by Tina Leonard
Her bed, though, was just right. It was the bed they’d made the baby in. Amongst all this change it had stayed the same. It had the same bedspread, the same pillows.
“And it’s going to have me in it,” he said with a grin.
“What?” Valentine said.
“Never mind,” he said. “I really like your new place.”
“You do?” Valentine looked at him suspiciously. “I thought you were opposed to me moving.”
“But now I’ve changed,” he said. “See how easy that was?”
Valentine walked over to him. “Crockett, I do not trust you. You are in a very slippery mood, and I warn you, Mimi’s told me all about you Jefferson men when you decide to have your way with a woman.”
He gave her his most wounded expression. “I am the most innocent of parties.”
“And that makes me even more worried. But,” Valentine said with a smile, “look how pretty this all is. I love it here!” She turned to him. “Thank you for being helpful and understanding.”
There was a knock on her front door, and Valentine smiled at Crockett. “My first visitor.”
She opened the door. The locksmith stood outside with keys in his hand. She reached to take the keys, but he handed them to Crockett instead.
“Here are your keys,” he said. “All new locks.”
“You put new locks on my house?” she asked.
Crockett held up his keys proudly. “These are my keys, to my new townhouse. Next door. Come see my new place.”
Disbelieving, she followed him, watching him open the door. “Perfect,” he said to the locksmith. “Thank you.”
The door swung open, and Valentine gasped. It was an artist’s studio, with easels and clay and everything an artist needed to feel at home. She even thought she spied a potter’s wheel and some glass-blowing materials.
“I needed a place where I could create in peace,” he said. “The attic wasn’t really working out with my leg. And Mason had figured out that I was eyeing the barn. So this is my new lair, complete with a lock to keep my brothers out and my creativity in.”
Valentine couldn’t figure out if she was happy or worried that he intended to be so close to her. It was as if she hadn’t moved off the ranch after all!
Part of her was very excited that he intended to be so much a part of her life. She’d never had a man pay her so much attention.
“And this,” Crockett said, “is my crowning glory.”
He swung open a door, revealing a room full of baby things. A colorful crib, a ton of toys, a carton of diapers, even a measuring chart on one wall.
Valentine slowly turned to face Crockett.
“When you’re working, the baby can be here,” he explained.
“It sort of feels like I never moved away from you,” she said, “and my goal was to rely on myself.”
“No, your goal was to not let another Jefferson hurt you. I proposed badly, and now I have some work to do.” He took a deep breath. “Right now it’s two small houses, but I hope they will eventually grow into one big house. And when you’re ready, I intend to knock out the wall that separates us.”
Chapter Sixteen
Valentine stared at the determined cowboy, her heart filling with a feeling that she had never had before. “It’s a beautiful studio,” she said, “though I think I’m mad at you.”
“Be mad about me,” he said. “I swear I’m worth it.”
“Do you have any other secrets you’re keeping from me? This one was a biggie.”
He shook his head. “If I told, it wouldn’t be a secret. But I wouldn’t let my guard down for an instant if I were you. It’s gonna be shady around here for a while. You handle surprise much better than I thought you would.”
“Oh, yeah?” She gave him a very demure look.
“You can tell me anything. Tell me you’re having twins, tell me you want me to redecorate, but just don’t tell me you’re never going to be my girl.”
“Well, I don’t know about being your girl,” she said. “The jury is still out on that. I have to wait and see what kind of neighbor you are.”
He grinned. “Figures.”
“However, I believe there’s one more thing you haven’t done properly, besides apologize. It’s important to know how compatible we are as neighbors before this—”
His cell phone rang, interrupting them. “Excuse me,” Crockett said. “It’s the family calling. Something you’ll have to get used to. They always intrude at the worst time.”
She nodded. “No surprise there.”
“Hello?” He listened for a few moments. “Great. I can help her.” He hung up. “Delilah is on her way to town with Jerry’s truck loaded full of her belongings. Mason wants me to help them unload.”
“I can help, too.”
“No, you can’t,” Crockett said.
“I can carry lamps!”
“You can’t even run a vacuum. You may take a cookie platter over, though. I love your cookies.”
Valentine pursed her lips. “We have to get something straight. Just because you live next door to me doesn’t mean you own me.”
The smile slipped off his face.
“My location has nothing to do with it. The fact that you’re having my baby—”
“Does not mean you own me, either.”
Crockett frowned. “If you think I’m going to start my fatherhood the way Last started his, you’re heading for disappointment.”
“Did your father boss your mother around?”
“Oh, no,” Crockett said. “My mother did everything she could to please my father. He never had to ask for a thing.”
“Oh, boy,” Valentine said. “I think we need neighbor counseling.”
“Neighbor counseling?”
“Yes. As a reader of classics, you may have come across Robert Frost’s opinion of neighborliness in his poem ‘The Mending Wall.’ One gets a very clear picture of how important it is to set boundaries in the beginning, in order for everyone to coexist peacefully.” She smiled. “Having a librarian for a sister comes in handy.”
He raised a brow in the manner which she’d dubbed Jefferson cocky. “Personally, I prefer Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale, The Selfish Giant, and what the giant learned about walls.” He grinned broadly. “Having a father who knew how to make his woman happy comes in handy, as well. I’m looking forward to reading the classics he read to us to my own children. Valentine, I will be knocking down this wall eventually.”
“Okay, and at that time, we’ll go into counseling for men who knock down walls.”
His laugh was confident and deeply amused and happier than she’d ever heard it. He crossed his arms and leaned against the very wall he said would one day disappear. “Valentine Cakes, soon to be Jefferson, every misconception and everything you think you know about me is about to change. In fact, I am a cowboy chameleon. And you, my lush-bottomed, pear-shaped sweetie, you are going to beg me to tear down this wall. I promise you that.”
TWO WEEKS LATER, the new Union Junction hair-stylists were moved in. Valentine was settled in her new place. Crockett was quite content in his new abode, though he still traveled to the ranch regularly to help out. The artist in him loved having peace and quiet and privacy in which to create. He was letting all his ideas run wild. Painting, glass-work, sculpting. It was as if he suddenly had permission to be himself.
He loved it.
Fueling this surge of creativity, he felt certain, was the little woman next door, whom he was ignoring. Every day he got up, went to the ranch to work, and came home in the evening to create. He made his social rounds, visiting Minnie and Kenny, and the stylists who now resided in Union Junction, but he never darkened the door of Baked Valentines. Nor did he speak to Valentine.
He hadn’t given up on making her his. He was just letting her get used to him, biding his time.
He was more productive now than he’d ever been in his life. More ranch work was done, and more creations flowed from him. He was
happier, friendlier, more outgoing. No more moodiness.
There were two reasons for that. One, he was filled with determination to create as much art as he possibly could. He’d let bitter feelings overtake him for far too long. Before the baby was born, he intended to find his new groove. Becoming a father-to-be had unleashed his creativity in a way he could never have imagined.
But the other reason for his energy was Valentine. He loved the sound of her front door opening and closing every morning at 4:00 a.m. as she went to work. It was his own personal alarm clock. He’d set his bed against the adjoining wall of her bedroom, and he knew when she showered, and when she left.
When he heard that lock spring closed for the day, he jumped out of bed and into his clothes, racing to work at Malfunction Junction. His whole day seemed lighter and more carefree now that he lived next door to his lady.
He also discovered that she loved to sing rockabilly to herself and to Annette, and not very well, either, which made him laugh. The two of them could make quite a ruckus. And when they got started with the pots and pans, it was outrageous. He figured he was the only neighbor who could put up with the banging duet.
At night, when everything was done, he stayed up in his studio, lit only by a soft lamp and some track lighting, indulging his artistic passion.
One day his life would include his grandest passion. Valentine wasn’t quite ready for that, but if there was one thing Crockett possessed in abundance, it was patience.
VALENTINE WAS STARTING to lose her patience. She and Crockett had been neighbors for more than two weeks, and he hadn’t so much as called her. He was so quiet over there that it was getting on her nerves. She and Annette had pot-banging parties and he never called to complain. They opened the windows and let the good smell of baking muffins waft out, but he never took the bait.
If this was Jefferson romance, it was pretty annoying.
Maybe he’d changed his mind.
Perhaps he regretted moving away from the ranch. But anytime someone mentioned him, he seemed to be doing well. He’d been everywhere.
Hearing whispers and shushed giggling, she raced to peer out her front window. Her eyes widened. There was a line of women going into Crockett’s townhouse! At least twenty of them.
He had not invited her over there since the day he’d gotten new locks, and he certainly had not mentioned a party!
“Spying never hurt anything,” she said, peering back out the window. What was he doing now? “Okay, this is not what Mimi said it would be like. This is not Crockett romancing me down to my sandals.” She sat on the sofa, thinking things over.
She had told him no.
So he was free to see other women. “Many other women, apparently,” she murmured. And of course with all the new ladies in town, there were plenty to choose from.
“He said I would beg him to knock down the wall between us.” Surely he hadn’t meant he’d make her beg by making her jealous?
“Because that won’t work,” she said. “Annette, you and I are going to change into our jammies, and then we’re going to read a story together, while Mr. Party Jefferson over there has a wonderful time entertaining in the studio that was supposed to be his private lair. Apparently, not private when it comes to females, however.”
This all made her more worried than she cared to admit. Plus she was getting a wee bit poochy, something she couldn’t blame on the bakery. It was all baby. The doctor had said she was right on schedule.
Her doorbell rang, so she gave up worrying to answer the door. Crockett grinned at her. “Hi.”
“Hello, Crockett.”
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Oh, jealous, annoyed, unattractive. “Fine. Just dandy,” she said airily. “Annette and I are about to go to bed, actually.”
“I was hoping you could come over for a while.”
A pleased, relieved feeling rose inside her. “I would love to. Can I bring something?”
“Just yourself. We’re having a little…”
“Housewarming?”
“Exactly,” Crockett said. “Join us when you can.”
“Give us five minutes.” She closed the door, then raced to brush her hair. “Annette! We’re invited after all! Perhaps last minute, but those invitations count, too, don’t they! Let’s put some pretty clam diggers on you, and maybe a bow in your hair, and lipstick for me.”
They got ready quickly and a moment later rang Crockett’s doorbell. “I’m here,” she said when he opened the door. “And so is Annette.”
He took her hand and pulled her inside.
“Surprise!”
Annette shrieked and clung to her mother’s leg. Valentine laughed, picking up her daughter, and gasped when she saw the sign on the wall that read Congratulations, Valentine and Crockett!
“Thank you so much!” she said, still laughing from the shock of it. There had to be forty people packed in the room. All the Union Junction girls and the men from Malfunction Junction—everyone was there. “Is this…did you plan this?” she asked Crockett.
“It was Lily’s idea to do the shower,” Crockett said, mentioning the manager of the Union Junction salon. “And I wanted to do it here. It seemed like the right place.”
“Thank you,” she said to everyone. “Thank you so much for thinking of me.”
As she looked at all the smiling faces wishing her well, Valentine stopped to take in the memory that she would always hold dear: for the first time in her life, she was part of a circle of friends and family who believed that Valentine Cakes deserved their love.
“This is the most special thing that has ever happened to me, besides my children,” she whispered to Crockett. “Thank you so much.”
“You deserve it,” he said. “You are a truly admirable woman. I’m crazy about you.”
Valentine smiled. There were balloons throughout the room and colorfully wrapped presents and a lot of food, but best of all, she realized now, was that she was with him. “Do you remember when you said change was the main ingredient we needed in our relationship?” she asked him.
“I said something like that,” Crockett said, “but I’m always babbling.”
“Never go away from me again.”
He hugged her to him. “You wanted space. I wanted you to have it. But I was keeping an eye on you.”
Last walked over, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Congratulations. I’m happy that Annette will have a little sister.”
“Brother,” Crockett said. “You have the girls, and I’ll have the boys.”
“Easy, fellows,” Valentine said with a laugh.
“It’s okay,” Last said. “We have something we want to tell you.”
“All right.” Valentine and the two men stood close together so that their conversation was private.
“We didn’t always make you as comfortable at Malfunction Junction as we could have,” Last said. “Initially, we got into a bit of bickering. But we want you to be happy, whether you live here or at the ranch. Your home is with the Jeffersons.”
“Thank you,” Valentine said. “That means a lot to me.”
“All right,” Crockett said. “Enough of the mushy stuff. You have a lot of presents to open, and I have a bunch of food to eat.”
“I’ll join you,” Valentine said.
“First open your presents,” Mimi called.
“Should I?” Valentine asked.
“Yes!” Lily pulled her over to the sofa, seating Valentine with Annette next to her.
“Lots of diapers,” someone said.
“I’m sure.” Valentine laughed. “Crockett, come sit with me and Annette. You need to open these diapers, too.”
“All right.” He sat next to her, and for the next hour, they opened a ton of baby gifts: blankets, silver spoons and a bib that said Howdy Y’all.
“Last box,” Mimi said, “and I have no idea who it’s from because it has no tag. It must have fallen off.”
“Oh,” Crockett said, swipin
g the package. “Sorry. That’s not for the baby shower.”
Valentine looked at him.
He shrugged.
She wanted to slap the smug look off his face.
Two could play at that game. “It’s so small,” she said, looking at the pretty silver wrapping. “I know what it is.”
“You do?” Crockett asked.
“I do. It’s one of those little tooth holders. Or maybe a very tiny spoon.”
“It’s a gift to myself,” Crockett said. “And I’m not telling anybody what I bought.”
The ladies groaned and tossed ribbons at him, but he laughed and went into the kitchen to get a plate of food. Valentine stacked the gifts and thanked everyone, but her mind was on the cowboy and his secret.
After giving her space, he was working on her curiosity now. That was going to unravel her.
“I’m taking Annette with me,” Last said. “You and Crockett are going to have a lot of cleaning up to do.” He kissed Valentine on her cheek and departed, holding his little girl.
“I should go, too,” Mimi said, “Isn’t that the point of having a party? To make as big a mess as possible for the new parents to clean up?”
“No,” Lily said with a laugh.
But cleaning wasn’t on Valentine’s mind. “Delilah,” she said. “Could I talk to you for a second?”
“Certainly.” The two women went to one corner of the large room.
“I’ve never had a chance to tell you how sorry I am that I caught your kitchen on fire,” Valentine said. “It was so silly of me.”
Delilah smiled. “It was time for me to make some changes. Both in the kitchen and in my life. I wish you would just forget about it and be a happy new mother.”
Valentine nodded. “Thank you. If you would accept it, I’d like to give you full use of my bakery kitchen anytime you’d like. I know you can bake in your new place, but there’s something very relaxing about a kitchen with all the proper utensils and containers and cake molds. I know how much you love to bake.”
