Sherryl Woods - After Tex

“I don’t suppose I could if I wanted to. This is who I am and, thank goodness, Johnny loves me for it.” She paused and studied Megan carefully. “You’ve changed, though.”

“How?” Megan asked, expecting her to say something about the expensive highlights in the sophisticated, yet casually short hairstyle that had replaced the ponytails of her youth. Or maybe something about the elegant clothes that were a far cry from the worn-out blue jeans and frayed cotton shirts she had once favored.

“You’re warier,” Peggy said thoughtfully. “Jake’s responsible for that, I suppose. It must have come as a shock to find him here. I know everyone in town was certainly stunned when he came back. Then he and your grandfather got to be thick as thieves at the end, no pun intended, and no one knew what to make of it. To give the devil his due, Jake’s still the handsomest thing walking around Whispering Wind.

“Not that I’d trade my Johnny,” she added hurriedly. “No, indeed. Johnny’s a man you can rely on. No surprises. Jake Landers is the kind of man who can break a woman’s heart, but who would know that better than you?”

“That was a long time ago. Jake Landers means nothing to me now,” Megan said firmly. “Nothing.”

Peggy looked startled by her vehemence, then a slow grin spread across her face. “Oh, my, so that’s the way it is, is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Megan insisted, despite the heat she could feel climbing into her cheeks.

Peggy went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Of course, he’s a respected lawyer now. I suppose it could work. And Tex isn’t around to stand in your way—”

“Enough!” Megan interrupted. “I am not the least bit interested in Jake. That was over and done with a very long time ago. He stole Tex’s cattle, for heaven’s sake. How could I give two figs about a man who would betray my grandfather that way after Tex had brought him out here and given him work?”

Peggy regarded her oddly.

“What?” Megan asked.

“He didn’t do it,” Peggy said. “Surely you knew that.”

She sounded so confident, so sure of her facts that Megan was taken aback. “Jake didn’t steal the cattle? Are you sure?”

“Well, of course I am. I can’t believe you didn’t know that.” Peggy shook her head. “No, I take that back. It makes perfect sense. Tex certainly wouldn’t tell you. Not only was he a man who never cared for admitting a mistake, but he wouldn’t have wanted you running straight back to Jake. I always wondered if he didn’t have something to do with those charges being trumped up in the first place, but then I couldn’t imagine a man as upstanding as Tex O’Rourke doing such a low-down thing.”

“Peggy, what are you talking about?” Megan demanded, cutting into the rambling monologue.

“There were no stolen cattle,” Peggy said succinctly.

“Of course there were. Why else—”

“No, it was all some huge mistake. Or so they claimed once the dust settled. That’s why your grandfather paid for Jake to go to college and law school, to make up for midjudging him.”

“Tex paid for Jake’s education?” Megan repeated, stunned.

“Every penny.”

“And the cattle were never stolen.” She couldn’t seem to grasp the implications of that.

“Nope. They’d just wandered off to some other pasture, according to the story that came out eventually. They were grazing a few miles up the mountain, happy as could be.”

“He never said a word,” Megan whispered. “Not one word.”

“Who, Tex?”

“No. Jake. All these years he’s let me go on thinking the worst of him.”

“What did you expect? The man had his pride. You were supposed to know him better than anybody on earth and you thought he was a thief. Never even had a doubt about it, as far as I can recall. Is it any wonder he never said a word, after the way you let him down?”

The accusation stung, in part because of the truth of it, in part because it was coming from a woman who’d never been a particularly big fan of Jake’s back then. Now Peggy sounded like a blasted cheerleader. Obviously the tide had turned in Whispering Wind.

“I wonder if he’ll ever be able to forgive me,” Megan said, surprised and dismayed to find that it suddenly mattered. All those years of thinking of Jake as the bad guy were nothing more than wasted time and wasted regrets. It was just one more thing to hold against Tex. At this rate, by the time the funeral came along in the morning, Megan was going to be glad to see the sneaky old coot buried.

There was a light dusting of snow on the ground when Tex was finally laid to rest on the hill overlooking his spread of land. A mountain of flowers covered the grave, from the splashy, elaborate arrangements he would have loved to the simple bouquet of daisies that Jake had helped Tess pick out at the florist in town.

All during the service Tess had kept her hand tucked in his while huge, silent tears rolled down her cheeks. He had a feeling it was the only display of genuine emotion in the entire crowd of mourners. Most people were here because it was expected. Some had come out of curiosity, because they wanted to see the hot-shot from New York who’d once lived just down the road.

As for Meggie, she certainly didn’t appear all that broken up. Dry-eyed and coolly competent, she looked as if she were worried about nothing more than catering details, when he knew for a fact her heart had to be breaking. Still, five minutes after the service ended, she was back at the house, issuing orders to the temporary kitchen staff and putting the final touches on an elaborate buffet for the mourners. She did it all with a brisk efficiency that proved entertaining a crowd this size was second nature to her.

As he watched her place steaming platter after steaming platter on the table, Jake couldn’t help wondering what had happened to all the food the neighbors had dropped off in Pyrex dishes covered with foil. Probably not up to her fancy standards.

She stood by the table and frowned at some flaw Jake couldn’t detect. He wandered over to stand beside her.

“Something wrong?”

Megan barely glanced at him. “There’s something missing, but I can’t pinpoint what it is,” she said with evident frustration.

“Nobody’s going to notice if you’ve left off a saltshaker or a serving spoon. They’re coming by to show their support and their sympathy, not to see if Megan O’Rourke can throw a great party,” he reassured her, even though he’d been thinking exactly that about the mourners’ motives earlier.

When she would have protested, he tucked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to his. “Meggie, it’s not a test.”

For a moment tears swam in her eyes. She looked lost and surprisingly vulnerable. “I have to get it right,” she whispered. “For Tex.”

“Then you should have thrown a barbecue and been done with it. That was Tex’s style, Meggie. Not all this fancy silver.”

He’d meant it to be reassuring, but he knew instantly she took it the wrong way. Fire flashed in her eyes.

“Are you saying I’ve gotten this wrong, too? Well, who the hell are you to tell me what my grandfather would or wouldn’t like?” she exploded. “He was my grandfather, dammit. Just because you somehow managed to cozy up to him these last few months doesn’t mean you knew him better than me, Jake Landers. It doesn’t.”

With that she burst into tears and fled to the kitchen. Jake hadn’t intended to goad her into an outburst, but he couldn’t help being glad he’d broken through that tough act she’d been putting on for everyone’s benefit. He was about to follow her when the housekeeper put a hand on his arm.