Seeing Daylight (15 page)

Love? Rachel almost didn't want to hear the rest because Ma had herself and her wants and needs, her heart, all figured out. But Ma's news was thrilling. “Ma, you're not exactly teetering. You're smart, fun and fabulous.”

“Well, I'm past my prime, though I don't feel like it one single whit. I need to make the rest of my years count now. ”

The front door slammed and Kelley's howl all but shook the timbered ceiling. “Ma? Where are you?”

“Study.” Ma's cheeks bore a pretty pink and she, who was never shy or reserved, coyly tucked her chin. “Let's wait for your sister.”

Like she'd had a long day on her feet, Kelley crumpled next to them, feet up on the coffee table made from an antique children's play wagon. Her lean freckled face with its high supermodel cheekbones seemed rounder than usual. All that good cooking of hers at the café had to be tasted by the chef, of course. Rachel smiled. Three musketeers for a second lost in their own thoughts and plans.

Kelley trained her eyes on Grim-Gram's masterpiece of Jesus the Good Shepherd. The painting that had so inspired Brayton last night. Maybe Grim-Gram's message of how Christ is everywhere should be shared with the world. Rachel chewed her lip.

Some of the peace she'd lost tapped gently at her shoulders, and her smile grew. She was that little bighorn lamb, and Jesus was holding her.

“You found your way again.” Ma said the beautiful fact out loud.

“Yes, Ma. I did.” Heat fringed Rachel's eyes and cheeks. “It was a long slog, but He kept knocking. I've let Him back in.”

“All's good then.” Ma's arm tightened across Rachel's shoulders.

After a glance at her watch, Kelley nodded, scrunching farther into the couch. “This isn't exactly what I came to say, but ‘The Lord is my Shepherd' over there reminded me. Has Brayton touched base with you? With his plans to open a gallery at Pac Arts and feature Grim-Gram's work?”

“Yeah, he did.” Rachel rushed to reassure Kelley whose mouth made a large O. “You both know about dinner last night.” Her voice slowed. She ached to recall being with him in the glow of a hundred candles, snuggling against him in front of the fire. “He explained it. It's a memorial to his...wife. And I've been kind of thinking about it all day, exhibiting Grim-Gram's work, and I actually think I'm onboard. Not because of the commercial aspect, the money-making part of it. But to share her message on how Christ is everywhere no matter where we find ourselves.”

Indeed, the message must be shared. Truth washed over her. Was God urging Rachel back to His heart? As well as leading her to Brayton? After all, He was her Heavenly Father. She knew well the love of an earthly parent, the trust she'd long placed in her mother's advice. Just as she leaned on Ma just now, she needed to lean against Him.

Right now. T
omorrow, next week. Next month, next year…

“I guess it's something we could think about,” Ma, ever kind, mentioned.

”I agree.” Rachel stood up, straightened the seat of her jeans. A ride through His cool, clean world was just what she needed. Viewing the beauty of Hearts Crossing, reminding herself of the years and hard work that had made it so, always cleared her head. “If you gals don't mind, I'm going for a ride.”

“All right. You've been looking a bit peaked. We can talk later.”

“OK by me.” Kelley said with a yawn. “I'm gonna kick my feet up for a while. Close my eyes.”

Outside, the remedies Rachel had craved, cold air tussling with the wind, white clouds pummeling each other across the endless sky, and the pulsing life of livestock, started to do their healing. She grabbed her saddle from the tack room and hustled toward the corral. Over the breeze she heard Brayton's request at Woodside to join her for a ride.

Smelled his scent above the aromas of hay and horse.

“Rachel?”

Her heart stopped almost with a thud. Oh, she knew the voice. Had heard it in her sleep for two nights running. The last person she wanted to see. The person she wanted to see most.

 

 

 

 

14

 

Brayton's heart surged just watching Rachel saddle her horse. Although her motions were practiced and professional, he almost heard music. The afternoon wind brushed her hair in a rhythm of its own.

“Care to go for a trail ride with me?” He kept his voice soft. “Carol's taking the girls back to town in my truck.”

Turning toward him, Rachel's beautiful face wore the wide eyes of a kitten caught in the stare of a coyote. Did she fear him? His heart bumped hard. “I...I didn't mean to startle you. Or put you on the spot.”

“No, um. I'm good.” She looked back to her task so quickly his spirits sank to his boot heels.

Surely it was anger he'd seen raging in the brightness behind her lashes. He sighed. Carol, of course. Back at Woodside Meadows, Rachel's turquoise scarf had flickered from the opposite balcony. Certainly she'd seen him with Carol in his arms.

And after last night, yet, when she'd thought his romantic date was nothing but a ploy. What next?

Then her gaze returned to his face, softened like she actually wanted him there in front of her.

“And yeah, I do want a ride. But how are you gonna get back?” Her lids lowered like in high school. He knew she was being coy.

“I thought I might beg a ride from one of the fine people on this ranch.”

She flirted, sure as shooting. “You'll have to take your pick.”

“Then I pick you.”

Her smile grew while she stroked the horse's flank. Then her hand fluttered, shy, like a bird against her cheek. “Addie must be beside herself with jealousy. You going on a ride and her stuck in town.”

“You'd think, but no, not with her new Siamese twin. I have some competition.”

Then she turned so serious they might be in a library. “Speaking of competition...Brayton, I, um, I really, really like you. But Carol's my friend, too. If you're interested in her—”

He shook his head and held out his hand. “Rachel. I meant what I said last night. I've been mesmerized by you from the first time I saw you. And no offense to Carol. She's a great woman. She's just...not you.”

“Oh.” Rachel paused, squeezed between the corral fences and came close to take his hand.

“Addie invited Carol and Stella to come with us after school.” He felt the spark as their fingers met, but his voice stayed normal.

Rachel's eyelids widened. Stunned? Relieved? “Addie brought her?”

“Yep. I wanted to be with you, but I thought I better wait a day or two to do my begging. Addie did admit she thought Carol was pretty and I ought to ask her out. But in reality, the big deal is that she thinks it's okay for me to date. Anyone. I pick you.”

“Yeah?” She touched his cheek, like fire then waved her hand over the collection of fine horses. “But Brayton...”

This time she didn't look at him, but fiddled with a buckle. “I
know
Tranquility group is a subsidiary of BrayMet. Of which Brayton Metcalf is founder and CEO. Something I found out from a glossy brochure. Not you. I guess I feel you're holding back.”

The longing in her voice got to him.

She flushed. “Why so secretive about owning that fine enterprise?”

“Nothing. I don't want to seem like I'm bragging. I guess I just feel guilty, sometimes. I made a fortune on the inflated prices of homes. Foreclosed homes, empty homes. It's hard to envision the hardships families go through. The staff I had to lay off when I've reaped so much.”

She nodded, sunlight glinting from her hair. “But you've done good things too. From those given much, the Lord expects great things.” Her voice softened. So did the hand on his cheek.

“What?”

“It was my confirmation verse. From the gospel of Luke somewhere. Wow. I…can't believe it. I haven't thought about it in years.”

Her eyebrows rose as she spoke, but he knew she spoke sincerely. Her shoulders straightened as if a load had been lifted.

“Well, there's a good reason you remembered it now.” He took one hard swallow, aching to hold her, finally and for real. “I'm realizing it too. We aren't traveling down here alone.” God was nearby, to guide and lean on. Brayton knew it more than ever. “I didn't mean to, well, withhold information from you. I'm so sorry.”

“I understand. Apology accepted. I haven't known you long, but I know you've done good things. And will. Look at the art gallery. Look at Addie. You've no need to be unsure of yourself.”

He shrugged, looking away. “I suppose. I liquidated some companies to get better severance for the folks I had to lay off. I…don't know how I could have slept at night, otherwise.”

“You helped many people out by buying the Red Hill. Not to mention the saddlery.” Her voice was gentle, as was the squeeze of her fingers now on his arm. “Keeping the hands employed when things were going under. That has to mean something. Saving all those horses, too.”

“I never quite looked at it that way.” As if to keep her fingers there, he laid his own hand over hers, warmth and pulse seeping into him. “At times I almost felt like I was taking advantage of somebody's misfortune.”

“Well, I kind of understand. But I'll bet folks looked at it as the solution to a problem. The answer to a prayer.” Her voice slowed, and their hands disconnected as she moved against a post. She took several deep breaths. “I think I've slowly been learning that about Nick. The Lord expected great things of him, and he gave back. I don't understand why, back home again, he had to suffer more. But God was there to lean on. For Nick and for me. It was our choice that we didn't. That I haven't been. But…” She didn't say any more, but he read her eyes. She was leaning on Him now.

Before he could reply, a smile split her beautiful face.

“Come on.” She pulled a halter hanging from the fence. “Go get Curiosity. She isn't getting much exercise these days, tourists done and Tiffany so near her due date. There's something about the trail.” She raised her face as if smelling the air, tasting the word. Then she looked him straight on. “Something that helps us get things figured out. Someone.”

“You finding your way back, Rachel?”

“Yeah.” She shook her head with a little laugh. “And it must be showing. Ma just said the same thing.” Then her eyes widened with questions that stabbed his heart. “But Brayton, if you don't want to seem like a bragger...why did you name your enterprise after yourself. I mean, come on.”

Heat brushed his cheekbones. “The arrogance of youth, I guess. I made it big, quick and pretty easy. It was Marianne who kept my head on straight. Who kept me humble.” He tossed her a look he hoped she understood. “That was part of her legacy.”

It didn't hurt to say Marianne's name, or to think of her. Hadn't for a while. His heart swelled. Time had come to move on for good.

“I think I get that. Nick taught me things, too.”

“For what it's worth since I've known you...” He pushed on, else lose courage. “...It hasn't hurt to mention her name, or to remember her. I knew the first time I met Marianne she was somebody special. It took her a bit longer, but we gave ourselves the chance to find out for sure. Just like…” He hesitated the same time Rachel did, as she prepared to slip between the fence slats into the corral.

“Just like what?” Her soft voice mixed with the whicker of horses as she jumped to her feet on the other side.

“Just like I hope
we
have the chance…to find out.”

Inside the corral, she faced him. “You might be onto something. Since meeting you, I haven't had bad dreams.”

“That's good.” He reached for the hand she held out and the spark traveled down his spine.

“Very good.” Her shy gaze focused on the ground. “So I guess that might mean what you mean right now. Or what I think you mean.” Her fingers twiddled against his. “You know. That you and I should give ourselves the chance to find out. What this is. What it might be.”

He nodded. “I can't stop thinking about you. And I know Marianne wouldn't mind. I can't stop
seeing
you. Inside my head. Invisible but visible at my side. It was
you
who walked all through the townhouse next to me today.”

He leaned against the corral post and grinned at her. “I'm not about to give up. But I am aware I moved too fast.” He might as well confess. At first, Marianne had run scared, too. “But it's my nature. Lest the best deal get away from me.” Her eyes widened, and he reconsidered his flippant words. “Or the best girl.”

Rachel laughed out loud. “You sound like my brother Kenn. He proposed to Christy after a three-day wagon train trip. He just couldn't let her go.”

“Sounds like a smart man.”

“But I'm not much like that. I'm not one to jump into things. I can't deny I feel something. Something for you. Something that could go somewhere. Felt it from the first. But…” She whistled and a horse came to her side. After tying the gelding to the post, she lifted the saddle over his back like she'd done a thousand times. And probably had.

Home on the range. Home in his heart.

“But what, Rachel?” He had to know.

She faced him squarely. “The thing is, Brayton, it might be hard for me to be with a guy who rushes in.”

Abashment glazed him. She was right. Far too often, he'd rushed head-first. This time, however, was heart-first.

“I know, Rachel. And I'm sorry. I was so enthused. But the art exhibition isn't a done deal. It's all up to you to begin with. And the exhibition has to pass a bunch of administrative rigmarole.” He might as well tell her the whole truth. No
might
as well. This is how it would be between them from now on. “Thing is, I've meant for years to endow an art gallery in Marianne's name.”