Where the Heart Leads (20 page)

“Aumaleigh!” Fred came racing out of the post office. “How are you feeling?”

Aumaleigh hid an inward grimace. And here she’d hoped to slip into the bakery without being noticed. “I’m fine, Fred. How are you?”

“It’s a fine spring morning, and I feel chipper, thank you. But concerned about poor Milo. I hear he’ll be just fine, but when I heard it was George’s son that shot him, I was flummoxed. I didn’t even know that’s who those boys were. I always thought George was a bachelor when he moved here. Why would his boy shoot our sheriff?”

“Maybe because he was the thief stealing things around here?” Aumaleigh bit her lip to keep from smiling. Fred did have a flair for the dramatic. “Have a good day, Fred, and tell your wife hi from me.”

“Oh, I will. Good day to you, Aumaleigh!” With a grin, Fred ducked back into the empty post office and stood at the window, watching the street as if waiting for something exciting to happen.

The upside was that now her and Gabriel were old news. Not that there was anything between her and Gabriel—

“Aumaleigh!” Rhoda circled around the counter. “Come in. Is the day perfect enough for you? Look at the flowers blooming. Hear the birds singing. It’s the perfect day for a wedding.”

“Yes, it is.” She’d gotten Iris’s note at the ranch early in the morning and had been in the best mood since. She felt like dancing—not that she was about to break out in a waltz in the middle of the bakery.

“Magnolia is in the back dying of agony.” Rhoda winked as she brought out a bakery box, sealed and ready to go. “Which means the cake isn’t ready yet, but I put together some cookies for Sally and Sadie.”

“That was thoughtful of you, Rhoda. With Iris gone, what are you going to do? Hire another baker?”

“And a designer.” Rhoda set the box on one of the tables near the door. “We have to advertise over in Deer Springs, I think. It’s large enough to have the kind of skilled people we need. That’s where Dottie is right now. She went on the delivery route with Clint so she could stop by the newspaper.”

“What about Dobson’s Bakery down the street? Won’t they be hiring too?”

“Yes, but maybe they’ve already done so. They’re getting ready to open. I’m thinking tomorrow or the next day, by the look of things.” Rhoda glanced out the window. “I’ve been walking by and spying on them. It feels like they’re the enemy.”

“They
are
the enemy.” The bell rung as the door opened and Dottie stormed in, a petite fury dressed in pale pink. She untied her sunbonnet. “Back when the girls were in Deer Springs to spy on Fanny Dobson, I told them all about her. How she moves in next to another bakery, undercuts their prices, steals their employees and puts them out of business. It’s terrible. They were family businesses, and those families lost everything.”

“She sounds ruthless.” Aumaleigh wondered what was in store for the bakery. She didn’t like the notion of anyone trying to run her nieces out of business. “Hasn’t anyone stopped her?”

“No.” Dottie shrugged. “I’m kind of scared of her.”

“I have experience with ladies like that.” She thought of her mother. Maureen McPhee had grown ruthless over time, shedding the pieces of her heart and soul. “She sounds like the kind of lady who doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants. She doesn’t much seem to care about other people or their feelings.”

“I don’t know how we’ll fight her, but we can’t let her win.” Dottie’s chin jutted. “I already love this place. I love working here.”

“I do too,” Rhoda agreed.

The swinging doors banged open to reveal Magnolia balancing a cake box in both hands. A streak of frosting marked her cheek and a smudge of it dotted her chin. She looked a little wild as she bounded into the front of the shop, and she was breathing a little hard.

“I did it. I didn’t think I could squeeze in another cake, but I did.” Magnolia handed over the box. “Aumaleigh, make sure you let Iris know I suffered. Let her know she got this cake by the skin of her teeth, but I came through for her. I’m the best sister.”

“Does that mean you get the biggest piece of cake?” Aumaleigh couldn’t resist nudging up the lid to peek inside. The two tiered cake was frosted in a soft spring green, adorned in numerous, colorful spring frosting flowers. A riot of color and joy. “This took effort.”

“Just a little bit. I’ve made so many frosted flowers, I’ll be doing it in my sleep for weeks! But at least I’ve settled on a cake design for sure.”

“You have been undecided,” Dottie chimed in encouragingly. “Are you going to get one like this?”

“Yes! I love all the flowers. I suppose it will give Tyler’s parents another reason not to come.”

“I don’t know, Nora looked rather pale when she walked by the other day,” Rhoda teased. “Maybe she knows about the flowers. What do you think, Missy?”

Missy poked her head out of the kitchen (they’d stolen away her from Nora Montgomery’s kitchen where she used to work as a maid). “I think Magnolia should get back in here and help me with all the frosting. I can’t do it as well as Iris.”

“Nobody can. Guess I’d better get back to work.” Magnolia flashed everyone a smile before rushing away. “So many cakes, so little time.”

“And I’d better get this to Iris’s. There’s a lot to get done if she’s going to get married today.” Aumaleigh held the cake box carefully. “I can’t believe I am going to be a great-aunt again.”

“It’s cute how the girls call you grandma.” Rhoda grabbed the cookie box. “I’ll walk you out to your buggy. It’s a lot to carry.”

“Thanks, Rhoda.” Aumaleigh stepped aside as a familiar face appeared on the other side of the glass door. The bell overhead chimed. “Hi Gemma.”

“Hi. That must be Iris’s cake. Oh, I can’t wait to see it later on.” Gemma held the door, waiting for Aumaleigh and Rhoda to pass through. “Is there anything I can do to help? I’d love to lend a hand.”

“You’re welcome to come an hour early,” Aumaleigh invited. “I’ll put you to work in the kitchen.”

“Okay, I’ll be there.” Gemma slipped inside the bakery. There was something about her today. She didn’t look happy.

Come to think of it, her eyes had been red-rimmed. As if she’d been crying.

“It’s hard not to worry about Gemma,” Rhoda confided as they crossed the boardwalk. “Her parents work her so hard.”

“They surely do.” Aumaleigh slipped the cake onto the floor of her buggy before hazarding a glance up at the bakery window. Gemma stood in silhouette, with a teacup in her hand and sadness shadowing her.

Aumaleigh knew what it was like to grow up working for your family. How great the expectations were, and how enormous the pressure to continue to make a difference for them. “If Gemma could do anything, I wonder what she would choose?”

“Besides slaving away in her father’s store? I’d like to see her do anything else.” Rhoda sounded thoughtful. “I’ve always wondered about you that way, Aumaleigh. You have spent how many years in your mother’s kitchen?”

“I was fourteen, so that makes it over three decades.” Now that was a depressing thought. The sunshine stung her eyes as she took the cookie box from Rhoda and slid it across the front seat. “That’s a long time.”

“And you took care of her for decades, complete care at the end.” Rhoda gave her blond locks a push, looking so golden and pretty in the warm spring morning. “I hope the rumors about you and that new man to town are true. You deserve some dreams of your own.”

“I won’t argue there.” She climbed up and settled in beside the cookies. As she waved goodbye to Rhoda, a set of matched black horses several blocks away caught her eye. Gabriel stood next to them, talking with the lumberyard owner.

Longing filled her, sweet, sweet longing. Yes, she thought to herself as Buttons turned down the side street, she had more dreams to dream.

Magnolia McPhee was late. Not terribly unusual for her, but no way was she missing Iris’s wedding. Not Iris’s. After everything her oldest sister had been through, the fear that she would never marry.

“Bye Magnolia!” Missy’s shout followed her out the bakery’s back door.

She didn’t take time to answer. She didn’t have a minute to spare!

The side street was quiet, painted with the purple shadows of dusk. The warmth of the spring day had faded, but not the smell. She drew in the scent of growing grass and pollen as she pounded around the corner, clattered up onto the boardwalk and nearly collided with Elise Hutchinson’s mother. The very proper woman gasped, a dainty, lace-gloved hand fluttering to her throat.

“My goodness, Magnolia McPhee! Watch where you’re going! That’s no way for a lady to behave!”

“Sorry, Mrs. Hutchinson! Coming through!” She barreled around the rather wide skirts of the older woman, wove around the various members of the Dunbar family, including the troublesome twins who were punching each other, and dashed up the stairs toward the real estate office.

“Tyler!” She threw open the door, not at all shocked to see him hard at work at his desk. Either he’d lost track of time, or his workaholic father had been pressuring him again. “We’ve got ten minutes.
Ten.
Up on your feet. C’mon, let’s go.”

Tyler set down his quill, and the look in his eyes as he took in the sight of her standing there was something out of dreams. The exhaustion vanished from his face. The lines unhappiness drew on his sculpted, handsome face disappeared. Love so big and rare lit him up—bright enough to light the world.

“Magnolia.” He stood, capping his ink bottle. “I lost track of time.”

“Then it’s a good thing that I knew you would.” She ignored his father’s disapproving
hrrrmph
from the corner of the room and waved at the middle Montgomery brother, Travis. He waved back. “I want to have enough time to see the bride before the ceremony.”

“What’s the rush?” Lance Montgomery, patriarch of the family, pushed his chair back and rose heavily. His face turned ruddier than usual. “It’s a home wedding.”

He said that with the same tone as you might say,
disgusting, dead snake in the road.

“They can start the ceremony whenever they want.” Lance rose heavily. “Tyler, I need you to stay and finish reconciling the business account.”

“It can wait until tomorrow. I’ll get on it first thing in the morning.” Tyler circled his desk. He had to know his father had fisted his hands and looked angry enough to scare off an agitated, hungry grizzly. “How is Milo doing? I hear he’s up and around and doing pretty well.”

“We got lucky.” Magnolia was grateful for that. “He still has a bad headache. Not to mention some dizziness and balance issues, which is why he’ll be sitting down for the ceremony.”

“I hear the deputies brought in Zane to help track down the Klemp brothers.” Travis set aside his pen, the ledger in front of him forgotten. “I wanted to volunteer, but Pa wouldn’t let me off work.”

“You belong here,” Lance growled, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s why we pay taxes. Let them do their jobs. You can stay here and do the job I pay you for.”

Travis gave a good-natured shrug. His father’s tough ways didn’t affect him the same way they did Tyler.

Magnolia took hold of her fiancé’s hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Strain corded in his neck as he reached for his coat with his free hand.

“Did you hear what I said, Tyler?” Lance boomed, a man used to getting his way. “I’m going to dock your pay if you leave.”

“I’m leaving, Father.” Tyler opened the door, holding it for Magnolia. “See you tomorrow.”

Ooh, it was too bad she was outside, because she thought she heard a rather interesting and creative use of cursing, but she was too far way to make out anything more than the tone.

“I’m sorry about that.” That’s all Tyler said.

She didn’t press him for more. She knew how hard it was for him to live up to his family’s expectations. The problem was that you loved your parents, faults and all, and it was hard to disappoint them. Besides, Tyler had given his word to his father many years ago. Tyler was a man who kept his promises, no matter how difficult.

That was one of the thousands of reasons why she loved him, but she really wished he could be happier. She knew he missed working with his hands building things.

“Will Zane make it for the ceremony?” Tyler asked as he untied his horse at the hitching post.

“I think he’s coming expressly for it and then leaving again.” Magnolia held out her hand, palm up, hoping Clancy would acknowledge her. He gave her a distrustful look but did not turn his head from her. “Hey, I’m making progress. I’m going to win him over. You wait and see.”

“You’ve been trying for a long time. He’s stubborn.”

“So am I.” She gave Clancy a kiss on his cheek before he could protest and darted into the buckboard. “Your father seemed like he was in a pretty good mood today.”

“Yes, it was a nice change.” Tyler’s dimples flashed as he settled onto her next to the seat. “This is my favorite thing. Spending time with you.”

“Soon you’ll get to do it every day.” She snuggled against him. “Are you ready for that?”

“Are you kidding? If I get to come home to you every day for the rest of my life, it will not be enough.” He reined Clancy down the street and slipped an arm around her shoulders.