Once in a Blue Moon (24 page)

Melissa put a hand to
her chest, mortified. “Excuse me, I’m sorry, I thought you were the
dog. He keeps trying to sneak in here and...” she suddenly realized
she was offering excuses to a total stranger. She lifted her chin.
“Can I help you?”

The man took off his
hat and held it against his chest. “Name’s Curly. Curly Jenkins. We
met down at the saloon the other night when you threw me to the
floor.”

Melissa’s blush
intensified. Then a thought occurred to her. He wasn’t going to
sue, was he? A quick glance at his body revealed no obvious damage.
“I hope you weren’t injured in any way?”

Curly laughed. “No
ma’am. Takes a lot more than a little scuffle to hurt me.” He
thumped his chest. “I’m packing a lot of muscle. Why, that little
altercation didn’t so much as leave a bruise.”

He smiled again,
staring at her. “I just wanted to stop by to see if you were as
pretty as I remembered, and I’m not disappointed.”

Melissa blinked and
felt herself getting hot again. She took a breath and let it out.
What was she supposed to say to that?

Jessica giggled.

Melissa glanced away.
“Oh. Well. Uh--”

“I also wanted to find
out if you were going to the picnic.”

“Picnic?” She seemed to remember the ladies mentioning
something, but hadn’t really paid attention. “I don’t know.” This
guy needed to go. Now. “You’d have to ask my
husband
if he wants to
go.”

Curly shrugged. “Don’t
rightly care if your husband goes. Will you save me a dance?” He
grinned, confident and cocky. “Or two?”

She drew her brows
together. “Mr...um,”

“Call me Curly.”

Who
was this joker
? Where had he come from?
“Do you live around here?”

“I have a nice place
about five miles west of here.” He glanced around the cabin. “It’s
real nice. You’ll like it a lot.”

What did he mean by
that? She wasn’t handling this well. She simply needed to tell him
to get lost. “Look. My husband will be home any minute. You need to
leave.”

Smiling, Curly ignored
her words and took a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket. “I’ve
written a poem for you.” He cleared his throat.

A
poem
? Receding heat flared up again. Could
this get any worse?

“I saw you when I was
playing cards, you’re a breath of fresh air and I fell real hard.”
Curly chuckled, his gaze meeting hers, asking her to share the
joke.

She rolled her eyes and
shook her head.

Jessica giggled
again.

Curly continued. “I
want you to always be mine, even if you kill me before I’m
twenty-nine.” He laughed out loud at that.

Melissa put a hand to
her brow and groaned. “Please stop.”

“My heart pounds in my
chest when I see your face, you are prettier than a porcelain
vase.”

“Look, buddy,” she pointed an index finger in his direction.
“If you don’t
knock-it-off
--”

Jessica made a choking
sound and Melissa glanced over to see her hand clamped over her
mouth, stifling laughter.

“I swear to you I will
always be true, and as soon as you’re divorced, I will marry you.”
He stopped and looked at her expectantly.

Marry? Melissa could
feel her face throbbing with heat and she huffed out a breath. She
didn’t know where to look. “Mister, you are one weird cookie, and
if--”

Richard and Jeremy,
both with slicked-back wet hair, walked up the steps behind
Curly.

Relief flooded
Melissa.

Jessica shrieked with
laughter when she saw them.

Richard shot Curly a
curious look. “Hi.” He held out his hand. “Richard Kendal.”

Curly grasped his hand.
“Curly Jenkins. I’m askin’ Mrs. Kendal to promise me a dance at the
picnic.”

Richard raised a
questioning brow toward her. “Melissa?”

Melissa shrugged, made
a crazy sign with her index finger by her temple and turned away,
gathering up the last of the material from the table.

“Looks like the answer
is no.” Richard sounded unfriendly.

“For
now. Bye,
Melissa
.” Curly left, whistling as he sauntered off.

She could feel Richard
staring at her.

“New boyfriend?”

“Don’t ask.”

Jessica giggled again.
“He wants to marry Mom.”

Richard lifted a brow.
“Oh, that’s all right then. I thought it was something serious.” He
studied her. “Melissa? Did he scare you?”

Melissa shook her head.
“Get real. He’s just some nut case who apparently likes to be
slapped around by women. So, how’d it go today?”

Jeremy sighed loudly.
“What a day.”

Melissa met Richard’s
gaze and they both smiled, amused by Jeremy’s grown-up statement.
She finished clearing the table of sewing paraphernalia and set out
mismatched bowls and utensils. “We’d just about given up on you
two. Sit down and we’ll have dinner and you can tell us all about
it.”

The family quickly sat
around the table and Melissa ladled stew into bowls and set out
biscuits, peaches, and vegetables.

Jeremy grinned at
Jessica. “Do I have a story for you. I rode a horse today.”

Jessica’s back straightened. “
That
is so not fair
!”

Melissa grinned, happy
that everyone was home. “Yes, but he didn’t get to do laundry, did
he?”

“Oh right, Mom!”

Jeremy puffed out his
skinny chest. “We moved cows from one range to another.”

Richard nodded. “Yep,
we’re officially real cowboys now.”

The bragging tone made
her smile. “You big handsome boys, you.”

Richard laughed.

Jessica grumbled about
the unfairness of life.

Jeremy spoke with his
mouth full. “The other guys treated me like I was already grown up.
Like I wasn’t even a kid. And we ate lunch in the mess room, and I
helped carry food from the cookhouse, and me and Dad had baths in
big barrel tubs.”

Jessica chimed in to
tell about their day.

Melissa slowly ate
dinner and let the conversation wash over her, nodding
occasionally. She really was tired. Drained. She’d worked many
hours of overtime in the past years, but never had she felt this
bone-weary exhaustion.

After dinner, Richard
did dishes and Melissa poured hot water into the tub in the bedroom
and started more heating. When Richard finished putting dishes on
the shelf he looked around the room. “Anyone want to play
cards?”

Melissa turned to stare
at him. Cards?

“Yeah!” The twins said
in unison.

Melissa sighed. She
might as well. It wasn’t like Jay Leno was going to show up to
entertain them.

The cards were round
and the printing different from any Melissa had seen.

Richard shuffled
awkwardly. “What do you want to play?”

Melissa shrugged.

“Go fish?” asked
Jessica.

The cards were quickly
passed out.

Jessica studied her.
“Mom, do you have a three?”

Melissa glanced at the
two threes in her hand and straightened, a spark of enthusiasm
penetrating her fatigue. She remembered how to play this game. No
way was she giving up cards. “Go fish.”

When
it was her turn she smiled at Jessica, anticipating her reaction.
“Do
you
have a
three?”

Outrage widened
Jessica’s eyes. “Mom, you can’t do that! I asked you and you said
you didn’t have one!”

Richard chuckled. “No
cheating, Melissa.”

“
Moi
?”
Melissa showed a three card. “Hand over the three.” she said to
Jessica.

Jessica’s eyes widened
innocently. “I don’t have one.”

“I know you do.”

“
Mom
!”

Melissa chuckled.
“Fine, take it.” She gave Jessica one card. She’d pick them up next
round with her spare three.

The cheating grew
worse, everyone joining in, and soon every card in the pile was
gone and no one would admit to having anything. They were laughing
their heads off.

The dog came inside
again and Melissa reached over, plucked a biscuit from off the
plate and threw it to him.

He gobbled it down and
looked for more.

She threw him the last
one, then studied each family member in turn: Richard, smiling and
happy; Jessica chattering like never before; and Jeremy glancing
from one parent to the other, lapping up the time spent
together.

She suddenly realized
that at this moment, for the first time, she was really glad to be
here. The smile on her face was real, not faked to manipulate an
outcome, and she felt...happy.

Richard grabbed her
hand and smiled. “This is great, isn’t it?”

Melissa nodded and, for
some unknown reason, tears pricked the back of her eyes and her
chin wobbled. She nodded again. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

* * *

Richard stepped onto
the small porch and into the warm night air to join Melissa where
she sat on the top step, her head tilted back.

He closed the door for
privacy, shutting out the sounds of Jessica splashing in the bath
behind the bedroom curtain and Jeremy’s soft snores. This was a
good opportunity to spend some time with his wife, to wind down,
and he had every intention of taking advantage of it. “Hi. What’s
going on?”

“Just looking at the
moon.”

Richard glanced up. The
three-quarter-moon hung innocently in the sky, very bright against
the patchwork of stars blanketing the night.

“I’m counting down the
days until Halloween. It’s my new favorite holiday,” Melissa said
with a slight smile.

Richard was pretty sure
she wasn’t joking, but he chuckled and sat beside her.

Melissa turned, her
face serious. “I never told you, but on the night we were...sent
here, something strange happened when I got home from work. I was
outside in the moonlight, and it...I don’t know, it pulled at me or
something. I think I almost came back here alone.” She paused, and
her fists tightened. “I fell down and had to crawl to the
porch.”

Richard was surprised.
“Why didn’t you tell me at the time?”

Melissa shrugged. “Once
I got out of the moonlight, I was fine. I just thought I was sick
or something.” Her brows drew together. “I think we need to make
sure we’re in the moonlight all night during the next blue moon. I
think the moonlight has to actually touch us. It would be horrible
if we miscalculated and didn’t get home.”

Richard thought about
how well everything was going for them, for their family, and felt
irritated. “Horrible?”

Melissa nodded. “I don’t know how the people living here can
stand it. Drudgery, day in and day out. It
is
horrible. If this were permanent,
I don’t think I could handle it.”

Richard stood, held out
a hand, and pulled her up. He didn’t want to stay here permanently
either. There were too many benefits for the kids in the future.
But while they were here, it was a good opportunity for them to
make some memories and reconnect again. Besides, how many people
got to view the past up close and personal? He, for one, was having
a great time and wanted her to share the experience. “Come on,
let’s go for a walk.”

Holding hands, they
walked around the perimeter of the cabins to the corral. A horse
ambled over, no doubt hoping for a treat. Richard rubbed the
animal’s soft nose, wondering where to begin, and how to convince
her to take advantage of their time here. “I want to thank you for
tonight. It was wonderful. You worked really hard today and dinner
was great.”

Melissa shrugged,
looking sad.

“Is everything
okay?”

Melissa nodded. “Fine.
I’m just tired.”

“It was fun playing
with the kids tonight, wasn’t it?”

Melissa looked down.
“Yes, it was fun. Do you know, I haven’t ever played cards with the
kids before.” Her voice cracked.

Surprised by the
emotion in her words, Richard cupped her elbows and turned her
toward him. “Hey, come on.”

She sniffed and a tear
made its way down her cheek. “I was thinking about a divorce, you
know. Before we came here.”

Richard sighed,
wondering where this was coming from. He lifted her left hand and
encircled her empty ring finger. “I know.”

“I was ready to walk
away from you and the kids.”

He already knew, but
hearing it had his stomach clenching. “I know.”

“So why do you put up
with so much from me?”

“I love you.”

Melissa snorted and
wiped tears off her face. “Be honest.”

Richard hesitated, took
a breath, then paused again. How did he put into words what he’d
never thought about? “I do love you, Melissa, and I don’t know,
maybe I’m a fixer. Heck, look at my career; I like to fix things
up.”

She laughed a little
wildly. “Are you saying I’m broken?”

He thought about her
high-strung personality and forced himself to be honest. “I don’t
know. Inside, sometimes, maybe. You’re complicated.”

“So you’ve said.” Her
jaw worked, she swallowed and looked down. “I don’t want a
divorce.”

Relief closed his eyes.
He drew her close, fitting her head under his chin as he wrapped
his arms around her.

She clung to him.

He wondered how much of
her sudden desire for their marriage to work had to do with their
circumstances and her new dependence on him and how much to do with
her true feelings. Regardless, he was glad for her change of heart
and could only hope it was permanent.

“I wasn’t planning to
let you go without a fight, you know. Me and you, what we have,
it’s forever, Melissa.”

Her hand clutched at
his shirtfront and she raised her eyes to meet his gaze. He could
see she was touched.