Chapter 17

A string of bells on the inside door handle announced their arrival at the shop the next morning. After Hailey was introduced to Halona, a tall, large-boned woman with a heavy black braid down the center of her back, Hailey moved away, letting Robert and Cody catch up on local news.

The room smelled of leather and clay and a spicy-sweet scent that was either incense or potpourri. Combined, it was an earthy, welcoming smell. There was a sense of timelessness in the smooth wood carvings of elk and beaver and the reddish-brown clay pots. Hailey touched the turquoise band of beads on an elaborate headdress just as Cody came up behind her.

“It hasn’t changed much in the past forty years,” he said, as if reading her thoughts.

Hailey pulled a pair of silver and agate earrings off a hook and admired them. “I haven’t seen any ‘Made in Taiwan’ stickers yet,” she said.

“Owner’s rules—local artists only. Most of the pottery and the paintings are done right here.” He took the earrings from her hand and put them back, then picked up a pair with royal blue stones in a setting of polished copper. “Now these are you, madam. They match your hair and your eyes.”

Hailey held one up to her ear and looked in the mirror above the rack. Cody stood behind her, pulling her hair away from her face. “Like ’em?” he asked.

“They’re beautiful!”

“They’re yours.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Says who?” He touched his lips to her left ear. “I own the place, sweetheart.” He whispered the last word with a Humphrey Bogart twist that ignited tiny nerve endings along her left side.

Her fingers were slow to comply as she tried to remove the earrings she had put in that morning and try on the new ones. When she had them in, she turned around to face Cody. Almost shyly, as though he were afraid to let his eyes linger too long, he took in far more than the earrings: the thin-strapped sandals, blue jeans, red cloth belt, and sleeveless blue denim shirt, the copper lights in the hair that fell over her bare arms. His eyes said all she needed to know. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Cody cleared his throat. “I’ll show you the back room.”

Walking behind him, Hailey forced her eyes away from his broad back and the white cotton shirt that stretched across his shoulders. She concentrated on the charcoal sketches of wolves and oil paintings of bald eagles and wild mustangs that covered the wall to her right.

She followed him into a large, sunlit room with a breathtaking view of the base of a tree-covered mountain. Two potter’s wheels took up one corner, while easels dotted the room. A rock polisher was rumbling in another corner. A small adjacent room held a mat cutter and shelves stacked with mat board and wood strips for custom framing.

“This room is new,” Cody said. “Halona’s been here three years and she’s come up with some great ideas. Now she’s trying to talk me into making room for a stained-glass workshop.” Half to himself, he added, “I should just sell the place to her.”

“Oh, don’t!” Hailey was leafing through the mat board but stopped, turning to face him with her hands on her hips. “This place is part of you, your heritage, Cody! I mean, you glow when you talk about Montana. Your roots are here! Someday you can bring your children here and tell them about their grandmother and the people they came from. You can take them up to that cabin and tell them all those things you told me, about Pampa building it for Millie as a secret wedding gift, and how they left it to you because you were the grandson they never had, and. . .” Cody was giving her the amused look that was becoming familiar. Her hands dropped to her sides. “I’m doing it again,” she said.

He walked over to her, put his hands on her shoulders. “Yes. And don’t ever quit.”

Hailey lifted her face to him as he leaned closer. At that moment, footsteps echoed off the bare wood floor and walls of the next room. Cody gave her an agonized look and whispered, “Later,” before steering her toward the door.

Halona was unlocking a green wooden box the size of a small chest freezer that sat below one of the windows. She pulled out two large canvas bags and laid them on the table next to Robert. Cody and Hailey walked in and stood silently behind him. While Cody’s eyes were riveted to the two pictures that Halona pulled from the bags, Hailey glanced from the table to Cody’s face, and then to Robert.

Robert’s expression told her he had no doubt the paintings were authentic. He pointed toward the smaller one. “I don’t remember that one, but it’s obviously her work, probably something she did long before I met her.” He turned to face Hailey, but his eyes went quickly back to the picture. “Kwanita was on her way to making a name for herself while she was still in high school. She turned down an art scholarship when she decided to marry Cody’s father. She was twenty-five when I met her and already had quite a few awards to her credit. She had a style all her own; a few more years and she could have—” Robert blinked and shifted his gaze to the larger painting. There was a catch in his voice when he spoke.

“Now this I remember—the view from the cabin. Has Cody told you about the cabin?” Hailey nodded. “Pampa built it, but it was always ‘Millie’s cabin.’ We spent our honeymoon there—I was afraid to take her too far from home.”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his chin, as if trying to bring himself back to the present. “I’m rambling. It’s just hard to believe she’s been gone twenty years when I’m in this place.” He stroked the smooth black frame. “Especially with these.”

Cody put his hand on Robert’s shoulder. “I suppose we should let the sheriff know that we’ve seen them. He said that once we confirmed that these were stolen, he’d have enough to hold either one of the two men for questioning. Are you worried about having to identify these guys, Halona?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some qualms about it. I don’t think I’d care to see either one of them again.”

“You’ve been a big help, Halona,” Robert said. “The sheriff was very impressed with your detailed descriptions.”

Her cheeks crinkled when she smiled. “The eye of an artist, you know. Maybe I’ve done too many wildlife sketches, but that first man reminded me of a weasel from the moment he walked through the door. Beady little eyes. . .” She shivered and made a face. “He was almost bald on top, with long, greasy hair around the bottom.” She gestured as she spoke. “Dirty and scrawny. . .just reminded me of a weasel, or maybe a ferret. His clothes were dirty, and he had long fingernails, black as coal. If he’s the one selling Forrest Reed’s paintings, he sure hasn’t spent any of the money on himself!” She smiled at the look of revulsion on Hailey’s face. “Like I said, I wouldn’t care to see him again, but I’ll identify him if they find him.”

“What about the other man?” Hailey asked.

Halona folded her arms and thought a minute. “He was. . .sad, I guess is the best word. I study faces, and before he said a word, I had this sense of sadness; there was something haunting about him. You know how some people just carry the marks of a hard life on their faces? He had a full beard, so I couldn’t see much of his face, but very expressive dark eyes. I told the sheriff that even if he was clean shaven, I’d recognize those eyes.”

She stopped and stared thoughtfully at Hailey, then looked up at Cody. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to picture the man at Cody’s age. “I think he must have been very handsome at one time. He walked with a limp and used a cane, a very unusual cane. It was hand carved, mahogany probably, definitely oriental carvings, and it had a silver head. I was fascinated by him for a few minutes, until he started asking questions. I just played dumb, but I’m sure he could see how scared I was. When I realized he was one of the men who had robbed this place. . .” She shook her head. “I was sure shaking. He got so angry when I didn’t give him any information about the other man, I half expected to get hit over the head with that cane!”

The bell on the front door jingled, and Halona excused herself. “I just hope they find those two and the paintings, and we can all just put this behind us!”

“Amen,” Robert answered.

While Cody called the sheriff, Hailey followed Robert out to the sidewalk. He stopped in front of the window. “Millie used to change the window display every month with a different theme each time. The last display was in June. . . . She was hoping to encourage people to shop for wedding gifts. I remember her asking if it would bother me if she put Kwanita’s first wedding dress in the window, and her self-portrait, the one that’s in Paige’s gallery now. I never had any thoughts of jealousy about Cody’s father, but I’ve often thought that if I’d told her not to do it, they would have stayed upstairs in our apartment—nothing was touched up there. It was the loss of that dress that hurt Kwanita the deepest, I think. Even though she knew how sick she was, she always talked about having a daughter someday. . . .”

Robert cleared his throat and put his arm around Hailey. “Well, enough nostalgia for today. We’ve done the business we came to do; it’s time to show you the sights. Has my son shared his agenda with you yet?”

“Agenda? This is supposed to be a vacation!”

Robert laughed. “I promise it will be fun, but if you’re hoping to spend some time just sitting around and enjoying the view, you’re going to have to get him to cancel something. He’s a very organized person.”

To herself she said, Well, opposites attract, they say. To Robert she said, “What’s on the list?”

“He’s already arranged for the dining room at the lodge to pack a picnic; then there’s a drive up the mountain to Jed’s Point, taking in the view on foot, and then dinner for two at a charming little place overlooking the valley.”

“Dinner for two?”

Smiling down at her, Robert squeezed her shoulders. “I have old friends to catch up on.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He dropped his arm and faced her. “I know this is none of my business, but I like the two of you together. You’re good for him, Hailey.”

She smiled up at him as Cody walked down the front step and enveloped her in his gaze. “He’s good for me, too,” she whispered.

❧

Hailey spread a blanket on the grass while Cody brought the wicker picnic basket from the back of the truck. They were in a small clearing, surrounded on three sides by towering pines, overlooking a valley. The rush of water in the river below them echoed off the mountainside. Hailey sat down and unlaced her hiking boots. Three hours earlier they had parked the truck, then explored the hiking trails that wound around the mountaintop. She took a deep breath of the clean, crisp air.

“Smell the huckleberry blossoms? They’re just starting to bloom about now.” He pointed to the steep incline behind them. “We’ll walk up and find some after we eat.”

Taking off one boot and rubbing her foot, Hailey winced at the thought of more walking, and Cody laughed as he sat down heavily beside her. “Man, I used to be able to climb these hills all day and not get winded or blistered!”

He pointed across the valley. “See that ridge over there, just below that cleared spot? That’s where the cabin is. In the fall you can see it from here.”

Hailey pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Is the cabin on our agenda for the week?”

Cody laughed. “Yes, ma’am, it’s scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, but we may have to put it off if we get the rain they’re predicting. The road gets a little hair-raising during a thunderstorm.”

“Do you rent the cabin out?”

“I’ve let friends use it for hunting, but no one would care to live there long-term. It’s rustic in the true sense of the word—no modern amenities. There’s a woodstove for heating and cooking, a few kerosene lamps, and a path out back. But the best artesian water you’ll ever taste is pumped right into the kitchen.”

“Sounds wonderful. Everyone should have a place like that to escape to.”

“It was a godsend while I was going to school. I’d get up here about mid-night on a Friday night and sleep till noon, get up and open a can of chili, and take a long walk. There’s a little pool about a mile from there. ‘Clear as crystal and cold as ice,’ Pampa used to say. After climbing around for a few hours, I’d strip my clothes off and jump in. Timing is crucial there; after about ten seconds your heart stops! Then I was ready to go back and stay up half the night studying law books by lamplight like Abe Lincoln.”

Hailey sighed. “What a life.”

Turning to lean on one elbow, Cody said, “Not everyone would think so. I’m glad you do.”

Pulling off her other boot, Hailey laid back on the blanket, hands behind her head, and stared at the sky, intensely aware of Cody, so close she could feel his warmth, still propped on his hand and studying her. “I see why they call this Big Sky country,” she said.

“Mm-hm,” he answered.

“And the air even looks cleaner. You could forget the whole rest of the world up here!”

“Mm-hm.”

“It’s so pristine, so untouched and peaceful.”

“Mm-hm.”

“I wish. . .” She looked over at him and forgot what she was going to say. “I wish you’d quit staring at me!”

“Mm-hm.”

“Have you heard a word I’ve said?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Cody!” She had just caught her breath from the hike, but the look in his eyes was making her feel like gasping for air. “Cody,” she repeated, a wordless warning in her voice.

She started to sit up, but his hand on her shoulder pushed her gently back to the ground. He put his finger on her lips. “Sometimes, my little motor-mouth, there is a time for silence.” He smiled down at her. “Just promise me one thing.”

Hailey nodded helplessly.

“Promise me that right after I kiss you you’ll push me away and start jabbering again. Otherwise—” He sucked in a long, shaky breath.

Lifting her hand to the back of his head, she whispered the words against his lips. “I promise.”