Paige could feel her eyes stinging at the idea of not being wanted or welcome, a thought she had been feeling for the past two weeks that she had been in Canton County. She could understand far too well how he felt, but she couldn’t imagine feeling that for her entire life. With all the loss in his life, no wonder he was a hardened man. With a confident hand, she reached out to him, closing the distance between their two horses, grasping his shoulder. “Well, if it means anything at all, I want you.” Her voice trailed as the truth of that statement ambushed her. “I want you here,” she added.
Everett, who had been avoiding her gaze and staring straight ahead, turned, meeting her eyes as she began to slide her hand off his shoulder. Just when she was about to take her reigns with it, he caught her, wrapping his hand around her forearm in a satisfyingly strong grip. Before she had time to reflect, he leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers.
In that moment, all of her doubts disappeared.
***
Aunt Jana took a good look down the hallway before closing her bedroom door and picking up her phone. Holding it to her ear, she listened for a moment and sighed. She always got his voicemail. “Rick, honey. It’s me. I’m having a few concerns about our plan. And I just need to hear your voice and courage. . . . Call me as soon as you can. I love you, dear.”
She brought the phone down and pushed the disconnect button. She held her hands up to her mouth to bite her fingernails and abruptly brought them down. Damn that Arlo. He’d always been so disappointed in her because she was a girl and her mother had never been able to provide him a beloved son. Did he really think she didn’t see that? She had done everything he had told her. She had even given up the man she loved to do what Daddy wanted her to do and had married Alfred at his insistence. And what a marriage that had turned out to be!
It hadn’t been all bad, at least not before she had shown up and inserted herself into their lives. She had grown to love Alfred after their first year of marriage. Maybe not madly in love with him, but she did love him. But that slip of a girl had cast a spell. It certainly didn’t help that Jana seemed to be unable to provide him a son—and Arlo a grandson. What was it with these men and their need for sons, anyway? Why couldn’t they have been satisfied with her? Was she so lacking?
Aunt Jana shook her head and marched toward her door after glancing back down at her phone. “Please let me be enough for you,” she murmured. She had been so sure of Rick, positive that he had kept his love burning for her all those years, like she had. This was her chance to finally have everything she ever wanted, everything she deserved.
She opened her door and stepped out into the hallway. Did Arlo really think she would just lie down and let him take away everything she had worked for, everything she had sacrificed for? Apparently he didn’t know his daughter as well as he thought.
Chapter Twelve
Ellie sat a pitcher of iced tea on the kitchen counter and stood back, wiping her hands on her apron. Paige’s mouth began watering at the sight of the glorious nectar. She gasped. “Oh my God! Ellie you are the best!!”
Ellie let out a round of ringing laughter. “Let’s make a deal.” She rested her palms on the counter, leaning toward Paige.
“What?” she replied, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“I'll make you iced tea every single day as long as you promise to react like that every time.” She leaned on the counter, crossing her arms.
Paige laughed. “That’s funny, but you don’t have to give me incentives to appreciate your iced tea. It’s pretty much engrained at this point.”
Ellie dramatically batted her eyelashes. “Oh stop!” she cried. “You’re killing me with kindness.” She pulled a glass off a shelf and handed it to her.
Paige took the glass and poured herself a generous amount.
Ellie stepped away, returning to the spread of food laid out on the kitchen island. It was the Fourth of July and apparently it was custom to hold a massive picnic. She gestured at Paige’s laptop. “Aren’t you here to interview me?”
Paige nodded slowly. “Good point,” she replied as she took another sip of the iced tea and pulled a fresh Word document up onto her screen. “Okay,” she started, staring at her first question. “How long have you lived in this house?”
Ellie scrunched up her face as if she were trying to remember a long number. “Fifteen months, two weeks, and nine days.”
Paige nodded, impressed, and then recorded that. “And you’re the housekeeper, correct?”
Ellie shrugged. “More or less, yes.”
Paige shot her a blank look. “More or less?”
“I just help out as best as I can doing whatever anyone needs.”
“And what does that usually entail?”
“Well, cooking, of course. Then there’s maintaining the barn, taking care of the smaller animals, and just generally helping out with big events like this one,” she explained, gesturing around her.
“Do you like what you do?”
“I like the ranch and I love Canton County.”
Paige let out a low chuckle. “But that’s not what I asked.”
Ellie released a huff of breath, feigning exasperation. “Okay, no. I don’t really like it. I like things about it, but if you asked me if I would want to stay here for the rest of my life, I’d have to say no.”
Paige nodded slowly, her face flushing at this unexpected, yet highly interesting response. “Okay, so why is that? Do you not like being a ranch hand or a housekeeper?”
Ellie smirked. “Well I don’t think anyone actually wants to be a housekeeper, but it’s not really that.” She looked around, an uncharacteristic cloud of uncertainty darkening her expression. “It’s something about this house, and about Aunt Jana.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, it’s like she’s showered this place in a dark gloom.”
Paige raised an eyebrow. “Okay, Ellie, can you elaborate?”
Ellie giggled, an action that seemed to diffuse the tension in the room, if ever so slightly. “Well, I don’t know. She pretends. She pretends that she cares, and that she loves this place and that it’s not all about the money.” As she explained, Paige took note of the fact that she had never seen Ellie more serious than she was now. “And that just . . . well that just brings everyone’s energy down. I feel used in that way.”
Paige raised an eyebrow as she typed in the last few words of this response, then closed her laptop. “Really?” she pressed, right before filling her mouth with another sip of that iced tea.
Ellie hastily nodded her head but then returned her attention to the oven, which she had been watching closely. “Yes. Now enough of that.” She glanced at the oven again, then added, “Now, just let me put in this cobbler and then we can discuss just what the heck is going on between you and Everett.”
Paige couldn’t help but smile, that giddy feeling rising in the pit of her stomach.
***
Paige had resolved to stay with Ellie in the kitchen the whole time she was baking for moral support and to offer assistance wherever needed. She hadn’t realized that would entail three hours of watching Ellie slip around the kitchen in a cloud of her own powder before it was finally time for the two of them to join the rest of the world outside. They had a nice long trek before they got to the center of the picnicking zone, but on the way there, Paige was already getting a sense of the scope of this event from the large number of cars that populated the front of the ranch, the driveway, and the nearest pastures. Her heart dropped as they came upon the large crowd of men, women, and children muddling around with plates full of food and faces covered with sunglasses. She had no idea how she was ever going to be able to find Everett in all of this.
Soon enough, they came to a stop in front of a half-full dessert table manned by three middle-aged women. At the sight of the two of them approaching with their hands full of goods, the women’s eyes widened. One of them, a blond woman with nearly clear sunglasses, darted around the table to receive the
goods and help display them correctly. “Ellie, are these your famous homemade cobblers?” she asked.
Ellie nodded, while Paige scanned the crowd for Everett.
A smile stretched across the woman’s face. “Oh wonderful. These will be the highlight of the picnic!” she exclaimed.
As soon as the cobblers were out of Paige’s hands, she drifted away from the table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ellie dart toward a man she hardly recognized, but Everett was nowhere to be found. Just as she was starting to give up hope, she bumped into a hard mass and turned around to find herself staring up at the very man she was looking for. “Oh,” she gasped. Then when she laid eyes on the massive turkey leg in his hand, her eyes opened wide and she said, “That turkey leg smells delicious.”
“By all means, you’ve got to try it,” he replied, and before she could protest, he cupped her chin with his free hand.
“Oh my God, Everett, your hands are so sticky!” she cried.
He burst out laughing, and before long, she found herself joining. Then, as her giggles subsided, he lowered the turkey to her lips. She hesitated for a second before taking a generous and fearless bite of the savory meat. Her eyes widened at the amalgam of flavors dominating her mouth.
“I know; it’s scrumptious, right?” he exclaimed.
She nodded frantically. “Oh my God, yes it is,” she replied, her voice muffled by her full mouth. As she was chewing, she noticed him avert his gaze from her face to above her head. Without saying anything, she turned around, following his eyes to find herself staring at Mia and Ian. She gawked at the sight of them engaging in what was obviously a fight. She gulped down the last bit of the massive bite of turkey leg, and her mind drifted to that night when Ian had tried to kiss her completely against her will. She watched their nonverbal language, deducing that he was trying to convince her to do something, like get back with him. It ended with Mia shoving him away and stalking in the opposite direction.
***
After hours of eating fried pickles, turkey legs, and apple pies, Paige found herself stuffed and lying on her back on top of a picnic blanket, her eyes trained on the sky above. Aunt Jana had made a quick appearance at the picnic before disappearing to deal with “business.” Paige was full, content, and ready for the fireworks. With a definitive and unmistakable whine, the first firework soared into the sky. Her eyes held in wonder as she watched it explode into a million intricate colors casting its bright light against the opaque sky.
Everett, who had been sitting next to her, put his arm around her like it was the most natural thing in the world. She let herself fall into his embrace, her head resting against his chest, her ears catching his every heartbeat. As the two of them sat there, watching the fireworks, breathing together, she realized that there was nowhere else she would rather be.
Chapter Thirteen
Arlo sat in his grandfather’s chair staring out the bare windows at the fireworks that unfolded before his eyes. He remembered when he was Everett’s age. If this were fifty years ago or if he wasn’t rendered physically helpless by his illness, he would have been down there with the rest of the town, catching up with the neighboring ranches and spending time with the town’s folk he never got a chance to see during the work week. He loved the Fourth of July as one of those days that made him feel more connected to his community and to his country more than any other. He leaned out of his chair to get a better look at the colors as they silently exploded in the sky. A smile played at the corner of his lips . . . but then it happened.
It started with a mere twitch in the side of his face, something miniscule and ignorable—something that could have easily been mistaken for something entirely different. He flexed his face, the twitching approaching the muscles around his eyes making it nearly impossible for him to see. The twitching momentarily disappeared and he was able to return his attention to the bright lights. Not even a minute had passed before his face started to do it again. This time it was no longer localized to his face but had spread throughout his entire body. There were tiny spasms. He tensed his muscles and flexed his face again to try to alleviate the twitching, but just as he was in the process of exercising his cheek muscles, a new wave of the twitching began, this time with much more fervor and intensity than the last. He clutched the arms of his chair with frail fingers, his nails chipping on the firm leather as his body seized. He tried to breathe in and out, forcing the oxygen to his diseased lungs, but no amount of calm thinking could alleviate this bizarre experience.
His spasms lurched him in this direction and that, his thin body repeatedly banging against the back of the chair with a force that sent it swinging violently back and forth. Soon enough, his breaths turned into desperate chokes of air, and his face had turned red with his failed effort to control his own body. His heart was beating against his chest with a force that, no doubt, made it visible to anyone who would have looked. It pounded in his ears, slamming against his eardrums. The spasms shot through the interior of his mind, against its deepest recesses until he thought that he might be driven mad with rage and pain.
Then, as if cued by some glorious, external force, everything stopped. He floated to the back of his chair, his eyes flickering shut. After a short moment passed, he had to remind himself to breathe.
***
Aunt Jana stepped into the library, followed closely by a sullen-looking Ian. She shut the door and turned abruptly to him, hissing.
“What on Earth were you thinking, cornering me at the picnic where anyone could hear?”
“You’ve somehow been able to make sure we haven’t been alone to talk in several weeks. I know Arlo doesn’t have much more time. And my dad is concerned that you’re startin’ to get cold feet.”
She put her finger in his face. “You don’t know nothin’ about my feet, boy! You need to leave grownup stuff to the grownups. You proved how discreet you are when you attacked the reporter at the bar.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Not that again. Look, no one got hurt.”
“Except for you,” she grinned wickedly. “Serves you right. You’re the one who’s gonna jeopardize this whole thing. If I’ve got cold feet, it’s about you.”
He crossed his arms. “Have you forgotten whose idea this was in the first place?”
“Of course, not. It was your dad’s. Why he got his hothead of an idiot son to get involved, I’ll never know.”
“You just remember who’s got the upper hand here. You never would have known that Arlo changed his will to leave the ranch to your husband’s bastard if Dad and I hadn’t told you. And you certainly could not have made that will disappear without us.”
“Without your father, you mean.”
“Whatever. I’m as much a part of this as he is. And I’ve put more blood and sweat into this ranch than either he or you ever will. I deserve to be a part of this.”
Aunt Jana sneered and turned away.
Ian put his hand on the doorknob. “So if you’re having second thoughts, I suggest you remember who has all the power here. It won’t be hard to explain how you hid a revised will from the lawyer, once Arlo is gone.” He opened the door and slipped out before she could throw a heavy book at his head.
***
Everett stood at the foot of Arlo’s bed, his rough fingers wrapped around a small bouquet of flowers he picked from Aunt Jana’s flower garden. His feet were glued to the floor beneath him, for what could he say? What could he do about the frail man who lay before him? His heart ached for him, but what good could that do? As he stood, Arlo tried to turn over in his sheets. Everett quickly set the flowers down and went to help. He flinched at the sight of Arlo’s face, his skin sunken in and his eyes surrounded by dark circles.
“What are you doing here?” Arlo asked in what sounded more like a croak than a human voice.
Everett furrowed his brow as he opened and closed his mouth, completely at a loss for words. At that moment, Aunt Jana yanked the bedroom door open and stalked into the room, add
ing the flowers Everett had brought to a vase. “He doesn’t feel like working, that’s what,” she quipped as she arranged the flowers on the night stand.
Everett ignored her, turning his attention back to Arlo. “Don’t worry about the ranch, Grandpa. It’s in great shape,” he replied, trying his best to diffuse the ball of stress Aunt Jana had just thrown at him.
“No thanks to you,” Aunt Jana retorted.
Arlo turned his head, ever so slightly, in Aunt Jana’s direction. “Are you forty-five . . . or five?” he asked, but his subsequent chuckle quickly morphed into a fit of coughing.
Everett reached out and helped him turn over to his side. Aunt Jana moved to Arlo’s grandfather’s rocking chair and sat, doing nothing but giving him a quick glance-over, just to assess the situation. As soon as his coughs subsided and Everett thought it safe enough to release him from his grip, she chimed in, “I’m forty-nine, Arlo.”
Everett glowered at her. “Only you would use your age as leverage.”
“There’s nothing wrong with correcting someone when they’re wrong,” she remarked.
Everett set his jaw, grinding his teeth as he forced himself to avert his gaze from her and focus on the reason he was there, Arlo. His eyes began to sting like they hadn’t in a long time; in fact, not since his mom had died. Arlo, now asleep again, had been there to calm his fears, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, that he was going to get through all of this. Now, as he looked around the room, the curtains drawn back, the sunlight streaming through making Aunt Jana’s hair glow like a false halo over her head, he could already feel Arlo’s presence leaving the room. “I’m not going to fight with you, because there are obviously more pressing matters.”
Aunt Jana uncrossed her legs and leaned toward him, her eyes narrowing. “Look, you’re obviously right. There’s no way I could not agree with you there,” she started. She stood up and made her way to the other side of Arlo. She peered at the weakened old man, who had already fallen sleep. “But I do take issue with fact that you are here, sitting idle while there’s work to be done. This ranch is just as much yours as it is anyone else’s.”
Dare To Love A Cowboy (Canton County Cowboys 2) Page 11
