Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch (24 page)

N
ATE ARRIVED
F
RIDAY MORNING
looking pale but steady on his
feet. Daniel sent him with three of the hands out to pick up the dead cattle. The
first truck got stuck in the mud, as did the second he sent to the rescue. Finally,
Nate drove down to Willa’s barn to ask for the loan of a tractor, which pulled
the two trucks back to solid ground and dug a hole big enough to bury the two
dead cows.

After such a
pleasant morning, Daniel wasn’t surprised to see a sheriff’s office vehicle
coming up the road in the middle of the afternoon.

He invited the
sheriff into the house and handed over a glass of lemonade. “Although I suppose
you’d rather go to the barn. I gather Willa called you to report on my
monitoring system.”

Sutton emptied
the glass in three gulps. “Thanks. Yeah, she called. I told her what you’re
doing isn’t against the law as far as I can tell. But I think going after the
rustlers on your own is a lousy idea.”

Daniel set his
glass on the counter. “But it’s not illegal.”

“No. If you
shoot or kill somebody, though, I’ll probably have to arrest you. And the
courts can be tricky about self-defense.”

“This is Texas. Don’t
I have a right to defend my own property?”

Holding up his
hands in a gesture of surrender, the sheriff shook his head. “Ask a lawyer. I’m
just telling you what’s been my experience.”

“Thanks for the
warning.”

“You be sure you
call if you go after them. I’ll arrive in time to pick up the pieces, at
least.”

Daniel grinned.
“That makes me feel better.”

His monitoring
system sounded the alert for the first time on the night of December first. Daniel
was alone in the barn, dozing in the chair, when the warning lights started
flashing and the buzzer sounded. He jerked awake and nearly fell off the chair
before he realized what was going on. A quick look at the diagram on the
computer screen showed him the segment of fence being attacked. Grabbing his
coat and his holster, Daniel headed for his truck. Tonight, he’d get this
problem taken care of once and for all.

Then, maybe, he
could see about getting Willa to forgive him.

True to his
word, he called the sheriff’s office before he left the barn, to report the
theft. Then he drove twenty minutes across the ranch, avoiding huddles of
sleeping cattle, getting in and out of the truck for three separate gates. With
a quarter of a mile to go, he parked the truck and started out on foot, hoping
to avoid any advance warning to the rustlers.

But as he
crested the hill that would give him a good view of the fence, Daniel stopped
in his tracks. The moon shone like a spotlight in the clear night sky, defining
every shape with sharp black lines and illuminating any movement on the
landscape.

He didn’t see a
single cow between himself and the fence line. No cattle trailer, no ATVs
herding animals in that direction. A quiet night on the range stretched to the
horizon on every side.

The fence line
definitely had been cut—he found the broken wire with ease in the bright light.
But when he examined the ground, he felt sure that none of his cattle had been
close to this part of the fence since the Thanksgiving rains. On the outside of
the fence, he found no tracks at all. Were the rustlers taunting him?

Or had somebody
else decided to play games?

T
HE ARGUMENT BEGAN
ON
D
ECEMBER
second, as the children brought the
boxes holding
el nacimiento
—the Mercado family’s elaborate nativity
scene—down from the second floor storage room.

“You must ask
Daniel to the party,” Rosa said in a quiet voice. “How will it look to invite
practically the entire county and leave out your closest neighbor?”

Willa handed her
one of the vases that usually sat on the table under Jamie’s picture and picked
up the other one herself. “I don’t care how it looks. Let’s take these to the
kitchen.”

When she
returned, Lili was spreading a gold brocade cloth over the table. “Nate will be
coming.” She smoothed an imaginary wrinkle. “And all of Daniel’s hands are
related to ours in some way or the other. They’ll be here. How can we not have
Daniel at the
posada,
too?”

Willa waited
until the children had gone back upstairs for the rest of the boxes. Then she
faced her aunts. “Let me make this very clear. I explained what he’s done and
told you why I can’t trust him. I will not put my children or myself through
more of the kind of pain we’ve endured these past two years. That means I can’t
have anything to do with Daniel Trent. You may have your
posada
with
Toby, Susannah, Roberto and me in the house…or him. That’s the only choice.”

She thought the
decision should be fairly easy. But over the course of the afternoon, as the
family set out the elaborate hand-built stand, the antique figurines and
accessories that had been collected over generations, Rosa and Lili continued
to make pointed comments.

“You would think
he was Lucifer himself.” Rosa sniffed as she placed the traditional figure of
the devil in his dark cave on the back corner of the table.

“The holiday is
about love,” Lili said simply, as she arranged the angels on the upper levels
of the display.

This was Toby’s
year to place the oldest and most important pieces on the display—the manger
holding the Holy Child, and José and Maria, his parents. When he’d finished, he
looked over his shoulder at Willa, his brown eyes solemn. “Didn’t He tell us to
forgive?”

Willa heard
Robbie snort. She ignored her older son, and put a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “Yes,
He did. But we can forgive someone who hurts us without giving them the
opportunity to do so again.”

That comment
earned sounds of frustration from both aunts and from Susannah.

“I don’t care
what you think,” Willa told the three of them. “Lili, Rosa, if you want to see
him that’s your prerogative. As long as it’s not on Blue Moon land. Don’t bring
him here. And Susannah and Toby will not be going there.” She knew she didn’t
have to tell Robbie. “Is that understood?” The children nodded. The aunts
looked mulish.

“Good. Now, what
about those tamales I can smell cooking in the kitchen?”

For the next two
weeks, they prepared for the party—the aunts always insisted on making all the
food themselves while Willa and the children got the house ready. The tradition
of the
posada
recalled the journey of José and Maria to Bethlehem,
searching for a place in which the Holy Child could be born. The Mercados had
been hosting a
posada
at the Blue Moon for at least a century…even the
year after Jamie’s death, they’d held a quieter version of the annual event. This
year, Willa had hoped to enjoy herself thoroughly, dancing and singing the
festive songs of the season and introducing Daniel to her family’s customs.

Instead, she
would be alone. Again.

On Saturday the
fourteenth, the day of the party, she and the kids strung lights in the trees
around the house and along the top of the courtyard wall. In the courtyard
itself, Toby and Robbie hung piñatas—hollow papier-mâché donkeys filled with
candy and small presents—at a variety of heights for children of different ages
to bat with a stick until the piñata broke open and treats scattered all
around. Susannah set candles and pots of brilliant-red poinsettias on the small
tables arranged around the fountain. Willa made sure there were plenty of adult
refreshments and that her aunts stopped cooking long enough to don their party
dresses.

At six, the
family gathered in the courtyard as they always did for the official “lighting
ceremony.” Toby and Robbie plugged in the extension cords for the electric
lights, while Susannah, Lili, Willa and Rosa lit the candles. Then they all
stepped back to admire the effect. Susannah gasped in pleasure.

Toby pumped his
fist in the air. “Awesome!”

“Pretty cool,”
was Robbie’s assessment.

“Beautiful!”
Rosa clapped her hands. “This is the prettiest I think I’ve ever seen it.”

Lili dabbed at
her eyes. “Father would have been proud.” She slipped an arm around Willa’s
waist. “Jamie, too.”

Willa nodded.
“It looks wonderful.” She turned to hug her aunts and then her kids. “You’ve
all done a terrific job. Now let’s enjoy the party!”

The guests would
start arriving any minute. Her family scattered to their final tasks, leaving
her in the cool evening air by herself for a moment. Reluctantly, she looked
north, up the road, as if she could see Daniel’s house, two miles away. What
was he doing tonight? Had he put her out of his mind? Why couldn’t she do the
same?

Out beyond the
courtyard wall, a car door slammed and then another. With a heavy heart, Willa
turned to greet her friends. Maybe she couldn’t have a good time, but she would
make sure that everyone else did.

A
S HE SAT IN HIS
BARN OF
FIC
E ON
Saturday night, Daniel could have sworn he
heard music and laughter coming up the hill from the Blue Moon ranch. Not
really, of course. Those sounds wouldn’t carry this distance. But he could
imagine the house all decked out for the party—a
posada,
Nate said they
called it. Daniel could imagine Willa in that blue dress she’d worn to the
Cattlemen’s Ball, with her hair pinned up and her eyes shining brightly as she
danced and enjoyed herself.

And here he was,
holed up alone in his one-man crusade to…what? Protect his property? Secure
justice?

Or was he hoping
to prove—to Willa, to himself—that he was equal to the role he’d taken on?

For that, he
would need the cooperation of the rustlers. They would need to show up, cut
through his fence and steal his cattle so he could catch them in the act. But
in the weeks since he’d installed his system, his cattle had stayed where they
belonged, which was a victory, of sorts. Except for the false alarms.

Three times in
the past two weeks, his fence had been cut. The alarm had sounded and he’d
headed out to the site…only to come up short. No cattle missing, no evidence of
rustling. He was beginning to feel like a character in a children’s story—
The
Boy Who Cried Wolf.
After Hobbs Sutton had shown up the first two times but
the rustlers hadn’t, Daniel had stopped calling. No man liked being shown for a
fool in front of his romantic rival.

He had a feeling
Rob Mercado was sneaking out at night to torment him. He could probably have
proved it if he tried. But the tricks were relatively harmless, although they
cost him extra work and some lost sleep. Mostly, he didn’t want to cause Willa
more trouble. The boy would get tired of the game when no one reacted.

Which was why,
when the alarm went off at midnight, Daniel considered ignoring it. What better
cover for a Saturday night prank than the big party going on at the Blue Moon? Rob
would figure that his mother wouldn’t miss him with so many people in the
house. He could slip out to the barn, saddle Tar and ride off without being
seen, then ease back into the crowd an hour later with no one the wiser. Including
Daniel.

Then again,
maybe this was the rustlers’ golden opportunity. Maybe they figured Daniel was
at the party, and they had all night to load cattle and take them away. Maybe
they’d be a little careless, thinking they couldn’t get caught.

Prepared for
rustlers but expecting another false alarm, Daniel decided to ride Calypso to
check out the fence rather than take the truck. The monitor showed the fence
break in the pasture closest to the barn, so they’d have an easy trip out. Another
bright moon would keep them both safe.

Fifteen minutes
later, as he watched men in black clothes use ATVs to drive his cattle toward a
hole in the fence, Daniel discarded all thoughts of safety. He counted three of
them doing the herding. Add maybe two more at the truck. The odds weren’t
great, but he’d succeeded against worse.

About to kick
Calypso into action, Daniel realized that he could get plenty of help at
Willa’s tonight—Nate and his hands, probably Hobbs Sutton and half the
sheriff’s deputies would be at the party. The rustlers had several hours of
work ahead of them, herding the cattle through the fence and loading them into
the truck. Daniel could bring a posse back with him in plenty of time.

Grinning, he turned
his horse and set off at a jog. Willa would get what she wanted—he was playing
by her rules. Hell, she could even come along and help them catch the bad guys.
She was a better shot than most of the men, anyway.

Riding across
the open range, Daniel didn’t see the sixth man on the rustler’s crew, the one
they’d posted as lookout. And he didn’t hear the crack of the rifle shot until
after the bullet slammed into him from the left rear, knocking him clean out of
the saddle.

B
Y
1:00
A.M., THE
POSADA
HAD
wound down to a few good friends
and family enjoying their fruit punch on the front terrace under a brilliant
moon.