They helped them settle in, and the kids took off with Thad half an hour later. He and Kate exchanged a look, which no one saw, and his hand gently swept hers as he walked by, which made her whole body thrill at his touch.
As soon as the kids had left, Caroline sat down on the couch and looked at her sisters.
“Peter’s having an affair with a twenty-three-year-old trainee at his office.” She told them what she’d found when she went home. Kate looked shocked, and Gemma disgusted.
“Oh, for chrissake, what a jerk. That’s so juvenile, dick pics yet,” Gemma said, familiar with the concept.
“He tried to claim that he got her from an escort service, which is bullshit. She works for him. I haven’t seen him since the night I got home and told him to leave.”
“What are you going to do?” Kate asked her.
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I can forgive him, and he lied to me on top of it. I don’t know how long it’s gone on or if it still is.” Since she’d thrown him out, she was sure he was still with Veronica.
“That kind of thing usually burns itself out pretty quickly. She’ll get tired of him. Let’s face it, he’s not a very exciting guy,” Gemma said, and Caroline nodded. He wasn’t exciting but she loved him, and their marriage. Her sisters had always thought him too uptight and conservative, and a snob in some ways, but he suited Caroline and he was her husband. She didn’t want to lose him, but it felt like she already had.
“I love him. I thought we had a good marriage. And the whole time I was here, he was screwing her. I don’t think I could trust him again.” She looked miserable, and her sisters felt sorry for her.
“What have you told the kids?” Kate asked her quietly, deeply sympathetic to her.
“That we’re taking a break for the summer.”
“Is he going to see them?” Gemma asked.
“He hasn’t asked yet. Maybe he’s too busy with her. I think he’s embarrassed and doesn’t know what to say. Neither do I.” Caroline looked devastated and exhausted, but it was good to be back with her sisters, and the kids would be busy on the ranch. It was the best she could hope for right now. She knew he wouldn’t stay away from the kids for long. But she wondered if their marriage was over. It seemed like a distinct possibility. She wasn’t sure what she wanted. She was still too shocked and upset to make up her mind. She kept going back and forth between wanting a divorce and wanting him to fix it. But how could he? Her heart felt broken forever.
“You two need to talk at some point,” Gemma said sensibly, “and have an honest conversation about it. He needs to level with you about her, and what she really means to him.”
“I don’t know if he will. He hasn’t tried. Maybe he’ll marry her,” Caroline said with tears in her eyes. His silence seemed like a bad sign to her.
“If he does marry her, then you lost him a long time ago. This isn’t just about what you want. He needs to figure out what he wants now. A twenty-three-year-old, or his wife. He’s being an idiot.” And they all knew that only time would help make the decision. For Caroline, it was going to be a long summer. And she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him.
* * *
—
With both sisters settled in their cottages at the ranch, Thad and Kate were discreetly managing to spend nights together. He didn’t come to dinner every night, but tried to make it more sporadic, when Kate didn’t have plans with her sisters. But he did show up every night around midnight to spend the night with her. He said he couldn’t live without her anymore.
“I’m addicted to you,” he said happily, as he slid into bed with her, and she laughed. Their romance had taken off so suddenly, and with such force that neither could imagine being without the other now. They spent much of their days together, and now nights as well. She liked talking to him over dinner, but sometimes that was harder to manage. Either Gemma or Caroline dropped by in the evening sometimes, especially Caroline to talk about the situation with Peter. She was hearing very little from him. A few emails, mostly about the children, but not much more. After his initial denial, she had hardly heard from him again. And he hadn’t tried to fight the separation for the summer, or the children going to the ranch with her. He hadn’t asked to see them yet, which Caroline found very suspicious, and so did her sisters. Kate had talked to Thad about it, for a male opinion, and he was shocked at the way Peter was behaving. He felt sorry for Caroline and her kids. It didn’t sound to him like the situation could be fixed. He was obviously besotted with the young girl, which Caroline thought too. He had lost his mind over her.
Caroline had just left Kate and headed back to her cottage minutes before Thad arrived to spend the night.
“Wow, you just missed my sister,” she said when he got there and let himself in. She never locked her doors at the ranch. They’d never had a problem. He looked at Kate seriously.
“Is that going to be a big deal if they find out?” He was worried.
“I don’t think so.” Kate smiled at him. “But they’ll be surprised. I don’t usually tell my sisters about my personal life,” she said demurely, and then laughed at herself, “but then again, I haven’t had one in a long time.” She had given up on men for several years. After her one serious boyfriend in college died in a car accident, and several left her and cheated on her, she focused mostly on the ranch, and time had just sped by. Her father kept her too busy and monopolized her time, and dumped everything in her lap, and she never turned him down. He knew she was free at night, so he took full advantage of it, and expected her to take projects home. She was trying to do less of it now, especially since Thad had started spending the night.
“They won’t think I’m good enough for you, will they?” He looked worried and upset when he said it. “I never finished high school and never went to college.” She knew he had gotten his GED certificate and had taken college classes online for a few years, even if he didn’t have a degree. And he was intelligent and read a great deal about anything that related to their work on the ranch. He was essentially self-educated, which Kate admired, but he was sure her sisters wouldn’t, particularly Caroline and Peter, who were highly educated, with graduate degrees.
“Gemma didn’t go to college either. And I was a lousy student. The only brain in the family is Caroline, and my father thought her going to college was a waste of time.” She smiled as she said it. “She writes juvenile books, she’s not a nuclear physicist.”
“I’m just a ranch hand, though,” he said, in a funk about her sisters, and Kate knelt in front of him where he sat on the couch and looked him in the eye.
“You’re an extraordinary person, Thad. You run this ranch like a well-oiled machine. The employees, the livestock, our breeding operation. My father respected you more than anyone else, and relied on you, and so do I. You’re up to date on all the modern technology. I’m lucky to have you in my life, and luckier still that you love me. You’re more than ‘good enough’ for me, and my sisters will think so too. I just don’t want to get them all wound up about us yet. I like having time to get used to each other before the whole world knows and has an opinion, even if it’s a good opinion. Right now our future belongs to us. This happened very fast, like lightning. I want to get comfortable with it before we share it. I’ve never been this serious about anyone before. It’s all new to me.”
“You look pretty comfortable to me, Ms. Tucker,” he teased her, slid a hand into her blouse and a moment later, took it off, and her bra, and pulled her up the stairs with him to her bedroom, where he took off all her clothes and his own. She forgot about her sisters for the rest of the night, until she had dinner in town with them the following night.
“Was that Thad I saw walking toward your house last night around midnight?” Caroline asked with a blank expression, after they ordered pizza with the kids.
“I don’t think so. If it was, maybe he
was just out walking, or checking on something. I think he checks things at night.” Caroline smiled as Kate said it, and then glanced at Gemma, who raised an eyebrow.
“Are we dallying with our foreman?” Gemma teased her, and Kate paid no attention to her.
“Of course not.”
“Why not? He’s a mighty handsome hunk of man. I’ve thought of it a few times myself.” That was an interesting tidbit Kate didn’t react to either. “I just figured Dad would have a fit, so I didn’t mess with it. But Dad’s not here now,” she reminded them. “Are we hot on the trail of something here?” She pressed her and Kate didn’t take the bait. She wanted to protect her relationship with Thad for as long as she could, for both their sakes. It was no one’s business.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kate said, and chatted with Morgan to avoid them, but the following night, Gemma visited Kate and there were a pair of Thad’s cowboy boots in the front hall. Gemma took one look at them, broke into a grin and looked at her sister.
“When are you going to level with us?”
“About what?” Kate feigned innocence and Gemma pointed to the boots.
“Either your feet have grown dramatically, or your foreman left here barefoot. For chrissake, Kate, we’re your sisters. We’ve all known him since we were kids. He’s a great guy and we love him, and if you’re in love with him, I think it would be the best thing that could happen to you and he loves this place as much as you do.” Kate looked like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“It’s just embarrassing to have you guys know everything I do, and we weren’t sure how you’d react,” she finally admitted. They couldn’t hide it anymore.
“We’re happy for you. So is that it? Is that who you’ve been turning your bedroom lights on for every night at midnight, and then turning them off about five minutes later? I can see your house from my bedroom, you know.” Kate laughed then. They had tried to be so discreet, and it was obviously pointless. Her sisters were too smart and they were too close, now that they were all at the ranch.
“Yes, that’s what’s going on. So you’re okay with it?”
“I’m not Dad, Kate,” Gemma reminded her. “You don’t answer to me or to anyone. You’re a grown-up, and you do a fantastic job running this ranch, with his help, and if you two think you can work it out, more power to you. You deserve to have a good man to love you. And he is a good man,” she confirmed.
“He was afraid you and Caro wouldn’t approve, and wouldn’t think he’s fancy enough, or educated enough.”
“He’s a cowboy. So was our father. That works for me. And he’s a way more decent guy than that asshole who’s married to our sister and cheating on her with his secretary or whatever she is.”
“Trainee, I think.”
“Caroline should divorce him. He’s a lying shit.” Kate didn’t disagree with her and was worried about how it would turn out. Caroline hadn’t heard from him since she arrived, and he certainly wasn’t remorseful, from what she said. Caroline wanted to try to work it out, or at least talk about it, but she felt he should take the first steps if he wanted to save their marriage. They all suspected that he was continuing the affair, and taking full advantage that his wife was away for the summer, and maybe thought he could fix it later. It was foolish of him. The longer he waited, the more hurt and the angrier she got. “In any case, you can tell Thad that he can stop tiptoeing around for us. You have our full approval, if you need it, mine and Caro’s. We’ve been waiting for you to tell us. I just couldn’t stand the suspense anymore.”
“He’ll be relieved.” Kate smiled at her, and half an hour later, he showed up, to get his boots. Gemma winked at him, patted his arm, and left, and he looked at Kate.
“What was that about?”
“They figured it out, they’re happy for us.” She smiled at him and his face broke into a smile and he pulled Kate into his arms and kissed her.
“Well, hallelujah. That’s a load off my mind.” They went upstairs and celebrated shortly after, and they agreed that from then on, he could come for dinner and spend the night. He didn’t have to show up after dinner, or pretend he was just walking by. It was going to make their lives a lot easier, and more relaxed.
“Just like real people,” he said, pulling her close to him, and kissed her again. It meant a lot to him that her sisters were happy for them. Her family meant everything to him and was like his own. They were the only family he’d ever had.
* * *
—
The next time Kate went to see their mother, Gemma and Caroline went with her. They had a lot of catching up to do. And Gemma had gone to see her once on her own. Caroline was too upset about Peter, and didn’t want to see anyone. She had taken Peter’s affair very hard, and felt it as a personal failure that her marriage was falling apart. But she joined her sisters for the drive to Santa Barbara. They took Scarlett to lunch at the Biltmore.
Scarlett was a quiet, sensible woman. She had seen a lot of hardships in life, a failed marriage, losing her children, drugs, jail, the death of the man she left her husband for, and finally a successful relationship with Roberto for twenty-six years. She was above all real, and wise, and humble. They had discovered that she was very religious, which she said was how she had survived, but she didn’t force her religion on anyone.
She was enjoying getting to know her daughters and appreciated how different they were. All of them were discovering that they could say anything to her, without her being shocked or judging them. Motherhood was new to her, but all three girls agreed that she was good at it, and had a light touch, unlike their father, who had imposed his will and opinions on all of them with a heavy hand.
Kate ended up telling her about her new relationship with Thad that day, and it was obvious how happy she was. Scarlett thought it sounded perfect for her. Gemma confessed that she was terrified her career was in the tank and might never recover, although Scarlett thought that was unlikely and Gemma’s sisters agreed with her. She was a major star, and they all thought it was just a lull, a bad patch that she’d get through. At the end of lunch, Caroline blurted out that she and Peter were taking a break for the summer because she’d discovered his affair. Scarlett turned to her and told her not to come to any rapid conclusions, not to listen to other people’s advice, and follow her heart. They had seventeen years invested in their marriage, and two children, no one knew their marriage as they did. The twenty-three-year-old was lightweight compared to that, and probably wouldn’t last.
“But how would I ever trust him again?” Caroline asked with tears in her eyes.
“You won’t at first, and maybe not even for a long time. Love will get you through it, if you genuinely love each other. We’re all human, and sometimes we make terrible mistakes. What’s important is that you learn from them. I don’t know your husband, whether he’s a good man or not. If he isn’t, you’ll have to have the courage to get away from him before he takes you down. If he is, it might be worth staying with him and giving him another chance. You’ll know what you need to do. Some time to yourself now will do you good.” Caroline felt peaceful. It struck a chord with her. She thought Peter was a good man and a good husband and father, even if he was cold and pompous sometimes, but underneath it all, they loved each other, or they had. What she needed to know now was if he still loved her, and if she could forgive him. She didn’t know the answer to that yet.
She was quiet on the drive back to the ranch and turned to her sisters with a serene look on her face.
“I like having a mother. She’s nice. I really missed that growing up. Dad was always telling us what to do. He never listened. She doesn’t do that. I wish we’d found her a long time ago. He really cheated us of that.” She didn’t look angry, just sad.
“I wish we had too,” Gemma said with a smile. “She reminds me of Kate a lot. She doesn’t go off half-cocked like me and
react, or hide like you. She’s strong and quiet and sensible, like Kate.” They all smiled and Kate was touched by the compliment.
It had been a nice visit. It had been every time. She brought something new and important to their lives. They would never get back the years they had lost, but she had come back at just the right time, for all three of them. They needed her now, maybe more than they ever had.
* * *
—
Juliette left on her trip to France the day before their annual summer picnic. She was sorry to miss it, but she was meeting her brother, and she admitted to Kate that the picnic would be too hard for her this year without Jimmy. She had been very brave about continuing her life there without him, and Kate dropped in on her frequently, but she seemed lonely and sad. He hadn’t been gone long, so she hadn’t had time to adjust, but her life on the ranch was empty without him. She had done the books diligently until she left, and all three girls came to say goodbye and hugged her.
“We’re going to miss you,” Kate said gently. “See you at the end of August.” Juliette shed a few tears when she left and Thad drove her to the airport. She was flying to L.A. to make her connection to Paris, where she was going to stay with her brother for a few days, and then they were driving to Bordeaux and visiting friends there. And after that, they’d go to the house in the Camargue. It was going to be a nice trip for her.
* * *
—
After Juliette left, they had their huge annual picnic for all the ranch hands and employees, their families and neighboring ranchers. Two hundred people came for great food, delicious barbecue, and a spread that people always talked about afterward for weeks. There was line dancing, and Gemma had gotten a country singer she knew from L.A. The party was one of the best they’d had. Thad and Kate made their debut as a couple that night. She’d forgotten what a good dancer he was. They square-danced and line-danced and slow danced to country music, and they made a handsome couple. Everyone noticed the love in their eyes when they looked at each other. There was no mistaking what had happened between them. Thad said he had never been so proud and happy in his life. And Kate was radiant in a white lace dress Gemma lent her for the night.
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