Affair of the Heart by Joan Wolf

face in a gesture Caroline had seen his son use. Then he smiled a little crookedly. “She did love me, you see. Through it all, I always knew that. She just couldn’t take the loneliness of the ranch. It was my fault as much as hers. I wouldn’t move. It was she who had to give. And in the end, she couldn’t. She wasn’t made for it, Caroline. She was made for bright lights and lots of people— the kind of life your dad gave her. I hope she was happy.”
    “You loved her, didn’t you?” Caroline’s husky voice was very gentle.
    “Yes. She was it for me. Jay can’t understand that, though. He can’t understand her infidelities, can’t understand how I kept taking her back. He’s so possessive. He could never do that. In many ways he reminds me of my father.” He looked at the girl seated so quietly beside him. “It’s made him wary of getting too close to any one woman, I’m afraid. And he’s had plenty of girls after him, I can tell you that. He has his mother’s charm when he wants to use it. I think he finally may be ready to settle down, though.”
    “Mary Anne?”
    “Yep. She’s a sweet gal. And she loves ranch life, which is important. Jay could never live anywhere else.”
    “I know. He loves it here.”
    “He wouldn’t even leave Wyoming to go to college,” Joe said with grim amusement. “It wouldn’t have hurt him at all to have broadened his world a little. I wanted him to go to Cornell. But he wouldn’t.”
    “He seems a very decided man,” said Caroline with an effort at lightness.
    Joe turned a shrewd gaze on her face. “How have you two been getting along?”
    “We’re tolerating one another.” She wrinkled her nose at him, and he laughed and rose to his feet.
    “He was worried to death when that horse came back without you. And he didn’t like leaving you in the hospital at all. Got hold of the doctor and told him to make sure you took the painkillers. Wanted to get a private nurse for the night, but there wasn’t one available.”
    This was all news to Caroline, and she stared at Joe in astonishment. He ruffled her shining hair affectionately and said, “I hope the hell he gets that lion soon.”
    Caroline’s face was sober as she watched the big rancher stride down to the barn. Joe was worried. Caroline felt as if there were a knot lodged right smack in the middle of her stomach.
    Two mornings later, at ten o’clock, the phone rang. Ellen answered it and Caroline heard her say, “Jay! Where are you?” There was a moment’s silence, then, “You got him? Good boy.” Then more strongly, “Give me the number there.” Pause. “I’ll get your dad and have him call you. He’s been worried. We all have been. Okay. Goodbye.”
    There was the sound of the phone being hung up and then, from her vantage point on the terrace, Caroline could see Ellen hastening down the path to the bunkhouse. It was an hour before Joe got back to the house. He grinned at Caroline as he went in the front door. “He’s in Montana, over by Yellowstone. He got the lion.” The screen door banged behind him, and Caroline could hear him dialing the phone in the living room.
    “Jay?” he said when he finally got through. “How are you, son?”
    There was a long pause and then Joe said, “I’ll send Matt to get you with the truck. How are the horses?” Another pause. “Okay, then. Good job, son. We’ll see you tonight sometime. Yeah. Goodbye.” In another minute Caroline saw Joe come out the kitchen door and head toward the bunk-house.
    Joe was jubilant over dinner. “That lion has been around Montana for months,” he told Caroline. “Killed a whole lot of cattle. Jay says he’s a national hero up there for getting rid of him. Evidently there’s been more than one hunting party who lost him.”
    Caroline had been in bed for hours when she heard the sound of a truck in the still clear night air. She got out of bed and limped over to her window. The truck was down by the barn. She