“Well.” The word was issued in a challenging tone. “Are you up to taking me on, Webb? I promised your mother I’d wait until you were stronger before we had our ‘discussion.’”
“Benteen—” His mother attempted to protest.
“It’s no good, Lorna,” he cut in. “Postponing isn’t going to change my mind.”
“He’s right, Mother,” Webb agreed. “There’s nothing to be gained by putting it off any longer.” He glanced at his father. “Shall we go to the den?” He received an affirmative nod, and both stood up at the same time.
“I’m coming, too,” his mother insisted and pushed her chair away from the table.
“No, you’re not, Lorna,” his father denied. “This is one time when there’s no room for a peacemaker. There are things that have to be said, and the talk is likely to get rough. I don’t want you there. This is something Webb and I have to settle once and for all.”
This showdown had been brewing for a long time, Webb realized as he left the dining room, walking stride for stride with his father across the entryway to the den. He didn’t know what was coming, but he felt ready for it. Now that Lilli was obviously lost to him, there seemed to be very little in his life that had any meaning. So there was really nothing to lose.
Inside the room, Webb paused and waited for his father to close the doors. When they were shut, he walked to the fire and poked at the glowing logs until a flame shot up. His side was still sore, and he wasn’t back to full strength by any means, but he felt able to take on his father.
“Drink?” his father asked, and Webb shook his head in refusal. “Neither do I. It isn’t going to help the taste of anything I have to say.”
“Then get on with it,” Webb stated.
Benteen Calder looked at him and grunted out a laugh. “That’s the only thing you’ve ever said that sounded like it came from a Calder.” He shook his head in a kind of hopelessness and walked to his desk. “I guess you know this business with a married woman was the final straw.”
“I didn’t exactly plan to fall in love with another man’s wife,” Webb snapped. “But I don’t expect you to understand that.”
“Do you know what you are?” His father tilted his head to one side, studying him. “You’re a saddlebum. You may not drift from ranch to ranch, but you’re just like them in all the other ways. You do your drinking and brawling and whoring with the boys. And you’ll never amount to a damned thing. You’re always taking the easy way, letting someone else do the worrying and give the orders.”
“That’s your opinion.” Webb set the poker back in its rack, feeling the hairs bristling on his neck at the sweeping condemnation.
“Opinion? You’ve never shown me you’re anything else,” Benteen shot back. “Do you see that map on the wall? When I was your age, I’d built that, fought for it, and owned it.”
“I’m tired of hearing what you did when you were my age!” Webb flared. “What do you expect me to do? Go out and duplicate it just because it was what you did?”
“No! Dammit!” His temper was ignited by the flash of Webb’s. “I’ve been waiting for years for you to start shouldering some of the responsibility around here, but you don’t even want to handle a roundup crew! Nothing you have said or done has shown me that you care what happens to this ranch!”
“Is this going to turn into another lecture about the ranch?” Webb demanded. “Because if it is—”
“No.” His father paused, breathing hard as his voice grew deadly cold. “This isn’t another lecture. Because I realize you aren’t
going to change.”
“I’m glad you finally got it through your thick skull that I don’t want anything handed to me,” Webb retorted with a trace of sarcasm.
“I got it, all right. And you’re not going to get handed a thing, because I wouldn’t put the Triple C in the hands of an unprincipled, irresponsible bum like you,” he stated. “You’re not going to inherit the Triple C when I’m gone. You’re not going to get one inch of this land.”
Webb stared at his father, trying to take in what he’d just been told. It was as if someone had just ripped out his soul. A strange rage was building inside of him, thundering through his veins like a stampeding herd.
“You can’t do that.” His voice was tight, hardly sounding like his own.
“The hell I can’t.”
“Damn you to hell!” Webb was vibrating with the force of his fury. “This land is as much mine as it is yours! I was born on it! I’ve worked it and rode every inch of it!”
“Have you, now?” There was a hard, calculating gleam in his father’s eyes. “You know damned well I have!” “Do you want it?”
“Yes!” He had resisted it for so long that it came as a shock how desperately he wanted this ranch. He belonged to it. It was as much a part of him as his heart. “And, by God, I’m not going to let you take it from me!”
“If you want it, you’re going to have to fight to get it,” his father challenged. “You’re going to have to show me that you’ve inherited some guts from your mother and me, because I don’t think you have what it takes to hold on to a place like this.”
“I’m a Calder, aren’t I?” Webb retorted. “I’m your son.”