“She left in the middle of the night?”
Maria shook her head. “In the evening. Still...”
Still, it was bizarre, and totally out of character for Cassie. “Did she leave a note?”
Maria shrugged. “I did not look, señor. The boys—”
“Took your time,” he interjected, still entrenched in disbelief. “It’s all right, Maria. I’ll look.” He started to turn away, then brought himself back to face his faithful housekeeper. “And thank you for taking care of the boys.”
“De nada, señor.” She hesitated. “This is not like Cassie.”
“No.” He sighed heavily. “It’s not.” Turning to his sons, he draped one arm around Kevin, and with the other pulled first Todd, then Mark, toward him. “I don’t know what’s going on, guys, but I’ll find out.”
Mark shuffled his Reebok-clad feet. “Dad, make her come home, okay?”
“Yeah,” Todd echoed his twin. “We need her.”
Kevin dipped his head. “They’re right. Can you fix things?”
Blake fought the knot in his throat and the pain in his heart. “I’ll do my best.” Gravelly emotion resonated in his voice. “We all need her.”
CASSIE OPENED THE DOOR for the dozenth time, plastering a smile on her face, accepting the tuna noodle casserole from another neighbor who’d heard they were home. It hadn’t taken the Twin Corners grapevine long to get the word out. The doorbell hadn’t stopped ringing. It had been a blessing to learn that the phone couldn’t be connected for a while. That, too, would no doubt have been ringing, as well. It seemed her neighbors’ curiosity couldn’t be satisfied without their seeing or hearing for themselves that the Hawkinses were back.
And there wasn’t anyone Cassie wanted to call...at least not in Twin Corners. Her mother spent every spare moment with them, but that wasn’t exactly a comfort, since she thought Cassie had been crazy to leave without talking to Blake. But Cassie knew she’d done the right thing, that she couldn’t drag him down because of her past. He was too decent. He deserved someone who could soar with him, instead.
But that didn’t stop her heart from breaking.
Leaning against the door, Cassie heard another update on what had gone on in Twin Corners during their absence, forcing herself to smile and pretend interest. She finally escaped more questions, closing the door and turning to her children with the casserole in hand. “Tuna noodle—I guess this is lunch.”
The irony struck them all simultaneously. How Cassie had cooked the disastrous tuna noodle casserole the first night they were in L.A., and all the changes they’d been through since then. She glanced around at the dusty furniture. The air of neglect was so much stronger in the daylight. What should have seemed familiar no longer did.
“I wish we had some fruit.” D.J. spoke up as he accepted one of the plates she handed him.
“Or grilled chicken,” Katherine Ann added.
“We’ll have to get used to fewer choices,” Cassie answered, trying to keep her voice even, refusing to let her despair leak through.
“It’s okay, Mama,” Jim told her, not mentioning the more important things they’d left behind, the opportunities that had been snatched away. “It’s just lunch.”
As Cassie stared between her children, she knew it was far more than lunch. She’d assumed they could come back here and resume their former lives. But none of them were the same. The children were tiptoeing around that truth, one they’d already recognized. Despite her blindness, the kids all knew what she should have. They’d all changed, grown, and none of them fit back in the neat little molds they’d left behind. Those shells had been outgrown, discarded. Their hearts and lives were in Los Angeles. And because of her past, she had to leave them there.
BLAKE STOPPED SHORT of pitching the phone across the room. Cassie’s phone in Twin Corners had not been reconnected, and the phone company refused to tell him whether there was a reconnection order in the works. All attempts to reach her mother had been fruitless. The phone rang endlessly, but no one answered. Was it possible Cassie had gone somewhere other than Twin Corners? What could have happened to make her take such drastic action?
“Hey there, handsome!” Daphne’s voice washed over him like glass shards as she entered the room without knocking. “What are you doing hiding out in here?” She waved toward his nearly darkened study. “It looks positively bleak.”
“Matches my mood,” he responded shortly, out of the patience needed to deal with his sister-in-law.
“What you need is some cheering up,” she responded with a seductive smile. “And I’m just the one to do it.”
“Forget it.”
“But—”
He passed a weary hand over his forehead. “I’m sorry, Daphne. But the truth is, I really want to be alone.”
“If this has something to do with that Cassie creature—”
“Daphne!” His voice was as stern and effective as a whiplash. “I won’t have her spoken of like that.”
“I haven’t heard you so defensive of anyone since my sister....” Daphne’s voice trailed off as she stared at him. “You’re in love with her...with that little country girl.”
“Ten points for you.”
“But she left,” Daphne protested.
“Without a word,” Blake agreed, unable to disguise his pain.
“You’re going after her, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “As soon as I find out where. I’ve booked a morning flight to Texas. I haven’t left yet, because I’m not sure she’s there and I didn’t want to charge headlong in the wrong direction. But I’ve got to start somewhere.”
Sighing, Daphne opened her purse, pulling out the crumpled letter and shoving it across the desk. “This should give you a clue.”
He read a few lines, then jerked his eyes back toward Daphne. “I don’t know whether to thank or strangle you.”
Daphne’s smile was sad but wise. “You two deserve each other.”
“I think Elizabeth would approve,” Blake said finally, in a gentle voice.
“Yeah, I know. But you don’t have to rub it in.”
A hesitant knock on the door interrupted them. Maria’s face wore its now perpetually anxious expression. “I’m sorry to bother you, señor, but you have another visitor.”
“It’s okay, Maria. I have one minute.” He glanced at Daphne. “Then I’ve got a flight to pack for.”
Chapter Nineteen
Late-afternoon sun was pushing past the drapes when the doorbell rang. Cassie could have groaned in annoyance.
“Do you want me to get it, Mama?” DJ. called out.
It would be another neighbor, requiring another explanation. Much as she wanted to run and hide, it wasn’t a job to foist on her children. “No, I’ll get it.”
Pulling open the door, she prepared herself by breathing deeply. But then she forgot to exhale.
Blake and his sons were lined up solemnly across the width of her porch. Unable to do anything other than stare, she felt her heart shattering into a thousand bits at the longing in Blake’s eyes. His voice was like music in a deep silence, and it took her a moment to understand the words.
“We’ve come calling, ma’am.” Blake pointed to his boys. “To ask your hand in marriage. We’re a package deal, you see. If you take one, you take all of us.”
“But...” she stumbled over her words—along with her heart, which had become irretrievably lodged in her throat. “I don’t...”
“You can’t say no,” Mark announced.
“Please don’t say no,” Todd amended.
“Say yes,” Kevin said encouragingly, for once looking like the young teenager he was. “We...we need you.”
“Please come home,” the twins begged.
Turning uncertain eyes on Blake, she fought for courage and the truth. “You don’t understand. I have something to tell your dad...that...”
“If it’s about the good old days, I’ve already heard enough. Spent some time discussing it
with one of your friends from high school days. He didn’t have anything to say worth listening to. Nothing that makes any difference to me.” There was a fierce light in his eyes, and she was suddenly reminded of a warrior protecting his lady. “By the way, Tommy Brewster won’t ever be bothering you again.”
Cassie’s lips trembled, and she knew that tears sparked her lashes.
“I love you, Cassie Hawkins, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
Somewhere Cassie registered that her children had crowded behind her to hear Blake’s proposal. As he pulled her into his arms, whoops and hoots of glee filled the quiet Texas sky. Cassie glanced down once more at Blake’s boys, sons of her heart, and knew her life wouldn’t have been complete without them, either.
While their children celebrated, Cassie felt the noise recede as Blake slid an engagement ring over her finger. “I’d planned to do this on the Champs Élysées, but somehow it’s even more fitting here, where I met you.” His grip on her hand increased. “I love you, Cassie. I didn’t know it then. But I know it now, and I’m never letting you go.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Tears of joy escaped, to slide down her cheeks. “I don’t deserve you, Blake.”
“You deserve the world, Cassie and I’m going to give it to you, one city at a time.”
“What about all our little dependents?” she managed, past the knot of emotion choking her.
“They’ll be the best-traveled kids in the world—starting with London.”
“Not Paris?”
He smiled then, tucking her against his side, now and forever. “Afraid not. Paris is reserved for honeymoons. And I love ’em all, but they’re not going on our honeymoon.”
“Our honeymoon?” she echoed.
“Where else but Paris? The Eiffel Tower, the Left Bank...”
“And the Champs Élysées,” she filled in softly.
“After Paris, we can meet the kids in London for more traveling.” He gestured at the tree-shaded porch around them. “And we’ll want to keep this house to escape to in the summers when we don’t feel like trotting around the world. Especially if your mother won’t move out to L.A.” His voice gentled, thickened. “You need to hang on to this part of your roots. It’s where we started our memories, too.”
“It sounds like a dream,” she breathed, unable to believe it was real, unable to believe he’d dispelled her nightmare forever.
“But I need you to make it come true. I want us to soar together.” He spread his arms out to include the children. “All of us. Don’t ever run away again, Cassie. Together, we have the world.”
“Having you is all I need,” she confessed. “And all I want. Are you sure this isn’t a dream?”
He laughed then, holding her at arm’s length as he pulled them into a spin. “We have plenty of volunteers to pinch you and see if it’s a dream.”
She fell into his impromptu dance, knowing he would always carry her to unknown heights. “I love you, Blake Matthews.”
He answered with a grin, whirling her in the circle of their happy children. Leaning forward, he sealed the words with a kiss, their embrace as enduring as the love they shared, their future as bright as the sun-drenched skies above.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6066-5
HIS-AND-HERS FAMILY
Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie K Winn.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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