Randall Wedding (18 page)

They returned from Buffalo the next afternoon. Isabella proudly drove her new SUV and parked it near the back door at the ranch so everyone could see it.

She loved it. But she didn’t love what it represented. It was her means of leaving Russ. Of leaving the Randall family. She’d made so many friends here. She’d discovered love, love of family, love of friends and love of a man. She was going to really miss Russ. Doing anything with him was fun. He made it so. Leaving him was going to be very hard.

She knew she’d have to make plans at once. Any delay would only make her departure more difficult.

Everyone admired the SUV. Then Red asked them to stay for dinner, to which they readily agreed. Janie called Rich and Samantha and asked them to come over for dinner, too. Izzy was pleased that she’d be able to see everyone one more time, but the thought was bittersweet.

Janie grinned at her. “Life is so much better
these days, Izzy. It’s wonderful to see Russ happy again. I give thanks every day for your coming here.”

“That’s more than most of the people in Rawhide do,” she said, and then instantly wished she could take the words back.

Janie suddenly looked grim.

“Just tell me who made you feel that way. I’ll deal with them,” she said.

“No, no, Janie, I didn’t mean…it’s no big deal,” Izzy said.

“This is your home now. Forever.”

“I know, Janie, thanks to you and Pete and all the rest of the family. You’ve all been so nice to me and Angel.”

“It’s not hard to be nice to you or Angel, my dear.”

“Thank you, Janie.” Isabella smiled at her new mother-in-law.

R
USS EXCUSED HIMSELF
and went to the barn. He remained there until his brother and Samantha arrived.

“Hey, Russ, what are you doing out here?” Rich called as he got out of his truck.

“I need to talk to you. Do you mind, Samantha?”

“No, of course not. I’ll go visit with Izzy.”

The two brothers stood together until Russ heard the back door close. Then Rich turned to Russ. “What’s up?”

“I think Izzy is going to leave me.”

“What?” Rich shouted, “No, she can’t! You two’ve been so happy. You mustn’t—”

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to let her.”

“You’re going to talk her out of it?”

“Nope. That won’t work. She’s being noble. She thinks she’s doing the right thing for me.”

“How does she figure that?”

“A couple of people in town have made remarks about all the trouble she’s brought Rawhide. And she believed them.”

“Did you tell her it’s not her fault?”

Russ gave his brother a look of disgust. “Of course I told her. She wanted to know if her car was drivable.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, but it’s nasty because of the fire. So we went to Buffalo today and bought her a new SUV.”

“Wow, so that’s her SUV? I wondered who’d bought that.”

“Yeah. I think she’s planning on loading in Angel and their clothes and hitting the road.”

Rich shook his head. “I remember when Sam got on that bus. If Doc hadn’t seen her there and called, I might have lost her. So what are you going to do?”

“Well, number one, I’m going to watch her like a hawk. And number two, I’m going to siphon out most of her gas. She won’t think to look because she just filled it today. She’ll get a couple of miles out of town and run out. And I’ll be right behind her.”

“But if she really wants to run away, you can’t watch her every minute.”

“She doesn’t want to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. She thinks we’re a unique family. Unique in our niceness. She’s trying to be as nice as we are by leaving.”

“That sounds kind of crazy to me,” Rich said, scratching his head.

“Why was Samantha trying to leave you?”

“She didn’t think I’d love her forever, and she didn’t want to get pregnant and then have to move on.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s true of Izzy. I honestly think she believes she owes me for being so good to her. She doesn’t understand how marriage works, because she had such a lousy one for an example. I suspect she thinks she’s frigid.”

“Is she?”

“No,” Russ said with a sweet smile on his face. “She’s just scared.”

“Maybe showing her would be better than draining her gas tank.”

“Maybe. But I promised. So I can’t.”

“Man, this is crazy. Could Mom talk to her?”

“Nope. This is the only way. Just help me siphon the gas. I’ll take care of the rest.”

W
HEN THE EVENING
at the ranch wound down, Russ walked Izzy to her new vehicle. “You sure you’re up to driving it?”

“Of course I am.”

“Well, you start out and I’ll follow right behind,” he suggested.

“I don’t need you to tail me. I can manage just fine.”

“I’m sure you can, honey, but humor me. Dad taught us to take care of our women.”

She gave him a disgusted look and reached for Angel, whom he’d carried from the house.

“I’ll take Angel with me,” he said. “That way you can concentrate on the driving.”

“Really, Russ, I’ll be fine.”

“Better safe than sorry. Besides, the baby carrier’s in the truck, remember? You’d have to switch it. So look, I’ll see you at home.” With Angel still in his arms, he walked over to his truck.

She slammed the door of her SUV a little more forcefully than necessary. Russ grinned. “I think Mommy is a little ticked off at me, Angel. But you still love me, don’t you?”

Angel cooed at him and he grinned. “Mommy is going to get even more upset when she tries to run away. But don’t worry. I’ll be along to rescue you, okay?”

He hoped Izzy would understand as easily as Angel.

A
FTER THEY GOT
Angel settled in bed, Russ turned on the television and started watching an old movie
he liked. Izzy went into the bedroom. He called for her to come watch the movie with him, but she said she was busy.

He peeked in the bedroom a few minutes later to discover her packing. He thought about confronting her then and there, but decided it wouldn’t be effective. He’d wait until she made her move.

He did a lot of yawning and stretching when he went to bed an hour or so later. She was already under the covers. “You’ve gone to bed already?”

“Yes. I thought I could get a head start on Angel. She’ll be up in a few hours.”

“True. But I’ll get up with her tonight. You had a long day today.”

“No!”

From the alarm in her voice he realized she planned to leave in the middle of the night. Well, he’d foil that plan. “It’s no problem. I’ll feed her.”

“No. I insist on feeding her. I’m missing a lot of things lately. She’s not even going to know me if I’m not careful.”

“You silly girl. Okay, you can feed her.”

He kissed her cheek and crawled into bed with her.

When Angel woke them around four, Izzy scrambled out of bed. “You go back to sleep,” she insisted.

He didn’t say anything.

As soon as she’d gotten Angel and gone to the living room, he got out of bed and pulled on his
jeans. Then he sauntered into the living room. “I can’t seem to go back to sleep.”

Izzy jumped. Clearly he’d startled her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said with a chuckle. “Want me to take her?”

“No, I can manage. If you tried I’m sure you could go back to sleep.”

“But I’m hungry. I’m going to have a piece of cake. You want one?”

“No. You’ll never get to sleep if you eat chocolate.”

“Sure I will. Sure you won’t have some?”

“No, I—yes, I’ll have one. With a glass of milk.”

He grinned at her and cut two generous pieces of Red’s chocolate cake. Then he poured two glasses of milk. “Come on over to the table. You can eat while feeding her.”

She did as he said. She ate her piece quickly, drinking her milk as she went. When Angel had finished her bottle, she burped her and then got up to put her in bed.

Russ sat there watching Izzy’s frustration. He felt badly about tricking her, but no way was he going to let her get out on the highway in the middle of the night.

After she went back to bed, he waited another fifteen minutes, even though he was very sleepy. When he reentered the bedroom, the first thing he did was turn off the alarm. They could use a little extra sleep come morning. Then he climbed into
bed and drew her against him. He loved holding her. And he’d love making love to her, too. As soon as he convinced her to stay.

W
HEN
I
ZZY AWOKE
, she discovered first of all that her body was plastered against Russ’s. She immediately shifted away, even though she didn’t want to. Unfortunately her movement woke him.

“Russ, I think the alarm must’ve gone off. What time is it?”

He stretched, then looked at the clock. “Yeah, it was set to go off a couple of hours ago, but I turned it off after you fed Angel. I thought we deserved a little extra sleep this morning.”

“So what time is it?” she repeated sharply.

“Nine-thirty. Ready to get up?”

“Oh, my, yes. I meant to— I shouldn’t get used to sleeping this late.”

“I don’t think Angel will let you. But I think her feeding schedule is changing. Mom said we start cereal at three months, so we might get her sleeping all night pretty soon.”

“Yes, um, that’s true.”

“We fed her at four, so she should be up in another half hour. If you want a shower before you feed her, you’d better get a move on.”

He watched as she looked guiltily at the closet where her packed suitcases were hidden. She had planned to leave much earlier without a shower. He took pity on her. “I’ll go put on a pot of coffee. Want me to make pancakes?”

“No, thank you. I’m not hungry.”

Angel was fed and breakfast eaten before he got ready to go to work. He kissed Izzy goodbye and thumped down the stairs. Instead of going into his office, he went into the newspaper office next door. He offered a reward to the young man who worked there if he notified him as soon as he saw Izzy drive off in her SUV. He could see it from the window.

Then Russ went to his office and started to work, but he was easily distracted. Any minute he expected his spy to report that Izzy had left.

At noon he stepped outside to be sure the SUV was there. There it sat in all its glory…and a few snowflakes. Were they in for a storm?

He hurried up the stairs. Izzy was vacuuming the floor. When he tapped her on her shoulder, she practically jumped out of her shoes.

“Hi, sweetheart. You’re working hard. Sure you feel up to it?”

“Yes, I do. Did you know we’re going to have another snowstorm?”

“No, I didn’t. Did you watch the weather channel?”

“Yes. There’s a storm moving in over the Rockies. They think it will start snowing this afternoon.”

“Ah. I think it’s already started. Is that why you haven’t run away yet?”

His words made her turn off the vacuum cleaner and sit down at the table. “You knew?”

“Yeah. I figured.”

“I’ll go as soon as the snow ends. I think we both know I’m not a good driver in the snow. I don’t want to endanger Angel. But I will go, I promise.”

“And you think I’ll be happy about that?”

“Maybe not at first, but in the long run, you’ll be glad I’m not here to cause any more trouble in Rawhide.” By the time she finished, her lower lip was trembling.

“You silly girl,” he said tenderly. “The only thing that will cause any more trouble is you leaving.”

When he held out his arms to her, she fell into them, tears streaming down her face. “I have to leave, Russ. People are irritated that I upset the calm of Rawhide.”

“Do you think I care about what anyone says about Rawhide’s peace? My peace would be destroyed if you and Angel left.”

“I don’t want to go, Russ,” Izzy cried, sobbing.

“Then don’t.”

“But I won’t make you a good wife. I’ve already been married once. I didn’t make him happy.”

“Ah. Now we’re talking about sex, aren’t we?” he guessed.

“I know you agreed no sex. But you’re right. You can’t live forever without sex. And I can’t expect you to, but I’d die if you had another woman.”

“So would I, because you’re the only woman I want.”

“But I can’t…I mean, I didn’t—”

He kissed her, then wiped away her tears. “Listen, honey, I promised I’d wait a year.” He sighed. “Sweetheart, sex with me will be different. And if you don’t like it, we’ll do whatever you think is right.”

“You mean…you want to have sex now? I’ll disappoint you, I know it.”

“I don’t think so.” He smiled at her. “If you hate the idea so much, why do you let me hold you at night?”

“Because it’s cold?” she tried weakly.

He took her by the hand. “Come on, Izzy. Let’s give it a try.”

“But the baby…”

“Did you feed her at ten?”

“Ten-thirty, actually.”

“Then she won’t wake up until five or so. Perfect timing.”

He led her to the bedroom. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he pulled her into his lap. The first kiss was a delight. But Izzy was still tense, as if waiting for something bad to happen. Russ continued to kiss her. Gradually she began to respond, became as eager and hungry as he was.

Soon they were stretched out on the bed. He unbuttoned her blouse enough that he could occasionally drop a kiss on her warm skin, but he made no attempt to remove her clothes.

Finally she sat up and gave him a puzzled frown. “Is there something wrong with me?”

“Nothing at all,” he replied.

“Look, I know we have to get naked. Are you afraid you’ll shock me? Because I…I want to.”

Russ smiled a big smile. “Well, I’m ready. But I wanted to wait until you were.”

“I like kissing you,” she volunteered.

“Good. I like kissing you. Shall I help you undress?”

She looked alarmed again. “No, I can manage.”

She headed for the bathroom. He stopped her. “Honey, did your husband send you to the bathroom to get undressed?”

She nodded.

“Then did he go to the bathroom to undress?” When she nodded again, his eyebrows shot up. “I’m afraid I’m going to shock you.”

“How?”

“I want to undress you and I want you to undress me. But there’s no hurry. I want you to enjoy it.”