When The Heart Beckons (44 page)

“Love,” Annabel insisted.

He glanced quickly at her again, then looked
beyond through the window, toward the gardens Livinia had loved. “I
would like to think so,” he repeated.

“Go on, Father,” Cade said quietly.

Ross McCallum’s gaze shifted to Brett,
sitting tense and silent on the sofa. “When she told me that you
were going to be born, Brett, we both knew you couldn’t have been
my son. I’d been away for two months on business. She was frantic,
terrified to tell me, but unable to keep her secret any longer. I
was devastated when she told me about Frank Boxer—I loved her, you
see.” His tone was low, filled with pain. “More than anyone
except—Cade. And then Brett.”

Silence fell in the library, but for the
bluebird chattering outside the window.

“What happened when she told you?” Brett
asked quietly. Annabel ached for him. He was sitting very still,
trying to keep his shame, his sorrow under control.

“She begged my forgiveness and ... well, I
gave it to her. You needn’t know the whole scene. I told her we
would raise the child together and put her ... indiscretion behind
us. Then she informed me of the worst, the most vile part.” His
voice hardened, sounding so much like Cade’s that Annabel started.
“She told me that when she’d informed Boxer she was carrying his
child, he was delighted. But not for the reason she’d hoped. He
planned to blackmail me—to blackmail both of us, really—to force me
to pay him an enormous sum of money to keep from spreading the
scandal around the town. That bastard cared nothing for her shame
or humiliation, nor did it weigh with him that he was destroying
the woman who had thought she loved him. No, he wanted nothing of
her or the child—except to enrich himself by using them both.”

“Why didn’t you kill him then?” Brett
exploded, jumping up from the sofa, “He deserved to be shot!”

“No.” Cade stepped forward, his face very
grim. “Horsewhipped. And then shot.”

“I agree with you.” Ross nodded at his older
son.

As Annabel glanced around the room at three
pairs of McCallum eyes all glinting with fury, she grieved for them
all.

“But for your mother’s sake, I couldn’t risk
even a hint of scandal,” Ross continued bitterly. He started to
pace again, his steps slow and heavy. “I chose what I felt was the
safest, quietest route. I paid Boxer his filthy money and he left
town. But a year later he came back.”

“Yes, so he said.” Brett told his father
then of the version Boxer had given him of the story, of how he
claimed to have begged Livinia to come away with him, to take her
son and leave her husband.

“He lied,” Ross said flatly. “The son of a
bitch never wanted her—or you. I’m sorry to tell you that, son, but
... it’s time we heard the full and awful truth. He only came back
for more money. But this time he got something he didn’t bargain
for.” He raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “The
only problem was, it didn’t save Livinia. Her heart was broken, her
spirit destroyed. No matter how I tried to console her after that,
even with Boxer gone from our lives, she couldn’t look me in the
eye without weeping. She couldn’t seem to recover from the
nightmare he put her through. But Brett, there is something else,
something you must know.”

Brett stared at him, waiting.

Annabel held her breath.

“I wanted you, son,” Ross McCallum said
slowly, meeting Brett’s gaze intently. “From the first day she told
me about you, I was determined to raise you as my own son—right
along with Cade. And once you were born, there was no doubt, none
at all. I found that it was easy to ... love you ... and I was more
determined than ever to teach you and care for you as my own.” He
cleared his throat but even still his next words came out thick
with emotion. “And to this day, I do.”

Brett’s eyes filmed with tears. “I know,
Father,” he said in a choked voice. “I think I always knew. But I
was too stunned and too angry and too humiliated to see straight
and ...”

He never finished. He walked straight into
Ross McCallum’s arms and for the first time that Annabel ever
remembered, the two men embraced.

Annabel’s heart leaped with happiness for
them, yet at the same time pain stabbed through her as she saw Cade
standing alone, watching his father and brother. An outsider.

Suddenly, Ross pulled back from Brett to
stare hard at his oldest son. “Come here, boy,” he ordered. “I’ve
waited thirteen years for this. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

She held her breath, wondering what he would
do, if pride and a stubborn inbred toughness would keep him rooted
to the spot, apart from his family. And then Cade was in the circle
of arms, embracing, being embraced, and Annabel wept silent tears
of joy as she sat unmoving upon the sofa. She started to get up, to
slip out of the room and leave them to their reunion in privacy,
but Ross McCallum’s voice stopped her.

“Get over here, Annabel Brannigan,” he
commanded, and she ran to them, half laughing and half crying, and
hugged them each in turn. Cade’s arm stayed tight around her
waist.

“Father, you have met Annabel Brannigan. But
you haven’t met the future Mrs. Cade McCallum.”

Dumbfounded, Annabel could only stare at
him. “Neither ... have I,” she managed to sputter. “Unless ... you
mean ...”

“Of course I do.” Cade shook his head in
exasperation at the incredulity he saw in her eyes. “For a private
investigator, sweetheart, you’re not too perceptive ... about
certain things. Or are you trying to say I haven’t made my
intentions clear?”

Ross frowned, his heavy brows drawing
together. “Do you mean to tell me that this is the way you choose
to propose to this young lady? Just like that, with your father and
your brother looking on, and no wooing, no vows of love or words of
passion, only this cavalier announcement? Pretty sure of yourself,
aren’t you, boy?”

“Start over, big brother,” Brett advised,
and winked at Annabel. “Try a little romantic persuasion.”

“No ... no, I don’t need a romantic proposal
... I accept!”

“Don’t do it, young lady. Make him beg you
first,” Ross said, shaking his head.

Cade regarded them all in amusement, then
seized Annabel’s hand, squeezing it tight within his own larger
one. “Hell, it looks like I’m going to have to do just that. Can’t
have anyone saying we didn’t do this the right and proper way.”

With that, he began dragging her toward the
garden. “I’m sure you’ll excuse us ...”

But just then there came a pounding on the
front door. Cade kept ahold of Annabel’s hand, but waited with
Brett as his father went to answer it. A moment later, Ross
McCallum stuck his head back into the library.

“There’s a peddler fellow here to see you,
Cade,” he reported in some amusement. “A Mr. Banks. He’s most ...
determined. Said something about an accident ... his wagon
overturning and some promise you made ... but perhaps I should have
him come back later ...”

“Damn, I forgot. No, Father, wait. I’ll see
him in the study.” Cade turned back to Annabel and pressed a kiss
to her hand before he released it. “I promised the peddler whose
wagon collided with Boxer’s carriage last night that I’d reimburse
him for any damages. Let me get this out of the way. I’ll wager
that the owner of the wagon I stole to chase after Boxer will be by
soon, too. Reckon we’ll ever have any time alone together?”

“We’d better. I have a proposal coming to
me. You know this is very unorthodox,” she informed him primly.
“Mr. Clyde Perkins and Mr. Joseph Reed and Mr. Hugh Connely didn’t
conduct their proposals this way.”

He grasped her by the shoulders. “I’m
getting pretty tired of hearing about those three hombres. By the
time I’ve finished with my proposal, you won’t even be able to
remember their names.”

Her eyes danced with anticipation. “I can
hardly wait.”

“It won’t be long.” He kissed her on the tip
of her nose before heading toward the hall.

“You know,” Ross McCallum said thoughtfully,
after Cade had left the room. “I always thought you and Brett might
someday make a match of it. You two were always as close as two
spoons in a pie.”

“I reckon I let Cade get the jump on me,
Father.” Brett put an arm around her shoulders and then gently,
playfully tugged at one of her curls. “But I realize now I’ll have
to look far and wide to find a girl like Annabel.”

“She’s too good for the both of you,” Ross
informed him baldly, and walked over to the tall bookcase where the
novels were displayed. “Do you remember that time I found you in
here in the middle of the night, Annabel, with snow piling up at
the windows, while you wept over that book ... what was it?”

“
Jane Eyre.
I was twelve and had
never read anything so romantic and so sad in my life.”

“Yes, well ... we had a conversation then,
you and I, and I began to realize what an intelligent little
creature you were. You haven’t disappointed me. I admire how
cleverly you put the pieces of the puzzle together and figured out
exactly what Frank Boxer was up to. I’m pleased. Between the two of
you, you and Cade should produce some very perspicacious children.
Your sons will make fine additions to the family business.”

“Father, don’t you think you should let Cade
propose to her before you start talking about your grandchildren?”
Brett grinned.

Ross shrugged. “Annabel doesn’t mind. Do
you, my dear?”

“Why, no, of course not.”

“See? Never met a more frank, down to earth,
easy to please kind of girl. You’d do well to start searching for
someone like her, Brett. You’re not getting any younger, you
know.”

“See what I have to put up with? Right about
now, the New Mexico territory is starting to look pretty good to
me,” Brett whispered in her ear.

She grinned back at him, glad to see that
Brett was back to his usual good-natured self. As he and Ross
McCallum began discussing business strategies for repairing the
damages inflicted by Boxer, she glanced impatiently toward the
library door. She couldn’t wait for Cade to return. She wanted to
hear this proposal of his. It would have to be some pretty speech
to make her forget the flowery phrases of Mr. Perkins, Mr. Reed,
and Mr. Connely. Annabel was certain she was going to enjoy it
immensely.

What could be keeping Cade?

“You don’t think he’s having second
thoughts, do you?” she asked aloud, without even realizing she had
spoken.

Ross and Brett burst into laughter. “Not
judging by the way he’s been looking at you all morning,” the older
man snorted.

“Why don’t you wait for him in the garden?”
Brett suggested with a sympathetic smile. “We’ll send him out there
as soon as he shows up.”

They had business to discuss, she was
restless, and the sunshine beckoned, so she slipped away to find
the perfect idyllic spot to receive her proposal of marriage.

* * *

Mr. Jonah E. Banks beamed at Cade as he
stuffed his billfold back inside his trouser pockets. “Thank you,
Mr. McCallum. You’ve been most generous. This will surely cover the
repairs to my wagon. I’m glad you were able to catch up to that
scoundrel, whoever he was. That fellow had no business racing down
the middle of the road that way with no regard for anyone ...”

As he pushed the billfold all the way down
into his pocket, a pouch fell out. An assortment of rings and
brooches and stickpins tumbled out of it onto the floor in a
clatter of winking color.

The peddler knelt down, sighing. “Pardon me,
sir. It’ll only be a moment ... how clumsy of me ...”

But as the stoop-shouldered old peddler
gathered up his treasures, Cade happened to glance down and saw
something glinting at his own feet.

“Wait.”

He bent quickly and retrieved the object.
His mouth went dry as he looked at it.

It was a brooch. Not just any brooch, but a
gold and ruby brooch in the shape of a rose, outlined all in
pearls.

It looked exactly as Annabel had described
her mother’s brooch.

“Where did you get this?”

The man stood up and scratched his head.
“Ah, that one. Lovely, isn’t it? To tell you the truth, I can’t
rightly remember. Seems to me some young ruffian traded it to me
years ago—always had the suspicion he had stolen it. Funny thing
is, I don’t usually show it much to folks. Never really cared about
selling it.” He shrugged, looking somewhat sheepish. “I kind of
fancy it. Don’t know why, but ...” As he stuffed the pouch of
little treasures back in his pocket his faded blue eyes studied the
man holding the brooch. “You feel it, too, don’t you, sir?
Something special about that one. Well, if you’d like it, I’ll sell
it to you.”

Cade turned the brooch over in his palm and
read the finely etched inscription on the back.
For S. Love
forever, N.

His hand closed possessively around it.

“Mr. Banks,” he said, trying to keep the
excitement from his voice, “name your price.”

“I
have something
for you.”

“I know. A proposal. You may start
anytime.”

Cade chuckled as he sat beside Annabel on
the white stone bench beside the pond, his knee brushing against
hers. He was all too aware of the brooch burning a hole in his
pocket. He couldn’t wait to give it to her, to see her face when
she realized what it was, but maybe he’d better start with the
proposal and build up to his surprise. First things first. Only
trouble was, now that he was out here alone with her, damned if he
knew how to start.

“You know that I love you ...” he began, but
she interrupted him, clasping both his hands in hers.

“Tell me,” she begged, her eyes
sparkling.

“I love you.”

“Silly. How much?”

“Mucho,”
he tried, feeling sweat
beginning to form on his brow and knowing that any moment it would
trickle down his forehead.