Elly: Cowgirl Bride (12 page)

“There’s a gallery down the street.”

“Great, let’s go.” Kate hurried past him. “It was wonderful to meet you, Delia.”

“Yeah. You, too.”

Kate probably wouldn’t be able to tell Delia wasn’t being totally truthful. What had Kate said before he’d arrived?

When he looked at Delia, he tried to convey his surprise at Kate’s appearance and that there was nothing for her to worry about, nothing that she should share with anyone. He wasn’t sure she saw what he wanted her to, but he’d have to deal with that later.

Once he stepped out onto the front walk, Kate slipped her arm through his. As they walked toward downtown, she took in everything around them. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here before. It’s an adorable little town.”

“I like it.”

“So my being impulsive and showing up on your doorstep won’t convince you to come back to the big city?”

“I’m sorry if that’s why you came here.”

“Only partly. Intense curiosity was the other. I had to see what took you away.” She didn’t say it as if she were angry or as if she’d been sitting at home pining away for him. That wasn’t Kate’s way.

He nodded toward the line of stores and the comings and goings of Cody’s residents. “Now you see it.”

They approached the Tangled Antlers Gallery, but when Will reached to open the door it flew open. Elly froze when she saw him. When she noticed Kate, he saw confusion and hurt in her eyes.

“Elly,” he said, needing to say her name out loud, to draw her attention from Kate.

“Elly?” Kate asked. “Oh, this is the photographer. How fortunate you’re here. Will was bringing me to see more of your wonderful work.”

“Oh.”

The awkwardness of the moment pressed in on Will. “Elly, this is Kate Sturgeon. We went to law school together.”
Please, Kate, don’t say anything else.

“Nice to meet you,” Elly said, but he could tell she didn’t really mean it. She didn’t offer to shake hands.

“You, too.” Kate casually took a step to the side, moving herself farther away from him. “I was passing through the area and stopped to see what Will’s raved about all these years, why he came back here instead of taking my father up on his offer to join our firm. I can certainly see why he made the choice. It’s lovely here.”

Kate met his eyes for a moment, her keen ones having missed nothing of what was really going on.

“I hope you enjoy your stay,” Elly said. “I’m sorry, but I have to run.”

Will ached as he watched her walk away, but he didn’t want to chance a scene on the street, where everyone in the county would know about it before the end of the day. She didn’t deserve that, not with everything else she was going through. Not even the cruel words she’d hurled at him could make him petty enough to deliberately hurt her.

“She’s the reason you came back.” Kate didn’t sound hurt, perhaps more resigned.

He nodded. “I didn’t know it at the time.”

“You knew.”

Maybe he had. Maybe he just hadn’t admitted it in case a relationship with Elly never became reality.

“She’s beautiful,” Kate said. “I hope you work out whatever is going on between you.”

“Me, too.” His heart had never felt heavier.

“I have a feeling you won’t need it, but the door is always open.”

He tore his gaze away from the empty sidewalk where Elly had been moments ago. He knew from the tone of Kate’s voice that she would be leaving Cody as soon as she collected her things.

“Thanks. It was good to see you.”

“You, too.” She looked at the town around her. “Especially here. You fit.”

Just like she fit in Denver.

“I think I’ll take a rain check on the gallery today,” she said. “Maybe another time.”

“Be careful on your way home, okay?”

“Of course.” She smiled at him. “I’d give you a kiss goodbye, but I have the feeling that it would get back to Elly in about three seconds.”

He smiled back at her. “I think you have small-town life figured out already.”

She reached out and quickly squeezed his hand. “Good luck. Elly’s a lucky woman.”

As he watched her cross the street and head for the parking lot where she’d evidently left her car, he hoped Elly would eventually think the same thing.

E
LLY COULDN’T BREATHE.
Seeing Will with another woman had been the single most horrible feeling of her life. Was this all-consuming heartache how her mother felt?

She’d seen guilt in Will’s eyes, but was it for what had already happened between them or for his being with Kate now? Kate, who looked like she had walked off the pages of a fashion magazine.

They’d known each other in Denver. Would he go back there now? The thought brought tears to her eyes, more pain than she could handle. She leaned her head forward on her steering wheel and squeezed her eyes against the tears that wanted to fall.

She couldn’t deal with this now. Too much else was jockeying for space in her worry column—the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, which would no doubt be like sitting on a powder keg; the Denver rodeo after that; figuring out how Mark would fit into their family and how her brothers would react to that; facing the fact that she would have to speak to her father again at some point. Adding the situation with Will to the mix—it was just too much.

She started the truck’s engine and pulled out of the parking lot, deliberately not looking at anything but the road in front of her. She feared seeing Will and Kate again and how it might cause her to lose her precarious grip on her emotions.

As she left Cody and headed toward Markton, she gradually relaxed as much as she was able and started compartmentalizing. The only way she was going to get through the next couple of weeks was to only think about one obstacle at a time. First up, Thanksgiving and trying to figure out how to ensure no blood was shed, and nothing so horrible was said that it could never be taken back.

Even though things felt anything but normal, the normality of cooking for Thanksgiving filled the days leading up to the big family meal. And despite the tension hanging over the ranch like dense fog, Anne Cody had made it clear that everyone would be at the family Thanksgiving dinner. No exceptions. And everyone would be civil or answer to her.

Since their mother was the main aggrieved party in the current disaster, Elly had convinced Jesse to set aside his simmering anger for a day just so they could all get through the required dinner.

More than once, Elly opened her mouth to ask how her mom was doing, but she couldn’t force the words out. Plus, as shameful as it made her feel, she didn’t think she could handle her mother’s heartache on top of her own. So she went through the motions, just as she suspected everyone else would.

As her family ate its way through the traditional meal, Elly couldn’t imagine it being any more uncomfortable. It was the first time they’d all been together since the revelation of her father’s affair.

Normally, there was laughter and teasing around the table during the holidays, talk of the rodeo season, plans for the ranch next year, good-natured bets about the day’s football games. This year should be extra special with the addition of Paula and her son, Clay, Josie and her son, Matt, and Maryanne, but it wasn’t.

Instead, the conversation revolved around “Please pass the potatoes” and “Would anyone like any pumpkin pie?” The tension would dull any knife that tried to cut it.

Elly looked at her father, at the man responsible for this ruined holiday, and was shocked to see he wasn’t even eating. He just stared at the food on his plate. He looked pale beneath his perpetual tan, his downcast eyes so unlike him. For a moment, worry flamed to life within her. He wasn’t the youngest of men anymore. Was the stress of this situation too much for him?

Well, he’d brought it on himself, hadn’t he? And onto the rest of them.

The longer the meal lasted, the more Elly thought of everything that was wrong with the picture. Her family not speaking, the gaping emptiness next to her where she wished Will was sitting. A Cody who wasn’t even invited, who instead was eating a more modest meal with his wife, sister and the mother who probably couldn’t even remember the affair that produced him.

Elly suspected the residents of Casper could hear the enormous sigh of relief when the meal was finally over. Her brothers vacated the premises so fast they nearly left the scent of burned rubber in their wake. Paula, Josie and Maryanne offered to help clean up, but Anne told them to go spend the rest of the day with their families.

Elly and her mom didn’t speak as they carried the dirty dishes and leftovers into the kitchen.

While loading the dishwasher, Elly noticed her mother scraping perfectly good food into the trash. A knot of unease grew in her stomach as her mom reached for an untouched pumpkin pie.

“Mom, I’d like to take the dessert over to Janie and her family.”

“I’m sure they’ve already eaten something,” Anne said without making eye contact.

“Maybe, but it’s a good gesture nonetheless.” Elly fought the anxiety gnawing at her, wondered when her subconscious had decided to take these steps.

Anne took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “You’re right.” She gripped the edge of the island until her knuckles went white. “None of this is Mark’s fault.”

Elly’s stomach continued to churn as she drove toward Janie’s home. How would she feel when she met Mark’s eyes and knew he was her brother? What would he say?

She tried to force her nerves to calm as she pulled into the driveway at Janie’s and walked to the front door, plate in hand. Janie opened the door before Elly had a chance to knock.

“Hey,” Janie said.

“Hey.” She held up the pie. “Hungry?”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

But as Elly followed Janie inside, she didn’t smell any scents of festive cooking. In fact, everything was deathly quiet.

“How’s your mom?”

“We just got her to sleep.” Janie sounded exhausted.

“She’s having a bad day.”

“I’m sorry.”

Janie shrugged. “Thanks for the pie. I haven’t gotten around to eating anything beyond this morning’s Pop-Tarts.”

Elly’s heart ached for Janie, and she wished she could do something, anything, to make it better, easier.

“I’d planned to have a nice meal made when Mark and Nicki got back from her dad’s, but…” Janie’s voice caught on what sounded like a sob.

Elly closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around Janie. “I’m sorry.”

Janie shook her head against Elly’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. I just feel like my life is unraveling. Mom’s worse every day, and I can’t stop feeling like I’m losing Mark. He doesn’t talk to me like he used to.”

Elly ran her hand over Janie’s hair. “He will.” Even if she had to kick him in the behind to get him to. Sure, he was probably feeling like his world had turned upside down too and now had a wife to talk to, but he had to consider how this affected his sister. The one he’d grown up with. No matter the biology, Elly still didn’t feel like his sister.

A moan and a crash from Abigail’s bedroom sent Janie hurrying in that direction. “Thanks for the pie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure.” Elly stood in the kitchen and listened as Janie tried to get her mom to calm down. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at the old linoleum, the cabinets in need of a new coat of paint.

Like Jesse, Mark was close to earning a championship in bullriding, perhaps his last chance because of his age. He’d made enough through the years that, along with Janie’s income from the Feed and Grain, they’d been able to take care of their mother. But how much more could they do, how much better could they live, what dreams could they both accomplish if they had more money? Cody money. And it wouldn’t be the handouts they both loathed if it belonged to Mark by right.

Elly looked up as the back door opened. Nicki, Mark’s wife, walked in.

“Oh, hey,” Nicki said.

“Hi, Nicki.”

“Where’s Janie?”

“In Abigail’s room.”

Their eyes met, and the sadness Elly felt was reflected in the eyes of the woman who’d captured Mark’s heart. Elly was suddenly very glad Mark had Nicki. If only Janie had someone, too.

“I better go see if I can help,” Nicki said.

Elly noticed Mark standing by the back fence staring out across the distance in front of him. “Hey, Nicki?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’d be okay if I went out and talked to Mark?”

Nicki glanced toward her husband through the window. “I think that’d be good.”

Elly nodded and headed out the back door. But a thought brought her back to the table. She slid a piece of the pumpkin pie off its plate onto a saucer and added a fork on the side.

Even before she reached Mark, she saw how he slumped as if a nearly unbearable weight pressed down on him. As she stepped up beside him, she lifted the saucer and said simply, “Pie?”

He looked at her for a moment, almost as if he didn’t recognize her, then eyed the pie. “You didn’t make it, did you?”

“Ha ha.”

“I’m still not over that whole chocolate pie fiasco.”

“Dude, that was nearly twenty years ago. Move on.” She smiled at the memory. At age seven, she’d been determined to try to make a pie like her mom did. Only problem was she’d put in salt instead of sugar. Unluckily for Mark and Janie, they’d been the first ones to try it.

They stood in awkward silence for several beats before he took a bite of the pie. “Good.” He took a couple more bites before speaking again. “So, is this as odd for you as it is for me?”

“Yep. It feels weird not knowing what to say around you. I mean…I’ve always thought of you as another brother. It’s just…”

“You never knew I really was.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m not trying to hurt your family.”

“I know.” She really did. Mark was a good guy. He had to be to live through his hard life and grow up to be the type of man who took care of his family no matter what.

“I’ve just…been trying to figure out what it all means, where I fit in,” he said.

She nodded and picked at a splinter sticking up from the wooden fence, beyond which grazed the few horses owned by the Hansens. “Mark, you need to talk to Janie.”

“I know.”

“She thinks she’s losing you.”

He looked over at her. “That’s silly.”

“Think of it from her point of view. We all know your…dad was a hard man. I know Janie wished several times that anyone else in the world could be your dad, and now you’ve got that. You have a way out. She doesn’t.”

“I would never abandon her. Or Mom. I’ve told her that.”

“Maybe she needs to hear it again.”

He shifted his attention to the house as Janie came out and headed toward the barn. He watched her as if he hadn’t seen her in days. And perhaps he really hadn’t if he hadn’t picked up on how scared she was of being left alone to deal with their mother’s worsening condition.

Elly took a couple steps back from the fence. “Well, I’m going to go.”

“Thank you,” he said. “For everything. You’ve been a good friend—to both of us.”

The talk with Mark should have made her feel better, but by the time Elly returned to the ranch a sense of melancholy shadowed her every move. Not wanting to face anyone quite yet, she walked along the fence line beyond the barns as darkness fell around her. After several minutes, she stopped and climbed up to sit atop the fence. She stared up into the wide, star-studded Wyoming sky and acknowledged the truth that she’d tried to ignore all day.

She missed Will.

Really, really missed him.