Homeward Bound (26 page)

"What do you want me to do? Jake told me, in no uncertain terms, to leave here." She started to put the sandwich back on the coffee table, but Trevor wouldn't let her.

"Eat," he ordered. "And Jake has no right to tell you to leave. This is my house, and I am unable at this time to refund the balance of your lease payment."

"I don't care about the money."

"Well, I do," Trevor said, sounding too much like his brother for comfort.

"Then pay me back a dollar a week for the rest of your life."

He crouched down in front of her and put a finger under her chin. "I thought you told me he'd never make you leave. Where's your fighting' spirit?"

"I didn't know I was going to fall in love with him when I said that."

"All the more reason to stay. He can't ignore you forever. Sooner or later he's gonna wake up and realize that-"

"Realize what? He can't stand what I do for a living. He looks at me like I'm trash, and I don't deserve that."

"No, you don't," Trevor agreed sadly. "But that's his insecurity, not the way he really feels. You have to admit, it's overwhelming to think about what you do for a living."

"I sing," she said simply, dismissing the importance.

"For a fan club of millions. Your work is so public."

"But my life has always been private. I love to sing. I'd be lying if I said I'm not proud of my work. I never imagined that the cost would be so high." Kate bit her bottom lip and fought the urge to cry. "Jake and Chloe are the only real people in my life. They're my sanity, and I don't know what I'm going to do without them."

"Then for your own sake, don't try to find out. Stay. If you can get up on a stage and convince millions of people who don't know you that you're the best, somehow you'll find a way to convince one stupid man who does know you of the very same thing."

Nothing could hurt more than the pain she felt. Maybe if she stayed, Jake would see that nothing had changed. He had always been waiting for her to go. She promised him she wouldn't, even if he told her to. Was this a test? Did he need proof of her love for him?

What did she have to lose that she hadn't already lost? On the other hand, she had everything to gain if she stayed. "I'll think about it, Trevor."

She thought of nothing else for the next hour. When Nikki returned from town with Chloe, they found her sitting at the dining room table, eating a second sandwich. Chloe sat next to her, wiping away a tear. Kate smiled broadly and gave her a big hug.

"Are you ready to go?" Nikki asked.

"No," Kate said. "I need a little more time."

"How much longer do you need?"

"Fifty years or so."

* * * *

Jake waited in the fields until he saw the jeep pull down the road. She left without saying good-bye. He couldn't believe it. He felt certain that she would make one last plea, but apparently he was wrong.

He went back to the house to check on Chloe. His daughter loved Kate, and he knew she'd be devastated. She sat at the kitchen table doing her homework, looking like nothing had changed at all. Doing her homework, without being told? Chloe only voluntarily did her schoolwork so she could go visit with Kate after dinner. She was taking Kate's desertion better than he had expected.

Desertion? Who did he think he was kidding? He’d treated Kate terribly, leaving her no choice but to return to New York. He got just what he wanted and nothing less than he deserved. Because his over-inflated ego got bruised, he had destroyed three lives. Kate was miserable. He had lost the best part of himself. Even Chloe, who put up a brave front, had to be hurting inside.

"Do you feel like talking, Chloe?"

"No. Not really. I want to finish this history paper."

His heart ached for her. She was trying to be strong for his benefit. He straddled the chair next to her and rested his chin along the back. "Do you want to go out to take your mind off things?"

"No. I have plans. You go out."

"What plans?"

"I'm going next door for a while."

He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Oh, Chloe. It only makes it harder to let go if you sit over there."

"Let go of what?"

‘Kate. She's not coming back."

Chloe smiled. "Oh, Daddy. She'll never leave us.'

Jake frowned. Chloe refused to accept that Kate had left. "Chloe, her jeep is gone. She left."

"No," Chloe insisted.

"You have to accept it."

"No, I don't. You do."

"I do accept it, Chloe."

"That's not what I mean. Uncle Trevor took the jeep to drive Nikki to the airport. Kate's not leaving, and you can't make her. Only Uncle Trevor can tell her to leave his house, and he's not gonna. Face it, Dad You're stuck with a rock star living next door and you'll have to deal with it."
  

"Oh, no, I don't." Jake rose and slammed the chair back into the table. His daughter had taken a sadistic delight in informing him that Kate hadn't left. "Go feed the animals. I'll take care of Kate."

Jake picked up a pebble and tossed it over the roof onto the front porch as he slipped in the back door. Chloe was right. Kate had no intention of leaving. She had torn off the tops of the boxes that she had packed the last two days. Half her clothing and personal possessions covered the sofa, ready to be put away at her leisure.

She stood at the door and shrugged at the empty porch. When she turned and caught sight of him, she let out a startled cry. Her white-knuckled hand gripped the door handle to support her shaking legs.

"You scared me." She took in a large gulp of air and placed her hand over her heart. Despite her fright, she seemed pleased to see him.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

Her tentative smile faded again. "Unpacking."

"Don't bother. You're not staying in this house."

Kate drew herself up and returned his determined stare with one of her own. "The hell I'm not, Callahan. I warned you that I wouldn't leave, even if you told me to. I have a lease."

"Do you think I care about a piece of paper? This land is mine, not Trevor's." She ignored his angry outburst and removed more clothes from the open box.

"Did you hear me?"

She shrugged. "I'd have to be deaf not to. You can't make me leave, so deal with it."

"You think not? We'll see." He strode past her and kicked open the front door.

* * * *

Kate reached for another shirt and threw it on the pile of clothes. All her carefully folded lingerie scattered across the carpet, and she fell to her knees to gather it up. This wasn't going the way she'd planned.

She clutched the silky undergarments to her chest and pushed up to her feet. She had just gotten her balance when she was hoisted up in the air like a sack of grain and dumped on Jake's shoulder. All her clothes fell to the ground again as she grasped at the fabric of his flannel shirt to keep from sliding off. She was so stunned she couldn't speak.

He carried her across the lawn to his house and dropped her in his favorite easy chair. "Still think I can't make you leave?"

Kate scrambled to her feet, only to be gently pushed back in the seat. "That only proves you're bigger than me.

"I believe the press refers to you as the Queen. Is that right?"

She‘d prayed for an end to his cold silence. Before he finished with her, she might be wishing for it again. "The Queen of Flash. If you want to insult me with it, get it right."

"Well, Your Highness. Since I can't seem to banish you from the kingdom, maybe you'd better learn the new borders."

Kate squared her shoulders and tipped her head for him to continue.

"You're gonna be living in my castle, not at the servants' quarters next door. I'm too damn old to be sneaking home at five in the morning."

"Huh?" Already dazed and confused, Kate wondered if she suffered from a hearing deficiency, too.

He stalked around the chair and continued. "Another thing. Chloe and I don't do interviews. If I see one reporter trespassing on my property, I'll fill his rear-end full of buckshot. Do you understand?" He sat on the arm of the chair and looked her straight in the eyes.

Did his scowl hold an underlying trace of humor or had she imagined it? "What are you talking about?"

"The only leather around here that gets special treatment is still attached to the cows. When you're not on the road, you'll get up at six o'clock like the rest of your family."

Try as she might, Kate couldn't compose a coherent thought. She blinked and shook herself, sure that she must be imagining this conversation with Jake. She gazed up again, but he hadn't disappeared.

"One more thing," he went on. "When you are working, you will wear your wedding ring onstage, and I don't care if that doesn't fit the image of a rock star." He paused and used his thumb to close her jaw, which hung open. "What's the problem?"

Kate absently rubbed her empty ring finger. "I don' have a wedding ring."

“I’ll take care of that."

She sighed. He had said all the words she wanted to hear. She should be elated, but -- "I know you have it in you to be romantic, Jake,
so why are you turning this into a joke?

 
Jake cleared his throat and moistened his dry lips. "I'm turning this into a joke because the thought that you might refuse makes me ill. You don't corner the market on being afraid."

This time she didn't doubt the sincerity of his claim. She pushed him off the chair arm and sprang up to her feet. She had no problem with her hearing. Jake had the problem with his comprehension. "You big jerk. I've told you more than once that I love you. Why would you think I'd refuse? And if you say one word about my money, I swear, I'll cash it all into pennies and bury you in it."

Jake burst out laughing. He caught her around the waist and spun her in the air, bringing her slowly to rest against his chest. "You just called your future husband a jerk."

"Well, you are," she muttered.

"Then why did you say yes?"

She tipped her head back to gaze into his smiling eyes. "I've got a thing for jerks."

"There are a lot of jerks in this world," he pointed out.

Kate broke out in a wide grin. "I know. I've met a lot of them. But you top the list, and I only settle for the best."

"I love you, Kate." He gathered her up into his arms and put all the feeling into his kiss that his proposal had lacked. He'd found that part of himself that he thought he'd lost. Never again would he give a thought to her money. He had a family. That made him the richest man in the world.

Epilogue

Jake stared out the window at the last few leaves clinging to the trees.
 
The days got progressively shorter, and the nights much too long. Kate had intentionally set aside the late fall and early winter for her recording sessions and tours so that she could be around when the farm work was heaviest. Although she called every night when she went on the road, a fiber-optic romance didn't have the same appeal as the feel of her next to him.

He had dreaded the day when the local people would find out the truth about her work. Except for the initial surprise, most of their friends seemed to take it in stride that they had a celebrity among them. Kate refused to be treated differently, and they accepted that.

"You miss her, huh? Me, too," Chloe said. She joined him at the window and followed his stare. "Even Lollipop turned her nose up at her feed."

Jake smiled. Kate had developed such a bond with that animal that Jake had been unable to sell it. He kept it around as a pet, something he'd never done before. "She'll be back in a couple of weeks."

Chloe touched his arm. "I know that, but you always seem surprised when she does return."

"I do that for her benefit."

"Yeah, right," she teased him.

The sun disappeared into the horizon.
 
In the distance a car meandered up the road toward the house. "Turn off all the lights and pretend we're out. It's Elsa Johannsen coming by with another fruitcake," Jake warned with a wicked grin. She and Kate had become close friends, and Elsa felt it her obligation to check up on Chloe and him while Kate was away.