Ruby's Song (Love in the Sierras Book 3) (16 page)

“So, what did you come here for?”

“A distraction.”

Her countenance finally relaxed. “Ah, good. I have the perfect one for you. You’ll escort me and a few of the ladies out tonight.”

“To where?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The opera.”

He laughed bitterly. “That’s what I need. Something that will help keep my mind off of Marlena. The opera! What a brilliant idea.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Dalton Cunningham. I’ve let you sleep in this room for two days straight. Now, I’m commanding you get out of this bed and take me and the girls to the opera. What do you do when a horse bucks you off, eh? You get back on. So, to the opera we go. I’ve already had your suit cleaned. It’s in the wardrobe. And there’s a hot bath waiting for you down the hall. So, get up and get movin’. And trim that beard and hair. You look like you were raised by the bears up there.”

Dalton groaned. “I’ve got to get something for Indigo to eat first.”

“I’ll take care of the blasted mut,” Juliet said as she lovingly stroked the animal’s ears as they left the room.

Two hours later, beneath the black canopy of night sky, Dalton escorted his mother and three other women, Rosa among them, to Piper’s Opera House. His eyes flitted to the poster on the outside wall, but only long enough to scan the headline. “Piper’s Opera House Welcomes RUBY: The American Songbird.” He rolled his eyes. This was going to be torture.

He glanced up to see several disapproving glares shot their way by finely dressed ladies and gentlemen. He remembered their faces, for they’d turned him and his business away, not even bothering to glance at the show pieces he’d unveiled in his wagon. He shrugged and approached the lobby, reaching for the door. A gentleman stepped in front of him and held the door open for his lady, being sure to release his hold the moment Juliet moved to walk through it. The door nearly smacked Juliet in the face and Dalton felt his fists ball.

“Never mind that,” his mother whispered and he took a deep breath before opening the door for the women. He marveled at her poise. She was never affected by such snubs.  

No sooner had they found their box seats than the lights dimmed and the curtain rolled back. Dalton’s breath caught and his heart skipped a beat. Marlena stood on the stage in a glowing white gown and a full head of deep auburn hair. It’s length hung down her back, waving just as he remembered it. A hot, thick ball of emotion leapt into his throat and he tried to swallow past it.

He watched her eyes scan the venue and he sat back further into the shadows, but her gaze never made it to him. It landed two boxes to his left and he turned to find Val and Jess seated there along with Morgan and Lila Kelly. He hadn’t realized how much the sisters looked alike until he sat there, shifting his gaze back and forth between them. Both women had glistening eyes and soft, adoring smiles.

Soon, Marlena began to sing and Dalton closed his eyes, feeling his body sag on a sigh as he let her voice drift over him, enchanting him all over again. He felt a hand on his wrist and opened his eyes to the sympathetic stare of his mother.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I had no idea she was Ruby.”

He shook his head and turned back to the performance.
Ruby
. Why had she chosen that name if her heart lie with Harrison? His mind raced with all of the answers he craved. His heart stretched from renewed grief and despair again, all within the length of her performance so that by the time it was over, he couldn’t wait to leave.

As he rushed the women through the lobby, his entire body tense, he cringed when Val’s voice called out to him. His mother removed her hand from his arm.

“You go on,” she said. “We’ll meet you back at the house.”

He walked over to the Kelly brothers and their wives, reaching out to shake hands with one and all. When he grasped hands with Val, the man’s eyes shifted to Rosa as she marched out of the door before landing on Dalton once again.

“How the hell have you been?” Val asked, a suggestive lift on an eyebrow and a knowing tone of voice.

“Busy,” Dalton lied.

Before any more words could be spoken, Marlena emerged into the lobby and jumped into her sister’s arms. The pair laughed and cried and hugged, and when they finally pulled apart, Marlena spread her hands over Jess’s pregnant belly. Dalton felt his mouth falling into a soft smile as he watched the complete joy overtake Marlena’s features. He knew how much she’d missed her sister, and he felt honored to witness the reunion.

Next, she embraced Val, and he swung her around. Her laughter rang out, but died abruptly when Val set her down in front of Dalton. She took a deep breath and scowled, burning him with a solid gaze of...contempt? Dalton nearly stumbled from it. What could she possibly be mad at him for? Aware that all eyes were on them, he stepped forward and took her hand.

“Little Miss,” he said before laying a kiss on her soft skin. It smelled of lavender, of her, and he inhaled a long, torturous lungful of it. She snatched her hand away.

“I asked you not to call me that in Boston.”

“You two saw each other in Boston?” Jess asked, looking between their faces, and Dalton could feel her appraising stare.

“Briefly,” Marlena answered hastily.

His eyes never left her face, noticing how she refused to look him in the eye. Again. “Much too briefly,” he said.

There were too many things he wanted to say, wanted to ask, but Jess whisked Marlena out of the building with a hastily-uttered goodbye, and all he could do was watch her roll away in a carriage and loathe the frantic beating of his heart, knowing that it had suddenly come alive again in her presence.

Chapter 16

Marlena closed her eyes and willed the beat of her pulse to slow. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t supposed to even be in Virginia City. She’d telegraphed ahead and asked Juliet, who’d said she hadn’t seen Dalton in almost a year. Why would he turn up now? Her outrage came rolling back, but that wasn’t all. A bone deep heartache returned as well. Betrayed by her own body, she’d been taken aback by his masculine beauty, the dark bearded jaw that made his blue eyes appear brighter, the full lips she could still taste. His hands remained as strong and calloused as she remembered, and her body responded as intently as it had the last time they’d touched.

All of this and more made her blood boil and her cheeks flush with anger. Not only had he caused her a year of heartache, but now he’d cost her a happy reunion with Jess as well.She looked over at her sister, who sat beside her in the carriage, worry and defensive anger tightening her beautiful features. Lila Kelly, Jess’s sister-in-law, looked much the same in the seat across. Their faces were full of questions, questions she didn’t want to answer about a man she didn’t want to discuss.

“What happened in Boston?” Jess finally asked.

Marlena knew she couldn’t lie to Jess. It had been difficult enough to do it in letters. Face to face, it was impossible. She brushed her fingers over her lips, remembering his kiss. Soft lips and fierce passion. An unrelenting torment she’d relived a hundred times over the past fourteen months.

“He kissed me,” she finally admitted.

“And you didn’t want him to?” Jess prodded and Marlena sighed before staring out the window.

“It’s not that. It’s more what he said the last time I saw him.”

After a long pause, Lila spoke. “What did he say?”

“His exact words?” Marlena licked her lips and paused. Even after fourteen months she could still recall the passion in his voice when he’d spoken them. “When I see you again, it’ll be because I’ve come to make you mine.”

No one spoke for a long moment, and it allowed Marlena to recall the scene, remember the excitement that carried her through the following weeks of tour scheduling, wardrobe-making, hair dyeing and every other preparation foisted on her by Sarah. The only thought keeping her grounded was of Dalton swooping in to carry her away from it all.

“How romantic,” Lila finally said with a sigh and Marlena snorted.

“Yeah, it was. Until he turned and left and I never saw him or heard from him again until tonight, a full fourteen months later.”

Lila’s dreamy gaze fell in favor of a scowl. “He did what?”

“Exactly,” Marlena said with a bitter laugh, although what she’d said wasn’t entirely true. He’d written her letters, but she’d returned them all after reading his first. There was no need to read more after that one. It had taken four months for the missive to find her in Philadelphia, and once she read it she wished it had never found her at all.

“That doesn’t sound like Dalton,” Jess said with a furrowed brow. “We’ve known him for years and I’ve never seen him mistreat a single person.”

Marlena sighed. “I wouldn’t have expected it either, but I’m telling you, that’s what happened.”

Lila glanced from Marlena to Jess. “Has he mentioned Marlena at all in the past year?”

Jess pursed her lips in thought. “Now that you mention it, no. Not once.” Her chest expanded over a deep breath and she shook her head back and forth. Marlena recognized the darkening of Jess’s eyes. Her sister was angry.

“That loathsome deceiver,” Jess railed, “Leading you up the garden path only to…well, I’ll make sure he knows how I feel about him.”

“No,” Marlena reached out and put a soothing hand on Jess’s arm. “Say nothing to him or about him. Please. I’ve put it behind me and moved on, and Harrison knows nothing about it. I don’t want to upset him with something so insignificant.”

Jess relaxed against the seat and studied Marlena’s face. “You don’t look like it was something insignificant.”

Marlena shrugged. “He caught me off guard, is all. I wasn’t expecting to see him tonight, or ever again, really.”

Lila chewed on the inside of her lip while she and Jess looked back and forth from one another. Finally, Jess made to speak but was halted by a sudden jerk in her belly. Marlena had seen the jolt along with the flutter of Jess’s dress. She gasped as Jess put a hand to the spot and giggled.

“I think she’s as angry as I am,” Jess said, massaging the twitching bulge of her belly.

“Is that the baby?” Marlena breathed. She’d never seen such a thing.

Jess nodded as a wide grin split her face and she grabbed Marlena’s hand to place it on her belly. Marlena nibbled on her bottom lip, waiting. Suddenly, a solid movement thumped against her palm and she sucked in a breath, sharing a wide-eyed glance with her sister and Lila. Tears sprang to her eyes. Her niece or nephew lived and moved inside of Jess. Laughter filled the inside of the carriage.

“Jess,” she exclaimed. “Does it feel as miraculous on the inside as it does on the outside?”

“Absolutely. I never tire of it. She can kick as much as she wants.”

"You sound so certain it’s a girl.”

Jess’s smile was radiant. “I know it is. I don’t know how. I just feel it.” She squeezed Marlena’s hand. “I’m going to name her after you and Mother.”

Marlena felt a lump in her swallow before uttering her middle name. “Evangeline. Thank you, Jess.”

“Well, you two are the most important women in the world to me. It’s only fitting.”

A deep, grateful breath filled Marlena’s lungs, and she reached out to clasp each woman’s hand. “It’s so good to be home.”

The carriage rolled to a stop and Marlena’s attention was called to the noisy porch out the window where Ellie stood attempting to corral five children. Two boys of similar height jumped up and down, shouting toward the carriage. One was blond and the other dark-haired and she knew they had to be the twins, Barrett and Heath.

“Ma! Wait ‘til you see what Sandy built with us!”

A sudden nervousness rippled through Marlena as she waited to exit the carriage last. Lila and Jess ran happily to greet their children. Forgotten by the carriage, Marlena wished she hadn’t left the opera house so hastily. She had nothing to offer the boys, for all of her luggage and the gifts she’d brought were back at the hotel in Virginia City. She smoothed the front of her skirt and clasped her hands until Jess motioned her forward.

“Boys,” Jess said as Marlena drew near. “This is your aunt Marlena.”

The lively pair went suddenly still and quiet, each wrapping an arm around his mother’s leg to hide behind her skirt. Marlena squatted down to eye level and addressed the blond. “Hi, there. Which one are you?”

Despite urgings from Jess, the boys’ lips remained pressed together until their mother was forced to introduce them. Barrett was the blond and Heath, the dark-haired. Jess huffed and tugged on her boys’ collars. “Oh, you two! Are you this bashful when you receive her letters and gifts? Give her a hug. You don’t want to hurt her feelings, do you?”

A wall of emotion fell on Marlena as she knelt, studying the boys. For years she’d fought emotion, buried it deep in her determination and music. Dalton had stroked that part of her to the surface only to make her suffer for it. So for the past year she’d become numb, unfeeling and cold. But seeing him again, seeing Jess again, and the two warm faces studying her in the likeness of their mother and father...the dam broke and before she knew it was happening, thick streams slid down her face and she covered her mouth with a palm.

She closed her eyes, fighting for control, when two pairs of tiny arms flew around her neck, knocking her onto her bottom on Ellie’s porch.

“We’re sorry,” Barrett said. “We’ll hug you, Aunt Marlena, just please don’t cry. I can’t stand to see a lady cry.”

“Yeah,” Heath added. “It takes their pretty away.”

Barrett pulled back to scowl at his brother before shushing him. “You don’t say that to a lady!”

Heath shrugged. “What? It’s the truth. I ain’t never see a girl who looks pretty when she cries. Not even Mama.”

Barrett leaned toward Heath and whispered. “Yeah, but you’re not s’posed to tell them that, dunce.”

Laughter erupted from Marlena and she squeezed the boys to her again. “I love you boys, and I promise no more tears.”

Heath waggled a stern finger at her. “And don’t you be forgettin’ it. We forbid crying.”

“Heath,” Jess said with a raised eyebrow and a warning in her voice. “I know you didn’t just speak to your Aunt Marlena that way.”

He shrank beneath his mother’s glare and apologized to Marlena, who hugged him again and giggled. “It’s important to follow the rules. So, you can be sure that you’ll not see me crying anymore.”

Emotions still crowded her throat, and she didn’t have confidence she’d be able to keep her promise, so she leaned down and whispered conspiratorially. “You know what, boys? I’m starving. Do you think you could steal me something from Ellie’s kitchen?”

Barrett nodded eagerly. “Oh, yeah.”

Heath leaned into her ear. “We know where all the good stuff is.”

Marlena laughed. “I thought you might. Run along and grab some for me?”

They pulled away just as Marlena’s lips began to quiver and more tears rushed to her eyes. Lila clutched her infant daughter to her hip and sent her two older children with Heath and Barrett. No sooner had the front door shut than Marlena buried her face in her hands and wept. Six years of unshed tears seemed to pour from her without a stopper. Finally, Jess struggled to the porch and wrapped her arms around Marlena.

“What is it, sweetie?”

No answer came, for Marlena wasn’t sure of the exact reason. In truth, there wasn’t a single reason, but a host of causes that overwhelmed her at once. She regained her composure enough to speak.

“It’s been so long. I’ve missed so much here and my own nephews don’t even know me.”

“They will, Marlena,” Jess soothed. “We will remedy that at once.”

Marlena stood and helped Jess to her feet, taking a few deep breaths to stem the tears. She wiped at her eyes. “You’re right. In fact, it’s going to start tonight. Ellie do you have rooms available here? I’d like to stay here instead of the hotel.”

Ellie came forward to embrace Marlena. “For you, darlin’ I’d kick someone out.”

They all laughed and Marlena wiped away the last of her tears. “Do you have room for three? I’d like it if my fiancé and Sarah Jeanne could stay as well. We will pay you, of course.”

Ellie swatted the air. “Don’t worry about a thing. There’s room for all of you. Let me send Sandy for your luggage.”

“Oh! Please, do you think he would mind delivering a message to the opera house for me? I left hastily and didn’t tell anyone where I went. I’m sure they’re all worried at this very moment.”

“Of course, darlin.’”

Ellie disappeared in the house. Lila looked from one sister to the other.

“I am going to nurse Ella,” she announced and then left Marlena on the porch with Jess. They each settled into a rocker and stared silently at the western sky. Marlena marveled at the number of stars littering the inky blackness as she felt Jess’s gaze roving over her profile.

“You seem changed,” Jess finally said. “And I don’t mean in the obvious ways.”

Marlena laughed, slight and soft. “In what ways then?”

“Look at me.” When she turned, Jess’s eyes narrowed in study and then sagged with worry. “You seem so sad. You were never a sad girl. You were always optimistic and hopeful. What’s happened? Your letters seemed happy and idyllic.”

Worry thrummed through Marlena and she forced a smile. “I am happy, and my life has been idyllic. It’s just that seeing you all again has reminded me how much I’ve missed and that makes me sad.”

Jess peered sideways at her. “And this sadness has absolutely nothing to do with Dalton?”

Marlena huffed with a deep roll of her eyes. “Jess, I don’t wish to discuss Mr. Cunningham. Can we please talk about something more pleasant?”

“Of course. Tell me about your man, Harrison, then. Have you two set a wedding date?”

Sandy rounded the boarding house on horseback, sparing the women a wave before cantoring up the road toward Virginia City. Marlena turned to face forward in her seat again and shrugged.

“Harrison is my manager and was Sarah’s before then.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she cast a sheepish look toward Jess. “I don’t want you to be surprised when you meet him. He’s quite a bit older than I am.”

Jess lifted an eyebrow. “How much older?”

“Fifteen years.”

A gentle shrug lifted Jess’s shoulders. “Lila and Morgan are fifteen years apart. Age doesn’t matter when you truly love a person. If you’re happy to marry him then I’m happy for you. He treats you well?”

“Oh, yes. He’s always kind and respectful, and he absolutely adores me.”

Jess pursed her lips and studied her for a long moment. “And you absolutely adore him, too, right?”

“Of course.” Marlena’s laugh was nervous.

“I was just asking,” Jess said, holding her hands out wide. “You didn’t say.”

“Well, I should think that goes without saying. I mean, I am marrying the man, aren’t I?”