She could see light coming in through the bottom of the curtains, she turned over to look at her clock: nine o'clock, Travis had let her sleep in. She sat up and pushed the fabric aside, morning had broken on the ranch.
The door opened and she could hear the scrambling of the puppy's paws as she ran into the room and leaped onto the bed. Full of puppy happiness at the fact that her mistress was home she began wriggling and licking Anicka's face with her wet pink tongue.
Anicka sat up and hugged her seventy-pound German Shepherd, "I'm glad to see you too, Candy, I missed you. Where's daddy?"
That question was answered as Travis came into the room, a mug of rich smelling coffee in each hand. Anicka freed one arm from the puppy and reached out to take the cup of coffee from his hand.
Travis moved the puppy so he could sit next to his wife. The dog rolled her eyes at him, then, displeased, jumped off the bed.
Anicka drank deeply from the coffee mug, then looked up at him and said, "You shouldn't have let me sleep this long."
"You kept crying in your sleep and I didn't know if you were awake or not. Do you remember?" he asked.
"No," she answered, "I know I was having really horrible dreams, but I can't remember them. This is such an ugly mess, Travis. It's not just me, you know, it's Rip, too. I don't know if I killed my ex or not, maybe Rip finished what I started. Did he take him to the Train Station? I don't know, all I remember is leaving and Rip looking angry. Thank god I don't know where the Train Station is."
She set her mug down and stretched. She had only had a few sips of coffee, not nearly enough to help her wake up. She wondered what Travis thought about all this.
"I know Rip is your friend," she said, "and it bothers me that he's in this as deeply as I am, and it's my fault. I'm grateful he was there, he saved me, but I don't want to get him into trouble."
"Well, I got a message from the private investigator I hired," he replied, "and I'll get back to him on Monday. Maybe your ex had secrets he kept from you and your family. There's no such thing as a man who beats a woman who hasn't done it before. Maybe we'll dig up some skeletons that he thought he kept hidden in his closet. Remember, you were scared, and you were defending yourself. He was trying to force you to leave with him and you had an order of protection against him that he obviously didn't care about. Things will be all right, you'll see."
"You mean they'll be all right for me, but what about Rip? He's the only one who knows what he did, how will the law see it?"
"Honey, the Duttons have been burying their secrets for over a century. There'll be no evidence left, I'm sure. Rip is smart and remember, he saved your life. John Dutton has a lot of influence in Montana, what happened there may never see the light of day."
She shivered, remembering what Benito had told her, if it had been Benito and not merely a bad dream. God, that seemed like a lifetime ago. Was it fate that had led her to the Dutton ranch? If she hadn't come the Yellowstone she wouldn't have met Ryan or Travis. She wouldn't be married to the man who stood before her. And her ex would be alive and maybe abusing other women, or maybe even her.
"Don't worry about that for now," Travis said, "I'm getting you a lawyer, Rip will have to take care of himself. Who knows, maybe Mr. Dutton will have Jamie look after him. My only concern right now is you."
She stopped him as he turned to leave the room. "Travis," she said, "Am I safe here? Truly safe?"
"You're as safe as I can make you for now," he told her, "His family knows he's missing, but it's not illegal for an adult to disappear. In the eyes of the law he could be on the run and not wishing to be found. That's why I hired a private investigator, he may have secrets that he didn't want to be found out. How do you know that you're the first woman he battered? You say his family has money, what if he killed one of his victims and his family got him off and buried the evidence?"
"You were smart, you know," he went on, "you called the police, you went to the hospital and there's plenty of photographic evidence of what he did to you. Maybe he's done that to someone else, maybe there are police cases buried out there that would incriminate him. Sometimes women don't report incidents for fear of what will happen. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes, I know, the lady from the domestic abuse hotline explained it to me," she said, "Some women are so in love with their abuser that they don't leave and don't file police reports. Thank god I'm not that person, I promised myself that would never happen to me again, ever. I was afraid but I left, no I ran. And I ran to the Yellowstone only hoping to find out what happened to my brother. I didn't know it would lead to such a mess."
"Life is like that, there are messes and some can't be avoided. I've doubled my security, and no one will get through without my permission or Matt's. If they do come here it will take some time for them to find out you're here. They're strangers here, I'm not and I know a lot of sheriffs and judges who'll be willing to do me a favor. In the meantime we'll have that investigator and a lawyer working with us."
He bent down and kissed her. "I know you're going to worry," he said, "Just try to have faith. Everyone on this ranch is on your side, remember that. And I know you're worried about Rip, don't be. He did the right thing, maybe the right wrong thing, by finishing him off and taking his body to the Train Station. I hope you don't to go to court, that his family can be dissuaded from pressing charges. I hire only the best people, and that goes for lawyers and investigators it's going to be all right. Why don't you get dressed and eat breakfast, we've got a lot of things to do today.
Beth was worried about Rip. With the instincts of a spouse and the fact that she had known him for close to thirty years she could tell that something had happened. They had agreed not to keep secrets from each other, but she could feel that something had happened, but he would not talk about it.
"Who'd you kill?" she asked him and he looked up her blankly and said, "What?"
"Who'd you kill?" she asked again, "We don't keep secrets from each other, tell me, who did you kill?"
"Beth, I don't have time to talk about this," he said and got up and left the table where he'd been sitting.
"Rip," she said and took hold of his arm, but he gently freed himself."
"Beth, I don't want to talk about it," he said and went out the door, leaving her flustered.
Rip was still a mystery to her. Part of him was still the fourteen-year-old boy that her father had rescued and taken in. He had grown to be a man, a man as beautiful as the boy had been but there was still a part of him that was untouched, a part of him that she wanted to reach but couldn't.
Rip had his own rules that governed his life. The first part—and she secretly hated it—was his absolute loyalty to her father. He lived for John Dutton and the Yellowstone, the ranch was his life.
She was his other life. They had been lovers since they were very young, probably before they should but there was a heat between them, a fire that could not be put out. She had her life, her own loyalty to her father, not the ranch, but she belonged to Rip body and soul. He was, quite simply her life.
That was why it bothered her that he would keep things to himself, and something was bothering him. She had heard about an incident in the barn involving the girl that was Travis's latest fuck. There had been a fight in the barn, but the details were fuzzy, and she never paid attention to what was going on with the wranglers anyway. Rip had been involved—somehow—but that was all she really knew.
Rip kept his phone on when he was working. Something important could come up and maybe Mr. Dutton would need him. When the phone rang this time, however, it was Travis was calling. What was up this time, he wondered?
He swiped the phone and answered it. "This is Rip, what's going Travis?"
"Wel, I've got some bad news, buddy," Travis began, "Seems that Anicka's in-laws suspect that something is going on. They went to her mother's ranch and tried to talk to her but she ran them off. They have no idea that their son has been killed, but we don't know if they have any idea that he went to the Yellowstone to try to force her to come back with him."
"So that means they don't know that he's dead," replied Rip. "Or that you've taken her back to Texas.
"Exactly," said Travis, "Were you able to get rid of his truck? If it's found that might tie him to the ranch, if anyone knows he went there."
"The truck is where no one will find it," answered Rip, "along with his body. Do you think they will be coming here?"
"I don't know," he said, he was being as honest as he could. "He knew where to find Amy but I don't know if he told anyone where he was going. He'd planned to bring her back with him, willing or not, but she was not going to be forced to come with him. We don't know what he told his family or anyone else for that matter. Amy told me," he used her alias, "that his family didn't like her and were opposed to the marriage. Maybe he didn't say anything and just planned to bring her home." Or worse he thought.e He
"I think I'll warn the crew that someone might be looking for her," Rip told him, "And tell them to deny knowing her, or even knowing about her. She wasn't in Bozeman much, but she might have told people she worked for the Yellowstone. All we can hope is that they don't come here."
"Well, do what you can, amigo," said Travis, "I don't want to have to send her away but I will if it looks like they're getting too close. I've gotten in touch with a private detective to see what kind of dirt I can dig up on this clown. And I've been putting it off but I'm going to get in touch with a criminal lawyer. She did nothing wrong in defending herself, but these people sound pretty ruthless."
"Well, good luck with that. It's too bad, she came here to get away from a man who beat her, it's not right that she should be punished for defending herself," said Rip, "I'll let you know if I hear anything. If they come here looking for her they won't find her."
"Thanks," Travis replied, "Let me know if you find out anything," and turned off his phone. He wanted to take her away, but he'd been away from the ranch too long. The best he could manage was to go back on the road and take her with him. She'd been working hard at developing a reining routine and there were a couple of horses that she liked to use.
When she really settled in with competing, he was going to get her a horse of her own, she needed that. And being on the road and competing under an assumed name would put some distance between her and her in-laws. Sooner or later this would come to a head, it couldn't be helped but he was going o make sure the odds were in her favor.