by Darcy Daniel
“That’s it,” she said when the end of the hose cleared the water.
Anthea followed Cole to the river’s edge where he found the end of the hose. Sure enough, river sand had it entirely blocked. Cole took a screwdriver from his tool belt and pierced the sand plug. After removing most of the blockage, he washed the rest away in the water.
“Here, I’ll drag it back in,” she offered.
“You sure you can manage on your own?”
She almost said, “Of course I can, I’m Alex Stark,” but thankfully managed to bite her lip before the words escaped. This wasn’t the time, though she wondered if there ever would be a good time to tell him the truth.
“I’ll give it a try.” She thought it only fair since he’d already put his work clothes on and she was still in her underwear. Anthea waded into the water and got the hose into position.
While Cole reconnected the hoses, she dressed beneath the willow tree. “You know that rope you used to get here? That’s the only thing on this whole farm that would tell anyone you’re blind.”
She watched as he screwed the hose clamp tight and smiled. “It’s the only thing I’d let my grandfather change for me.”
“But why? Why not let them do whatever they wanted to help you?”
Finished clamping the hose, he took a few steps toward her. “Because I didn’t want to inconvenience them any more than I already had. They’d lost their daughter in the worst possible way, and because of me, barely had a chance to grieve for her. On top of that, they had to raise another kid, something I’m sure they weren’t counting on at their age. Let alone a damaged one. They’d had enough changes in their lives. They didn’t need me changing their farm as well. Besides, I’d explored every inch of the place, I could picture it in my mind. I still can. And that helps.”
“But you don’t know anywhere else that well.”
He lowered his head, shook it. “I’m sure if I’d lived in town my whole life before I went blind, then I’d be comfortable there—I wouldn’t have had a choice—but that’s not the case. It’s not that I don’t want to leave this place, it’s just…”
“I can imagine how scary it must be. I know if I’d been dropped here blindfolded and told to find my way around, I’d be lost… No sense of space or where anything is… I’d be terrified.”
He took the last few steps toward her, reaching for her. She took his hand and guided him to her. He drew her close, cupped her face in his warm hands.
“Thank you for understanding. But I know you. Yeah, you’d be scared, but that wouldn’t stop you, would it?”
She wouldn’t tell him any more lies. Shaking her head, she said, “But it didn’t stop you either. Don’t you get that? That trip into town might not have turned out how you wanted it to, but you tried. That’s all anyone can do.”
She watched as his eyes searched for hers, but didn’t quite connect. Then he kissed her, a sweet, gentle kiss filled with nothing but love.
Heading to the house, they walked side by side through the Paulownias, Cole with one hand on the rope as a guide. It was almost dark under the thick canopy, and she bumped against his side. He found her hand, held it.
She smiled, enjoying the sweetness of holding his hand, just the two of them, alone in this beautiful place. The thought of doing this on a regular basis made her heart flutter. As her mind drifted to whether or not that might be possible, she pushed the thought aside. She didn’t want to get into that just yet. All she wanted was to enjoy this night, be close to him, love him. The rest could wait, couldn’t it?
As they emerged from the plantation and rounded the house, she froze.
On the road, a procession of cars travelled toward his driveway. One turned in, then another.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Cars. There’s a long line of cars pulling into your driveway.”
“Ah, hell. I’d completely forgotten about that.”
“About what?”
“It’s barbecue night.”
She tried to pull away, but his grip on her hand tightened. “Cole. They’ll see me. I’ll just hide in the bedroom. No one’ll go in there, right?”
“Wait.”
She watched his face in the fading light. He seemed on the verge of telling her something, but he shook his head and said, “Stay. As yourself. They’re great people.”
How could she stay as herself? Someone would spill the beans, and if he discovered she was Anthea Cane… She wanted to tell him. But not right now, not tonight, not with a bunch of people about to descend upon them. She would tell him tomorrow.
“No,” she said. “It’s okay. You have a good time.”
This time he let her slip away.
Chapter Fourteen
Anthea raced inside through the back door and bolted into the spare bedroom. She flung open the wardrobe and snatched the first dress she could find. If she was going to hide in Cole’s bedroom, she at least deserved to be comfortable.
As the sound of slamming car doors reached her, she hurried into Cole’s bedroom, closed the door, slid the small bolt home and breathed a sigh of relief. Even if someone should venture this way, they couldn’t open the door and find her.
After switching on the overhead fan, she stripped off the work clothes and slipped on her dress, the fabric cool and silky as it clung to her skin.
Flopping on the bed, she stared at the rotating blades above. The air swirled gently and, although it wasn’t the same as the air-conditioning she was used to, she liked the way it brushed over her skin and pushed at her hair slightly.
While she lay there, music started playing on the stereo. She rose, padded barefoot to the door and pressed an ear against the wood.
She could hear voices, laughter, the clinking of glasses.
Disappointment flooded in. She wanted nothing more than to be out there. Even though she was usually the center of attention and enjoyed being surrounded by people in just these types of situations, the social interaction wasn’t what she longed for. She wanted to be by Cole’s side. But she’d boxed herself into a corner so well she’d made it impossible to be with him and meet his friends. And she wanted to. From everything Cole had told her, this was a close community, a community of people who cared about each other and helped each other when the need arose.
Nothing like the superficial city, where everybody was out to get what they could for themselves.
Why, she wondered, had she ever thought Mayfield was a place to run away from?
Of course, she knew the answer. The memories of her mother had been too painful, and she’d buried them too deep to dredge up again. But when she’d returned, hadn’t her heart lifted with those memories? They were wonderful, yet somehow she’d managed to convince herself that it was best to forget and move on with her life.
Big mistake, she knew that now. She should have embraced those memories always. At the time, she believed her father and Ethan were right when they fled the town and told her to forget, to concentrate of starting a brand-new life. And as time went by and images of Mattie came to her, she’d been conditioned to push them from of her mind. It had become second nature to resist those memories.
But those memories were good for her. Even in death, her mother could still teach her things. Teach her how to love a man, how to be a better woman.
Cole, on the other hand, had a very good reason for not wanting to remember. It seemed his memories only held horror. Maybe if she’d lived here when he went through that terrible ordeal, she might have realized how blessed she was to have wonderful memories of her own mother. She thought of the pain it must cause Cole whenever those thoughts surfaced, and felt a surge of compassion she hadn’t known existed. She completely understood why he shut himself off from the world, but she also knew what he was missing by doing so.
As she moved away from the door and sat on Cole’s side of the bed, she snapped on the bedside lamp. Lying down, she let her body unfurl on top of the covers, and wondered what he was doing amongst the happy crowd.
* * *
Meat sizzled on the barbecue. Cole chatted with brothers Bill and Carl Grady as they tended to the food. They were good friends and hard workers when Cole needed them, although they didn’t get together often enough since they also had their own farm to run.
“So,” Bill said. “Where’s that new farmhand of yours?”
Cole was sure he detected a note of amusement in Bill’s voice.
“Yeah, Cole. We wanna check him out, make sure he’s not cheatin’ you,” said Carl.
“He’s not cheating me,” Cole said. Wait a minute. What was going on here? “Didn’t Karin explain the situation to you?”
They both laughed, and one of them—he couldn’t be sure which—clapped him on the shoulder.
“Course she did. We’re just checkin’ to see if you remembered, you know, that you’ve got a smokin’-hot movie star livin’ under your roof,” Carl said in a hushed voice.
“I haven’t forgotten,” he assured them.
“Almost seemed like it for a second there. So where is she?”
Cole released a long breath. “She won’t be attending.”
“Aw, jeez. And here we were lookin’ forward to givin’ her a hard time. That’s the plan, right?”
Cole felt like an absolute heel. At that moment, he couldn’t fathom why he started all this in the first place. “Ah, sort of,” he said.
“Sort of?”
Cole listened to them snicker.
“Or maybe you sorta changed your mind and got the hots for her instead? Hell, I would’ve.”
His face burned with embarrassment. They must have noticed, because they burst into laughter.
“Think you hit the nail on the head there, bro.”
“Looks like it.”
“Why don’t you two smart asses concentrate on cooking?” Cole said. “Smells like something’s burning.”
“Ah, hell!” one of them yelled. “I thought you were watchin’ this?”
“I thought you were,” the other argued.
Cole took the opportunity to escape and carefully threaded his way along the crowded veranda. The brothers must have noticed his hasty retreat, because even over the music and chatter, their laughter trailed after him.
Let them have their fun, he thought. They had no idea what was really happening.
On his way toward the other end of the veranda, people stopped him almost every step of the way. Each conversation was the same, a brief greeting followed by questions about how his new farmhand was working out. They seemed to take great pleasure in being in on the joke, and none were too happy that Anthea wouldn’t be making an appearance.
By the time he reached the other end of the veranda, all he wanted to do was find Anthea and escape. Leaning against the railing, he listened to all the people around him, yet felt utterly alone without Anthea by his side.
How could someone have become such an important part of his life in just two weeks? His chest tightened as the thought of returning to a life without her took hold. It seemed impossible.
“Hey, Cole,” a man said from behind him.
He turned. “Mike?”
“Yeah. What’cha doin’ with a book?”
“What?”
“This book here. The Farmer’s Wife. Don’t sounds like your kinda thing, even if ya could see to read.”
The chatter grew quiet. He knew without a doubt that people within earshot were staring.
“You know whose it is,” Cole said through gritted teeth.
“Ah, that’s right. Hey, maybe she wants to be your wife.”
People chuckled and once again blood rushed to his face. What was with everyone tonight?
“Give me that,” a woman said. He recognized her voice. Karin. A moment later, she grabbed his arm and guided him further along the veranda, away from the guests. That’s when he realized why his friends had been behaving strangely.
“Have you been telling everyone that I’ve…?” He trailed off, not wanting to speak the words aloud yet, not until he’d had the chance to tell Anthea first.
“That you’ve what?” she asked in a far too innocent voice.
“Nothing,” he said. So much for keeping secrets around here. Though why he was surprised, he had no idea.
“Cole, I saw what happened today in town. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“What on earth possessed you to leave the farm?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. I should’ve stayed in the car, that’s all.”
“So you’re not hurt?”
“I said I’m fine.”
“If you say so,” she said. “But why on earth would you get in the car with her? She’s so irresponsible.”
Cole felt a fierce need to protect Anthea. “Just watch it, Karin. If it wasn’t for her, Meg would be dead.”
Instead of biting back like he expected, she simply said. “So you’re defending her. Very interesting.”
He knew exactly what she was implying, and just because it was true, didn’t mean he had to admit it. Not to her, not to anyone she’d been spreading the rumor to either. So once again, he escaped through the crowd, found the front door and slipped inside.
All he wanted to do was check on Anthea, be with her for a few moments. But as he moved along the hallway and past the living room, footsteps hurried toward him.
“Cole. Glad I found you. It’s Graham.”
Reluctantly, he held out his hand. “Graham. Can’t thank you enough for saving Meg.”
Graham gave his hand a firm shake. “Wasn’t just me. That pretty lady of yours had a lot to do with it. If she hadn’t managed to get Meg into the clinic so fast, it would’ve been another story.”
All Cole really heard was “that pretty lady of yours.” He liked the sound of that, liked it a lot.
“She was quite concerned about Meg, given that she’s not even her dog. Bet that’s got something to with you, though.”
Was everyone trying to play matchmaker? Did they think that just because he was blind, he couldn’t see how wonderful she was? Besides that, none of them knew her at all, not the way he did. Not even Karin.
The music in the living room stopped and Mike’s distinctive voice yelled, “Hey, Cole? Where are you?”
“Sorry, Graham,” he said, glad for the distraction. “I’d better see to this.”
He hurried into the living room. “What’s wrong?”
“Just wonderin’ what CD you want on next?”
“Something a little more relaxing maybe.”
“You got it. Greatest love songs comin’ up.”
Cole opened his mouth to protest, then snapped it shut. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. As he turned to leave, he had a thought and stopped.
“Mike? Is there a spider in here by any chance?”
“Yeah, ya got one in the corner over there.”
“Can’t do me a favor and get rid of it, can you?” he asked.
“Since when’ve you been worried about spi— Oh, I get it. It’s someone else who’s scared of ‘em.”
“Could be,” he admitted.
“No prob,” Mike said.
Almost there, Cole thought as he hurried into the kitchen, found a bottle of wine in the fridge and poured two glasses.
When footsteps thudded in, he froze.
“Hey, Cole,” a man said. “Jimmy’s about to tell one of his famous stories. You coming?”
“Be right there,” he lied. He waited for the footsteps to recede, then grabbed the wineglas
ses and headed to the doorway closest to the bedroom.
“Where are you escaping to?” Karin asked from behind him.
He stopped, kept his back to her. “The bathroom,” he lied again.
“With two glasses of wine?”
Damn it. Of all the nights to have a barbecue, it had to be this one. He sighed in frustration and faced Karin.
“Okay, you caught me.”
He heard her move closer.
“You don’t want her to feel excluded or ignored, do you?”
He didn’t even know why Karin was asking. She knew anyway. So, it seemed, did everyone else.
“No. I don’t.”
She surprised him when she touched his arm and kissed his cheek.
“Well, it’s about time.” Then she swiveled him toward the doorway and gave him a light push.
Chapter Fifteen
Three slow knocks came from the other side of the bedroom door. Anthea scooted off the bed, tiptoed across the room and stood in front of the door. It could be anyone. On the other side, the music changed from upbeat pop to a slow love song. Had Cole done that?
“It’s me,” Cole said softly through the door.
Her heart skittered as she unbolted the lock. After he stepped inside, she quickly shut the door and locked it again. She moved toward him, and he offered her a glass of wine. She accepted it and took a small sip.
“Thanks. Sounds like everyone’s having a good time.”
Her eyes tracked him as he moved to the end of the bed and took a seat. “They are.”
“But not you?”
“Sure I am,” he said.
As she sat beside him, she could see that wasn’t quite true. “Then what’re you doing in here?”
Stalling, Cole took a long sip of wine. “I just needed a break from the noise.”
She studied his face. That wasn’t true either.
“Hope you’re not staring again,” he said.
Playfully, she gave his arm a light punch. “How do you do that?”
He shook his head, smiled and bumped his shoulder against hers. “Come to the party with me.”