Where the Heart Leads

by Jillian Hart

  The old cabin was abandoned this time of year, but not for long. Soon as calving season was done and the calves old enough, the Rocking M’s cowboys would be driving the herd to the summer pastures. But it would do for now.

  Junior scowled. “After what you did to the sheriff, the law’s gonna be all het up. They’re gonna wanna catch who did it. You don’t wanna let them know we’re close.”

  “Then we steal from the other side of the valley, idiot.” Giddy lifted his lip, sneering. “Oh, wait. We can’t do that. Cuz those rotten deputies got our horse. How are we gonna make the McPhees pay if we don’t got a horse?”

  “I told you, it’s the old lady we got to worry about. She’s the one that owns the ranch now. The one Pa was promised part of.” Junior heard his voice go high. Emotional.

  He winced. Had Giddy noticed?

  Giddy shoved off his gunnysacks and lunged off the bottom bunk. “What’s it to you? You got a soft spot for them all of a sudden?”

  “No!” He grimaced, mad at himself. He’d said that too fast and too high.

  He’d tipped his hand for sure.

  “I thought so.” Giddy grabbed the edge of the top bunk and glared up at him. The single lantern burning in the corner cast an orange glow on him, making him look like a monster. “You got sweet on that old sister, didn’t you? That quiet little Iris. I never should have tole you to try and beau her.”

  “That’s not true!” Junior denied that too hard, too. He couldn’t wish away the soft spot in his heart. “She was kind to me, Giddy. You weren’t there. She wasn’t like the rest of those rich people, lording it over the rest of us like they’re so much better. She’s different from ‘em.”

  “Ooh hoo! Sounds like you’re in love with Miss Iris.” Giddy’s laugh was cruel. “Now that the sheriff’s probably dead, you’ll have a shot at her again.”

  Junior’s stomach twisted up again. It felt squishy and bad. Sick in a worried way. “I’m not in love with her.”

  “You’re a disgrace, that’s what you are. A disgrace to our Pa.” Giddy stomped away, making the wick jump in the lantern so that it flickered eerily around the room. “What would he think if he was here right now? He’d be as disgusted as I am. Next thing you’ll want to leave that old lady be. Let her keep makin’ all that money off the ranch that by rights should be ours.”

  “Partly Pa’s,” Giddy corrected softly, knowing he’d gone too far, knowing he should have just stayed silent. But no, he’d gone and spoken his mind and now Giddy reared up like an agitated bear.

  “What’s Pa’s is mine—I mean, ours.” Giddy’s fists clenched. His face turned ruddy. “Do you know what I found out? Do you know how much that ranch is worth? And here I am, living like this, like a rat in a hole, when that old witch has everything, and it don’t even belong to her. It just makes me so mad. I could just—just—”

  “Giddy, calm down.” Junior’s heart started to beat fast. “You know I didn’t mean it. Don’t get like that. Please.”

  “I ain’t gonna calm down. I’m mad now.” Giddy kicked the wall so hard, the window rattled in its frame. “Nothing’s gonna stop me.”

  “Iris, sweetheart, you’re hovering.” Milo took a sip from the teacup she’d brought him.

  “I am not.” Her chin shot up in the air. She had to deny it. They weren’t married yet, so she technically wasn’t his wife, but if anyone thought she was going to leave and not take care of the man she loved, they had another thing coming. She grabbed a wool blanket by the quilt stand next to the door and made a beeline to his bed. “I’m exhibiting the exact right amount of not-quite-hovering behavior.”

  “Is there some kind of official measurement of that?” One side of his mouth quirked up in an attempt at humor.

  How the man could joke when he’d been shot through the side of his chest and was suffering from a mild skull fracture was beyond her. There was nothing funny about this. Not one thing.

  “I could have lost you today.” She unfolded the blanket. “If that bullet had been an inch higher, we would be planning your funeral.”

  “Iris.” The comfort in his voice, the love in it, was something that could never be measured.

  But she felt it with all the pieces of her heart. Tears flooded her eyes again, those pesky tears, and she blinked hard, fighting against them.

  There was a clink as he set down the teacup and his hand—large and warm, covered hers.

  “Fortunately, I don’t get shot at often, and I rarely get hit.” Steady that voice, dear those words. “When I hit the ground after I’d been shot, I couldn’t catch my breath for a minute. I was stunned. The gunman stood over me—”

  “You mean, George Klemp’s son.” Anger flashed in her eyes.

  Yeah, he knew how she felt. “The youngest son. Not Junior. It was Giddy who pinned my gun hand and pointed his weapon at me. He wanted me dead. I could see it in his eyes. And the only thing on my mind was you and the girls. All I could think about was wanting to live and be with you.”

  A sob caught in her throat. Hot tears scalded her eyes, and she had to blink harder.

  “After the Klemp brothers left and I came to, I just wanted to get to you. Iris, I’ve been waiting to live my life with you. I’ve been looking forward to all the things we are going to share together. Easy days and hard days, sunny days and stormy days, the good and the bad. I’ve thought of the babies we’re going to have and what it would be like if they were all girls, and what it would be like to love you through the years of my life.”

  Sweet, that’s what it would be. She knew that beyond all doubt. “You’re making my heart hurt. Those are the things I want so much.”

  “Me, too. All this wedding stuff is just fine with me, but when I was at the doc’s house and I heard your footsteps in the hall, I knew I couldn’t wait to marry you. Let’s move the date up. We’ll have your family and the girls and my mom. I know it’s not the wedding you were probably planning—”

  “No, it’s not.” She let the tears fall, unable to stop them. “It’s better. All I want is you, Milo.”

  “Now, pretty lady, that’s a good thing. Because all I want is you. That makes us a good pair.”

  “The best.” Her heart melted more when he brushed the tears from her cheeks. Happy tears now, tears that kept coming as she let him pull her nearer.

  He brushed her tears away with the pad of his thumb. His touch[Ma1] , his comfort, his caring hit her deep, just wrapped around her. Theirs was a forever, once-in-a-lifetime love. A dream come true.

  His kiss was magical, like stardust and moonlight and grace. For one sweet moment. And then pounding footsteps in the hallway disrupted them.

  “Sadie, give it! Pleeeeease!” Sally begged. “It’s my sword.”

  “You poked me with it. I’m telling Iris.”

  “It wasn’t me. It was Mitsy. She’s just a baby. She can’t help it if she pokes you with her horns.”

  “It was your sword. I saw you do it.”

  A dog’s happy bark echoed in the hallway. Fluffy had rushed up to join in the fun.

  Milo rolled his eyes. “I hope Mitsy isn’t coming to the wedding. Do you think we can institute a no-dragon rule for the ceremony?”

  “Sorry, I’m pro-dragon. Not only is Mitsy attending, but she’s standing up with us and the girls.” Iris laughed out loud. This is what she wanted, a good man who loved her and a house full of laughter.

  “Iris!” Sally dashed into the room, trailed by Mitsy. “Sadie took my sword. She took it. And now I can’t defend my realm from the evil dragon invaders. They’re gonna come and eat everybody.”

  “Oh, no! Not everybody.” Iris opened her arms and Sally ran into them. Such sweetness, and she hugged the girl tight. “Tell you what. It’s the evil dragon invaders bedtime.”

  “Noooo! I don’t wanna go to bed.” Sally snuggled against Iris. “Can we get a story instead? Here with Pa?”

  “Yeah, we wanna stay with Pa,” Sadie chimed in, rounding the doorframe (af
ter she’d set the stolen sword down with a thunk) and burst in with Fluffy panting at her ankles. “Pa can tell us a story about a terrible outlaw.”

  “No terrible outlaws tonight,” Iris decided, releasing Sally so the little girl could jump onto the bed beside her father. “There’s been enough shooting for one day.”

  “Then you tell us a story, Iris.” Sadie crawled onto the other side of Milo and snuggled in against him. “Do you know any stories?”

  “There’s one my ma always used to tell me and my sisters when I couldn’t sleep.” Iris turned down the wick on the bedside lamp so it was darker. A faint glow flicked on the wick, giving her just enough light to see her Milo, and her Sally and Sadie.

  Her family.

  “Tell us! Tell us!” The girls chanted.

  “And sit with me!” Sally scrunched closer to Milo to make room.

  “Okay, let me get settled in on this nice soft bed. Are you girls ready for a thrilling tale?”

  “Yes!”

  “A story with danger and excitement and true love ever after?”

  “Yes!”

  Iris smiled. Love from times past filled her right up, adding depth to the love she felt right now, for Milo and for their daughters. Love wasn’t a place in time, and memories weren’t anchored in the past. Love and time were fluid, borne on the wings of memory. For an instant, she remembered sitting in her mother’s bed, cozied up against her sisters, eagerly listening to the exciting tales her mother spun.

  She looked at the eager faces as Sadie wrapped an arm around Fluffy (who wanted a story too) and Sally who clasped her hands in anticipation. Her heart had never felt so full.

  The secret to life was easy. No matter the hardship, love could still happen. The best of dreams could come true, and the best of dreams weren’t about money, gold or fame. They were right here, in this room, the people she held in her heart.

  “It all started with five little princesses…” Iris began, reciting the same words to her daughters that her mother used to say to her.

  “Aumaleigh!” Fred came racing out of the post office. “How are you feeling?”

  Aumaleigh hid an inward grimace. And here she’d hoped to slip into the bakery without being noticed. “I’m fine, Fred. How are you?”

  “It’s a fine spring morning, and I feel chipper, thank you. But concerned about poor Milo. I hear he’ll be just fine, but when I heard it was George’s son that shot him, I was flummoxed. I didn’t even know that’s who those boys were. I always thought George was a bachelor when he moved here. Why would his boy shoot our sheriff?”

  “Maybe because he was the thief stealing things around here?” Aumaleigh bit her lip to keep from smiling. Fred did have a flair for the dramatic. “Have a good day, Fred, and tell your wife hi from me.”

  “Oh, I will. Good day to you, Aumaleigh!” With a grin, Fred ducked back into the empty post office and stood at the window, watching the street as if waiting for something exciting to happen.

  The upside was that now her and Gabriel were old news. Not that there was anything between her and Gabriel—

  “Aumaleigh!” Rhoda circled around the counter. “Come in. Is the day perfect enough for you? Look at the flowers blooming. Hear the birds singing. It’s the perfect day for a wedding.”

  “Yes, it is.” She’d gotten Iris’s note at the ranch early in the morning and had been in the best mood since. She felt like dancing—not that she was about to break out in a waltz in the middle of the bakery.

  “Magnolia is in the back dying of agony.” Rhoda winked as she brought out a bakery box, sealed and ready to go. “Which means the cake isn’t ready yet, but I put together some cookies for Sally and Sadie.”

  “That was thoughtful of you, Rhoda. With Iris gone, what are you going to do? Hire another baker?”

  “And a designer.” Rhoda set the box on one of the tables near the door. “We have to advertise over in Deer Springs, I think. It’s large enough to have the kind of skilled people we need. That’s where Dottie is right now. She went on the delivery route with Clint so she could stop by the newspaper.”

  “What about Dobson’s Bakery down the street? Won’t they be hiring too?”

  “Yes, but maybe they’ve already done so. They’re getting ready to open. I’m thinking tomorrow or the next day, by the look of things.” Rhoda glanced out the window. “I’ve been walking by and spying on them. It feels like they’re the enemy.”

  “They are the enemy.” The bell rung as the door opened and Dottie stormed in, a petite fury dressed in pale pink. She untied her sunbonnet. “Back when the girls were in Deer Springs to spy on Fanny Dobson, I told them all about her. How she moves in next to another bakery, undercuts their prices, steals their employees and puts them out of business. It’s terrible. They were family businesses, and those families lost everything.”

  “She sounds ruthless.” Aumaleigh wondered what was in store for the bakery. She didn’t like the notion of anyone trying to run her nieces out of business. “Hasn’t anyone stopped her?”

  “No.” Dottie shrugged. “I’m kind of scared of her.”

  “I have experience with ladies like that.” She thought of her mother. Maureen McPhee had grown ruthless over time, shedding the pieces of her heart and soul. “She sounds like the kind of lady who doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants. She doesn’t much seem to care about other people or their feelings.”

  “I don’t know how we’ll fight her, but we can’t let her win.” Dottie’s chin jutted. “I already love this place. I love working here.”

  “I do too,” Rhoda agreed.

  The swinging doors banged open to reveal Magnolia balancing a cake box in both hands. A streak of frosting marked her cheek and a smudge of it dotted her chin. She looked a little wild as she bounded into the front of the shop, and she was breathing a little hard.

  “I did it. I didn’t think I could squeeze in another cake, but I did.” Magnolia handed over the box. “Aumaleigh, make sure you let Iris know I suffered. Let her know she got this cake by the skin of her teeth, but I came through for her. I’m the best sister.”

  “Does that mean you get the biggest piece of cake?” Aumaleigh couldn’t resist nudging up the lid to peek inside. The two tiered cake was frosted in a soft spring green, adorned in numerous, colorful spring frosting flowers. A riot of color and joy. “This took effort.”

  “Just a little bit. I’ve made so many frosted flowers, I’ll be doing it in my sleep for weeks! But at least I’ve settled on a cake design for sure.”

  “You have been undecided,” Dottie chimed in encouragingly. “Are you going to get one like this?”

  “Yes! I love all the flowers. I suppose it will give Tyler’s parents another reason not to come.”

  “I don’t know, Nora looked rather pale when she walked by the other day,” Rhoda teased. “Maybe she knows about the flowers. What do you think, Missy?”

  Missy poked her head out of the kitchen (they’d stolen away her from Nora Montgomery’s kitchen where she used to work as a maid). “I think Magnolia should get back in here and help me with all the frosting. I can’t do it as well as Iris.”

  “Nobody can. Guess I’d better get back to work.” Magnolia flashed everyone a smile before rushing away. “So many cakes, so little time.”

  “And I’d better get this to Iris’s. There’s a lot to get done if she’s going to get married today.” Aumaleigh held the cake box carefully. “I can’t believe I am going to be a great-aunt again.”

  “It’s cute how the girls call you grandma.” Rhoda grabbed the cookie box. “I’ll walk you out to your buggy. It’s a lot to carry.”

  “Thanks, Rhoda.” Aumaleigh stepped aside as a familiar face appeared on the other side of the glass door. The bell overhead chimed. “Hi Gemma.”

  “Hi. That must be Iris’s cake. Oh, I can’t wait to see it later on.” Gemma held the door, waiting for Aumaleigh and Rhoda to pass through. “Is there anything I can do to help? I’d
love to lend a hand.”

  “You’re welcome to come an hour early,” Aumaleigh invited. “I’ll put you to work in the kitchen.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there.” Gemma slipped inside the bakery. There was something about her today. She didn’t look happy.

  Come to think of it, her eyes had been red-rimmed. As if she’d been crying.

  “It’s hard not to worry about Gemma,” Rhoda confided as they crossed the boardwalk. “Her parents work her so hard.”

  “They surely do.” Aumaleigh slipped the cake onto the floor of her buggy before hazarding a glance up at the bakery window. Gemma stood in silhouette, with a teacup in her hand and sadness shadowing her.

  Aumaleigh knew what it was like to grow up working for your family. How great the expectations were, and how enormous the pressure to continue to make a difference for them. “If Gemma could do anything, I wonder what she would choose?”

  “Besides slaving away in her father’s store? I’d like to see her do anything else.” Rhoda sounded thoughtful. “I’ve always wondered about you that way, Aumaleigh. You have spent how many years in your mother’s kitchen?”

  “I was fourteen, so that makes it over three decades.” Now that was a depressing thought. The sunshine stung her eyes as she took the cookie box from Rhoda and slid it across the front seat. “That’s a long time.”

  “And you took care of her for decades, complete care at the end.” Rhoda gave her blond locks a push, looking so golden and pretty in the warm spring morning. “I hope the rumors about you and that new man to town are true. You deserve some dreams of your own.”

  “I won’t argue there.” She climbed up and settled in beside the cookies. As she waved goodbye to Rhoda, a set of matched black horses several blocks away caught her eye. Gabriel stood next to them, talking with the lumberyard owner.

  Longing filled her, sweet, sweet longing. Yes, she thought to herself as Buttons turned down the side street, she had more dreams to dream.

  Chapter Fourteen