Love at Any Cost (32 page)

Aunt Cait half chuckled, half sobbed as she gathered Cassie in her arms with a groan. “Oh, we are going to miss you, Cassidy McClare.” She pulled away to study her face as if memorizing every detail. “And you mark my words, darling, by this time next summer?” A melancholy sigh drifted while her smile belied the sadness in her eyes. “You may well have a fondness for broccoli that will put layer cake to shame.”

“I don't understand, Mama, why does Cassie have to leave?” Maddie asked.

Cassie tucked her toiletries into her luggage and glanced up with a tender smile. “I miss my family, darling, just like you missed your mama when she left early from Napa, remember?”

Tears pooled in the little girl's eyes. “But we're your family too.”

Cassie's heart buckled. “I know, Maddie, and I love you all very much, but my visit is almost over anyway and Mama and Daddy need me, so it's time to go home.”

“But you talked about getting a teaching job here,” Meg reminded with a glaze in her eyes that matched her little sister's. “Why did you change your mind?”

Cassie glanced at Alli, who sat against the headboard, her tight-lipped smile infusing Cassie with the strength she needed to see this through. She'd sworn Al to secrecy regarding what Jamie had done, of course, but she deeply regretted Alli's loss of respect for him, now as flat as her own. She closed her suitcase with a firm click that sounded all too final. Yep, squashed just like her heart, as thoroughly as a june bug beneath the hooves of a twelve-legged mule. Releasing a withering sigh, she chanced a
peek in Meg's direction. “Yes, I was considering a teaching job here, Meg, but I could tell from Mama's last letter she needed me at the reservation, so I've decided to teach there till your mama and sister open their school next year.”

“It won't be the same here without you.” Aunt Cait's usual bolstering smile was as shaky as Cassie's. “Heaven knows Jamie'll be impossible to live with, winning at pinochle and pool.”

Cassie's smile dimmed. Impossible to live with.
Ah, yes . . . the very reason I can no longer stay.

“Will you come back?” Maddie's eyes were hopeful.

“Of course she'll be back, shortcake,” Alli said. “Maybe at Christmas, right, Cass?”

“Absolutely,” Cassie said with a grateful smile. She angled a stern brow at her youngest cousin. “And, I fully expect you to best Blake in checkers by the time I return, is that clear?”

Maddie giggled. All at once her rosebud smile wilted. “I'm gonna miss you, Cassie.”

“Oh, me too, sweetheart.” Cassie scooped her up in a hug, kissing the top of her head.

“I hope you packed that nasty rope,” Alli said, a touch of the imp in her smile. “Heaven knows what Rosie would do with it.”

“Hog-tie your Uncle Logan, no doubt,” Aunt Cait said with a droll smile. “Which come to think of it, might not be a bad thing.” She glanced at the clock on Cassie's nightstand and rose. “Time to get Cassie to the station. I'm surprised your uncle isn't clamoring downstairs, as prompt as he likes to be.”

“I can't believe Uncle Logan's taking off work just to drive me to the station.” Cassie hefted her bag with a grunt. “He's way too busy for that.”

Aunt Cait retrieved Cassie's hatbox. “Well, it's Logan's firm and the man can do what he wants.” Her lips twisted. “And
usually does.” She paused to sear Cassie with a mock glare. “Put that suitcase down this instant, young lady—Hadley will carry it down, you hear?”

“Yes, ma'am.” Cassie drew in a deep breath and dropped her bag, giving the room a quick scan. “Well, that's it, I suppose. Ready?” She linked arms with Aunt Cait to head downstairs, wishing she didn't have to run away from those she loved to heal a heart twice broken.

“All set?” Uncle Logan stood in the foyer, fedora in hand and face so somber, it prompted more tears in Cassie's eyes. He and Aunt Cait were certainly an unconventional family, but family nonetheless, and Cassie ached at the prospect of leaving. All at once Uncle Logan swallowed her up in his arms, and her heart ached at the hoarseness in his voice. “You tell your parents I want you all here for Christmas, understood? My gift, no argument.”

She nodded against his chest, the scent of lime shaving soap and the barest trace of wood spice tugging her heart. Oh, how she would miss them all!

“Humph . . . you gonna hog her like you hog the best chair in the parlour?” Rosie darted down the hall from the direction of the kitchen to shove a cylinder tin against Logan's chest. She yanked Cassie from his grasp to crush her in a strong hug that was nothing short of remarkable given the housekeeper's petite form. She pulled away to cup both of Cassie's cheeks, a squint of a warning in blue eyes as firm as the woman's backbone. “Now, so help me, lass, if you care a whit about this big lug uncle of yours, you and your family will be here for Christmas or I will make his life so miserable, he'll hightail it to Texas himself.”

“Miserable?” Logan grunted. “Don't you mean ‘more' miserable?”

Rosie patted Cassie's cheeks as she sent Logan a scowl. “You haven't seen miserable,” she muttered, “except in the mirror.” She
snatched the tin and handed it to Cassie. “Here—your favorites—snickerdoodles for the train. For you, not him, you hear?”

“Oh, Rosie, I'm going to miss you so much,” Cassie said with a fond embrace. She leaned close to the old woman's ear. “And Uncle Logan really is wonderful, you know.”

“Humph—matter of opinion. Gotta get back to the kitchen—don't want to burn the roast.” She turned to hurry down the hall, tossing a thin smile over her shoulder. “Rump roast,” she said, searing Logan with a look. “Because somebody invited
him
to dinner.”

“Come on, Cass,” Uncle Logan muttered, “before I ruffle the feathers of a cranky old bird.” He opened the door. “And I'm not talking Miss B.”

Hadley arrived with Cassie's suitcases in hand and affection in eyes that belied his usual stoic manner. “You will be sorely missed, Miss Cassidy.”

“Thank you, Hadley, and the feeling is more than mutual, I assure you.” Cassie gave the butler a tight squeeze, leaning close to his ear. “Don't let Rosie bully you, you hear?”

The makings of a grin inched across his lips. “No, Miss, I shan't.”

“Hadley!” Rosie poked her head out the kitchen door. “I need you to snap the peas, lickety split.”

The butler clicked his heels. “Yes, miss, tap the bees—honey coming right up.”

“Peas!” Rosie screamed.

“Very good, miss,” Hadley said loudly enough for Rosie to hear. He gave Cassie a wink.

Uncle Logan braced Cassie's shoulders. “It's time to go,” he whispered, nudging her to the door. She leaned into him all the way down the steep marble steps lined with boxwoods to the cobblestone street where his black Mercedes Double Phaeton
glimmered in the August sun. The others followed as Hadley and Logan placed her things in the backseat.

Aunt Cait tugged her into her arms. “Oh, Cassie, how I wish this had turned out differently, darling. My heart breaks for you . . . and for all of us.”

Wetness pricked Cassie's eyes, and she was grateful no one but Al knew of Jamie's true motives in turning her away. As far as Aunt Cait, Uncle Logan, and Meg knew, she cared for Jamie so deeply that friendship was too painful an option to stay. She pulled back, attempting a grin she hoped would deflect the grief in her eyes. “Well, like Daddy always says, ‘keep all skunks, bankers, and lawyers at a distance'—and I reckon this way, I'm doing two of the three.”

“Ready?” Uncle Logan helped Cassie into the front seat while the others crowded around.

“Bye, Cassie—we love you!” Maddie's little fingers pinched tight on Uncle Logan's car, and it was all Cassie could do to keep from bawling.

She stroked her cheek. “Love you, too, shortcake,” she whispered.

Alli hefted Maddie up in her arms, blinking the gloss from her eyes. “So help me, Cass, the next time I see MacKenna, I have a good mind to slap him alongside the head for being so blamed stupid. I swear, the boy's so slow, he couldn't catch a cold.”

“Just give me the word, Cass, and I'll dock his pay.” Uncle Logan rounded the car, the humor in his tone at odds with the sobriety in his eyes.

Aunt Cait's chuckle seemed forced. “Well, as difficult as it may be, I suppose it's best if we all try to forgive and forget. Come Christmas, Cassie will be back and it'll all be behind us.”

Cassie sighed while Uncle Logan started the car, the rumble
of the engine drowning out all farewells.
One can only hope
, she thought as the automobile veered away from the curb, the family she loved slowly fading from view. “Forgive and forget,” Aunt Cait had said. The sea breeze cooled the tears on her face while Jamie's memory lingered in her mind. Forgive? She swallowed hard, painful emotion clogging her throat. Most certainly. But forget? Uncle Logan gave her hand a gentle squeeze and more moisture pooled in her eyes.

Oh, not for a long, long while.

So this is what it feels like . . . a child leaving the nest.
Caitlyn stared blankly out the open French doors of her study, gaze fixed on the cobblestone street where Cassie said goodbye not twenty-four hours ago. Last night the house felt like a tomb—no cousins giggling or whispering secrets, no laughter from games of whist, no playful gibes between Rosie and Logan. A sad smile edged her lips. Even Miss B. seemed blue, her raucous squawks noticeably absent.

Caitlyn sighed and wandered aimlessly into the foyer where the early-morning light peeked through the glass of the lead-crystal front door. The noisy clatter of pots and pans in the kitchen confirmed Rosie's grumpy mood as she prepared for another day as somber as the house in Cassie's absence. Caitlyn paused with a hand to her eyes, heart heavy over the grief of her niece's departure, certainly, but also the painful circumstances that precipitated it. Few things weighted a heart more than loving someone you could never have, and all at once Jamie's image merged into Logan's. Perhaps that was part of the reason she was taking Cassie's departure so hard—her niece and she shared a common bond that had knit them close—loving two men who didn't share their faith
and were now estranged from them both. Thank goodness Cassie would have the strength of distance to help ease her pain.
Unlike me
, Caitlyn realized, the polite chill of Napa between Logan and her growing cooler all the time. Which was exactly why she'd sent her resignation to Walter a few days ago—clearly her feud with Logan made her an albatross around the committee's neck, especially in light of their proposal being denied.

The front door opened and Hadley stepped through with a newspaper under his arm, distinguished as always in his crisp white shirt with black tails despite the sprig of juniper in his hair. A smile played at the corners of Caitlyn's mouth as she stared at her beloved butler, his craggy face especially handsome with the absence of his new glasses. “The paperboy missed again?” she asked loudly enough for him to hear, plucking the juniper from his silver hair.

“I'm afraid so, miss,” Hadley said with his usual calm, a smile shadowing lips that never voiced a complaint. “I do believe the young ruffian relishes the thought of me rifling through the brush each morning. But I don't mind. Rather like a trek through the jungle, if you will.”

She stood on tiptoe to graze an affectionate kiss to the old butler's cheek. “Perhaps because you've misplaced your glasses again, Mr. Hadley?”

His eyes actually sparkled. “At times I find life to be more of an adventure without them, miss,” he said with an imp of a smile, “especially where Mrs. O'Brien is concerned.”

Caitlyn chuckled. “I do believe there's a scamp beneath that regal pose, dear Hadley.”

He smiled. “Well, with Mrs. O'Brien, miss, one finds his pleasure wherever he can.”