Secrets (36 page)

Slade said nothing.

Rick said, “Wasn't no miracle, honey. There's no such thing.”

Slade looked up.

Edward said, sipping a glass of red wine, “Slade, I believe you have just been indirectly complimented for a job well done.”

Slade was still, his fork poised over his plate.

Rick said, “Well, hell. It was an impossible job, an it was mostly done.”

Regina looked at Slade, smiling. Although Rick and Slade had apparently settled past misunderstandings, Rick's praise was rare and she knew her husband cherished it when it came. But she had no chance to judge his reaction. For suddenly Josephine screamed.

She screamed from the kitchen as if someone was committing bloody murder.

And she screamed again.

Chaos erupted. Everyone leaped to their feet and rushed toward the kitchen. Regina found herself behind the men while Slade led the charge. He burst through the kitchen door and abruptly froze. His brother and father collided against him.

Regina could not see past the taller men. Frightened, her heart thundering, she gripped Slade's arm, standing on tiptoe, peering past him.

Josephine was prostrate on the floor. A big man stood above her. Regina cried out, thinking Josephine injured or even dead. She tensed, waiting for Slade, Rick, and Edward to leap forward to attack the intruder.

“Jesus,” the big man said, white-faced. “What the hell is wrong with Josephine? She fainted when I walked in the door! And what the hell is wrong with all of you? You act like you're seeing a ghost!”

Regina gasped, suddenly thinking the unthinkable and praying for the impossible. Then a miracle unfolded before her very eyes as Slade rushed forward with a cry, not to attack the man, but to embrace him. “
James!
”

James had come back from the dead.

P
andemonium erupted in the kitchen. Slade wrapped James in a bear hug. Edward pounded his back. Rick grabbed James's face in his two hands, shouting at him. “Where the hell have you been? Jesus! Where the hell have you been? We thought you were dead!”

Everyone was tearful, except James, who was stunned and bewildered. Regina was crying, but laughing too. She whispered her own quick prayer of thanks to God for such a wonderful miracle. Then she realized that Josephine had been forgotten in the ensuing reunion. She rushed to the prone woman. Kneeling, she felt for her pulse. Josephine had only fainted; already she was stirring.

It was then that Regina felt a distinct warning tingle racing up her spine. The four men were shouting at each other incomprehensibly. James was saying something about a letter. Warily she looked up. One person was not participating in the spontaneous celebration.

Victoria stood in the doorway. Many different emotions played across her face, but not one of them was joy. Regina shuddered. Nor did Victoria appear the least bit surprised. A horrible thought dawned. Yet it was indecent. Regina told herself that Victoria could
not have known that James was alive and kept such a secret to herself. Her imagination was running away with her.

Victoria realized that she was being watched, meeting Regina's penetrating stare. Her eyes were angry, yet an instant later a smile transformed her features.

Regina was frozen. Her heart pounded painfully. This woman was somehow involved in the mystery surrounding James.

Josephine moaned. “Lawdy, I'se seen a ghost!”

Regina stroked her brow. “No, dear, James has returned, but not as a ghost, as a mortal man.”

Josephine cried out and Regina helped her to sit up. “James!” she shouted, furious. “I'm gonna whip you so bad you won't sit fer a week! Come heah, boy!” And she started to weep. Josephine had been the only mother James had ever known and she had loved him as she did any of her own children.

James was such a big man that he lifted the sobbing woman effortlessly to her feet. “God, I'm sorry. You all thought I was dead?” He looked horrified.

“Now I'm gonna kill you,” Rick said, boxing his son's ears. But then a grin split his tearstained face. “What the hell happened? Where the hell have you been?”

James opened his mouth to respond and then he saw Regina. “Who's this?”

Instantly Slade pulled Regina forward, his arm around her. “This is my wife, Regina.”

James was incredulous. “You're married?”

“I'm married,” Slade said, with no small amount of pride and pleasure. “
What the hell happened to you?
”

“I wrote one letter and sent two telegrams,” James protested. “I don't understand!”

There was a moment of sober silence. Regina could not help regarding Victoria, who was the only one to offer an explanation. Cheerfully, she said, “Mail gets lost all the time. And old Ben at the post office is drunk more often than not. Welcome home, James! How wonderful to have you back!”

James eyed her, obviously not buying his stepmother's
welcome for an instant. “Ben Carter quit drinking last year. Or did he start up again?”

“Not that I know,” Slade said grimly.

“Let's go inside,” Victoria said. “You're dripping all over the floor. Here, let me take your poncho. You must have quite a story to tell!”

Regina was sick. Something most definitely was wrong. She knew what was wrong. Somehow, for some reason, Victoria had intercepted the letter and the telegrams. But why?

She did not know, could not even guess. And she did not dare speak out. It was not her place to do so, and there was a chance she could be wrong. Later, privately, she would mention her suspicions to Slade. God, how hurt Rick would be if Victoria had known that James was really alive. Then she thought about Edward. He would be devastated to learn of such treachery.

They moved into the den. Supper was forgotten. Josephine and Lucinda brought in steaming-hot coffee for everyone and a plate of hot food for James. Neither woman returned to the kitchen; instead they hovered happily around James, just as everyone else did.

While he ate, before he launched into an explanation, Regina studied him. He was a very handsome man, a Delanza trait. He was bigger than Edward and Rick by several inches, and not just taller, but more heavily built. Yet there was no fat on his hard, powerful frame. His hair was the rich brown of mink, his eyes another shade of Delanza blue. He was certainly a man to set female hearts fluttering.

But the most obvious resemblance among all the men was their charisma. When James entered a room everyone would sit up and take notice. Regina had seen the same thing happen again and again with Rick, Edward, and her own husband Slade.

Rick was sitting on the sofa on one side of James, Slade on the other. Regina sat beside Slade, holding her husband's hand, ecstatically happy for him. Edward had pulled up an ottoman, so close that his knee almost brushed James's. Lucinda and Josephine had pulled up
chairs and sat beside Rick, crowding him. They were even closer to James than Rick's wife. But Victoria sat in a chair on the other side of the seating area, distinctly removing herself from the family group, which Regina found disturbing and significant.

“Enough food,” Rick growled. “I want to know where the hell you've been. We found your horse downriver after the floodwaters subsided, his leg broke, dead, caught in two uprooted trees. We already knew you'd disappeared. Jesus! We looked for you, not wanting to find you, afraid to find you dead!”

“Jesus,” James said, pushing his plate away. He leaned back on the sofa, not looking very pleased. “But you didn't find me! If you had gotten my letter you would have known right away that I was fine.”

“When we didn't find you and after a month went by, what could we think but that you were dead?” Rick said.

“Why did you take off without a word?” Slade asked.

“I got a letter from Elizabeth.”

“What kind of letter?” Rick asked.

James's smile was bitter. “What kind do you think? It wasn't a love letter.”

A silence fell after his words. Slade broke it. “Hell, James. I'm sorry.”

“Yeah, well, don't be. Best thing that could've happened to me.”

“So that's why you took off in the middle of the damned storm,” Rick said grimly.

“I was mad. And disbelieving. And hurt. Stupid fool that I was, I figured I'd go to her personally and demand an explanation. I wanted to believe she was just having the usual last-minute jitters, and that once she saw me, she'd fall right into my arms and everything would be fine.” He laughed harshly. “Boy, was I wrong!”

“You got her letter and took off in the storm and lost your horse in the flood,” Slade said. “What happened afterwards?”

“I needed another horse so I stole another one out of old man Curtis's fields to make it to Templeton to
catch the train to San Luis Obispo. When I realized the train wouldn't be coming until the next day, I just kept riding. Nothing was going to stop me—I was too damn mad. I rode until I could rendezvous with the Southern Pacific, which I picked up in Serrano.”

“You rode almost the entire way?” Edward interjected.

“I wasn't just mad,” James said ruefully, “I was crazy, too. I didn't send a telegram home until I got to San Luis Obispo, after I had seen her.” His mouth twisted but the smile failed. “I can't remember what I said. She had changed so much—I was shocked, I guess.”

Edward broke the ensuing silence. “I saw her, James. About a month ago I went down there to see her stepmother, and Susan sent me to Elizabeth.” He hesitated. “You shouldn't be so upset. No woman could have been worse for you.”

James was silent.

Slade said, “I saw her, too. Recently. Edward's right. She was bad news.”

James looked at his brothers. Then his fist hit the table hard, sending his plate to the floor. “She had to tell me all of it. I think she enjoyed telling me all of it. She's a whore at heart and she always has been. Do you know why she was sent to London in the first place? Because she'd been caught in bed with some stable-boy! Somehow Sinclair hushed it up and sent her off to what he hoped would be a prison! She was thirteen! It wasn't even the first time! Boy, when George arranged the marriage was he laughing behind our backs!” James was shaking. He released a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling.

Rick was on his feet. “Goddamn George! If he wasn't dead I'd wring his neck right now! How in hell did he cover up such a scandal? George always was too damn smart!” Rick planted himself in front of his son. “Thank God, James, that she called it off. That tramp isn't fit to clean the horseshit off your boots.”

“Amen,” Edward said.

James didn't speak.

“You've been gone a long time,” Slade said quietly. “Where have you been?”

“I drifted south. I didn't much care where I went. A few days after I'd seen her, when I was in Los Angeles, I sent another telegram so no one would expect me back anytime soon. Later I posted a letter from Tucson, explaining. When I wound up in Guadalajara two weeks ago, I decided it was time to come home and finish things.”

Slade eyed him. Regina wondered what he meant.

James shook his head. “I don't understand what happened to the letter and the telegrams.”

“Neither do I,” Rick said furiously. “And it's one hell of a coincidence all three never made it here.”

Slade spoke. “I'm going to get some answers. I'll go to town tomorrow to talk to Ben.”

Regina tensed. She glanced at Victoria, who was nonchalant. But when the other woman saw Regina's expression, she shifted. Regina looked away, despairing. Dear God, she knew she was right.

“I know about the letter,” Lucinda suddenly cried: “But not about the telegrams.”

Everyone looked at her.

“What?” Rick shouted. “You kept that letter from me?”

Victoria was on her feet. “Lucinda, what kind of stupid ploy is this? And what are you doing here? Don't you have chores to do?”

Lucinda glared at her. “You're a mean woman and you deserve this. I have to tell the truth!”

Regina cringed. Rick grabbed the maid's arm. “What the hell are you implying?”

“Rick, I saw the letter in Victoria's bureau, hidden among her clothes.”

A shocked silence filled the room.

“No!” Victoria shouted, livid. “She's lying because she hates me! She's always hated me. Haven't you, you lying bitch?”

Rick looked at his wife in bewilderment.

Edward stared at his mother in disbelief.

Slade took Lucinda's hand. “Tell us what happened.”

Tears filled Lucinda's eyes. “I wanted to say something right away! When I found the letter by accident I recognized his handwriting, so I read it. But she came in and caught me!”

Victoria made a strangled sound.

“She threatened me, Slade! Then she paid me off.” Lucinda almost broke into tears. “I was more afraid of her threats to see me thrown off the ranch than I was interested in the money. We fought about it. She hit me. I knew she'd do as she said, have me beaten up and taken away, if I spoke up.”

“You should have come to me,” Slade said.

“I was afraid! This has been my home since I was a child! Would you have believed me or her?” Lucinda cried wildly.

It really didn't matter. Slade turned to Victoria, his eyes filled with fury. Regina immediately moved to the stricken maid, putting her arm around her. Lucinda should have spoken up, but she could easily imagine her being thoroughly intimidated by Victoria. Regina had not a doubt that Victoria's threats to do her bodily harm had been real.

“You've gone too far, Victoria,” Slade said. “I guess you intercepted the telegrams too.”

Rick was staring at his wife, shocked. But it was Edward who was paralyzed. He hadn't moved, he hadn't even flinched, nor had he spoken. Now he said, his voice high and boyish, “Mother?”

Victoria rushed to him. “Oh, Edward!” she cried, clasping his hands. He stared at her as if she were a maddened stranger. “I did it for you! For you! And what was so bad? I didn't kill James! He went away, deserting us all! I didn't know Elizabeth was just a little whore. I thought she was coming here to marry James. Rick wanted her to marry Slade, but I realized that with James gone, she could marry you!”

Edward did not so much as blink.

“Don't you see? Slade would come for the funeral and leave. But you would be here and Rick would have
asked you to marry her to save the rancho. Then this would all be yours! I did it for you! And was it such a terrible lie? Just what was so terrible?”

Edward suddenly lunged to his feet, throwing her off him so violently that she crashed into the chair behind her and almost fell to the flooor. “
Get away from me
.”

“Edward!” Victoria reached out to him, pleading.

“Get away from me!” Edward shouted. He whirled, knocking over the ottoman he had been sitting on. He moved so swiftly that no one had time to react. He was out the door, his strides so long and fast he was almost running.

Everyone was in shock. Slade was frozen. Rick sank down on the sofa, his face buried in his hands, looking old and defeated. Regina felt pity for them all, but especially Rick and Edward. Abruptly she gripped Slade's arm. “Call Edward back,” she said urgently.

Slade looked at her. “No.”

She started to protest.

“No, Regina, he has to deal with this himself.”

And then, through the beating rain, they heard the sound of thundering hoofbeats. Regina ran to the other side of the room, which faced the grounds and the stables. Pushing aside the drapes, she saw Edward on his black stallion galloping down the drive, away from Miramar.