Loaded

by Joanna Wayne

  Zach grabbed his mother's arm and the hand of his new bride and ran with them from the house. Jaime linked hands with Shelly. No one stopped to ask questions. No one panicked. They all just cleared the house and ran.

  Jaime and Shelly were almost to the stable when David started yelling. "Blackie! Blackie! You gotta come with us, Blackie!"

  Becky tried to calm him, but his cries become louder and more frantic. "Lemme go! Lemme go. I gotta save my dog."

  Blackie was still near the house, barking at a squirrel that was staring him down from the trunk of an oak tree.

  And then Derrick, who had been standing quietly beside his mother, started running back toward the house.

  "I'll get him, David. I'll get Blackie for you." Langston, Bart and Zack all started after him, but Shelly was closest. She reached him first, but not before he had the squirming, barking puppy in hand.

  They were almost home free when the bomb blew, shaking the earth and sending fire and wood shooting skyward. She pushed Derrick to the ground and fell on top of him, covering him with her body while Blackie licked her face and hell rained down on her back.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Matt had been walking for hours, tramping through pastures and wooded areas with no thought for where he was heading. His head was splitting, the pain worse than the day he'd been kicked in the head by that bull over in San Antonio. He'd learned his lesson that day, had given up rodeo competition for good.

  Hopefully he'd learned a lesson with Shelly as well. A man might as well take advice from a fool as listen to his heart. He'd suspected from the very first that she was not what she seemed. So why hadn't he stood by his convictions instead of believing every word that had come from her lying mouth?

  He couldn't hate her for doing her job. He...

  He couldn't hate her at all. That was the problem. He'd believed what he wanted to believe. And last night, when they'd returned to the ranch, it had been him who didn't want to hear what she had to say. He just wanted Shelly.

  Heaven help him. He still did.

  He looked around to get his bearings. Not surprisingly, he'd ended up near the big house. Stopping at the base of a towering pine, he pushed up his sleeve and checked his watch. Almost one. The family would be having brunch.

  He couldn't have forced down a bite of food on a bet. Not until he made up his mind what to do about Shelly. He stepped into a clearing then stopped dead still as the sound of an explosion rattled his brain and shook the ground. He looked up and saw a giant ball of fire leap into the sky above the big house.

  His heart flew to his throat and he started running. He didn't stop until he reached the cluster of his family and spotted Shelly being led toward the stable by Langston and Bart. Her face was covered in soot, her blouse torn.

  Derrick saw Matt first and ran toward him. "Shelly saved Blackie, Uncle Matt."

  "She saved all of us," Langston said. "I'm not sure what will be left of the house, though."

  Lenora latched on to Langston's arm and leaned against his shoulder. "Houses can be rebuilt, son. People are all that matter. And we're all alive because of Shelly."

  Matt wanted to hear every detail of her bravery, but there would be time for that later. Years and years of time, he hoped. But right now, he just wanted to hold her close until his heart could get used to having love around.

  Epilogue

  Five months later

  The first hint of fall was in the air when Lenora slipped out the back door of her newly restored house and walked swiftly toward the oldest oak tree. She stood there for long seconds, staring at Randolph's tombstone before she finally dropped to the grass. She leaned against the trunk of the tree, curling her legs beneath her full denim skirt.

  "The rehearsal and dinner are this evening," she said, talking to him the way she always did. As if he could still hear her voice. As if he needed these visits as much as she did.

  "By this time tomorrow, all our sons will be married. I was afraid I might never see this day for Matt, but Shelly took care of that.

  "Well, Shelly's not her real name, but she decided it fit, and she loves the way it sounds when Matt says it. She absolutely adores him.

  "They're getting married here at the ranch. I wish you could see the house now that all the damaged areas have been rebuilt. I hate to admit it around your father. You know how Jeremiah likes to brag about the house he built. But I love my new kitchen. I have the neatest new appliances. The range practically does all the work. And that dishwasher can clean the dirtiest of pots without anyone having to rinse them first.

  "And your sons have proved themselves quite the woodworkers, too. They built a new dining table that looks so much like the old one, you'd hardly know it was new. And the laughter is just as loud when we all gather around it.

  "We're getting to be a rather large group now that Langston and Trish have their marvelous baby boy. And did I tell you that Bart's wife Jaclyn is expecting? She positively glows. And Bart is strutting around like the proudest rooster in the pen."

  A butterfly landed on Lenora's skirt. She watched it until it flew away, marveling that something that exquisite could have come from a caterpillar. But ugly things had a way of becoming beautiful. Take all that trouble with the CIA. If it hadn't been for that, Matt would never have found the love of his life.

  "Melvin's out on bail until his trial," she said, "but your sons and even Jeremiah are certain he's going to prison. It was revenge, just as Shelly said. Not because he was Jeremiah's son as she'd thought at first, but because he wasn't.

  "You said something strange was going on when your father fired Corrine's nurse. Well, when the hubbub about Melvin came out, Jeremiah finally came clean with me. Apparently he'd come home drunk one night and he and the nurse did the deed. She'd gotten pregnant shortly after that. She was already in another relationship so she never bothered to find out for sure whose baby she was carrying."

  Lenora heard the approach of a vehicle and looked toward the road. It was only Billy Mack's pickup truck, but the first of the real guests would be arriving soon. She needed to get back to the house and change into the dress Jaime had helped her pick out for the occasion.

  "To make a long story short, Melvin's mother left notes in her diary that made him think he was Jeremiah's son. Jeremiah thought he could be right, but insisted on a blood test. Turned out he's not Jeremiah's son, but your father hired him anyway.

  "No one knows for sure what went wrong at that point, but the word leaking from his defense attorney's office is that Melvin was furious that Jeremiah used his mother and then kicked her out instead of marrying her when Conine died.

  "Billy Mack says it's more likely Melvin was just angry that he missed out on being a Collingsworth by bad luck. And you might like to know that he didn't transfer everything he stole to terrorists, either. He socked a couple of million dollars away in a Swiss bank account in his name."

  She rose and brushed bits of leaves and grass from her skirt. "That's about it, except that I'm still a bit worried about our daughter Becky. Those boys of hers need their father and she's just too hardheaded to accept that football is so important to him.

  "If you were here, you'd know what to say to her. I don't anymore. And then there's Jaime. I don't see marriage in sight for her, though she does a super job of enjoying life. She's just—well, she's Jaime."

  Lenora started to walk away, then stopped and looked back at the lonesome grave. There was nothing to see, though you'd think that part of her heart should be spilled around it somewhere. "I miss you, Randolph. I always will. But then you always knew how much I loved you."

  * * *

  The blue dress Shelly had chosen for the party tonight was laid out on the bed. The black boots Matt had given her for her birthday were ready and waiting. It was her night, hers and Matt's. The last night they'd spend before they became man and wife.

  Matt stepped behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. "The party's going to start without us if y
ou don't get dressed."

  "I can live with that."

  "After your mother flew here just for the occasion. I don't think you'd dare cancel out on her."

  "She spent all day talking about her latest breakup. I'm not sure that counts as a visit to share my wedding celebration."

  "It's a start."

  "Maybe." But Shelly doubted it. She'd tried to connect with her mother, but the relationship wouldn't take. Everybody didn't have the kind of wonderful, caring mother Matt did. That was life. She was learning to accept it.

  "My hesitance to go to the party has nothing to do with my mother."

  "Is it my family?"

  "Heavens no. I love them all. They're the family I always wanted and never had."

  "Then it must be me. Cold feet about saying I do tomorrow?"

  "Nothing about me is ever cold when you're around, Matt Collingsworth."

  "Then what is it?"

  She pulled away. She doubted she could say this in a way he'd understand. "I love our life just the way it is. I love the way you kiss me as if you can't get enough of me. I love the way you can't keep your hands off me when we're together. I love the way we make love like there's no tomorrow, and then minutes later, you're ready to do it again."

  He pulled her back in his arms. "So what's the problem?"

  "I know things will change over time, but I don't think I can bear it if we lose the hunger and passion."

  "How could I ever not be hungry for you when I've waited for you all my life?"

  He kissed her lips and the thrill of him ran through her like liquid fire. It always did. "But what about later, Matt? What will happen when I no longer excite you?"

  "You'll always excite me, even when we're old and gray and so feeble we have to help each other to the bed."

  He was half teasing. She wasn't. "Do you promise, Matt?"

  "I promise." He tilted her chin so that she had to meet his gaze. "You're not your mother, Shelly. I'm not like the men she's chosen to be with. I've only loved one woman in my life. That's you. And I'll be around to love you 'til death do us part. I wouldn't make a vow I don't plan to keep."

  "I guess I did let my issues with my mother creep into the back of my thoughts. A lifetime of not trusting love is hard to get past."

  "I'm always going to love you."

  "How can you be so sure?"

  "Because I know me and I know you. And I know our love is real. Forever and always. We can't miss. Ask my mom. She'll tell you it's the legend of Jack's Bluff."

  "She did tell me, but what about Becky? She split up with her husband."

  "For now, but she still loves him. They'll find a way to make it work. But just for the record, we're not them, either. You have to trust me, Shelly. You have to trust yourself and trust our love."

  "I do trust you. It's just that—"

  "No, you either trust me or you don't. Do you believe I love you?"

  "Yes." The answer was honest. "But forever is such a long time."

  "And I was just thinking it's not nearly long enough."

  He kissed her again, and she let the sweet promise of his love wash through her. Forever and always. With Matt. In this place they both loved. Surrounded by family. Held tight by roots of the past and challenges of the future. How could she ask for more than that?

  She reached for the blue dress. "Party time."

  "Are you sure you're ready, Shelly?"

  "I'm positive, Matt Collingsworth."

  * * *