Part 33 (1/2)
”What do you mean?” Summer asked.
He pointed to the letter. ”See here, where she says 'Someday you may see it under your nose'? Bet you everything I've got her hiding place is something you see every day on the ranch, something so commonplace you'd never suspect it of being the key to the puzzle.”
”That's no help!” Summer protested.
”Sure it is,” her father said. ”You just have to go through everything in the Castle piece by piece and look for a sc.r.a.p of paper in a drawer or some film negative in a photograph alb.u.m or a key to a safe-deposit box hidden in an old shoe.”
”That could take forever! The grand jury is being convened Monday.”
”Then you'd better get hopping,” Blackjack said.
”I'll come and help,” Ren offered. She must have seen Summer draw back because she added, ”If you don't mind.”
”Summer will be glad for the help,” Blackjack said.
”Yes, I will,” Summer agreed. After all, her father's life was at stake. ”I'll call Billy and see if he can come over, too.”
Summer offered Ren a ride because she expected the other woman to say she had her own pickup, but to her surprise, Ren accepted. Summer wasn't sure what the two of them would talk about during the drive home. Summer couldn't help thinking of Ren the way her mother had, as the other woman.
”I wanted a chance to speak privately with you,” Ren said, once Summer had her Silverado on the road.
Summer tensed and gripped the wheel tighter. ”Oh?”
”I want us to be friends.”
Summer made a sound that was half snort and half guffaw. ”You've got to be kidding.”
”Not in the least.”
Summer stared at Lauren Creed, appalled at the woman's gall. It took the blare of an oncoming car horn to get her eyes back on the road.
”I can see I've taken you off guard,” Ren said.
”I'll say,” Summer retorted. ”You're the enemy. Why would I want to be your friend?”
”Because I love your father. And we got married this afternoon.”
Summer swerved the pickup onto the shoulder and braked to a skidding stop, killing the engine before it died on its own. She searched for Ren's ring finger, looking for a diamond at least the size of her mother's. But there was no ring at all there, only a bare white s.p.a.ce where a ring used to be.
Ren's hands were settled calmly in her lap. ”Jackson was afraid to tell you. He knows how you feel, and he doesn't want to lose you from his life. But you see, we've loved each other for a very long time, and he wanted to be certain that whatever happens to him, the feud between our families will end with us.”
Summer turned the key and gunned the engine, burning rubber as she accelerated. ”I'm turning around-” She felt Ren's hand on her arm and jerked free, nearly running the pickup off the road before she stopped again. Her chest was heaving, her stomach rolling.
”We've had papers drawn up to merge Three Oaks and Bitter Creek,” Ren said into the silence.
Summer dropped her forehead with painful force onto the steering wheel. She would have made some exclamation of shock or dismay, except her throat had closed so tight she couldn't speak. She lifted her head and stared at the other woman, the blood pounding in her temples, her whole body shaking.
”You might wonder why I'm telling you all this now, instead of waiting to give you this news when I'm with your father. The truth is, his heart isn't as strong as he wants you to believe. I couldn't take the chance that you'd upset him.”
”Upset him?” Summer croaked. ”How could he? How could you both?”
”We love each other. We wanted the feud to end.”
”You think this is going to stop it?” Summer asked incredulously.
”There's nothing left to fight over,” Ren said. ”The land now belongs to all our children equally, the profits to be paid in even shares.”
Summer asked the question that was of primary interest to her. ”Who's going to run Bitter Creek?”
”Sam will continue running the cutting horse operation at Three Oaks. Your father will manage things at Bitter Creek, presuming he's cleared of the murder charges against him.”
”And if he isn't?”
”We haven't considered that alternative.”
Summer was still dazed. Still unable to absorb Ren's revelations.
”Maybe I should drive,” Ren suggested.
”I can manage.” Summer reached up with a shaking hand to turn the key in the ignition. She checked the sideview mirror, glanced over her shoulder as she'd been taught, then merged slowly and carefully onto the two-lane road.
”I'm sorry this has come as such a shock to you,” Ren said.
”Just not sorry enough to leave my father alone,” Summer said bitterly.
”As I said, we've loved each other for a long time. I know it's difficult for you-”
”You bet it is!”
”I thought since you've fallen in love yourself, you might understand. You don't choose who you love. And you can hide your feelings, but they never really go away.”
”I don't need a lecture from you,” Summer said. But she understood exactly what Ren was saying. Summer hadn't been able to love anyone but Billy Coburn. And she would love him till the day she died, whether he loved her back or not.
Understanding helped, but it wasn't the same thing as acceptance. Acceptance was going to take a little longer. In the meantime, Summer couldn't bring herself to be openly rude to Ren, not now that she was Blackjack's wife.
When they arrived at the Castle, Ren followed her inside without a word. Summer turned to her and said, ”Why don't we go upstairs to start? You can work in Trace's bedroom. I need to call Billy.”
Summer used the phone in her own bedroom, closing the door so Ren wouldn't hear if she broke into tears on the phone. ”My father married Lauren Creed this afternoon,” she wailed as soon as Billy answered.
”I guess we should have seen it coming,” he said. ”I have to admit I never thought they'd go through with it.”
”Ren said they've drawn up papers merging Three Oaks and Bitter Creek.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
”Did you hear what I said?”
”I heard. Where does that leave you?”
Without anything, Summer thought. What she said was, ”I don't know. I wondered if you have time to come over and... and help with the search.”