Shay felt such relief when Reese spoke up for her, his voice low and firm, his gaze locked on her father. Mouth dry, she added, “Without these four vets, I could not have done it, Father. They are assets, wranglers who work from dawn to dusk every day. Even on weekends.”
Ray stared at them, his mouth working. He rubbed his jaw and looked out the window at the sunny day.
The silence deepened.
Shay felt Reese’s carefully controlled anger, felt his protection of her even though he hadn’t made a move to touch her again. It was so good to have someone stand up for her against her angry father. Only now, as she watched Crawford’s drawn face, he seemed mollified; there was not the usual amount of anger that was always on the surface. Another part of her felt sorry for her father. He was a strong man who had worked tirelessly on the ranch. It had been his drinking and gambling that had been not only the downfall but the near loss of the family ranch, as well.
Now, Reese was confronting him. Crawford would never take those words from her, and Shay knew it. He’d probably have started throwing anything he could get his hands on at her if she’d tried it. But for whatever reason, her father still respected Reese and it showed in his attitude and expression. Grateful, Shay felt her tightened stomach loosen by degrees as the silence continued.
Finally, Crawford turned his head, glaring at Reese. “Okay, so you’re a vet. I can accept that because you’re smart and you did something important for me. You protected my savings. I don’t know those other three vets.”
Shay felt her insides relax suddenly from her father’s almost apologetic-sounding words. Ray had never said he was sorry for anything in his life, for what he’d done or the decisions he’d made. Shay didn’t expect an apology from him, but she could see the respect for Reese in her father’s eyes, and that made her draw a deep breath. The tension in the room began to dissolve. She gathered her courage and said softly, “Then maybe you should meet them. They’re good men, Father.”
Ray regarded his daughter, his mouth tightening. “That’s why I called you in here, Shay.”
Startled, she blinked. “What do you mean?” Now what? She didn’t understand his change of behavior. Could Reese’s one visit have influenced him that much? That quickly? Because every time her father looked at Reese, she saw his eyes change, the hardness and anger gone. What kind of magic had Reese worked on her father? Shay didn’t understand, but that didn’t matter, either. What did matter was that her father was less angry with her, less verbally abusive, with Reese in the room. For that, Shay was more than grateful.
“I want to know about those houses you’re building.” He looked at Reese. “You tell me about them.”
“No, sir, that’s Shay’s department.” He turned his head, giving Shay a firm look. “She’s the owner of the Bar C. Everything that happens on that ranch is because of her insight, her business sense and decisions. She should be the one to tell you, not me. All I’m doing is helping her to organize it.”
Shay wanted to cry with relief. Reese was giving her back the respect her father had long ago taken away from her. How badly she wanted to throw her arms around Reese’s strong, broad shoulders right now. But she couldn’t. She saw her father’s gaze move grudgingly to her.
“Well?” he demanded. “Tell me about this plan of yours.”
Swallowing against a forming lump, Shay told him. Little by little, as she spoke, she saw that gleaming hardness that was always in her father’s eyes, begin to soften. By the time she was done with the explanation, the extent of her vision for the wranglers having a home of their own, she watched her father become pensive. He moved his left hand across the bed covers. She knew how hard he’d worked all his life on the ranch. If he hadn’t been an alcoholic and a gambler, Shay knew the Bar C would not be in the shape it was in presently. And surely, her father, who was always in denial about his drinking and gambling, never taking responsibility for his actions, had to know that. Didn’t he?
“Are they gonna be paying rent?” Ray demanded.
Shay looked to Reese and then to her father. “They will send the monthly mortgage payment directly to the Whitcombs.”
“Then what are you getting out of this?”
His voice was like a whip and Shay tensed. “Because they are already giving fifteen percent of the money they earn to the ranch, that’s what.”
Ray studied her. “You never told me that.”
“I tried to. Many times, Father.”
He snorted. “What the hell is fifteen percent of nothing?”
“It’s not nothing,” Shay argued tightly. “Harper and Noah have bimonthly checks coming in from their jobs. Garret runs big construction equipment and he hires himself out to the ranches in the valley to get work. It’s not as steady, but it’s getting better. And Reese has a part-time accounting job with Charlie at his hay and feed store. They are all working, and you have to realize it’s their fifteen percent that makes the mortgage payment, Father.”