Off Limits (23 page)

“You go be with Jim, honey. From his letters, you ain't spent much time together 'cause he has to work so hard. You be with him for a while.”

Touched, Alex nodded and thanked Tansy. Jim had come from his parents' bedroom opposite the living room, and he had their coats under his arm.

“How about a walk to work off some of that food?” he teased, holding her coat open so that she could slip into it.

Alex laughed. “I feel like one of those stuffed pheasants! A walk's exactly what I need.”

Outside, the crisp freshness of the winter air was tinged with the sweetish smell of decaying leaves and other heady scents of late autumn. It had yet to snow. Jim smiled and tucked Alex beneath his arm as they strolled off the creaky wooden porch and onto the dew-laden grass.

Alex inhaled deeply as they moved away from the cabin. There, just above the woods that surrounded the small meadow, a butter-colored full moon loomed huge on the horizon. They stood in each other's arms in silence at its beauty, at the moonlight skimming the tops of the maple, elm, walnut and ash trees.

“It's so beautiful,” Alex breathed, glancing up into Jim's shadowed features. Since they'd arrived, his face had lost its tension, and for that, Alex was grateful.

“Full moons are all of that,” he whispered, gazing down at Alex. “But what I'm looking at now is even purtier.”

Alex stretched up to gently kiss his cheek, then they continued their walk down a well-trodden cow path that led into the fenced meadow. “You make me feel pretty,” Alex admitted. “You always have.”

“Just being honest,” Jim countered seriously. The day was almost gone, a pale strip of blue showing along the western horizon, with a curtain of ebony following on its heels. The air grew even more chilly and their walk was brisk.

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, a special place.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Raven Holler is what we call it,” Jim told her. “It's how the community got its name.” They left the meadow and moved into the woods, stepping on the damp, fragrant leaves. “When I was a kid, I used to come here a lot and just daydream. I used to try to imagine what my life was going to be like.” He laughed. “Of course, it didn't turn out anything like what I expected.”

Alex rested her head on Jim's shoulder. She tightened her arm around his waist. Although they were in bulky winter coats, she craved his closeness. “Is your life better or worse than you imagined?”

Jim steered her down a slight slope. “Much better,” he assured her. Easing away, he gripped Alex's hand and helped her negotiate a sudden, steep decline.

Alex could see a small pond of water surrounded by dried grass and a rolling expanse of open land. She sensed something different about Raven Holler as Jim led her over to the pond. Beside the water were two huge limestone rocks.

Jim halted by the water. “Do you feel it?”

She nodded. “What is it?”

He shrugged. “A long time ago, the Cherokee people used to live here. The McKenzies settled here sometime in the mid 1700's, and discovered this place.” Jim pointed up to a tall old maple tree, now dead, that hung at an angle over the quiet pond. “The story goes that the raven clan of the Cherokee people lived here until they were killed by the white man's disease, smallpox. This place was sacred to them, and they came here for ceremonies. I can remember as a boy hearing the calls of a raven family and coming here. Those huge black birds used to live up in that tree, bear their young and teach them to fly off it. The hill folk believed Raven Holler was magical.”

Jim smiled wistfully. “The story goes that if you have a wish you want to come true, you come here. You lay food at the base of that old maple tree, make your wish and leave. When you come back the next day, if the food gift is gone, then you were granted your wish by the spirits who live here. If the food is still there, well, you didn't get your wish.”

Alex sighed. “I love everything about you, about the people here in the Ozarks, Jim. Maybe that's where you got your wonderful romantic streak, your way of looking at life.”

“My way of looking at things has caused me a lot of trouble, too,” he reminded her wryly.

“Not in my book,” Alex said. She turned in his arms and smiled up at him. “So, are we going to make a wish?”

Jim caressed her warm, velvet cheek. “I brought some food. But there's another story, the real reason I brought you here.” He held her soft gray gaze. “Because of the magic of this place—a place where wishes come true—every man who wants his gal to say yes to his marriage proposal, comes here. It's been said that when a woman says yes here, the blanket is never split between them.”

Touched, Alex whispered, “Blanket split?”

“Sorry.” Jim laughed nervously. “That's hill slang for divorce.”

Alex gazed at the quiet pool, now beginning to reflect the silver light of the rising full moon. Jim dug into the pocket of his coat and produced a small black-velvet box. Alex's breath snagged. Her heart started to beat hard in her breast.

Jim released Alex, and his long fingers fumbled with the box. Finally, the tiny latch was released. He glanced over at Alex, his own heart pounding.

“I've been saving for this,” he told her, his voice unsteady, “and I've been waiting for the right time.” Jim lifted his head and looked around the quiet area. His gaze settled back on Alex's upturned face. “I hope I haven't blown it with you, gal. The way we met, we didn't have time to really know each other, until recently. I felt like it was the right time to ask....” He swallowed hard, the words coming out hoarse. “Will you marry me, Alex? Will you be my wife? My best friend?”

“Oh, Jim...” Alex stared down at the box as he opened the lid. Inside lay an engagement ring set with a small diamond solitaire, and a gold wedding band.

“I know it's not much, Alex. You deserve a much larger diamond—”

“It's perfect,” Alex breathed, her voice wobbling as she lightly touched the set. “And so beautiful...” No one knew better than Alex how strapped Jim was for money. His two part-time jobs barely paid for his food, rent and tuition. “How...I mean, this must have cost you so much. How did you afford it at all, Jim?”

“I took a third job.”

Alex gave him a distraught look. “Oh, no!”

“Now, don't go getting upset on me, gal. It's only for a little while.” Proudly, Jim held the box toward her. “You really like them? I had a hard time trying to decide.”

“Like? I love them!” She held the small box in her hand.

“Then...you'll marry me, Alex?”

Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Of course I will, Jim.”

Relief deluged Jim, and he took a step back, caught himself, then threw his arms around her. He heard Alex laugh, then sob. Holding her as if he'd never let her go, he rasped, “The magic's still here in Raven Holler.”

Kissing him tenderly, Alex finally broke away enough to hold his warm blue gaze. “No, you're the magic, Jim. It's you. Your upbringing.”

He frowned and lightly touched Alex's hair. “I'm worried, Alex.”

“Why?”

“Well, your family and all...”

“You're marrying me, not my family.”

“Still, it's bad blood between me and them, gal. What might the situation do to you over the years? I've tried to understand what it might feel like if my folks hadn't forgiven me and taken me back into their fold.” Frustration colored his tone. “Are you sure you want to marry me, Alex?”

With a little laugh, Alex held up the engagement ring. Moonlight glinted off it, like fire blazing through the facets. “Jim McKenzie, are you trying to talk me
out
of marrying you?”

“No,” he whispered as he slipped it on her finger, “I'm not. I just want you to be very clear about what's ahead for us.”

“Jim, we belong together because of our courage to face our greatest fears. That's what I love most about us—we both realize that making fear our friend instead of allowing it to stop us from growing, is our strongest asset.” Gravely, Alex searched his sober features. “If I allowed my fear of my father disowning me to stop me, then I wouldn't be worthy of you, darling. I'll do my best to try and get my family to realize I still love them, even if Father continues to be angry with me.”

Understanding, Jim nodded and eased Alex into his arms. “I love you, Alexandra Vance.”

“Soon to be Alexandra McKenzie. I love the name. I love the man.”

Whispering her name, Jim sought and found her waiting lips, meeting and melding with her on all levels. Their breathing became ragged, their kiss deeper and more hungry. Finally, as they separated, Jim saw the flushed pleasure in Alex's face. He grinned, feeling the horrible weight he'd been carrying for so long slough off his shoulders.

“Want to make a wish now?” he asked, pulling out a small sack of leftovers from the dinner table.

Alex nodded. She followed wordlessly as Jim held her hand and led her around the pool. At the foot of the dead maple tree, he gave her the sack of food.

“Can I tell you what I wish for?” Alex asked breathlessly, her body glowing and warm from his kiss.

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “Sure.”

Reverently, Alex placed the food on a huge, twisted root that had been exposed by years of weathering. As she knelt next to it, her hand over the sack, she said, “I wish for peace between our two families.”

No one wanted that more for Alex than he did. Jim gathered her into his arms and kissed her for a long, long time. Unwillingly, he finally eased back from her ripe, loving lips and rested his brow against hers. Their breath mingled and became a ragged cloud of vapor in the freezing air.

“That's a good wish,” Jim murmured huskily.

Alex closed her eyes. “If only it would come true....”

“I know,” he whispered painfully, and slowly turned Alex toward the path that would eventually lead them to the cabin.

Halfway back, Alex smiled. “This is going to be hell, Jim.”

“What is?”

She laughed. “Well, we certainly can't sleep together while we're here.”

Out of deference to his parents, they had decided not to. Jim grinned and nodded. “You're right.”

Alex saw a sparkle in his eyes, a spark of life that had remained there through the darkest of times. “You've got that devilish look in your eyes,” she teased.

His laughter rolled along the meadow, deep and joyful. Jim grabbed Alex and swung her around and around until she shrieked and their laughter mingled. They clung to each other, so dizzy that they almost fell onto the dewy grass.

“That doesn't mean,” he gasped, “that you're not fair game if we go for a nice long walk out in the woods together in the coming days, Miss Alexandra.”

She joined in his laughter, the last of the weight and worries she carried dissolving beneath the moon's silvery luminescence. “You're impossible,” she giggled, hugging him, her face buried next to his neck.

“Impossible but very much in love with you,” he agreed raggedly.

A
s Alex and Jim approached the cabin, they saw another car parked in the gravel driveway. Happy as never before, and bursting to show Tansy and John her lovely engagement ring, Alex thought it might be a neighbor who had come calling late.

“I wonder who's here?” she murmured as she climbed the porch steps arm in arm with Jim.

“Don't know. Probably one of Pa's friends coming over to have a bite of Ma's pie.” He grinned. “She's famous for her squash pies, you know.”

Alex couldn't agree more. She entered through the door that Jim had opened for her. Her smile slipped.

“Case!”

Captain Case Vance stood in the center of the living room, and slowly turned toward them. “Alex?”

Stunned, Alex stood uncertainly just inside the door. Her older brother, who had the same hair and eyes as she did, was dressed in dark brown slacks, a white collegiate shirt and a leather coat with his squadron patch on the front of it, proclaiming him a Marine Corps pilot. His square face and high cheekbones were topped by military-short hair. The laugh lines around his eyes and mouth hinted at his sense of humor. Anxiously, Alex searched his drawn features for some hint of the reason for his unexpected appearance.

Jim shut the door and stood tensely at Alex's side. His parents bracketed Vance with uneasy looks on their faces.

“What's the meaning of this?” Alex asked softly.

Case stood with his hands on his hips, his eyes cool and assessing. His sharpened gaze moved to his sister.

“I came to see you, Alex.” And then he nodded in Jim's direction. “And you, too.”

Swallowing against her constricted throat, Alex numbly got out of her coat. Her brother was tall, broad shouldered and, in her eyes, terribly handsome. At twenty-eight, he was a captain and proud of flying one of the hottest and most deadly jets in the world, the F-4 Phantom.

“Did Father send you?” she demanded in a strangled tone.

Case shook his head. “No.” And then a strained smile pulled at his thinned mouth. “I got here about ten minutes ago and the McKenzies were kind enough to offer me a late dinner.”

“You drove here?” Alex couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. She still wasn't sure why Case was here. He was known to have her father's temper and same obstinate nature. Her stomach was tightly knotted with fear that their private war might touch Jim's vulnerable and innocent family. She moved toward Case, who towered over her.

“I took off this morning from D.C., Alex.” Case lifted his head and pinned Jim with a long look. “Just to set the record straight, I'm here on my own. Father was ranting and raving so damned much that I wasn't about to stay under the same roof with him, Christmas or not.”