Gabby whirled and slapped him across the face before she could even think about it. “Oh! Raphael! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
He held up his hand, stopping her words. “No, no, I had that coming. But even you must admit you’ve gotten past Luke quickly. Is it the dimple?”
“I haven’t gotten past Luke, and you have no right to ask about my love life. What happens between me and Dominic is none of your business. Nor is it any of your business what happens between me and Luke.”
“What do you mean? Luke is gone. He left once he heard you had a fiancé, and as far as I can tell, that still happens to be the case. So what does Luke have to do with any of this?”
“Nothing,” Gabby shook her head and turned back to the kitchen. “Why don’t you go warm up with your old friend out there.”
“Now look, Gabby, it isn’t as if you didn’t know this was coming. We’ve known about this arrangement for a long time. Don’t play the victim here.”
“Victim? Victim! Are you being forced into marriage, Raphael? As far as I can tell you’ve just been enjoying time with your new pal Trevor and now Dominic.”
“Pa made the arrangement that he felt was best for you. Get that through your stubborn skull. The arrangement was for you to have land to hand down to your children one day. You know the land was already divided between the four of us boys.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to me. It never has. And Pa should have known me well enough to know I felt that way. I never wanted to get married in the first place.”
“And Pa knew how foolish that was. And he knew how foolish you were being. This was in your best interest,” Raphael pressed again.
“Thanks, Raphael. You really do know how to make a person feel better.” Gabby attempted to turn on him, but he reached out and stopped her. “Don’t be unrealistic about this, Gabby. You know what you have to do.”
Gabby looked out towards the spot where she had left Dominic, then her gaze drifted to the place she had been dancing with Luke when her whole world had come crashing down around her. “Yes,” she said firmly. “I know what I have to do.”
Chapter Sixteen
“You’ve always lived in Corpus?”
“As far as I can remember. My pa and your uncle were both awarded large land lots when they first began to entice settlers further into Texas. My pa actually met my ma there in Corpus, and they were wed quickly. I was born a year or so later, and then my mother became very ill. We lost her many years ago. I thought it would take Pa, too, but he was strong, and promised me everything was going to be okay. He died just two years ago in a cattle stampede.”
“Oh, Dominic, I’m so sorry you grew up without a mother,” Gabby said softly, watching the light hitting the different planes and angles of his face as it filtered through the windows. They had been sitting together for nearly an hour, sharing their family stories. Unfortunately for Dominic, the story was a short one because he had no siblings.
“It really wasn’t that rough. My pa did the best he could, and as soon as I was sturdy enough to be out on the ranch with him, that’s where I was. I loved every minute of it. It’s a part of me.”
Gabby looked at his face and hands, darkened from being in the sun, and could almost smell the fresh air of the open fields in Corpus coming from him. He was a man of the land, and was proud of it.
Something tickled the back of her memory, and she tried to recall it. “Didn’t you...leave at some point? I can’t remember the details, but I remember my brothers would trade off going to help your pa.”
“Something I’m very grateful for. Pa thought it best for me to get a higher education. He knew I wanted to follow his footsteps and be a rancher, but he wanted me to be educated, too. I stopped going to school about the time you started. Pa just wasn’t as strong as he used to be, and he needed my help on the ranch, even though I was little. So I knew how to read and write, but he insisted I learn more. I was gone for just two years before the stampede. If Pa hadn’t been so stubborn...”
Gabby laid a hand over his. “It isn’t your fault. He was determined to take care of that ranch, and no one could have known the cattle would stampede.”
Dominic made an odd face, but nodded reluctantly. “It brought me home, and I’ve been working to make things right with the ranch ever since.”
“What do you mean? I thought with my brothers’ help the ranch was running smoothly.”
“There are little problems that crop up now and then. Things your brothers probably don’t tell you about because they don’t want you to worry, and I don’t want to put you through any worry, either.”
“Seriously? Is there something about me that makes you all think I can’t handle knowing what is happening on the ranch? I expect to be a part of that, whether we are together or not. I expect to know what is happening on either of the ranches. Because if we don’t get married, I anticipate we will at least be good friends and I will worry about you.”
He smiled at her, and she realized he had a dimple in each cheek. He could have any woman he wanted if he would just smile at her. But not her. No...the more she got to know him, the more she missed Luke. If he had ridden hard, he was drawing close to Austin. If he had taken a slow path, he was probably over halfway. The gala was the very next night. Who had he picked to grace his arm?
“I never should have started talking about the ranch. I know that isn’t where your interest lies anyway. Do you plan to continue being a healer?”
Gabby was momentarily perplexed by the question. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you’ll be married. You’ll be having children of your own. With the responsibilities of wife and mother, being a healer will be difficult.”
Gabby’s eyes narrowed at him. “My mother had five children, took excellent care of my father, and still managed to be a healer. Do you see me unable to fulfill the same expectations?”
Dominic shrugged. “I simply thought you might not want to. I’m not questioning your ability at all. I’ve seen a little of what you are capable of, and I know you could do more if you wanted.” He hesitated for several long moments, then finally: “Is that why you started to have feelings for this other man? Because he’s a doctor? The two of you had something in common.”
Gabby removed her hand from where it had still been covering his and sat back in her chair. “I don’t know what it was that made me have feelings for him. But it was a joy when we were able to treat a patient together. It was as if we were thinking the same thing the entire time.”
“I certainly hope that soon the look on your face will appear when you think of me. Otherwise, I’ll know your decision very quickly.”
“What do you expect of me, Dominic? We only just met, and that blame lies partially on your shoulders. And I had no idea I would even like Lu—the doctor. Healers and doctors do not have that much of a good working relationship.”
Dominic’s eyebrows lifted. “Why is that?”
“Because doctors usually want to use tonics and medicine they don’t know the ingredients of, but that they believe will fix or temporarily relieve the problem. And they don’t have any problem sawing off a leg or an arm instead of trying to heal it and make it whole again. Everything a healer does involves the earth and the tools God gave us. We don’t try to force things unnaturally.”
“Then how are you able to get along with this doctor?”
“He is different than any doctor I’ve ever known or met before. He knows how to use the plants of the earth to treat a patient, and is respectful of alternative suggestions and thoughts. He uses his medicine when he needs to, but he is very open to learning the way of the healer.”
“I’m sure he is,” Dominic said dryly.
“Please don’t judge him. You don’t know him and he doesn’t know you.”
“He was trying to steal my fiancée away from me. I take issue with that.”
“You can’t. He didn’t know, Dominic. I didn’t tell him, and I really
didn’t think I was going to start falling for him. It was a total surprise to me, too.”
“You should have told him. If he is any type of gentleman, he would have stopped pursuing you.”
“Oh! This conversation is getting us nowhere.” Gabby stood, scraping her chair back on the wood floor, and went to one of the few windows that wasn’t shuttered and stared out into the bleak, wintry day. The weather fit her mood perfectly.
Suddenly, large, warm hands settled on her shoulders and she could feel him standing behind her. She waited for her heart to begin to race the way it did around Luke, or skip a beat, or in some way show her that there was a chance she could feel something for this man. But she only felt nervous and her palms began to sweat. She felt slightly ill, the way she always felt when she was going to lie, or had told a lie.
He wasn’t the one.
She had already known, but hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself. She had wanted to give him a fair chance the same as Luke, but there was no chance for him. Luke had already won her heart, and no matter how handsome, no matter how good of a man Dominic was, she needed Luke in her life.
“Don’t give up on us just yet,” Dominic said, as if reading her thoughts. “We’ve barely had a few minutes together, let alone the days you had with him. Please, Gabby, for the sake of what our parents wanted for us, if for nothing else.”
Gabby turned to face him, staring up into his eyes, wishing she could love him, but knowing she couldn’t. “Do you feel anything for me?” Gabby asked bluntly.
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking,” he said, his forehead furrowed in confusion.
“Do you feel happy to be around me? Do you look forward to and anticipate seeing me? Does your heart skip a beat when you get near me?”
He frowned darkly. “Is that the way it is for you around him?”
“Just answer my questions, please,” she pleaded, her face searching his.
“I’m happy around you. There is something special and unique about you, and I recognize that you are a rare woman to find. I enjoy touching you, and seeing your smile.”
“But is there anything more than that? Friends have the same feelings!”
“Dammit, woman, I don’t know what you want from me!” A vein pulsed in his neck.
“I want...I want...” I want Luke. She swallowed hard. “I just want to know my decision is right when the time comes,” she whispered.
“I’ve yet to meet a woman so difficult and frustrating...” He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed heavily. “Gabby, I’ll respect your decision. But think of what you will have with this doctor, or if he’ll even still take you. He didn’t seem too focused on telling you goodbye when he left.”
He had just voiced her greatest fear. What if Luke didn’t want her back? What if he was already moving forward with the woman he had taken to the gala? She shook her head. No, what they had was too special. He wouldn’t give up on her. He might be angry with her, but it would all change when he came back.
“You agreed the decision would be mine. I may choose you, I may choose him, or I may choose neither and spend the rest of my days as a spinster. It is my decision to make.”
“Don’t let the fancy ways of that doctor go to your head. He is a man from another country, a man who has certainly been around a lot of women and knows how to treat them the way they want to be treated. Don’t be naïve about this whole thing!”
“I’m going into this with both eyes wide open,” she said fiercely. “I know what I am looking for.”
“And what is that?”
“Love. Above all else, I will choose love.”
Dinner was a retelling of everything that had happened the evening before. Serena, Angie, and Olivia all had stories to share of the festivities, of the family members they had seen, and the latest gossip that was going around town.
Gabby enjoyed the stories and laughed along with everyone else, even when Dominic reached for her hand under the table. At first she had wanted to pull it back, but she reminded herself that she was going to give him a fair chance. But in her heart, she knew she would be lying to Dominic and herself if she chose to be with him. It was Luke she wanted. She only prayed he would want her.
The men sat back and enjoyed more conversation, with the scent of Abuelo’s pipe filling the room, as the women cleaned up from the meal. Serena and Angie cornered Gabby in the kitchen where she couldn’t escape and began interrogating her.
“What are you going to do? Do you think you can love him?” Angie asked first.
“Of course she can love him. Have you looked at him? Most of the women in San Antonio can love him.” Serena wiggled her eyebrows dramatically.
“That’s lust, Serena, not love,” Angie chided her.
Serena sighed. “Well, there’s nothing that can be done. It’s an arranged marriage. You must honor the agreement that was created.”
Gabby pumped water over the plates and began to clean them. “You don’t understand,” she said softly, feeling more torn and conflicted than she ever had her whole life.
“What is there to understand? You must be wed before you turn twenty. To Dominic. There isn’t anything else to understand. Other than whether you’ve grown to like him some while you’ve been with him today.”
Gabby began to vigorously dry off a plate. “He is a good man. A very good man. But he isn’t Luke.”
Angie and Serena exchanged glances. “You’re in love with Luke, aren’t you?” Angie asked gently.
Gabby fought the tears that burned in her eyes, but nothing she could do would stop them from falling. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I knew what my destiny was—I reminded myself every day. Yet every day he was there, my protector, my friend, and eventually, yes, my love.”
“You’ll get over him eventually,” Serena said reassuringly. “After you have a child or two with Dominic, you won’t even think of Luke.”
Gabby shook her head. “No. No, things have changed.”
Angie began washing dishes after receiving a sharp look from Abuela. “What do you mean? What could have possibly changed?”
Gabby took a shuddering breath. “Dominic has asked for me to give him a fair shot to gain his love. If he fails, I may choose Luke or my own freedom, whichever suits me more. But I will ultimately have to choose.”
Angie and Serena both stared at her in awe. “Are you absolutely certain he will forgo the agreement? He assured you of this?”
“Yes. But now I’m forced to make a decision that would have pleased my parents or one that pleases me. And I have no idea what to do. Even if I chose Luke, I don’t know if he would have me.”
“Couldn’t you tell that he was madly in love with you?” Angie asked in shock.
“His whole day revolved around you.”
“That’s because I forced my way into his life. I don’t know if he really wanted me around.”
“Hah!” Serena laughed. “He would find ways to delay starting his day so he could have you with him. And the way he looked at you...reminds me of how Trevor looks at me sometimes.”
“I just—I just have a lot to think about. Does that make sense? I need to decide whether I’m going to honor the wishes of my parents or go in a different direction altogether.”
Angie shook her head. “No one can make that decision for you. But I can tell you this: no matter what, your parents wanted you happy. Use that as your compass for whatever decision you make.”
With the dishes cleaned, they told each other good night and headed off to their own bedrooms. Gabby quickly changed into her nightgown and had just blown out her lantern when there was the strike of a match in the corner. Gabby gasped and reached under her pillow for her revolver, but her grandmother’s face came into view just as the handle slid into her palm. She quickly released it and propped herself up in the bed.
“Abuela? What is it? Are you all right?”
“No. And neither are you.”
Gabby sat up all the w
ay in bed and was about to approach her when her grandmother held up her hand telling her to stop. “Stay in bed. For now. After I have my say, then you can decide whether you stay there or not.”
“Abuela, you aren’t making any sense... Should I get Angie? What is wrong?”
“Just because I’m old doesn’t mean that I need constant attention and have everyone worried I’m on the verge of losing my mind. Though, after watching all of the locura around here this week, it is a wonder that I haven’t lost my mind.”
“What insanity? Yes, it has been a busy Christmas, but...”
“No! No ‘but.’ The word you should use is ‘and.’ And this week my young granddaughter tells me that she has an arranged marriage with a man other than the one she has been sharing all of her time with. And, that granddaughter lets the man she has been spending all of her time with leave and attempts to fall in love with a stranger she is being forced to marry. Now, if that isn’t insanity, what is?”
“Abuela, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to. I think I was fooling myself. I didn’t want it to be real. But it is, and I have to move forward.”
“By making a decision, is what I’ve heard. You think I’m deaf now, too? You girls gossip loud enough to wake the dead. I like this man Dominic. And I would have thoroughly supported him to be your husband. But he isn’t what you want. Your heart already made the decision for you, but you are fighting it. Fighting your heart is a dangerous game to play.”
“He left, Abuela. He left and didn’t even tell me goodbye. In his eyes I lied to him—betrayed him. How can I ever hope for him to care for me the way I care for him?”
“Bah. You children today—you get caught up in all of the problems and you never see the solutions staring you in the eyes.”
“What solution? All I can do is wait for him to come back and beg him to forgive me.”
“No! That is one thing the women of this family never do. We never beg. At least...well, sometimes a little begging is necessary.”
The hesitancy in her grandmother’s voice made Gabby curious. “What aren’t you telling me?”
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