She slapped the dishcloth against the small stainless steel sink. “My birthday is today and I’m spending it alone. Idiot!” She had no one to blame but herself.
Tomorrow, she’d visit Mr. Barnhart, sign the final papers, and kick Geneva off her land. She smiled. This could possibly be the best birthday she’d ever had. When she spotted Lance’s truck pull up to the house, she knew without a doubt the day was going to get better.
He had a cake! She threw open the front door and grinned. “How can you come after the way I treated you?” She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes.
“I can’t let a girl spend such an important day alone.” He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Happy Birthday, beautiful.” His gaze caressed her face. “The bruises are gone.”
She ducked her head to hide the flush rising to her cheeks. “Took them long enough. Come in. Please.” She needed to apologize big time.
Lance set the cake on the counter. “I hope you like lemon. My chef said most women did.”
“I love it.” She peered around him at the confectionary delight. Pale yellow frosting with darker fondant flowers decorating the top. She turned Lance to face her. “I need to apologize to you.”
“No, you don’t.” He put his hands on her shoulders, letting them trail down her bare arms.
A heat that had nothing to do with the summer day coursed through her. She locked gazes with his stormy one, then her gaze dropped to his chiseled lips. She licked hers, then pulled her attention back to his eyes. “You’re right, Lance. I’m not the same as my mother. I’m whoever I—”
“Isn’t this touching.” Geneva, gun aimed at the two of them, stood in the doorway.
Lance stepped in front of Cindy. “How did you get here?”
“I put a tracker on your truck, silly boy.” She heaved a heavy sigh. “Although, I did expect you to show me the way sooner. But taking care of business during the eleventh hour will work.” She motioned the gun toward the bed.
“What a perfect place to do the deed, no pun intended. A random shooter catches you unguarded as you do despicable things.” She smiled thinly. “Seeing as to the kind of woman Rachel Mae was, people will believe what they see. Sit.”
“I’ve never given anyone reason to believe such a lie!” Cindy narrowed her eyes. “You won’t get away with this. My lawyer has already set an investigation into your acts that will see you behind bars.”
“Really? You having a lawyer? Don’t make me laugh. Where would you get the money for one?” Geneva’s eyes hardened.
“Your daughter, Natalie, wrote out your plans to kill Cindy and that paper, signed and notarized,” Lance said, “now sits in a safety deposit box with a copy on the sheriff’s desk.”
“My daughter would never betray me.”
“For the right amount of money she would, and did.” Cindy took a step toward her stepmother. “Go home. You’re finished. Don’t turn attempted murder into the real thing.”
“I want that land. As your father’s wife, I’m entitled.”
“I’m sure he left you something.” Cindy took another step forward, ignoring the hand Lance stretched out to stop her.
“Still playing the knight in shining armor, Mr. Moore?” Geneva clicked her tongue. “The way men fawn over a young woman is disgusting.”
“He’s a prince,” Cindy said. “Of the highest caliber and you’re nothing but an evil witch!”
“Sit down!” Geneva fired a shot into the roof.
Cindy and Lance sat.
Lance took her hand, stilling some of the trembling in her limbs. It was one thing for Geneva to have the brake line cut on her truck, that was removing herself from the deed, but to shoot someone while they sat in front of you was a whole new side of evil Cindy had never seen.
Geneva was only in her mid-forties and still a good-looking woman with a trim figure and little wrinkles. “Why don’t you try to find a new husband and just walk away from this?”
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? I don’t want another husband. Men are more trouble than they’re worth. I just want to a wealthy widow.” She threw her head back and laughed. “Your father was so easy to do away with. A little arsenic with his sugar each morning in his coffee and a bribe to the ME and I was a free woman.”
Cindy squeezed Lance’s hand in order not to strangle the woman in front of her. If only Cindy had something to record Geneva’s proud confession. “You’ll not see a cent of my father’s money.”
“Sweetie, except for what’s in that account being held for you, I’ve already squirreled away a bit. When someone finds y’all’s bodies, I’ll be long gone and not a suspect.”
The crunch of gravel outside drew their attention to the open front door.
Mr. Barnhart got out of his car and marched toward the house.
“Isn’t there a back way out of this outhouse?” Geneva glanced around.
“No.” Cindy smiled.
“Drats. I like Mr. Barnhart.” She turned and fired.
The lawyer crumpled to the ground.
Geneva turned back to Cindy and Lance. “Now, where were we?”
Cindy couldn’t pull her gaze away from her father’s friend. He was a good man and didn’t deserve to be shot in the dirt. She set her jaw and forced her gaze back to Geneva’s. “I’ll give it all to you. Just let us go.”
“Well, I’d like to believe you, I really would, but the obstinate look on your boyfriend’s face leads me to believe that he would jump me at the first opportunity. Under different circumstances that might not be a bad thing.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Perhaps.” Geneva’s finger curled around the trigger.
~
Lance grabbed the pillow from the bed, and in one motion hurled it at Geneva’s head and tackled Cindy to the floor.
The gun fired. Wood chips fell around their heads.
Lance grappled from Geneva’s foot, yanking it from underneath her and tumbling her to the floor.
She cursed and fought to reach the gun that had skittered just out of reach when she fell.
“Get the gun!” Lance yelled to Cindy as he tried to get a firmer hold on the fighting Geneva.
Cindy rolled out from under Lance and crawled to the gun, wrapping her hand around it and aiming it at Geneva. “Get up.”
Face red, hair mussed, and blouse missing a few buttons, Geneva got to her feet and stared at Cindy. “You don’t have the guts.”
“Don’t test me.”
Lance pulled the sash from Cindy’s robe on the bed and tied Geneva’s hands behind her back. “If you have another sash or rope, I can secure her to a chair.”
“Tie her to a tree outside. I don’t want her in my home.” Cindy’s eyes glinted like emeralds.
Harsh, but Lance wasn’t going to argue with a woman who had been pushed to her limit. As he hauled Cindy to her feet, she turned and dashed to the fallen man outside.
“He’s alive. Tie her up and come help me.”
Lance quickly secured Geneva then hurried to help Cindy. The man beside her groaned and tried to sit up.
“She got me in the shoulder. I’ll be fine.”
Lance propped the man up by putting his arm around his waist and limped him into the house and onto the bed. “Cindy, call the police and an ambulance,” Lance said. “I’ll use a dishtowel to bind the wound.”
“I came to tell Cindy that the land and house were officially hers at seven a.m. this morning. You’re a very wealthy young woman, Miss Hopkins.” He grinned. “What are you going to do first?”
She glanced at Lance, her eyes warming. “Have a long talk with Mr. Moore.”
“Oh, really?” Lance grinned. He knew if he waited long enough the girl of his dreams would come to her senses. All she needed was some space.
Lance had had a long talk the day before with his grandfather, showing him the outlined plan of Geneva’s. Grandpa had agreed to pay Natalie her asking fee. He’d fallen silent for seve
ral minutes before nodding and admitting he was wrong to judge Cindy the way he had and that he was thankful Lance got him to see reason before he married Geneva.
Cindy wasn’t the only one who had a lot to say. Lance was now free to express all that was on his heart. The threat of death at Geneva’s hands, watching his love be threatened, it proved that the time was now. If a man wanted a woman badly enough, he fought for her, even if the one he was fighting was the woman.
Geneva’s curses filled the air and drifted into the cottage.
Lance laughed as Cindy’s lips twitched as she tried to hold in her laughter.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Mr. Barnhart? There’s a little left in the pot. The police should be here soon.”
“That would be amazing.”
“You sit,” Lance said. “I’ll make enough for all three of us.”
“I want a cup!” Geneva yelled.
“No way!” Cindy called back. “You’ll be lucky to get a sip of water from me.”
“Heartless girl.”
“Evil witch.”
Cindy met Lance’s gaze and released her laugh. “That felt so good. I’ve waited years to tell her how I felt.”
“Why didn’t you?” Lance measured the coffee grounds into the filter.
“She would have made my life a living hell and I was too young to go anywhere else. I needed to keep an eye on what my father worked so hard to build.” She glanced at the man on the bed. “Geneva confessed to killing my father.”
“No proof!” The woman screamed.
Lance shook his head. Some people just didn’t know when they’d lost.
He glanced out the window to see two squad cars and an ambulance park behind the lawyer’s car. “Cavalry is here.”
Geneva screamed for the police to help her, that she was being held prisoner.
Mr. Barnhart stumbled outside and explained that she had shot him and threatened to kill two others. “I also have in my possession a letter signed by her daughter spelling out this woman’s plans to take what belongs to another.”
Within minutes, Geneva was cuffed and locked in the back of one of the squad cars and Mr. Barnhart was being escorted to the ambulance.
Lance and Cindy stood in front of the cottage and watched what could have been a terrible day come to an end. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest.
All was right in Lance’s world.
11
“I have something for you.” Lance dashed to his truck and returned with Cindy’s red cowboy boot. “I believe you’ve misplaced this. May I see if it fits?” He went to one knee in front of her.
She giggled through her tears. “Yes, you may.”
He slipped the boot on her foot.
“Ouch.” Something poked her toe. “I think there’s a rock inside.” She toed off the boot and dumped it upside down.
A diamond ring glittered from the dirt. “Oh.”
Lance picked it up and held it out to her. “Will you marry me, Cindy Hopkins?”
Tears ran freely down her cheeks. “You, a royal prince marry me, a peasant?”
“Let me make you a queen.” He stood and took her hands in his. “Will you?”
“Of course, I will.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I’ve been such an idiot. It took me being without you to realize how much I need you.”
“I knew you’d come around.” He winked.
“Oh ho. Confident, aren’t we?”
With his arms around her waist, he let her slide down the front of him until she stood on tiptoe. He lowered his head. “Did the boot fit?”
“Perfectly.” She closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers.
~
Cindy stood in front of the mirror in what had once been her father’s room. She refused to think of Geneva sleeping there. In the six months it took for the financial arrangements to be made, the prosecution of Geneva and the remodeling of the old farmhouse, Cindy’s love for Lance had grown larger than she’d thought possible.
Now, she waited for Mr. Barnhart to pick her up and drive her to the church where he would give her hand in marriage. She rubbed her hands down the satin wedding dress that skimmed over her figure like a nightgown. The fabric shimmered in the light of a nearby lamp. A cathedral veil perched on Cindy’s head and cascaded behind her. She felt every bit the princess her father always told her she was.
Today was her wedding day. Tonight, Lance would join her here, in her childhood home, and help her erase bad memories from it and refill it with new ones.
Ana and Natalie had left right after their mother’s sentencing. Cindy had told them they could stay until they found a place, but with the money Natalie got for snitching on her mother, they moved to Little Rock. At least that’s what Cindy heard through the grapevine.
A horn honked out front. With one last glance in the mirror, she headed out to her ride.
“You are a vision.” Mr. Barnhart opened the door to a limo. “Do you like it? My wife insisted I give you a ride in style.”
Cindy smiled at the woman sitting across from her. “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Every girl deserves special treatment on her big day.” The woman pulled a necklace from her purse. “I was friends with your mother, back in the day. This was hers. She lost it at my house and, well, I kept it. She left and I never found the right time to give it to you without one of those sisters taking it. Oh, yes. My husband told me all about how they acted.”
“Some things I kept confidential,” he said, joining them. He closed the door, then knocked on the window between them and the driver.
Cindy held up the simple silver chain with a diamond in the shape of a teardrop hanging from it. “Who gave it to her?”
Mrs. Barnhart wagged her eyebrows. “That’s a bit of a mystery. It was either your father or your soon to be father-in-law.”
This ought to be interesting. Cindy clasped it around her neck. If Mr. Moore gave it to her mother, what would he say when he saw it around her neck today?
At the simple white country church, the driver let them out in back and Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart ushered Cindy inside.
“Can’t have the groom seeing you before the I do’s,” Mrs. Barnhart trilled.
Cindy laughed. “That wouldn’t do at all.” She wanted to see his face when he caught his first glimpse of her strolling down the aisle toward him. To think she’d almost thrown him away. That would have been something she regretted for the rest of her life.
“Cindy?”
A blond woman stepped into the room.
“Rachel Mae?” Mrs. Barnhart took a step forward, then stopped.
Cindy bit her bottom lip. Was this skinny woman her mother? She studied the straight blond hair, cut short and thinning a bit on top. The clothes that hung on what might have once been a curvy frame.
“You’re beautiful.” Rachel Mae clutched at the neck of her shirt. “My necklace.”
“Oh. Here.” Cindy started to take it off.
“No. You keep it.”
“What happened to you.” Mrs. Barnhart put a hand on her arm.
“I ran scared. The last year, I’ve been fighting breast cancer. I have a good chance of survival.” She sat on a nearby stool. “When I read in the paper about the trial, his…Bill’s…death, and the attempted murder on Cindy, I realized I’ve been the world’s biggest fool. I had to come see you get married. Even if it’s the only time I ever see you.” She glanced at Cindy.
“I really don’t know what to say. I want to get married today. That’s what I want to focus on. Can we revisit this…next week?” Her heart threatened to beat free. Her stomach rolled.
“I understand. Now, there is someone else I need to see. Your groom’s father. I’m on the twelve-step program for being an alcoholic. I need to make my apologies. May I stay?”
Cindy nodded.
Her mother nodded and slipped out the door.
Cindy slumped to the st
ool she’d vacated and covered her face with her hands. Of all the days for her mother to show up. For years she’d wondered about her, hoped she would come back. Now that she had, Cindy really didn’t know what to do with her.
She squared her shoulders and stood, her gaze meeting Mr. Barnhart’s. “I’m ready. I’ll deal with that later.”
He smiled and crooked his arm. “Let’s get you married.”
They stood outside the double doors until the wedding march sounded. Cindy took a deep breath and took her first step toward becoming Mrs. Lance Moore.
Her eyes widened to see her mother standing next to Lance’s father. Well, he had loved her at one time. Maybe, a fairy tale was there to be told for them. She focused on the man standing in from of the pastor.
His eyes warmed and he waved his hand in front of his face as if the room had suddenly grown too hot. Then, he winked.
Oh, my. Her breathing quickened. A flush rose from her neck to her face. This man was all hers, and what a man he was. Truly a prince in every way.
Mr. Barnhart set her hand in Lance’s and joined his wife in the front row.
The pastor smiled down upon them and opened his Bible. “Dearly Beloved…”
The End
I’d Rather Kiss My Horse
Cynthia Hickey
Copyright © 2017
Written and Published by: Cynthia Hickey
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
All Rights Reserved
Let us hold on to the hope
we say we have and not be changed.
We can trust God that He will do what He promised.
Hebrews 10:23
Chapter 1
“Get out!”
Lou Anne Burgess stood in front of the brick Victorian with a battered suitcase in one hand and another at her feet. She studied the once grand home. The chipped pillars of the house needed a coat of paint, evergreens and weeds overgrew the yard, and a gutter hung from the roof, ready to fall at a moment’s notice. She could only imagine what the roof looked like. If the inside appeared as battered as the outside, no wonder her aunt requested her help.
Love Draws Near Page 18