Heartbreak Ranch. Fern Michaels
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running every which way. I grabbed the cash box and ran out the side door to go ring the fire bell. By the time I got back, the place was ablaze. Bella weren’t nowhere in sight, but she’d tied Toddy up to the handle on her trunk so I figured she was all right.” He bowed his head. “I figured wrong,” he said on a down note. “She’d gone back inside.”
“Why would she go back in?” Amy asked.
“For that.” With a glance behind him, Howard indicated the blanket-wrapped bundle in the rear seat. “Next thing I knew she come running out of the building dragging that painting of hers. By the time I got to her she was on her knees gasping for air. I done everything I could to try to save her, but there weren’t nothing I could do. She died in my arms.”
Thinking about the horror of that night, of the terrible way her mother had died, Amy shuddered. She would never understand why her mother had risked her life to save a painting. But then there was a lot Amy would never understand about her mother, which was exactly the way it was meant to be. Bella Duprey’s mystique was part of her success.
Amy turned to Evans. “I’m ready now,” she said in a steady voice. “We can go.”
He continued to hold the reins still. “I know it ain’t my place to tell you what to do, but I owe it to Bella to try to talk some sense into you. It’s only been a week since you got here. Seems to me that you should give yourself some time to think about what you want to do with your life before you go off to a ranch you ain’t even seen. Your ma left you more than enough money to see you through. And you’d have even more if you decided to sell the property.”
“Sell the ranch? Oh, no, Howard. I couldn’t possibly sell it,” she said, shaking her head. “Settling down on a ranch was Mama’s dream. I know you think I’m acting irrationally, but I really have thought things out. If I don’t like what I see, I can always come back here.”
“I know all about your mama’s dreams, believe me. But things are different now,” the gray-haired man argued. “It’s not up to you—”
Amy placed her gloved hand over his. “Howard, Mama gave me everything I ever wanted. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I have to try to make her dream come true.”
“You’re just as stubborn as Bella was,” he said with a rueful smile, then snapped the reins.
Minutes later they arrived at the stage station. Two burly men hefted Amy’s trunk and her
mother’s smaller one to the top of the coach. When they reached for the painting, she cautioned them to take extra care and watched as they stood it upright between her trunks.
Satisfied it was secure, she led Toddy around to the side of the coach. “Up, boy,” she commanded, patting the floor. Toddy needed no urging. He jumped up into the Concord and sat down. “He’s the smartest dog I’ve ever seen,” she said, turning to Evans.
“Bella was plumb crazy ’bout that fool dog. Spent a lot of time training him.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a small cloth bundle. “Here’s a list of basic tricks and commands you need to know right off to make him mind you. And here’s some of his favorite treats. Your mama made them special. He’ll do just about anything to get one, so you best hide them where he can’t see or smell them or he’ll drive you crazy with his beggin’. Everything else you need to know ’bout him is in Bella’s journal. You should know, Missy, that your mama put a lot of work into that journal. I believe she intended it to be useful for you one day, although I’m not quite sure how. As far as I know, it’s just full of dog commands.” Evans regarded Toddy with a look of dismay. “To hear Bella talk about that animal, you’d think he was human. Claimed he was the best thing that ever happened to her. Said he taught her more about men than all the courtesans in France.” The moment the words left his mouth, he reddened with embarrassment.
“Is that so?” Amy barely managed to hold back a smile. “In that case—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—he’ll be quite an asset because I know nothing at all about men.” With that, she lifted her skirt and climbed up into the coach.
A red-faced Evans stood at the stage door until she was settled. “If you need me for anything—
anything at all—I’ll be working downtown at the What Cheer House.”
The moment had come. Amy didn’t speak for fear she would cry. She had known Howard Evans all her life and thought of him as the father she never had.
“Thank you for loving Mama and taking care of her all these years.” She tried to stem the welling tears but could not. “I know in her own way she loved you, too.”
“That she did, honey. That she did.” Howard squeezed her hand, then stepped back as the Concord lurched forward.
* * *
IT WAS NOON when the stage pulled into Havilah, a busy mining town high in the Tehachapi Mountains. It stopped in front of the Golden Gate Hotel. As the passengers disembarked, the hotel proprietor, Leopold Wattiez, announced that he provided the best accommodations in town along with French-cooked meals.
Amy decided that a French-cooked meal was exactly what she needed before continuing on to the ranch. She tied Toddy to the post next to the water trough and went inside.
“Voilà!” said the rotund cook a few minutes later, as he set the plate down in front of her. Amy was hard-pressed to see what was French about the roast beef and potato dish, but she kept her thoughts to herself. Recalling some of the French phrases her mother had taught her, she praised his efforts and earned a beaming smile plus all the information she needed about the town, where to shop and where to hire a wagon and driver.
Not knowing exactly what supplies she would need, she decided to buy a little of everything so she wouldn’t have to come back for a while. Then she hired a boy with a spring wagon to load up her things and drive her out to the ranch.
An hour later, they came within view of Heartbreak Ranch.
“I ain’t been out here for a long time, but I’m purty sure this is it,” said the boy, pointing a finger.
Amy gasped in delight at the small white house surrounded by ancient oaks and emerald-green hills covered with bright orange poppies, blue lupine and owl’s clover. Dozens of fat steers stood grazing, not even looking up as the wagon drew close.
It’s Mama’s dream come true, she thought, wishing her mother were here to share this moment with her.
Riding in the back of the wagon, Toddy ran back and forth, barking with excitement.
“Toddy, quiet,” Amy commanded, then realized he probably thought the steers were big dogs and wanted to chase them. Until he got used to them—and they to Toddy—she’d have to tie him up.
The closer they got, the more Amy saw that the house’s beauty was an illusion, caused by distance and wishful thinking. Up close, it was nothing more than a tumbledown shack. Overcome with disappointment, she now felt relieved that her mother wasn’t there to see her dream shattered.
So this is Heartbreak Ranch. She shook her head. She’d wondered about the name. Now she knew. It broke her heart just looking at it—the chipped and peeling whitewash, the dilapidated front porch, the weatherworn door branded with a broken heart. Maybe she should have taken Howard’s advice and stayed in San Francisco.
“Where do you want me to put your things?” the boy asked.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to turn the wagon around and head back to Havilah. Instead, she surprised herself by saying, “Anywhere will be fine.” Before she could change her mind, she climbed out of the wagon. Toddy leaped out of the wagon bed, nearly toppling her in his excitement to get down. She grabbed his leash and gently commanded him to settle down, but it was an effort in futility. Straining against his leash, he pulled her across the yard to the house, where he used his long nose to push the door open.
The inside of the house was even worse than the outside.