*Once Chet was gone the pancake breakfast didn’t feel like fun anymore so Amy headed back to Bramble House. Even the atmosphere, which Amy had initially found warm and friendly, cooled considerably without him. Amy knew the changes had more to do with her feelings for Chet—and how she felt about herself when she was with him.
Somehow around Chet she recaptured the old Amy—the person she had been before the accident, before losing her mom and injuring her leg. She had her old confidence and joie de vie. Without him she deflated into the B & B owner who couldn’t do anything right.
She cringed remembering that moment in her dining room when everyone had fallen silent after D. W. praised her coffee. She hoped he remembered his promise to rate her B & B five stars, because she knew the others sure wouldn’t.
The saddest part was she liked her guests so much. She’d wanted to provide all of them with the best experience possible. And it hurt that she’d let them down.
Back at the B & B she ran into David Wilcox coming down the stairs.
“I thought you were at the pancake breakfast.”
“I was, but after my interview with Graham, I realized I’d forgotten my phone.” He held it up for her to see before slipping it into his pocket. “I’m going shopping now. My wife will kill me if I don’t come home with some Copper Mountain Chocolates. Will I see you later at the rodeo?”
Amy suddenly felt sick to her stomach. They were alone in the B & B. She would never find a better time.
“Actually, D. W., could I talk to you?” She had to do this now.
“Sure.” He checked his watch. “Will it take long? I promised to meet some old buddies for coffee before the rodeo.”
“I’m not sure.”
He cocked his head. “You’re being mysterious.”
“Please sit down.” She gestured toward the furniture in the sitting room. Once D. W. settled into one of the big armchairs, she perched on the edge of a nearby sofa. Before sitting she’d pulled out the object she’d placed in her pocket that morning. Now she rubbed the silver with her thumb, wishing she had planned exactly what to say or at least where to start.
“I have something to say that may shock you. I hope it won’t be a bad shock. In fact some things you’ve said make me believe you already suspect.”
She glanced from the bracelet to D. W.’s face, hoping to see a glimmer of understanding in his strong-boned face.
But he was frowning and his gaze was locked on the object in her hands. She doubted he had heard a word she’d said.
“Can I see that?”
He held out his hand and reluctantly she passed him the bracelet. It looked impossibly dainty in his large, callused hands. She watched as he turned it this way, then that. Finally he glanced up at her.
“This is a lot like a bracelet I gave to a girl once. The girl I was telling you about this morning.”
“It’s not like it. It is it.” Her hands were trembling now. Not just her hands, but her entire body. But since it was most notable in her hands, she shoved them under her thighs. Then she forced herself to take a deep breath because D. W. was still staring at the bracelet.
“This is Helen’s? Helen Arden’s?”
The room was so quiet she could hear the sound of her own breath going in and out of her body. “Yes.”
“So then you’re Helen’s daughter? I thought you looked familiar. When you said you were from New York the thought crossed my mind, but only for a second. It seemed too far-fetched.” He paused as his mind made an important connection. “You told me your mother died in a car accident. So Helen must be dead.”
“Yes.”
“That’s so sad. She was so smart your mother. And she had so much vitality. What a terrible tragedy.” He passed her back the bracelet. “I’m sorry for your loss, Amy. But I’m still confused. Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? I mean, wow, what a coincidence that I happened along. When did you figure out I even knew your mother?”
Amy realized she’d hoped there would be a lightning-bolt moment when she began this story. That D. W. would figure out right away that she was his daughter. His confusion made her less sure of herself.
“I-I knew about you before I met you, D. W. For most of my life you were only a name. It wasn’t until after my mother died that I found the jewelry box for her bracelet. It was embossed with the name of the jewelry shop here in Marietta.”
D. W. got up from the chair and strode to the window. He raked his hair off his forehead, then looked like he was trying to pull it all out by the roots. “You came to Marietta because of a jewelry box?”
“I moved here for many reasons.” How to untangle all the threads. Amy wished again she’d planned this better. “One of those reasons was to find you.”
“You came to find me,” he repeated, his voice dull.
“When I was a kid my mother told me my father’s name. But nothing else. David Wilcox is a very common name. I didn’t have any context until I found that jewelry box.”
D. W. swallowed. “I’m your father?”
She nodded.
He swallowed again. Then his eyes narrowed. “How old are you?”
She gave him her birthdate, feeling miserable. This wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go. He was supposed to be overjoyed. Or at least happy. But he looked like she was giving him the worst news of his life.
“Why didn’t Helen tell me she was pregnant?”
“She told me she wrote you a letter.” Not many people owned cell phones back in 1997. Snail mail was more common. “She admitted she didn’t try too hard to find you. You were both so young and you lived on opposite sides of the country. So she decided to raise me on her own.”
D. W. paced to the fireplace. Then back to the window. When he started talking again Amy wasn’t sure if it was to her or if he was just thinking aloud.
“After high school I spent a few years not taking life too seriously. This was before I made the decision to work at the family ranch. I was on the circuit, but between rodeos I spent a lot of time camping and hiking. It was during one of those trips that I met Helen.”
Amy kept still. She didn’t want to distract him or miss a single word he was saying.
“We were only together for a few weeks, and we spent most of that time in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but we did travel through Marietta and stopped here for lunch. After lunch Helen wanted to check out some shops. While she was doing that, I went to the jewelry store and bought that bracelet. It was a lot of money for me back then. But I had fallen hard for Helen. I thought I could convince her to stay in Montana. More fool me.”
He stopped talking and stopped moving. Though he appeared to be looking out the window, Amy could tell his gaze was more inward looking. She gave him a few moments with his memories then said softly, “My mother wore that bracelet every day. It was her favorite piece of jewelry.”
He glanced at the bracelet which she was still holding. Then back out the window. “I wonder what happened to her letter? My mother must have forgotten to give it to me. I didn’t spend much time at home in those days. Maybe it accidentally got thrown away.”
Since his parents were dead, they would never know the answer.
“What do you think you’d have done if you’d read it?”
“Gone to see Helen, for sure. Tried to talk her into getting married. Which would have ended in disaster. She loved New York. I could never live anywhere but here.” He sighed. “Helen would have figured all that out faster than me. I guess I understand why she didn’t try too hard to find me…”
He paused, and then, for the first time in their long conversation he looked at Amy. Really looked at her.
Abruptly he turned away. Not to the window this time, or the fireplace. He headed for the stairway, pausing on the first step.
“I’m sorry, Amy. I’m probably handling this terribly. But I need to go home. Need to see my wife.”
“What about the afternoon rodeo?” As soon as she asked the question, Amy realized how inane it was. After the bombshell she’d dropped, what did one small-town rodeo matter?
*
Amy was in the kitchen when D. W. left. Clearing up from morning coffee with hands that still weren’t very steady. She heard him come down the stairs, the clink of his key as he dropped it on the front desk, then the front door opening and closing. He didn’t try to find her to say goodbye. Didn’t even call out a farewell as he left.
Amy went to the front window to watch as he drove away. She hung back in the shadows so he wouldn’t see her.
Would she ever see him again?
Did she want to?
It was only when her shoulders started heaving that she realized she was crying. She went up to the third-floor suite and threw her mother’s bracelet on the floor. Then she threw herself on the bed.
What an idiot she’d been to think her existence would be good news for D. W.
She’d been an even bigger idiot to move to Montana. To buy this B & B. Her life was a mess, a total mess, and to really cap it off, she’d followed her mother’s footsteps and fallen in love with a cowboy she could never have.
*
Chet was in the box, on Hunter again, because when a horse is hot, unless they’re too tired, you don’t mess with a good thing. He’d been tense before yesterday’s go, but today he was full-on nervous. His father had spoken to him just minutes earlier, giving more of his unwanted and unneeded advice. Now Chet could sense his father’s eyes on him, watching for the smallest mistake. Though his father should want Chet to win—there’d be more money for his medical bills—there was something perverse in the old man that enjoyed seeing his son fail.
Chet looked out at the stands, searching the area where he’d seen D. W. and Amy yesterday. Today he could see neither of them. Maybe they were in different seats? He scoured the crowds but with no luck.
The seconds were ticking down. The calf was ready. Everyone was waiting for him to give the nod.
Yet he felt frozen.
What if this was the time something went terribly wrong? What if he hurt the calf or his horse or even himself?
What was he even doing here? Pretending to be a world-class cowboy, trying to be more than what he was born to be…Walt Hardwick’s son.
All his hopes for his future seemed futile now. He was willing to go through the operation and give the man a kidney. But what would happen next? The old man was going to need help, probably, and who else could give it but him?
So much for his dream of buying his own place, building a new life.
So much for the even bigger dream of finding someone to share that life with. Someone like Amy.
What did it really matter how he did in the tie-down roping? Even if he won it wouldn’t change anything. Yeah, he’d win the purse but he already had a good amount of money saved up. What he needed wasn’t money. It was people to love, people who loved him back.
And he didn’t see how he was ever going to get that.