The Cowgirl Who Loved Horses, Queens of Montana Bonus Book

by Vanessa Bartal

  Chapter 14

  When they arrived at her ranch, Cecily handed Jessup over to her ranch manager. The two men strolled off, talking horses. Dante was there working hard and she smiled affectionately at him.

  He tipped his hat to her. “Mrs. Henshaw,” he said coolly.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I knew you were mad at me.”

  “Me? Mad? Why would I be mad? Just because I didn’t get to give my only sister away at her wedding, why would I be angry? By the way, you still haven’t told our parents.”

  “Uh-oh,” she said. “I’ll tell them tonight. Don’t be mad at me, Dante, please? I need you on my side.”

  “I’m always on your side, Cecily. You took me by surprise. Kitty’s in the house, by the way.”

  “She is?” Cecily perked up. “I didn’t see her car.”

  “She rode her horse.”

  “Thanks.” She took off toward the house at a sprint. “Love you,” she threw over her shoulder.

  He chuckled. “Love you, too,” he yelled.

  “Kitty,” Cecily blared as soon as she entered the house.

  “What?” Kitty said softly. She was sitting on the couch, three feet away.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Cecily said.

  “Me too,” Kitty replied. “Dante is working so hard I only see him if I stick around and ride his coattails. I was helping, but I had to use the bathroom.”

  Cecily smiled. “You don’t have to explain to me why you’re not working on a ranch that doesn’t belong to you.”

  “How did it go with the in-laws?” Kitty asked. She was observant, and she knew Cecily better than anyone. The lines of strain on her face were obvious.

  Cecily’s eyes filled with tears. “She hates me.”

  “Mrs. Henshaw?” Kitty asked incredulously.

  Cecily nodded.

  “But she’s one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. I’ve never even seen her frown.”

  “That’s because you never married one of her sons.” She put her hands over her face and pressed her palms against her eyes. “What am I going to do, Kitty? She hates me, I mean really, really hates me. She thinks I trapped Marcus into marriage. She thinks I’m pregnant.”

  “In nine months she’ll see that you’re not,” Kitty said reasonably.

  Cecily groaned. “That’s the problem. I might be. I didn’t think about taking precautions until after it was too late.”

  “When are you supposed to start your cycle?” Kitty asked.

  “I don’t know,” Cecily said. “You know I’ve never been regular, so I don’t bother keeping track anymore. What am I going to do?” She sank down and rested her head on the back of the couch.

  Kitty scooted over and put her arms around her. She wasn’t an overly affectionate person, but Cecily was in obvious need of comfort. “We’ll figure something out. You can go to town and buy a pregnancy test.”

  “Our town?” Cecily said incredulously. “Our tiny town where if you stand at one end and sneeze a person at the other end says ‘bless you’?”

  “You have a point there,” Kitty said. She sat up excitedly. “I know; we’ll buy one from the internet. There’s an online drug store and everything you buy arrives in a plain brown wrapper. And you can also buy some, um, protection to use in case you’re not pregnant.”

  Cecily narrowed her eyes at her. “How do you know this?” The last she heard Kitty and Dante were also waiting for marriage.

  “I read it in a magazine. I’ve been doing a lot of research. You can never be too prepared.”

  “That’s true,” Cecily replied. “Nothing can prepare you for the reality. All right, I’m going to order from here, and I’ll have it delivered here, too, just in case.”

  “Now you’re thinking like a spy,” Kitty said.

  “You would know,” Cecily said. Kitty was a criminal justice major who dreamed of being in the FBI.

  They spent some time on the internet shopping. Cecily ordered a few pregnancy tests because she didn’t want to have to order more for a long time. After shopping they went outside and Cecily began working. She said a distracted goodbye to Jessup and thanked him for the ride. It felt good to lose herself in her work again. Her stress and anxiety faded away until she lost track of time and came to with a start.

  A frantic glance at her watch showed that it was almost suppertime. Cecily had no idea what time the Henshaws ate, but she didn’t want to keep them waiting. She said goodbye to Dante, Kitty, and her foreman, saddled her horse, and broke land/speed records to get home.

  She paused on the front porch to shake off as much dirt and dust as she could. When she entered the house, three pairs of eyes looked up from the supper table. Marcus smiled, as did his father, but his mother looked annoyed.

  “I’m so sorry,” Cecily apologized. “I lost track of time, and I forgot to ask what time you eat.” She was a grimy mess and wished she had made it home in time to shower. Now she stood back, uncertain if she should change and make them wait, or sit at the table a filthy mess.

  “You look like you worked up an appetite,” Evan said. “Come sit down.”

  She flashed him an appreciative smile for the rescue. “Thank you.”

  She sat, Evan said grace, and they started to eat.

  “What did you do today?” Marcus asked.

  “I went to my place to work.”

  “What sort of work do you do?” Evan asked.

  “Whatever needs done. Mostly I tend to the horses, but since Dante is home for a few weeks before he starts his new job, he helps do a lot of it. That frees me up to handle the business end of things.”

  Evan and Marcus gave her amused, indulgent smiles, but didn’t comment. Her pride was ruffled, but since they didn’t tease her she didn’t retort. To them her life might seem like a joke, but she worked hard at what she did, and someday she would have something to show for it.

  “Jessup must have enjoyed himself,” Lydia said. “He didn’t arrive home until just a few minutes ago.”

  “Hmm?” Cecily looked up distractedly. She was still smarting over the looks on the male Henshaw’s faces when she talked about her ranch. “I suppose so.”

  “Jessup was with you all day?” Marcus asked. Something in his tone made Cecily sit up and take notice.

  “No. He drove me home and spent some time with my foreman. I can’t remember what time he left, but it was awhile ago. He must have gone somewhere else.”

  “Hmm,” Marcus said. Now he looked troubled.

  The remainder of the meal was quiet. Cecily thought maybe Lydia mentioned Jessup on purpose. Why did the other woman hate her so much? She had always seemed to like her before the marriage. She always had a kind word when they happened to meet. Surely she couldn’t really think Marcus would ever be trapped in a marriage he didn’t want. Couldn’t she tell her son was happy?

  Or was he? Maybe that was the problem. Maybe because Lydia knew him better she could tell he was unhappy when Cecily couldn’t. Maybe he was already regretting their hasty marriage and that’s why Lydia was being so cool to her. He did look unhappy now as he sat sullenly beside her, picking at his food. As soon as the meal was finished he excused himself and left the house.

  “May I help you with the cleanup?” Cecily offered.

  “No.” Lydia said. She stood and started to clear the table.

  “Give her time,” Evan said gently. “Mathew’s loss was a terrible blow to her. She hasn’t been herself lately, and she and Marcus have always been close.”

  Cecily nodded and tried not to let her expressive face reveal how upset she was. Things were going down the tubes at an alarming rate. “Thank you,” she whispered and scurried off to her bedroom before she lost control completely.

  She lay on the bed and indulged in a few tears. She always assumed that as soon as she turned eighteen her life would magically fall into place. No more would she deal with the uncertainty and emotion of her adolescence. Yet here she was, two ye
ars past her eighteenth birthday and still riding an emotional roller coaster. Her father was in prison, her ranch needed constant attention, her husband was angry with her, and she was living with strangers who begrudged her presence. The three days in Las Vegas had been the happiest and best of her life. Now just a couple of days later, her happiness was slipping away like sand through her fingers, and she didn’t know why.

  She didn’t hear Marcus enter the room, but there was no mistaking his presence when he lay down beside her and gathered her close to his chest.

  “Are you sorry we got married?” he asked.

  “No. Are you?”

  “No.” He smoothed his hand down her hair. “You’re young, Lee. You have more oats to sew.”

  “I don’t want oats. I want you.”

  “Jessup is a womanizer. I don’t want you around him.”

  “I wasn’t around him,” she said. “He gave me a ride and he wanted to see my horses.”

  “I don’t want you showing another man your horses.”

  She laughed, but her humor quickly fled. “Your mom hates me.”

  “No she doesn’t,” he said. “I’ll admit she’s having a harder time with the marriage than I thought, but she doesn’t hate you. No one could hate you.”

  She blew out a breath. He would never see the truth, just like Dante would never believe anything bad about their mother.

  “Men,” she huffed.

  He laughed. “You got awfully dusty today.”

  “I worked hard,” she said defensively.

  “What I meant to say was I think you’re in need of a shower.”

  She sat up, affronted that he would insult her when they hadn’t been married a week.

  “And so am I,” he added.

  His meaning started to register. She smiled and kissed him, and they headed for the bathroom together.