Love Takes All

by J. M. Jeffries

  He needed to choose his words with care. “Riding is dirty and hot and outside. You don’t seem like the outdoors type.”

  She lifted her chin. “I can be any type I want to be.”

  “I didn’t mean to insult you,” he said quickly.

  “I’m not insulted,” she said in a small voice. “I need to get Maya out of this hotel and into a proper home. I want to get a big dog and a cat and maybe a rabbit. I want Maya to have the childhood I never had. I want her to get dirty.”

  “Okay, let’s go take a look at it.” He pushed out from his desk.

  “But...but...right this minute?”

  “Why not? Do you have someplace you need to be?”

  She shook her head.

  “Neither do I. Let’s go. I can eyeball a house and in ten minutes and tell you everything that’s right or wrong with it. People pay me big bucks to do this. Don’t tell my grandmother I’m doing it for free.” He pushed back from his desk and grinned at her.

  She grinned at him. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  Chapter 7

  The house Lydia had chosen from the real estate guide had already sold. The realtor escorted her and Hunter to a different property.

  On the outside, the estate looked perfect. The house was large and rambling, with two wings spreading out from a central entryway. The living area was to the right and the bedrooms were to the left. Between the wings there was a large pool. Outbuildings consisted of a pool house, a guesthouse, a stable with attached corrals and a craft house all spread out over ten acres. She wasn’t certain what a craft house was, though figured she would eventually find out.

  The Realtor was a sprightly woman in her sixties, smartly dressed in a dark blue pant suit. Her silver white hair was swept up into a neat twist secured with a couple of jeweled pins. Her nametag read Margaret Sorenson.

  Lydia wandered around the kitchen, smiling at the professional appliances. She didn’t know how to cook, but that was her list of things to learn. A small thrill coursed through her. Yes, this was almost perfect. She could imagine Maya running through the house, her footsteps echoing on the wood floors. She could see a roaring fire in the fireplace. She even could imagine Hunter sitting in the family room with his feet up on a hassock...Lydia shied away from going further.

  She liked Hunter. She liked him a little too much and she was confused because she didn’t want to like him.

  “Sir,” the Realtor said to Hunter, “this is a professional chef’s kitchen. I can see your wife is quite taken with it.”

  Lydia looked up and Hunter grinned back at her. She felt all tingly inside over the Realtor’s mistake. She didn’t correct Margaret and neither did Hunter. Lydia had originally planned to stay in the hotel for a year or two, but knew having a permanent home would work in her favor.

  “How many children do you have?” Margaret inquired, but instead of waiting for an answered rushed on. “There are four bedrooms, plenty of space for kids. If you like to barbecue, you’ll enjoy the outdoor kitchen, which you can see from here.” She pointed out the window. “There is a stable with stalls for eight horses and two attached corrals. The man who owned this place before was what we call a gentleman rancher. He raised quarter horses. Several of your neighbors raise show horses and jumpers. Very social was Mr. Carpenter. He liked to entertain.” Margaret chattered on and on.

  Lydia knew that if Hunter didn’t have anything bad to say about this house, she was ready to plunk down the three point nine million in a second. But she needed to return with Maya.

  “The school district is excellent,” Margaret said.

  Lydia’s shoes clicked on the wood floor. She opened a door to find a powder room. Another door proved to be a large linen closet and a third door opened to a small pantry with floor-to-ceiling shelves.

  “Mr. Carpenter had what he called a craft house with an exercise room, an office and a wood shop. Mr. Carpenter’s son was into wood-crafting. He’s quite well-known for his birds. Creates them with a chain saw. The guest-house has two bedrooms. The pool house has four showers and two changing rooms.”

  Lydia stopped listening. She’d left the kitchen behind for the dining room. Since no one lived in the house except a security guard who was staying in the guesthouse, she felt she could explore freely without bursting in on the family hidden somewhere to stay out of the Realtor’s way. Lydia resented the fact that she would have to find a place for her bodyguard to stay if things continued with Leon and David. Mays should be able to live in a house and be safe from her own brothers. That thought put a taint on the excitement of her house-hunting adventure.

  As she wandered she could hear the Realtor giving Hunter her spiel. His sharp eyes would note any problems and she could trust him. She wanted to bring Maya back as quickly as possible. She wanted Maya to feel as empowered as she was feeling. She hugged herself. thrilled to be buying her own house under her name.

  Later, Hunter drove around the neighborhood checking out who else lived on the quiet lane and where the shopping and schools were.

  “Did you find anything wrong with the house?” Lydia asked. “I loved it and I want Maya to love it.”

  “The house was last renovated in 2005. And other than some cosmetic things, it’s in pretty good shape. I like that it’s completely fenced since one of the things I look at is security.”

  “Then I’m bringing Maya back to look it over.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to look at a few more houses?”

  “No.”

  Hunter chuckled. “But what happens if Maya doesn’t like it?”

  “I could be looking at a shack, but as long as it has a stable, Maya will love it because it means she’s getting her horse.”

  “Do you want me to help you with the negotiation?”

  Lydia thought for a moment. “No.” She was going to do this on her own. From now on she would live her own life, make her own mistakes and then fix them. She was no longer Mitchell’s wife, or Andrew and Caroline’s daughter. She was Lydia Fairchild Montgomery.

  * * *

  Lydia opened the door to the suite and found her mother sitting on the sofa while Maya walked back and forth.

  “Walk a little more slowly and hold your head like this.” Caroline struck a pose and Maya tried to imitate it.

  “What are you doing?” Lydia asked.

  “Maya runs around like a heathen half the time and I’m showing her how to be a lady.” The look on Caroline’s face expressed that she considered Lydia lacking in appropriate mother behavior. That was all the more reason to get Maya out of the hotel and out of the clutches of all these people who considered her daughter nothing but a commodity.

  Lydia kissed her daughter on the cheek. “Would you go to your room, please? Grandma and I have to have a talk.”

  Maya took off with a small whoop. Lydia turned to her mother, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. “Maya is my daughter, mother.”

  “I know, darling,” her mother replied calmly. “But I don’t feel you are imparting the correct values to my granddaughter.”

  “And you think Leon and David will impart the proper values to her.”

  “They’ll have her in New Orleans and I’ve agreed to help them.”

  “Her home is with me,” Lydia said firmly. She studied the woman poised so carefully on the sofa. Her face was smooth and still beautiful, without one wrinkle. No one would guess Caroline was almost fifty-two. She looked twenty years younger. Lydia could never remember ever really seeing any emotion. Caroline had always told Lydia that smiling or frowning caused wrinkles. She gave tiny grins at times, but little else. Her figure was perfect despite seldom exercising. On the surface she was flawless. When Lydia had been in high school, she’d wondered what her mother felt beneath the surface.

  “A hotel is
not a home,” Caroline said.

  “Things are about to change,” Lydia said. “As soon as I take Maya to look at it, and she approves, I’m buying a house.”

  “So that’s where you’ve been all day,” her mother said, a small frown marring her flawless skin. “You should have spoken to your father first.”

  “Why? Do you think I’m incapable of purchasing a house?”

  “You’re not staying in Reno. There’s no reason to buy a home.”

  “I’m beginning a new life and that new life isn’t going to be in New Orleans.”

  “But you have to come home, Lydia.” Panic welled in Caroline’s eyes. “You’ve had your great big adventure and now it’s time to come home and settle down.”

  Lydia bit the inside of her lip. So many responses came to her, most of them inappropriate. Lydia tilted her head to study her mother. She loved this woman, but she didn’t like her. “I married Mitchell and had Maya. How more settled should I have been?”

  Caroline’s face suddenly twisted with agony, and tears leaked out of her eyes. “Please, Lydia. Just come home to New Orleans. If you do, David and Leon will drop their suit.”

  Lydia leaned forward. “Mom, Leon and David aren’t going to drop their suit. You know they aren’t. I just don’t understand why now. Mitchell’s been gone for two years.”

  Caroline sniffed delicately. Even when she cried she was still beautiful. Lydia handed her a handkerchief. Her mother opened her mouth and closed it. Opened it again, then crushed the handkerchief against her mouth, jumped to her feet and ran out the front door.

  Lydia stared after her mother in surprise. What the hell had just happened?

  * * *

  The late afternoon heat had given way to cooler early evening shadows.

  “What do you think?” Lydia asked her daughter. The Realtor had unlocked the front door and gone to wait in her car while Lydia showed the property to Maya. Maya allowed Lydia to lead her through the house, but not until they reached a bedroom Lydia announced could be hers did she start jumping up and down. “Would you really buy this house so I can have a horse?”

  “I want to buy this house because I feel comfortable here and I want you to feel comfortable, too, and part of that feeling is you having a horse.” Lydia watched the play of emotions cross her daughter’s face.

  “Can I have a purple bedroom?” Maya asked hopefully.

  “If you can live with a purple bedroom for the next few years, I’ll see what I can do.” A purple bedroom! Lydia tried not to shudder.

  Maya raced across the floor and threw her arms around Lydia’s waist. “Thank you, Mom. I’m so excited. Can I have a dog, too?”

  “One pet at a time, dear. One pet at a time.” Lydia hugged her daughter back.

  Lydia loved the look of excitement in Maya as they explored first the house and then the surrounding structure. Lydia had never felt this kind of excitement as a child. Her mother had considered such flagrant emotion as unseemly. A lady was sedate and self-contained, controlling her emotions at all times. Maya’s happiness was contagious.

  When Lydia and Maya finished the tour, the Realtor locked up the house again and left them.

  Lydia turned onto the main road.

  “Mom, what are they doing?”

  Lydia glanced at the fenced area Maya pointed to. A group of young girls mounted on horses raced back and forth around three white-and-orange-striped barrels. The girls wore Western garb, Stetson type hats firmly on their heads.

  Lydia parked on the side of the road so Maya could watch. Maya pressed her nose against the window and watched, bouncing a little in excitement.

  “I think they’re barrel racing, though I’m not sure.”

  “I like that. That’s what I want to learn,” Maya said.

  “You want to be a rodeo rider?”

  “That’s so awesome,” Maya cried.

  Lydia pictured Maya doing show jumping and dressage. She could see Maya on her horse looking all elegant and refined in white pants, black boots and black jacket. Lydia’s mind stuttered to a halt. Oh...my...God, she thought. She was thinking like her mother.

  Maya opened the car door and jumped out of the car. She waved frantically at the girls. Lydia followed her quickly.

  One of the girls trotted to the fence. She looked about ten years old, with pretty freckles dotting her cream-colored skin and reddish brown hair secured into two braids.

  “Hi, I’m Maya and my mom is buying that house over there.” Maya pointed.

  “Hi, neighbor. I’m Patti Ibarra.”

  Maya climbed the fence until she was even with the horse’s head. “My mom says you’re barrel racing. Are you?”

  “We’re practicing our barrel racing.”

  Maya leaned over the top rail. “That sounds like so much fun. How do I learn?”

  The girl grinned. “My dad teaches us. We compete at the junior rodeos. There’s one tomorrow night at the fairgrounds if you want to come.”

  “Wow, I want to go. Can he teach me?”

  “He can teach anybody,” Patti said.

  Her horse nibbled at the tips of Maya’s hair and she patted the soft nose.

  “Can he teach my mom, too?”

  “No, no,” Lydia said, “I want to watch you do this.” Lydia couldn’t see herself racing around barrels. In fact, it looked a little dangerous. But then again, how dangerous could it be. These girls were barely older than Maya.

  “Come on, Mom. It looks like fun. You said you wanted to try new things.”

  “Watching you learn to barrel race is a new thing,” Lydia said. Up close and personal to the horse, Lydia was aware of how large it was. Patti looked so tiny on top the broad back.

  Maya gave her a skeptical look. Lydia was sticking with that answer.

  “Mom,” Maya cried.

  Lydia smiled at Patti. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Lydia herded Maya back into the car. “Are you sure you don’t want to learn show jumping? It’s so beautiful and elegant.”

  “Did you see the way those horses moved? They were like cheetahs.” Maya secured her seat belt.

  Lydia maneuvered the car back onto the road and headed back to the hotel. As frightened as she was about striking out on her own, Lydia knew she wasn’t going back to the stifling atmosphere of New Orleans. She was also proud of Maya for showing her independence. Lydia would never have told her mother what she wanted to do. If Maya wanted to barrel race, Lydia was going to let her do it.

  * * *

  Hunter sat at his desk trying to find inspiration. As a historical restorations expert, he worked with buildings already built. He hadn’t designed a building from the ground up in a good long while. He wanted to get this one right, because he wanted to impress Lydia.

  With pencil poised over a notebook, he started a list of what a woman would want in a spa. As he scribbled down each idea, the overall shape of the building began to grow in his mind.

  The door to his office banged with impatient knocks.

  “Come in,” he called.

  Maya bounced in, followed more sedately by Lydia.

  Maya was talking a mile a minute. Hunter tried to follow the barrage of words but all he could make out were rodeo, horse, barrel racing and purple cowboy boots. He glanced at Lydia, eyebrows raised.

  She mouthed the words “I know” and shrugged.

  Maya stopped talking to take a breath. “I want to go to the rodeo. There’s one tomorrow night and we should go. It would be fun.”

  “Rodeo!” Again he looked at Lydia.

  “Tomorrow night at the fairgrounds. It’s a junior rodeo.”

  “And I want to be a junior rodeo-ette,” Maya announced. “And do barrel racing.”

  Hunter found himself grinning. Her de
light was infectious. “I’ve never been to one. I think a rodeo would be fun.”

  “I’ve never been either.” Lydia wasn’t certain she really wanted to go to the rodeo, but the idea did sound enjoyable.

  “We’ll go tomorrow night,” Hunter said.

  “You’ll meet my new friend, Patti.” Maya skipped to the door. “I have to tell Miss E. all about it.”

  Hunter picked up his phone and began dialing, “Hang on, there, half pint.” Scott answered and Hunter explained that Maya was looking for Miss E. and requested an escort. He hung up and ten seconds later, Scott opened the door and walked in. “Need a ride?” he asked Maya.

  Maya giggled. “Miss E., please.”

  Scott held out a hand and she slid her fingers into his.

  After Scott left with Maya in tow, Hunter said, “The rodeo!”

  “I know,” Lydia said with a sigh. “I had something more in mind for her, like show jumping with those beautiful costumes and prancing horses and...” She stopped. “I wanted to tell Maya no way, this is not happening, but then I heard my mother’s voice in my head and realized I was sounding just like her.”

  “Would it help any if I told you I think you made the right decision?”

  “Yes, because God forbid she be twenty-nine years old and realizing she’s just made her first independent decision.”

  Hunter pushed back from the desk and stood. He put his arms around Lydia and she leaned her head against his chest. “Motherhood is not for sissies.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “I don’t care what Leon and David say. You’re a great mom.”

  “Thank you. Speaking of Leon and David,” Lydia said, slipping out of his arms and putting a little bit of distance between them. “Have they done anything I should know about?”

  “Just general skulking.” Hunter stifled a laugh. “Apparently, Leon and David, who treat the staff like dirt, have been offering them money to find out dirt about you.”

  “What is the staff saying?” Lydia felt her heart thud rapidly in her chest.

  “First off, they all think you’re a great boss. Secondly, they all think you’re a great mother. I haven’t found anyone who dislikes Maya.”