The Welcome Home Garden Club

by Lori Wilde

  “And I’m so proud of you.”

  “No matter what, we’ve won,” he told her. “We’ve survived. Our love has survived.”

  When the judges were finished, they gathered in front of the garden. “Who was the architect here?”

  Caitlyn stepped forward. “It was originally me but—”

  The oldest of the three judges, a tall, academic-looking man with a goatee, smiled. “But you’re so young.”

  “I’m a florist,” she explained, “but—”

  “You took an amazing chance,” the middle judge, an older woman in a straw gardening bonnet, said. “What a creative mind you have. None of the other gardens we’ve seen have demonstrated this level of complexity.”

  “What are you saying?” Caitlyn asked, stunned to realize they actually liked the war-torn garden.

  “We’re saying”—the younger woman carrying a clipboard smiled—“that your garden has won first place in the Most Creative category.”

  “We won?” Caitlyn blinked, unable to believe it was true. Okay, so she’d been going for Most Romantic, but she’d take Most Creative.

  “You did.”

  The goateed judge wearing a marigold boutonniere handed her the blue ribbon and a gold trophy.

  “But I can’t take credit for this. The war-torn theme came from Green Beret Sergeant Gideon Garza after a vandal destroyed our garden.” Her gaze met Gideon’s. “He’s the real survivor and he’s been teaching us all how to live.”

  Caitlyn put out her hand to Gideon and drew him over as the photographer readied to snap their picture receiving the award.

  The crowd applauded. Gideon felt himself warm from the inside out. Caitlyn had recognized him. The town had recognized him. He was accepted. It felt strange and glorious.

  Caitlyn passed him the trophy. “This is yours,” she whispered.

  “It’s ours.”

  “You pulled my fat out of the fire.”

  “If you hadn’t had those seedlings in your greenhouse, none of this would have been possible.”

  “For the first time in twenty years, the Grant family carousel is back in operation,” Patsy said.

  The horses pranced up and down in their camouflage saddles. The loudspeaker played “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

  The carousel spun and Blaze raced past Caitlyn looking ferocious with his horsey face smeared with black soot, a green camo-colored bandana tied around his mane. People were laughing and applauding, and for the first time since he’d lost his arm, Gideon Garza felt whole again.

  “Gideon.” Judge Blackthorne called out his name.

  Gideon looked at his soon-to-be father-in-law who was standing to the side of the victory garden celebration. “Do you realize that’s the first time you’ve ever called me by my first name?”

  “No.” Richard gave him a strange look. “Yeah?”

  “Yes.”

  “My mistake.”

  “It’s okay.” Gideon smiled. “We all make them.”

  “So what did she say?”

  On Memorial Day, before he’d brought Caitlyn’s engagement ring and decorated his room at the Merry Cherub with pink and white rose petals, Gideon had gone to see Richard and asked for his blessing to marry his daughter. Richard had given it.

  “She said yes.”

  “Long time coming.”

  “It was.”

  “I should never have stood in your way. You were young. Too young, I thought. And I didn’t think you were good enough for her. I admit my prejudice. But she loves you with all her heart. She’s always loved you. Even when she was married to Marsh.”

  “I appreciate you giving me your blessing.”

  “I have some more good news for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ve already informed Bowie and Crockett Goodnight that your father’s will is good. All the witnesses have been interviewed. Everything has checked out. I’ve approved the paperwork. The Rocking J is yours.”

  Gideon wasn’t sure how he felt about this news. He’d never really wanted the ranch, until he’d found out about Danny. Before that, it was really just more about being recognized as J. Foster’s son. It seemed sort of anticlimactic. “I’m not sure I know what to do with it.”

  “Run it, sell it, leave it to your son.” Richard looked around the crowd. “Where is Danny?”

  “I saw him walk up with you. Maybe he’s with his mom.” Gideon searched out Caitlyn in the crowd. The minute his eyes landed on her, his heart sped up. His woman. Finally, his for real. For always.

  He couldn’t wait to find Danny. Tell Danny who he was. Let Danny know he was marrying his mother. They were going to be a family at long last.

  Caitlyn met his eyes and broke into a big smile. “Danny?” she mouthed.

  He shrugged. “Not with you?”

  She shook her head.

  Gideon frowned. “Danny!” he called.

  But the sound of the carousel drowned out his voice. He turned back to Richard. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “We just walked up here, not ten minutes ago. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. Don’t panic.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Traditional meaning of China aster—jealousy.

  They tried calling Danny’s cell phone and found it in the seat of Richard’s Cadillac. They searched the town square and Caitlyn’s house and Richard’s house and everywhere they could think of. But an hour later, they had to admit Danny was officially missing.

  “We’ll find him,” Gideon told Caitlyn. “I swear to you, we’ll find him. It’s time to widen our search area. Let’s get the van.”

  “I’ll put out a BOLO,” Hondo said, and took off for his patrol car.

  Caitlyn gave the keys to Gideon. There was no way she could drive. She was struggling her best not to lose it completely. She’d always been a worrier, and now it seemed her greatest fear had come to pass. Something horrible had happened to her son.

  “I haven’t kissed him in two days. I was with you on Memorial Day and then I worked all night long last night on the garden. Damn that garden. I put it ahead of my own child.” Her stomach roiled. She put a hand to her mouth, willed herself not to vomit.

  “I’m here,” Gideon said. “We’re in this together.”

  She met his eyes. Thank God for him. She didn’t know what she’d do without him. She twisted his ring on her finger, took a deep breath to calm the panic that made her want to scream and cry and break. Gideon’s calmness calmed her.

  “Try calling everyone you know that we haven’t already contacted,” Gideon said. “That’ll give you something to do. Taking action helps.”

  She nodded, slipped her cell phone from her pocket, and started making calls. After a few minutes, she gave up in despair. “Nothing. No one has seen him.”

  “Have you tried Crockett?”

  “No, good thought. He didn’t open the baseball card shop today. So I didn’t see him on the square.” She flipped through her contact numbers, found Crockett’s toward the bottom of the list.

  Just when she thought the call was headed for voice mail, Crockett answered, sounding breathless. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Crockett, it’s Caitlyn.” She was surprised at how calm she sounded. How could she sound so calm?

  “Well,” he said, “I understand congratulations are in order.”

  “Listen, I was wondering if you’ve seen Danny today?”

  “Your little garden won an award, huh?”

  “Crockett, Danny’s missing.”

  “Funny how you always come up smelling like a China aster, Caitlyn.”

  Irritation mingled with frustration. It was as if they were having two separate conversations. “Did you hear me? Danny’s missing.”

  “Someone tears up your garden and still, you win.”

  “Have you seen Danny?”

  “And this morning I hear you’re engaged to Garza. Did I ever mean anything to you?”

  “Crockett, we never
dated.”

  “We kissed.”

  “You kissed me. I never kissed you back.”

  “Liar!” he yelled.

  The hairs on her arms lifted, and suddenly, she remembered the fight in her flower shop. The switchblade in Crockett’s hand, the malevolent look in his eyes directed toward his brother. Bowie and Gideon both got the bulk of J. Foster’s DNA. Crockett looked like his mother. His mother who had been in a mental institution for years.

  “So tell me, Caitlyn,” Crockett said, his voice deadly calm. “Did you say yes to Gideon before or after your father helped him steal my inheritance?”

  Every motherly instinct in her blazed with fear and anger. She hung up the phone. “Drive to the Rocking J now. Crockett’s crazy jealous and he’s got Danny.”

  Gideon bulleted the van over the cattle guard leading to the Rocking J, but neither Bowie’s Hummer nor Crockett’s Mustang was in the driveway.

  Caitlyn had the door open before Gideon brought the van to a complete stop. “Danny!” she screamed. “Danny, where are you?”

  “Mom!”

  His voice sounded so small and far away.

  “Danny!” Gideon joined in. They ran toward the sound of his voice. Past the sprawling ranch house that now officially belonged to Gideon. Past the barns and sheds and corrals.

  Caitlyn spun in a circle as she walked. “Where are you, Danny?”

  “Up here.”

  They both halted abruptly and looked straight up at the twenty-five-foot-tall spindly metal windmill. Just a few feet below the deadly whirling hung their son.

  “I climbed up,” Danny said. “But I can’t get back down.”

  “Gideon,” she gasped softly, “if he slips . . .”

  Fear chilled Gideon colder than Arctic water. “Call Hondo. Tell him the situation,” he said, but he knew he couldn’t risk waiting. Caitlyn was right. They didn’t know how long Danny had been hanging up there. His grip could already be tenuous. His palms sweaty. But that meant Gideon was going to have to climb the windmill. With one good arm, one prosthesis, and a bad case of vertigo.

  He called upon every Green Beret fiber inside him as he walked toward the windmill. “Keep him talking, Caitlyn,” he said, after she’d already called Hondo. “I’m going to get our boy down.”

  “Be careful,” she cautioned.

  “Hey, I’m not going to let anything happen to either one of us. Now that we’re about to be a family.”

  She pressed her fingers to her lips and looked so brave standing there with the wind whipping through her hair. “How long have you been up there, buddy?”

  “A long time.”

  Gideon started up the side of the windmill. He was a big man and it wasn’t built to take a lot of weight. The slender structure trembled. White fingers of icy dread wrapped around his heart.

  “Mom, it’s shaking.”

  “That’s just Gideon. He’s coming after you. Hold on, buddy.” Her voice was smooth as butter, but he knew that she was just as terrified inside as he was.

  “He’s too big, Mom. He’s making it shake too much.”

  Even from where he was, Gideon could hear Caitlyn’s throaty moan. No time to waste. Danny needs you. Hurry. Hurry. He pushed himself, hoping to push past the nerves.

  “Danny,” Caitlyn said. “How did you get up there?”

  “Crockett told me he had a baseball signed by A-Rod and then he was out throwin’ it around and it got stuck up on the windmill. He said he was too big to climb up here, but if I would come get it down for him, I could have it. But there’s no ball up here and Crockett just got in his car and drove away and left me. Why did he leave me, Mom?”

  That question tore at Gideon’s heart. He growled like a papa bear. He was going to beat the crap out of Crockett when he got his hands on the weasel. He was having to do some maneuvering to get up the windmill. It wasn’t a fast process for a one-armed man. He wasn’t high enough for the vertigo to kick in, but it was coming.

  “And you can’t climb back down?”

  “No, Mom, I’m really scared.”

  “Okay, honey, just hang on. Gideon’s coming.”

  “He gets dizzy when he’s high up,” Danny said.

  Gideon cringed. He didn’t want Caitlyn to know that.

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, but was probably only ten minutes, he was within reach of Danny.

  “Hey, buddy.” Gideon clung tightly to the metal and tried not to look down. He was trying to figure out the best way to do this with one hand without getting both of them killed.

  “Hey,” Danny said, his voice sounding high and wavy. His energy flagging.

  Gideon hated Crockett with every fiber in his body for getting his son up here and taking off. Crockett better be in the wind if he knew what was good for him.

  “Do you think you can turn around and slide down on my back, put your arms around my neck, and let me give you a piggyback ride down this thing?”

  “Okay.”

  “Easy now.” Gideon clamped his artificial hand around the metal frame and reached his good hand out to Danny. He prayed like hell the prosthesis was as strong as the manufacturer claimed.

  It took a bit of doing, but Danny made it onto Gideon’s back. They inched back down. Gideon had to stop occasionally and close his eyes to fight off the vertigo before he could take another step down.

  Just as they were a couple of feet from the ground, Hondo pulled up along with firemen and a ladder truck.

  “Too little, too late, I see,” Hondo said, reaching up to take Danny off Gideon’s back.

  Gideon’s entire body was trembling with exertion but he did his best not to let Caitlyn see his shaky hands. It wasn’t too hard. She was wrapped up in hugging their boy.

  “We stopped Crockett on the way out of town. He’s in the county jail and we’ll be charging him with child endangerment for starters. He admitted everything. Bragged about it even. Setting the bear trap, leaving your hen pen open, destroying the victory garden. But all’s well that ends well. You and Danny are okay. That’s the important thing.” Hondo clapped Gideon on the shoulder.

  Bowie’s Hummer drove into the drive. Looking puzzled, Bowie got out and came over. “What’s happening?”

  Hondo filled him in.

  Bowie plowed a hand through his hair. “He’s been off his meds since Dad died. I can’t make him take them. Hell knows I’ve tried.”

  “He takes medication?” Gideon asked.

  “He’s bipolar. Same as our mom. He’s not nearly as bad as she is, and as long as he takes the meds, he’s okay. But when he’s off them, there’s no telling what will set him off.”

  “Like Judge Blackthorne ruling in favor of me in the probate case.”

  “Yeah,” Bowie said. “And like you getting engaged to Caitlyn. He’s been fantasizing about marrying her, since Kevin died.”

  “I’m sorry,” Gideon said. “I had no idea.”

  Bowie shrugged. “We tried to keep it quiet. You know how this town likes to gossip.”

  Now that his son was safe, Gideon was feeling generous. He had a feeling that in the long run, he’d had it much better than his brothers and he’d never even known it. “The fortune’s big enough for the three of us. I don’t need this ranch. It’s yours. We’ll get Crockett the help he needs, put his share in a trust, and I’ll cash out mine.”

  “You mean it?” Bowie looked incredulous. “You’d do that? Even after what Crockett did to you?”

  “He’s got a problem and as long as he gets help, I’ll stand by him.”

  To Gideon’s surprise, Bowie wrapped him in a bear hug. “Thank you, brother from another mother.”

  “We’ll talk more about it later,” Gideon said. “Right now, I’m pretty anxious to get my family home.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Traditional meaning of heliotrope—eternal love.

  Caitlyn sat by the window watching Danny while he played outside. Since what had happened at the Rocking J, she’d
been reluctant to let him out of her sight. Fear heighted her awareness. She’d always been cautious, never a risk taker, but Gideon—he’d always been so brave. So impulsive. He followed his gut and did what he thought was right, whether anyone else did or not. He had a strong moral code, an innate sense of right and wrong. If it hadn’t been for him . . .

  She shuddered to think of what might have happened to Danny.

  “Caitlyn,” Gideon whispered. “It’s time.”

  He extended his hand to hers and she sank her palm into his. It felt strong, reassuring. “It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  After all they’d been through, she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. The fear was hers alone to conquer. Once upon a time she had loved him so much that love had almost destroyed her. If it hadn’t been for Danny, it very well might have destroyed her. But her son had kept her going. Her fear was the only wall left. It was up to her to knock it down.

  She swallowed. “Let’s take him to the carousel.”

  They opened the door, called to him.

  A big smile broke over Danny’s face when he saw them together, holding hands. “Hi,” he said, running up, his face flushed from playing. “What’s up?”

  “How do you know something is up?” Gideon asked.

  Danny canted his head. “You’ve got those looks on your faces.”

  “Looks?” Caitlyn asked. “What kind of looks?”

  “Like you’ve got some important news.”

  Gideon shot her a glance. “He’s very perceptive.”

  He gets that from you.

  Danny shifted his weight, his face pinched with concern. “Is it good news?”

  “We hope you’ll see it that way.” She tousled her son’s hair.

  “What is it?” Danny asked.

  “Let’s take a walk,” Gideon said.

  “It’s bad news. Did someone die?”

  It killed her to think that was where his immediate thoughts went, to bad things. “No, no one died.”

  “So just tell me.”

  “Look,” Caitlyn said as they stopped in front of the victory garden. “Let’s take a ride on the carousel.”

  She and Danny got on. He headed for a horse, but she guided him toward one of the golden chariots with heliotropes painted on the side. “Why don’t we sit here where we can talk?”