Chapter Nine
Sierra didn’t sleep a wink all night. She tossed and turned for a couple hours, ending up pacing the length of her room until dawn, exhausting herself in the process. Over and over again she replayed the scene from last night, wishing that she could turn back the clock and handle the situation differently. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of any easy way that she could’ve broken the news to Caleb. She’d owed Caleb the unvarnished truth and that’s exactly what she’d given him. In turn he’d interpreted the truth as her being deceitful and manipulative.
By morning she was delirious with fatigue and suffering from a raging headache. Even though she was bone-tired, she couldn’t afford to sleep in. Today she was overseeing the branding and marking of a herd of new cattle they’d received from an operation out in Wyoming. As her grandmother had always said, it was important to establish ownership of the cattle as soon as possible so that the cattle weren’t vulnerable to rustlers. Regardless of the regulations handed down by the cattlemen’s stock association, Sierra knew from experience that rustlers always found new and innovative ways of burning off or otherwise altering brands. Sierra was determined not to let anything like that happen under her watch, particularly when her gut instinct was warning her that someone was out there waiting to strike out again at the Diamond Lil.
Before heading out to the Diamond Lil to catch a glimpse of Morning Star and Twinkle, she planned on grabbing something hot and hearty for breakfast. She was anxious to see how the new mama and baby were doing this morning. After checking in on the horses she’d head towards the southern pasture where the new herd of cattle was corralled and begin the branding process.
Upon entering the kitchen she mumbled a sleepy good morning to Minnie and plopped down on one of the old but comfortable chairs that had been a permanent fixture in the kitchen for as long as she could remember. She helped herself to a plate full of eggs, grits and bacon, knowing that she would need all of her strength for the full day that awaited her at the ranch. Some days things were so hectic at the ranch that the crew never broke for lunch, continuing to work right through til sundown.
“Hmmph! Everyone around here is in a fine mood this morning,” Minnie announced with a saucy twist to her lips. “Your brother was marching himself around here this morning in a fine state, let me tell you. And your daddy flew out of here a little while ago like his feet was on fire. And now here you are with your drawers in a twist.” Minnie shook her head and continued sponging down the stove. “Don’t make no kind of sense.”
“My mood is fine, Minnie,” Sierra said as she filled her mouth with eggs, then swallowed. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”
“Seems to me you might have thought of that before you came straggling into the house in the wee hours of the morning,” Minnie said in a disapproving tone, her lips pursed so as to let Sierra know that she wasn’t happy with her.
Patiently, Sierra responded, “I didn’t get in until the wee hours of the morning, Minnie, because I was at the Diamond Lil watching Morning Star’s foal being born. Didn’t Aunt Simone tell anyone?”
Minnie sniffed and said, “She told us. But that don’t explain why Simone made it back to the Homestead an hour before you did, missy.”
“Minnie!” Sierra said in a warning voice. “I’m old enough to make my own curfew and I’ll thank you not to watch my comings and goings.”
Minnie snorted and said, “Don’t flatter yourself, child. The sound of that rattletrap car you were driving woke me up out of a dead sleep. I couldn’t get back to sleep if my life depended on it, specially when you started stomping up those stairs like an elephant on the prowl.”
Sierra shook her head in disbelief at Minnie’s exaggerated version of last night’s events. “I was not stomping, Minnie. I was simply walking up the stairs. Very quietly, I might add.” Sierra poured herself a cup of coffee, generously adding two spoonfuls of sugar and a large amount of cream. “I’m sorry if I woke you,” she added as an after thought.
Minnie nodded her head in acceptance of Sierra’s apology and said, “Well, did you tell him or not?”
Sierra held her coffee in mid-air, her mouth hanging open in shock at Minnie’s boldness and her incredible knack for always knowing more about a situation than seemed humanly possible. Somehow she’d known that Caleb had been at the Diamond Lil last night and now she wanted to know if Sierra had told him the truth. “I guess it wouldn’t do any good to pretend that I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Sierra asked. “You’ll just keep on pushing and prodding.”
“Nope,” said Minnie with a grin. “The truth always comes out whether by hook or by crook.”
“Ain’t it the truth, Minnie,” Sierra said with a sad shake of her head, her eyes reflecting her disillusionment with the truth. “Only sometimes when it finally comes out it’s not exactly what some people want to hear.”
“Hmm. I take it your young man didn’t take the news too well.”
Sierra stared into her coffee mug, her eyes glazing over as she recalled the events of last night and the pained expression that Caleb’s anger couldn’t hide. With a sigh she said, “Nope. Caleb was madder than I’ve ever seen him. He blames me for everything,” she explained. “He practically called me a liar to my face. And then he walked away from me, no doubt for good this time. And he’s not really my young man either.”
Minnie shrugged her shoulders and said, “He’ll come around. And if he don’t - then he ain’t worth the pain or the aggravation.”
With a look of astonishment on her face, Sierra said, “Wait a minute, Minnie! Just yesterday you were telling me to go after Caleb...and now you’re saying he’s probably not worth it.” Sierra raked her fingers through her hair and dropped her head onto the table, a huge sigh of frustration dragged from her lips. “Why did I ever listen to you in the first place?”
“Darlin’, I see living in that big city back East hasn’t made you any smarter. When are you going to stand up and take responsibility for yourself?” Minnie clucked disapprovingly and gently pulled up Sierra’s chin so that she was looking straight at her. “It don’t matter what I think or what nobody else thinks! You’ve got to make this decision on your own, because you’re the one who’s got to live with the consequences. Lord, I use to tell Miss Lilliana all the time that she placed too much pressure on you. You were always so busy trying to please everyone that you never worried about pleasing yourself.”
In a brash voice she continued, “Sierra, you have a lot of lovely qualities...compassion, kindness, determination. But the one thing you’ve never learned how to do is to trust yourself. And if you love this Caleb Matthews as much as you profess to...you’ve got to trust him too. Or the two of you ain’t going have no kind of future together.”
Sierra smiled at Minnie and said, “Have you always been this smart, Minnie? Or is it one of the many benefits of old age?”
Minnie let out a loud laugh and said, “As far back as I can remember, chile I’ve been as wise as an old owl. Why do you think I’ve always stayed single all these years? No man would put up with a woman who mouths off all the time like I do.”
Sierra leaned over in her chair towards Minnie and warmly kissed her on the cheek, then wrapped her arms around the older woman and enveloped her in a tight hug. “Thank you, Minnie,” she said in a muffled voice, “for reminding me that I still have a Grammy when I need one.” Abruptly, Sierra got up from her chair, grabbed her cowboy hat and exited the kitchen by the back door, her steps full of purpose as she walked out of the house.
She knew if she stayed in Minnie’s kitchen any longer she’d turn into a weeping, puffy-eyed mess. She couldn’t afford to break down. Not now. Not when so many people were counting on her to get things done and to resolve the issues of the vandalism at the Diamond Lil. For once in her life she wasn’t going to buckle under the pressure and bail.
Within seconds Minnie heard the truck being started and she knew that Sierra was heading out to work the ranch. At least out there, Minnie thought, Sierra could forget her problems with her young man for a while and throw herself into the business of running a ranch.
Minnie looked up at the heavens, huge worry lines dotting her forehead, her eyes wide and anxious as she whispered, “Say a prayer for your grand baby, Lilliana. I think she’s gonna need it.”
***
When Sierra arrived at the Diamond Lil she knew instinctively that something was wrong. For some inexplicable reason she’d felt anxious and on edge during the ride over toward the stables. It was the same feeling she’d had last night when she’d first arrived at the ranch with Caleb. Unsettled. Wary. Nervous. She couldn’t fathom why she felt this way, but her feelings increased in intensity as she parked her vehicle.
Standing around in a huddle outside the stables were a half-dozen ranch hands, along with Hollis, Bryce and her father. The sight of her father at the Diamond Lil served as a major tip-off that trouble was brewing. Her daddy never went out to the Diamond Lil, she reasoned, not if he could help it. And Minnie had mentioned earlier that her daddy had gone tearing out of he house in a big hurry. Why was he here? And if there was an emergency, why hadn’t she been called?
“What’s going on here?” Sierra demanded as she jumped from the truck and raced towards the group, her heart thumping fast as a dozen possibilities crossed her mind. Had one of the ranch hands been hurt? Killed even? Why was everyone standing around like lost souls?
The men exchanged nervous looks between them as they shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, and no one, with the exception of her father, would make eye contact with her. Brock Jackson stood in the middle of the group, his grey business suit contrasting greatly with the rugged attire of the ranch hands. Clearly, her father had been on his way to the office when he’d received a call to come out to the Diamond Lil, hence his business-like attire.
“What are you doing here, Daddy?” she asked in a low voice, her insides doing somersaults as she waited nervously for his answer. Mentally, she tried to steel herself for unpleasant news. “What’s happened?”
Her father pulled her towards him, his face serious and composed as he said, “Baby, there’s been more trouble out here. Bad trouble.”
Sierra braced herself for the bad news, knowing that it must be devastating if Hollis had called her father out to the ranch so that he could break the bad news to her. Even though part of her resented Hollis’s actions, another part of her was deeply comforted by her daddy’s presence at the ranch.
“Honey, it’s Morning Star,” he said gently, his eyes showing compassion and a gentleness that made Sierra want to weep. “She’s been killed.”
The words hit Sierra like a bomb blast going off in her face. Although she knew that her father wouldn’t lie about such a thing, her first instinct was to deny that such a thing could happen. Not to Morning Star!
Not to her beautiful, loyal Morning Star! Who in the world would be so evil?
The Diamond Lil had always been her haven, and now someone was turning it into a nightmare. And she had no clue why.
“No!” She wailed, her knees buckling beneath her as the words sunk in. Her father took her in his arms as she sunk to the ground, his strong arms lifting her up and steadying her against him. Her grief suddenly turned to anger at the thought of someone deliberately doing Morning Star harm and she angrily kicked the dirt with her leather boot.
“How?” she asked, reluctant to hear the shattering details, but realizing that she needed to know the truth.
However painful it might be, it was her duty to listen.
“She was shot, baby. From the looks of it she didn’t suffer any. I know that’s not much comfort, but it is a small blessing,” her father said with a grim smile, his voice filled with gentleness.
“W-What about Twinkle?” she suddenly asked, her thoughts immediately turning to Morning Star’s foal.
Twinkle was Sierra’s last link to Morning Star, and if she was alive, she thought wildly, at least a part of Morning Star would live on.
“Twinkle?” her father asked, obviously confused about the name he’d never before heard mentioned.
“Morning Star’s foal,” Sierra said in a raspy voice, barely able to get the words out of her mouth. “Her baby. We watched her being born last night.” Last night. Why did last night seem as if it was a million light years away?
“Twinkle is fine,” her father said in a reassuring tone. “As long as she gets proper nourishment she’ll continue to thrive. She may or may not want to eat now that her momma’s gone. I’ll call Doc Skeritt and have him come down here later this morning to take a look at her.”
“I’m sorry, Sierra. Truly sorry,” Bryce said as he walked towards her and patted her on the back in a comforting gesture. Weakly, Sierra smiled at Bryce, noting for the first time that the once pudgy boy had been transformed into a tall, good-looking young man. Having grown up with Bryce she knew that he was both gentle and sensitive, almost too much for his own good. As a child he’d been the target of bullies who’d teased him unmercifully about his size and the way he lisped his words. As the late-in-life child of Sam Jarvis, Bryce had been given the finest things money could buy. But Sierra suspected that the thing he wanted most, his father’s unconditional love and support, continued to elude him.
Sierra turned towards Hollis, her eyes blazing with a fierce anger as she urgently pulled him aside from the others in the group so that she could talk to him in private. She needed to get something off her chest. Fast. She was in a dangerous frame of mind at the moment, a stick of dynamite ready to go off, and she feared that with the slightest provocation she would blow.
“Hollis, I’m the owner of the Diamond Lil now. Morning Star is...was...my horse,” she said in an angry tone, her lips trembling with a mixture of emotion and rage. “Don’t you ever take it upon yourself to protect me. And don’t you ever call my Daddy down here to handle a situation before you call me. Got it?” She knew she was taking her anger on the situation out on him, but she needed to let him know that she was the boss and that she called the shots.
“Yes’m.” Hollis’ face looked deeply chagrined upon hearing the anger in her voice and he held his stetson to his chest, his eyes downcast and somber. “If you’ll excuse us we’re going take the body...er, Morning Star down to the northern pasture and bury her out that way.”
“No!” she said in a raised voice. “Morning Star is my horse. I’ll see that she gets buried in a special place, one that she liked to graze in and canter through. She needs a proper burial. And I’m going to see that she gets one.”
She walked away from Hollis, her head held high, her posture erect, knowing all eyes were on her at this moment. She could feel their eyes on her back, pitying her, watching her, waiting for her to break down in a torrent of tears and emotion. It was clear that they’d expected her to break down. They all knew what Morning Star meant to her – she'd been her pride and joy. Even though she wanted to weep for the tragedy of Morning Star, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. For years she’d trained herself to hold her emotions on the inside, never letting anyone know that she was badly hurting on the inside and suffering from a broken heart. Her grandmother had taught her well, she thought grimly. Sometimes she was so afraid of feeling that she allowed herself to feel nothing at all. For what was worse than the searing pain that knifed through your soul when you’d lost a loved one?
A single tear trailed down her face as she leaned over Morning Star’s body, silently admiring the lean, graceful form that had guided her on so many adventures and given her endless pleasure. She was still beautiful even in death. Slowly, Sierra covered her body with a black tarp, while silently whispering words of farewell. At the same time she made a vow, one that she was determined to uphold. “I swear to you, Morning Star, I’m going to find the person who did this to you, and when I do I’m going to make sure they pay for what they’ve done.”
***
“I don’t know what’s bothering him, Matt, but he’s been in a blue funk all morning. He’s been working my butt off around here like I’m a work horse or something,” Drew grumbled in a childish voice. All morning he’d been mucking out the stalls and performing the tasks that the ranch hands jokingly referred to as “grunt jobs”. And he didn’t like it one bit. The way he figured it, since he was Caleb’s brother he should get the cushiest assignments of all the ranch hands instead of working his way up from the bottom.
“Must be love,” Matt said with a grunt. Although he thanked his lucky stars that he wasn’t foolish enough to indulge in the notion of love, he didn’t want to begrudge his best friend a happy ending. After all Caleb had been through with Sierra in the past, he deserved some small measure of happiness.
“Caleb doesn’t have time for love. He’s too busy becoming the biggest cattle baron in Texas and building that new house of his,” Drew said with air of resentment in his voice.
“Speaking of the house, Drew, how’s it coming? I came out here today to get a peek at Caleb’s new digs. One of the deputies in my office told me it’s beautiful.”
A look of envy passed over Drew’s face, one that he couldn't successfully conceal from Matt. It was clear that he envied his brother’s lifestyle - the thriving cattle business, the new home being built and his strong, no-nonsense character. All of the things in life that he aspired to, but was far way from achieving. It must be tough being the ne’er do well baby brother, Matt imagined.
“Yeah, it surely is beautiful,” Drew said with a troubled expression on his face. He let out a big sigh and said, “Caleb has a knack for making gold out of everything he touches. The only thing I ever seem to come up with is a hand full of dung.”
For the first time since he’d known Drew, Matt felt a twinge of pity for him. It must be tough, he thought, walking in your older brother’s shadow. Especially when you were something of a mess up and you depended totally on your brother for your livelihood. Not that he knew anything himself about brotherly relationships. But he did have an amazing sister named Ruby, who he loved more than anything. He’d had a rough childhood, one he wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Matt clapped Drew on the back with his hand in a gesture of support, wanting the kid to know in some small way that he wasn’t alone. He knew from personal experience how rough one’s life could seem at times. But he’d found a way out of his situation and he imagined that Drew would find a way out of his. Sometimes there was nowhere a person could go but up.
“Buck up, Drew! Your luck will change one of these days.” Matt gave him a wicked grin, his dark eyes lighting up with glee as he said, “Once you stop focusing too much on the ladies you’ll have more time to concentrate on improving yourself.” His laughter rang out in the stillness of the afternoon, and grudgingly Drew began laughing along with him, his pearly whites glinting in the afternoon sun.
***
“What brings you out here Cruz?” Caleb’s voice rang out behind Matt and Drew as they swallowed the last remnants of their iced teas. Caleb was the only one to call Matt by his last name. He’d been doing it ever since they’d met. Both men turned around in response to Caleb’s prickly greeting. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was upset about something. Without uttering a word, Drew turned his back on Caleb and marched towards the stables, his face looking as ornery as a pack mule.
“Thanks for ditching me last night.” Caleb snorted loudly and said, “So much for friendship.”
With a look of chagrin on his face, Matt answered, “I came out here to apologize for that, Caleb. That Marissa woman was driving me nuts! I figured you were in good hands with your lady friend.” Matt cracked a crooked smile and winked at Caleb.
Caleb didn’t like the way Cruz had winked at him. Was he suggesting something sleazy about her? He felt as if a vein might pop on his forehead. He glared at his friend, almost daring him to say something else.
Uh oh! He was feeling all protective and sentimental towards Sierra again. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. If Cruz had made that comment about any other woman he wouldn’t have thought anything about it. But Sierra wasn’t any other woman. She was his woman. And he didn’t want Cruz so much as looking in her direction.
“So,” Caleb said in a slow drawl, determined to steer the topic away from him and Sierra, “did you have something romantic going on with Marissa? Is that what all that tension between the two of you last night signified?”
His best friend sputtered. “Are you nuts? I wouldn’t date that gossip hound if she was the last woman in Briarwood.”
Caleb raised a skeptical eyebrow, his tawny eyes lighting up humorously at Cruz’s vehement opposition to dating Sierra’s best friend. He was getting the strangest feeling that his friend was protesting a little too much for a man who didn’t like a certain woman.
“Well,” Cruz conceded, “maybe if she was the last woman on earth I’d date her. But I probably wouldn’t like it.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “She’s too unruly, too annoying. And she’s got a big mouth.”
“I truly pity the woman who ends up with you,” Caleb said with a shake of the head, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to suppress his laughter. Although Caleb considered himself a bit jaded with regard to romantic entanglements, his buddy Cruz was a cynic, straight through to the bone.
Cruz shrugged nonchalantly at Caleb’s words. “Don’t pity her, Caleb. She doesn’t exist. No woman is going to end up as Mrs. Matt Cruz - not in this lifetime.”
Suddenly Cruz’s two-way radio began squawking, alerting him that the dispatcher was trying to reach him from the sheriff’s office. He quickly removed the unit from his gun belt, pressed a button and began to speak into the unit in a no-nonsense tone. “Cruz here. Talk to me,” he ordered into the hand-held radio.
A crackly voice came over the radio, one that both men immediately recognized as Carollee Timmins due to the uneven, high-pitched quality of her voice. Carollee was Cruz’s secretary in the sheriff’s office and he knew from experience that she only radioed him in an emergency situation. In that emergency situations were rare occasions in Briarwood, Cruz’s body went on full alert, every nerve ending in his powerful frame primed for action.
Initially Caleb had backed away from where his friend was standing in order to give Cruz his privacy and to allow him to conduct his official business without any distractions. When it came to his job as the sheriff of Briarwood, Matt Cruz was the consummate professional, one who took his job very seriously and who never slouched in his duties. From the moment Cruz had expressed his interest in the job he’d been the clear choice in the minds and hearts of the residents of Briarwood. Honor, bravery, dedication and strength were his credentials, and he had served the town well as sheriff.
Caleb whipped his body around toward Cruz as he heard Carollee mentioning the Diamond Lil. Or at least he thought she’d mentioned the ranch. For a brief moment he wondered if he was going crazy. Was he hearing things? Or had something gone down at the ranch? Something so important that the sheriff was being called in to investigate?
“Did I hear her mention the Diamond Lil?” Caleb asked as he watched Cruz place the unit back on his gun belt, his heart beating like a drum as a dark warning flashed through him. Sierra needed him. He knew it as deeply as he’d known it the other night on Pete’s Mountain. He needed to go to her, to be with her, to put all their differences behind them and start fresh. All of these thoughts collided in his head at the same time, serving as a revelation of sorts, and he had to force himself to listen to Cruz’s words.
“Yes, Caleb. There’s trouble out at the Diamond Lil. We had a really bad connection so I’m going to have to go out there and check things out.” Cruz paused for a moment, his eyes dark and ominous looking as he said, “All I could make out for sure is that someone’s been shot out at the Diamond Lil.”
***
“Can’t you drive any faster, man?” Caleb barked as she sat in the passenger seat and slowly counted the seconds. The drive to the Diamond Lil felt excruciatingly slow, despite the fact that they were racing down the highway at nearly ninety miles an hour. It still wasn’t fast enough for Caleb.
“If I go any faster, Caleb, we’re going end up in the cemetery,” Cruz said calmly. “I’m a sheriff, not a race car driver.”
Caleb slammed his hand against the dashboard, his anger toward himself bubbling to the surface. It was all his fault! If he hadn’t been such a proud fool last night he wouldn’t be in such a tenuous situation. If he hadn’t stormed away from Sierra like a self-righteous hypocrite he’d be with her right now. Holding her. Comforting her. Protecting her.
He felt like screaming, punching, fighting...all because he wanted to be with the woman he loved. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. He needed to see with his own eyes that she wasn’t lying bloodied or dead at the ranch. All of a sudden the past wasn't nearly so important as the present. He needed to tell her that he loved her and that he forgave her.
He knew one thing for sure. There was no turning back this time. If Sierra was safe, and he prayed desperately that she was, he wasn’t going to hide his feelings for her any longer. And he wasn’t going to blame her anymore for the past. The past was nothing more than a hollow shell, something he’d obsessed about for far too many years. They'd loved each other, of that he was certain. Fate, in the guise of Lilliana Rose, had savagely torn them apart. But there was no reason they couldn’t create something new, something totally separate from the past.
Surely God wouldn’t have placed Sierra back in his orbit for naught.
From this point forward he was going to embrace her wholeheartedly...in his heart and soul. In his life. A forever kind of thing if he had anything to say about it.
As they pulled up at the Diamond Lil in a whirl of dust and screeching brakes, Caleb scanned the crowd of people standing outside of the stables, intently looking for Sierra among the group. As soon as the car came to a stop both men jumped from the squad car, their feet flying as soon as they hit the ground. Then Caleb saw her and his heart nearly stopped beating. She was standing next to her daddy looking like a little girl lost, valiantly trying to be strong and brave, but showing tell-tale signs of stress and strain. He could see it all in her eyes the moment she looked up and saw him standing there with Cruz.
“Caleb!” As soon as she caught sight of him, Sierra ran toward him, throwing herself into his arms, huge sobs wracking her body as she hid her face against his chest. He cradled her in his arms, inhaling the soft, vanilla fragrance surrounding her that wafted up to his nostrils, the same fragrance that he’d fantasized about night after night when he’d dreamt of Sierra. But this wasn’t a dream. It was reality. He was holding Sierra in his arms and she was clinging to him as if he was the only thing that could keep her safe.
“T-They killed Morning Star, Caleb,” she sobbed, her coffee colored eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. He wanted to kiss away her pain, but he knew he couldn’t. All he could do was be with her, holding her, caring for her, loving her. With all the love he held in his heart for her, it would be enough to get her through the pain and loss. It had to be, he thought stubbornly.
“Let it out, baby. Let it out.” Caleb held her in his arms for endless moments, stroking her hair and back with his hands and murmuring in her ear soft words of reassurance. “I’m here, baby. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why did she have to go and die without explaining things to me face to face? Why did she have to lie to me? She was supposed to love me and protect me, yet she was the one who hurt me the most. Why?” Sierra cried, her tear-streaked face distorted with pain and unimaginable grief.
She wasn’t simply mourning Morning Star, Caleb realized as he listened to Sierra’s agonized words. She was finally mourning her grandmother, finally letting out all the despair and grief she’d felt over her passing. Clearly, she’d been struggling with all these feelings, denying them, pretending as if they didn’t exist, and now they were bubbling to the surface through a haze of grief and betrayal.
“I don’t know why we hurt the people that we love the most, sugar,” Caleb murmured softly, thinking of all the times he’d deliberately tried to hurt Sierra since she’d returned to town. It made him feel ashamed of himself and unworthy of this brave, wonderful woman. “Sometimes loving just brings hurt along with it. Hold on to the fact that your grandmother loved you and that you loved her in return. Hold on tight to that fact and never let it go.”
***
“What do you make of this, Cruz?” Caleb asked, his dark, chiseled features set in grim lines as he meticulously inspected Morning Star’s stall for any evidence the vandal may have left behind at the scene of the crime. It was clear to him that in all likelihood the person committing these acts was too clever to leave anything behind, but he felt an escalating sense of panic knowing that the acts were increasing in intensity and violence. He wanted the whole dirty business over and done with and the guilty party in police custody.
“Someone’s getting impatient,” Cruz said as he surveyed the stall and the blood-streaked straw as well as the bloody trail of footprints. “It looks like the perpetrator was a man, and I'm gonna guess this print is a size twelve or thirteen shoe size.” Cruz placed his own size 13 foot next to the imprint. He shrugged and said, “Not that it gives us much to go on. Men who wear size twelves and thirteens come a dime a dozen. It would be nearly impossible to track someone down on such flimsy evidence.”
“Impatient? Where’d you get that idea from?” Caleb asked with a perplexed frown.
Cruz shrugged. “This was sloppy. Rushed. It seems that someone is going to a lot of trouble to scare off Sierra - and they don’t seem to care how they do it.”
“So you think someone is targeting Sierra? Even though the vandalism started before she came back home?” Caleb asked eagerly, anxious to get Cruz’s take on the disturbing incidents. He was an expert in the art of solving unsolvable crimes.
“I’m not saying she’s the target, but it seems mighty coincidental that of all the prize winning horses in this stable someone picked out Sierra’s pride and joy and snuffed out its life. According to Hollis and Bryce, Morning Star was the only horse on the property that Sierra loved beyond distraction.” Cruz jammed his fists into his back pocket, his face devoid of any emotion as he continued to think the case through.
“Now,” he said persuasively, “if someone really wanted to strike out at the life blood of the ranch they would’ve harmed one of the race horses, rather than one who’s not a money maker.”
“Unless the object of this whole terror campaign is to spook Sierra now that she owns the Diamond Lil,” Caleb said fiercely, his protective instincts rising up within him at the thought of someone trying to harm or frighten her.
“You catch on quick, my friend,” Cruz said with a nod of his head, the blue-black accents in his bone-straight, shoulder length hair shimmering as a shaft of sunlight hit it.
Caleb scratched his chin, then asked, “What about revenge?” He was unwilling to totally give up on the idea that the vandalism was payback.
“That revenge theory doesn’t work, in my humble opinion! Lilliana Rose is dead and buried. Sierra hasn’t lived in Briarwood for years. Why would someone want revenge on Sierra?” Cruz paced around the stall, his eyes focused on the ground, searching for something, anything that would aid the investigation. “Matter of fact,” he drawled, “the only person who’d want revenge on her is you. And I know better than to think you’d stoop to this level, especially since I know that if you wanted to you could blow this whole family away with one piece of paper.”
“Keep it down, Cruz,” Caleb warned fiercely. “Someone might hear you.”
He rolled his eyes. “As I was saying,” Cruz continued, “this isn’t a revenge vibe I’m feeling. Someone is working towards something here. It’s building and building, almost to the point of exploding.” Cruz’s face looked preoccupied, and it was obvious to Caleb that his buddy was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and feeling frustrated that the answers still eluded him. They needed hard clues so that they could nab the people responsible for terrorizing the Diamond Lil.
“They want something,” Caleb suggested, eager to get in on the act and help decipher the clues. Sierra had asked him to help find the person responsible for vandalizing the ranch, and to date he hadn’t done much to find the culprit. No, he thought angrily, he’d been too busy licking his wounds and trying to convince himself he hated Sierra.
“And they are getting impatient,” Cruz said in a fretful voice.
“What do they want?” Caleb pondered aloud, his mind swirling with all the various reasons that someone might target Sierra and the Diamond Lil for criminal acts. The answer was within reach in his mind, he could feel it sitting there, and he felt as if at any moment it would pop into his head.
“They want...man, this is hard,” Caleb said as he struggled to get into the vandal’s skin, stretching himself to see things through his or her viewpoint. “Someone who wants power, money...control. Could be someone who’s enjoying terrorizing the ranch.”
“What type of someone?” Cruz prodded. “What are they hoping to achieve?”
Caleb felt as if someone had shined a bright light in his face, for suddenly out of the darkness the answer came to him, swiftly and without warning. It all made sense. Suddenly all of the distorted pieces of the puzzle fit, despite the disturbing fact that none of the players were in focus. In a somewhat dazed voice he said, “Someone who wants the Diamond Lil. Someone who figures that if they harass Sierra enough she’ll pack up and sell the ranch!”
“Bingo! I think that’s as good a theory as any,” Cruz said in an excited voice as he high-fived his buddy. “Now all we have to do is find out who...and why.”
***
“How ya feeling, darlin?” Caleb asked as he walked towards Sierra, who was squatting next to Twinkle in her stall, gently nuzzling the foal’s fur and crooning a popular lullaby in a soft whisper. Caleb knelt down next to her and began rubbing Twinkle while whispering words of encouragement to the foal.
Sierra’s stomach tightened as she watched the way he cared for the foal, his loving nature evident in every stroke of the foal’s fur, in every reassuring word that passed through his lips. She couldn’t help but think that’s how he’d act towards a baby, his baby - all warmth and plenty of love and comfort.
“Better. Now that you’re here,” she said boldly, her gratitude and pleasure that he’d come to the ranch washing away any fears of wearing her heart on her sleeve. In truth she didn’t care any more. The past few weeks had shown her that she couldn’t obsess over her past or the future. She needed to concentrate on the here and now, on loving and living out her dreams.
“I don’t know about you, Sierra, but I’m tired of playing games like two kids in the playground. We’re not kids anymore,” he said bluntly, carefully gauging her reaction to his words.
Sierra lowered her eyes and responded in a dry voice, “Even though we keep acting like it.”
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said softly, his hand lowering to caress the gentle slope of her cheek and lingering to smooth back a stray hair. “You blew me away with what you told me. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. All my emotions were so tangled up...so I lost it.”
“You had every right to be mad. I’m angry at myself, Caleb, because I messed everything up so royally. When I think of how much of a coward I was...I just want to kick myself.”
Caleb placed his finger on Sierra’s lips. “Shhh! You can't take all the blame for this.” He reached out and grabbed her by the chin so that she had no choice but to look directly into his eyes. “I want you in my life, Sierra. Tonight. Tomorrow. Always. I’m always going to want you. I can’t fight my feelings anymore. Lord knows, I don’t want to fight these feelings.”
“You want us to be together?” Sierra asked with her heart in her throat, praying that he wanted something solid and real. She’d risk having her heart broken if it meant lying in his arms and being held by him. She’d risk it all if it meant that she’d have a second chance at earning his love.
Caleb chuckled and said, “I’ll take you wherever and whenever I can have you.” He winked at her, his dark features lighting up with happiness. “The way I figure it, we’ve got lots of time that we need to make up for.”
“Eight years to be exact,” Sierra said sweetly.
“Let’s get out of here. You need a change of venue from all of this,” Caleb said. “It’s gotta be overwhelming. You’ve only been back in town for a few weeks. The stress must be unbearable.”
“Just like that?” she asked with a brittle laugh. “It’s not that easy. I’m in charge around here. I can’t just bail. I promised myself I was done with running away.”
“You’re not running away,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’re just taking a breather to get your bearings. It’s easy, Sierra. I grab your hand, you hold on tight, and we leave. No explanations. No apologies.”
The way Caleb explained things made it sound so simple. So direct. So uncomplicated. Sierra knew she should say no. After all, she had responsibilities. She needed to tend to the branding of the cattle. She needed to stick around to handle the latest crisis at the Diamond Lil. But she also needed to be with Caleb and get her bearings. For only in his arms could she begin to erase the horror of Morning Star’s death. Only in his arms could she find the strength to keep fighting for what she believed in - her grandmother’s legacy and most of all, Caleb himself.
“Let’s do it!” Sierra said abruptly, feeling as if she’d shed the monumental weight of all her responsibilities in one single moment. This was important, she said to herself, more important than anything else she might do today at the ranch. And, she rationalized, it would be pure torture to work on the ranch just feet away from where Morning Star had been slaughtered. She needed to gather her strength.
“That’s my girl,” Caleb said with a hint of pride in his voice. Without waiting for her to change her mind, he grabbed her hand and began walking towards Sierra’s truck, wrenching open the passenger door so that she could scoot onto the seat. After Caleb got into the driver’s seat Sierra handed him the keys, their fingers grazing against each other as they made the exchange. She lifted his fingers to her mouth and gently laid kisses on them, one by one, slowly, reverently, lovingly.
Within seconds they were racing down the road, tires squealing, dirt flying, as Caleb maneuvered the truck down the gravel road leading towards the highway. She wasn’t sure where they were headed, but it didn’t matter one bit. They were together. Even if it took them a lifetime, she vowed, they’d make up for everything they’d lost. And then some.
Sierra edged her way towards the driver’s seat, needing to feel the warmth of Caleb’s body next to hers, needing to place her hand on his leg, put her head on his shoulder and take comfort from his soothing presence. Tenderly, she placed her head on his shoulder, her hand clutching his white cotton t-shirt as if he were a lifeline. Like he’d said earlier, Sierra thought to herself, she needed to hold on tight to love...and never let it go.