Last Promise (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Colt and Jake missed their wives so they came back to the ranch after two weeks on the range. Luke stayed out on the range with the men.

Victoria saw her husband rein in at the corral so she ran out the back door to greet him. “I'm so happy you are home.”

Colt picked her up and kissed her. “You missed me, huh?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Where are the boys?”

“Spending some time with Mrs. Wellington.”

“Jake and I will have to go back in a day or two,” Colt said.

“We'll pick the boys up on the way to church in the morning. Then we can have a nice family dinner in town. Perhaps we should invite George to dine, he's probably missing Mary Ann.”

“She's gone?” Colt asked.

“Yes, she left a few days after you left. Did Luke come back with you?”

“He stayed out. I think he needs some more time alone.”

“She came here before she left. She said she needed to apologize to him and she wanted to say good-bye.”

“I'm not sure it would have made a difference. He's pretty upset with her,” Colt replied.

“She was very unhappy when she was here, but I don't think she feels she has a choice in the matter.”

“I'm sorry for her if she doesn't want to marry Stafford,” Colt said.

“I can't imagine being in a marriage with a man I didn't love.” She'd forgotten she had come to Wyoming prepared to marry a stranger so she would have a home for the twins. But God had a different plan.

“Is that your way of saying you love me?” Colt smiled at her. “Do you think you love me enough to let me see that corset one more time?”

“I think we can manage that.” Victoria grabbed his hand and led him upstairs.

* * *

“It's so nice to see you, but where's your brother?” George asked them.

“He's still out on the range,” Jake said.

“Please join us, George,” Colt said.

“I know you are missing Mary Ann,” Promise said.

George hadn't realized just how much he would miss his niece. “Yes, I am. She was not only a big help, but she's lovely to be around.”

“We are going to miss her too,” Victoria said.

“She was certainly enjoying her friendship with you two ladies.”

“Did she set a date for her marriage?” Promise asked.

“I don't know, I'm sure Hardwicke will set the date soon.”

“Why is her father forcing this marriage on her?” Colt asked.

George saw no reason to hide the truth from his friend. “I suspect his estates are in trouble, and Stafford is insistent on marrying Mary Ann. As I told you, she is considered a great beauty in England. Truth be told, I don't even think she likes Stafford. I tried to talk her into staying, but she told me he wouldn't leave until he had his way. I think her father knew she cared about Luke and he used that to pressure her.”

“What do you mean?” Colt asked.

“Hardwicke is not above threatening someone to have his way.”

“I wish we could do something,” Victoria said.

“She was so happy here and proud of her shop,” Promise added.

“I told her to leave the shop as it was. I don't think she had the heart to close it.”

The next day Colt and Jake left the ranch to go back on the range taking fresh supplies with them. They finally caught up with Luke a week later.

“How's it going?” Colt asked.

“Good. Thank the Good Lord for great weather.” Luke was glad his brothers were with him again. He'd had enough alone time, and he was hungry for some conversation.

“Mary Ann left,” Jake said.

“Good.” Luke had finally come to terms that it wasn't meant to be with Mary Ann. He decided he had to mentally move on. The only thing he needed to do when he got back to the ranch was to go see Sally and set things straight with her.

“George told us she didn't want to go,” Colt said.

“Then why did she?” Luke asked.

“George thought Hardwicke threatened you,” Colt answered.

“Me? Why would he threaten me?”

“He thought Mary Ann cared about you and he wants her to marry Stafford for his money,” Jake said.

“He saw us kissing when he arrived, so he jumped to that conclusion,” Luke confided.

His revelation was news to Colt and Jake. “Her old man saw you kissing?” Jake asked.

“Yeah. He grabbed her and slapped her hard enough that she hit the ground. That's when I slammed my fist in his jaw.”

“You hit Mary Ann's father?” Colt was beginning to understand why Luke had acted the way he did when he saw Hardwicke at the restaurant.

“Yeah, and the two detectives or whatever those two men were that followed him around.”

“I would've paid to see that,” Jake said.

“By the way, Victoria said to give you this.” Colt reached in his pocket and pulled out the letter. “Mary Ann left it for you.”

Luke took the letter and noticed the beautiful script before he stuffed it in his pocket.

“Aren't you going to read it?” Jake asked.

“Not now.” For weeks he'd thought of nothing but Mary Ann, but he knew he had to let her go. He wasn't as angry with her as he was at first, so he was making some headway. He'd even managed to chuckle to himself over the night she'd basically dared him to spend so much money on those things for Sally. He knew as soon as he opened that letter all of the anger and regret would surface.

* * *

Over the next week, Luke had pulled the letter from his pocket countless times, but he hadn't opened it. One night when he thought Colt and Jake were asleep, he held the letter in his hands and ran his fingers over his name written in Mary Ann's script. He'd almost thrown it in the fire, but he couldn't bring himself to part with it. It was the only tangible thing he had to remember her by.

“What are you afraid of?” Colt whispered.

The voice surprised Luke, he wasn't aware Colt was watching him. “I told myself I was going to let it go.”

“Throw it in the fire then.”

Colt always had a way of knowing what he was thinking. “I've thought about it.”

Colt saw the hesitation in his brother's face. “If you haven't done it by now, there's a reason. Do you love that gal?”

“Yeah, I did.” Luke finally admitted that fact to someone other than himself.

“But you don't anymore?”

Luke thought about his brother's question. He only hesitated since he didn't want to admit it to himself. He'd been so angry with her that he hadn't considered that she might not have a choice when it came to marrying Stafford. But now it was too late. She was gone. He'd been so darn stubborn that he'd let her get away. She could already be married before she sailed to England. He looked at Colt. “I guess I do, but it's too late now. You were right, you know.”

Colt moved to a sitting position. “Yeah? I like to hear that. But exactly what was I right about?”

“You told me if I kept playing with fire, I was going to get burned. I guess I never thought I would feel that way about a woman. I've definitely been burned.” Right now, he felt like the biggest fool alive.

“Luke, you've lived your life like those horses you broke. Men are sort of like wild horses, we do what we want, fight and buck against getting older and settling down. Then the day comes when the right woman throws that lasso around our neck and we succumb, maybe fighting and kicking all the way, but we still yield. But there's one thing you haven't figured out yet.”

Luke looked at his brother. “What's that?”

“When we do give in and stop pulling against that tether, it's the best thing that could ever happen to us. With the right woman you'll be a better man. Look, Luke, I don't want you to ever leave the ranch again, but if you love that gal you need to go get her. You may never feel this way about another woman. I don't have all of the answers, but I know that without a doubt.”

“She could be married,” Luke said.

Thinking about what he would do if he were in Luke's position, Colt knew he would rather know one way or the other than spend his life wondering if the woman he loved married another man. “Do you want to spend the next year, five years, ten, wondering if she married him?”

“I hurt her and she's probably glad to see the last of me.” Luke told him about buying that corset for Sally and kissing her in front of Mary Ann.

Colt couldn't believe Luke had been so callous. For him to do something so out of character, he had to be furious with Mary Ann. “And you were angry at her for not telling you about a man that she ran away from?”

“Yeah. I was crazy jealous. Then when I walked into her shop that night all I could think about was Stafford being the man that was going to see her in those corsets and garters. I guess I went a little crazy.”

“A little? I'm surprised she didn't shoot you where you stood.”

Luke grinned. “It would have served me right.”

Jake whistled and sat up. “Darn straight.”

“I thought you were sleeping,” Luke said.

“Not with you two jabbering like old women,” Jake retorted. “But I have to admit this story is getting interesting, so I'll forgive you interrupting my beauty sleep.”

“Well, in that case I guess I should tell you that Mary Ann got even with me in her own way that night.” Luke then told them the rest of the story. “I thought she was going to sell Sally everything in her shop. She made sure she sold her the most expensive items. One bottle of perfume cost more than my saddle.”

Colt laughed so hard he thought he would break his ribs. “I love that gal! She's a smart one.”

“Remind me never to get on her bad side,” Jake teased.

Luke laughed with them and when he stopped his voice turned serious when he asked Colt, “What would you do?”

“First of all, I'd read the letter. Depending on what it said, if she gave me an opening and I thought there was a chance, and if I loved her, well . . .” He hesitated, then made it personal. “If it was Victoria, I'd get on that horse and wouldn't stop until I was on a ship.” It was an easy question to answer if someone tried to keep him from Victoria.

“It'll take a while,” Luke said. He knew he would be away from the ranch for months, not days, if he went to England.

“Most things worthwhile usually do. I waited ten years for you and Jake to come home. Several months is nothing compared to years.” Colt envisioned Luke married, living on the ranch, having children, and growing old with his family. He wanted that for his brothers. But most of all he wanted them happy, as happy as he was. He thought Mary Ann and Luke would be very happy together.

“How did you know Victoria was the
one
you wanted to marry?”

That was an easy question for Colt to answer. “I couldn't stop thinking about her. I didn't want to be with another woman. I was furious when she went anywhere with another man. She was on my mind day and night. Not even ranch work took my mind off of her. I didn't even visit the saloon anymore.”

For anyone or anything to take Colt's mind off the ranch had to be an eye-opener for him, but Luke knew exactly what he meant. From the first day he saw Mary Ann, he could think of nothing else, and he didn't want to be with another woman. Unless it was to make her jealous. The night he'd been upstairs at the saloon, the whole time he was thinking about her. And he sure as heck didn't want Mary Ann to be with another man.

“I'm going to sleep,” Jake said, stretching back out on his bedroll.

“Yeah.” Colt leaned back on his saddle and pulled his hat over his eyes. He thought his brother needed time to think through their conversation. It wasn't long before he heard the rustling of paper being unfolded. He hoped Luke liked what she had to say.

Luke read the letter several times. He couldn't argue that they had not talked much, other than the night he'd cooked with her in the hotel kitchen. She admitted she had feelings for him, and she'd even said she wasn't thinking of Stafford when he kissed her. He really liked that part. Did she actually think he had feelings for Arina? He couldn't say he blamed her for arriving at that conclusion considering Arina was always hanging all over him, and he'd allowed it to happen. He'd been one stupid son-of-a-buck. And he was the one thinking he was owed an apology.

* * *

The next morning Luke was up early saddling his horse when Colt awoke. “Aren't you going to have some coffee?”

“No time, I have a long ride ahead of me,” Luke replied.

Colt walked over to Luke's horse and checked the girth as Luke tied down the saddlebags. “Does this trip include an ocean?”