Chapter Twenty
Runa
“For the record, I still think this is absolutely insane.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you,” York said as we walked toward the private jet.
“But Teddy overheard me talking about getting plane tickets and insisted. He said it’s been sitting around doing nothing for long enough.
And also suggested that kids on planes aren’t always fun, so having one all to ourselves might make it easier. ”
Denny had been less than enthusiastic about the idea of flying. I’d never really talked to her about going on planes since our lives never allowed for that kind of adventure.
Admittedly, I was even a little nervous. I’d only been on a plane twice in my life, both times when I was a kid.
We’d spent the last few days casually trying to ease her fears by watching movies where families went on planes or reading books about it.
She still had a death grip on my hand. And, judging by the way her other little hand was white, she was holding York’s hand just as hard.
“York told me there’s a whole bedroom in this plane! With a big bed!”
Her glance said she wasn’t interested in hearing about the plane’s features.
“I almost feel like we should have—”
“Thirty-two hours compared to six,” he reminded me.
We’d debated the road trip thing when we first realized Denny wasn’t too keen on flying.
But thirty-two hours drive time would, realistically, be something more like six days.
Six hotel room stays. And I just wasn’t feeling that.
I was already too anxious about this trip.
I didn’t need six days of nothing to do but work myself into knots.
So, flying it was.
“Mommy?” Denny whimpered when we got to the stairs.
“It’s going to be okay, munchkin,” I assured her.
“I would never, ever do something with you that wasn’t safe, princess,” York assured her. “And, guess what I heard?”
I glanced over at him, confused by his bright tone.
“What?” Denny asked.
“There are a bunch of toys inside the plane just waiting for you to open them.”
She dropped both our hands and charged up the steep stairs.
“When reasoning fails, bribes always seem like a good idea,” York said when I shot him a look.
“I’m kinda just mad I didn’t think of it,” I admitted, starting up the steps.
He hadn’t been kidding about there being a ‘bunch’ of toys. Teddy, it seemed, had bought out half a toy store.
Denny was so distracted by it that she growled—actually growled—when we had to abandon her toys to strap in for takeoff.
As soon as it was safe, she whipped off her belt and ran back to the unopened packages while York passed me a beer from the fridge, clinking his bottle to mine as we watched our daughter claw at the cardboard on the back of a package of little fuzzy animal figurines.
“She’s fun as fuck on Christmas, isn’t she?”
“This is new,” I admitted. “In the past, she’s been the slowest present opener in history.
And she had to pause in between each package to open it, look it over, set it carefully aside, then get rid of the paper before reaching for the next.
I have the feeling this year is going to be pure chaos.
” I looked over at him. “You know, if there are still any toys left in the world that she doesn’t own by then. ”
He shrugged at that. “I had a lot of time to make up for. And this felt necessary.”
“I’m not going to argue with that,” I agreed. “I hate how anxious she was.”
“Me too. But now she’s done it, she won’t be scared the next time.”
“This is true.”
“How are you doing? Where’s your head at, now that you’re not worried about Denali?”
“Well, part of me is still a little in awe of this insane plane.”
“Right? I think I like Teddy’s understated, old-money interior to Zayn’s chaotic party plane.”
“After all the stories I’ve heard about him, I’m not sure if I’m excited or terrified to meet Zayn.”
“He will show you the time of your life. That you may or may not remember. And hopefully don’t end up waking up in a foreign country without your fucking passport.”
“No!”
“Yep.”
“You?”
“No. Coast. We basically had to smuggle him back into the States.”
“Wild times you guys have had.”
“I’m not the one who woke up to find a mother opossum had climbed in your tent.”
“I still don’t know how she got in. Those babies were so cute, though. I helped her pile them onto her back before letting her out of the tent.”
“Mama,” Denny cut off what York was about to say.
“What’s up?”
“Can I show my new babies the bedroom?”
“Sure can,” I said, waving back toward it. “She’s exhausted,” I told York when she was gone, closing the door behind her. “She only got a few hours last night.”
Sure enough, when I went to check on her ten minutes later, she was passed out with her pile of toys.
“We can do that later,” York said, grabbing me and pulling me away from the package mess I bent to clean up.
He dragged me back over to the sideways couch, pulling my legs until they were over his.
And I didn’t pull away. In fact, I leaned in to put my head on his chest. The immediate surge of relaxation was what I was chasing by moving closer.
I’d gotten addicted to it with him. A part of me was terrified what might happen if I no longer had it to rely on.
“Talk to me.”
“I’m nervous.”
“About the lawyer?”
“Yeah. It makes no sense. If I don’t inherit anything, then… nothing changes. If I do, good things happen. It’s stupid to feel like this.”
“Maybe it’s more about going back home for the first time in years.”
“Maybe. But no one is there…”
“Which might feel even more complicated.”
“I guess. The lawyer was nice on the phone. He had that friendly, grandpa kind of voice.”
“You’re sure you don’t want me to come?”
“I don’t want Denali to be confused. Or to see me curse my grandfather out if he left some really insulting note. She will be happier with you at the cafe across the street.”
A few hours later, we were walking away from the plane with a revived Denali carrying two new bags of toys.
“Wow,” York said. “This is out in the middle of nowhere.”
It was.
We were in a long stretch of flat land with mountains way off in the distance.
I paused to take a deep breath, smiling to myself at how it smelled the same.
Maybe it was a weird observation, but I felt like every state I’d been to had its own unique smell. And this was just the one I knew the best. It was crisp and clean and familiar.
We made our way to our rental car, and I got to sit in the passenger seat as York drove us the hour from the airport to the little one-lane town not far from the ranch I’d grown up in.
It hadn’t changed much over the years—a refreshed facade here, a new store there. But the same general store, feed store, credit union, cafe, and clothes store that featured a lot of boots, cowboy hats, and duck cloth jackets.
I noticed that the Dr. John Miller’s sign now said and Son. And that the library had a memorial garden for the lovely old lady I remembered seeing each time I visited.
“You’ve got this,” York told me, giving my hand a squeeze. “And we’ll be right here for you after. Whichever way it goes.” He waved toward the cafe that seemed to have the same worn wooden tables and mismatched chairs of my childhood.
“Thanks. Be good for Daddy, okay?” I said, touching Denny’s head before sucking in a breath and walking across the street.
Greg Denvers’s office was all light, warm wood, clay-red walls, and a metric ton of western cowboy artwork on the walls amongst heads—pronghorns, bighorns, and a taxidermy snarling wolverine on the corner of the receptionist’s desk.
I didn’t miss that about this town. If I could go the rest of my life not seeing an animal’s head mounted, I’d be a happy woman.
“Is that the elusive Runa I do see?” Greg, just as friendly in person as he was over the phone, declared as he walked down the hallway.
He was tall and fit with just the smallest of beer bellies stretching the buttons of his tucked-in light blue dress shirt. He had that paired with black slacks, tan cowboy boots, matching suspenders, and a big old cowboy hat.
Something about him put me immediately at ease.
His office was massive, with floor-to-ceiling windows that showed off the mountains behind. We were just going to ignore the giant, soft-eyed bison mount looking down at me from the wall.
“You have been a hard lady to track down.”
“I’ve moved around a lot.”
“So I’ve heard. So I’ve heard.”
“Heard? From whom?”
“Your grandfather, of course. You and that sweet great-grandbaby of his.”
“Wait. What? He knew I had a baby?”
“He did. He was real enamored by that little girl, I’ll tell you.”
“I don’t understand. I never brought Denny here.”
“Nope. No. I heard that too. Your grandfather, he had a lot of regrets in his last years. Not mending things with you and meeting his great-grand baby were top of that list.”
“How did he know I had her?”
“Well, I guess there’s no use keeping it from you now that he’s not here, God rest him. Your granddaddy spent a lot of money trying to track you down, keeping an eye on you as you moved place to place.”
My spine tingled at that.
“I know it might seem creepy to you, but he had a few pictures of the two of you through the years. Showed them off to any and everyone who would look.”
“Why didn’t he ever reach out?”
“Well, I imagine he thought he had more time. He was sick for a long while, but he passed what felt like very suddenly. Luckily, though, he did manage to have me come to his bedside right at the end, though. To sort out his final wishes.”
My mind couldn’t seem to move past him tracking us down, getting candid pictures of us.
Was that what it was in Philly?
Just guys my grandfather hired to take our picture? To make sure we were okay?
If that was the case, though, why did they start to attack me?
“Well, to take all the legalese out of this, let me put this in plain talk,” Gary said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Your grandfather left the ranch, the house, the cars, his bank accounts, and the newfound mineral rights to you.”
The floor fell out from beneath me.
No passive-aggressive or aggressive-aggressive notes for me to read. Just… everything. Absolutely everything he had left in the world.
Greg kept talking, giving me all the details about the property, the minerals, the house, the cattle, everything.
It was more than I could even try to wrap my head around as I sat there.
“I guess I should give you these,” he said, producing a set of keys with a familiar beaded cow keychain I’d made for him one year.
The beads had faded and the elastic had stretched, but he’d carried it around with him for years.
“I’m sure you’re going to have more questions for me in the future.
But maybe go back home, see the sights, grieve your grandfather. ”
“Yeah. Yeah,” I said, too numb to manage anything more.
“Did you bring that sweet little girl of yours with you?”
“I did,” I agreed. Then, remembering that safety was still an issue for me, added, “She and her father are at the cafe waiting for me.”
“Good! Good. Glad to hear you’ve got a good man to take care of you. Your grandfather was worried about that.”
There were a few more pleasantries before I was walking out of the office and across the street.
I didn’t even really remember walking into the cafe or finding York’s table. But I was seated next to Denny and looking at him as I tossed the keys on the table.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” he asked.
“After everyone finishes up, I guess we should go check out my ranch.”