“YOU LET KATE get away?” Lillie demanded when she saw Tucker walk into the saloon.
He wondered if it was written all over him. Or just on his face. “You don’t let a woman like Kate do anything. She’s her own person. Comes and goes as she pleases. If anyone should realize that, it’s you, little sis. Kate’s asked me to give her some time. That’s what I’m doing.”
It wasn’t like he’d had a choice. Flint had told him about Kate going after Madeline to stop her from getting away. Kate, who was terrified of water, had lived on her need for vengeance all those years. Who knew what happened behind that waterfall? All they knew for sure was that Kate had come out alive—and Madeline hadn’t.
Kate had stayed by his bedside for days until she was sure he was going to make it. But once he was out of the woods, she’d told him she had to take care of some things back home.
“Marry me.”
She’d laughed and looked around the hospital room. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”
“I’m going to ask you again. I’ll try to make it more romantic, but I can’t promise. I’ll keep asking until you say yes.”
Kate had smiled at him and taken his hand. “I love you, but I need you to give me some time.”
He’d agreed. He’d had no choice.
Lillie gave him a hug now and a sympathetic look before going over to check on her sleeping son, Trask Collin, Jr., or T.C. as he was now called. Her husband, Trask, Sr., was holding his son and cooing to him.
“Amazing what an infant does to a man,” Mariah commented as she watched Trask and her husband, Darby, with their sons.
“What will you do now?” Darby asked after smiling at Mariah and handing over his son, Daniel, since Darby had never liked his name, it turned out.
“Hawk and Cyrus told me about some land adjacent to the family ranch. They want to buy it and expand the cattle operation, but only if I will stay and ranch with them.”
“Is that what you want to do?” Lillie asked.
“I’m a cowboy,” Tucker said. “It’s ingrained. I worked all kinds of jobs after I left here, but none that I enjoyed more than being on the back of a horse. However, Flint has made me an offer. There’s an opening for deputy sheriff. I’ve applied to the law enforcement academy and been accepted.”
“Congratulations,” Darby said. “Two brothers who are lawmen.”
“I’ll still help out around the ranch if Hawk and Cyrus need me and I’ll still get in a saddle every chance I can. I just stopped by to see the babies.”
“I was just about to take them back to the kitchen,” Lillie said. “You know Billie Dee—she’s loving spending time with them. She is going to spoil them like nobody’s business. So give them each a quick kiss.”
Tucker did as he was told, amazed at how small they were. He said as much. As he looked down into those precious faces, he yearned for a child of his own with Kate. Soon, he hoped. Soon.
* * *
TUCKER WENT BY the jail. He hadn’t seen Cal or Lonny since they’d been arrested. Both had missed Rip’s funeral. Jayce had been there, but Tucker hadn’t talked to him.
He knew that Cal had already given his statement to Flint, but Tucker had to know for himself what had led a man he once considered a friend to this point.
Tucker picked up the phone on his side of the thick plastic window. On the other, Cal, dressed in orange, lifted his phone, smiling as if glad to see him.
“I’m so sorry,” Cal said. “I never thought any of this was going to happen.”
Tucker believed that was true. Cal wasn’t one to think about consequences. “Was Rip involved with the con from the beginning?”
Cal shook his head. “He sent Madeline clients, but that was all at first. Then his old man offered to sell him the body shop. Rip decided to go into business with Madeline to get the money he needed.”
“She was for that?”
“He might have twisted her arm a little.”
“And the other two sisters?”
“The business was booming. Madeline couldn’t handle all the clients. She needed help, so who better than two identical sisters?”
Tucker shook his head at Madeline’s depravity that she would involve her sisters. “I can’t imagine Madeline and Rip as partners but I guess they had a history even before I met her.”
“Rip needed the money. Who knows what Madeline got out of it, but the money started rolling in as the sisters targeted bigger prizes.”
“Like Kate’s brother.”
Cal nodded. “Then Clay Rothschild killed himself. Madeline knew what would happen when Misty found out because she’d been trying to quit and Madeline had been promising her she could after just one more job.”
“So Madeline killed her sister and left her body to rot under the driftwood at the creek,” Tucker said.
“The scam was falling apart. Rip got greedy. Madeline almost drowned one night. She’d finally realized that she was taking all the risks and Rip was taking too much of the money. They dissolved the partnership when Melody and K.O. disappeared. Madeline took off, disappearing, as well. It looked like it was over.”
“So which of them had my pistol that they took from Jayce’s bedroom after I sold it to him?” Tucker asked.
“Madeline. She’d been planning to use it to blackmail you if you got too close. That time you went looking for her... You almost got too close to the truth.”
He had? He’d thought he’d hit a dead end. Maybe if he had kept looking... Tucker refused to let himself go back to wondering what if... “What would have happened if I hadn’t left town when I did?” he had to ask.
Cal shrugged. “Rip would have blackmailed you, pretending to be Madeline, I bet. He joked once that he could have owned the Cahill Ranch.”
Tucker shook his head, thinking what Rip’s good-ol’-boy facade had been hiding. “Rip was as much a monster as Madeline.”
His old friend quickly defended Rip. “He grew up poor, working in that shop with his old man who did nothing but put him down.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Tucker said, and Cal reluctantly nodded. “If Madeline hadn’t killed him, he would have died behind bars. Rip could have done so much more with his life.”
He thought of K.O. and Melody, then of Kate and how badly she’d wanted retribution. In the end, everyone lost. “So how did you and Lonny get involved in all this?”
Cal had the good grace to look chastised. “After we’d hooked you up with Madeline, Rip asked us to suggest other teenage boys.”
“Why would you do that?” Tucker demanded.
“It wasn’t like they didn’t get something in return. Most of them were just pay-and-gos. Only a select few got the whole treatment.”
He shook his head. “And what did you get out of it?”
“Rip paid us, but it wasn’t for the money.” Cal looked even more down in the mouth. “Jayce went away to college and law school, and you took off. It was just me and Lonny left. Being Rip’s friend, well, it made us feel special, you know, like we weren’t losers.”
Tucker actually could understand. Rip had that kind of personality that men like Cal and Lonny would feel the need to be in the man’s charismatic shadow.
“Did you hear? Jayce is going to represent me.”
Of course Jayce was. They’d all been friends for too long for Jayce to desert Cal now.
“I’m sorry,” Cal said. “Rip said he was just playing a trick on you by having us take Kate.”
“You knew better than that.”
“I guess. But you were already mad at me and Lonny so we thought what the heck. It was stupid, I know. But Rip told us that Madeline was back in town and that if we didn’t do what he asked, he’d sic her on us.”
It seemed it wasn’t just K.O. and Melody who were afraid of Madeline. He said as much to Cal.
“Look what she did to Rip. The judge has got to realize that Lonny and I were scared.”
Tucker doubted that would hold much weight with a judge but said nothing.
Cal’s voice broke as his eyes filled with tears. “I wish I’d never gotten involved when Lonny suggested fixing you up with this girl he’d heard about.”
“Yes,” Tucker said, realizing it was strange how things turned out. He wouldn’t have met Kate if his friends hadn’t set him up with Madeline.
* * *
BILLIE DEE KNEW the moment she saw Henry’s face. He stepped into the Stagecoach Saloon’s kitchen and her heart began to pound.
“You got the results,” she said in a whisper even though they were alone.
He nodded and stepped to her.
Billie Dee didn’t know at that moment what she wanted the results to be. If Ashley Jo was her daughter, then it meant she’d come here looking for her. So why hadn’t she said something yet? And if she wasn’t her daughter...
Henry shook his head. “Ashley Jo isn’t your daughter.”
Billie Dee felt disappointment turn her knees to water. Henry grabbed her before she slumped to the floor. He eased her into a chair.
“I was so sure,” she mumbled, realizing how much she wanted it to be true. How much she wanted her daughter. Needed her daughter.
“But there is some good news. When I got your DNA I put it up anonymously on an adoption registry.”
She looked up. “You were that convinced Ashley Jo wasn’t mine?”
“You got a hit, Billie Dee. Your daughter is looking for you. Now it is just a matter of time before she finds you.”
* * *
“I’M SO GLAD all this nonsense is behind you,” Mamie Rothschild said at breakfast one morning after Kate’s return from Gilt Edge. “Your father is so pleased that you were left out of all that awful news coverage—and so was your brother. Except for your kidnapping.”
“As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t want to talk about it,” Kate said and took a bite of toast. It tasted like cardboard. Everything she’d eaten since she’d returned had been tasteless, but she’d known she had to eat to keep her strength up—and also to keep her mother from nagging her.
“Then let’s talk about you joining your father in DC,” her mother continued cheerfully. “He’s tried not to push you, but he’s anxious for you to be involved. He needs the help and it will do you good to get out of Montana after...everything.”
“I’m not going to work with Daddy in DC.”
“Kate—”
“Mother, don’t Kate me.”
“This last...escapade almost got you killed.” Her mother’s voice rose sharply. “Not to mention the scandal that could have come of it if some smart reporter had dug up your brother’s relationship with that...woman.”
“Clay was in love with that woman. Misty Dunn. And she was in love with him. It’s why she’s dead. She wanted to quit and her sister...” She shook her head. “I’ve already told you this.”
Mamie waved a fluttering hand through the air. “One tragedy after another. It’s too horrible to think about.”
“Yes, it was horrible that Clay couldn’t come to one of us for help.”
Her mother looked away.
Kate felt her stomach drop. She stared at her mother’s profile. “He came to you?” Her words exploded on a ragged breath.
“You won’t understand until you have children of your own.”
“He told you about Misty?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Misty? He thought her name was Madeline,” her mother snapped. “Some common woman who had been blackmailing him. He had the gall to ask me for money so the two of them could run away.”
Kate stared at her mother in shock. “So you knew how desperate he was.”
“Don’t use that tone with me. Of course I had no idea that he might...” Her mother shook her head. “You think if I’d given him money that would have solved everything?”
“In the long run, probably not,” Kate said. “But—”
“Your father thinks it best if we put this behind us.” Mamie rose from the table. “DC. That’s where you belong, working with your father and putting all this ugliness—”
“Distance doesn’t cure anything.”
“How will you know unless you try it?” her mother asked. “You’re going to need a new wardrobe. Your father suggested an advance on your salary. I believe he’s already deposited plenty into your account so you can buy something sharp for DC.” With that, her mother left the room.
Old habits were hard to break. Kate knew that better than anyone. She was a Rothschild. She’d felt the weight of that name all her life. She wondered if her brother had felt the same way and assumed he had. Would he and Misty have been able to make a life for themselves if they’d had the money to run away? Doubtful, since he was seventeen and couldn’t even support himself.
She couldn’t blame her mother. The woman responsible for all their grief was dead. She shuddered at the memory of battling Madeline in the pool behind the waterfall. All these years, she’d dreamed of coming face-to-face with the person responsible for her brother’s death. Had she really believed that she could kill that person? She’d bought a gun, gotten shooting lessons, spent hours at the range until she was ready. But she’d never been ready for what had happened behind that waterfall.
All of it had left her traumatized. She felt as if she didn’t know who she was anymore. She’d always felt so strong, so determined, so invincible. When in truth, she’d been none of those at that moment. Was that how her brother had felt at the end?
Maybe her mother was right. Maybe she should go to DC, work for her father. The job had its appeal because it was...safe. She realized that’s what she’d lost. That feeling of being safe. Raised in an ivory tower of wealth, she’d felt untouchable.
She was neither anymore. She’d worn the Rothschild name like a shield only to find out that it was useless against true evil.
Kate thought of her last conversation with Tucker before she’d left Gilt Edge.
“I don’t know if this helps, but Madeline told me that Misty was in love with your brother. So much so that she’d tried to quit that night after she jumped off the bridge and met Madeline downstream. Madeline had known then that Clay had killed himself. She knew her sister wouldn’t be able to live with his death and her part in it.”
“More than likely she was worried that Misty would rat her out,” Kate had said. “Thank you for telling me, though.” She’d looked toward the mountains. “So it’s really over?”
Tucker had nodded. “What really happened will probably never come out. Isn’t that what your parents are hoping?”
“Maybe my brother can finally rest in peace.”
“What about his sister?” Tucker had asked.
Kate had smiled into his handsome face. She was going to miss this cowboy. “She’s going to need some time.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll be here.”
She had smiled as she’d stepped to him and kissed his cheek. She’d hesitated for a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of him. Closing her eyes, she’d tried to memorize it, afraid she’d forget over time.
He’d drawn her into a hug. Tears had flooded her eyes as she’d put her arms around him, luxuriating in his warmth, in his strength. He’d saved her life in more ways than he knew. “I love you, Kate,” he’d whispered into her hair.
“I love you,” she’d whispered back. They stayed like that for a long moment before she stepped away.
Leaving the kitchen now, she found her mother in the sunroom having tea and freshly baked cookies. “Come join me. I just spoke with your father. He is so pleased you will be joining him.”
“You shouldn’t have told him that,” Kate said as she took a seat.
“I’ll ring for your tea.”
She stopped her mother. “I don’t want tea or cookies. I’m leaving.”
“Leaving for DC already? You haven’t had time to get a proper wardrobe. I suppose you can buy something when you get there but—”
“Mother, I’m not going to DC.”
“But your father—”
“I’m going back to Gilt Edge.”
“Whatever for?”
“For Tucker Cahill.”
Mamie groaned. “That...cowboy?”
“Yes, that cowboy. I learned something from all this. It took a while to sort out. But mostly that life can be short and if you want something, no matter how scary it is, you have to go for it.”
“You sound like a sports shoe commercial,” her mother snapped. “I thought you’d gotten this foolishness out of your head.”
“I don’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps to some DC political career. I want to wake up in Tucker’s arms and listen to the birds outside the window. I want to ride horses into the mountains. I want to have babies with him.”
Her mother’s lips pursed. “You have no idea what being a rancher’s wife is like.”
“No, I don’t. But I could learn if that’s what Tucker wants.”
“Well, if you’re dead set on this, then maybe you can take Muriel with you.”
“Your cook?” Kate laughed. This was so like her mother. “I won’t need Muriel. I’m going to learn to cook.”
Her mother scoffed. “Why, when you don’t have to?”
“Mom, I want a simple life more than I want my next breath. I want Tucker.”
Mamie shook her head. There were tears in her eyes. “But you’re a Rothschild. You can have so much more.”
Kate laughed again. “There is nothing more that I want. I’m going to be a Cahill. That is, if Tucker asks me to be his wife again.”
“If you’re willing to settle for that kind of life,” her mother said.
“Settle? I can’t imagine having more than what Tucker has offered me. Love, Mother. Unconditional love.”
“From a cowboy,” Mamie said with distaste.
Kate smiled. “Yes, from a cowboy.”
* * *
TUCKER HAD JUST come back from helping his brothers string barbed wire along the new fence when he saw Kate drive up. His heart did that Ferris-wheel drop it always did at the sight of her, making him a little light-headed.
He’d never been so glad to see anyone in his life. And yet, he worried as he watched her get out of her SUV about what she was doing here. Kate wasn’t one to leave things up in the air. He’d always known she’d be back. But to tell him she was taking her father up on his offer in DC or...?
She stood looking around as if seeing the ranch for the first time, before she finally saw him standing on the deck. When she broke into a smile, as if as glad to see him as he was her, he took the stairs two at a time to reach her.
But a few feet shy of taking her into his arms, he stopped. “Kate?”
She nodded, tears in her eyes, and closed the distance between them. He drew her to him, hugging her tightly before finally pulling back to look into her face.
“You’ve recovered?” she asked.
“Good as new.”
Kate nodded. “All those wonderful things you said to me when you were in the hospital?”
He nodded around the lump in his throat. “I meant every one. Still do.”
“Well, if you should ever ask me to marry you again...”
He smiled and looked deep into those green eyes. What he saw warmed him to his toes and sent his blood into a slow, steady boil.
“You remember my childhood bedroom?” he said.
She laughed. “I didn’t really get a good look at it actually.”
“No? Well, woman, you’re in luck. My brothers are off working so it’s just you and me.”
“I like the sound of that,” she said, smiling as he swept her up into his arms. This time, he took the stairs three at a time.