Sweet Redemption
Book Seven of the Honeysuckle Texas Series
Chapter One
“Are we really going to do this again?” Clint took a deep breath and clamping his eyes shut, counted to five before exhaling. It was getting harder and harder to communicate with Carol. He’d tried his best, working two jobs, moving them to a larger house in a nicer neighborhood, holding his old blue ford together with spit and a prayer instead of getting a new work truck the way he needed.
He just didn’t understand what had gone so wrong. Why was his wife so terribly miserable. Happy one day, desperate the next. He’d begged her to go to therapy; even though he couldn’t afford it, he’d find a way. Something had to give. With Jason tucked in and sound asleep, he started for the kitchen to help clean up after their dinner of warmed up canned ravioli, only to have Carol start throwing silverware at him. Instead of reasoning with her, he gave up. Grabbed his jacket and his keys and headed for Kelsey’s bar. He’d probably had one—okay, two more than he should have—and he probably shouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel of his truck, but he needed to escape from the hell his marriage had become at least for a few hours.
Parking in the driveway, he almost tripped into the house, collapsing on the lumpy sofa rather than make his way upstairs and risk another fight with Carol. He’d been asleep before he remembered closing his eyes.
Hot. Fan, he needed the fan. So hot. No. November. Not hot. No fan. Rolling slightly, he almost slid off the sofa. That’s right. Not in bed. So hot. Blinking, he looked for the fan, but couldn’t see. Blinked again. And again. Still so dark. Then he heard it. A sizzle, or a crackle, or… his eyes flew open. Fire. The house was on fire. The kitchen was bright orange. The dining room sparked. The stairs. He needed to get to the stairs. His lungs felt weighted. Heavy. Hard. Pulling the hem of his shirt up over his nose and mouth with one arm, he stumbled to his feet. Had to get upstairs. So much smoke. Something somewhere in the back of his mind repeated, stop, drop, and roll, only he wasn’t on fire…yet. Still, he got down on all fours and crawled up the stairs, barely able to make out where he was going. The smoke was so thick. Feeling his way as much as looking, he found Jason’s door. Ignoring the sharp pain on the burning knob, he opened the door and hurried inside. On his bed, coughing but asleep, his son was at least still breathing.
Clint threw a blanket Jason’s head, then placing another around them both, upright now, he rushed out the door and down the stairs. The living room was almost fully engulfed. The sofa he’d been sleeping on only minutes ago was a sea of dancing orange and yellow flames, shooting high to the ceiling. He barely had a path to the front door.
Not caring about his hands, he pulled the door open and hurried outside, nearly collapsing on the lawn. Carol. He had to get Carol. Only at that moment, still coughing, Jason hacked out “Daddy.”
“It’s okay, son. You’re okay.” Turning his head, the house was almost fully engulfed. Windows exploded as flames continued to burst through the house.
“You wait here,” he told his son, then he turned to the house.
“Clint.” An hand clamped on his arm. “You can’t go back in there.” It was Jerry, their next door neighbor. “We called the fire department. They’re on their way.”
“Carol,” was all he managed to spit out. “I have to get Carol.”
He saw Jerry’s eyes widen. The neighbor on his other side had turned on the hose and was watering down his own roof, turning the spout from time to time toward Clint’s house.
“It’s too dangerous,” Jerry repeated, his grip on Clint’s arm even tighter. “You can’t.”
“Carol!” he shouted as loud as he could as if she could hear him, and would wake up and run out of the house on her own two feet. “Carol!” he screamed again.
“Clint!” Another male voice shouted at him.
“Carol.” He had to save Carol.
“Clint!” the voice shouted louder. “Wake up, man.”
Wake up? Clint blinked, forcing his eyelids open. Where was he? The fire. No. Not the fire. Not his house. And then, closing his eyes, he slumped back against his pillow.
“You okay?” The voice belonged to Benny, the new hand they’d hired.
It was all coming back to him. He wasn’t living in Wyoming anymore. He was in Texas. Working on the Sweet Ranch. A foreman. If he wasn’t so exhausted from his nightmare, he would have laughed at that. “Sorry, kid. I guess it was a bad dream.”
“One helluva dream. You were screaming so loud I thought the place was on fire.”
Right. On fire. “Sorry.” Since they’d fixed up the old foreman’s house for one of the Sweet newlyweds, he’d insisted he’d be fine bunking with Benny. Now maybe he should have given that more thought. “I’m okay. You go back to sleep.”
Nodding, Benny straightened, eyed him a moment longer, probably convincing himself that Clint was indeed okay, and then turned on his heel and went back to his bunk in the other room.
Unlike most bunkhouses, this one was broken into more private cubicles with a living area in the middle, so he stayed on his end and Benny moved into the other end. Throwing his feet over the side of the bed, he dropped his face into his hands, then wiping the sweat from his forehead, raked his fingers through his hair and blew out a long slow breath. He’d thought the nightmares had finally stopped. Pushing to his feet he walked to the single photo that had survived that horrible night. Him and Jason in happier days. That sunny-faced little boy brought a smile to his face. What Clint wouldn’t give to go back in time and fix everything.
***
“This is heaven.” Alice Sweet sat in the rocker on the back porch. There was no place on the planet she loved more than the view of the horizon from this spot. The plans she and Kade had worked out for a guest annex would have a nice little porch with the same view over Sweet land under the Texas sky. Someday, when it was time, she’d move out of the big house and into the smaller one. And that would be just fine with her. Until then, though, she had about fifteen more minutes to enjoy her coffee before it was time to head back into the house and deal with her chores.
“Mind a little company?” Her newest daughter-in-law Cassie stood in the doorway.
“Of course not.” She patted the arm of the big green rocking chair beside her. “The sky is big enough for everyone.”
“That’s sort of what I thought the first day I arrived here.” Cassie settled into the seat. Rather than kick the chair into motion, she put her feet up on the caned seat and leaned back.
“Is this a private party?” Strolling up the walkway, Rachel had been working in the barn with Clint before she her first appointment of the day.
Alice shook her head, then tipped it toward the kitchen door. “Just made a fresh pot.”
The two sat in silence until Rachel came to sit at her mother’s other side. “This is the perfect weather. Cool enough not to sweat, warm enough not to need a jacket. Too bad it only lasts a short while.”
“I suspect that’s why California became so popular so fast. Mild weather all year long. Not too hot, not too cold.” Alice thought back to her one visit with her Charlie to San Francisco and the surrounding coastline. It was their twentieth anniversary. Kade had already signed up for the military and her sister Liz stayed to make sure the younger boys didn’t burn the place down. Of course, Jillian always having been the responsible one probably could have kept her older brothers in line, but even with a responsible adult in charge, Alice was still just a tad nervous about the homestead in her absence. By the time they were wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma, she wasn’t all that worried about the kids back home anymore.
“How come you and Daddy didn’t travel more?” Rachel asked over the brim of her mug.
“We talked about it. Came really close to taking a little trip to Mexico. A beach. But why go all the way to another country, that speaks another language, when we can have a view like this any day of the week, including killer sunrises and sunsets.”
“I’ll second that.” Cassie nodded. “The sunsets here are amazing. The stars aren’t bad either.”
The dark of night under a sea of stars had always been her and Charlie’s favorite time of day. Sometimes they’d go sit down by the canyon and put a blanket down to lie on and just enjoy the show.
“I still miss him,” Rachel murmured.
Alice nodded. “I know, baby.” She really missed him too. Some days more than others, especially this last year with all the trouble from Ray and his posse of crooks. The funny thing is, as their family has grown, she didn’t miss him quite as much as she once did, and wasn’t that something to think about. Another thought struck as she sipped on her lukewarm coffee: when was the last time she’d talked to Charlie?
An engine rumbled loudly from the direction of the front yard and Alice glanced down at her wrist watch. Almost eleven thirty. She should get up and start lunch. It was looking like there were going to have a crowd today.
The back door opened and Carson came onto the porch. “Are men welcome?” he teased.
“Always.” Alice smiled at her son.
“I come bearing gifts.” He tipped his head toward the kitchen. “Agnes had a couple of leftover tuna casseroles after yesterday’s special. She remembered how much you love her tuna casserole so she sent them home with me. You won’t have to cook tonight.”
“She sure is right about that. I have no idea what she puts in that casserole, but it’s almost addictive. It will be a nice treat.”
“I have to admit,” Rachel set her chair rocking, “everything seems so much brighter now that the ranch isn’t at risk anymore.”
“It’s still has a lot of debt,” Preston said as he came through the same door.
Alice was going to need to get a bigger back porch.
“We’ve cleared the delinquents payments, and we’ve made some changes, gotten some new equipment, but all of it, including the new barns, are going to have to be paid for.”
“They will.” Alice nodded. Her husband had figured it all out. When he was done with all his expansion plans, the Sweet Ranch would provide for generations to come. He’d be happy to see his brood settled with such perfect soulmates.
“The good news,” Preston continued, “is that with the money we’ll get from this year’s calves, we’ll be able to increase the heard. Another year and we’ll have the four thousand head Dad wanted.”
“We’ll need more hands.” Alice knew that with Kade stepping in for his dad soon, that would be one less man needed, but even before the larger herd, they still had six hands including the foreman. “When do you think we can take on another man?”
Preston looked to his siblings, bypassing his mom. As if she didn’t know what they were thinking. The first big trust payment would be coming in a few months. She turned a blind eye to their using the newly married payment to save the ranch, but there was no way she was going to let any of her kids use the money that was meant to help setup their new families, on the ranch. Not on her watch.
“Are we really going to do this again?” Clint took a deep breath and clamping his eyes shut, counted to five before exhaling. It was getting harder and harder to communicate with Carol. He’d tried his best, working two jobs, moving them to a larger house in a nicer neighborhood, holding his old blue ford together with spit and a prayer instead of getting a new work truck the way he needed.
He just didn’t understand what had gone so wrong. Why was his wife so terribly miserable. Happy one day, desperate the next. He’d begged her to go to therapy; even though he couldn’t afford it, he’d find a way. Something had to give. With Jason tucked in and sound asleep, he started for the kitchen to help clean up after their dinner of warmed up canned ravioli, only to have Carol start throwing silverware at him. Instead of reasoning with her, he gave up. Grabbed his jacket and his keys and headed for Kelsey’s bar. He’d probably had one—okay, two more than he should have—and he probably shouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel of his truck, but he needed to escape from the hell his marriage had become at least for a few hours.
Parking in the driveway, he almost tripped into the house, collapsing on the lumpy sofa rather than make his way upstairs and risk another fight with Carol. He’d been asleep before he remembered closing his eyes.
Hot. Fan, he needed the fan. So hot. No. November. Not hot. No fan. Rolling slightly, he almost slid off the sofa. That’s right. Not in bed. So hot. Blinking, he looked for the fan, but couldn’t see. Blinked again. And again. Still so dark. Then he heard it. A sizzle, or a crackle, or… his eyes flew open. Fire. The house was on fire. The kitchen was bright orange. The dining room sparked. The stairs. He needed to get to the stairs. His lungs felt weighted. Heavy. Hard. Pulling the hem of his shirt up over his nose and mouth with one arm, he stumbled to his feet. Had to get upstairs. So much smoke. Something somewhere in the back of his mind repeated, stop, drop, and roll, only he wasn’t on fire…yet. Still, he got down on all fours and crawled up the stairs, barely able to make out where he was going. The smoke was so thick. Feeling his way as much as looking, he found Jason’s door. Ignoring the sharp pain on the burning knob, he opened the door and hurried inside. On his bed, coughing but asleep, his son was at least still breathing.
Clint threw a blanket Jason’s head, then placing another around them both, upright now, he rushed out the door and down the stairs. The living room was almost fully engulfed. The sofa he’d been sleeping on only minutes ago was a sea of dancing orange and yellow flames, shooting high to the ceiling. He barely had a path to the front door.
Not caring about his hands, he pulled the door open and hurried outside, nearly collapsing on the lawn. Carol. He had to get Carol. Only at that moment, still coughing, Jason hacked out “Daddy.”
“It’s okay, son. You’re okay.” Turning his head, the house was almost fully engulfed. Windows exploded as flames continued to burst through the house.
“You wait here,” he told his son, then he turned to the house.
“Clint.” An hand clamped on his arm. “You can’t go back in there.” It was Jerry, their next door neighbor. “We called the fire department. They’re on their way.”
“Carol,” was all he managed to spit out. “I have to get Carol.”
He saw Jerry’s eyes widen. The neighbor on his other side had turned on the hose and was watering down his own roof, turning the spout from time to time toward Clint’s house.
“It’s too dangerous,” Jerry repeated, his grip on Clint’s arm even tighter. “You can’t.”
“Carol!” he shouted as loud as he could as if she could hear him, and would wake up and run out of the house on her own two feet. “Carol!” he screamed again.
“Clint!” Another male voice shouted at him.
“Carol.” He had to save Carol.
“Clint!” the voice shouted louder. “Wake up, man.”
Wake up? Clint blinked, forcing his eyelids open. Where was he? The fire. No. Not the fire. Not his house. And then, closing his eyes, he slumped back against his pillow.
“You okay?” The voice belonged to Benny, the new hand they’d hired.
It was all coming back to him. He wasn’t living in Wyoming anymore. He was in Texas. Working on the Sweet Ranch. A foreman. If he wasn’t so exhausted from his nightmare, he would have laughed at that. “Sorry, kid. I guess it was a bad dream.”
“One helluva dream. You were screaming so loud I thought the place was on fire.”
Right. On fire. “Sorry.” Since they’d fixed up the old foreman’s house for one of the Sweet newlyweds, he’d insisted he’d be fine bunking with Benny. Now maybe he should have given that more thought. “I’m okay. You go back to sleep.”
Nodding, Benny straightened, eyed him a moment longer, probably convincing himself that Clint was indeed okay, and then turned on his heel and went back to his bunk in the other room.
Unlike most bunkhouses, this one was broken into more private cubicles with a living area in the middle, so he stayed on his end and Benny moved into the other end. Throwing his feet over the side of the bed, he dropped his face into his hands, then wiping the sweat from his forehead, raked his fingers through his hair and blew out a long slow breath. He’d thought the nightmares had finally stopped. Pushing to his feet he walked to the single photo that had survived that horrible night. Him and Jason in happier days. That sunny-faced little boy brought a smile to his face. What Clint wouldn’t give to go back in time and fix everything.
***
“This is heaven.” Alice Sweet sat in the rocker on the back porch. There was no place on the planet she loved more than the view of the horizon from this spot. The plans she and Kade had worked out for a guest annex would have a nice little porch with the same view over Sweet land under the Texas sky. Someday, when it was time, she’d move out of the big house and into the smaller one. And that would be just fine with her. Until then, though, she had about fifteen more minutes to enjoy her coffee before it was time to head back into the house and deal with her chores.
“Mind a little company?” Her newest daughter-in-law Cassie stood in the doorway.
“Of course not.” She patted the arm of the big green rocking chair beside her. “The sky is big enough for everyone.”
“That’s sort of what I thought the first day I arrived here.” Cassie settled into the seat. Rather than kick the chair into motion, she put her feet up on the caned seat and leaned back.
“Is this a private party?” Strolling up the walkway, Rachel had been working in the barn with Clint before she her first appointment of the day.
Alice shook her head, then tipped it toward the kitchen door. “Just made a fresh pot.”
The two sat in silence until Rachel came to sit at her mother’s other side. “This is the perfect weather. Cool enough not to sweat, warm enough not to need a jacket. Too bad it only lasts a short while.”
“I suspect that’s why California became so popular so fast. Mild weather all year long. Not too hot, not too cold.” Alice thought back to her one visit with her Charlie to San Francisco and the surrounding coastline. It was their twentieth anniversary. Kade had already signed up for the military and her sister Liz stayed to make sure the younger boys didn’t burn the place down. Of course, Jillian always having been the responsible one probably could have kept her older brothers in line, but even with a responsible adult in charge, Alice was still just a tad nervous about the homestead in her absence. By the time they were wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma, she wasn’t all that worried about the kids back home anymore.
“How come you and Daddy didn’t travel more?” Rachel asked over the brim of her mug.
“We talked about it. Came really close to taking a little trip to Mexico. A beach. But why go all the way to another country, that speaks another language, when we can have a view like this any day of the week, including killer sunrises and sunsets.”
“I’ll second that.” Cassie nodded. “The sunsets here are amazing. The stars aren’t bad either.”
The dark of night under a sea of stars had always been her and Charlie’s favorite time of day. Sometimes they’d go sit down by the canyon and put a blanket down to lie on and just enjoy the show.
“I still miss him,” Rachel murmured.
Alice nodded. “I know, baby.” She really missed him too. Some days more than others, especially this last year with all the trouble from Ray and his posse of crooks. The funny thing is, as their family has grown, she didn’t miss him quite as much as she once did, and wasn’t that something to think about. Another thought struck as she sipped on her lukewarm coffee: when was the last time she’d talked to Charlie?
An engine rumbled loudly from the direction of the front yard and Alice glanced down at her wrist watch. Almost eleven thirty. She should get up and start lunch. It was looking like there were going to have a crowd today.
The back door opened and Carson came onto the porch. “Are men welcome?” he teased.
“Always.” Alice smiled at her son.
“I come bearing gifts.” He tipped his head toward the kitchen. “Agnes had a couple of leftover tuna casseroles after yesterday’s special. She remembered how much you love her tuna casserole so she sent them home with me. You won’t have to cook tonight.”
“She sure is right about that. I have no idea what she puts in that casserole, but it’s almost addictive. It will be a nice treat.”
“I have to admit,” Rachel set her chair rocking, “everything seems so much brighter now that the ranch isn’t at risk anymore.”
“It’s still has a lot of debt,” Preston said as he came through the same door.
Alice was going to need to get a bigger back porch.
“We’ve cleared the delinquents payments, and we’ve made some changes, gotten some new equipment, but all of it, including the new barns, are going to have to be paid for.”
“They will.” Alice nodded. Her husband had figured it all out. When he was done with all his expansion plans, the Sweet Ranch would provide for generations to come. He’d be happy to see his brood settled with such perfect soulmates.
“The good news,” Preston continued, “is that with the money we’ll get from this year’s calves, we’ll be able to increase the heard. Another year and we’ll have the four thousand head Dad wanted.”
“We’ll need more hands.” Alice knew that with Kade stepping in for his dad soon, that would be one less man needed, but even before the larger herd, they still had six hands including the foreman. “When do you think we can take on another man?”
Preston looked to his siblings, bypassing his mom. As if she didn’t know what they were thinking. The first big trust payment would be coming in a few months. She turned a blind eye to their using the newly married payment to save the ranch, but there was no way she was going to let any of her kids use the money that was meant to help setup their new families, on the ranch. Not on her watch.
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