Husband for a Year

In a couple of months he would write another set of letters explaining that he and Stefanie had gone their separate ways.

Thankfully she’d flown to Paris a few hours after he’d left the house and was enjoying herself with good friends as planned.

Now that she’d been given her freedom, she was entitled to be with any man she chose. To Gabe’s chagrin, he found he loathed the idea. Her image, her husky voice, had refused to leave his mind or senses.

He supposed she would haunt him for a long time to come. You didn’t live for a year in the same house with a wife like Stefanie and hope to walk away from her totally unaffected.

On the other hand, he hadn’t realized how deeply she’d gotten beneath his skin. The drive through a lot of rain and some snow flurries would have been torture if he’d had to be alone with his thoughts.

He figured it would probably take hearing that Stefanie was going to marry someone else’s favorite son headed for the White House to douse the sparks Gabe had determined not to acknowledge, let alone allow to catch fire.

His face formed a grimace before he gunned the accelerator. Twenty minutes later he glimpsed something in the twilight that broke his torturous train of thought.

Larch Tree Boys’ Ranch.

When Gabe saw the newly erected sign at the gate, he let out a satisfied sigh and slowed down. Mack must have pulled some strings to make sure it had been put up in time to coincide with Gabe’s arrival.

A special welcome home present.

The best one he could have received to chase away feelings that were better left to die.

When he and the Realtor from Kalispell had flown over this property eighteen months ago, everything about the ranch had felt right to him. Seventy-five thousand acres of lush green meadows dotted with cattle and statuesque pines.

In the early-morning sunlight he’d glimpsed a ribbon of blue teeming with trout as it danced against a dense green forest backdrop. A couple of rustic log cabins nestled here and there in a fertile valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains completed a picture that spoke straight to Gabe’s restless soul.

Always before, his needs, aspirations and desires had been fragmented, eluding him like some flirtatious breeze he couldn’t follow. Then he’d seen the ranch and suddenly everything had crystallized for him.

It was here he would put down roots.

The ranch was the one special spot on earth that called to him, and heaven knew he and his family had seen and traveled more of mother earth than most people.

“This is it?” Clay cried out excitedly.

“Yes. We’re home.”

But with Stefanie no longer in the picture, the word had a hollow ring. That was a reality Gabe was going to have to live with.

Shifting gears, he drove the truck onto his private property. Though it was early spring, the place looked like winter had still gotten in a few final licks.

“How come you didn’t name the ranch after you?”

“The larch trees were here first, not the Wainwrights. Now I hope you’re hungry because I can promise that Marva will have her famous homemade chili waiting for us.”

“Is she your wife?”

Gabe took a deep breath before he said, “No. She’s the cook for the main ranch house.”

“Mom showed me a picture of Mrs. Wainwright from the newspaper. She’s really good looking!”

“I agree.” Gabe’s voice grated. If the truth be known, Stefanie was probably the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life.

“Is she already at the ranch?”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “No.”

“When’s she going to come?”

“She’s not, Clay. Right now she’s on a trip around the world.”

The boy frowned. “Why?”

He rubbed the side of his unshaven jaw. “She needed time away on her own.”

Clay looked at him with a solemn expression. “Are you two getting a divorce?”

He’d been asked an honest question. To hedge it would only provoke more curiosity.

“We are divorced.”

“Didn’t she want to live on a ranch?”

“It was more a case of her wanting to live the life she loves on the East Coast.”

“Did she ever see your ranch?”

Perspiration formed on Gabe’s brow. “No.”

“But that’s crazy! She’d only have to get one look at this place, and she’d never want to go back!”

Gabe shook his head. To be young again. To see life in such a simplistic way. “It’s never going to happen.”

“That’s too bad.” The boy was still mourning his father’s death. Saying goodbye to Stefanie didn’t seem to be that much different for Gabe…

“As you’ve already been made painfully aware, life doesn’t always go the way we want. What do you say we both put the past behind us and move forward from here?”

The boy’s head was bowed. “That’s kind of hard to do, but I’ll try if you will.”

Once more Gabe’s heart went out to Clay. He patted his shoulder. “It’s a deal.”

CHAPTER TWO

STEFANIE spent a restless night in Kalispell, Montana. Though the woman riding with Gabe had been dropped off at O’Hare airport in Chicago, Stefanie’s dreams were still haunted by the reality of her existence and the possibility that Gabe was in love with her.

Heartsick, Stefanie drove on to the tiny hamlet of Marion where she’d been told to meet the P.I.s at the coffee shop of the Branding Iron motel.

The rustic little café bar appeared deserted, no doubt because a weather report forecasting a storm before evening had prompted tourists to run for cover while they could.

By now it was ten after three. After two hours of watching for Stan and Wes out of antler-trimmed windows, she was convinced something had gone wrong. To come this far only to lose Gabe’s trail was anathema to her.