Lief’s mother had been expecting them; she was ready for them. “I’m so happy, so happy,” she said, embracing first Courtney and then Lief. “I think people will come by later, just to say hello, then come back tomorrow for turkey.”
“Fantastic,” Lief said. Then his dad came tottering into the kitchen, his newspaper in one hand. If his dad was in the house, the newspaper was attached to his hand. “Dad,” Lief said, pulling him in for a hug. “How’ve you been feeling?”
“Good. Pretty good,” he said. Then he peered at Courtney. “Well, young lady,” he said.
“Well yourself,” she answered. But she granted him a smile.
“He has the arthritis,” Lief’s mom said. “Both knees, both hips.”
“Ain’t much,” Gramp said. “Picked too dang many potatoes, I guess. That’s what I get for my trouble—arthritis.”
“Are you hungry? We could make up some sandwiches.”
“I’m fine, Mom. Ate in the car. Snacked all the way, in fact. Court?”
“Nah. Thanks anyway.”
“Well, then, pour yourself some coffee. Courtney, there’s sodas. I best get back to this baking, get it all done so I can concentrate on the bird tomorrow.”
“Aren’t the girls bringing things?” Lief asked, referring to his sister and sisters-in-law.
“Sure, sure, they bring. They want to bring it all, but what sense does that make? What am I going to do with myself if they bring it all? I do the bird, the bread, and decided I wanted some cookies on hand for the little ones. Son, go get a cup of coffee.”
“I’m going to bring our bags in first,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
There was a big butcher block work island in the kitchen that was probably as old as she was, and she stood there, her hands in a bowl full of dough. Courtney stood opposite her. “What kind of bread?” she asked.
“Just my basic sweet dough. Nothing so fancy. I’ll make some rolls, couple of loaves, maybe put some aside for cinnamon rolls for breakfast…”
“Did you ever make a twisted French loaf?” Courtney asked.
Gram looked up. “Don’t know that I have, Courtney.”
“Want me to show you how?”
Surprised quiet hung in the air. Finally Gram said, “That would be so nice.”
“Well, I can’t remember how long to bake it,” Courtney said, dipping into the flour canister to sprinkle some flour on her work space. “And I’ll need a beaten egg for the glaze.”
Gram pushed the dough toward Courtney and went to the refrigerator. “We can figure out the baking time,” she said, getting out an egg. She cracked it in a bowl and beat it with a fork.
“And do you have a brush? It’s best to brush it on.”
“Course,” she said. “Let me watch how you do that.”
So Courtney kneaded and rolled out her three strips, like three fat snakes, then carefully braided them while Gram watched. She sealed the ends and had a perfect braided loaf.
“I declare, you’re gonna make yourself into a baker!” she said. Then she pushed the beaten egg and a brush toward her.
“We have to put on a cookie sheet first, and that’s the hard part. Sometimes it wants to fall apart.”
“Greased sheet?” Gram asked.
And Courtney remembered how Kelly had done it. “Yes,” she said. And a moment later she slipped her small hands under the loaf and transferred it. Then she brushed the top with the egg glaze. “There we go.”
“As I live,” Gram said. “Aren’t you the clever one. That’s so pretty. Should we make us one more?”
“Sure,” Courtney said.
“Then we best get on the cookies.”
“I don’t actually know how to make cookies. Just the kind you buy in the tube, already made, and put on the cookie sheet or in the microwave.”
“Pah, we want the real thing,” Gram said. “Let me get my file out. If you can read, you can cook. I didn’t know you had an interest in baking.”
Courtney shrugged. “I really don’t. I just picked up a few things, that’s all. Besides, there’s nothing on TV anyway.”
“That’s a fact,” she said. “Nothing on that box worth watching day or night. Not unless you like those asinine real-life things.”
“You mean reality shows?” Courtney asked.
“Asinine, if you ask me. People shouldn’t be watching other people while they’re just living their lives or trying to solve their problems. And the very idea you choose a husband or a wife on the television! The very idea! What happened to acting? If there isn’t acting in it, I can’t be bothered.”
Courtney laughed at her.
“Now, let me see—I think peanut butter and chocolate chip,” Gram said. “Does that work for you?”
“Works for me. But there’s rolls to do.”
“We’ll do ’em first. Let’s make another one of them French things.”
“You got it, Gram,” Courtney said. “I shouldn’t have gotten myself into this. We’re going to be busy all day.”
“Well, kiddo, that’s the way I like it. Busy all day. Now you tell me when you get hungry and we’ll take a break and eat something.”
“I’m kind of looking forward to the cookie dough,” she said. “Besides, don’t you and Gramp eat at about four o’clock?”
“Not quite that early,” she said. “That’s for the old folks. I’d say more like four-thirty.”
Courtney laughed. “You can make it all the way to four-thirty?”
“You wait till you’re eighty, young lady. You won’t be able to keep awake for those late meals like you used to.”
“I guess that is just around the corner,” Courtney teased.
And so they baked all afternoon. Then at exactly four-thirty they had a macaroni-and-cheese casserole with ham along with some sliced tomatoes and asparagus. Then after dishes, Aunt Carol, Lief’s sister, dropped by without her husband, just to say hello, and right behind her came Uncle Rob and Aunt Joyce. They didn’t stay long, just long enough for some pound cake and coffee. And sure enough, by eight o’clock, Gramp was nodding off in his chair with his newspaper in his lap and Gram was still banging around in the kitchen. Courtney and Lief were watching TV. Sort of.
“I think I might be able to stuff down another piece of that pound cake,” Lief said, heading for the kitchen.
Courtney thought maybe she’d eaten more today than she’d eaten in a month, but she stood up and followed him anyway. Before she got to the kitchen she heard him say, “Mom, Mom, what’s the matter?”
Courtney just waited outside the door. “Old women,” Gram said with a self-recriminating sniff. “Sentimental old fools…”
“What happened?” he asked. “Did you get your feelings hurt or something?”
“Hurt? Mercy, no! I got ’em
restored!
I was so afraid I was gonna die before I saw that sweet child come back to her joyous self. Lord be praised!”
“What’s this talk about dying? Aren’t you feeling well?” he asked gently.
She laughed through her tears. “Lief Holbrook, I’m feeling
eighty!
I could be gone by morning.”
Courtney could hear him hugging her. “I think you’ll make it till morning.”
“You better hope so. I’m in charge of the bird!”
Thanksgiving day in Silver Springs, Idaho, was a full house, though not all the Holbrooks could be there. Some nieces and nephews of Lief’s who were grown, married and living in other states didn’t come, but there was still a full table. These old-fashioned country folks liked to set two tables, one for the grown-ups and one for the children. A major rite of passage was moving from the little people table to the big people table; this year Courtney sat with the adults.
People seemed happy to see her; that was a relief. She saw the lake and there were even some geese on it, a stopover on their way south. Cousin Jim’s farm hadn’t changed but he did have some new animals—a couple of geldings he’d taken off a neighbor’s hands when the neighbor’s farm sold. Not ones she felt ready to ride. Lief went hunting early on Friday morning and again early on Saturday morning, both times with his brothers and brother-in-law. They stayed mostly on the farm—plenty of ponds and lakes nearby. He got himself two ducks, both of which he cleaned and put on ice to take back to Virgin River with him.
She texted Amber all weekend. Sounded like Amber’s holiday was just about the same—older brothers, younger nieces and nephews, lots of people at the farm.
On Sunday they headed home. Gram made them coffee, turkey sandwiches, cookies. They didn’t leave at the crack of dawn, but rather after a good breakfast. And the first couple of hours of the drive was pretty quiet in the car.
“I was real impressed with your behavior, Courtney. Thanks.”
She sighed. “I don’t know why we can’t just live there. It’s not like she’s getting any younger, you know?”
“I know,” he said. “I’m going to have to make it a point to go more often.”
“Why can’t we just live there? Near family?”
“Well, I thought about it, but in the end I decided I didn’t want to get too far out of California, since I still will probably have to go to L.A. now and then. I still have occasional meetings for scripts. I found a house I thought we’d like and just made a decision.”
“There are airports. What if we made a new decision?”
“Moved to Silver Springs?” he asked. “I like where we are. And you’ve gotten along pretty well.”
“Is it about Kelly being there?” she asked.
“I like Kelly, you know that. And to be honest, I didn’t think I’d ever meet a woman I’d like. But also, I don’t know what her future plans are. When she got here, she planned to stay awhile, then find a position in a restaurant. That she didn’t want to live with her sister forever, was practically the first thing she said, so I can’t say I’m staying in Virgin River because of Kelly. Look, I don’t think we should move to Idaho, but I think we should go back to visit more often. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” she said. “Whatever.”
Twelve
L
ief had never done so much texting in his life. In his parents’ house with the paper walls and with Kelly’s cell phone reception in Virgin River iffy at best, he didn’t want to talk on the phone, say personal things and be overheard by Courtney. His parents were half deaf, but Courtney had inhuman hearing. So he shot Kelly message after message. Sometimes she shot them right back, sometimes they came a bit later. He felt like a kid, secretly texting during class. At least there was communication, but he wasn’t sure how this younger generation could stand it—it was so unsatisfying.
On Monday morning he made coffee, put the cooler with the ducks in it in the back of the truck while Court was in the shower, ate a bowl of cereal and looked at his watch fifteen or twenty times.
Which didn’t escape Courtney’s notice.
When he dropped her off at school she said, “Bet I know what you’re going to do today.”
He hoped she didn’t see the dark stain on his cheeks. “I’m going to take the ducks to Kelly. Unlike you, she gets very excited about ducks.”
“Eww,” she said. “Gross.”
So, the old Courtney was back. Well, he hadn’t expected charming Courtney to last forever. But that wouldn’t keep him from being grateful she’d obliged him with his mother and from knowing she was capable of being sweet when she wanted to be.
He drove a little fast to the Victorian, didn’t bother with the cooler containing the ducks, but gave two short knocks and opened the back door. Kelly turned from the sink at the sound. The air between them crackled. His heart beat a lot faster, just looking at her, those rose lips, pink cheeks, thick blond hair. “Where is everyone?” he asked.
She smiled. “Denny’s not coming to work today. Jill and Colin went to Redding for art supplies.” She swallowed.
Then she ran into his arms, shoving his jacket off his shoulders. Her lips met his lips, her arms clasped his neck. Her mouth opened under his, tongues tangled, breathing quickened, and he could feel her heart thud in her breast. “God, I missed you,” he said.
“It was the longest holiday weekend I’ve ever spent,” she said.
He lifted her, and her legs went around his waist, his hands holding her up under her butt. He laughed against her opened lips.
“Funny?” she asked.
“I guess we can’t do it on the table,” he said. “Or against the nearest wall.”
“Pretty risky, near those windows, the way folks in this town drop by.”
“Ten years ago I could’ve carried you up three flights, just under the sheer power of wanting you. Now? I’m afraid I’ll fall…”
“And hurt us both?” she asked, kissing his neck, his ear, his cheek.
“And not get laid,” he said with a chuckle.
“How fast can you get upstairs if you put me down?” she asked.
“I have an advantage. My legs are longer.” He put her on her feet. “You better run or I’ll have your clothes in shreds.”
“God,” she said, her feet touching the floor. She put a hand against his cheek. “I think this whole event is going to take under three minutes.”
He looked into her liquid blue eyes, smiled and said, “Go!”
With a shriek she turned and ran for the stairs, Lief right behind her. She was completely out of breath when she got to her bedroom on the third floor and flounced on the bed. Lief slammed the door—better to be safe than stupid when living in a commune—and was right on top of her, his mouth on hers. He rotated his hips slightly, pressing into her.
“Hm, ready already?” she asked.
“I’ve been ready all morning.” He lifted her shirt over her head, so happy to find her braless. He pressed her breasts together and plunged his face into their full softness. Then his hands were on her pants, opening the snap, slipping down the zipper and pulling them down her legs. He knelt on the floor beside the bed to get them all the way off and, being in that position, had a thought. He spread her legs, kissed her inner thighs, separated her farther and put his mouth on her.
“Oh, don’t,” she said.
He lifted his head. “Why? You love this.”
“I can’t last and I want to wait for you!”
He grinned at her, putting a large hand over her breast. “Don’t worry about me, honey.” And back he went, exploring her with his tongue, following his movements with his thumb’s firm pressure. She went off like a rocket, clenching and vibrating as she pushed against him.
He gave her a moment, then slowly rose to look into her eyes. “I love it when you do that for me,” he said. “You are one hot, sexy woman, and I love you.”
“Then take off your clothes!”
Grinning, he unbuttoned the shirt, then the jeans, then kicked off the boots. Then he hovered over her, still smiling. “Tell me what you want, honey.”
“I want you inside.”
He ran a knuckle along her soft ivory cheek. “You realize that once I’m in there, I have maybe ten strokes in me. I’m pretty hot.”
“I think that should be enough,” she said, reaching to put her arms around his neck to hold him close. “For now.”
He plunged his hands into her soft hair, found her mouth with his, entered her in one long, smooth perfect stroke and growled low in his throat. Then he started to move, and she started to move in concert against him, taking him in. She released a little whimper, sucked hard on his lower lip, and it happened again. She froze, clenched, looped a leg over his waist to hold him inside her, and she came in cascading waves. “Mmm,” he said against her mouth. “Mmm, honey. That feels so good.” And he found he couldn’t wait her out. He pumped his hips a couple of times and released, his throbbing climax bringing a delicious moan from her.
And then they were still, holding on to each other, recovering.
A minute later he lifted his head, looked into her eyes, and they both started to laugh.
“That was a good two and a half minutes,” she told him.
“I’ll be better next time,” he said. “How far away is Redding?”
“Plenty far,” she said. She ran her fingers through his hair. “I hated being away from you. I understood how important it was, but I missed you so much.” She slapped his muscled backside. “I missed this.”
“It’s always good, but when you can’t wait, it’s better. Fun. How’d I get so lucky to find you?” he asked.
“Makes no sense. I was running away from my life. This shouldn’t have happened. But I’m so glad it did. And thank you for staying in touch through the weekend—I wondered about you every minute.”
“All that damn texting stuff—I can’t live like that. I mean, a message now and then like ‘pick me up’ or ‘new president elected,’ that I can understand. I needed to hold you, to hear your voice.” He kissed her. “To taste you, to feel you under me.”
“This is the best part,” she said, snuggling closer. “When we’re joined like this and talk…”
“Let’s talk about how much I worship this body,” he said, kissing her neck, breast, lips. “What a perfect fit. Can we stay like this until we starve?”
She laughed at him. “Anything that makes you happy.”
His rich brown eyes grew warm, and he brushed her hair back. “It makes me happy when I can make you happy. When I can make you cry out, when you’re so satisfied you can’t sit up.” Then he smiled and moved inside her. He was ready for more. “This time, sweetheart, we’ll go slower. I can’t get enough of you.”
“I don’t expect special treatment,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine. But only because it’s you and everything you do to me is special.”
It took some willpower to give up the bed after making love for a couple of hours. They showered, dressed and went to the kitchen for lunch. The ducks Lief brought went in the refrigerator while Kelly made them a couple of sandwiches. They filled each other in on the details about their long weekend apart. Kelly had been invited to join Colin and Jill, Colin’s family and the gathering that took place at General Walt Booth’s house. “Very nice extended family,” she said. “Walt is Shelby’s uncle. Walt’s daughter Vanessa is Shelby’s cousin. Muriel was there, of course.”
He told her how delightful Courtney was. “Almost like the old Courtney—sweet-natured and funny. I’m embarrassed that you rarely see that side of her.”
“I’m hoping that changes soon,” she said.
“And I’m hoping you remember how to get to my house.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Spike is coming to live with us this week. I can only leave him for a few hours or less at a time—he’s going to be in training. Or I’m going to be in training—we’ll see which it is.”
It was unusually sunny and warm, so they put on jackets and took their coffee outside to sit on the porch. They were talking about whether she should freeze one or both ducks when the sound of footfalls coming up the drive could be heard.
When the man came around the corner of the house, Kelly gasped. It was Luciano Brazzi. He stopped when he saw Kelly. She shot to her feet when she saw him.
“Luca!”
“Bella,” he said in his deep, heavily accented voice. He nodded his head in a brief bow.
“What are you doing here?”
He reached into a worn leather satchel he carried over one shoulder and pulled out a cell phone. “Ah, Bella. There is so much to explain. You and I—we were tricked and lied to.”
“What?”
Luca looked between Kelly and Lief. “I’m afraid I’m interrupting, I apologize. I couldn’t call ahead—I had the address, but no phone number. I parked in the front of the house and rang the bell, but no one came to the door. And I heard laughter, so I followed the sound. If there’s a time we could have a private conversation—”
“What?” she asked, still a little stunned. “Oh, Luca, this is Lief Holbrook. Lief, Luciano Brazzi, an old…friend of mine. Luca, come and sit down. I’ll get you a glass of wine.”
“I can come back,” he offered.
Kelly leaned to look around the house. “Where’s your posse? All your assistants?”
“I’m alone, Kelly. If you’ll tell me when I can come back to talk to you alone, I’ll busy myself until that time…”
“Now,” she said. “We can talk right now.” She turned to Lief. “Will you excuse me? I think it’s important I have this conversation.”
Lief took her hand. “If you’d like, you can go inside to talk and I’ll wait here on the porch. In case you need me.”
She smiled at him and gently placed her palm on his cheek. “I’m perfectly safe, but thank you. I’m sorry to cut our day short, but you can go and I’ll call you the minute I’m finished talking with Luca.”
He gave a nod. Then he leaned forward and gave her a brief, deep kiss, just in case this interloper had any doubt about who had claimed her. She loved him for it and gave him a little hug.
“I’ll call,” she repeated. Then she ushered Luca into the house.
“Ah! Bella,” he exclaimed, taking in the kitchen. He gestured with an arm wide. “I see at least one reason why you’re here!”
“This is my sister’s house, Luca, and I’m visiting. Is your driver waiting?”
“No driver, no assistant, no valet. I’m alone.”
She pulled a chair out to seat him at the table. “When was the last time you actually drove yourself?”
He sat down. “I’ve been spoiled, but I’m not incompetent. I drove myself. The minute I found out where you were, I came.”
“Wine?”
“Please,” he said. He put the phone on the table, and she recognized it as the one she lost. “Perhaps you should have a glass as well, sweetheart.”
She had to concentrate to close her mouth. “Perhaps,” she finally said in a stunned whisper.
A moment later she was sitting at the table with him.
He raised his glass to her. “To better times…”
She answered the toast with her glass but immediately said, “Explain, Luca.”
He pushed the phone toward her. “My cell phone was stolen,” he said. “I suspected it was lost. I get preoccupied and careless. My assistant immediately replaced it and I called you at once with the new number.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on to the text screen. “This is the response I got, on my new phone, from you.”
I’m very unhappy with the limbo of our relationship and it’s causing me great stress. I’m taking a few days away from work to think this over—please give me space to do that. Just a few days and then I’ll call you. I ask you to please respect this request. Love, Kelly.
“I didn’t send this.”
“I realize that now,” he said.
“Olivia came to see me, at work. She thought we were sleeping together and asked me to stop. She told me
you
sent her, that she was often sent to clean up your messes, that you wouldn’t be taking my calls any longer, that you were finished with me.”
“So I’m told,” he said. “I learned this very recently.”
“Luca, I tried calling you, sending you texts, emails. I even got in touch with Shannon to get a message to you! You should have come to the restaurant.”
“Oh, I did that, of course. The very next day. I was told you took some time off for personal reasons, for a family emergency. Something about going out of town to help a family member. I was promised a phone call when either Durant or Phillipe heard from you. I knew your only family was your sister, but I also knew she had moved to some small town and was no longer in the area. I continued to try to reach you, and finally, after a very frustrating two weeks, I went to your flat to confront you. But you were gone.”
“What about my emails to you?”
“Shannon, obviously taking her instruction from Olivia, screened my mail on the office computer and deleted anything from you. When I looked for email on my phone, there was no new message from you. It never once occurred to me to check deleted emails. We were tricked.”
“How did you find out?” she asked him.
“I found your phone in Phillipe’s desk. I was using his office recently, was looking for a ruler to line my paper, and found this.” He put a hand on the phone.
“Why, Luca? Why did Olivia do this?
How
did she do this?”
“She had far more control of the business than I ever realized. I didn’t know she controlled so many of my people. She was obviously threatened by the prospect of anyone ever replacing her, both in her business and social stature. Bella, everything I told you was true—we’ve been living separately under the same roof for twenty years. We were always on the best of terms. I thought she was devoted to our business even if she wasn’t in love with me. And yes, we were trying to negotiate a divorce. I thought we were doing so amicably. Certainly she was asking me for the earth, but I had no problem with that—I’m a fair man and she’s the mother of my children. Even if her motivation was strictly selfish, there was little doubt she worked like a crazy woman, both as my partner in business and as head of our family.” He shrugged. “I’m old-fashioned. It was always my intention to see she was taken care of.”