Trish Milburn - The Texan's Cowgirl Bride

A part of Savannah desperately hoped the answer to that last question was yes, and that it had proven to be nothing of concern. In that one way, she was totally fine with following in her mother’s footsteps.

But how was she supposed to find out those answers without cluing her family in to the fact that something was going on?

She was still searching for that answer as she maneuvered through traffic toward the downtown Dallas office of Baron Energies. Even as she walked through the glass entrance and flashed her security badge to the guard at the front desk, she wasn’t sure how she was going to casually bring up their mother in conversation with her sister.

As she neared Lizzie’s office, she spotted her father’s longtime secretary, Maria, chatting with Emory, who worked as Lizzie’s assistant.

Maria’s face lit up the moment she saw her. “Savannah, dear, I haven’t seen you in forever.”

Savannah was careful not to allow Maria to hug her too tightly. “It’s good to see you, too.” She glanced toward Emory. “Both of you. Is my sister available?”

Lizzie poked her head out of her office door. “So I’m not hearing things. What are you doing here?”

“What, I’m not allowed to come take my sister to lunch?”

It was no wonder Lizzie was surprised by Savannah’s appearance considering Savannah rarely darkened the door of the oil company’s headquarters. Like Jet and Carly, she had little interest in the energy side of the family business.

Savannah crossed her arms. “Convince me you’re not hungry, and I’ll leave.”

Lizzie shook her head. “You know I can’t do that.”

“I know. Chris says all you do is eat.”

Shock registered on Lizzie’s face. “He does not.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“If he said that, he’s going to wish he never had.”

Savannah couldn’t help but laugh, which was a minor miracle considering what had propelled her here in the first place. “Okay, so maybe I made that up. I don’t think Chris would ever be stupid enough to think that, let alone say it. But I’ve seen you eat recently. You can put away an impressive amount of food.”

“Just for that, you’re paying for lunch.”

“Really? You’re the company bigwig now.”

“And you’re the one teasing the pregnant lady.” Lizzie disappeared into her office but was back a moment later with her purse. Now that her pregnancy was out in the open, she’d gone shopping for maternity clothes. But she made even those look stylish. “Come on. I feel as if I could eat an entire cow.”

They didn’t go far, just down the block to one of Lizzie’s favorite restaurants. When they’d placed their orders, Lizzie leaned back and pinned Savannah with a questioning look.

“So why are you really here?”

“What’s with the interrogation?”

“Because you are somewhere other than on a horse or behind the counter of the store.”

“I just wanted to get away for a bit, spend some time with my sister before motherhood and marriage gobble you up.”

“Dad’s still being a pain, huh?”

Savannah shrugged. “I can manage Dad. Avoidance works well, I’ve found. Though if he were to heal overnight and suddenly go back to work, I wouldn’t object.”

Lizzie held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, no more looking for ulterior motives.”

“Thank you.”

Lizzie grabbed a slice of toasted sourdough bread from the basket and dipped it in olive oil. “Heard you took quite a tumble the other night. Frank Owens in Accounting was at the rodeo and said he was surprised you were able to walk out of there on your own.”

“So that’s who called Dad?”

Lizzie shrugged. “He didn’t say, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He always has had his lips firmly attached to Dad’s behind.”

Savannah snorted just as she was taking a drink of water. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks as she tried to cover up her gaffe with her cloth napkin. “Warn a girl next time, would ya?”

Lizzie gave her an evil grin.

They talked some about Lizzie and Chris’s plans for the baby’s nursery, and it was obvious from how Lizzie’s face lit up every time she said Chris’s name that she was in love with him. It was great to see, but Savannah found it hard to imagine opening up that much to someone. When you loved another person, they held the power to hurt you. She had to look no further than her father for that.

One wife had walked out on him, and another had died. Though Savannah cared a lot for Julieta, she had to wonder if her dad was crazy for marrying a third time. Was being in love really worth all that pain? She liked things over which she had control. Still, she couldn’t deny the happiness her sister had found with Chris.

“I’m happy for you,” Savannah said. And maybe even a little envious, despite her best intentions. Her thoughts drifted to Travis, and she wondered what he was doing right in that moment, if he’d thought of her any since they’d parted company. But why would he?

“Thanks,” Lizzie said. “I guess you’re next up.”

“Lord, you sound like Abby.”

“And let me guess—she has some long, lanky cowboy picked out for you.”

“No, actually. I happened to bump into Travis Shepard at the rodeo, and she suddenly thinks we’re destined to be together.”

“Why does she think that?”

Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. All I did was talk to him for a few minutes.” She didn’t mention the fact that he’d taken her to the hospital, waited for her, gotten her dinner and escorted her back to Abby’s trailer. But who was keeping track? Like he’d said, that’s what old friends were for.

“Well, there could be worse pairings. I saw Travis several months ago while he was eating dinner with Rita and her husband. Travis wouldn’t be difficult to look at every day.”

“We barely know each other anymore. And what is it with you? You’ve never been Mary Matchmaker before.”

“What can I say? Being in love is a wonderful feeling. Is it a bad thing to wish it for my sister, as well?”

Thankfully, their meals arrived then, and Savannah was able to steer her sister to different topics. But despite being hungry, Savannah couldn’t force down more than half her grilled salmon and mushroom risotto, and she loved risotto. She waited until Lizzie, who was eating for two, had finished before she ventured into the real reason for the lunch while trying to hide that fact from her sister.

“Since you got pregnant, has it made you think about Mom?”

Lizzie paused in wiping her mouth. “What brought that up?”

“Nothing. I just had a dream about her the other night.”

Lizzie placed her napkin slowly atop her empty plate. “Yeah, I started thinking about her when I found out. I still worry some about being like her, but knowing Chris will be right there beside me helps.” Lizzie paused and picked at the edge of the napkin. “I was sad for a bit that my child wouldn’t know his or her grandmother, but then I realized that Julieta will fill that role just fine.”

“Where do you think she might be now?”

Lizzie shook her head. “No idea. You’d have to ask Dad.”

Savannah wanted to do that about as much as she wanted to ride a bull with a hornet’s nest tied to its tail. They’d all learned long ago that the topic of their mother was one best left alone.

Lizzie’s forehead wrinkled as she stared at Savannah. “What is this really about?”

Savannah grasped for a plausible answer. “Guess I was just thinking about the past after seeing Travis. I found myself wondering how he got beyond losing Corinne.” In reality, she didn’t think he had.

“It’s not the same thing. Corinne had no choice in her leaving her loved ones behind. Mom did.”