The Rider Revealed #2
Tim raised his voice, addressing the yard.
“This young lady here,” he said, “saw a lot of the problems that were going on at the ranch, long before anybody else did. She saw people who tended to get left out. She saw the importance of family caring for each other. And she told me about the importance of being able to trust people. I didn’t listen. ”
He shifted in the saddle. “It wasn’t until I heard about the ranch being sold that I realized what an idiot I’d been.
I hadn’t trusted you all to keep my secret.
I was afraid the word would leak out and things would be worse.
And so I’d tried to take on the outlaws single-handed.
As you can see, that did a number on the single hand. ”
He motioned to his arm in the sling, and a giggle escaped Maria.
He looked down at her, his voice lowered, speaking only to her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Please don’t leave. At least until you’ve talked to me.”
His eyes were sincere. Trustworthy, even. And suddenly Maria knew she couldn’t fly off into the sunset tonight. (Well, away from the sunset, since she was going back to Michigan.) She had to talk to Tim first.
“Where?” Maria looked around at the crowded yard of people straining their ears to hear what was going on.
“Meet me in fifteen minutes down by the trout pond,” Tim said.
“Fifteen minutes,” Maria repeated.
Tim straightened up. “Thank you all for listening,” he said. “I’m gonna put this horse away before I bust the stitches in my shoulder. You all might wanna get seconds of that barbecue—it smells amazing.”
He rode off, Maria’s eyes following him.
Fifteen minutes. She wasn’t going to sit here for fifteen minutes.
She would burst from excitement and wonder.
While everyone else erupted into hubbub discussing Tim and Neil and the whole situation, Maria picked up the rose Tim had given her and slipped into the ranch house.
She went to sit in the family room, looking out the window, trying to process this new turn of events.
She’d been trying to put Tim out of her mind, and here he was again, reformed and wanting to make up with her. What would she say to him?
She’d never gotten to yell at him for pretending to be two different people. She didn’t feel like yelling anymore. But she did want some answers.
Did she look all right? Maria went to the nearest bathroom and checked her hair. She’d worked all day, and her ponytail was coming loose, strands of ash-brown hair falling in her face. Tim wanted to meet with a person who looked like that?
She had time to fix her hair. Maria let it down and twisted it into a French braid. Hopefully it looked all right from the back—this bathroom didn’t have a three-way mirror. She felt it carefully, and nothing seemed to be sticking out.
She checked her watch. It had been ten minutes. She’d better go down to meet Tim. What were those butterflies in her stomach? She’d talked to Tim plenty of times.
Maria closed the house door behind her and walked down to the trout pond.
Tim’s white truck was driving up from the lower buildings. He must have put his horse away. Maria sat on the log by the pond and waited.
Tim stopped the truck and jumped out, steadying himself with his good arm. Goodness, even when injured, that man was an athlete. Maria went to meet him.
There he was, tall and blonde and handsome, and Maria couldn’t think of a single word to say. Thankfully, Tim jumped into the conversation first.
“Can you forgive me?” he asked. “I should have told you who I was. I wanted to tell you.”
“You lied to me,” Maria said. “Pretending to be two different people.”
His brow furrowed. “I was careful not to tell any direct lies,” he said. “I deceived you—and I’m sorry for that—but I didn’t lie outright.”
“What about when you said you’d talked to the Montana Rider before?”
“I talk to myself all the time.” Tim’s eyes were apologetic. “I promise I didn’t enjoy keeping that secret from you. It was awkward. Especially when I got the idea that you had a crush on the Montana Rider.”
Maria’s cheeks flamed. “How’d you know?”
“See, I knew you were obsessed with secret identities.” He grinned now. “You and Savannah both read too much Zorro. It was maddening. You wouldn’t go out with me. But you just loved the Montana Rider.”
Oh, that must have been awkward. Especially when Maria had refused the coffee date with Tim.
She giggled. “The Montana Rider could have swept me off my feet.”
“I didn’t want you to like the Montana Rider,” Tim said. “It was just a persona. If you didn’t like me, not in disguise, it was no use.”
“Is that why the Montana Rider told me to stop going around in the dark, and said it didn’t matter whether I saw him again?”
Tim nodded. “I thought the Montana Rider had better stop interacting with you,” he said. “I didn’t want both of us to get hurt.”
Even though he could have led her on as the Rider, he didn’t. He didn’t want her to fall in love with somebody that wasn’t real. And although she wasn’t happy about the way he’d tricked her, it had been gentlemanly of him—trying to protect her heart.
Tim took Maria’s hand. “Forgive me?”
She warmed to him. “Yes. I think I can trust you now.”
He smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
His eyes were clear and blue, like deep wells. Maria felt herself drawn into them.
But she was leaving. She shook herself. “Tim, I’ve got a plane flight tonight at ten PM.”
He nodded. “I know. I didn’t expect you to stay.” He spoke thickly, as with an effort. “I know you want to go back home, to your dad and your grandma. I’m not going to try to keep you here.”
“Oh.” Maria looked down. How did she tell him that she wanted to stay more than anything else?
She looked up at him again, trying to read his troubled face. Maybe she should ask him if he wanted to come to Michigan. No, he would hate that. He loved the ranch. She couldn’t try to take him away.
She was geographically unattractive.
“It’s all right,” Tim said. “Don’t look tragic. I know your life is in Michigan. And mine is here.”
Too bad there wasn’t a way to pack up the ranch and move both it and Tim to Michigan. There had to be a way to get the two halves of Maria’s heart together.
“Wait a minute,” Maria said. “We can’t move the ranch. But maybe we could move the people.”
“Huh?” Tim looked confused.
“I’ve got an idea,” Maria said. “What if—mind you, I don’t know if this would work—what if my dad and grandma came to live here, in Montana? And I stayed?”
“Your dad and grandma?” Tim asked. “We talked about that, didn’t we? I thought they were firmly settled in Michigan.”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Maria said. “But I never really asked them. I assumed they’d never come because of Grandma Austin. I didn’t even want to tell about the offer of getting a share in the ranch. Now, Grandma Austin and I have worked things out. Maybe it’s time to end the family feud.”
“Really?” Tim exclaimed.
Maria’s mouth twitched. Tim sounded so enthusiastic all of a sudden.
“Of course, I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve gotta talk to Grandma Austin first. And Dad and Grandma. Maybe they won’t even want to come. But it’s worth a shot.”
“Maybe we’d better make sure there’s a place for them to come to before we invite them here,” Tim said, quickly. “I mean, I’m all for families making up. But we haven’t saved the ranch yet.”
That was true. They still hadn’t proven anything about Neil.
“Well, anyway, we can still see if Grandma Austin will talk to my dad,” Maria said. “Come on, let’s find her!”
Tim laughed. “You’re a woman of action,” he said. “All right, all right! I’ll leave the truck here. I can come back for it later.”
§
They found Grandma Austin deep in conversation with Uncle Russell and Aunt Steph, discussing the ranch. The conversation stopped when Tim and Maria came up to the table, hand in hand. Maria felt herself beginning to falter, but Tim gripped her hand more firmly.
“Pat,” he said, “Maria would like to talk to you.”
“Do you think”—Maria hesitated—“you could call my dad?”
Grandma Austin seemed confused. Then her expression softened. “I haven’t talked to George in twenty-one years,” she said. “Do you think he would hang up on me?”
“No, Grandma, I don’t,” Maria said.
“I’ll go inside,” Grandma Austin said. “He hasn’t changed his phone number, has he?”
“I don’t think so,” Maria said. “He has a cell phone now, but the land line has been the same as long as I can remember.”