Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) (14 page)

But then it had all been an act from the start. And now the failed wedding was behind them, there was no need to act like a couple any longer. There was no need for them to be together any longer. The agent promised to get back
to him as soon as he could.

The sun was setting behind them, painting the sky in vivid oranges and lemons. “It’s beautiful,” Scarlett said, and Mitch agreed, even though he knew the sunset would have looked more spectacular over the sea from Cable Beach.

“Just wait until the moon comes up,” he promised her.

She smiled, but only weakly, before she turned her head away to watch the last of the sunset sky.

He was worried about her. She seemed on edge tonight, as if the failed wedding had knocked the stuffing out of her and even the vibrant market atmosphere couldn’t spark her up. Maybe given Kristelle’s verbal attack, it was no wonder she was flat. Or maybe she was just feeling like she didn’t have to pretend any more. She probably couldn’t wait to get home. At least he’d be able to let her know how long she’d have to wait before a flight out.

Scarlett sat there while Mitch went to refresh their drinks. He was
making her flight reservation. He wasn’t even waiting until tomorrow to give her the money he’d promised. He was making her reservation now. All under the pretext it would be better.

Better for whom?

And although the beach was getting crowded, Scarlett felt utterly alone. She watched the darkening sky erase the last of the color from the sunset, and that was exactly how she felt right now: as if all the color was being sucked from her life. Did he really want to erase her from his life that swiftly?

She’d thought they could have one last night before acknowledging it was over. But Mitch paying so much attention to his phone made it feel like he wanted it over now.

And she did want to go home.

She needed to go home.

Although those two things weren’t as closely in sync as they once were.

Because there’d been magic happening here in Broome. Magic in the location, sure, but magic between her and Mitch too.

And while she needed to be home, it didn’t stop her wishing that things could be different.

Mitch returned with their drinks and sat next to her and she was so busy thinking of all the reasons she’d miss him, that she all but missed the collective hush that descended over the crowd that had gathered around the edges of the lawn while they’d been waiting. And then the haunting tones of the
native Australian didgeridoo music broke the silence as a glow appeared behind the mudflats and kept growing until a silvery burst of light appeared on the horizon and the audience burst into spontaneous applause.

I
t was amazing to be there, and even more amazing to have Mitch’s arm wrapped around her shoulders while it happened, to feel his heat and his heartbeat as this disc of a moon slowly rose from the earth and grew and grew.

And she forgot about leaving, she forgot about everything as she watched the moon grow big and fat and finally slip free of the shackles of the earth and launch itself wholly into the sky.

It was breathtaking, like a giant pearl in the low sky, hanging creamy and white, its glow catching on a strip of the damp mud flats below. And that was when the magic really began, for as the moon climbed higher in the night sky, more of the mud flats were caught in the band of light, illuminating them as the big moon rose, creating the illusion of a staircase rising from the earth to the moon.

Mitch had
seen the Staircase to the Moon before but he’d never appreciated the sheer wonder of it until he saw it reflected on Scarlett’s face. Her eyes were huge, her lips slightly parted, her breathing faster as if she was moved by the spectacle.

He took her hand and she looked at him, and there were tears swimming in her eyes. “It’s so beautiful,” she said.

And for all the wonder and beauty of this night, nothing, nothing was more beautiful than she was in that moment. He almost let those words slip again, almost said the words that he’d discounted but that wouldn’t go away.

I love you.

“Scarlett,” he said, struggling with the discovery. Because she was leaving. Walking away from his world and rejoining hers, half a planet away. The knowledge almost tore him in two. “You’re the one who’s beautiful,” he said instead, and pressed his lips to hers and cursed the cruel fates that had brought them together, only to fling them apart again.

Together they watched as the moon rose, the staircase growing until, as it had once broken free of the horizon, it also broke free of
its more tenuous of link to the earth, and the staircase fell away.

Eventually they wandered back through the market stalls and they found one they hadn’t noticed before selling pearls and exquisite pearl jewelry. “You should have a souvenir to take home,” he said. “Something from Broome.”

She shook her head, even as he saw her eyes fall on one display, of a strand of pearls hung with a single teardrop pearl at its center, with matching teardrop earrings.

“It’s too much!” she protested, when he asked if she’d like them, “you’ve already given me too much,” but eventually she agreed to take the earrings.

His phone buzzed as he’d finished the purchase. He looked at the screen and felt his heart sink. “Good news,” he lied, “we’ve got you ticketed right through to Bozeman leaving tomorrow. You’ll be home in two days.”

“Great,” she said, clutching his gift to her chest.

Their lovemaking was tender that night, and sweet. Mitch took his time because that was all he had now and even that was slipping away and he wanted to remember every single thing he could, every freckle, every taste, every tiny detail, about this woman after she’d walked out of his life forever.

H
e’d never been a forever kind of guy, but right now the thought of never seeing Scarlett again was killing him and if he didn’t say something it surely would.

“Stay,” he whispered, as their bodies hummed down from the dizzy heights of pleasure. “Even just a little longer. And next leave I can take you to Sydney. Or Uluru. Or Melbourne. There’s so much you haven’t seen. You don’t have to go tomorrow.”

“No, I really do have to go.”

“Just because some
jerkball let you down doesn’t mean—“

“No. I never told yo
u why I needed the money so bad, did I?”

“I thought...”

“Yeah, I know what you thought.” She pulled his arm tighter around her. “You see my mom’s sick. I’d barely arrived in Perth and the doctors finally found out the reason for her falls and her shakes. She’s got Early Onset Parkinson’s. And Mom’s still trying to come to grips with that and Tara’s been running her around trying to cover everything and it’s not fair that I’m not there to help out, not to mention that I just want to see her.” She turned her face to him. “I have to go, Mitch, Mom needs me, but I want you to know I’ve had the best time with you, really I have.”

Home. To Marietta and her Mom and her sister.

Scarlett lay on the bed, watching the fan make patterns on the ceiling as the first light of dawn peeked around the curtains. She should be excited. It was what she’d wanted. What she’d set out to do and for once in her mistake-prone life, was going to do.

She should feel proud of herself.

She should feel excited.

Instead she felt empty.

And she knew the reason why.

Because this man had taken her heart and she was leaving here without it.

“Don’t come in,” she said, when they arrived at the airport and the driver opened her door. “Please, just go.”

“Scarlett—
”

She held up one hand to him, threw the
backpack that the driver had retrieved from the trunk over her shoulder. “No! Really, there’s no need. I hate airports and I hate goodbyes and it’ll just make my mascara run and I’ll look ridiculous and you don’t want me to look ridiculous.”

He shook his head and smiled. “Do I get to kiss you goodbye?”

She reached up, put her lips to his and breathed in his warm breath for the last time before she drew away. “There. Thanks for everything,” she said, and then she had to turn away while she could still see her way into the terminal.

She waited in line feeling utterly miserable
, and was never more pleased to get the check-in desk and hand over her documents. All she wanted was to ditch her bag and go hide in a corner somewhere and cry her eyes out.

“You’ve been standing in the wrong
line, Ms. Buck. You’re ticketed in business class all the way through to Bozeman, you didn’t have to wait in line.”

“Business class?”

The attendant smiled as she waited for the boarding passes to print out. “All the way.”

“I didn’t know.”

The attendant handed her the passes. “Then you must have someone special looking out for you.”

Mitch.
Who’d insisted on buying her tickets for her and who must have planned this the whole time and whom she’d sent away before she could discover his surprise. And she turned towards the windows and mouthed the words she would now never get to say to his face, “I love you, Mitch.”

The cleaners had been through in
Mitch’s absence and the villa was clean and sparkling again, the big wide bed put to rights. But the place was empty without Scarlett, devoid of life and laughter and even her scent. His gut clenched, he couldn’t stay here a moment longer. He only had one more night here but he’d ask for another room. This one held too many memories.

He was on his way out when he noticed them in a corner, and for a moment he thought she’d forgotten them. Until he picked them up and inside one
spangly pink boot, he found her note.

To Mitch, with thanks from the best Buck you’ll ever have.

All my love,

Scarlett

x
x

And he slid down the wall cradling her boots to his chest.

Tara came to meet
Scarlett, picking her up after one of her shifts. The sisters fell into each other’s arms and there were tears and laughter and Scarlett couldn’t believe that it had only been a few weeks since she had left, because it felt like so much had happened.

“How’s Mom?” she asked, as Tara loaded her bag into her truck and headed for Marietta. “How’s she taking it all?”

“You know Mom.” Tara shook her head. “Drama queen all the way. But it’ll be better now you’re back. She’s been worried about you, of course, so that’ll be one less thing for her to worry about.”

“And her illness? Any news?”

“Seems the same. Doctors said she’s probably had it a while without knowing and it may not progress too quickly if she’s lucky. The drugs should help with that. But she’s worried about losing her job of course. It doesn’t pay for a nail technician to have tremors.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyhow, now that you’re back, we can all be one big happy family again, right? Unless you’ve got other crazy plans you haven’t told me about? Hmm?”

Well, she would think that. And she’d be justified in thinking it too. “Tara.”

The pickup rattled across a railroad track and Tara kept her eyes on the road. “Yeah?”

“I need to apologize. You told me it was a mistake going to Perth to meet Travis. You warned me it would go bad.”

“Hey,” she held up a hand. “You already explained what happened. The guy’s an asshat.”

“Yeah, but I should have listened to you. I should have thought about what I was doing a little more, at least, given myself an escape plan.”

Tara pulled her sunglasses down her nose and peeked over them at her sister. “Is this my madcap sister, Scarlett, talking? What happened to you over there, anyhow?”

Scarlett looked out the window at the view. They’d left Bozeman behind and now the
thirty or so miles to Marietta were open farmland, dotted with ranches and colored barns and all set off by the snow topped jagged peaks of the mountains behind. A view so unlike the one she’d left behind.

“I
don’t know. I grew up a bit I think. And I met someone.”

“Yeah.
Asshat!”

“No. Someone else.”

Her sister looked over at her. “Well? Are you going to tell me or do I have to Taser you to get the truth out of you?”

Scarlett laughed. Tara would never change. “Just a guy who helped me work out what I need to do.”

“Yeah? Sounds serious. Like what.”

She shrugged. “Get a job. Go back to college. Maybe not in that order.”

“What doing?”

“I was thinking about asking that CPA firm if they need anyone. You know, the one across the road from you in Bozeman.”

“Morison and Daume?”

“Yeah, they’ve got an office in Marietta too. I thought it worth a try.”

“You’re going to become a CPA?”

“I thought I’d ask if they had any
entry-level positions going, test the water a little.”

Her sister
hmphed. “Well, good luck with that.”

Scarlett smiled. She’d thought it
crazy at first too. “Thanks.”

“And this guy who helped you work things out. Does he have a name?”

“Mitch.”

“And is he the one who
upgraded the fare for those fancy priority baggage tags your bag is wearing?”

Scarlett’s mouth fell open.

“Hey, I’m a cop. I’m supposed to notice things. Anyhow, nobody gets off a plane that fast unless they’re up the point end. So is he?”

“Yeah, that was Mitch too. I kind of did him a favor and he helped me get home. I didn’t expect business class though. That was nice of him.”

“Must have been some kind of favor.” Her sister looked over at her. “You gonna see him again?”

Scarlett
breathed in the sweet Montana air and turned her eyes up to the roof of the car to stop the moisture from trickling down. Even if he had felt half way inclined, the news that her mom had a potentially hereditary illness was sure to put any man off. “I don’t see how.”

“Yeah,” said her sensible sister and slapped her twin on the leg. “Well, maybe that’s for the best. You
don’t exactly have the best track record with men.”

Ain’t
that the truth?

“So how’s Simon?” she asked, before Tara could expound on the rest of her character faults.

“Oh, the same.”

“You guys still entered in The Great Wedding Giveaway?”

“Yep. Simon’s brilliant idea to score a free wedding. Hey, there’s a barn dance coming up in April where they announce the semifinalists. You coming to support your big sister? Mom’ll be there. You can give her a lift there and back.”

“Sure.” So nothing had changed here in Montana then. She was back ten minutes and her sister had her organized. But that felt good too. She was back at home and this was the way things had to be, and so she smiled, even though she was over weddings for a while. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”