“Yes. What’s your point?”
“Did you have him look into the sort of life she’s been leading since you last saw her?”
“What the devil kind of question is that to be asking? Are you implying that there’s something shady about Lizzy? If you are, you couldn’t be more off base. She’s a fine woman. Now, I’ve had about all I can take of your innuendos and slurs. Maybe it’s just my comeuppance for putting in my two cents worth about Lacey, but I was wrong then and you are wrong now. Am I making myself clear?” he said, angrier than he’d ever been with his son.
Apparently Kevin sensed his wrath. He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Dad. You’re right. It’s none of my business.”
“Thank you.”
“You will stay in touch, though?”
“I’m in New Mexico, not some primitive backwoods in the Amazon. They’ve got phones here. I’ll use ‘em. Now stop worrying before Lacey comes after me for ruining your recuperation. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Dad.” There was a hesitation, then, “I do love you, you know.”
Brandon felt the sting of unexpected tears. “I love you, too, Kevin. Give my love to Lacey and Jason. And tell Dana she is not to have that baby until I get back.”
“She says you already warned her. She also says if you want her to delay things one second longer than nine months, then you can come back here and lumber around in her place.”
Brandon was chuckling when he hung up. “I guess I’d better hurry Lizzy along, if I want to be back in Boston for the birth of that great-grandbaby,” he said as he closed the door to his room behind him.
* * *
In many ways, she and Brandon were perfectly suited traveling companions, Elizabeth thought as they took a midday break for lunch several days into the trip. In fact, she could already see that traveling with Brandon would be more torment than fulfillment, precisely because she was starting to recognize just how much she was destined to give up.
How would she explain walking away when it was obvious to anyone how compatible they were? She had a natural curiosity about everything, and Brandon seemed to have an unlimited store of knowledge and the patience to share it.
Even more important, they had similar views about the pace of their days. They lingered and explored. They enjoyed a stop for a glass of wine and idle conversation every bit as much as they did a visit to some must-see historical sight. Maybe they’d go home having missed a few places, but they’d have pleasurable impressions of everywhere they had been.
Impressions and snapshots, she corrected with a trace of amusement. She’d never seen a man so taken with a camera. He’d shot a dozen rolls of film already, most of it of her.
“What will you do with all those pictures?” she’d asked, laughing as he urged her to pose yet again.
“Carry `em in my wallet. Now just climb up on that boulder,” he’d insisted, pointing out a rocky ledge. “A little higher. Yes, that’s perfect,” he said as she teetered on the edge with a straight drop into a dried-up creek bed behind her. “This one will be a dandy.”
He’d been so positive of that, he had rushed the entire roll of film to a same-day photo shop and waited impatiently while they’d been developed. When the pictures were finally spread on the counter for his inspection, he zeroed in on his favorite, a long-distance shot with wildflowers spread at her feet. He nodded in satisfaction.
“That one,” he told the clerk. “Make me an eleven-by-fourteen print. In fact, make me four of them.”
Lizzy stared at him. “What on earth for?”
“One each for your daughters, one for my den and one for my bedside until the day I can talk you into marrying me.”
She was stunned into silence by the sweet gesture.
“What are you thinking?” he demanded.
“I thought you always knew.”
“Not always. Spill it. What put that look on your face?”
“I was just thinking what a remarkable man you are.”
He nodded in satisfaction. “Good, then. We’re making progress.”
Some days he marked the advancement of their relationship in tiny, intangible measures. On other occasions, he anticipated giant leaps. Elizabeth liked the quiet, leisurely, undemanding days the best. They’d courted once under terrible time constraints. There was something tantalizing about setting an undemanding pace, especially with a man used to grabbing what he wanted without a second’s thought or effort.
“I’m surprised with the kind of life you lead, that you don’t want to rush through everything,” she told him as they lingered over a ridiculously large lunch that began with a spicy corn chowder and ended with light-as-air sopaipillas dusted with cinnamon and drizzled with honey.
“I’ve spent my whole life rushing. I deserve to slow down and savor things,” he said, his glance fixed on her mouth in a way that left no doubts at all about just what he’d like to be savoring. She caught herself licking her lips self-consciously as he added, “I’d rather see one thing in a day and enjoy it, than visit a dozen places and wind up remembering none of them.”
“Have you been to New Mexico before?”
“No, but it was at the top of my list. I read an article sometime back about a small town called Chimayo between Santa Fe and Taos. We’ll go there one of these days.”
“Is one of the Indian pueblos there?”
“No, but there’s a family of weavers there that goes back seven generations to the early 1800s. I can’t wait to see how they work. A friend discovered them and sent me one of their small rugs.”
She regarded him with amusement. “Somehow I don’t think you’re nearly as committed to this idea of retirement as you say you are.”
“Kevin said much the same thing the other day.”
She regarded him curiously. “He called? When?”
“Tuesday. Wednesday. I’m not sure.”
“Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”
“I suppose because I didn’t want to get into the reason for his call.”
“Us,” she said bluntly. “He doesn’t approve of us traveling together.”
“Something like that.”
He reached across the table and brushed a strand of hair back from her face with a gentleness that had her heart constricting in her chest. There was so much affection in his touch, so much yearning in his eyes.
“I’m sorry his call upset you,” Lizzy said quietly.
“It didn’t upset me,” he said, though to her ears it didn’t sound as if there was much conviction behind the denial.
“Then why do you look so sad?”
Brandon smiled at her then. “I didn’t realize I did. Especially since being with you makes me very happy.”
“How long can that go on, though, if your son doesn’t approve?”
“Dammit, Lizzy, he’ll come around. Besides, we’re not a couple of teenagers who need permission to get married, much less to see each other.”
Though there was a glint of determination in his eyes and an unyielding strength behind his tough words, Lizzy couldn’t help but think Brandon was deluding himself. Kevin’s opinion mattered to him, just as Kate’s and Ellen’s mattered to her. She and Brandon were the kind of people who had always centered their lives around family. They couldn’t very well start denying the strength of the ties at this late date.
In the long run, though, what did it really matter? she thought with an air of resignation. She had no intention of ever marrying Brandon, so his relationship with his son would never be tested. It might get bruised a little perhaps, but it would never be irrevocably broken.
Determined to banish all dark thoughts for the remainder of whatever time they did have together, Elizabeth deliberately changed the subject. “Where are we going next?”
“I thought an art gallery,” he said eagerly.
“Perfect.”
At the gallery, though, she noted he seemed far more interested in a close inspection of the attire worn by the Indians in the spect
acular Western paintings, than he did in each artist’s skill with a brush.
That, added to the comments he’d made earlier about the town they would visit in a few days, gave her the leverage she knew she would need when the time came to send him back to Boston and for her to return to California alone.
Elizabeth thought of her argument often over the next few days, turning the precise words over and over in her head, preparing herself for the separation she knew was inevitable. In so doing, she knew she was robbing herself of the precious time they did have. The internal torment cast a pall over everything they did.
Instead of being grateful that Brandon continued to insist on being a perfect gentleman, retreating nightly to his own room, Elizabeth grew increasingly frustrated. She didn’t want her last memories of him to be of their increasingly strained conversations, their fleeting, innocuous touches. She tried her darnedest to recall the precise techniques of seduction practiced by some of the more skilled heroines in the books she read. Then she moaned aloud at the absurdity of her imitating them.
“The next thing you know, you’ll be calling up your granddaughter and asking to borrow her health class textbook,” she grumbled to herself as she tossed and turned through another night. “Silly, old woman,” she added for good measure, but she didn’t feel silly and she didn’t feel old. She felt like a woman who was falling in love all over again and the roller-coaster thrill of it was nearly irresistible.
The curtains in her room billowed as the dry, desert air stirred and sent its chill across the room and through her heart. Bleak thoughts of long, empty days tormented her.
“Lizzy, is something wrong?” Brandon inquired the next morning over his spartan breakfast of black coffee and the half grapefruit she’d insisted he add to his menu. “You have shadows under your eyes. Haven’t you been sleeping well?”
There was genuine concern in his voice, and for once his expression wasn’t smug.
Elizabeth toyed with her own grapefruit sections. “I’m fine,” she said without much spunk.
“We aren’t moving around too fast, are we? We could settle in one place for a few weeks, if you’d rather. Maybe Taos. We could be there this afternoon.”
“Are you sure you’ve seen everything you wanted to see in Santa Fe?”
“I’ve seen enough,” he said, which wasn’t really an answer to her question. “Now let me tell you more about Chimayo. We’ll stop there on the way to Taos.”
As they veered off the highway between Sante Fe and Taos, he began describing the small town, which was no more than a dot on the map, with an intimacy that suggested he’d been there often.
“Brandon, how many guidebooks did you read before you came to California?” she teased. “Is that all you did with your days after I left Boston?”
“No. I had no way of knowing we’d end up in New Mexico. This was just a spur-of-the-moment decision when I realized my being in California made you uncomfortable. I figured it was as good a place to run to as any.”
“Then how do you know so much about Chimayo?”
“Like I told you the other day, when you love textiles as much as I do, you stumble across other people who feel the same way. The Ortegas in Chimayo are like that from all I’ve read about them.”
She smiled faintly at his exuberance. “So this is a busman’s holiday, after all, despite those staunch denials you made the other day. I suppose you’ll want to adapt what you see and work it into the Halloran line for next year.”
“Maybe so. I admit to having an insatiable curiosity when it comes to this kind of thing. I think southwestern style is very popular these days. Wouldn’t hurt to tap into that market.”
In the showrooms, Brandon headed straight for the bright room to one side where a young man worked at his craft on a hand loom that was primitive by comparison to the modern machinery in Brandon’s Boston plant. Threads of darkest brown and indigo slowly formed a pattern in the beige rug he was creating.
Elizabeth found herself grinning as Brandon edged closer and closer to study the weaver’s technique. He asked one question, nodded at the response and fingered the yarns being used. That one question opened the floodgate to more.
Sensing that Brandon would be engaged for hours, Elizabeth explored the attached showroom and a second one next door. She picked up souvenirs for Ellen and Kate, books about the Southwest for her grandchildren and a small rug that would fit perfectly in her foyer for herself. Satisfied with her purchases, she lingered outdoors, taking in the unspoiled scenery.
When she finally went back inside, Brandon was still engrossed, this time with the woven jackets and vests on display. Elizabeth seized the evidence of his absorption and determined that the time was rapidly coming when she would have to use it as her only weapon to cut the ties between them.
Hours later, alone in a new hotel room, she stared silently out the window and prayed for the strength to do what had to be done, before she lost the will to do it at all.
The phone rang and she grabbed it, hoping that just this once Brandon’s iron will had weakened and he would come share the night with her. To her disappointment, it was Ellen’s voice that greeted her.
“Hi, Mom. I got your message, but I must say I’m surprised to catch you in this early.”
“Brandon and I are both morning people. We usually get started at dawn.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Ellen said, her voice thick with teasing innuendo.
“No, my darling daughter. Now, tell me, what’s happening in Los Angeles.”
“Nothing new here. I must say, though, that I’ve been wondering how things are going out there. You slipped out of town practically in the dead of night. Were you afraid Kate and I would talk you out of going?”
“Not you. You’re the sort who’d hold the ladder if someone wanted to climb up and carry me off to elope.”
“Kate, then?”
“Ellen, we both know how Kate reacts to anything she considers a betrayal of your father. Add that to her general view of romance and she’s probably not very happy with me now.”
“No, she isn’t,” Ellen admitted. “That’s why I’m calling. I barely prevented her from getting on a plane and flying off to rescue you.”
“It will probably make her feel better to know that I expect to be back in Los Angeles in a day or two.”
“Is Mr. Halloran coming with you?”
“No, dear. I think not.”
“But why?” she asked, her disappointment evident.
“I just think it’s best that way.”
“Okay, Mother, what’s going on? Did you two have a spat?”
“No. I just think it’s wiser if we don’t turn our lives upside down at this late date.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean? Surely you don’t think you’re too old to fall in love, especially with a man who’s obviously head over heels for you? As for getting married at your age, why not? I know some couples don’t because it affects their Social Security payments or something, but somehow I doubt that’s an issue with a man like Brandon Halloran. He looks as if he has buckets of money.”
“More likely barrels,” she said dryly. “I’m not saying we’ll lose touch entirely again, just that there’s no reason to commit to anything drastic.”
“Since when did you think of marriage as a drastic measure? That sounds like Kate talking, not you.”
“Dear, your sister may be foolish with regard to her own social life, but she does occasionally have a valid point.”
“Not about this,” Ellen argued. “Mother, if you’re having fun, don’t run away from it. Surely you don’t think you could be happy with one of those old geezers in polyester at the community center?”
“No. Maybe not,” she said wearily. “Darling, I’m very tired. It’s been a long day. We’ll discuss this more when I get home. Right now I’d like to get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Ellen agreed with obvious reluctance. “I love you.”
/> “I love you, too.” She just hoped that Ellen never discovered the lengths to which she was going to prove that.
* * *
Brandon was wakened from a sound sleep by the ringing of the phone. He fumbled for it, then said hello in a voice husky with sleep.
“Mr. Halloran?”
“Yes,” he said, his heart suddenly hammering at the unfamiliar voice. Kevin? Jason? Had something happened to one of them?
“This is Ellen Hayden, Elizabeth Newton’s daughter.”
What on earth? He struggled upright in the bed and clutched the receiver even tighter. “Yes, Ellen. What can I do for you?”
“I thought there was something you ought to know,” she said after a slight hesitation.
He heard a soft moan, then a mumbled comment that sounded something like, “Mother is going to kill me for this.”
He had a feeling she hadn’t meant him to hear the last remark. He swallowed a chuckle. “What do you think I should know?”
“Mother seems to have some crazy idea about packing up and coming home.”
Brandon felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “What? How do you know that? She hasn’t said anything like that to me. We’ve just begun to see all the places we’ve talked about going to.”
“That may be, but I just got off the phone with her and she told me she’d be back here in a day or so. When I asked why, she said some things that made absolutely no sense. I thought you ought to be prepared.”
His heart thudded dully. “Prepared how? I can’t very well hog-tie her and make her stay here with me, if she doesn’t want to.”
“But that’s exactly what I think you should do,” Ellen said with conviction. “I don’t mean hog-tie her exactly. Oh, you know what I mean. Just don’t take her words at face value. I’m convinced she’s in love with you, but she’s finding all kinds of excuses not to be. You do love her, don’t you? I probably should have asked that straight off.”
“I love her,” he said, his voice tight. “And thank you for the warning. Elizabeth won’t slip away from me, not without the fight of her life.”
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