Fool for Love (Montana Romance) (38 page)

Five minutes later, the sound of a wagon shook her out of the black mood she’d sunk into.  She glanced up to see the Twitchels driving toward her.  She was in front of their farm.

“Dear God, Amelia!” Mabel Twitchel half launched out of her seat when she saw her.  “What happened?”

Amelia couldn’t answer.  She was too tired, too struck to the core, to explain or move another step.  Ike Twitchel stopped the wagon and Mabel jumped down.  She ran to Amelia and pulled her into her arms.  Amelia could do nothing but weep against the woman’s shoulder.

“Is it what Jacinta said?” Mabel asked.  “Because no one believes a word of that, spiteful old cow.  It was all anyone could talk about after church, how disappointment has turned Jacinta into a lying shrew.”

Mabel’s support only made Amelia weep harder.

“Land sakes.  Ike!” Mabel called over her shoulder.  “Come help me get Amelia into the wagon!”

“I can’t,” Amelia sobbed.  “I couldn’t.”

“Nonsense,” Mabel shushed her.  “Did you have a fight with Eric over all this mess?  He doesn’t believe Jacinta, does he?”

In spite of herself Amelia nodded.  It was the simplest way to explain the torrid mess that
had just unraveled around her.

“Well shame on him if he does!” Mabel went on.  “I’ll give him a piece of my mind next time I see him.  Only a fool would believe a word Jacinta Archer says.  Ike!”

Amelia let herself be led to the wagon and let Ike help her into the back.

“You got something caught in your skirt,” Ike told her.

Half-insensible with grief, Amelia felt her back.  The deed to Eric’s ranch was still tucked in her skirt, although it had slipped almost all the way down so that only a corner was visible.  She pulled it out, despair washing over her.  What good did it do her to know Eric owned the ranch in its entirety when he had just declared Curtis could have it?

She was all too aware of the stares and confusion of the Twitchel children as she sat.  Ike climbed back into the driver’s seat and they drove the last mile up their own lane to their house.  Amel
ia clutched the deed and wept.

The Twitchel children stared at her, but for once she didn’t feel as though she was being judged for the sins of her past.  She knew full well children didn’t know what to do when an adult fell apart in front of them.  They were judging her for who she was, right then, in the present.

One of the younger Twitchel girls scooted across the wagon bed and hugged her, laying her head against Amelia’s arm.  If Amelia hadn’t already been weeping, that would have cinched it.  She hugged the girl back.  Her siblings caught on and crowded around Amelia.  Amelia’s heart broke.

This was who she was.  The Hamilton girls had known it and the Twitchel children knew it too.  She was not a wretch, she was a woman who cared, perhaps too much.  She wanted children around her, wanted to teach them.  She wanted to be someone they loved and respected, especially her own child.  Her heart expanded with the idea.  Most of all, she wanted Eric.  She always had, no matter how much she’d tried to run from it.  Only now she had lost him.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eric stormed down the stairs of the hotel where he’d spent the night, head splitting from the hangover he’d earned.  He still wore his Sunday best, like he was going to a business meeting, and sent warning glances to anyone who so much as dared look at him
on his way to the dining room.

“Coffee,” he told one of Delilah’s eager wait staff as he plunked himself down at the deserted bar at the end of the room.  “And anything for breakfast, I don’t care what.”

“Yes, Mr. Quinlan,” the young man scrambled off, leaving him alone.

There was a fair share of wariness in the boy’s eyes. 
You deserved it
, that tiny voice of reason piped in at the back of his mind.  He was as big a donkey’s behind as everyone took him for.  One bad day, one low attack by Jacinta, and doubt had turned him into a spiteful old hound.  But he couldn’t shake the sight of Curtis and Amelia tangled up in each other.  His whole world blown up in one go.

His sigh turned into a groan as he cradled his aching head, eyes closed, elbows on the bar.

“I’m gonna wait to say ‘poor baby’ until I know whether you deserve that headache or not,” Delilah’s voice cut through the darkness.

Eric winced and straightened.  He’d known this judgment would come.

“Morning, Delilah,” he muttered.

“I don’t need you to tell me that, son,” she replied.  “What the hell are you doing here instead of patching things up with your lovely wife on your lovely ranch?”

“She’s not my wife,” he grumbled, still not looking at her directly.

“I know.  Amelia told me.”

He started, twisting to face her.  It was the wrong motion.  His whole body ached, especially his head.

“Yeah, she told me weeks ago.”  Delilah brushed the truth off as unimportant and took the seat next to him.  “She told me a lot of other things too.”

“Did she?”  He didn’t feel up to longer questions.

“She told me about everything Jacinta squealed at the church yesterday.  And yes, I heard about it.  Everyone heard about it.”

Eric turned back to the bar.  “Great.”

“Of course, no one believes it, coming from Jacinta.  They all know it’s just ‘cuz you came back from England married.  But they will believe every word Jacinta hisses if they see you abandoning Amelia.”

Eric winced.  He hadn’t thought of that.  He didn’t want to think about it now.

“You didn’t see what I saw, Delilah,” he croaked.  The waiter brought his coffee and he sipped it black.

“And what did you see, Eric Quinlan?” Delilah pestered him.

“Amelia and Curtis.  They were … intimate.”

“Were they now?”

“Yeah.”

“Were they in bed, naked and going at it?”

“No.”  He flushed and downed his scalding coffee.

“Were they locked in passion’s sweet, sweet embrace, declaring their undying love?”

He glowered at her.  Now she was just teasing.

“They were standing close, whispering about doing things behind my back.”

“What things?”

“Sneaking around.  Curtis was yammering about sending me back to England or to China.”

“Oh,
Curtis
was, was he?”

Reason was the last thing he wanted to entertain at that moment.  “He had his hands on her.”

“Saints preserve us,” Delilah drawled.  “Because no man ever laid his hands on a woman without her permission.”

“So you think I’m a fool too,” he said, putting her on the spot.

Delilah hesitated before saying, “Yes I do, Eric, but not for the reasons you think I do.”

“Thanks.”  He turned back to the bar as the waiter returned with a plate of eggs and bacon.

Delilah watched him eat.  The tension between them began to soften.  After several minutes Delilah said, “So when are you going back home?”

“I’m not,” Eric said, his mouth full.  “I don’t got a home.”

To his surprise, instead of arguing Delilah said, “What makes you think that?”

“Home is where you’ve got family, where your heart is, right?”

“Yes it is.”

“Well, I don’t got any family, as I’ve so effectively been reminded, and the only people who care two figs about me are the people here in Cold Springs.  In fact,” he faced her, pointing his fork at her, “I’m gonna do what everyone wants me to do and take over as sheriff from Kent.  That’s what I’m gonna do.”

Delilah didn’t answer.  She lowered her eyes.  For the first time it dawned on Eric that she was older than she let on.  There were lines on her face and her hands were thinner and bonier than they used to be.  Her hair wasn’t silver, it was grey.  The bloom had gone off her rose, and for whatever reason that was as tragic as anything else.  He swallowed some coffee to banish the lump in his throat.

“What about the ranch?” Delilah asked at length.

Eric shook his head.  “Curtis thinks he’s such a savvy businessman, he can have it.  He sent word that he’s coming into town to talk it over today, and I’m gonna give it to him.  The whole lot of it.  He can set it up as his little love nest and bring whatever whores he wants out there.”

“You keep saying things like that and you’ll earn a slap from me, boy.”

It could have been a set-down from his mother.  His shoulders drooped.

“I don’t want it anymore,” he said.  “It hurts too much.”

“Why?  Because of what you think you saw?”

“No.”  He shook his head and looked Delilah square in the eyes for the first time.  “Because all I ever wanted was a family to fill up that house.  It’s been so empty since Pop and Mama passed.  I kept waiting for Curtis to find a wife and start having babies, waiting for the right woman to come along so I could make some babies of my own, but it never happened.  Curtis was all I had, and admittedly, he’s not much, but I was content with that.  I knew something would come along and everything would be as it should.  I thought that’s what was happening.”

“Maybe it is what’s happening, just not how you thought it would.”

Eric shook his head, then wished he hadn’t.  “Curtis is every bit the snake everyone’s been telling me he is for years, Delilah.  Even you told me.”

“I did.”

“And I’m a fool for not seeing it sooner.  And Amelia….”  He stopped.  He couldn’t say it.  The voice at the back of his head filled in that she was an unlucky woman in an unfortunate situation who needed someone to look after her, before his lips could say she was a no-good whore.  “I just don’t know what to think.”

“You’ve looked at that girl like she’s the source of the sun for weeks, brimming with love that half of Montana can see, and now you’re questioning her fidelity?”

“It’s just….”  He paused and sighed.  “What if I’ve been taken, Delilah?” he appealed to her.  “What if I’ve been as wrong about Amelia as I’ve been about Curtis?  What if I’m as stupid as everyone says I am?”

Delilah rested a hand on his shoulder.  “Son, in my experience, every couple goes through some kind of doubt at one time or another.  Does she still love me?  Was she flirting with him?  And most of the time that doubt is unfounded.  I seen couples who swore the love was gone stumble across it one day when they least expected it.  And you know what brings that on?”

“What?”  Eric perked up in spite of himself.

“Good old fashioned communicating.  If you’re so wracked with doubt, talk to Amelia and sort things out.”

Eric sagged.  “Talking hurts too much.  It’s easier to go where I know I’m wanted and work for people who will appreciate me.”

Delilah considered his statement with pursed lips.  “You’re a stubborn ass sometimes, Eric Quinlan.  So you’re determined to wash your hands of your home and your heart because it hurts right now?”

His
answer was a determined pout.

“I think you oughta sit on this for a while,” Delilah went on.  “There’s no sense in making any decisions right away.”

“I already made the decision,” Eric told her, shaking her head.  “Curtis is on his way.  And I told Christian to make up a new deed to replace the lost one last night.”

“Was that before or after the two of you drank enough whiskey to drown a goat and woke half of my guests up with your caterwauling?”

Eric scowled at her.

“What happened to the old deed?”  Delilah frowned.

“Jacinta lost it.”

Delilah laughed.  “Well, that might just be the smartest thing that lying cheat ever did.”

“And firing her might be the smartest thing Christian ever did,” Eric said.

“Good for him.  So when’s Curtis supposed to get here?”

“I dunno.”  Eric shrugged.

Delilah stood and patted his arm.  “That gives us plenty of time then.”

“Time for what?” he asked before she could get away.

“Time for you to change your damn fool mind and wake up to the fact that there’s a woman out there that loves you.  And she’s hurting bad, Eric.  She’s hurting bad.”

Amelia looked up from the sock she was knitting with a start when the Twitchel’s front door smacked closed.  For one glorious heartbeat she thought that Eric had showed up to either claim her or have it out with her at last.

“Take that basket to the kitchen, Hannah!” Mabel’s booming voice echoed through the house instead.  “Lionel!  Don’t you go slinking off to your room!  I told you that you would have to explain your actions to your father when you got home and I meant it.”

Amelia hid her disappointment under a friendly smile as Mabel and Hannah brushed into the kitchen.  Hannah carried twice her weight in groceries and Mabel juggled her two younger children in either arm.  She was exhausted and sweating, and Amelia envied her.

“You’re back.”  She jumped to her feet and rushed to help Hannah.  “Here, let me help, dear.”

“It was quite a trip, I can tell you,” Mabel said.  “Jimmy needed his britches changed in the middle of Main Street and Lionel upset a stack of apples at the general store.  Charlie says hello, by the way, and mentioned she might ride out with Eloise for a visit this afternoon.”