Fateful Waters Read online

  Her planned trip to town was put on hold. Five days after Thanksgiving, they were hit with a winter storm. Sleet and snow pummeled them for the better part of a day and a half. Then it got warm again, and the white blanket turned to mud.

  The first day of the storm, Cutter stayed close and spent more time in the house. The tiny, black puppy took a fancy to him; she followed him whenever he entered the confines of the office, and kept jumping up on his pant leg until he picked her up and paid some attention to her.

  Skip took on the duty of shepherding the little ones that he had pulled from the road. They were beginning to scamper around, and were prone to darting out the door when people entered or left the office. The female black and tan pup was very quick, and she wanted to explore the great beyond. Her urge to break out into the larger world almost cost her life.

  Lexie and Skip had returned from a short morning run with Blue. As luck would have it, they came across Cutter on his way back from the eastern boundary where the Lazy K herd was kept. The small herd now numbered twenty-eight. He was worried that the weakened cattle might not have fared well under the ice storm. He was making her crazy. Ever since she had blurted out that she was in a family way he didn’t want her riding alone, driving alone, or lifting anything heavier than one of the puppies. Lord have mercy, I’m not even a full three months yet! He took her horse to remove the tack, instead of letting her do it, and put him away in addition to his own. It wasn’t worth the inevitable argument, so Lexie headed for the house.

  “Skip, komm bitte, and let’s get cleaned up. After lunch we can take the puppies outdoors for a while.”

  After freshening up and changing, Lexie was on her way back up the long hall toward the kitchen, when she heard a crash followed by a string of curses in a distinctly Spanish dialect. She picked up her pace to check out the ruckus the cook was making. A small black and tan form appeared from the dining room to investigate, about the same time she and Skip entered from the hall. Maria was busy sweeping up what looked like a shattered baking dish.

  Lexie was about to ask if she could help—at home it would have been a no-brainer; she would have just pitched in—when Maria let out an earsplitting screech before taking the broom and smacking the puppy. Lexie yelled “NO!” too late. The small canine yelped like it was mortally wounded, and fell on its side. Skip was showing all the signs of having the cook for lunch.

  “Easy, Skip. I got it.” She turned around and took a swing at Maria, then scooped up the still breathing puppy and ran down the hall for her handbag and keys. On her way out the front door, she closed Skip in the office ordering him, in her grandmother’s language, “Schütz die Welpen!” She knew the other pups would come to no harm with Skip ordered to guard them, and she hurried out the door with the injured puppy.

  Cutter had just finished with the horses and was headed to the house for lunch. Jim and Sam were accompanying him when his wife came barreling through the door carrying one of the puppies. She didn’t bother to acknowledge any of them. In a flash she was into her Suburban. It was obvious she was distraught, and in no condition to drive. She reluctantly surrendered her keys to him along with the driving duties.

  “Hurry, Cutter. I think she is dying!”

  “What happened Lex?”

  “I don’t know how she got out, but Maria tried to kill her with a broom.”

  She wasn’t in any condition to argue with him when he said he doubted that Maria had tried to kill the pup. Her inability to staunch the tears, and her rising nausea made it impossible to take him to task for once again coming to Maria’s defense.

  “Stop! Cutter, pull over!”

  He replied to the urgency in her voice. The vehicle had barely stopped when she flung the door open, handed him the puppy, and went to the side of the road to lose what was left of her breakfast.

  The animal hospital was busy that afternoon, but they rushed the pup to one of the emergency rooms. Lex explained how the injuries occurred to the vet assistant, who immediately interrupted Doc Rose for an evaluation. X-rays were ordered.

  Lexie and Cutter were excused to the waiting room for eternity. In real time it was only short of two hours. When they saw the pup again, she had a cast on her right front leg, and a size appropriate needle taped to her other leg that was attached to an IV.

  Leaving her there was one of the toughest things Lexie’d ever had to do. The x-rays hadn’t shown any additional broken bones, and the ultrasounds hadn’t detected internal damage. The pup was in shock, and there was always the possibility of damage to her brain. The blow had driven her head and body onto the hard surface of the kitchen floor, resulting in a swelling of her brain. She didn’t have a name yet, so Lexie shared hers; little Alex would be under observation for several days.

  Cutter insisted on lunch before returning to the ranch. That was fine with her. She wasn’t in a big hurry to get arrested for assault. If Maria was still there when she got back she was going to mop the floor with the hateful woman. After ordering, Lexie excused herself to make use of the ladies room to freshen up, and then down one of the pills to prevent another bout queasiness that would result in losing her yet-to-be-eaten lunch.

  When she returned to the table, the chicken dumpling soup had arrived. Cutter had just folded his cell phone, returning it to the frayed worn leather carrier on his belt. Lexie knew she was going to be given another lecture about her inappropriate behavior by the way he was looking at her and frowning. Fortunately, he waited until they finished lunch and were on their way back to the ranch.

  “I checked with Jim before lunch; Dr. Callahan was with Maria. She told him that you punched her in the face when he asked how she broke her nose.”

  Lexie didn’t answer him, but she felt immense satisfaction at the news.

  “Lex, did you punch her in the face?”

  “You’re damn right I did, and if I get my hands on her, I am going to break a lot more than her nose.”

  “Maria was so upset about the accident, Joe gave her a sedative to calm her down.”

  “Accident my ass! I was there, Cutter, she intended to kill that pup. She wasn’t just shooing it out of the kitchen.”

  “It was a mistake, Lex. She thought it was a rat.”

  “Oh, give me a break, Cutter. When have you ever seen a rat in the house?”

  “It happens. It’s usually after a flash flood, or following a bad winter storm.”

  “Well, that’s just fine, Cutter You can continue to make excuses for her, but should you ever take my side that would really be monumental.”

  “Do you expect me to take your side even when you are wrong?”

  “God forbid. But you have a choice to make; it’s her or me. I refuse to live like this or subject our child to that hateful person.”

  She didn’t speak to him again the rest of the way home. As soon as he parked, she quickly entered the house to check on the other puppies. Maria was not in the house; he was grateful for that small reprieve. He drove over to the Rodriguez bungalow to have a talk with Jim and his wife.

  Lexie cleaned up behind the puppies, then took them and Skip out to play in what she was reluctant to call a yard. They were pretty good at using the puppy pads she had put down for them, but they occasionally missed the mark. It was time to make more of an effort to housebreak them. She returned the puppies to the office and secured the door. She still couldn’t figure out how little Alex had gotten out.

  Maria hadn’t returned and it was almost dinnertime, so Lexie stiffened her spine and entered the self-imposed restricted domain of the cook. She didn’t see anything that looked like it was set side for dinner. She went into the small fridge in the office, looking for salad items and her favorite dressing. The mystery of the puppy’s escape became apparent; tucked on one of the two shelves was a large container of veal paprika. Skip herded the three remaining pups out of the way so that she could get through the door. She placed her haul on the kitchen table before she returned to retrieve her canine helper
, and close the puppies in again.

  “Okay, Skip, I think we can reheat the veal that Ollie left for us, add a salad and the rolls I found in the bread box for a decent dinner for the three of us. I just hope he doesn’t drag anyone else home with him today, if he even shows up. I have a hunch you and I will be hitting the road fairly soon.”

  Cutter showed up in time for dinner, but even his sparse one or two word commentaries were conspicuously absent. And so it went over the next few days, they barely spoke. He was definitely not pleased with the absence of his precious Maria.

  Lexie was not about to ask her husband about Maria’s condition and suffer his disapproval again, so she asked Sam.

  “Jim says she looks like a raccoon with a broken snout. But it is her depression that really concerns him.”

  “I didn’t think I hit her hard enough to do all that damage.”

  “She was sprawled on the floor in the middle of some broken glass and uncooked enchiladas, bawling like a baby about killing another dog. Her nose was bleeding unnoticed down the front of her onto the floor. It took the two of us to move her from the floor to a chair. I got some ice for her nose while Jim called Doc Joe.”

  Lexie had to admit she hadn’t given Maria a second thought; her focus had been entirely on the injured puppy. It broke her heart that after all the survivors of the brutally abandoned litter had been through that one of them could come to harm in what should have been the safe confines of the house.

  The following morning, once Cutter was off on the far reaches of the ranch, she went to check on little Alex. The pup was off the IV and trying to wobble around on her cast. She was eating and drinking, but the vet and her assistant said she was stand-offish and unsocial. However, she came right up to Lexie, wagging her tail and giving a joyful little bark. Lexie spent some time with her, and the vet was impressed with the pup’s response.

  Lexie went shopping while she was in town. She purchased four doggy beds, two blue collars, two red collars and a dog carrier for the car. The carrier would come in handy for the puppies vet checkup in two days when she picked up Alex.

  She got back before Cutter, successfully avoiding another confrontation about her blatant disregard for his wishes on a multitude of fronts. She busied herself frying the chicken she had picked up at the grocer in town, and preparing the rest of the dinner.

  Not one word about her skills or lack of as a cook. What he wanted to know was where was she at lunch, and just where did she get the chicken. Then she had to listen to him scold her like she was a child or a simpleton unable to manage menial tasks like going to town to check on the injured puppy, or going to the grocery.

  “Cutter, I am going to town again the day after tomorrow. I have an appointment to take the puppies for a checkup and their shots. I will also be bringing Alex back. At that time, I will hand the boys over to their new owners, and Skip, the two little girl puppies, and I will be out of here. You can move Maria back in as soon as we are gone. You will be much happier when things are back to the status quo, and your inappropriate witch of a wife is out of your life.”

  He downed the remainder of his coffee and set the mug down hard enough to break it and dent the oak dining table. He turned at the mudroom door after adjusting his black Stetson, “You can leave Bib here; she’s my dog.” He snatched his jacket off the peg, grabbed a pair of work gloves from the shelf, and was gone.

  Bib? She wasn’t aware he’d named the little black and white puppy that liked him so much. She sure hoped the little runt, that had beat unbelievable odds, fared better with him than she was able to. Lexie wondered whether it was their very different upbringing, their social economic status being diametrically opposed, or the eight years separating them that kept them from gaining any unity.

  Cutter didn’t even come home that night, or the following night. He didn’t show up for breakfast the morning of the puppies’ checkup. Lexie placed the three pups in the new carrier and made the trip out the side kitchen entrance where she had last seen her husband. There, waiting to assist her with loading the dog carrier was Pete. It appeared that he had been assigned to ride shotgun for the day. She returned to the house for Skip, his water bowl, another one for the pups, and a half-gallon jug of water.

  Skip occupied the back seat and kept an eye on the little ones confined in the dog crate sitting in the cargo area. A good hour passed before Lexie’s curiosity got the better of her. “Pete, how did you get the dubious honor of accompanying me today?”

  “Don’t really know, ma’am. Ever since I come to work fir Cutter, I been assistin’ Sam with the hosses. Mostly, they give me the soft jobs. But yesterday, Sam says Cutter has a dangerous assignment fir me. He tells me I got to stick with you today, no matter how ornery you get, or how much you object. He offered me hazard pay.”

  “Cutter offered you hazard pay just to ride to town with me?”

  “Yes ma’am, he surely did!

  Lexie broke into a fit of laughter. Once she got herself under control, she asked, “Do you know where he is, Pete?”

  “Sam said somphen’ bout’ a quarter year trip to Dallas.”

  Pete didn’t know much more than she did, but at least she knew where he was. She wondered if the family attorneys he had once mentioned once were based in Dallas. Maybe he figured he would beat her to the punch on the divorce issue.

  Cutter was having a hard time keeping his head in the board meeting. He had taken the place of his maternal grandfather, at the elder’s request, after Ben Cutter had a stroke. Ben had only lived a little more than a year after that, and he was the last link to Cutter’s long dead mother. In addition to the trust funds left to him and his brother when they were each born, his grandfather had left Cutter with the bulk of his wealth, as well as his seat on the board of Cutter Inc. Nothing much got past him; Grandpa Ben had groomed him well. The years he spent working with him while he attended A&M paid off with unexpected dividends. Diversification kept the company in the black when a lot of their original competition sank in the struggling economy and the unprecedented drought. Ben’s savvy grandson applied the same philosophy to his personal holdings. Rarely did he lose his temper. Well, not until a little blond with blue eyes slid off the road and into his life earlier in the year.

  He wasn’t up to the usual schmoozing, so he retired to the company-owned penthouse suite, and ordered in. It worried him that Lexie was alone in the house, if she was even still there. He didn’t remember his mother being so all-fired independent and disagreeable, but then he was just a child. His mother had loved him and his brother Ben; he could remember the love, but his recollection of her face and physical form had faded with time. It was his grandfather’s old photos of his mother as a girl that had brought back some warmer moments of his childhood.

  Cutter had buried himself in his studies, and then the demands of the business as well as the day-to-day operation of the ranch, until the lack of love in his life became the norm. It was hard for him to admit, even to himself, that the past loss of loved ones affected the way he dealt with his wife. She meant more to him than he was willing to let her know. She could already tie him in knots and cause him to lose his objectivity as well as his temper.

  He would give her a call after dinner. Maybe he could determine her whereabouts and her current frame of mind. She had almost three days to cool off; he hoped she had, and that she missed him as much as he was missing her. He missed the laughter, the arguments, and even the frustration she caused him, but mostly he missed holding her close to him through the night.

  Lexie decided to confront the lioness in her den, the morning of the third day of Cutter’s absence. She had been trying to get a handle on Maria since she discovered that Cutter had given her two weeks’ severance pay—in effect firing his longtime cook and housekeeper. Lexie’s assessment of a vindictive backstabber didn’t match Cutter’s view of Maria, or even come close. The ranch hands including Maria’s husband Jim didn’t shed any light either. In general, she found the mal
e population of the Rocking R pretty clueless.

  Lexie decided to take Skip and Alex along for moral support. Maria’s reaction to her chosen companions would give her a clue as to how to proceed. She was learning more about the people and the workings of the ranch since Cutter’s abrupt departure. She was somewhat familiar with Sam and the horse operation. Thanks to the few lunches she’d shared at the cookhouse, she had a working knowledge of Cutter’s job as well a glimpse at the life of a cowhand. She could now match up more faces to the entry names of the ranch payroll.

  A half-mile from the ranch house that she was still reluctant to call home stood a cluster of a half dozen small bungalows. Lexie located the one marked number five, and pulled into the graveled drive. She scooped Alex off the front seat and let Skip out of the back. Her knock on the door was a lot more timid than her usual aggressive style. She was about ready to give up the quest when Maria opened the door. Lexie was shocked by how bad the woman still looked; her nose was splinted and both eyes were now multicolored as opposed to the black, raccoon-like mask that Maria’s husband had described.

  “Hello, Maria. May we come in?”

  She opened the door to allow the unexpected trio to enter her home. Maria already had her tree up and decorated. Green garland was draped around the house with small silver bells hanging from it at approximately six-inch intervals. She offered Lexie tea and snicker doodles.

  “I am sorry, Mrs. Ross, but I do not have any lemon.”

  “Plain is just fine, Maria. Your home is lovely, and so festive.”

  “Thank you, but it must seem small and pathetic to you. Several of these small homes could fit inside the big house.”

  “Truthfully, I grew up in a home not much bigger than yours, but where I come from everyone has a basement. It affords you more living space, or room to accumulate more junk that no one ever uses.”