Waiting for You (27 page)

“Do you
like me
?” He
nudged
her almost
playfully
with
his
shoulder
.

She laughed quietly and shook her head. “I’m crazy about you, and you know it.”

“Well I can almost guarantee you won’t like either of my parents.
They aren’t ogres, but they’ll drive you crazy. We’re more than our
genetics.”

“But they matter,” Karise persisted.

“But you can overcome them. At some point, our choices are no
longer our parents’ blame. They’re all us. I’m sure Devon and Alex are
struggling now, but they are both good people, no matter who their
parents were. They’ll land on their feet, and I think they deserved to know. I’m glad Jack said something.”

“But I wasn’t crazy – he was being weird around me.”

Aidan chuckled. “But he didn’t hate you, so we’re splitting the win on that one.”

“Fair enough.”

“Kate mentioned that the two of you had a little wedding pow- wow earlier today.” Aidan changed the subject.

“We did—well, it was mostly her. I’m a bit lost when it comes to planning things like that.”

“So? Have you picked a day? Is there anything you need from me?”

Karise’s mind went blank. “I have no idea. I’m so sorry. It sounded
like such a brilliant idea to have a simple wedding while my family is in town, but I can’t formulate the first coherent thought right now. I’m
probably in no shape to be planning our wedding.”

“Have you
changed
your mind? We can
postpone
it; I’ll
understand.
”

“No,” Karise shook her head. “I guess I’m just worried I’ll screw it up.”

“It will be perfect, so long as we’re married at the end of it,” he promised. “But I’ll talk to Kate to see if we can organize the troops.”

Karise leaned against his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Alex sat down at the table across from Karise, her face determined.
“I want to go to the rodeo tonight.”

Karise sat up, brightening. “Really?”

“Really. Is it too late to do that?”

“Not at all,” she rushed to reassure Alex. “Is it nosy to ask what brought this on?”

Alex blinked, looking away for a second before meeting Karise’s
eyes. “You heard Jack. Mom felt trapped, and it sent her over the edge.
I don’t want Lani to feel like that, like there’s no hope for her life. Daniel
isn’t
thrilled
, but he
agreed
to go and to keep his hands off
Aaron’
s throat.”

“Wow. That’s impressive,” Aidan commented.

Karise gave him an incredulous look.

“I’m serious,” Aidan defended himself. “If some cowboy came
sniffing around Zoe while I was away, I’d be hard-pressed to keep my
hands off his neck.”

“Because assault charges always help a situation.” Karise made a
face at him before turning her attention back to Alex. “I’ll double-check
the times, but I think we’d have to leave in about half an hour.”

“Actually, I’ll call Elsie. She’ll know the details,” Aidan offered, retrieving his phone from his pocket. They went to spread the word that plans for the evening had changed. Karise heard a delighted and
decidedly un-regal squeal coming from inside the house and smiled. It
was a safe bet that Lani had just been informed of the change in plans.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the girl came barreling out of the house, straight into Daniel’s surprised arms.

“Thank you, Joey.” She planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged his neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Karise looked to Alex, who had followed Lani out of the house. “Joey?”

“It’s a nickname,” Alex explained.

Why? Because it’s short for Daniel
? The nickname made no sense
to her, but she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that her family was an odd bunch. They were her odd bunch, though, and she was falling more in love with them each and every day.

KARISE HAD NEVER BEEN
to a rodeo before. Sights, sounds and smells assaulted her senses the closer they got. There were so many
people milling about. Vendor stands selling food, souvenirs, and cowboy
paraphernalia lined the walkways. Cows of varying sizes stood in pens,
watching the commotion with looks of boredom. Horses corralled at the far end of the giant dirt arena seemed to feed off the electricity in
the air. They jostled and stamped and shook their manes. The smell of
animal and leather was thick in the air around them. Oddly, Karise didn’t find it unpleasant.

Cowboys and cowgirls rode their horses in the open field behind the arena. Some rode lazy circles, some twirled ropes, some ran for
short bursts only to come to a sliding stop. Lani’s eyes were trained
on that field as she searched for her cowboy.

Her face lit up. “There he is! Can I go say hello to let him know we’re here?”

“Can’t you text him?” Daniel countered.

“He won’t check his phone until afterwards.”

Daniel conceded. “You’re not going alone.”

“I’ll take Karise with me.” Lani surprised Karise by grabbing her hand. “She’ll chaperone us.”

Alex
and
Daniel
exchanged
looks.
Aidan
looked like he was
wrestling
with a grin.

“Fine, but I will be close by. No shenanigans.”

“Shenanigans? Really, Joey?”

Karise made a mental note to ask for a better explanation of the “
Joey” thing later. Meanwhile, she allowed herself to be tugged along
by the excited teenager, trying unsuccessfully to take in the sights as they went. Daniel followed a few paces behind and stationed himself
at the makeshift gate at the edge of the field, his arms crossed and
his face stern, looking very much like the protector he was.

Lani slowed her pace, moving now with her usual regal air. They
skirted around the outside edge of the riders’ area, careful to stay out
of the way as they made their way along. Karise had no idea how Lani
could pick hers out of the bunch since they were all wearing hats, but
she seemed to know right where they were going.

Lani
picked her spot on the
sidelines
and waited
patiently
for Aaron
to notice her. They didn’t have to wait long. One rider stopped short,
turning his horse toward them slowly. He sat there for a moment,
regarding the two women, before nudging his mount forward and
weaving through the other contestants as he came.

It seemed to Karise that he couldn’t quite believe what he was
seeing. Up close, Karise could see he was more muscled than she’d
first suspected. He had the lean muscles of a man who earned them
from the land, like Aidan. He stopped his horse in front of them,
dismounting in a fluid motion. He came to stand in front of Lani, hat in hand, looking down at her without a word.

Lani reached up to brush a lock of sandy hair away from his deep
blue eyes. “Hi.”

A brilliant smile broke across his face. Karise thought he was going
to scoop her up and kiss her, but he merely replied “Hi” before turning
to Karise and tipping his head politely. “Ma’am. I’m Aaron Johnston.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Karise accepted the hand he offered her. “I’m Karise McAlister.”

“Lani’s aunt. It’s real good to meet you.” He turned his gaze back
to Lani. “How did you get away? How long do we have?”

Lani couldn’t contain her smile. “All night. We’re here for the rodeo,
and to take you out afterwards, if you’d like.”

“Really?”

“Really. Look.” She pointed to a fiercely scowling Daniel.

“He doesn’t look happy about it.”

“He’s not.” Lani didn’t sugarcoat it. “But he’s here, and he promises
not to murder you.”

“That’s comforting.”

“Is it okay we’re here?” She reached out to touch his arm.

“Who’s we?”Aaron glanced around.

“The whole family!”

Aaron swallowed hard. “That’s great.”

“Don’t let us make you nervous,” Karise interjected. “None of us
know what we’re doing, so we’re impressed by the fact that you’re
here – you’ve already surpassed us in talent. And Lani has told us all
about how you gentle the mustangs on your parents’ farm. I think it’s
fascinating.”

“Thank you.” Gratitude shone in his eyes.

“We should probably get back to our group so you can go practice,
or whatever.” Karise nodded her head toward Daniel and took a few
steps away to give the couple some measure of privacy. She’d been
expecting a passionate embrace, but he merely kissed her hand, though
his expression spoke volumes when they said their goodbyes.

As Karise and Lani walked away arm in arm, Karise couldn’t help
observing, “That boy is crazy head over heels in love with you.”

“Do you think so?”

“Oh honey, yes, I definitely do.”

Lani didn’t get a chance to respond because Daniel had joined
them. Some of the granite melted away from his expression when he saw the look on Lani’s face. He was struggling to stay angry in light of her joy. Karise thought to herself that, if nothing else, Lani had no
shortage of men who loved her—if only they could learn to get along.

As it turned out, the rodeo was a perfect diversion. The children
were enthralled—Karise had never seen Zoe’s eyes so big—and in
truth, so were the adults. Lani was all smiles, especially when Aaron
finished his bronc ride by tipping his hat to her once his feet were
back on dirt.

After the rodeo, Kate and Gavin headed home to put Jonathan to
bed while Jane offered to take the twins back to the hotel. Aidan caved under Zoe’s pleading gaze, promising she could go with the rest of the
group to the café for dessert before bed. The slightly smaller group managed to find a table with only a short wait.

Aaron was charming, polite, and overall cuter than a speckled
puppy. Karise had no trouble seeing why Lani was so smitten. The
dynamic between Alex, Daniel and the young couple was both amusing
and sweet. Karise could see how hard they were trying.

When Zoe started to yawn, Aidan offered to give Devon a ride
home so Alex’s family could have some time alone. The short drive to
the hotel left little time to talk, so they set up a breakfast date in the morning.

After dropping Devon off, Aidan drove Karise back to the cottage.
Zoe was asleep by the time they got there, giving the pair the opportunity
for a lingering kiss goodbye. She was looking forward to the day when
it was goodnight instead of goodbye.

Alone in the cottage, Karise went to stand in front of the urn. She stared at it for a few moments, not sure what it was she wanted to
say. “I misjudged you, Victoria. I’m sorry for that. I’m still mad – you
hurt a lot of people. But I’m sorry for your pain. I wish you’d found your path.”

Letting go of the anger was hard to do. Karise knew that if she was ever going to be truly free, it had to be done – even if doing so opened the door for sorrow. She cried herself to sleep that night. She
cried for the mother she never knew, she cried for a woman so trapped
by her life it drove her mad, and she cried for the trail of pain left in the wake of it all.

The next morning, Karise awoke feeling refreshed and almost light,
the weight of anger and sorrow washed away by cleansing tears. She
showered and dressed for her breakfast with Alex and Devon, grabbing
the envelope with their mother’s things on her way out the door. Since she was usually late to meet Devon – and the past two times in grand
fashion – Karise was determined to be early for this meeting.

Somehow, he still beat her to the restaurant. He was sitting at a booth all alone, toying with a cup of coffee and staring out the window so intently he didn’t even notice Karise slide into the seat across from him.

“Hey, big brother.” She maneuvered to be in his line of sight.

He glanced her way, his smile not reaching his eyes. “
Good morning.”

Karise waited for the waitress to finish pouring her coffee. “The trip certainly didn’t happen like you planned, did it?”

“No, no it didn’t.” His laugh was sardonic.

She reached out to take one of his hands. “How are you handling
all of this?”

“Fine.” He looked down at his hand in hers.

“Liar. I don’t know you all that well and I can tell you’re full of it. This is eating you alive. It might help to talk.”

He withdrew his hand from hers, sitting up straighter and looking her in the eye. “What would you have me say? That I heard her cry at
night? That I knew she was hurting and did nothing?”

“You were ten years old when she left him. What would you have done? Was there even one thing you could have feasibly done to save her?”

He opened his mouth to argue, and she held up a hand to silence
him. “No, Devon, you listen to me. This wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t my
fault. It wasn’t even Alex’s fault. It just was. Is this why you spent so
much of your life fixing things for other people, to atone for not helping
your mother? Is this why you were such a stubborn mule about being
there for me?”