My Darling Melissa (22 page)

“Maybe we should come back another time,” his sister’s husband said moderately. One corner of his mouth was twitching almost imperceptibly, and Melissa knew he wanted to laugh.

By then Fancy had noticed the company and was looking embarrassed. Still, she smiled and offered her hand as she
approached. “Hello,” she said with warm dignity, obviously pretending that her husband had not just thrown a bed into the front yard.

Melissa was quick to make introductions, during which Jeff never took his eyes from Quinn. He was regarding him as an archangel might regard a demon.

Quinn, for his part, seemed unruffled. He was affable, even to the point of pretending not to see the twin bed that lay broken and mangled at the base of the porch steps. After a very strained interview of about an hour’s duration the newlyweds took their leave.

Melissa was worried, and she said as much to Quinn, who surprised her by squeezing her hand and saying, “Don’t fret, Calico—if there’s one thing greater than the fury those two are feeling toward each other right now, it’s the passion. They’ll be okay.”

She let her forehead rest against his shoulder for a moment, loving him for the attempt to reassure her and hoping to high heaven that he was right. She was embarrassed to realize that there were tears in her eyes; her emotions had been close to the surface lately. “I think I need to go home,” she confessed in a small voice.

Quinn stopped and turned to face her, there on that wooden sidewalk, his hand cupped under her chin. “To that big house back there on the hill?” he asked gravely.

Melissa shook her head. “To Port Riley. If coming back here has taught me one thing, Quinn, it’s that home is wherever you are.”

He kissed her then and there, with nary a thought for the opinions of passersby or matrons who might be peering out their windows. He had just drawn back and was searching her face with those audacious brown eyes of his, about to say something, when a buggy drew to a stop on the road beside them.

“There you are!” chimed a familiar female voice.

Melissa and Quinn both turned, a bit woodenly, to see Banner smiling down at them from her perch on the seat of the rig. Cinnamon curls framed her face, and her green eyes
were dancing with mischievous suppositions. “Kissing on the street. For shame!”

Melissa laughed and introduced her husband to Adam’s wife, adding, “You remember my mentioning that Banner is a doctor. I believe you said she probably had a face ugly enough to stop a grizzly bear’s heart.”

Quinn gave Melissa a nudge in the ribs but tipped his hat to Banner. “I’ll be the first to admit to a grievous wrong,” he said suavely.

Banner smiled and applied herself to the subject at hand. “Katherine has called a meeting, and I’m out trying to round up the family.” She paused and drew a deep breath. “Did you know that Jeff and Fancy have a bed in their front yard? I’m not sure I’m up to asking why.” Quickly she lifted the reins. “I’ll see you at home in a little while,” she said, and then she was gone.

Melissa had intended to introduce Quinn to Keith and Tess, but the task had become unnecessary now because of the meeting, so they turned around and set out for the main house.

Luncheon was being served when they arrived, and they joined Katherine and Harlan, Adam, Fancy, and a very subdued Jeff in the dining room. The children were eating in the kitchen.

Presently Banner and Tess arrived, but Keith didn’t show up until the meal was nearly over. He greeted Quinn with a grin and a handshake and took his place at the table beside Tess, favoring her with a quick kiss before turning his attention to his mother.

Katherine stood up, cleared her throat, and said, “Harlan has asked me to be his wife, and I’ve accepted.”

There was a deep silence, then Melissa, Fancy, Tess, and Banner all burst out with simultaneous congratulations. Several minutes had passed before any of them realized that Katherine’s sons weren’t showing the same kind of enthusiasm, even though none of them seemed surprised.

Adam looked pensive, as though he might be thinking about a medical problem instead of the subject at hand, but
Melissa knew better. Keith, perhaps the most tractable of Katherine’s sons, was gazing off into space, while Jeff, it appeared, would explode shortly.

He broke the uncomfortable silence. “What do we know about this man?” he demanded, glaring at Harlan. Fancy laid a restraining hand on her husband’s arm, but Jeff shook it away.

Harlan did not flinch, and his gaze was steady as he regarded Katherine’s middle son. “I love your mother more than my life,” the rancher told Jeff evenly, “and that knowledge will have to suffice for now.”

Melissa saw respect in Quinn’s eyes as he looked at Harlan, and Keith and Adam were clearly beginning to assimilate the news, but Jeff’s attitude was still coldly relentless.

For a long time no one spoke, and then Banner jumped determinedly into the conversational breach and said, “Two weddings in two weeks! Isn’t that wonderful?”

“I happen to think so,” Fancy said, ignoring her husband as she spoke. A blush of conviction climbed her cheeks; she was prepared to stand her ground and defend the institution of marriage despite her own problems with Jeff.

“Thank you,” Harlan said quietly.

At that Adam unbent a little and offered his hand to his mother’s future husband, and Keith followed his lead with a mumbled “Congratulations.”

Much later, when they were alone in her room, Quinn stretched out on the bed, fully dressed except for his boots, and pulled Melissa down to lie beside him. He unbuttoned her blouse and trailed his tongue along the lacy edge of her camisole.

Although they hadn’t discussed the fact, they knew that a parting was inevitable, since Melissa would want to stay for Katherine’s wedding and Quinn needed to get back to Port Riley and his work.

Melissa made a crooning sound and squirmed in shameless delight as Quinn bared one of her breasts and began a sweet farewell.

Thirteen

The stars had barely faded from the sky when Quinn kissed Melissa, crawled reluctantly out of bed, and began getting into his clothes.

It took a moment for Melissa to remember that they were in Port Hastings, rather than at home in Port Riley, and that she would be staying for her mother’s wedding while Quinn would not. “It can’t be time for you to leave,” she protested, stretching beneath the warm covers and yawning.

He smiled, but even with the early morning shadows Melissa didn’t miss the touch of sadness in his manner. “Go back to sleep,” he said gruffly. “You’re going to need your rest.”

“Are you taking the train?” Melissa hoped the question sounded cheerful rather than suspicious, but what she really wanted to know was whether or not Quinn would be riding back to Port Riley with Gillian and a fur bedspread, and both of them knew it.

Quinn chuckled. “Yes, Mrs. Rafferty,” he answered, “I am. But the car and Gillian are both gone, so I’ll have to ride in the passenger section like everybody else.”

Melissa was wildly relieved, although she gave no sign of it. “What about your horse?” she asked, to show that she was a modern woman and that she could dispense with the question of Gillian and the railroad car without harping on it.

“He’s not riding with the passengers,” Quinn replied with a straight face.

Melissa laughed and held out her arms, and Quinn came to her, if only to bend over the bed and favor her with a brief but very potent kiss. “Don’t go,” she said when he withdrew.

Quinn pretended he hadn’t heard Melissa’s plea, and she was grateful. For a moment there she’d behaved like a clinging vine, and she wanted to forget that. “When shall I send the car for you?” he asked, lingering at the door, his hand on the knob.

Melissa shook her head. “There’s no need for that. I’ll be on the first train Saturday morning.”

With a nod Quinn opened the door and went out, and Melissa felt total desolation at the prospect of being separated from him even for so short a time.

As it happened, she was so busy helping Katherine with packing and arrangements that the days flew by. Soon it was Friday evening, and the Corbin house was brimming with friends and family.

Melissa was happy for her mother, but now that it was nearly time to say good-bye—perhaps years would pass before they saw each other again—she was tearful. When she joined Katherine in the large master bedroom that would now belong to Adam and Banner she had to work at smiling.

Fancy, who had just finished buttoning Katherine’s wedding dress—a wispy creation of ice-blue silk—kissed her mother-in-law’s cheek, nodded to Melissa, and left the room.

Katherine’s eyes were suspiciously bright as she took Melissa’s hands in hers. “I’ll miss you very much, my darling,” she said quietly.

Melissa embraced her. “And I’ll miss you. But I know you’re going to be happy, Mama—Harlan is a wonderful man.”

“I’m of the same opinion about Quinn,” Katherine said, and now there was an expression of stern affection in her eyes. “But you are as bullheaded as any of your brothers,” she warned, going to her now-empty bureau and taking a worn velvet box from its top. “And you could spoil your chance for a happy life if you forget that there are many, many facets to womanhood. You may want to be a business-woman, but you are also a wife, and at some point I hope you will be a mother. You must strike a balance among these roles, Melissa, and not focus yourself completely on any single one.”

Melissa nodded, thinking that she had a remarkable mother, and was surprised when Katherine handed her the velvet box.

“Your father gave me this the day after I gave birth to you. Now I’d like you to have it.”

Melissa’s throat was thick with emotion as she lifted the battered, scuffed lid. Inside was a delicate choker of diamonds and amethysts set in filigreed gold. She swallowed, too moved to speak.

Katherine kissed her forehead. “You came as quite a surprise, you know—we’d thought our family was complete. Oh, but Daniel was thrilled to have a daughter!” She paused, recollecting, and her voice was soft when she went on. “Your papa believed that you were my gift to him, and he said this necklace was a poor present by comparison, but I treasured it. As I’ve always treasured you, Melissa.”

At that Melissa wept in earnest, and so did Katherine, and it was thus that Keith found his mother and sister when he rapped briefly at the door and then let himself in.

“What’s this?” he asked with a gentle smile. He put one arm around Melissa and one around Katherine. “Shall I go down there and tell Harlan that you’ve changed your mind, Mama?”

“Don’t you dare!” Katherine cried through her tears.

“In that case, I think you’d better pull yourself together. In another moment or so you’re going to be hearing the first strains of the wedding march.”

As if on cue, the little-used pipe organ sounded ponderously in the distance.

Melissa sniffled and dried her eyes with a hankerchief, then tucked the necklace, still in its velvet box, into her brother’s coat pocket for safekeeping. The two women embraced once more, and then Melissa went out into the hallway to stand at the top of the stairs.

Being the matron of honor, Melissa led the way, followed by the bride, who would be given away by Keith. The ceremony would be performed by Father McConnell, the local priest, since everyone in the family except Keith was Catholic.

The parlor was filled with people and with love and lit only by candlelight. Harlan stood, tall and spectacularly handsome, beside the fireplace, his eyes caressing Katherine as she approached him.

The wedding itself was a blur for Melissa, and when it was over she was filled with contradictory emotions. Something grand had begun for her mother that night, but something had ended, too. As soon as she could leave without attracting undue attention Melissa fled to the kitchen.

Her efforts to escape unnoticed had not been successful, she soon found, for Adam and Jeff both soon joined her. She was sitting at the table with her chin propped despondently in her hands, and they took seats on either side of her.

“Things change, brat,” Jeff said gently, reaching out to take her hand.

“This is stupid,” Melissa lamented through her tears. “Mama’s had this wonderful thing happen to her, and I’m sitting out here blubbering away like a fool! Anyone would think that I wasn’t happy for her.”

Adam slid back his chair to go to the stove. “Anybody want a cup of coffee?” he asked.

Jeff made a face. “Good God, no,” he boomed. “That stuff is probably strong enough to raise the dead!”

Melissa laughed, feeling better. The world hadn’t changed
so very much if Jeff was still Jeff and Adam still liked his coffee pungent as kerosene.

Jeff’s hand lingered on hers, and he grinned at his sister as Adam sat down at the table again, this time with a mug of day-old coffee in front of him. “The man must have paralysis of the tastebuds,” he remarked.

That made Melissa laugh again, and her eldest brother swept both her and Jeff up in a look he usually reserved for raving hypochondriacs. But Adam’s words were gentle.

“He’s not a bad sort, that husband of yours,” he conceded.