Читать книгу The Mountain Between Us - Cindy Myers - Страница 10

CHAPTER FOUR

Maggie stared at the man who knelt on the floor in front of her. He looked about as happy as a felon on his way to the hangman’s noose. “You don’t really want to marry me,” she said. The truth of the words made her feel cold.

He blinked. “You’re going to have my baby. Of course I want to marry you.”

“Get up off the floor this instant.” Honestly, he looked ridiculous down there. Who had decided a proposal should be delivered from the knees? Such a declaration should be made while looking each other squarely in the eyes.

He rose in a fluid motion. “I was just trying to do this right.” Doing it right would be declaring his undying love and passion for her, not proposing because he’d knocked her up and felt an obligation. “Getting married just because I’m pregnant would be the worst idea in the world,” she said.

“We wouldn’t be getting married just because you’re pregnant. I love you, Maggie.” His tone softened, almost pleading. “You know that.”

Did she know it? He’d certainly said it before—usually immediately before, during, or after sex. And he probably did have true feelings for her. But the distance between “I love you” and “I’m prepared to make a commitment to spend the rest of my life with you” was the distance between the earth and the moon.

She kept her arms folded across her chest, a barrier between them. “If I wasn’t pregnant, would you still have proposed to me?”

He had the grace to look at the floor between their feet. “Maybe not this soon, but . . .”

“And I wouldn’t have said yes if you had. We’ve barely known each other five months. My divorce has only been final seven months. I’m not ready for marriage again—and neither are you.”

He nodded. “So you’re turning me down?” He’d obviously come here expecting things to go one way and thought if he kept bullishly pressing forward he’d eventually get the result he wanted.

“I’m turning you down,” she said. “I don’t want a man who only wants to marry me out of a sense of obligation.”

His eyes met hers, sadness and confusion in their brown depths. “I want to take care of you and our baby,” he said.

The earnestness of his words breeched the barrier around her heart, and she felt a lump forming in her throat. Oh, God, please don’t let me start bawling, she thought. Tears had a way of derailing any serious discussion. Not to mention if she got too emotional he was liable to flee in panic—and she wouldn’t blame him if he did. She took a deep breath, marshaling control.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said gently. “And you can do that. You don’t have to be a husband to be a father, any more than I have to be a wife to be a mother.”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple jumping in his throat. “I don’t know anything about being a good father. My own dad did a pretty lousy job.”

He’d never said a word about his father before. All she knew about his family could be summed up in a few sentences: His mother lived in Florida, he hadn’t seen any of them in years, and he rarely talked to them. She had the impression he had a sister somewhere, though he never talked about his father. She resisted the urge to ask for more details; now wasn’t the time.

“I don’t know anything about being a mother either, but I guess we’ll learn. People do it all the time.” She tried to sound more confident than she felt. There was only a person’s life at stake here; she could think of a hundred different ways they could screw this up.

He wore his stubborn look again. “It doesn’t seem right, letting my kid be a bastard.”

This surprised a laugh from her. “Hello! This is the twenty-first century. Things like that don’t matter anymore.”

“They matter to me.”

Who would have guessed such traditional emotion ran through the heart of an avowed rebel? “Jameso, it will be all right, really.”

“What about your dad?”

Her father? What did Jake have to do with this? “What about him?”

“I know he ran out on your mom right after you were born. I want to prove to you I won’t be like that.”

This was why she loved the man—he had a talent for getting to the heart of the matter. “Then the way to prove it is to stick around. A marriage license didn’t stop my dad from leaving.”

“I do love you, Maggie.” He held out his arms and she went to him, the tension draining out of her as his arms encircled her.

“I know. And I love you. But that’s not enough.” She’d loved Carter, too. At least in the beginning. But the love hadn’t lasted. She wasn’t sure it ever could. And she was certain that marrying someone because you thought it was what you should do, instead of what you wanted to do, was a surefire way to kill whatever passion they shared.

“So what are we going to do now?” he asked.

“We go on the way we have been, and we’ll decide how to work things out when the baby gets here. We’ve got seven or eight months to figure it out.”

He held her tighter. “That doesn’t sound like long enough to me.”

Or to her, but it was seven or eight months for her and Jameso to get to know each other better and to figure out if they had a future that went beyond a shared child. A thought occurred to her and she nudged his shoulder. “Did you buy me a ring?”

“A ring?”

“An engagement ring. Did you buy me an engagement ring?” After all, he’d said he wanted to do things right.

“Uh, yeah. I went to a jeweler’s in Montrose this afternoon.”

That answered Rick’s question about what Jameso had been up to. “Let me see.”

He stepped back. “Uh-uh. You turned me down, remember?”

“Oh, come on, let me see!” She might never wear Jameso’s ring, but she could at least see what he’d picked out for her.

“Nope.” He shoved both hands in his pockets. Was that where he’d stashed the ring? “If I hurry, they’ll probably give me my money back.”

“You can still show it to me.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

The smug look on his face infuriated her, which was, of course, the whole idea. A bit of payback, perhaps, for her turning down his proposal? Though she still didn’t believe he’d actually wanted to marry her, she could believe his pride had been hurt, just a little. “So you really aren’t going to let me see the ring?”

“Maybe one day, when you change your mind about marrying me.” He bent and kissed her cheek, then walked out, leaving her to fume and to wonder. He’d sounded awfully certain, as if she really would change her mind. Or as if he really wanted her to.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Miss Wynock?” Olivia’s voice sounded too loud in the hushed confines of Eureka Library. Everything smelled of old paper and furniture polish, and had the air of a place long shut off from the world, like a mausoleum or a seldom visited museum. Olivia herself hadn’t been in a library since high school, though Lucas spent hours in them, in every city in which they’d lived.

The woman behind the front desk stared at her, round-eyed behind thick glasses. “Cassie’s in the back,” she said in a normal tone of voice. She pointed a finger toward the back of the room. “Over in periodicals.”

Olivia tiptoed between low display shelves filled with fossils and old mining tools, past a bank of personal computers and shelves filled with videos and books, to an open section of armchairs and rotating magazine racks. A thin, gray-haired woman dressed in a gray skirt and a white blouse looked up at her approach. “Miss Wynock?” Olivia asked.

“Yes?”

“I’m Olivia Theriot. Lucas’s mother.”

“If he’s done something wrong, I certainly had nothing to do with it,” Cassie snapped. “The boy’s too smart for his own good.”

The woman’s instant recognition of Lucas’s name surprised Olivia, even though Lucas had said they were friends. She had a hard time picturing her sweet, curious son and this dried prune of a woman together. “Lucas hasn’t done anything wrong. He . . . I need to do some research on the history of Eureka. He gave me a list of books to read. And he said I should talk to you.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Cassie drew herself up taller, looking pleased. She adjusted her glasses on her nose. “Let me see the list.”

Olivia handed over the sheet of paper covered in Lucas’s boyish scrawl. Cassie scanned the list, then raised her gaze to Olivia once more. “Why are you so interested in Eureka’s history?”

“Janelle and Danielle at the Last Dollar have hired me to paint a mural on the back wall of the café. They want something with scenes from Eureka’s history.”

“They stole the idea from my Founders’ Pageant at Hard Rock Days. Those two were certainly never interested in local history before. “

“I don’t know what inspired them.” She was not going to get in the middle of a feud between the librarian and the café owners. “Can you help me with these books?”

Cassie looked her up and down. Olivia fought the urge to fidget, like a girl called into the principal’s office. If this project hadn’t been so important, and if she could think of any other way to get the information she needed, she’d have turned on her heels and left Cassie Wynock to stew in her own superior attitude.

“Come with me.” Cassie motioned for Olivia to follow and set off at a brisk walk back toward the front desk. She breezed past the woman behind the counter and into an office with glass on two sides, which allowed the occupant to look out over the library. “Sit down.” Cassie indicated the chair across from the desk.

Olivia sat. Cassie took the chair behind the desk and pulled out a thick brown photo album—the kind where all the photographs are held in place by black adhesive triangles at the corners. She turned the album around to face Olivia and opened to a page with a picture of a stern-faced man with slick-backed hair and a curling moustache. “This is my great-grandfather, Festus Wynock. He founded the town of Eureka. Everything it is today is because of him.”

Olivia peered at the photograph. Old Festus looked like he’d eaten a sour pickle. She pointed to a photo on the opposite page of an equally stern and imposing woman. “Who’s this?”

“That’s my great-grandmother Emmaline. The dowry she brought from her family paid for all the property my grandfather bought. At one time he owned most of the land in the area.”

That much land would be worth a lot of money these days. Olivia had been around people who had money—Cassie didn’t look like them. “Why doesn’t your family own all that land now?”

“Because he sold it.” She snapped the album shut. “I can show you these books about gold miners and Indians, but all you really need to know is that my great-grandfather put Eureka on the map. If anyone should go on your mural, it’s him.”

“I’d still like to look at the books Lucas recommended,” she said. “I have a few ideas of my own for the mural.”

Cassie scowled at her, her eyes beady, like a wary rodent. Olivia couldn’t have guessed the woman’s age; her face was almost unlined, but she had the attitude of an elderly schoolteacher, prim and unbending. “I hope you’re not one of those modern artists who is going to paint a lot of deformed people in weird colors and make us look bad.”

Olivia choked off a laugh. Deformed people? Really? “Danielle and Janelle have final say on what the mural looks like,” she said.

“Oh, well . . . those two.” Cassie waved her hand dismissively. “There’s no telling what they’d think was appropriate.”

Olivia started to say that being lesbian didn’t exclude a woman from having good taste but decided Cassie wouldn’t get it. “I don’t have any intention of painting deformed people in weird colors,” she said. Though if she painted Cassie Wynock, she’d be tempted to render her as a shriveled old witch with snakes for hair. The image amused her.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing. Do you have a picture of Jake Murphy? I’m thinking about putting him in the mural.”

The librarian’s transformation was remarkable to behold. Her face paled, then turned a deep red, almost purple. She rose from her chair, and when she finally spoke, her voice shook with rage. “Jacob Murphy was a terrible person who doesn’t deserve to be immortalized in any way, shape, or fashion. If you intend to put him on your mural, you’ll get no help from me.”

Whoever this Jacob Murphy was, he’d obviously done something to piss off the librarian. Olivia was beginning to like him more all the time. She stood also. “Maybe I’ll come back some other day for those books,” she said, and backed out of the room.

In the meantime, she had another idea for a person to include on her mural—not Cassie Wynock’s sainted great-grandfather, but her great-grandmother, the woman who had put up with the old reprobate. If he was half as pompous as his great-granddaughter, his wife deserved a medal.

“I call this meeting of the Eureka Town Council to order.” Lucille banged her official mayor’s gavel on the front counter of the Last Dollar, aiming for the wooden striker that had come with the hammer, but missing and hitting the side of the cash register instead, setting up an alarming jangling. She winced, but soldiered on. “All council members are present and accounted for.”

She nodded to the large front table where council members Doug Rayburn, Katya Paxton, Junior Dominick, and Paul Percival sat with cups of tea or coffee amidst the miniature pumpkins and gourds the girls had provided as a centerpiece. Katya had a steno pad open in front of her, a mechanical pencil at the ready to take the minutes of the meeting. The only sounds in the room were the shuffling of feet and the creaking of wooden chairs as various townspeople settled in for the evening’s discussion.

Katya cleared her throat. “Madam Mayor, perhaps you should read the first order of business.”

“Oh, of course.” Lucille consulted the agenda on the counter in front of her, though there was really no need. She’d written the agenda herself two days ago. “I’d like to introduce, uh, Mr. Gerald Pershing, with GP Investments. He has, um, a business proposition to make to the city.”

She didn’t miss the curious glances Janelle and Danielle exchanged from their seats in the first row of folding chairs. Lucille usually wasn’t so tongue-tied.

Gerald strode to the front of the room and Lucille sat, thankful she didn’t have to say anything else. She hated that Gerald flustered her so. Yet, she enjoyed the idea that after so many years a man could affect her this way.

“Thank you all for agreeing to hear me out tonight,” Gerald began in his velvety drawl.

Afraid of betraying too much of her emotions if she focused on Gerald, Lucille studied the council members and the members of the community as they listened to his presentation. Doug and Paul sat with arms crossed, jaws set, as if determined not to be swayed. Junior was more expressive, nodding from time to time as Gerald talked about the plight of small investors such as Eureka and his own experience helping people maximize their savings.

In the audience, Bob sat with his hands on his knees, legs apart, frowning at Gerald the way he did anyone he deemed an “outsider.” Behind him, Cassie focused on Gerald, an adoring expression on her face. Janelle and Danielle looked thoughtful, while others variously looked out the window or watched Gerald.

Gerald was masterful, presenting impressive evidence of results he’d realized for towns as diverse as Flower Mound, Texas, and Peach Springs, Arizona. “Call and talk to the people there,” he said. “They were in the same boat you were in, having to cut services to balance the budget. Now they think I’m a miracle worker.”

Did he sound pompous to the others? Lucille wondered. But maybe that was a good thing. You wanted the man you entrusted with your money to be confident of his ability to succeed.

“What’s so special about your company that we couldn’t do just as well buying stocks or municipal bonds on our own?” Doug asked.

“Do you have years of investment experience?” Gerald asked. “Do you have contacts with emerging firms who are hungry for investment capital? Are you familiar with the markets in Europe and Asia? Can you find out about new opportunities before they reach the market?” He pointed a finger at Doug. “And most important of all, how well have you done investing on your own so far?”

“And you’ve got references for these other towns you’ve helped?” Junior asked.

“Absolutely. I’d be happy for you to contact any of them. But I must ask when you talk to them you don’t mention the opportunity I’m about to offer you. It’s something that’s just opened up this week and it’s only available for limited participation.”

“Can you put that in English?” Junior asked, garnering laughter from the audience.

Gerald smiled. “I have a Swedish technological firm. They specialize in the development of medical equipment. They have a new line of hardware to be used in corrective surgery: appliances for use on children who are born with birth defects, for instance, or soldiers injured in war. It’s absolutely cutting-edge stuff, but they need investors to bring it to market. The returns on this kind of investment stand to be enormous. When word gets out about this opportunity, it will be closed to new investors in a matter of hours.”

“What if we need more time to consider this?” Paul asked.

“Not to worry,” Gerald said. “I’m sure something else just as good will come along.”

“But would something else give us the chance to help children—and soldiers?” Cassie spoke from the audience, and several around her nodded.

“I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.” Gerald surveyed them all, waiting.

When no one spoke up, Lucille rose. “Thank you, Mr. Pershing. We’ll discuss your generous offer and get back to you.”

He smiled warmly and strode from the café. As soon as the door closed behind him the room erupted in the clamor of a dozen voices speaking at once. “How can we pass up such a great opportunity?” “If something’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.” “Is what he’s proposing even legal?”

“Quiet, everyone.” Lucille banged her gavel. “I’d like to poll the council.”

The vote was two and two. Katya and Junior thought the town should invest at least part of their funds with Gerald.

“Lucille is a good judge of character, and if she trusts Mr. Pershing, I think we can trust him,” Katya said.

“If we’ve got the opportunity to make some real money to help out the town, I don’t see how we can pass it up,” Junior added.

“It sounds too risky to me,” Doug said.

“I agree,” Paul said. “If this scheme of his is so great, how come I’ve never heard of anything like it before?”

“So you keep up with the financial news now, do you?” Junior asked.

“I think we should table a final vote until we can do more thorough research,” Doug said.

“I think we should give the guy a chance and see what he can do for us,” Junior said.

“Madam Mayor, what do you say?” Katya asked.

“I only vote to break a tie,” Lucille protested.

“Looks like a tie to me,” Bob said. “You know this guy better than anybody. . . . Do you think we can trust him?”

She felt the eyes of everyone in the room focused on her. What could she say? That she’d had one dinner and a lunch with the man? That he’d kissed her and felt her up and left her breathless? That she was drawn to him in a way she hadn’t been drawn to a man in years? “I don’t know him that much better than any of you,” she said. “He’s only been in town a little over a month. But I have no reason not to believe what he says. And the truth is, we need to find some way to put more money in the town budget, or this time next year we could very well be broke.”

This last statement caused a new eruption of voices. Lucille banged her gavel. “Are we ready to take an official vote?”

This time the vote was three to one, with Doug joining those in favor of investing the city’s savings with Gerald. As treasurer, Doug would make the arrangements for a trial sum, to be followed by additional money if the first returns were promising.

She was pleased, and not too surprised, to find Gerald’s car parked in front of her house when she arrived home after the meeting. He stepped out to meet her on the front walk. “From the smile on your face, I’d say the meeting went well,” he said, taking her arm and walking with her to the door.

“Oh, you think that, do you?”

“Lucille, dear, you have such an expressive face. And I’ve made a life’s work of reading people’s thoughts in their eyes.”

“Is that a necessary skill for an investment counselor?”

“And for a poker player,” he said. “The difference between the two disciplines is not as much as you might imagine. So I take it the town council voted to let me handle Eureka’s investments?”

“Yes, Doug Rayburn, our treasurer, will be contacting you to make the arrangements.”

“You’ll be surprised what I can do for you,” he murmured. Not waiting for an answer, he pulled her close for a kiss filled with more passion than she’d expected.

“Gerald,” she said, somewhat flustered when he finally broke away.

He grinned, teeth glinting in the glow of the porch light. “Have I mentioned I find women in power incredibly sexy? Watching you tonight, presiding over the meeting, was an incredible turn-on.”

She hoped the darkness hid her blush. “Honestly, Gerald. I can’t think of anything less sexy than a town council meeting.”

“It’s all in how you look at it, I suppose.” He stepped back, though his hands lingered on her arms. “You are an incredibly sexy woman, Lucille Theriot. And one day you’re going to give me a chance to prove it to you.”

He turned and walked back to his car, his posture so confidant, almost cocky, as if he’d already gotten what he wanted from her. She fumbled with her key in the lock, trembling from both the force of his embrace and his words. For so many years she’d pushed aside her sensuality, like the fancy dresses that collected dust in the back of her closet. It was something nice to have, but not necessary for her happiness.

Now Gerald made her think differently. Maybe in denying the sexual part of herself she’d been ignoring something essential, something that was as important to being a woman as her ability to multitask or her skill at balancing a budget. Something she now had a chance to rediscover, a better gift than all the money he might make for the town, and certainly a lot more enjoyable.