The Cowgirl Who Loved Horses, Queens of Montana Bonus Book

by Vanessa Bartal

  Chapter 22

  They didn’t speak or touch for three days. The worst part for Cecily was seeing the gleeful, delighted look on Lydia’s face. Her only consolation was that Evan watched them with quiet concern, and Marcus looked as lonely and miserable as she felt.

  On the third day she offered him what she thought was an olive branch.

  “We talked about going to the fair this week,” she said. He looked at her in surprise. It was the first sentence she had spoken since their awful fight. “I wondered if you want to go with me today. Kitty and Dante are home for a long weekend, and they want me to go with them.”

  He wanted to go. The fair was a big deal in their community, and he had never missed going at least one day, but he had a lot of work to do.

  “I don’t think I can make it today,” he said reluctantly.

  Her anger at him was too fresh to register his reluctant tone. “Let me guess; you have work to do. I really hope by the time our children arrive you learn to delegate.”

  That stung. She should know better than to use their future children against him, he thought. “If you don’t learn to control your paranoia over my mother we’ll never get the chance to have any,” he said.

  “That’s for certain,” she agreed, and turned away before he could see her tears. The quick turn made her head spin and she stood still a moment to steady herself. “I’m going to the fair with my brother and best friend. Don’t wait up,” she said, storming from the house.

  It was a hot day, which was to be expected in August, but for some reason the heat was bothering Cecily more than usual.

  “Can we walk slower?” she asked Dante and Kitty. “You guys are sprinting today.”

  They looked at each other and smiled. “We may be a little bit excited this morning,” Kitty said demurely.

  Cecily stopped and grabbed her sleeve. “What? So help me spit it out and don’t beat around the bush, either of you.”

  Kitty’s face turned radiant. “Dante asked me to marry him last night.” She linked her arm through Dante’s and squeezed.

  Cecily started to cry, great heaving sobs so that Dante was forced to lead her off the path and hug her tightly. “I thought you would be happy,” he said.

  “I am,” she said between sobs. “That’s why I’m crying, dummy.”

  Dante looked at Kitty over Cecily’s head. Kitty shrugged. Cecily was freer with her emotions than she was, but she didn’t usually burst into hysterical weeping.

  “Tell me all about it, every detail,” Cecily said when she finally composed herself. “Let’s sit down. It’s too hot to keep walking.” She sat and fanned herself for a minute before turning to her brother. “Will you get me a soda, please?” He ambled off and she turned back to Kitty. “Okay, I got rid of him so you can tell me all the good stuff.”

  Kitty grinned. Her best friend knew her well. She would have edited if Dante stayed. “He took me to the woods.”

  Cecily interrupted. “Don’t tell me he took you to the shack where you guys were abducted.”

  “No,” Kitty said. “Although I probably would have found that funny. This was much more romantic. He took me to this little shack that Maggie and Mathew built a long time ago.” She paused, a pained expression flitting across her face. Maggie was still living in New York and trying to come to terms with Mathew’s loss. “Anyway, it’s sort of a special place. All of my sisters and our love interests have our names carved in the shack. We think of it like a wishing shack.”

  “I never figured you for a romantic,” Cecily said. Kitty was as practical and down to earth as they came.

  “You figured wrong,” Kitty said. “So anyway, he gave me this big speech about how he had been in love with me for most of our lives, quoted Shakespeare, and then asked me. It was beautiful.” She smiled dreamily.

  Cecily smiled, too, thinking of the way Marcus had proposed to her. It hadn’t been as eloquent or well thought out, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Suddenly she missed him like a fist to the gut.

  “Did you by any chance bring your cell phone?” she asked Kitty.

  “Yes,” Kitty said. She had bought a cell phone for the first time when she left for college, and she still carried it out of habit. It didn’t work on the ranch, but there was a cell tower in town. She handed it over with a knowing smile. “Missing your husband? It still feels weird to say that.”

  Cecily nodded and motioned to Kitty that she would be back in a moment. She walked some distance away so she could talk privately, but it went to voicemail.

  “Marcus, I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry for my whole part in our disagreement. I love you. I miss you, and I hope you’re having a good day. Tonight I would love it if we can spend some time making up.” She closed the phone and stared at it, disappointed she hadn’t been able to talk to him in person.

  The day felt more pleasant after that. She felt like she had done her part in putting things right between them, at least.

  “You know what’s odd?” she told Dante and Kitty.

  “What?” they asked in unison, and then smiled at each other.

  “No one has congratulated me on my marriage,” she said. Theirs was a small, tight knit community. She knew almost everyone she encountered at the fair.

  “That is weird,” Kitty said. “Maybe no one knows about it.”

  “But how would that be possible? I mean, this is possibly the most gossipy place on earth, unless…” She frowned, breaking off her thought. Unless someone purposed to keep it hushed up, she thought. Would her mother-in-law stoop to that level just to hurt Cecily? Or was she being paranoid as Marcus accused her?

  From then on everywhere they went she flashed her large diamond and platinum ring, and without fail she got the same response.

  “Did you get engaged to that friend of Dante’s?” people asked. “You know, the one with the weird name.”

  She didn’t have the heart to spread her own gossip, so she simply shook her head and left them wondering.

  “Someone call Guinness,” Dante said. “This is one for the record books. The biggest event of the decade in our town and absolutely no one knows about it.”

  Cecily tried to laugh with Kitty, but inside she was deeply hurt. Come to think of it, she should have known. After all, they hadn’t received any gifts and no one had mentioned holding a reception for them. That alone was unusual. She had been so blissfully happy that she hadn’t noticed the lack of congratulations until now.

  She could no longer hold in her hurt and her tears boiled over once more.

  “Cecily, really, what is the matter with you?” Dante asked as he put his arm around her and gave her a one-armed hug.

  She shook her head. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to tell him. “I’ve been working hard at the ranch. This is the first day off I’ve had in a while. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.” That was true. She did feel tired. Exhausted, even. She felt like she could curl up in the bed of their truck and take a long nap.

  On top of that she felt badly that she was dragging Kitty and Dante down and raining on their parade.

  “You are doing no such thing,” Kitty scolded after Cecily apologized to her. “You’re our family and we love you, even when you’re exhausted and emotional and have to stop at the bathroom every twenty minutes.” She froze.

  Cecily froze, too. “I’ve been drinking like a fish,” she said. “It’s a million degrees out here. And I have been working hard, and it’s made me exhausted.” She glanced at Dante looking at a display. She lowered her voice. “And Marcus and I had a huge argument and haven’t been speaking for a couple of days. I’m feeling emotional about that, I guess.”

  Kitty nodded sympathetically and looked relieved. If Cecily and Marcus were having problems, they certainly didn’t need to add the complication of a child into the mix. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. “You know I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I don’t know,” Cecily said. She was stil
l feeling her way as a bride. She didn’t want to share personal things that were between her and Marcus, but she had always confided her problems to Kitty. “Let me think about it awhile. I don’t want to do anything to make things worse.”

  Kitty squeezed her arm. “That sounds wise.”

  Cecily grinned. “For a change, you mean. Go ahead and say it; I dare you.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of saying that. To your face,” Kitty added under her breath, and laughed hysterically when Cecily pinched her waist. Kitty was ticklish.

  By the end of the day Cecily was hot, exhausted, and ready to go home to her husband, but there was a dance that night and she knew Kitty and Dante wanted to stay for it. She contented herself by standing on the sidelines and watching the happy couples dance by.

  “Want to have a go at it?” a familiar voice asked.

  “Oh, hello, Jessup,” Cecily said. She smiled faintly. “I see they let you out of the barn today.”

  “Barely,” he said dramatically. “You didn’t answer my question. Want to dance?” He gave her what was probably his most practiced and endearing smile, but she was immune to his charms. She didn’t care for a man who would hit on a married woman, if that was what was doing. It was difficult to tell because he was subtle.

  “I don’t think I have the energy for it,” she said, which was true. But the main reason she refused him was because she wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole. She was too well aware of Marcus’s jealousy to so much as glance at him on most days.

  “You do look a little worn out,” Jessup said. He studied her with a worried frown that was far too possessive for Cecily’s taste. “Let me buy you a soda.”

  She was parched and thought a soda seemed innocent enough. “That would be great, thanks. Something without caffeine, although as tired as I feel I doubt it will matter much tonight.”

  He smiled and ambled off to retrieve her drink.

  He returned and she sipped at it gratefully. “Thanks,” she said. She turned her attention back to the dancers and he did, too. She wanted to ask him why he wasn’t here with someone, but she thought that might hint at too much interest on her part. She was curious about him, but in the way she was curious about everyone she met. She liked to know people’s stories.

  She took another sip of the soda and frowned. She had been too warm to eat much at supper, and now she was paying the piper. Her stomach was full of sugar and protesting.

  “Excuse me,” she said, turning to find a restroom. She turned too quickly and swayed on the spot. Jessup’s arm’s reflexively shot out to catch her. It was just bad luck Marcus chose that moment to find her.

  “You’re going to want to take your hands off my wife now,” he said in a barely controlled manner Cecily had never heard him use.

  Jessup, however, wasn’t intimidated, even if the man speaking was his boss. “Then you’d better put yours on her because she’s about to fall over.”

  Marcus’s look changed from one of menace to alarm. “Lee?” he asked questioningly.

  “I’m all right,” she said shakily. “I had too much soda and not enough dinner, and the heat got to me.” She lightly shook off Jessup’s hands from her upper arms. “Thank you,” she said, politely but stiffly.

  “I think I should get you home,” Marcus said, and his voice was once again cool.

  She nodded. She really wasn’t feeling well. “I need to find Kitty and Dante.”

  “I’ll find them with you,” he said. He put his arm around her and led her to where her brother and best friend were dancing.

  “Hey, about time you showed up,” Dante said cheerfully, oblivious to the tension between them. “Your wife has been a lonely, weepy mess without you.”

  That softened Marcus somewhat. “She was with you all day?” he couldn’t help but ask.

  Cecily blushed crimson at the assertion and jerked out of his grasp.

  “Yes,” Dante said warily. He had no idea what prompted the question or his sister’s reaction to it.

  Marcus nodded, feeling foolish now. “I think she’s not feeling well. I’m going to take her home. I hope we’ll see you again before you leave.” He put his arm around Cecily and had to clamp it there when she tried to pull away from him again.

  By the time they reached his truck she was struggling again, but this time with more urgency. He finally let her go and watched as she ran to a trash can and heaved into it. He came to stand beside her and held her hair away from her face.

  “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you home.” He bent and swept her into his arms before carrying her to the truck.

  She was sick and miserable and tired and she started to cry. Loudly. “I wasn’t with Jessup,” she said brokenly. “I only saw him a second before you showed up. He bought me a soda because I was sick.”

  He deposited her in the truck and stood beside her, unable to move away even for the short time it would take to get to his side of the vehicle.

  “I know that in my head, Lee, but when my heart thinks of you with another man, I go crazy. I’m sorry. For everything.”

  She pulled him close and wept against his neck. “I love you so much, and I missed you like crazy, and I’m going to throw up again.” She moved away and held out her arms to him. He lifted her down and held her hair again while she threw up. She leaned against the truck and he pressed a worried hand to her forehead.

  “I hope you didn’t get dehydrated today,” he said.

  She shook her head. “I drank a lot. I had too much sugar on an empty stomach. It happens to me almost every time I go to the fair. I get sick if I don’t eat properly.” She grimaced. “It’s embarrassing to have you see me like this.”

  He chuckled. “We’re just living up to our vows, baby girl. Do you think you can make it home now?”

  She nodded, but she still felt uncertain. “At least I’ll try to give you advanced warning before I get sick.”

  “That’s all any man could hope for,” he said, feeling somewhat reassured when she gave him a wan smile.