Wildflower Bride in Dry Creek. Janet Tronstad

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СКАЧАТЬ just because that year guarding her had been the happiest one of his life. He hadn’t had many friends in his life and no one bubbled over with happiness like she did.

      He tried to relax the muscles on his shoulders. The more he thought about it, the more likely he decided it was that Angelina was going to marry that man. She always was skittish about serious relationships. All of her worry about having the man investigated was probably a stalling tactic, just something to allow her some breathing room. It was hard for her to trust men. Her father might not have spent much time with her when she was growing up, but he was unerring in his understanding of her.

      Tyler unclenched his teeth and smiled at her. He’d call her bluff on this one and contact Clyde.

      “I forgot how dry it can be this time of year,” Tyler said, feeling the slight movement of air on his face. “It’s nice though.”

      He glanced over at Angelina and she was looking straight ahead.

      Clumps of scrub grass covered the ground on both sides of his pickup and the prairie spread out into the distance with a few weeds and some tiny wildflowers showing up here and there. He’d guess they were bluebells. Back down the road a piece, he had seen a desert cottontail rabbit, its brown body crouched low beside a fence post. The blue sky faded to white in the heat of the day.

      “There’s not too much breeze coming in for you, is there?” he asked her, suddenly realizing he hadn’t found out if she minded if he kept his window open a little. He might not be in her social class, but he had always tried to have common courtesy. And women worried about their hair no matter how much money they had. “I know it can be dusty.”

      “I drive a convertible,” she replied, turning to him with a quiet smile. Her hair had fallen into place after her ride to town and he hadn’t even seen her pull out a comb.

      “Oh.” He looked down to see if she had a purse with her that might hold a brush of some kind. That’s when he saw she was tapping one foot on the floorboard. It wasn’t loud enough to be heard above the engine, but he knew her well enough to know that any kind of foot tapping was a sure sign she was nervous.

      “I see someone worked on the road out here,” he said as he looked up again. He didn’t know what could be wrong. Maybe she was worried he might misinterpret the funeral she was planning for him. He should assure her that he understood she had done it because she remembered him from the past.

      Before Tyler could say anything, his eyes were drawn down again. He’d always worn cowboy boots, but he marveled at the sparkly footwear Angelina seemed to find. She had tiny leather straps running over her feet and the largest rhinestones he’d ever seen were cinching the pieces together. At least, he hoped they were rhinestones. With her money, he wasn’t sure that they weren’t some kind of rare jewel.

      He reigned in his thoughts and tried to focus. “My father kept calling the county officials about the road before—”

      Angelina’s tapping stopped. Tyler winced. He should have known better than to bring up his father. Not everyone was comfortable being reminded of a man who had been murdered.

      “Not everyone knows that the gravel needs to be just right for these roads,” Tyler pressed on, turning his eyes completely away from her feet and trying to salvage the conversation.

      He could feel Angelina looking at him even though he kept staring ahead.

      “For the road to be bladed,” he continued, set in his course, “it needs at least four inches of rock and clay mixture. If the rocks are too small they get pushed to the side and nothing is left but dried dirt. If they’re too big, they can fly up and hit a car that’s following someone. Not that two cars ever meet up on this road anyway. Our ranch is—I mean, was—the only place out this way. Well, except for the Mitchell place and they didn’t drive the roads much, either. It was just Amy—she was my brother’s girlfriend. Sort of, anyway. And then there was her grandfather and her Aunt Tilly.”

      “I’ve met Amy and Aunt Tilly.”

      Now that he was talking, Tyler realized it was very unusual that a county as poor as this one would have spent money to regrade a gravel road leading to a couple of old ranches, one of them deserted and the other one almost as bad since they hadn’t been farming it much even when he left. There was a barbed-wire fence on both sides of the road and somebody must use that land for grazing, but there still wouldn’t be enough traffic to justify the price of new gravel.

      Then it hit him.

      “You didn’t pay to have the road done, did you?” He turned to Angelina. “I know you’ve invited lots of people out to the ranch, but it’s not worth having the road repaired just so they have a smooth ride in. They’re probably all driving pickups anyway.”

      She had always thrown herself into anything she did, so Tyler couldn’t fault her for that. But he didn’t want his funeral to be one of her charity projects. Just because she had money to burn didn’t mean she should waste any on him. Better she should pick up another stray dog like Prince.

      “I didn’t do anything to the road,” she assured him stiffly.

      “Good.”

      Then Tyler heard her take a deep breath. “About the road—”

      His stomach muscles rolled again.

      “I think your brother did,” she added softly. “Fixed the road, that is.”

      That made him brake to a stop, right there in the middle of the road. A couple of sparrows flew up from the tall grass beside the road and a cloud of dust floated up from his wheels.

      “My brother? Which one?” he asked, joy racing through him as he turned to her. He’d been meaning to call both of his brothers on the telephone. He hadn’t spoken to them for years. They hadn’t been close as boys, but he figured that was because they were each trying to survive their father’s wrath in their own way. “Was it Jake? He left a few phone messages on a number I had given him, but I was overseas and didn’t get them until a week ago. Of course, it could have been Wade, too, I suppose. He wouldn’t have my number, but he’d call if he could. Wade’s my oldest brother, but Jake’s right behind him.”

      He stopped before he made a blabbering fool of himself.

      “I’m sure they’ll both be happy to hear from you.” She turned to look at him then. Her blue eyes were kind and somewhat earnest. “In fact, they’re at the ranch now.”

      “Here?” Now that was good news, Tyler thought.

      She nodded and hesitated again. “Along with your mother.”

      Tyler was glad he’d already stopped the pickup. He would have run into the ditch otherwise.

      “They let my mother come? Here?” he said, relief flooding him. Then he realized. “Oh, of course—because of the memorial service.”

      He’d heard of prisoners being given a compassionate leave to attend such events. His mother had to be near the end of her sentence anyway. The judge had gone light on her after news of all of his father’s abuse had come out in the trial. Tyler decided it wasn’t so bad to have this whole mix-up if it gave his mother a few days of freedom.

      “I hope the memorial service doesn’t give her a problem with the authorities. Now that I’m СКАЧАТЬ