A Baby on the Ranch: A Baby on the RanchRamona and the Renegade

by Marie Ferrarella

  And he had never felt luckier.

  * * *

  THE ACTUAL WEDDING ceremony was simple and all the more beautiful for it.

  Simple or not, Kasey was struck by the contrast between Alma and Cash’s ceremony and the one that she’d had when she’d married Hollis. The whole thing had lasted five minutes—if that much—from start to finish.

  And afterward, when they’d checked into a motel that had looked better cloaked by the night than it did in the light of day, the lovemaking that followed had been conspicuously short on tenderness and—for her—long on disillusion.

  But for that she had only herself to blame. After all, no one had forced her to build up fantasies that, Hollis quickly made her aware of, belonged to a child, not a woman. Certainly not one who knew what the real world was like.

  It was only after she’d experienced making love with Eli that Kasey realized her fantasies could become a reality. To her unmitigated joy, she’d found everything she’d ever been looking for—and so much more—in Eli’s arms.

  There was a collective sigh, followed by applause and cheers, when the ceremony concluded and the priest pronounced Cash and Alma to be husband and wife in the eyes of God and the law.

  Kasey, Eli noted, had been awfully quiet throughout the whole thing. Even at the very end when Cash had kissed Alma so long that their relatives and friends had all begun to rhythmically clap as if they were keeping time with the beat, Eli noticed that Kasey was just going through the motions as she watched the couple intently.

  Her palms hardly touched as she clapped.

  Was she thinking about her own wedding? Was she thinking about Hollis? Or worse, was she missing him?

  He had no right to be jealous, especially since Hollis was no longer around, but he was. Hollis didn’t deserve to have one minute wasted on him with thoughts of regret. Definitely not after what he’d done to Kasey. She should erect a piñata with his face on it so that she could take a stick to it, not pine for his return.

  Still, he didn’t want her being uncomfortable, and the wedding might be bringing up past hurts and longings for her. It wasn’t like her to be this quiet this long. “Do you want to leave?” he asked.

  The question startled her. Without thinking, she wrapped her hand along her neck, as if pressing the warmth of his breath into her skin permanently.

  “No, why?” Was he the one who wanted to leave for some reason? “Do you?”

  This was his sister’s wedding, why would he want to leave? He shook his head in response. “No, but I just thought—” He stopped and tried again, determined to sound coherent. “You just looked like you were a million miles away.”

  Or however far away Hollis was these days, he added silently.

  “Did I?” she questioned. “I wasn’t, really. I was just thinking how happy they looked. And how happy I am for them,” she added with feeling. Just because her own circumstances hadn’t worked out didn’t mean she wanted other people not to have a shot at happiness and attaining their own happily ever after. “Especially Alma.”

  She looked at Eli as they filed out of the rows of chairs, following behind the bride and groom.

  “Did you know that she was once in love with Cash?” She suspected that Alma had never really stopped loving the man, but she hadn’t pressed the issue when Alma had confided in her.

  For the most part, Kasey was not the type to be eaten up by curiosity. She could wait for something to be told to her, no matter how long it took to own up to. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have her suspicions.

  “It’s nice to know that sometimes happy endings do happen,” she said wistfully, more to herself, actually, than to Eli.

  “It’s not a happy ending,” Eli pointed out. When she looked at him, confused, he explained. “It’s a happy beginning.”

  “I do like the way you think, Eli,” Kasey confessed. He had such a positive outlook on things, and yet it wasn’t without some sort of a basis, a solid foundation. There was logic behind his positive thinking. Whereas Hollis always had a tendency to build castles in the sky, shooting for improbable things that hadn’t a prayer of coming true. He had no solid base, no foundation.

  How different the two men were, she thought now. One was charming and attractive and about as deep as a thimbleful of water. The other was a rock, someone she could trust, someone she could lean on.

  Someone, she now realized, who put her first, before himself. The bottom line was that Eli was a man, while Hollis was an attractive bad boy.

  But as sexy as it might initially be, the latter attraction wore thin in the real world, she mused, realizing how lucky she was and how grateful she was to have been given a second chance to do it right.

  A second chance to discover that Eli had feelings for her, at least for now. Of the two, it was Eli who was the better man. She just hadn’t realized it before, at least not consciously. She’d been too blind, too dazzled by a man with no substance.

  Eli had substance.

  Thanks to the efforts of some very skilled amateur musicians, music filled the air.

  “Dance with me, Eli?” Kasey proposed suddenly, putting out her hand to him.

  Reluctantly he took her hand but didn’t move. “I don’t dance, Kasey,” Eli told her.

  “Yes, you do,” she insisted. “You danced with me. At the prom, remember?”

  At the time Hollis had temporarily disappeared on her and when she’d come to him, asking if he knew where Hollis had gotten to, he had feigned ignorance, then asked her to dance to distract her.

  He’d known that Hollis had ducked out with another girl who was very willing to gratify his more basic needs. Hollis had gone missing for approximately half an hour, then returned to claim “his date.” Hollis had also accused him with a laugh of “stealing his girl.”

  For his part, Eli had come extremely close to confronting Hollis about cheating on Kasey that night, but he hadn’t wanted to humiliate her in front of the whole senior class, so he’d kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

  And Kasey went on believing Hollis’s stories.

  “I remember,” Eli said. Then, with a shrug, still holding her hand, he led her to the small area that had been cleared for dancing. “I’m really rusty. I can’t remember dancing since then, so you’re doing this at your own risk. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Consider me warned,” she told him, a smile playing on her generous mouth. “I’ve decided to chance it,” she said bravely. “Besides, you would never hurt me.”

  And knowing that was an immense comfort to her.

  And almost a burden for him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The reception, held outdoors on Miguel Rodriguez’s ranch, was deliberately an informal affair. In the spirit of camaraderie, attendance was open to anyone who wanted to stop by to add their good wishes for the happy couple.

  Which was how the man who wound up casting a shadow over the event had come to be there.

  One moment Eli was holding Kasey in his arms, swaying to a slow dance and allowing himself to make plans for their future. The next moment a chill went down his back as he heard a familiar voice uttering a phrase out of the past.

  “Thanks for taking care of my girl, but I can take over now.”

  It was like being on the receiving end of an upended bucket of ice water. Both he and Kasey immediately froze in place, then, ever so slowly, they turned around to look at the man who had just spoken.

  Her mouth went dry at the same time that her heart rate sped up.

  This can’t be happening. It has to be a nightmare.

  The thought pulsed in Kasey’s brain over and over again, repeating itself like an old-fashioned record playing on a Victrola with its needle stuck in a groove.

  “Hollis,” she finally whispered hoarsely in sheer disbelief. What was he doing here? Why was he here?

  Hollis smiled at her then, that wide, golden smile that had once captured her heart and so firmly captivated her soul. A smile t
hat now left her utterly cold.

  “In the flesh,” he told her, spreading his hands in front of himself like a showman. He completely ignored Eli, looking only at her. “May I have this dance?” he asked, acting as if it were a sheer formality, that he didn’t expect any resistance.

  “The music stopped,” Eli said, still holding Kasey to him. His voice was cool enough to freeze an ice-cube tray filled with hot water.

  Hollis didn’t even bother sparing his one-time friend so much as an extra glance.

  “So it did.” He had eyes only for Kasey. “I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next song.”

  Eli squared his shoulders, shifting slightly so that he was between Hollis and Kasey. “I don’t think so.” He ground the words out between clenched teeth.

  Hollis finally glanced in his direction. There was more than a little mocking contempt in his tone. “Don’t get carried away, Eli. When I asked you to look out for her, I didn’t mean when I was around. Your job’s done here.”

  For two cents—less—he would have decked the pompous jerk he’d once thought his friend. But this was Kasey’s call. So Eli turned to her, waiting for Kasey to say something, to tell him whether she wanted Hollis to go—or to stay.

  Kasey remained where she was, making no effort to move around Eli. “Don’t cause a scene, Hollis” was all she said.

  “Hey, I’m not the one acting like some big superhero,” Hollis protested, dismissing Eli’s presence with a sneer. He eyed Kasey, his demeanor growing serious. “I’m back and I want to make amends. I’ve missed you, Kasey,” he told her, sounding more sincere than she’d ever heard him. “We need to talk.”

  She was not about to allow him to draw the focus away from Alma and Cash. This was their day and she didn’t want it marred by a potential ugly scene. It gave her the courage to tell him, “Not here.”

  Kasey was willing to talk to Hollis, Eli thought, even after he’d walked out on her. Willing to hear the man out despite all the things he’d done to her. But then, Kasey was usually willing to hear a person out, willing to be more than fair no matter how poorly they’d treated her. He remembered how she used to make excuses for her father’s behavior.

  He had a bad feeling about this.

  Hollis had a golden tongue when he set his mind to it. The gift of gab, some people called it. Gift or not, all Eli knew was that Hollis could talk a wolf into buying a fur coat in the middle of July.

  While he, well, he had a habit of getting tongue-tied and not being able to say just the right thing when the time came for persuasive arguments. The right words would come to him after the fact, when it no longer mattered.

  Eli could feel his stomach tying itself into a hard knot, but there was nothing he could say. Nothing he would say. He didn’t want Kasey looking at him someday and accusing him of having talked her out of reuniting with her husband.

  Husband, Eli thought bitterly. Whether he liked it or not, until the papers were final, Hollis was Kasey’s husband.

  As for him, he was just the man who’d loved her forever. In silence.

  The bad feeling he had grew.

  “Where and when?” Hollis asked, his grin widening. “You just name the time and place, Kase, and I’ll be there, waiting with baited breath.” He watched her for a long moment, his grin fading, his voice growing serious. He lowered it as he said, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Kasey gave no indication that she’d even heard the last words he’d said. Instead she addressed the question he’d put to her. “I’ll let you know.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” he promised, then added for good measure, “My fate is entirely in your hands.” No doubt feeling himself to be on solid ground, he glanced at Eli and said magnanimously, “You did a good job looking out for her. Thanks.”

  Eli knew he should just ignore Hollis altogether. He shouldn’t let the man get under his skin like this, but he couldn’t make himself just stay silent, either. “I didn’t do it for you.”

  Hollis surprised him by quietly acknowledging, “I know.”

  “Problem?”

  The question, mildly put, came from Rick. His manner was nonthreatening as he asked the simple question, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Rick could become all business at a moment’s notice if necessary.

  Finally, Eli spoke up, taking the opportunity to defuse the possibly explosive situation. “No, no problem, Sheriff. Hollis here was just leaving.” He looked at his former friend expectantly. “Weren’t you, Hollis?”

  Hollis had no choice but to nod, confirming Eli’s statement. “I just wanted to pay my respects to the happy couple,” he said pointedly.

  “Then you’ve got your ‘happy couples’ confused,” Rick informed him in a pseudo-expansive voice. “Alma and Cash are the ones sitting at the head table.” Rick nodded over in their direction. “Just follow me, I’ll take you to them.” It wasn’t an invitation but a thinly veiled order. “I’m walking right by them.” He eyed the man expectantly, waiting for Hollis to fall into step beside him.

  Reluctantly, Hollis finally did.

  But just as he left, Hollis looked over his shoulder at Kasey. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised.

  And she knew he intended to. Until they had that conversation that Hollis had alluded to when he’d said they needed to talk, she was certain that he would continue popping up when she least expected it.

  Or wanted it.

  If she was to have any peace of mind, she had no other choice but to get this over with sooner than later. She’d hear him out and then—

  “You’re really going to see him?” Eli asked, snapping her back into the immediate present. Eli didn’t seem exactly happy about the turn of events.

  That made two of them.

  “I don’t think that I have much of a choice,” she told Eli. He probably had no idea how much that bothered her, not to have any options, but instead to have her path cut out for her by someone whose motives were highly suspect.

  Eli frowned. He took her response to mean that she wanted to see Hollis. And why shouldn’t she? a voice in his head taunted. Hollis had been her husband, was still her husband. And during their marriage, he had managed to throw her equilibrium off so much that logic had no place in her life.

  A person just had to reflect on her past. She’d gone against her parents because of Hollis, run off and married Hollis against her parents’ expressed wishes.

  Had he really expected her to choose him over someone as dynamic, as mesmerizingly compelling as Hollis? That kind of thing only happened in his dreams. He had a sinking feeling that reality had a completely different kind of outcome in store for him.

  Kasey turned her brilliant blue eyes on him and said something unexpected. “Unless you don’t want me to talk to him.”

  No, don’t talk to him! Don’t ever talk to him. Not one single word, because he’ll twist everything around, make himself out to be the victim here. And you’ll take him back, warts and all.

  But out loud, all Eli said was, “I have no right to tell you what to do or not to do.”

  If he had to tell her not to talk to Hollis, well, then it didn’t really count, did it? He wanted her to come to that conclusion on her own. He wanted her to cut Hollis off without so much as a prayer. It wouldn’t count if he asked her to do it.

  The corners of Kasey’s mouth curved just a little. The fact that Eli didn’t tell her what to do was part of the reason why she loved him the way she did. But even so, a small voice within her questioned what he’d just said.

  Didn’t he care that Hollis was obviously trying to get her back? Had she been just a pleasant interlude for Eli? Someone to warm his sheets for a while? Didn’t he want something permanent with her? Was she wrong about him after all?

  All these questions and more crowded her mind, making her uncertain about what to expect next when it came to Eli and herself—if there actually was such a duo.

  Expect nothing. That way, you can’t be disappointed.
/>   Kasey could feel the frustration building up inside of her.

  For now, she forced herself to push all that aside and go on pretending that they were the same two people who had arrived at the ceremony just a few short hours ago.

  As the music started up again, she looked up at Eli pointedly as she held out her arms to him. “We have a dance to finish.”

  And this might be the last time he got to hold her in his arms, Eli thought.

  “So we do,” he acknowledged, pulling Kasey to him again. And they danced, each determined to block out everything that threatened to rend their fragile world apart.

  The reception ended by degrees rather than by any sort of agreement. Eventually there were only a few people left. The bride and groom, accompanied by a wealth of good wishes, cheers and applause, had driven off in their car some forty minutes ago, in a hurry to begin their honeymoon. The people attending the reception had begun dispersing around then.

  Tired, Kasey murmured, “I think it’s time to leave.”

  Eli reluctantly agreed, although he couldn’t shake the feeling that once they left here, they would also be leaving something precious behind.

  The possibility of a life together.

  As if on cue, he saw Hollis approaching them.

  Had Kasey’s delinquent almost-ex-husband been lying in wait all this time?

  Eli glanced at Kasey. If the same thought had occurred to her, she didn’t show it. Instead she turned to him just as Hollis came up to her and said, “Would you mind giving us a few minutes, Eli?”

  Yes, he minded, minded a hell of a lot. But again, if he voiced his objections, if he had to deliberately place himself in the way, stopping her from talking to Hollis, then what they had—what he thought they had—wasn’t really there at all.

  “I’ll go get Wayne,” he told her, his voice devoid of any emotion. As he walked away, he told her, “Take as much time as you need.”

  Kasey stared after him. To do what? To say no? To say yes?

  More than anything, she wished Eli had said something definitive so she knew how he felt about Hollis’s unexpected appearance here. Did Eli want her to go with Hollis, or was he hoping she’d tell her ex to get lost?