Stella called her parent the Monday night after she and Ty returned from Santa Fe. Her mother, Louise, answered the phone. Louise was always pleased when Stella called. Louise grudgingly accepted Stella's need for independence, but she wished her daughter would visit more often than her annual Christmas pilgrimage home.
"Hi Mom, can you get Daddy on the phone, too?"
"Certainly dear, just a sec," her mother said a little breathlessly.
Louise covered the mouth piece of the phone and turned to her husband sitting on the couch beside her.
"Behave Jonny," she hissed with a giggle as she swatted his hand away from her breast, "Stella wants us both on the phone."
Jon Roy heaved a mock sigh and stood up. He looked longingly at his wife before heading towards the den to retrieve the cordless phone on his desk. Jon Roy knew he was a lucky man. Louise Woodson was a former Dallas Cheerleader, and Jon Roy thought she was even better looking at fifty-two than she had been at twenty-two. Louise was tall and willowy, with small and still perky breasts, and she still had the best caboose in Dallas. Jon Roy sighed again as he picked up the phone.
"Hi'ya Princess, how's the cowgirl business treating you?" he said as he walked back to the living room.
It was Stella's turn to giggle. She couldn't help herself when she talked to or was around her father. He had a knack for bringing out the Daddy's little girl in her. In turn, Jon Roy thought his daughter was the sweetest, smartest and prettiest girl in Texas.
"Hi Daddy, things out here are better than I can describe," she replied.
Louise sat up straighter on the couch at Stella's proclamation. She knew what a woman in love sounded like, and she'd despaired ever hearing that in her daughter's voice.
"One of those things wouldn't be a man, would it?" Louise asked hopefully.
Stella laughed girlishly into the phone; it was a sound her parents weren't that used to hearing.
"Never could put one past you Mom. You want to meet him?"
Before Louise could reply, Jon Roy jumped in.
"Of course we want to meet him, Princess. You haven't brought a boy home to meet us since high school. I have ten years worth of third degrees saved up."
Stella laughed and Louise snorted.
"Don't listen to him, Stella, he's getting cranky in his old age. When were you thinking of visiting?" Louise asked.
"How about Wednesday, would that work for you two? Maybe we could go out to dinner with Nana Estelle Thursday night so she can meet him too," Stella chirped.
It would, and the prospect of seeing her and her new beau made Stella's parents extremely happy. After they hung up the phones, Jon Roy turned to his wife with a raised eyebrow.
"So what do you think Lou?"
Louise snuggled up against her husband and tucked herself under his arm. Jon Roy was a big man, six foot six and two-fifty, and he was still hale and hardy at the age of fifty-five. Even after thirty years, she still felt the best when he held her.
"I don't know Jonny, but I sure hope she is really ready to settle down and stop taking all those risks."
Jon Roy nodded emphatically. His daughter's penchant for living dangerously had caused them many a sleepless night. Whether it was sky diving or shoot-outs with bad guys, their Stella was fearless. They were actually relieved when she hung up her badge and took a job on that big spread out west.
"I hope that's the case, and this new man in her life is not just another dangerous situation she's putting herself in," he said.
Then Jon Roy frowned as he thought of something.
"I wonder if this yahoo is marrying her for her trust fund. Even in this economy, it's still worth six million."
Louise was quick to answer.
"She's never touched that money, Jonny, she's to stubbornly independent to take something she hasn't earned." She looked at him pointedly before continuing, "Wonder which side of the family she gets that from?"
Jon Roy studiously ignored Lou's not so subtle dig. Yes, it was his side of the family that was renowned for their stubbornness. Jon Roy's success on the gridiron was one result of that trait, because he never, through college and ten years with the Dallas Cowboys, ever gave up on a block. Defensive ends hated to play across the line from him, because even if the play went the other direction, Jon Roy maintained his punishing blocks until the whistle blew the play dead.
He came by it honest though, because his mother had always been a proudly independent woman, and his father was a hard-headed oil wildcatter who died in a freak accident when a gantry fell on him. Ironically, the gantry collapsed when he and his crew hit their first gusher. His mother, instead of falling apart over the tragedy, mourned in private, took over the oil operation and raised her two sons as a single parent.
"Well," Jon Roy said, "I guess we'll know in a couple of days, but it must be serious if she even wants to introduce him to my mother."
Ricky and Rodney Amar, the owners of the fencing company that bore their last name, showed up at the ranch on Tuesday at nine in the morning. Ricky, a former army combat engineer, had already done the preliminary planning for the fence. That planning included the material take-off and the labor required to install three hundred feet of chain link and one hundred-fifty feet of tangle foot per day. The fence route had also been surveyed, and marker stakes were driven into the ground every hundred yards.
The Amar brothers ordered the first fifty rolls of ten foot tall galvanized chain link fencing and two hundred hot-dip galvanized posts from a wholesaler up in the panhandle. The wholesaler had no problem with sending the materials down Friday and dropping the flatbed trailer at the job site when Ricky made an identical order to be delivered a week later. Reuben graves made the salesman's day by paying for the fence materials with an electronic funds transfer.
The Amars promised they would be back out next Monday with a crew to start augering the holes and setting the fence posts. The holes would be ten feet apart, two feet and a half feet deep and the posts would be concreted into the holes. The post-setting crew would work for two days before the fence crew arrived, in order to stay ahead. After all the red tape, Ty was happy that the fence was finally being built.
After the meeting with the Amars, Ty and Stella walked with Pete Colon to the foreman's office. As Stella and Ty were taking seats at his work table, Pete was pulling three long neck Lone Stars out of his refrigerator. Ty looked at his watch before taking one of the beers.
Pete shrugged and gave Ty a grin.
"It's five o'clock somewhere, Boss Man, and besides, you being back here alive is worth at least one beer."
Stella leaned forward and clinked her bottle against Pete's.
"Amen to that," she said fervently.
Ty laughed and stuck his bottle out also.
"What the hell, I'll drink to that too," he said.
Pete took a long pull on his beer, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Damn, that's good," he remarked. Then he looked at Ty and asked, "So what's next kemosabe?"
Ty had an answer for him immediately.
"Next you find me a sniper rifle and someone to teach me how to use it."
"Teach us how to use it," Stella corrected.
Ty and Stella caught a commuter flight from El Paso to Dallas Wednesday morning. They rented a car when they arrived in Dallas, and Stella drove them up to her parents place in Plano. The Woodsons lived in a large, Tudor-style two story house that sat on a couple of lake-front acres. Jon Roy had parlayed his football earnings and fame into a string of Ford dealerships and real estate ventures, plus, he was involved in the oil exploration company his mother still owned.
Stella pushed open the front door and called out for her parents.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home," she shouted.
Louise came out of the family room and greeted them in the foyer. She was wearing a green and white diagonally striped summer dress that ended just above her knees; her long blonde hair was in a French braid and she wore just a hint of make up. Ty knew immediately where Stella's good looks and beautiful eyes originated.
Louise gave Stella a lingering hug and turned to Ty.
"You must be Tyler, I'm Louise Woodson, welcome to our home," she said graciously as she extended her hand.
Ty, accustomed as he was to social situations, was still slightly nervous at meeting Stella's parents. He gently clasped the proffered hand.
"Pleased to meet you," he responded.
Louise smiled at her daughter's nervous boyfriend then turned to Stella.
"Let's go to the family room so we can get acquainted. Your father is on the phone in his den, solving some crisis at the Dallas dealership, but he'll be out in a minute."
The three chatted for a few minutes, mostly though, it was Stella and her mother doing the talking. After about ten minutes, Jon Roy joined them in the large family room. As soon as he walked in the door, Stella jumped up and threw herself into his arms. Jon Roy picked her up at the waist and swung her around in a circle as if she were a small girl. Ty smiled at that, pleased that Stella was so close to her parents.
Jon Roy set Stella down gently and turned his attention toward Ty. Ty had stood up when the big man walked into the room. Jon Roy looked him up and down, not disguising the fact that he was taking his measure. Jon Roy didn't know quite what to make of his daughter's new boyfriend. He was clean-cut enough, but his cowboy ruddy tan gave him the look of a working man. Jon Roy had absolutely nothing against a man who worked for a living, but he hoped for a little better than some long on the tooth cowpoke for his only daughter.
Stella made the introductions.
"Daddy, this is Ty; Ty meet Jon Roy."
Then she turned to her mother. She wanted them both out of the room so Ty and her father could talk.
"I'm thirsty Mom, got any sweet tea in the fridge?"
"Sure do," her mother replied, "I'll go get us all a glass."
Stella fell in step with her towards the kitchen.
"I'll give you a hand so we can talk while Daddy and Ty get acquainted."
Ty closed the few steps that separated him and Jon Roy and stuck out his hand.
"It is an honor to meet you, sir," he said.
Jon Roy took the hand he was offered, pleased that the fellow shook hands like a man, instead of some limp-wristed sissy-boy. He could feel the wiry strength in the man's calloused hands.
"So, Ty, you got a last name?"
"Yes sir, its McGuinn, Tyler Lopez McGuinn."
Jon Roy cocked his eyebrow at the last name.
"I did some business with a RJ McGuinn, he kin to you?"
Ty nodded.
"Yes sir, he's my brother."
Jon Roy nodded and shot a look at his daughters retreating back. His baby girl was full of surprises. Still, even though the man was respectful and had money, Jon Roy had an obligation to protect his daughter. If Stella thought he was kidding with his third degree remark, she was the one who had a surprise coming.
"Okay Mister Tyler McGuinn, what are your intentions toward my daughter?"
Ty stifled a laugh at Jon Roy cutting right to the chase.
"I'm glad you asked, Mister Woodson, because my intentions are to marry your wonderful daughter, and I'd like your permission to ask for her hand," Ty replied.
Jon Roy was stunned speechless for a second or two; he was not expecting that answer. Finally the cat let go of his tongue.
"That's sort of sudden, isn't it? She just told us about you two days ago."
Ty shrugged and replied, "We've been seeing each other for a few months now. She's an amazing woman, and I fell in love with her, despite every intention I had. Stella feels the same way, but she wanted me to talk to you before she formally says yes."
When Ty paused, Jon Roy prodded him again.
"What about children? You are quite a bit older than my daughter, and I know she loves kids."
"We've spoken about that sir, because I want a family also. My first marriage was childless only because my wife was barren. Stella told me that our marriage would have to be a partnership in every area, whether it was running the ranch or raising a family, and that's exactly what I want also. We are both private people, and we want a nice quiet life, as opposed to the one my brother lives."
Jon Roy smiled and shook his head.
"My daughter can be a handful, but if you are up to the challenge, I can't think of any reason to object. Of course, I am not giving my blessings, though, until I talk to Stella and her mother, okay?"
Ty grinned and stuck out his hand again.
"Fair enough," he said as they shook on it.
When Stella and Ty took their bags up to Stella's room, Jon Roy sat down and talked with his wife about the conversation he had with Ty.
"McGuinn and I had a little talk while you two were in the kitchen. He floored me when about the first words out of his mouth were about marriage. What did Stella tell you, and what do you think about them getting hitched?"
Louise smiled and took his hand in hers.
"She loves him and has for a while, so she is going to say yes, regardless of what we think. But, all that aside, from how she talks, I think they are made for each other. He's quiet, but I think he's got plenty of steel in his spine."
Jon Roy barked a laugh at the steel remark, because he knew McGuinn was going to need it, being married to Stella.
During dinner that night at his country club, Jon Roy gave Ty his blessings while the women were in the bathroom. When Stella and her mother returned and were back in their chairs, Ty dropped to one knee, whipped a small blue velvet covered box out of his pocket, and popped the question.
"Will you marry me Stella and make me the happiest cowboy in Texas?"
Stella looked at Ty and the ring in some surprise. She hadn't expected such a public forum for the question, and she didn't know he'd already bought a ring. She cut her eyes towards her father who smiled and nodded his head. She looked towards her mother next. Louise was also smiling in obvious approval. Stella then looked back at Ty and held out her hand so he could slip the elegantly simple, two carat Princess-cut diamond onto her finger.
"You remember what you agreed to, right?" she asked him.
Ty nodded and once the ring was on her finger, he reached into his suit coat and pulled out a legal-sized envelope.
"Here you go, Stella - prenup, partnership agreement and permission to geld, all in a one page document."
Stella unfolded the document and read it just so Ty wouldn't think he was getting away with being a wise- acre. The document spelled out that everything each of them owned before they wed was excluded from consideration as community property, and stipulated that both were equal partners in any venture after the wedding. The gelding clause was more symbolic in that, if either one of them committed adultery, the guilty party lost any claim to community property. She looked back at him when she finished reading.
"That's a sneaky way to get around me cutting off your cojónes if you cheat on me, but it will do," she announced.
Ty and Stella returned to El Paso on the Sunday after Ty proposed. They had enjoyed those last three days in Dallas, as he was introduced around to Stella's large extended family, but they were both happy to be home.
On Monday morning, Pete called Ty and asked that he bring Stella out to his office so he could introduce them to someone. When the couple arrived, Pete got right to the point.
"I hear congratulations are in order for you two. I think that's great, although I don't see what she sees in you that is worth having. Well, anyway, let me introduce you to Gunny Hayes. Gunny, this is my boss, Ty McGuinn, and his fiancée, Stella Woodson. The Gunny here is a former Marine Corp sniper, and has agreed to teach you how to shoot."
Ty shook hands with the man and took the time to look him over. He was average-sized and very obviously Native American. His salt and pepper hair was cut in a flattop, and his face was lined and weathered. He looked as if he was in his sixties, but his erect carriage and strong handshake hinted that he might be younger. The man's last name triggered Ty's memory.
"I've heard of a marine named Ira Hayes, Are you related to him?" he asked.
The slightest flicker of a smile turned up the corners of Gunny's mouth as he nodded.
"I'm named after him; he was my uncle, my father's brother."
The first Ira Hayes was a Pima American Indian, from the Gila River Reservation over in Arizona, just south of Phoenix. During World War II, he was one of the Marines immortalized raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, on the island of Iwo Jima. Hayes was also the subject of a song (The Ballard of Ira Hayes) by Johnny Cash that was popular in the nineteen-seventies. Hayes died an alcoholic in his early thirties.
"You're a long ways from the reservation, Gunny, and I hear there are plenty of opportunities there now with the casinos and all," Ty said.
Hayes shrugged and shook his head.
"Life is too easy there and whiskey is too easy to find. I got me a drinking problem just like my uncle had. I live up in the Guadeloupe Mountains now; with my military retirement and a few dollars from you rich folks for teaching you to shoot, we get by."
Stella spoke up for the first time.
"We want to learn more than just marksmanship, Mister Hayes, we want to learn whatever else a sniper learns, too," she interjected.
Before Hayes could answer her, Ty added his two cents worth.
"The military type sniping, Gunny, not the police sharpshooter type."
Hayes glanced at Stella then back at Ty.
"You'd have to come out to my place for a week or so for that, and I warn you, if you do, I won't cut you any slack just because you are rich, or she's a woman."
Stella and Ty exchanged looks and she shot him a wink.
"We don't expect anything but the best training we can get, so what day do you want to start?" she asked.
"We'll start Thursday morning. It'll cost you each sixteen hundred dollars, including room and board. Bring cash, that's all I take, and no refunds if you quit," he warned.
Ty stuck out his hand.
"Done!" he said. "Draw us a map and we'll be there Wednesday evening."
They drove up to Ira's place in the mountains on Wednesday afternoon to start training on Thursday. It was almost four when they drove up the dusty road that led to his mountaintop adobe and timber house. It was a surprise a minute after that, as Hayes and his family came out to greet them. For starters, Hayes's wife was a much younger Pima woman named Fawn. Fawn was the Native American version of Stella. She was taller than Hayes by a number of inches, buxom and very attractive. She had been a tribal police officer when Ira retired from the Marine Corps and went back to Gila River, looking for a wife. Fawn and Stella immediately recognized each other as kindred spirits.
Ira and Fawn also had children, five of them to be exact, one boy and four girls, ranging in age from five to eleven. The Hayes kids were active and boisterous, yet they were the best behaved and politest children that Ty or Stella had ever met. From their first meeting, Stella was crazy about all of them and they, especially the identical twin seven year-old girls, thought the big golden haired woman was something out of a fairy tale.
When Stella returned to the guest room after helping Fawn tuck in the children, she snuggled up next to Ty and sighed contentedly.
"This is the kind of family I envision for us, Baby," she said softly.
Ty pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the forehead.
"Works for me," he replied.
Ty and Stella were up and dressed by six-thirty the next morning.
Both wore their normal ranch attire.
For Stella, that included her ubiquitous stainless steel Colt Python.
Ty was wearing a black single holster gun belt with a Colt Single
Action Army .45 caliber pistol Abuela said had belonged to his
great-great grandfather. After a quick breakfast, Ty and Stella
squeezed into the cab of Gunny's well-kept army surplus three-quarter
ton truck, and he drove them along a rough trail about a mile further
into the mountains to his training area. Hayes pulled to a stop in
front of a small wood and tin shack located about half way up a medium
sloped mountain side. Spread out below the shack was a narrow valley
about fifteen hundred meters across and four kilometers long. The
valley was mottled with small trees, agave plants and shrubs. Boulders
of all sizes were scattered around the grayish white dirt.
Gunny gave them a quick visual tour, pointing out the limits of his property.
"My place starts at the base of that escarpment there. North of that is the national park. My property line curves around to the east and follows that ridge line south. That old fence line is my southern boundary, stay off the other side, as that end of the valley is an Apache burial site and is holy ground."
Ty and Stella pitched in helping Gunny unload items from the back of the truck. It didn't take them long to figure out they would not be returning to Hayes's house anytime soon. Gunny grinned evilly when Ty gave him a questioning look.
"I figure we are better off staying out here, that way we can train at night and you won't have any distractions."
One of the items Gunny unloaded was a hard sided gun case. When the camp was set up to his exacting standards, he opened the case and pulled out a rifle.
"Pete asked me to secure a weapon for you as part of our deal," he explained. "This is the M-24 Sniper Rifle, a military version of the Remington 700 hunting rifle. I chose this particular model because it is close to what we used in the corps and it is a damned fine weapon. The correct nomenclature is the M-24 Sniper Weapons System, because it is issued complete with the case and accessories. The accessories include a Leupold Mark 4 scope and a Harris bipod."
"There are two of us, so why only one rifle?" Stella asked.
"A two man sniper team consists of two snipers and one rifle. One man acts is the spotter, while the other is the sniper. You switch roles often, so the person who takes the shot is always fresh. In the military, the spotter is armed with a standard issue weapon to provide security for the team. Having both snipers share one weapon lightens the load and adds some defensive firepower to the team."
Hayes was true to his word and worked them mercilessly. The mornings and late evenings were spent learning fieldcraft, the heat of the afternoons were devoted to shooting drills, learning how to use the mil dot crosshairs on the scope and how to convert minutes of angle into elevation and windage adjustments. There was a surprising amount of preparation involved in engaging a target at ranges beyond four hundred meters.
Ty and Stella stayed at the remote camp for the eight days they trained, while Hayes spent most nights with his family. Gunny thought the Spartan conditions of the camp, including the lack of bathrooms or showers gave his students a better feel for the actual hardships of being a sniper in the field. Ty and Stella weren't thrilled with settling for field baths, but they good naturedly put up with it, because they were together.
Hayes was an excellent firearms instructor, but he was an absolute master at camouflage and moving undetected. He tried to instill that trait in his students.
"Marine marksmanship training is the best in the world," he said. "But being a good shot doesn't necessarily make you a good sniper. The best snipers are those that are patient and self-disciplined enough to gut out hardships in order to get the shot. Simo Hayha, a Finnish sniper in the Winter War of 1939-1940, between Finland and Russia, had five hundred confirmed kills in ninety days, using a rifle with iron sights, all because he made the effort to get himself in a concealed position to get his shot. Hayha even filled his mouth with snow before he fired, so when he exhaled, his breath wouldn't cause any fog."
It did not take long for them to figure out Stella was a better marksman than Ty, or that Ty was better at range estimation and target detection. Both of them were the best students Gunny had ever trained when it came to clandestine movement and hide site selection. It was too hot for the couple to wear gihille suits, so Gunny came up with the idea of a gihille cape. The four foot by six foot net capes offered camouflage without the stifling heat the suits trapped against their bodies.
Gunny called a halt after one final infiltration on Friday. Ty and Stella were more than ready to head back to civilization and a hot shower. In the seven days they'd actually fired live ammunition, they'd each put over six hundred rounds down range, and had field-stripped and cleaned the Remington until they could do it in the dark.
Ty and Stella spent Friday night with the Hayes and headed back to El Paso Saturday morning. They talked as Ty drove them home.
"Okay," said Stella, "now that we have this new skill set, what are we going to do with it?"
"I think we'll mosey down to Chihuahua and look around for some horses to buy. While we are there, we'll see if we can figure out a way to get within eight hundred meters of Jorge Modena Mendoza. Also, I have three cousins about a hundred miles from the border that Abuela was working on getting into the States legally. I want to visit them and see if I can do something for their family," Ty replied.