“Hello, Mr. Felix. It is a pleasure to meet Mr. Jim’s brother.”
Trey nodded, but when his eyes bulged, James waved Juan away. “My brother is in a hurry to get back to the house. Our mother is visiting.”
“Family time is very important. Thank you for the gift for Maria. Have a nice evening, Mr. Jim, Mr. Felix.
They headed off again.
His half-brother choked. “That’s the Almas caviar box I packed in the balloon picnic. It must have fallen out of the basket. Do you know what that cost?”
Jim would have answered but he couldn’t stop laughing.
A few moments later, they drove over the low rise and his cabin came into sight.
Trey pulled himself out of his funk enough to ask, “James, how many people are at your house with Sarabeth?”
“When I left? Nobody. Just her.”
“So whose are all those cars?”
He pulled the Mule up by the front porch in the small space left and climbed out. “Those cars, brother, belong to the Cedar Valley kinfolk. And I’m willing to bet Mom is already there, too.”
“I say we run for it.”
James laughed, and Trey joined in—probably the first time they’d ever shared amusement. Black humor, though. With everything that had gone down, their sweet mother would not be waiting with open arms. She’d dealt with too many of their escapades in the past for them to think she’d let them slide. “We could only hide so long. Let’s face them now.”
Trey laid his hand on his arm. “James, Jim. What would you say if I told you I was a little relieved when Sarabeth ran for it? I like her, maybe even love her, but I’m not even sure how we ended up at the altar. I think she just figured it out before I did.”
“So she still has a job and if she wants to come back to the city you might help her get into an apartment and get started again?” He paused. “And she’s free to date whomever she wants as far as you’re concerned?”
“She’s a really special girl, but I’m not certain things didn’t progress so fast because Mom pushed us both.”
“Not our mother.”
They got out of the car and started for the door, and stopped Trey him. “Jim, did something happen between you and Sarabeth this afternoon?”
He closed his eyes for a second and drew a deep breath. “If it had, would you really want to know?”
“No, better I don’t. You like her though, don’t you?”
He started to protest then stopped. “I do. I think she’s amazing. She’s so grounded. Did you know she’s anti-billionaire?”
Trey reached for the doorknob. “Looks like I got out just in time, then.”
“Yeah, but what am I going to do?” Still, with a better relationship with his brother than so far in his lifetime, and no other claims on Sarabeth, he couldn’t help but feel cheered. Things might be looking up. As long as she didn’t hate him for not being a farmer. Maybe he could grow something on the terrace at home. Corn or something.
They entered to find not only their mother and Trey’s father but James’s dad and brothers and his stepmother seated in the living area. Aiden stood by the window. Only one person was not there.
James froze, his stomach burning again. “Where’s Sarabeth?
“Hello, boys. It’s so nice to see you together.”
“Hi, Mom.”
The pair of socks she’d stuffed in the toes of Jim’s sneakers kept them from flat falling off but did not make them comfortable And the gym shorts belted at the waist and topped with the 5K T-shirt made for a lovely temporary outfit. She wasn’t proud of herself, but she’d lifted enough money from the desk drawer for a bus ticket to the next town big enough to host a homeless shelter. She had to start somewhere.
As soon as she found work, she’d pay it back. But she couldn’t wait any longer. She’d found herself with another rich man. This one actually pretending to be a farmer. It seemed ridiculous to lure women in by acting poor. Rich, sure. But who played poor? She plodded down the road, wincing as blisters rose on her aching feet.
The homeless shelter would have shoes, wouldn’t they? What on the face of the Earth had made her spend every last penny on the dress and, lest she forget, those pretty, pretty shoes. She deserved to be trudging along in the dust. And now she’d stolen money. The only honest act she’d committed lately was leaving the wedding before tying poor Trey to her for life.
Okay, and making love with Jim. But her decisions tumbled over one another and most of them were far less intelligent than she’d hoped. From the day she arrived in San Francisco, filled with optimism, until today had been a series of missteps. What made her think the daughter of an addict belonged with a billionaire. Sure, she didn’t take drugs. She just set out to marry well. To marry a man with a family who would embrace her, make them one of their own, and she’d go forward like everyone else with somewhere to spend the holidays sitting around a big table, cuddling babies and telling stories about other years.
Was it so wrong to want that? And to have fallen in love with Margerie as a mother? How screwed up was she?
Dark settled in solid, and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. The trees lining the road loomed, menacing, and it had been a few minutes since a car passed. Clouds had rolled in, blocking the starlight, and Sarabeth began to feel vulnerable. In fact, as a pickup drew close, instead of sticking out her thumb, as she had been doing, she ducked behind a tree and waited for it to pass. Getting spooked was doing her no good, but she had to get away. As far as possible.
The truck circled back and drove by again, more slowly this time and she stayed where she was, edgy and unsure. Peering out from around the tree, she spotted the face in the passenger seat. No…not Trey. If he got to her, what would he do? Hold her until the police arrived to arrest her for stealing his balloon?
She had really begun to hate that big heart-shaped red thing. Focused on it as if it were the cause of her problems, when all it had done was carry her gracefully away from the biggest mistake she could ever have made. Unfortunately, if Trey was here, in Cedar Valley, already, he must have had a way to track her. She sank down to sit behind the tree, a puddle of misery.
Couldn’t he even let her disappear? No…of course not. The truck drove a ways down the road and stopped. She felt taken to ground, like a rabbit by the fox. What if he offered her the choice of marrying him or going to jail for grand theft balloon? What would she do then?
Footsteps approached, scuffing on the asphalt shoulder. At least two sets. The country quiet made them very loud. Not even a bird chirped in the tree. Trey and one of his goons.
Goons! When had she ever seen him with a goon?
No, whoever he was with would not be chasing her down with a club to break her knees because the basket broke open revealing their top-secret electronics to whatever industrial spy should happen to arrive in the orchard.
Now that she thought of it, she didn’t know exactly what they did over at MacKay Industries. They could specialize in industrial sabotage for all she knew.
“Sarabeth, we know you’re there. We saw you duck behind the tree. Come on out.” Trey sounded like a stranger, like she hadn’t been about to marry him the day before.
She tried to hunch smaller, as if that would change their having seen her, and finally decided to stop being ridiculous. She’d been on the run since the day before and it got her nowhere. Trey stood on the road a few feet from her and the time had come to face up to her actions.
James’s heart ached as Sarabeth emerged from behind the tree, leaves in her hair and an expression of defeat on her face. She took two steps toward them, her gaze fixed on the ground before she seemed to take them in and her jaw dropped.
“Jim…Trey. Both of you. I don’t…I—”
Trey held out a hand. “I know a lot has gone on, but I think we need to have a word in private before we go back and face half of Cedar Valley and my parents. Well, our mother and both our fathers.”
“I’m so sorr
y. I don’t know what came over me.”
“I know, baby. It will all work out.”
Her eyes were like saucers, but she went to him. He dropped an arm over her shoulder, and they walked a ways down the road. They looked like a married couple, moving in step as if they always traveled together. Jim turned away, not because he wanted to, but he felt it necessary to give them privacy. Decent. They’d both expressed their desire to stay apart, but the second they came together, they looked right.
They’d planned to get married for a reason. They must have loved one another and seeing each other again probably reminded them of that. He’d do the right thing. Keep his mouth shut about the afternoon and wish them well. But when they rescheduled the wedding, he wouldn’t be there. He’d be too likely to object.
“We’re back.”
He jerked, too lost in misery and self-pity to have heard them return. Pulling his lips into a semblance of a friendly smile, he turned to face them.
“What happened to your face?”
James felt his eye. “You didn’t notice before? All the scrapes and bruises from trying to stop your balloon?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. After you called Mom, she called me and she told me everything you told her so I knew about the damage to your executive complexion. I mean that smile. Are you trying to scare us?”
The corners of Sarabeth’s mouth twitched, and he noticed she was no longer under his brother’s arm.
“I’m going to wait for you guys in the truck,” Trey said and headed in that direction, leaving them alone.
They stood in silence for a long moment. Then she took his hand and laced their fingers together.
“Trey gave me my job back,” she finally said. “And he’ll advance me enough on my salary to get into another apartment.”
“That’s good.” But it didn’t explain the hands or…
“I told him he deserved better than me.”
He squeezed her hand until she yelped. “Nobody is better than you. And you’re not ordinary.”
“Okay, Jim… Thank you. I was about to say that Trey and I agree marrying one another would have been a mistake. Nothing either of us did was wrong, but two minutes after meeting you, I knew what I’d been looking for.” He started to speak but she held up her free hand. “Let me finish. I’m not asking for anything from you and I still don’t want to be a rich man’s society wife. I want to pursue a career of my own. I have no idea what that might be, but I want to find out. Maybe go to grad school and take finance. Maybe if I understand it better I can make some of my own. Who knows? Maybe I can be a billionaire. But that’s not what matters. Not now, I know it’s weird—Trey is really your brother? But maybe we’ll meet again someday or maybe we can go out to lunch, I—”
He jerked her to him, cutting off her words with a kiss that showed her everything he thought about waiting until someday to spend time together. He cupped the back of her head and forgot everything but the warmth of her mouth, the scent of her skin, and the possibility of a future with a woman who might well be his equal in almost every way except where she was superior.
When they parted, he rested his forehead against hers. “Tell me the truth. What did you really like about my brother?”
“He’s a decent guy and good looking. Fun to be with.”
“Go on,” he growled.
“I liked your mom a lot. I wanted her to be my family, and I got swept up in the love she and your stepdad have for one another.” She swallowed. “I was a foster child growing up. My mom was a drug addict and I don’t even know if she’s still alive. Your family is so full of love.”
“Well, you’re in luck there because Mom is just crazy about you, too. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s determined to get you in the family even if she has to adopt you. Are you sure you don’t mind that I’m a businessman instead of a farmer?”
“No, I really hate business dinners and things like that, but if they aren’t every night, I can cope. I think the problem wasn’t that Trey had money, it was that we were trying to force a connection that wasn’t there.”
“Good,” he said. “I was afraid you were prejudiced against billionaires.” He kissed her again then spoke against her lips. “But what do you like about me?”
“Everything.”
Epilogue
After a long evening of family confusion leading into the biggest order Cedar Valley Pizza Den had had since the last time a bunch of MacKays got together, Margerie Felix settled into a guest room at her son Jim’s home. John had not stayed over, with an early meeting of his foundation, he preferred to start his morning at home.
Wearing her Chinese silk robe again, she snuggled under the covers and picked up her phone. It was pretty late to call Mercer Island, but she couldn’t wait.
The phone rang and Katherine Anderson answered. “Hello, is everything okay, Margerie? Hang on, I don’t want to wake Joseph.”
There was a moment of silence, then, “What’s up? I hope you are not upset that we didn’t make the wedding. Joseph wasn’t feeling well.”
“Nothing serious I hope?”
“No, just a cold but you know how he can be. I didn’t want him to get any sicker by flying around the country. I probably fuss too much.”
“You didn’t hear what happened at the wedding, I take it?” Margerie took a sip from the glass of wine she’d carried upstairs with her.
“No, we’ve been here at home.”
“I really thought they’d go through with it. They were great together to all outside appearances but they just didn’t have ‘it,’ you know?”
“What you and John have, and Joseph and I.”
She plumped a pillow and settled back with a sigh. “Yes. What we have. But I didn’t interfere.”
“Of course not.”
“At least until Sarabeth made a run for it and I happened to have this little device thingy that goes with the balloon she escaped in.
“I want all the details. When can we get together?”
Margerie drew a deep, satisfied breath. “I was thinking of a shopping trip to New York next week. If you’re available, I’d like your input on some ideas I have. Seems I have one son left unattached.”
About Kate Richards
Kate Richards divides her time between Los Angeles and the High Sierras. She would gladly spend all her days in the mountains, but she’d miss the beach…and her very supportive husband’s commute would be three hundred miles. Wherever she is, she loves to explore all different kinds of relationships in her stories. She doesn’t believe one-size-fits-all, and whether her characters live BDSM, ménage, GLBT, spanking, or any other kind of lifestyle, it’s the love, the joy in one another, that counts.
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