Heart of Texas Vol. 2 (21 page)

“How do you feel about this pregnancy?” the physician asked.

“I…it's a surprise. I mean, it is and it isn't. I realize it shouldn't be, but…” She realized she was babbling. “I'm happy. Very happy.”

“I'd like to set up a series of appointments for you, plus I'd like to start you on a regimen of vitamins.”

“All right.”

“Good,” Dr. Dickinson said. “So I'll see you in a month.”
Then she gently patted Savannah's back and left to attend to the next patient.

Savannah's head continued to buzz as she drove back to the ranch. To her amazement Laredo was waiting for her when she pulled into the yard. He hurried over to the truck and opened the door the second she'd parked.

“What did the doctor have to say?” he asked before she had time to climb out. His eyes revealed his anxiety.

“Oh, Laredo, you aren't going to believe this. We're pregnant!”

“Pregnant?”

“Oh, please tell me you're glad. Because I am. I swear I could explode!”

They walked into the kitchen and Laredo pulled out a chair and sat down. “Pregnant,” he said again, as if he couldn't quite believe it.

Savannah nodded, studying this man she loved beyond all reason. As she knew it would, a slow easy smile spread across his face. “Pregnant,” he said more loudly this time. “My wife's going to have a baby! Just wait until my mother hears about this.”

Savannah smiled. Their love was the most profound wonder of her life. And as she'd now discovered, it was only the beginning.

Her husband leaped to his feet and caught her in his arms. “We're going to have a baby!”

“I know the timing's bad…”

“The timing's perfect. You're perfect. Life's perfect.” He threw back his head and laughed, and then he kissed her.

“Hey, you two,” Grady said when he stepped into the kitchen. “What's going on?”

F
OR THE FIRST TIME SINCE
J
ANE
had come to Texas, she felt a sense of belonging. Friends made all the difference. Her evening out with Ellie, Glen and Cal had cheered her immensely, and within a few days she'd followed all their instructions. She had a Texas bumper sticker, a Willie Nelson cassette in her car, and she routinely listened to the Brewster country-and-western station. A shopping spree with her bingo winnings plus a chunk of her savings had netted her an outfit Annie Oakley would've been proud to wear. Not only that, her first riding lesson was scheduled for Friday afternoon. If she got any more Texan, she wouldn't recognize herself!

Thursday-afternoon traffic in the clinic was slow; she hadn't seen a patient in more than two hours. Attaching her beeper to her waist band, she headed toward Dovie's antique shop, taking the rag doll Maggie Daniels had brought her. Every time she entered the office the old-fashioned doll smiled at her with its faded pink lips, looking somehow forlorn, as though it—she—wanted to pour out her sawdust heart. If anyone could help Jane locate the doll's rightful owner, it was Dovie.

Her friend seemed to be experiencing a lull in business, too.
Dovie's face broke into a welcoming smile when Jane walked into the shop.

“Jane, how are you?” Dovie asked, rushing over to hug her. She had to skirt wooden tables and dressers and chairs, all draped and dangling with jewelry and scarves. Jane was impressed by the quantity and quality of Dovie's wares.

“I'm terrific,” she answered.

Her arm around Jane's waist, Dovie led her to the Victorian Tea Room and poured them each a cup of fragrant lemon tea. When she'd finished, she asked about Friday night's dinner.

Jane talked nonstop for ten minutes, relating the high lights of the evening. She mentioned winning at bingo and that Cal had walked her home and volunteered to teach her to ride.

“Cal?” Dovie sounded shocked. “Cal Patterson?”

“I know. I was surprised myself. At first I could tell he wasn't thrilled to be paired up with me. He seemed to think I'd finagled this match making myself, but after a while, he was fine.” She grinned. “You could say he under went an attitude adjustment.” She considered Cal a gentleman in an age when chivalry was all but dead. He'd gone out of his way to escort her home, out of regard for her safety. That certainly hadn't been required, but Jane appreciated it. In the days since, she'd thought quite a lot about him.

Dovie's eyes twinkled with delight. “You're exactly what that young man needs.”

“I met his parents, too.”

“Mary and Phil are two of my dearest friends,” Dovie told her.

Jane sipped her tea, then lifted the bag with the doll onto her lap. “Actually I have a reason for stopping by other than to let you know how everything went last Friday.” She opened the bag and carefully withdrew the fragile toy.

Dovie's eyes widened when she saw it. “Where in heaven's name did you find that?”

Jane hesitated. “I'm not at liberty to say.”

Dovie's brows rose a fraction of an inch.

“I will tell you that someone brought it to me—feeling a lot of guilt. Apparently this person took the doll and shouldn't have, and for reasons I can't understand is unable to return it. I was hoping you might know who the rightful owner is.”

Dovie turned the antique in her hands and thoroughly examined how it was constructed. “I'd swear it's au then tic.”

“You mean this
is
a real antique?” Jane asked, wondering where and how six-year-old Maggie could have come by it.

“She's real and probably worth quite a lot of money.”

“You're joking.” The doll was ready to fall apart.

“I'm not.” Dovie gave the toy back to Jane with some hesitation. “Are you sure you can't tell me the name of the person who gave you the doll?”

Jane shook her head. “I wish I could, but I'd be breaking a confidence.”

Dovie accepted her answer. “Do you have any idea where this unnamed person got the doll?”

“Didn't say.” In retrospect, Jane realized there were any number of questions she should have asked Maggie. But the child had been in quite a state, sick with regret and worry. At the time it'd seemed more important to reassure the little girl than to worry about the doll's owner.

“There's only one place I can imagine finding anything like this,” Dovie said, her look thoughtful. A frown slowly formed, furrowing her brow.

“Where's that?” Jane asked.

“It doesn't seem possible…but there's been talk about it lately and I have to wonder. The doll might have come from…Bitter End.”

It was Jane's turn to lift her eyebrows. She'd never heard of the town and was fairly certain she would have remembered one with such an unusual name. “Bitter End?”

“That's the name the settlers chose more than a hundred and thirty years ago, after the Civil War. If I remember my history correctly, the journey across Indian territory and through the war-ravaged South was harrowing. Not a family came through the trip un scathed. Parents lost children and children lost parents from Indian attacks and disease. By the time they reached the Texas Hill Country, their faith had nearly been destroyed.”

“Times were so difficult back then,” Jane said, remembering that the now-common child hood diseases were often the source of death.

“Those pioneers faced hardship after hardship,” Dovie continued. “Overcome with bitterness, the town's founding fathers decided to name their community Bitter End.”

“I've never heard of it.”

“Few have,” Dovie said. “It's a ghost town now.”

“Really? You've been there?” Jane asked, her curiosity keen. She'd never dreamed something like that existed in this vicinity.

“Have I been to Bitter End?” Dovie's laugh was abrupt. “I'm sorry to say I haven't. I'd like to and perhaps one day I will. The only reason I even know about it is because of something my father said years ago.”

“I'd like to go there,” Jane said. She'd always been a history buff, and visiting a ghost town would be a wonderful adventure.

“Jane, I hate to disillusion you,” Dovie said kindly, “but I don't even know if the old town is still standing.”

“Could you give me directions?”

“If I knew where it was, possibly, but there are no paved
roads. It's some where up in the hills. You need to remember this is a real ghost town.”

“But what happened? Why did everyone leave?” Jane's mind filled with questions.

Dovie looked as though she regretted bringing up the subject. “I don't have a clue. No one does. At one time I believe the town was quite prosperous—a fast-growing community. My father said he'd even heard that the railroad was scheduled to lay track there, but all of that changed over night.”

“Over night?” The details were becoming more and more intriguing. “Something drastic must have happened.”

“A natural catastrophe, perhaps,” Dovie suggested. “No one knows.”

“That doesn't make sense,” Jane said, thinking out loud. “Tornado, fire, flood—anything like that would have destroyed the whole town. There'd be nothing left. Anyway, why wouldn't they rebuild if that happened?”

“I don't know,” Dovie murmured. “My father mentioned it twice in the years I was growing up. As I recall, he said everyone packed up and moved—no one knows why. They abandoned almost everything.”

“Then there's a possibility the entire town's intact.”

“Yes…I suppose there is,” Dovie said.

“Do you know people who've actually been there?”

She took her time answering. “A few.”

“Who?”

Dovie was about to speak when the bell above the front door rang, and Sheriff Frank Hennessey walked into the store.

It seemed to Jane that Dovie went pale. “Jane,” she whispered, getting to her feet, “don't leave me.” Jane nodded.

“Hello, Sheriff,” Dovie said. Her tone lacked its usual warmth.

“Dovie.”

The sheriff glanced in Jane's direction, and his look made it clear he wished she wasn't there. In any other circumstances Jane would have made her excuses and left, but Dovie had plainly asked her to stay. However uncomfortable she was, Jane felt obliged to honor her friend's request.

“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” Dovie asked.

Frank Hennessey glanced at Jane again. “Dovie, in the name of heaven, this has got to end,” he said in a low urgent voice. “We're both miserable.”

“We've already been through this a thousand times. Nothing's going to change.”

The sheriff's mouth thinned. “I love you,” he whispered.

“So you say.” Dovie began to move about the shop, rearranging things here and there. Frank Hennessey trailed behind her, looking lost and utterly wretched.

When his pleading didn't work, the sheriff tried a different tactic. “What's this I heard about you traveling?” he demanded as though he had every right to know.

“It's time I saw something of the world.”

“A
singles'
cruise, Dovie?” His disapproval was evident.

Dovie sighed expressively. “Who told you?”

“Does it matter?”

“As a matter of fact it does because I want to be sure that whoever it was has nothing more to report.”

“You didn't want me to know?” The sheriff's tone had gone from irritated to hurt.

“What I choose to do with my life from here on out, Frank Hennessey, is
my
concern, and only mine.”

He stiffened. “You don't mean that.”

“Yes, Frank, I do.” Dovie had completed one full circle of the shop. She stopped in front of the table where she and Jane
had been drinking tea. “You remember Dr. Dickinson, don't you?”

The sheriff gave Jane little more than a perfunctory nod.

“Good to see you again, Sheriff Hennessey,” Jane said, but she doubted he'd even heard.

His gaze remained on Dovie. “This has gone on long enough,” he said, and he no longer seemed to care whether or not Jane was privy to their conversation. “I'm crazy about you. It's been damn near three weeks, and we're no closer to settling this than we were then. I need you, Dovie! It isn't like you to be unreasonable. I don't know who put this craziness in your head, but it's got to end, for both our sakes. Can't we resolve this?”

“Resolve this?” Dovie repeated as if she found the statement amusing. “What you mean is, can't I give in to you. It's not going to happen, Frank. You've made your decision and I've made mine, and that's all there is to it.”

“Damn it, Dovie, would you listen to reason?”

“There's nothing more to discuss,” Dovie said, not quite disguising the sadness in her tone. “I think it'd be best if you left.”

Frank stared at Dovie in disbelief. Then, in an act of pure frustration, he slapped his hat against his thigh and stormed out of the shop, leaving the display windows shaking.

Dovie sank into the chair and Jane noticed that her hands were shaking. “I'm sorry to subject you to that, Jane,” she said, her voice as shaky as her hands.

“Are you all right?” Jane asked, truly concerned.

“No,” Dovie admitted, “but I will be in time.”

“Are you really going away?”

“Yes. I've booked a three-day cruise, but not a singles' one. Mary Patterson suggested that, but I'm not interested in getting involved again—at least not this soon.”

“You love Frank, don't you?” Jane probed gently.

“Yes, fool that I am. I do. But he's stubborn, and unfortunately so am I.” She didn't elaborate, but Jane had a pretty clear picture of the problem. Dovie wanted a ring on her finger, and Sheriff Hennessey wasn't about to relinquish his freedom. From the looks of it, they were at an impasse.

“You'll enjoy the cruise,” Jane said, wanting to encourage her friend in the same kindly way Dovie had encouraged her. “And it'll do you a world of good to get away for a while.”

“I'm sure you're right.” Dovie made an unsuccessful attempt at a smile. “I talked Mary and Phil Patterson into coming along with me, and by golly, we're going to have the time of our lives.”

She said this, Jane noted, as though the person she most needed to convince was herself.

 

I
T CAME AS A SURPRISE
to Cal to realize he was actually looking forward to seeing Jane Dickinson again. By Friday afternoon he was ready to teach that California gal everything she cared to know about the joys of riding.

From his brother Cal learned that Ellie and Jane had been shopping and Jane had purchased an entire Western outfit, complete with hat and cowboy boots.

They'd talked briefly by phone earlier in the week, and Cal had suggested Jane come to the ranch at five o'clock, since the days were growing shorter now.

Accustomed to women being late, Cal didn't actually expect her to show up on time. He was pleasantly surprised when her car turned into the yard at five minutes to five.

She parked, then opened the car door and gingerly stepped out. Her clothes were so new they practically squeaked.

“This really is very kind of you,” she said, smiling.

Cal walked all the way around her, amazed by the trans for
mation a few clothes could make. She looked great. Terrific. If he didn't know better, he'd have assumed she'd been born and raised in the great state of Texas. At least, until she opened her mouth, and then all doubt was removed. She didn't sound anything like a Texan—but he didn't feel he should hold that against her.

“What do you think?” she asked, holding her arms out at her sides.

“Your Wranglers seem a little stiff, but other than that, not bad. Not bad indeed!”

“Did you check out my bumper sticker?” she asked.