She staggered to the door and pushed it closed, locking it for the first time since she had lived at the ranch. Watching through the thin glass slit in the door, Anna saw Carlo disappear behind the barn. It must be almost midnight, but there were always men who would be willing to drink with Carlo, just as they used to drink all night with Davis when he was in one of his melancholy moods.

Anna rushed to the kitchen, fighting tears. She glanced out the back windows. There it was. Zack's light. A tiny dot in the fog.

Determined to control one moment of her life, Anna slipped on her raincoat over her silk blouse and walked out the back door.

Tonight, she did not hurry. Her blood pounded doubletime through her veins, fired by anger and hurt, thick with fear. For she knew Carlo was getting worse, and the next time he might put her in the hospital-if he did not kill her first.

With slow steady steps she crossed the muddy distance between her house and Zack's. She had no idea what she would say. She hoped she did not have to say anything. She needed to feel safe, if only for an hour. She needed to think.

The fog cloaked any view until she was within twenty feet of his place. He was not outside on his porch tonight, but sitting at a table by one of the huge windows that ran along the front of his place. He leaned over a stack of papers, frowning.

She moved closer.

He ran his hand through hair the same color as the mud around his place. When he reached for his coffee mug, he glanced up and spotted her standing a few feet from his porch.

Zack was out the door before she had time to react.

"What happened, Anna?"

She saw his worried eyes and realized she must look a fright. Her hair was wild and wet. Warm tears blended with the rain.

"M-my-" How could she tell him? Her mother's voice echoed in her mind. Only the family's business…a family secret… no one else needs to know.

Once her father had blackened her mother's eye during an argument. When he thought she had gone to the police, he'd beaten her so badly it had taken a week before she regained enough strength to climb out of bed. The first night she had been able to dress and come down to dinner, Anna's father had invited the police chief to join them. Anna watched as her mother slowly ate her meal in silence and she never forgot the lesson. Some problems in the family must remain in the family.

Anna closed her mouth, shook her head, and took a step backward. She should not have come. No one else needed to be involved.

When she lifted her hands to warn him not to follow, she heard Zack's abrupt intake of breath.

For a moment, she had no idea what could have startled him. Then, she saw. Her hands were covered in blood.

"Anna," he whispered as he neared. "Anna, what happened?"

Pain hit her like a bullet. She had been so frightened, so angry there was no room to feel physical pain. She stared at the crimson droplets being watered down with rain. Anna crumpled.

Zack caught her just before she hit the ground. He carried her carefully to the porch swing and wrapped her inside the quilt he always left there. "Where else are you hurt? Anna. answer me!"

Kneeling in front of her, he examined her hands. A layer of skin had been scraped off both hands from the fingers to the wrists. Scratched deep enough to bleed, but not so deep to be dangerous.

She did not say a word. She was here. She was safe. That was all that mattered.

He helped her remove her raincoat and ran his hands along her body. When he touched her upper arms, she Irnsed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, as he felt for broken bones. "'fell me what happened?"

Anna could not bring herself to tell him. Some secrets must be kept. It had been an accident, nothing more. Carlo had not meant to hurt her. He was not like their father.

"Lack covered her with the blanket, not caring that blood darkned the beautifully made quilt. "I'll be right back." He pushed the hair away from her face. "You will stay until I get back?"

She nodded. There was no place else she wanted to be.

He returned a few minutes later with water and the firstaid kit. He knelt on one knee in front of the swing and slowly cleaned the broken skin.

Her hands shook when he touched her, but his gentle words calmed her.

"Don't be afraid Anna. No one is going to hurt you. I don't know what you are running from, but I want you to know you can always run to me."

By the time he had cleaned the blood away and spread antiseptic on all the tiny cuts, she had stopped shaking. He wrapped both hands in gauze then gave her a flask of whiskey he kept for emergencies.

She took a sip, made a face, and handed the flask back to him.

Zack chuckled. "There were times in my life when I couldn't get enough of this stuff, then I realized I was following in my father's footsteps. A few months after my wife left me, I threw away all but this flask and decided to look at the world, no matter how bad, without the haze." He offered her another drink but she shook her head.

"Pretty awful, huh?"

Anna nodded. She started to wipe her mouth, then stopped at the sight of her fingers wrapped in white.

Zack leaned in and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, catching the moisture the whiskey had left.

The simple action was the most loving thing anyone had ever done for her. She felt as if he had made love to her in an instant.

"Feeling better?" His voice was unsteady, and she knee he had felt it also.

She nodded once more and raised her hands. "Th-thank you."

He waited for her to explain, but she did not.

Finally, he leaned back against the swing and gingerly placed his arm around her shoulders. She relaxed against his side, curling her feet up beneath her inside the quilt.

"You can tell me what happened. Or you can tell me nothing. It doesn't matter. I'm still going to be here."

Her slender arm slid around his chest, right across his heart.

The rain fell in sheets off the edge of the porch, but they barely noticed. After a long while, he whispered against her hair, "I swear, I'll never tell anyone you come here, Anna. I swear on my life."

The promise and his arms around her were all she needed right now. She would worry about Carlo later; tonight she just wanted to be with Zack.

They rocked back and forth on the old porch swing until the rain stopped. Then, he walked her back through the mud to the walkover.

She took the first step and turned to face him.

After a moment of silence, he said, "Remind me to tell you sometime when we're talking, how much I like your hair down and all wild."

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then took the next step.

"Take care," he said as he helped her over.

She nodded in answer and headed toward her place. When she reached the back patio, she turned and waved, knowing he would still be watching.

Oil field workers often put a six-pack in the water can as they come to work. At quitting time everyone has a cold beer.

Saturday, November 28

Montano Ranch


Anna slowly unwrapped the gauze Zack had placed around her hands two nights ago. There was no bleeding, but her skin looked raw and covered in long thin scabs.

She trembled, realizing if she had not covered her face when she fell, the scabs might be across her cheeks.

"What's wrong with you?" Carlo asked in Italian from the kitchen doorway. He saw no need to use English when they were alone. Neither did he bother to close the door. He was truly a man more comfortable in barns.

"Nothing." Anna guessed Carlo must have slept Friday away and finally recovered enough from his holiday drunk to make an appearance. He would not really be interested in anything she said as he rummaged through her cabinets for the bottle of aspirin she kept there.

"I noticed the front door was locked." He opened the bottle. "Not a bad idea with all the extra men around the place." He helped himself to coffee as if nothing had happened between them two days ago. "If you do not feel safe, I could move over here into the other bedroom until the drilling is finished."

"I-I am fine." Anna fought down panic. "Y-you need to be near the horses." She and Carlo were from the same blood. They had been taught since birth that horses were more important than people. If he really thought there was any danger on the ranch, he would stay near them, not her.

She had to convince him she was not afraid to be alone. If he saw fear, or weakness, he might start moving in. "I scraped my hands on the fireplace wall when you pushed me Thursday night. I am not worried about the extra men you hired. I am worried about my brother who comes over here drunk to yell at me."

Carlo looked confused for a moment, and a little guilty. He quickly recovered. "I hardly remember coming over. I wanted to warn you to be careful." He played his big brother role now, the one she had loved so dearly when she was a child. "You are Davis's widow, Anna. You can not be smiling at the employees. It would not be proper. You are lucky to have me here to guide you."

No matter how old she got, he would always be ten years older. Ten years wiser in his mind.

She raised her hands seeing the scratches and imperfections in their sibling bond as well as the ones on her flesh. "You call this lucky?"

"You probably felll wandering through the great room in the dark. Do not blame your problems on me." His eyes told her he did not believe his words, but he continued, "I am working day and night to keep this place making money. I have no time to hear about your scratches."

Anna found no argument in his last statement. She also knew the discussion was pointless. At best, they would go in circles, at worst he would get angry. She decided the safest choice was to change the subject. She continued in Italian. "Speaking of money, I may need some today. Helena Whitworth called and asked if I could have lunch with her and go shopping."