The Rancher's Surprise Son. Christine Wenger

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.