“Thanks. I’m sure you told Travis.” Gwen could just imagine Travis’s reaction. He was becoming very possessive about the baby.
“I told him. He doesn’t believe for one minute that Boone’s the father, and neither does Sebastian. And I can guarantee Boone will fall in love with Elizabeth just the way the other two have. It’ll be a circus around here.” Matty looked hopefully over at the counter. “Um, are you gonna give me some cake?”
“You bet.” Gwen didn’t often forget her hostess duties, and she stood immediately, irritated with herself for being so absentminded after Matty had specifically indicated she wanted some dessert. Gwen crossed quickly to the counter and lifted the dome top from her cake platter.
“Sweet Lord in Heaven, that is a sight for sore eyes,” Matty said worshipfully. “You’re gonna make some man a hell of a wife. Shoot, I wish you’d be my wife. With Sebastian for my husband and you for my wife, I’d be in high cotton.”
Gwen laughed, but her heart wasn’t in it. She cut a generous slice of cake for Matty. “You know, it’s not going to work, me marrying Travis if he has this big rift with his mother. He thinks he can break off his relationship with her and just go on, but I know he can’t. He loves her. And she loves him. I don’t know what to do.” She set the cake, a napkin and a fork down in front of Matty before taking a seat across from her.
Matty looked at her in surprise. “Where’s your piece?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“For this?” Matty hooted. “Nobody’s not hungry for this. Get yourself some. It’s therapy. And put the coffeepot on. We need to have us a brainstorming session.”
Gwen sighed, but she got up and started the coffee brewing. Then she cut herself some cake and sat down at the table again. “It’s no use. Travis doesn’t want me to talk to his mother. And she leaves tomorrow, so there’s really no time to change her mind, even if I thought I could sneak in a few conversations when Travis wasn’t looking.”
“We could both go up there right now, hold some cake just out of reach, and tell her she could have some if she’ll be a good girl.”
Gwen laughed. “That’s better than anything I’ve come up with.”
Matty took her first bite and rolled her eyes in ecstasy. She swallowed and cut another bite with her fork. “I swear, it would work. At least it would work on me. I’d clean the barn floor with a toothbrush if you promised me a piece of this cake at the end.” She chewed and swallowed, then pointed at the cake with her fork. “I’ve made this, and it didn’t taste half this good. You are one helluva cook.”
“Thank you.” Gwen took a bite of the cake, and it did taste pretty good. Chocolate was supposed to be a mood elevator. She took another bite.
“You could probably bring about world peace with this cake. I’m not kidding. You have a gift.” Suddenly Matty paused, her fork in midair. “Maybe too much of a gift.”
“Too much?”
Matty stared at Gwen. “God, that’s it. I’m brilliant.”
“I agree, but what brilliance are you guilty of this time?”
“No wonder Luann has a burr under her saddle. Tell me, did she expect you to wait on her hand and foot while she was here?”
“Not really. I wanted to do things for her.” Gwen got up to pour them each a cup of coffee. “At first she insisted on helping out a little, but then, after Travis moved back into my bedroom I felt guilty about that, so I tried to make her stay even easier.”
“So then you were doing it all.”
“Pretty much.” Gwen set a cup and saucer down by Matty’s elbow. Then she brought over the sugar and poured cream into a favorite little flowered pitcher before putting that on the table, as well.
“Do you see that?” Matty pointed to the cream pitcher.
“Yeah, isn’t it pretty? I found it in an antique shop in Colorado Springs, and I—”
“Not the pitcher, sweetie, the fact that you had to put the cream in it instead of plopping the carton down on the table, like I’d do! You have this perfectionistic tendency that is so adorable, unless we’re talking about your potential mother-in-law, who suddenly feels completely outclassed.”
Gwen’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Matty. “Outclassed? By me? That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? You had this place spit-shined before she arrived. Then I’m sure you tried to keep it that way while she was here. I’m sure you fixed perfect meals and arranged beautiful bouquets for the table.”
Gwen continued to stare at her friend.
Matty pointed a finger at her. “Didn’t you?”
“Of course! She was my guest, and a very important guest. I wanted her to feel happy here. Special. I wanted her to think I’d be good enough for her son!”
“Oh, she knows you are. The problem is, she’s become extraneous. I’ll bet the only time she felt really needed was that day I schemed to have her baby-sit Elizabeth. She actually looked happy that day. She even cleaned my kitchen while she was there, which only proves my point. Around here she felt useless.” Matty shot Gwen a look of triumph.
“But she wouldn’t be useless if she lived here!” Gwen couldn’t believe that Matty was right. “Surely she could figure out that I’d love to have her help with the business, and with the children, when we have them, and with—”
“Not if she thinks you can do everything better than she can. And you’ve proven how efficient and capable you are, so what purpose would she serve? Besides that, you’ll make her look bad in front of her son. No way will she subject herself to that kind of comparison.”
Gwen dropped her head in her hands and groaned. “I tried to make everything perfect, and all I did was screw it up. Now it’s all ruined, and Travis and his mother are fighting, and they’re both incredibly stubborn.”
“I’ve decided all men are stubborn. So Luann must have more testosterone than most of us.”
Gwen lifted her head with a faint smile. “Because we’re never stubborn.”
“Never.” Matty grinned.
“But Matty, what am I going to do? No way can I turn this around in the next twelve hours. No way.”
“I don’t think so either.”
“So I’m doomed?”
“Nope. Ordinarily I wouldn’t approve of doing something like this, but we have a state of emergency, here.”
Gwen allowed herself a small bit of hope. “I’ll consider anything.”
“You’re sure? Because I have a feeling this will be very hard for you.”
Gwen thought of all that was at stake and didn’t hesitate. “Anything. I will be eternally grateful, Matty, for whatever you can think of to do.”
“Forget the eternal gratitude. Just keep me supplied with cake.”
16
AN HOUR LATER Gwen lay in bed under piles of blankets waiting for Travis to arrive. He showed up right on schedule. She heard his key rattle in the front door lock and then his boots hit the floor in quick strides as he hurried back to the bedroom.
He hesitated in the doorway. “Gwen? Honey, what’s the matter? Matty said you weren’t feeling good.”
“I feel terrible,” she said. “Chilled to the bone, upset stomach, bones aching.”
He crossed quickly to the bed and crouched beside her. He laid the back of his hand against her cheek. “You’re burning up. Must be the flu. I’ll call Doc Harrison.”
“Don’t you dare. There’s nothing they can do for the flu, anyway, except tell you to rest and drink fluids.”
“It could be something worse.” Travis’s eyes clouded with worry. “What if it isn’t just the flu?”
Gwen felt a surge of guilt for putting him through this. Matty had been right that it wouldn’t be easy. Gwen rationalized by telling herself she did feel sick—heartsick. Or she had, before Matty had given her a plan.
“I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” she said. “But, listen, don’t get too close, okay? I don’t want you to catch it. You have to drive to Utah tomorrow.”
“Fat chance
. I’ll put my mother on a Greyhound before I’ll leave you when you’re sick. And I don’t care about getting sick. I want to take care of you. Do you need anything? Some juice? A back rub?”
She thought he looked entirely too eager to administer the back rub. “Oh, Travis, that’s so sweet.” She gave him what she hoped was a sickly smile. “But I can take care of myself. It’s the guests, Bill and Charlene Ingram, I’m worried about. They arrive day after tomorrow.”
“I’ll call them and tell them the visit’s off. It’ll be just you and me. And the germs.”
“You can’t reach Bill and Charlene now.” At least that much was true. “They’re already on the road and they weren’t sure where they’d stop on the way here because this trip is supposed to be spontaneous, except for their weekend at Hawthorne House.”
Travis made an impatient noise in his throat. “If they’re so spontaneous then they can find another place to stay this weekend.”
“Oh, Travis, we can’t ask them to do that. It’s their first wedding anniversary. They spent their honeymoon here a year ago. I have a small piece of their wedding cake in the freezer.”
Travis gazed at her, frustration shining in his golden eyes. “Look, sweetheart, I would be willing to do whatever I can, but you know I’m a lousy cook, and I’m even worse at arranging flowers and setting out hand towels and all those little things you do to make the house nice for people. And you can’t be doing it. You won’t feel like it, probably, and besides, you might give this bug to them, which wouldn’t be very neighborly.”
Gwen moaned. “Oh, Travis, I hate this. The Ingrams have been looking forward to their weekend for a whole year.”
“I know, but stuff happens.” He smoothed her forehead. “I’ll help them find another place to stay. I’ll call around.”
“I wish I could think of another way. I wish…” She paused. “Travis, there is one solution. Oh, God, if only she’d be willing to help out.”
“Who, Matty?”
“No, not Matty. She and Sebastian are going to buy cattle this weekend, remember? They’re taking the baby.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I can’t believe I forgot. So who were you thinking of?”
“Your mother.”
“My mother?” He gave a short bark of laughter. “Oh, sure. That would work. Not. She can hardly wait to get out of here. I can’t imagine her agreeing to hang around and cook and clean for your guests.”
“You’re probably right.” Gwen sighed. “But it would solve everything if she’d just agree to stay a few more days. You could take care of me, and she could run the house temporarily.”
Travis studied her. “You’d trust her to do that?”
“Of course I would.” She’d never let him know how tough that was to say. Her little house was her domain, and she really wasn’t looking forward to turning over the reins, but Matty had convinced her she had to if she ever expected to earn Luann’s goodwill.
Travis rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful. “It would solve the problem, all the way around. When you’re better, I could drive her home. No matter how mad she makes me, I wasn’t looking forward to putting her on the bus. And a plane’s no good, either. It’d only get her as far as Salt Lake City, and then she’d have to take a bus from there. She’s not used to traveling alone.”
“You’d be worried sick about her.”
“Unfortunately.” He grimaced. “I guess when it comes to her, my bark is worse than my bite.”
“I thought as much.” Gwen touched his hand. “At least ask her. If she turns you down, then we’ll think of something else.”
The muscles in his jaw tightened. “If she turns me down, I may put her on the bus after all.”
LUANN DIDN’T TURN Travis down, and Gwen spent the next two days in bed trying not to go completely insane. She was bored out of her tree, which was bad enough, but even worse she had to lie there and listen to the sounds and scents of Luann cooking on her stove, washing her china, running her vacuum cleaner and dusting with her lemon polish. Matty had warned her she’d have trouble with that, and she definitely had trouble. The hardest pill to swallow was realizing that Luann seemed to be coping fine. Gwen wasn’t indispensable.
Then she had to battle guilt again when Travis brought her a Ouija board as a “poor-me” present. But she had to smile at his choice. It was so Travis to bring her something to play with.
Immediately she suggested asking the Ouija board if he was Elizabeth’s father. To her surprise he shook his head and told her she could ask the board anything else, but not that. His reluctance made her realize just how desperately he wanted the little baby to be his, and how ripe he was for a family of his own.
Although Travis looked in on her as much as possible in between trips to the Rocking D, part of Gwen’s care fell to Luann. The first day she brought Gwen a bowl of soup for lunch with businesslike efficiency, but didn’t pause to chat. Gwen would have complimented her on the soup, but it was her own, not Luann’s.
On the second day Luann brought in another bowl of Gwen’s soup, but she loosened up enough to ask if the patient was feeling any better.
“I feel really weak,” Gwen said. Matty had advised her to stay bedridden for at least three days, and perhaps four, if she could stand it. The flu was supposed to leave you weak, Matty had said, so that was to be Gwen’s standard line.
“Well, don’t worry about a thing. We’re all ready for your company,” Luann said with a touch of pride.
“That’s great.” Gwen was dying to ask if Luann had made sure they had enough eggs in the refrigerator, and whether or not she’d put fresh flowers in the bedroom. But she didn’t ask. Matty had given her strict instructions not to bring up those kinds of questions, which would make Luann think she wasn’t trusted to do the job properly.
“I really appreciate this, Luann,” she said instead. “When you run a business all by yourself, you never count on getting sick.”
“I suppose not.”
“And although Travis would be more than willing to help, he’s not much good in this situation.”
A small smile appeared briefly. “No, that boy doesn’t know potpourri from potato chips.”
Gwen had thought of one other little glitch. “Uh, Luann, I should probably warn you that the couple coming this afternoon has only been married a year. I can’t guarantee that they won’t make some—”
“I’ll put cotton in my ears at night,” she said. “Well, you rest now. I have banana bread to bake.”
Not long afterward the aroma of banana bread drifted into Gwen’s bedroom, making her mouth water. She’d had to pretend that she didn’t have much of an appetite, but she was starving to death. At this rate she really would be weak—weak from hunger.
She gauged how long the banana bread had been in the oven and figured out when it would be done. From the way Luann had handled herself in the kitchen before Gwen had mistakenly insisted she needed to relax, Gwen had a hunch she was a pretty good cook.
The ding of the kitchen timer coincided with the sound of Luann bustling around. Gwen recognized those sounds well—Luann had set the bread out to cool. God, but it smelled good.
Finally she couldn’t stand it another minute. Trying to keep her voice sounding like a sick person’s, she called out to Luann.
Luann came to the door of her bedroom. “Is anything wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just…that bread smells heavenly. My appetite seems to be returning a little. Could I possibly have a slice?”
The expression on Luann’s face was worth every blessed minute Gwen had spent languishing in that bed. Travis’s mother beamed. Gwen had never seen her look like that, and it transformed her from the taut-faced woman who’d arrived with Travis to the loving mother Gwen had hoped Luann was underneath.
“Would you like a little butter on it?” Luann asked. She’d never addressed Gwen in such a sweet tone.
“I would love a little butter on it.”
“And ma
ybe a cup of that cinnamon tea?”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Be right back.” Luann hurried out, her step light.
Gwen closed her eyes in gratitude. “Thank you, Matty,” she whispered.
GWEN STAYED in her suite Friday night and Saturday morning while Travis and Luann entertained the Ingrams. Judging from the laughter and happy voices, things were going well. Before Travis left for the Rocking D on Saturday he brought in a bouquet of flowers.
“These are from Bill and Charlene,” he said as he set the vase down by her bed. “They hope you get better soon.”
“How nice of them.” She glanced into his eyes. “Everything’s going okay, isn’t it?”
Travis scratched the back of his head. “Yeah,” he said with some surprise. “Yeah, it is. Damned if I can figure it out, either. When I asked Mom the other night if she’d do you this favor she acted as if it would be a huge imposition. But if I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s having a good time.”
Gwen thought she should get an Oscar for the way she responded. Instead of punching a fist in the air as she longed to do, she merely nodded. “She’s a good sport to pitch in, and she’s saved my butt, that’s for darn sure.”
Travis crouched down beside the bed and combed her hair back from her face. “Feeling any better?”
“I am.” You have no idea. “But I don’t think I should push it. Maybe tomorrow, after the Ingrams leave, I’ll try getting out of bed for a while.”
Travis gazed at her tenderly. “You’ve always been such a can-do lady. I sure didn’t want you to come down with the flu, but it makes me feel all macho and protective to know that you need help, sometimes, too. In some ways, that’s been a nice feeling. Not that I want you to get sick again, ever,” he added quickly.
Gwen was startled. “Don’t tell me you thought I was invincible…?” She caught herself before she added the word too.
“I guess I did.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I knew how much I needed you, but I wasn’t sure you really needed me.”
“You’re kidding.”
Two in the Saddle Page 17