I'll Find You Part 29

"Horses," Tucker repeated, perking up. He looked from West to Cal.

"Well, c'mon then, boy," Cal said, strolling into the next room. "I was just about to head outside."

Tucker slid from his seat but wouldn't leave Callie. "You come too."

"Would it be okay if I stayed here?" Callie asked him.

"No. Come!"

"I'll be right here when you come back. I promise," she said. "I just want to talk to West and your great-grandmother."

Tucker's eyes slid carefully in Victoria's direction.

"Why, I think I see a palomino stallion out there," Cal called from across the kitchen. "I'm headin' out the door now. Better hurry!"

"You stay," Tucker warned Callie, edging away.

"I'll stay," Callie a.s.sured him, and then he ran after Cal as if shot from a cannon.

"Cal's kind of like Jean-Paul to Tucker," West observed, watching them leave.

Victoria frowned. "Who?"

"Someone Tucker knew on Martinique," West said. "I brought you a present," he told her. "It's in the glove box. I'll go get it and bring in Callie and Tucker's bags."

He left before she could answer, but she didn't seem to want to anyway. If she objected to hearing Callie had brought her own bag, she didn't say so. Her gaze was centered on Callie. "I don't see any reason to waste a lot of time," she said crisply. "I can see that Tucker's fond of you, and that having you around is necessary, at least for now, but I think it would be better for all of us if you planned on this being a very temporary position."

Even though it's what she'd half-expected to hear, it was a blow. "I just want what's best for Tucker."

"I've looked into your background. You were an elementary school teacher's aide before your marriage. You lost your husband and son in a terrible car accident last year, and you spent some time in a mental hospital, recovering."

"I spent nearly a month," Callie responded. "I checked myself in voluntarily."

Victoria eyed her thoughtfully. "Do you really think you're ready for the challenges of teaching Tucker and taking care of him?"

"Yes. If you're asking if I'm mentally well enough, yes."

"I sent Talia down to that island to help bring Tucker home because I'm not as mobile as I used to be. She's here some of the time, but she has a condominium in Santa Monica. If I entrusted you with Tucker's care, you would be doing most of the work by yourself."

"I understand."

"You look a lot like his mother," she said.

"I think that's what drew him to me, in the beginning. My hair."

Callie heard West reenter through the front door and drop the bags on the wood floor. A moment later he appeared in the dining room aperture, holding the bracelet.

"Ah," Victoria said as West laid it on the table in front of her.

"So, what have you been talking about?" he asked, looking from Victoria to Callie.

"Mrs. Cantrell's employment," Victoria said. She hesitated for a moment and Callie held her breath, preparing for the worst, but all she said was, "We've worked out a trial arrangement." To Callie, she added, "You're welcome to stay at the ranch. It will probably be best for Tucker."

Half an hour later, West pulled Callie into the great room as Victoria said she was going to get ready for a meeting later with Gary Merritt at his satellite law office in Castilla. The lawyer also had an LA hub, but since Victoria was one of his major clients, he made certain he was available in Castilla when she wanted to meet with him. Maya, who served as Victoria's companion as well as a cook and housekeeper, went to help her.

A few minutes later, Maya returned and said, "A lot of excitement," folding her hands under her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she gazed at West and Callie a bit suspiciously. She was round where Victoria was gaunt, and she was a good thirty years younger than the older woman.

West observed, "It's not my place to say anything, but you might need some extra help around here, now that it's not just Victoria."

Maya said, "My daughter lives in Castilla. If I need someone, she'll come right out. Now, would the boy like something to eat when Cal brings him back?"

"Peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly?" Callie suggested.

West informed her, "He's been living on it for days, but it never seems to get old."

Maya said, "We have beef here. Does he like hamburgers?"

"I really don't know," Callie admitted.

"I'll start with peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly," Maya conceded, then headed into the kitchen. It was the first time Callie and West had been alone since Martinique, and West pulled her into his arms.

"What if your grandmother catches us?" she teased.

"You think she doesn't suspect?"

"It's more like I don't want to put it in her face unless she's ready."

"You want me to let you go?"

"No," she admitted, holding on to him tightly. But when he kissed her lightly on the mouth, just enough to remind her how good it had been, she eased out of his embrace before things could heat up. "You didn't bring your bag in," she observed.

"I thought I might stay tonight, but some things have come up with my job. I don't want to leave you and Tucker here alone, but . . ." In lieu of continuing he reached for her again and his hand swept up into her hair. She tilted her chin up, and this time the kiss was warm and more insistent.

"Okay," she said a bit breathlessly when he reluctantly released her. "Just hurry back."

He nodded. "There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up around here. I really want to talk to Edmund Mikkels, but there's not time today. Last time I saw him, he wouldn't say anything, but he wasn't a happy man. Victoria said he was crumbling. Maybe he's ready to talk about Teresa. But I have more things to check at work, too. You good to stay here?"

"I'm packed for a night or two," she said. "But there are things I need to take care of in Los Angeles as well. I'll see how it goes, but I may have to go back for a day or two and then return."

"We'll figure it out."

He leaned in and kissed her a third time, this one quick and hard, then let her go, closing the door behind him as he left.

Callie picked up her bag and headed upstairs, finding the room that was laid out for Tucker with a number of age-appropriate toys lined on the shelves and a dark brown comforter on the bed designed with running horses. She continued on and saw the door was open to the very next room. When she stepped inside she found the decor to be more nondescript: a queen bed with a cream-colored quilt and an antique, oak dresser with a matching oval mirror above it. There was an en-suite bathroom with a shower, vanity, and toilet room done in cream and light green.

Hearing voices downstairs, she realized Victoria and Maya were heading out the door together and she figured Maya was also Victoria's driver.

Callie went back downstairs, grabbed Tucker's suitcase, and took it to his room. By its size, she figured they were going to have to get him some more clothes and soon, and by the look of the weather, he was also going to need something warmer than the shorts and T-s.h.i.+rts he'd worn in Martinique.

She had returned downstairs to the great room when she heard the back door slam open and the familiar pound of running feet. Tucker never went anywhere unless it was at full tilt.

"Calleee! Horses and le chats!" He ran toward her and they met in the dining room.

"They have cats?" she asked.

"Furrall cats," he said. "In the barn. They catch the mouses."

"Feral cats," Callie said.

"Uh-huh." He then did a U-turn back toward the kitchen and the back door.

Before he could go through it, the door opened again and a man in jeans, boots, and a denim work s.h.i.+rt stepped in. "h.e.l.lo," he said in surprise, seeing Callie standing in the doorway between the kitchen and butler's pantry.

Tucker whooped upon seeing him and said, "Knock, knock!"

"Hey . . ." he said, seeming even more startled to see the boy. To Callie, he said, "My dad said Victoria's grandson was showing up. I guess this is him."

"Knock, knock!" Tucker demanded.

"Tucker, just a minute," Callie warned.

"I'm Teddy Stutz. Cal's son." His hand shot out and clasped hers. In the next breath, he asked Tucker, "Who's there?"

"Lena," Tucker said promptly.

"Lena, who?" Teddy asked.

"Lena . . . um . . . you say," he declared, pointing at Teddy.

"Lena on my shoulder, I'm tired?" Teddy guessed.

"Oui, oui. Yes!" To Callie's surprise, Tucker ran to Teddy Stutz and gave him a big hug before trying to squeeze past him and head out the back door again.

"Where are you going?" Callie called as she followed him through the kitchen.

He stopped short and turned to look at her, his gaze spying the peanut b.u.t.ter sandwich Maya had left on a plate beneath plastic wrap. "Pour moi?" At Callie's nod, he yanked off the wrap, grabbed half the sandwich, then thrust himself through the outside door, yelling, "Cal! Cal!" as the door shut behind him.

"Whew," Teddy said.

"So, you've met Tucker already," Callie said with a smile.

"Just now? Oh. Yes. Looks like he's acclimating pretty well. I'm not around here all that much, but I remember him as a baby. First time I've seen him in years. He's grown up a lot."

Teddy Stutz was sandy-haired and lean with eyes a cool blue shade and a set of dimples that she could already tell he knew how to use. Or maybe she'd just grown too cynical about men.

"You look just like her, by the way, which I'm sure you've heard already."

Callie didn't have to ask whom he meant. "A few times. You knew Teresa?"

"We all knew her."

"That doesn't sound . . . good."

"She didn't really fit in very well around here, but everybody knew her. The married guys' wives hated her. The single guys were all in l.u.s.t with her."

"Are you counting yourself? And which one are you, married or single?"

"I was probably the only single guy who didn't care about her. It takes one to know one, y'know?"

"In what way?"

He gave her a sideways look, seemed to think something over, then shrugged. "Well, h.e.l.l, you're bound to hear anyway. I'm the big disappointment to my father. Had a little trouble when I was younger. Wild-a.s.s kid stuff. Owed some money to some people who didn't like to be kept waiting. But that was years ago."

Sounded like he was a gambler, and she could believe that about him in the few minutes she'd known him. "What do you do now?"

"Just now I'm working at the ranch." He shrugged. "So, what's your deal? How'd you get to be a part of this?" He circled a finger to include the whole Laughlin Ranch.

Callie told him about meeting both Tucker and West in Martinique, how West had mistaken her for Teresa initially, and how after Teresa's body was discovered, Victoria had doubled her already intense efforts to gain custody of Tucker and bring him back to the ranch. Smiling faintly, she finished with, "I didn't want to leave Tucker so I came along. Victoria seems to be a woman who gets what she wants."

"Well, she apparently wants a great-grandson. Who's the supposed guardian here? Victoria?"

"I think that's her plan," Callie admitted carefully. "I really don't know."

"What about Talia? She's a generation younger."

Callie shrugged.

"She's jonesin' for my dad, you know," Teddy confided.

"Talia?"

"Yep, he's the only reason she really ever comes back here. She and Victoria . . ." He drew an imaginary line across his neck, as if slicing off his own head. "They don't get along."

"Victoria sent Talia to Martinique to help West bring back Tucker," Callie pointed out.

He barked out a laugh. "Well, if she sent Talia, she must not trust West at all. I've never met him. What's he like?"

"She trusted him enough to start the investigation," Callie said loyally.

"Take it from someone who knows: Victoria's not going to allow some non-pedigree into the Laughlin trust, so if that's what you're thinking, you better let that go right now. Talia isn't her favorite person, but she comes from San Francisco and her family has some deep pockets. Craig scored when he married her, in Victoria's opinion. I don't know that the old man felt the same way, but he's gone and Victoria remains, so it's her rules and only her rules."

Callie didn't know how to respond so she remained silent. She tried to get a bead on his feelings, but Teddy Stutz just kept a secret smile on his lips, as if he knew something she didn't, and she suspected maybe he did.

He leaned in. "I'm just sayin', there's no way to work your way in here with Victoria running things. Once she's gone, you might have a shot."

Callie stared at him. "You seriously think that's why I'm here?"

"No, of course not." He winked at her as they heard the sound of Tucker's running feet just before he burst through the back door again.