Chapter Twelve
“Sierra! Answer me! What are you doing going through my drawers?” Caleb stood in the doorway of the bedroom, his big arms folded across his chest, a look of deep concern etched on his face, his amber eyes reflecting disappointment and hurt. And there was something else hovering in his eyes, a dark emotion she’d never seen before, one that nearly cut her to the quick as soon as she recognized it. Guilt.
“What is this?” Still feeling numb, Sierra held up the aged, wrinkled piece of paper, her fingers shaking with the shock of her discovery. Although the ink on the paper was faded, there was no misunderstanding the words on the document. She’d read the words with a sinking feeling in her heart, the pain of Caleb’s betrayal slicing through her. It was a miracle, she thought, that she was still standing, not to mention breathing and talking. She wanted to sink down into a deep, dark hole and die.
“It’s not what you think,” he said in a quiet voice.
“No?” she asked coldly, her rage hidden beneath a thin veneer of civility. “Then tell me what it is then. Tell me why it’s not what it looks like.”
Caleb groaned and put his head in his hands, cursing himself for being such a simple fool. He should've ripped up the documents days ago, but for some reason he'd held onto them, keeping them tucked away in his jeans drawer. “I never meant for you to see these papers. It wasn’t something that I was prepared to go through with. I promise you, I wasn’t going to hurt your family with these papers.”
Sierra smoothed out the wrinkled paper and began to read aloud. “I, Caleb Matthews, grandson of Jock Matthews, am hereby petitioning the court for possession of the Diamond Lil ranch currently owned by Lilliana Rose Jackson. I am hereby asking that the land be turned over to myself as the legal guardian of Jock Matthews. Enclosed is the original deed for the land comprising the Diamond Lil.” .
Caleb’s face twisted with pain as Sierra read the devastating words. The words came at him like a grenade, along with the realization of how deeply she must think he'd betrayed her trust. And he almost had, he reminded himself. He'd almost struck out at the entire Jackson family out of his deep feelings of bitterness and pain. But he hadn't been able to do it when push came to shove. A part of him had always resisted going that last mile to obtain his revenge.
“Did you write this?” she asked in an incredulous voice, her dark eyes exhibiting such pain that it made Caleb’s heart lurch painfully.
He slid his gaze over her, taking in the coldness of her expression and the icy sound of her voice. She’d never sounded like this before, so cold and angry. So distant. What could he say to change things back to the way they’d been this morning? He’d give anything to see her smile or hear the tinkling sound of her laughter. He’d give anything to hold her in his arms and soothe away all her doubts.
“Yes, I wrote it,” he answered truthfully. “But-.”
“Liar! You pretended to care about me!” she screamed as she lunged for him, her fists flailing around as her punches connected with his chest.
Caleb grabbed her wrists and gently twisted them behind her back, his eyes silently pleading with her for forgiveness. He backed her into the wall so that she couldn’t escape him. “Listen to me, Sierra,” he said in a soothing voice. “Just listen. Yes, at one point in time I was going to petition the courts to uphold this deed. But that was before you came back to Briarwood. Before we fell back in love and I realized we had a future together. It was a stupid, impulsive thing that I never intended to follow through with.”
“Where did this deed come from? Where did you drag this up from?” she interrupted, her dark eyes glistening with fury. “It can’t possibly be real.”
Caleb let out an agonized groan that soundly awfully like surrender to his own ears. There was no way out of the mess he’d created, other than to tell the truth.
“I was doing some cleaning at Jock’s cabin a while back when he was in the hospital. I came across this paperwork and I took it after I realized its importance. Jock has no idea that I found this. He's been sitting on this document for all these years.”
“Is it even real? Or did you fake that too?” she asked bitterly, her lips curled upwards in contempt. At this moment she hated him and she wanted to slam him into the ground for playing her like a pawn in a chess game. She’d thought that he loved her and instead he was using her in some elaborate game of revenge.
“It’s authentic,” he said quietly. “Your grandmother placed the deed in Jock’s name, presumably because they were getting married in a matter of days. It must’ve been her wedding present to him.”
“And in all these years he never challenged it. He never tried to take it away from her,” she said in a dazed voice, her mouth twisting bitterly as she compared Jock’s actions against his grandson’s. Obviously, his grandfather was a man of honor, while Caleb was a liar and a cheat.
“No,” Caleb acknowledged, “he never did. For all these years that deed has been collecting dust among Poppy’s mementos.”
Sierra shook her head in disbelief as she addressed Caleb. “Why?” she asked bleakly. “Did you want revenge against me? My family?”
“Don’t do this,” he pleaded, his eyes tortured and defeated as he begged her to lay the issue to rest. It was too painful to dredge up all the bitter feelings that had set him on this course of action. They’d rehashed the past so many times already, he thought miserably, and finally reached an understanding of each other’s grief and loss. He didn’t want to jeopardize all that. He couldn’t.
He simply shook his head and refused to answer, knowing that if he did so he would be unleashing Pandora’s Box, a crazy swirl of emotions that was better left buried.
“Answer me!” she hissed. “Did you want revenge against me and my family?”
Caleb slammed his fist against the wall and bellowed, “Yes, once upon a time I did want revenge, against you and your family. But that-.”
Once again, she cut him off with a question. “And this deed to the Diamond Lil...was this your revenge?” she asked in a hoarse whisper, her throat feeling raw with pain. She had to get through this, she reminded herself. There would be time enough later for tears and sorrow, but for the moment she needed to get the facts straight on Caleb’s deception. She needed to know if she was going to lose her beloved ranch. She needed to know what she was up against.
“Yes, I wanted revenge. I wanted to hurt you and your whole family because of what happened between us and the way Lilliana treated me like garbage. When my father got injured in that accident on the your family's oil rig I thought it was negligence. Right or wrong, when I came across the deed I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
“So when did you decide to start slaughtering the animals?”
He blinked at her. “What did you say?”
“I said, when did you decide to start slaughtering animals?”
He shook his head. “You don’t mean that. You know I’d sooner poison myself than strike out at a defenseless animal.”
Bitterness filled her eyes and for a moment she glared at him with a look of pure hatred. “I used to know a lot of things about you, Caleb. A long time ago when the world was a much simpler place. Those days are gone forever. You’ve shown me that you’re a lot uglier than I could ever imagine.”
Caleb reached out and pulled her toward him by the wrist. “What happened to you?” Caleb asked, his face filled with disbelief at her cold words and tough stance. “The girl I used to know wasn’t suspicious or doubting. She would never have believed that I was capable of such despicable acts. The girl I remember was trusting and gentle. What happened to her along the way? How did she get so lost?”
“She grew up, Caleb,” Sierra snarled in a voice laced with bitterness. “She became acquainted with the real world and stopped believing in fairy tales. So, forgive me if don’t moon all over you like I used to. I’m not that girl anymore.”
“No, you’re not,” Caleb said bluntly. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. It was almost as if the old Sierra had died overnight and this stranger standing before him had taken her place. She sounded so bitter, as if life had dealt her a terrible hand and she had been forced to deal with the ugly consequences. He was the one who should be bitter over the past, and yet somehow he’d softened and decided to trust her again with his heart.
Where did Sierra get off having a chip on her shoulder? He hadn’t acted on any of his plans; he’d done nothing so far to hurt her family, even though he’d had the documents in his possession for well over a year.
“Don’t get holier-than-thou with me,” she said with an indelicate snort, her hands defiantly placed on her hips. She looked him up and down, her blazing eyes burning a hole straight through him, her disdain palpable. “You haven’t exactly been acting like Prince Charming since I’ve been back. You’ve seen a lot of changes yourself in the past few years.”
Caleb’s voice suddenly quieted and he wore a sorrowful expression as he said, “Maybe you just never knew me, Sierra. I really haven’t changed that much. You might just have to look a bit closer to see what’s always been there.” He raised his hand and thumped it against his heart as he uttered a silent prayer that she could feel the love radiating from within him.
“Liar,” she whispered, as she remembered the gentle boy with the warm brown eyes and the tender talk. “The boy I knew would never have tried to take the Diamond Lil away from my family. And he wouldn’t have spoken words of love to me while betraying me. He wouldn’t have been capable of such a grand deception.”
“The boy you knew was capable of making mistakes. Back then my number one mistake was not running after you and forcing you to tell me the truth. I was too proud and too bitter. But I’ve changed. Yeah, I’m still a little bitter over the past, but I’ve learned to put a lid on that bitterness. I would never have used those papers against you. I swear!”
For a moment Sierra faltered, her emotions swayed by his fervent vows of innocence. Caleb couldn’t imagine, she thought, how much she wanted his words to be true. She’d believed him when he’d murmured words of love, no doubt because she needed to believe that he shared her powerful feelings. He’d seemed so sincere, so filled with love and forgiveness. His tender kisses had made her soul sing with joy. Had it all been a lie? Were all his tender moves toward her merely a cover for his vicious plot to strip her family of its legacy?
He held out his hand to her, his eyes imploring her to join hands with him, to believe in him, to love him. Instinctively Sierra knew that once she crossed this bridge she could never turn back.
No, she couldn’t do it. Caleb had already proven to her that he couldn’t be trusted. How many more chances was she going to give him to break her heart? How much more proof did she need of his duplicity? How many more times was she going to play the fool?
She walked toward him, her face cold and distant. They stood face to face, gazes locked. She slapped the deed against his chest.
“Take this deed and choke on it! You just try and take the Diamond Lil away from me, Caleb. Go ahead and try. I’ll fight you tooth and nail!” Her eyes blazed like wildfire, sparks of anger shooting from their depths like fireworks in a moonless sky. She backed away from him and turned on her heel, her light footsteps echoing throughout Caleb’s place.
Caleb cringed as he heard the door slam, his heart lurching painfully inside his chest as he heard the rumble of her truck from outside and the eventual roar as the car took off.
He didn’t dare follow after her, although every impulse in his brain was telling him to do just that. He knew he couldn’t. She was running from him, as surely as she had run away all those years ago. He had promised himself a long time ago that he would never chase a woman, never love a woman, never devote himself body and soul to a woman. Never again. Ever since Sierra had come waltzing back into town she’d turned his entire life upside down, forcing him to go back on every vow he’d uttered.
She’d made him love her again. No, that wasn't true. He’d never stopped loving her in the first place. He’d denied it to himself a million times, swearing it wasn’t so...but he couldn’t deny it any longer. He loved Sierra. And if he wasn’t mistaken, history was repeating itself. Once again, Sierra had walked straight out of his life.
***
Caleb entered the doors of the diner like a rocket, his eyes peeled for Cruz. The moment he spotted him he let out a sigh of relief and beat a fast path to his table.
“I need to know everything there is to know about Sam Jarvis.” Caleb plunked his Stetson down on the table, his jerky movements causing a half-filled coffee cup to tumble over and spew its inky contents.
“What the-?” Cruz yelled as he jumped up from the table, barely missing being scalded by the hot liquid. Without skipping a beat he flashed Caleb one of his darkest, most brooding glares, his lips curling upwards in disgust.
“Sorry about the coffee, Cruz, but I’m not a man in my right mind, now,” Caleb explained as he reached for a napkin and began to mop up the table. “I’m about to ask you for one big favor, Matt.”
Cruz groaned upon hearing his first name tumble out of Caleb’s lips. Whenever his best called him Matt instead of Cruz it was a sure sign that trouble was brewing on the horizon. Cruz gestured toward one of the chairs and said, “Take a seat and stop all that babbling. Give it to me straight!”
“Something strange happened today. To make a long story short, Sierra had an appointment this morning with Sam Jarvis-.”
“So what’s so strange about a meeting with Jarvis?”
Caleb leaned across the table, his movements animated as he tried to get his point across to Cruz. “Well, the way I figure it, he had to have said something this morning to Sierra that made her doubt me. Why else would she go poking around my drawers?”
He held up his hands. “Don’t blame the messenger, but she had reason to doubt you, Caleb. You were planning the coup of the century right under her nose. Taking into account your tangled romantic history with Sierra and your father’s accident on the oil rig, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you had an axe to grind with her family.”
“The only planning I did was in my imagination. You know as well as I do that I never would’ve gone through with it. For as long as I’ve had this deed I could’ve ruined her family ten times over if I’d wanted to ruin them.”
Cruz raised one of his jet black eyebrows, his hawk-like features sharpened by his look of disbelief. “Are you honestly trying to tell me that you weren’t going to use that deed against her family?”
Caleb gritted his teeth and slowly counted to ten. If his oldest and best friend in the world didn’t believe his intentions were semi-honorable, then how was he going to convince Sierra that he hadn’t been planning to destroy her familys’ legacy?
“No. I wasn’t! I swear! My heart was never in it, even though I pretended otherwise.”
Cruz looked closely at his friend and studied him for a moment, gauging the sincerity that shone in his eyes and the truth that rang out in his words. “Calm down. I believe you. You’re not a liar.”
“I need all the believers I can get at the moment,” Caleb said grimly as he recalled the earlier incident at his place with Sierra He couldn’t seem to rid his mind of the image of her sitting on his bedroom floor looking like a wounded bird. He’d never seen her eyes so cold, so detached. He’d never seen her spirit so broken.
“Sam Jarvis! That old rascal.” The tinkle of female laughter reached both mens’ ears and they looked up to see Marissa standing at their table, laughing with obvious delight and shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help hearing you mention his name, Caleb. I hope he’s not pestering Sierra about the oil on the Diamond Lil. I swear, that man is obsessed.”
“What did you say?” Caleb asked with a frown, his every instinct telling him that Marissa’s words were a gift from above.
“What did I say?” Marissa asked nervously as her eyes darted between Caleb and Cruz.
“What didn’t you say?” grumbled Cruz, his annoyance clearly growing by the second.
“Repeat what you said about Sam Jarvis,” Caleb ordered. “I believe you used the words oil and obsession.”
For a moment Marissa looked uncertain and then she said in a faltering voice, “I don’t know, Caleb. I promised Sam that I wouldn’t say a word. He came to me in my capacity as a real estate agent. That’s almost like a sacred oath.”
Cruz let out a hoot and rolled his eyes. “Sacred oath?” he scoffed. “When your mouth starts flapping, nothing is sacred.”
Marissa glared at Cruz, who smirked at her.
“Please, Marissa, it’s important,” Caleb pleaded, his left elbow jabbing Cruz hard in his side. He didn’t need Cruz botching things up with his insults.
“Okay,” Marissa sighed. “Sam Jarvis came to me a few months ago. He claimed to be interested in a piece of property I was showing, but the truth was he was sniffing around for information.”
“Seems he went to the right place,” Cruz said in a sarcastic voice.
Caleb sent him an annoyed glance and put his finger to his lips to indicate that he didn’t want to hear another word of interruption from Cruz’s mouth.
“As I was saying,” Marissa continued, “he was sniffing around for information. Strange thing was all he wanted to talk about was the Diamond Lil. He wanted to confirm a rumor he’d heard about oil being found on the ranch.”
“Oil?” Caleb asked with a raising of his dark brow. “To the best of my knowledge there’s never been oil on the Diamond Lil. Lilliana had other property that’s yielded oil, but not the ranch itself.”
“That’s true, Caleb,” Marissa conceded, “but I have it on very good authority that there were some prospectors out at the ranch some time ago...and my sources tell me that they found oil.”
“If there was oil on that ranch don’t you think that they would’ve dug it up by now?” Cruz asked, his inky colored eyes boring a hole straight through Marissa.
“Not everybody's motivated by the almighty dollar,” Marissa said coolly. “Some people might choose to preserve the land, and to forsake the oil.”
“Are you saying that Lilliana didn’t want to dig up the oil?” Caleb asked in an incredulous voice.
“From what I heard she didn’t even tell her family about the oil. The prospectors were out there for a week when everyone went down to Abilene for the rodeo show. I don’t think she wanted anyone to know what she discovered, although rumors spread like crazy in a town like Briarwood.”
“And we all know how most of em get started,” Cruz muttered.
Marissa paused to shoot Cruz another dirty look. “Evidently, Sam caught wind of the rumors. He came to me to confirm them, and while he was there he mentioned that he’d always dreamed of owning the Diamond Lil.” Marissa shivered. “It kind of spooked me out, especially since Ms. Lilliana was dying and all. He seemed so...intense.”
“I wonder why he didn’t just ask Lilliana since they were friends,” Caleb mused aloud, his thoughts running in a dozen different directions. Lilliana knew there was oil on the ranch but didn’t tell anyone. Sam Jarvis gets wind of the rumors and tries to pry information out of Marissa. If he wasn’t up to anything sneaky, Caleb mused, then why did he go behind Lilliana’s back and try to ferret information out of Marissa? Why hadn’t Lilliana trusted her own lawyer enough to tell him about her discovery?
“Maybe he did ask her. Maybe she wasn’t very forthcoming about the details and he wanted to dig a little deeper. Let’s face it, when Miss Lilliana didn’t want to talk about something she could be pretty fierce,” Marissa said with a chuckle.
“Marissa,” Caleb said, reaching for Marissa’s hand and shaking it. “Crossing paths with you today was a godsend. This information about Sam Jarvis is critical. Thanks for trusting us.”
“I guess your over-sized mouth came in handy for once,” Cruz dryly observed. “I’m sure it’s gratifying to know that your title of gossip queen of Briarwood finally paid off.”
“I didn’t start the rumor about you and Widow Jenkins. I just repeated it,” Marissa said in a raised voice.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t repeat everything you hear?” Cruz spat out, his disgust evident by the cold glint in his eye and the way his gaze raked over her as if she were of little or no consequence. “Or is your little life so pathetic that you’ve resorted to peeping through other peoples’ windows to get your jollies?”
Marissa tilted her chin up and faced him head-on. “Don’t blame me for the gossip about you. Word has a way of traveling in a small town like Briarwood.”
“You little troublemaker,” he grunted as he pulled her towards him by the wrist, his anger propelling him to cross the line.
“What are you doing?” Caleb roared as he heard Marissa cry out in surprise and watched in disbelief as his friend blew up in anger.
“Mighty mouth roared one too many times for my liking.” Cruz said heatedly as a raspberry stain crept across his cheeks.
“Next time you’re out in public you might want to put a leash on your friend,” Marissa hissed as she picked her purse up from the table and stormed out of the diner. Caleb glared at Cruz and then raced out of the diner on Marissa’s heels, apologies tumbling out of his mouth as he walked her to her BMW. After thanking Marissa for her information on Jarvis and dodging a half dozen questions about his intentions towards her best friend, Caleb turned on his heel and reentered the diner.
“Have you lost your mind, Sheriff?” Caleb asked Cruz upon his return as he stared at his friend in bewilderment. He’d never seen Cruz act so wild, so totally out of control. “What did you think you were doing?”
Cruz simply looked at him with a blank expression etched on his face.
“Did you hear what I said, Cruz?” Caleb asked, a deep frown marring his brow as he studied the troubled look on his friend’s face. Cruz was sitting at the table frozen like a mummy, as if he'd run out of words after his outburst.
Numbly, Cruz nodded his head in the affirmative, even though he was clueless about what Caleb had said to him. He was still confused over what had just happened with Marissa Santana. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper like that. Especially with a woman. Not that she was any woman, he reminded himself. She was a nuisance and a big mouth. He had nothing to feel guilty about. After all, she’d started the war when she spread it all over town that he was having a romance with his step-grandmother. That was pretty shameless!
“I said that we now have a motive,” Caleb repeated. “The oil. Knowing there’s oil on the land is a pretty good incentive for scaring the the owner away.” Caleb scratched his chin, still trying to piece together all the elements of the puzzle. “We were right about someone trying to scare Sierra off the ranch, and I’ll bet you everything I own that it’s because of the oil.”
Cruz nodded his head in agreement and drawled, “Sounds like something a low-life, greedy coward might do. And if I’m not mistaken, I think we have a suspect.”
“Jarvis,” Caleb said through gritted teeth, his insides roiling at the thought of all the anguish Sierra had been put through. If he could prove that Sam Jarvis was responsible for the heinous acts at the Diamond Lil, he’d make sure he was locked up for the rest of his days.
Cruz shook his head, his features set in a bleak expression. “We don’t know for certain that it’s Jarvis. And even if it is - we’re going to have a tough time proving it.” Cruz toyed around with his food, pushing his tuna sandwich around the plate with his forefinger and wrinkling his nose in distaste at the heap of coleslaw that closely resembled a blob of mayo. Somewhere between the time Marissa had showed up at the table and the time he’d wrapped his hand around her wrist he’d lost his gargantuan appetite. He didn’t want to think about why. He didn’t want to think about the spirited pixie who’d glared at him as if he was a monster. He cleared his throat and continued, “After all, the man is up there in age. It’s pretty hard to imagine him sneaking around the Diamond Lil slitting the throats of animals. Not to mention the fact that he’s very well respected in the community with a squeaky clean record. Some folks just won’t buy it.”
“All we have is a theory,” Caleb conceded with a scowl. “A theory of one man’s greed to get his hands on an oil-rich property. The judge would probably throw the case out of court for lack of evidence.”
Cruz nodded in agreement. “That’s if the prosecutor chose to take the case, which is anyone’s guess as to whether or not she would. Yvonne is mighty particular of the cases she takes on. She doesn’t like to ruffle the feathers of all the fat cats in Briarwood who put her into office. And you can best believe that Jarvis is one of her biggest supporters.”
For a few moments the two men sat in companionable silence, Caleb munching on a sugar-coated donut and a plate of cold french fries while Cruz brooded over his coffee mug, barely touching his lunch. Caleb’s mind was whirling with all the possibilities. He wanted to nail Jarvis so badly it hurt. But how? He could go to Sierra and tell her his suspicions about Jarvis and his scheme to drive her away from the ranch. Why would she believe him now? Jarvis had convinced her he was an untrustworthy liar. And why would she have any reason to doubt Jarvis, a man she’d trusted and admired her entire life? His own credibility had taken a hit the moment Sierra found the deed. And it wasn’t as if he had any proof to speak of, Caleb thought with a frown. If he put forward his theory about Sam Jarvis, Sierra was likely to order him to stay away from her and the Diamond Lil. There had to be a way to prove Jarvis’ guilt, he brooded. There had to be a way to show Sierra that he was innocent of the crimes she’d accused him of. There had to be a way to redeem himself in her eyes, Caleb agonized.
The idea came to him swiftly, like a flash of lightning striking in a clear blue sky. He snapped his fingers with triumph and asked, “Cruz, do you remember that time you busted that bank robber who’d been holding up all the banks across the state?”
“Of course I remember. I’m not likely to forget it anytime soon either,” Cruz acknowledged as he signaled the waitress for another cup of coffee. “His name was Dexter Mooney and he’d robbed ten banks, shot and killed four people and amassed a small fortune in his holdups.” Cruz took a swig of his coffee and swallowed, a satisfied expression stamped on his face. “He made a big mistake when he came to Briarwood though. Days earlier we’d received word that he was in this area of the state, so when he barreled into the Savings and Loan we were ready for him. We had men working under cover in the bank, posing as tellers and bank officials.”
“The minute he raised his gun in the air I was forced to shoot him. That coward grabbed Evie, one of our female undercover officers, and held a gun to her head as he bolted from the bank. A few minutes later we followed the trail of blood and tracked him to an abandoned warehouse. After a couple hours of trying to negotiate Evie’s release and his surrender we smoked him out with tear gas after Evie broke free of him.” Cruz smiled with pure satisfaction. “I’m pleased to tell you he’s now serving a life sentence.”
“Chalk up one for the good guys,” Caleb said with a grunt of satisfaction. “To tell you the truth I was sitting here thinking-.”
“Oh no,” groaned Cruz. “Every time you sit around thinking you get this sudden urge to play cops and robbers. And nine times out of ten I’m your accomplice.”
“Give me some credit,” Caleb snapped. “Do I look like I’m playing? What I’m suggesting is that we move towards nailing this criminal’s hide to the wall before he does any more damage. The reason I mentioned the Mooney case is because I think we can nab Jarvis the same way you took out Mooney.”
“Are you suggesting that we use tear gas on Jarvis?” Cruz asked with a skeptical twist of his lips.
“No, but I am suggesting we smoke him out.” Caleb splayed his hands on the table and leaned forward, his posture exuding raw enthusiasm. “The only way we can prove Jarvis guilty is if we catch him red-handed in the act or if we find incriminating evidence against him. Am I right?” He waited for Cruz’s acknowledgement, then continued. “Jarvis is a lawyer, a businessman by trade. He’s too smart to get tripped up with incriminating evidence in his possession. Which leaves catching him in the act our only alternative.”
“You’re using a lot of we’s, Caleb. Since when are you a member of the Briarwood Sheriff’s office?” Cruz snapped, his eyes hard and unflinching.
“I can’t sit on the sidelines. Not this time. Not when Sierra is at the center of this mess. If this thing continues to escalate she could get hurt or killed,” he said in a strangled voice. “I can’t let that happen.”
“You really love her, don’t you?” Cruz asked quietly, his dark eyes glimmering with understanding and a hint of pity.
“Yeah, I love her,” Caleb said softly, seeing the skepticism on his best friend’s face. “I always have...there’s no doubt in my mind that I always will. Even if she won’t have me, I’ll still go on loving her.”
“She’s a fool if she won’t have you, Caleb, and I’ve a mind to tell her that the next time I see her,” Cruz said heatedly, his protective instincts towards his friend at an all time high. “By the way, you can count me in. If Jarvis is the snake in the grass who’s been terrorizing the Lil, I’ll personally see to it that he rots in jail for the rest of his days.”
“Not until after I get my hands on him,” Caleb growled. “Him and that weak-chinned son of his. Something tells me it’s no coincidence that Bryce is working at the ranch.”
“We’re going to do this my way, Caleb, or I’m bailing right here and now. I can’t have you taking matters into your own hands. I won’t look the other way because of our friendship. We’re going to do this by the book.”
Caleb glared at his friend, his light eyes darkening ominously like the sky before a rainstorm. Cruz met the steely-eyed glare with one of his own, his dark brows furrowed in anger, the hard, chiseled jaw tight with an unspoken fury. Edna, the waitress, chose that moment to saunter over to their table, check in hand, her pretty, round face lit up with a flirtatious smile. It was common knowledge in Briarwood that Edna was on the lookout for a husband, preferably one who was young, handsome, and in possession of a hefty bank account. It was also common knowledge that she had a huge crush on Cruz, a fact she heavily advertised all over town.
“Who’s buying?” she asked as she waved the check in the air, her heavily made-up eyes honing in on Cruz in open invitation.
“He is!” They both said in unison as they pointed a finger in the other’s direction. Both men were still scowling.
Edna looked at both men and shrugged, finally plopping the check down on the table next to Cruz, her arm deliberately brushing against his shoulder in an intimate gesture.
Cruz looked up at Edna, uncertain as to whether or not her touch was deliberate. Although Edna was a pretty woman, lushly figured and pretty in a cute blonde sort of way, she wasn’t his type. No, he thought as he watched Edna walk away, he much preferred petite, exotic-looking women. An image of Marissa flashed through his brain as a powerful emotion swept through him, one he couldn’t afford to analyze. He closed his eyes and tried to rid his mind of Marissa’s image, muttering softly as her face drifted in and out like a haunting vision.
“I promise not to go rogue,” Caleb finally agreed, his expression softer but not defeated, “if you promise me that we’ll have plenty of backup. I can’t run the risk of Sierra getting hurt,” he said intensely. “We have to make sure she’s miles away from the Diamond Lil when this whole thing goes down. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to her.”
“I’ll do you one better, Caleb.” Cruz fumbled in his jacket pocket for a few seconds, his face splitting into a grin as he pulled out a gold badge emblazoned with the words deputy. “For the duration of our little sting with Jarvis, I’m hereby making you a deputy of the Briarwood Sheriff’s department.”
Caleb reached for the star, his throat clogged with emotion as he accepted the shiny symbol of Sheriff Matt Cruz’s trust and unswerving loyalty. It meant the world to him that someone trusted him enough, believed in him enough to have faith that he would do the right thing. Too bad, he thought bitterly, that Sierra couldn’t trust him, couldn’t believe in him the way Cruz instinctively did.
“I won’t let you down, man,” he said gruffly as he fingered the gold star, his callused fingers grazing over the engraved words, his spirits lifting with his newfound responsibility. “Let’s do it!”
***
Sierra stood on the hilltop, her face turned towards the endless rows of headstones that dotted the landscape. The grass looked so shiny and green, she thought, surprisingly beautiful for a place that she’d once considered morbid. The day of her grandmother’s funeral she hadn’t noticed how beautiful everything was at Pinecrest cemetery or how scrupulously the graves were tended to by the caretaker.
She tried not to notice the graves with no flowers as she walked amongst them. It was too sad to think that nobody cared enough about their family members to lay flowers before their graves, or simply sit and talk for a few minutes. After all, she thought, it was a matter of paying one’s respects. But then again, she shouldn’t judge. What did she know about it?
For endless minutes she walked among the dead, feeling serene as she clutched a handful of tulips to her breast, a smile hovering on her lips. With slow, measured movements she began to make her way down the hill, past the cluster of dogwood trees, past the military burial sites with the American flags waving in the wind, heading straight towards Lilliana Rose’s grave.
Sierra took a deep breath as she reached the freshly packed grave. Lilliana Rose’s final resting place. Dear Lord. It was still so painful that her grandmother was gone. She still felt so raw. Grief. How long would she feel this way? How long would the pain of Lilliana’s passing last? Would any of them ever be the same?
She kneeled down in the dirt, wincing as the cold earth sent shudders through her body. She reached out and touched the marble headstone, her fingers tracing over the touching words engraved on it. Lilliana Rose- In Loving Memory. Your legacy lives on.
A perfect sentiment, she thought, as she squeezed her eyes closed against the onslaught of tears that came flooding to the surface. She knew she had to get this over and done with before she chickened out, before she turned tail and never came back. She needed to do it before all the emotions that were trapped inside of her exploded like a burst balloon.
“Hi Grammy,” she whispered. “I've been riding around town for the last few hours deliberating over whether or not I should come here. Deep down I knew I had to come. I had to talk to you. Lord knows, I miss you. Grammy, why was it always so important that I please you? Why am I still trying to please you? I’ve spent my whole life trying to live up to your ideals, trying to make you proud of me. You see, the thing of it is...it hasn’t made me happy or proud of myself.” She let out a brittle laugh.
“Well, you were right! Caleb hurt me. He lied to me. Betrayed me,” she said matter of factly. “Just as you predicted, Grammy. The circle really did repeat.” Sierra hunched her shoulders forward against the sudden blast of wind, her fingers clenching and unclenching to fight against the chill of the early morning breeze.
“But you know what the funny thing is Grammy? I’m going to forgive him. Oh, I can just see you shaking your head at me and giving me that fierce look - the one that always made me want to run for cover. Well, I know you might not agree with me, but I’ve got to make up my own mind about this. The truth is, I believe in him. And I need him in my life. I can’t tell you how sweet it feels to be loved by Caleb. And part of loving him is forgiving him. Just as he forgave me for running away.
“I can’t punish him for having one moment of weakness, can I?” She let out a soft chuckle. “See? I still can’t stop looking for your approval. I still look to you to tell me that everythings going to be okay. Well, I’m finally strong enough to make my own way. I’m not saying I know it all, ‘cause Lord knows I don’t. But I know what I feel. I know what my heart is telling me. And if things don’t turn out okay I’ll still get through it. Because like you Grammy, I’m a survivor.”
She abruptly stood up and brushed the dirt off her knees, her her ankle twisting underneath her as she stepped in a shallow hole hidden by a patch of grass. Strong, comforting arms grabbed her from behind, and she whirled around in surprise, her mouth hanging open in shock as she saw the man standing behind her.
“Matt?” she sputtered, her eyes widening as she stared into the dark, brooding eyes of Caleb’s best friend. “What in the world are you doing here?”
***
The night was moonless, a pitch black sky threaded with silver sparkles of light that added an incandescent beauty to the rich night sky. Low visibility, Caleb noted as he stared through the barn window. Whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing he didn’t know. So much depended on Jarvis and what he had up his sleeve.
Over the past week he’d spent most of his waking hours formulating a plan with Cruz. They’d scrupulously gone over all the details, making sure to tie up any loose ends that might trip them up or alert Jarvis to the fact that he was under surveillance. All week they had tailed Jarvis, watching as he met up with Bryce in out-of-the-way locations, waiting breathlessly for the two of them to slip up and incriminate themselves.
Despite all the time and resources they’d put into the stakeout, neither Sam nor Bryce had betrayed their hand or given them any concrete evidence of their involvement in the sabotage of the Diamond Lil.
The sound of a car door slamming had Caleb on full alert and he crouched down behind a bale of hay, positioning himself so that he had a clear view of the barn door. He heard footsteps crunching in the dirt, a single pair of footsteps, he believed. Seconds later he heard another pair, followed by low whispers and the soft creaking of the barn door as it slowly opened. A sliver of light from outside crept into the barn as two figures walked across the threshold. Caleb peered over the bale of hay, his eyes straining in the dim lighting to see the Jarvis’s movements.
Much to his surprise, it wasn’t Sam Jarvis that Caleb found himself looking down upon from the hayloft. Sam Jarvis didn’t have curves to die for and a fiery mane of auburn hair. Sam Jarvis didn’t have full, ripe lips that drove him wild. The sight of Sam Jarvis wouldn’t have made his heart beat at three times its normal rate. Only one woman could make him feel this way – Sierra.
What was she doing here? he thought angrily. And standing right next to her was Cruz. Suddenly he had a funny feeling in his gut that this wasn’t any coincidence or a mix-up. His best friend had tricked him. He’d gone behind his back and enlisted Sierra in the plan to nab Jarvis. He’d set a plan in motion that might cause harm to the woman he loved!
Soundlessly, Caleb crept from behind the bale of hay, his movements slow and lethal as he made his way towards the spot where Cruz stood. Caleb grabbed his best friend from behind, swiftly grabbing his arm and pinning it behind him. Sierra let out a cry of alarm. After a few seconds, Caleb released Cruz and pushed him away from him as he fought to tamp down his feelings of anger.
Cruz rubbed his arm and sputtered, “A-Are you crazy, man?”
Caleb turned towards Cruz his chiseled jaw resembling granite as he growled, “What is she doing here? You knew that this wasn’t part of the plan. She’s supposed to be at the jamboree like everyone else. It was the one thing I made very clear to you from the get-go.”
“I’m sorry,” Cruz said regretfully, “but I had to involve her in the plan. It wouldn’t have worked any other way. We need her as bait to lure Jarvis to the Diamond Lil.”
“Bait? What’s wrong with you?” Caleb hissed. “I told you that I didn’t want her in the middle of this thing. You gave me your word!”
“I had to go back on my word,” Cruz said sheepishly. He held up his hands. “I had no choice. We had no choice. It’s hard for you to view things objectively, but you know I’m right about this.”
“Please don’t talk about me as if I wasn’t here, gentleman,” Sierra said in a tart voice. “I’m perfectly able and willing to talk for myself. Cruz didn’t make the decision that led me to be here tonight. I did.”
“You shouldn’t be here,”Caleb said with a scowl. “This thing could get real nasty.”
“So? You don’t think I can handle it?” Sierra said defiantly, her nostrils flaring as she challenged him. “Or is it just a female thing?”
“I didn’t say that,” Caleb said in a gentler tone. “You’re being here is just too risky, plain and simple. I don’t want you to -.”
“You don’t want me to what?” she asked, her eyes softening almost imperceptibly, as if she’d come to some secret realization that she couldn’t or wouldn’t share with anyone else.
“There’ll be plenty of time later for a lovers’ spat,” Cruz said impatiently. “It’s time to get into position. I just spotted some headlights down the road. Let's roll.”
Within minutes Caleb and Cruz had strategically positioned themselves so that when Sam Jarvis entered the barn he wouldn’t have any idea he had company. Cruz had posted another officer, Beau Scott, on the posterior side of the barn, in the event that Jarvis tried to escape.
“Evening, Sam,” Sierra said coolly as Sam entered the barn. “Sorry to take you away from the jamboree, but I needed to talk to you in private.”
Sam enveloped Sierra in a tight hug that smelled of Cuban cigars and Old Spice cologne. “I’ve been to enough fiddlers' jamborees to last me ten lifetimes. Besides, who am I to refuse a pretty girl anything she desires?” Sam said with a wide grin, “Particularly if it’s the company of a sorry old man like myself.”
“I won’t take up too much of your time, but I really felt that I needed to talk to you face to face, especially since you’ve taken such a personal interest in the Diamond Lil.”
“Don’t beat around the bush, girl,” Sam said impatiently, “you’ve got me on pins and needles.”
“Well,” Sierra said, pausing dramatically before she delivered her bombshell. “I’ve come to a decision about the Diamond Lil. The talk we had the other day caused me to do a lot of thinking. To make a long story short, Sam, I’ve decided not to stay and run the ranch.”
“I knew you’d see the light,” Sam said rather gleefully, a hint of victory evident in his voice. “I just knew it! Not that I’m happy about it, but I think you’re doing the right thing.”
“Thanks to you, Sam, I decided that I belong in New York. And I realized that the Diamond Lil belongs in the hands of someone who’ll do it justice. Which is why I’m drawing up papers that will turn ownership of the ranch over to the Make a Wish Foundation. That way it’ll be a gift that keeps giving. And the Jackson family name will always be linked with a wonderful charity.”
“What are you talking about? You can’t do that! It’s a plum fool idea!” he sputtered, his mahogany complexion visibly reddening at her words. He wasn’t even making an effort, Sierra noted, to hide his outrage or his anger. With one little push she’d driven him toward the brink of an eruption.
“What do you mean, Sam? It’s my land, to do with what I choose. And I choose to give the land to charity, every last acre.”
“Of all the stupid, foolish things to do!” Sam screeched. “Your grandmother’s probably rocking in her grave. You won’t get away with this! Not after everything I’ve done. Not after all the risks I’ve taken and-.”
“What exactly have you done, Sam?” Sierra asked with a raised eyebrow, her anger evident by the hard edge to her voice.
For a moment Sam just stood there and stared at her, his eyes blinking with nervousness as he took stock of the situation. “Clever, clever girl. I should never have underestimated you, Sierra. After all, you’re the spitting image of your grandmother. And lord knows Lilliana Rose was as crafty as they come. What gave me away, Sierra? Do tell.”
“Your own greed,” Sierra said bitterly, “and your big mouth.”
“I wish I could say I’m sorry about all this, but-.” Sam whipped a .45 from his jacket pocket with the speed and agility of a man half his age, his hands steady and strong as he held the gun in his firm grip. She tried to swallow her fear as she stared at the dark, implacable gun, repulsed by the sight of it, but unable to tear her eyes away. She was rooted to the spot, unable to run, unable to scream, wanting to call out for Caleb, yet too afraid to move a muscle.
Sierra heard the shot ring out as if from a distance and she felt a hard shove against her back. She screamed in terror as she slammed against the cold floor of the barn. He’d shot her, she thought dazedly. She felt around her abdomen. No, she was dazed, but not shot. She raised herself up onto her elbows and swiveled her head around, desperate to make eye contact with Caleb.
Caleb was lying two feet away from her on his back, his head and upper torso drenched in blood, his body limp and lifeless. He didn’t seem to be breathing. He'd saved her life and risked his own in the process.
“Caleb!” she yelled, her own agonized scream echoing in her ears as she raised herself onto her knees and scrambled to his side. The bullet that Jarvis had fired, the one he’d intended for her, had hit him and left him gravely wounded. She pressed her fingers to his throat and felt a pulse. He was still alive!
“Poor Caleb!” Sam said with a smirk as he towered over her and Caleb. Sierra knew Sam was way too close to them for Cruz to get a clear shot off from his vantage point. “Always the fall guy. It makes me cringe just thinking about the newspaper headlines. They’ll say that a jilted ex-boyfriend killed the Jackson heiress and then himself. You couldn’t just leave things alone, could you? You couldn’t just go back to New York city and turn the ranch over to Simone, could you? And for what? The Diamond Lil? That ranch represents nothing more than vanity and false pride. It’s allowed your family to think you’re better than the rest of us for all these years.
“Well, I’m sorry to have to do this, Sierra,” Sam said in a flat, unemotional voice, “but I don’t have a lot of options. You simply know too much to live.” Sam pointed his gun once again in her direction, and she knew instinctively that this time he wouldn’t miss. Not from this close a range.
The blast of a gun shot echoed in the stillness of the barn and she watched in stunned disbelief as the force of a single bullet sent Sam hurtling backward into space and then slamming onto the floor. Sierra watched as the expression on Sam’s face turned from one of victory to one of shock and disbelief. A crimson stain was now emblazoned across Sam’s crisp white shirt, a vivid symbol of his violent end, and she found herself staring in detached fascination at the diabolical man she’d once thought of as an uncle.
She looked up rather dazedly and saw Bryce standing in the doorway of the barn, a pistol held tightly in his grip, his eyes glazed over with pain and sorrow as he stared at his father’s lifeless body.
“Drop the weapon, Bryce!” Cruz yelled as he slowly advanced towards Bryce, his pistol trained in his direction. Everyone present in the barn knew that one false move by Bryce and he’d find himself in the same predicament as his father.
“No more!” Bryce sobbed as he dropped the gun to the floor. “I couldn’t let you hurt her, daddy! It wasn’t supposed to go this far!” Bryce dropped to his knees and put his head in his hands as Cruz reached his side and none-too-gently cuffed him. He then reached for his radio and called for an ambulance, his eyes trained on Sierra the entire time as she knelt by Caleb’s side and made a tourniquet out of her ripped shirt sleeve. He felt a glimmer of emotion sparking within him as he witnessed firsthand Sierra’s devotion. For the first time in his life he believed in the love between a man and a woman. Sierra loved Caleb. She really loved him.
“Please spare him,” Cruz prayed as he stared at his friend’s near lifeless body. If you’re listening God, he said fervently, I’m calling in all my markers. And if you remember correctly, he prayed, I’ve collected quite a few since the day I lost my mother. Please God, don’t take him to his reward quite yet. He’s still got a lot of living to do.
“Cruz!” Sierra cried, her eyes filled with a wild pain. “I think he’s dying!”