by Marta Perry
Tracey’s parents exchanged glances. “I don’t understand,” Maria said. “Tracey was very foolish, but she’s okay now.”
Violet leaned toward the girl, her gaze on Tracey’s face. “You need to talk to your parents, Tracey. Tell them what you’ve been worried about.”
“Tracey?” Bob Benton touched his daughter’s cheek lightly. “Honey, what’s wrong? What’s Ms. Vi talking about?”
Tracey shook her head, lips pressed together. Then the tears started to flow again.
“I heard you arguing.” Tracey looked at her mother. “I heard you saying about going back to Mexico. I don’t want to. I don’t want to leave Daddy and my friends…and my school.”
Landon could see by the parents’ expressions that they had no idea Tracey had overheard them.
Bob Benton sat down on the coffee table in front of his daughter, taking her hands in his. “Tracey, honey, you’ve got it all wrong. We weren’t talking about splitting up.” He looked at his wife. “You have to tell her the truth.”
Maria’s dark eyes, so like Tracey’s, were brimming with tears, but she nodded. “I love you and your daddy,” she said softly. “I love our lives here. But a piece of my heart is still in Mexico.” She stroked her daughter’s hair. “You see, I have another daughter. Your half sister. She is almost eighteen now, and I haven’t seen her in so long. It tears my heart to bits to think of her never knowing you.”
Tracey’s eyes were round. “But…you never told me.”
Maria wiped her eyes. “I was afraid if you knew I had left her behind with her grandparents that you would be afraid I could do that to you. I thought I was doing what was best.”
Secrets. Landon glanced at Violet. Secrets had torn her family apart, and only the good Lord knew if that could ever be made right.
“I have a sister.” Tracey seemed to be trying the words on for size. “What’s her name? What does she look like? Why can’t she come here and be with us?”
“Miranda,” her mother answered. “Her name is Miranda. She lives with my parents, and they are Mama and Papa to her. She would like to come here, maybe go to school, but the immigration…” She stopped. “It’s so hard, and it takes money.”
Pain tightened Bob’s face. “I’d do it if I could, honey. You know that. But we’re barely getting by as it is.”
Landon’s hands tightened on his knees. He had been so blessed financially that it seemed unfair when others had so little. But he could at least help with part of the Benton family’s problem.
“The foundation I work with has a good immigration lawyer,” he said. “He deals with things like this all the time. Will you let me contact him for you?”
“We don’t take charity—” Bob began.
“Not charity,” he said hastily. He’d seen that kind of pride before, and he admired it. “But the attorney will do the work up front, and you can pay him back over time. It would be like a school loan for Miranda. Most kids get those now.”
The stubborn pride melted from Bob’s face as he looked at his wife. “We…we’d be awful grateful.”
“No need,” Landon said, rising. “I’ll be headed back to Fort Worth tomorrow, and the lawyer’s office will be in touch for the information they need sometime next week. Okay?”
Bob nodded. Tracey and her mother were both crying again. Landon looked at Violet and nodded toward the door. There was nothing more they could do here, but with any luck, Tracey and her family were going to be all right.
He wasn’t so sure about himself. His emotions had been turned inside out by everything that had happened. He needed time to sort everything out, time to be sure that what he was feeling for Violet was real.
He thought about what Violet had said to him…the truth that had come out when she was angry. Maybe, real or not, it was too late.
* * *
Sunday morning. Landon had heard the church bells ringing from his hotel room. He should have gone to church. Or he should be on the road back to Fort Worth.
He didn’t want to do either of those things. He wanted to see Violet, to tell her what he felt. The trouble was that after a mostly sleepless night, he didn’t seem to be any closer to an answer now than he had been before.
Finished dressing, he picked up his suitcase and walked down the stairs. Maybe going back to Fort Worth was the best solution. Once he was busy with his normal routine, maybe his feelings for Violet would take their proper proportion.
He’d reached the car and was putting his case in the back when he realized people were coming out of the church down the street. Violet’s church. If she saw him…
But it wasn’t Violet who was walking quickly toward him. It was Maddie.
She reached him, slightly out of breath, and let her gaze shift from him to the suitcase and back again. “Going somewhere, Landon?”
He definitely didn’t want to talk to Maddie about his feelings for Violet. “I have work waiting for me back at the office. And now that your brother is here, you don’t need me.”
Maddie raised her eyebrows. “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. Landon Derringer, running away.”
“I’m not running away.” He tried to grab hold of his temper before it cut loose. “I just think it’s for the best if I leave. Besides, you’re the one who keeps telling me to butt out of your business. I should think you’d be glad to see the back of me.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” She tilted her head to the side, looking at him as if she hadn’t seen him before. “What’s more important to me right now is how Violet feels. Have you even said goodbye to her?”
He turned away, slamming the trunk lid. “I’ll be in touch. I just think—”
“You just think you might actually have to risk showing your feelings if you hang around here any longer,” Maddie snapped. “Well, go ahead, if that’s the most important thing to you. But you’d better think about what you’ll be losing if you drive away now. It might be more than you’re willing to risk.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but it was too late. Maddie was striding off down the street, anger showing in every click of her heels.
Landon got into the car, venting a little temper of his own by slamming the door. Maddie might think she had the right to meddle, but she didn’t. This was between him and Violet, and he wasn’t going to jump into anything until he was sure he was right.
That temper lasted him about ten miles down the road toward Fort Worth. Then he slowed. And stopped, hands grasping the wheel. He stared out at the rolling grasslands on either side of the road, but all he could see was Violet’s face, all he could hear was her voice.
Running away, Maddie had said. He was running away rather than facing the risk of showing his feelings. Was that really the way he wanted to live his life?
Little Maddie had done some growing up since she’d met her twin. She was no longer the kid who’d cried over her lost job and said yes to marriage because she didn’t know what else to do with her life.
And maybe, just maybe, she knew what she was talking about. He pressed on the gas, turning the car in the middle of the empty road, and headed back toward the Colby Ranch.
Chapter Seventeen
Violet heard a car coming down the lane. Lupita would have Sunday dinner on the table in a few minutes. Who would be coming to call now?
She leaned toward the window to look out, and her heart nearly stopped. It was Landon.
Maddie glanced over her shoulder, and then gave her a smile that looked rather like the expression of a satisfied cat. “He’s here to see you, not me. Better go out and meet him. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
She sent an accusing glance at her sister. “What did you do?”
“Nothing.” Maddie sounded way too innocent. “Go on, now.” Maddie gave her a push toward the door.
By the time Violet reached the porch, Landon was getting out of his car. He stood for a moment, looking at her with an expression she couldn’t interpret. Then he came
quickly to her.
“Is there someplace we can talk? Alone?”
If he’d come to tell her he was going to Fort Worth and not coming back, she’d better hear it with no one else around. “Let’s walk over toward the pecan groves. It’ll be cooler under the trees.”
She led the way, and Landon walked beside her, not speaking. The longer the silence stretched, the more difficult it would be to speak at all.
And how could she say anything, even if she could find the words? Last night Landon had basically walked out of her life. Did she dare to believe that anything had changed?
They reached the shadow of the trees, and Landon turned to face her.
She took a breath. “Landon, I’m sorry. What I said about your grief—it was inexcusable. I shouldn’t—”
He put his finger on her lips, silencing her. He was very close in the dimness under the trees.
“Don’t, Violet. Don’t be sorry, because everything you said was true.”
“I was still unkind to say it. I had no right to strike back at you that way.”
“You had to.” His hand moved, the back of his fingers gentle against her cheek. “I wasn’t seeing it for myself, was I? I’ve spent all these years rejecting God’s forgiveness, trying to make up for losing Jessie by sponsoring charities, but never letting my heart be touched.” He shook his head. “Until I came here, and started to see what helping people really meant. Not just throwing money at a problem, but putting your heart on the line.”
She couldn’t let him denigrate the good he’d done. “You’ve helped so many people, Landon. No matter what your motives were, you helped them. That’s important.”
He was shaking his head again, but this time she thought it was in wonderment at himself.
“Ever since I met you in that coffee shop, you’ve been turning my perceptions upside down. You’ve been hammering my locked heart open. And yesterday—” He stopped, and a shudder went through him.
She spoke quickly, not wanting him to relive it. “It was a close call, but Tracey is fine. Maybe this will even be the wake up Sam needed. And with your help, the Benton family will be all right. That’s a pretty good payoff for all the worry we went through.” She tried to smile, hoping to relieve the pain she feared still lurked inside him.
“Tracey took care of herself. She did the right thing. If Jessie had done that, she’d be alive today.”
“You can’t change the past,” she said, her voice gentle. He was referring to his sister by her nickname now, she noticed, as if he could open up his memories to the child she’d been long ago.
“You’re right.” He touched her face again, and his fingers were warm on her cheek. “Neither of us can do that, any more than the Bentons can. All we can do is forgive and move on.”
She put her hand over his, pressing his palm against her skin. “If you can do that now, then everything has been worth it. Even if…”
“Even if what?” Landon leaned closer.
“You…you said you were going back to Fort Worth.” She didn’t want the pain to show in her voice, but it did.
“Not for good,” he said quickly. “Not unless you want me to stay away.”
Her heart seemed to have gotten stuck on the fact that he was coming back, and it was singing so loudly in her ears that she could barely think. “I…I don’t.”
“I thought I needed time,” he said. He took both her hands, holding them between his as solemnly as if they were making a vow. “But your sister told me I was running away because I was afraid to risk showing my feelings. Maybe she was right. Maybe that was why I was so eager to keep everyone at arm’s length, why I was even ready to settle for a marriage without love.”
He was quoting her words back to her. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Landon dropped a kiss on her fingertips. “It was worth any hurt it caused me, because it made me look at myself. You and Maddie between you made me see what I was doing. I’m ready to take the risk now. I know it hasn’t been very long, but when it’s right, you know it. I love you, Violet, more than I can say.”
Her heart seemed to be beating somewhere up in her throat, and she could swear she heard songbirds singing in the trees. But maybe that was just the sheer joy that was rushing through her. She looked into his face, seeing the love that shone in the depths of his eyes, and she knew it was for real.
“I love you, Landon.” She would say more, but his lips closed on hers. Tenderness flowed through her, seeming to touch every cell of her body. His arm went around her, holding her close. She had never felt so cherished, so loved.
Finally, Landon drew back, still holding her in his arms. His face was so open and relaxed that her breath caught. This was how he looked with all the barriers down.
“I hate to say it, but I do have to go back to Fort Worth for a day or two. I have to deal with some business and get the immigration attorney started on the Benton situation,” Landon went on, not waiting for a comment. “And there’s something I have to show you.”
“Show me?” She looked up at his face, puzzled.
“Something that comes with a confession. You know that photo of your family that I had enhanced for you?”
She nodded, bemused at the change of subject.
“Guess I was being a little overprotective,” he said. “Annoyingly so, I think you could say.”
“What did you do?” It surely couldn’t be anything that bad.
“The enhanced photo brought up an address on the mailbox. An address in Fort Worth. I was afraid you and Maddie would rush off half-cocked and get yourselves hurt, so—”
“So you deleted it on our copies.” She glared at him, but he looked so contrite that her heart wasn’t in it. “Interfering. Bossy. Annoying,” she said.
“Guilty on all counts. Forgive me?” He leaned closer, so near that his warm breath touched her cheek.
“As long as you promise not to hide anything else from me for my own good,” she said firmly.
“I promise.” His lips brushed hers. “As long as you promise to include me in any plans you make for the future.”
That was an easy promise to make, Violet knew as his lips found hers again. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. Their lives had taken some odd twists and turns, and all of those hadn’t been unraveled yet. But God had brought them through to the place they really belonged—with each other.
Epilogue
“Let me see it again.” Maddie grabbed Violet’s hand to admire the ring Landon had given her. “That Landon doesn’t waste any time, does he?”
“That’s what Jack keeps saying.” Violet pulled riding gloves on, hiding the ring for the moment. “‘You’ve only known him a month. Why do you want to get engaged?’ But when you know it’s real, you know.”
“I guess so.” Maddie sighed. “It makes me think I’m missing something. Something I never felt with Landon.”
Violet smiled at her twin. “It will happen for you. I know it. Now, if we’re going to go for a ride this morning, we’d best get moving.”
Maddie nodded. “I think we have a few too many things on our to-do lists. Decide on the right nursing facility, follow up that clue to the house in Fort Worth, to say nothing of renovating the guesthouse so that it’s suitable for a newly married couple…”
Violet nodded, glancing toward the guest cottage. According to Landon’s plans, it would soon be doubled in size. Her heart seemed to swell at the thought of living there with him.
“I’m just so relieved that Landon doesn’t want me to move to Fort Worth. Given Mom’s situation, I wouldn’t want to be that far away, and there’s the produce business to run, as well.”
“Landon has telecommuting down to a fine art, as far as I can tell,” Maddie said. “Even if he has to go into the city every week or so, at least this way you don’t have to give up your work. Speaking of which, it’s about time I started looking for my next job, whatever it’s going to be.
”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave here to find it.” They had gotten so close in the last month. Violet hated to think of being without her.
But Maddie didn’t seem to be listening. She was looking toward one of the small barns, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. “Who is that with Ty Garland?”
Violet followed the direction of her gaze. Ty was there, all right, standing by one of the pens that contained a sow and her babies. But there was a child with him.
“I guess we’d better find out.” She headed for Ty with Maddie right beside her.
Ty looked up at their approach. “Violet. Maddie.” He nodded, his normally stoic face very tense.
“Morning, Ty. Who’s this?” Violet watched the little girl, who looked about eight or so, approach the pen and then turn away, wrinkling her nose.
“Sorry I didn’t have a chance to talk to you about her, Violet. That’s Darcy. My little girl.”
Violet hoped her face didn’t show how shocked she was. She’d known that Ty had been married—a marriage that ended when his wife left him. She’d never heard anything about a child.
“She’s adorable,” Maddie gushed. Not knowing what a surprise this was, Maddie could sound perfectly normal in her response. “With that brown hair and brown eyes, she looks just like you, Ty.”
Ty nodded. “Guess she does, at that.” He sounded faintly surprised, as if that hadn’t occurred to him.
The little girl—Darcy—had wandered along the fence, tapping it with a stick as children always seemed to do. Ty looked as if to be sure she was out of earshot, and then he turned back to them.
“Thing is, I never even knew I had a kid. My ex-wife made sure of that.” Bitterness threaded his voice. “Now she’s gone and I’m left with a kid I don’t know who’s never been out of a city in her life. What am I going to do with her?”
Violet’s heart was touched by his turmoil, and she could see that Maddie felt the same. “You’re her father. She’ll feel a connection with you. That’s what’s important now. We’ll all help her feel at home here. And once school starts, she’ll have friends and new activities.”