Caress of Fire
Page 35
He lifted the pendant as if to fasten it around Lisette’s neck, but she moved away.
Unfazed, he continued. “Couldn’t find any roses. None to be had in Abilene. But if you’ll go back to the Four Aces with me, I’ll plant you a thousand rosebushes.”
“The only gift I ever wanted was your loving trust.”
“I can’t undo the past. If I could, I would. But I can’t. But if you’ll give me a second chance, Lisette, I promise you’ll never regret it.”
She said nothing, and one side of his mouth pulled into a grimace. “I am awfully, awfully sorry for not trusting you. Back then, it was because of my past–”
“Betty will always be your first wife.”
“I’ve forgiven her. And I’ve gotten over her.”
If only I could believe you.
He took Lisette’s hand. “I know you’re leaving tomorrow. You’ve got a night to think on us. If you’ll give me another chance, be wearing my heart when the train pulls in. If I see it on your chest, all of us are getting aboard to make good on our plans for the future.”
“I won’t be wearing it.”
“In that case, I’ll turn in the opposite direction. But remember something. You’re the only woman I’ll ever love–well, except for our girls–and if you have anything in your heart for me, you’ll give me a signal.”
“How nice it would be for you, were I still so gullible.”
He blinked. “You have until tomorrow, Lisette.”
A night to think about Gil. And it was a miserable, indecisive one. When dawn broke, she didn’t know whether or not to trust him. There was no way to foresee the future, and Gil might well prove untrustworthy. But . . . if she turned her back, would the past always haunt her as it did her husband?
By noon, she had dressed in a traveling suit, and with Maisie’s help, they bundled the girl up, then settled all three in a perambulator. She said to Maisie, “We’d better hurry, or we’ll miss the train.”
His wooden trunk at his side, Gil had been waiting on the platform for hours. Yesterday filled his mind’s eye. Lisette, nursing their daughter. Lisette, unwilling to accept his apology. Lisette . . . If she had been able to forgive, she would have been here minutes, if not hours, ago.
Damn, he hurt.
For six never-ending weeks he had hurt. He supposed he deserved losing out on a second chance at happiness, but–damn it–he was only human. He wanted his wife and daughters. Where were they?
With uninterested eyes, he watched a herd of longhorns being packed aboard the eastbound Kansas Pacific. Smoke belched out of the engine. More than a dozen eager travelers climbed the steps to the passenger car. Lisette wasn’t among them.
From across Texas Street, two women and a baby carriage headed this way. Gil held his breath. The moment of reckoning was at band. With a cape buttoned under her chin, he couldn’t tell if Lisette wore the pendant.
“Damn.”
Quickly he closed the distance between them. Nothing adorned the cape. Nothing!
He took his wife by the shoulders. “Don’t guess I can talk you out of your decision, can I?”
“Absolutely not. I don’t know whether I can trust you. And you don’t know what I’ll do in the future. Or even today, as far as that is concerned. But–”
“I trust you, and I was a fool not to trust you from the beginning,” he replied, his heart breaking all over again at her rejection. “If you had decided to give me a chance, I would’ve proved worthy of your love. And I would’ve done my damnedest to do right by you and the girls.”
“That is what love is all about.”
“All aboard!”
The whistle blew. While the conductor helped Maisie with the perambulator, Lisette scooted around Gil. He saw his world leaving for Chicago.
“Lisette, I love you. I’ll always love you.”
“I know.”
The big wheels of the Abilene-to-Chicago rolled over once.
Her back to him, Lisette put her foot on the step. “Gil, what’s keeping you?”
She whirled around and the cape came unbuttoned. Hot damn! She was wearing his heart.
Author’s Note
I hope you’ve enjoyed Lisette’s and Gil’s love story. In some ways, this story had a personal side for me. Because my husband’s family came to Texas from Germany during the Republic Days, I have long been interested in the Germans, like Lisette, who settled this state. Matter of fact, I borrowed the name Lisette from Carl Hix’s great-grandmother, Lisette Hof Tampke. And Gil McLoughlin, the Scotsman from Rock Island, mirrors my bit of background. My mother’s father (my sole ancestral link to north of the Mason-Dixon line), David Jamerson, came to Texas from Illinois after serving in the Spanish-American War.
The blending of Scots and Germans held me so enthralled that I haven’t been able to put Gil and Lisette away. Not at all. Their daughters will continue the McLoughlin story in my next two novels. And they have a son, too....
Martha Hix
San Antonio, Texas
December, 1991
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