over the place.
She wiped her sweaty palms down her black pants. Remembering was like scratching an itch. It only made it worse. And the more she remembered the more she hurt. Over and over the memories flooded her until she felt weak and wanted to turn the car around and drive back to Houston. But it had taken her seventeen-plus years to get to this point and she wasn’t backing out now. No matter what awaited her on the other side of those board fences, she was ready to face it.
Just as she decided to drive forward she saw a red pickup headed for the entrance, dust billowing behind it. She was trapped, and waited for someone to recognize her. The truck rolled over the cattle guard and then stopped. The girl inside was talking to someone in the passenger seat.
Leah held her breath. It was her daughter: Eden. No one needed to tell her that. She just knew. Her heart raced as she tried to see every detail of her face.
The two seemed to be arguing and then her daughter drove on, not once glancing her way. Leah was grateful for the distractions of a teenager. She backed up and then followed the red pickup. This might be her only chance to see her daughter. Not that she would introduce herself—she wouldn’t be able to handle all that emotion. Just looking at her would be enough—for now.
The truck turned off Rebel Road and headed toward Horseshoe. Leah followed the truck all the way to the school. It had been a long time since she’d been there, but it still looked the same. The school was in the shape of a horseshoe with red brick halfway up the front of the metal buildings. Grades one through twelve went here when she was younger and she assumed they still did.
More memories surfaced. Falcon and her running to his truck to sneak away for an hour or so. Sitting in the stands, watching him play football and basketball. Wherever he was, she wanted to be. On the weekends, their favorite place was the ranch. They had a special spot on Yaupon Creek hidden back in the woods where they spent many hours making love. A pain shot through her. Why hadn’t their love been enough?
Eden pulled into a parking spot and Leah parked some distance away, just far enough not to be noticed but close enough to see. Looking at her daughter was like looking into a mirror. Her daughter favored Leah, with long dark hair and a slim build. But Leah fervently hoped her daughter had more of a backbone than she ever had.
Eden was talking to the boy and Leah wondered who he was. One of Falcon’s brothers must’ve gotten married and had a son, because he had the dark hair and features of a Rebel. He was maybe ten or eleven. So much had happened since Leah had been gone and she knew she would now be like a stranger to everyone.
Her daughter pulled off her three-quarter-length shirt, revealing a skimpy sleeveless top. The boy pointed a finger at her and Eden said something that evidently was not pleasant, because the boy made a face at her and then ran into the building.
Leah watched as Eden met a boy and they walked into the school together. It was like watching herself. She had done the same thing many times as a teenager. Her aunt believed in modesty and refused to let Leah wear skimpy clothes. The moment Leah made it to school she would remove the long-sleeved blouses.
Kate Rebel must be very strict with Eden. As much as it pained Leah to think it, she knew Kate had raised Leah’s daughter. She couldn’t see Falcon doing it. He was strong, masculine and had a traditional man’s attitude that a woman’s place was in the home.
Kate had finally gotten the daughter she’d always wanted, except Eden wasn’t Kate’s. Eden was Leah’s. But Leah hadn’t been a mother, a real mother, and it was the hardest thing she would ever have to admit. She’d changed, though, and she didn’t know if anyone would believe her, especially Falcon. It didn’t matter whether he did or not. She hadn’t come for forgiveness. She’d come because she could no longer stay away.
She took a deep breath and picked up her phone to call the man she’d once loved with all her heart. She prayed that he would remember some of those times when they had been inseparable. If he’d let himself remember for a moment, maybe he would listen to what she had to say.
But knowing Falcon, he would want her to burn in hell.
A time to meet...
Falcon glanced at the wagon-wheel clock on the wall. He and his mother handled the books for the ranch, and it took a lot of time. More time than he wanted to spend in an office. He’d rather be enjoying the outdoors.
Five years ago they’d built a new barn and made an updated office upstairs. He could see out over Rebel Ranch, but it wasn’t the same as being out there.
His mother got up from her desk. “I’m going to check on the boys. It makes me nervous when they work so close to the McCray property.”
Falcon leaned back in his leather chair. “I’ll catch up with you as soon as Hancock calls. He wants to schedule a day to pick out the Hereford heifers for his ranch. It shouldn’t take long.”
As soon as his mother closed the door, Hancock called and set a date with Falcon. He hung up and the phone immediately rang again. Falcon answered without glancing at the caller ID. “Hello.”
There was silence on the other end. “Hello, is anyone there?”
“Uh...uh... I...”
The voice was female so Falcon thought it was someone looking for Paxton or Elias, which was a regular occurrence. “You’ve reached Rebel Ranch. Who do you want to talk to?”
“Falcon, this is...Leah.”
A line from an Alan Jackson song ran through his mind: “Where were you when the world stopped turning?” For Falcon, everything stopped at that moment. He didn’t care about a buyer wanting heifers or his brothers facing the McCrays. All he could hear was This is Leah.
He’d waited years for this call and now that it had come he was speechless. His nerves tightened like stretched barbed wire and his emotions were hard to contain. Anger, confusion and curiosity held him in a grip. He sucked air into his aching lungs.
“Falcon, are you still there?”
Her voice was just the same, soft with a Southern lilt. She’d been reared in Alabama and she never lost that cadence in her voice. It was sexy as hell, but today it only annoyed him.
“What do you want?”
“I’d like to talk.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the new park in Horseshoe.”
His heart pounded off his ribs in fear. Talking to Leah was the last thing he wanted to do, but she wasn’t far from Eden and he had to make sure she didn’t get any closer. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Hanging up, he took a minute to absorb what had just happened. She was back. Leah was back. It happened so fast he was reeling. There could be only one thing she wanted and that was to see her daughter. And he was going to make sure that never happened. He would not let Leah hurt Eden like she had hurt him. That was his one thought as he ran for his truck.
* * *
LEAH PACED AROUND the park.
