Clare recognized the truth of his words, and in the same heartbeat realized the same didn’t hold true for Reed. She was anything but standoffish with him. The deep physical longing she experienced whenever they were together had been the cause of much consternation on her part.
“Jack, sit down,” she instructed. From somewhere she had to dredge up the courage and the wisdom to explain she wouldn’t marry him—and at the same time leave his pride intact.
She pulled out a chair and sat across the table from him. “We’ve been dating for a long time now.”
“Three years,” he returned brightly. “Which is good because we’ve gotten to really know each other. That’s important in a relationship, don’t you think?”
“Of course.” Her fingers were laced atop the table as though she were sitting at attention in her first-grade class, shoulders square, eyes straight ahead. She tried to force herself to relax but found it impossible, especially when Jack’s gaze drifted down to the bulky ring Reed had given her.
“Where’d you get that awful ring?” he asked for the second time. “I can’t understand why you’d ever wear anything like that. It looks Native American.”
Clare lowered her hands to her lap. “We need to discuss a whole lot more than my taste in jewelry, don’t you think?”
His tight features relaxed as he nodded. “It’s just that I’m eager to put this diamond on your finger.” He removed the ring case from his pocket and set it on the table, propping it open. “I checked for clarity and color,” he announced proudly. “I got a good deal, too.”
“Let’s talk about marriage.”
“Right,” Jack agreed, reverting his attention back to her. “We should set the date right away. Do you want to call your family now? No,” he said, disagreeing with himself, “we should do that together. You want to drive over, surprise them?”
“No…let’s talk.”
“We are talking.” His gaze narrowed. “It concerns me that we have so much trouble communicating. I thought you’d go wild when you saw this diamond. I don’t understand what’s wrong with you.”
“I agree it’s a beautiful ring,” Clare murmured, experiencing a low-grade sadness at the sight of it. She wasn’t disappointed to lose out on the diamond. The turquoise band Reed had given her appraised far higher in her mind, even though she realized she’d soon be returning it.
Her melancholy, she recognized, was a result of regret and self-incrimination that she hadn’t faced the truth sooner. They’d never been right for each other, she and Jack, and never would be. Jack appreciated little about her and she about him. Their lives together would have been a constant battle of wills, of attempts to mold each person into the other’s vision.
“You’re darn right, it’s a beautiful ring,” Jack went on to say. “This half carat set me back a pretty penny.”
“I’m pleased we dated for three years,” Clare continued softly. “It was time well spent.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Jack relaxed against the back of the chair, confident and serene. “You kept pushing me and pushing me, but the time wasn’t right and I knew it.”
“I’m grateful for another reason, Jack,” she said, her voice dropping, heavy with dread.
“Oh, why’s that?” He picked up the ring case to examine the diamond more closely. When he looked up, he was grinning proudly, as if he’d mined the stone.
“I’m grateful for those years, because I’ve come to realize, I’m not the right woman for you.”
Her words were met with stark silence.
“Say that again.”
“This last week has—”
“You’ve got what you want,” Jack flared, nearly shouting. “What more is there? I said I’d marry you.”
“A marriage between us wouldn’t work. You were right to wait, you were right to hold off making a commitment. I think you must have intuitively realized what it’s taken me so long to accept. We simply wouldn’t have made it as a married couple.”
Jack shot to his feet and forcefully jerked his hand through his hair. “There’s no satisfying you, is there? You want one thing, then you don’t. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You hound me for years to marry you, and then when I agree, you have this flash of lightning that says we’re no longer compatible. Reed Tonasket has something to do with this, doesn’t he?”
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said, meaning it, refusing to answer his demand.
Jack leaned forward, pressing his hands against the side of the table. “What happened, Clare? What changed?”
“I did,” she admitted freely.
“This whole thing started when you were spitting mad because I wouldn’t attend that stupid dinner party with you. Is that still what’s wrong? You want your pound of flesh for that? It’s because I missed that dinner that you’ve been throwing Reed Tonasket in my face, isn’t it?”
Clare tensed. “This has nothing to do with the dinner party.”
“Then what happened?” he demanded, stalking to the other side of the kitchen. His feet were heavy, his footsteps reverberating as they hit the floor.
“I…in Vegas I realized-—” She stopped abruptly. Any further reference to Reed would be a mistake. She’d already wounded Jack’s pride enough without revealing the full truth, although it burned within her. Keeping their marriage a secret was becoming more difficult by the minute.
“It all started when you ran off to Vegas with that troublemaker, didn’t it?”
“Reed was Gary’s best man,” she reminded him. “And I was Erin’s maid of honor. You could have come with us if you’d wanted to, remember?”
“Tonasket was with you when you returned,” Jack said slowly, his eyes accusing her. “What happened, Clare?” he asked, strolling across her kitchen, his steps much slower now, as though he were dragging the weight of his suspicions with him. He paused in front of her countertop, where he reached for the totem pole. Clare watched as the side of his mouth lifted in a derisive smile.
“I think you should leave,” Clare said stiffly, growing tired of this conversation.
“For curiosity’s sake, where were you this afternoon?” he asked, looking at the totem pole and pretending to examine its workmanship. “Let me guess. You were with him, weren’t you? Is he that good in bed, Clare? I’ve heard—”
“Get out, Jack.”
“Not until I know the truth.”
“The truth,” she repeated, “is what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last several minutes. I don’t want to marry you…let’s leave it at that.”
“Oh, no, you don’t, sweetheart. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Clare walked over to her telephone and lifted it from the receiver. “Either you leave now, or I’m phoning the sheriff.”
“Threats, Clare?” His face was tight with anger, his eyes flashing with fury. “So you’re screwing Reed Tonasket. I should have guessed long before now.”
“Get out!” she yelled. “Before I have you arrested for trespassing.”
It looked as if he would challenge her, but he changed his mind when she starting punching the numbers on her phone. He stalked across the room, jerked the diamond ring off the table and stormed out of her house.
The windows shook violently when he slammed the front door, but no more forcefully than Clare, who grieved for what she’d been too blind to recognize for three long years.
Reed carefully planned his trip into town. He waited until early Tuesday afternoon, hoping to catch Clare in the library during a slack time. He had information. The conversation with the Seattle attorney had resulted in several things he needed to pass along to her.
Clare had been right about one thing. The divorce would take longer than the marriage had lasted, which was a sad commentary on its own.
But what an adventure it had been. Reed felt honor-bound to follow through with the divorce, but he suffered no regrets over their brief marriage. His few days with Clare were more th
an he ever thought would be possible.
Reed hungered for the sight of Clare. She’d come to his home and spent an afternoon with him. Her leaving had left him alone in an empty house. He’d stood outside several moments after she’d driven away and experienced an ache that wrapped itself clear around his soul. The need for her had grown with each passing moment since.
Later that same day, he’d viewed, across the horizon, a multifaceted rainbow. He hadn’t thought of Clare once since then without remembering the vibrant colors of the sundog.
It didn’t help matters that they’d parted with so much left unsaid. Clare had been feeling foolish, with the sting of his rejection fresh in her mind. Although he’d wanted to ease her misery, he couldn’t. In order to follow through with the divorce, Reed had to allow Clare to believe he was indifferent to her. Thus far he’d failed miserably, his actions contradicting his words each time they were together. The divorce was necessary because it protected her—and that was his biggest concern.
He drove past the library and noted several cars parked in the lot. Disappointed, he decided to wait an hour and try again. There were errands he needed to run, which would occupy him until then.
He spotted Jack Kingston when Reed came out of the hardware store, his arms loaded with his purchase. The other man parked his truck behind Reed’s, blocking off his exit.
“Stay away from Clare,” Jack shouted, leaning out of his cab. “I’m warning you, if you come near her again, you’re going to be sorry.”
Reed ignored him, opening the tailgate and sliding the stepladder onto the truck bed.
“Apparently you didn’t hear me,” Jack shouted.
Reed continued to ignore him and fished his keys from his jeans pocket. He half suspected Jack had been drinking, otherwise he wouldn’t have the courage to face him.
“Clare isn’t your squaw.”
Reed paused in an effort to cool his rising anger. Jack could call him any name he liked, but he’d best leave Clare out of it.
Clare had asked him not to fight Jack. It was the only thing she’d ever requested of him, and although he could feel every fiber of his being tighten, Reed would honor her plea. Unless…
Jack climbed out of his truck and grabbed Reed by the shoulder, slamming him against the side of the truck, his face inches from Reed’s.
Reed sighed. Jack was making this difficult.
In the back of her mind, Clare had told herself she’d probably hear from Reed by Tuesday. He’d told her he’d be in touch once he’d spoken to the attorney, which he seemed anxious enough to do. It made sense that he’d show up sometime soon to relay the pertinent information.
He didn’t stop in at the library, and by the time she closed at six-thirty, Clare felt defeated and more than a little discouraged.
Erin and Gary were due to arrive back anytime, and Clare was anxious to talk to her best friend. Erin always seemed to know what to do in awkward situations.
Clare was headed home when she passed Burley’s True Value Hardware store. For a moment she was sure she saw Reed’s battered pickup parked in the lot. It might have been her imagination, or simply because she was so anxious to see him again. Whatever the reason, she turned around and pulled into the lot herself.
It would take only a moment to see if he was inside and no harm would come of it. If he wasn’t, she’d casually be on her way. If he was, she’d let him know she didn’t appreciate the way he continued to keep her waiting.
“Evening, Mr. Burley,” she greeted, smiling at the potbellied proprietor as she strolled past the checkout stand. She wandered down the aisles, pretending to be interested in a set of pots and pans.
“I tell you, Alice, I’ve never seen anything like it,” a female voice drifted from the other side of the aisle. “Two grown men fighting like that right out there in the parking lot. Poor Mr. Burley ended up having to call the sheriff.”
“What could they possibly have been brawling about in broad daylight like that?” Alice asked. She too sounded equally disgusted by the events of that afternoon.
Clare wandered down the row and glanced both ways, hoping to catch a glimpse of Reed.
“Reed Tonasket was involved.”
Frozen, Clare listened.
“Were either one of them hurt?” the second woman asked.
“I couldn’t tell how badly, but it seemed the other fellow took the worst of the beating. He got his licks in though. Reed was bleeding pretty bad.”
Reed. Clare reached for the shelf when she realized the two women were talking about Reed and Jack. Without thinking, she reached for the carton of pots and pans and carried it to the counter where Ed Burley was working the cash register.
“I understand there was something of a commotion here earlier,” she said breezily, drawing her debit card from her purse.
“We had a huge fight on our hands,” Ed Burley confirmed. “I was afraid they were going to end up killing one another. I couldn’t let that happen—I had to call in the sheriff. I hate to be the one to tell you this, Clare, but Jack was involved.”
“What happened after that?” she prompted, needing to find out what she could.
“Not much. The sheriff’s deputy hauled them both away.”
Clare’s gaze returned to the parking lot where Reed’s truck was parked, and a sick kind of dread took root.
“That’ll be $155.36,” Ed Burley went on to say.
Clare stared at him blankly until she realized he was quoting her the price for her purchase. Quickly she handed him her debit card. She was halfway out the door when Ed Burley called after her.
“You forgot something,” he said, handing her the oblong box of pans. By the time Clare reached her car, her legs were shaking so badly she needed to lean against the side of her vehicle. If she was to faint, folks would attribute it to the heat. The day was downright sultry. The hottest day of the year and much too hot for early summer.
But it wasn’t the weather that had affected her so negatively. It was Reed. He’d been in a fight. No wonder he had a reputation as a troublemaker. If he was going to engage in violent behavior, he had only himself to blame.
Then she remembered how eager Jack had been to fight Reed the afternoon they’d returned from Las Vegas. Any excuse would do. It had bothered her then, and it did even more so now.
The two were destined to clash, she realized, but she’d hoped Reed would be able to avoid it. She feared he’d been as eager as Jack and that was what troubled her most.
That chip on Reed’s shoulder was sometimes larger than the red cedar he used to carve his totem poles. It was as if he wanted to live up to every negative thing that had been reported about him. As if he found it his God-given right to feed the rumors.
Fine. He’d pay the price the same way Jack would. She certainly wasn’t going to reward his uncivilized behavior by bailing him out of jail, even if she was his legal wife.
Clare realized she was too upset to be driving when she ran a stop sign. She pulled over to the side of the road and waited for her nerves to settle. But the longer she sat there, the more pronounced her feeling became.
Clare was rarely angry. It wasn’t an emotion her family dealt with often. Anger was something to be corrected, or ignored.
Sifting through her emotions did nothing to ease her outrage. She was furious with Reed, more angry than she could ever remember being at anyone.
She tried to relax, to breathe in several deep, calming thoughts and exhale her frustration. But she soon discovered nothing would ease the terrible tension that held her as much a prisoner as Reed was in the local jail.
It was a minor miracle that she didn’t get a ticket for a traffic violation as she drove home. She hadn’t a clue of how many infractions she’d committed.
Parking in front of her home, she walked to the front door and hesitated. Heaven help her, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave Reed in jail. With an angry, frustrated sigh, she turned around and marched back to her car.
She’d post Reed’s bail, Clare decided, trembling. But he’d know beyond a shadow of a doubt how disappointed she was in him. He wouldn’t like her going to the jail, but, by heaven, she was his wife—for now at least—and that entitled her to something.
Tullue’s sheriff’s office housed a holding cell where they kept those arrested until they could be transferred to larger Callam County jail in Port Angeles. Clare wasn’t sure what the charges were against Reed. No doubt they were numerous.
She parked and hiked up the stairs of the sheriff’s department as if she were attacking Mount Everest. A longtime family friend was sitting at the receptionist’s desk, and Clare realized that news of her actions would undoubtedly reach everyone in town. But that did little to change her mind.
“Hello, Clare.” Jim Daniels revealed some surprise at seeing her. “What can I do for you?”
“I understand a deputy brought in Reed Tonasket and Jack Kingston in earlier.”
Jim’s gaze slowly rose to hers, his dark eyes questioning. “Reed Tonasket is here.”
“What are the charges?” She removed her wallet from her purse.
“Disturbing the peace, but he may get aggravated assault thrown in. From what I understand, Jack Kingston’s at the hospital now.”
“Any priors?” How efficient she sounded, as though she were an experienced attorney on a routine call. As if she knew what she was talking about when in reality she knew next to nothing.
“One.”
“Has the bail been set?”
Jim named off a figure, and Clare opened her wallet and handed over her credit card.
“You’re posting bail?” Jim asked as though he were sure he misunderstood her intentions even now.
“Yes,” she returned primly.
“This is going to take a few minutes,” Jim continued, sounding ambivalent. “There’s some paperwork that needs to be completed first.”