by Cora Seton
“Of course.”
Jericho squeezed Savannah’s hand before she walked away with her friends. He knew why Boone wanted the men to meet alone, but he hated the way Savannah’s happiness had drained away as she’d read Win’s letter. He wanted nothing to spoil their wedding.
But it wasn’t just about the wedding. They could lose Westfield over this if Angus gave up and left the show. All ten of them had to marry before the year was up—that was Fulsom’s rule. There wasn’t a substitution clause that would allow them to find a man to take Angus’s place. All or nothing.
Their future hinged on what came next.
A camera crew filed into the bunkhouse with them. Jericho wanted to push them out the door, but the show stopped for nothing and no one. That was the problem.
Angus knew that as well as anyone.
“Angus, I’m sorry Win’s gone,” Boone began when everyone was situated. He jammed his hands in his pockets. “Maybe Savannah’s right. Maybe she’ll come back.”
Angus shook his head. “I don’t think so. She was pretty clear.”
“I don’t understand why she’s changed her mind. She seemed perfectly happy here,” Clay put in.
“She was play acting. Like playing house,” Angus said. “Dressing up. Playing at doing all the chores her… servants… used to do for her.”
Jericho wasn’t the only one who winced at the bitterness in the man’s words.
Angus rubbed a hand over his face. “Ah, don’t you get it. She’s not rich—she’s wealthy. There’s a difference. She’s in a whole different league than I ever could be—”
“Don’t say that,” Jericho said.
“Why not?” Angus rounded on him. “Why not put it plain? She’s too good for me. Her mother knows it. She knows it. I know it.”
“It’s not like that anymore,” Harris tried.
“Isn’t it? Really? Are you saying there’s no class system here? Because I see it.” He gazed at them each in turn. “Isn’t that what Base Camp is partly about? The rest of us trying to salvage a world the rich have plundered?”
“It’s not that simple,” Boone said quietly.
“I think it is to a lot of people. You’re always talking about resources,” Angus said angrily. “Well, who owns those resources? The poor? Of course not—but we’re asking them to bear the brunt of the solution, aren’t we?”
“That’s not true,” Clay said. “We’re trying to show people how they can live with less—”
“What people?” Angus demanded. “People like Win? Like her family? You think they’re going to give up their mansions and move into a box dug into a hillside? The oil men, the mining companies, the billionaires—they’re not going to join us!”
Jericho told himself it was the man’s grief making him so angry, even though he couldn’t deny the truth of what Angus was saying.
“Fulsom’s funding us, for God’s sake!” Boone pointed out.
“And where did his money come from? Originally? Did you ever look into that?”
“Tech,” Boone answered him. “Like everyone else this century—”
“Bullshit.” Angus paced the floor. “Fulsom was born rich. His family has had money forever. Dig deep enough, and you’re going to find something you don’t like, Boone.”
Boone lifted his hands. “Sounds to me like what you’re saying is you’re done. Which means we’re all done.”
Angus met his gaze. Held it. “What I’m saying is I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing anymore.”
Jericho stepped back to let Angus walk out.
When the men filed into the bunkhouse, none of the women needed urging to turn and head up to the manor. Savannah understood perfectly well why the men wanted some time alone. Everyone had expected Angus to marry Win when the time came. The two had been inseparable almost since the day Win came to Westfield for Savannah’s cousin’s wedding. Win had changed so much since then—dropping her haughty, money-is-everything attitude almost overnight when she realized there was another way to live.
But she hadn’t really dropped it, had she? Savannah’s strides slowed as she considered this. In the end, money had won out. Was it so important to Win to feel better than everyone else? She was a businesswoman herself—couldn’t she have made her own fortune…?
No, Savannah supposed. Not here in Chance Creek, most likely.
Not like the fortune she stood to inherit someday from her mother, anyway.
But what a devil’s bargain, she thought, taking in the camera crew trudging after them, filming even now. Could Win stand to lose Angus forever for money in the bank?
Savannah felt claustrophobic just thinking about a life like that. She was happy she’d faced her own demons and found peace and happiness with what she was building here. Win would have to start all over again, and after seeing her with Angus, Savannah couldn’t believe Win would be happy with anyone else.
How could money trump love?
“What if Angus leaves?” Avery said.
“Then we lose Westfield,” Riley said, her voice wavering.
Savannah’s heart squeezed for her. Riley’s roots here went deep. She loved Westfield and she’d faced so much pain lately.
“He has to stay,” Nora said fiercely. “We can’t lose all of this.”
“We can’t force a man to marry someone he doesn’t love,” Savannah said.
“Then we have to find someone for him to love,” Avery said.
Savannah wasn’t sure that was possible. Could Angus’s broken heart heal fast enough?
“He’d better not draw the short straw when it comes time,” Samantha said quietly.
The group finished their walk in silence.
Please, Savannah found herself praying. Please let us not lose Westfield. Please let Angus find a way to stay.
She didn’t think she could take losing all of this just when she’d finally found her home.
Jericho was pacing the banks of Pittance Creek again when Angus stumbled down the path late that night and they both came to a halt when they spotted each other. All day and evening conversations had been muted and people carried out their tasks in a watchful silence. Long after everyone settled in their houses and tents, Jericho had lain awake, until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He was glad the camera crews had called it a night by the time he’d slowly climbed out again. He’d been as quiet as he could coming down to the creek. He needed time to think.
“I can leave you alone,” Jericho said when it looked like the other man would turn and retrace his steps.
“You don’t have to.” Angus heaved a sigh. “Got myself in a right mess, haven’t I?”
“It’s not your fault.”
“No. It’s no one’s fault.”
It seemed to Jericho Win shouldered a lot of the blame, but he didn’t say that out loud. Angus still loved her.
“It’s hard for her,” Angus said. “I should have seen that. Done more to bridge the gap between her old life and this.”
“It’s a big change for all of us.”
“Really?”
No, Jericho had to admit. It wasn’t for him—or for the other men, who’d all served in conditions that made Base Camp look palatial.
“It’s hard on all the women,” he amended. “They didn’t come here for austerity. But I feel like Base Camp isn’t all that austere.” They’d done so much to make life interesting. The work, the meetings, the meals around the fire pit all energized him.
But Win was different, he supposed.
“Do you think Win would have been happy here long term?” Jericho asked.
“See, that’s the hard part,” Angus told him, pacing away. He stopped a few yards off, then turned to face Jericho. “If I knew for certain she’d be unhappy, I could let her go. It would be the right thing to do. It would hurt, but then it would be over. But I don’t know for certain… Not yet.”
Uneasiness prickled down Jericho’s spine. “Win came with me to pick Savannah’s ring,” he said, even
though he wasn’t sure he should.
Angus waited for him to go on.
“I picked out a plain one. I don’t have a lot of cash,” he explained. He saw Angus nod in the starlight. “Win got angry. She told me it was a mistake. She said a woman who was used to wealth wouldn’t be happy without it. She picked out a far fancier ring—one I had to get a payment plan for. I don’t mind that,” he rushed to add. “Savannah deserves a beautiful ring. And Donovan doesn’t need my cash after all. But Win was adamant about it.” He hoped Angus understood what he was trying to say.
Angus nodded again. A moment later, he sighed. “I have to let her go, don’t I?”
“I don’t know. She was wrong about Savannah—”
Angus wasn’t listening. “I have to let her go.”
“He told Boone he’ll stay. He said when the time comes, Boone can find him a bride,” Riley said the following morning when the women had come to the manor to do their chores. Even though they didn’t live there anymore, it took a lot of work to keep up such a big house. Dust settled on flat surfaces no matter how many times they wiped it off. Floors needed sweeping, windows cleaning. They did a little every day and kept on top of it.
Today no one went to grab a broom or mop, however. They gathered in the kitchen to talk over their future.
“That’s brave of him,” Avery said. “Most men would have left.”
“He still believes in Base Camp,” Riley told her.
“Win could come back,” Savannah pointed out.
“Would he want her if she did? She left him,” Nora said.
Savannah couldn’t answer that. Was Angus that proud? Some men were.
“I don’t think I’m going to breathe easy until the year is up,” Riley said. “There’s too much that could go wrong.”
“I know what you mean,” Avery said.
“Well, it’s time to focus on happy things,” Nora said resolutely. “We haven’t lost Westfield yet. There’s still time for Angus to find a wife whether Win comes back or not. Meanwhile, we’ve got to prepare for Savannah’s wedding.”
“And our guests coming next month,” Avery said, rallying.
“You’re right; we’ve got lots to do,” Riley said. “And I’ve got a list for each of you…”
Savannah groaned along with everyone else. Riley and her lists. But she took hers gladly. Nora was right. They had to keep going no matter what.
Her baby fluttered inside her and she touched her belly. “I don’t ever want to leave,” she said.
“No one’s leaving,” Samantha assured her. “This is too important.”
“She’s right,” Avery said. “You all mean so much to me.”
“That’s how I feel,” Riley said.
“Me, too,” Nora chimed in.
“Then we won’t give up,” Savannah said. “Not on Win, or Angus, or our future. Somehow we’re going to work this out.”
Because she wasn’t willing to give up this community no matter what.
A knock on the back door startled her.
“Meeting at the bunkhouse,” Byron said when he poked his head into the kitchen. “We’re screening the next episode.”
“Oh, lord,” Nora groaned, but all the women stood up. There was no getting out of these meetings, they’d learned.
Fifteen minutes later, they all sat on folding chairs in the bunkhouse while Boone and Renata fiddled with a laptop and large monitor. When the episode started, Savannah sat back and crossed her arms, knowing she wouldn’t like it.
It started with a recap of the men drawing straws before Harris and Samantha’s wedding, an awkward scene that left Savannah wriggling in her seat as she watched Jericho realize he’d drawn the short straw. There was footage of their discussion with Regan about babysitting, and then the wedding itself, which drew ooh’s and aah’s as Samantha walked down the aisle in her beautiful gown. The show moved on to the photo shoot at the Hall’s place. The party at the bunkhouse. There was footage of Jericho meeting Donovan. Of her waiting for her audition with Redding.
But as the episode went on, Savannah realized something was missing.
It took nearly the whole show for her to realize what it was. When the episode ended, and the bunkhouse stayed quiet, Renata walked to the front of the room.
“Do you see the problem?” she asked.
Savannah straightened. So it wasn’t just her?
Renata’s gaze took them all in one by one. “Savannah? You look like you have something to say.”
“You left out most of the important parts.”
“That’s right.” Renata nodded. She was far more subdued than Savannah had ever seen her before. “In fact, I don’t know what those parts are. But I can tell they’re missing. And why is that?”
“You should be telling us, don’t you think?” Clay asked.
“Because none of them happened on screen,” Savannah said.
“That’s because the important parts are personal,” Jericho said.
“We don’t all want to air our dirty laundry on film,” Angust put in.
“Why should we expose ourselves like that?” Avery agreed.
“Because we’re trying to show people what’s important,” Savannah said. For the first time she almost felt a kinship with the director. “You didn’t get my conversation with Jericho about commuting to California to work with Redding. We talked about whether or not it was right to travel so much when we’re supposed to be living a sustainable life here.”
“That would have been interesting,” Renata said.
Jericho frowned. “I don’t want to be filmed while we argue.”
“But it was an argument people need to hear,” Savannah told him.
“Maybe.”
“You didn’t find out I was pregnant until I lost the baby,” Riley said softly.
“There’s no need for something like that to be on the show,” Boone said. “You were upset.”
“Of course I was. But miscarriages are more common than people think,” Riley said. “And yet women feel so alone when it happens to them.”
“You didn’t film me confronting my parents about the past, either,” Jericho said slowly. “Or me reconciling with my dad.”
“Some people might have benefitted from seeing that,” Renata agreed. “Look, I know it seems like we go for sensational—”
“You do go for sensational,” Boone overrode her. “Don’t even pretend you don’t.”
“Okay, I won’t. But we also go for real, heartfelt and true. And if you all would be a little more brave—”
“We might end up helping people,” Savannah said.
“Maybe,” Nora said.
“Yeah, maybe,” Avery echoed.
“Think about it,” Renata said. “Tomorrow’s another day. Get out there and be real.”
Jericho waited a couple of days before he brought up resizing the ring with Savannah again. He didn’t want Angus’s unhappiness to spill over onto their future, and he was already worried that the ring wasn’t right. It made him uncomfortable that Win had been involved in the process of picking it out, when he thought she might have already been thinking about leaving Westfield. She’d been so angry when he’d chosen the plainer ring. He figured that anger had been about her own situation—not his and Savannah’s.
“Let’s go to town,” he said to Savannah after lunch one afternoon. “I’ll get Kai and Greg set up for the next hour or two and we can head to Thayer’s.”
“Okay.”
In the truck fifteen minutes later, Jericho cast a backward glance at the crew that had joined them, sighed, and decided to follow Renata’s orders. He’d be real.
He handed Savannah the velvet box that held the ring before starting the engine and pulling out toward town.
“Better check it out again—decide if it’s really the one you want,” he told her.
“The one I want?” She turned to him in surprise. “Of course it’s the one I want; you gave it to me.”
“Mayb
e you wanted to pick out your own.”
“Jericho, the only reason I haven’t worn it is because it would fall off. It’s too big.” She clutched the little box as if she was afraid he’d take it from her.
“Maybe that’s a sign—that it’s not the right one.”
“It’s not a sign… otherwise people would only get to buy rings that already fit them. What’s this really about?”
Jericho’s hands tightened on the wheel. What was this about? Without having to send payments to Donovan, he could afford the ring she held in her hands.
“Is this going to be enough for you?” he finally asked. “Westfield? Base Camp?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Absolutely. I’m happy here, Jericho. Happier than I’ve ever been anywhere else. I’m not Win,” she added.
“Win helped me choose the ring. Actually, she told me the ring I picked was wrong. She was right,” he went on quickly, realizing it was true. “The ring I picked was all wrong. And you know what?”
“What?”
“I like the one she chose,” he admitted. “She knows her stuff.”
“Win does know her stuff,” Savannah said, laughing. “She wears beautiful jewelry. I’m always envious. But if the ring is too expensive—”
“It’s not,” Jericho told her. “I just want it to be right. I want us to be right.”
“We’re perfect,” Savannah told him. She leaned over and kissed him. “And so’s the ring. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
He was. About everything.
When Savannah entered Thayer’s, with Jericho and the cameramen right behind her, she spotted Rose Johnson behind the counter helping another customer, and remembered the rumors that swirled around the woman. She supposedly could get a glimpse of a couple’s future if she held the bride’s engagement ring.
Was that what had happened? Savannah went cold. Had Rose held the ring when Jericho bought it and seen… something bad?
Suddenly, she didn’t want to approach the counter. She cast around for something to slow their progress. The path to her engagement to Jericho had been so rocky, she didn’t think she could stand any more obstacles.
“Look,” she said, pointing to a pair of diamond-studded cuff links. “Maybe you should get something like those while we’re here.”