Authors: Shirley Hailstock
“I hear and obey.” She bowed lavishly as if he were her master. “As a matter of fact, we weren’t in the hills. We never even made it to the base. Satisfied?”
Rosa didn’t wait for an answer. She turned on her heel and walked back to her horse. Grabbing the reins, she swung herself into the saddle. Before she could turn the horse and head for the stables, Adam had his hand on the pommel.
“Rosa, I worry about you.” The words seemed to be torn from him.
“Adam, I—” She didn’t know what she wanted to say. He reached for her and like a child, Rosa accepted his arms. He pulled her off the horse and stood with her in his embrace. Rosa’s head lay on his shoulder. She’d never felt so loved, so protected.
Pushing herself back, she looked at him. “Adam, I wasn’t going into the hills. After this morning—” She stopped, thoughts coursing through her of lying in his arms. “I wanted to create something. And I have no skills for drawing like Vida. I took the camera and left the house. I met Joel on the trail. I would never put myself in danger intentionally.”
“It’s my fault. When we couldn’t find Joel, I was…worried. Anything can happen to him without supervision. Neither of you understands the danger.” He hugged her close, kissed her hair. “I can’t take the chance of anything happening.”
He came short of saying anything happening to her or to them. Rosa wondered if that was how he would have continued the sentence. It was how she would have ended it.
The Waymon Valley Post Office was a modern redbrick building sitting on a quiet street not far from Vida’s house. Many of the buildings Rosa had researched and photographed had initially been designed by Luke Evans. The post office was not one of them. The interior had rows of gold-colored post office boxes and three windows for patrons. There was a short line and Rosa waited her turn.
Reluctantly she’d left Adam’s arms and returned home. Waiting for her was a post office slip saying she had a package. Rosa was expecting one from New York and it looked like this was it. She called Vida and told her she was coming by after she picked it up.
The clerk gave her a huge smile and went to retrieve the package. Rosa had the usual conversation with the other clerk about being a model. It was short as the package was found immediately and given to her. She left with a smile and several new friends.
Rosa wanted to open it as soon as she reached the car, but decided to wait until she got home. It was a surprise for Bailey’s birthday and she didn’t want to tell anyone about it before he opened it. She put it in the trunk and drove to Vida’s.
“Come in,” Vida said as soon as Rosa rang the doorbell.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything. I need your help.”
Rosa rushed inside. “What can I do?” Is it your leg?”
“No, I’m fine. Healthwise. It’s the wedding.”
“Vida, you’re scaring me. You and Mike haven’t decided to call it off, have you?”
Vida stopped in her quest to get some place. Rosa didn’t know where they were going. Only that her friend was pulling her along as if they were tied together.
“Heavens, no.”
Then they started moving again. Rosa went into Vida’s office, the room she had designated for designing and running her one-woman business. The room was littered with papers. Some were balled up, others were crumpled and lying on the floor.
“Other than this needing a good cleaning, I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“Look at these.” Vida spread her arms. “I think I’ve lost it. Why did I think I could be a designer anyway?”
Rosa bent down and picked up a piece of paper. She unfolded it. The drawing was at least the partial design for a wedding gown. Rosa relaxed. “You’re designing a wedding gown?”
“I’m trying and coming up short.”
“Relax, Vida. You don’t have to design a dress today. You don’t have to design it at all.”
“But I want to. Imagine what this will do for my business. But it’s got to be the most sensational dress in the world. And I’ve got to lose some weight. I want to model it myself in the catalog.”
“Catalog? You’re doing a catalog?”
“Yeah, why? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”
“Sit down.” The two of them sat among the room’s debris. “I think that you’re doing too much. You’re getting married and you have a fledgling company. You can’t do it all. Hire someone else to handle something. Free yourself to focus on a few things, not
everything
.”
“That makes sense. I could focus on the wedding and some designs. I could hire someone to handle the paperwork, correspondence, maybe put off the catalog until next year.”
“See how it goes. Adam’s done some press for you. Maybe it will turn into some contracts.”
Vida smiled. “I hope so. He asked me a lot of questions about the clothes Tommie was wearing. About me as a former model turning designer.”
“I’m sure things will work out. I love your designs,” Rosa said. At that moment she noticed the sketch on the designer table. Getting up, she went to it. “What’s this?”
Vida joined her. “That was something I was playing with.”
“What do you mean?” Rosa stared at the page. It was a design for two gowns. “These are beautiful. Which one are you leaning toward?”
“I thought you would choose.”
“Me? Why?”
“I had the idea of a double wedding.”
Double wedding. Wedding. The words kept running through Rosa’s mind. It wasn’t even lunchtime and already Rosa had discovered that Adam might be in love with her.
Might
being a very big word. And that her best friend was designing a wedding gown for her, and the groom hadn’t declared his intentions. In fact, the intended groom was unaware of the entire situation.
This had to be the most bizarre day Rosa had spent in a long time. Yet as she turned the car along the road and headed back for her summer house, the thought of being married to Adam was taking root in her mind.
She scanned the road just before the turn. She’d hoped to see his truck turning toward her, but the road was clear. She turned, remembering Joel’s arrival a few days ago. He would probably be staying, yet Rosa was going to leave. She had only a few more weeks and then it was back to reality.
As Rosa got to the end of the driveway, she saw a strange vehicle. This one was a Jeep. The only person she knew with a Jeep was Mike Holmes and this wasn’t his. She pulled alongside it and as she got out of the Corvette two tall men got out of the Jeep. Rosa recognized her brothers, Dean and Owen. She screamed in delight and rushed to hug one, then the other.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I’m so glad to see you. How’s Theresa and Stephanie? Have you seen Luanne?”
“Stop. Stop,” Owen said, holding up his hands. “We’ll answer all your questions, just take a breath.”
Rosa stopped, but launched herself into their arms again. “I’ve missed you so. It is so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you, too. Now, if you’ll release your choke hold on my neck, I’ll be able to talk.”
Rosa laughed and let go.
“We were in the area and decided to stop by,” Owen said.
“Nobody is in the neighborhood of Montana,” Rosa contradicted.
“The truth is, I’m scouting a film location.” Dean had mentioned that during their family call. “I needed some advice from an architect, so I asked Owen to meet me.” Dean was quickly developing a name for himself in Hollywood and was much sought after since he’d won an Oscar a year ago for his first major undertaking.
“I thought you had scouts who look for locations,” Rosa said.
“I do, and they’ve been here. I’m here to approve the choice.”
Rosa nodded.
“And I wanted to see you,” Dean said.
“We thought we’d make sure your summer was going all right,” Owen continued.
“And one or both of your wives insisted you come,” Rosa finished for them.
The two men looked at each other. “Both,” they said in unison. The three of them laughed. “We’d have come anyway.”
“Well, you can report that things are going well. I’m doing fine.”
She headed for the door, then heard another car coming up the driveway. It was Adam’s truck. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d wanted to see Adam, wanted him to come down the road as she entered her driveway. Now she wished she could turn back time. Her brothers, undoubtedly, would ply him with questions. She’d seen them do it before when she was much younger. They were always the protectors.
“Adam,” she called as he stepped down from the truck. “What are you doing here?”
Adam strode over and slipped his arm around her waist. He kissed her lightly on the mouth and looked up at the two men watching them.
“I’m on my way to Butte. Dad said you wanted something in particular and I should come and get a sample of it.”
Rosa couldn’t think what that was. She wondered if it was just an excuse for Adam to appear at the same time her brothers did. “Adam, these are two of my brothers, Dean and Owen.”
Adam offered his free hand. The one around her waist remained in place. “I know your work.” He shook hands with Dean. “Congratulations on that Oscar.”
Dean nodded.
“I’m an architect in Dallas. My work doesn’t get on the silver screen,” Owen said as they shook hands.
The small group went inside.
“You used to be on the news in Washington, D.C.,” Dean stated as if the fact were known worldwide.
“I’m just a rancher now,” Adam said.
“Not according to our wives,” Dean said. “Or our sister.” The three of them looked at Rosa. “They watched you all the time. Of course, Rosa is the news junkie.”
“I left the station a while ago,” Adam said.
“No plans to return?” Dean asked.
“None,” Adam said.
“Have a seat,” Rosa said. Then she looked at Adam. “I’ll get the picture.” She remembered what she wanted. She hadn’t told Bailey everything about it, just enough to get something that he liked. It was a frame for his birthday present, which she remembered was in the trunk of the car. Running up to her office, she quickly located the photo and ran back down the steps. She didn’t want to give her brothers too much time alone with Adam. Knowing them, they might ask him what his intentions were.
“Tell me about this scouting trip,” Adam was saying when Rosa rejoined them.
“It’s not far from here, outside Missoula. We’re thinking of making another epic-style picture, like
The Horse Whisperer
.”
“I thought a lot of movies were made in Canada or places that aren’t in the States.”
“That’s true,” Dean said. “Costs tend to be cheaper outside our borders, and the budget is always the key to any large production. But Montana seems more in line with our thinking this time.”
“This is the photo,” Rosa interrupted. She showed it to Adam. Proximity to him with her brothers looking on made her nervous. “I ordered it from Hollenders. You only need to pick it up.”
“I will.” Adam stood up. “Good meeting you,” he said. Rosa walked him to the door. He kissed her again as he left. She knew when she turned around her brothers would be smirking as if Adam were the first man she’d ever gone out with.
“Want something to drink?” she asked when she did return to them.
“I’ll have a beer, if you have any,” Owen said. “And you can tell us all about Adam.”
Rosa got the beers and handed them to her brothers. “So the story of just being in the neighborhood was an ambush, right?”
“Oh no, we are on a scouting trip, but the fact that you were here made the decision of coming easy.”
“I’m not a little girl, guys. You can trust me to make my own decisions.”
“Involving him?”
“Him and anything else I decide to do.”
Then Dean asked in a serious voice, “Are you all right, Rosa?”
Her brothers were all special to her. Brad was the one she seemed to have some incredible connection with, but Dean would be second on the list. He could read her feelings even when she tried to hide them.
She gave him her best smile, not the one she reserved for photo shoots, but the genuine one. “I’m fine.”
For a long moment they only looked at each other. Then Dean nodded. It was his way of giving his assent.
“So, are you guys spending the night?”
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Owen said. “I’m sure Adam will be back.”
Rosa’s cheeks warmed.
“We reserved a room in town. It’s an old boardinghouse. Apparently, it’s been there since the 1890s,” Owen said.
“Aunt Emily’s boardinghouse?”
“You know the place?” Owen said. “The architecture of the building is authentic early western America.”
Rosa nodded. “I’ve been recording the history of the town with Adam’s dad. He has a direct bloodline to the town’s founders.”
“We’ll be leaving early in the morning, but we hoped you’d have dinner with us.”
“I’d love to,” she said.
“And bring Adam,” Owen said. “You two are a couple.”