Always a McBride (22 page)

He'd never been more sincere about anything in his life, but he wasn't surprised when Joe didn't immediately accept his offer. “This isn't a decision I can make on my own. The family will have to vote on it. I'll have to get back to you.”

“I've got a new number,” he said quickly, and rattled off the hotel's number before Joe could ask why he'd left Liberty Hill and Phoebe. “Call me after you talk to the family.” Not giving Joe a chance to ask any questions he didn't want to answer, Taylor quickly hung up.

“T
wo family meetings in three days,” Zeke said as he joined the rest of the family at the homestead. “What's Taylor done now? File a lawsuit against us, claiming his share of the ranch?”

“Not quite,” Joe said dryly as he accepted the glass of home-made lemonade his mother had just poured for him. “He saw the story on the news last night about the wildlife refuge. He's not an idiot. It didn't take him long to put two and two together—he called me almost immediately and asked what the feds were after.”

“You didn't tell him, did you?” Merry asked worriedly. “What if he decides to go after his share of the ranch? Then we'll be fighting him
and
the government.”

“Oh, I don't think he would do that,” Janey said with a frown. “He just doesn't seem the type.”

“I agree,” Sara said as she took a seat at the pine table that had been crafted by the first McBride when
he came to Colorado back in the 1800s. “He might be full of anger, but he didn't seem greedy at all. And if the only thing he was after was his share of the ranch, he'd have filed a lawsuit the minute he got in town,” she reasoned. “It wouldn't have cost him a thing, other than the filing fee. He's a lawyer. So why did he call, Joe? What did he want?”

“He said we're going to need a good lawyer if we're going to beat the government. He offered his services.”

“What?”

“You've got to be kidding!”

“This is a joke, right? C'mon, Joe. What did he really want?”

“I told you,” Joe said, his brown eyes twinkling with rueful amusement. “He offered his services, and I told him I'd get back to him. I had to run it past the family first.” Sobering, he added, “He was right about one thing—we do need an attorney. We should have hired one as soon as Thomas retired.”

“We didn't need one then,” Janey pointed out. “And who were we going to get? Someone in Colorado Springs that we didn't even know?”

“Thomas spoiled us,” Merry agreed. “He represented the family for thirty years. We knew we could trust him. That's not going to be so easy with someone new.”

“I don't know about the rest of you,” Zeke said, “but I don't want to put the future of the ranch in the hands of someone we don't know from Adam.”

“So what are you saying?” Joe asked with a frown. “You want to hire Taylor?”

“I don't know,” Zeke admitted honestly. “I don't know if we can trust him.”

“He resented Dad all his life,” Merry pointed out.
“If he still wants revenge, he couldn't pick a better way to get it than to tank the case and give the government whatever it wants.”

“I don't think he would do that,” Janey said quietly.

“I don't, either,” Joe said. “He may have resented Dad all these years, but we didn't do anything to him. Why would he take it out on us?”

No one had an answer for that. Seated at the head of the table, Sara said, “I think Joe and Janey are right. From what you've all said about him, you liked him until I came home and he hit me with the truth. I think you should give him a chance.”

“But he lied to us about who he was,” Merry argued. “How can we trust him after that?”

“He made a mistake,” Sara replied. “That doesn't mean he's a bad person any more than your father was. People make mistakes. Any one of you might have done the same thing if you'd been in his shoes. He's still your brother.”

Touched that she could be so forgiving of their father's mistake, Joe took her hand and squeezed it warmly. “You're something else, Mom. I thought you'd hate him.”

Tears glistening in her eyes, Sara gave him a watery smile and lovingly patted the hand that held hers. “How could I do that? He's your father's son just as much as you and Zeke are, dear. I only had to look at him to know that. I can't hate him for telling me the truth. It was a shock, but that wasn't his fault. Your father should have told me that he saw another woman when he was in Cheyenne all those years ago. At least then, I might have halfway expected something like this to happen one day.”

Joe couldn't argue with that. Glancing at his brother
and sisters, he lifted a brow at them. “Well? What do you think?”

Merry hesitated. “I don't know,” she finally said with a shrug. “Mom's never steered us wrong yet. If she thinks we should give Taylor a chance, I guess I don't have a problem with that. What about you, Zeke?”

“Mom's instincts have always been right on the money,” he replied. “I won't object to meeting with him and seeing what he suggests. If he says the right things, I won't object to hiring him.”

“What about you, Janey?” Joe asked. “Is that all right with you?”

“It's the right thing to do,” she said simply. “I'm fine with it.”

Satisfied, Joe nodded. “Good. I'll set up a meeting.”

 

When the phone rang an hour after he'd talked to Joe, Taylor braced for the worst. He'd had time to think about it, and he knew in his gut that they weren't going to accept his offer. Why should they? He'd hurt Sara and lied to the entire family, and that didn't exactly inspire trust. If he'd had any sense, he'd have just kept his mouth shut and his nose out of their business and let them handle their own problems. The ranch was, after all, theirs, and none of his concern.

Still, it really bothered him that they might lose part of it to the government. He might not carry the McBride name or have any claim to the ranch, but the McBrides had been living on that land for well over a hundred years, and the government had no right to it. If they'd just let him help, he knew he could convince the feds to back off.

Reaching for the phone, he said, “Hello, Joe. What'd the family say?”

“How'd you know it was me?”

“You're the only one who has this number. Well? What's the verdict? Yes or no?”

“We'd like to meet with you and discuss the situation,” he said simply.

That was more of a chance than he'd hoped for. Humbled, he said, “That sounds fair to me. When do you want to meet?”

“How about tonight?” Joe suggested. “We're all here at Mom's. Where are you?”

“In Colorado Springs. I'll be there as soon as I can.” He started to hang up, only to say, “Hey, Joe? Thanks. I know you probably had to talk some of the others into this. I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Joe said gruffly. “It was the right thing to do.”

He hung up before Taylor could say anything else, leaving him shaking his head. He'd never met anyone quite like the McBrides. They never ceased to amaze him with their generosity of spirit.

Still, he didn't know quite what to expect when he arrived at the homestead a little over an hour later. Approaching the front door, he couldn't forget the look on Sara's face when he'd told her who he was. He'd been brutally honest with her and she had every right to hate his guts.

But when he rang the doorbell and she answered the door, she greeted him with an easy, understanding smile. “Hello, Taylor. You made good time. Please, come in. Everyone's in the dining room. We just had dessert. Can I get you something?”

“Oh, no,” he said quickly. “Thank you.” Taken
aback by her graciousness, he realized that he'd never had anything to fear from her. If his father had been alive, she would, no doubt, have accepted him as easily as she did now. That was just the kind of lady she was. And that blew him away.

His eyes meeting hers head-on, he said huskily, “I'd like to apologize for hurting you.”

“That's not necessary, Taylor—”

“Oh, yes, it is,” he said, interrupting her. “You never did anything to me. I had no right to take out my resentment on you.”

“You were hurting,” she said quietly. “I can certainly sympathize with that. You were looking for someone to blame. But I'm not your enemy…and your father wouldn't have been, either. If he'd known of your existence, he would have been as involved in your life as he was in our children's.”

“I want to believe that.”

“You can believe it. I knew him better than anyone. He would never knowingly have turned his back on you.”

She was so sincere that Taylor had no choice but to believe her. “Thank you for saying that. He obviously wasn't the man I thought he was all these years.”

“No, he wasn't,” she replied. “I wish you could have known him. He really was a wonderful husband and father.”

Holding out his hand, he said, “No hard feelings?”

For an answer, she placed her hand in his. “No hard feelings. Now that we've made peace, please come in. The family's going to think I won't let you in the door.”

“I'm sure they know you better than that,” he replied and stepped inside.

She led him to the dining room, where his brothers
and sisters and Sara's husband, Dan, were waiting. Greeting them all, Taylor said huskily, “Before we go any further, I need to apologize to all of you. I should have been honest with you about who I was from the beginning, but all I could think of was making somebody pay for the fact that I grew up without a father. I thought if you knew who I was, you'd never let me inside the door.”

“We might not have if we'd known you were going to lay the truth on Mom the way you did,” Zeke growled. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“He's apologized,” Sara said, shooting her youngest son a reproving frown. “I suggest we all forgive and forget and focus on the only problem we've got right now—losing part of the ranch to the government.”

“Mom's right,” Joe said quietly. “So what do you think, Taylor? Can we win this fight?”

“If we're lucky—and we play our cards right.” Taking a seat at the table next to Zeke, he said, “While I was waiting for Joe's call, I did a little research. We've got several things working in our favor. First of all, the wilderness area was originally set up by a donation of land by the first McBride who settled these mountains.”

Surprised, Merry said, “How'd you know that?”

“I read the original agreement that established the wilderness area,” Taylor said with a smile. “The point is we've got to find a way to use that to our advantage. How do you think the public is going to feel about the fact that the government was
given
thousands of acres of McBride land over a hundred years ago, and now they're threatening to
take
more?

“And then there's the executive orders signed by the last administration,” he added. “The president is violating those orders with his current policies, and it's an
election year. We need to get the word out there, hit the talk shows, place some ads in newspapers and magazines, and put some pressure on the administration to back off.”

“And if that doesn't work?” Janey asked.

“Then we fight them in a very public court fight,” he replied. “We'll throw everything we can dig up at them and have cameras rolling the entire time. Trust me, it won't be pretty.”

Considering that, Joe sat back in his chair and gave the rest of the family an arch look. “Well? What do you think? Do we hire Taylor or take our chances with someone in Colorado Springs?”

“Taylor,” Janey said promptly. “If it comes to a fight, I want him on our side.”

Seated across from her, Merry openly studied Taylor, obviously trying to make up her mind. “I want to trust you,” she told him. “If you just hadn't lied to us, this would be a lot easier.”

“I know, and I'm sorry about that,” he said sincerely. “I wish I could go back and start over, but unfortunately, I can't. All I can say is that you have my word—for what it's worth—that I won't ever lie to any of you again. I've never done anything like this before, and trust me, I never will again. I hated what I'd done the second I saw the look on Sara's face when I told her who I was.”

“We all make mistakes,” Sara said quietly. “As long as we learn from them, that's what matters. And personally,” she added shooting a glance at her children, “I agree with Janey. When it comes to a fight with the government, I think we need Taylor in our corner. What about you, Merry?”

Merry, to her credit, was able to admit she'd had a
change of heart. “I feel that he can get down and dirty if he has to. That's a compliment,” she told Taylor with a smile. “And I do think you've learned from your mistakes with us…which is the only reason I'm willing to trust you.”

“I'll second that,” Zeke added. “Don't take this wrong, Taylor, but you're going to have to prove yourself. I'm not trying to be ugly, but after the way you lied to all of us, that's all I feel I can do at the moment.”

“A chance is all I ask,” Taylor said, understanding perfectly. “You won't regret it. Now that we've got that settled, let's get started. I need to know everything you can tell me about where and when the oil was discovered….”

 

Phoebe stood at the open door of her grandmother's refrigerator and wrinkled her nose in distaste. Nothing looked good. She was tired of her own cooking, and she'd been hanging around the house too much. Maybe getting out would help spark her appetite. She'd go to Ed's for breakfast. When she was a little girl, he'd always made her something special whenever she'd visited Myrtle. If she remembered correctly, his chocolate chip pancakes were fantastic. Maybe she'd order that.

But as she changed into a frilly yellow blouse, white slacks and sandals, she knew she wasn't really going to Ed's for his pancakes or anything else on the menu. She was going for one reason and one reason only. She was tired of listening for Taylor's footsteps in the front hall.

It was time to get on with her life, she told herself sternly, forcing back the tears that inevitably welled in her eyes at the mere thought of Taylor. It had been four days since he'd left. He obviously wasn't coming back. The sooner she accepted that, the better.