by Tina Leonard
Gage smiled, not offended in the least and clearly agreeing with his wife. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, bro.”
“Aunt Fiona says you probably want to get married at Rancho Diablo,” Cat said. “She says you probably would feel better having your vows said by someone other than an Elvis impersonator and his pink-haired wife. Not that it was bad, Uncle Shaman, but as weddings go, it probably wasn’t special.” She smiled at her uncle. “It was cool, but not fairy tale.”
“I don’t think Tempest would marry me again.”
“You don’t know unless you ask, do you?” Chelsea said.
He looked around the bungalow yet again, feeling out of place with the problem he found himself facing. “Our lives intersect. They don’t align or combine.”
“Yeah.” Gage nodded. “You probably want to fix that, bro.”
He wasn’t going to say he’d tried, because even he wasn’t certain he’d done anything but attempt to figure out how to survive Bobby and keep his family safe. “I guess I had my mind on other things.”
“Being a new dad is tough,” Gage commiserated. “I did it for a teen and now a baby. I can’t tell you which one was more challenging. But it’s all fun.” He pulled his daughter to him for a squeeze, which she returned joyfully.
“I don’t know,” Cat said. “Uncle Shaman, you should definitely ask Tempest to marry you again. That way, maybe she’d stay with you.”
He wanted that more than anything. But what if she wanted a career and bright lights and applause? He was just a cowboy, a working man. “I don’t know,” he said, glancing at the long wedding dress twinkling in its clear plastic bag. “She’s been through a lot of changes lately. I don’t know where I fit in anymore.”
“Well,” Cat said, “Dad always says no time like the present. Course, he’s usually talking about me doing my homework.” She smiled up at her father. “We have to go now, Uncle Shaman. Dad and Chelsea are going to let me check out some books from the library. There’s one there that’s a specially bound edition of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. I read it last summer, but want to read it again for my final school project. ‘What’s Past Is Present,’ is what I’m going to call it. Cool, huh?”
He smiled at his niece. “It is cool. Chelsea, I don’t think I need the dress. You can take it back to Rancho Diablo.” He kissed his sister-in-law. “Thanks for thinking of us, but I think our problems go way beyond what a dress can fix.”
“I wouldn’t diss the dress,” Gage said. “You’d be surprised how these ladies love to jump into that thing. It’s supposedly charmed. And as long as my girl sees me as her Prince Charming, I call that a beautiful gown.”
Shaman smiled. “Thanks for stopping by.”
“Are you going out to California?” Chelsea asked.
“Actually, no. I’m not.” Shaman glanced one last time at the dress, and then at the empty port-a-cribs. “I’m going to swing by a lawyer’s office and see about beginning divorce proceedings.”
* * *
WHAT HE’D FIGURED OUT—and maybe he was slow—was that if Cupertino wanted their marriage to work, she’d be with him. The boys were all they had that linked them.
It seemed it wasn’t going to be enough.
“She could have called here,” he told Kendall.
“We do have land lines and company phone lines,” his sister mused. “But I don’t know that she has those numbers.”
“Cupertino’s resourceful. She could have found me, let me know she was going. This is the thing about my wife—she doesn’t want to be married to me.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Kendall looked at him as they sat around Xav’s bed. “But you don’t want to have the family legal beagles start proceedings, Shaman. You don’t really want a divorce.”
“It’s true. But it’s time to move on.”
“I don’t like it,” Xav said. “I mean, it’s your life, but I don’t know that I took a lead pipe to the back of my head for the woman you love, just to turn her loose.”
His brother looked better, human again.
“What are you doing when you get clearance from the doctor to get out of that bed?” Shaman asked.
Xav smiled. “Well, we weren’t going to tell you today, but Kendall and I have some news for you.”
“Make it good news.”
Kendall couldn’t contain a face-splitting smile. “Xav’s decided to return to Dark Diablo.”
Shaman raised a brow. “Decided you like foreman work?”
Xav nodded. “I really do like doing things outside. It’s a huge change from The Family, Inc., and I need it.”
“And I’m joining him.” Kendall and her twin shared a conspiratorial grin. “Xav’s not the only one who gets to listen for spirit owls, though I still think that’s just guy talk for communing with nature without any responsibilities.” She looked pleased with her jab at her brothers. “Jonas has hired me to redecorate. I have an almost open budget, because he wants everything to be fabulous, and I do fabulous well,” she said gleefully. “And when he starts building his hospital, I can help him with that, too. It’s a dream come true.”
Shaman blinked. “What about The Family, Inc.? What about Millicent?”
“Millicent is fine. She and Fitzgerald want to travel. We’re going to base Gil Phillips, Inc., out of Dark Diablo until Jonas gets the new house built. We can work just about anywhere these days.”
“New house?”
Kendall smiled. “Jonas wants something pretty identical to Rancho Diablo. He’s wanted that for a long time. And I get the decorating and overseeing of that project, too.”
“You are going to be busy.” Which would suit his brother and sister just fine. Kendall was never happier than when she had about ninety projects going. “Am I the only Phillips Jonas didn’t offer a job to?”
Kendall shrugged. “He figured you’d head out to find your kids. And your wife.”
Shaman leaned back in the leather chair. What was keeping him from doing that very thing?
Fear of rejection.
“I don’t think I handle rejection well,” he said.
Xav shook his head. “You’re a decorated soldier. Pretty sure rejection is not the scariest thing you’ve ever faced.”
When you were madly in love with one of the world’s most beautiful women, it was probably worse than a year spent eating MREs. “She might not want me in California with her.”
“Sure she does,” Kendall said. “Someone’s got to watch the boys while she’s on set.”
Shaman looked at his sister. “I just want to point out that I don’t see you at Dark Diablo. I thought you hated everything about it.”
“It grew on me.” Kendall laughed at his raised brow. “I like the people, I like the town.”
His world was being turned inside out. “What about Bobby? I don’t think I like the idea of my baby sister being out there where he can take a whack at you.”
“Bought him off,” Kendall said. “He gets a monthly stipend from me, as long as he works or volunteers forty hours a week and checks in once a week with Sheriff Nance. It’s all in an airtight contract. And since he’s sleeping at the jail for now, there probably won’t be any problems.”
“You bought him off?” Shaman stared at her.
She shrugged, and Xav laughed. “All he wanted was money,” Kendall explained. “I know he’s a loser and a criminal, but he’s a busy loser criminal now. And I feel much safer about my nephews. It’s our wedding gift to you, since we never got you one. And we’ll be safer, too, because Bobby’s not about to mess up his gravy train. Sheriff Nance approved of the idea. Says it’s always better to rehabilitate than incarcerate when possible. So we’re giving this a shot. We think it’ll work.”
Shaman shook his head. “You bought off the man who tried to smash my head and Xav’s like coconuts. The tests came back conclusive for both our DNA on that lead pipe, you know.”
“I wasn’t going to let him get at mine,” she stated. “Frankly, I work
hard to be beautiful.”
He wondered if there was anything his sister didn’t think she could solve, then decided there wasn’t. “I’m game for anything that keeps Bobby away from my family.”
“You’re welcome,” Kendall said. “So back to the divorce proceeding idea... I’m going to vote no.”
“It’s not your marriage, Kendall. This is the one thing you can’t control.” Shaman wished Tempest loving him was as easy as letting his sister direct the action.
“Those papers Millicent had her sign were a prenup,” Xav interjected.
“I know that.” Shaman didn’t need to be reminded.
“I think that was part of the problem,” Kendall mused. “You should have told Mother no. You should have told her that being with Tempest was your top and only priority. Those papers put your marriage on a business footing from the start.”
“I’m going now,” Shaman said, annoyed that his siblings didn’t seem to remember that he’d done everything he could to woo his wife. He’d married her; he’d tried to protect her. And she kept leaving him.
“She’s afraid,” Kendall said. “She’s afraid of being that sad little girl who lived in that run-down house, with no friends and a dysfunctional family.”
Shaman let his sister’s words wash over him. “I don’t think my wife is afraid of anything. Congratulations on your new jobs.” He got up, kissed his sister on the forehead, gave Xav’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m heading out.”
“Where are you going now?”
He didn’t know. The farmhouse he’d called home for a year was no longer his. Tempest’s bungalow was not his home. And neither was Hell’s Colony, because he had never wanted it to be.
But Tempest had been happy here.
She’d left only because she wanted to be with him.
He’d forgotten how to be patient. He’d wanted all the answers right away, instead of knowing that the way to cure the past was with patience.
“I may stay here,” Shaman said, and Kendall and Xav stared at him.
“Mother would be thrilled,” Kendall declared. “She might faint dead away when you tell her, but she’d be delighted. There’s a thousand things we need help with. We could use a representative. Like what Xav used to do, until he decided he wanted to play cowboy. You’d be a great rep, especially if you cut that hair. You look like you’re about to ride away bareback on that bossy mustang you call Candy.”
He laughed. “Candy is not bossy. She’s a baby doll, and I learned a lot from her. She taught me patience, which I forgot. Now I’m going to get it back.”
He went out the door, whistling.
If the past was a prologue, as Cat said, then the future should be a helluva good book.
He just had to turn the page.
Chapter Seventeen
Shaman liked California, but he wasn’t certain about movie sets. Watching Tempest act was a bit of a wacky experience. She’d covered up that beautiful blond hair he loved and was wearing a black wig that hugged her face—he hoped it was a wig or he was going to cry. He couldn’t tell from here, but it looked as if she was wearing brown contacts, another change from the baby blues he loved gazing into. She was in the middle of a scene, so he watched, wondering how he could ever fit into her world.
She’d done a much better job of fitting into his than he could in hers.
The man in the scene was dressed like a doctor and had long, raffish brown hair—clearly the leading man. He kissed Tempest, his arms around her, holding her tight, and Shaman thought his blood pressure was going to pop out the top of his head. His heartbeat raced a mile a minute, his throat dried out, his brain felt as if it short-circuited.
This sucked. Compared to all the fear he’d ever felt in a war zone, seeing Tempest in another man’s arms just about knocked him to his knees. He told himself that this was pretend, this was make-believe—but it was also her life, and that was going to be hard for him to roll with.
He’d never really believed he had her, that she was his. In his mind, she was always the beauty beyond his reach, while he was beaten up, stripped of some of life’s better emotions.
She had given him those emotions back. Joy, hope, longing.
He didn’t think he could hang around watching her kiss good-looking dudes, though. Even he could tell the actor enjoying his wife’s sweet lips was no booby prize in the dating pond.
Tempest reared back and slapped the doctor, and suddenly Shaman felt a whole lot better. They went on speaking their parts, and his blood pressure calmed, his fight-or-flight response quit trying to strangle him.
Then the scene was over and the lights came up. People started walking around the constructed set, and Shaman wondered how anybody could spend long days inside a box like this, in a fishbowl with cameras and people peering at them.
This was not for him. He belonged outside, working with his hands, building things. Breathing fresh air.
“Hey,” the director yelled. “Tempest! You got a visitor!”
Shaman straightened, his heart hammering as she looked around, then walked over to him.
“Shaman! You made it!”
As if she’d never doubted that he would. He cheered up a bit.
“Yeah. I made it.”
“What do you think?” She flung her hand to indicate the set, and Shaman realized she was proud of her work, just as he was proud of his.
“I’m glad it’s your job and not mine,” he said. “I’m not good at playing make-believe. I never was. Ask Xav and Kendall.”
She smiled at him. “I’m not surprised. You’ve never been one for suspense. Come on, I want to show you something.”
“I wouldn’t say I don’t like suspense,” Shaman said, following his wife gladly. He’d missed her so much it was as if he’d had a hole inside ever since he’d talked to the lawyers about divorcing her. His heart had been leaking like an hourglass, and now he was with her, but he wasn’t certain at all if she wanted their marriage to last or not.
She was right. He was no good with suspense.
“Look.” Tempest pulled him into a room where two cribs and a playpen were set up. Gage and Josh were in the playpen, holding soft stuffed animals. A babysitter sat beside it, smiling at the babies. “This is Dana. She’s awesome with the boys. Dana, this is my husband, Shaman.”
“Hi,” Dana said.
“I’m done filming for today. You can go, Dana. Thank you for your help.”
“I love watching them!” the teen exclaimed. “They’re the best. Nice to meet you, Shaman.” She grabbed her purse and went off.
Shaman felt immensely hopeful that Tempest had introduced him as her husband. He took Josh out of the playpen and kissed him, then did the same with little Gage. “If you’re done filming for the day, does that mean you can lose the wig? I’m really hoping that’s a wig.”
She nodded. “It’s a wig.”
“I mean, you’re beautiful this way, too,” Shaman said, “but I fell for you as a blonde. And I never was much for make-believe, as I said.”
She smiled at him. “You’re a salt-of-the-earth guy, Shaman. It’s one of the things that attracted me to you in the beginning.”
He didn’t like the sound of that; wasn’t she attracted to him now? “Yeah, well, it can be boring, I guess.”
Tempest looked at him. “How is the family?”
He recognized a change of subject when he heard it. “Xav is on the mend. He and Kendall are going to work at Dark Diablo. With Xav, I understand, but Kendall, never.”
Tempest went to a mirror, pulled off the wig, began scrubbing at her makeup. Shaman was relieved to see his wife reappearing.
“I’m not surprised,” she said. “Dark Diablo is the kind of place where people figure out what they want in life.”
He eyed his wife with great interest as she began shucking her costume. He didn’t want a divorce, he wanted Tempest. Here in California or in Tempest or even in Hell’s Colony, he really didn’t care.
“Hey,
” Shaman said. “I could hang out in California while you film, watch the boys. You know, be a full-time dad.”
She turned to gaze at him, her eyes wide. “Are you serious?”
Was he? Of course he was. He shrugged. “I’m a pretty easygoing guy.”
“You are not,” Tempest said.
“I’m trying to be,” Shaman countered.
She gave him a long look. “What about us?”
“Well,” he said, not exactly certain how to answer a question that was about to kill him. “I guess you want a divorce.”
He thought her face fell just a little. But she was still wearing those darn brown contacts, so it was throwing him off a bit.
“Can you take out the contacts? I miss your eyes,” he said.
She smiled, turned back to the mirror and popped them out. He walked over and sat down next to her, shifting the babies so that they were comfortable in his lap. “That’s better,” he said. “See? There’s your mommy, boys.”
Tempest shook her head. “Did you come here to ask for a divorce?”
“No,” Shaman said. “I came here to find my wife. For that matter, I came here to try to keep my wife. I’m trying to square your job with my understanding of life. It’s not going to be easy to watch you smooching skinny actor dudes with gel in their hair, but I can suck it up.” He shrugged. “Well, I can handle it infrequently. Not every day. I have only so much goodness in my soul.”
She leaned over and put her lips on his. “The only way I get through the kisses on set is by imagining that it’s you.”
He pulled back to look at her, searching her eyes for her real feelings. “So, what happens after this gig?”
She looked at him. “You tell me, soldier.”
He wasn’t sure. But something—that sense of timing he relied on—was telling him he was headed into safe water, that everything was going to be good. He could actually win the princess, if he was a changed beast. “I love you, Tempest. Zola Cupertino. I’m madly in love with you and have been since the moment you walked into my life. You gave me sons I adore, and you make me want to spend every day of my life making you smile. If you want a divorce, I’ll go along with it just to make you happy.” He took a deep breath. “But if it’s up to me, I’d rather have a real wedding. A big, wonderland wedding with all our friends and family around to see me make the most wonderful woman in the world my wife. I’m talking amazing. Because that’s what you are to me.”
