Beyond Always (Lex and Amanda Series)

by Carrie Carr

  "Poor Shelby."

  "AND THEN SHE had the nerve to send me out of my own house." Shelby tossed the clean hay onto the floor of the stall.

  Lex coughed to cover up her laugh. "Serves you right." She opened another bale. "Sometimes you just gotta keep your mouth shut and take it, especially where family's involved."

  "What would you have done, if Amanda's mother had just come into the house and took over?"

  "Um, well." Lex leaned against the opposite stall and crossed her arm. "That's different."

  Shelby stopped and removed her hat. She wiped her forehead against her shoulder and sighed. "Damn, I take a couple of weeks off and now I'm out of shape." She leaned against her pitchfork. Her arm still ached, but she refused to give in to it. Instead, she worked herself harder, much to Rebecca's dismay. "And how is it different?"

  "'Cause Amanda's mother was a freakin' psycho. If she had tried to take control of my house, I'd have called the sheriff."

  "Oh." Shelby took off her gloves and scratched her neck. "Kathy means well, I guess. It just pissed me off that she thought I wasn't takin' good care of Rebecca."

  Lex opened her mouth to say something, when she noticed Shelby's ring. "That's nice."

  "Huh?" Shelby paused and realized where Lex stared. "Oh. Yeah." She shrugged and blushed. "It was my old man's."

  "Is Rebecca wearing one, too?"

  "Yeah. My mother's." Shelby stared at the floor of the barn. "I was tired of her family thinkin' we were just roommates or a fling she'd get over. So I gave her a ring and promised to always be there for her." She raised her head and gave Lex a hard look. "Ain't nothin' wrong with that, is there?"

  Lex shook her head. "Not at all, my friend. I'd say there's a lot right about it." She walked closer and held out her hand. "Congratulations."

  "Thanks." Shelby shook her hand and grunted in surprise when Lex hugged her.

  "When's the big day?" Lex asked after she stepped back.

  Shelby looked genuinely confused. "Big day?"

  "Yeah. You know, the ceremony?" Lex stretched as she walked across the barn to sit on a bale of hay. "Wedding bells?"

  "Uh, no." Shelby shook her head as she joined Lex. "Ain't happenin', buddy."

  Lex braced her back against the wall and stretched out her legs. "Why the hell not?"

  "Neither of us want that kind of fuss. Rebecca would end up killing her family and I don't feel like visitin' her in prison."

  "Really?"

  Shelby removed her hat. "Yeah. Her mom is okay, but her dad would raise holy hell, I'd imagine. And don't even get me started on that little bastard brother of hers. I'd love a chance to take him out behind the barn and kick his ass."

  "Ah. Well, that sucks."

  "Yeah. But I still feel like the luckiest person alive." Shelby scoffed at her sentimentality. "Stupid, huh?"

  Lex shook her head. "Not a bit. It'd be stupid if you didn't feel that way." She quietly reflected on her own life. "Pretty damned amazing, if you ask me."

  "Yeah."

  THE GRAY KITTEN flipped in the air, as it batted at imaginary foes. Anna Leigh chuckled as she sipped her coffee. Derry had been just what she needed after Jacob's loss. The small bundle of fur would never fill the gaping hole his death had left, but at least she had a reason to get up every day. She checked the clock on the stove and stood. Before she could move, there was a soft knock on her front door.

  Not long after her husband's death, she had begun to share breakfast and coffee on weekday mornings with someone she had come to consider a good friend. She set her cup down and picked up Derry.

  "Right on time." Anna Leigh's smile widened when she opened her door and came face-to-face with her visitor. "Good morning."

  "Good morning, A.L." Kyle held a paper bag in one hand, and small catnip ball in the other. "I brought your favorite today."

  "Apple fritter?" Anna Leigh asked, as she traded Derry for the bag. "They're still warm."

  Kyle nuzzled the kitten and followed his human into the kitchen. "Yes'm. Timed it just right."

  She sat in what had become her usual chair as the older woman poured her a cup of coffee. Kyle had learned the hard way not to offer to get it herself. After clearing out Jacob's workshop, she realized she enjoyed Anna Leigh's company, and started making excuses to drop by. Now she came before work every morning. She set Derry on the floor with the ball and graciously accepted the steaming mug. "Thanks."

  "Certainly." Anna Leigh removed the two fritters from the bag, placing each on a paper plate. "How was your weekend?"

  "Busy. I was informed on Saturday that I'm going to have to find something besides jeans to wear." Kyle shook her head. "I think that Ellie's been hanging around your granddaughters too long, A.L. She's getting a little crazy about the whole thing. It's only two weeks away and she's getting frantic."

  Anna Leigh laughed at the look on her young friend's face. "Well, Mandy has a good head on her shoulders. But Jeannie--" she stopped to consider her words. "She's always been more, shall we say, fanciful."

  "Nice save." Kyle raised her cup in salute.

  "Behave." Anna Leigh couldn't stop her smile. "You are a bad influence on me, I believe."

  Kyle buffed her nails on her work shirt. "I try."

  She sobered and nervously brushed her hand across her hair, which stood up in short spikes. "Um, I also found out something else. Ellie asked Lex to give her away, since she's the only family that'll be there."

  "That makes sense. Does that bother you, dear?"

  "No! Um, not at all. I'm glad she has Lex. Amanda is standing beside her, as her best woman, I guess." Kyle took a deep breath and looked directly into Anna Leigh's eyes. "Would you stand beside me?"

  Anna Leigh almost dropped her fork. "Me?" She shakily placed the bite of fritter on the plate. "Don't you have someone else you'd rather have?"

  Kyle took the older woman's hand. "I know a lot of people, A.L. But you're just about the best friend I have, outside of Ellie."

  "Then I'd be honored, Kylie. Thank you."

  Anna Leigh leaned across the small table and kissed Kyle on the cheek, which caused the younger woman to blush.

  HER DESK FACED the back wall, so Ellie had no idea that someone had come into the small office she shared with the bookkeeper and the other nurse. She had her head down as she tried to make out Rodney's written instructions on a patient's file.

  "I wish we'd go digital," she grumbled.

  "Good luck with that," Jeannie answered cheerfully. "My husband hates technology. He'd rather go back to the days of house calls and horse-drawn carriages."

  "Ah!" Ellie tossed her pen in the air and covered her chest with one hand. She turned the chair around and gave her boss's wife a dirty look. "You scared me."

  Jeannie moved a stack of files out of her way and sat on the edge of the desk. "Why are you hiding in here?"

  "I'm not hiding, I'm working." Ellie retrieved her pen from the floor. "What are you doing here?"

  "I came to get you." Jeannie took the pen away from her. "Come on."

  Ellie shook her head. "What? No. Wait. I have to work."

  "Nope. You've got the day off. Let's go." Jeannie tossed the pen on the desk and held out her hand. "We've got stuff to do."

  "But--"

  "No butts. You've got two weeks to get your dress. I've already taken the liberty of asking my father to do the photographs."

  Jeannie hauled Ellie to her feet and gently pushed her toward the door. "We'll stop by your place first, so you can change."

  AN HOUR LATER, Ellie stood in the fitting room of Jeannie's favorite boutique, which was a tiny, overpriced store in Parkdale. She looked down at her body, clad only in the white, sensible underwear she always wore. Her figure had filled out during the past year. A layer of muscle now covered her slender body, due to the activities her lover had introduced to her. On their days off, they hiked or bicycled, something that Ellie would have never thought she'd enjoy as much as she did.

  "He
y, try this one." Jeannie draped a full dress over the door.

  Ellie took the dress and unzipped the back. She stepped into it and pulled the lace sleeves across her shoulders and looked into the mirror. The person staring back at her was a stranger. "What the hell am I doing?"

  "Did you say something?" Jeannie asked. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?"

  "Uh, well." Ellie frowned at the rows of lace across her chest and shoulders as the ivory, satin skirt flared out well away from her body. "It's something, all right." She carefully removed the dress as her good sense returned. "Jeannie, we need to talk."

  "Wrong size?"

  Ellie quickly got into her jeans and T-shirt. She opened the door and handed Jeannie the dress. "You can put this back."

  "Okay. Was it too big?" Jeannie waved the sales clerk to them and passed the dress off to her. "I'm sorry, we'll have to try something else, I guess."

  Ellie shook her head as she stepped into her canvas shoes. "No, we won't. I'm sorry we wasted your time."

  She tugged on Jeannie's sleeve. "This is all wrong."

  "What do you mean? Ellie, wait." Jeannie gave the clerk an apologetic look and jogged after Ellie. "Hey, hold on." She finally caught up with her outside. "What's the matter?"

  "This has gotten way out of hand," Ellie said, waving her hands around. "It was fun at first, but it's not what Kyle and I talked about."

  She started toward Jeannie's SUV, which was parked nearby. "We wanted a small little gathering, just family. But thanks to my stupid cousin, we have a minister."

  She had been totally against anything to do with organized religion since breaking free of her mother's influence. But after meeting the reverend who presided at Lex and Amanda's ceremony, she had agreed to have him involved.

  Jeannie hurried behind her. "But what about the cake and the caterer?"

  Ellie stopped at the SUV and rested her arms against the hood. She lowered her head until it was on her arms. "That's not us. I don't think Kyle even cared about having a ceremony." She looked at Jeannie. "I got so caught up in it all that I almost forgot the most important thing."

  "What?"

  "Kyle," Ellie softly answered. "She's probably afraid that I'm going to make her wear some fancy dress, like you almost roped me into."

  "Now, wait a minute. I didn't--"

  Ellie held up her hand to stop her. "I know you didn't mean anything by it, but honestly, Jeannie. Can you really see me in that lacy thing you had me try on?"

  Jeannie thought about it for a moment before she started to laugh. "You'd be about as comfortable in that as your cousin." She poked Ellie. "Why did you go along with me, then?"

  "I dunno." Ellie leaned against the truck and crossed her arms. "Maybe I liked hanging out with you."

  "Hey." Jeannie stood beside Ellie and put her arm around her. "We're already family. And, to tell you the truth, I get along better with you than I do my own sister."

  "You two do go at it, don't you?"

  "God knows I love her, but she can really get on my nerves," Jeannie admitted. "Since I don't have to be home for a few hours, let's go get some pie from the diner. You can tell me what you really want your ceremony to be like."

  "All right. But I'm buying."

  Jeannie laughed. "I never said you weren't."

  She stuck her tongue out and jogged around the SUV.

  LOUD MUSIC BOUNCED off the concrete walls of the shop, drowning out the muttering from beneath the late-model Ford truck. Kyle fought with the cross-threaded nut until it snapped free and caused her to skin her knuckles on the undercarriage. "God-damnit!"

  She tossed her wrench on the floor and used her legs to wheel out from under the vehicle. She stopped in surprise when she noticed a familiar pair of shoes. "El?"

  Ellie knelt in front of Kyle and shook her head. "Why don't you wear your mechanic's gloves?" She took a tissue from her jeans pocket and held out her hand. "Let me see."

  "It's not that bad," Kyle argued weakly, as her lover dabbed at her bloody knuckles. She sat quietly as Ellie cleaned the scrape.

  "Where's your first-aid kit?"

  "Our what?"

  Ellie gave her a look. "The boo-boo box."

  "Funny." Kyle climbed to her feet. "We have one in the bathroom. I guess I might as well wash up."

  "What are you doing here? I thought you had another day of power shopping with Jeannie," she asked as they walked across the shop.

  "That's what I came to talk to you about." Ellie followed her into the restroom and waited until Kyle locked the door. The small room had a single toilet and a sink, along with a metal cabinet that hung on the opposite wall. Ellie opened the cabinet and snorted. "A greasy, half-empty box of old bandages and some dried-out medical tape?"

  Kyle shrugged her shoulders as she scrubbed her hands, mindful of the oozing injury. "I bought the bandages myself a couple of years ago. Most of us keep them in our tool boxes, anyway."

  "Ugh." Ellie gingerly took the box of bandages from the cabinet and set them on the edge of the sink. "Let me see your hand." She tsked as she used a paper towel to dab the wound as dry as possible.

  "Are you ever gonna tell me why you're not out with Jeannie?"

  Ellie covered the injury with a bandage and lightly kissed it. "There. Now it's properly germy." She looked into her lover's eyes and shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Kyle."

  "Huh? For what?"

  "The past couple of weeks. I got all caught up in Jeannie's excitement, and didn't even bother to ask you what you wanted. I feel like a jerk."

  Kyle stroked Ellie's cheek with her fingertips. "Hey, it's all right. You seemed like you were having such a good time, I didn't mind at all."

  She kissed Ellie gently. "As long as I'm not expected to wear some crazy-assed dress, that is."

  Ellie laughed at the thought of her lover in the gown Jeannie had her try on earlier. "You have nothing to worry about. In fact, I've told Jeannie to back off and let you and I handle it. I thought we could dress comfortably, with just our family around. Nothing fancy."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Definitely." Ellie put her arms around Kyle's neck. "If Jeannie wants a big ceremony, she can get remarried."

  She laughed when Kyle swung her around the bathroom.

  "Have I told you lately how much I love you?" Kyle asked.

  She stopped spinning and kissed Ellie until someone started beating on the door.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  AMANDA PEERED THROUGH the kitchen window to the backyard. The morning sunlight glinted off the dozen or so folding chairs set beneath the trees. She watched as Lex fussed with the placement as Roy and Chet stood nearby.

  Martha stepped behind Amanda and looked out the window. "Is she still at it?"

  "Yes." Amanda turned away from the window. "You'd think it was our wedding, the way she's carrying on." She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "I really can't blame her, though. Ellie's more like her sister than her cousin, and I know she wants everything to be perfect."

  "That's true. And how on earth did y'all convince Ellie to have the reverend preside? Last I heard, she wanted no part of it."

  Amanda laughed and pushed off the counter. "Lex didn't give her much of a choice. She grabbed Ellie at lunch a couple of weeks ago and took her to see Reverend Hampton in person."

  "I'm sure that went well." Martha opened the window. "Lexie, quit being such a pain in the patootie. I'm sure Roy and Chet have better things to do than watch you rearrange the same chairs over and over."

  Lex turned toward the house. "It's only four hours until--"

  "I can tell time, girl. Go find something else to do." Martha closed the window before Lex could argue. She turned to Amanda, who had a wide grin on her face. "What?"

  "Nothing."

  Martha's stare was enough to make Amanda raise her hands in surrender.

  "I had already told Lex the same thing you did, and you saw where it got me. So I found it pretty funny when you hollered at her."

>   Martha's glare softened into a smile. "She's a handful, isn't she?"

  "Every day." Amanda sat at the table and took a sip of her coffee. "Not that I'd change a thing about her. Well, maybe her tendency to find trouble at the drop of a hat."

  "Good luck with that." Martha joined her at the table. "Where's Eddie?"

  "Upstairs."

  Martha almost choked on her coffee. "Alone?"

  "No, both girls are up there, too."

  "Honey, are you sure that's wise? After what happened last week?"

  Amanda laughed. "I think Mel learned her lesson. She promised not to leave him alone, no matter what."

  Melanie had been after her parents to give her more responsibility and Lex was the first to give in, asking their youngest daughter to keep an eye on Eddie. Mel swore she had only been gone for a moment, but by the time she found him, the toddler had dumped all his socks in the toilet that she and Lorrie shared and tried to flush them away. It had been a very expensive error in judgment but Amanda was willing to give Melanie another chance.

  Amanda listened for a moment. "Although, now that you mention it, it does seem to be too quiet." She got up from the table. "If my wife comes in the house, tell her to take a chill pill, will you?"

  "I surely will. And if you'll excuse me, I believe I'll run home and check on my overnight guest. Ellie was up late last night, talking to Kyle on the phone."

  "You should have sent her here. She could have kept Lex company. I caught her downstairs at two o'clock this morning, playing games on the computer."

  Martha waved to her and went to the sink to rinse out her coffee cup. She noticed Lex still messing with the chairs. "Crazy thing."

  ONCE SHE WAS upstairs, Amanda looked in Eddie's room, which she found empty. She walked down the hall and noticed that Melanie's door was open.

  Melanie and Eddie were in full tea party mode. Both were wearing floppy, straw hats. Eddie had a purple feather boa around his shoulders and Melanie wore her old princess Halloween costume.

  "Okay, Eddie. Now drink out of your cup, like this." Melanie pretended to sip from the plastic teacup.

  "No!" Eddie waved his empty cup around before he slammed it on the table. "No."