The Rancher's Surprise Son

Georgianna had married Hank Lindy, thinking that they’d all be financially secure forever. His mother assured Cody that Hank would be a good partner for her. He made her laugh. He owned the Duke Springs Tractor and Feed store, and wooed Georgianna with expensive gifts—not jewelry, but farm equipment and feed and grain for the ranch. She was enthralled with Lindy, who had been wonderful and attentive to Cindy...until that fateful night when he stepped over the line and began to knock his mother around until he drew blood.

Then Lindy was going to start with Cindy.

What a beast Lindy had turned out to be, and he’d ruined all their lives.

His and Laura’s hopeful dreams had turned into a hopeless mess.

Cody shook off the bad memories and drove the honey wagon to the manure pile, more like a manure mountain, and unloaded, then went back to reload.

Slim whistled sharply and motioned for him to hurry. Cody jogged over to him. “What’s up?”

“You’re supposed to meet with your parole officer and J.W. in J.W.’s office.” Slim lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “He wants to see you immediately.”

Cody had expected a summons sooner or later, but was hoping that it would be later.

“Where?” Cody knew that J.W. had an office at the ranch house. If the meeting was to be there, maybe he could see Laura again.

“In A-2.”

Cody forgot that J.W. had another office in the Arabian-2 barn, which was far from the ranch house.

“I’m on my way.” Cody hurried away from the smoke of Slim’s cigarette and headed down the gravel path leading to A-2.

Cody was in no rush to talk to J.W. or hear about his conditions of parole again from his parole officer. He was instructed on each of them at length before he was released from prison.

He slowed his progress through the desert to J.W.’s office, hoping that his new parole officer would be a decent guy and easygoing. As he walked, he enjoyed the occasional rush of a family of quails in front of him, as well as the dash of a roadrunner.

It was a great day to be free, and it’d be a great night with Laura.

Hawks looped above, black feathery kites against the turquoise sky. He’d like nothing better than to take a long hike through the mountains and connect with the land again. He’d missed being able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it.

Freedom would take some getting used to, but then again, he still was tethered to J. W. Duke.

On the left side of the low, grayish barn, the door to J.W.’s office was open, but Cody knocked on the door anyway. No one answered, so he paused in the doorway, taking in the scene before him.

J. W. Duke sat in an oversize black leather chair behind a huge, gleaming desk. J.W. was bigger than life and so was his gut. An unlit cigar stub stuck out of the corner of his mouth, and he was shouting into the phone in his usual gruff voice.

J.W. motioned for Cody to take a chair in front of him, but Cody decided to wait outside instead. He couldn’t stand breathing in the same air as J.W. any longer than he had to.

“Masters, I’m ready for you!” J.W. bellowed, slamming down the phone.

“I’m here. No need to yell.”

“Take a seat.” J.W. didn’t even glance up at him.

“I’ll stand.” Cody didn’t want to sit in front of the oak desk as if the other man was his parole officer.

Where was his parole officer anyway?

Although Cody should be grateful for whatever J.W. did to get him out of prison, he didn’t want J.W. adding his own spin to his conditions of release.

“Suit yourself, but at least stand where I can see you.”

Cody walked to the front of the desk. He liked this vantage point, looking down on J.W. as the man often did to others. The only other man who had always stood toe to toe, belly to belly with J.W. was Mike Masters, Cody’s father. The two had had a dislike/respect relationship, if such a thing could exist.

“I thought my parole officer was going to be here,” Cody said.

“Something came up. He won’t be at our little meeting.” J.W. looked him over, then chomped down on his cigar stub. “You got skinnier in jail.”

“Not a lot of good food in prison, but I’m sure you didn’t bring me here to talk about my diet. Why did you bring me here?”

“What do you mean? Bring you to the Duke Ranch or to my office?”

“Both.”

J.W. grunted. “I brought you here to work your ass off and to try and convince you every damn day to sell your sorry ranch to me.”

“I figured as much.”

“And all you have to do is give me a reason, and I’ll send you back to do your other two years with a smile on my face.”

Cody grunted. “I figured that, too.”

“And no one else is going to give you a job, and you can’t leave the county.”

Cody shrugged. “Why isn’t anyone going to give me a job?” He knew the answer to that, but he wanted to hear it from J.W.

“Because I’ll blacklist you, and because you’re a murderer.”

“I pled to involuntary manslaughter. Not murder.”

“I don’t care what fancy thing you call it. Your stepfather turned up dead, cowboy.”

Cody made as if he was checking his watch, a watch he’d pawned years ago. “Are we almost done here? I have manure that I’d rather shovel.”

“I’m not done yet.” J.W. took his unlit cigar out of his mouth and set it down on a stack of papers. He pointed his index finger toward Cody’s face. “If I catch you near my daughter or my grandson, I’ll find a way to send you back. I don’t care what I have to do. I have twenty hands who’d swear to whatever I told them to say.”

“I’m bound to run into Laura and your grandson. It’s a small world, Duke, and I’m working here. What do you want me to do?”

“Run—don’t walk—the other way.” J.W. snapped his fingers, then spoke as if he were thinking out loud. “I could always send them both to my sister Betty’s in Boston. There’s a nice military school nearby for Johnny when he gets older.”

Cody remained silent until he said, “All this is about you getting the Double M?”

“Mostly.”

“What’s the rest of it, Duke?”

“That’s Mr. Duke to you, convict.” The cigar stub returned to his mouth, and he picked up the stack of papers, tapping them on the desk to straighten them. “We’re done here. Get back to work.”

Outside, the wind had kicked up and so had the dirt, but it was still better than being cooped up with J.W. Cody lowered his hat and bent his head to shield his eyes and nose.

Slim met him in the barn just as he was about to pick up the pitchfork.

“Go home, Cody. You’re off the clock.”

“What?”

“That’s enough for your first day. Hit the trail.”

“Thanks, Slim.”

“Do me a favor and hurry. I don’t want J.W. to see you leaving, so while he’s at A-2, take off.”

Cody slapped his friend on the back and hurried off to the fence line to cut through to the Double M. He couldn’t help looking back at the ranch house to see if there was the usual signal from Laura.

The shade on her right window was open halfway, but she didn’t live there anymore. Now, he’d have to look at her cottage for their signal to meet.

Both shades were open. Laura still wanted to meet him tonight at their usual spot.

God help him, he was going to be there.

* * *

Laura flinched when she thought of the horrible discussion she’d had with her mother at lunch. Thank goodness Johnny wasn’t there to hear what had transpired.

Mike Masters, J. W. Duke, Georgianna and Penny had once been friends who did everything together. Then the page had turned, and the two women soured on each other, then the two men. No. Maybe it was the other way around.

“Mother, that’s unkind,” Laura had said after her mother’s particularly venomous outburst about Georgianna. “You have no right saying things like that about her or anyone else, for that matter. What are you thinking?”

Penny was silent for a while, then snapped, “No right? You don’t know what you’re talking about. I have every right.”

“Mother, that’s ancient history, for heaven’s sake. And you’re still not over it?”

“I never will get over it. I loved Mike Masters back then, and Georgianna took him away from me. She said she was pregnant, so he had to marry her. But she wasn’t. That was a dirty trick.”

Laura sighed. She’d heard this all before, several times.

“But you ended up loving Dad and marrying him.”

“But it was still a dirty trick. And Cody is the son of the man who got away.”

“And you got stuck with a daughter when you and Dad both wanted a son.”

Her mother furrowed her brows. “We love you. That’s why we want the best for you, and Cody Masters isn’t the one for you.”

“Mom, why can’t you let me be the judge of that? And why can’t you just let the past go? It all worked out, and everyone married who they loved...eventually.”

Penny stared in the direction of the Double M. “And then Georgianna went and married that crazy Lindy guy. Too bad she didn’t get a dime after Cody killed him.”

“Cody didn’t do it! I know he didn’t.”

“So what did he spend three years in prison for? Jaywalking?”

“Mom, I know Cody didn’t do anything wrong. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Laura felt a pang of guilt. In her heart of hearts, did she really know that?

Penny’s fist came down on the table. “Don’t you dare try to defend Cody. He was found guilty in court. He went to prison. And as we always told you, you can do better than Cody Masters. And if I find that you’ve been seeing him, I’m going to file for custody of Johnny due to the fact that your judgment is impaired and that makes you an unfit mother. I don’t want Johnny in the company of a murderer.”

Stay away from Cody.

Cody will never amount to anything.

He’ll never be more than dirt poor, scratching out a living.

She’d heard it numerous times in her life, but that didn’t keep her and Cody from becoming friends, then lovers.

But this time, her parents had more ammunition. Cody was a murderer.

I’ll file for custody of Johnny...unfit mother.

“Don’t you dare do such a thing. You couldn’t be that cruel.”

“I can and I will. And you won’t be living here on the ranch anymore.”

Laura bit her tongue from screaming at her mother—it wouldn’t do any good—but before she changed her mind, she turned and walked away. She didn’t want her mother to see her cry. She had to be strong—like a Duke should.

Then she’d regroup and come up with a plan.

This time, the stakes were higher. Laura knew that she shouldn’t dare meet Cody, but she couldn’t help herself—and she needed to find out the truth from him.

* * *

Cody paced by the stream that ran from high in the mountains down to the boundary between the Double M and the Duke ranches. Now, during the monsoon season, spring to September, it could turn into a raging torrent of water. However, now, during the beautiful month of July, it was reduced to a stream—until the next monsoon.

He took a seat on his usual rock, but kept his flashlight on so he could see Laura approaching and she could see him. He didn’t like her having to come out this late at night. She could come face-to-face with coyotes or wolves or any of the nocturnal animals of the desert, any of which could be deadly.

Laura was an Arizona ranch gal, however. She’d carry a gun, especially at night, and had a knife in her boot at all times.

Cody was forbidden to carry a weapon. It was a condition of his parole that he couldn’t. He was a convicted felon now, so he’d lost that right. He’d also lost the right to vote and who knew what the hell else.

He smiled, thinking that Laura would have to protect him. Then he frowned, feeling like half a man for the same reason.

The sound of gravel being scraped snapped him to attention. He stood, almost falling over in his haste.

“Cody?”

“Laura?”

“Yes.”

Cody sloshed through the stream in his haste to get her into his arms. She was running, too, and didn’t seem to care a whit if her expensive boots got wet and muddy. They embraced in the middle of the water.

“Laura... Laura.” He couldn’t hold her tight enough.

“I know. I know.”

He buried his face in the curve of her neck and inhaled her perfume. He was expecting gardenia, and he wasn’t disappointed. It was her scent.

When they kissed, Cody felt as if he’d really come home. Home was Laura.

Their kiss was tentative at first, just a taste, but then he couldn’t help himself. He pulled her toward him and when his lips finally touched hers, he released all his frustration, all his loneliness and all his longing for a future with this remarkable woman.

Her straight hair, like spun gold in the moonlight, brushed his arm, and he couldn’t stop touching it, threading it through his fingers to enjoy its silkiness.

Cody kissed her forehead, her eyebrows and her neck. Then did it all over again. His hands ran over her back, her shoulders—wherever he could reach without releasing her from his arms, just to make sure she was real.

“You feel so good. Do you still love me, Laura?”

“Of course, Cody. Of course!” She covered him with kisses, devoured his lips, lifted his T-shirt and ran her hands over his chest.

He was ready and certainly willing to make love to her, but alarms went off in his head. He shouldn’t even be here, nor should Laura. To make love with her would be...heaven...but maybe now wasn’t a good time.

Cody suspected that there wasn’t going to be a good time in their future.

Should he give in to what they both wanted?

Laura stepped back, but held on to his biceps. “I think we need to take things slow. We have to get to know each other again.”

His heart took a dive in his chest. “You’re right. It’s been a long time. And a lot has happened. You got married. You had a son.”

“My father has talked to you, hasn’t he?” Laura studied his face.

“Yeah.”

“He threatened you?”

Cody shrugged. “That doesn’t bother me. It’s what he can do to you and Johnny.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Such as?”

“He could send you away. He said something about your aunt Betty in Boston. He said that there was a nice military school for Johnny there, too.”

“I am not going to Boston, and Johnny isn’t going to some military school. We are staying right here in our pretty cottage. Besides, this is where you are.”

“And I can’t leave for at least two years, but I doubt that I can turn around the Double M by then. I don’t know if I could ever make it real profitable. We’ve all tried throughout the years.”

Laura moved away from Cody and crossed her arms in front of her chest. It was her turn to pace. “If anyone can turn it around, it’s you.”

“It takes money, Laura. The place needs an overhaul, and there’s none.”

“We can never have peace in Duke Springs, Cody. Never. I thought that having a grandchild would mellow them both, and it did to a point, but sometimes it made things worse.”

Cody could see the tears swimming in her emerald eyes, and he hugged her to him.

“Oh, that didn’t make any sense.” She sniffed. “But J.W. would never send us away. He’d miss Johnny too much. My mother had a better threat this morning. She’s going to file for custody of Johnny if I consort with a known felon such as you.” Cody handed her a red bandanna and she wiped her eyes. “Maybe we ought to stay away from each other. You have too much to lose. So do I.”

Cody swore and was just about to punch a saguaro, spikes and all, when Laura closed her hand over his fist and helped him to relax.

“Just tell me, Cody...once and for all, tell me that you are innocent. Tell me that you didn’t kill Lindy. Tell me, for heaven’s sake.”

He pulled his hand away from hers and swore. “I can’t. I can’t say anything. If I did, all that time I spent in prison would be for nothing.”

“Who are you protecting, Cody?”

No answer.

“I need you to tell me, or I can’t see you anymore. I might lose my son. Don’t you get that?” She was gritting her teeth.

“I didn’t kill Lindy!” Cody shouted. “I didn’t kill him, but I wish to hell I did.” He turned away from her and Laura could tell that he was trying to compose himself. “There, I said it. I finally said it.”

She wrapped her arms around him from behind and let her wet cheek rest on his back.

“Who killed him, Cody? Your mother? Cindy? It has to be one of them who did it. You wouldn’t go to jail for anyone else.”

He turned around and pulled her tight to him. “Please, Laura. That’s enough. I shouldn’t have even told you what I did. But when you said that your parents—or at least your mother—might try taking Johnny away from you...well, I had to tell you the truth.”

“I am so relieved! I mean, I knew you were protecting someone. Why else wouldn’t you defend yourself?”

“Please, don’t ask me anymore. I can’t tell you. If it gets around...”

She kissed him to assure him that he didn’t have to speak further. She didn’t need to know anything more.

“And I can’t sneak around with you forever, Laura. I love you. We’ve always wanted to get married.”

“I know, but can you accept Johnny, too?”

“I admit that I was shocked, and even disappointed, that you slept with someone else, and that you even got married—”

“I never got married, Cody. That was something I just told my parents. They couldn’t cope with me having a child out of wedlock. I just told them that I eloped with a fellow student to Vegas so it would make them feel better.”

Cody felt the tension slip out of his body. “I’m glad of that. But did you love him? Johnny’s father, I mean.”

“Yes. I loved him very much, and I know he loved me.”

Cody felt sick to his stomach. Why had he even asked that question?

Laura took his hand. “You never answered me. Could you accept Johnny?”

“Of course!” Cody answered almost immediately. “You didn’t even have to ask me that. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“You will—someday.”

“And I don’t care who the college dude is.” Cody couldn’t get the picture of Laura sleeping with someone else out of his head. Aw...hell.

“Johnny’s the light of my life.”

“He should be.”

“I don’t have any regrets, not one,” she said strongly. “Well, maybe one.”

“What’s that?”

“That Johnny’s father doesn’t know he’s the father of such a wonderful boy.”

“He doesn’t? Then you should tell him, Laura. A man has the right to know.”

“I’ll tell him.” She remained silent for several heartbeats. “When some important matters get resolved. I don’t want Johnny stuck in the middle of a power struggle. Anyway, when the time is right, I’ll tell Johnny’s father about him.”

“When the time is right?” Cody shook his head. “How old did you say Johnny was?”

“He’s going to be...uh...four.”

“That’s a long time to keep a boy from his father.”

“I know, Cody. I know. But there are circumstances...”

“Like what?”

Cody had such strong feelings about this. He found it hard to understand why Laura wanted things to stay as they were.

“Let’s just drop it. I’ll take care of Johnny’s father in my own sweet time.”

“You’ve already wasted four years of two lives. If I was a father, I sure as hell would want to know, and would want to participate in raising my child.” Cody shook his head. “I don’t understand you, Laura.”

“Some guys are not like you,” Laura shouted, wondering where her anger came from.

“If the college dude doesn’t want Johnny, I’ll help you raise him. I’ll raise him as if he were my own.”

“And risk me losing him altogether because you have a criminal record for killing someone, even though you didn’t do it?” A fresh gathering of tears glinted in her eyes, and she closed them and let the tears fall. “It’s all such a big mess.”

“We can’t let anyone take Johnny away from you. We just can’t.”

She liked how he said “we,” but it was really all up to her. She had to handle her parents even more carefully now that Cody was out of prison.

Yes, it was all a big mess, and Laura wondered how to make things neat and tidy.

But that was impossible. They all were headed for a big explosion, and there’d be no turning back.

Chapter Four

Cody took her hand and started down the path that led to the Duke Ranch and her cute little cottage. He must have seen the surprise on Laura’s face because he shrugged and said, “What? Do you think I’d let you walk home alone? This entire area is loaded with parolees.”

She chuckled. Cody never stayed mad for very long—at least when it concerned her.

“I wish you could come inside and see my home, mine and Johnny’s.”

“I’d love to, but I don’t dare.” He sighed. “I was kind of surprised that you weren’t staying in the ranch house.”

“Johnny and I need our space.”

“Good idea.”

“But we’re up there a lot,” Laura explained. “Johnny has a room there for naps and all. Besides, Clarissa and my parents are built-in babysitters when I need them.”

She could feel pain radiating from him like a living thing. It was the same pain she felt. They were both trapped in Duke Springs, at least for the next two years.

“J.W. will blackball you from working anywhere around here, even after you are done with parole, unless you sell the Double M to him.”

“That’s pretty much what I figured out, and that’s why, if we have any chance of happiness together, we’ll have to move far away from his tentacles. Maybe Washington State or Oregon. Montana. I was even thinking of Canada.”

“That’s really far. I don’t know.”

But she did know. No matter how much she loved Cody, she couldn’t take Johnny away from her family and friends.

“A picnic,” she blurted, stopping in her tracks.

“What?”

“Let’s take Johnny on a picnic.” It was time for something fun.

“How are we going to pull that off?”

“Easy. This Sunday is the annual church picnic, and I am going to present a check from the Duke Foundation to go toward a new roof and steeple. They are having an old-fashioned box-lunch auction. If you win the auction on my box lunch, you get to have lunch with me.”

He shook his head. “You and I having a picnic together? That’ll get back to your parents within seconds.”

“My parents will be at a horse auction in Gila Bend. Besides, the box lunch is supposed to be anonymous, but mine will have a red, white and blue ribbon on it. Bid on it, and keep bidding, no matter the cost. I know you haven’t gotten paid yet. I’ll give you the money.”

“I earned some money in prison. Making license plates doesn’t pay as well as it did before, but I have twenty-three whole bucks, so don’t worry about it.” He was joking, but it saddened Laura to think of him inside doing that instead of working with horses and being on the Double M.

He dropped her hand and stuffed his into the pocket of his jeans. “Laura, it’s not going to work.”

“Of course it will. If my parents find out, I’ll just explain that there was no way you knew that box was mine, and that I had to have lunch with you due to the rules of the auction.”

“Sweetheart, I can’t go to the picnic. I’ll get the big snub from the good folks of the church. I don’t think you’re ready for that, and I don’t want to subject Johnny to any talk about his mother being with a killer.”

Laura looked deep into Cody’s eyes. By the light of the full moon, she could see the pain in them. “I’ve thought about that, Cody. But these people are your friends. A lot of them stood by you in court.”

“A lot of them wanted my head on a platter,” he snapped.

She took his hand. “We’ll go off on our own to have lunch—me, you and Johnny. I don’t care about people talking about us, but if we’re far enough away from people when we have our picnic, Johnny won’t hear anything.”