by Tina Leonard
“It’s all right. It’s my own fault. I should have accepted your help when you offered.” She took another deep breath. “I’m stubborn, Cisco. I’ve always been stubborn. It’s gotten me through the toughest times in my life. But today I learned there’s stubborn, and then there’s too stubborn.”
“Jesus, Suz.”
He turned on the stool and pulled her into his arms, and then she did cry, big, fat, overwhelmed tears that shook her. The more he held her, the safer she felt, and so she let it all pour out of her, until she’d cried what felt like every last tear in her reservoir. All the sorrow, worry and pain of the past months’ anxiety about the foreclosure poured out of her, draining her.
“Thank goodness for Betty’s cocoa,” Suz said, sniffling out an embarrassed laugh as she tried to make light of her tears. She failed miserably. “I guess Robert finally won. He was patient, and he won.”
“I wish there was something I could do,” Cisco said, and she could tell he felt helpless, so she forced herself to blow her nose and pour some steel into her spine.
“There’s nothing anyone can do. Mackenzie and I got outmaneuvered, that’s all.” She tossed her tissues away, washed her hands and face at the sink. “The whole town knows by now. The baby monitor was on, and before Betty could turn it off, of course Daisy and her gang had heard.” The whole town where you’d grown up knowing you’d lost your house wasn’t the world’s most comforting thought—but it probably didn’t matter, anyway. They would have found out soon enough.
“Did they all just leave?”
“They evaporated pretty quickly on hearing the news. But Daisy hung around.” She looked out at the gently falling snow, arriving just as forecast. “Our first snow of the season,” she said softly, somehow cheered in spite of herself.
“What did she have to say?”
“That she’d talk to her father.” Suz shrugged. “But I’m not sure even Daisy can change Robert’s mind. He’s wanted this place for so long. It’s the crown jewel of his desires.”
“I’d like to kick his greedy tail, but I don’t think it would solve anything. It’d feel great, though.”
Suz went back to her stool. “Well, we don’t have to vacate for a month. That means we’ll have one Christmas here with the babies.” She smiled at Cisco. “That’s something, isn’t it?”
He pulled her into his arms, and then edged her up into his lap, holding her as if he were afraid she, too, might disappear, just like their dreams, and the house, if he let her go. Suz rested there against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling safe in spite of not knowing what the future held.
Maybe she should have let Cisco help them out. That would have solved everything, she supposed.
But she didn’t regret that decision—not even now, knowing that they’d lost their parents’ beloved ranch and business. She hadn’t known he was some kind of charmed prince when she’d married him, and she probably wouldn’t have married him, anyway, if she’d known she’d bring a bankruptcy and foreclosure to the marriage.
Mackenzie had agreed with her when she’d told her of Cisco’s generous offer.
In her heart, she knew she’d been a little selfish not to take help, but what had been the other option? In forty years, maybe the Haunted H might have made enough money to cover a four hundred thousand dollar payback to her husband. But she would have always felt somehow daunted, held back, by the size of that loan. She would have always felt like he’d saved her.
What she wanted was an equal partnership with a husband, not a rescuing prince on a white steed riding in to save the day. Save her.
Stubborn she would have to remain.
It’s gotten me this far, she thought. Stubborn Suz will just have to figure this out the same way she always has.
Stubbornly.
* * *
CISCO WAS THUNDERSTRUCK enough by the alarming turn of events of the evening to sneak off after he’d put Suz to bed. He made sure the babies were tucked cozily in with their mother, which was the way she preferred to sleep at night while she was still nursing. On occasion, he slept in the bed so he could help Suz with the nursing and diapering—but he never really slept. He was pretty certain he wouldn’t roll over and squish a baby, but for the better sake of valor, he’d had a cot moved in. Therefore, he slept right beside Suz, and the babies slept beside her, completely surrounded by king-size pillows to block them from rolling out. He’d sleep on the cot a while longer, until his wife told him it was safe to come back to their bed.
Suz was tired after nursing, and he’d been glad to see her relaxing. He’d murmured that he was going out for a while, and she’d answered with a sleepy, “’K,” so he’d felt fine about heading off.
He needed to chew the fat the way he’d never needed to before. And the only man who could chew the fat for hours and still be stocked full of gab, was Handsome Sam.
Finding his buddy wasn’t going to be an easy feat. No doubt he’d have moved camp by now, because once a SEAL, always a SEAL. Besides, so many people knew where Sam was that his campsite had become a regular draw for the sheriff, Daisy’s gang, even Phillipe, who had left his beads and yoga for a bit to visit with Sam. People liked Sam because he was a glib charmer—on the surface. Only his SEAL brothers knew that Sam was anything but the quixotic hero he presented to the world. He and Squint were a lot alike in that regard: kind, easygoing—dangerous.
He slipped through some bushes and overgrowth, and as he’d suspected, Sam had departed. “Sam!” he yelled, not caring to be silent.
“Right behind you.”
Cisco rolled his eyes. “I heard you. You’re not as sneaky as you used to be.”
Sam laughed. “Says you. Come visit my humble abode.”
“Why’d you move?” he asked, following his buddy.
“You know exactly why. This is Bridesmaids Creek. A man can’t get any peace around here. Everyone’s so darn friendly.”
“Yeah. I’ve gotten used to it, though.”
They slunk deeper into the forest until Sam stopped in front of a large oak tree that looked ghostly and somber in the moonlight. “Are you living in it, or under it?” Cisco admired the huge live oak that seemed to stretch its canopy for a mile in all directions.
“The ground’s fine for me. Stretch out and I’ll share the fish I grilled.”
“You go ahead. I’m stuffed full of Christmas cookies and cocoa. I brought you some, by the way.”
“I know. I can smell them. Hand them over.” Sam appreciatively grabbed the bag. “And the thermos of cocoa, please.”
Cisco laughed. “Betty’s homemade.”
“I’m not sharing, so I hope you brought yourself a water bottle.”
“Not very companionable of you.” Cisco leaned against the tree trunk, surveying Sam’s new domain. “You staking a claim out here to keep Robert Donovan from bringing in ditch witches and other earth-moving equipment may not be such a wild-eyed idea.”
“Oh?” Sam barely looked up from his inspection of the pretty cookies he was examining by the light of his headlamp.
“He’s managed to buy the Hanging H and, by default of course, the Haunted H.”
Sam’s head jerked up. “When did that happen?”
“Mackenzie and Suz got the papers tonight. It wasn’t the most fun moment. Be glad you missed out on it.”
“There’s nothing that can be done?”
“Nope. It’s over. Airtight. Foreclosed on and sold outright.”
“Thought those things should take a few months to get through the banks.”
“Not when you own the banks.” Cisco put his wrists on his knees, pondered the nearly empty sky. Only a full moon bloomed in an otherwise starless night. Snow filtered down in small, insubstantial flurries, not doing more than dusting the ground. Below the huge canopy, they were co
mpletely dry. “Anyway, I guess the earth moves for a rich man.”
“You’re a rich man,” Sam said quietly.
“My wife didn’t want my help.” It still stung his pride a bit, but he’d understood Suz’s feelings. He wouldn’t want to take help from anyone, either.
He’d desperately wanted to help his wife, though. Felt like that was what a caring, strong husband did: helped his wife when she needed him. “I wish she had let me help, but, Sam, you and I have our share of stubborn, too.”
“So there’s nothing to be done.”
Cisco shook his head. “Not unless you have an idea.”
“Is that why you’re here? Not just to bring me cookies and cocoa?” Sam laughed. “What makes you think I have any ideas?”
“Because your mind works differently than the average human’s.”
Sam laughed again. “You butter me up with Betty’s cocoa and Hanging H cookies, and then hint that I’m subhuman. Trust me, I know your brand of flattery.”
Cisco moved his hat back, buttoned his sheepskin jacket against the cold. “More like superhuman when it comes to brain juice.”
“Thanks.”
He hadn’t stated anything everyone in the Navy hadn’t known. Cisco might have been the swimmer, but Sam had brains to spare and then some.
“Well, if it was me, I’d say you better marry Squint off to Daisy.”
Cisco frowned. “That won’t be happening. Squint’s long gone—”
“Big baby,” Sam said. “Hiding out at the first sign of trouble.”
“And he’s with Branch. Who really appears to have worked a number on Daisy, by the way.” He looked thoughtful. “There’s no telling what frame of mind Squint may return in.” If he ever returned.
“We can always count on Branch to reroute someone’s head. Look at what happened to you.”
Cisco straightened. “What do you mean?”
“You went off all Mr. Independent. You came home ready to settle down.”
He could see Sam grinning at him like a jack-o’-lantern in the firelight. “I made no secret of my feelings for Suz from the start.”
“Yeah, but you weren’t eager for the altar. Took you getting squished flat by bulls and peacing out at Branch’s to make you realize you were chasing the wrong thing.”
“Yeah, well. What’s your excuse?”
“I’m never settling down. This has been abundantly clear to everyone from the time I was a kid.” Sam sighed with happiness as he sipped on the cocoa. “But watching you fall in love and get married was one of the highlights of my life, I’ll admit that. A great success, I don’t mind saying.”
“Like you had anything to do with it.” Cisco grunted.
“The artist never reveals the secrets of his chosen medium,” Sam said, and Cisco grunted again.
“And yet, lately, I’ve been wondering if maybe circumventing the BC charms was the beginning of the end,” Cisco said.
“I’ve wondered when you’d see that.”
Cisco raised a brow. “You don’t mean you believe in the Bridesmaids Creek claptrap?”
“I’ve been sleeping here for days, haven’t I?”
Cisco stared at Sam. Sam’s face was devoid of a smile in the firelight. “You’re serious.”
“Sure I am.”
“And you think the chain of disasters that have occurred in Suz’s and my life is because I didn’t observe the proper customs?”
“It’s never wise to circumvent the history of a place. Its tribal traditions are important,” Sam said. “Where would we be without observing customs? Societies are built on it, and wisely so.”
“So what do I do?” Cisco asked.
“I told you. You have to get Daisy hooked up with Squint.”
“What was all that babble about observing customs? Tribal lore and ways?”
“Babble.” Sam grinned. “That’s what you came for, isn’t it?”
Chapter Sixteen
“Sam was no help.” Cisco walked into Cosette’s small, comfortable house, noticing at once the sweet floral scent of cut flowers. “Maybe no one can help.”
“And you hate the feeling that goes along with not being able to help your wife and family.” Cosette nodded, pointing him onto a screened porch with plants galore and a couple of lovebirds snugly content in a beautiful cage. “Sit down. We’ll think our way through this.”
“The thing is,” Cisco said, a little amazed when Cosette handed him, not cocoa or tea, which he thought were standards in Bridesmaids Creek, but a healthy tumbler of whiskey, “I love Suz. I’m crazy about her. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened in my life. But I’m afraid I may have jinxed us. There may be something to this crazy BC lore.” He looked at Cosette, comforted by the gentle understanding he saw in her eyes. Her pink-frosted hair shone softly in the light from the two lamps on the porch.
“Well, one can’t say for sure. You’re talking to a divorced woman.” She sat back on a patterned cushion and smiled. “I don’t think I’m a good testament to the powers of Bridesmaids Creek anymore.”
“But you wouldn’t be divorced if it wasn’t for Robert Donovan. You’d still have your business, and Phillipe wouldn’t be giving yoga lessons in a house with hanging hippie beads for decor.”
“If, and were, and wouldn’t.” Cosette shrugged. “Who knows for sure?”
“I know. Donovan is the closest thing we have here to a bogeyman.”
Cosette laughed. “Even bogeymen can be charmed.”
“Yeah, well.” He sipped at his whiskey, appreciating the warmth of it and the coziness of Cosette’s porch. “Not our bogeyman. His daughter has had some strange renaissance, but Donovan never would. You would have thought his coronary event would have softened him, or Jade threatening to keep him away from his granddaughters.” He shook his head. “We thought we had him pinned when he signed those papers after Jade held his feet to their fire.”
“And yet, held them not long enough, obviously.” Cosette sipped her tiny glass of whiskey, thinking. “I don’t blame Robert for the end of my marriage. Or losing my business. Not anymore.”
“You don’t? Because he sure as hell couldn’t have helped. Financial stress is hard on a marriage.”
“True. But if it’s Robert’s fault, then why are you still married? Your wife has lost her home and business, too.”
He sat straight up, horrified. “You’re right.”
“I know.” Cosette nodded. “Obstacles usually make us stronger. They can, if we let them.”
He wasn’t sure if he’d been a support or a hindrance to Suz when she was losing the home she dearly loved. “I want my marriage to be a strong one. I love Suz. I adore her. She’s given me so much more than I could ever give her.”
“Not necessarily. Heroic, but not necessarily true.” Cosette pondered that. “What would your family say?”
“About what?”
“About you being virtually homeless with two babies and a wife.”
“They’d say—” Cisco thought about that. “They’d say I needed to come home and help with the family business and pull my life back together.”
“And would they be right?”
“No. Not at all. I’m where I belong.”
She nodded. “I know that. And you know that. But does Suz?”
He swallowed hard. “I think so. I hope so.”
“It’s not fairy tales or magic that makes BC. We have magic here, but it’s not a step-by-step rubric or even a recipe one can follow. It’s just magic. And magic can’t be understood.”
“Sam says we need to get Daisy and Squint together. I suppose his plan is to either soften Robert’s heart up with grandchildren—”
“Which didn’t work before.”
Cisco
nodded. “Or get back the Hanging H that way. Through marriage.”
“Which means we’d have to trust Daisy.” Cosette looked at him curiously. “That would definitely be going out for the long ball.”
“Yeah. Anyway, Sam’s dumb.” He grunted. “Actually, he’s smart as hell. Mensa. But Squint’s gone to Montana. He may never come back.”
“You did.”
He shrugged. “Because I found out I was going to be a father.”
“How do you think that makes Suz feel?”
He hesitated. “What do you mean?”
“That you’re here because she had babies.”
“I married her because I’m in love with her. I want to be with her.”
“You even ignored the charms and legends here because you love her. Plotted against them, even. Some might even say you cheated Daisy to win Suz.”
“Some might say that, and they’d probably be right. But I didn’t mean any harm to Daisy.”
“You just didn’t believe in the legend.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“But now you want it to work for you.”
“It would be nice,” he admitted.
“Magic doesn’t work that way. You’re either willing or not. It doesn’t start and stop, or work one day when you want it, and not another day.”
He nodded. “I get that now.”
“She worked hard for you, Cisco. You know why the magic didn’t work for her, neither of the three times?”
“Because I didn’t love her. I loved Suz.”
“It didn’t work because she didn’t really want you.”
He sipped his whiskey. “That’s the only good news I’ve heard today.”
“So have some faith. The magic will work again.”
“Maybe, but not in time to get Suz’s ranch back.” He was mad enough at Robert to punch him in the nose, if he were here right now.
“Maybe it’s not your fight,” Cosette said softly. “Maybe it’s just like Suz told you. She doesn’t want your help.”
He hesitated. “I’m her husband. I’m supposed to help her.”
