THE EIGHT SECOND WEDDING

by Anne McAllister

  She opened the door and climbed out of the camper. "I'm Madeleine," she said.

  "I know. Chan told me. He says you're traveling with him for the summer." She looked interested, amused perhaps, but not scandalized in the least.

  "Writing my dissertation," Madeleine said.

  "That's what he said."

  "Really?" She was surprised. "Did you believe him?"

  Lily stared. "What?" she asked, then started to laugh. "The guys have been getting to you, have they? Don't mind them. They wear their brains below their belts."

  "So does Chan," Madeleine said.

  Lily laughed. "Is it true your mother and his want you two to get married?"

  "He told you that?"

  "Sure. Is it?"

  "Sort of," Madeleine hedged.

  "And you're spending the summer together to see if you suit?" Lily giggled. "I think that's great."

  "We're going to prove that we don't suit," Madeleine corrected her.

  "Right," Lily said. She opened the screen door and gestured Madeleine into the kitchen ahead of her.

  It was exactly the sort of kitchen she'd always dreamed of. Warm and homey, it sprawled from a functional cooking center to a family area complete with round oak table and a used-brick fireplace with a raised hearth. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases were piled haphazardly with books and magazines. The pillow-ticking sofa peeked out from beneath assorted scattered clutter, mostly of the farm and ranch variety. Tractor parts catalogs were spread across the table, a half-braided rope lay on the back of the sofa, and a stack of Stockman's Journal magazines slumped on the braid rug.

  "Dan's not much of a housekeeper," Lily apologized. She crossed the room and poured Madeleine a cup of coffee. "Neither am I, I'm afraid. Milk or sugar?"

  "Black is fine. Is Dan your husband?"

  Lily shook her head. "My brother. This is his ranch. I'm just stopping for a few days."

  "Where do you live?"

  Lily nodded toward the yard. "In that other truck mostly."

  "In the truck? You're in rodeo, too?"

  Lily nodded.

  "So you're a…" Madeleine frowned, trying to remember what rodeo events women participated in. She'd read a book about rodeo just before she'd come, for all the good it seemed to he doing her. "…barrel racer?" She managed at last.

  "I used to be." Lily perched on the edge of the counter and sipped her coffee. "Now I'm a bull fighter."

  Madeleine's jaw dropped. She didn't think Lily meant the sort with the sword and the cape. "You mean you're one of the … clowns?"

  A misnomer if there ever was one. Madeleine knew very well that, for all their greasepaint and crazy clothes, theirs was a very serious business.

  "I'm one of the clowns," Lily agreed. "I'm the one in the barrel mostly."

  "Isn't that—" Madeleine swallowed "—still sort of dangerous?"

  Lily got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Yes." Then she lifted her chin and met Madeleine's gaze squarely. "But that doesn't mean a woman can't do it."

  "Of course not," Madeleine said quickly, sensing that Lily had had this discussion before. "Does your husband fight bulls, too?"

  The faraway look again. Then Lily's lips pressed together. "He did." She paused. A second or two. No more. But enough.

  Madeleine knew what was coming, felt it in her gut even before she heard the words.

  "John's dead. He was a bull fighter, too. He died two years ago. At the rodeo in Reno."

  Their eyes locked. Madeleine could see Lily's pain written across her face. It was stark, terrifying. But Madeleine didn't blink or look away. She just nodded slowly. "I understand why you do it then," she said quietly.

  Lily blinked, then looked at Madeleine closely. "You do?"

  Madeleine nodded, but knew that Lily wouldn't really believe her unless she could explain. "My mother is an anthropologist. She and my father worked together in remote, primitive places until he died. Afterward people said she should quit fieldwork, that she should get a teaching job and take me back to the States where it was safe. Instead we stayed in Bali. Then we went to Siberia. Then for a couple of years we did come back to the States, but we lived on a reservation, then we went to China. It wasn't until four years ago that she actually settled down."

  Lily's lips curved into a slow smile. "You do understand, then," she said.

  "Yes. I'm sure it hurts. I'm sorry."

  Lily shook her head. "I'm the one who should be sorry, laying it on you like that. But I knew somebody would tell you sooner or later. Somebody always does—" she grimaced "—to protect me."

  "They don't want someone saying something that might remind you, make you hurt?"

  "Believe me," Lily said fiercely, "inadvertent comments don't come close to hurting me as much as having John die hurt me. If I can survive that, I can survive anything!" Lily shook her head and blushed furiously. "Listen to me, ranting on and on like some fussy old lady. I don't know what's the matter with me."

  Madeleine knew. She knew Lily missed John desperately and hadn't yet come to terms with life without him. She remembered how it had been for her mother. Even at six and a half, she had known.

  And it had taken time – a long time – before either she or Antonia had been really ready to live fully again.

  She supposed she could count herself lucky that she had never felt that way about anyone. She'd wanted to feel that way about Scott. Maybe it was just as well he hadn't let her.

  "Thank you for telling me yourself," she said gently now.

  "Thank you for listening," Lily replied. She looked a little self-conscious. "I don't usually blather on like that. You should have shut me up. You're easy to talk to."

  Madeleine smiled. "Maybe it's because I'm not a part of the rodeo scene."

  "Maybe. But maybe it's just because you're a good listener. You'll be good for Chan."

  Madeleine laughed. "Don't tell him that."

  "If you say so," Lily agreed. "Now, how about that breakfast? Eggs? Ham? Bacon? Hash browns? Toast? All of the above?"

  "Just toast. I'm not a big eater."

  "Something else not to tell Chan. He'll clean your plate for you."

  "They all ate pretty well last night," Madeleine said.

  "Most of them do. Growing boys." Lily grinned. "You had dinner with 'em? Who've you met?"

  "Mmm, let's see. Gil Trabert, Tom Holden … Devlin Gray."

  Lily's smile faded. She turned away and put the toast in the toaster. Then she turned back and smiled. "Well," she said briskly, "you're lucky you got a bite with those four."

  "You know them?"

  "Oh, yes. I know them." Lily's voice was toneless. She got out the butter and jam and set them on the counter. "Chan should be back before long."

  Madeleine wondered what had made Lily's smile vanish and the subject change so quickly, but she didn't ask. "Where is Chan?"

  "He went out to Frank Parker's. A cattle ranch about twenty miles north. Chan promised his dad that he'd go up and take a look at a bull Frank might be willing to sell."

  "For rodeos?"

  Lily shook her head. "No. Breeding."

  "I didn't know Chan was involved in that."

  "Oh, yes. When he isn't on the road, Chan works on the ranch. He owns a lot of the stock, and they're always on the lookout for good new blood. Chan's real smart about it, too. He probably knows as much as both his parents put together."

  "Julia has a Ph.D. in genetics."

  "And she's taught Chan everything she knows," Lily said. "So has his dad. Dan was talking to Rick last week, says he's all excited about getting this bull, but it's up to Chan. Chan will know if he's right. Chan has a good eye." She handed Madeleine a plate of toast.

  If Chan Richardson ever started a fan club, Madeleine was willing to bet Lily would join. She wondered if, when Lily finally got over John's death, she might start thinking Chan Richardson was a good catch. Good luck, she thought.

  "When will he be back?"

 
; "Before noon, he said. Want more coffee?"

  "No, thanks. I was wondering, though, how I can get to town."

  "Take the camper. Chan won't care. He's got Dan's truck."

  "I can't." And at Lily's perplexed look, Madeleine explained. "I need to get a learner's permit. I don't have a license."

  Lily looked almost as poleaxed as Chan had, but she recovered more quickly. "Finish your toast," she said, "I'll take you."

  Dan's ranch was about seven miles out of town. Lily did the grocery shopping while Madeleine went to the DMV to get a copy of the vehicle code. She studied it while Lily went to the feed store and the hardware store. Then she went back and took the test for her permit.

  "Good thing I'm a quick study," she said when she came back out.

  "You got it?"

  Madeleine nodded. "And I live here now, too. I had to have a local address. I hope you don't mind."

  "Nope," Lily said cheerfully as they crossed the street to get in the truck. "It fits."

  "What do you mean?"

  Lily grinned. "Rodeo people are always from somewhere. They're never there. It's a fact of life."

  "Sort of like anthropologists," Madeleine murmured as she got into the truck. "We never had a home, either. I always wanted one."

  Lily put the truck in gear, looked over her shoulder and backed out of the parking place. "Places are nice, but they're not the most important. I never felt like I needed a home as long as I had John."

  * * *

  When Chan came back from Parkers' early that afternoon he expected to find Madeleine tapping away on her computer. Or chewing a pencil and staring off into space. Or sitting under a tree with her nose in a book.

  In a million years he never expected to find her where he found her.

  Inside a barrel.

  He took one look, jumped out of Dan's truck and almost ran across the gravel toward the corral. There was a black Brangus bull at the far end of the corral regarding them curiously.

  "What in hell are you doing?" he yelled at Madeleine.

  "What does it look like?" she yelled back. She was grinning, and the sun touched her cheeks and the wind lofted her shiny dark hair. She looked beautiful and desirable and it made him mad as hell.

  He gritted his teeth, then turned his glare on Lily. "Are you nuts?" He was so mad he forgot to treat her with kid gloves the way he usually did.

  Lily stood stiff as her broom behind the barrel. "I don't think so, no."

  "She doesn't belong out here! She'll get herself killed, for God's sake. Then what am I going to tell her mother?"

  "That it wasn't your fault, she's a grown woman?" Lily suggested so gently that Chan, knowing he had overreacted, flushed deep red. It came from lack of sleep, he told himself. God knew he hadn't had much, driving all night. And then when he did go to bed he was acutely aware of Madeleine Decker sleeping like a baby practically right over his head. A couple of times he'd even got up and looked at her.

  "Fine," he muttered. "Just fine. Do whatever the hell you want. It's no skin off my nose." And, turning on his heel, he stalked away.

  "Chan!" Madeleine came after him, waddling in the barrel, with Lily and the broom bringing up the rear. They looked ridiculous. He wanted to laugh. He wouldn't. He waited, irritated. "What do you want?"

  Madeleine reached the fence and climbed out of the barrel and onto the top rung, then jumped lightly down on the other side. "Don't get mad at Lily. It was my idea." She looked up at him with bright, hopeful eyes.

  He pressed his lips together. "I'm not surprised." He turned away and started walking again.

  She followed him. "Well, you can't expect me to tag along, as you put it, for two months and not want to know how to do the things I see, can you?"

  He rounded on her. "I frankly don't know what the hell I can expect from you, Decker. But there's a hell of a lot safer things you can learn to do before you start baiting bulls."

  "Such as?"

  "You could muck out the barn for starters."

  "We already did."

  He masked his surprise, but he looked at Lily who nodded.

  "We did," she said.

  "Then you could learn to saddle a horse."

  Madeleine nodded. "I will."

  He scuffed his toe on the grass. "You could try roping a calf."

  "I'd love to."

  "But you better learn to drive first," he muttered. "Come on. We'll go get your permit."

  "I went. Lily took me." Madeleine dug into her wallet and pulled out a permit, waving it under his nose. "How about this?"

  She looked so pleased, he had to smother a smile. "Showing off, Decker?"

  "Just trying to impress you." She gave him a cheeky grin. "Am I?"

  More than he wanted to admit. "Come on," he said gruffly. "Let's get this show on the road."

  * * *

  "I thought you said you were patient?" Madeleine shut the ignition off and glared at the man sitting next to her in the cab of Dan's truck.

  "So I lied. Start again."

  "I've been driving for two hours."

  "You should've been driving for ten years. Come on. Let's go."

  Madeleine sighed and started the engine again. "You're making me nervous."

  "You're scaring me to death. So I figure we're even. Take it halfway up that hill. Stop it and start again."

  "I don't think I'm ready for hills. Won't we roll backward?"

  "Not if you do it right."

  "Why do I have to learn on a stick shift, anyway? Your truck isn't a stick."

  "But you never know when you might have to drive one."

  "Like when you're standing in the road and I want to run you down?"

  "You got it. Now drive."

  She did. They stalled. They rolled backward. She licked her lips and tried again. And again. Chan's knuckles went white and his mouth drew down at the corners, but he didn't say a word. Still, when they slid backward into the ditch, Madeleine wasn't sorry that he was the one who hit his head.

  "Damn it!"

  "Sorry. Are you all right?" Frankly she wished he were dead.

  Chan grunted, rubbing the back of his head. "Terrific. Are you?" He sounded only remotely more sincere.

  "Fine," Madeleine said shortly. Or as fine as anyone could be, sitting tipped at a forty-five-degree angle and faced with the prospect of having to drive back out.

  Wearily she turned the key in the ignition.

  "Forget it. I'll do it."

  She ignored him.

  "I said, I'll do it."

  "No." She was determined now. She eased up on the clutch pedal slowly, pressed down on the gas. The truck jerked, shimmied, stalled, slid.

  Once more Chan hit his head. He jerked open the door and got out. He came around to the driver's side and opened that door. "Move over."

  "You wanted me to drive."

  "And now I don't."

  "And we always do what you want, is that it?" She felt like crying. Damn it, she was trying to do it right.

  "You're not going to be able to get the truck out." He sounded reasonable, patient, long-suffering.

  "And you are?" she said, knowing she was ungraciousness personified.

  "Well, I stand a damn sight better chance than you do."

  "Fine, Mr. Wonderful." Abruptly she slid over, shoved open the passenger door and went right on out the other side. "Go to it." Turning on her heel, she climbed up the side of the ditch and struck out along the road.

  "Hey! Decker!" She didn't even turn around. "Where're you going?"

  "Back to the ranch."

  She half expected him to yell at her to come back, to come after her and demand it. The one time she'd walked out on Scott, he'd grabbed her and hauled her back.

  Chan didn't say a word. She never turned around to look. When she got to the top of the hill she saw another truck coming her way. It drew to a stop as it came abreast of her.

  Two cowboys she recognized grinned at her.

  "Hey, Madeleine," said De
v. "What's up? Where's Chan?"

  Madeleine smiled at him. "Hi, Dev. Gil." She nodded her head in the direction from which she'd come. "He's over there. In Dan's truck."

  Dev cocked his head. "You running away already?"

  "More or less. He was giving me a driving lesson. How to start on a hill. I rolled into the ditch."

  "You can't drive?" Gil goggled.

  "Chan's teaching you?" Dev said.

  "Chan?" they both chorused.

  Then Gil shook his head. "Will wonders never cease? So what happened? You roll over him?"

  "I wish."

  Dev grinned. "Like that, is it? Get in. We'll take you back to the ranch."

  Madeleine hesitated. But it wasn't as if Chan was going to have trouble finding his way home if she took Dev's offer. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if he got the truck out of the ditch and drove right past her. She got in the truck and Gil slid over to the middle.

  "I didn't know you'd be here," she said to them.

  "Lots of guys hit the same rodeos or most of 'em. We're riding in Santa Maria on Thursday, too. We'd sorta figured we'd hang around Vegas till then, but neither of us won a damn thing ridin', and we weren't having any more luck at the tables," Gil said.

  "So we figured we'd better get out while we still had gas money." Dev grinned. "And Dan never minds if we drop by for a day or so. You've met Dan?"

  Madeleine shook her head. "But I've met his sister."

  "Lily's here?" Dev demanded.

  "She was showing me how she works with the barrel."

  Dev's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Damn fool woman," he muttered almost to himself.

  "She says she doesn't take unnecessary risks," Madeleine said.

  "Just bein' out there's a risk."

  "But bull riders need—"

  "I know what bull riders need," Dev said sharply. "I am one." His jaw tightened and Madeleine saw him swallow hard. She had the feeling he was stopping himself from saying more. The silence stretched awkwardly.

  Finally Gil asked, "Chan go see that bull of Frank Parker's?"

  "Yes." Parker's bull provided the topic for discussion until they reached the ranch. Lily's brother, Dan, was at the barn when they arrived. Dev introduced them. Dan was a tall, silvery blond, masculine version of his sister with a shy grin and a pronounced limp.