Daniel could only look at her, blindsided by her sudden about-face. “What?”
Elena sighed dramatically as if he was using up her dwindling supply of patience. Slowly enunciating each word, she asked, “Were you out with Ms. Stewart?”
He had just about had it with her questions. This wasn’t a topic he was prepared to discuss yet, especially not with his little sister. Certainly not until he knew how Shania felt about their future, or if they even had a future.
“Elena—”
“’Cause it’s all right with me if you were,” Elena assured him brightly.
That managed to momentarily stop Daniel in his tracks. He hadn’t expected her to say that. “Oh?”
Elena’s smile went from ear to ear. She was convinced that her teacher was good for Daniel, that Ms. Stewart could make him be a happier person. “Yes.”
“And why’s that?” Daniel asked, turning to face his sister on the sofa. He couldn’t remember talking like this with Elena or being this at ease with her, not for a long, long time.
Too long.
Elena didn’t even have to pause to think. “Well, for one thing, because she’s made you into a nicer person. You’re not as grumpy as you’ve been—at least until just now,” she amended.
“Grumpy?” Daniel questioned, then protested, “I haven’t been grumpy.”
“Yes, you have,” Elena insisted, amazed that he could actually deny it. “You’ve been acting like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders.” Until just a little while ago, that would have made her feel guilty. But not anymore. “I know it can’t just be me,” she told him, “because I don’t weigh that much, so it’s got to be something else, too. And Ms. Stewart’s shown you how to juggle that weight and be a nice guy about it. Like you used to be,” she emphasized.
“I could say the same thing about you,” Daniel told his sister pointedly.
He watched for her reaction, half expecting Elena’s back to go up. But instead, his sister nodded her head, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Yeah, I guess you could at that,” she agreed. “That’s Ms. Stewart’s doing, too,” she admitted. “She worked with me, showed me that I didn’t have to turn my back on everything I’d been before in order to be able to grow as a person.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing?” he questioned, trying not to look as if her take on her own previous actions amused him. “Growing?”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been doing,” she concluded with quiet pride and a self-assurance that he hadn’t heard before.
Something inside Daniel softened as he realized that she was right. And why she was right. Because the same woman who had touched his life had touched Elena’s life, too.
“Yes, you have,” he agreed.
Elena raised her chin. “So what are you going to do about it?”
His dark brows drew together in confusion. “All right, you just lost me.”
Elena was quick to jump in while her brother was still pliable. “Well, we’ve just both agreed that we’ve become the better versions of ourselves that we’ve always wanted to be. The one thing that’s changed in our lives is that we’ve both spent time with Ms. Stewart, being shown the error of our old ways.”
She took a breath, her eyes never leaving his face. “So what are you going to do about keeping Ms. Stewart in our lives? In your life?” Elena deliberately specified, watching her brother intently.
“Are you telling me to keep seeing her?” Daniel asked.
Elena sighed deeply and once again rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you to do more than that. I’m telling you not to miss the boat. I’m telling you to get the molasses out of your veins, Big Brother.”
“And...?” he asked, still certain that his sister couldn’t possibly be saying what he thought she was saying.
Exasperated, she asked him, “Do you really need cue cards?”
He made his mind up to deny the existence of anything between himself and Shania. The disappointment if this fell through would be too devastating for both of them. He’d lived through it once. He didn’t want Elena going through it with him if this didn’t work out.
“I do when it comes to understanding what you’re trying to tell me.”
In truth, Daniel was afraid to jump to the conclusion that he wanted to jump to because once he did... What if the conclusion he wanted with all his heart turned out to be the wrong one? Continuing the fledgling relationship with Shania would definitely be difficult and challenging.
Moreover, if Elena thought he had romance on his mind with the end result being asking Shania to marry him, and his sister didn’t want him to, he’d find himself facing a huge dilemma.
Elena’s next words were prefaced by another very deep sigh.
“Ask the woman to marry you before one of the other unattached men around here beats you to the punch,” she told her brother in no uncertain terms.
Just what did it take to light a fire under him? she silently wondered.
Daniel could only stare at his sister. “You’re serious.”
“Yes, I am,” she willingly admitted. “Aren’t you?”
All Daniel could tell Elena was that, “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated is what people say when they get cold feet or don’t have the courage to face up to something they should,” she told him.
His eyes darkened. “Stand down, Ellie.”
She ignored what was obviously an order. “Do you love her?”
The last of his patience evaporated. “Okay, Ellie, game time is over,” he told her, getting up. “It’s late. Go to bed.”
“It’s a simple question,” she told her brother. “Do you love her or don’t you?”
He wasn’t up to this right now. “If you won’t go to bed, I will,” he announced, striding toward the rear of the house.
Elena was on her feet, moving quickly and getting directly in front of him.
“Is that a yes?” she pressed.
He looked down into Elena’s face, trying to fathom what was going on behind those expressive eyes of hers. “Why do you need to know so badly?”
“Because I do,” she answered flatly. “Because things are finally coming together in my life and Ms. Stewart’s the underlying reason behind it all—for both of us. Now, do you?” she asked, coming back to her question. Her eyes dared her brother to say no.
He debated not saying anything, or lying, and found that he couldn’t. Not to his sister.
“Yes,” he finally said. “And it’s going no further than right here, understand?” he demanded, putting his sister on notice.
He could have sworn that her eyes were gleaming. But her voice was unusually solemn as she repeated, “Understand.”
He knew she didn’t really understand. Taking hold of Ellie’s shoulders, he held her in place.
“Listen to me, Ellie. I don’t want you doing anything, saying anything, thinking anything that will make Ms. Stewart suddenly come to her senses and run for her life. Do I make myself clear?” he asked, again enunciating each word.
Instead of saying what he wanted to hear, she began to protest. “But—”
He put his hand up to silence her. She stopped talking. “Not a word, Ellie,” he warned seriously. “I want you to give me your word.”
His sister tried again. “But—”
“Not a word,” he repeated, emphasizing each word. “I’m glad you like her and that she’s had such a positive influence in your life, but I want to handle this in my own way, at my own pace. In my own time.”
She knew that she couldn’t change his mind, not when his cadence was this slow, this deliberate. But she still had to tell him what was on her mind.
“I think you’re making a mistake,” she told him.
“You’re entitled to think anything you want,” Daniel s
aid. “As long as you remember to keep it to yourself. Understood?” he emphasized again. “Because if you don’t, if you decide that you’re going to try to butt in like some kind of misguided teenaged Cupid, I swear I’ll ground you until you’re one hundred and three. Understand?”
Ellie sighed again, frustrated. “I understand.”
“Good,” he pronounced. “Now I’m going to bed,” he told her, once again heading toward the back of the house. “It’s been a long day.”
Elena was not about to dispute that. “I’ll bet it has.”
He could hear the grin in his sister’s voice even without looking at her.
He just kept going.
“You really are growing up way too fast,” Daniel murmured to himself.
He hadn’t meant for Elena to overhear, but she had. “Nothing you can do about that, Big Brother,” she responded with an even bigger grin.
* * *
“You are my last hope, Miss Joan,” Elena said with sincerity.
It was Monday. Though she had wanted to talk to the woman at the crack of dawn, she’d forced herself to wait until school was over. The moment it was, she had made a beeline for the diner, bringing her problem to the only person she knew who could find a way to work through the obstacle that was her brother.
Elena crossed to Miss Joan, asking the woman for a private audience, so to speak. Miss Joan compromised by moving her to the far end of the counter, away from the other customers.
She listened to Elena’s story, taking it all in without comment.
Until now.
“What makes you think I can do anything about that stubborn brother of yours?” Miss Joan asked. “If his mind’s made up, I can’t make it change.”
Elena didn’t believe that for a second. “Miss Joan, you could make it rain in the middle of a record dry spell in the desert if you wanted to.”
Miss Joan’s expression remained unchanged. Only her sharp eyes narrowed. “You think flattery’s going to turn my head, young lady?”
“No, ma’am,” Elena replied solemnly. “I’m just telling you what I believe is true.” She took a breath and then forged on. “Everybody knows that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
“I can’t hog-tie them and make them sit across from each other until your brother proposes,” Miss Joan said, sensing that was where this whole plan of Elena’s was going.
“You wouldn’t need to hog-tie them,” Elena promised. “They just need a little push, that’s all.” She leaned over the counter, her voice lowering as she said, “I can’t say anything to Ms. Stewart because Danny made me promise not to.”
Miss Joan knew what was coming. “But you didn’t promise that I wouldn’t.”
Elena smiled, happy that Miss Joan understood. “No, I didn’t.”
“Don’t give me that innocent look, young lady,” Miss Joan said sharply. “I can see right through you.”
Her tone didn’t intimidate Elena. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
Miss Joan laughed. It was a sound that wasn’t heard very frequently. Elena smiled in response, knowing that she had gotten to the woman and that everything was going to be resolved just the way she hoped. Perhaps it would take a while. She knew Miss Joan couldn’t be rushed. But she also knew that Miss Joan got results the way that no one else around Forever ever could. And that was good enough for her.
“Go home, little girl. I’ve got to think about this,” Miss Joan told her.
“Yes, ma’am.” Elena slid off the stool she was sitting on. “And thank you.”
Miss Joan scowled. “There’s nothing to thank me for yet.”
Elena just smiled back. “But there will be,” she replied. “I know that there will be.”
Miss Joan said nothing. She had already turned away and was topping off a customer’s coffee.
And thinking.
Chapter Nineteen
When he was younger and dealing with something that weighed heavily on his mind, Daniel would take his horse, ride out as far as he could and just lose himself in his surroundings. He’d ride until whatever was bothering him wasn’t there anymore. Until all those oppressive thoughts just evaporated.
But he couldn’t do that anymore. He had responsibilities. There was his sister, who still depended on him for all the essentials, and his job, which required him to show up every day. Taking off at the spur of the moment just was not an option. Facing up to whatever was out there with his name stamped on it was now what was called for.
So when he discovered that Elena was hell-bent on butting into his life and that his sister had been seen going in to talk to Miss Joan when she should have been on her way home from school, Daniel got the distinct feeling in his gut that he had to get ahead of whatever disaster might result from all this interference and be waiting to take him down.
This was ultimately the reason why, after having kept his distance from Shania for several days, he gathered up his courage and sought her out.
He went to see her late in the day after his shift was over.
Working on next week’s lesson plan, Shania didn’t hear the doorbell when it first rang. It was Belle, her furry bodyguard, that alerted her to someone being at her door.
Taking hold of the German shepherd’s collar, she held on to it as she went to the door and opened it a crack.
When she saw Daniel standing on her doorstep, her first reaction was a flash of happiness. Her next reaction was an equal flash of annoyance, the latter because he had stayed away from her for several days without so much as a word of acknowledgment about their time together.
Torn, she decided to opt for neither and fell back on acting blasé and indifferent.
Belle was pulling, eager to express her joyful reaction over seeing Daniel, but Shania held fast.
“Can I come in?” Daniel asked, still standing on the other side of the threshold.
Shania shrugged, then opened the front door all the way, allowing him to come in.
“Deputy Tallchief, what can I do for you?” she asked him formally.
Daniel heard the touch of iciness in her voice and instantly felt guilty about his part in putting that iciness there.
“How are you doing?” he asked, feeling incredibly awkward.
If possible, her voice grew even cooler. “Well, and you?”
They might as well have been two total strangers who knew one another by sight but nothing more.
Belle was doing her part in attempting to breach that gap by jumping up at Daniel. He petted the dog, but his attention was on Shania.
“I’m all right,” he finally answered. The next moment, he shook his head. “No, that’s a lie. I’m not.”
Shania held herself in check, refusing to let her feelings get the better of her. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you should drop by the medical clinic. I’m sure they’d make room in their schedule to see you, seeing as how you’re part of the sheriff’s department.”
But he shook his head. “It’s not that kind of ‘not right,’” Daniel answered, sensing that she had to already know that.
Shania abruptly turned on her heel and walked into her living room, and then turned around to look at him. “Oh? Then what kind of ‘not right’ is it?”
Daniel indicated the sofa, nodding toward it. “Can I sit?”
Shania shrugged again, the picture of indifference. “You can do whatever you want.”
Daniel still felt like he was the target of frostbite. He took a stab at explaining what was behind his behavior, even though that sort of thing wasn’t his long suit. He was far better at keeping silent than talking.
“Shania, you have to understand that I didn’t want you thinking that I was moving too fast,” he said.
“Too fast?” she repeated, and for the first time he saw just a flicker of amusement on her lips. “Tallc
hief, there were schools of snails that left you in the dust.”
He tried again, rephrasing what he’d just said. “I didn’t want to crowd you. I wanted to give you room to breathe.”
“You left enough room for an entire major city to breathe,” she said, the flicker of amusement gone again. Her hurt feelings ran deeper than she’d realized. “Did you ever stop to think that by giving me this much ‘room,’ you made me think that you were regretting—deeply regretting—what happened between us?”
“Regretting it?” he repeated, saying the words as if he had absolutely no understanding of what they meant.
“Yes, regretting it,” Shania emphasized. “As in trying to pretend it never happened, or at least wishing it hadn’t,” she concluded, feeling more hurt with each syllable she uttered.
Daniel stared at her in disbelief, momentarily speechless. “That would have made me pretty stupid,” he told Shania flatly.
She laughed shortly. “Well, if you’re waiting for me to argue with you about that, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Whatever you might feel about that night, I don’t regret any of it.” She could feel tears forming and she blinked hard to keep them from falling. “I just regret how you feel.”
“How I feel?” Daniel questioned, lost again.
“Yes, how you feel.” She said the words with seething emphasis, struggling to keep back her hurt and her anger. “Embarrassed, ashamed, I don’t know—”
“How about grateful,” he interjected, raising his voice so she could hear him.
The thoughts forming in her head came to a dead stop at that single word. “How’s that again?” she asked in confusion.
“Grateful,” he repeated, his voice low but all the more compelling. “I feel grateful that it happened. Very grateful.”
She didn’t believe him. He was just trying to snow her. “Well, if that’s supposedly true, why did you go into hiding?”
He told her part of the reason, hoping that was enough. “Because I didn’t want you to feel that I was pressuring you into something. Elena gave me the third degree when I got home that night, acting more like an interrogator than I ever did when she got home late.
The Lawman's Romance Lesson (Forever, Tx. Series Book 20) Page 17