As she walked, she remembered the original Big Upheaval. That was when she’d sat her parents down one day in the family room and told them that she was pregnant by a man at college.
Then she’d braced herself for their barrage of questions. Yes, they eloped to Vegas. No, she wasn’t going to tell them his name, but he was out of the picture. Yes, she would raise their grandson alone if she wasn’t welcome at home. Yes, she’d filed for divorce.
The fact that she purposely said the word grandson had mellowed J.W. considerably. Telling him that she was going to name the boy John Wayne Duke after him had J.W. purring like a kitten.
Laura had told them point-blank that she’d move and take Johnny away if they tried to find Johnny’s father—that he wasn’t in the picture at present.
But they still brought it up from time to time, and always a fight ensued.
She’d given serious thought to moving away from Duke Springs after one nasty fight with her parents that had to do with her getting support for Johnny from the man they referred to as her “college husband.” Even though they believed he had run out on her, they insisted that he should be held responsible.
She told them adamantly that she wasn’t going to pursue financial support and that she could provide for Johnny herself. Even when J.W. ordered her to give up his name so he could sic his lawyers on her “college husband,” Laura kept reiterating that she didn’t want to talk about it, or that she would move and take Johnny with her.
That never failed to quiet them down—for a while, at least.
Finally, after a particularly overwhelming fight, she’d made up a name with more vowels than consonants, and said that Johnny’s father had moved to Dubai, that he wanted Johnny and her to move there to live with him.
Her parents had never brought the subject up again.
Laura stopped and looked around at the extensive Duke Ranch that went on as far as the eye could see. Little did her parents know, she could never take Johnny from them now. The little guy would miss his horse, miss the beautiful pool, the big playground made just for him and the ranch hands that just adored him. She could never take him away from her parents, from Georgianna and Cindy and now Cody.
Cody had yet to meet Johnny.
She wiped the moisture off her face with a handkerchief, took a breath and resumed her walk to the barn. To escape the tension at home and the tension churning inside her, she visited Georgianna and Cindy Masters as much as she could. It was calm at the Double M, like shelter in the middle of a storm.
* * *
As Laura turned right to the path that led to the barn, she had to admit yet again that the Duke Ranch was breathtaking in size and scope. It was surrounded by several mountain ranges, and she loved the huge saguaros that lifted their arms to the sky. She loved the lumpy prickly pear cactus with their red berries on top and the coo of the mourning doves.
The horses and cattle that dotted the hills and valleys of the ranch were prime stock, and she enjoyed looking at them.
She thought she’d seen Cody go behind the barn. Maybe, just maybe, they could have a quick conversation. She hurried down the path, watchful of her mother and father.
She needed to see him, touch him and run her fingers through his pitch-black hair that was a bit too long. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin and feel safe and secure in his arms once again. She wanted to breathe in the special scent that was his and his alone.
It had been a long three years.
When the judge gave him five years for involuntary manslaughter, Laura gasped. Cody turned to her and said that he’d be all right.
Then she’d hurried to the ladies’ room and vomited.
Walking around to the back of the barn, she saw Cody. He was just...pacing.
He must have sensed that someone was near, as he whirled around, poised for fight or flight.
“Laura?” he whispered. “Damn, don’t sneak up on me like that!” He dropped his hands, hands that probably had defended him in prison. “Laura, I’m so sorry...”
Tears sprung to her eyes. “Cody. I—I... You— I...”
“I’ve missed you, too.” They always could finish each other’s sentences. “How’ve you been? You look...even more beautiful than...”
“I wish you would have let me visit you.”
“I didn’t want you to see me in there.”
Laura couldn’t wait any longer. She ran toward Cody, and he enveloped her in his strong arms.
Finally!
“Aw...don’t cry.”
“I’ve missed you, Cody. So very much.”
“What about your husband?”
She went stiff in his arms. “How do you know about him?”
“It seems to be common knowledge among the ranch hands.”
“I don’t want to talk about that now, Cody. Just hold me.”
“And you have a son?”
She moved back, out of his arms. She wanted to talk about her son, but not just yet; she just wanted Cody to hold her, to get to know him again. “His name is Johnny.”
“Johnny.” Cody nodded. “What’s his last name?”
“Johnny Duke. I named him Duke.”
“Did his father like that?”
“His father wasn’t around when he was born, so I gave him my last name.”
“I see.”
“Cody, I have so much to tell you.”
He looked at the mountains in the distance as if lost in his own thoughts. “I told you not to wait for me, but I was hoping you would.”
“Let’s not talk about that now.” She touched his arm. “Let’s meet. Usual place. Usual signal. Tonight. Okay?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Johnny and I are living in a cottage that’s to the left of the main house. The window on the right will be our signal now.”
Their sign was always the half-open shade of her right bedroom window in the main house.
Actually, since the date he was sentenced, she’d never pulled the shade down on her bedroom in her cottage again. It was always raised because she was always waiting for Cody.
She’d have to be careful. She didn’t want her parents, especially J.W., to find out that she was meeting him. It would be a disaster.
Besides, she didn’t want to give her father any reason
