The Airman's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 5) (18 page)

Rose’s brows furrowed. “Your… but… isn’t..?” She looked from Heather back to Colt and worked to get herself under control. “Of course. Are… you two looking for a ring today?”

He admired her professionalism and the way she caught on so fast. “That’s right. The prettiest ring you’ve got,” he improvised.

“Why don’t you start looking through the cases over there?” Rose pointed across the room. “So… ah… Heather. What can I do for you today?”

As Colt steered Melanie over toward the rings, he listened for Heather’s answer.

“I’m here to pick up my ring. You know, the one you were resizing for me?” She too over-enunciated her words.

Rose opened her mouth, shut it again. Cocked her head and said, “Of course. The ring. Could you remind me again what it looks like? I swear I’ve done a passel of them this week.”

Colt didn’t think he’d ever heard Rose sound so countrified, but then this situation would scour the varnish off anyone. He was happy she’d had the presence of mind to go along with their charade without tripping any of them up so far.

“Sure.” Heather drifted toward the cases that held the rings, scanned them quickly and said, “Just like that one!”

Rose nodded. “Okay. I know exactly where it is. Heloise, is there anything I can do for you?”

“I have it in mind to buy me a new brooch. An expensive one. I have a feeling I’m going to come into some money soon.”

“Of course! Take a look around. I’ll come help you in a minute, after I fetch Heather’s ring. Colt and Melanie, are you two doing all right?”

“Just fine,” Colt hurried to say. Rose disappeared into the back room and he said a silent prayer of thanks that so far things had gone this well.

“About this fiancé of yours,” Heloise said to Heather, “does he realize how intimate you plan to be with Colt?”

Heather’s eyebrows shot up. “I… don’t know what you mean.”

“Colt’s the father of your child,” Heloise elaborated. “I assume you’ll see him frequently—when he spends time with Richard.”

“Oh… of course!”

“Heather and Richard are living at the Hall for now,” Colt said. “I want to see my son every day.”

It was Heloise’s turn to blink. “Very enlightened of you,” she said. She turned to Melanie. “And you’re all right with this, young lady? Living with your stepson’s mother?”

Melanie nodded quickly. “Of course. A child should be with both his parents.”

“Well, when I said you’d be intimate before, I had no idea, did I?” Heloise turned back to Heather. “And your fiancé? He’ll move into the Hall, too?”

“Um…” Heather looked to Colt.

“Sure. Why not?” he said.

“I’d better meet this paragon,” Heloise said. “In my day the two of you’d be more likely to kill each other than live together under one roof. But they don’t make men like they used to, that’s for sure.”

“I’m sure my fiancé would be very happy to meet you.” But when Heloise turned away, Heather sent Colt an imploring look.

“He’s a very busy man, though,” Colt said.

“I’ll see him tomorrow night for dinner,” Heloise proclaimed, bending to look at a case full of necklaces. “At the Hall. Tell Regan to make those potatoes that I like.”

“I don’t think—” Heather began.

“Tomorrow,” Heloise reiterated. “The man has to eat, doesn’t he? No matter how busy he is.”

To Colt’s relief, Rose reappeared. “Here’s your ring, Heather.”

Heather took it from her and slid it on her finger. From what Colt could see, it was a passable double for the one he’d bought her in Billings. He hoped it would fool Heloise. He was still scrambling to think of what to say to deflect his aunt from her dinner plan. “I doubt George will be able to make it on such short notice.”

“And I doubt George exists,” Heloise said promptly. “So we’ll eat dinner and when George doesn’t show, you’ll admit you all are lying and I’ll sell the ranch to the highest bidder.”

“What do you think of this brooch, Heloise,” Rose blurted, pulling a large one out of the nearest case. “It’s pretty expensive.”

“I’m sure George will do what he can to make dinner if it’s so important to you, Heloise,” Heather said suddenly. “Tomorrow, it is.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” She examined the piece of jewelry in Rose’s hand and sniffed. “I’ll be going now. You youngsters have tired me out with your newfangled notions. And that brooch is dreadful.” Heloise left without another word.

“Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Rose said.

The door opened
again before anyone could speak, and Mason walked into the jewelry store. He navigated his way around the glass cases. “I saw your vehicles outside,” he said, “and I saw Heloise leaving. Just wanted to make sure everything is okay.”

“It won’t be okay until someone tells me what’s happening.” Rose looked from Heather to Colt. “Weren’t you two engaged?”

“It’s a long story,” Heather said. “It involves Heloise. That should pretty much sum it up.”

“I have to marry Melanie first before I can marry Heather,” Colt said. “That’s why we need a ring.”

“First? Polygamy wasn’t legal in Montana the last time I checked.”

“It’s not like that,” Heather said. “It’s because of the ranch. I’ll explain it later, Rose, but right now I’d better go.” She handed the ring back to her. “As long as I don’t see Heloise between here and home I won’t need this.”

“You can bring it back tomorrow if you want it overnight,” Rose said. “But I still don’t under—wait a minute.” She pointed to the large front display window. “Isn’t that Richard outside? Shouldn’t he be in school?”

Heather turned to look and sucked in a breath. Rose was right; Richard was walking past, and it wasn’t nearly time for him to leave school. She hurried out of the store and intercepted her son just as he was about to cross the street. “Richard?” She’d never seen the girl who walked beside him, a tall brunette whose spiky hair seemed liable to poke out Richard’s eye if he came too close. The girl wore more makeup than Heather liked to see on someone so young, but it was Richard’s presence that shocked her the most. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in school?”

Guilt and a little fear flashed across his face, but then he glanced at the girl and straightened. “It’s just gym class. I’ll be back in time for math.”

“You’re… skipping class?” She couldn’t believe it. Richard had never done such a thing. He’d never even said he wanted to. While he preferred the outdoors and ranch chores to class time, he had a lot of friends in school and had never made a fuss about going.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Everyone does it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Everyone doesn’t do it, or the school would shut down. Richard, I want to speak to you inside.”

The girl held up a hand. “I’m out of here. You know where to find me,” she said to Richard and walked away. Richard took a half step like he was going to join her and Heather grabbed his arm.

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re going back to school and you’re going to apologize to your gym teacher and tell him you’ll never do this again.”

Richard yanked his arm away. “Like hell I will.”

Heather’s mouth dropped open. Her son had never—
never
—spoken to her like that before. “What did you just say to me?”

Remorse flashed across his face before he pulled himself together. Heather almost pitied him for how hard it obviously was to fake this bravado.
Almost
. She was too angry to pull it off.

“Catch you later,” he said. He tugged his arm free and backed away.

Colt, who had followed Heather outside, strode past her and caught him. “Your mother’s talking to you.” He tugged Richard back to the sidewalk where Mason joined them.

“What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” Richard glared back at them defiantly. “So I missed gym class. Big deal!”

“It is a big deal,” Heather said. “Why would you skip school? You’ve never done anything like that before!”

“I bet Dad skipped school all the time.”

They all swung around to look at Colt, who scowled. “I didn’t skip school. Much,” he added when Mason snorted. “And it didn’t matter because I joined the Air Force and they were happy to take me.”

“Maybe that’s what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll drop out right now and join up.” Richard’s voice cracked and his face reddened.

“Not much call for thirteen-year-olds in the armed forces,” Mason intervened. “And regardless of what Colt says, they have standards. You drop out now and you’ll never get in.”

“He’s never getting in, anyway,” Heather exclaimed. “I refuse to watch my son—”

“I’ll sign up if I damn well want to!”

“What did you just say?” Colt turned on him, but Mason stepped in his way. “I’ll take Richard back to school. You finish up your business here, Colt. Melanie is inside waiting for you. Heather, I imagine you need to get back to work?” Mason didn’t wait for either of them to answer. He collared Richard and marched him to his truck. “See you at the ranch in an hour,” he called back. A moment later, the truck pulled away.

‡

“O
f all the
nerve,” Heather said.

Colt understood what she meant, but he couldn’t help thinking Mason had done the right thing. He’d been too angry to deal with Richard properly. He needed to learn some parenting skills, fast. When Richard swore at Heather, he’d seen red. No son of his was going to talk to his mother like that—

“He’s never acted like this before,” Heather said.

“He’s pissed off.”

“Well, so am I.”

“That makes three of us.” Colt unzipped his coat, suddenly over-warm even though they still stood outside.

Heather made a face. “This day has been too crazy. I’m going back to the store.”

“Heather, wait. I’ll pick Richard up after school and have a little talk with him.”

“Okay.” She turned away.

“Heather,” he called again.

She stopped at her truck. “What?”

“Boys will be boys. Don’t take this too much to heart.”

She nodded, but as she climbed in and started the engine, she didn’t look happy.

Back inside the store, Colt found Rose and Melanie deep in conversation. They were bent over the display case of rings, so intent on the selection their heads almost touched. Melanie looked up when he approached.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

Colt stopped himself from answering in the negative. Nothing was all right, but none of it was her fault. “Find a ring?”

“How about this one?” She was subdued as she raised her hand to show him the one on her finger, a plain diamond in a simple setting.

“It looks nice.”

“It’s cheap.”

“I’ll ring that up for you,” Rose said quietly and took it from her. She winced and dropped it on the counter, then rushed to pick it up again and pop it into a velvet-covered box.

“Why don’t you wait for me in the truck?” Colt said to Melanie. “I’ll finish up in here.”

She nodded and took the keys from him. When she was gone, Colt faced Rose. “Go on. Say whatever you’ve got to say.”

Rose shook her head. “Melanie explained everything. I get why you’re doing what you’re doing. But Colt, when I held that ring just now—I’ve never seen such a bleak future. There’s got to be another way.”

He could easily believe she’d drawn a big blank when she’d held the ring. He and Melanie had no future. “Believe me, if there was, I’d take it.”

“Can’t you explain to Heloise…?” She trailed off. “Of course you can’t. I feel utterly irresponsible selling you this ring, though.”

“Whatever happens, the responsibility is mine,” Colt said, but as he paid for the ring and pocketed the box he had a feeling she was right; things were going to get worse before they got better.

The drive home from Thayer’s was quiet and when they reached the Hall, Melanie claimed a headache and said she wanted to lie down. Colt accompanied her inside where they met Regan, who said she’d take Melanie up to the room she’d prepared for her. “Unless you plan to share Colt’s room.”

“No,” both of them said at once. Regan led Melanie away without another word.

Colt knew he should join his brothers and Dan to help with the chores until it was time to get Richard, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Heather and how she must be feeling. Secure in the knowledge that Regan would do all she could to make Melanie comfortable, he went back outside, got in his truck, and headed back to town. When he reached Renfree’s, it struck him that he hadn’t been inside the place since Heather took over. It looked much the same as always, except that without Renfree, it had a distinctly female vibe.

“Colt? Is something wrong?” Heather hurried to meet him.

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted a chance to talk to you alone. I already dropped Melanie off at the ranch.”

“Oh, okay. Susan, can you manage on your own for a while?”

“I’ve got it, boss,” Susan called out good-naturedly. “I’ll call Allison if I need help. She’s working on that newsletter.” Heather led the way through the store to a room in back that must have been the employees’ lounge. She shut the door after he’d entered.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go into everything again.” She moved to the counter and began to stack coffee cups from the dish rack.