Page 16 of Finding Her Heart

“So, her beauty didn’t intimidate people or make them feel inadequate?”

“No, never. She was like my mother that way. Most women don’t like really beautiful women. We look at them and think we’ll never be able to achieve that level of feminine perfection. But with my mom and Dulcie, they made you think you could, but that you were more than enough with wherever you wanted to be. They never took their looks for granted, but they never took credit for them, either. I should have felt like the ugly duckling with Dulcie for an older sister, but I never did. She wouldn’t allow it.”

He nodded, smiling. “There’s nothing ugly duckling about you.”

“That’s because of Dulcie. She dragged me month after month to get a pedicure. I thought it was stupid. After all, my feet were always in cotton socks and boots. No one saw them but me or some guy more intent on other parts of my body. She finally got me to like them because she pointed out that after she started making me get them, I never had athlete’s foot again.”

“You’re telling me I have to get my toes painted dark purple to get rid of that itchy fungus? I’m not sure I won’t choose the fungus.”

“Not the painting, but the pampering. And yes, that’s what I’m telling you. But my point was, Dulcie had a way of getting women to care about themselves, not so much for vanity’s sake, but because it makes them feel better about themselves, or feel healthier.”

“Your sister sounds like a truly beautiful soul.”

“She was. Trust me, she was ever so much nicer than I am. If you’d met her when she was alive, you’d never have given me a second look.”

He leaned across from his horse and bussed her lips with his. “Don’t you believe it. I’ve never been partial to blondes. In fact, nutmeg brown hair with streaks the color of ripened wheat seems to be what appeals to me most these days.” Harper brushed her hair back. “What was she like to people? The ones she worked with? The men in her life? Were there men in her life?”

“Men didn’t stick around too long. Most of them wanted her to either leave the Jockey Club or switch to the administrative side. Dulcie wasn’t having it. She loved Thoroughbred racing and was committed to protecting the horses and the purity of the sport. She always said that the more money that was involved, the dirtier the dealing. More than once the Jockey Club got a request to have Dulcie conduct an investigation in a place they didn’t have jurisdiction. The people she worked with adored her, and I think in general, people liked her. Have you heard otherwise?”

“No. It just gives me some insight into who she was and what we might expect when we talk to people, but keep in mind the investigation is just getting started. I talked to one of my people before Dusty and I came up to the house. The last man with whom she was known to have a relationship, and who has an iron-clad alibi, looked pretty wrecked when my people spoke with him. He said he regretted not being able to support her career and let her enjoy her success. He regretted making her choose.”

“Daniel something or other?” Spence nodded. “When this is done, if you could let him know, he was one of the few Dulcie regretted letting slip away. She really loved him.”

“But she loved her job and Thoroughbred racing more?”

Harper nodded. “More than anything. I think if our folks had still been alive, Dulcie might have followed a more traditional route, but she loved racing. When we were kids, she used to make the whole family dress up to sit at home and watch the Kentucky Derby. Then when she got older, she made everybody come to her place to watch and celebrate. You didn’t dare show up in jeans and a sweatshirt. She was a better handicapper than all those guys on television. I was with her every time she actually bet on a horse in the Derby. She won every single time.”

“Why didn’t you follow in her footsteps, so to speak, and breed Thoroughbreds? I’d think if she could pick winners, she’d be able to figure out which horses to breed to win.”

“Never had any interest. My interest in racing was more about sharing her passion with her. Racing is all about money. I like raising beautiful horses that will have nice lives and be well cared for. Racehorses are a commodity, especially to most of the big-time owners and trainers. In the end, though, she worked at protecting the racehorses in the best way she could.”

“Why?”

“Dulcie wasn’t willing to see a horse or jockey endangered to win. For her, the ends—in this case money—didn’t justify the means. There were all kinds of dirty dealing and dirty trading—swapping one horse out for another, arranging an ‘accident’ for a horse who wasn’t winning. Some of it just made me want to throw up—Dulcie, too. She loved watching Thoroughbreds do what they were bred to do, but not at the expense of their lives.”

He noticed that when she talked about Dulcie there was a lightness to Harper’s spirit. “You loved your sister a lot, didn’t you? The two of you were close.”

“Yes. When we were growing up and even more so after our folks died. We talked, messaged or texted at least two or more times a week. We didn’t get to see each other in person more than once a year or so, but we video-chatted at least weekly. Even when I was working a fire, or she was in the midst of an investigation. If one of us contacted the other, everything else came second.”

“How’d you get into feeding smokejumpers?”

“I went to the Culinary Institute. I’d been an executive and personal chef for a number of years and had secured financial backing to open my own restaurant. I heard about one of the big wildfires that was burning up here in Wyoming and that the smokejumpers were having to make do with c-rations. That just struck me as wrong. Here are these guys risking their lives, and they’re getting c-rations? That’s no way to fuel your body.

So, I took several horses, pack saddles and cooking gear and bribed a guy in a support position to give me the smokejumper camp’s location. Then I used my phone’s GPS and found them. They were all out fighting the fire. The camp was empty. I made myself at home, set up what I needed and started cooking. When they stumbled in that evening, I had real food waiting. Oh, my god, I’ve never seen food be devoured like that. I had to cook a whole second meal,” she said, laughing.

Spence smiled. “Your reputation extends beyond the smokejumpers to all the rangers in the area. They know how great you are and how you’re pretty much the only one a lot of the smokejumpers allow in their camp to cook. Apparently, someone tried to send an imitation you to one group and they ran him out.”

Harper laughed. “They’re great guys. They sacrifice a lot to fight the fires and keep people, animals, and the environment safe. After they contained that first fire, I packed out and went back to what I thought was going to be the rest of my life. The next time there was a big wildfire, the smokejumpers requested me, so I went. When they’d contained the fire and I was breaking down the cookshack, one of them handed me a big check. Said it was for both the first time and the one I’d just done. It was good money and I liked what I was doing. Been doing it ever since.”

“Ever look back, wondering what might have been?”

“No. I don’t do woulda, coulda, shoulda. That’s a sucker’s game. I love my life. I have a freedom and quality to it I wouldn’t have had as a successful restaurateur. I would never have been able to show Appaloosas, especially at the World Level. And it affords me the ability to breed quality horses and own my own little slice of heaven,” she said waving her hand to indicate her ranch.

“You do have a beautiful place. It’s comfortably, casually elegant, much like the lady herself.”

“See, there you go being all well-spoken and nice. I have a harder time dealing with this guy than the other guy.”

“We’re one and the same. Right now, Dulcie’s death has priority, but you and I have some talking to do.”

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