Twyla arrived just as Winona was going through a box of some of her old “show” clothes.
“I wore this to the Grammys one year.” Winona held up the glittery gold gown that fit her only weeks ago. “Why don’t you try it on?”
“Really? Oh my gosh, what a thrill! I remember seeing you that night, presenting with Tim McGraw.”
“He’s wonderful, so handsome, and very down to earth. A real southern gentleman.”
Like Riggs.
That award presentation had been the last year she’d been married to Colby, and he and her publicist had come separately. This was to give Winona the “time and space” to arrive alone, and really shine. She still wondered what they’d been doing instead, though she had a few good ideas. But for the first time, the memory didn’t cause her a ripple of pain.
Winona sat on the edge of her bed and watched as Twyla twirled around in the dress.
“You look amazing!” Better than Winona had ever looked in that dress. “I imagine I’ll be handing these down, but some I’ll want to keep for memories.”
“I’d hang on to all of them. Are you kidding me? Besides, I’m sure you’ll fit back in your old dress size after the babies are born.”
Winona was quiet for a moment. “Well. I’m not going back.”
“Wh-what?” Twyla turned, jaw gaping.
“You’re going to have to move to Nashville on your own, sweetie, but I’ll put you in touch with good people. First Kimberly, my manager, and the person I trust most in the world.”
“I thought you’d be going back.”
“How would that work? Riggs is not going to move to Nashville.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Twyla sagged as the knowledge of that truth hit her.
“Besides, I really like it here and my family is going to be my focus from now on. It doesn’t mean I’ll be completely out of the business, of course. After the twins are older, I can probably still tour occasionally and record a little, but Stone Ridge will be my base.”
“So, you’re going to be like Garth Brooks.”
Winona laughed. “Yes, I’ll be just like Garth, without the millions of records sold.”
They spent time talking about music, Twyla playing her guitar and singing while Winona gave helpful critiques. She had so much she wanted to tell Twyla about the business that she didn’t know where to begin. A beautiful girl, she’d be bound to come up with plenty of propositions from less-than-scrupulous players. Winona wished she could accompany her, as a big sister, to guard and protect her.
“Never let anyone take your dignity,” Winona said. “And they will try. Just work hard and you’ll get to the top eventually. Your time will come. Don’t be in a big rush. Okay?”
Advice Winona wished she could go back and give young Winona. That young lady had wanted so much. Too quickly. She’d rarely given herself time to think but just plunged headfirst into everything. Taken risk after risk, blessed that most had worked out in her favor.
“Can I come back soon? Or maybe you could come down to the Shady Grind next time I sing.”
“I’d love to drop by sometime. My husband owes me a date night.” Winona glanced at the time. “Oh, we lost track of time. I’m late for my doctor’s appointment! I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.”
“Can I drive you?”
“No, I’ve got the truck. Just need to find Riggs’s keys.” But she dug in the dish by the door and didn’t find them.
Delores was also absent, probably off to the big box store in Kerrville since Winona hadn’t needed her help this afternoon. Finding Riggs somewhere on the ranch would take her too long.
“If you could give me a lift into town, that’d be great. I don’t want to waste any more time looking for the stupid keys.”
She grabbed her purse and was out the door within minutes. Thirty more minutes or so later they arrived at the clinic where Trixie, the midwife, was waiting.
“I was about to give up on you,” Trixie said. “Come on in.”
“I’m so sorry,” Winona said and followed into the exam room. “I lost track of time.”
Winona set her purse down and glanced in the mirror on her way to climb up on the exam table.
And what she saw there shocked her.
Other than her shower this morning, she’d done nothing to her face. No makeup, her hair gathered in a high ponytail. She looked like every other married woman in Stone Ridge, having blended in somewhere along the line when she wasn’t paying attention. It had all happened so gradually, that she hadn’t even noticed her complete transformation. No wonder she was never approached anymore. No one recognized her. She was back to her old self, Winnie Lee Hoyt. But she felt as if she’d slipped into another woman’s skin.
She’d always been told by neighbors and family that she favored her mother. But when she left her stepfather’s home, it had been without a single photo of Mary Jo. She’d forgotten that she’d often been called the “spittin’ image” of her mother. Others had said it was the reason Leroy resented her for the constant reminder of Mary Jo. Winona hadn’t purposely wiped her mother away, but Mary Jo’s look hadn’t fit into her new Nashville world. She hadn’t ever been one to dress up and didn’t care about clothes. Her beauty was simple and understated.
Oh, my word, I’m turning into my mother.
Fortunately for Winona, this would not be a bad thing.
“Looks good. No ultrasound today,” Trixie said, snapping Winona back to the present. “But we can listen to their heartbeats.”
“I love listening to their little hearts.” The whoosh-whoosh sound was comforting, knowing that it indicated beating hearts.
After a few more minutes, Winona dressed and met Twyla in the waiting room, which had filled in the interim. There sat Sadie Carver, looking bright and pretty as usual. She always wore a dress and looked every bit a little boy’s first teacher crush.
Winona and Sadie embraced. They kept running into each other at these appointments. Small-town life.
“Sadie, we’re ready for you,” Trixie said.
Winona turned to Twyla. “Can you take me back to the ranch? I know it’s asking a lot.”
“Of course.”
Winona bounced down the steps toward the street and saw Kimberly walking toward the clinic.
Kimberly. How about that? Two shocks in the space of thirty minutes.
“Excuse me, miss,” Kimberly said and brushed right by Winona on her way up the steps.
“Kimberly!” Winona called out with a laugh.
Kimberly turned back, did a double-take, and her neck swiveled back chicken-style. “Winona?”
Winona laughed and went to grab Kimberly in a hug. “I’ve missed you. What are you doin’ here?”
“I was just over at the Grange place. And one of the men there told me you’d probably gone to the clinic.” Kimberly continued to stare at Winona. “Wow. You look so…so…”
“Relaxed?”
“Yes, that’s just what I was going to say.” Kimberly blinked, giving Winona the idea that she was going to say something far different.
Possibly how very “real” Winona looked today.
“You look younger, actually. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Almost? You walked right by me, lady.” Winona elbowed her.
She introduced Twyla and Kimberly. “This girl has the most amazing talent. I wanted to put you two in touch. But for now, how about you and I head over to the Shady Grind for a burger?”
“The shady what?” Kimberly wrinkled her nose.
“The only place in town to get a good meal.” Winona turned to Twyla. “Honey, I’ll get Kim to drive me back. You go on ahead and I’ll be in touch.”
“Oh, Kim. I’ve missed you.” Winona threaded her arm through Kimberly’s and walked her across the street and down the block to the bar. “How long are you stayin’?”
“Well, um, I’m not sure. I…just didn’t quite expect this, you know.”
“What? Me, with the ‘natural’ look?” She held up air quotes. “I get it. Hey, I just had a minor shock myself when I looked in the mirror at the doctor’s office. Do you know this is almost exactly how my mother looked?”
Inside the Shady Grind, she found the usual lunchtime crowd. There was Lenny sitting at the bar eating with his brother-in-law Brad. Both were volunteer firefighters.
“Hey, Lenny!”
“Hey there, Winona. What’s doin’?”
It seemed a lifetime ago that Lenny sat in the living room of her rental while she hid from him in the bedroom. Good times. Jeremy Pine was sitting in a corner booth with a pretty redhead, and Levi was wiping the bar and chatting with Lenny and Brad. Beulah and her husband were sitting at another booth. Everyone waved hello and said “hey” because they all knew each other in one way or another.
“Where do we sit?” Kimberly stood near the entrance.
“Anywhere we want.” Winona walked to a booth with a window giving her a street view.
Not that there was much to look at, but occasionally Winona would let her imagination run and picture an old western ghost town. Plus, she wanted to wave to anyone she caught walking down the street.
Winona ordered for both of them, but Kimberly claimed she’d stopped eating red meat.
“I’ll have a salad.”
“The protein is good for the babies,” Winona said, as if she had to excuse going back to her meat-eating roots.
“I remember that.” Kimberly smiled, and reached across the booth to pat Winona’s hand. “I’ve been so worried about you. Those text messages… I mean, is that all real? You sounded so happy. I’d get them days later, and I was afraid to respond. Was he monitoring your cell?”
Winona laughed. “Monitoring my phone?”
She spied Jackson and Eve coming out of the vet clinic across the street and waved. They waved back, smiling happily.
“I’m glad you’re here, Kim. Things have changed.”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Well, I can see that.”
“Oh, that. I stopped wearing makeup when I was crying and throwing up all the time. The hair extensions went next and dressing up in my eight-hundred-dollar designer boots just isn’t practical on the ranch. I like being comfortable.”
“About that. I’d hoped Riggs would be kind when you were so sick. I remember how insufferable he was when you kept falling asleep during negotiations.” Kimberly puckered her lips in a grimace.
Winona should have kept in better touch with Kimberly, even by phone, email, or…carrier pigeon. “He’s been so good to me.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He’s a good man. You don’t know him.”
“I know that he made you miserable when he forced you to stay here for the entire pregnancy. He hasn’t insisted you…you know.” She leaned in to whisper. “Consummate the marriage. Because remember, if you don’t, it might still be possible to get an annulment.”
This would be harder than Winona expected. No wonder, since it had happened so quickly. With Wi-Fi reception so spotty, Winona had eventually stopped texting or even emailing Kimberly. But truthfully, she’d been avoiding this moment because she knew what to expect. Kim had been with her through the contentious divorce with Colby, and then the easier one with Jackson.
She’d once affectionately called Winona a woman “in love with the idea of love.”
“No, he didn’t insist.” Winona studied her nails, in dire need of a manicure. “I pretty much did. That’s half the fun of a marriage.”
Kimberly didn’t look surprised as she picked up her fork. “Oh, honey. I told you that would make it so much more difficult to get an annulment. It might be impossible now.”
No time like the present.
“But that’s okay. I don’t want one. Or a divorce.” Then she took a bite of her juicy Shady Burger and dipped a sweet potato fry in ketchup.
Kimberly dropped her fork. “That was the agreement. And why would you want to stay married to him, anyway?”
Winona met Kimberly’s eyes, enough for her to see and know everything.
“I was afraid of this. I can see I should have come sooner. There are some things you need to know about Riggs. You don’t know everything about the man you’ve obviously fallen in love with so easily.”
“I know what you’re thinking: there goes Winona, falling in love with love again.”
“I never said that!”
“You were right. Maybe I never knew what real love was before this, but now I do. I’ve gotten to know him. And he’s so much like me.”
“No, he’s not like you.”
“We’re two of a kind in a lot of ways. He had a rough start in life, a foster kid, until he got adopted by the Hendersons.”
“Yes, I know all about the Hendersons.”
“What do you mean?”
“Phil Henderson. He was a first cousin of Cal Henderson’s and he didn’t take kindly to being cut out of his estate completely.”
“I know that man. He came by the house the day a bull was found on our land.”
“What?”
“Calm down. Riggs saved me. The thing is, I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t realize he was a bull. I thought he was a cow.”
Winona went on the explain it all.
“Winona, you could have died!” Kimberly’s hand flew up over her mouth.
“No, I don’t think so. I would have taken him down.”
“A bull, Winona? He’s not a two-hundred-pound man and I’m guessing you weren’t carrying a fireplace poker with you.”
“Or a rifle.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why you’re gettin’ so upset. You can plainly see that I’m fine and dandy.”
Kimberly went narrowed eyes. “Dandy? Since when do you say ‘dandy’?”
“My mama used to say dandy all the time. It’s a word.”
“You hardly even look like Winona anymore. And you don’t belong here in this small town.”
“I think that maybe that I do.”
“I see what’s happening here. You’re acclimating, which is what you do. It’s why you’re such a survivor. And you’ve been forced into this unbearable situation.”
Unbearable? Hardly. The nights were her favorite time, and now early mornings, too.
“I blame myself,” Kimberly continued. “I should have fought harder for you.”
“You tried. I don’t blame you for what happened. It was my stupid fault for thinking that I could ask so much from any man. You were right. If that’s all I wanted, I should have gone to the sperm bank.”
That’s not what I wanted.
She’d wanted it all: love, marriage, babies. But getting all she’d ever wanted took a transformation back to who she’d been in the first place. Mary Jo’s daughter. Removing the outward armor had been the start. Her heart went next because her husband was a man who loved a woman with more than his body.
“It’s just like you to give me a pass. When I got back, I took it upon myself to dig all the dirt up I could on Riggs Henderson.”
Winona froze midway to another bite of her burger. “Why?”
“Why? Why? Do you remember what he did? I’ve been working on this all along in my spare time. You shouldn’t have to stay here for the entire pregnancy. It’s a ridiculous requirement and I always intended to fight back on it. You could always come back to Stone Ridge in the last trimester, maybe, while still safe to travel. Then have the baby here, as he wanted. But the man wouldn’t give an inch!”
“I don’t see why you’re still stuck on this.” Winona put down her burger, having lost her appetite. “And what dirt?”
“I always wondered why he so easily signed the prenup. Then I found the court documents.”
“Court documents?”
“He’s been fighting this Henderson cousin for years. He finally won, as you might imagine. No doubt he’s long ago become accustomed to winning. Apparently, the cousin had a contract he produced after his brother had died. Well, Riggs shot holes through that contract just as he did with mine. Still, the ranch hasn’t exactly done well. He’s more of a lawyer than a rancher. Now, there’s a corporation that wants to buy their land, and has offered him a substantial amount of money for it. But like so many cattle ranchers, all he wants is to hang on to that land.”
“The legacy.”
“Exactly! Even if the ranch has had some lean years, to say the least. He’s going to have trouble hanging on to it. Without you.” Kimberly, who hadn’t even taken a bite of her salad, did so now and chewed slowly as if she wanted to give Winona, not Winnie Lee, time to digest. “Don’t you see? It works best for him to stay married to you. That way he can keep the ranch.”
“That…no. No. I-I can’t believe that.”
“I believe he planned to pretend to fall in love with you all along, so that he could talk you into staying with him. Have his child nearby and your money, too. You were the best thing to ever happen to him, accidental pregnancy or not.”
“No. You don’t understand. He’d never do that. Riggs is… He’s just too honest. And too proud. He disliked me at first, and I don’t blame him. I had no right to ask him to sign away his rights. Are you saying that he’d stay married to someone he detested just for the money?”
“Stranger things have happened, and you and I both know it.”
But not here. Not Riggs. Not in Stone Ridge where the men took such pride in their honor. Their traditions. Riggs would never hurt her, or any woman purposely. He had too much male pride to even admit he might need her money, much less find a way to take it.
But why hadn’t he told her any of this? She hadn’t kept any secrets from him.
The timing was at the least suspect. He’d had such a quick turnaround when he’d confessed that he loved her. She was the one to fall in love easily, and she had, but Riggs definitely didn’t seem the type to fall in love quickly.
“H-he said he loves me.”
“And in the next breath, did he ask you to stay?”
She didn’t want to believe it, but what if this was true? Riggs hadn’t even liked her much until shortly after the bull incident. He loved having sex with her, but not much else. She could say the same thing herself. But she’d grown to appreciate the man who did everything he could to be a good husband even if his heart wasn’t in it at the beginning.
Winona trusted Kimberly more than she did anyone else in the world. She doled out the truth, good or bad. Even when Winona didn’t want to hear it. As Kim said, it was better to be hurt sooner rather than later.
Colby won’t go away until you give him the settlement.
You want him out of your life, don’t you?
He doesn’t deserve you.
He’s only using you.
And Winona’s world began to cave in, as she realized that Kimberly could be right.
About everything.