High Mountain Drifter (10 page)

It didn't mean that she cared any more for him than she did anyone else. She simply didn't want it on her conscience. That was all. That was a perfectly logical explanation, she told herself as she crowded into the aisle. It didn't mean she had a thing for him, not at all.

"I feel for you, I really do," a woman's voice said in the nearby crowd. "What was Tyler thinking proposing to that girl?"

"I don't know," another voice answered. Tyler's mother, Nora Montgomery. Polished, wealthy, privileged, the woman who did not approve of Magnolia being beaued by her son certainly looked miserable at the engagement. "I know his grandmother is turning in her grave. He asked for her heirloom ring."

"Why, hello there Nora," Aumaleigh said forcefully, her pleasant voice pitched to carry a warning wrapped up with a tight smile. "So glad to see you here at church today."

"Why, don't you look rather, uh, fetching." Nora narrowed her gaze, looking down on Aumaleigh. She schooled her face into a pleasant semblance of a fake smile. "I was just telling Helen how
delighted
we are about your niece and my son."

"Yes, I couldn't help overhearing," Aumaleigh said tersely. "I, however, was hoping for a better mother-in-law for my niece. Something for you to think about, or you and I will have problems. Now excuse me. Enjoy your day."

Aumaleigh grabbed Verbena by the wrist and led her down the aisle, her jaw clenched, her face heated with anger. Well, you go Aumaleigh, Verbena thought, surprised by this side of her gentle aunt. But she knew what it felt like when a loved one was threatened in any way.

"I just wish I knew what to say to that woman," she confessed to her aunt. "I always think of what I should have said in the middle of the night when I can't sleep because I'm so upset."

"That's usually me, but I've had enough with unhappy endings." Aumaleigh pushed her way past the Higgins family, heading toward the open door. "It's time to put the McPhee family curse to rest. You girls deserve to find the love no other McPhee so far has had. So Beckett is going to recover just fine, and Nora is going to accept Magnolia. So help me."

Verbena stumbled, realization washing over her. She may be more like her aunt than she realized. They were fighters, fighting for their loved ones. Wanting the very best for them, and that happiness was in reach. Heartened, she spotted Magnolia and Tyler together, hand-in-hand, crossing the lawn to his buggy together. They leaned into each other, talking away, absorbed in one another. Love radiating from them like the purest of lights.

And then there was Rose. She exchanged parting words with Pastor Ammon at the front of the vestibule and hopped down the stairs, where she was met by a handsome deputy waiting for her. Wade Wetherby offered his arm, good-looking in a friendly, dependable kind of way. The two of them headed off to his buckboard. Looked like the deputy would be driving Rose home again.

Iris stood in the middle of the lawn, talking with Elise and Gemma. Maebry sauntered up to her and they all hugged, immediately launching into a discussion. Yes, everyone looked happy. Verbena smiled, feeling lighter, trudging forward toward the Pastor shaking everyone's hand.

Across the church, Daisy waved. She looked happy too, holding seven-year-old Hailie's hand in hers. Her future stepdaughter danced in place, the girl adorable with her midnight blue eyes and dark hair tied up in two rigid braids.

"That awful man is there again." A woman's voice rose up from behind. Nora. Again. "That man with a gun. He looks violent."

"Uncivilized," Helen said dismissively. "Probably lives in the woods like an animal. He'll move on, just don't give him any money. He's likely a beggar."

Protective anger surged through her and she spun around to set those women straight. But Aumaleigh stopped her, taking hold of her arm and tugging her into the rain.

"Ignore them." Aumaleigh buttoned her coat, sweeping down the stairs.

"You didn't ignore them earlier," she pointed out, keeping up with her aunt. She moved fast. Good thing her sprained ankle wasn't complaining too much. "I don't like what they said about Zane. He's helping us."

"Yes, he is. But one argument with them in a day is enough. My, he is intimidating, isn't he?" Aumaleigh's gaze arrowed to the man standing at the perimeter, near the hitching posts, dressed all in black, his Stetson at a low angle.

He was. But one look at him, and that sensation returned to her heart. The one that felt like caring.

"Uh, Miss Verbena," Lawrence Latimer interrupted. He swept off his bowler hat, splattering rainwater, and bowed deeply. His brown hair, damp with rain, looked streaky as did his mustache, which was beginning to droop. He gestured to his waiting donkey and cart. "May I have the esteemed honor of escorting you home?"

"No, but thank you, Lawrence." She pitched the rejection as kindly as she could. "I'm staying with my family today. But you have a nice afternoon."

"Oh, then it is my great loss." Sadness darkened his puppy-dog eyes. The rejection had hurt him. He plopped his hat on his head, took several steps back and trudged away, downcast.

She felt really bad, but she did not want to be beaued by Lawrence and his mustache. Or any man, for that matter.

She felt the pull of Zane's gaze. Across the crowded lawn, his hard mouth eked up in the corners. He tipped his hat to her and strode away, rifle in hand.

Her heart gave a little patter, and it was hard to tell why. Better to tell herself it had nothing to do with the man, because, honestly, after what she'd been through she could never get close to another man again.

"Uh, Miss Verbena?" Bradley Calhoun came up to her next, knuckling back his hat. "Perhaps you would let me escort you home?"

"Thank you, but no." She smiled gently, trying to let him down easily. "Sorry, not today. Have a good afternoon, Mr. Calhoun."

"Come," Aumaleigh said, steering Verbena toward the buckboard where Burton stood, hand on his holstered gun. "Let's get you home and safely away from all overeager suitors."

"Excellent idea." She climbed in and scooted over on the seat. The back of her neck itched. Her stomach felt wadded up into a tiny, tight ball. Ernest had to be nearby. She glanced around, but she couldn't see him. Or Zane, either. She knew both men were out there, the hunter and the stalker.

Aumaleigh McPhee was concerned about her nieces. She couldn't help being. She loved them. As she dunked the last pan into the rinse water and swished it around, her gaze strayed across the manor's spacious kitchen. The girls fluttered about--Iris putting away dishes and Verbena wiping down counters. The noon meal had been quiet with just the three of them. Daisy had returned to Beckett's cottage down the way, and Rose was still out with the trustworthy deputy.

"Aumaleigh, how many times do I have to say it?" Iris closed the cabinet door and sailed over to the cook stove where the tea kettle whistled a tune. "I'll put the pot away. Just leave it on the counter."

"Helping clean up is the least I can do. Dinner was delicious and I appreciate you girls inviting me."

"Why wouldn't we? As we love you." Verbena, sweet as could be, looked up from setting beautifully made cupcakes onto a pretty china plate. Her lustrous brown hair, highlighted with coppery reds and honey blonds, gleamed in the lamplight, down loose today, framing her beautiful face to perfection. "So let Iris put the pot away and come with me into the library. You need to help me eat these cupcakes, since we have too many. Something needs to be done about it."

"So I see." Resigned, Aumaleigh set down the pot. She was used to kitchen work, after all she'd helped in the ranch's kitchen for years, but it felt nice to be pampered. Her heart filled with a cozy feeling, treasuring this sense of belonging, of being wanted by her nieces. She wanted them right back, so she hung up the dish towel near the stove to dry. "It looks like a serious situation with so many cupcakes."

"We went a little overboard for our get together," Iris confessed, measuring tea into a ball. "Plus we were having fun. We didn't have any baking jobs, so we just baked for ourselves."

"I've never seen anything so lovely." Aumaleigh leaned back against the counter, admiring the cupcakes. The icing had been whipped and shaped to resemble flower petals. There were roses, daisies and carnations in fluffs of white.

"Wait until you taste 'em." Verbena's eyes lit as she lifted the plate, balancing it carefully as she reached for her cane. "I'm the official taste tester, so it has my stamp of approval."

"Who are you kidding?" Iris winked. "You'll eat anything."

"Almost true," Verbena agreed cheerfully, as if there wasn't a mad-man hunting her, as if she hadn't been through a terrible ordeal. "But that doesn't change the fact that these cupcakes are excellent. Chocolate with a fudgy chocolate center. In fact, I might just have to eat all of these just to taste test them again. Sorry, but you'll have to get your own plate of cupcakes."

"Funny." Iris plunked the tea kettle back on the stove and lifted the tea tray off the counter. "Into the library, now. Before we resort to eating those cupcakes right here, where we stand."

"Iris has a weakness for chocolate," Verbena whispered, as if revealing Iris's deepest secret.

"It's not a weakness as much as it's a preference." Iris led the way down the hall, teacups chiming faintly in their saucers with her every step. "I could quit anytime I want to. I just don't want to."

"When she was little, Ma had to hide anything chocolate or Iris would sneak it." Verbena's eyes twinkled. Her bruises had turned a brilliant shade of green, with yellow centers. "In fact, the rest of us would sneak whatever chocolate thing was around at the time and blame it on Iris."

"Ma never saw through that one," Iris called out as she disappeared through the library doors. "She refused to believe any one of you could possibly be the chocolate thieves."

"We did try to look very innocent." Verbena's cane clunked speedily along the wood floor.

"This brings back memories." Aumaleigh was the last to step into the library, surprised at the warmth of the images rising up. Things she hadn't thought about for ages. Those had been warmer times, better times, when she'd been young. "Ely had a sweet tooth. A real chocolate lover."

"Not our pa?" Verbena's face scrunched up with surprise. She set the plate down next to the tea service. "I don't remember that at all."

"You were too little." Iris set the tray on the coffee table and moved to the fireplace. "I remember. Back when Ma used to hum while she did the housework. Pa would come home and say, 'I smell chocolate,' and Ma would deny it, laughing while he sniffed around the kitchen until he'd found the baked goods she'd hidden."

"I can just picture that." Aumaleigh settled onto the edge of a nearby chair, sinking into the soft cushion. That was the Ely she remembered, funny and full of good humor. The big brother from her childhood who'd gently teased her and always stood by her. "Ely used to do the same thing when we were small. I would always save my treats, eat half and save the rest for later. Ely and Eben would gobble theirs down on sight, wolfing it the way boys do."

"We don't know much about Uncle Eben," Verbena said quietly. "He was the youngest."

"And the first to leave." The warm glow from the memories faded, leaving her with the truth. The growing bitterness of her mother through the years had soured everything, torn the family apart. "Mother disowned him and forbid us to mention his name again. It wasn't right, but she had things her way or she made everyone pay."

"That's so sad." Iris perched on the edge of the sofa, leaning forward to pour the tea. "It was a great sorrow to Pa that he lost touch with Eben and with you."

"It was a great sorrow to me, too." She tried to smile past the weight of regret that weighed on her. The past could not be re-written, as much as she wanted it to be. But memories, the good ones, could always be held dear. "Your pa and uncle would join forces and come visit me in my room. 'Where is it?' they'd ask. 'Where did you hide it this time?' It was a game, you see, they pretended to search high and low for whatever treat or candy I had, and when they found it they'd pretend to gobble it up. Then give it to me, kissing my cheek. They'd say I was sweeter."

"That sounds like Pa." Verbena lit up, love in her jeweled blue eyes, as she eased onto the sofa next to her sister. "I can't believe he's been gone so long. I miss him so much."

"Me, too." Iris bowed her head, quietly handing over a steaming cup and saucer.

Aumaleigh accepted it, hating that the girls had been alone when the illness hit. They'd struggled with scarlet fever while taking care of each other and their parents at the same time. Ely and Laura had passed away. How devastated the girls must have been. Not to mention the hardship and the medical debts.

That was another piece of the past she wanted to re-write, because then maybe she would never have let Mother cause her to lose contact with Ely. Maybe then she could have been there for her brother, his dear wife and her young nieces. She blew on the steaming tea to cool it, but it was more of a sigh. At her age, she was accumulating more regrets than anything. That could not be good.