Caitlyn’s Prize Read online

  Sky watched Cooper closely. “Why you hired an ex-con is beyond me. Have you thought he might be stealing from you? Maybe that’s the reason we’re in such a mess.”

  “Cooper is a fine, honest, hardworking man, and I trust him. If you want to keep all that red hair on your head, then I suggest you button your bitchy mouth.”

  “And I suggest—”

  “Stop it.” Madison stomped her foot. “I’m not spending this visit refereeing you two. Grow up, for heaven sakes.”

  Caitlyn shrugged. “Betty Crocker has spoken.”

  They laughed, linked arms and made their way into the house. They’d always been like that—fighting like hellcats and in the next instant smiling and hugging. They were sisters and could make each other madder than anyone. And they loved one another just as fiercely. Cait hoped they could remember that in the days ahead.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A STOMACH-RUMBLING AROMA greeted them. Clearly, Etta had been preparing a special meal.

  Madison hugged the older woman. “I could gain five pounds just by the smell in your kitchen.”

  “Lordy, Lordy.” Etta smiled at them. “You girls are a sight for these sore old eyes. I made chicken and dressing with all the trimmings and I don’t want to hear one word about any diets. Tonight we’re celebrating.”

  “You won’t get any complaints from me.” Sky embraced Etta. “I love your cooking.”

  “Where’s Gran?” Maddie asked.

  “Upstairs trying on dresses, and I’m not running up those stairs one more time to see how a gown looks on her. My patience and bony legs only go so far.”

  “I’ll check on her.” Cait hurried through the dining room, then stopped so suddenly that Maddie and Sky bumped into her.

  “Good heavens, Cait, you could at least…” Sky’s voice trailed off as they stared up at their grandmother on the staircase.

  She wore a white muslin slip that had to be at least fifty years old. Her long white hair tumbled down her back and across her shoulders was draped…No, it couldn’t be. But Cait glanced toward the parlor and saw that it most definitely was—the old hunter-green velvet curtain.

  “‘War, war, war.’” Gran placed the back of her hand against her forehead. “‘I get so bored I could scream.’”

  Oh, my God! Cait darted up the stairs. “Gran,” she said softly.

  The elderly woman looked at her, her eyes a little dazed. “Hi, baby. Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind, remember?”

  Cait swallowed. “Yes, Gran. Let me take this.” She removed the heavy drape. “Look who’s here.” Maddie and Sky came up the stairs.

  Gran held out her arms. “Oh, my babies are home.” Maddie and Sky hugged their grandmother, then Gran brushed away a tear. “Caitlyn, go get your father. He’s going to be so happy.”

  The three sisters stood transfixed, almost paralyzed. Cait’s throat felt raw and she didn’t know if she could say those words again today. They hurt too much.

  Maddie came to the rescue, sliding her arm around Gran’s waist. “Let’s go upstairs so you can lie down.”

  “Okay.”

  Cait took Gran’s free arm and they all walked her to her room. Sky threw back the comforter on the four-poster bed and Gran crawled in. Cait arranged the big pillows under her head the way she liked.

  “Comfy?” she asked.

  “Oh, yes. My girls are home.” Gran closed her eyes, holding on to Maddie’s and Sky’s hands.

  Cait left the room. She had to or she was going to burst into tears. It broke her heart to see their grandmother like this.

  On the stairs, she picked up the drape where she’d left it, and carried it to the parlor. It smelled of dust and age.

  The stool Gran had used to take down the curtain stood by the windows. She could have fallen, broken something. Suddenly everything was too much, and Cait sank to the floor, the velvet drape settling in a heap around her. She drew her knees up and rested her forehead on them. Tears she couldn’t stop spilled from her eyes. She couldn’t be this weak! But Gran was her soft spot, her Achilles’ heel.

  “Cait.” Sky sat beside her. “You weren’t exaggerating. I can’t stand to see Gran like that.”

  She raised her head. “I can’t either, and I don’t know how to help her.”

  “Me neither, but I’ll be here for a few days, so I can at least help out.”

  “That would be nice.”

  Maddie came into the room. “Gran’s asleep. She’s exhausted from trying on clothes.” She picked up the velvet fabric. “Let’s hang this.”

  Together they put the drape back in place. Maddie wiggled her nose. “It’s very dusty.”

  “I don’t have time for housework. That can be your job while you’re here.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Supper’s ready,” Etta called.

  The sisters made their way into the kitchen, to find Rufus sitting at the table.

  “Where’s Cooper?” Cait asked.

  The old cowboy shifted nervously in his chair. “He’s at the bunkhouse. I’ll take him a plate.”

  “Nonsense…”

  “I’m glad he respects our privacy,” Sky said. “I feel more comfortable that way.”

  Cait placed her hands on her hips. “I hope you never have to eat those words.”

  “Now, listen—”

  “Sit down and stop this bickering,” Etta added, and the two of them complied.

  Supper was a subdued affair. They were thinking about Gran.

  IN THE MORNING, Cait awoke early and went down to make coffee. She carried Gran a cup.

  “Mornin’, baby.” Gran scooted up in bed. “It’s always refreshing to see my sweet baby’s face first thing in the day.”

  Cait handed her the coffee. “Gran, I’m hardly a baby.”

  “I know. You should be married.” Her grandmother took a sip. “Have you seen Judd lately?”

  The change of subject took her by surprise. She wanted Gran back to normal, but not where she could gauge her emotions and read her mind. Caitlyn fidgeted as she felt the old woman’s eyes filleting her like a crappie, getting to the tasty part.

  She gave her best I-couldn’t-care-less impression. “In a town as small as High Cotton, it’s hard to miss Judd Calhoun.”

  “Because he stands a head taller than the rest, and your heart goes pitter-patter every time you see him.”

  Cait kissed Gran’s forehead, wanting to tell her what a snake in the grass Judd really was. But she could never hurt her. “Not exactly.” It felt more like she’d been hit in the chest with a rock from a slingshot, and her heart reacted in spasms of pain and regret. “I have to go to work, and you have company.”

  Dorie’s face scrunched into a frown—like the one she’d told Cait, as a child, never to make in case it caused wrinkles. That must be true, because Gran had very few wrinkles. On the other hand, Caitlyn could feel hers deepening daily.

  “Company?” Gran sat up straight. “Oh, my, Madison and Skylar are here, aren’t they? I remember now.”

  “Yes.” Cait clenched her jaw and waited. Please, please, don’t ask me to go get my father.

  Gran handed Cait her cup and swung her feet over the side of the bed. “I have to see them.”

  The door swung open just then and Maddie and Sky rushed in, dressed in their sleeping attire, shorts and tanks tops. Not for the first time, Cait realized Maddie was way too thin.

  Amid hugs, kisses and laughter, Caitlyn said, “I have to get Cooper and Rufus started for the day. I’ll be back later.”

  “Cait?” Sky called.

  She glanced back.

  “We need to talk.”

  She nodded shortly, resenting that her sister felt she needed to remind her.

  An hour later, Cait joined Skylar and Madison in the study. Her sisters sat across the desk, where she laid out the document their father had signed, selling High Five’s oil and gas royalties. Sky whipped it up, quickly read through it and then shoved it at Maddie.
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  “It says you get to make the decision whether to sell or not. So what the hell are we doing here?” Anger laced Sky’s accusing words.

  “You’re both part owners of High Five.”

  “But you can keep us in limbo for six months?”

  “Yes. And I just might make a success of this ranch.”

  Sky laughed, a sound that ricocheted off Cait’s nerve endings. “Keep dreaming and we’re going to wind up with nothing. I can’t believe Dad would do this to us.”

  Maddie placed the document on the desk. “I know how you feel about High Five, Cait, but…but I depend on my share of the money.”

  “I do, too,” Sky added. “I’m barely getting by the way things are now. I’m sorry, but we need to sell.”

  Cait swallowed the retort that leaped to her throat. “What about Gran?”

  Skylar crossed her legs and stared at a speck on her jeans. Maddie kept her eyes downward. Cait knew this wasn’t easy for them. It wasn’t easy for her, either.

  She leaned forward, trying to make her point. “Every dime I’ve gotten from royalties has gone back into High Five. Dad pretty much left us penniless. Regardless, every month I mail you a check, and you’re able to live a life of luxury. Not once have I asked for you to give any of it back. Now I’m asking for your understanding, for Gran and for me. High Five is her home, and I will fight tooth and nail to keep her here.”

  Sky looked straight at her. “We’re not heartless. You’re just fighting a losing battle. You’re fighting Judd Calhoun.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “He’s powerful and he’ll squash you like a pesky roach. Heaven forbid that you would apologize and put an end to all this.”

  “What?” Cait went on red alert, a state she and Maddie had been familiar with when they were teenagers and Sky got in their faces. It was usually an all-out war when the stubborn, strong Belle sisters butted heads, as they were now.

  “Tell Judd you’re sorry, that you’ll sleep with him, have his children, marry him and otherwise grovel at his feet every chance you get. You love High Five. That’s what you have to do to make this problem go away. I know it. Maddie knows it. The whole damn world knows it. Why in the hell don’t you?”

  Cait leaped to her feet. “Shut up, Sky.”

  The redhead lifted an eyebrow. “You can’t deny the truth. Judd’s been waiting years for this opportunity, and Dad just handed it to him like a blank check. Could that be because Dad was still pissed at you for walking away from the best thing that could have happened to you? The best thing that could have happened to High Five? Now we’re all paying for your mistakes. Your choices.”

  Cait wanted to jump across the desk and yank every red hair from Sky’s head. But truth kept her rooted to the spot. Sometimes the evil monster was a hard foe to beat, and her sister wielded it better than anyone.

  A whimpered, tortured sound left their other sister’s throat. Cait was instantly at her side. “Maddie, what is it?”

  She wiped away a tear. “I hate all this bickering. We can’t go back and change the past. We have to deal with the now, the future.”

  Caitlyn knelt and leaned back on her heels. “There’s something else, isn’t there?” She knew that by Maddie’s pale complexion and her trembling hands.

  “I’m very emotional these days.”

  “Tell us why.”

  Madison wiped away another tear. “You remember about three years ago, when I got a job at a hospital as a counselor?”

  “Yes.” Cait caught Maddie’s hands.

  “Well, I had to have a physical. At the time I was having a lot of cramping and excessive bleeding, so I had a complete checkup. Routine stuff, but…but the tumors on my ovaries weren’t.”

  Cait’s throat worked but no sound came out. Sky was also speechless.

  “I had to have them removed, and then radiation and chemo. They said that, to save my life, I didn’t have any options. Funny how they saved my life and took it away at the same time.” She hiccupped. “I’ll never be able to have a child.”

  “Oh, Maddie!” Cait hugged her, and Sky joined in. “I’m so sorry.” She drew back. “That’s why you’re so thin and your hair is short.”

  “Yeah.” Self-consciously, she lifted her hand to her head. “I’m growing a new batch.”

  “Why did you never tell us?” Cait asked.

  “I just couldn’t talk to anyone.”

  “Did Dad know?”

  “I was getting chemo one day when he came for a visit, and my mom told him. I asked him not to tell anyone. I didn’t want Gran or you all to worry.”

  “Are you okay now?”

  Maddie shrugged. “As good as I’m going to get. I’ve been cancer free for two years, but I have enormous medical bills. That’s why I need the money.”

  “Oh, Maddie. I’m sorry I was such a bitch.” Cait hugged her again.

  “I love High Five, but I have all these debts….”

  Cait squeezed her hands. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure out something.”

  “I have a reason for needing the money, too,” Sky said in a low voice.

  “What reason?” Cait braced herself.

  Sky got into a comfortable position, sitting cross-legged. “I need the money because I have…well, a child.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I have a child and…”

  “You kept a child from us, your sisters and your grandmother?” Cait rose to her feet, feeling ticked off, really angry. “How could you do that?”

  “It wasn’t intentional. I was embarrassed, ashamed that I was so stupid. Todd told me repeatedly that he didn’t want children. When he found out about the baby, he ended our affair and left. But his parents, who are wealthy, started calling and asking questions. I heard through a friend that they know about Kira and intend to gain custody. I can’t let that happen, so I have to keep her hidden and a secret.”

  “Her name is Kira?” Maddie asked wistfully.

  “Yes. She’s three years old now, but from birth she cried all the time, and I had her in and out of the doctor’s office for high fevers. I knew something was wrong, but the doc could never figure out what until her knee turned red and swollen. She has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.”

  “Oh, no! I’m so sorry!” Cait’s anger turned to sadness. “Did Dad know?”

  Sky nodded. “Like with Maddie, he showed up one day unexpectedly, but he understood my reasons for secrecy. He wanted me to keep my child.”

  “Where is she now?” Maddie asked quietly.

  “She’s with my mother, which is why I can only stay a few days. I hope we’ll be able to resolve this situation quickly. And for the record, I’m not enjoying a life of luxury. I live in a small apartment, and every dime goes toward my daughter’s well-being.”

  Two pairs of eyes turned to Caitlyn. “Well, I think I have mud and egg on my face,” she stated. “Anyone care to smack me?”

  “Don’t tempt me,” Sky said with a grin, and then added, “Sometimes you’re obsessed with High Five. Please look at this realistically, for all of us.”

  Cait sank to the floor again, unsure how to explain how she felt to her sisters.

  When she remained silent, Maddie spoke up. “All those years ago, I know you loved Judd. I’d never seen you so happy. Gran and Renee were knee-deep in wedding plans, and Sky and I had been fitted for our dresses. Dad had five hundred people on the wedding list. It was going to be the biggest affair this small town had ever seen. What happened, Cait? You never told us what made you walk away.”

  She played with the French braid hanging over her shoulder, and suddenly the words came pouring out. “I was floating on a cloud back then. The most eligible, most handsome bachelor in the county had asked me to marry him. Suddenly I was the center of his world.”

  “That was good, right?” Sky asked.

  Cait twisted the braid. “It would have been wonderful, except I heard Jack Calhoun and Dad talking. They had arranged the marriage, and
Judd went along with it. It would be beneficial to both families.”

  Sky’s mouth formed a big O.

  “I could have lived with that, and all the plans being made without my input, even wearing Judd’s mother’s wedding dress. But there was one thing I couldn’t live without.”

  “What?” Maddie voice was breathless.

  “Judd’s love.”

  “But he loved you,” Sky pointed out. “He couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

  “I thought so, too.” Cait pulled the braid until her head hurt. “So I asked him if he loved me. Do you know what he said?”

  “What? What?” Sky sounded like an excited child.

  “He said we’d have a strong marriage and we’d be happy.” The words still stung like a bull nettle. “In that instant I knew I’d be a yes-wife like Renee, always bowing to my husband’s wishes. I wanted more. I wanted a man who would love me above everything, even his family. I took off the ring and gave it back, saying I couldn’t marry him. I waited and waited for Judd to come and confess his undying love. I’m still waiting.” She laughed, a pitiful sound that revealed how weak she felt.

  “Oh, Cait. I didn’t know.” Maddie slipped from the chair and held her tightly.

  “Me, neither.” Sky hugged her in turn, then leaned away with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “You know, Cait, a woman has ways to bring a man to his knees.”

  “I think I missed that course in college.”

  “Oh, please.” Sky undid a couple of snaps on Cait’s shirt. “Get my drift?”

  Caitlyn remembered yesterday, and how Judd had looked at her breasts. Oh, yeah, she got it. “So you don’t want me to apologize?”

  “Not on your life.” Skylar laughed and held up her hand for a high five.

  “I just need some time,” Cait said. “Two weeks tops to find a solution.”

  “Okay,” her sisters said in unison.

  Cait prayed that somehow she could work out a plan to help them all.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “YOU’LL NEVER GUESS who I saw yesterday. The Belle sisters, all three of them. You know the other two are kind of like Caitlyn, uppity but with a northern flair. They never said a word to me. How rude is that? Believe me, Southerners have much better manners. But you know, if I had looks like that I wouldn’t have to worry for the rest of my life. I’d be on easy street, with a rich hunk of my choosing. All I’d have to do is spend his money and look oh, so pretty. Now that I—”