LITMIR.BIZ

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Eight

      “IS SOMETHING wrong?”

      Elizabeth jumped. She hadn’t heard Jack come into the kitchen. She picked up the phone, hung it up and turned to him.

      “Nothing’s wrong,” she said quickly.

      “Want to buy them a wedding present?”

      “Oh! I’d forgotten about a present. I need to get a dress, too.”

      “For what?”

      “Carol wants me to be her matron of honor. I need to buy a dress.”

      “Good. I need to buy a tux.” He smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’m the best man.”

      “You’re going to buy a tux?”

      “Aren’t you going to buy a dress?”

      “Well, yes. Will you have another opportunity to wear it?”

      “Yeah, I’m planning on it.”

      “May I go with you and do my shopping, too?”

      “Sure. I’m leaving just after lunch.”

      “Thank you, Jack.”

      “No problem.”

      She hurried upstairs.

      Jack stood there, watching her departure. A smile played across his face. Yesterday she’d been jealous when she thought he had another girl. Today she was jittery at the thought of being partnered with him at Tom’s wedding. He hadn’t missed her dropping the phone and the splash of color on her cheeks when he came in.

      It was going to be an interesting wedding.

      But first he needed to buy a gift.

      Earlier when he’d been talking to Tom, Tom mentioned getting some new furniture for their bedroom. He also wanted to spruce up the room with a more formal sitting area in front of the fireplace. That would make a perfect gift.

      She had the money to buy her dress for the wedding. And he’d get to see her in it before anyone else. That thought made him smile to himself, his eyes dancing.

      “I’ve been thinking about my gift to Tom and Carol and I had an idea for you, too.”

      Elizabeth turned to him as he drove them into town to shop. “What do you have in mind?”

      He told her about the bedroom set he planned on buying. “I thought you might want to give them a TV so they could go to their room for some privacy in the evenings.”

      “You’re right, Jack. I think that’s a good idea, but I don’t know anything about televisions. Can you help me pick out one?”

      “Sure.” After a moment he said, “Are you saying you didn’t have a television?”

      She shook her head.

      “Did you not want one?”

      “Reggie never saw a reason to buy one. I hadn’t had one when we got married, so I guess he assumed I didn’t want one.”

      “He wasn’t much of a husband, was he? I mean, aside from the obvious, he didn’t know you very well.”

      “Let’s just say he didn’t waste any effort trying to get to know me.”

      Because talking about Reggie seemed to sadden her, he changed the subject. “You know, this is the second time in a week that we’ve gone shopping. That’s pretty amazing. I never shop that often.”

      “You could’ve fooled me.”

      He grinned. “I didn’t think I knew what to do. The salesladies helped me a lot.”

      “Yes, I’m sure the salesladies helped you, but I think you did an amazing job.”

      “With no cooperation from you, by the way.”

      “That’s true. I didn’t think Tom should spend that much on us. I didn’t feel he had a reason. After all, he didn’t really know us.”

      “You were all he had left of his son.”

      “I wasn’t sure he’d be glad to know he had anything left of Reggie.”

      “He didn’t realize how bad Reggie had gotten. I was hearing things about Reggie, but Tom didn’t hear. He thought his son wasn’t good at letting his dad know how he was doing, but he forgave him for that.”

      He turned and looked at Elizabeth. “He still has a future in Brady and Jenny, thanks to you.”

      “I’m glad for him,” Elizabeth said, “and I’m glad for Brady and Jenny. They now know their grandfather.”

      “And they’re now going to have a grandmother, too.”

      “Did you know she’d miscarried twice? I felt so sorry for her when she told me that.”

      “Yeah, we knew that. I thought she seemed awfully lonesome.”

      “Now she’ll have a lot of family.”

      “Except me. I’m not really family.”

      “But Tom said he regards you like his son. Only a nicer version.”

      “I appreciate Tom saying that, but I’m not like Reggie. And I have my own parents.”

      “You never talk about them. Are they local?”

      Though he didn’t want to talk about himself, he felt she at least deserved some details. After all, she’d divulged the truth about her addicted mother and unknown father.

      “The family ranch is up near Tulsa. My mother passed away five years ago, but my dad’s still alive. He’s retired now. He turned over the ranch to my two older brothers.” He tried to keep any emotion out of his voice.

      Judging from the sympathetic look in her eyes, Elizabeth detected some. “Do you see them much?”

      He shook his head and looked back to the road. “Every couple of years since I’ve been at Tom’s.” He should’ve just left it at that, but he added, “Not much for me there.”

      At her puzzled look he added, “My brothers got the ranch. There was nothing left for me.”

      “But you have family here, Jack. Don’t you see that?” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand, but he only said, “Not anymore.”

      “So you’re still thinking about leaving?” There was anxiety etched in her face. He knew she felt guilty about that.

      “Yeah. I don’t want to take care of the ranch until Brady is ready to take the reins.”

      “Will you go back home?”

      “No.” There was no chance of that.

      “But can’t you work out something until you find a better place?”

      “I don’t think I can find time to look for another ranch and still run this one.”

      “But you have a little time, don’t you?” He thought her voice quavered.

      “No, not really.”

      “But I don’t think—I mean, can’t you stay another year?”

      “No. I don’t want to go through spring roundup here.”

      “You plan to leave that soon?”

      “Yeah.”

      Logically he knew that was the right thing to do. He had the desire and the means to buy his own ranch; it was always what he’d envisioned himself doing with his life. But emotionally he wasn’t quite so sure. With Elizabeth and the kids there, the Ransom Ranch was going to be harder to put behind him.

      Elizabeth turned forward in her seat, and they passed the rest

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