AK-Cowboy. Joanna Wayne

to the house or from the nearby cluster of squatty mesquites.

      Before she could thank Tyler for the ride, he had opened his own door and was already sliding from beneath the wheel.

      “You don’t have to stay,” she assured him.

      “Actually, I do.”

      “Suit yourself.” She walked in front of him, climbed the steps quickly and was about to ring the doorbell when heavy boots clomped through the wet grass to her left.

      Troy Ledger rounded the side of the house and stopped a few feet from the freshly painted wooden steps. She knew it was him from photographs she’d seen, one taken as recently as a few months ago.

      It had appeared along with pictures of this house in some paranormal magazine called Beyond the Grave. Julie had found the article while doing her research on Troy Ledger.

      And here he was, a few feet from her. Tall. Thinning brown hair with touches of gray. Gaunt, with a jagged scar that ran down the right side of his face.

      She started to speak, but Troy was staring at the cowboy who stood a few feet behind her.

      “Tyler.” Troy’s gruff voice cracked on the name.

      “Yeah. It’s me.”

      The tension between the two men left no doubt that they were not strangers.

      And once again, she had talked far too much.

       Chapter Three

      A choking lump in his chest all but cut off Troy’s ability to breathe. Tyler was standing a few feet in front of him. Tyler, his daredevil son who had tried Helene’s patience with his tough and mischievous ways. Tyler who had followed Troy around like a shadow from the day he took his first steps.

      Not one or two awkward steps in the beginning, the way their other sons had learned to walk. No, Tyler had stood and waddled all the way across the kitchen to grab Troy’s leg before he stepped out the back door. Troy had swung him into his arms and taken him with him to the barn.

      At two, when Tyler should have been content riding his jump horse, he’d begged to ride the biggest horse they had. At four, he’d kept up with his older brothers and mimicked all their antics while swinging from the rope at the swimming hole. At six, he’d broken his arm while trying to rescue a kitten from the top of an oak tree. At eight…

      He stopped himself before he dropped into the abyss.

      “Good to see you, son.”

      “I guess I should have called.”

      “No reason to, except that I might not have been struck speechless.”

      “So my showing up like this is not an inconvenience?”

      “It’s…” Troy searched for the right words and settled on the truth. “I’ve been waiting for this day.” He climbed the steps and joined Tyler and his lady friend on the porch, awkward and embarrassed by the onslaught of emotions that were tearing around inside him like crazed cats.

      He’d love to hug his son, but the man staring back at him with the piercing brown eyes seemed all but untouchable.

      Tyler rocked back on his heels and looked around. “Ranch looked good when I was driving in.”

      “Dylan gets a lot of credit for that. He’s running the ranch with me. Fact is, he did it all for the first few weeks after my heart attack. Sean helped, too, until he moved out.”

      “I heard Sean bought his own spread,” Tyler said.

      “Yeah.” Troy wondered if Dylan and Sean knew Tyler was planning this visit. If so, they’d kept it quiet.

      “Sean started a horse farm over in Bandera.”

      “How is that working out for him?”

      “Good. He’s got lots of plans, but he’s getting so many calls to work with and train other folks’ horses, he hardly has time to work with his own. Did you hear he got married?”

      Tyler nodded. “Both him and Dylan.”

      “Right. You have two new sisters-in-law and a step nephew. Family’s growing. Do Sean and Dylan know you’re here?”

      “No. I thought I’d just surprise all of you.”

      “You definitely did that.”

      The silence grew awkward. Troy turned his attention to the woman standing next to Tyler. Nice looking. About Tyler’s age, or maybe younger. No wedding band.

      “I’m Julie,” the woman said.

      “And I’m Troy Ledger. Glad to have you.”

      “I hate to intrude this way.”

      “You’re not intruding at all. Any friend of Tyler’s is welcome here anytime.”

      “Actually, I only met her a few minutes ago,” Tyler said. “I just gave her a lift. She’s here to see you.”

      Troy saw the look that passed between Julie and Tyler, but he couldn’t read it. Could be attraction. Might just be tension that had to do with why she was here to see him. If so, he probably wasn’t going to enjoy the encounter with her. Nonetheless, he wouldn’t let her ruin this moment with Tyler for him.

      “Why don’t we go inside,” Troy offered. “It will be easier to talk in there.”

      He opened the unlocked door and followed them inside. Tyler had changed a lot but somewhere inside, there had to be a trace of the boy Troy remembered. Hopefully they’d reconnect soon and then he’d feel comfortable clapping him on the back or giving him a fatherly punch to the arm or a quick hug.

      But not yet. The past separated them as surely as if they’d been carved apart by a hunter’s knife.

      ONCE TYLER ENTERED THE HOUSE, images seemed to seep from the walls themselves. He and his brothers constructing elaborate Star Wars sets out of Legos that stretched across the entire family room. Watching Scooby-Doo with his brothers while sitting on that same old leather sofa. It was amazing that it had survived when so little from his old life hadn’t.

      Tyler stopped and stared out the window just behind the pine end table. He’d once hit a baseball through that top right pane. He’d dreaded what would happen when his dad came home. But instead of being punished, Troy had been impressed with the hit that had sent the ball sailing over the hedges and mesquite trees and all the way to the house.

      So many good memories overshadowed by the horrifying one. A sick, hollow sensation rolled in the pit of Tyler’s stomach as they passed the stone hearth.

      His brothers Sean and Dylan had found a way to merge the past with the present and face that reality every day. Tyler was pretty sure that he never could, though he’d been younger than them at the time of his mother’s death. Out of the five sons, only Dakota was younger.

      Fortunately, Troy led them straight to the kitchen. He got cold beers for himself and Tyler. Julie opted for water.

      “So exactly how did you two hook up?” Troy asked.

      Julie explained how her car got stuck when she was forced off the road by a truck that had swerved into her lane. She left out the best part. There was no mention of the whip.

      “And the first person to stop was Tyler,” Troy said, once she’d finished her animated description. “Strange, fortunate coincidence, considering you were both on your way to Willow Creek Ranch.”

      “It was, especially when Tyler failed to mention he was your son.” She shot Tyler a quick, accusing glance before turning her attention back to his father. “I’m really glad for this chance to talk to you.”

      “Then we should get down to brass tacks,” Troy said. “But I should warn you that if you’re a reporter, I’ll call you a tow truck and send you