Mountain Homecoming (17 page)

His eyes twinkled. “Just the two of us?”

“Yes,” she murmured. Her stomach fluttered at the thought of how brazen she was to suggest such a thing. What if Matthew thought she was throwing herself at him? She squirmed under his intense gaze and pulled her shawl tighter. “If you don't…”

His grin grew larger. “I can't think of anything I'd rather do than have a picnic with you. I'll look forward to it all morning.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

Matthew tugged on the brim of his hat and climbed into the saddle. “I'll see you then.”

She nodded and waved as he guided the horse around the house and into the road, then ran back to the cabin. When she dashed into the kitchen, she came to a skidding halt.

“What you so happy about this morning?”

Granny sat at the kitchen table with her Bible open in front of her. Rani shrugged and grabbed the water bucket from the dry sink. “Nothing. I was just enjoying the day.” She held up the bucket. “I'd better go get some fresh water from the well before Mama comes to cook breakfast.”

“No need to do that yet,” Granny said, and motioned for Rani to sit down. “Your mama left before sunup to go over to the Jordan place. Wilma's done gone into labor, and her husband come for Anna. She and Simon both went.”

Rani frowned. “I didn't hear them leave. I must have been sleeping pretty soundly. And Matthew didn't say anything about them being gone either.”

Granny's eyebrows arched. “Matthew? Where'd you see him?”

“I was outside when he left, and we talked for a few minutes.”

Granny nodded. “I see.” She studied Rani for a moment. “I reckon you talked some at my birthday gatherin' Sunday too. Seems like the two of you was gone for a long time. Must have been a right in'trestin' conversation.”

Rani turned and placed the bucket back on the dry sink. “It was. I enjoy being with Matthew.”

“And I reckon he likes bein' with you. He shore didn't want to meet any of those girls your mama had lined up for him. So I told him where to find you.”

Rani slowly faced Granny and swallowed. “He found me at Willie's grave.”

“That's where I figured you'd be. Later I saw George come a-runnin' over to his pa. He looked like he could spit nails, and the next thing I know he's on his horse a-gallopin' off. What happened to make him so mad?”

Rani sank down into the chair next to Granny. “George wants to marry me, but I'm not in love with him. He found Matthew and me at Willie's grave, and he said some awful things.”

“Like what?”

“He said if I wasn't interested in him I should have tried to do better than settle for Luke Jackson's son. He said there were lots of folks in the Cove who didn't want Matthew back here.”

Granny pursed her lips. “I was a-feared there might be some people who wouldn't forget. I shore do hate that for Matthew's sake. He couldn't help what his pa did.”

“That's what I told him. He has to work to prove to everybody that he's not like his father. I know he can do that.”

Granny reached over and clasped Rani's hand. “Darlin', it sounds like you got a lot of faith in that boy.”

Rani nodded. “I do, Granny. I didn't want to like him at first. I think I was so awful to him because I didn't understand…well…why I couldn't get him out of my mind. He's a very kind person, and there's something about him that draws me to him.”

“I was a-feared of that too.”

Rani's mouth gaped open. “But what scares you? I thought you loved Matthew.”

Granny frowned and leaned back in her chair. “I love him, but he's got a lot of bad mem'ries that've been eatin' at him for years. We don't know what his life's been like, and he may have scars that will make it hard for him to have a normal life. I love both of you too much to see you get hurt.”

Rani gave a nervous laugh. “Granny, you're talking like Matthew and I are in love. I don't know that it's love. It's just—we like each other. But it seems we argue a lot. My mouth says something before I think, and he lashes back at me.”

A sad look darkened Granny's eyes. “That's what I'm talkin' about, darlin'. You need to pray real hard 'bout this before you get too attached to Matthew. Better to walk away 'fore one of you says or does somethin' that hurts the other one.”

Rani started to protest that Granny was wrong about her feelings for Matthew, but she knew she would only be trying to convince herself. There was something about Matthew that excited her and attracted her to him. She'd never felt this way before.

It made no difference what Granny or anyone else said. She intended to find out what this feeling was. If she got hurt in the process, she'd have no one to blame but herself. It was worth risking a broken heart to find out what the future held for her and Matthew.

Matthew hadn't been able to concentrate on his work all morning. Although Rani was familiar with the farm where he'd grown up, he wanted her to know more about the place that held so many memories for him. He wanted to tell her about his mother and what he was like as a boy. His father was a different matter—he didn't know if he could ever share all the memories he had locked away about him.

He chided himself for letting his mind wander when he had work to do and threw himself into the repair of the animal cribs in the barn. He'd just pounded the last nail into the sagging partition between two stalls when Scout's bark broke the silence. He stepped out of the stall into the middle aisle of the barn just as Scout and Rani appeared at the open door. When Scout saw him, he ran to him and jumped up on his leg.

Matthew laughed, dropped to his knees, and hugged the wriggling dog. Rani leaned against the side of the door and smiled. He stood up and walked toward her. “I can always expect a warm welcome from Scout. Maybe you should take a lesson from him.”

She held up a basket covered with a cloth. “I suspect you would much rather have what's in this basket instead of my welcome.”

He closed his eyes and sniffed. “You may be right. I smell something good. What is it?”

“I brought the rest of last night's squirrel stew. Granny made us some cornbread, and I made you some teacake cookies like I promised I would.”

He closed his eyes and groaned. “You read my mind. I'm starving.”

She arched an eyebrow and studied him from head to toe. “Well, you need to get cleaned up before you eat. Go do that and meet me under the big oak tree over there. I'll have everything ready for you.”

His heart pounded at the ease with which they teased today. Maybe they had passed the point of taking exception to everything the other one said. As she walked away, his eyes took in her every movement. Strange how a few days could change the way a person looked at the world. He hadn't been this happy in years. He reached down, scratched behind Scout's ears, and laughed. “Come on, boy. Let's get ready to eat.”

Whistling a tune, he hurried to the bucket on a bench at the entrance to the barn and poured some water into the pan beside it. For several minutes he scrubbed his hands and arms and then scooped up water to wash the grime from his face. As he wet his hair and slicked it back from his face, he glanced down at Scout.

“Do I look good enough to eat with a pretty woman?”

Scout tilted his head to one side as if trying to decide, and Matthew laughed. What would the men he'd worked with at Little River think of Matthew Jackson talking to a dog and trying to impress a woman? It didn't matter. At the moment nothing mattered except being with her.

She sat on the ground under the oak tree, and his heart beat a little faster as he walked toward her. His gaze traveled over the plates and forks she'd pulled out of the basket beside her, but he stumbled to a stop when he spied the small vase in the center of the cloth.

With the streaks of red and black that ran up the sides, he knew right away it was one of her pit-fired vases. But it was what the vase held that sucked the breath from him. She had picked blossoms from the mountain laurel bush and arranged them inside for a bouquet to decorate their simple meal.

Her hands fluttered to her lap, and a pink tinge lit her cheeks as she followed his gaze to the flowers. “I picked some. I like to enjoy them as long as they bloom.”

The memory of his mother walking out of the cabin the day they left the Cove flashed in his mind, and he almost groaned. He could still see her clutching the small can that contained a cutting from her mountain laurel bush. Now when he looked at her bush, he not only thought of her but of his first glimpse of Rani also.

He took a deep breath and smiled. “They make it look like we're having a fancy meal.”

She ducked her head and motioned for him to sit down. “There's nothing fancy about squirrel stew, but it does fill you up. One good thing about living in the Cove is all the wild game we have for our tables.”

He nodded and dropped down beside her. “There are a lot of good things about living here.”

She picked up a dish, spooned some stew onto it, and handed it to him. “There are. I'm glad you came back to enjoy them.”

His heart leapt, and he smiled. “I am too.”

As they ate, Matthew related story after story about his childhood days when he roamed the forests and streams in the Cove. He took care to only mention happy times, never anything about his father. Rani's eyes lit up with laughter when he told of the time he'd tried to catch a bear cub to keep as a pet. He'd had to run for his life when the mother showed up.

“What did your mother say when you told her?”

He grinned. “Nothing. I never told her. I thought it was better keeping it to myself instead of worrying her.”

“That sounds a lot like me when I was little. Stephen always did what Mama and Poppa wanted, but it seems I was in trouble all the time.” She laughed and held out the plate with her cookies on it. “Have another?”

He shook his head and rubbed his stomach. “I've already had four. I'm so full I need to take a nap, and that's not going to help me finish the work I'd planned for this afternoon.”

“We were having so much fun, I forgot you have work to do.” She began to gather up the dishes. “I'd better get a count of how many bricks I think you need and go home. I don't want to detain you.”

He didn't want their time together to end, and he grabbed her hand to stop her from loading the basket with their dirty dishes. “Don't go yet. I'm enjoying having you here.”

She paused and stared at him. “Are you?”

“Yes,” he whispered. He pulled one of the mountain laurel blooms from the vase, scooted closer to her, and stuck it in her thick hair. Then he arranged another one on the other side of her face. Unable to stop himself, he continued until the can sat empty, and all the blooms resembled a crown of flowers on her head.

She didn't move as he leaned back and stared at her. “There,” he said. “You're just as beautiful as you were the first day I saw you.”

Her lips trembled. “Am I really?”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, you are.”

A nervous laugh escaped her mouth. “No one's ever said that to me before.”

“Then I'm glad I'm the first.” He glanced at the blooms again and frowned. “Did I ever tell you the history of that mountain laurel bush?”

She shook her head. “No, but I assumed it has something to do with your mother.”

“It does. She and my father were very much in love when they first married. One day he brought a small mountain laurel plant home with him. He'd dug it up somewhere in the mountains. He planted it and told her to always think of him and how much he loved her when she looked at that plant. Even after things got so bad, she never gave up hope it would be better. When she was dying, she made me promise to come see if her mountain laurel was still living. It was the first thing I did when I rode into the Cove, and I found you here.”

“I've come to that bush to pick blooms for years. Now it's special to me because we met here.”

She leaned forward, and his heart caught in his throat. She wanted him to kiss her. He wanted to more than anything, but he couldn't move. After a moment he sighed, grasped her hand, and pulled her to her feet. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”