Perfect Family

by Potter, Patricia;

  A warning? About who? Or what?

  nine

  “I wish you would stay longer,” Sarah told Jessie as she was about to leave. “In fact, I wish you would move into the house.”

  Jessie felt like an ingrate, but she really didn’t want to stay at the ranch. Not until she had confirmation that she had a right to do so. Not until she knew whether or not she was truly a Clements.

  “I’ve decided to stay a few days,” she said. “But I’m really comfortable at the Quest. I will come over, though.”

  A worry line seemed to smooth out in Sarah’s face. “I’m so glad. Now that everyone’s leaving, we will have more time to talk.”

  Jessie wanted that. She wanted it very much. Perhaps Sarah would tell her more about Harding Clements. About his childhood. About the events prior to his disappearance. Jessie had to know, needed to understand.

  Especially now. The unwanted visitor of yesterday kept haunting her. So did Sol’s report of the burglary, but neither were something she wanted to mention. Not at the moment. After all, nothing had been missing from her room. She had no reason to go to the police here. In fact, they would probably laugh in her face.

  She nodded. “I would like that.”

  “I still wish you’d think again about staying here, though. Marc and his family are leaving Tuesday morning. It will be only Halden and me in the ranch house then. Rosa is our housekeeper and cook, so it wouldn’t be any trouble. Ross, of course, has his own house.”

  Jessie almost changed her mind at the thought of a nearly empty Sunset. The sprawling house was comfortable, and she would have access to the horses. And Ross. She doubted he shared her interest in proximity.

  And safety?

  Would the Sunset be any safer than her present lodging?

  But she didn’t want to have to account for every moment. “I’m already settled,” she said as gently as she could, “and I want to do some exploring on my own. I promise to spend a lot of time here, though.”

  “Lunch tomorrow?” Sarah said hopefully. “Then we can go for a ride later.”

  “I would love it,” Jessie said, wondering how her plans had gone so awry. Her time tomorrow was being whittled down.

  “Good. We can get to know each other better without so much interference.”

  Interference? Jessie thought it a strange choice of words.

  Just then, Marc and Samantha came in.

  Marc came straight to her. “I’m so sorry about yesterday,” he said. “So is April.”

  “She shouldn’t be. It was my fault completely,” Jessie said, saying the same words she’d voiced all day.

  “She should have kept a better watch. She knew you weren’t familiar with the area. Ross said you used your head, though.” He grinned. “Big praise from him.”

  Too bad Ross hadn’t told her.

  “It was an … adventure,” she said. “And I haven’t had one of those for a while.”

  He nodded at her with approval. “Samantha and I are driving to Phoenix Tuesday. We’ll be staying there a few days before flying on to Washington for some meetings. If you need anything, anything at all, call one of us.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “Good luck with your campaign.”

  “Would you think about working with us, too?” he asked.

  “I’m in Atlanta,” she reminded him.

  “But we hope to see you frequently. Cullen will always make a room available for you at the Quest.” She noticed he didn’t repeat Sarah’s invitation to stay at the ranch.

  He turned around. His brother was behind him. “Won’t you, Cullen?”

  “Of course. Any time,” boomed Cullen. “You have only to let me know.”

  “She’s planning to stay a few more days,” Sarah said.

  “Then of course she should stay at the resort as our guest,” Cullen quickly replied, casting a look at Sarah. Jessie thought she detected something like triumph in it.

  “I was going to pay for it,” Jessie protested.

  “I wouldn’t permit any such thing,” Cullen said. “You stay as long as you wish.”

  “Just two or three days. I have a business in Atlanta.”

  “Well, we’ll have to have dinner together before you leave. I’ll call you.”

  He leaned over and kissed Jessie on the cheek, and she felt a little ungrateful. They were all trying to make her feel comfortable. It wasn’t their fault that they did the opposite, that she needed some time to absorb everything. It was hers.

  The two men walked together toward the door, conversing intently, leaving her with Sarah to say good-bye to other members of the Clements family. Alex appeared from the living room with a glass in his hand and joined them out on the porch. In a few more moments, the room had emptied.

  “It’s always a little sad when everyone leaves,” Sarah said.

  “It must be a lot of work for you.”

  “Everyone pitches in. Cullen and his wife live in Sedona, not far from the Quest, and his twins and their wives always help.”

  “How did the Quest get its name?”

  “Cullen wanted something unique. Many of those coming to Sedona are on a quest. They want to find beauty, peace, adventure. He tries to offer all of it.”

  “He’s also a banker?”

  “He was for a while, working with his father, Halden. But he always wanted something of his own. Korea changed him, just as World War Two changed Heath. I think war probably always changes the young men who fight. There’s an impatience, a feeling that they’ve lost years of their lives. Perhaps they even feel that life is uncertain, fragile, and they have to live it to the hilt. In any event, the Quest became his dream. It took him years to get the financing, but it was something that was all his.”

  And the Quest was special. Jessie had recognized that. Everything about it spoke of perfection.

  She nodded. “I can understand that.” And she could. Like the bookstore was hers. Not entirely, perhaps, but Sol had made it more and more hers.

  Her respect for Cullen grew. He could have followed in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he’d taken risks.

  “And the ranch?”

  Sarah frowned. “Ranching is a twenty-four-hour-a-day job without much profit. It was never that attractive to him. And the house was never fancy enough for his wife.”

  “But Marc stays here,” Jessie said, still trying to sort out the family dynamics.

  “It’s convenient for him. Congressmen don’t really make that much, and he and Samantha have a town house in Georgetown, in Washington. The ranch gives him an address in his district. There’s enough room that we don’t see each other that much. April, though, usually likes staying at the Quest. She doesn’t think the ranch is good enough, either.”

  Jessie wondered whether Sarah thought that about her, too. It wasn’t that the Quest was more luxurious. Or more comfortable. She would have preferred the laid-back Sunset if she didn’t still feel the interloper, if she didn’t need the freedom to research what unquestionably were secrets withheld from her.

  Perhaps she wouldn’t feel that way if the DNA proved she was indeed a Clements. But she couldn’t stay that long. Not when her home, business, and even hotel room had been invaded. She didn’t want to believe that last night’s misadventure might be part of a pattern, but neither could she discount it.

  She found herself missing Sol and his good common sense. She also missed Ben desperately. She could never doubt his loyalty.

  Jessie glanced out the window. The three men had left the porch. The sisters-in-law, Sondra and Samantha, also had their heads together.

  Her eyes were still on the two groups when a blue pickup drove in.

  Ross jumped down from the cab and approached the three men. His dog followed at his heels, sitting when Ross stopped. In the next few moments, she was mesmerized by the body language. Anger was obvious. On all their parts.

  She saw Ross stiffen, saw his fingers bunch into a fist.

  She glanced at Sarah, who w
as also staring out the large glass windows toward the quartet of men. Then she obviously tried to avert Jessie’s attention. “Ross really was impressed with you last night.”

  “For getting lost and laming his horse?” Jessie asked dubiously.

  “For keeping your head. Someone else might well have tried to ride the horse.”

  Jessie shook her head in disbelief.

  “April did once. Ruined the horse.”

  “Was it destroyed?”

  “Ross would never destroy a horse just because it was no longer useful. But the horse never regained the strength in his leg. He couldn’t be ridden again.”

  “And Ross kept him?”

  “Until he died of old age. He tries to hide it, thinks it’s a weakness, but he has a soft spot for animals. He found Timber half dead. He was a part-wolf pup and had been shot by someone. Ross nursed him back to health. Ross is still the only person he’ll take food from.”

  “I suppose Ross will be pleased that everyone’s leaving.”

  Sarah sighed. “Most likely.”

  “He said something puzzling earlier.”

  “What?”

  “That I should be wary of him, that someone would tell me why once the DNA results came back.”

  Sarah frowned. “Ross sees devils where there are none.”

  After the last few days, Jessie wondered whether Ross didn’t see clearer than anyone. But she held her peace. She didn’t want to accuse anyone of illegal entry of her room. Perhaps it wasn’t even illegal entry. Perhaps it had been a maid who’d just had a moment’s curiosity. Her mind cleared slightly. That was it. Why hadn’t she considered the possibility before?

  Because both her home and store had been burglarized? Because she didn’t believe in coincidence?

  Still it was an explanation. One she desperately wanted to believe.

  Ross disappeared into the barn carrying a package, then, as she watched, he left again and strode down the path to his house. “Why did he tell me to be careful?”

  Sarah smiled weakly. “When he first came here, he was as wild as a young wolverine. He got into trouble all the time. For the first time, he had controls, and he didn’t like it. And I couldn’t blame him. He’d never had any stability, any discipline. His father, who was married to another woman, had abandoned his mother, and now his father’s widow—a stranger—was making rules for him to follow.”

  She hesitated, then added painfully, “The family knew he was my husband’s natural son. Marc and Cullen were afraid of the scandal. Cullen’s twins gave him a hard time. But Halden knew how much I always wanted a child, and he accepted Ross, particularly when he showed such an aptitude and interest in ranching. I think that upset everyone more.

  “Marc was especially angry,” Sarah added. “He hadn’t liked my husband either, and he thought I was making a mistake all over again, especially when Ross got in trouble. But the will gave me and mine life tenancy at the ranch, at least as long as the trust held.”

  Jessie felt her heart go out to the boy Ross had been. Tossed from pillar to post, then obviously unwanted when brought into this house. How often had she felt like that? An outsider looking in?

  She imagined the loneliness of the boy. She understood the rebelliousness.

  She also realized that Sarah had held back something. “But Ross obviously grew out of it,” she said.

  “Once he got involved with the horses, yes. But he never felt he belonged here. He wasn’t a Clements, and April and the twins never let him forget it.”

  “What about April’s brother?”

  “He always liked Ross. Ross was the only person who didn’t expect something from him.”

  The relationships were whirling around in Jessie’s head. Was this what it was like in every family? Competition, jealousy, suspicions? But then there was the open warmth she’d seen, too. The honest affection between cousins. That was what she’d wanted. What she’d longed for. What she was loath to relinquish before she fully knew it.

  She moved without looking and her injured arm hit the side of a chair. An unexpected gasp exploded from her.

  Sarah looked at her. “I don’t think you should make that long drive with that arm,” she said.

  Jessie shrugged. “I drove here without a problem.”

  “Still, if you need to make an unexpected movement …” She hesitated. “Ross will drive you.”

  That was the last thing she needed. Or wanted.

  But when she started to protest, Sarah was already at the phone, punching a button. Before Jessie could stop her, Sarah had started speaking. “I want you to drive Jessie home.”

  Jessie shook her head frantically.

  Sarah made no sign she understood. Instead, she put the phone back into its cradle. “He’s on his way.”

  Jessie closed her eyes for a moment. “What about my car?”

  “We can get someone to take it to the Quest tomorrow,” Sarah said, leading the way out the door onto the porch.

  The sun hovered on the horizon, turning the sky into a blaze of colors. Crimson, peach, orange, and copper layered the sky. The last rays hit the red rock formations, turning them into molten gold. The sheer beauty made her gasp.

  She had missed the sunset yesterday in all that had happened. Or at least had paid little attention to it. And now she was awed at the splendor, and yet it made her hurt, too. The vastness of the sky—the wild glory of it—revived an old unexplicable yearning.

  A dampness fogged her eyes and she knew tears were hovering somewhere close. She wondered whether her father had stood here and watched the same band of fire around the earth, felt the depth of the blue in the sky. Had he felt awe at a sunset? Or had he always taken them for granted?

  She felt herself shiver. Sarah moved closer to her.

  “Did … Harding like sunsets?”

  “Your father?” Sarah seemed intent on making the two into one.

  Jessie nodded.

  “I wonder if the male species ever admits they like sunsets,” Sarah mused.

  “He … Harding looked so … carefree in those photos. I can’t remember my father smiling.”

  “Cocky was more the word,” Sarah said with a slight smile. “He thought the world was his oyster. He could ride anything alive, and he knew it.”

  “But that oyster was crushed,” Jessie said. It was a question as much as a statement.

  Sarah’s face suddenly looked far older. It seemed to crumple in front of Jessie’s eyes. Jessie took her hand and held it tight.

  For a moment, she thought Sarah was going to answer, but the door slammed and the room suddenly filled with Ross’s presence. He went quickly to Sarah, putting his hand under her arm, steadying her. Then he looked at Jessie with an accusation in his eyes.

  With visible effort, Sarah straightened. “Don’t look at her like that,” she ordered. “She only asked me if my brother liked sunsets. We dragged her all the way out here for her to learn about us. She has a right to ask questions.”

  Ross ignored her defense. “Are you all right?” he asked Sarah.

  “I’m better than I’ve been in years,” she said. “Just having Jessie here has been a tonic.”

  Warmth flooded through Jessie. She reached over and gave Sarah a quick hug.

  Sarah grabbed her hand and held on as though for dear life. “Jessie,” she said in a broken voice. “Thank you for coming.”

  The emotion in her voice was deep. Jessie felt its echo. It was as if they’d shared the death of someone who’d died last week rather than years ago. The grief Jessie had felt at her father’s death rose in her again, strong and alive and terrible. There was so much she didn’t know, hadn’t realized. She had thought her life was lonely. It couldn’t have come close to the loneliness he must have felt. He’d had a family, a heritage, an identity. It must be far worse to know and lose such things than to have never known them at all.

  She’d felt sudden, unexpected jolts of grief before. But they had faded, become rarer until Alex
had appeared. Then they’d started again. But none had been as strong as this one, none as powerful. Her father hadn’t been the best father ever created. He’d not been an easy father, or an easy man. But he’d been her world. All she’d ever had.

  “Jessica?”

  She looked up into dark, expressionless eyes. “Jessie,” she corrected.

  “I like Jessica,” he said, his drawl deep and soft. So had her father. That was why she seldom used it. Jessica had been vulnerable. Jessie was tough. She’d learned to be.

  But she wasn’t going to debate the matter now.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she muttered softly, still dazed by those intense moments of feeling.

  Just then, Alex came inside. He looked surprised to see Ross there. “I thought you were boycotting us.”

  It seemed a strange observation for an attorney, a man who was not a member of the family, either.

  But Sarah seemed not to take offense.

  Nor, apparently, did Ross. “I’m taking Jessica home.”

  “I was going to offer to do just that,” Alex said. “I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to drive, either.”

  “Well, you’re too late, now,” Ross replied in a taut voice.

  “I’m going into Sedona anyway,” Alex said, his voice challenging him.

  “I thought I would take her to supper.”

  The latter claim from Ross was news to her. She’d eaten earlier, and she wasn’t hungry. She hadn’t even been consulted, much less asked. All of a sudden, Jessie felt like a scrap of food being contested by two bully dogs. Testosterone was alive and well.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t think any of it was because she was irresistible.

  “I will drive myself home,” she announced.

  Both men turned toward her, dismayed astonishment in Alex’s expression, something entirely different in Ross’s. Amusement. At least she thought it was amusement. It was difficult to tell with Ross.

  “I’m sorry,” Alex said, immediately contrite. “Of course you can go any way you wish.”

  “She’d already accepted Ross’s offer,” Sarah stepped in quickly.

  Jessie was neatly trapped. She could either call Sarah a liar or accept. She didn’t want to do the former. She nodded.