CHAPTER SEVEN
The early-morning sun shone cheerfully on the Yellow Rose. Savannah had been much too tired the night before to worry about cleanup, but in the revealing light of day, the entire front yard was a disaster. The Chinese lanterns sagged. Paper plates and napkins littered the once-flawless grass amid a welter of abandoned tables and chairs. The straw from the dance area stretched like a spiderweb from one end of the lawn to the other.
While the coffee brewed, Savannah dragged a garbage can into the yard. She’d only been working ten or fifteen minutes when Grady joined her. Wiley and Laredo followed, yawning. Savannah quickly distributed plastic garbage bags, since there was far too much trash for one container.
“Where’s Richard?” Grady demanded.
“Sleeping,” Wiley said with a chuckle. “What did you expect?” He began picking up litter and stuffing it into a bag.
“Then drag his sorry ass out here. It was his party. The least he can do is clean up the mess he created.”
“Why should he start now?” Again the question came from Wiley.
“I got better things to do than this,” Grady grumbled, stuffing his own armload of garbage into a bag.
“I didn’t hire on to do housekeeping, either,” the foreman put in.
Savannah had heard enough. “Stop it—both of you!” she shouted, unable to bear the bickering. It was rare for her to raise her voice, let alone yell, and she immediately got everyone’s attention. Grady and Wiley stopped and stared at her; even Rocket lifted his head, as if shocked by her outburst.
A frown creasing his brow, Laredo paused in his raking and waited.
“I didn’t ask for your help,” she said. “If you’re going to complain, then leave. I’d rather tend to the cleanup myself than be subjected to your foul moods.” The comment was directed at Grady. Her good feeling about her brother—the fact that he’d hired Laredo—was rapidly fading.
“I’m in one hell of a fine mood,” Grady barked, grimacing in a parody of a smile. “I’m as happy as can be.” Savannah thought he looked like he was posing for the cover of Mad magazine, but restrained herself from saying so.
“You’re happy?” Wiley asked, his words drenched with sarcasm. “You look about as happy as when you wrote out that check to Adam Braunfels for the barbecue.”
This was the first Savannah had heard about it. “Why’d you pay Adam?”
“I didn’t have any choice,” Grady snapped. “He wanted his money and Sleeping Beauty in there—” he gestured at the bunkhouse “—didn’t have it. What the hell else could I do?”
Savannah wished she hadn’t asked, since the money was obviously a sore spot with Grady. Not that she blamed him, but surely Richard expected his check soon, otherwise he wouldn’t have thrown himself this party.
“It was good of you to pay Adam,” she said, wanting Grady to know she appreciated his dilemma. “Money’s tight just now.”
“My money got even tighter with the party,” Grady muttered. “I hope to hell he doesn’t expect me to pay for everything, because I won’t do it.” He sounded as though he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince, her or himself.
“Richard will make good on it,” Savannah felt obliged to say. Her younger brother had made plenty of mistakes, but he’d learned his lesson. At least that was what he claimed—and what she desperately wanted to believe.
Although the party had drained her physically and emotionally, she’d enjoyed watching Richard with their neighbors. He’d been a gracious host, warm and welcoming, and it gave her a sense of pride. He was like their father in that way—although admittedly not in others.
Mel Weston had always been the life of the party. Friendly, charming, universally loved. Her world had gone dark without him there—to call her his princess, to give her encouragement and approval and unconditional love. Having Richard home again produced a flood of happy memories and she didn’t want those destroyed. Not if she could help it. So she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Everyone had mentioned what fun Richard was and how the children had adored him, especially Maggie. Seeing them together had done Savannah’s heart good. The five-year-old tended to shy away from men, but she’d taken to Richard at first meeting, and he’d been wonderful with her, paying her lots of attention.
“I kissed that money goodbye the minute I signed the check,” Grady grumbled, telling her in no uncertain terms that he continued to distrust Richard.
“He’ll pay you back,” Savannah insisted.
Grady stared at her long enough to make her uncomfortable. “When are you going to learn, Savannah? What’s it going to take? Richard’s a user. He’ll never amount to anything because he’s never been made accountable. I want him off this ranch, understand?”
“You’re wrong, Grady. Richard might have a few bad habits—we all do—but he has a good heart. I refuse to believe otherwise.”
“Don’t kid yourself. As soon as he’s awake, I want him to pack up and leave. I’ve paid his debts for the last time.”
“You don’t mean that!” Savannah couldn’t believe her brother could be so hard.
“I want him gone by noon.”
“Grady...please.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “Don’t do this.”
“I’m not giving in to you this time,” Grady said, stuffing more garbage deep into the plastic bag.
Savannah jumped at the fierce anger she heard in him.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Laredo demanded, walking over to Savannah. The animosity between him and Grady was worse than ever, Savannah knew. She had no idea what had possessed her brother to cause a scene on the dance floor.
In a replay of last night Laredo and Grady glared at each other with mutual dislike.
“What do you suggest we do?” Wiley asked her, apparently finding the men’s behavior amusing. “Get a hose and cool ’em both down?”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Savannah responded, grateful for his sense of humor in this tense situation.
“Okay.” Wiley took charge. “We’re done here,” he said, stepping directly in front of Laredo.
Savannah thought Laredo might challenge the foreman, but after a short hesitation he nodded and set aside the rake. As he turned to head for the barn, he caught her watching him and winked.
Savannah blushed with pleasure, remembering the dance they’d shared. After spending all day and most of the evening in the kitchen, her hair damp with sweat and her clothes spattered with mustard and mayonnaise, she must have looked a sight. Yet he’d called her his sweetheart and looked at her as if she were beautiful. Savannah had always known she was no beauty. She’d never been one to turn men’s heads, and being shy had made it worse.
Over time she’d given up hope she’d ever find love. She’d never felt real attraction for a man, and as far as she knew, had never inspired it, either. All these years she’d been certain that a husband and family were for others and not for her. Her roses and her pets had become like her children. Grady constantly complained about the way she spoiled Rocket, but the dog was old, and if he was more comfortable in the house, she had no objection to letting him inside. And although Grady complained, she noticed that he was as guilty as she was about sneaking him leftovers.
Her musings returned to Laredo, and her heart softened at the thought of him. In less than two weeks, he’d changed her life, given her reason to dream, given her the most precious of human emotions—hope.
She loved him. It was that simple. That profound.
“I suppose you’re waiting for me to apologize for making an ass of myself last night,” Grady said, breaking into her thoughts. She’d almost forgotten he was there.
“You owe Laredo and me an apology.”
He paused, then to her amazement, agreed with her. “I suppose I do. My only excuse is that I was furious with Richard and took it out on Laredo. I realize I acted like an idiot. I don’t have any excuse other than I’d been drinking on an empty stomach.”
The irony of it, Savannah mused, was that Grady had ended up paying for a dinner he hadn’t bothered to taste.
“I’d be obliged if we could put the incident behind us,” he said stiffly.
“On one condition.”
He held up his hand to stop her. “I already know. You want me to apologize to Laredo.”
“You didn’t start this morning any better than you left off last night.”
“I know.” He wiped a hand down his face and she noticed that his eyes were tired and sad, and she wondered if he’d gotten any sleep whatsoever. “I’ll talk to him later.”
“What do you have against him?” she asked, genuinely curious. “Laredo isn’t anything like you think. He’s thoughtful and hardworking and—”
“Do you mind if I listen to you sing his praises some other time?” Grady asked from between clenched teeth.
“Oh, Grady.” It was then she realized her brother was suffering from a hangover. After his confrontation with Laredo, he’d apparently continued drinking—and probably not beer, either. The first moment she could Savannah had escaped to her room, taken a quick shower and fallen into bed. She’d fallen asleep immediately but woke periodically throughout the night. At least tired was all she felt—not hungover, like Grady.
“Yeah,” he groaned. “I had a few drinks after everyone went home. Figured it’d calm me down. It didn’t. But guess what? I found there was booze missing—my good single-malt Scotch. Where do you think it went?”
Savannah shook her head.
“Starts with ‘R.’”
“Oh, no. Are you sure?”
Grady gave her a cynical look and returned to his garbage collecting.
When the cleanup was finished, Grady grabbed a cup of coffee and headed about his day; Savannah went back to the house. It was almost eleven before Richard bothered to make an appearance.
“Good morning, my beautiful Savannah!” He kissed her noisily on the cheek, then hopped onto the kitchen counter, bare feet dangling while he nursed a mug of coffee. “What’s for breakfast?”
“It’s almost time for lunch.”
He didn’t react. “I was looking forward to sampling some of those fluffy scrambled eggs of yours. I woke up dreaming about eggs all gooey with melted cheese and toasted homemade bread.”
“Richard,” she said, angry with him and needing to let him know, “how could you have left Grady to pay Mr. Braunfels for the barbecue?”
“I feel really bad about that. I explained the situation to Adam earlier, and he seemed okay with me paying when I could. I wonder what happened to make him change his mind.”
She wanted so much to believe Richard, but it was becoming more and more difficult.
He must have realized that, because he leaped down off the counter, crossed the room and reached for her hand. “Savannah,” he said, holding her gaze, “I promise you by everything I hold dear that I’ll reimburse Grady the minute my check arrives. You’ve got to trust me.”
She wanted to, but the doubts refused to go away.
“You’re the only one who believes in me,” Richard said in obvious distress. “If it wasn’t for you, Grady would have kicked me off the ranch that first day. Give me this opportunity to prove myself, that’s all I’m asking.”
Savannah studied her brother, hoping against hope that he’d fulfill his promises.
The beginnings of a smile lit up his eyes. “I can hardly wait to see the look on Grady’s face when I give him the money. Won’t he be shocked?” He laughed as if viewing the scene that very moment.
Savannah relaxed. Richard was her brother. He’d made mistakes, painful ones, but he was older now, mature. He couldn’t help his impulsive sociable nature—couldn’t resist throwing that party. However, he wouldn’t take advantage of her and Grady a second time, she was sure of it.
“Do you believe me?” The color of his eyes intensified as his gaze implored her to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Savannah couldn’t refuse him. “I believe you,” she whispered, and silently prayed he wouldn’t let her down.
Richard squeezed her hand. “You won’t be sorry, Savannah, I promise you. I’m going to prove Grady all wrong, just you wait and see. Then you can say ‘I told you so’ to our high-and-mighty brother. You trusted me when no one else would, and someday you’ll be able to laugh in Grady’s face.”
“I’d never do that.” Her older brother might be strong-willed and opinionated, but his intentions were good.
“Are you going to scramble me up some of my favorite cheese eggs?” he asked in a cajoling voice.
She’d finished washing the breakfast dishes fifteen minutes earlier. “All right,” she conceded. Richard gave her a hug, then climbed back onto the counter while she took the eggs, cheese and milk from the refrigerator.
“I was looking around your garden and noticed some of those roses you were telling me about. Where’d you find those pretty white ones?”
“Oh, this place and that,” she said, and while she was pleased by his interest, the less he knew about her venture into Bitter End the better.
“You went there, didn’t you?” he asked, lowering his voice.
“There?”
“Don’t play games with me, Savannah. You’re no good at it.”
Her cheeks flushed hot pink. Richard was right, she’d never been any good at games. He was curious about the ghost town and this wasn’t the first time he’d bombarded her with questions. Some about roses, others about the town itself.
“Did you go inside any of the buildings?” Richard asked. “They’re still standing, right? Imagine that after all these years. What stories those walls could tell! It amazes me, you know, that Bitter End could be sleeping in those hills with only a handful of people even knowing about its existence.”
“It is rather remarkable,” Savannah agreed.
“I bet the buildings were in sad shape?”
“I didn’t investigate the town itself,” she said. The cemetery was as far as she got. Whatever was there had driven her back before she’d set foot in the actual town. But she’d know the answer to her brother’s questions soon enough. Today was it, she’d decided. She was going back for a second visit, despite all Grady’s efforts to keep her away.
“So where exactly is it?” Richard asked.
“Oh, sort of east of here,” she said vaguely. “I had a hard time finding it.” That was all she planned to say on the matter.
“Weren’t you afraid?” he teased.
She wasn’t sure how to describe her wariness. “Not really,” she said, downplaying the eerie sensation she’d experienced on her first visit. She added the beaten eggs to the small skillet as the butter sizzled.
“I really don’t think visiting the place again is a good idea,” Richard surprised her by saying. Not that she wanted him there, but a few days ago, he’d certainly been dropping hints to that effect. He buttered the toast when it popped up and sat down at the table, awaiting his breakfast.
“I have to go back,” she said, surprised she had to fight Richard on this, too. Grady and Laredo had formed an uneasy partnership in their efforts to keep her from returning. “There’re bound to be other roses,” she explained, although it wasn’t necessary. All three men knew her reasons. “I might find an even rarer form. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was with my original discovery.”
“Think carefully before you go back,” Richard said, smiling gratefully when she set the plate of steaming eggs in front of him. “You’d be wise to heed Grady’s advice, Savannah. A ghost town isn’t any place for you to go exploring alone.”
“Earlier you said you wanted to come along. You—”
“I said that?” He flattened his hand against his chest. “Not me. I’m as chicken as they come. You won’t catch me anywhere close to Bitter End. I have a healthy respect for the supernatural.”
Savannah refused to be dissuaded, but she didn’t intend to discuss it further. She’d do what she did the last time—steal away before anyone knew she was gone.
* * *
Grady sat in his office and pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping that would help him focus on the long row of ledger numbers. He hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours the entire night. Instead, he’d been leaning over the toilet, examining parts of it that were never meant to be viewed from this perspective.
Hard liquor had never agreed with him. Especially in quantity. After he’d embarrassed himself and Savannah, he’d holed up in his office with a bottle of cheap whiskey. The good stuff had disappeared, as he’d told his sister—but he hadn’t been in any mood to appreciate the difference.
This morning his head throbbed with a vengeance. He couldn’t think, couldn’t work. Richard had been back less than a week, and already Grady was reduced to a useless piece of... He didn’t finish the thought.
The phone pealed and he slammed his eyes closed as the sound pierced his brain, shattering what little serenity he’d managed to recover. He waited for Savannah to answer.
No one knew he was in his office, and that was the way he wanted it.
The phone rang a second time and then a third. Where the hell was Savannah? If not her, Richard? Rather than suffer the agony of a fourth ring, Grady grabbed the receiver.
“Who the hell is it?” he snarled.
A shocked silence greeted him, followed by a sob, then tears and “Mommy, Mommy.”
Damn. It’d been Maggie for Savannah, and he’d frightened the poor kid half out of her wits.
“Maggie,” he shouted, wanting to apologize for his outburst. Apologize was all he seemed to do these days. He felt faint stirrings of hope when he heard someone pick up the receiver.
“Maggie, listen—”
“It’s Caroline,” she interrupted coolly. “And this must be Grady.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond before she added, “What exactly did you say to Maggie to upset her like this?”
“I didn’t know. I thought...” Even his tongue refused to work properly.
“Obviously you didn’t think.”
He could hear Maggie softly weeping in the background.
“I’m sorry, Caroline,” he said. “Hell, I didn’t know it was Maggie. I certainly didn’t mean to frighten her.”
“What’s gotten into you, Grady?”
He braced his forehead against his hand. If the answer was that simple, he would’ve saved himself a great deal of embarrassment. The truth was he didn’t know any longer.
“You made an ass of yourself last night.”
“Nice of you to remind me.” Leave it to a woman to kick a man when he was down.
“You had too much to drink.”
“You brought me one of those beers,” he felt obliged to remind her.
“So this is all my fault?”
Grady closed his eyes at her outrage. “No,” he admitted, feeling about as low as a man could get. “I accept full responsibility.”
The silence stretched between them until Caroline slowly released a deep breath and asked, “Where’s Savannah?”
“I don’t know. I expected her to pick up the phone.” Clearly so had Maggie, who continued to weep noisily in the background.
“Is she all right?” Caroline asked.
“She was this morning.” And not afraid to set him down a peg or two, although he knew he’d asked for it.
Maggie’s cries subsided into soft muffled sounds.
“What are you doing home?” he asked Caroline. She should be at the post office, but then, he wasn’t one to talk, seeing as he should be out on the range with Wiley. Or working in the barn with Laredo Smith.
“Maggie wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I took the day off.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s feeling better—or she was,” Caroline said pointedly.
“I’d like to talk to her if you’d let me, so I can apologize.” He wasn’t sure he knew how to talk to a five-year-old, but he didn’t want her cringing in terror every time she was out at the ranch. She was a sweet little girl and Savannah was deeply attached to her.
“I don’t know if she’ll talk to you.”
“Ask her, will you?” His hand tightened around the receiver while he waited. In the background he could hear Caroline reasoning with the child. He was somewhat amused when he heard her compare him to the beast in Beauty and the Beast. He made a lot of loud noises and sounded mean, Caroline said, but deep down he was really a prince who’d been put under a spell.
Caroline returned to the phone a couple of minutes later. “I’m sorry, Grady, but I can’t convince her to give you a second chance.”
“I can’t say I blame her,” Grady said with a sigh. “I was pretty rough when I answered.”
“She called to tell Savannah she had a tummy ache.”
“My kind of sympathy wasn’t what she was looking for, was it.”
The sound of Caroline’s half chuckle did more to lift his spirits than anything had that day.
“I guess you could say that,” she said softly.
“I have been a beast, haven’t I.”
“You could say that, too.”
“Since she won’t let me talk to her, will you tell Maggie I’m sorry? I promise I won’t shout at her again.” He didn’t know if it would do any good, but it was the best he could manage. The next time Maggie visited the ranch, he’d try to square things with her.
“I’ll let Savannah know you phoned,” he said, reaching for a pen. If he didn’t write it down, he’d forget, and he didn’t think Caroline would be willing to forgive him that on top of everything else.
They exchanged goodbyes and he replaced the receiver.
With an effort he glanced down at the ledger and reached for the calculator, determined to make good use of his time. He couldn’t laze in bed until noon like his worthless brother.
* * *
Laredo assumed he’d find Savannah in the rose garden, but she was nowhere in sight. Nor was she in the house. He’d done everything short of knocking on her bedroom door.
Grady had disappeared, as well, but that was more a blessing than a matter of concern.
Unsure where to search next, Laredo headed back to the barn. It was one of the last places he expected to find Savannah. A niggling sense of fear refused to leave him. She’d looked pale that morning, and although he hadn’t been eager to clash with Grady so soon after their last confrontation, he wasn’t about to let him harass Savannah.
The barn door creaked as he pushed it open. Light spilled into the interior and Savannah spun around. Her eyes instantly widened with guilt.
Laredo had no idea what she’d been doing, but clearly it was something she didn’t want anyone knowing.
“Savannah?”
“Hi.” Her smile was a bit sheepish.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Nothing. I was—”
“Savannah,” he said, and held out his arms, needing to reassure her. She didn’t hesitate, not so much as a second. He brought her into his embrace and hugged her. “Don’t ever play poker, sweetheart. Your expression’s a dead giveaway.”
Her arms circled his waist and she pressed her face to his shoulder. “I’m so sorry about what happened last night,” she said.
This was the first chance they’d had to discuss the incident, but Laredo preferred to drop the entire thing. He’d been at fault, too, eager to put her brother in his place for embarrassing Savannah. And he’d been angry after his chat with Hennessey, knowing Grady had instigated the sheriff’s questioning.
“Let’s put it behind us, okay?”
He felt her deep sigh. “Is that what you want?” she asked in a solemn voice.
“Yeah.”
“I’m willing to forget it—except for one thing.” She tilted her head back and gazed at him with wide adoring eyes.
“What’s that?” Laredo didn’t know what he’d done to deserve having such a beautiful woman look at him that way.
“I could put the...incident behind me if Grady hadn’t cheated me out of my sweetheart dance.”
“Not all of it.”
“I begrudge every second he stole from me.”
Laredo kissed the top of her head and reached behind him to take hold of her hands. “Don’t you hear the music?” he asked.
“Music?” Her eyes narrowed as if she was straining to hear before she realized what he was doing. She smiled then, and it was all he could do not to cover her mouth with his.
“I believe there is music in here,” she said, her face alight with happiness.
“There must be.”
Laredo danced her about the barn floor, making turns so wide that her skirt flared straight out as they whirled around. Savannah threw back her head and laughed with such pure joy Laredo was soon smiling himself.
They whirled faster and faster until they were both winded and ready to collapse with laughter. Savannah pressed her hand to her throat as she drew in a deep breath.
“Okay, confess,” he said once he’d caught his own breath. He leaned against the wall and watched as the amusement left her.
“Confess?”
“What were you up to earlier?”
He watched as she shifted her feet a couple of times before she lowered her head. “You’ll be angry with me.”
Laredo didn’t think that was possible. “Why?”
“I was about to break the promise I made you. I—I’m sorry....”
Then it dawned on him. She’d been gathering equipment to sneak away to that damned ghost town. He exhaled sharply, grateful he’d found her when he had. He was disappointed, too. He’d expected Savannah to be a woman of her word.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, with such genuine regret that he couldn’t help forgiving her. “Richard and I were talking about Bitter End this morning, and I felt this urge to go there again. Now. Today. I have to, Laredo. Because of the roses.” She glanced down at her feet. “And I didn’t want Richard to know. Or Grady. I wasn’t sure where you were...and I’ve got to leave quickly.” She raised her head to look at him. “Can you come with me?” she asked, her expressive eyes filled with hope. “It won’t take much time. I’ll leave Grady a note and explain.”
Grady might owe him a favor, but Laredo didn’t feel ready to collect it quite this soon. Then he changed his mind.
“All right,” he said, “we’ll do it.”
She clapped her hands, then forgetting herself, leaped forward and kissed him on the mouth. “I’ll pack up a lunch and afterward we can have a picnic.”
He hadn’t the heart to disappoint her, but his idea of how he wanted to spend the day wasn’t sitting in some field full of bluebonnets, lingering over sandwiches. Not even with Savannah... He thought of all the chores that awaited him. Chores Grady counted on him to do.
“How long will we be?”
“Not too long,” she promised. “All I want to do is walk around and see if there are any other roses. We won’t stay.”
He nodded.
“There’s a lovely spot a few miles down the road where the river bends. We can have lunch there.” She wasn’t about to drop this picnic idea of hers, and really, he supposed, it was a small thing to ask.
With their plans set, Laredo loaded the shovels and other tools into the back of the pickup. As he did, an uneasiness settled over him. Apparently what Grady had told him about the place had made a stronger impact than he’d realized. His uneasiness grew into dread and refused to leave him.
They weren’t even off the ranch yet, and already he was convinced they shouldn’t go.