The silver coffeepot in Savannah’s hands suddenly weighed a hundred pounds, and she set it down on the silver platter with a clank. The buzz of voices surrounded her. Her heart raced and everything felt unreal.
At that precise moment Grady burst into the room. “Is that Laredo’s truck parked in the yard with the horse trail—?” He came to an abrupt halt when he realized he’d walked into the middle of the church group.
“I believe it is,” Caroline answered, gesturing toward Laredo.
The wrangler sprang to his feet, looking at Grady with unmistakable relief.
“What are you doing here?” Grady demanded.
Savannah wanted to stop him, to explain that Laredo had already been through one inquisition and that was enough, but she wasn’t given the chance.
“I’ve come to ask your sister to marry me,” Laredo answered as he had earlier, only this time there was a hint of challenge in his voice, as though he expected Grady to argue with him.
Again a murmur arose.
Edwina Moorhouse’s old bones creaked as she stood and motioned at Laredo. “All right, young man, tell me what makes you think Savannah should marry you.”
Color surged into Laredo’s neck and crept upward. “I love her,” he answered simply.
“So does everyone else in this room,” Lily put in, following her sister’s lead and standing up.
“And we’re not about to let some stranger steal her away.” This from Millie Greenville.
“That…that was one of the reasons I left,” Laredo explained haltingly. “I didn’t want to take Savannah from her home and family.”
“How has that changed?”
Laredo motioned with his head toward Grady. “I decided to take her brother up on his offer.”
“What offer?” Savannah asked, turning to regard her brother.
Grady had started to ease his way toward the kitchen. “Ah, perhaps we should talk about all this later. In private,” he added pointedly.
“It’s time for us to go,” Caroline suggested. The ladies began to gather their purses, but Edwina called a stop to it.
“Now just a minute. I’m seventy-five and too old to go without my sleep. I can tell I’m not going to rest until I hear Savannah’s answer. Do you love this man?” she asked, pointing at Laredo.
Savannah nodded.
“You’re willing to marry him?”
Again she nodded, more forcefully this time.
“It’s been a while since Wade performed a wedding ceremony,” Nell Bishop piped up. Her mother-in-law agreed, trying to remember whose wedding that was.
“I always did love a summer wedding,” Lily Moorhouse said, glancing from Laredo to Savannah.
“A wedding’s just what this town needs,” Louise Powell declared as though that should be the last word on the subject.
But it wasn’t. The group of delighted women became engaged in the conversation, exchanging ideas, offering suggestions. The level of noise and excitement rose perceptibly and wedding plans flew in all directions. Millie suggested white and pink roses for the bridal bouquet, but white calla lilies for the arrangement on the altar. Louise had strong opinions on the meal that should be served. Edwina recommended some musical selection.
Through all this Laredo’s eyes remained locked with Savannah’s, and it seemed that only the two of them were present. She felt his love; it warmed her, even from halfway across the room. His expression told her how miserable he’d been without her, how lonely. She knew that, like her, he’d struggled with the pain. He’d also struggled with pride. But in the end his love, their love, was stronger. Laredo Smith needed her as badly as she needed him.
“I do think we should leave now, don’t you, ladies?” Caroline tried again, gathering up empty plates and cups.
A chorus of agreement followed this time, and everyone stood.
“Well, that’s that,” said Edwina. “Come on, Lily, if we hurry home we’ll be in time for a game of cribbage before Jeopardy comes on.”
The room emptied more quickly than Savannah would have thought possible. She happily forgive Caroline for abandoning the stack of dishes. In less than a minute the crowd was out the door, and the sound of cars starting replaced the chatter of twenty women.
“You cut your hair,” Laredo said now that they were alone. He stood half a room away from her, his hat in his hands.
Savannah raised her fingers to touch it.
“It looks wonderful.” His voice dipped. “You look wonderful. You’re more beautiful now than ever. I didn’t think that was possible.”
“You look wonderful, too.” She smiled. “What happened?” she asked suddenly, the words rushing from her lips. “Why’d you go?”
“For all the wrong reasons. My pride, mainly, and my fear.”
“Fear?”
“My mother told me I was a fool to have listened to…my doubts. I sold my land in Oklahoma,” he said, “and brought Renegade with me. If you’re agreeable, I’ll accept Grady’s offer to become a partner in the ranch. Renegade will be my stake, and in time the Yellow Rose will have the finest quarter horses in the country. I promise you that. I don’t have a lot to offer you, not nearly as much as you deserve, but I love you, Savannah.” He took a step closer. “I didn’t realize how much until I reached Oklahoma. My land was there, my dream, and it meant nothing if you couldn’t share it with me.”
“I thought my life was over when you left,” she whispered. “You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“I couldn’t—but I swear I won’t leave you again. Mom’s right—I’m too much like her. I’ll only love once in my life, and if I let you go, there won’t be a second chance. I couldn’t ask you to wait, but I realize now that I couldn’t wait, either. I love you too much.”
“I love you, too, so much… Why are you standing way over there when I’m right here?”
Laredo covered the space between them in three strides. None too soon she was in his arms. It was heaven to feel his lips on hers, warm, moist, hungry. His kiss told her everything. How much he wanted her, needed her. How much he loved her.
Savannah felt the steady beat of his heart beneath her palm and returned his kiss in full measure, clinging to him. Her heart was full enough to burst.
“Children?” She managed the question between kisses.
“As many as you want. Oh, Savannah, I can’t wait for you to meet my mother. She loves you already.” His arms tightened about her.
From behind them Grady cleared his throat loudly. “I take it everything’s been decided?”
Laredo tucked his arm around Savannah’s waist and held her close. “We’re getting married as soon as it can be arranged.”
“Good. I assume that’s Renegade in the trailer?”
Laredo nodded. “I’m taking you up on your offer, Grady, but I want it understood right now that I’ll pay my own way. I’m here because of Savannah, not because of anything you offered. Understand?”
Grady held up both his hands and grinned widely. “Understood.”
“HOT DAMN,” RICHARD SAID AS HE sauntered into the room, guitar slung over his shoulder. “You mean there’s going to be a wedding in the family? Well, all I can say is better late than never!”
TEXAS TWO-STEP
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE PEOPLE OF PROMISE
Nell Bishop: thirtysomething widow with a son, Jeremy, and a daughter, Emma. Her husband died in a tractor accident
Ruth Bishop: Nell’s mother-in-law; lives with Nell and her two children
Dovie Boyd: runs an antiques shop and has dated Sheriff Frank Hennessey for ten years
Caroline Daniels: postmistress of Promise
Maggie Daniels: Caroline’s five-year-old daughter
Dr. Jane Dickinson: new doctor in Promise
Ellie Frasier: owner of Frasier’s Feed Store
Frank Hennessey: local sheriff
Max Jordan: owner of Jordan’s Town and Country
Wade McMillen: preacher of Pro
mise Christian Church
Edwina and Lily Moorhouse: sisters; retired schoolteachers
Cal and Glen Patterson: local ranchers; brothers who ranch together
Phil and Mary Patterson: parents of Cal and Glen; operate a local B and B
Louise Powell: town gossip
Wiley Rogers: sixty-year-old ranch foreman at the Weston ranch
Laredo Smith: wrangler hired by Savannah Weston
Barbara and Melvin Weston: mother and father to Savannah, Grady and Richard; the Westons died six years ago
Richard Weston: youngest of the Weston siblings
Savannah Weston: Grady and Richard’s sister; cultivates old roses
Grady Weston: rancher, and oldest of the Weston siblings
CHAPTER 1
A MONTH AGO THIS HAD BEEN her family home.
Ellie Frasier stood on the tree-lined sidewalk in Promise, Texas, staring up at the traditional two-story house with its white picket fence. The Sold sign stared back at her, telling her that nothing would ever be the same again. Her father was dead, and her mother gone.
This was the house where she’d been born and raised. Where she’d raced across the front lawn, climbed the pecan tree and hung upside down from its branches. On that very porch she’d been kissed for the first time.
Oh, how she’d miss that porch. Countless pictures had been taken of her on these steps. Her mother holding an infant Ellie in her arms the day she brought her home from the hospital in Brewster. Every Easter in a frilly new dress and every Halloween in a costume her mother had sewn for her.
The day Ellie turned thirteen and wore panty hose for the first time, her dad had insisted she have her picture taken on the porch. Then at eighteen, when she was a rodeo princess for the Brewster Labor Day Festival, her father had posed her on the front steps again. At the time he’d told her he’d be taking her pictured there in her wedding dress before she left for the church.
Only, her father would never escort her down the aisle.
The rush of pain came as no surprise. She’d been dealing with it for weeks now. And before that, too, while he was in the hospital, desperately ill. But Ellie couldn’t believe he would actually die; death was something that happened to other people’s fathers, not her own. Not yet. He was too young, too vital, too special, and because she’d refused to accept the inevitable, his passing had hit her hard, throwing her emotionally off balance.
Even then, she’d been forced to hold her grief inside. Her mother had needed her to be strong. Ellie’s personality was like her father’s—forceful, independent and stubborn. Her mother, on the other hand, was fragile and rather impractical, relying on her husband to look after things. She’d been unable to deal with the funeral arrangements or any of the other tasks that accompany death, so they’d fallen on Ellie’s shoulders.
The weeks that followed were like an earthquake, and the aftershocks continued to jolt Ellie, often when she least expected it.
Her mother had given her the worst shock. Within a week of the burial service, Pam Frasier announced she was moving to Chicago to live with her sister. Almost immediately the only home Ellie had ever known was put up for sale. By the end of the first week they’d had an offer.
Once the deal was finalized, her mother packed up all her belongings, hired a moving company, and before Ellie could fully appreciate what was happening, she was gone. Whatever she’d left behind, Pam told her daughter, was Ellie’s to keep. The family business, too. Pam wanted nothing from the feed store. John had always intended it to go to Ellie.
Squaring her shoulders, Ellie realized there was no use delaying the inevitable. The key seemed to burn her hand as she approached the house for the last time and walked slowly up the five wooden steps. She stood there for a moment, then forced herself to unlock the front door.
A large stack of boxes awaited her. Ellie had a fair idea of what was inside. Memories. Years and years of memories.
No point in worrying about it now. Once she’d loaded everything up and carted it to her rented house, she had to get to the feed store. While her customers had been understanding, she couldn’t expect unlimited patience. George Tucker, her assistant—he’d been her father’s assistant, too—was trustworthy and reliable. But responsibility for Frasier Feed was Ellie’s, and she couldn’t forget that.
Which meant she couldn’t take the time to grieve properly. Not when she was short-staffed during the busiest season of the year. June brought with it a flurry of activity on the neighboring cattle ranches, and many of those ranchers would be looking to her for their feed and supplies.
By the third trip out to her truck Ellie regretted turning down Glen’s offer of help. Glen Patterson was quite possibly the best friend she’d ever had. Although she’d always known who Glen was—in a town the size of Promise, everyone knew everyone else, at least by sight—there was just enough difference in their ages to keep them in separate social circles during their school years.
The Pattersons had been buying their feed from Frasier’s for years. Her father and Glen’s dad had played high-school football together. For the past few years Glen had been the one coming to town for supplies. When Ellie began to work full-time with her dad, she’d quickly developed a chatty teasing relationship with Glen.
She was lighthearted and quick-witted, and Glen shared her sense of humor. Before long she’d found herself looking forward to their verbal exchanges. These days whenever he stopped by, Ellie joined him for a cup of coffee. They usually sat on the bench in front of her store, idling away fifteen or twenty minutes, depending on how busy she was. When the weather discouraged outdoor breaks, they sat in her office to enjoy a few minutes’ respite.
It got to be that they could talk about anything. She appreciated his wry good sense, his down-to-earth approach to life. Ellie tended to obsess about problems, but Glen took them in stride. While she ranted and raved, he’d lean his chair against the building wall and tuck his hands behind his head, quietly listening. Then he’d point out some error in her thinking, some incorrect assumption or faulty conclusion. Generally he was right. His favorite expression was, “Don’t confuse activity with progress.” She could almost hear him saying it now.
It’d been a week or more since his last visit and Ellie missed him. She could count on Glen to distract her, make her smile. Perhaps even ease this gnawing pain. But when he’d offered to help her sort through the boxes, she’d declined, moving everything on her own. Knowing she’d have to face these memories sooner or later and preferring to do it alone.
Within minutes of her arrival at the feed store, the place was bustling. Naturally she was grateful for the business, but she would have liked a few moments to herself. Then again, perhaps it was best to be hurled into the thick of things, with no chance to dwell on her grief and all the changes taking place in her life.
It was almost two before Ellie could dash into her office for ten minutes, to collect her thoughts and have lunch. Although her appetite was nonexistent, she forced herself to eat half a sandwich and an apple. At her desk, she sifted through the phone messages and found one from Glen. It was unusual for him to call during the day, especially in early summer when he spent most of his time working with the herd. Just knowing she’d been in his thoughts buoyed her spirits.
Since his parents had moved into town and opened the local bed-and-breakfast, Glen and his older brother, Cal, had taken over management of the ranch. Thus far they’d kept the spread operating in the black, doing whatever work they could themselves and hiring seasonal help when necessary. In the past few years, they’d begun cross-breeding their cattle with Grady Weston’s stock.
The phone rang, and thinking it might be Glen, Ellie reached eagerly for the receiver. “Frasier Feed.”
“Ellie, I’m glad you answered. It’s Richard Weston.”
If it couldn’t be Glen, then Ellie felt pleased it was Richard. He’d recently returned to Promise after a six-year absence, and they’d gone out on a couple of dates
before her father’s condition worsened.
“How are you?” Richard asked in a concerned voice.
“Fine,” she responded automatically, which was easier than confessing the truth. She just couldn’t talk about her grief, her deep sense of loss. Maybe Glen was the only person she could share that with, Ellie reflected. But not yet. It was too soon. For now, she needed to forge ahead and do what was necessary to get through the day.
“You’ve been on my mind a lot, Elle.”
“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Richard, I really do.” Ellie was sincere about that. She’d been a schoolgirl when he left Promise, and like every other female in her class, she’d had a major crush on him. Richard was still the best-looking man in town. The years away had refined his features, and he was suave in ways ranchers could never be. City-suave. She liked him well enough but didn’t expect anything from their friendship. To be frank, she was flattered that he sought her out. The huge flower arrangement he’d sent for her father’s funeral had touched her, it was the largest one there and stood out among the other smaller arrangements. A number of the townsfolk had commented on it.
“I received the thank-you card,” he said. “The flowers were the least I could do.”
“I wanted you to know how much Mom and I appreciated it.” She paused. “It was nice of you to do that for us.”
“I’d like to do more, if you’d let me,” he said softly. “If there’s anything you need, make sure you phone.”
“I will.” But it was unlikely she’d take him up on his offer. Not even Glen, her best friend, knew how emotionally shaky she was. The pain was still so new, so raw, that she had to deal with it herself before she could lean on anyone else. Her father had been like that, too, and she was, after all, her father’s daughter.
“You know, Ellie,” Richard said next, “I think it’d do you a world of good to get out.”
A date? Now? No way. Ellie wasn’t ready, and besides, she had a million things to do before she gave a thought to her social life. She was about to tell him that when he spoke again.