Sisters Found

by Joan Johnston

  She was flustered and said, “Only if you’re uncomfortable.”

  “I’m fine,” he said. “But my mother wouldn’t have let any of us boys come to the table like this. I’ll be right back.”

  An instant later he was out the door again, and she took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. What was wrong with her? This was Rabb. Jake’s brother. Who couldn’t read.

  He was back a second later wearing the scrap of T-shirt, but it wasn’t much of an improvement. She could still see too much of him. And liked what she saw too much.

  She’d had Jake over to dinner a number of times, but he’d always sat quietly and let her put food on the table. Rabb was into everything, leaning against her as he reached up for the glasses for tea and stretching around her as he got ice cubes from the freezer. He even held her chair for her, insisting that she sit before him.

  Talk about siblings who were different from one another. Jake was the strong, silent type. Rabb never stopped talking.

  “I’ve been working on some new designs for the furniture I’m building,” he said. “More baroque.”

  “Baroque?” she blurted. She hadn’t thought of Rabb as an artist, or as someone who understood artistic styles.

  “Most of what I’ve done in the past has been plain and practical, simple lines. But I got started adding a little of this and a little of that and before I knew it, this particular bedroom suite started looking like something out of the seventeenth century.”

  “Hmm,” she said, because she didn’t know what to say.

  “What’s your preference, artistically speaking?” he said.

  She took a bite of meat loaf and pointed, showing she couldn’t speak because her mouth was full.

  “I prefer the French modes to the Italian,” he said. “The lines are—”

  Amanda quickly swallowed and said, “Where did you learn all this? I mean, this all sounds pretty complicated and...sophisticated.”

  Rabb shrugged. “I was never any good at reading.” He paused and said, as though he were admitting to a sexually transmitted disease, “Dyslexic.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know.” Dyslexics weren’t any good at reading because the letters and numbers appeared mixed up on the page, but that didn’t keep them from being highly intelligent. Einstein had been dyslexic. She looked at Rabb with newly opened eyes.

  “I always liked looking at the pictures, though,” Rabb continued with a self-deprecating grin. “You can learn a lot about art and architecture from pictures.”

  “Hmm,” Amanda said, because she was feeling foolish. As a teacher, she should know better than to jump to conclusions about people. It seemed she’d misjudged Rabb. “When did you find out you were dyslexic?”

  “My mom and dad were pretty insistent that we get a good education. I spent a lot of time studying but never did well on tests. Turns out they were familiar with dyslexia because one of my uncles grew up with the same problem. It helped to know why I couldn’t read well, but it was still hard not to fight back when someone called me a dummy.”

  Amanda’s heart went out to Rabb. How awful for him. And she’d been as bad as everyone else. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “I got over it,” Rabb said. He held out his hands and turned them over, as though marveling at them. “My hands have never failed me. I’ve found something I can do well, and I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from creating unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.”

  “I’ve always loved my gazebo,” she admitted in a soft voice.

  “I’m glad,” Rabb said.

  “I’d love to see more of your work.”

  “You’re welcome to come to my workshop.”

  “I’d like that,” she said. “When?”

  “When can you spare the time? With the wedding coming up, you must have a lot to do over the next couple of weeks.”

  Oh. The wedding. She’d completely forgotten. “I have so much to do I’m not sure how I’ll finish it all,” Amanda admitted.

  “What about Jake? Is he helping?”

  “He’s busy with the ranch during the day, and he’s agreed to keep your nephew and niece, which will keep him busy in the evenings.”

  “I’d be glad to help—although I’m not sure what I can do,” Rabb said.

  A furrow appeared in Amanda’s brow. “I have to pick flowers for the church and a design for the cake and I have some final decisions to make on my wedding dress. I’m afraid I’ve left everything to the last minute. I was busy with school until a few days ago, and now everything has to be done at once. It would help to have another opinion.”

  “You’ve got it,” Rabb said.

  “I wouldn’t want to take you away from your work.”

  “My hours are flexible, and I was planning to take a little time off for Christmas anyhow. Where do you want to start? Flowers? Cake? Or dress?”

  Amanda laughed and realized how strange it felt. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. She felt...carefree and happy. Suddenly, activities she’d been looking at as chores seemed like they might be fun. “I don’t know. Can I call you later?”

  “Sure,” Rabb said. “Meanwhile, we have things to do.”

  Amanda sighed. Yes. There was always work to do. She stood and began collecting the dishes to carry to the sink.

  “I’ll help you with the dishes later,” Rabb said. “I think the rest of the afternoon would be better spent taking a ride.”

  “What?”

  Rabb took her by the hand and was tugging her toward the door. “Come on, Amanda. I know you ride. I’ve seen you with Jake.”

  “You mean go for a horseback ride? Now? This afternoon?”

  “Sure. Why not?”

  “What about the gazebo?” She looked around at the mess in the kitchen and said, “What about the dishes?”

  “They can both wait. There’s no telling how long this beautiful weather will last. Go put on your boots. Let’s take a few hours and get away from it all.”

  That sounded so wonderful. It also sounded irresponsible. “I have so much to do,” Amanda said, “I can’t possibly—”

  “I won’t take no for an answer,” Rabb said. “You have two seconds to go for your boots, or I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and haul you off like you are.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Amanda said, titillated by the threat, but not quite believing it, either.

  “Oh, no?” Rabb said. He reached out and tickled her ribs.

  Amanda scrunched her arms down tight and tried to wriggle away. His arms came around her as his hands insinuated themselves beneath her bent arms and wormed their way up to her underarms.

  “Oh, God.” She giggled. “Stop. I’m ticklish!”

  “Gonna get your boots?”

  “Yes!” she shrieked. “Yes.”

  “Then go,” he said, freeing her abruptly.

  Amanda took off at a run—she never ran in the house—giggling and laughing all the way.

  “Hurry back,” he shouted after her. “Or I’ll come up and get you.”

  For one treacherous moment, Amanda considered letting him do just that. In her bedroom, she kicked off her loafers, shoved her feet into her black cowboy boots, and ran—good grief, she was running again—back down the stairs.

  She was grinning when she stomped into the kitchen. “All right. I’m ready to go. Are you satisfied?”

  “God, you’re so beautiful.”

  Amanda’s grin faded. What was she doing? What was she thinking? She had no business running off with Rabb Whitelaw for an afternoon of...merriment. She had dishes to wash. And plans to make. For her wedding. To his brother.

  She gripped the back of a kitchen chair so hard her knuckles turned white. Because she had to hang on or go tearing out the door with hi
m. “You’d better go,” she said.

  “Mandy—”

  “Just go, Rabb. Now. Please.” When he didn’t move, she said, “Get out!”

  A moment later he was gone. And she was alone. Again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  AMANDA WAS STILL IN BED LONG past the time when she normally would have been up and busy. She’d tossed and turned all night, feeling guilty over her treatment of Rabb. She wouldn’t blame him if he never came back to fix her gazebo. He probably thought she was crazy. She certainly had no rational explanation for her behavior.

  She sat bolt upright at the first sound of hammering, then threw off the covers and scrambled out of bed, heading for the window. She turned and hopped right back into bed when her feet hit the frigid wooden floor. She reached down under the bed, found her bunny slippers and put them on, then trotted to the window. Well, the summer temperatures were gone.

  She could see Rabb was putting up new lattice, but he was wearing a shearling coat and leather gloves. She shoved the window up and yelled down at him, “What are you doing?”

  He smiled and waved and said, “Good morning, Mandy,” as though the events of the previous afternoon had never happened.

  Well, if he wanted to pretend things were fine, she was happy to forget the way she’d acted.

  “I could use a cup of coffee,” he said. “When you’re up.”

  “I’m up now,” she said, shivering as a blast of cold air hit her face.

  “You’re still in your pajamas,” he countered. “But I like them. You look cute.”

  Amanda glanced down at the baby doll pajamas she’d slept in. They were impractical in a way none of her everyday clothes were. Skimpy and sexy and very...pink. No one had ever seen them but her. And no one was supposed to see them.

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” she said, slamming the window and yanking down the shade.

  He thought she looked cute. She ran and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. Cute was a word for teenagers. Thirty-two-year-old women were never cute. She looked...ridiculous. She ought to be wearing something more appropriate for her age.

  But she’d had to be up several times at night with her mother during those years when she could have worn silly, flighty, fun clothes to bed, so she’d made up for it once her mother passed away by buying things like the girlish baby doll pajamas she wore now.

  She ruthlessly yanked them off, washed her face, brushed her teeth and put on the clothes she wore on cold days. Slacks, loafers with socks, an Oxford cloth shirt and a pullover crew-necked sweater. She shoved a brush through her short hair, slicked on some lipstick and headed downstairs.

  No sense pretending she was anything she wasn’t. Forget being cute. She kept her hair cut short because it was easy to take care of and, except for her pajamas, bought practical clothes that would last.

  She boiled a cup of water in the microwave and added a teaspoon of instant coffee. No coffeemaker for her. Speed was of the essence. Time was something she never seemed to have enough of. Or at least, that was the way it had been for eleven years. It had been difficult to readjust her mind-set in the years since her mother had passed away. All right, impossible. She had the feeling she could never catch up, never get back those years she’d lost.

  She stuck her head out the screen door and said, “Cream and sugar?”

  “Lots of both,” he shouted back.

  Jake liked his coffee black. Another little difference.

  She preferred just about anything hot to drink except coffee, but she didn’t feel like making either tea or cocoa right now. She wanted to get outside and apologize to Rabb.

  She’d learned not to put off unpleasant business. Better to get it over with. She put on her goose-down vest and headed outside with Rabb’s coffee.

  He stuck the hammer in his tool belt when he saw her coming and turned to reach for the coffee mug. “Aren’t you having any?”

  “I don’t drink coffee,” she said. “I only came out here to say I’m sorry for yesterday.” There, it was done.

  He sipped at the coffee, winced, then blew on it. “Uh-huh,” he said. He looked at her and waited.

  She stuck her hands in her vest pockets, because it was colder outside than she’d expected it would be. Her breath plumed in the air. “Guess a norther came in overnight,” she said.

  “Uh-huh,” he said. And nothing more.

  “I’m sorry now I didn’t take advantage of your offer to go riding yesterday. That was probably the end of the warm weather.”

  “Uh-huh,” he said and sipped again at his coffee.

  “I know I was rude,” she said, agitated at his lack of speech. “But I...” How was she supposed to explain how she’d felt? What she’d feared?

  “But you’re not used to having fun,” he said.

  She frowned. “That’s not true.”

  “Prove it,” he said. “Come riding with me today.”

  She shivered and scoffed, “It’s freezing!”

  “It’s refreshingly cool,” he countered with a smile.

  She found herself smiling back at him. And sobered when she realized what she was doing. “I have things to do to get ready for the wedding.”

  “Oh, yeah. Let’s see, the flowers. And the dress. And... What was the other thing?”

  “The cake.”

  “Right. Which one needs doing today?”

  “The fitting for the dress, I suppose.”

  “Okay. We’ll do that and then go riding,” he said.

  She pursed her lips and wrinkled her forehead. “You don’t want to watch me try on my wedding dress.”

  “Sure I do,” he said. “So long as you agree to come riding with me afterward.”

  “How much more work had you planned to do on the gazebo?” she asked.

  He looked at the gazebo, which had one of the two naked sides covered once more in lattice and said, “That’s plenty for today. I’m ready when you are.”

  She shook her head and laughed again. It must be nice to be able to stop in the middle of a project, to simply walk away and come back later when you felt like it. Her life hadn’t allowed her that sort of freedom. She felt a little reckless at the thought of taking off on horseback in weather cold enough to turn her nose red as a berry.

  “All right,” she said. “You asked for it. Let me get my boots and we’ll go.”

  Rabb was standing in her kitchen when she came down, the coffee cup rinsed and sitting in the sink. She was thinking what a great husband he would make some woman when he said, “I don’t see any breakfast dishes. Did you eat?”

  “I usually skip breakfast. I’m in too much of a hurry,” she admitted.

  “You need to eat.”

  While she stood gawking, he opened a series of cupboards until he found some Cheerios, then a cereal bowl and finally a spoon. “This won’t take long,” he said, “and you’ll need the energy when we go riding.”

  Before she quite knew what was happening, Amanda was sitting at the kitchen table, Rabb in a chair across from her.

  “You need to take better care of yourself,” he said.

  She felt self-conscious eating with someone watching her, especially when he wasn’t eating anything. When she tried to hurry he said, “Take your time. We’ve got all day.”

  She raised a brow and asked, “Don’t you have to work?”

  “I’m taking a holiday. Except for fixing your gazebo, I’m footloose for the next couple of weeks.”

  Amanda couldn’t imagine Jake being able to take off like that. His ranch kept him busy from dawn to dusk, and it was a job that had to be done 365 days a year. He’d had little time off to spend with her, which had worked out well, because she’d been busy herself with all sorts of projects at school. However, during summers and sprin
g vacation she’d wished he was around more. She’d felt...lonely.

  She looked down at her empty bowl, gave a chagrined smile, and said, “I didn’t realize I was that hungry.”

  Rabb was up and rinsing her bowl before she could stop him. “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “We’ll take my car, if that’s all right,” she said.

  Jake always preferred driving. Rabb just said, “Let’s do it.”

  She waited for Rabb to complain about her driving. It was as conservative as every other aspect of her life. She watched the speed limit and came to a full stop at every sign. But he said nothing.

  “One of the teachers has an aunt who’s a seamstress,” Amanda said to fill the silence. “Mrs. Caruso is amazing. She’s making my wedding gown from a picture I found in Modern Brides magazine.”

  “Sewing is a real talent,” Rabb agreed.

  Amanda resisted the urge to describe the dress. She’d fallen in love with it and couldn’t wait to see Jake’s face when he saw her walking down the aisle.

  Because it was a winter wedding, she’d decided she needed long, fitted sleeves. The bodice was cut into a heart shape, then covered modestly with tulle, and the A-line skirt had a short train that began at her waist and flared four feet behind her.

  As Amanda rang the doorbell at Mrs. Caruso’s home, she could feel Rabb breathing down her neck. Well, not literally. But she was aware of him standing in her space. His shoulder actually brushed hers. When she saw how close Rabb stayed, she suddenly realized that Jake always kept a few inches between their bodies.

  “Hello, Amanda. I see you’ve brought your young man. What a lovely couple you make.”

  Amanda flushed at Mrs. Caruso’s mistake and said, “This is my fiancé’s brother, Rabb Whitelaw.”

  “Well, come in both of you,” Mrs. Caruso said. “You go on back to the bedroom and slip into that dress, while I make Mr. Whitelaw comfortable. Then I’ll come help you.”

  “Please call me Rabb,” Rabb said.

  Amanda hesitated a second, wondering if Rabb would be okay. Jake would already have been fidgeting in the confined space. Rabb simply smiled at Mrs. Caruso and said, “I hear you’re a wonderful seamstress.”