Buck couldn’t believe the line of wagons following them out to the hot spring. He grumbled and shook his head. “Wish I could be standing next to Van when he sees us coming in. He’s going to have a fit.” The thought brought a smile to his lips.
Jo sat silent beside him, staring straight ahead. Her hands were tightly clasped in her lap and spine erect.
Jo gave him a sideways glance. “You can laugh, you don’t have to feed and clean up after the horde.”
“You don’t have to worry. Doreen swears by Carlitta and her daughter Juana. They’ve commandeered enough cousins, aunts, and uncles—no one should have to do more than point and give orders. You’re not to fret, do you hear? Enjoy yourself and give over the cooking and cleaning to Carlitta. I know I can’t keep you from directing, but it’s time to let go, Jo. You’ll be off to school in a few weeks. You’ll see, we’re going to get along fine.”
She shook her head, eyes down to her folded hands. “I’m not really worried about housekeeping, Dad. Not really.”
He turned to give her his attention and studied her downcast aspect a little closer. “Then what’s the problem? Come on, Jo.”
She brought her head up and looked him square in the eye. “It’s you and Adella, Dad. At the risk of sounding like a prude, I know she spent the night with you at the house. At least Gabe brought Birdie home before sunup.”
Buck tipped his head to the side to look to the mountains, thinking of Petra, asking for her permission. “I hope to make Adella a permanent fixture at the hot spring. I’m sorry if you disapprove of her.”
She huffed and shook her head. “I don’t disapprove of Adella. I admire her. I think she’s lovely and sweet. It’s you I disapprove of.”
Buck jerked to attention, pulling in his chin. “Me? What the hell did I do?”
She shook her head at him. “Her reputation, Dad, you should have a care with her reputation. People will talk. Adella’s a lady, and folks need to have respect for her. We have half the town coming out here.”
He worked his jaw, grinding his hind molars. Silently, he cursed the gossips to perdition. “I take your point. And you’re right. I haven’t been very discreet.”
Jo nodded and pursed her lips. They traveled a ways in silence. Jo finally spoke. “I don’t know where we’re going to put all of these people,” she said, leaning out to look back at the wagons rolling along behind them. “I heard you making deals, first night free, second night half price, some camping, some crammed into cabins. Where are Edditha and Adella going to stay? And Doreen and Rafe? And Cornell and all of his father’s cronies and their families. And then there’s the honeymoon cabins for Gabe and Birdie, and Cornell and Edditha. You promised them honeymoon cabins, Dad. We don’t have enough cabins, enough food—we can’t do this. This isn’t going to work.”
Buck shrugged his shoulders. “You worry too much, Jo. I’ve got it all worked out. Edditha will bunk in with you and Birdie tonight. Rafe and Doreen can have the room they usually take. Nils and Cornell will share a cabin with his sister, her husband, and their kids. The kids will have to sleep on the floor.”
Jo wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips.
“Now, don’t make your sour, school-marmy face. Nils assured me they’d get along fine. Van and Gabe will bunk together in the tack room tonight—nothing new there. Most of those folks back there intend to camp in their wagons. They’re going to camp down by the pool—excited and happy to do so, I might add. We’ll keep two of the cabins free for the honeymooners. See, I’ve got it all worked out,” he said with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“You’re forgetting someone,” Jo said, brows raised, lips tucked up in a disapproving pucker.
Buck put his tongue in his cheek and shook his head. “No, I haven’t forgotten about Adella.”
Jo shook her head at him. “I suppose no one has to know. I certainly won’t say anything. But we’ve got over two dozen people coming, Dad. It’ll be hard to keep a secret with so many people all in one spot.”
Buck heaved a weighty sigh and shook his head. “I’ll talk to Adella. If she doesn’t like it, we’ll make room for her somehow. Maybe Rafe and I can share my room and Adella and Doreen can use their room.”
Jo, her hands in her lap, stared at the road ahead. “Well, I suppose it would make sense. We’ll have four cabins, not counting the two honeymoon cabins. They’re going to be full to overflowing with adults and children.”
Buck reminded her, “Don’t forget some of them are going to camp. I know the Dorans are, and the Bennetts, that’s six wagons. They plan on staying a while. I told them meals would be extra after tomorrow.”
Beside him, he heard Jo mutter something sarcastic. “Come on, Jo. I’m drumming up goodwill here. Promoting. You’ll see, we’ll be booked solid in no time. Stop worrying. Sure the next few days are bound to be hell, what with kids everywhere and too much celebrating.
“I don’t deny I’ll be glad when everyone goes back to town. I enjoy having guests in the cabins, but eighteen wagons full of people and all their truck, it’s a bit overwhelming.”
“I know,” Jo said, a smile replacing her frown. “Van is going to have a cow.”
“Yep,” Buck agreed and burst out laughing. Jo joined him.
»»•««
The clock downstairs chimed midnight. Carlitta and her family had taken over the kitchen like Sherman marching into Atlanta. Jo was summarily relieved of duty. Supper was cooked, served, and cleaned up after, and everyone settled down for the night with full bellies and smiles on their faces. Adella had come to his room in her nightgown. Buck led her over to the bed. “Are you sure about this, Adella? Jo says I need to be careful of your reputation.”
“Oh, pooh,” she said, putting a finger to his lips. “I doubt anyone is paying any attention. My daughter certainly isn’t. She and Cornell have skipped off to who knows where. When I changed into my nightclothes, I was the only one in the room. I think the young people are having a party down at the pool. I don’t even think Doreen and Rafe are in their room.”
Buck drew her into his embrace. She arched her back and put her arms around his neck. His lips on the nape of her neck, he asked her, “Do you want to be at the party?”
She drew back to say, “Good heavens no, I certainly do not.” She lowered her arms and stepped away to remove her wrapper.
She started for the wardrobe where Petra’s clothes still hung and came to a standstill, staring into the cluttered interior. She put out a hand and touched a lace underslip, but quickly withdrew her hand. Buck heard her heavy sigh. She started to hang up her wrapper on the hook on the opened door but stopped and folded the garment over her arm. She turned to him, her eyes filling with unshed tears, lips quivering she cleared her throat to ask, “Petra’s been gone for how long, Buck?”
Buck felt a cold chill skitter down his spine. He shook his head, ignoring the little voice of doom in his head. “Petra passed away three years ago, June third. Jo’d just received her certification. Gabe had graduated from veterinary school. Petra was very proud, very proud.”
Adella offered him a brave little smile, but her eyes held sadness, and her shoulders caved in. “Yes, your children are fine, productive, beautiful people.”
Unable to shake the notion that he was about to receive bad news, Buck asked, “Why, why do you ask?”
She shrugged her shoulders, her hand going to the portrait of Petra he kept on the bedside table. She didn’t touch it. Instead, she put her hand to her bosom. “Oh, I don’t know. You all miss her. I didn’t know her, of course. I never met her, but looking around this house and walking in her garden, I feel as if I do know her. She was beautiful,” she said, picking up the portrait, her finger tracing Petra’s visage. “I completely understand how a man could worship a woman like this—love her through all eternity.”
Buck picked up the picture, staring at her beautiful face, as he always did. He couldn’t help himself. The sepia-colored portrait didn’t do her justice. Her eyes were deep blue, her complexion smooth, her lips a deep, blood rose. He sighed and set the portrait carefully down in the exact spot where it had rested for years. “She was a beautiful woman. She had her faults. She was afraid of snakes and horses. She promised to never leave me—a promise she couldn’t keep. I’m here, and she’s gone. Life goes on.”
He put his hands on Adella’s shoulders, urging her to come into his embrace. She stood firm, unbending. He put a finger under her chin to see her face and look deep into her eyes. Hoping to see some sign, a spark, anything but this sadness, he asked her, “What is it, Adella? What’s the matter?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, I’m being silly. I must be tired, I guess. My only child is going to be married tomorrow. I’m going to lose her, give her into the care of a young man I hardly know.”
Buck drew her over to the bed and made her sit down beside him. “This is serious. Women don’t say ‘nothing’ couched and accompanied by a pretense of being silly. I did learn a few things while married to Petra. I know serious when I hear it. Talk to me, Adella. Lay your cards out on the table. I love you. I want you to stay, be my wife. You have a problem, then we both have a problem.”
Adella popped up and began to pace in front of him. She wrung her hands, her lips moving but not making any sense. When she stopped in front of him, Buck braced himself for the worst.
“I love you, Buck—Mathias Van-Deveer Hoyt Buxton. But…” She stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips.
He grinned at her. “Well, that doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”
She shook her finger in his nose. “I’ve had a crush on you for years and years. Coming here, I’ve learned you’re every bit the man I fantasized you would be. But—but I won’t be your mistress.”
He sputtered. “Mistress? I’m asking you to be my wife.”
“I can’t be your wife,” she said, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “I can’t be your wife because you have a wife.
“Petra. Petra is still here.” Her arm flew out, her finger pointing to Petra’s wardrobe overflowing with all of her clothes. “You talk to her every time you walk by her rocking chair. You go to sleep at night with her picture right here by your head. She made the quilt under which you sleep. She embroidered the pillowcases where you lay your head. She hooked the rugs you walk on. She’s everywhere you look, Buck. I would love to stay here, be your wife, work at your side, help you run this wonderful place, but I can’t. I won’t take second place. I deserve first place. I’m alive, you’ve made me feel alive. I won’t be reduced to a shadow. I’ll bunk in with the girls.”
He sat stunned. His heart expanded into his neck. His blood boiled and his pulse gushed like the whoosh, whoosh of steam from a locomotive. His face grew hot, and his hands were sweaty. He felt sick, dizzy and sick.
She was right.
He didn’t try to stop her from leaving. He couldn’t.