Hard Rain (24 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

JD
THREW
HIMSELF
into trying to be the man that Grace had married. He got her a second, smaller wheelchair and started carrying her upstairs to their old bedroom where he would hold her and they could talk about the happy years.

She seemed better, although it was clear she didn’t want him to get back into politics. He couldn’t imagine his life on the ranch with only Grace now. Maggie had left a huge hole in his heart that ached constantly. There was definitely a part of him that needed politics. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go on.

He thought about Maggie day and night and watched the local newspaper for the announcement of her upcoming marriage to Bobby Barnes. He still wasn’t convinced that Bobby hadn’t been one of the boys who’d raped her. How could she marry a man like that? But he knew the answer. She saw no other option and that alone caused his sleepless nights.

Grace seemed sweeter now that she had his undying attention. If she noticed that he no longer went up to the lake, she said nothing. Fall was now upon them, the nights growing colder, the days growing shorter. Soon it would be too cold to ride up into the mountains. Next summer, though, if he was still here on the ranch and not campaigning, she wouldn’t be able to help herself. She would ask why he no longer went up into the mountains fishing—even though he suspected she knew only too well. He knew he couldn’t hide anything from her—especially his guilt.

But he was glad about this change in her. She was nicer to Buck and Sarah and their grandchildren. He’d taken her over so she could tour their new house. “It’s so...huge.”

Sarah, whose latest pregnancy was showing, laughed. “I want to fill it with children. It’s all I ever wanted.” Then seeing Grace’s expression, she’d moved quickly to her, crouching in front of the wheelchair. “I’m so sorry. I know how hard this must be for you. But God is giving you grandchildren. That has to help.”

It didn’t help, JD knew. “They all look too much like Sarah,” Grace had said one day. “Children of the damned.”

JD had ignored it and as he’d poured more love into the woman he’d married, he’d realized that Grace had become a bottomless vessel. There wasn’t enough love in the world to fill her disappointment in the men in her life.

* * *

H
ARPER
WAS
ON
her way out when her mother walked into the house. It seemed so strange to see her here. From the way she stopped just inside the door, it was even stranger for her.

“Did you get the package Dad sent?”

Her mother looked confused. “I don’t know anything about a package. Look, Harper, I know you probably don’t want to talk to me right now.”

“If this is about the diary—”

“No, I’ll tell your father everything when I see him. This is about Brody.”

Harper sighed. “You might as well save your breath. Quite frankly, you’re the last person I would take relationship advice from, no offense.”

“None taken, but you’re wrong. Could we sit down?”

“I thought you were moving in,” Harper said, noticing that her mother hadn’t brought anything with her.

“Not yet. Please.” She motioned to a chair. Harper curled up in one of the large comfortable chairs. Her mother teetered on the edge of the couch across from her and seemed to be gathering her thoughts.

“The one thing I have a great deal of experience with is marrying into a family who didn’t like me.” Her words had hit their target. “It put so much pressure on our marriage. Buck loved his mother. It tore him apart the way she treated me. At some point, I think he started to question if there wasn’t some truth in what Grace was saying about me. It was the most painful part of our marriage.”

“You lived on the same ranch with them. Brody and I—”

“Will live
where
? On the ranch he inherits? You’ll be in the same position I was. If Brody is as nice a man as you say, then imagine how hard it will be for him if his father and uncle never accept you.”

Unfortunately, Harper could imagine it. She hadn’t thought about where she and Brody would live. She hadn’t gotten that far. All she knew was that she loved him and wanted to be with him always.

“Dad will give us some property.” But the moment she said it, Harper knew that it wouldn’t be what Brody wanted. He’d worked too hard on his family ranch. To lose it now... “Maybe his father and uncle will come around.”

“Maybe in time. Maybe not. Grace never did. After she died...” Her mother looked away and Harper realized there were tears in her eyes. “JD was never the same. I think he never truly believed that I hadn’t killed her.”

“No, surely—”

“I was there the day she died. We were arguing. She headed for the stairs. I reached for her....”

“She was walking?” Harper asked, shocked by that news as well as the fact that her mother hadn’t just been there. She’d been part of it.

“She wasn’t that steady on her feet.” Sarah shook her head. “Her hatred of me killed her. If I hadn’t been there and tried to stop her...” She looked away for a moment. “I don’t want that life for you. Or for Brody. You asked me once about bad blood between the families. Even if the sheriff proves that JD didn’t kill Maggie, Flannigan will never forgive him.”

“But in the diary, it is so clear that they loved each other,” Harper protested.

“A forbidden love that ended badly.”

Long after her mother left, Harper found herself thinking about what her mother had said. She didn’t want Sarah to be right. And yet when she thought about Brody, she knew everything her mother had said was true. Brody loved his family. He’d chosen her over them and now he’d lost the ranch that he loved.

Even if they could find a way to make it work, if his family didn’t come around... He was too proud to come to her with nothing. It would destroy their love. He had given up too much for her. She couldn’t let him do that.

She picked up the phone and dialed his number. It went straight to voice mail. “I hadn’t wanted to do this in a message, but maybe it is better this way. We can’t see each other again. Our families will never get along. It’s best if we part ways now. I’m sorry.” She was choked up with tears by the time she disconnected. Burying her face in her hands, she headed upstairs wondering how she was going to live without him.

* * *

“Y
OUR
STOMACH
BOTHERING
YOU
?
” Lynette asked him at lunch.

“Just not hungry.” It wasn’t like him and they both knew it. He loved to eat.

“It’s those DNA results. You’re going to get an ulcer. Everyone’s talking about how you had JD Hamilton’s body exhumed, and Ty Jenkins’s, too. Amber was in the store saying she was going to sue. When are you supposed to hear?”

Frank had been waiting, growing more anxious by the hour. “I don’t know.”

Lynette let out a breath. “Well, when you do we’ll finally know who fathered her baby.”

He loved the way she said
we
. As if he could keep a lid on the results. The entire county was waiting.

“Did I hear that Buck has moved Sarah into the main house?” Lynette asked.

He looked at her in surprise. “He did?”

His wife smiled. She did love being ahead of him when it came to news. “That doesn’t seem wise right before the primaries.”

Lynette shrugged. “A few media sources mentioned that his second wife hasn’t been in the ground long. But mostly he is getting support for reuniting with his first wife. Everyone loves a love story.”

“Apparently.” He couldn’t help being surprised by this news. “Buck is taking quite a chance.” He wondered if it had been his idea or Sarah’s. Was she pressuring him to get back together?

“Don’t look so worried. He hasn’t won the primaries yet.”

“And I could be wrong about her,” he said, even though they both knew better. Since Sarah’s return to Montana, he’d suspected there was more to this than a love story. Unfortunately, he had no proof that Sarah’s motives were anything other than wanting her family back.

“I need to get to the office,” he said after finishing the can of orange soda she’d brought him and rising to his feet.

“You’re going to be hungry in an hour.”

“Probably. But I’ll manage until dinner. You will be there, won’t you?”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Especially if I have news.”

“Oh, I would imagine I’ll know before you do.”

He shook his head. He really needed to plug some leaks at his department and the coroner’s.

On his way into town, Charlie called.

“Tell me,” Frank said.

“I’d ask you if you were sitting down, but I know you are.”

“Was JD the father?”

“It was Ty Jenkins.”

Frank swore, and not because a part of him wasn’t relieved that it wasn’t JD Hamilton’s baby. Hell, they couldn’t even be sure that JD and Maggie had been lovers.

But he swore because now Ty Jenkins’s suicide note made sense. He hadn’t been able to live with what he’d done to Maggie. So if Ty was one of the rapists, then who else was involved?

He thought of Collin. Was that what he’d planned to tell Brody before he was killed?

“Opens a whole new can of worms, I take it?” Charlie said.

“My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the news.” He started to say,
Let’s try to keep this under wraps
, but didn’t bother. Maybe it would scare the other rapists. He knew there was at least one more from what Dr. Franklin had told him. Given when the rape had occurred according to Maggie’s diary, Ty had been one of the rapists.

So who else? And how did he find him? And the big question—was the rape the reason Maggie was killed?

* * *

B
RODY
LISTENED
TO
the message from Harper and swore. There was no way he was going to let her get away that easily. At the sound of a vehicle, he looked out, hoping it was her and that he could talk some sense into her. She was the one who’d said they should fight to be together. What had made her change her mind?

He recognized the pickup as he tried to call Harper back. It went straight to voice mail. He wasn’t getting into this over the phone. As soon as his father left, he’d go find Harper.

Pocketing his phone, he opened the door to find his father standing on the porch. “Come to evict me?” He’d been packing up a few things, thinking it would be best if he moved out of his house until this was settled. He feared it was already settled. He had no right to the ranch or even the house he’d built. His only option was taking it to court and he wasn’t apt to do that, not against family.

“Son, we need to talk.”

“You were both pretty clear the last time we talked,” he said, surprised to see his uncle Flannigan was with his father. His uncle slowly climbed out of the pickup but didn’t approach the house. “Did you think you might need help throwing me off the ranch?”

“That isn’t why we’re here.” His father pulled off his Stetson and turned the brim for a few moments in his fingers. “I’m sorry about everything that happened between us.”

Brody looked toward his uncle, who was still standing by the truck. It was pretty clear he didn’t feel the same way. “You always told me that this was my ranch. But the minute I didn’t do something you wanted—”

“You turned against your own family,” his uncle said.

Finn glanced back at his brother, sending him a look that made Flannigan turn away.

“The two of you disowned me and made it real clear I was no longer welcome on this ranch,” Brody said. “I’m just here to get some of my things.”

“That was wrong of us. Of both of us,” his father said, glancing at Flan again, who said nothing. “I don’t have to tell you how hard this has been on your uncle.”

Brody could have argued it had been hard on them all, but in his heart, he knew none of them could feel the kind of loss Flannigan had, so he kept his mouth shut.

“We came by to tell you that the ranch is still yours,” his father said.

“I’m going to have to get that in writing, since I can’t trust that the next time I do something you don’t approve of you’ll kick me off again.”

“That isn’t going to happen,” Finn assured him.

“Still. In writing.”

His father looked back toward the pickup and his older brother. Flannigan didn’t look happy but gave a slight nod and then got back in the truck.

“Also, I’m going to marry Harper,” Brody said.

His father sighed. “Son—”

“It’s nonnegotiable, so if that changes things, you let me know.”

Finn nodded, but he didn’t look happy.

“Uncle Flannigan is never going to accept it, is he?”

“Give it time. He loves you. He’s still hurting.” Finn put his hat back on and gave him a regretful smile. “I’ll talk to him and get back to you. Again, I’m sorry.”

Brody nodded and watched as his father and uncle left. He knew he should have been happier, but it was a bittersweet victory. He’d caused a schism in his family. He told himself it would take time to heal, but he wondered if that was even possible. Was there enough time left for his father and uncle before either older McTavish accepted Harper?

* * *

F
RANK
PULLED
OUT
the Ty Jenkins suicide file. The note Ty had written before hanging himself was on top. He picked it up, vaguely remembering the case from when he was a deputy.

Not much had been made of the note’s bottom ragged edge. Looking at it, he wondered if the former sheriff had asked about the rest of the note. Clearly the bottom half had been torn off. Whoever had found Ty hadn’t wanted whatever else the boy had written to be found by the sheriff.

In the file, he found what he was looking for. Ty’s sister, Amber, had found him and cut down his body.

He made a call to the Dixie Cup Diner to find that Amber was home sick. Her house was by the river, a small out-of-the-way place, a car parked out front.