Katriona's Keeper (The Alphabet Mail-Order Brides Book 11)

by Lynn Winchester

  Billy’s humor died a swift death.

  “You serious?” he asked, his tone sharp.

  Race, realizing there was something he was missing, said, “Why? Where do I need to be?”

  Billy cursed under his breath.

  “You’re going to miss your wife’s school’s grand opening today?”

  His heart plummeted into his boots. He swallowed, barely able to catch his breath.

  “That’s today?” he rasped.

  Billy nodded. “The whole town is going to be there. They are all excited about this new vocational school they’ve been hearing about.”

  Everyone was going to be there to support his wife…except him.

  And like a lightning strike on a clear day, it hit him. What he’d been missing all those months.

  “There’s no way in hades I’m missin’ my wife’s important day.”

  Without a backward glance, Race mounted Twister and kicked her into a gallop. As he raced toward town, desperate to get to his wife, he counted himself a fool for missing all the signs.

  Her tense quiet. Her far off looks with sad eyes. Her tepid affections when they used to be like fire together. And that morning, when she’d been breathtakingly glorious in her new dress—she’d been ready to go to her school’s opening without him. She would face the crowds, the townsfolk, without her husband by her side. And she’d fully expected it, too. Because he had failed to show any interest in what she was passionate about. He’d ignored the topic out of fear, out of protecting his own pride. And in doing so, he’d ignored what mattered most to the woman he loved.

  Never again.

  * * *

  Katriona waved at the townsfolk as they gathered around the dais and podium that Mr. La Fontaine had insisted be built for the grand opening. Excitement and elation sang through her, followed by abject sadness and disappointment.

  Race wouldn’t be there. He didn’t care. Get used to it.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she forced a smile, offering a nod of welcome to another couple with young children. When Tilly had said the whole town would be there that day, she was right. There were hundreds of people crowding into that little corner of Dry Bayou, all of them waiting to walk inside the brand-new school house for the brand-new type of school. She already had six-month’s worth of students signed up for classes with the various instructors. Mr. La Fontaine was so impressed with the numbers, he offered to purchase the land the school was on for her.

  Finally, after years of dreaming and months of planning, she owned her own school. She had accomplished so much—thanks to a wonderful town full of amazing people with such large, giving hearts.

  The fact that she couldn’t count her own husband among that number made her numb.

  It’s better to be numb than in agony.

  “What’s the pucker-face for, Kat?” Ray inquired as she stepped up beside Katriona, completely ignoring Katriona’s previous request to not call her “Kat.” Katriona sounded so much more professional, and now that she was the owner of a vocational school, she needed to be the consummate professional.

  “I don’t have a pucker-face,” Katriona argued, lifting her chin proudly. “I am just thinking.”

  Ray planted her hands on her hips—as she so often did when she was preparing to give Katriona an earful. “And what are you thinkin’ about that makes you look like you sucked on a lemon?”

  A laugh tumbled out, even though she hadn’t felt like laughing moments before.

  “I am thinking about my school, and how I have finally fulfilled my dream…”

  “I hear a but in there,” Ray drawled. “But what?”

  Katriona, standing at the back of the dais in the shadow of the school building, turned to look at Ray. “But I wish Race were here with me.” There, she’d admitted it. Now Ray would do what Ray always did, give her opinion whether she wanted it or not. But she loved that about Ray. She could count on Ray speaking truth in love and sass.

  “And why isn’t he? Did you even tell him about the grand openin’?”

  Ray knew her so well.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Ray grunted then raised her hand to wave her finger in Katriona’s face. “Kat, have you lost your ever lovin’ mind?”

  Alarmed by the storm gathering in Ray’s eyes, Katriona stammered, “But—but he doesn’t care about the school. He never wants to talk about it. I didn’t think he’d come even if I tied him to the back of his own horse.”

  “And how do you know he wouldn’t have come? Did you ask him?” Ray inquired, her copper-colored eyebrows arching high.

  Fatigue—emotional, physical, and mental—crashed down on her. Her shoulders sagged, the feeling of hopelessness hovering over her.

  “No.” Her answer exploded out of her chest with her breath.

  “And why not?”

  “Because the last time I tried to talk with him about the school, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but there.” Like he wanted a wife who needed keeping.

  Sour coated her tongue, reminding her of the taste of her bitter disappointing marriage.

  It doesn’t matter that he isn’t here. You’re here, right where you want to be. It shouldn’t matter if the one you want to share it with isn’t here.

  “I don’t need him here, anyway. He’ll just stand there scowling at me because I did exactly what he said I couldn’t.”

  “But…you said that he’d shown interest, that you showed him where the school was gonna be built, that he asked you questions. What happened?”

  She shrugged, hoping the people gathering couldn’t see her looking less than jovial.

  “Maybe he was just humoring me. After that, we went right back to living beside each other without actually being a part of each other’s lives. It was lonely, Ray. I am lonely. But I refuse to let that stop me. I do what needs doing, that has always been my rule.”

  “And has followin’ the rule made you happy?”

  She thought about that for a moment before answering, “No, but neither has falling in love with Race.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “And once again, thank you for coming to share this special day with me. Your support has meant the world to me.” Her voice carried over the large crowd and straight into his heart.

  Katriona hadn’t noticed him there in the crowd, but her words felt like they were meant for him alone—if only to remind him of what he’d failed to provide for his wife. Certainly, he provided a home, but it was a cold and lonely place. He provided food for supper and breakfast, but those had become tense, uncomfortable meals, where the silence spoke louder than Katriona ever had. And he gave of his body every night, but what was physical intimacy without the sharing of passions and souls?

  “Now,” Katriona continued, “without further ado, I now declare the Wigg Vocational School open!” The applause was deafening, but he hadn’t gone deaf before he heard the name of the school. Wigg. Not Tucker. An invisible foot kicked him in the stomach.

  Go! Tell her!

  As the people around him lined up to file through the front door of the school, he pushed through the mass to get to his wife. But by the time he reached the dais, she wasn’t there, instead, Ray glared at him from where his wife had been standing.

  “Ray,” he acknowledged cautiously.

  She sniffed, crossing her arms. “Horace.”

  Good Lord, Katriona really must be mad at me if Ray is calling me Horace.

  “Where’s Katriona?” he asked, moving in closer so he didn’t have to yell.

  Ray threw her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the school.

  “She’s in there, showin’ off the school.”

  He didn’t wait for Ray to lay into him like he knew she wanted to. He cut the line, pushing through the door to step into the building that hadn’t been there when he’d been there last.

  His breath left him in a whoosh of awe.

  It was beautiful. The school was made up of three rooms; a classroom,
a workshop complete with several child-sized work benches, and a small back office—with a desk and a set of shelves—where Katriona could do all the paperwork. The classroom was graced with solidly built desks in neat rows, and each desk had its own small slate and piece of chalk. The room could hold sixteen students, and Race had no doubt each seat would be taken the very first day of classes.

  Not finding his wife in the building, he ventured out the back door facing the livery, and that’s where he found her. Leaning back against the building, her face tipped toward the sky, and tears sliding down her cheeks.

  Heart lurching, he took a step toward her, the desire to take her into his arms and comfort her almost too strong to bear.

  “Katriona,” he said, coming to a dead stop when she dropped her head and pinned him with eyes so full of pain it gutted him. “Oh, darlin’.” His voice was choked with his own sadness, his own regrets. And he had so many of them. He strode to her, pulling her into his embrace and holding her there as the tears continued falling. She cried silently, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear her sorrow on what was supposed to be her day of gladness.

  He hated that she was crying at all, but to feel her, to be there for it, it felt right.

  “Katriona, darlin’,” he murmured into her hair, soft and silky against his chin. “Please…stop cryin’.”

  She shuddered then pulled away, but not before wiping her tears and nose on his shirt. He didn’t mind. He’d be whatever she needed him to be in that moment—even a kerchief.

  She straightened up, squaring her shoulders. Despite the streaks of tears on her face, she looked right lovely with her face scrunched up and her lips pouting.

  “Race, what are you doing here? Don’t you have work to do on the ranch?” she said, her tone accusing.

  “Why would I be anywhere else on my wife’s most important day?” He reached out to touch her but she stepped out of reach.

  “You don’t care about me or my school, you just want some pet to keep and a cook to make your meals. Well, I will do what needs to be done at home, and I will run my school. You don’t have to worry about missing a meal or your drawers being dirty.” She huffed then made to go back inside the school.

  Terror exploding in him, he grabbed at her, desperate to tell her the truth, what she really meant to him.

  She flinched and stopped, but she didn’t turn around. Her chest rising and falling with quick breaths.

  “Please, just let me explain. Give me one minute,” he pleaded, everything within him vibrating with worry. What if she wouldn’t listen? What if he never had the chance to tell her…

  “I love you!” he cried. “Please, Katriona, I love you.”

  He tightened his hand on her arm and held his breath, waiting for her response.

  She sniffed then turned, her face pale and her eyes wide.

  Her chin in the air, she asked hesitantly, “You…you love me?”

  Hope took a slow breath within him, and he breathed with it.

  “Yes,” he said, his voice trembling. “I love you so much, and I am so sorry that I haven’t been there for you, supportin’ you like a husband should support his wife.”

  “Then why weren’t you? Why did you make me feel like nothing I did mattered to you? Like—like you could spend the whole of your life listening to yourself talk and not once wonder about what mattered to me? I sat there at that table, every day, wishing, hoping you would ask me about my school, or even just about my day, but you didn’t care, Race—”

  “I did care. I do care.”

  She huffed, disbelief scrawled into her features.

  “I do, darlin’, I do care. It’s just that…well, when I let my pride tell you that your school wouldn’t work, it hurt said pride that I was wrong. And now, I couldn’t be happier that I was wrong, that you were right, and your dream has come true. I just…” he groaned, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I just wished I had been part of your dreams when I had the chance.”

  “Race,” she said his name like a prayer, holding out the single syllable as if it were a lifeline to him. “You could have asked. You could have asked me anything, and I would have answered—I wanted you to ask, so I could share my excitement with you. I died a little every time we went to bed, silence stretching between us.”

  He drew closer to her, until he was standing before her, above her, staring down into the face of the woman he adored. The woman he’d failed.

  “I was scared. I thought that, if we talked about your school, I’d let my pride take control and we’d end up fightin’. I didn’t want to fight with you, Katriona. So, I thought it was better that we—”

  “Lived as quietly and dispassionately as cloistered nuns?” she interjected.

  He chuckled, his body remembering their long, wondrous nights. “No, definitely not like nuns,” he drawled, teasingly.

  She bit her lip, her face flushing. “Then what? Your pride was to dictate the rest of our lives?”

  “I was wrong, Katriona. So wrong. And if you give me the chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life listenin’ to you talk about your school, and I’ll even teach a course on horse husbandry—or whatever else you want me to teach.”

  She ducked her head, a slight grin on her face. “What makes you think I’d want you teaching at my school?”

  At her teasing tone, he leaned down and brushed his lips over her forehead, breathing her in.

  “Even if you don’t, I’ll be there for you. I love you, Katriona Tucker.”

  She shivered. “And I love you, Race Tucker.”

  Those six words were the most beautiful words he’d ever heard, and his heart soared with hope beneath its wings.

  “And you’ll forgive me…again, for bein’ a prideful dope?”

  Katriona giggled pressing her forehead into his mouth, and he kissed her again.

  “Of course, I’ll forgive you because…well, I’ve been a mite prideful, too. I fooled myself into thinking I could do everything on my own, no matter how much it hurt to be alone. I wanted to believe I was invulnerable, that you could only hurt me if I let you. But I was so wrong.”

  The image of her standing against the school building, crying, turned his stomach.

  Never again.

  “And I am so sorry you had to think that at all, darlin’. I never meant to hurt you, or make you feel like I didn’t care. I was proud of you—am proud of you. So proud of all you’ve done on your own. You are the smartest, toughest, most passionate woman I’ve ever known. Havin’ you as my wife is the greatest honor.”

  Without a word, she threw herself into him, wrapping her arms around him. She was warmth and light and joy, and his.

  “Don’t ever be a dope again and I’ll do my best to do what needs to be doing…with you. You can be my keeper.” Struck by the power in that phrase, he nearly stumbled back.

  “You mean it? The great Katriona Tucker, who can do whatever she puts her mind to, is gonna let little ol’ me, keep her?”

  She nodded, her smile beguiling. “You can be Katriona’s keeper.”

  “Katriona’s keeper. Sounds perfect,” he agreed, then realized something he probably should have brought up sooner. “Why did you name it Wigg’s Vocational School?”

  She furrowed her brow, confusion in her sapphire eyes. “I named it after Madame Wigg. Why?”

  Chuckling, he kissed her forehead again before brushing his lips over her now dry eyes, and continued down, fluttering kisses over her face until he reached her mouth. She groaned into him.

  Race let out a slow breath, the moment stretching out achingly. She waited, hoping he’d do what she’d been yearning for him to do for months. And it didn’t escape her notice that Katriona wanted her keeper to keep her, forever and always.

  Katriona stood there, her heart beating like a train through a mountain pass, because her dream finally felt right. Working toward building and opening her school had been exciting, until it wasn’t. But now that Race was there with her, loving her, the wor
ld was good again. She was whole.

  “Kiss me, will you?” she demanded, and like a good provider and keeper, he did exactly what needed doing.

  Epilogue

  Three months later…

  “What’re you doin’ over here?” Race asked as he wrapped his arms around her expanding middle from behind. He kissed her neck, right where it tickled, and she giggled.

  “Stop, I’m trying to read the letter from Mia,” she said, her voice growing husky. She slapped as his hands, which were making slow circles on her waist.

  “Oh? What does she say?” He kissed her neck again, and she melted back into him, loving the feel of his strength holding her.

  “I’ll tell you later. First, I want to read this letter from Leanna.”

  “You got letters from two sisters?” He sounded surprised, though he shouldn’t be. Now that all of her sisters had married and settled down, they were exchanging letters with one another. Telling each other about their new lives, their schools, and all the adventures that came with marrying perfect strangers.

  “I got letters from seven sisters,” she admitted, biting back her laughter when she felt him stiffen in shock behind her.

  He pulled away, turning her so he could look into her eyes.

  “Seven? Good heavens. I suppose you’ll spend the next several hours writin’ them back.” Katriona did laugh then. The poor man whose wife enjoyed writing letters to her sisters. Oh, the tragedy!

  “If you’re so cross about it, maybe you shouldn’t have married someone with twenty-five sisters.”

  He let out a dramatic, heaving sigh. “I suppose I can live with all the letter writin’, since I have the privilege of bein’ married to a woman as amazin’ as you,” he drawled, the dark twinkle in his violet eyes making her breath catch.

  “Oh, you are trouble,” she murmured, slapping his hands again. “Now get, before I forget about the cookies in the oven.”

  His eyes flew wide. “Yes, ma’am!” He planted a kiss on her lips, then another, before planting a kiss on her belly. Warmth spread through her from where his lips touched her. Their baby was growing within her, and with each day, she grew to love her husband more—especially when he showed her just how wonderful a father he would be.