Hired Bride (18 page)

“Gwen, you already fit in. So did I, even though I didn't know it. Not that your life won't change. As I said, I've had to make a lot of adjustments. But looking back, they were mostly adjustments in attitude.
My
attitude. Great wealth is so awe-inspiring to a woman who never had an extra dollar in her purse—and that was the way I lived before marrying Dallas.”

“Maggie, that's the way I live! It never occurred to me that someone else might have gone through the same agony because the man she fell in love with happened to be a Fortune.”

Maggie smiled. “It makes it a little easier to deal with, knowing that you aren't the only one, doesn't it?”

“It does, it really does. You and Dallas look so happy together.”

“We are. He's a wonderful man, Gwen, a wonderful husband and a great father.”

“You already have a baby?”

Maggie laughed. “I had a five-year-old son when we got married, and Dallas adopted him. You must have seen Travis the day of the barbecue.”

“I probably did. I'm sorry that I don't remember him.”

“Don't apologize. Everyone's kids were running all over the place, and you had your hands full with your own three and their two little friends.”

Gwen looked a bit sheepish. “Yes, well, I'm not proud of my motive for bringing Tommy and Liselle that day. I did it to shock Zane into the very real world of parenting. Until that day he hadn't even asked how
many kids I had, even though I had told him I was a mother. I thought he simply wasn't interested in anything but…”

Gwen faltered and Maggie picked up the thread. “But getting you into bed?” she said with a grin.

“Don't tell me it was the same for you and Dallas!”

“Pretty darn close.” She laughed. “Gwen, let's get this food on the table. We can talk while we work.”

“Zane and Dallas are probably wondering what's taking us so long.” Gwen could hardly believe how lighthearted she felt. Talking to Maggie had worked wonders.

While they set the table in a small dining room and carried in platters and bowls of food, they continued their conversation.

“Do you recall meeting my mother at Hannah's wedding?” Maggie asked.

Gwen had to think a moment. Then her eyes widened. “Rosita! Yes, of course I recall meeting her. And you know what she told me after looking at my palm, don't you?”

“Mama tells me just about everything,” Maggie admitted. “She was right, wasn't she? She usually is, you know. You and Zane are going to be married right after the first of the year, just as she predicted.”

“She also said we were going to have four children,” Maggie said slowly. “Do you think she was counting the three I already have?”

Maggie's dark eyes twinkled merrily. “That's something she
didn't
tell me. Maybe you should ask Mama when you see her again.”

 

Ryan called while they were eating, and Zane and Dallas each got on an extension and spoke to their
father. Maggie and Gwen waited at the table until their men returned.

Dallas spoke first. “The doctors checked Bryan over and the boy appears to be in good health. They would like him to stay the night for a few tests, but it's only a precautionary measure.”

“Thank God,” Maggie said quietly. “Claudia and Matthew must be in seventh heaven.”

“I'm sure they are,” Dallas replied.

Zane said, “Maria has officially confessed to the kidnapping, but her doctors are certain she will never go to prison. Her mental problems are severe and possibly irreversible. Whether or not that's true, she needs help badly. Dad said he was told that she will probably serve her sentence in a mental rehabilitation facility. For Lily's sake, I hope her condition is curable.”

Dallas added, “Apparently Maria did a lot of talking during her confession. She said that everything she did was to protect her mother, whom she wholeheartedly believed was going to be taken advantage of by the Fortunes for a second time.”

“A second time?” Maggie asked with a small frown. “When was the first time, or is that a figment of Maria's imagination?”

Dallas looked at his wife. “The first time was when our Uncle Cameron seduced Lily and she got pregnant with Cole.”

“What?”
Maggie gasped.

“Dad knew about it, but he didn't intend for the rest of us to ever know. Maria's rambling confession told just enough of the story that Dad figured we'd better hear the truth from him. What happened back then was that Dad and Lily were in love, but Uncle Cameron was spiteful and always tried to take what
was Dad's—including Lily. He lied and told Lily that his and Dad's father, our grandfather, would never permit one of his sons to marry a woman who wasn't rich, and that Ryan had succumbed to pressure and was going to break off the affair.

“Lily was young and naive, and Cameron finally wore her down and seduced her. She knew right away that she'd made a horrible mistake, and she ran away from the ranch because she couldn't even look Dad in the eye anymore. Anyhow, she found out she was pregnant and talked to Cameron about it but all he offered her was an abortion.

“She chose to keep the baby and a longtime friend, Chester Cassidy, agreed to marry her and pass off the baby as his own. Lily and Chester had two more children together—Hannah and Maria. Years passed, Chester died, and Lily and Dad met again. You know the rest of the story.”

“And Maria knew all of that?” Gwen asked.

“She figured out some of it because Cole has the Fortune birthmark,” Zane said quietly. “Maria is…well, she's always been different, and I guess she couldn't help it. Mental illness is a terrible curse. When one is physically ill everyone rallies and sympathizes, but people rarely recognize mental illness in its early stages, and we tend to avoid those who behave erratically.”

“Yes,” Gwen said in a rueful whisper, recalling how she had practically run to get away from Maria on Hannah and Parker's wedding day. “It's all very sad,” she added while wiping away a tear.

“Yes, it is,” Maggie agreed, blinking back tears herself. “Dallas, this isn't going to come between your father and Lily, is it?”

“No,” Dallas replied positively. “I don't think anything could come between them again.” He rose. “Let's put away the rest of this food and call it a day. Zane, Gwen, I don't mean to be rude, but Maggie and I would like to go home, and I'm sure you two would like to do the same.”

“Yes, it's time,” Zane agreed.

 

They drove in silence for miles, each lost in their own thoughts. Then Gwen reached out a hand and laid it on Zane's arm.

“Are you all right, Zane?” she asked gently.

He took his left hand from the steering wheel and covered hers on his arm. “If you love me, then I'm all right,” he said huskily.

“Please don't ever doubt it,” she whispered emotionally.

He squeezed her hand, then returned his to the steering wheel. “Gwen, I was thinking of my family's history, and wondering if there's
anything
at least one Fortune hasn't experienced. Tonight was traumatic—no one could ever say it wasn't—but it brought Bryan back, and I know it made me count my blessings. I'd bet everyone who was there tonight feels the same.”

“I know I do.” Gwen took a tissue from her purse and dried her eyes. “I realized something quite profound tonight, Zane. I've known for a long time that I was in love with you, and it was an incredible moment when I finally believed that you loved me, as well. But tonight, for the first time, there's something in here—” she touched her chest “…that knows it's right. I never really thought it was, you know.”

“Because I have money and you don't. Gwen—”

“No, wait, that's all over with, darling. You must
believe me.” She was thinking of her little chat with Maggie in the kitchen, but it didn't seem right to talk about things that Maggie might have told her in confidence.

Then an impish impulse struck her. They needed something to laugh about. Tonight's events had been so deathly serious, and it would be good if they could lighten up a little.

“Actually, dahling,” she said with an exaggerated drawl, “I'm looking forward to spending your money.”

Zane's head jerked around from downright shock, then he caught on and let out a whoop of laughter.

“Yes, dahling,” he returned in kind. “How about the two of us spending my money together?”

“That sounds divine, dahling, simply divine.”

The rest of the trip back to San Antonio was filled with jokes, laughter and very bad accents. But it was lighthearted, and lighter hearts were what they both needed that night.

 

Christmas was a wondrous day for Gwen. Santa had been especially generous with her children. Zane came over in the morning and stayed all day. Her parents, Ramona and her kids came for dinner, all with more gifts. By the time Gwen closed her eyes late that night, she felt as though she were floating on a heavenly cloud of complete and utter bliss.

Two days later she got dressed in a fabulous new outfit and went with Zane to Ryan and Lily's wedding.

How different this arrival was from her arrival at the first wedding she'd attended at the Double Crown Ranch! Now she was on Zane's arm as his intended bride, and she felt like a part of the Fortune family,
even if it wouldn't be official until the fifth of January, the date they had set for their own wedding.

The house and grounds were decorated so beautifully—Hannah's work, obviously—that Gwen got teary-eyed. Everyone was there—all of Ryan's and Lily's children and friends, except for poor Maria, of course. And it was indeed a joyful if emotional affair. The ceremony made a lot of people cry. Maria
should
have been there. How sad it was that instead she was incarcerated in a mental institution, Gwen thought, knowing in her heart that the tear she saw in the corner of Lily's eye was for Maria on this happiest of days for herself.

After the ceremony the reception began, and dozens of people offered toasts to the newlyweds.

Ryan could not have been happier. His and Lily's wedding was the biggest, most lavish Texas-style wedding in recent history, and they were surrounded by loving friends and family. Even some distant relatives had attended, coming from far and wide. Ryan scanned the crowd. There was Cole, Lily's son, and his bride-to-be, Annie Jones, and Lily's daughter Hannah with her husband, Parker Malone.

All of Ryan's children were present: Matthew, Zane, Dallas, Vanessa and Victoria. Matthew and Claudia were now the proud parents of two beautiful boys, Bryan and Taylor. Vanessa and Devin were expecting Ryan's next grandchild, and Dallas and Maggie were also expecting a second child.

Holden and Logan, Ryan's nephews, had brought their new brides to their uncle's wedding, and others caught Ryan's eye: Jace Lockhart and his new wife, actress and screenplay writer, Ciara Wilde, and Ryan's long lost sister Miranda Fortune, who had come to the
Double Crown Ranch in anticipation of her daughter Gabrielle's wedding to Wyatt Grayhawk.

Ryan lifted his glass of champagne to another toast, then heard Sam Waterman's voice. Sam had been hired shortly after Bryan's disappearance to help with the investigation, but there was no question that he'd become a friend. But Sam wasn't merely making a toast to the newlyweds.

“Ryan, Lily, I'm sure you'll pardon my taking this opportunity to make an announcement. Mary Ellen and I eloped and were married at a civil ceremony in Austin.”

Mary Ellen was the widow of Ryan's deceased brother, Cameron. Her marriage to Sam, a man that Ryan respected and liked, felt like a special gift to Ryan on his own wedding day. He squeezed Lily's hand and offered a toast to Sam and Mary Ellen. The event progressed joyously.

Zane held up his glass of champagne to Gwen. “Soon it will be our day, my love,” he said softly. “Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?”

“A dozen times, my darling,” she whispered.

A devilish gleam entered his blue eyes. “Did I ever show you the bedroom I used in this house until I went away to college?”

“No,” she said quite calmly, belying the quickening beat of her heart. “You never did.”

“Your education could never be considered complete unless you saw that room.”

“I'm sure you're right.”

Zane finished off his champagne in one gulp, then took her drink from her hand and set both glasses on a nearby table. “Come on, sweetheart, there's some
thing in that room you have to see.” He chuckled. “Or there will be when we get there.”

“You are a wicked, wicked man.” But she let him take her hand and lead her through the crowd.

They were almost out of room when a man who bore a striking resemblance to Ryan said, “My name is Teddy Fortune. I saw a news report about your family—about the kidnapping of Bryan and the parallel of that case to the kidnapping of Kingston Fortune's first son in 1942. I know this might sound crazy, but I think I'm related to you.”

Zane stopped and turned to look at the man. “Well, I'll be damned,” Zane said under his breath.

“Who is he?” Gwen asked anxiously.

“That, my love, is a whole other story,” Zane said with an astonished shake of his head. “A whole other story.”