One of a Kind: Lionhearted / Letters to Kelly

“Harmless?” Fred mused.

Leo flushed. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Fred leaned back in his chair, smiling at the younger man’s confusion. “I’ve sheltered Janie too much. I wanted her to have a smooth, easy path through life. But I did her no favors. She’s not a dress-up doll, Leo, she’s a woman. She needs to learn independence, self-sufficiency. She has a temper, and she’s learning to use that, too. Last week, she stood up to me for the first time and told me what she was going to do.” He chuckled. “I must confess, it was pretty shocking to realize that my daughter was a woman.”

“She’s going around with Harley,” Leo said curtly.

“Why shouldn’t she? Harley’s a good man—young, but steady and dependable. He, uh, did go up against armed men and held his own, you know.”

Leo did know. It made him furious to know. He didn’t hang out with professional soldiers. He’d been in the service, and briefly in combat, but he’d never fought drug dealers and been written up in newspapers as a local hero.

Fred deduced all that from the look on Leo’s lean face. “It’s not like you think,” he added. “She and Harley are friends. Just friends.”

“Do I care?” came the impassioned reply. He grabbed up his Stetson and got to his feet. He hesitated, turning back to Fred. “I won’t insist, but Janie would never have to know if I took an interest in the ranch,” he added firmly.

Fred was tempted. He sighed and stood up, too. “I’ve worked double shifts for years, trying to keep it solvent. I’ve survived bad markets, drought, unseasonable cold. But this is the worst it’s ever been. I could lose the property so easily.”

“Then don’t take the risk,” Leo insisted. “I can loan you what it takes to get you back in the black. And I promise you, Janie will never know. It will be between the two of us. Don’t lose the ranch out of pride, Fred. It’s been in your family for generations.”

Fred grimaced. “Leo…”

The younger man leaned both hands on the desk and impaled Fred with dark eyes. “Let me help!”

Fred studied the determination, the genuine concern in that piercing stare. “It would have to be a secret,” he said, weakening.

Leo’s eyes softened. “It will be. You have my word. Blake Kemp’s our family attorney. I’ll make an appointment. We can sit down with him and work out the details.”

Fred had to bite down hard on his lower lip to keep the brightness in his eyes in check. “You can’t possibly know how much…” He choked.

Leo held up a hand, embarrassed by his friend’s emotion. “I’m filthy rich,” he said curtly. “What good is money if you can’t use it to help out friends? You’d do the same for me in a heartbeat if our positions were reversed.”

Fred swallowed noticeably. “That goes without saying.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Thanks,” he bit off.

“You’re welcome.” Leo slanted his hat across his eyes. “I’ll phone you. By the way, which restaurant is Janie working at?” he added. “I might stop by for lunch one day.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea just yet,” Fred said, feeling guilty because Leo still didn’t know what was going on.

Leo considered that. “You could be right,” he had to agree. “I’ll let it ride for a few days, then. Until she cools down a little, at least.” He grinned. “She’s got a hell of a temper, Fred. Who’d have guessed?”

Fred chuckled. “She’s full of surprises lately.”

“That she is. I’ll be in touch.”

Leo was gone and Fred let the emotion out. He hadn’t realized how much his family ranch meant to him until he was faced with the horrible prospect of losing it. Now, it would pass to Janie and her family, her children. God bless Leo Hart for being a friend when he needed one so desperately. He grabbed at a tissue and wiped his eyes. Life was good. Life was very good!

Fred was still up when Janie got home from work. She was tired. It had been a long night. She stopped in the kitchen to say good-night to Hettie before she joined her father in his study.

“Hettie said Leo came by,” she said without her usual greeting. She looked worried. “Why?”

“He wanted to check on his bull,” he lied without meeting her eyes.

She hesitated. “Did he… ask about me?”

“Yes,” he said. “I told him you had a job working in a restaurant.”

She stared at her feet. “Did you tell him which one?”

He looked anxious. “No.”

She met his eyes. “You don’t have to worry, Dad. It’s none of Leo Hart’s business where I work, or whatever else I do.”

“You’re still angry,” he noted. “I understand. But he wants to make peace.”

She swallowed, hearing all over again his voice taunting her, baiting her. She clenched both hands at her sides. “He wants to bury the hatchet? Good. I know exactly where to bury it.”

“Now, daughter, he’s not a bad man.”

“Of course he’s not. He just doesn’t like me,” she bit off. “You can’t blame him, not when he’s got Marilee.”

He winced. “I didn’t think. You lost your only friend.”

“Some friend,” she scoffed. “She’s gone to spend the holidays in Colorado,” she added smugly. “A rushed trip, I heard.”

“I imagine she’s too ashamed to walk down the main street right now,” her father replied. “People have been talking about her, and that’s no lie. But she’s not really a bad woman, Janie. She just made a mistake. People do.”

“You don’t,” she said unexpectedly, and smiled at him. “You’re the only person in the world who wouldn’t stab me in the back.”

He flushed. Guilt overwhelmed him. What would she say when she knew that he was going to let Leo Hart buy into the ranch, and behind her back? It was for a good cause, so that she could eventually inherit her birthright, but he felt suddenly like a traitor. He could only imagine how she’d look at him if she ever found out….

“Why are you brooding?” she teased. “You need to put away those books and go to bed.”

He stared at the columns that wouldn’t balance and thought about having enough money to fix fences, repair the barn, buy extra feed for the winter, buy replacement heifers, afford medicine for his sick cattle and veterinarian’s fees. The temptation was just too much for him. He couldn’t let the ranch go to strangers.

“Do you ever think about down the road,” Fred murmured, “when your children grow up and take over the ranch?”

She blinked. “Well, yes, sometimes,” she confessed. “It’s a wonderful legacy,” she added with a soft smile. “We go back such a long way in Jacobsville. It was one of your great-uncles who was the first foreman of the Jacobs ranch properties when the founder of our town came here and bought cattle, after the Civil War. This ranch was really an offshoot of that one,” she added. “There’s so much history here!”

Fred swallowed. “Too much to let the ranch go down the tube, or end up in the hands of strangers, like the Jacobs place did.” He shook his head. “That was sad, to see Shelby and Ty thrown off their own property. That ranch had been in their family over a hundred years.”

“It wasn’t much of a ranch anymore,” she reminded him. “More of a horse farm. But I understand what you mean. I’m glad we’ll have the ranch to hand down to our descendants.” She gave him a long look. “You aren’t thinking of giving it up without a fight?”

“Heavens, no!”

She relaxed. “Sorry. But the way you were talking…”

“I’d do almost anything to keep it in the family,” Fred assured her. “You, uh, wouldn’t have a problem with me taking on a partner or an investor?”

“Of course not,” she assured him. “So you found someone in Colorado after all?” she added excitedly. “Somebody who’s willing to back us?”