'?Que? '
'Becca… she…'
Josefina put her hands together and lay her face on her hands and closed her eyes. As if sleeping.
'She's sleeping?'
' Si. Duerme. '
Bode checked his watch.
'It's almost noon.'
He went inside and upstairs to Becca's room. He knocked but she didn't answer. He opened the door and peeked in. She was still sleeping. He went over to the bed and sat next to his daughter bundled under a blanket even though it wasn't cold. Becca Bonner never used to sleep till noon. Back on the ranch, she'd be up at dawn to ride her horse or brand cows or practice volleyball before school. She had been an active, athletic, fearless girl. Now she was a frightened, fearful, depressed child hiding from the world in bed. It was his fault. His actions had put her in this state. He put his hand on his daughter over the blanket and gave her a little shake.
'Becca, wake up. It's almost noon.'
No response.
'Come on, honey, you can't stay in bed all day. It's not healthy.'
Still no response.
'Becca.'
He stood and yanked the blanket off her. Saliva hung from her mouth. Her face was pale. He shook her hard this time and slapped her face. No response.
She was unresponsive.
'Becca!'
'Don't tell Mom, okay?'
Two hours later, Texas Rangers stood guard outside the emergency room at Austin General Hospital in downtown. Inside, Bode Bonner sat in a chair next to his daughter's bed. They had pumped her stomach. Alcohol and sleeping pills.
'I wasn't trying to kill myself. I was just trying to sleep. I'm afraid to shut my eyes.'
This was his fault, too.
'Daddy, I want to go home.'
'To the Mansion?'
'To the ranch.'
THIRTY-FOUR
The Double B Ranch comprised five thousand acres of Hill Country land outside Comfort, Texas, population 2,358. The ranch had been in the Bonner family since 1868, when Samuel Bode Bonner, fresh off fighting in the Civil War, returned to Texas and bought the land for $800 cash. No one knew how he had come into such a fortune.
Samuel married Rebecca. They had five children. Two died before age ten; two more died without having married. Thus, the ranch went to the last surviving child, Benjamin Bode Bonner.
Ben married Jean. They had one child who survived birth, Henry Bode Bonner.
Henry married Elizabeth. They had two children. Emma Elizabeth, the daughter, died in a car wreck on Interstate 10 when she was sixteen. William Bode, the son, became governor of Texas.
Bode Bonner turned the Suburban through the gates under the Double B brand. Becca sat next to him in the passenger seat; Lupe, Miguel, and Alejandro sat in the middle seat, and Josefina sat in the third seat.
'?La hacienda? '
'Yep. This is our ranch.'
Jim Bob had remained in Austin to write the keynote speech that Bode would give at the governors' conference in two weeks in Dallas. Bode had convinced his Texas Ranger bodyguards that if they stayed in Austin and made daily trips about town in the caravan of black Suburbans and Jim Bob issued daily press releases and tweets from the Governor's Office, everyone would think the governor was still in Austin; that he was safer alone than with large Rangers attracting attention. And besides, no one could find the Double B Ranch without a guide.
At least he didn't think so.
The long caliche road led to a modest house high on a hill that overlooked wide valleys east and west where the cattle grazed under the hot August sun. Bode parked the Suburban under the shade of an oak tree. The kids bailed out and stretched after the two-hour drive. A white-haired Mexican man rode up on a white stallion trailed by a big German shepherd. The man dismounted and embraced Lupe, his sister. The dog ran to Bode.
'Shep!'
Bode greeted the dog then stood to greet the man.
' Senor Bode, it has been a while.'
Ramon Sendejo's hands were strong from a life of hard work, the last sixty years on the Double B Ranch. He had come with his own father when he was only eight; he had never left the ranch. He turned to Becca and held his arms out to her.
' Senorita Becca, you have finally come home to Ramon.'
She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. Ramon's eyes cut to Bode, his expression asking if she was all right. Bode nodded. When Ramon released Becca, he turned to the children.
'And who are these ninos? '
'Miguel and Alejandro, and this little gal is Josefina.'
'And would you ninos like to ride the horses??Montar caballo? '
The boys broke into big smiles-'?Si! '-but Josefina shook her head.
'I will make them vaqueros, Senor Bode, just as I made you. Come, Chelo has lunch for the travelers.'
Becca and the kids led the way to the house. Ramon lowered his voice to Bode.
'These are the children from that day in West Texas?'
'The ones I still have.'
'What you did that day, Senor Bode, that was a good thing.'
They went into the house where they found Ramon's wife and the aroma of Mexican food in the kitchen. Consuelo-known as 'Chelo'-came to Bode and embraced him.
' Senor Bode. I am very happy that you are not dead.' She looked past him. 'And where is the senora? '
When Bode had called Ramon to tell him they were coming, he only said that Lindsay would not be with them. He had not explained why.
'She's out of town.'
Chelo looked into his eyes, then dropped hers. As if she understood.
'I have lunch.' She turned to the children. 'Come, ninos, wash your hands.'
Everyone washed up in the kitchen sink and then sat at the table. Enchiladas, dark rice, and refried beans. Bode Bonner had grown up on Chelo's food.
His grandfather had built the hacienda-style house; his father had added on; Bode had put in the swimming pool for Becca and her friends. There were four bedrooms and four bathrooms, a great room with the kitchen at one end and the stone fireplace at the other, an office, laundry, and mud room. Bode had lived every day of his life in this house, except the four years he had lived in the UT football dormitory and the eight years in the Governor's Mansion. Ramon and Chelo lived down in the creek house. Lupe had lived with them until Bode had taken her to the Governor's Mansion. The four vaqueros lived in the bunkhouse. They ran five thousand head of cattle on the ranch. Some years they made a little money, some years they lost a little money. You didn't ranch cattle to get rich. You ranched because it was your life. What you knew.
After lunch, Becca took the kids swimming. Bode rode out with Ramon and Shep the dog. Bode's horse was named King. The big bay had been sired on the ranch and would die on the ranch, just as Bode's father and mother had died on the ranch. His sister, Emma, had died on the interstate, but she too was buried on the ranch. Bode and Becca were the last of the Bonner breed. When he died, the ranch would be hers. Given her sexual preference, Bode
