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She snorted. “I’m going to check my employees, the fences and the livestock. Then I’m going back to Yellowstone to finish what I started.”
“And your mother and father?”
Londyn stared at rolling hills and grassland. It never seemed to change. Everything else in her life had changed completely. “If you’re asking whether or not I’ll forgive them... The answer is probably. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to meet my biological father.” She sighed. “When Gramps died, I felt so alone. It made me realize that no matter how angry I get with my mother, I don’t want to lose her. She’s all the family I have left. Even if we don’t live compatible lifestyles, she’s still my mother.”
“And now that you know who your father is...” Nash prompted.
Londyn shook her head in silence. “All the years we could have shared…” She met his gaze. “All the years people didn’t believe I was Dana Tyler’s daughter because I don’t look anything like my mother…” She laughed without humor. “I look like Ben.”
Nash nodded. “So, what now?”
She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I make my rounds, check things out and head back to Yellowstone in the morning. I want to know why Craig Ryland told the director I quit.”
CHAPTER 14
Nash rode alongside Londyn, checking the entire perimeter of the LJ Ranch. She’d met with the ranch hands and listened as they’d caught her up on what they’d been doing since she’d been gone. They’d also shared their plans for the next month.
Ben Standing Bear had taken his promise to help keep an eye on her place seriously and had the ranch hands working on projects to shore up damaged fences and gates. He’d purchased fencing supplies out of his own pocket.
Londyn hadn’t been happy about that. When she’d gotten back to the house, she’d told her mother she’d pay Ben back as soon as she received her first paycheck. Other than that bit of information, she was still giving her mother the cold shoulder.
Nash figured she’d come around soon enough. She had the right to be angry. Her mother had lied to her about her father.
That evening, Ben joined them for dinner, coming early enough to throw steaks and baked potatoes on the grill.
Nash helped Londyn chop vegetables for a salad. The ranch hands joined them, and they all sat at the big table in the kitchen. Having the ranch hands in the room helped keep the mood light. They told stories of crazy things that happened in the weeks since Londyn had been gone.
Despite the ranch hands’ antics and stories, by the end of the meal, Londyn’s body was strung tighter than a compound bow.
When the ranch hands insisted on doing the dishes, Nash helped Londyn carry plates into the kitchen, then took her hand and led her out onto the porch. The sun had set, and the sky was sprinkled with so many glittering stars that they didn’t need the porch light to see.
Nash walked with Londyn around the house and down to the barn, where they leaned on the top rail of the fence and watched the horses in the field beyond.
“I feel like everything has changed,” Londyn whispered. “And yet, most things have stayed the same. I still need to finish this acting contract. The bank still wants back mortgage payments, and the state is sending notices demanding payment of back taxes.” Her lips twisted into a sad smile.
“Then what has changed?” Nash asked, wanting her to articulate what was going on inside.
“I don’t know if I can ever trust my mother to tell me the truth, for one. She lied to me all my life. Why couldn’t she just tell me who my father was?”
“Like you,” her mother said from behind her, “I didn’t want to rely on anyone else to help raise my child. You have to understand. Ben said terrible things to me. He told me he’d never loved me and only hung around because I was pretty. He said he was tired of my clinginess and was ready to move on and date other girls.”
Ben Standing Bear appeared behind Londyn’s mother. “I said some heinous things to your mother. I didn’t believe any of them, but I needed her to believe them. Your grandfather had convinced me that I wasn’t good enough for his daughter, that I would hold her back from exploring her greatest potential.”
Dana slipped her hand through the crook of Ben’s elbow. “The truth was that I wasn’t good enough for Ben. I should’ve seen through his ruse.”
“Dana’s father pointed out that we were just two young people with no job prospects,” Ben said, his gaze going to the stars in the sky. “I didn’t have a college degree or own land I could work to make money. I’d need to provide for a wife and any children that might come along.” He laughed. “I admit, he painted a pretty bleak picture of life as an unemployed Native American. He said the best thing I could do was break it off with his daughter. I should let her go to college, get her education, and establish herself in a career. I could also use that time to improve my situation. Then, if she came back to me, he’d bless our union. Only then would she be more of an asset than a liability.”
Londyn’s mother’s lips pursed into a tight line. “That was my father. More concerned about profitability than his only daughter’s world falling apart around her ears.”
“The point is,” Ben faced Dana and took her hand, “your father was right. Had we married straight out of high school, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to audition for parts in LA.”
“I wasn’t even interested in acting,” Dana said, “until I had to do something to support my kid.” She glanced toward Londyn. “I didn’t tell Ben about his daughter because he’d made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with me. That cut so deep. I didn’t want him to feel obligated to support her. I’d severed ties with my father and was alone in LA. I had to figure it out on my own.”
Ben looked down into Dana’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have been so horrible to you. If I had gone with our original plan, we’d have been married before Londyn was born.”
Her mother arched an eyebrow. “And you might not have gone to college and become a hot shot financial planner and made enough money to buy the property next to my father’s and so much more.”
He snorted. “I admit I wanted to prove him wrong. I wanted to make it big enough that I deserved you. I even went to LA after I bought the ranch.”
