Homecoming Ranch (36 page)

The reunion was happy chaos; cries of delight at seeing relatives and friends after a long while echoed between the mountains. It reminded Luke of his own childhood. Homecoming Ranch was one of the most beautiful patches of earth.

More Johnsons arrived, pulling up in rental vans, cars, and pickups, gathering around the big bulletin board that Madeline had made him erect. He had to admit, it was coming in very useful. Two hundred people were a lot, even for a place as big as Homecoming Ranch.

One carload of Johnsons managed to get their car stuck when they backed off the road, which meant that Luke had to pull them out. He spent a good half hour with that, and had just pulled the car back on
the road when a pair of Mercedes sports cars sailed by on their way to the main house.

He unhooked the Johnson car, stuck around to make sure they parked without driving into a ditch again, then headed back to the house. As he pulled up next to the garage, he noticed Madeline on the drive, speaking to a group of men. Specifically, to men in expensive suits and shoes. Those men hadn’t come here for a reunion.

This was it, he realized. The moment of truth Luke had known would come, that he’d hoped would never come. He could feel painful resentment burning through him, the feeling of fresh betrayal slicing through him. He got out of the Bronco and walked up into their midst.

Madeline’s expression was pained. “Luke, this is…” She hesitated, and Luke wondered if she had forgotten the man’s name.

“Stephen Wallace,” the man said, his hand extended, his gaze cool.

Stephen
. Good-looking Stephen in his expensive shoes and crisp white shirt. “I am Madeline’s attorney,” he said, a statement that seemed to surprise Madeline. “This is my associate, Jim Puryear from Denver, and the real estate broker we have consulted, Chip Danziger.”

This was what Leo would call a full-scale assault. Madeline was going to end this between them with all guns blazing. He leveled his gaze on her.

“This is Luke Kendrick,” Madeline said, her voice weak. To Luke, she said, “It’s not what you think. I didn’t know they were coming today.”

“Maybe not today, but you knew they were coming,” he said.

“Allow me to introduce Mr. Taranaku,” Chip Danziger said, gesturing to the diminutive man next to him. “He represents some folks who are very interested in buying this place.”

“
What
?”

The sound of Libby’s voice startled them all. Libby was suddenly there, holding several rolls of toilet paper in her arms. She looked at Taranaku, then at Madeline. “
What
?” she demanded again. “What is going on here?”

“I will explain,” Madeline said.

“It’s great to meet you all,” Luke said casually, and reached in his back pocket for a card to give them. “But if you want to speak about the ranch, you’ll have to speak to my attorney.”

He handed the card to Stephen and looked him directly in the eye; Stephen steadily returned his gaze.

Luke shifted his gaze to Libby. “Libby, if you’ve got a minute, there’re a couple of things I think you and I ought to talk about.” He put his hand on her elbow and turned her away.

“Wait!” Madeline said. “I’ll come, too. I can explain—”

“I think you’ve explained yourself pretty well,” Luke said, and looked past her, to the men there.

“What is going on?” Libby asked, her eyes wide with confusion.

“I’ll fill you in,” he said, and walked on with Libby. He did not look at Madeline as he walked away.

Madeline was appalled and ashamed, absolutely ashamed.

She never dreamed Stephen would fly to Colorado. She never imagined in her wildest thoughts that he would come out to see the ranch with the realtor, bringing a buyer along. She had believed these men would give her information—
only
information—that she could share with Libby and Emma and Luke.

She had completely underestimated Stephen. Completely.

“What are you doing here?” she’d demanded when she’d realized what was happening. “Why are you here?”

“I came to help,” he’d said cheerfully, as if Madeline would be happy about such a blindsiding. “Turns out, a case I’m working on has some documents in Aspen I needed to look at, and I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone?”

Why not just kill
her
? He couldn’t have done a better job of it, showing up like this, with these men. Luke…
Luke…
he’d looked at her with such disgust. And worse, as if he’d been expecting it. Libby, dear God, Libby—she looked so confused, so hurt.

“Mr. Taranaku would like to have a look around, Madeline,” the broker said. “Would you mind giving him a quick tour?”

“Me?” she asked, incredulous.

Chip had looked about, and said, “I don’t see anyone else to do it. Is it a problem?”

“Of course not,” Stephen had said blithely. “I’d like to see it too.” He spoke as if he and she were buddies, as if it was a perfectly sane thing for him to do, to fly out here to have a look around a ranch she’d inherited.

Madeline made quick work of the tour, showing him the house, the bunkhouse, and the barn. She did not feel obliged to show him the paths leading up to Mrs. Kendrick’s garden, or anything else.

Nevertheless, Mr. Taranaku seemed quite interested and asked if there were more events lined up. “Weddings? Business retreats?”

She remembered Libby saying there’d been some interest in a wedding, but she said only, “You should contact Jackson Crane about that. In the meantime, we have so much going on, I am going to have to excuse myself.”

“Of course,” Chip said. “We’ve seen enough for now. Am I right, Mr. Taranaku?”

“Yes,” he said. “It’s quite impressive. I think this is exactly the sort of property my group is looking to find.”

Chip Danziger gave Madeline a wink as he escorted his client back to his car. Madeline turned a murderous look to Stephen.

He grinned proudly. “See? Just a matter of knowing the right people. Looks to me like you’re going to get a nice nest egg out of this.”

Madeline didn’t want a nest egg. She wanted no part of this. She could have kicked herself for ever having listened to Stephen in the first place.

“I’m at the Grizzly Lodge,” Stephen said when it came time for them to go. “Can I see you tonight?”

Madeline thought of Luke, and his promise that he would find a place for them to be together, away from the prying eyes of everyone else. She wanted that, more than anything. But first, she had some business that she needed to finish once and for all. “Yes,” she said. “I’ll come when we are through here.”

Stephen smiled happily. “Okay. See you later.” He walked back to the cars and got in.

Madeline watched the two Mercedes drive down the road, then went in search of Luke and Libby.

They were not in the house. Nor were they in the big circus tent—at least she didn’t think so, but there were so many people coming and going, she couldn’t be sure. She walked over to the bunkhouse, but there were only women inside, cooking up pots of beans and brisket on two enormous pits on the patio just outside.

Where was Luke?

His mother’s garden
. She hurried up the path, the dogs falling in behind her.

But Luke wasn’t in the garden. Nor was Libby anywhere to be seen. The garage, then. Madeline walked down to the garage, looking for the Bronco, some sign of him. Just as she reached it, Ernest strolled out, carrying a toolbox. “Hey!” she said brightly. “Have you seen Luke?”

“He left,” Ernest said.

“He
left
?” Madeline stared at him. “When? Why?”

“Don’t know why, but he left a half hour ago,” Ernest said. “Don’t mean to rush off, but we’ve got a broken table up under the big tent.” He walked on, leaving Madeline to stand in the garage, staring out over the meadow.

Of course he’d left. Why would she expect any different? She had done this to herself. Luke was right—she may not have known those men were coming, but she had put the wheels in motion. If he’d done this to her, she would have left, too.

This hurt worse than anything she had ever felt in her life. She couldn’t bear to think of how she’d hurt
him;
it threatened to bury her.
Go to him.
For once in her blessed life, she would go to him and lay the truth out to him. For once in her life, she would not be afraid to open herself up, because she could not risk losing the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She turned around—and gasped when she saw Libby standing there, glaring at her. “Libby,” she said breathlessly. “I was looking for you.”

Libby folded her arms over her middle. “Is it true?” she quietly demanded. “Did you just go off and find someone to buy the ranch without talking to me or Emma?”

“No! I mean, not exactly. I told you I was going to find out how much the ranch was worth. It just so happened the broker had a client who was looking for a place to build a new resort. So he brought him.”

Libby’s mouth dropped open. “I don’t believe you,” she said. “Are you seriously trying to sell Homecoming Ranch and make it into another damn
ski resort
?”

“No, not me. The broker mentioned it—”

“How could you?” Libby said, her voice trembling with rage. “God, I was stupid enough to believe that you and I had started to bond! But you just walked right over me. You’ve been walking over me since the day you showed up here.”

Madeline’s heart constricted painfully.

“Admit it!” Libby demanded. “You think you are better than this ranch. You think you deserve some special compensation because you didn’t know Dad and you think you know what is best for everyone.”

“I don’t think that. Libby, please listen—”

“What, so
now
you want to talk? You know what the worst thing is, Madeline? The
worst
thing is that you don’t give a damn what anyone else wants. All you care about is yourself, and all you want is the money out of this place so you can go back to Orlando! You don’t really care that people like
me
need this place, and people like
Luke
need this place. I
know
you don’t give a damn about me, but I really thought you cared about him.”

Those words stunned Madeline. “I
do
care! I told you I was going to look into things! All I wanted was information!”

“That is not all you’ve wanted—you’ve wanted out from day one. And I guess you’ve found a way to do it without regard for me and Emma or Luke.”

Madeline had nothing to say to that; it was true, all true. She’d been so concerned about protecting herself and keeping a lid on her anxiety that she’d hurt everyone else involved. “Libby, please let me explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Libby snapped. “Go back to Orlando and live your life, Madeline. No one cares.
No
one. Honestly? No one even
wants you here.” She whirled around and flounced away, her strides long and hard, carrying her as fast and as far from Madeline as she could take herself.

Madeline stared after Libby, but she couldn’t move. She’d lost her breath. She finally put her hands on her knees and bent over as a vise of panic closed in around her throat, forcing the air from her lungs. She’d made a huge mess.
Huge
. And she’d just ruined the one chance she had in this life of having a sister. Libby would never trust her now. Madeline didn’t deserve her trust.

She straightened up with a deep breath, and noticed several Johnsons standing there, watching her. “Is everything all right?” one of the women said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Madeline said. “Just a little sisterly spat.” She smiled at the ladies and made herself move, one foot before the other. She had to fix things. She didn’t know how, but she had to fix the mess she’d made. An apology felt too little and too empty, but she had to start somewhere.

Regret began to burn through Madeline, leaving huge holes in her heart where Libby and Luke had been these last few weeks.

She walked in to the house, heard Libby in the kitchen, banging things around in anger. Madeline jogged upstairs to Luke’s room, gathered her things, showered and changed into a new dress, donned her socks and hiking boots, and headed down to the garage.

The keys to the Pontiac were still hanging over the workbench. She got in and started it up, and slowly backed out, careful so as not to hit any Johnsons.

The Pontiac rode like a big steamship down the road, gliding over the smaller pits that had felled the little rental car she’d had. Madeline turned a little too sharply out of the main gate, and the rear wheels spun out from underneath her, but with a shriek of surprise, she managed to straighten it out.

In Pine River, Madeline drove to Elm Street. She was disappointed that Luke’s truck wasn’t there. Neither was the van. Frankly, it didn’t seem as if anyone was home; the house was completely dark.

Madeline drove on, to the Grizzly Lodge, where she took two parking spots because of an inability to park the tank with any precision. She was early yet, but stalked into the lobby nevertheless.

“Well hello there, stranger!” Dani called out to her. She wore a purple Guayabera shirt today. “How are things up at Homecoming Ranch? Heard you have a house full.”

Things at Homecoming Ranch were a disaster, and Madeline still could not wrap her head around the damage she’d done. “We do,” Madeline said. “Lots of Johnsons.”

Dani laughed. “That’s an interesting way to put it. Where is Luke?”

“Ah… I don’t know,” Madeline said. “I’m just going to sit over here and wait for a friend, if that’s okay?”

“Well of course it is,” Dani said.

Madeline sat in one of the big leather chairs, waiting for Stephen, going over what she would say, while Dani bustled about, in and out of the office.

At six o’clock, Stephen came down. He looked surprised to see Madeline there. She stood up and smiled at him, and from the corner of her eye, she noticed the curiosity on Dani’s face.

“Hey,” he said, taking her in. “Love the dress. Are you hungry?”

She wasn’t hungry at all; she was a ball of nerves. “There’s a decent restaurant up the road. The Stakeout,” Madeline said, and walked to the door, pulled it open. “They serve buffalo steak.”