Heart of Texas Vol. 2 (24 page)

“I
N A MONTH YOU'LL BE HUSBAND
and wife,” Reverend Wade McMillen said, leaning back in his leather chair in the study.

It didn't seem possible, but the wedding date had sneaked up on her. Caroline had discovered that putting together a wedding, even a small one involving just family and a few close friends, had demanded every spare moment she had.

“A month,” Caroline repeated, glancing at Grady. They'd been attending counseling sessions with Wade for the past few weeks. Even now, Caroline had a difficult time taking it all in. She'd loved Grady for years, but had hidden her feelings behind a prickly attitude. It used to be they couldn't stay in the same room without sparks flying and tempers flaring. They ignited fire works now, too, but for other reasons.

“It doesn't seem possible,” Grady said, his gaze holding Caroline's.

“You're as ready now as you'll ever be,” Wade said, grinning at them. “I've counseled a lot of couples in my time. I often get a feel for the relationship before the vows are spoken. And
I'm confident the two of you are going to have a strong secure marriage.”

Grady reached for Caroline's hand and squeezed her fingers. “I feel that way, too.”

Caroline nodded, her love for Grady clear to see.

“No problems with Maggie?” Wade asked.

“None,” Caroline assured him. There'd been a time when the child had been terrified of Grady's booming voice, but no longer. Her six-year-old was enthralled with him. Caroline had no doubt of his love for her daughter. The day Maggie had disappeared, kid napped by Richard Weston, Grady had proved how deeply he cared for the child. And for her.

“She isn't showing any bad effects from the time she was missing, then?” Wade went on.

“Not that we can tell,” Caroline replied. “She seems to be sleeping better these days. She hasn't woken up with nightmares recently, either.” Caroline frowned, shaking her head. “No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn't get her to tell me about her dreams—or what happened when she was gone. Then over night, the bad dreams stopped. She's her normal cheerful self again.”

“She talks about me becoming her daddy and seems genuinely excited about it,” Grady added.

Wade looked at him. “You were worried you were somehow the cause of Maggie's night mares?”

“Yeah, but now she's more accepting of me and more affection ate than ever.”

Caroline nodded; she was pleased that Grady had started the adoption process. “I'm convinced that whatever was troubling her is somehow connected to the time Richard had her.”

“Richard,” Wade repeated, his brow furrowed. “Has anyone heard anything from him or about him lately?”

“Not a word,” Grady said. “I know the sheriff's pretty
frustrated. It's like Richard's disappeared off the face of the earth.”

A chill raced down Caroline's spine every time she thought about Grady's brother. He'd hurt a lot of people, but what infuriated her more than anything was how he'd used and abused his own family. He'd run off with the ranch assets the day the Westons laid their parents to rest, creating untold hardship for Grady and his sister, Savannah. Six years later he'd returned, down on his luck. Grady and Savannah had taken him back in, tried to help him, and once more Richard had proved he couldn't be trusted. After charging thou sands of dollars' worth of goods, Richard had disappeared again.

Grady, being honorable and decent, had paid those bills himself rather than have the local businesses absorb the losses. While it meant they wouldn't be starting their marriage with any substantial savings, Caroline loved Grady for being the kind of man he was.

“Shall we schedule the wedding rehearsal?” Wade asked.

Brimming with excitement, Caroline and Grady nodded; soon after, their session was over.

Grady tucked his arm around her waist as they left the church and headed toward the parking lot.

“Have I told you today how much I love you?” Grady asked. He kissed her as he opened the passenger door.

“It's something I'm not going to tire of hearing,” Caroline said. Grady's love was a blessing she hadn't expected to receive. She was coming to this marriage with a child and a lot of emotional baggage. Much of that was thanks to Richard, who'd fathered Maggie during a brief and ultimately meaningless liaison. So meaningless he didn't even remember it. Caroline had been terrified that this would make her and Maggie a burden for Grady, another mess of Richard's he had to clean up. She'd been convinced it would be better to let Grady walk
out of her life—but he'd refused to let that happen. He loved her and Maggie. When she told him about Maggie's father, his initial reaction had been shock—because she'd kept the truth from him. But he'd recovered quickly and said that the man who raised and loved Maggie would be her
real
father, and that would be him. In the weeks since their engagement Grady had proved his devotion to her and to Maggie over and over again.

“Do we need to pick up Maggie right away?” Grady asked now.

Dovie Boyd had volunteered to baby-sit the little girl during the counseling sessions with Wade. “What do you have in mind?” she asked, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Grady started the truck's engine. “I was thinking we could stop at the bowling alley for a pizza.” He glanced at her. “You game?”

“I'm game for anything with you,” she assured him. “But I'll need to phone Dovie to make sure Maggie's okay first.”

“No problem.” He backed out of their parking space and they drove to the bowling alley.

After a quick phone call, Caroline joined Grady in a booth at the café. He got out so she could slip in beside him. Not so long ago, he'd have preferred to sit in the cold rather than share her company, Caroline mused. Now they could hardly bear to be separated by even a table.

“Everything all right with Maggie?” he asked.

“She's fine. Dovie said she's already asleep.”

“Hey, first grade is a big step for a kid.”

Especially when Maggie had only recently outgrown naps. She fell asleep before her eight o'clock bedtime most evenings.

“Dovie doesn't mind keeping her a bit longer?”

“Not at all,” Caroline told him. She didn't mention that
she was worried about her friend. Although Dovie hadn't said much about her breakup with Sheriff Hennessey, it had obviously been hard for her; a smile didn't come as easily and she seemed listless, de pressed. From what Caroline had seen of the sheriff, he wasn't handling the situation any better.

Caroline wished she could help in some way, but experience had taught her that Frank and Dovie had to work this out them selves. She wasn't optimistic, though. Their relationship had been a long-standing one, and if they were going to reconcile, she suspected it would have happened by now.

“I talked to Glen yesterday and he told me something about Cal,” Grady said after they'd ordered the mushroom-and-pepperoni pizza. “You'll never guess.”

“When it comes to Cal, you're right—I won't guess.”

“He's got a date.”

“A date? Cal?” Caroline was shocked. “Who?”

Grady smiled. “The new doc.”

“Jane Dickinson?”

“Right. He's teaching her how to ride.”

This
was
news. “What possessed him to do such a thing? Cal, the woman-hater.”

Grady shrugged. “Hell if I know. I gotta tell you it came as a shock to me, too.” He leaned toward Caroline. “Cal didn't even tell his brother. Glen found out from his mother, who heard about it from Dovie, who heard from the good doctor herself.”

“Typical,” Caroline said with a laugh. “But still, it sounds promising.”

Love would change Cal Patterson, and she was anxious to see it happen. Ever since his broken engagement, he'd shut himself off from any association with the opposite sex. Caroline suspected falling in love would have a powerful positive impact on him.

Caroline liked Cal and knew that his friend ship was important to Grady. She was pleased that Grady had asked him to serve as best man at their wedding. In every way that counted, Cal was more of a brother to Grady than his own.

“I saw Cal's truck this evening,” Grady said.

“Parked outside the health clinic,” Caroline guessed.

He nodded. “I have a feeling about this.”

“A good feeling, I hope.”

“A very good feeling,” he said, grinning.

 

T
HE CLOCK SAID ALMOST TEN
before Jane had finished setting Jeremy Bishop's arm and securing it in a cast. After giving Nell instructions for the pain medication, Jane and Cal walked the family outside.

“You were a good patient, Jeremy,” Jane told the boy. He'd been in a lot of pain, but despite that, he'd willingly cooperated with everything she'd needed him to do.

“He's got a lot of his father in him,” Nell said, looking proudly at her son. She stood outside her car, drawn and tired from the ordeal. “Thank you both,” she said. “I was pretty shaken when we first arrived. I'm afraid if I'd gone into the examination room, I'd have done something stupid—like faint.”

Jane had thought the same thing. “You're his mother. It's to be expected.”

“You were great with him,” Nell told her. “I can't thank you enough.”

“That's what I'm here for.” It was helping people like Nell and her family that made Jane's job a pleasure. They hadn't really met before tonight, but she'd heard about Nell from Ruth Bishop, a heart patient. Nell was a widow and Ruth's daughter-in-law.

“Go home, get plenty of rest, and if the pain doesn't decrease, give me a call.”

“I will,” Nell promised, climbing into the car. “Thanks again.”

Jane and Cal stood by the door of the clinic until Nell had pulled out of sight.

“You hungry?” Cal asked, his hand on Jane's shoulder.

“Starving,” she confessed.

“Me, too.”

They warmed the takeout in the microwave and sat side by side on the examination table, holding the card board containers on their laps.

“This tastes like heaven,” Jane told him between bites. The enchilada sauce and melting cheese dripped from her plastic fork.

“That's because we're hungry.”

“I'm sorry our dinner date was ruined.” She did feel bad about that. Cal had been thoughtful and patient—bringing them their meal, comforting Nell, sitting here for hours—and she wanted him to know how much she appreciated it.

“I'm not,” he surprised her by saying. Her reaction must have shown in her eyes because he added, “It was good to see you in action. You're a damned good doctor.”

His praise flustered her and she looked away. “Thank you.”

“You were great with the kid,” he said and hopped down from the table to toss the container in the garbage.

“I appreciated your help. Nell was frazzled and anxious.” She crossed the room to discard her leftovers; when she turned around, she in advertently bumped into Cal.

His arm shot out to balance her, although she wasn't in danger of falling. The move had been instinctive, but the moment he touched her, she froze. Cal did, too. It was a little
thing, of no importance, but it caught her off guard. The shaken look on Cal's face told her he was equally affected.

Then before her instincts could warn her, it happened. Cal bent his head and kissed her. It was almost as though that, too, was an accident. The kiss was hard, quick, their mouths moist and warm. Then it was over.

Jane stared at him, unblinking. Cal stared back. They studied each other for a startled moment. He seemed about to apologize when he suddenly grinned, instead. It was one of the sexiest smiles she'd ever seen. Then he kissed her again.

As kisses went, this one was innocent. Simple. Yet Jane trembled with the after shock. She'd been too long without a man, she decided. That was why this rancher had such a powerful effect on her senses.

Desperate to steer her mind away from what had just happened, she said, “I…I spoke with Dovie Boyd recently. She happened to mention a ghost town.”

Cal frowned, but Jane wasn't sure his displeasure was the result of their kiss or her comment. Possibly both.

“Bitter End,” Jane added. “Have you ever heard of it?”

He nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets.

He wasn't forth coming with any more information. “Then there really
is
a ghost town in the area?” she prodded.

Cal shrugged.

Jane made herself busy about the room, putting away her supplies. “Have you been there?”

He didn't answer until she turned to face him, and even then his eyes avoided hers. “Once, as a kid.”

Her excitement grew. “Will you take me there? I'd love to see what it's like now.”

“Jane, I can't.”

His refusal bewildered her. “Why not?”

“I don't even know if I could find it.”

“But we could do that together. I'll be taking more riding lessons, and we've got to move me out of the corral at some point. This would give me a goal, some incentive.”

“I don't think so.”

“Why not?” Jane could tell he wasn't pleased with her persistence.

“It's dangerous there.”

“All I want to do is see it,” she said, un willing to give up without an argument. “One time, that's all I'm asking.”

“It's not a good idea.”

It was his attitude that got to her—as if she were a child who had to settle for
because I said so
as an excuse. How could he kiss her one moment and insult her the next?

“Is there a reason for this?” she asked, her voice growing cool.

“A very good one.”

She waited for him to explain himself, and when he didn't, she said it for him. “It's because I'm an outsider, isn't it? Because I wasn't born and raised here. It's all right for me to give three years of my life to this community, but I'll never be fully accepted.” The strength of her feelings shocked Jane. It hurt that he'd categorically deny her the one thing she'd asked.