Hometown Hearts

by Jillian Hart

  Chapter Eleven

  By the time Cheyenne had navigated through downtown Jackson, found parking and squeezed her truck into a spot at the curb, those soda pop bubbles in her stomach were still fizzing. They didn’t go away. Hurrying down the sidewalk didn’t do it. Forcing her mind from all thoughts of Adam didn’t do it. Walking into the jewelry store facing her father didn’t do it.

  Frustrated, she listened to the shop’s door whoosh shut behind her, felt the welcome rush of cool air wash over her and managed what she hoped was a smile for the little clan of Grangers staring at her, minus Addy.

  “Glad to see you made it, missy.” His wide shoulders looked taut enough to use as a crowbar. Poor Dad.

  “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.” She wished she could do something to ease his stress.

  “I was majorly psyched when the address you texted us was a jewelry store.” Autumn practically hopped in place. “I can only think of one reason why we would all be here.”

  “Me, too,” Sierra agreed.

  “Me, three,” Rori piped in.

  “Now, no speculating,” Dad commanded in his gentle, booming manner. “We’ll wait for Addy. And here she comes.”

  The littlest Granger girl waltzed into sight, strawberry-blond head bent over her phone screen. She glanced up at the address above the door and back down at her phone. Surprise crossed her face as she yanked open the door, spotted them and broke into an incredible smile.

  “Dad! This is a jewelry store. Jewelry.” She repeated as if it were the most wonderful word in the world. She launched into his arms. She hugged him tight before bopping away.

  “I can see you girls have already figured it out. I told Justin and Tucker this morning.” He appeared bashful, blushing a bit, but that only made him more dear, their beloved father. He towered above them as mighty as ever. “I’m gonna ask Cady to marry me and seeing as I’m not the best fish in the sea I want to get her a ring she can’t say no to.”

  “Dad.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes as her sister squealed. “I don’t think the ring will be the deciding factor.”

  “Then I’m in big trouble.” Dad’s dimples flashed. “Will you girls help me out?”

  More squeals rose in the air as the group of them gave Dad a hug and dragged him over to the display case where big diamonds winkled invitingly.

  “You can see my problem.” He shook his head at the dazzle. “Which one do I pick? They all look fine to me.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll help you.” Cheyenne wrapped her arm around his. “Can you see how happy we all are?”

  “I do. It means the world to me.” He blinked hard, uncharacteristically emotional.

  “Ooh, look at this one.” Addy tapped the glass above an oval gem as big as her thumbnail. “It’s very glittery.”

  “That’s really flashy. Maybe something unique like this pink diamond.” Rori leaned over the display.

  “This marquee cut is rimmed with sapphires.” Sierra sidled up close. “Stunning.”

  “I say an emerald to match her eyes,” Autumn advised as she moved down the display. “Don’t think I haven’t done a little reconnaissance just in case. Cady and I have been spending a lot of time together, since I’ve been giving the Stone girls riding lessons over at the inn.”

  “You questioned her about this?” Dad went pale.

  Poor Dad. It must be tough being so big and strong and yet as vulnerable as anyone.

  “I didn’t question her, no.” Autumn grinned mischievously. “We just had a general conversation about jewelry a while back. Her favorite stone is an emerald.”

  “Choose that,” Cheyenne advised her dad. “An emerald encircled by big beautiful diamonds. What do you all think?”

  “Perfect.” Rori and Sierra chorused.

  “Fab,” Addy agreed. They all clustered around the emerald display where beautiful rings winked at them, each one lovelier than the next.

  Cheyenne’s pocket chimed. She realized the fizzes hadn’t left and as she fished out her cell they increased. Why did she have the crazy hope it was Adam texting her?

  Cheyenne, guess what? Dad got me my own phone and it’s pink. Just like yours.

  She didn’t want to think about why she felt disappointed. As if he would text her. She’d never seen him send a message. Since hearing from Julianna put a smile on her face, she typed out an answer.

  Congrats! Glad your dad caved. Now we can text all the time.

  Her thumb hit the send button. She caught Dad watching her curiously. “It was Julianna.”

  His curiosity turned into a smile, no doubt speculation. Well, she was starting to wonder about her feelings for Adam, too. She’d never needed her denial skills this much before. The fizzy pops in her midsection remained, evidence that some things could not be denied away.

  “Dad, this is the one.” Autumn held up an emerald ring the store clerk had given her. The perfect gem sparkled in the light like a fairy-tale stone. “What do you think?”

  Cheyenne felt her father’s gaze linger on her for a moment. Their eyes met and she saw his understanding. It was hard to open one’s heart again, but he had done it. He had put the scars of his past behind him, gathered his courage and taken the risk. Look how it was turning out for him. Taking the risk had transformed his life, put a sparkle back in his lapis-blue eyes and given him a loving future. Because, really, how could Cady say no to Dad?

  You are just panicking, Cheyenne. The realization swept over her like a splash of cold water. All this marriage talk was getting to her. She wasn’t ready for serious and neither was Adam, and chances were astronomical that when he was ready, he wouldn’t be interested in her. She felt antsy because she was getting closer to a man, but the closeness was friendship only.

  She didn’t have a thing to worry about. Those soda pop fizzes? Forget about them.

  “That’s the one.” Dad chuckled, a mix of happiness and relief and anxiety. “Now comes the tough part. I have to pop the question.”

  “You will do just fine.” Cheyenne squeezed in to get a good look at the chosen ring her future stepmother would wear.

  Cheyenne, this. Cheyenne, that. It was all the girls had been able to say all afternoon. Adam shouldered through the screen door to the patio to find the backyard empty. Where had his daughters gone?

  “Jenny. Julianna?” He pitched his voice to carry on the persistent Wyoming breezes. Leaves answered with a musical rustle. Birds chirped with a carefree tune. The mother finch in the apple tree winged by, giving him what felt like a dark look as if she hadn’t forgotten how close he’d been to her nest with the ladder.

  “Jenny!” Worry cut through him. They were as safe as they could be in this town, but big-city anxieties died hard. He put down the book and the glass of tea he’d fetched on the umbrella-shaded table and marched into the yard.

  The fence’s gate swung open and closed with a lazy creak. At least there was a clue. He followed the trail around to the gravel driveway on the far side of his yard and spotted a familiar dark head and two pigtails hovering in the grass. Concern rushed out of him. “You girls know not to leave the yard.”

  “But we had to.” Julianna popped out of the irrigation ditch. Swamplike water stained her shirt and a wet little something clasped with both hands. Two tiny pointed ears poked up between her fingers and two green eyes blinked. “It’s a kitten. I heard her crying and look. She nearly drowned, Daddy.”

  “We pulled her out before she did. She fell down the bank and couldn’t get up on her own.” Jenny struggled up the steep incline to stand beside her sister. She checked over the creature with worry. “She could be hurt.”

  “She needs a doctor.” Julianna gently stroked the striped gray-and-white fur. Tucked in her hands, the helpless animal shivered. “She needs Cheyenne.”

  “I’ll call her.” Jenny pulled out her cell, punched a button and waited for the connection. The girls’ fears for the kitten were great enough to dim the sun and chase the warmth from the wi
nd.

  “Let me take a look.” Remembering the boy he’d once been, he knelt in the road. “I’m not an animal doctor, but I know a thing or two.”

  “She’s shaking hard.” A frown tugged down Julianna’s cupid’s mouth. “Maybe she’s hurt. Maybe she’s dying.”

  That single sob broke his heart as he squinted at the kitten. “She might just be cold. That irrigation ditch is deep and chilly. You hold her good for me, we don’t want her to get scared and run off.”

  “Cheyenne showed me how.” Julianna sniffled, her sympathy for the wee kitten one of the most beautiful things he’d seen in a while. Jenny rushed up, just as dear, just as concerned. “I got her. She’s on her way.”

  “Good.” The kitten’s pupils looked responsive and even. He stroked the kitten’s small nose for a moment before folding back the fragile bottom lip. Both color and capillary refill were good. “We need to dry the kitten off and warm it up. I think it should be okay.”

  “Thank you, Daddy.” Tears stood in Julianna’s eyes. “You are almost good enough to be a vet.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart.”

  “I’ll get a towel. I’ll hurry!” Jenny dashed off, dust rising like chalk beneath her sandals as she crossed the private drive and disappeared behind the gate.

  “C’mon, let’s get this kitten to the house.” He rose, glanced down the empty lane and laid a gentle hand on Julianna’s back. “You aren’t thinking of keeping the cat, are you?”

  “Daddy, she might belong to someone. That’s the way it was with Clementine the dog, and then Mittens the cat I found after we first moved in. I took them both to the clinic and Cheyenne knew them.”

  Cheyenne. He could feel the sweep of the wind brushing his soul. The music of birdsong brightened and he felt her approach before he saw her slide around the corner of the gate. His spirit stilled and his lost heart returned to him. Tenderness left him weak when her smile collided with his.

  Lord, please. He didn’t know where else to turn. I don’t want to feel this way.

  “I see you have a little emergency.” She sailed over, followed by Jenny packing a handful of brand-new towels.

  “That was quick.” The words stuck in his throat and sounded gruff.

  “I was almost to town when I got the call. Perfect timing. What do you have there, Julianna?”

  “It’s a kitten.” The girl held the baby with infinite care. “She was all alone in the ditch.”

  “So I see.” With a gentle movement, she wrapped the creature in a towel, cradling it competently. At the animal’s frightened mew, crumpled lines of sympathy crinkled around her tender blue eyes. “It’s all right, little one. You are as safe as can be. Just take it easy and relax, Wiggles.”

  The smart thing to do would be to take a step back. He wasn’t prepared for the affection rising up and drowning him. Swept away, he could only stumble after her as she tossed a reassuring grin to him and the girls with the defenseless kitten huddled in her healing hands.

  “Wiggles?” He caught up with her, unaware of moving forward or of his feet hitting the soft grass of the backyard. Everything felt surreal and as if he were floating on a wave he could not control.

  Vaguely, he realized Julianna clutched his hand. The girl’s lyrical voice came from a great distance. “I knew it! You do know her.”

  “Sure I do. I gave Wiggles an exam just last week.” She crossed the patio and he rushed ahead to open the door for her. “Jenny, could you look in the phone book for the Benton family? Call them for me and let them know we have Cammie’s new kitty.”

  “Okay.” The dash of Jenny’s footfalls came from far away, too. There was just Cheyenne dominating his senses, her beauty, her kindness, her heart.

  Was there no way to stop the emotions pulling him under like a riptide?

  “I need an assistant.” Cheyenne headed straight to the kitchen table, her focus on his youngest girl, who eagerly leaped forward at the opportunity.

  Resist the pull, he thought. Turmoil rolled through him and sweat broke out on the back of his neck from the effort.

  “Take a towel and pop it in the microwave for thirty seconds. See if it’s warm.” Cheyenne’s instructions came as sweetly as a mountain brook. Julianna responded, leaping to help.

  The emotion became a physical pain twisting like a rupture behind his sternum. He leaned against the wall, wanting to do something to help with the kitten but he didn’t trust his legs. How could he stand firm when his knees were knocking?

  “I’m not feeling anything to be worried about.” Cheyenne’s nimble fingers gently examined the kitten’s abdomen. The creature mewed again, shivering hard, wet and bedraggled but no longer frightened.

  It was the woman’s kindness he liked the best. The kindness she’d shown to his daughters, to him and to all living creatures touched him deep.

  Helpless, he was caught in the current. His resistance was futile.

  “It doesn’t seem like anything’s wrong.” Cheyenne ran her sensitive fingers down each kitten leg. She slid her sunglasses off, perhaps finally realizing she didn’t need them indoors. He liked how focused she’d been on her little patient. Her gaze arrowed to his. Did she have any idea how lost he was to her?

  “Cheyenne! Here’s the towel.” Julianna approached the table quietly, her big brown eyes focused on the tiny kitten. Hard not to miss both her caring and her wish.

  “You are a great assistant,” Cheyenne praised, fingering the towel as if to check the temperature. “I think her biggest problem is being cold. Do you want to wrap that around her?”

  “Yes, I’ll be very careful. She’s tiny.” Julianna’s pigtails bobbed forward as she cuddled the kitten into the warm and soft towel, safe once again.

  A glimpse of the future caught him like a vortex, spinning him forcefully beneath the surface. As if he were drowning, he could not draw in air. The force trapped him in its grasp as images flooded his mind of Cheyenne in this kitchen, her resonate alto warm with love as the girls hurried to set the table, of Cheyenne gazing up at him with true affection poignant on her beautiful face, of happiness filling his soul as his wedding ring sparkled on her finger.

  An emotional blow hit him hard and he gasped, as if punched in the solar plexus. He didn’t want a future with any woman. He wasn’t prepared to jump into a relationship and trust like that again.

  “Cheyenne, it’s Mrs. Benton. She wants to talk to you.” Jenny rushed over with the cordless receiver, so grown-up. He wasn’t sure when that had happened, but she was poised as she handed over the phone and gazed up at Cheyenne with obvious regard.

  “Great, thanks Jenny. You girls hold Wiggles and keep her comforted.” First she helped Julianna settle the precious bundle against her chest before she took the phone. Every little movement she made fascinated him, he couldn’t look away as she tucked the receiver against her ear. “Hi, Connie. Yes, I just finished checking her over. Yes, I know how fast they can move, especially this little one.”

  “Dad.” Jenny sidled up next to him. “She’s great, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, she is.” The word tore through him, the admission painful enough to make him wince. His throat tightened, affected by the friendly warmth in Cheyenne’s tone as she chatted with someone she’d known her entire life.

  “That’s a good idea, Connie. Wiggles is not too young for a collar and tag.” Unaware of her audience, Cheyenne leaned against the counter and he couldn’t look away. “Is that so? I wondered when the diner was locked up last week. Eloise and I dropped by for supper and had to go to the drive-in instead. I’m sorry about your job there. Yes, the economy is tough these days.”

  Jenny’s fingers crept into his and held on tight. “Do you know what?”

  “What?” he whispered back.

  “Cheyenne would make a good mom.”

  No doubt about that.

  “Julianna thinks so, too.” Jenny tried to sound casual, as if her heart wasn’t already lost.

  He understood completely
.

  “I just wanted you to know in case you like her or something.”

  “Good to know.” He ruffled her hair, the way he used to do when she was just a little one toddling around. He hadn’t kept his feelings entirely secret. He’d been more transparent than he’d meant to be.

  Jenny launched away from him, leaving him alone at the periphery of the activity. Cheyenne hung up the phone, Jenny joined Julianna at the table to fuss over Wiggles and the kitten closed her eyes, content, purring rustily. The shivering had stopped.

  “Connie and her daughter will be right over.” Cheyenne sidled up to him, draining the light from the room, dominating his senses, his anchor at sea. She leaned casually against the wall, unaware of his torment over her.

  The good news was that at least she hadn’t guessed.

  “The Bentons don’t live very far away.” She continued, casual and friendly.

  Friendly. That was a clear sign saying, Go back. Danger ahead. Why couldn’t his heart listen?

  “I know Connie from the diner.” His voice sounded tinny and distant, not at all like his own.

  “Connie’s daughter, Cammie, is about Jenny’s age,” Cheyenne went on breezily, a woman who plainly was not caught in the grip of the same anguish he was suffering. She watched the girls and the kitten with a serene smile. “Have they met?”

  The power of speech abandoned him and he shook his head.

  “Then this is the perfect opportunity.” She blew out a breath of air, sending a shock of red-brown hair wafting out of her eyes. “It’s been a long day, and it’s not over yet.”

  “If you are just getting back from Jackson, then you must have had a lot of errands to run in the city.” His tongue stumbled but he managed to get the words out.

  “Some very important ones for my family. The final dress fitting before wedding, things like that.” She kept her gaze on the girls, who did their best to keep the kitten petted and purring. “So much is going on in my family, it’s a whirlwind. Justin and Rori are expecting, so that’s pretty exciting. Not one of us actually thought anyone would want to marry Justin.”