“Cain, are you ready?” Ross called out across the yard.
“Cain, please, I want to finish,” said Emma.
“We’re not done. Don’t worry. Just not now and not here.”
Cain and Hayden helped stack bags of feed until Ross’s storeroom was filled. The sun was starting to set by the time they were done, and despite the cold, they had all worked up a thin coat of sweat before they brought in the last bag. Ross shook hands with Cain before walking back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner.
“Mom, are you sure you’re all right from this afternoon?” Hayden leaned on one of the stall dividers and studied his mother’s face closely for any residual illness.
“There’s nothing wrong, kiddo. To tell you the truth, it was a temporary thing, kinda like getting kicked in the gut. You know what I mean?”
Hayden sat on a bale of hay across from Cain and stayed silent. He had spent the afternoon listening to Emma talk about growing up on the farm and what a shock it had been to leave Wisconsin. The biggest surprise was that she had ended up with Cain after growing up in such a sheltered place. From her stories, he didn’t think she had in her to take such bold chances and go so against her upbringing.
When Emma spoke of going into the Erin Go Braugh and asking for a job, Hayden realized perhaps Cain wasn’t the only chance taker in the family. As they strolled through Ross’s pastures he found himself enjoying her stories, hearing about a side of Cain he knew nothing about. Emma spoke of her in a tone that had more than a trace of affection, which confused him. If Emma still loved Cain, why wasn’t she with them?
“Let’s go grab a shower and something to eat, then get you to bed, big guy,” said Hayden. “You aren’t as young as you used to be, so we have to watch out for you.”
Cain laughed and threw a wad of hay at him. “Wiseass, huh?”
“I’m your wiseass, though, and I’d like to think I learned all my wise ways from you. Even when I’m being an ass.”
With her chin on one of her fists, Cain looked at her son and sighed. So many things her father had said and taught her came back to mind when she had time to study her own child like this. “I wish you had gotten to meet my father, Hayden. He would’ve loved you, and my mother would have spoiled you until even I wouldn’t have known what to do with you.
“They had three children and they loved us, but I always suspected we were just the down payment on what they really wanted—grandchildren. Whenever I started seeing someone new, my mother used to remind me. ‘I want grandkids someday, lass,’ she’d say in that thick brogue. My dad would just laugh, but he told me one day he had practiced swing pushing until he wasn’t going to get any better without a live subject.”
Hayden moved and sat next to Cain. “As much as I’d have liked to meet them, I’d like to think I did get to know them through all the stories you’ve told me. You know what I figured out?”
“What’s that?”
“I listen to you talk about Grandpa Dalton, and it’s like hearing to a story about you. I look at all those pictures, and I imagine what I’m going to look like when I’m older. And Merrick told me you two had the same hands.” He put his smaller hand next to hers and smiled because the structure and shape were the same, no matter the size difference. “I want to grow up and have people look at me and say, ‘that’s Cain’s kid and he’s just like her.’”
Hayden could count on one hand all the times he’d seen his mother cry, but knew his words had reached deep when tears filled her eyes.
“You are my kid, and I love you, but you’re wrong. People are going to look at you and say we’re alike, but you’re better than I ever thought of being.”
“Thanks, Mom. You ready?” He hugged her and enjoyed the slight citrus smell that always clung to her.
“Hayden, I want you to do me a favor.”
“What?” The way she had asked made him think he wasn’t going to like her request.
“I want you to go up to the house and have dinner with your mother.”
“No. I spent all afternoon with her, and now I want to eat with you and the guys.” He moved a little away from her and crossed his arms over his chest as a way to say his decision was final.
“Son, it’s the last thing I’m going to ask of you while we’re here. After tonight, if you want to spend the next couple of days in the bunkhouse and not see anyone, then I’ll have to respect your decision.”
Not needing any other prodding from Cain, Hayden got up to go get ready for dinner.
He never saw Emma crying behind the first stall in the barn, deeply ashamed she had eavesdropped on their conversation. Listening to the mother and son had proved to her that Hayden had been raised by the same loving person who had stolen her heart so many years before.
For all of Cain’s faults her one best quality hadn’t changed. Even after Emma left, Cain was filled with love and devotion for her family. If Kyle succeeded now, Emma would never gain Hayden’s love or his respect, and he would gladly be sent away anywhere, as long as it meant not having to lay eyes on her again. She was sure now that he would want nothing else to do with her once he found out the extent of her involvement.
The Verde dinner table was again silent as the four people sat eating their meal. In the bunkhouse Cain started an indoor football game that ended up with the ball hitting the overhead light fixture, tilting the camera it hid. The agents in the back room of the barn could only stare in horror at the monitor, now showing the ceiling tiles, and wonder how they were going to get back in again to reset the angle.
“You guys watch it. With my luck I’ll have Carol down here suing me for damages.”
They heard Cain’s reprimand effectively stop the game.
“Why don’t you head into town and eat at the little diner Ross and I tried today, and let me lie down and wait for Hayden. I’m still not feeling well from my bout of barfing today.”
The agents cursed. If Cain wasn’t leaving too, they would be listening to nothing until the others got back, unless Cain was going to be talking in her sleep.
“Don’t forget to try the apple pie with homemade ice cream. It’s to die for. As a matter of fact, bring me back a piece, minus the cold stuff. It might make me feel better.”
Special Agent Rich, the senior agent working for Kyle, sat back in his chair eating an apple and pretending it was the pie Cain had talked about while he listened in case Casey decided to call someone after her henchmen left for dinner. The quiet filling the tape made him want to imitate the napping woman he was monitoring. Had he been paying attention, he would have seen the figure dressed in black crawl toward the nearest fence and head out to the dark pasture.
Chapter Fourteen
Cain slipped the night-vision glasses into place as soon as she cleared the fence and started out at a moderate pace. Since no one expected her arrival, she could take her time. Merrick had walked Hayden and Mook to the house for their dinner with the Verdes; they had instructions to stay there and not step into the bunkhouse until the rest of them got back from town. Cain was outside her final destination less than an hour later and just sat watching for dogs or other security measures.
The woman she had seen earlier stood at the kitchen window. From her movements, Cain guessed she was rinsing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. She crept closer and, almost in the woman’s plain sight, she attached something to the window before she moved back. Sitting against the fence, she put the headphones on and turned up the volume.