Well, I don’t know quite what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. Lillian buckled her seatbelt and settled back to ponder the sudden turn of events between Irene and her fiancé Matt Dillon.
Even under the present circumstances, she couldn’t stop the grin that always occurred when she said Matt’s full name, even to herself. When her sister Irene first introduced Matt to the family everyone thought he’d made it up as a stage name, him being a rodeo star and all. But nope, just nutty parents who were western fans. It said a lot about Matt he hadn’t been traumatized for life growing up with that name.
Lillian had no idea what could have gone wrong between the two, but she knew for sure it hadn’t been because Matt hadn’t come to Kat’s wedding. Irene and her cowboy had been thick as thieves for nearly two years, and their engagement last Christmas had been expected and applauded by everyone who knew and loved them both.
“And what be abrew to put such a look on your face, my girl?” Mother Shipton materialized in the seat next to Lillian.
Lillian started and caught herself before she spoke out loud, switching to a whisper in the nick of time. “Heavens, Mother, you scared the living daylights out of me. I’m assuming I’m the only one knows you’re here, right?”
Mother Shipton’s grin showed a mouthful of surprisingly white teeth. “For now. Though I’ve a mind to flash this smile and see if I can still garner an appreciative glance from a handsome lad. How do ye like it? I tried a wee bit o’ that white potion I found in Katherine’s bathroom in the strange jar. Very tasty, it was. Didn’t expect my teeth to change color, though. Wondrous things this century has, just wondrous.”
“That’s tooth whitener. You’re not supposed to eat it. And it’s not polite to take other people’s stuff. Besides, what would your Toby say about you flashing your smile around at strange men? I’m surprised at you, Mother, for shame.”
Mother waved a hand in dismissal. “Chill out, child.”
“Chill out? Did you seriously just tell me to chill out? Wherever did you hear that?”
“It’s old I am, child, not stupid. I still have my ears and wits about me. And it’s many years I’ve been without my Toby and no man I’ve ever met or ever will meet can hit his measure, for certain sure. It’s just a bit of sport I’m having. And my Toby wouldn’t be saying a word, it’s laughing his arse off at me is what he’d be doing.”
The man across the aisle gave Lillian a questioning look. “Notes for a scene that just occurred to me!” She held up a small recorder and nodded at her fellow passenger. “I’m a writer.” He smiled and nodded back.
“What are you doing here?” Lillian turned back to Mother.
“Why, it’s going with you I am! I’d think that’d be as clear as the nose on your face.”
“What?”
“I like it here. Or more proper to say, I ‘spose, is I like your now. Your time, this century. Contraptions such as this plane. ‘Course, I could just pop over to Calgary all on my own, but I wouldn’t be enjoying your company then, would I? My time’s lonely. And dismal. And boring. Has been ever since I lost my Toby. And without—” Mother paused and played with the buttons of the arm rest.
“Without what?”
“Family, girl. Without family, a body’s life t’aint worth living. And now here I be. With my family. You’d not deny an old woman her family, now would ye?”
Lillian sighed. “Okay. But you stay out of sight. Irene’s the skittish type. One glimpse of you and she’ll freak out.”
“You always did baby that one.” Mother crossed her fingers and held them in front of Lillian. “Don’t banish me. Mayhap you’ll find me helpful.”
“Did you just make the sign of the evil eye at me?”
“Heavens no, child! I made a sign to keep your evil eye off me!”
“Wait a minute. How do you know I baby Irene? Which I don’t. And don’t be popping off and scaring the daylights out of Mom, either!”
“Pssshaw. As if she doesn’t know good and well who I am and where all of you come from.”
“Excuse me? Really? She knows about you. How? And you didn’t answer my question. How do you know I baby Irene?”
“An’ who do ye think helped keep your Mum out of the loony bin when Edward and Alice were killed in that auto accident? You were just a teenager yourself, although there’s no doubting you’re the one who held the family together. Bill and Mina both in pieces, just shattered they were, no parent should have to feel that pain. And your mum, with six young’uns still at home and now a grandchild still a holding babe to take care of to boot—I tell ye, it was touch and go for a while. She needed me.”
“Wait a minute! You talked to her? She saw you? But how? She’s not actually Shipton blood.”
“And that beautiful giantess Carrie, she who guarded Kitty-Kat on her junket through time—it’s Shipton blood that runs in her veins? No, she be a sister of the heart. And sometimes, that be stronger than any blood ties. Mina, she has her own power, strong and pure.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“‘Tis not the kind of thing to be telling a young girl already shouldering too heavy of a burden. No, I had the devil’s own time convincing Mina she hadn’t lost her own sanity. For certain sure, she wouldn’t relish having her own daughter thinking she’d gone round the bend.”
Lillian scowled. “So—you’re telling me you’ve always been able to watch the family? That you’ve been watching us for years? I thought Katherine was the first. The pivotal key. The only one who could change the family destiny to ensure the family even existed.”
“And for certain sure, she was, child! The only one in all those years who could travel back with me her own self. ‘Twas that what was needed to save the family, nothing less. A rare talent indeed, and only given to those born under exactly the right alignment of the stars. A blessing and a true miracle her friend Carrie had it, too, to help keep our Katherine safe on that adventure. Ah, what a beautiful giantess that girl is! Sisters of the heart indeed, those two! But since ‘tis a talent I have myself—well, once I knew I had it, I couldn’t be so wasteful as to not put it to good use, now could I? And it just depended on the situation, it did, whether anybody ever knew I was there or not. Now don’t fret. I’ll stay out of sight unless I’m needed.”
“I don’t believe this! You’ve been spying on us for years? And you’re just now telling me this, after acting like everything you were seeing was all new and shiny and oh-so-strange? Including that bit about teeth whiteners when you finally decided to let me know you were hitch-hiking? Air-hiking? Whichever.”
“Not spying, m’dear. Guarding. Quite another kettle of fish altogether, don’t ye know? Don’t be so quick to judge. ‘Tis handy I am to have around when there’s hanky panky afoot.”
“There is no hanky panky. Matt is a perfect gentleman, and whatever is going on with those two is bound to be nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
“All righty then, ‘t’won’t take long to find out the right of things, and then I can have a catch up with Mina. And then we’ll see what we be needing to set this branch of the family aright.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. What we’ll see.”
* * *
Lillian smiled at the sandy haired young man who’d just inspected her passport and given her the go-ahead to retrieve her luggage and proceed through Customs at Calgary International airport.
“And where are we off to from here?”
Lillian glared up at Mother, perched atop the luggage cart she’d just snagged from the cart carrier. “Where—how on earth did you get up there? We’re going out those doors and down the ramp to meet Irene, and what are you doing on top of the cart? Don’t you think I have enough to push as it is?”
“Pshaw. You know full well this isn’t a corporeal body with any weight. And even if it did have weight, how much could this frail old thing weigh?”
“Well, it feels like you weigh plenty. Must be all those knickknacks you kept putting in my basket at the gift shop. And where’d you learn about stuff like corporeal bodies anyhow?”
“And ye think I’d let all our girls go off to those colleges by themselves without anyone to keep an eye on them? Regular dens of iniquity those things are, oh, the things I could tell ye! Oh, wait, I don’t have to! All the times you ended up studying in the library when that roommate of yours played the tramp in your room with that Joe Whit—”
Lillian stopped the cart. “That’s enough, thank you! And really? You’ve been going to university with me? All the kids?”
“Oh, for certain sure! Couldn’t pass up such entertainment! Not to mention all the things I’ve learned over the years. No one’s ever too old to learn, you know. And I told you already, just because Katherine’s the only one capable of negotiating the time-space continuum doesn’t mean—”
“Negotiating the time-space continuum? You’re a fraud, Mother, that’s what you are! Oh, yes, you’ve just missed Toby so much, and here you’ve been hi-jacking college life! You can speak perfectly modern English when you want to, you slipped up big time with that little speech! You’ve even been sitting in on science classes!”
“Idle hands are the devil’s own workshop. Idle minds, too. Science comes easy to me. Has a lot of magic in it, though most folks don’t have a clue it does.”
Lillian came to a full stop. “Wait just a minute! I specifically remember the girls telling me they came back from one of their Fifteenth Century jaunts and found you in hysterics over MTV! That you called it a ‘devil box’ and it’d scared you to death! The hell it did, not if you’ve been hanging out in college dorms!”
“Pfft!” Mother waved her hand in dismissal. “I could tell they were on their way back and I wanted to give them a bit of distraction, get their minds off the journey. ‘Twas still very new to them and it doesn’t do to let yourself be overwhelmed. And ‘tis very fond I was of the Drama Departments at those colleges, too. Besides, modern music’s suffering, my girl. That whole scene needs a trip back to Gershwin. Now that was music! Though I did acquire a taste for the Rolling Stones.”
“The Rolling Stones?! And did you disco, too?”
“For certain sure! John Travolta in his young days, ah, that was a treat! Quite the dancer! Though of course he pales when compared with Patrick Swayze, Lord bless and keep his soul.”
“Mother! Have you no shame? What would your Toby say?”
“It’s old I am, child, not dead. Well, scratch that. Yes, I am. But Toby never expected me to sit like a coal lump and twiddle my thumbs. Knew full well I wasn’t about to, either! I’ve had lots of time to fill. Kept a close eye on all my girls.”
“You are the most infuriating…Oh, sorry!” Lillian spoke to the elderly man in a big white cowboy hat who stepped forward to offer a hand with her cart. “I was talking to my nephew.” She pointed to the Bluetooth device attached to her ear. “He’s gotten up to a bit of mischief while I’ve been gone.”
The white hat – a member of the traditional greeting group that volunteered to meet visitors to Calgary with a warm smile and a helping hand – smiled at Lillian and nodded. “Oh, they’ll do that all right, those young ones will. Will you be wanting a taxi or a shuttle perhaps?”
“No, I’ll be fine, thanks. My sister is meeting me. There she is over there.” Lillian pointed toward the speeding bullet who’d suddenly taken the form of a drop-dead gorgeous redhead blasting down the aisle towards them.
“Well, I certainly see the resemblance.” White hat stepped back to avoid a collision as the redhead launched herself into the older woman’s arms, nearly toppling themselves off their feet. He smiled, nodded to both of them and headed towards the next arrivals.
“I thought you’d never get here.” Irene wrapped her arms around her sister and hung on like a limpet.
“Irene. What in the world is the matter? You’d think it’d been two years since you’ve seen me, not two weeks.”
“It’s awful. I don’t know what to do. Everything was so perfect, we had the wedding all planned and we were so happy, and now we’re doing nothing but fighting and everything is ruined. I don’t know what to do.”
“Major trauma going on here.” Mother said into Lillian’s ear.
“Shush!”
“What? Why did you say that?” Irene sobbed even harder.
“It’s okay. Don’t cry. That wasn’t meant for you. I was talking to Mother.”
“Mother? But Mimi’s not here and you call her Mom, what’s up with Mother? Are you okay, Lillian?”
“No. Not our mother. I know she’s not here. Listen, Reenie, you need to stop crying and we need to get out of the airport. Come on, dry your tears and let’s go get the car. There are things I need to tell you and this is not the place.”
“But Matt!”
“I know. You’re scared to death he’s backing out on the wedding, but try to get yourself in hand, and we’ll figure it all out. I’m sure whatever it is, it’s not the end of the world. You know I’d know if anything was really wrong because he’s the man you love.”
Irene nodded. “I’ve been hoping you’d say that. I know you always know with us, but I wasn’t sure if it would work with Matt, too.”
“Of course it does. It works with everyone we love. Is this yours?”
Irene had stopped in front of a Ford Supercab that looked to Lillian to be a long ways up from the ground.
“It’s okay. See? There’s a running board. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the ranch out in Strathmore. The truck is so much handier with the horses and all.”
“Very interesting.” Lillian said, and covered her mouth to choke back the laugh that threatened to escape at the sight of Mother perched on top of the hood like an out of this world ornament in her black dress and flowing cape.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’ll tell you later. You wouldn’t believe me right now.” Lillian patted Irene’s hand, motioned to Mother to join them in the cab and settled down to enjoy the ride.
* * *
Irene poured her heart out on the way to the apartment.
“We were supposed to go to the bakery this weekend to pick the wedding cake, but one thing after another kept popping up—or so he said—and he couldn't make it. And then last night, he was all ‘you have to bring Lillian to the rodeo’—even though I told him after a four-hour flight you'd be too tired—”
“Excuse me?” Lillian's eyebrows assumed exclamation point position. ”What am I now? The resident old lady invalid?”
“I didn’t mean that and you know it! But it’s just rodeo this and rodeo that and I ask you, what woman can compete with the Stampede, for heaven's sakes?! And he stormed out and didn't even tell me he loved me!”
“Irene.” Lillian turned the full force of her hazel eyes on her younger sister’s face. “Irene, if you’re going to try and lie to me, you could at least try and make it believable. You’d be just as happy if Mom baked your wedding cake. From a Pillsbury cake mix. So stop this babbling about wedding cakes and me being tired from a measly little four-hour flight and tell me what’s really going on between you and Matt.”
Irene gripped the steering wheel with both hands and fought to keep the tears from flowing. “I knew you’d see right through all of that. I don’t know why I even tried.”
“I don’t either, I’d certainly have thought you’d have known better. Now what exactly is going on with you?
“Wait, this is my building.” Irene turned onto Sixth Avenue in downtown Calgary and into the parkade between two thirty-five story cement towers. “Let’s wait until we get upstairs to my apartment. Then I promise I’ll tell you everything.”
“Good idea. I’d much rather you kept your mind on your driving.” Lillian looked out the window of the truck and shuddered. “There isn’t much space between the rows of parked vehicles from what I can see. You sure you’re going to be able to park this big truck in one of those little spots?”
Irene laughed. “Very funny. I’ll have you know I’ve been parking this truck in here for months now and you won’t see a single scratch anywhere.”
“Admirable.”
“I have to admit it’s not ideal, but it wasn’t supposed to be for very long. We’d already planned for me to give up the apartment since I’d be moving out to Matt’s place in Strathmore after the wedding.”
Irene’s lip started to quiver and Lillian reached over and touched her shoulder. “Let’s not think about that right now. We’ll talk everything through once we get inside. You just concentrate on getting this monster settled, and then maybe I can get you to fix me a decent cup of tea. It’ll be the first decent cup I’ve had in almost three months. They don’t do hot tea down South and you’ve no idea what that sweet syrup they call iced tea tastes like!
* * *
“What a nice comfy apartment you have.” Lillian followed her sister down the hallway to the rose-colored bedroom, the one Irene had dubbed Lillian’s Room the day she moved in because of the delicate, rose-colored walls set off with gleaming white molding. True to the apartment’s theme, Irene had selected a goose down duvet covered with twining roses. And, of course, a dozen multi-colored roses adorned the white and gold dresser.
“I know you have to put your things away before you’ll enjoy your tea.” Irene, well acquainted with Lillian’s habits, placed her sister’s suitcase on the bench at the foot of the bed and stepped back. “I’ll be in the kitchen getting things ready. Come on in when you’re finished.”
“Didn’t I tell you what a lovely girl she was? And will you quit jumping on my bed!” Lillian shook her finger at Mother, who was bouncing up and down in the center of the bed in a very unladylike—and very non-elderly—manner.
“What’s that?” Irene called from the hallway.
“Nothing, dear. Just talking to myself.”
Irene’s laughter echoed down the hallway.
“This has got to stop. I’ll have to tell her about you at tea, otherwise, it won’t be long till she’s convinced I’ve gone completely round the bend.”
Mother stopped mid-bounce and cackled. “I ‘spose I could, but ‘tis possible she won’t be able to see me even if I do try to show myself.”
“What do you mean? Can’t you just materialize? Whenever you want to?”
“’Tis not that easy. First, I’ve got to put myself into the person’s head. I did that with you. You were easy.”
“You know, that sounds rather insulting.”
“Oh, no, m’dear, not at all. The more in-tune a body is with their power, the easier ‘tis to make them see me! Then once I’m in, I just plant a little seed of an idea there’s something they need to be looking at. And ‘tis a lot harder with some folks than others. I had the devil’s own time with Katherine, she didn’t have an inkling of her own power, much as she has, and I never did manage to get inside her Parker’s head, ‘tis just plain stubborn those Drayton men be.”
“Well, this is entirely different. Irene is family. Besides, she has the gift. And I’m almost certain she knows it, but she’s scared of it. That’s why I know there’s a heck of a lot more to the trouble between her and Matt than any stupid rodeo tickets. She’s always had a streak of mule in her, that girl has, and we need her to open up about the real reason she’s putting up all these roadblocks about even setting foot on Stampede grounds. For heaven’s sake, she’s been on the back of a horse since before she could walk. She loves the rodeo, and she loves Matt Dillon. Something’s going on here, and we’re going to go into that kitchen, sit down with a decent cup of tea, and you’re going to make yourself visible and scare the life out of her.”
“Yes ma’am.” Mother floated off the bed and dipped into a curtsy in front of Lillian. “’Tis me best I’ll be doing then. See?” Mother stretched her mouth with two fingers and stuck out her tongue. “I’ve got my scare face on.”
* * *
Lillian paused in the kitchen door and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
“Reenie bring the tea over and sit down with me. There’s something we have to talk about right up front.”
“Two seconds. There! Done!” Irene turned toward the table, a plate of finger sandwiches in one hand and a large ceramic cup of tea in the other. Her eyes widened and her face went white. Plate and cup hit the tile floor.
Lillian rushed toward her younger sister, afraid she was about to follow the plate and cup down to the floor.
“Why did you do that?” she hissed from the corner of her mouth. “I told you to wait till I’d explained before you tried to make her see you! Reenie, don’t you faint on me!”
“’Tis not a thing I did, and that’s God’s honest truth!”
Irene shook off Lillian’s supporting hand. “I’m not going to faint, Lillian, let go.” She walked slowly toward Mother. “I know you,” she whispered. “You used to come see Mimi. When I was a little girl.”
“Aye, that I did, m’dear. And you were a very little girl, no more than three. You saw me? And you remember me?”
“Yes, but—you look the same. The very same! And that’s just impossible, it’s—it’s—
“‘Tis magic, child. Pure and simple.”
“Let’s all go sit down at the table, shall we?” Lillian steered Irene toward a chair. “We’ll chat while I clean this up and get us all some tea.”
* * *
“…so that’s the story, Reenie, unbelievable as it sounds. We’ve got sort of a family guardian. A time-hopping family guardian.”
“And that’s where it comes from?” Irene stared at Mother in awe and then back at Lillian. “That—thing—you do? Always knowing when one of us is in trouble, always being there?”
“Well, now, ‘tis not just your sister has that, dearie. There’s not a female born in this family that doesn’t have at least a touch of the gift. Some a great deal more than others, mind you. But all of us have it to some degree or another. Starting with my own beautiful Isabelle. I see her now and again in all of you, always lifts my heart.”
“You can’t go—well, see her? Visit her?”
A shadow crossed Mother’s face. “To be sure, I could see her. And I ‘spose I could even visit, did I take a mind to, but she and I—we’re too—close, that might be the best word. ‘Tis the natural course of things that children bury their parents, lead their own lives. So I felt it best to leave her alone and let her live it. ‘Twas a dark time and my Isabelle didn’t have the gift of travel. Told you, in all this time, none of our blood but Kat’s ever had it. ‘Cepting my own self, that is. Sometimes ‘tis best to leave behind things can’t be changed and concentrate on the things that can.”
“But what happened to her?”
Lillian felt sorrow pour from Mother’s soul. “Reenie. That’s Mother’s business and none of ours. Let’s just be grateful our guardian’s now made herself visible. She’s very handy to have around.” Enough sentiment, it was time to balance out the emotion that had streamed into the room from Mother when she spoke of her daughter. “Also frequently annoying as hell, mind you, but handy, I have to admit that.”
“And ‘tis very fond of you, I am, too, m’dear.” Mother Shipton smiled at her across the table and Lillian knew she realized exactly what Lillian was doing. And was grateful for it.
Irene jumped to her feet. “Look at the time! I need some family magic fast. Our company’s going to be here in just a few minutes to watch the Stampede Parade with us. And I don’t have all the food out.”
“Ah! Kitchen magic!” Mother stood up and headed to the counter. “The best kind of family magic. Tell us what we need to do, dear heart.”
* * *
The Stampede’s opening day parade went straight down Sixth Avenue, which meant that visitors to Irene’s 14th floor apartment were able to sit out on her large balcony and watch all the action. Matt should have already been there, helping with Irene’s planned family brunch, but so far he was a complete no show. Irene was determined not to show how worried she was about that and had on her British game face, the one telecasting that everything was just perfect, thank you very much. It might have even worked with any other family, but in this one, that game face didn’t have much of a chance.
The first guest to arrive was Shipton cousin Tami Cartwright, a fellow Calgarian and very close friend of Irene. Not five minutes after sharing welcoming hugs with Irene and Lillian, Tami marched directly over to the stool Mother had chosen as her seat to view the action.
“You must be Mother Shipton.” She held her arms out and leaned forward. “I’ve been dreaming about you a lot lately.”
“Ahhh.” Mother smiled and raised her own arms to meet Tami’s hug. “So you’re the one that’s been coming along on my walks. I wondered when we’d meet in person.”
“I don’t get it.” Irene followed Tami over to the table and swiveled her head back and forth between the two women. “You can see her?”
“Of course I can see her.” Tami laughed. “If you’d listened to me when I told you about my last dream workshop, you’d have remembered me telling you I’d been spending time with family.”
“I did too listen.” Irene tossed her head. “I thought you meant a real family member.”
“Oh, so it’s not real I am?" Mother tossed her head indignantly.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I didn’t mean that.”
“You’d best be saying that. Nice save.” Tami nodded her approval. “I see Matt’s not here.”
Irene blushed. “It’s stampede week. You know how it is.”
Tami put her arm around Irene and hugged, taking the opportunity to whisper in her cousin’s ear. “We need to talk.”
“Sounds like the rest of your company.” Lillian called from the living room and pointed to the TV screen, now flashing on the lobby and a group gathered in the entryway. Tami’s husband picked up the phone receiver from the lobby panel and the phone rang in the apartment.
“Okay. When it settles down.” Irene tossed the words at Tami, before heading for the phone to enter the buzz-in code.
Within minutes the apartment walls echoed with happy voices sharing remember when’s and fresh squeezed Mojitos made by Tami’s sister Billie, who had flown in from Oregon the night before. Tami’d made sure there was a “properly prepared” pot of Red Rose tea for Mother, and there were enough snacks to feed half the parade crowd.
Mother seemed to be in a different spot every time Lillian saw her, but then anyone capable of time travel was certainly capable of transporting in a flash from one location to the other.
“You’re making me dizzy,” Lillian whispered when Mother materialized on an empty cushion beside her.
“‘Tis a grand thing, family. And it’s not too many chances I get to view so many of you together in one spot. Let an old woman have her fun.”
“Fine with me. As long as that fun doesn’t involve any sudden appearance to a poor unsuspecting soul and giving them a heart attack.”
“I would never.”
Irene flitted around here and there, inside and outside of the patio filling drinks, and taking care of her guests.
“You’re not getting to see much of the parade yourself.” Lillian placed her arm around Irene and motioned for her to take a seat at the heavily laden table. “Stop. Let me fix you a plate from all this wonderful food you’ve set out. Have a Mojito, don’t they look tasty?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Lillian, would you like one? You don’t have to just drink tea, you know, we just wanted to be sure you had it if you wanted it since you’ve been without proper tea for so long.”
“No, thanks. They look wonderful, but I’ll stick to my tea. You didn’t answer me about sitting a spell, watching these spectacular floats, and letting me fix you a plate.”
Irene bent down to her sister. “I’m sorry Lil, I can’t. I’m worried sick about Matt. He didn’t call last night. He didn’t even check to see if you made your flight okay. And this morning when I called his cell phone, it went straight to voice mail.”
Tami caught the edge of the conversation and joined the group. “Maybe he’s just overwhelmed with preparations for the first day?”
“That’s just crap. He’s never failed to return my calls, no matter how busy he is down at the grounds. No, something is wrong. I know it. I feel it and I’ve already called down to the barns. They said Matt’s been there since early morning but he’s not taking any calls. He left a message for me to pick up my tickets at Will Call. He’ll wave to me from the infield and see me after his first ride.”
Lillian shook her head. “That sounds a bit like an ultimatum.”
“That’s just exactly what the fuck it is! An ultimatum! And you know I’m not going to cave in and meekly trot myself on down to the rodeo grounds just because Mr. Matt God’s Gift Dillon expects me to tuck my tail between my legs and play the good little wifey.” Irene’s voice rose and with a nod to Lillian, Tami took her cousin’s hand.
“Come on, Reenie. Let’s go in the bedroom for a bit. Lillian will see to everyone.”
“Yes. You two go take a break. I’ll handle things.” Lillian urged the two down the hall, before turning back to where the parade seemed to be keeping everyone occupied.
* * *
Tami steered Irene toward the edge of the bed and managed to get her to sit.
“Who does he think he is?” Irene snapped. “He’s been building toward this, it isn’t just a whim.”
“Now wait. Let’s stop and think about this, Reenie. Maybe Matt needs a bit of reassurance that you’re sincere about wanting the same kind of life he lives. Remember cowboys are also ranchers, or at least Matt is. He works long hours and has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, what with running the family farm. He’s also the Canadian National Saddle Bronc champion. That requires a certain amount of commitment. He needs to appear in certain places, represent his sport and his country in quite a few political and charitable functions. You knew that going into the relationship.”
“Of course I knew. That’s not the problem. I fully support him and the ranch and the life we’re going to live, and everything that goes along with it. But the thing is—” Irene jumped up from the bed and started pacing. “The thing is, and you’ll probably think I’m nuts, but I’ve been having the same dream every night since Matt rode at Ponoka. It’s the Calgary finals and Matt comes riding out of the chute on a high bucking dream of a horse. Everything’s going great when his horse suddenly goes nuts. He puts his head down and goes totally mad, he leaps straight up ten feet into the air and does a full back flip. I see Matt hanging on for dear life but there’s no finishing that ride. I don’t know why the horse just suddenly turns into a killing machine that’s going to get the rider off his back no matter what. And in my dream I scream just as Matt flies over the horse’s neck and under the hooves, and the hooves, they don’t stop, they just keep stomping, stomping, blood spray’s everywhere and Matt’s head—it’s under the hooves. Everybody’s screaming and that’s when I finally wake up, soaking wet with sweat.”
Irene stopped and wiped her eyes with the tissue Tami held out. “I’m sorry. I know it’s stupid. I know it’s a dream. But you know how I am. Tami. When I have dreams like this, they tend to come true. I can’t go to that rodeo. I know Matt won’t stop riding, and I know he won’t believe me if I tell about this dream, but one thing I do know. Before this it happened, Matt rode up to where I was sitting and took off his hat. And bowed. To me. And he said, ‘This one’s for you, lovely lady.’ So I was there, there when it happened. But if I don’t go, it won’t happen. Maybe.” Irene shredded the tissue in her hand. “At least, that’s what I have to believe. That if I’m not there, it won’t happen. So I’m not going. End of discussion. Even if it means Matt won’t want to marry me.”