31
About midmorning on Monday, FedEx delivered an envelope to Tess from Dylan Tapley. She carried it, unopened, to the front porch of the house. Gabe was working with Jason today, putting in long hours harvesting wheat. She doubted Gabe would drop by, but one could never be certain. She didn’t want to be surprised if he decided to come by the house while on a quick trip to Bryant’s, a small market halfway between here and town, for drinks and snacks. Despite what she had said about him having a right to know everything having to do with the stables, she hadn’t been totally forthcoming with the shameful financial losses she’d suffered over the past few years.
Pride had taken her down that road, and in recent months she had swallowed huge helpings of the nasty dish.
Money hadn’t been Tess’s motive for agreeing to Amy’s request for riding lessons, but the extra cash would be a godsend. Jonah and the Sullivan girls had loved riding on Abner the evening Gabe took the stagecoach over to Misty Willow. Maybe Amy would bring them for lessons too. This could be just the boost Tess needed to revive the stables.
She closed her eyes and allowed the indulgence of her daydream to refresh her spirit. If Jonah did well at his lessons, Brett could easily be persuaded to buy his son a horse, which he would naturally board at Whisper Lane. AJ and Shelby might do the same for their girls. Two boarders would lead to more, and Tess’s days would be filled once again with the work she loved most.
A honk stirred her from her dreams, and she automatically waved at the neighbor driving by.
Lost in her hopes, she’d almost forgotten about the envelope. Despite Tapley’s behavior during his earlier visit, she guessed he was renewing his offer. Letting go of her pie-in-the-sky daydreams, she turned her thoughts to the present. Hopefully Tapley’s new offer would be a generous one.
As hard as it would be to sell this place, she didn’t have a choice. Not really. Tapley had already offered more than the appraised value, so she was certain no one else would match his price. She might not like the man, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take his money.
Perhaps she could find a small house in town. Gabe could live with her while he figured out what to do with his life. It wouldn’t be what either of them wanted, but it would be a fresh start for them both.
She slid the documents from the envelope and skimmed the first page. Tapley still wanted the stables—she’d been right about that—but his offer was less than it had been before. Starting at the beginning, she read the page more carefully while her throat tightened in an odd sensation of embarrassment and hopelessness.
By the time she reached the end, her heart was palpitating. How could this be? Why would he think she’d say yes to this new offer when she’d refused a higher one?
“He’s punishing me,” she said aloud. Most likely for telling him no, since he was obviously a man who didn’t like to be thwarted. Or perhaps it was because Gabe dropped the cigar stub in his driver’s lap. He shouldn’t have done it, though they’d both laughed about it later that evening. Still, it had been an insult. And one thing you could say about a man who didn’t like to be thwarted—he despised being insulted.
Whatever the reason, now Tess would pay the price, losing out on tens of thousands of dollars because she’d allowed sentiment and pipe dreams to cloud her judgment. As much as she hated the idea, she knew what she had to do. The time had come to let go of the past and figure out a new future.
She’d counter with the amount Tapley had originally proposed, then see how the negotiations played out. But she wouldn’t tell Gabe until the price was settled. Then it would be too late for him to talk her out of the deal.
This was the best thing for both of them. He might not see it now, but in time he would. Her mind made up, she returned the documents to the envelope and locked it in her safe. As she set the dial to one, her hand froze. She gazed from the safe to her computer.
If Tapley was behind the break-in, then the information on her Excel worksheet had told him all he needed to know about her financial situation. How desperate she was despite her bravado. He only needed to wait. She’d either sell to him or lose everything in foreclosure.
She slid to the floor and laid her head upon her knees. Her heart pounded an unsteady rhythm, and for a moment she couldn’t catch her breath.
“I failed you, Rusty,” she murmured. She yearned to feel her husband’s work-hardened arms around her, to hear him whisper words of comfort. “I failed us all.”
Amy stroked Daisy’s long nose and held out a handful of treats. Now that she was here, the long-forsaken scents of horse, leather, and saddle soap returned her to summer days of riding around this paddock on Marigold, Daisy’s mother. Perhaps it would be like riding a bike. They said you never forgot how. Still, Amy was nervous as she stood beside the buckskin mare.
“I remember your mama,” she murmured as Daisy snuffed her, testing her scent and confidence. “We used to ride all over this farm. You and I can do the same in a week or two. If we get along okay. And I think we will.”
Daisy nodded as if she agreed, and Amy laughed.
Tess went over a few basics, and Amy felt her confidence soar. She could do this. The saddle creaked as she mounted, then pressed the balls of her feet against the stirrups. Her thigh muscles ached slightly as she touched Daisy’s side with her heels. The mare quickly settled into a steady walk around the training arena.
“Heels down, keep them back,” Tess called. “Now relax your shoulders. Give through your elbows.”
Amy paid close attention to Tess’s infrequent instructions as she maneuvered Daisy around various obstacles and over low jumps.
“I’m not sure why you thought you needed lessons,” Tess said when Amy dismounted. “You’re still a natural. How did it feel?”
“Like . . .” Amy paused a moment. “Coming home.”
“I understand that.” Tess averted her gaze, staring out over the land. “This isn’t much of a place, really. But I sure do love it.”
The tone in her voice caught Amy’s attention. Maybe she should have said something before now. What would Tess, or even worse, what would Gabe say, if they knew she knew someone wanted to buy this property?
But what good would it have done? Dylan needed to find other land, that was all there was to it. Tess’s acreage wasn’t enough for what he had planned, and nothing he could do would persuade AJ to sell the cottage property. She just needed to come up with a way for Logan to direct Dylan into a different project. Maybe Brett would have a couple of ideas.
“Do you think Gabe will stay?” Amy asked, surprising herself with the question. It was one she often pondered, but she hadn’t meant to ask.
“I’d like him to. And he knows he can as long as . . .” Tess set her jaw and avoided Amy’s gaze.
“As long as what?”
“Nothing to bother you with.”
Amy’s senses went on full alert. Dylan must have already approached Tess. But surely she wasn’t considering his offer. “Tess, please, tell me what’s wrong. I might be able to help.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think much of me. Do you?”
Tess pressed her lips together but didn’t answer. Amy inwardly sighed. She knew better than to ask a question when she didn’t want to know the answer. But Tess’s feelings about her weren’t an issue she wanted to pursue right now. It was more important to find out if Dylan had contacted her. Puzzle pieces clicked in her brain, presenting a despicable but plausible picture.
“Gabe told me about the break-in. Do you have any idea who it was?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Tess scratched Daisy’s ear, then rubbed her neck. “Let’s head back to the barn. You remember the rule. You ride, you groom. Besides, I need to check on Knight Starr.”
“How is he?”
“Back on his feet, thanks to the transfusion Flint gave him over the weekend.”
“I’m glad.”
“Me too.”
Amy led Daisy across the lane toward the stable entry. She meant what she said about Knight Starr, but Tess couldn’t distract Amy by talking about the horse. Obviously Tess wasn’t going to voluntarily admit to anything. Amy might as well take the direct approach.
“May I ask you something?”
“Of course. But I reserve the right not to answer.”
“Fair enough.” Amy halted by the gate and faced Tess. “Do you know a man named Dylan Tapley?”
Tess’s surprised reaction gave Amy the answer she needed.
“He’s offered to buy Whisper Lane. Hasn’t he?”
“Did Gabe tell you?”
“No. Logan Cassidy did.”
“That young man you were with at the bridge?”
Amy nodded. “Please tell me you aren’t going to sell this place to Dylan. He’ll only ruin it.”
“It’s not that I want to.” Tess leaned an arm against the top rail of the fence. “But unless I can figure out a way for it to make money again, I don’t have a choice.”
“But you can’t sell to Dylan. He’ll destroy everything that’s important to you.” And to me.
“How do you know Tapley?”
“He was my client once.” Amy took a deep breath. “He considered buying Misty Willow.”
“Is that when you sued AJ?”
“Yes.” Amy sighed in frustration. That lawsuit was like an albatross around her neck, and everyone seemed to know about it. “If I could take that back . . .”
Tess gave her a sympathetic look. “I’d say in that case everything worked out for the best.”
“At least AJ and Shelby are happy,” Amy spouted, then held her gaze steady. Tess wasn’t going to distract her with any rabbit trails. “Tell me about your conversations with Dylan.”
“He made an offer,” Tess said. “I was seriously considering it but then Gabe contacted me about coming here after his release. So I didn’t give Tapley an answer until he showed up a few weeks ago. Gabe didn’t like his attitude and he sent him away.”
“I wish I could have seen that.”
“Tell you the truth, it was funny.”
“I’m so glad you’re not selling,” Amy said as relief eased the tension that had been building inside her. “Without Whisper Lane, there’s no need for him to go after the cottage.”
“Wait a minute,” Tess said. “Tapley wants the cottage? Why?”
“Not just the cottage. He wants all the land Gran owned plus any of the Misty Willow acres that aren’t protected by the foundation.”
“How do you know this?”
“Logan told me the entire plan. It’s ridiculous, of course, but Dylan’s stubborn. And vindictive.”
“Maybe you should know . . .” Tess hesitated, took a deep breath, then continued. “He sent me a second offer. I received it this morning.”
“But you won’t take it.” At Tess’s hesitation, Amy widened her eyes. “You’re not going to, are you?”
“I need to think about my future, Amy. And Gabe needs to think about his. Neither of us have the capital to turn things around here.” Tess flung out her arm, encompassing the entire property in one large swoop. “But Tapley does. He’ll make it a showcase. A horse in every stall, whitewashed fences, a seeded pasture. He’s even talking about building a small grandstand near the paddock. Whisper Lane will become the stables Rusty and I always dreamed of, even if we’re not the ones making the dream come true.”
Amy shook her head in exasperation. This could not be happening. “I’m surprised he’s keeping the stables. Though I guess it could be a draw for some of the residents.”
“What residents?”
“The residents who build here.”
“No one’s going to build here,” Tess said. “Tapley wants a working horse farm. To raise and train racing stock.”
“No he doesn’t.”
“I saw the plans.”
More puzzle pieces attached to the picture in Amy’s head. It was brilliant, really.
“Dylan wants to build a mixed-use development here,” she said. “Houses, condos, retail shops, and restaurants. He knew you wouldn’t sell to a developer—”
“Of course I wouldn’t.”
“So he lied to you. Once all the documents are signed and the deal is done, he’ll revert to his original plan. Believe me, he has absolutely no interest in training horses.”
“But the county would never let him build something like that here. This land is zoned agriculture. It’s protected.”
“Until someone gets a variance. He’s got the clout and the money to do that. In fact, I’m pretty sure he already has at least one county commissioner on his payroll.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. At least not for certain.” Amy had made a point of chatting with each of the commissioners at the Heritage Celebration and was researching their voting records and campaign donations. But she didn’t want to make premature accusations.
“That seems farfetched. Even for Tapley.”
“Why would I lie to you, Tess? He’ll get Whisper Lane, and then he’ll go after AJ’s property.”
“Are you sure this Logan knows what he’s talking about?”
“I’m positive.”
Tess scrutinized her expression, then nodded knowingly. “Of course, you do. You’re dating him.”
“We’ve gone out a few times.”
“What about Gabe?”
Amy squirmed under Tess’s harsh gaze. But she could hardly tell Tess she was in love with her nephew.
“And here I thought . . .” Tess made a disgusted sound. “Does Gabe know you’re seeing someone else?”
“Gabe is seeing someone else too.”
“No,” Tess said firmly, “he’s not. He loves you.” She clammed up, apparently horrified by what she’d just said.
“Ellen is his cousin’s widow.”
Then why didn’t he say so? Why didn’t I ask?
Holding on to her exasperation, Amy fired up a retort. “He seems to be fond of her.”
“He is. But not like that.”
Not trusting herself to speak, Amy grasped Daisy’s halter and led her to the stables. Tess hadn’t meant to say that Gabe loved her, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. But if he did, why hadn’t he told her?
The answer was plain—he might love her, but he didn’t like the person she’d become. His love was based on a childhood crush. That was all. Perhaps she should forget her crazy plan.
As she brushed Daisy’s soft beige coat, she imagined how it would be. The two of them riding back to the Hearth as they had as teens. Pulling out the loose stone and removing the tin box they’d hidden there. Opening it up to reveal its secret contents.
She’d give him the arrowhead, slipping it into his hand as he had slipped it into hers at her parents’ memorial service. He’d be surprised to find it in their keepsake box. She’d tell him how she’d come back here before leaving for college. That the Hearth was the safest place she knew to keep the most precious thing she owned.
The arrowhead he had given to her on the saddest day of her life.
A strange gift, but nothing could have been more meaningful.
She’d ask him if he remembered when they found it. And of course he would say yes. And then, there at the Hearth, he would kiss her like he had all those years ago.
She slightly smiled. No, not quite like that. They were adults now, and the kiss would be more than the tentative touch of two adolescents.
How she cherished the memory of that first kiss.
How she longed for the second.
If he kissed her again, she’d never kiss anyone else as long as she lived. First and last—that would be their story.
If he truly loved her.
And if he would have her again.
Tess stood by the fence, reluctant to follow Amy into the barn. All the things Amy had said about Tapley’s plans—they couldn’t be true. Could they?
The misgivings Tess felt toward the man made it easier to trust Amy than to trust him. Especially since she hadn’t been able to shake her suspicion that he’d been behind the break-in.
Besides, Amy was obviously concerned that Tapley intended to acquire more than just Whisper Lane. Though he must be exceedingly deluded if he expected to snatch the Sullivan property from under AJ’s nose. The Somers/Sullivan clan weren’t divided anymore—not like they were last year over the Misty Willow homestead. Tess had no doubt that AJ, Amy, and Brett would pool their resources to protect the land that had belonged to their grandmother from Tapley’s development designs.
She seldom yearned for riches, but in this moment, she wished money didn’t have to be a factor in her decisions. Leaning against the fence, she prayed for guidance. At least she intended to. Instead, her thoughts mingled with her prayer, centering on Gabe then Amy and finally her own need to trust in God’s protection from the unscrupulous and deceitful.
A year ago, that was Amy.
But that was not who Amy was now.
The young woman had been stunned speechless when Tess blurted out that Gabe loved her. Had she really believed he was in love with Ellen?
If only.
Tess wishing it were so would never make it happen. Perhaps if Amy wasn’t living across the road, if she and Gabe hadn’t become reacquainted, he could have found happiness with Ellen. But it would have been a second-place kind of happiness. Both of them—all three of them—deserved better.
Feeling a heavenly push, Tess entered the stables and found Amy in the stall, brushing Daisy’s buckskin coat.
Tess leaned over the half-door.
“Gabe and Ellen went to high school together. They dated a few times, but she fell in love with Randy.”
“Poor Gabe,” Amy said dismissively.
Tess ignored Amy’s childish tone. “He moped around for a while, but it wasn’t all that serious. She didn’t break his heart.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I shouldn’t have said what I did out there. But since I did, and since you asked about Ellen, I thought you should know.”
Amy finally faced her, as if testing Tess’s expression for honesty. “Thank you.”
“I want to thank you too. For telling me about Tapley’s plans.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I won’t sell to him.” She’d have to do something, but it wouldn’t be that.
“Will you sell to someone else?”
Tess hesitated, wishing God would tell her what to do. Whom to trust. But she knew that wasn’t the way things usually worked. God speaks through our circumstances, Oswald Chambers had said. Something like that, anyway. What was God saying to her?
Through Gabe, God had given her hope. Through Amy, God had given her a warning.
But a definitive answer still lay outside her grasp.
“I don’t know what I’ll do. Except wait for God to guide me.”
Amy gave her a strange look, which changed to determination. “While you’re waiting, I’m going to pay a little visit to Mr. Dylan Tapley.”
“I want him to know that I know what he’s up to.” Anger fueled her words. “And that he can take his development project somewhere else. No one around here wants that kind of traffic, that kind of disruption to our lives.”
Tess stood back, amazed at the outburst, then laughed. “Our lives?”
“That’s right,” Amy said, obviously annoyed at Tess’s laughter.
“Amy. Have you truly become one of us?”
She paused, grew thoughtful, then smiled. “I suppose I have. Though I never realized I wanted to be until now.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” Tess said. “I remember times when your dad had to bribe you to get you to leave here. Though he had a difficult time coming up with something you wanted more than being on Marigold.”
“Whatever happened to her?”
“I sold her a couple of years ago. It wasn’t easy, but she went to a good home. The family had a teenage girl who adored her. That girl reminded me a lot of you.”
Amy slowly brushed Daisy’s mane, and for a moment, Tess was in the past. A day much like today when Amy, a much younger Amy, brushed Marigold’s mane. Daisy was the spitting image of her mother, and though Amy had matured, her long blonde hair still flowed past her shoulders. Tess blinked, and the younger Amy disappeared.
“I wanted my dad to buy Marigold for my birthday. I thought he was going to, but . . .” She sighed heavily.
“I didn’t know,” Tess said. “Though I suppose I should have suspected.” All these years later, there was no need to tell her that Tess wouldn’t have sold Marigold back then.
“Rusty didn’t tell you?”
Tess arched her eyebrows. “Did Rusty know?”
“He and my dad talked a long time the last time we were here. Before the crash.” Amy gave a small laugh. “I remember sitting on the paddock fence waiting and waiting. It was so hard to be patient, but I didn’t want to interrupt. They were walking beneath the apple trees at the side of the house. All the way home, I wanted to ask Dad what they had talked about, but I didn’t want him to suspect I already knew.”
Tess’s heart jarred inside her chest as the memory came rushing back. She remembered it clearly now, the conversation Rusty had with Mr. Somers, the last conversation they’d had before the plane crash.
It had nothing to do with Marigold.