Harmony Roman
Sliding into the hospital parking lot, Harmony spotted the unmistakable behemoth of Lenny Madsen's Ford F-150, greasy with travel--a sure sign that he had recently arrived in town. The man was obsessed with that truck, and leaving it that filthy could only mean something else was on his mind. Of course, Harmony didn't have to think hard to figure out what that might be. Eager not to confront the sole Madsen, Harmony hurried inside and turned left just past the nurse's station. She arrived at the door for visitors, which required her to punch in a code--3152#--and let herself in. A brisk walk down the linoleum-tiled hallways and she was at Dane's room. She tapped it gently before letting herself in. Dane was, to her surprise, sitting up on the side of his bed, dressed in his clothes. "Are you…Dane, what's going on?" He looked at her and smiled. "I'm doing better than expected. They said I can go home. I just…" He gave her a sheepish look. "I don't have a phone anymore and I don't, um…I don't know your phone number. I'm glad you came." Harmony laughed and gave him a gentle hug. "This is the best news we've had in…" "A long time?" "Yeah, something like that." She smiled. "Come on. I'll get you home." "Great." Leaving the hospital was the easy part; the next few days, however, were fraught. There was a lot to do, a lot to put back together, a lot to decide. Clawson spent most of his time away, while Harmony would come to the Ranch as often as she could to help Dane get around. A week passed; Jenny came home, though Dane was careful not to cross paths with Clawson. Every time Harmony came over, the tension was sharp in the air. The day before Gwen's funeral, she and Dane sat in his room. He stared out the window, clearly lost in thought. Harmony set down the book she was reading and said, "What's on your mind?" "Nothing," he said. Harmony snorted. He broke off his thousand-yard gaze and focused on Harmony. "I need to get out of the house. Come with me?" "Sure." She stood and stretched. "Where are we going?" "The butte." "It's cold, man." "Wear a coat." Harmony grumbled a bit but obeyed. This was the most active that Dane had seemed since leaving the hospital, and, to be frank, Harmony was glad to leave the chilly atmosphere of the Lodge behind. They took Harmony's car. Dane closed his eyes and she noticed sweat sprinkling his forehead as they rounded the turn that still had the black skid marks from the accident. The bushes, mangled and broken, were dying. She drove on without commenting. Once they'd rounded the turn, Dane loosened up. "Sorry," he said. "Nothing to apologize for." The rest of the trip was in silence. After they arrived at the parking spot near the butte, they hiked up the familiar hill to where they could see over the Ranch. "I was talking to Dad," Harmony said as they settled on the boulders that acted like benches. An icy wind rattled the naked scrub oak branches. Snow was forecasted for the next day, and the skull-gray sky made everything feel washed out and colorless. The weather, it seemed, mirrored the world. "Oh?" "The Norway deal is happening. There's nothing we can do to stop it." Dane grimaced. "How much are we losing?" Harmony gestured. "Basically everything that you see that's south of the Lodge, from about there." She pointed out the landmark. "It's complicated--probably take another few months or so. But by next planting season, yeah…Elsinore Ranch will no longer be in charge of the majority of this place." Dane grimaced. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" He looked down, then regarded the landscape in front of him. "It does." Harmony's eyebrows rose. "I didn't take you for wanting to stay in Noah. I didn't think you were interested in the Ranch." "I'm not. But I'm not interested in it being in someone else's control, either. It's my family's land. Not someone else's." He shook his head. "But I don't know the first thing about land acquisition deals or these kinds of sausage-making parties. I just…" He shook his head. "I just feel like I'm letting my dad down by allowing this to happen." "Most of it happened while you were unconscious, Dane. I hardly think he'll hold that against you." "It feels like I'm losing everything, though. You know?" "Yeah." "Like, the Ranch is one thing, but my mom hasn't been the same since she got out of the hospital. I'm still in constant pain. I can't even look at Lenny. And losing…" He struggled to finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. She knew what he meant. Harmony put a hand on his. "Hey. Don't let it eat you up." "This would be so much easier if I had just died." Harmony gasped and retracted her hand. "Don't say that!" "Why not?" "The world is a better place with you in it." He snorted. "George and Ryan probably don't think so." Harmony hesitated. "Yeah. I still can't believe you did that." "They deserved it. And Clawson does, too. He probably hasn't figured it out yet, since he's been so preoccupied. But it'll come." He sighed. "At least I have satisfaction in that." Harmony forced a smile. "See? There's a reason to stick around!" "Because I'm an irritation to my uncle-father?" "I guess. Hey, the wedding isn't going to happen for a while yet, though, right? Because of the accident?" "Small comfort." "Sometimes, Dane, that's all there is." Dane sighed. "Ricky said the same thing." "Ricky?" He nodded. "Ricky Ortega. We called him Ricky-O. He was a farmhand. We loved having him around because he was such a funny guy." "I don't remember him." "By the time you came around, he was getting older, sicker. He died when I was in high school. But when I was a kid, he was always around. I remember he had a chip in his tooth that looked like an upside-down Utah. It always made him whistle when he said the letter S, and since he was Peruvian, he had this great accent to go along with it. He would make great jokes, with perfect timing…anyway. "One time I was really upset about something, I don't remember what. He pulled me aside and told me about how he had lost his wife and kids in a bus accident in Lima. He'd been so devastated that he could only think of leaving Peru behind. He came here, since he had some family who'd settled in Salt Lake. But he was done with the city life. Ended up here. He told me that living with us, helping the Amleth family, was like starting over again. It wasn't the same, of course, but it was something--a small comfort." Dane affected a surprisingly accurate Peruvian accent. "'Dane, you gotta remember that sometimes the esmall comforts are the only ones you get.'" Dane pointed at a gnarled tree in the far distance. "When he died of cancer, we buried him there. As one of the family. It was a small comfort…" "But it was a comfort," finished Harmony. He sighed and nodded his head. Then he paused, a strange look covering his face that she didn't recognize. He stared at her eyes deeply, as if he were trying to memorize what he saw there. His eyes flitted from place to place, taking in her cheeks, her nose, her lips. He leaned slightly closer to her, slowly, but deliberately. He cleared his throat and, deliberately, almost as if he were embarrassed, said, "Harmony, I…" Before he could say anything more, a car pulled up at the family graveyard. Clawson and Lenny threw open their doors, then Clawson went to the passenger side to help Jenny out. "What's going on down there?" asked Dane quickly, straightening and turning his attention to the people below. "I don't know. Maybe…" They watched for a moment. "Maybe what?" asked Dane. Harmony shrugged. "Dad told me that Clawson was interested in interring Gwen here." "Oh. Well. I like that. It would be wonderful to have her on the family Ranch." Harmony blinked in surprise. "Dane, I just told you that this area is going to Norway." "What?" "What do you think I meant when I said the land south of the Lodge was going to Norway?" "But…Why would he do that?" A fire kindled in his eyes, and Dane stood up suddenly, his body tight with an anger that Harmony was sure wouldn't help him recover. "It was part of the deal. The cemetery is going to be Norway's after the deal is over." "Like hell it will," snarled Dane, who spun on his heel and headed toward the car. "Dane?" asked Harmony, alarmed. She scrambled to her feet. "Dane, what are you doing?" He didn't answer as he stomped down the path. Harmony had no choice but to hurry after him. |