LITMIR.BIZ

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I…well, if you insist,” Bethany said with a smile. “I am a little tired.”

      “Honey!” Ian boomed.

      “Don’t shout,” Honey admonished him as she appeared instantly in the doorway.

      To Bethany’s surprise, Erika, Ian and Honey walked with her to the front door. Erika promised to be along soon, but told her not to wait up. Ian kissed her on the cheek and wished her a good night while Honey waited by the open door. Not another change of venue, Bethany thought as she followed Honey out onto the porch.

      “Hopefully all of your things have already been brought over to the guesthouse. If not, I can get you whatever you might need for tonight.” She walked with surprisingly long strides for such a short woman. Bethany had some trouble keeping pace.

      “Are those things comfortable?” Honey asked, looking down at Bethany’s shoes.

      Another comment on my shoes, Bethany thought wearily. “Yes,” she replied and could not keep the edge of defensiveness from her voice.

      “I love shoes,” Honey said, sighing, “but I’m too chicken to try something like that. I’d probably topple right off them and look utterly stupid.”

      “Actually I did topple off them tonight,” Bethany admitted, “and looked utterly stupid, but I am not about to give them up.”

      Honey grinned. “Perhaps you and I can go shopping one day and you can help me find shoes and a little of your courage.”

      They had traversed a long stone pathway and reached a smaller version of the larger house. Bethany had noticed it on the ride in from the landing strip but never dreamed it was a separate guesthouse.

      “Erika thought you would be more comfortable here than in the main house,” Honey explained as she opened the door and led the way inside. “She hasn’t said anything but it seems to me, meeting you, that you have suffered recently. It’s in your eyes.”

      “I…” Bethany felt tears well. How could this woman know? “It’s been a tough year,” she said and then turned her attention to her surroundings. “Oh, Honey, isn’t this wonderful?”

      “It’s pretty special,” Honey agreed. “Erika’s room is there.” She motioned down a short hall off the kitchen as she moved about the spacious cottage, igniting the gas fireplace, pulling drapes closed and checking the refrigerator to be sure it was stocked with beverages and fruit.

      “Your room is here,” she said and led the way to a large bedroom where she opened the closet to reveal all of Bethany’s clothes. “Good,” she murmured as she turned back the duvet on the large cypress-framed bed.

      “Good? It’s incredible,” Bethany said. “Who did all this work?”

      “I sent my daughter, Reba, over to check on the luggage while you were eating. She must have put everything away.” Honey smiled the smile of a proud mother and continued the tour.

      “Bathroom is here,” Honey indicated as she flicked on the light and visually checked to be sure everything was in place, “and in the morning you can breakfast on the porch off the living room. Best view on the ranch.”

      “It’s all wonderful. Thank you so much, Honey. And please thank your daughter for me.”

      Honey grinned. “Get some rest. Erika has been on pins and needles waiting for you to arrive so the two of you can start planning parties. To hear her tell it, you are a master at this and frankly, we’re all excited to see what surprises you come up with for Ian and his lady.”

      “I’ll do my best,” Bethany promised as she walked Honey back to the door and waved good-night.

      Alone after a day of crowds and unexpected schedule changes, she let out a breath of utter exhaustion. The fire flickered and the oversize bed beckoned. Who would have thought a ranch could be so luxurious? She couldn’t wait to call Grace and tell her that maybe things were going to work out after all.

      “After all, it’s a few days and then back to Chicago. I can handle that,” she announced as she showered and changed into the nightgown Honey’s daughter had left out for her. “I can handle anything for a few days.” And for the first time in months, Bethany fell asleep looking forward to what a new day might bring.

      Chapter Three

      Unfortunately, the new day brought with it more than one unexpected problem. The first being the “best view on the ranch.”

      “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Erika sang out gaily as she pulled open the drapes on the bedroom window, filling the room and Bethany’s bleary eyes with sunlight brighter than she had ever before experienced.

      But it wasn’t the sunlight and Erika’s cheery greeting that brought Bethany crashing back to the reality of why she had dreaded the change in plans that brought her to Arizona. It was the sight outside the window.

      A cloudless blue sky and bright sunlight undiffused by smog and pollution brought every detail of the view into sharp distinction. But the focus of that view was none other than a range of immense and—to Bethany’s eye—almost sinister mountains. They were closer than she might have imagined, had she considered it at all. She could actually see details—jagged cliffs and shadowy hollows that seemed to lead into nameless voids. Voids like the one just miles north of here where Nick had fallen and died. She stood staring out at the scene for a long moment, then ripped the drapes closed again.

      “Too bright. Too early,” she explained when she turned and saw Erika’s puzzled look.

      “Coffee,” Erika said. “That’s what you need.” She headed off to the kitchen and continued the conversation while Bethany dressed and made the bed.

      “Did you sleep well?”

      “Fine,” Bethany called as she mentally rehearsed the speech she knew she must deliver before this thing went any further. She dressed in jeans and a white cotton T-shirt enhanced with the turquoise necklace Erika had sent for her birthday.

      “Out here, Bethie,” Erika called when Bethany headed for the kitchen. She followed the sound of her aunt’s voice out to a small screened porch.

      The bistro table was set with woven placemats, contemporary free form plates and tall red-and-black mugs that coordinated with the placemats and the striped black-and-red cloth napkins. Erika looked up, a pitcher of what could only be fresh-squeezed orange juice in hand.

      “You look wonderful, dear. I knew the necklace would be perfect.”

      Bethany fingered the stones and smiled.

      “Sit, sit,” Erika invited as she filled the mugs and then set a basket of pastries and a bowl of fruit on the table. “Not there. Here—where you can see the view.”

      Bethany had deliberately taken the chair with its back to the mountains. “No, this is fine. I’m not used to the brightness. Too used to things being filtered through smog,” she added.

      Erika’s expression sobered and she seemed to consider saying something and then rejected that idea. Instead she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and released it. “It is so wonderful to breathe truly fresh air, don’t you think? I mean you can practically feel yourself getting healthier, stronger.”

      Actually, Bethany was thinking that absorbing the first cup of coffee intravenously might help clear her head. She was still fighting the unexpected twists of her journey and had not slept well, haunted by the usual dreams of Nick. She was going to need to be at her sharpest if she was going to find a kind way to tell her aunt that there was no way she could stay here.

      “Auntie Erika,” she began as Erika filled their mugs. She ignored the food in favor of breathing in the aroma of the coffee.

      “Uh-oh,” Erika said, helping herself to a sweet roll and a banana. “You never call me Auntie unless you want something.”

      This

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