“You don’t feel like a stranger to me,” I said.
“Maggie, you know a little bit about me. You’re so busy looking around for the speeding train to run you over that you’re missing what’s right in front of you,” he said in a low, even tone. His temple twitched like John’s. “Girl, there aren’t any speeding trains in Montana, just some cowboys trying to make sense of the day upon the backs of their horses. And that includes Chloe.”
The silence between us seemed infinite.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
I dug my fingers into the back of my neck. He waited for me to answer. I blinked, swallowed, and stared into his eyes.
“Good,” he said, “just wanted to see if you were present.”
Sweet Jesus, what had I gotten myself into? Winston meant business. His unwavering tone, even keel, not intimidating, just matter-of-fact. I bit my lower lip to keep it from quivering. Winston puffed on his cigarette in a cool manner. His eyes flickered when the breeze picked up. Wisps of wavy hair brushed against my cheeks like a mother’s touch. The willow rustled overhead and the nettle that brewed beneath my skin subsided. He was doing nothing more than protecting his own and that was something I understood.
Winston finished his cigarette then snubbed it out, got up, stepped closer to the stream, bent down and soaked the butt, and then put it back in his pocket.
“Did I do something to upset you?” I asked.
Winston shook his head at me as I stood up. Flecks of sunlight floated across his cowboy hat like confetti under a disco ball. Winston bent down, grabbed my hat, and held it out to me as I tucked my hair behind my ears.
“Quite the opposite, darlin’. Quite the opposite.” When the right side of his mouth curled up, an innocent dimple eased the intensity of our conversation.
The urge to bolt slithered through my veins.
“I’ve seen that look before,” Winston said. “Had a wild pony once, always ready to run, but over time she settled in once she realized she was home.” His horse neighed and shuffled her feet. “Meet that little horse. Not so little any more. Big heart, one of the best girl’s I ever had.”
“What’s her name?” I asked, stroking her hide.
“Sage.” Winston checked her girth. “You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”
Sage shifted her weight. Her knee cracked and her hooves clunked against the ground with restless intent.
She showed me her teeth and batted her long lashes. “I like her one white sock.”
“Me too. It’s a good reminder that not all things are black or white.”
I ran my fingers through Sage’s black mane and down her shoulder. Her muscle twitched as a dragonfly hovered above my hand.
Winston rested his hand on the saddle horn, looking as if he was going to mount her and ride away, but he didn’t. “Sage isn’t just a plant.”
I fingered her wavy mane.
“It means wise through experience and reflection.”
“I like that.”
Winston’s tanned skin seemed inviting, and something inside nudged me to reach out. He held my stare as I wrapped my fingers around his and held on just for a moment, hoping to feel my father’s presence, but I didn’t.
Winston squeezed my hand back. “You hang on to that ticket.”
I nodded as he let go of my hand. With one swift movement, he was up, over, and settled in the saddle.
“John’s a good man. And you’re a good woman,” he said. “You just keep thinking. Your mind will catch up to your heart, if you let it.”
Chapter 28
Thinking about tomorrow when Judy and I would pack up the Suburban and head back to Michigan, Chloe and I hunched over the bale of hay next to Cocoa’s kittens. Their fur was fluffier and they had grown since the last time I’d seen them.
“Where’s their momma?” I asked.
Chloe shrugged. “Not sure. Probably out hunting.” She stroked the gray fur of the kitten closest to her with her pointer finger. “Not sure what we’re going to do with all these cats. Maybe we should find them homes.”
Chloe’s eyes flashed in my direction. I leaned over on my knees, surprised I could still bend over and be crunched up like my eight-year-old friend after all that riding. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. My heart melted, and not from the button noses that sniffed around and mewed for their momma.
“Maybe Dad will let me keep one.” She held her breath and her eyes flickered with thought. “Or maybe two now that we live on a ranch. What ranch doesn’t need cats to keep the mice away?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Maybe he will. Who knows?” I took a deep breath, pondering which one I’d keep. “Which one would you keep?”
Chloe leaned closer to the brood of kittens. “I like this gray one. I like his white feet and pink nose. Wait is it a him or a her?”
“Not sure. I guess someone can check that out for you.” I was reluctant to touch the fuzzy gray kitten that was curled up next to its wiggly brothers and sisters. “It sure is quiet compared to the others.”
“Yeah, that’s part of the reason I like that one best. I like her, maybe his, manners.” Chloe grinned.
I speculated that John would have no problem letting Chloe keep a couple of kittens. It could run with the other barn cats and be right at home. “She, maybe he, seems awfully sweet. What would you name it?”
“Hmm.” Chloe tapped her fingers against her chin as she thought. “Misty Pearl. The fur looks like fog when it covers the ground in the morning and the white toes remind me of the pearls my mom wears.”
“What if it’s a boy?”
“Not sure.” Chloe tapped her fingers against her chin. “Maybe Peter, cause I like that Peter Pan guy, or maybe Crush cause I got a crush on him.” Chloe stroked the kitten’s head softly as she whispered, trying her best not to disturb him.
“I like Crush. That’s a good one.” I leaned back against the stall wall and tucked my knees to my chest. “You’re really good at naming these guys and you’re really good at helping with the horses. Not to mention our friend, Bones, back home.”
“I do love animals.” Chloe patted her chest.
“I know. I think it’s a gift,” I told her as she wrinkled her nose at me. “You know, a gift, something that God gave you that other people might not have. Not everyone is good with animals,” I explained.
“I’m glad I’m good at something, ’cause some days I think I can’t do anything right.”
“I know the feeling. I think we all feel that way sometimes.”
Chloe sat back against the stall wall and rested her knees to her chest like me. She stared into my eyes as she wiggled into place beside me. “I like it when you braid my hair.” She brushed her cheek with the tassel of hair at the end of her braid.
“Me, too.”
“It feels good when we get to talk when no one else is around.” Her chest puffed out and she let out a rush of air through pursed lips.
My smile grew and my heart ballooned.
“I don’t know anyone like you,” she said, touching my hand. “I think you’re a gift.”
I let out a giggle. “You’re funny,” I said, noticing that the corners of her smile began to droop.
“Do you like me, Maggie?”
“That’s a silly question. Of course I like you.” I love you.
Chloe’s gaze searched my face.
“I more than like you,” I continued, caressing the side of her face.
Chloe’s smile warmed my heart, and I imagined it was melting like chocolate on a hot day.
“Thanks for coming to Montana this summer,” she whispered under her breath.
“You’re welcome. Thanks for inviting me. This has been the best trip ever,” I answered, picking at the hole in the knee of my Levis.
A shadow passed over Chloe’s expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Well, you know when we talked about what Harry said about you and my dad liki
ng each other?” she said, pushing out the extra air at the end of her sentence. “Well, I think he’s right. I think you two do like each other more than you think.”
I sat quietly, not willing to validate her inquiry because I wanted this to be between John and me and no one else. We had to figure this out on our own.
“It’s okay that you like him.”
I stayed silent, not quite knowing what to say.
“Aren’t you gonna say anything. Get mad or—” She rolled her hands in front of her like an Italian grandmother as she spoke. “Nothing?”
I smiled.
Chloe smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I wish I knew what was going on.” She drew out every word.
“Me, too.”
“Grown-ups are weird.”
“Yeah, we are, and you know something?”
“What?” Chloe said.
“So are kids sometimes. We all have our moments.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “I really was hoping to get something out of you. Geez.”
Laughing, I patted her shoulder. “Sorry.” But I wasn’t. I really didn’t know what was going to happen and I wasn’t about to hold my breath, but I was willing to try something new, something I hadn’t done in a very long time, and it scared the hell out of me. I sat up and hung my legs over the edge of the bale of hay.
Chloe scooted to the edge and I rested my hands on her shoulders. “What do you say we see what the others are doing?”
“Sure.”
Chloe held my hand and we strolled out of the barn together like two lazy cowboys at the end of a long day. She shaded her eyes and inspected the sky overhead as a loud caw echoed through the air. A black shadow hovered overhead. I studied the flapping wings as it dove closer to the ground.
“It’s Frankie,” Chloe said with a squeal.
The blackbird swooped across the field and flew over the pasture. “I bet it is.”
“I’m glad he can fly now. I’d be sad if he couldn’t?”
“Yeah, really sad. He’d probably end up as someone’s dinner.”
“Without you, he might not have survived.”
“’Cause I got a gift.” She beamed with pride. Chloe touched the Tiffany heart necklace hanging around her neck. “Mom’s gift is being pretty. Dad can do just about anything. He has lots of gifts except cooking. I’m good with animals and you—” She looked into my eyes and scratched her chin like she did when she was naming the gray kitten. “You, you’re good at making other people feel better.”
I squeezed her hand. “Thanks.” I didn’t always feel that way, and Chloe had no idea the sacrifices. I was pretty sure I didn’t make Daniel McNabb feel better when I sent him to the principal’s office after throwing a book at my head because I wouldn’t let him skip the math assignment.
“Maggie, are you really going to keep your promise about keeping in touch with me?”
“Of course.” How would John and I ever break it to her that we were going to try and be a couple? Would she turn into one of those children who resented me, or would we keep on doing what we were doing? Beginnings were exciting, and in this case a bit nerve-wracking. I’d never want to come between her and John. I’d never want to make waves between her and Brook either. Lord knew Brook was capable of making enough waves on her own. I swallowed away worry at the back of my throat and smiled at Chloe as she rambled on about how Harry’s gift was being smart in school, Walter’s gift was burping the alphabet, Judy’s gift was being patient with the boys, and Winston’s gift was his way with the cattle.
“And Ashley is good to kids, and Justin is strong and can fix anything, and Trout, well Trout is good at everything, too, now that I think about it. Maybe that’s why Grandpa likes him so much, and he’s nice, like you Maggie, he’s just nice.” Chloe stopped rambling and studied my face. “Maybe that’s why Dad likes you so much, ’cause you’re nice. You have a good heart.”
I hadn’t always considered myself as “nice.” What did that mean anyway? Did it mean that I was complacent, cheerfully stepped on as my high school English teacher would say to us girls in the front row as she sipped her coffee from a Styrofoam cup, her nails stained with nicotine, and her voice rough with cynicism that made me slump in my seat as she told the class that she would bring us out of our shyness? Chloe’s voice faded with the daydream.
“Why do you look like that, Maggie?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking about when I was in school.”
“Harry says that sometimes people were meant for each other, like his mom and his dad.”
Her eyes flickered as she held my attention. A thread of suspicion snagged my conscience like nails on a chalkboard as Chloe spoke of Harry. It seemed like Harry was doing a lot of talking. Sunnyside Up galloped over to the fence and I was glad for the interruption. I leaned against the railing as Chloe wiggled her way through the cracks to greet her friend. She took a couple of sugar cubes from her pocket, and then let Sunnyside Up nibble from her open palm as she petted the crown of her head.
“Really, Maggie, would it be so bad if you and my dad decided to get together?”
I choked on the moment. Yeah, thanks Harry. I’d avoided this conversation before with her, but damn she was savvier than ever, not to mention persistent. Chalk that up for the “gift” column. Beads of sweat ran down my back and the hot flash smoldering in my torso burst into flames. Chloe went back to coddling the horse as I floundered for a comeback.
Chapter 29
Winston strummed his guitar as we huddled around the fire for the last time. The sun rode low on the horizon behind the mountains. I scanned the faces as Harry and Chloe discussed going back school in the fall. John had driven Chloe by her new school down the road, but hadn’t visited yet. Walter picked pebbles from the dirt and stacked them neatly in a pile near Judy’s chair. Justin and John discussed ditches and the cattle. I crossed my arms in front of me, leaned back in my sturdy Adirondack chair, and listened to the conversations until Winston’s stare caught my attention. He gave a discrete nod as if he were telling me not to let go. Raising the camera to my eye, I snapped some pictures, knowing I didn’t need a photo to remember this place or these people.
“Dad, can you take a picture of me and Maggie?” Chloe asked.
I handed her the camera and she passed it to John.
“Your hair is getting lighter with all this sunshine.” I fingered her messy braid.
She crawled into my lap like Bradley used to do when he was her age, and I wrapped my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder. John clicked away as she snuggled into place.
“Cheese,” he said.
We smiled at each other then turned toward the camera.
“Good one,” John said, snapping a few more frames. “Modern technology is the best. Remember when your parents wouldn’t let you near the camera because it was expensive to develop the film. Now you can take as many as you want.”
The intensity in John’s emerald eyes matched the weight in my heart. I leaned back and took Chloe with me. She rested her cheek against mine. Winston’s glance was an I told you so. John focused the camera on us and snapped another photo. I peered into the fire, pretending not to see Judy’s stare as she bent over in her chair to play with Walter.
“I can feel your heart beating,” Chloe whispered.
Petrified to let her go, I nuzzled closer. She smelled of lavender and hay. My heart pounded.
“Your hair tickles,” Chloe said as she turned to look at me.
“I haven’t seen you this up close in a long time. You’ve gotten a lot of freckles this summer.” Her pink lips perfectly innocent.
“Mom doesn’t like freckles.”
“I do,” I whispered. “They look perfect on you.”
She touched my face with her pointer finger as if she were playing a delicate game of hopscotch. “You have a lot of freckles, too.”
“So does Glad,” I said. “I bet Bones is lonely without us.” I
missed him and Mom, too. I felt like a tug-o-war rope being yanked at opposite ends. I longed to stay with John and Chloe, but I longed to be home, too.
“Wonder if he’s wrecked her garden,” Chloe said.
I laughed. “Remember last summer when he bit into all my tomatoes?”
Chloe chuckled. “Boy, were you mad.”
“Yeah, I was, but not anymore.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to stay mad at that guy. I sure will miss him.”
“He’ll miss you, too,” I said as she snuggled back into my lap with her cheek against mine, two peas in a pod staring into the fire. John’s expression tugged at my heartstrings.
“Can we have s’mores tonight?” Walter asked.
“I’ve never eaten so many s’mores in my life,” Judy said, ruffling his hair.
“Please?” Chloe said with sad eyes.
“I guess so,” John said, “but when your friends head home tomorrow, we’re gonna lay off the s’mores for a bit.”
“Okay, Dad.” Chloe wiggled out of my lap. “Come on, Harry, let’s go get the stuff.”
Harry followed on her heels as she skipped toward the house and Walter scuffled behind them.
An idea popped into my head, and I tucked it away for safekeeping. I rested my feet on the log in front of me. The sun went down and Winston’s tune of mountain living burrowed into my subconscious.
Winston leaned his guitar against his chair and excused himself. “I’ll be back in a bit. Going inside to check something.”
Judy stood and stretched while I sat like a bump on a log with a list of questions in my head.
“You two all ready for your trip back home?” John asked.
“I think so,” Judy said. “We’re going to try and make it to the Badlands.”
“I’ll be back in Michigan next week to close on the house. I’m going to fly in. I’m meeting with the realtor and packing up a truckload.”
“Is Chloe coming with?” Judy asked.
“Yeah, she’ll be there with bells on. She’s anxious to see Glad and some of her friends.” John crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair.
Maggie's Montana (Montana Bound Book 3) Page 18
