The Bride Wore Starlight (24 page)

“This is why I've started eating here.” Alec sent a longing look toward the large pot on the stove. “I don't create scents like this in my kitchen.”

“I get riding lessons. You should take cooking—”

Eager, excited voices from the living room cut her off.

“Why this is wonderful. Sadie why didn't you tell us?”

Joely caught Alec's questioning look and shrugged. She led the way out of the kitchen and saw the knot of family members in the front foyer.

“I wasn't certain he would come,” Sadie said. “It took several notes and some severe arm twisting. Family, I'd like you to meet an ancient old friend of mine, Trampas Manterville.”

Mayberry—Trampas—appeared in the middle of the small crowd and started shaking hands as he addressed Sadie. “How do you do? Pleased to meet you. And, madam, I am not that ancient and hardly ancient and old together.”

“Don't make me sorry I invited you into polite company,” she retorted and gave his coat sleeve an admonishing flick of her hand.

“Whoa, Grandma!” Joely whispered to Alec and bit back her laughter. “Is she
flirting
with him?”

“Hope so. I think maybe she's just happy to have someone her own age in the house.”

Trampas was ushered all the way in and ensconced in the biggest armchair. Grandma took her usual spot across the floor in the gliding rocker beside her knitting basket. Trampas greeted Joely warmly. “I see that all went well the other evening.”

She flushed and nodded. “It did. You gave me good advice.”

“Advice?” Alec asked.

“Mr. Manterville gets credit for telling me to follow you into Ina's the other night.”

“Is that right?” Alec grinned like a cat that had a parakeet by its tail. “In that case I owe you a handshake at the very least. I was so glad to find her there.”

“Excuse me, I wasn't a lost dog,” Joely said, indignant.

“You were not.” Alec gave her a kiss, soft and quick, on the lips, in front of everyone there. “You were a lost piece of my heart.”

“Awwwww.” Mia clapped and nudged their mother. “Even if he's just kidding, and I'm not sure he is, that was class-A romantic.”

A hundred comments that would make light of Alec's shameless kiss rushed to Joely's lips.
You're so strange. What a dork. Isn't he weird?

Suddenly, however, she didn't need to excuse it. He'd kissed her, and she was kind of blown away. Despite her limp, despite her mercurial moods, despite her scars and all the things she lacked—like skills or a job—he'd kissed her in front of her mother and her sister and her grandmother. In an old-fashioned, unliberated sense he'd staked his claim and told the world he wasn't embarrassed to do it.

The fantasy was over-the-top. But she wrapped herself in it anyway.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm late!” Harper trotted into the room, feet clad in brightly striped socks, black ponytail slightly frayed, and an aqua tank top splattered with dark, round stains. “I got roped into helping Bjorn fix one of the four-wheelers, and I shouldn't be allowed around oil cans. I'm going to run and change and then dinner will be on in ten minutes.”

“Harpo, it's fine; don't fuss.” Mia stood. “You're not late. Gram's dinner guest just arrived, so no worries. I'll set the table.”

“Gram's guest?” Harper squinted at their quiet grandmother, sitting placidly in her chair, and let her eyes stray to Trampas. She headed across the floor, extending her hand to him. “Hi. I'm Harper Wainwright, Sadie's granddaughter.”

Joely smiled. Hearing her sister's married name still caused a ripple of surprise.

“Harper. I'm delighted to meet you. I'm Trampas Manterville. I know who you are, of course. Your Community Arts Guild and all the programs you run out here are much talked about in town. You're doing a wonderful thing for this area.”

Harper grinned from ear to ear. The Double Diamond Arts Center she'd founded, on Paradise land that had once been owned by Cole's family, was her pet project. “I'm so flattered, thank you, Mr. Manterville. I've been hearing rumors that you were back in the area.”

“Everybody, please call me Trampas.”

Harper turned to their grandmother. “I like him already, Grams.”

“Well, you don't know him.” Grandma Sadie flashed a beatific smile across the room as if daring him to tease back.

“I don't know,” Joely whispered to Alec again. “I have no precedent for this. How do you handle a flirting nonagenarian?”

“You don't use that fifty-cent word for starters,” he said and kissed her on the cheek.

“I could define it if you didn't understand.”

“Later. I'll take you home, and you can define whatever you like.”

“Be careful what you wish for.”

Once all the men were back from work, dinner passed in gales of laughter and endless stories. If his parents hadn't kept him from monopolizing the conversation, Rory would have told Disney adventure tales the entire time. Gabe declared the Disney roller coasters top notch but the spinning teacups an alien plot to eradicate the human race. The storyteller of the night, however, was Trampas. His adventures since leaving Wyoming seventy years before were innumerable.

He'd become an itinerant farm worker and traveled around the country for six years. At twenty-one he made his way across the ocean by working on a freight ship and lived in England where he met his wife.

“Once I married my Nina, I knew I had to stop wandering and become respectable. I loved the open skies and traveling, but I went to school, became a teacher, fell in love with Shakespeare, and managed to work at everything from teaching to trash collecting when the need arose. We moved to the United States after fifteen years to finish raising our two children. I got a professorship in a tiny college in Kansas teaching English Literature and Shakespeare.”

“That's why you have a slight accent,” Harper said. “From living abroad.”

“I spoke like a country hick when I arrived in London. I learned proper speech at school there, and I guess a little of the pronunciation became permanent.”

“So what brought you back here?” Joely asked.

“I never earned tenure at my college, and when budget cuts inevitably occurred, I was forced to retire at age seventy-one. Nina and I lived in our home for eleven years before she passed away five years ago. I decided that before I died I was going to go back to the traveling life I loved. I receive a small social security check each month,” he said cheerfully. “It's enough for food and shelter and other necessities. I have a tent. I can stay in a hotel when it's cold. I have used shelters and spent time working at them when I do. When I save enough, I can travel to a warmer or cooler location. It's a good life.”

“It's an amazingly brave life,” Harper said. “What do your children think of this?”

“They don't like it, of course. Their homeless father. But I've lived with each of them, and we have better relationships the way things are. I'm no braver than a hardworking rancher. Yours is not a life for sissies.”

“Did you come back here to visit? To see what it was like?” Mia asked.

He and Grandma Sadie exchanged a meaningful look—this one not the least bit flirtatious.

“And so we come to the reason I decided to accept Sadie's invitation,” Trampas said. “I have a story about Paradise Ranch I thought you'd all like to hear.”

“T
HERE YOU ARE
.”

Alec found Joely sitting on a garden bench far beyond the house, in the clearing that overlooked the Tetons. This time of night there were no mountains visible, only pinpricks of stars and the waning crescent moon in the vast western sky.

“I just needed to breathe a little. Everyone else is wrapped up in conversation. I didn't think they'd miss me for a few minutes.”

“I missed you.” He set his hands on her shoulders. “It's been nearly forty-five minutes. Thought I'd better check.”

“Has it? Oh, then I am sorry.”

“No. I'm just making sure you're okay. Did that story about your great-grandfather bother you?”

For a moment she didn't speak. He rubbed her shoulders, and she shrugged into his touch. Tilting her head back, she pointed into the starry sky. “The Big Dipper. There's Draco the Dragon curving around Polaris.” She made sure he saw what she was showing him although he didn't know how it followed his question. “Gemini, Leo, Cassiopeia.”

“Cool,” he said.

“I'm sure there are lots of places in the world to see the stars, but none of them are like this. Even when electricity came into use and it reached here, my grandfathers made sure no artificial light from the ranch yard or the house obscured the sky—how much foresight did that take? Every generation has tried its best to stick with traditions that allow humans and the land to sustain each other. Now Harper and Cole have the wind turbines out along the highway in an area that doesn't obstruct the views or dig up the land. They're talking with the triplets about raising some organic cattle for the girls' restaurant in Denver. Those are the stories of Paradise I know and love.”

“Ahhh,” he said. This
was
about the old story their visitor had told.

“No matter how crappy things were in my life, even during the worst in the hospital, I knew Paradise was here—flawless, almost pristine, built and sustained by honest, hard-working, iron-willed men like my father. All because they inherited it from the first Crockett, who worked his young ass off to make it great. Now they're trying to tell me that it's a lie?”

“Oh, honey, it's not a lie. Even if it's true that Eli won the land in a card game, he started with just a small part of what Paradise has become.”

“It was the kernel. The start of everything. My great-grandfather was basically a cheat and a liar and one step from a murderer.”

“Oh, now, I didn't get that from Trampas's story.”

“Eli Crockett forced Simon Manterville to play poker for the land by holding a knife to his throat while he dealt the cards. That's exactly what I heard.”

“Doesn't sound like Simon was a guy worth feeling sorry for.”

“That doesn't give someone the right to threaten his life because he wants the property.”

“They don't know why the game was played.”

“The point is, Eli didn't work for the land like I've always been told. My legacy is based on a gambler's lucky night. And even then he forced his luck. Simon wasn't a real poker player but Eli was a card sharp. That sounds like fixed odds to me.”

“Eli was a twenty-four-year-old kid who was brilliant.”

Alec moved to squat in front of her and grasp her hands. “This is ancient history. It should be a fantastic story that's all. Like the Australians who now search ancestries to see if they have some original colony prisoners in their lineage. It's a matter of pride.”

“An entire family was forced to move. We're living on what had been their dream.”

“Joely, come on. You heard the same story I did, not just from Trampas but from Sadie, too. The Mantervilles were defaulting on payments. They'd lost their cattle. They probably abused their kids. I'm not saying we know everything, but Eli only hastened something that would have happened anyway.”

“You don't understand the matter of pride.”

“I do.” He understood
that
she was angry but not why.

“And now there's the great-nephew. He seems to think the land was stolen from his family. What if this Tyrone guy does have proof the deed was never signed over?”

“But that was the point—Tyrone Whatever-his-name-is has given up the claim and gone back to his home in North Carolina. He has a family now. Trampas just wanted us to know the history between your family and his.”

“Maybe the land actually does belong to his family.”

“Oh, good grief. Joely, honey, are you just looking for a reason to be worried?”

“Yes,” she said irritably. “Because I love worry and misery. Haven't you figured that out about me?”

“That's not what I'm saying. I'm trying to figure out why you won't look at this as a great family story. What's really bothering you?”

“I don't know. It just got to me.”

“Would a hug help?”

She offered him her first wisp of a smile. “It sure couldn't hurt.”

“Scoot over.” He sat and put both arms around her, pulling her close. “Okay?”

“Mmm.” A minute later her sigh went through him like a shiver. “Okay, I do know what's wrong.”

“Good.”

“I feel like I'm losing ground. My savings are almost gone. I need a job. I have no skills. I have no car to go get any skills. And all that's okay—they're things to be dealt with. They tick me off, but when they need to get done I'll find a way. But now there's this whole big Fourth of July thing at the rodeo that Harper got us involved with. I'm supposed to go and be some honorary past queen ambassador, and trust me the idea isn't all that appealing. Then here comes Trampas Manterville and suddenly big, wonderful Paradise Ranch, whose owners brag about all the things we do to help the town, is not that great a role model.”

“Well, that's just ridiculous,” he said. “What happened nearly a hundred years ago has nothing to do with today, but I think you'll see that better in the morning when you aren't so tired. Tell me instead about this queen ambassador thing.”

A sense of relief flowed through him now that she'd brought that subject up. He'd known about it ever since Vince had told him, but Joely had never mentioned it so he'd kept his mouth shut.

“I've been afraid to tell you. Why would I want you to know I was participating in the rodeo?”

“My gosh, Joely, I don't care if
you
go to the rodeo. I'm happy for you!”

“Great. Terrific. Thanks. But you wouldn't be there to cheer me on, right? Not for a million dollars.”

“Well, for a million . . . ” He tried to joke, but she pulled away.

“You'll kiss me in front of my whole family. Which I liked, by the way. You like being with me as long as I don't step foot in a rodeo ring. Then I'm on my own. Do I have it about right?”

He couldn't answer. She
was
right. If she wanted to go to the rodeo and make good on an invitation, he had no problem with it. He'd hoped she'd understand that it was the one thing he'd chosen never to do again. Then again, how could she know it was about more than a decision? It was about his vow. He'd never told anybody about that.”

“You're the one who doesn't understand now.”

“And God forbid I should be able to ask you to help me understand. I'm terrified to bring up the subject. Simple Rules for Alec and Joely to Live by Number One, as I recall.”

“I don't go because I promised I wouldn't.” The words came out stiffly, but she deserved to hear them.

“Promised who?”

“My cousin.”

“Your dead cousin?”

He stood up. “Yeah. My dead cousin. Who can never be there again either. It's that simple.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so insensitive, and I was. But, Alec, you can't make promises to people who don't care. Your cousin wouldn't want this.”

“That's the cliché thing to say and why I don't tell anyone about it. It's my decision. My promise. That's all there is to it.”

“Okay.”

“Really?”

“Look,” she said, laying a hand on his forearm. “I do get it. And I'm sorry this ranch thing hit me wrong and I took it out on you. You're probably right that it'll all seem funny in the morning and everything will be fine. In fact, I've been thinking that I'd like to stay here tonight. Would that be okay?”

He had no say on where she slept. It stung because it was a shutout—no long good-byes on her front stoop—but of course it was okay.

“If that's what you want to do. Do you still want to ride tomorrow?”

“Why wouldn't I?” Her surprise at his question was genuine.

That made him feel marginally better. “Okay, then I'll be here. Three thirty after work?”

She nodded and stood to meet him. “Alec, I am sorry. Tomorrow will be a better day. Promise.”

Before she turned, he placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her in for the kiss he'd miss on her doorstep.

“People argue,” he said. “This wasn't a big deal. I love your emotions—you're just figuring them out after everything that's happened.”

“You don't always have to be so nice, you know. I wasn't today.”

“You know plenty well enough I'm not always nice either. I'll be right in.”

She smiled and headed back to the house. He sank back onto the bench.

Moments later, a hand dropped onto his shoulder in the dark. For some reason it didn't even startle him, but he was surprised she was there.

“I wasn't spying,” Sadie said. “Trampas headed back to town, and I saw Joely come in alone. I'm sorry she was upset.”

“She's a wonder,” Alec said. “Underneath her pain, she's one of the most empathetic people I've ever met. This all boils down to her feeling sorry for Simon Manterville, believe it or not. I think that's incredible, even though it makes her feel sorry for herself, too.”

“Can I ask a personal question?”

“Yes. Sure.”

“Why, exactly, do you avoid the rodeo?”

He frowned into the darkness. “I can't ride broncs anymore.”

“That's why you don't go to the rodeo to compete. Why do you avoid it altogether? You were once the equivalent of a rock star. I would think the whole atmosphere would be in your blood.”

“I appreciate that you care.” Alec kept his tone even. “But I have my reasons, and they even have to do with Joely. I want to be as perfect for her as I can be, so I can hold her up when she needs it. I've failed at that for so many people, so many times in my life that falling for her scares me to death. So, I refuse to be a person who hangs on to the old. Those days weren't good for me. Rodeo had its turn in my life.”

“Do you plan to marry her?”

“What? I've known her a month. No, I'm barely learning to deserve her.”

“Do you want to make love to her?”

“Now, Sadie!” He spun on the bench and stared at the quiet old woman who didn't look the least concerned at her breach in privacy. “That's a little personal don't you think?”

She only smiled. “There are a lot of meanings for the phrase making love. The one thing every meaning has in common, however, is trust. And believe me, Alec. When it comes to trust, a woman doesn't need you to be perfect or even strong. But she does need you to be whole.”

“And that's exactly what I'm talking about,” Alec said.

“You have done a better job than most making yourself whole on the outside. But you're forgetting about the inside. I don't believe you'll be whole until you make peace with the rodeo. If you do that, then you can decide you never want to go again. Until then you aren't ruling your decision, it's ruling you.”

“Sadie. I don't know . . . ”

“That's all right. My lecture is done. So is my prying.” She patted his shoulders with her slightly gnarled fingers. “But I won't apologize. Anyone who's after one of my girls better be ready to prove himself worthy.”

Sadie left him, slipping back into the shadows until all he could hear were her footsteps and cane on the deck steps returning to the house. He laughed almost in defeat. Prove himself worthy? He'd believed he wasn't worthy from the moment he'd met Joely Crockett.

Now he knew for sure.

Ten minutes later he let himself into the house and headed to the living room. He came upon the group there, and he stopped for a moment, struck by the tableau. Harper, Cole, Mia, Gabe, Joely, Bella, and Sadie sat in a square made from chairs they'd shoved close together. Close as they were, they still leaned in toward each other. He vaguely heard references to somebody calling the triplets.

They were quite a family.

Family.

Understanding slapped him in the face. They were family, and they pulled together. No matter how angry they'd once been at each other or how annoyed they got now—they bent their heads and came up with a plan.

That's what he no longer had—what he hadn't been able to save. When he'd failed to rescue Buzz; when his aunt and uncle had blamed him for coming back alive without the real son; when he'd lost his cousin, who'd been more like a brother, the person he'd really loved most—he'd been truly alone. No bent heads. No roots. No connection.

Suddenly he got it. Why Joely wanted him at the damn rodeo so bad. She didn't care about the rodeo itself. She didn't want him there necessarily to see her participate. She was hoping to find her old self somewhere, and she was clinging to her family with all her might. She was trying to add him to it.

He didn't know if he could do that for her—become her family. He was only as sure as he'd ever been that he was able to mess up any family unlucky enough to take him in.