Southern Charms
Page 24
“Mariana has told us why she and Shane came to Fort Worth,” she said. “And I want you to know, Ellie, that I really haven’t been hiding anything from you. I truly didn’t remember this until after I saw Mariana this evening. George had intended to tell you what he knew and give you what I’m about to give you on your eighteenth birthday. But he died three years before that, and with my own troubling adjustment to widowhood and not knowing how to help you handle the ranch problems, I just completely forgot about it.”
“What are you talking about, Elvina?” Ellie asked impatiently. Shane reached for her hand, and she allowed herself that comfort, although she noticed Mariana look at their clasped hands with a tiny smile on her face.
Elvina set her sherry glass down and walked over to one of the pictures on the parlor wall. Removing it, she placed it on the floor and spun the dial on a wall safe Ellie wasn’t even aware was in the house. When it opened, Elvina reached inside and pulled out a small, black-velvet jewelry bag.
Rather than going over to Ellie, Elvina approached Mariana, who sat in one of the side chairs. Opening the drawstring on the bag, she took out a gold locket.
“I think you might recognize this,” Elvina said.
Nodding her head in agreement and seeming unsurprised, Mariana reverently reached for the locket. She pushed the spring lock, and the locket face opened. After looking at what was inside it for a long moment, a tear slipped down her face. Mariana rose and handed Ellie the locket.
Ellie pulled her hand from Shane’s grasp and held the locket on one palm, touched it with a finger on her other hand. Two women’s faces peered back at her, one of them a younger Mariana Morgan. She didn’t recognize the other one, but it looked familiar in spite of that. A beautiful woman gazed back at her, a smile curving her lips and her platinum hair swirling around her much the same way Ellie’s did when she let it hang before she braided it.
“Is this my mother?” she asked quietly.
“Yes,” Mariana said. She knelt in front of Ellie and clasped her own hands around Ellie’s. “We had this made soon after you were born. There was another one, with George and Rose in it, but I found it among their things after Lily died.”
“Lily?” Ellie asked.
“Your aunt, child. An evil woman. I’ll tell you all you want to know about her later, but right now this locket is the last bit of proof of your identity, although I firmly believed who you were the moment I saw you in the hotel.” She looked over at Elvina. “Where did you find this?”
“Ellie had it in one of her shoes,” Elvina said. “George knew it was expensive, and he immediately had suspicions about Ellie’s true background. But there was no way to follow anything up. We discussed it, and decided to give Ellie a home and see if anyone came searching for her. As you know, they never did. But George still knew the locket would mean something to Ellie some day, so we saved it. Still, he intended to search for her true parents if she ever asked him to.”
Mariana nodded. “It was too large for Cynthia to wear, but she absolutely loved this locket. So Rose allowed her to carry it around in her shoe or pocket or wherever she wanted to carry it. She never once lost it.”
Standing, Mariana pulled Ellie up with her. “You’re Cynthia Spencer, my dear. My god child and the daughter of the dearest friend I ever had. You’re also the only heir to a very substantial fortune waiting for you back in New York. I hope you’ll come home with me for a while, at least until we can get all of the paperwork straightened out.”
Even though she thought she had prepared herself for this possibility, Ellie could hardly speak. In an attempt to forestall dealing with her confusion, she studied the people around her for their reactions. Elvina first, and she wore a strangely sad look on her face. Rockford merely looked stunned, the way Ellie felt, but excitement danced across Darlene’s face.
“I’d like to see where my mother lived,” Ellie admitted.
Darlene uttered a cry and raced across the parlor, flinging her arms around Ellie. “Oh, Ellie, how wonderful! I’m so happy for you! And you’ll be able to visit with me when I move to New York.”
Ellie returned Darlene’s embrace, knowing without doubt her sister was truly, unselfishly elated for her. Darlene pulled back, and Ellie reached to wipe a tear of happiness from her sister’s cheek.
“Or should I call you Cynthia now?” Darlene asked.
“I’ll always be your sister, Ellie,” Ellie said. Then she looked once more at Elvina.
Her stepmother crossed the room, and Darlene stepped back. Ellie sensed Shane close beside her, but her world at the moment centered on Elvina’s reaction.
“I am truly happy for you, too,” Elvina said, taking her hands. “I know you think I don’t love you like Darlene, and maybe you’re right. But I’ve always wanted what was best for you, Ellie. I’ve felt very inadequate since George died. You were always his special little girl, and Darlene was mine. When you needed me, I had no experience in the things you’d learned from George. I tried to educate myself, but you were always so busy, I didn’t want to add that burden to you.”
“I did my best with the ranch, Elvina.”
“I realize that. And I guess the least I could have done was tell you how much I appreciated that, instead of trying to figure out what I could do to help and ending up making the wrong decisions.”
Elvina squeezed Ellie’s hands. “I finally decided that both of you girls needed off this ranch, needed a life you couldn’t get here. Darlene found Rockford, but you kept yourself buried in work. And the longer it went on, the more I felt the ranch was a losing proposition. That’s why I decided to sell it—so you could live a life becoming to a woman instead of trying to do a man’s job.”
“Will you sell the ranch to me now, Elvina?”
She nodded. “If that’s what you want, but only because I know how much you love it. But think it over carefully, Ellie. And we’ll talk about it later.”
“I’ve wanted to talk so many things over with you, Elvina.”
“I know that now. Before, I felt I was supposed to be the adult and take care of you. Instead, you had to take on responsibilities you shouldn’t ever have had to carry on your young shoulders.”
Ellie tentatively pulled her hands free and reached for Elvina. Her stepmother sobbed and pulled Ellie into her arms. She held Ellie for long moments, stroking her hair and murmuring comfort and admissions of wanting to hold her but not knowing how to approach after all the lost years. At last, Elvina released her, very reluctantly, then cupped her cheek.
“I hope we can truly become a mother and daughter, Ellie. I do love you, even though I haven’t been the best of mothers to you.”
“It was partly my fault,” Ellie admitted. “I’ve pretty much held everyone at bay, because of my own insecurities.”
She heard Shane’s sound of agreement beside her, and she turned to smile at him.
“Well, Shane and I are going to get back into town and leave your family alone to talk,” Mariana said. “Coming, Shane?”
Ellie received one last, longing look from Shane. “Tomorrow, then?” he asked.
“Yes. We’ll have dinner tomorrow. I haven’t forgotten.”
He set his glass down and took Mariana’s arm when she approached. Rockford murmured a leavetaking to Darlene and joined them as they left the parlor. Before Ellie could miss Shane too much, Darlene grabbed her and pushed her back onto the settee, settling beside her.
“Now, Ellie,” her sister demanded. “Tell me how it feels to be rich. And tell me what’s going on between you and Shane Morgan. And tell me how soon we can both go to New York. And tell me what on earth you want with this ranch when we could—”
“Darlene,” Elvina said in chastisement. “Let Ellie catch her breath.”
Ellie laughed along with Darlene when her sister clapped her hands and broke into giggles in the face of Elvina’s rebuke. Then Ellie held out a hand toward her mother.
“Come join us, Mother. Let’s have a lo
ng girl talk.”
Elvina smiled tolerantly and settled on the other side of Ellie.
They talked deep into the night, healing old wounds and making new plans. Long after midnight, they went upstairs, and as Ellie prepared for bed, she realized she was watching for Fatima to appear. But the fairy woman never showed up, and Ellie feel asleep an instant after her head hit the pillow. She slept better than she had for weeks, but when she woke the next morning, her thoughts immediately flew to Shane.
What would the result of their evening be? Darlene had been ecstatic last night over the possibility of her and Ellie both living in New York, if Ellie ended up marrying Shane.
But Shane hadn’t asked her that final question. And if he asked tonight, Ellie had no idea what her answer would be.
Chapter 25
That morning, Ellie discovered further changes in her life. Even this early, Elvina and Darlene were already in the kitchen, and Fatima stood at the stove, a huge smile on her face. Well, at least they would get a decent meal this morning, Ellie mused tolerantly when Fatima waved and winked at her.
Darlene and Elvina still wore their robes and yawned sleepily when Ellie joined them at the table.
“Why are you both up this time of day?” she asked as Fatima came over with a steaming cup of coffee for her. The steam tickled her nose delightfully, and she didn’t have to wait for it to cool to sip before knowing it would taste delicious.
“I wanted to catch you and also talk to Shorty this morning,” Elvina said. “I think it’s time we gave him full responsibility for running the ranch and hired another hand, so you don’t have to spend all your time out on the range.”
“And,” Darlene put in, “I heard your comment about having a date with Shane this evening. You and I are going to spend the day making over one of my dresses so you’ll have something beautiful to wear, so you’re not going to have time to boss the men around today. I suppose we could take a chance on there being something appropriate in one of the dress shops in town, but I think it will be more fun doing it ourselves. We’ll see the dressmaker in Fort Worth later.”
“You two are spending money I don’t have yet,” she cautioned them, but grinned at their enthusiasm.
“I have some money put back that will get us by for a while,” Elvina said. Ellie glanced at her in amazement, and Elvina actually laughed at her. “George always allowed me what he called ‘pin money,’ but he always insisted on paying any bill I ran up. So I’ve got that money in the bank in an account of my own.”
“I don’t even know how much this supposed fortune is,” Ellie cautioned. “It might not be enough to pay you back and also buy the ranch.”
“Then we’ll get by somehow,” Elvina said firmly. “I don’t want you to worry about it. And—” She frowned at Ellie. “—I don’t want you handling everything by yourself from now on. I want you to remember that you’re part of this family. A very important, much loved part of it.”
Fatima began to hum behind Ellie, and she looked around to see the fairy woman dancing a little jig as she turned the fluffy flapjacks on the griddle.
This morning Fatima wore green. Bright green silk. Oh, and some red here and there. She almost looked like she was dressed for Christmas, although Ellie sensed part of the gaudiness was some sort of celebration.
Her dress bodice dipped low, and the skirt flared out with red and green net underskirts, but ended well above her knees as always. Green silk stocking with a black seam up the back encased her legs, and sparkling green high-heeled slippers with a square decoration on the toes, filled with what looked like diamonds, sparkled with each tiny prance of her feet. She wore her hair penned up in beautiful swirls, held in place with emerald tipped hair pins.
Suddenly she sneaked a peek over her shoulder at Ellie and winked. Her appearance changed. She wore a demure gray gown, covered with a pink flowered apron, sensible shoes, her hair in a tidy gray bun.
The back door opened, and Withers came in. Fatima’s appearance changed back to the dramatic one.
“Ummmmm,” Ellie began as she turned to her stepmother. “Fatima seems to be in a good mood this morning. And her dress looks nice.”
“She has a nice figure for her age,” Elvina replied. “She could very easily wear brighter colors than that gray all the time. Maybe green would suit her. Or red.”
Ellie choked on the sip of coffee she had taken, but managed to swallow. Setting the cup down slowly, she resolutely refused to look at Fatima again.
She finished breakfast with her stepmother and sister, then Darlene went to her room to dig in her closet while Ellie and Elvina went to talk to Shorty. Another surprise waited for Ellie. Shorty didn’t seem at all upset over being handed the reins of the ranch or finding that Ellie intended to move to a more feminine style of management. In fact, he and Elvina’s discussion demonstrated to Ellie that the two of them were old, if wary, acquaintances.
Afterward, she and Darlene had so much fun together, Ellie almost felt reluctant for the day to end. They made over a beautiful watered-blue silk dress, shortening it and tucking it in to fit Ellie’s smaller figure. She let Darlene talk her into helping her dress and letting her sister fix Ellie’s hair, which they did in Darlene’s more adequately stocked bedroom.
Scandalously, Ellie even allowed her sister to brush a faint dusting of rouge on her cheeks and tip her lashes with kohl. She drew the line at lip rouge, though, promising her sister she would bite her lips prior to meeting Shane, to bring some color into them.
“Now, let’s go get Mother’s verdict on how you look,” Darlene said at last. “Oh. Wait a minute.” She dug in her jewelry box and pulled out some gold earrings. “I assume you’ll want to wear your locket, and these will go with them.”
While Ellie put the ear rings on, Darlene smirked at her in the mirror. Then she took one of her crystal perfume bottles from the dresser and spritzed Ellie between the breasts.
“That smells wonderful,” Ellie said.
“It was a gift from Rockford, remember? On my birthday last month?”
“I remember.”
Although Darlene’s feet were larger than Ellie’s, they found a pair of shoes that went well with the dress in Elvina’s closet. Unaccustomed to the higher heels, Ellie tottered for a second when she stood, but quickly adapted. She even made it down the stairs and to where Elvina waited in the parlor without difficulty.
“You look wonderful, Ellie,” Elvina said. “You’ve always been a pretty girl, but now you make a gorgeous woman. Shane’s going to be falling all over himself.”
Ellie frowned.
“Oh, don’t,” Elvina said with a laugh, wiping away the crease on Ellie’s forehead. “You’ll give yourself early wrinkles.
It was something Ellie wished her own mother could say, and she squeezed Elvina’s hand in appreciation. But her stepmother’s words were still a cause for worry.
“What’s wrong?” Elvina asked astutely.
Ellie walked over to the settee, and Elvina joined her. When Darlene pulled a chair up and sat across from her, Ellie realized both the women truly cared about what troubled her.
“It’s Shane,” she admitted. “I’m having trouble with the fact he came here under false pretenses.”
Elvina nodded. “Even well intentioned lies dig at a person’s trust,” she said wisely.
“That’s it exactly. And I do love him. The problem is, I’m not sure if I love the Shane who came here at first, or the man he is now.”
“No,” Elvina said. “The problem is, Shane is both these men. And you’re not sure you can forgive him for his deception.”
“What should I do?” Ellie begged.
“Follow your heart,” Elvina told her. “But while you’re following it, make sure you know where it’s leading you.”
Ellie reached out and took the hand Elvina held towards her. “I wish we could have been closer years ago.”
“You grew into a wonderful woman despite my neglect, Ellie.”
Elvina smiled at her, then glanced through the parlor window as they heard a buggy drive into the ranch yard. They jumped to their feet, and Elvina and Darlene both began primping and adjusting various things on Ellie: her hair pins, her bodice, her skirt. Finally Ellie laughed and pushed their hands away.
“Shane’s going to think I can’t dress myself if he comes in here and finds the two of you all over me like this.”
They giggled like conspirators, but when Shane’s broad shoulders filled the parlor door, her stepmother and sister stepped back so he could view Ellie unobstructed.
A stunned expression on his face, Shane crossed the floor, his eyes never leaving Ellie.
“You’re always been beautiful,” he said. “But tonight you take my breath away.”
Giggling, Elvina and Darlene sneaked out of the parlor, with Shane seeming not to notice. He offered his arm, and Ellie took it. Her own eyes filled with him, his evening dress and stark white shirt perfectly tailored to suit him, so very masculine. His scent of sandlewood and evening air drifted to her nose as she walked out of the house with him. He handed her into the buggy as though she were a precious jewel, climbed in after her and set the horse in motion.
Good thing the horse knew the way back to town, Ellie mused after a while. Shane, quiet as was his normal bent, kept his eyes mostly on her. Until they came in sight of town, however. Then he steered the horse over beneath a huge cottonwood tree.
Ellie finally spoke, her voice husky. “I thought we were going to dinner.”
“We are. But first—”
He cupped his fingers under her chin and gently tilted her face up. He kissed her gently, and he kissed her harder. She lost track of time while the evening deepened around them, and he kissed her nose, her cheeks, her ears. Kissed her neck in that special spot she hadn’t even known was sensitive until Shane found it. The spot that probably wasn’t even sensitive unless it was Shane kissing it.