Page 31 of Texas-Sized Secrets

“Catalina, who did this to you?” Mona asked.

The loving way she spoke touched Reed in a way he didn’t think possible. These people were her family. Blood didn’t matter, the heart did.

For a long moment the battered woman didn’t answer.

Reed assumed she’d fallen asleep or was unconscious again.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I didn’t see their faces.”

“Did you hear them?” Her father lifted her hand. “Did you recognize the voices?”

“I don’t know. I wait on so many at the diner and the bar.” She inhaled and let out the breath in a long slow exhale. “Mona, they weren’t Latino.”

“How do you know that?” Reed asked.

“No accent and their hands were white. I think one had blue eyes.” Her eyelids fluttered open and she stared up at the ceiling. “Yes, I saw blue eyes as I passed out. I can’t remember anything else.”

“Any idea why they attacked you?”

“Oh yes, I know why.” Her lip turned up in a snarl. “The bastards were talking about stealing more cattle. I overheard them talking out behind Leon’s Bar. After dinner withMamáandPapáI went to work at Leon’s. I entered through the back door, since I didn’t want Leon to know how late I was. It must have been after ten.” She paused for a few shallow breaths, wincing when her rib cage moved. “They were around the other side of the building from where I was. When I heard voices, I moved closer to see who it was. They stood in the shadows, so I couldn’t see their faces. I must have made a noise, because they stopped talking and turned in my direction. I knew I was in trouble, so I ran for the door.” She sighed. “They caught me before I got there. Oh, Mama, I thought they were going to kill me. And they would have if I hadn’t pretended to be dead.”

Mona squeezed Catalina’s hand. “You’re okay now,mi hermana.” My sister.

“Mona.” Her hand gripped Mona’s and she looked up into her eyes, a glaze of pain dulling the natural deep brown irises. “They were talking about the Rancho Linda. They were planning another hit on your ranch.”

Her lips thinning into a straight line, Mona gripped Catalina’s hand tighter. “Did they say when?”

“I didn’t hear that part.” She pressed a hand to her head. “Could I get something for a headache?”

“Sí,of course.” Fernando hurried from the room.

Reed pulled Mona aside. “I don’t think she’ll be safe once the rustlers hear she lived. They won’t want her identifying them in a lineup.”

Mona looked to him, her brows furrowing. “What do you suggest we do?”

“I think she’ll be okay here for the night, but then she should come back to the ranch where we can keep an eye on her. I’m sure the doctor will want her to lay low with the bruised ribs for a while. She won’t be going back to work tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

After the nurse gave her something for her headache, Catalina drifted back to sleep.

Mona gave Fernando and Rosa strict instructions to stay with Catalina and bring her out to the ranch as soon as the doctor released her. They insisted Mona leave and take care of her ranch and Jesse.

Reed waited by the door until Mona was ready. At two in the morning, they left the hospital and headed back to the ranch, going straight out to the herd where Jesse sat on a camp stool, singing in his off-pitch, tone-deaf voice to over one thousand head of cattle. When they informed Jesse of the assault on Catalina he left immediately for Amarillo, leaving Reed and Mona in charge of the herd.

Even in the dim starlight, Reed could see that the grass was gone. The cattle would have to be released from this pasture by the next day or they’d be hungry.

He hoped his friend would come through with his request soon. When they let the cattle out, he wanted to be prepared with a little surprise of his own.

* * *

CLOSE TO SUNUP, Mona climbed into bed and fell into a deep sleep. She’d have slept all the way through the day and into the next if not for the baby straining against her bladder. When she got up to relieve herself, the sound of a delivery truck bumping down the gravel driveway kept her from going back to bed. That and the thought of the dozen or so things that needed to be done on the ranch.

She crossed to her bedroom window in time to see Reed sign for a package. Finding it increasingly difficult, she bent to pull on a pair of jeans and tried to zip them. The zipper stopped halfway up, encountering her belly. The loose jeans Rosa had loaned her didn’t even fit anymore. She left the zipper halfway down, pulled one of her father’s cotton shirts on and rolled up the sleeves. Maternity clothes didn’t do her much good on a ranch, the fabric was too flimsy to ride in and too easily stained. These would have to do.

Reed was out in the kitchen, slicing through packing tape to open the box.

“I don’t remember ordering anything.” Mona strode into the kitchen, brows raised.

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