter dancing in her dark eyes, she barely looked thirty-five. Jack’s mother was a pleasant woman with a well-known generous heart and a lust for adventure. Which was the reason she was living in a hospital bed with a brace and partial cast.

“Katherine Marie Fitzgerald, you’re quite the grown woman, aren’t you?” Hattie asked, holding out both hands.

Without thinking, Katie set her bag on the floor and crossed to the side of the bed. She found herself smiling at Hattie. “Hello, Mrs. Darby.”

The older woman frowned. “Please, don’t call me that. I’m Hattie. After all, you’re going make me sweat and listen to me swear through my exercises. Under those circumstances it would be silly to be formal, don’t you think?” Hattie squeezed her hands and released them. “Besides, I’ve known you since before you were born.”

Katie laughed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right.” She pulled up the chair by the bed and settled on the seat. “I’ve spoken to Dr. Remington. He says you’re doing very well. How are you feeling?”

Hattie motioned to her lower body and sighed. “Like a fool. Jack keeps telling me I should have known better than to show off at the Thompsons’ barbecue, but I couldn’t help myself. Several broken bones later, I guess I’ve learned my lesson.”

Katie reached for her bag and pulled out a folder. “I have all the information here on your injuries and your recovery. Dr. Remington would like you to have a month of daily physical therapy. Then another month of three times a week. The aggressive schedule is to help you regain as much of your former range of motion and strength as possible.”

Hattie nodded. “I want to be up and barrel racing real soon. The sight of a good-looking woman on a horse always makes the men around here go crazy, and I could use a mild flirtation or two in my life.”

Katie looked at Hattie’s pretty features. There were a few lines around her eyes and mouth, but they only added to her attraction. Her strong features reminded Katie a little of Jack.

“I’ll see what I can do about getting you back on the horse.” She dug a pen out of her bag and wrote the date on her chart. “Are you getting around all right? Any trouble I should know about?”

Hattie snorted. “I can barely take a breath without someone running in to ask me if I’m all right. Jack comes to fuss over me three or four times a day. Nora, my oldest daughter, comes in from town every day to check on me. She offered to move back in for a time, but I told her I was fine. You raise them and finally get them out and the first thing you know, they want to move back.”

Hattie might be complaining, but Katie heard the love in her voice.

“Dr. Remington said he would be willing to recommend a part-time nurse if you think you need one,” Katie reminded her.

“I’m fine.” Shrewd dark eyes, so much like Jack’s, settled on her face. “I just realized this is the first time you’ve been inside my house. Isn’t that so?”

Katie considered the question. “I guess it is.”

Hattie sighed. She settled back on her pillows and folded her hands across her stomach. “The Darbys and Fitzgeralds have been neighbors for over a hundred years and still they fight. The feud has never made sense to me and it never well. I’ll bet you barely know any of my children and they barely know you. What a tragedy. We should have been friends, looking out for each other.”

“I agree,” Katie said softly. She hadn’t realized she was tense about being on the Darby ranch until Hattie’s words made her relax. She closed the file. “If you’re ready, we can get started.”

Hattie looked at her and grinned. “I would prefer you didn’t make me scream. At my age, it’s embarrassing.”

An hour later they completed the exercises. Hattie used a washcloth to wipe the perspiration from her face. “That wasn’t too terrible,” she said.

“Not even one scream,” Katie teased. “I’ll be drummed out of my local physical therapy association.”

Sunlight spilled into the big room. Light reflected off the highly polished wood flooring and fell across the bed. Hattie turned toward the window. “It’s nearly three. About time for Jack to come pay me a visit. He brings me a snack. You could stay and keep us both company.”

As Hattie had spent the past hour talking about Jack—how wonderful he was, how smart, how gifted, how wealthy, how single—Katie wasn’t surprised by the invitation. Hattie might be funny and kind, but she wasn’t subtle.

She packed up her equipment and pulled out the chart. “Hattie, I’m not in the market for a husband,” she said.

“Who said anything about a husband?” Hattie asked innocently. “I’m talking about having a little fun.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. First it’s fun, then you’ll want to know about grandchildren.”

Hattie laughed. “Maybe just one small one.” Her humor faded. “So tell me why you’re so against marriage.” She frowned. “I remember hearing you were married before. Is that why?”

“Right in one guess,” Katie said lightly. Even though it had been ten years, she didn’t like talking about her divorce. Not because she missed her ex-husband, but because remembering that time also made her remember that she’d been a fool. Young and not the least bit aware of what she was doing, but a fool nonetheless.

“Did he break your heart?” Hattie asked.

Her voice had changed from teasing to comforting. Katie knew that Hattie’s husband had abandoned her and her seven children when Jack, the oldest, had been twelve. If anyone understood the meaning of heartbreak, it was Hattie Darby.

“More like he showed me that I could be incredibly stupid,” Katie admitted. “What I’d taken for true love was just a reaction to being on the rebound. I found myself married, pregnant and divorced in about six months. The good news is I grew up fast. Being a single mom before I turned twenty forced my hand on that one.” She paused, then smiled. “But I wouldn’t trade Shane for the world, so there’s a positive side to the story, after all.”

Hattie adjusted her sheet. “I know what you mean. My children are my greatest blessing. So how old is your son?”

“Nearly ten.”

“His father didn’t mind you moving back to Lone Star Canyon?”

“His father hasn’t seen him even once in his life, so it wasn’t a problem.”

Hattie’s dark eyes turned sympathetic. “I don’t understand men who can turn their backs on their children. My husband hasn’t been back to see his, either.”

All this talk of the past made Katie uncomfortable. She wanted to be able to put it behind her. She cleared her throat, then reached for her scheduling book. “We need to pick a time for your physical therapy,” she said by way of changing the subject. “Your body needs to recover from our sessions, and it’s best to have a standing appointment so there’s always twenty-four hours between workouts. Fortunately I’m pretty open at the moment, so what works for you?”

Hattie leaned back against the pillows and thought for a moment. “How about four in the afternoon?”

Katie shook her head. “I pick up Shane at three-thirty from school. I wouldn’t be able to do that, get him home and then here in time.”

“Then bring him. This old house needs a child’s laughter.”

Katie started to protest, then thought about the difficult afternoons at her father’s house. Her temporary move home while her new house was being built was supposed to bring grandfather and grandson closer together. So far the plan had been a complete failure. Maybe afternoons away from the ranch would be good for Shane.

“If you’re sure he won’t get in the way.”

Hattie waved toward the window. “It’s a working ranch. What trouble could he be? This world was made for children.”

Katie found herself warming to Jack’s mother. Hattie wasn’t completely conventional, but she had a homeyness about her that welcomed Katie. The furniture might be new but the family values were old-fashioned and comforting.

Katie wrote the standing appointment in her book. “Tomorrow at four, then,” she said. “Do you need anything before I leave?”

“Not one thing. Except…” Hattie hesitated. “Your father isn’t going to like you helping me. If he makes your life too difficult, I’ll understand if you don’t want to come here anymore.”

Katie shook her head. “I’m over eighteen. He can’t tell me what to do.”

“Fathers have a way of interfering even when they shouldn’t.”

“I know. But this is one argument my father isn’t going to win. My work is too important to me. The fact that our families have been feuding for generations doesn’t mean very much to me.”

“Good.” Hattie smiled. “See you tomorrow.”

Katie waved goodbye, then walked out of the house. Her first session with the older woman had gone well. She made a note to talk to Stephen Remington about his patient. The doctor would want to know that Hattie was making an extraordinary recovery. Probably because of her zest for life. She was one of the most—

The rumble of a truck engine broke through her thoughts. Katie looked up, then squinted in the sunlight as a pickup pulled up next to her Explorer. Even before she saw the driver clearly, she knew who was behind the wheel of the truck. On cue, her heart rate jumped into triple digits and her mouth went dry. All this before Jack Darby even said hello. Imagine what her reaction would be if he actually spoke her name.

The thought made her chuckle, and she was still smiling when he stepped out of his truck.

Dark eyes stared at her from under a battered Stetson. “You’re happy about something,” he said by way of a greeting.

Katie motioned to the blue sky and the land that stretched to the horizon. “It’s a beautiful spring day. What’s not to like?”

He stared at her as if she’d been speaking a foreign language. Katie forced herself to stand still and stare back. She took in the broad shoulders and narrow hips. If he ever got tired of ranching, Jack could make a fortune as a male model. She happened to know that as devastating as he looked in jeans, he was twice as lethal in a tuxedo.

Finally, after what seemed like at least seventeen hours, he pushed back his hat and spoke. “How’s Mom?”

“Her first session went really well,” Katie told him. “She’s made a terrific recovery. She’s about done with the brace, and her cast will come off in a couple of weeks. Dr. Remington is recommending a month of daily physical therapy, then reducing it to three times a week. Towards the end of the second month, I’ll taper off the sessions until she’s healed. Then she can do her exercises on her own.”

He didn’t even blink during her speech. She had no idea what he was thinking. There had been a time when she’d known nearly every thought in his head. Back when they’d been close—when she’d thought she would love Jack Darby forever.

She tilted her head. “So do you plan to respond to my comments? Or have you become one of those ranchers who parcels out words as if each cost him a pint of blood?”

One corner of Jack’s mouth twitched, but she wasn’t sure if he was fighting a smile or a frown.

“What are you doing back in Lone Star Canyon?” he asked.

She bristled slightly. “Are you asking why I left Dallas and moved back here or why I’m living at my father’s ranch?”

“Both.”

She took in a deep breath and told herself she’d done nothing wrong. Even though that’s how it felt to her. “I left Dallas because I wanted a different sort of environment for my son. I thought here in a small town with so much family around, he would have more opportunities to experience life in a safe place.”

“All right.”

She had the sense he was judging her and finding her wanting, which made no sense. Maybe it was her paranoia at work. “As for why I’m living at the ranch—not that it’s any of your business—I’ve bought a house. It’s being built. They just broke ground so it’s going to be about two months until it’s ready. My father offered me a place to stay until then and I said yes. End of story.”

This time his mouth turned up in a definite smile. “You don’t have to justify anything to me.”

“I know that. I’m simply pointing out that I’m paying my own way through life. No one’s taking care of me.”

“I never said differently.”

“Yes, but you implied they were. That I was living at my father’s ranch because it was easier than taking responsibility for myself and for Shane. I know how it looks from the outside, but you’re wrong.”

He leaned against his truck. “All that from asking why you’d moved home?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She replayed his question and her overreaction of an answer. “Oh.” She dropped her bag to the ground and planted her hands on her hips. “Okay, so I got a little defensive. What of it?”

He looked her up and down. “You’re still a gallon of trouble in a pint-size container, Katie Fitzgerald. Ready to take on the world as fearlessly as ever.” He shrugged. “You don’t have to go explaining it all to me. I remember what it was like for you back when we were kids.”

She knew he did. Everyone in town had known that Katie was a sickly child, not allowed to play outside as much as other children. As she’d grown, she’d gotten stronger but her parents had resisted letting her be a normal kid. Every inch of freedom had been hard-won. She wondered if he also remembered their long conversations after they’d become friends, when they’d talked about what they wanted for their futures. He was going to ride the rodeo circuit, and she was going to be a doctor. She’d wanted to be in a position of authority so she could tell parents of sick kids that sometimes it was okay for those children to play outside.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Being back in town makes it hard to act like an adult. I keep feeling like I’m sixteen again.”

His gaze sharpened. “I guess you could pass for sixteen in a pinch, if it’s important to you.”

She laughed. “It’s not. I’ve enjoyed being a grown-up.”

“What do you like most about it?”

“Being a mom. Shane is the best part of my life.”

Jack’s posture didn’t change, but Katie could have sworn he’d just taken a step back. “He’s a fine boy. You have a lot to be proud of.”

“Thanks. You couldn’t possibly know that after your short meeting with him, but it happens to be true. He’s a great kid. Smart, funny, caring. You’d like him.”

“I’m sure I would.”

Jack spoke politely, but she could tell he didn’t mean it. And why would he? Shane was living proof of her lies. Even as she told herself it was long over, she could feel her body reacting to Jack’s presence. Heating, readying. As a girl she’d wanted with an innocence that left her wondering what she’d needed. Now, as a woman, she knew. But Jack didn’t seem to be having the same trouble. It was as if she’d never mattered to him.

She wanted to ask what had gone wrong between them, when had it all changed. But she knew the answer. She’d promised to love him forever. Within a year of that promise, she’d been married, pregnant and divorced. Jack wasn’t the kind of man who forgave that kind of betrayal.

“I’m sorry,” she said before she could stop herself.

“About what?”

She shrugged. “All of it. Leaving. Coming home.” She looked at the stranger who had been her first love. “Are you happy, Jack? With your life, I mean.”

“I’m content.”

“They’re not the same thing.”

“Close enough.”

He straightened and headed for the house. When he reached the porch, he turned, tipped his hat to her and was gone.

“We’ll be moving the cattle to the north pasture,” Aaron Fitzgerald said at dinner that night as he spooned a mound of mashed potatoes onto his plate. “Take advantage of the good weather.”

Katie smiled at her silent son sitting across from her at the table. “The north pasture has a ring of trees around it. They draw the lightning away from the cattle.”

Shane didn’t look the least bit impressed by the information. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on his plate. Katie supposed that cows and horses couldn’t compete with the wonder of video games and the Internet in a ten-year-old’s mind. Nevertheless, she tried again.

“Did you know that all the white cattle are put in a different pasture?” she asked. “For some reason, the white ones attract more lightning than other colors.”

Shane looked up, his expression haunted. “So they’re sacrificed?”

“They’re cattle, son,” Aaron bellowed. “They’re heading for slaughter anyway. Of course we prefer to do that on our time rather than Mother Nature’s, but some things can’t be avoided.”

Her son’s pale face blanched and he carefully pushed the slice of meat loaf to the far side of his plate.

Suzanne, her stepmother, gave him a sympathetic look.

Aaron continued to discuss the movement of cattle. Had her father’s voice always been this loud, Katie wondered as Shane winced at a particularly explosive description. She looked around the large oak table that could, at a pinch, hold sixteen. Tonight there were only the four of them. Blair and Brent, her two younger half siblings and the only ones still living at the ranch, were staying with friends for the evening. Normally their presence was a buffer between Aaron and Shane, but this evening there wasn’t anyone else to capture Aaron’s attention.

Katie’s father was a big man—tall, barrel-chested, with the bowlegged walk of a man who has spent his life in the saddle. His blond hair had only recently started going gray at the temples, and his expression contained a permanent squint from days in the sun. He was loud, abrasive and about the most stubborn man ever born. Katie loved him fiercely, but watching him deal with her son nearly broke her heart. Shane hadn’t been born on the ranch. He was more interested in computers than cattle. That made him different, and Aaron didn’t take kindly to anything out of the ordinary.

“’Bout time you learned to ride,” Aaron announced, his gaze drilling Shane. “You’re nearly ten. That’s practically too old to even start, so you’ll have to work hard to catch up.”

“Doesn’t that sound fun?” Katie asked cheerfully. “You’ll enjoy being able to ride around the ranch.”

“Don’t want to,” Shane muttered under his breath. He never looked up from his plate. He wasn’t eating. Katie’s heart went out to her son. She’d had no idea that living with her father was going to make Shane so miserable.

Suzanne leaned toward the boy. “Horses are kind of big,” she murmured conspiratorially. “I was scared of them for a long time, but once I learned to ride, I found I really liked it.”

“Quit coddling the boy,” Aaron instructed from across the table. He slapped his hand on the wood, making them all jump. “We’ll get you started this weekend.”

Katie shook her head. “Dad, let him ride in his own time. If you force him, he’ll just hate it.”

Her father glared at her. “You tellin’ me how to raise the boy? Between us, me and Suzanne have eight children. You have one.”

Katie looked at her father and wondered when the man had changed. Her mother had died eighteen years before, the victim of a wild spring storm and the subsequent flash flood. Aaron had remarried within a year, taking gentle Suzanne, a divorced woman with two daughters, as his wife. Together they’d had two more children.

Had the trouble with her father started with his first wife’s death? Katie didn’t think so. Aaron’s anger, his unyielding temperament, had existed for as long as Katie could remember. She’d never stood up to him before, but now she didn’t have a choice.

She set down her fork. “Shane isn’t yours to raise, Dad. He’s my son, and I’m responsible for him. If he’s not ready to start riding, that’s fine with me.”

Aaron shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. His color had darkened, giving his face a reddish hue, but he didn’t say anything. Suzanne, a petite blonde with gentle green eyes, patted Katie’s hand. “Give Shane space. He’ll get used to our ways.”

But later that night, when she put her son to bed, Katie wasn’t so sure. Maybe moving back to Lone Star Canyon had been a mistake. Shane had been happy in Dallas. Except he hadn’t had a male role model there. She’d thought here he would have his grandfather and uncles. She’d taken him out of school mid-semester and moved him into her father’s house, where the boy had to endure nightly lectures over dinner. Was she a horrible mother for that?

She bent and kissed her son’s cheek. “Grandpa doesn’t mean to make things hard on you.”

Shane wrinkled his nose. “He’s too loud and he never listens. I’m not like him. I’m not like anyone here.”

Katie’s throat tightened. “Your teacher says you’re doing really well in school. I spoke to her today. She’d heard about the fight and wanted me to know that you hadn’t started it. Apparently those older boys are real bullies. Their parents are sending them off to boarding school so they can get straightened out. You won’t have to worry about them again.”

Shane looked at her with big blue eyes. “If I don’t do what Grandpa says, will you send me away?”

“Of course not,” she said quickly, gathering her son close. Tears burned but she blinked them back. “I love you. You’re my favorite person in the whole world. I’d be lost without you. Besides, I happen to think you’re an incredibly great kid. I’m proud of you, Shane. Always.”

“Grandpa doesn’t like me much.”

She lowered him to the bed and grinned. “Some days I don’t think Grandpa likes anyone.”

Shane smiled in return. “’Cept those cows.”

“Right. He adores his cows.”

She kissed her son again, then turned off the light. Right or wrong, they were here. They would have to make the best of it. Maybe she should try talking to her father, she thought as she stepped into the hallway. Or maybe she should just take Shane and move into a hotel until their house was finished. If things didn’t get better, she wasn’t going to have a choice.