“For all the good it does.” Planting his elbows on his knees, he scrubbed his face hard with both hands.
“Did you tell her?”
“Like she’d listen.” He shook his head. “She said she never wanted to see me again.”
“You dope. All women want to know they’re loved. Especially by the man they, uh, let into their bed.”
He just kept shaking his head.
“Then what you have to do is show Izzy how much you care. It’ll have to be something grand, I think. Could you maybe skywrite I love you over top of the courthouse? Or spread ten million rose petals from your bed to hers.”
“Yeah, sure. I try that and her brother Rick will draw and quarter me.”
“I was kidding.” Summer fluffed a hand through the air. “I forgot she’d moved home. Well, you get the idea. I’m sure you’ll think of the perfect gesture, Gabriel. Hey, do you want to stay for dinner? Colt’s due home in an hour. Maybe he’ll come up with a better plan.”
“I would stay, but I have to run a check over to my contractor’s office so he can bank it tonight. He’s ready to buy my kitchen cabinets. Going without cabinets wasn’t an issue when I thought I’d be staying in Bend another week or so.”
“Okay, but don’t be a stranger. I hope you don’t mind my telling Colt. We promised not to keep secrets from each other.”
“That’s good. Secrets can be as damaging to a relationship as hate.”
Summer walked him to his SUV and bestowed a sisterly good-luck kiss.
Gabe mulled over Summer’s suggestion on the way into town. He had doubts about some off-the-wall romantic gesture carrying any weight with Isabella. And stuff like that wasn’t really him. His off-the-wall years were far in the past.
It was after Gabe had delivered the check to his contractor’s office in Callanton that he chanced across an opportunity. A For Sale sign stuck in a plot of ground adjacent to the city park had caught Gabe’s eye. Asking around, he discovered it was less than half the size of a city lot. Even the bank manager who had the lot for sale said it wasn’t really buildable. It had come to him in lieu of a bad debt.
Excited, Gabe wrote out a check and took it off the banker’s hands. He raced back to the builder’s office and burst through his door seconds before the man closed up. “Jeez, I’m glad I caught you. I have a new project. You may not be the one to do it, but it takes precedence over my house. I bought property next to the park. I want to construct a public garden. A butterfly garden with flowers that’ll bloom year-round.”
The builder stared at Gabe as if he’d taken leave of his senses.
“Look.” Gabe grabbed a paper and pencil from the man’s desk. “It’s roughly this shape. These are the dimensions. I’ll set up a fund for perpetual care. I also want mushroom and gnome statuary, along with shrubs and flowers. And I want pinwheels. Big, colorful ones that are light enough to catch a small breeze. And benches. Benches where people can sit and eat their lunch, or kids can curl up and read.”
“Anything else?” his builder inquired dryly.
“One other thing,” Gabe said solemnly. “A large brass plaque dedicating the garden to Antonia and Ramon Navarro. They’re—”
“I know who they are. In view of the trial starting next week, Gabe, I think it’s a fine and noble gesture.”
“To hell with that. Is it possible? And if so, when can it be ready?”
Again the man pondered. “I know an innovative landscaper who has a nursery in Burns. If you’ve got time, we can take a drive over there. I’ve seen this woman work miracles in a week.”
“Really? Hey, my time is yours.” Gabe tucked his hands in his front pockets. A smile lit his formerly grave face.
ISABELLA’S FIRST ACT after she got home, changed clothes and brought her family up to date on the jury selection, was to visit her sister-in-law in the hospital. Christina had roomed in with her baby. Looking at the sleeping infant tore a chunk out of Isabella’s heart.
“Bella, are you okay?” her brother Manny asked.
She backed away from the bassinet. “Manuela reminds me of how Antonia looked as a baby.” Her voice ended up cracking.
Christina bit her lip. Manny rushed to put his arms around his older sister. “Mama said that very thing. I should have forewarned you.”
“It’s okay. I’m so happy for you two. Really.” Because her chest felt too tight, Isabella pushed out of Manny’s arms and dug through her purse. “I had Joe stop at a shop in Bend so I could buy a gift. He said no one had bought you this yet.” Pulling out a small jewelry box, Isabella passed it to her sister-in-law.
Christina untied the ribbon. “Eighteen-carat gold stud earrings! Isabella, how thoughtful. I’m surprised no one did buy Manuela earrings, especially since it’s a long-standing tradition in my family to pierce a baby girl’s ears at four weeks. She’ll love them. I love them.” She raised her arms for a hug. “Bella, Manny and I don’t expect you to come around wanting to hold her. We understand you need time for your pain to subside.”
“This seems to be the day for people wanting me to get beyond my pain. I appreciate your concern, Christina. But I have to go now. Bye.” Isabella walked to the door, then ran down the hall and down the stairs, finally taking refuge in her van. She wrapped her arms around the steering wheel. Her empty, empty arms. “Damn!” Her hands shook so hard she couldn’t get the key in the ignition.
Isabella didn’t want to go home, where the topic of conversation would be either babies or the upcoming trial. She needed time to prepare herself for both subjects.
Suddenly Gabe popped into her mind, although she didn’t really understand why. Especially as his SUV hadn’t been at his house when she left home. Anyway, she couldn’t, wouldn’t, go see him. But maybe a talk with Colt Quinn—to ask the questions that had nagged her earlier.
Stars winked in the sky by the time Isabella turned under the arch bearing the Forked Lightning brand. A yellow moon hung low overhead, dappling bright spots on the hood of her van as she drove along the peach trees planted by Summer’s great-grandmother. Or was it her great-great-grandmother? Isabella tried in vain to recall—to think of anything rather than let the moonlight remind her of last night with Gabe.
Which turned out to be a lost cause. She hadn’t felt this special in so long—if ever, she thought, remembering how carefully, reverently and fully he’d loved her. She wished he hadn’t ruined it all this morning. Why had he? She brooded about it as she parked the van.
Summer and Coltrane were seated on the front porch glider. They rose the instant Isabella mounted the steps.
“Izzy, welcome.” Summer hurried to hug her. “I’d just been telling Coltrane how the trial is all over tonight’s news. It’s finally going to happen, Izzy. Are you relieved?”
Isabella couldn’t respond because the moment Summer turned her loose, Colt squeezed the stuffing out of her. “Here, sit on the glider with Summer,” he said. “I’ll drag over Virgil’s chair. Unless you two have girl-talk and would prefer I took a hike.”
“No, no,” Isabella assured him. Now that she was here, she didn’t know how to go about questioning him about his good friend. It seemed easier to start with another subject and work her way into that one. “I see you’re getting rounder, Summer. It seems I can’t avoid discussing babies tonight.” She sighed without realizing she had. “I’ve just come from visiting Christina. Have you heard she and Manny had a girl yesterday?”
“That kind of news travels fast.” Summer took Isabella’s hand. “If you came here to get away from all the oohing and cooing, we can find other things to talk about.”
“Not the trial, either. Although James Hayden is pleased with the panel of jurors. Aside from that, there’s nothing to say until next week.”
“You have a new neighbor.” Colt tossed that into the mix in spite of his wife’s trying to telegraph him a squelching glance. Ignoring her, he kicked back in the chair and continued. “Of all the people I could imagine herding sheep,
Gabe Poston’s the very last.”
“Oh? Why?”
“I’ve never seen anybody with a head for figures like Gabe has. He’s got a mind like a damned calculator. When it comes to business, he knows all the ins and outs. And investment strategy—anything you want to know, ask Gabe. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear he’s got millions socked away. What really shocked the daylights out of me, Marc and Reggie was learning that Gabe paid above market value for John’s ranch.”
“Maybe John’s ranch reminded him of where he grew up.” Isabella dropped a fishing line and baited the hook.
“Hardly,” Coltrane snorted.
“Oh. So, he grew up in the city?”
“On the streets.”
Summer, who’d felt her friend stiffen at the tidbit Colt threw out, released Izzy’s hand and plumped a pillow into one corner of the glider, where she then curled up. “Don’t leave us hanging, Colt. Tell us what you know about Gabe’s childhood.”
“I don’t know it all. He’s pretty closemouthed.”
Reaching out, Summer nudged her husband’s knee. “Izzy’s not the type to spread tales. At least tell her what happened with Gabe’s mom and dad. She’s Gabe’s nearest neighbor, and you don’t want her to accidentally say something that might upset him.”
Colt shot his wife a puzzled glance. Their eyes locked, and as if a light bulb came on, he suddenly nodded, expelling a breath. Over the next ten minutes, he told Gabe’s story, from his erratic, lonely childhood to his mother’s tragic death to his father’s disowning him, then callously tossing him aside like garbage.
Every two seconds, Isabella cleared her throat in shock and sympathy. “I cannot believe a child’s father could wash his hands of responsibility—without so much as making an effort to see if Gabe was his son. But then, I don’t know why that surprises me,” she said faintly. “Take Julian…” As she brought up Julian’s transgressions, Isabella remembered what Gabe had said about digging deep and forgiving someone who’d transgressed against you. Had he forgiven a man who’d treated him worse than any decent person would treat a dog? Or his mother for shamefully neglecting him?
“What are you thinking now, Izzy?” Summer inquired. “I see the wheels turning round and round in your head.”
“Nothing,” she stammered. “I…he appears to have risen above his tragic life. While I…I find it impossible to accept the terrible things a person can do to those they ought to love most in the world.”
Summer let Isabella’s statement go without comment. “Well,” she said, struggling to get out of the glider. “Enough morbid talk. Coltrane, your son or daughter is telling me it’s time for a dish of the Rocky Road ice cream I saw you and Rory sneak into the freezer. Bring Izzy a bowl, too. As a matter of fact, let’s retire to the kitchen. Even with the porch screened in, it’s getting too nippy to sit out here.”
“I ought to go and leave you two to your dessert.”
“Nonsense.” Summer linked arms with Isabella and tugged her into the house. “If I’m going to pig out on ice cream and get big as a house, I’d like to know my good friends are going to gain at least a few ounces. You, my love, could benefit from rich cream and gooey marshmallow more than anyone I know.”
Isabella came the closest to smiling she had in a long while. Well, except for the satisfied smile Gabe had left her wearing last night. She sank gratefully into a chair. Feeling unexpectedly ravenous, she dug into the generous bowl of creamy confection Colt sat in front of her.
Driving home an hour later, Isabella found that her stomach had calmed but her brain was working overtime. She’d been embarrassingly wrong in her judgment of Gabe. He’d spoken as he had out of true concern. She probably ought to apologize, if only to say she understood he’d spoken from his heart.
The need to do this preyed on her, so she decided to get it over with tonight.
Gabe’s house was dark. She pressed the switch to illuminate the van’s clock. Nearly ten. Half expecting to see his SUV parked in her parents’ drive, Isabella felt disappointment as she pulled in between Trini’s car and Joe’s pickup. Louis and his family were climbing into their car. She stopped to chat.
“Where’ve you been?” Ruby asked. “Manny worried everyone, phoning us to say you’d freaked out over the baby.”
“I didn’t freak out. Okay, maybe I did a little. It’s hard, Ruby. The baby looks so much like Antonia at the same age.”
“We know, sweetie.”
Drawn into her oldest sister’s plump, comforting arms, Isabella sucked in enough deep breaths to regain her emotional balance before returning the hug and stepping back.
“Sylvia and I are taking turns helping Christina out next week. Mama’s got her hands full feeding orphaned lambs. We agreed Maria will go to Bend on Monday. Rick said you have an extra bed so she can stay over for a second day?”
“Yes.” Isabella’s gaze darted to Gabe’s pitch-dark house. “Gabe said he rented the cottage for a month. I’ll settle up with him after the trial.”
Ruby’s kids were clamoring at her to go, and Louis revved the engine impatiently. She muttered in Euskera. Then in English, she said, “Phone Maria, okay?”
Slightly lighter of heart knowing she’d have some family support at the start of the trial, Isabella entered the house.
Several members of her noisy family jumped up and rushed toward her. “Bella, where have you been?” Trini helped her out of her jacket.
“I wasn’t aware I needed to check in.” Isabella realized she’d sounded impatient. “I visited Summer and Colt. They invited me to stay for ice cream. Time got away from us.”
“Joe said you were probably with Gabe,” Sylvia volunteered from where she sat knitting in the living room. “Trini knew that wasn’t true. She saw him in town with some blond babe.”
That information totally disarmed Isabella. He’d been angry when he left the cottage, but to go from her bed to another woman hurt more than she dared admit.
“She’s no one local, either,” Trini supplied. “I’d gone to town to make a night deposit for Papa. I saw them come out of the park. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. They turned and walked up Main past that empty lot, then I guess they must’ve decided they were hungry, because they retraced their steps, crossed the street and went into the Green Willow. He held the door for her, so I got a good look. Enough to know she’s a natural blonde—the type guys go for. And she filled out her jeans and shirt in a way that appeals to their neanderthal brains, too.”
Angel and Joe both cuffed Trini teasingly on the back of the head. But Isabella had no reaction to their antics. The ice cream she’d had at Summer’s home threatened to come up. She felt their eyes on her as she pounded up the stairs. On the landing, she stilled her galloping heart and called down, “Please excuse me. I’ve had a long, trying week. A really, really trying week.”
GABE WALKED Jamie Kent to her mud-splattered Chevy pickup. He waited politely for her to unlock the dented driver’s door. Something had caved in the painted garden scene below the name of her landscape firm. She noticed what claimed his attention. “That happened at the quarry. A line snapped on a two-man rock they were loading. Our insurance companies are in the throes of settling our dispute.”
“I hope no one was hurt.”
“Only pride. The paint was barely dry on that logo.” Laughing, she extended her hand. “Thanks for your business and the down payment. My husband will have a crew in to clear the lot tomorrow. Monday, I’ll send over topsoil while I select the plants, forest creatures and the fountain. I’m so glad you decided to let me work everything around a four-tiered fountain. The sound of water adds to the serenity of a garden.”
Gabe nodded absently, thinking of the woman he hoped could find a measure of serenity in this place he and Mrs. Kent had begun referring to as “the healing garden.” “It’s getting late. You still have to drive back to Burns. I told you about the trial, so I’ll leave the project in your hands. You have my card if you run into any proble
ms with permits or anything.”
“I’ll be here, although I’d rather be on that jury.”
Gabe ran a hand down the tie he’d put on after leaving Isabella in the cottage. “That’s interesting. Most people try to avoid jury duty at all cost.”
“That’s one guy who deserves to get back-to-back life sentences with no possibility of parole.”
“I agree. On the other hand, if he’s truly crazy…”
“Are you kidding? Watch him closely. My husband, Randy, and I had this same argument when we saw a broadcast of his initial arrest. The guy’s crazy like a fox. Well, good night, and good luck to Ms. Navarro.” Jamie Kent started her pickup and drove off, leaving Gabe looking after her, chewing a hole on the inside of his mouth.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MONDAY, AT SOME INDECENT HOUR, a raucous thumping, accompanied by what sounded to Gabe like squealing pigs, jolted him out of bed. Stumbling to the window, he saw Joe, Benito, Louis and Angel unloading white blobs down some kind of ramp. Throwing on his jeans, shirt and boots, Gabe raced out to see what they were doing.
“The new goats arrived,” Benito announced. “Aren’t they beauties?”
“At this hour, only a woman qualifies in that category,” Gabe growled.
Angel rammed Gabe with an elbow. “Touchy, touchy. Or should I say oops? Have you left a beautiful blonde in your bed, Poston?”
“What the hell are you driving at, Angel? Spit it out.”
Louis donned a smug smile. “No need to play dumb, man. Trini saw you in town Friday night with a blond babe. And you were decidedly scarce around here this weekend. We dropped over both Saturday and Sunday, hoping to tell you about today’s delivery.”
Gabriel nearly choked, he clenched his teeth so hard. He wanted Isabella to be first to learn about the garden. “Mrs. Kent’s strictly business,” he said, as they waited expectantly to be clued in.
“Missus, huh?” Angel muttered.
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