by B. J Daniels
“Then I’m ready to leave with you,” she said. “I’m sorry I’ve put you through all of this.”
The relief on Collin’s face made him step to her and take her again in his arms. “We’ll get something to go at the café, and then we’re out of here.”
She nodded against his shoulder, wondering if she was going to be able to eat a bite. She couldn’t believe Jon would leave like that unless everything Collin had said was true.
If Jon Harper was Danny, he wanted nothing to do with her. Which meant he’d recognized her the first time she’d stepped into his workshop. He didn’t have amnesia. He’d never had amnesia. He’d simply walked away the day of the explosion and never looked back. He’d left her and the girls. Just as he’d left her again today. He didn’t want her. Worse, he didn’t want her coming after him anymore.
And if she was wrong and Jon Harper wasn’t Danny? Then what she’d done was even worse because she’d run a complete stranger out of town. Worse yet, she’d wanted a complete stranger over Collin.
“Could we walk to the café?” she asked him. “I need the fresh air.” She wasn’t ready to get into the rented SUV. She needed to clear her head. She thought she might be sick to her stomach.
Collin stepped outside to turn off the car engine. Together they walked down to the café through the falling snow, since driving a block made no sense anyway—except for the fact that he was anxious to get going.
She breathed in the frigid air, feeling the snowflakes like feathers on her face. The deep snow pulled at her boots, making her drag through it, making her feel as if this place was trying to pull her down. She’d thought she’d been ready to move on with Collin. Now she knew that once this trip was over, so were they. A deep sadness filled her. She just wanted this trip to be over. She wanted to go home and lick her wounds. Even as she thought it, she wondered if she would ever be the same.
As she watched the snow falling silently over her, she yearned to see blue sky and sunshine, wishing they’d never come to Montana. If they hadn’t, she would never have seen Danny again, her heart told her. Because no matter what a mess she’d made of their lives in this small Montana town, her heart knew that Jon Harper was Danny. Hadn’t her deepest desire been to see him one more time?
Collin held the door into the café for her. He looked cross when all the patrons turned to look at them. He muttered something under his breath and practically shoved her in. She hated that she’d embarrassed him. But at the same time, she’d saved them both from making a terrible mistake. Her behavior here proved that she wasn’t ready to move on. Right now, she doubted she ever would be.
They took a booth. Bessie seemed surprised to see them still in town. “I thought the part came in,” she said as she brought over two glasses of water and two menus. “Is the highway closed again?”
Collin shook his head. “Thought we’d better have something to eat before we leave.” Kate felt his gaze on her. She knew she must look the way she felt, miserable. This trip had been about celebrating their engagement. She’d ruined it. She’d always dreamed that when she found Danny, he would know her in just one look. He’d remember what they had had and would come back to her. She’d been such a fool.
“Can we get it to go?” Collin asked.
“Smart,” Bessie said, her gaze lighting on Kate. “You look a little peaked.”
Kate picked up her menu. The words blurred before her eyes.
“How about a couple of deluxe cheeseburgers, fries and two chocolate milkshakes to go,” Collin said, no doubt seeing her distress. Either that or he was just anxious to leave.
Bessie took their menus and went to place their orders.
“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered as she wiped at scalding tears.
“Me, too.” He pulled out his phone and began to answer a text and swore under his breath.
“Bad news?” she asked.
He shook his head as he pocketed his phone. “Just another delay. Nothing to worry about. My associates won’t be able to meet us until day after tomorrow. Not a problem. It will just give us more time to see more of Montana.”
She nodded, having had enough, but saying nothing. She’d put him through so much and yet all she wanted to do was ask him to take her to the nearest airport so she could fly home. What was the point now of going to Canada to meet his associates? Maybe once they were on the road, she’d ask. He probably wanted to see the last of her as it was.
Bessie brought out their burgers and fries in a brown paper bag, the grease already soaking through the paper. The smell made Kate’s stomach roil. The woman handed them each a milkshake in a foam cup with lids and two straws. “Have a nice trip.” She seemed to hesitate, her gaze on Kate again. “Be careful.” With that, she took the money Collin gave her, thanking him when he told her to keep the change, and hurried back to the kitchen.
Kate noticed the looks they got as they left the café. Why did she feel as if she was letting everyone down, not just herself but these people as well? Collin took her arm and steered her out, letting the door close behind them. Snow swirled around them in this snow-globe world of white. She felt dizzy from the whirling flakes, from the cold, from the emotions, from the unshed tears that lodged in her throat and made her chest ache. She huddled down into her scarf and the collar of her coat against the bite of the wind and air crystals that stuck to her face and eyelashes.
“I’m getting a little sick of this stuff,” Collin said as they headed back toward the motel and their waiting car. “But I promised myself that you would finally get to see snow. Still want to make a snow angel?”
“Maybe we should cut this trip short,” she suggested and then saw his expression and wished she had bitten her tongue instead.
“I’ve already told my associates we would meet them. I can’t get out of that. Do you understand? This is important. It would raise too many questions if you don’t come with me. You owe me this much.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why it is so important that I meet these men.”
He sighed and raked a hand through his hair before his gaze came back to hers. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but since you won’t let this go... I commissioned a special wedding dress for you.”
“You what?”
“I saw this dress in a magazine. It looked perfect for you. My associates found a place in Canada that would make the exact one in your size. That’s the other reason we’re going to Canada.”
“Oh, Collin.” It was so thoughtful and so unexpected. She felt tears burn her eyes.
“I still have to pick up the dress and pay for it even if you...don’t want it. But I wish you’d at least go to Canada with me. I’m going to look like enough of a fool to my associates when I pick up the wedding dress and I have no fiancée with me. After that, I’ll be happy to put you on a plane—if that’s what you want.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry.” He was right. This was the least she could do. “I’m just cold and tired and—” The rest of her words died on her lips as she looked across the street and saw the light coming through the crack in the carriage-house doors. Over the wind spinning snowflakes through the air, she heard the high whine of a saw.
Jon Harper had come back.
CHAPTER TWELVE
COLLIN MUST HAVE followed her gaze and then seen her expression. “I’m putting an end to this right now!” he swore, shoving the bag of burgers at her as he threw down his milkshake into the deep snow before stomping across the highway.
Caught off guard, she watched him barrel toward the light glowing in the workshop. She felt fear for what he would do in the mood he was in. But her overwhelming emotion was one of euphoria.
Danny had come back. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Her heart filled to overflowing. He hadn’t run out on her. He never had. He just didn’t remember her. And for some reason, he couldn’t l
eave her this time.
For a moment, she didn’t move, could hardly breathe. The bag holding the burgers had been greasy. Now it was wet from the falling snow. She spotted a trash can and dumped the bag and her milkshake into it. She felt scared. Her future hadn’t been this uncertain since the day of the explosion. Would it make a difference what Collin said to him? Or what the man she knew was Danny said to Collin?
She started across the highway to follow Collin but stopped as he came rushing out of the old carriage house. He saw her standing there, her arms akimbo, and slowed. She wondered if he saw the hope in her expression. Or the fear. Or maybe worse, how excited she was that the man had come back. Jon could have kept going, but he hadn’t.
Collin walked across the highway toward her. He looked defeated. She felt an ache in her heart thick with guilt and relief and regret. He’d been so good to her and look what she’d done to him. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she couldn’t walk away from the man she believed was her husband. There had to be a reason why she was feeling this way. Why she’d felt that jolt the moment she’d seen him standing in his workshop. She wasn’t wrong this time. Maybe more painful, she was still in love with Danny. She always would be. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t found another man—until Collin. Her heart had always been overflowing because of Danny’s love.
* * *
COMING OUT OF the café kitchen, Bessie found a small crowd huddled at the front window trying to see through the frost on the glass and the falling snow outside.
“Seriously?” she asked as she joined them and saw that Lindsey was crying.
“What?” she demanded of the pregnant young waitress.
“It’s just such a touching love story,” Lindsey said. “She thinks Jon Harper is her dead husband. She’s been waiting for him to come back for twenty years. She’d given up hope and agreed to marry Collin Matthews. He’s the blond man she’s with.” As if Bessie didn’t know that. “But then their car breaks down on their engagement trip, and she stumbles into Jon’s workshop and sees him and knows in her heart he’s her husband. Only he doesn’t know her because he has amnesia.”
“It sounds like a soap opera,” Bessie said. “And where did you hear all this?”
“Shirley, at the motel. She said they yell a lot, and one day when she was cleaning an adjoining room, she heard them arguing about it.” Lindsey wiped her eyes. “It breaks my heart. What if Jon really is her lost love?”
“I wouldn’t believe everything Shirley says she’s heard through a motel-room wall,” Bessie said, though kindly. She knew that a lot of this was Lindsey’s hormones at work. “And don’t go spreading this story. They’re leaving town.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” the cook said and pointed across the street. “Jon left, but he came back.” Now in her fifties, Rene Carson had been passing through sixteen years ago after being dumped by her boyfriend. She’d come into the café hoping to earn enough money to catch a bus back to California and had ended up staying instead.
“Everyone in town already knows the story,” said Vi Mullen as she peeled herself off the window to return to her seat. “She’s not leaving.” Mabel Aldrich nodded as she hurriedly returned to her seat in the booth across from Vi.
“She better not leave,” the cook said and turned back to the kitchen. “I’ve got ten bucks in the pool. I’m counting on her to stay.”
“I’ve got all my pin money on her staying,” Mabel said.
“Don’t tell me that people are wagering on this,” Bessie said with disgust. “What is wrong with you? This is their lives you’re gambling on.”
“Rene’s right. Jon is the love of her life.” Lindsey was wiping her eyes again. “How can she leave him now that she’s found him? It’s so sweet.”
Bessie didn’t see anything sweet about it as she looked out the front window to see Kate covered with falling snow as she stared at Jon’s workshop. Collin Matthews was making his way toward her. Bessie could just imagine the conversation that had taken place with Jon and Collin into the workshop.
“It’s more of a human tragedy than a love story,” she said to herself before turning away.
* * *
WHEN COLLIN REACHED KATE, he must have seen the tears streaming down her face. “Let’s talk at the motel,” he said, taking her arm. “It’s freezing out here.”
She still hadn’t moved. Past him she could see that he’d left the one carriage-house door open. A familiar figure stood in the doorway. The man who called himself Jon Harper. She stared at him, her heart thundering in her chest, until he stepped back and closed the door.
“He’s not Danny. Do you hear me?” Collin was practically yelling over the snow and the wind that whipped the flakes around them. “He says you’re wrong. He wants you to leave town. He says he can’t help you, he’s sorry, but he isn’t the man you want or need.”
She didn’t argue as she let him lead her back to the motel. The cold and his words made her feel numb, her tears freezing on her face and mixing with the falling snow that clung to her. She was so cold, so tired and yet so determined. Jon had come back. No matter what he said, there was something there between them.
Collin opened the motel-room door, no doubt thankful he hadn’t turned in the key yet, and stood back to let her in. Always the gentleman, she thought, the ache in her chest worse at the thought.
“What are you going to do?” he demanded, his voice sounding hoarse with emotion or the winter cold.
“I have to stay. At least for a while.”
He bit his lip as if to hold back his frustration with her. “Did you hear anything I said? This is another one of your mistaken identities, can’t you see that? What do you possibly hope to accomplish by staying in this town? Hanging around a man who doesn’t know you, doesn’t want to get to know you, a man who just wants you to leave him alone?”
She shook her head, her throat constricting with the fresh tears she was fighting to hold back. She’d always been so practical. She hadn’t fallen apart when she’d heard about the explosion or when Danny didn’t call or when he was listed as one of the many missing and suspected of being burned beyond all recognition. She’d had two babies to raise and no time for a nervous breakdown.
“I’m so sorry about all of this,” she said, knowing how this must look. Probably everyone in town thought she’d lost her mind. “You should go on and meet your associates, take care of business. I’m sorry about the wedding dress.”
“And just leave you here?” He shook his head. “What if I don’t come back?”
It wasn’t a threat. It was a reasonable question. “You don’t have to.”
“Just like that?” He let out an angry breath and walked a few steps away from her. “I had no idea you were still so in love with him.”
“Neither did I.”
He turned back to stare at her, the look he gave her almost sympathetic. “I don’t know if I’m coming back for you.”
“I’ll find a way to get to an airport when the time comes.”
“When the time comes?” Collin asked. “And when is that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He raked a hand through the snow crystals clinging to his now-wet blond hair and looked at the floor. “I don’t know what to do. I certainly don’t know what to say to you.”
She slipped the diamond from her finger and started to hand it to him.
“No,” he said adamantly. “Please, no. I’m not leaving you here alone. I have another two days before my meeting. Don’t worry. I won’t get in your way. I’ll give you all the space you need to figure this out, but I’m not giving up on you. Not yet. There’s a storm coming, but it isn’t supposed to be as bad as the last one.”
Kate looked down at the ring lying in her palm. “I can’t wear this right now.”
“Sure, I get it. Then, just hang on to it, because if I ha
ve my way, you’re going to wear it again—along with a wedding band.” He headed for the door. “I’m going to see if I can get another room. I don’t really think it’s going to be a problem.”
She watched him go, feeling her heart break as she pocketed the ring. She’d never wanted this. She couldn’t believe how understanding Collin was being. It was a struggle for him, she could see that. For her as well. How could she not love this man even more than her memories of Danny?
What was she going to do? This was idiotic. She couldn’t just stay in this motel and visit the workshop each day. Nor could she let this go on any longer than it had to. She knew what Collin had said Jon had told him. But could he say that to her face?
* * *
JON HAD BEEN expecting her. He heard the old wooden door swing open and felt a gust of cold air and snow blow in. Turning, he saw her standing there, silhouetted against the storm, and felt his heart break for her. For a moment, he thought he couldn’t do this. Taking a breath, he motioned her in and watched as she closed the door behind her.
“I’m sorry to be such a problem,” she said, looking nervous and unsure of herself.
He could tell that it was something new for her. This woman was confident. He remembered what Earl Ray had told him about her raising her two daughters by herself and not just supporting herself all these years, but thriving. If she’d really been on her own for twenty years, well, she’d certainly managed better than he had.
“We can talk in my cabin,” he said, thinking of her nice clothes. He couldn’t have her sitting on that old stool that Earl Ray seemed to like. “It’s warmer and not as dusty and dirty.”
He led her out the back door, telling himself that once they talked, once she saw the way he lived, that would be the end of it. But he couldn’t help being curious about her. Especially why she was so convinced he was her husband, Danny. But first he had to know about her fiancé.