Chapter  Seven of Wands reversed

Seven of Pentacles, Three of Wands, Seven of Wands reversed

(The Wild Anemone crossover )

~~~

Tim Ballard got of his flight and almost sprinted to the baggage claim. He paced impatiently waiting for the bell to buzz and the belt to start spitting out luggage. His flights had been delayed in two cities and he was anxious to see his daughter. He had renewed his contract for one more year with a thirteen percent salary increase; he would be able to send her to any college in the country now and still qualify for the loan to start his own wildcatting and surveying business. There was nothing he looked forward to more than spending Tiana's senior year at home. He bought Molly and Garrett new sprinklers for the Garrett's family Sod Farm for their wedding with his poker winnings. He wondered if they had been delivered yet as he grabbed his bags filled with gifts for his family and slung them onto a luggage cart.

Walking out into the bright Colorado sunshine, he inhaled the dry air of the southwestern Rocky Mountains and almost coughed.

"Daddy!" Tianna shouted happily, "Over here!"

Tim turned toward the sound, grinning happily at Tiana standing by her pale-yellow sedan. He dragged the cart over and left it to hug her. It was the best feeling.

"I am so happy you made it for Molly's wedding," Tiana exclaimed.

"I am too." As he put the luggage in the trunk, he didn't tell her that his company demanded he stay and only threatening to leave the job right then and there got him the seven days off. They were in the middle of an four-rig expansion in the abandoned Philippines oil fields, and needed him. He personally was not happy with the placement because adding the new group of oil rigs to the old group of rigs was risky and on one of the most common tracks for typhoons in the equatorial Pacific. There was a reason the Philippines had stopped pumping one of the richer oceanic reserves and started importing from Saudi Arabia: the weather.

"So where do you want to have an early dinner, mermaid?" Tim asked as they left the airport. His stomach felt like it was gnawing on his spine. The delays meant he missed two meals and the tacos in LAX had gone through him like a pipe flush. He had never been more grateful for his habit of carrying stomach medications while traveling since working in Mexico than on that flight.

"We can stop and grab you a snack, but Molly and Garrett are bar-b-queing at the farm and everyone will be there. It's a mixed wedding rehearsal and welcome home party," Tiana explained happily.

"That's nice of them. Can we stop then and I'll grab a gatoraide and some sweet tea. The coffee on the plane was terrible and the tea was worse," Tim announced as he leaned back and looked at her car's fuel gage. "And I need to fill up your car for coming to chauffeur me."

"I can..."

"Nope. You came all the way to get me, I am paying for your gas." Tim reached over and pulled his carryon from the backseat. "I have good news. I will be moving back here next summer, don't tell your mom."

Tiana laughed at his tone, then she asked worriedly, "I won't, but can you afford it?"

"Mermaid, I have enough saved to pay her until your birthday and I am almost finished re-filling your college account. Pick a university, any one in the country, and I've got it covered."

After she parked by a gas pump, she stared at him, "Really?"

"Really. Where do you want to go to school?" He grinned at her.

"Uhm, UCLA and U of H are both offering me pre-admission preference because of my diving," she revealed as she unlocked her gas cap.

Tim swiped his credit card and began pumping the gas into her car. "So it's California or Texas. Which has the academics you want?"

She chewed her lip. "I don't know what I want to study. Maybe law? Or something like oceanography?"

He nodded then asked, "What do you want to drink?"

"Just water. Mum doesn't want me to drink sugary things and Coach Wally doesn't think it is healthy to consume too many artificial sweetners," she answered as she went around the car to get back in the driver's seat.

Tim tried not to make a face. Going in to get their drinks, he decided to buy them each an ice cream sandwich. Tiana was too thin in his opinion and her mother was going to get a talking to before he sent her away for a few days. He wanted Tonia as far from Molly's wedding as possible. His sister was going to have a perfect day if he had to murder his exwife to make it happen.

~~~~

After dinner, Tim noticed that Lloyd only stopped in for a few minutes at the most. He was wearing his duty shirt and driving his Pagosa County Sheriff's SUV. He hugged them then laughed and smiled with Tiana, Grandma Fern, and Molly until he saw him. Tim was talking to Garrett about the new sprinklers when Lloyd noticed him. Tim raised his hand to wave, but Lloyd gritted his teeth and looked away. Tim could see his jaw clenched from across the yard as he tried to smile at Molly and Fern. He turned his head and said something into his shoulder microphone, then he hugged their grandmother and left.

"He still resents you," Garrett said as he shook his head.

"I will never be able to fix what I broke between us." Tim took a long pull from his beer, wishing it were something stronger.

"You didn't break it, Tonia did." Garrett's hatred was clear in his tone. "I honestly don't know how your family puts up with her."

Knowing how hard Tonia had tried to ruin Molly and Garrett, Tim could sympathize with the younger man's feelings, but Garrett and Molly survived Tonia's manipulations and the grinding humiliation of the gossip mill. Tim confessed, "It's my fault and they suffer her for Tiana's sake."

"And Lloyd's... You know Tonia hates Milli Haywood and is so jealous that Lloyd favors her that she can't see straight. She is always spreading nasty gossip about that poor lady."

That was news to Tim so he asked, "Lloyd and Miss Elizabeth's niece are dating?"

"No, but they should be. She is as sweet as her cakes but Lloyd... I don't know what his problem is. Half the town thinks they are sleeping together. and the other half thinks he hates her. Especially after the Independence Day baseball game. He doesn't take losing well."

"He never has." Tim had read in an email from his grandmother that the Women's Auxiliary won thanks to Milli but not the details. "So, what happened for her to earn the Wrath of Lloyd?"

Garrett laughed heartily at the statement then revealed the last four months' worth of goings on in Pagosa County before Molly called everyone to have dessert. Riding home to the Rocking M with his grandfather, Tim resisted the urge to ask why Lloyd wasn't dating the pretty baker.

"Your grandma wanted to put you in Ray's old place, but I told her it wasn't fair to Molly to set you and Lloyd at each other the week of her wedding. And no one is staying in your dad's cabin since Molly moved out."

"Much obliged, Grandpa," Tim responded then he told his grandfather the good news. "I renewed my contract for only a year, if I don't take more than a week off at Christmas, I'll be home for good next summer."

Cordell parked in front of the two-bedroom cabin that had been used for guests and ranch hands for a half century when Tim and his sister weren't living there. "Fern made up the bedrooms and put some groceries in the refrigerator and pantry. She is hoping Tiana will get to spend your vacation here."

"I am too. I am giving Tonia the money to go to Vegas and already paid for her room from Friday to Tuesday," Tim revealed. "The last thing I want is Tonia crashing Molly's wedding."

"You take good care of your sister. Those new self-propelled sprinklers are nice and very expensive," Grandpa Cordell said in a neutral tone, but Tim could hear his worry.

"The money came from my bonus for finishing the Chilean project early. I am just glad it could help them." Tim didn't add that he had doubled his bonus playing poker and had been threatened by a local cartel for winning so much from their cassino. He had taken his money and left back out to the rigs before they could harm him. He didn't care about the money, because he only lived for seeing his daughter.

"That's a mighty big bonus." Cordell sounded disbelieving.

"It saves the company and their government billions to pump and haul their own oil rather than buy it from the Saudis," Tim reminded as he got out of the truck. He pulled his three suitcases and carryon out of the back. "Thanks for the ride, Grandpa."

"Your truck has gas and Lloyd did a tune up. Keys are on the hook by the door. Goodnight, Tim."

"Goodnight, Grandpa. Tell Grandma, I love her."

"We love you too and we are glad you are home." Cordell drove over to the main house as Tim carried his luggage inside.

He left it all in the living room and went to have a shower. The jet lag was worse this time than it had ever been before. He was exhausted from the flights, but his body was used to being awake. The hot water didn't help relax him, so he dressed and went to sit on the porch. Staring up at the shadows of the peaks under the dark sky and diamond bright stars, Tim wondered about the gossip. He hoped Lloyd would find happiness and love.

Waking at the sound of a truck engine, Tim straightened up in the rocking chair. Someone had laid a quilt over him, and he knew it was his grandmother. Lloyd was parking in front of their late Uncle Ray's cabin. Tim stood up and laid the quilt across the chair. He walked over while Lloyd waited at the bottom step.

"How was your shift?" Tim asked politely.

"Long. How was your flight?" Lloyd returned conversationally.

"Longer." Tim sighed then expressed his gratitude, "Thank you for buying groceries and paying the utilities when Tonia doesn't."

"I do it for Tiana." Lloyd growled. They stood in silence then Lloyd demanded, "Is there something else or can I go to sleep. It's been a long twenty-four hours."

"You're working twenty-four-hour shifts?" Tim couldn't hide his shock.

"We're short deputies and Vick is in school. Tank and I alternate."

"Damn, it's like working on the rigs but without the pay." Tim realized he should not have said the last part when Lloyd's eyes narrowed. "I mean I hope you are getting overtime."

"Did you come to brag about the money you aren't sending our ex-wife?" Lloyd's tone was as cold as the December wind and his accusation burned like a flare in front of Tim.

"I send Tonia every dime I am supposed to and extra when Tiana needs something. Maybe you should ask her where she's spending it all before you accuse me of being a deadbeat dad." Tim inhaled through his mouth and exhaled through his nose to try to calm his temper. He was sick and tired of being accused of not paying his court ordered alimony and child support and he was grumpy about Lloyd always accusing him otherwise just because Tonia said so.

"Boys," Grandma Fern's stern voice interrupted them. "I won't have you fighting this week, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they both answered respectfully.

"Breakfast is ready, come and eat then I need you to get Molly's bull. Audie is at... at Nick and Erin's place. He needs to go back to the Tanner and spend time with my girls."

"I'll go get him," Tim volunteered then glanced at his cousin, "Lloyd worked a twenty-four, he needs the sleep." Tim glanced over his shoulder, as he walked toward their great-grandmother. "Thanks for doing the tune-up on my truck."

Lloyd grunted something then went inside and slammed the door.

"What were you two boys fighting about so early?" Fern asked in concern.

"He called me about Tonia's child support and alimony. Her power was about to get turned off again. I told Deborah to just call me, but she forgets I guess," Tim complained.

"Well, she is as old as your Aunt Ruby," Fern reminded gently. "Be patient, Tim. Lloyd finding Tonia in bed with Alan Patrick reopened his old wound. Landsakes, I don't know what you young men see in that woman. She's a harlot and a jezebel if ever I met one."

Tim couldn't answer her criticism because he could no longer remember what he saw in Tonia that made him think he loved her. She was beautiful and the sex was amazing, but they had nothing in common except for the illicit thrill of sneaking around on his cousin. He stayed silent in his shame.

Changing the subject, Fern announced, "It was very nice of you to buy those giant sprinklers for the sod farm. I don't know how Garrett was keeping the old ones running. Cordell said you spent your bonus on them."

"Yes, Grandma. And I signed for another year so I could finish filling Tiana's college fund," Tim admitted. She held his arm as they climbed the porch, then he opened the door for her. "I wanted to talk to you and Grandpa about coming home and living on the Rocking M for Tiana's senior year but with Lloyd living here... I don't know if that would be a wise idea."

"Oh pish posh, you boys need to let go of the past and start working together again. Someday, you're gonna be running this ranch together and it won't due for y'all to be fighting all the time over bygones. Your grandpa and I ain't young like we used to be."

"What are you saying, Grandma?" Tim appraised her, noticing how thin and frail-looking she had become.

"I'm saying we're old, Timotheus. Too old to be chasing cattle and stacking bales. We had to keep a hand all winter this year. As soon as Nick and his fiancé finish school, your grandpa is going to retire, and I need to know you and Lloyd will run the Rocking M. None of your other cousins want it. Everyone but Nick thinks ranching is too much work." She left him at the table and made him a plate of biscuits and gravy with beef and venison sausage.

Cordell came in and kissed her on the cheek as she made him a plate then he fixed a cup of coffee for himself and one for her. Their love for each other shined like a beacon but Tim could also see how old they had become while he had been away. Suddenly, he needed to blink away the wetness in his eyes as he looked down at his plate.

"Mornin', son."

"Mornin', Grandpa. I was just telling Grandma that I signed a one-year extension on my contract to finish filling Tiana's college fund and then I am coming home for her senior year. She said Nick and his fiancé would be taking over your practice?" He asked the last.

"Well, not right away, it takes years to get to know cattle and horses..."

"Cordell, that boy has been attached to your hip since he was ten, he'll do fine," Fern scolded, then declared to Tim, "He's just trying to get outta that Hawaiian cruise he promised me thirty years ago."

"Now, Fern," Cordell tried a placating tone.

"Don't you 'now Fern' me." She snapped back waspishly, as they began to bicker.

Tim hid his smile behind his coffee cup. It was good to be home and now he knew what to get his grandparents for Christmas.

~~~~

Tim drove into the little canyon where Erin's sister lived. He pulled up and parked, then got out and stood staring at the open garage door. The giant bull was laying on a mattress. He leaned his head over an pushed down the paddle on a wall mounted dog feeder. A cupful of livestock pellets came out. Audie licked the bowl clean then leaned the other way to drink from a pet fountain. Tim started laughing at the ridiculous sight. Walking over, he thumbed the paddle on a second feeder, the small brown pellets smelled like oats and molasses.

"We found him like that this morning," Nick greeted him. "Honestly, I'd pour milk on that feed and eat it." He picked up some, shook it in his palm then tossed it in his mouth.

Tim tasted it. It tasted better than the oatmeal he got from the rig galley. "Damn! Don't tell Grandma. She'll just buy this instead of making biscuits."

Nick chuckled then said, "Audie, get up. Time to go back to work." He took the lead rope from Tim and clipped it on the bull's halter, revealing, "Grandma says she hasn't ever heard of a bull that would walk away from his harem and cross the county just to sleep in a real bed." He led the bull to the stock trailer.

"How did he get the door open?" Tim asked as he opened the gate-door of the trailer.

"Cassie installed a button and showed him how to push it. There's also one inside if he wants to close the door," Nick responded, as he led the bull into the trailer and tied the rope to a metal ring. "He's more spoiled than some of them city dogs we look after."

"Well, if he doesn't do his job, he'll be steak. Hear that Audie, you better get Grandma's girls pregnant or you're going in the freezer," Tim threatened as Nick laughed, then Tim asked, "Where is Cassandra? There's going to be a lot of people here this weekend."

Nick nodded, answering in a low voice, "She put herself back in the hospital, she wasn't doing well." At Tim's concerned look, Nick added, "Nothing to do with the ranch, she's just struggling to deal with the trauma she went through. She'll be back soon."

Getting in the truck, Tim answered through the open window, "Well, I'm glad she's getting help. See you at the wedding."

Nick waved as Tim drove away then went back inside. When Nick and Erin came out an hour later to go to the clinic, Niko was chewing on something. Erin took it from her when she tried to run away with it.

"She found another one." He handed the gnawed black game camera to Nick. "Where do you think they are coming from?"

Nick shook his head. "Hunters poaching on the National Forest will put them out to find the deer. Too bad for them. I'll let the game wardens know."

~~~~

Rewinding the feed from a camera attached to a tree above the valley, he scowled from the apartment rented under his Ike Crane identity in Alamosa. Watching as the blond cowboy talked to someone who was obviously a relative. They were putting a large bull into a stock trailer when a fuzzy face framed with a pair of tufted cat ears appeared. The cat look like the one who attacked him only more golden. It gnawed on the camera and clawed at the straps. As the camera fell, he caught sight of a second cat with darker brown stripes. He watched as the cell phone attached to the camera was dragged behind it then got caught in something before the signal went dead. He cursed. For almost two weeks, he had surveilled the property from above with a solar charger, a cell phone booster antenna and a smartphone to relay the data. This was the third one the cats had taken. He went to a lot of effort with the hope of catching sight of his songbird. Tired of losing the expensive equipment, he decided perhaps he would sneak onto the ranch during the wedding to confirm if she lived there or not.

~~~~

Tim drove through Pagosa Springs and stopped in front of the house at 7 Gold Dust Trail. As he got out, he glanced at the address plaque and resentfully thought, 'It should be Gold Digger Trail.'

He forced himself not to scowl as he knocked on the door of the mortgage he was paying.

Tonia opened the door and smiled at him in a saccharine way. "What do you want? Come to mock me because your sister refuses to let me come to the biggest wedding in the county in years?"

Tim breathed in through his mouth and out through his nose before he spoke. "No. What is going on between you and Molly is for the two of you to work out. I came to offer you a bribe."

"A bribe?" Tonia snorted, "What kind of bribe would you offer me?"

"A fully paid four-day weekend in Vegas until Tuesday, and a thousand dollars to not cause trouble for Molly on Saturday," Tim answered honestly then he lied, gambling that she would take the bait. "I won very well on my layover coming home and got comp'ed a four-day stay. If the room doesn't get used, it will just sit empty. I'll call and tell them my wife's checking in for us. They don't need to know I won't be back to play."

Tonia's eyes narrowed slyly, "How much did you really win if you are giving me pocket money?"

"I'm giving it to you."

"Liar, they don't give out a room to someone for a four-day-holiday weekend unless you won more than ten thousand dollars."

"It was five thousand and I took the room instead of the payout of two thousand. The rest paid the taxes and Tiana's car insurance. Now, I am offering you the last thousand in cash unless you would rather I give the money and the room to Lloyd to take that sweet Ms. Haywood away. I understand they had a very nice weekend in Black Bear," Tim baited her.

Tonia hissed through her gritted teeth. "What else do you want?"

"Just my daughter while I am here." He pulled out his wallet and held out the ten crisp one-hundred-dollar bills with a blue postie. "That's two-hundred a day with my mermaid and you get a vacation you can't afford."

Tonia's face twitched then she smiled beautifully at him in the way that once melted his resolve and made him betray all that was honorable. "Why don't you come in and we can have a proper negotiation?"

Suddenly, he remembered something Milli Haywood said and repeated it before he could stop himself, "No thank you, I heard you had cooties, and I don't want your cooties."

Tonia gasped in outrage and started to slap him, but he caught her wrist and put the money in her open palm with the slip of paper containing the reservation number. "The reservation number is on the postie. Have a good time, Tonia."

He turned and walked away as she screamed after him, "Go to hell, Tim, and get that damned stinking cow away from my house."

"It's a bull, full of the same thing you are." He turned and grinned at her, ignoring that the neighbor Mrs. Stewart was watching. "And I have already been to hell... When I was married to you. Enjoy your thousand dollars of pocket money, Antonia, and send Tiana to the Ranch when she gets home from diving practice, or we'll be seeing your uncle on Tuesday." He got in the Rocking M Ranch diesel truck and turned it on, revving the engine so it rattled the windows in the cul-de-sac. He smirked as he drove away from Tonia's shouted profanities.

His feeling of triumph didn't last long after he stopped at the First Bank of Pagosa to check on his small business loan.

Heather Ursick sat across the desk from him wearing a smug smile. "I'm sorry, Tim, even with who your family is, you have to understand that I can't approve a loan for someone who can't even keep up on his alimony payments."

He almost crushed the hat in his hand, but he managed to say politely, "Heather, I have never missed a single payment or been short a single dime on her child support, alimony, or mortgage, and you can confirm the transactions if you don't believe me." He stood up and put on his battered Stetson then announced, "You shouldn't believe anything my exwife says."

"Why shouldn't I? She's had to take out a second mortgage to stay afloat and she's so upside down in that house, she'll never be able to sell it."

Tim looked at her in shock. "How the hell did she get a second mortgage without me signing for it?"

"Friends help each other," Heather smirked then she folded her hands and leaned forward on her desk. "Especially when they have useless exhusbands. So now we are going to negotiate how to bring her second mortgage up-to-date so my friend and your daughter don't end up homeless."

Tim swallowed, resisting the urge to sit back down because he felt like he had been kicked in the gut. "That house is for Tiana, not Tonia, and any loan she took out without my signature is her debt. The house was supposed to be paid off by Tiana's graduation."

"That's not going to happen." Heather revealed, "Tonia had to withdraw most of the equity to replace appliances and fix the faulty plumbing, then there was the mold damage that meant all the carpet had to be replaced. So many things have gone wrong with that house, I'm surprised it's still standing. And as your loan officer, I felt it was in the best interest of the occupants to make certain it was in good repair so the mortgages would not be defaulted on." She pulled a stack of papers off a printer. "These are for the combination of the first and second mortgages and the new payment amount and schedule."

"I won't sign it," Tim snarled at her. "When Tiana turns eighteen, I'll buy her another house and her mother can rot in the one she wanted."

"Not through this bank you won't," Heather snapped then threatened, "Not through any bank in Pagosa County or Colorado."

"One of these days, Heather, you're going to see Tonia for what she is, and I hope it doesn't bring the FCC down on your head." Tim stomped out of the bank.

He drove Audie up to the Tanner Ranch and left the bull with the herd, then on a whim, he walked up to the rocky prominence that overlooked the valley toward the Rocking M. He loved this view but thinking about what Heather said, he wondered if he would ever be able to afford to stay home.