Maggie (Tales Behind the Veils)

by Violet Howe

  “She wants Jeffrey and Julie to come to her wedding.”

  He sighed and nodded. “I know, and I know that must bother you, but look. I wanted to hate them. I really did. But if you take a little time to get to know them, you can’t hate them. They’ve survived the same crazy as us. We gotta stick together. As hard as it may be, try not to look at them as Gerry’s kids. Try to just look at them as someone important to me and Galen.”

  I put my arms around his shoulders and kissed the cheek above his beard. “How’d you get to be so smart?”

  “My mom’s like this fifty-year-old sage, full of wisdom.”

  “Ha!” I playfully slapped his arm. “I’ll have you know I am forty-nine. I don’t turn fifty until Thursday.”

  “Whatever. Let’s go eat cheesecake and watch an old people movie so you know how you’re supposed to act.”

  47 NO ROOM SERVICE

  I didn’t have time on my actual birthday to be depressed about turning fifty. The day was a flurry of good wishes and celebrations from people in my office to calls from friends and enough floral deliveries to fill my world with color.

  Betty had the entire dancing class sing Happy Birthday to me, and she assured me that fifty was just a number. Having watched her spry moves for the weeks leading up to the big milestone, I was inclined to heed her advice.

  Dax took me out for an amazing dinner after class ended, and we’d settled on the patio sofa with my feet in his lap for a sensual foot rub when he brought up my present.

  “So, I have an idea of what I’d like to do for your birthday.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, cocking my head in confusion. “We celebrated Sunday with the kids, and we had dinner tonight.”

  “Well, yeah, but I wanted to do something special.”

  “You already have. You don’t have to do anything else,” I said.

  “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. I’d like to take you somewhere.”

  My back stiffened slightly at the idea of going away together. Despite our intimacy and our near daily conversations on the phone, I was still enjoying the fact that we hadn’t grown too serious for comfort. Our customary pace of seeing each other once or twice a week was enough to keep me wanting more, but not enough to make me feel pressured.

  “Have you ever been camping?” he asked, and I cracked up laughing, immediately relaxing because there was no threat this was actually going to happen.

  “Um, that would be a big no. Unless I get to count any hotel without room service as camping.”

  Dax smiled and continued to work his magic on the soles of my feet. “I want to show you my favorite place on the ranch, but it’s too far to be experienced in a day’s horseback ride.”

  He moved his hands along my ankles and then up to softly knead my calf muscles, sending a warm rush of blood farther up.

  The idea of being alone with Dax amid the beauty of the ranch was certainly enticing, but the idea of camping was not.

  “You mentioned that you have a helicopter. Can’t you fly us there?”

  He laughed and took one hand slowly above my knee. My pulse quickened in response.

  “No place to land. Besides, I want you to see how beautiful it is at night, and how peaceful it is at sunrise.”

  His hand was quite a few inches above my knee, and he had shifted his weight to move closer to me.

  I separated my legs slightly, allowing his hand to roam between my thighs, grabbing onto the sofa as the delightful ache inside me morphed into a burning need.

  “So whaddya say?” he whispered, his eyes intent upon mine as his fingers made me quiver. “Will you go camping with me this weekend?”

  I had no desire to go camping, but he was driving me wild with other desires, and I probably would have agreed to most anything to get him to take me to bed and finish what he’d started.

  Besides, I reasoned in my highly distracted mind, how bad could camping be in an air-conditioned camper with a full kitchen, bathroom, and king-size bed?

  It wasn’t until I saw the bed rolls on the back of the horses as I drove up to the barn Saturday morning that it registered that he’d mentioned a horseback ride. I still wasn’t too alarmed, because I assumed that the horses would somehow follow along behind us as we drove the truck and camper.

  “Why are there three horses?” I asked, wondering who was joining us and feeling a moment of disappointment that we wouldn’t be alone.

  “To carry supplies,” he answered.

  “Why can’t we just carry the supplies in the back of the truck?”

  He looked at me in confusion for a moment and then he grinned. “We’re not taking the truck. It’s a remote area. We have to get there on horseback.”

  My brain slowed as it tried to process what this meant.

  “But, how will we take the camper without the truck?”

  His grin turned to laughter, and he wrapped both arms around me. “Maggie Mae, we’re not taking the camper. We’re sleeping in a tent.”

  My mouth dropped open, and I leaned far back in his arms, pushing against his chest. “What? A tent? Oh, hell no.”

  I broke free of his grasp and stared at him in shock.

  His laughter grew louder and he reached for me again, but I took a step back.

  “I don’t do tents,” I stated without the slightest hint of a smile.

  “How do you know? Have you ever slept in a tent?”

  “No, but I’ve never slept in the middle of the road either, and I can safely say I don’t do that.”

  “I thought you enjoyed adventure.”

  “I do. Within reason. That’s not adventure. That’s barbaric.”

  “How will you ever know whether or not you like it if you’re not willing to try it?”

  His smile was beyond charming, and the hope in his eyes was hard to look away from.

  “Dax, I’m not earthy. Not at all. Have you seen anything in my life that gave you the impression that I was?”

  “No, I haven’t, and I must say, staying at your house has given me a new appreciation for higher thread counts and gourmet coffees. But there’s something about sleeping under the stars with a chorus of crickets in the background.”

  I looked at him with skepticism clearly etched across my face.

  The mere thought of sleeping out in the middle of nowhere with nothing between me and nature but a thin layer of nylon made my skin crawl.

  “I don’t know, Dax. I’m kind of partial to my bed. And showering. Indoor plumbing is high on my list of required amenities.”

  He cupped my face in his hands and smiled. “Sleeping outdoors is something everyone should do at least once. You’ll be able to mark it off your bucket list.”

  “I can assure you that sleeping in a tent is nowhere on my bucket list. Like, you can scroll all the way to the bottom, and it’s not there.”

  His lips touched mine and then he pulled back to look into my eyes. “Okay, so maybe sleeping in a tent with you is on my bucket list.”

  “Then why aren’t you planning this for your birthday?”

  His laughter rang out as he pulled me into a hug and squeezed me against him.

  “Point taken. If you really don’t want to go, we don’t have to. I think you would enjoy it, but it is your birthday, and we can find something else to get into this weekend.”

  Despite my initial reservations, a twinge of curiosity had taken root.

  I’d never been one to back away from a challenge, and though camping wasn’t something I’d actively choose to do, I liked the idea of having Dax all to myself for the weekend. What I’d seen of the ranch on horseback had been beautiful, and I knew the place he’d chosen would be no less spectacular.

  My mind waffled back and forth between wanting to know what he had planned and wanting to sleep in a comfy bed.

  Dax nodded toward the horses. “Say the word and I’ll unpack them. It’s up to you.”

  I happened to be on the ‘Go for it!’ side of indecision at that
moment, and I spoke quickly before I could change my mind again.

  “No. Let’s go. Let’s do it.”

  His face lit up with excitement. “Are you sure? We don’t have to.”

  “I may regret it later, but what the hell? Let’s go camping, cowboy.”

  His smile was huge as his lips covered mine, and by the time he released me, I was lightheaded and ready to sleep anywhere he wanted if it meant I could be in his arms.

  48 NATURAL BEAUTY

  We rode for several hours, stopping occasionally for Dax to show me something of interest and taking a longer break to eat the sandwiches he’d packed.

  I had been a bit nervous about riding Fallon again after our last painful parting, but Dax had borrowed Dixie from his mother for me.

  “She’s less skittish than Fallon,” Dax said. “But just in case, I took Cody over to the big barn and made sure he was safely contained.”

  “Are you sure about that? He is Houdini, you know.”

  Dax smiled. “True. I think we’re safe, though.”

  “Be sure and tell your mom thanks for letting me borrow her horse.”

  “She wasn’t going to be riding her. She has plenty of others if she wants to ride. She did make me promise to bring you to dinner in exchange for Dixie, though.”

  I looked away from him and chose not to respond, uncertain of how I felt about meeting the parents.

  It had taken me a while to be okay with the fact that Dax and I were in a relationship, and I didn’t want to rush into any new levels. We were in a good place, and though I’d introduced him to Cabe and Tyler, I still wasn’t ready to play the part of the girlfriend for a formal family introduction.

  We’d crossed over acre after acre of flat pasture land, and I was thankful for the shade of the forest when we finally reached the tree line.

  “Need some water?” Dax said, offering me a canteen when he saw the water bottle attached to my waistband was empty.

  I looked at the narrow mouth of the container, and peered into the darkness it held.

  “How do you make sure the inside of this gets clean?”

  Dax laughed. “I clean it? With soap and water?”

  The parched dryness of my mouth outweighed my germ aversion, and I shrugged and turned the canteen up to let the cool, refreshing liquid quench my thirst.

  “So, have you always enjoyed being outdoors?” I asked as I handed it back to him.

  “Yep. From the time I could walk. They had to put the locks higher on the doors to keep me in. Then when I got older, my brother and I would leave the house early in the morning on Saturdays and not come home until dinner. We’d explored nearly every acre of this property by the time we graduated from high school.”

  I scrunched my nose and swatted at a bug that was flying near my face.

  “Not me. I have always been an A/C baby. I appreciate nature. I enjoy it. Going for a hike, taking a walk, visiting the mountains or the beach. But I enjoy being inside more. Especially when it’s hot out. Give me a museum, a theater, or a show anytime.”

  “I’m the exact opposite. I can appreciate the museum, the theater, and maybe the show. But I’d rather be outdoors.”

  By the time we neared our destination, my hips and buttocks were aching, unaccustomed to the constant friction of the saddle from Dixie’s steady gait.

  I’d spent the first part of the ride holding tight to the reins, determined not to drop them like I had with Fallon, and my shoulders and neck were tense until I forced myself to loosen up.

  There had been an opening in the trees ahead of us for a while, and I gasped as we got close enough for me to see what was in the clearing. A crystal clear pool of water, a bit larger than a pond, sat inside a circle of trees. The depths of the water appeared almost turquoise blue, and it was so clear I could see the large rocks on the bottom as I squinted against the reflection of the sun on the water’s surface.

  “Oh! Beautiful. Gorgeous. Wish you were here!” I waved my arm at the splendor in front of us.

  “What?” Dax asked.

  “French Kiss. Meg Ryan. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it!”

  “I’ll add it to my list.”

  “This is breathtaking,” I said.

  Dax smiled and winked at me. “I told you.”

  “This is it? This is your favorite place?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. My brother and I found this spring years ago, and we used to come out here and camp all the time when we were younger. After…well, after my wife died, I spent a lot of time out here. It’s quiet. Peaceful. So far removed from the world that it’s easy to forget it exists.”

  We went around the right side of the pool, and he stopped near a flattened area with evidence of past campfires. Just past that were two posts in the ground with a cross-beam between them, and Dax led us there to tie up the horses as we dismounted.

  My butt and inner thighs protested with fire as I got off Dixie.

  “Holy cow, how do you ride a horse every day?” I asked, rubbing the inside of my thighs and stretching my legs to try and ease the cramping of my butt muscles.

  Dax’s grin held mischief. “I’ve built up callouses on my ass over the years.”

  “Not true,” I said, returning his mischievous grin with my own. “I’ve seen and touched that ass, and there’s not a callous to be found.”

  He laughed and took me in his arms, giving me a light kiss before releasing me with a smile.

  “I’m gonna set up camp and feed and water the horses. Take a look around, but be sure to watch for snakes if you go close to the water.”

  My eyes and mouth both popped open. “Snakes?”

  He laughed and took off his hat to scratch his head. “You’ve lived in Florida your whole life. Surely, you’re aware that any time you’re near water, there’s a good chance there might be snakes.”

  “Yeah, I’m aware of it, but it’s not ever been something that was a concern in regards to my sleeping arrangements. Can snakes get into tents?”

  “Well, yeah, they can, if you leave the tent open, which we won’t. Don’t worry your pretty red head. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

  “Famous last words of the hero just before the heroine hits a stroke of bad luck.”

  He proceeded with taking the supplies off the horses, glancing over his shoulder at me and shaking his head with his ever-present grin.

  “Are you sure I can’t do anything to help?” I asked.

  “No. It’s a pretty simple set-up, and I’ve got it down to a science.”

  I sat on a huge rock near the water’s edge, carefully inspecting the surrounding area for any sign of slithering creatures.

  Dax whistled a tune as he set up the tent and worked to organize the campsite. His T-shirt was a snug fit, and the contours of his back and shoulders were clearly visible beneath the thin cotton as he tugged and lifted. I watched him move and marveled at the immediate reaction of my body. Despite the throbbing burn from the horseback ride, a much more pleasant fire ignited between my legs and began to spread as I pictured the night ahead.

  Once he’d pitched the tent and gotten his supplies squared away, he turned and grinned at me, tossing his hat inside the doorway before zipping it shut. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head and then pulled off his boots.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as he started to unbuckle his jeans. I glanced at the woods in all directions, though I knew there was no one around for miles. When I turned back, he stood before me in all his naked glory, taking my breath away yet again.

  “C’mon, Maggie Mae. Let’s go swimming.”

  His words didn’t register as he walked toward me with my brain so distracted by his physique.

  But when he took my hand and pulled me from the rock to take my shirt over my head, my thoughts snapped back into focus, and I grabbed my shirt and yanked it back down.

  “Swimming? Are you nuts? You just told me there’s snakes.”

  He reached behind me to pull
my shirt up from the back. “I said there might be snakes. There might not be. If we splash and make lots of noise, they’ll stay away from us.”

  I pushed his hands away and peered at the water, straining to see any serpentine movement beneath the transparent surface.

  “How deep is it?” I asked, staring at the huge rocks on the bottom of the pool and noticing the dark shadows beneath them and openings into the earth that looked like portals to hell.

  “Several hundred feet in the center.”

  I swung my head back to look at him, surprised at his words. “Several hundred?”

  He nodded. “It’s a natural spring. I don’t know for sure how deep it is at its origin, but we’ve been diving down there for years and we’ve never found the bottom.”

  I looked back at the water, wary of what might be lurking in those dark depths.

  “Are you sure this is safe?” I asked. “We’re a long way from help, and I’m willing to bet the cell service out here is the pits.”

  Dax laughed. “It wouldn’t be much of an escape if we were still connected. Now, are you gonna leave me standing here with my privates getting tickled by the breeze, or are you gonna get undressed and join me for a swim?”

  “You go ahead,” I said, tucking my shirt back in. “I think I’ll just watch from this rock.”

  “Suit yourself, but you don’t know what you’re missing.”

  He stepped up onto the rock and dove into the water, his muscular frame cutting a vee through the water as he broke the surface and swam underneath before coming up for a breath.

  “Woo hoo!” he yelled, his voice amplified by the silence of our surroundings. “There’s nothing like spring water to wake you up and make you feel alive.”

  I envied his complete abandon as I watched him swim, the sun beating down on me as its heat also rose up from the surface of the rock beneath me.

  After a few minutes of Dax cavorting underwater and coming up grinning like he was at an amusement park, the sweat rolling down my back had become more unpleasant than the thought of what might be in the pool.

  I stood and pulled my shirt over my head, folding it carefully and laying it on the rock where I’d been sitting.