Judy Christenberry - The $10,000,000 Texas Wedding

She’d so easily dismissed his love, his desire, ten years ago. And he’d vowed then never to get near her again. With good reason. He still couldn’t trust his body. He wouldn’t allow his heart to be put at risk again.

He spun around, anxious to dispel such thoughts. “What did she want?”

Mac shrugged his shoulders. “You know I can’t tell you that. What a client says to her lawyer and her partner is privileged information.”

“Well, maybe this man she’s got will marry her before the end of the year.” He should be glad about that idea. But the words he’d spoken troubled him. “Who is he?”

“Come on,” Mac said, putting a hand on Gabe’s shoulder and turning him toward The Last Roundup. “Let’s go get a beer while we talk.”

Gabe didn’t fight Mac’s suggestion. But he wasn’t going to let his question drop. “Well? Who’s she dating?”

Mac kept walking.

“I’m not asking for privileged information, Mac. I know how it is in a small town. Everyone knows what’s going on.”

They reached the restaurant.

The hostess seated them in the back, at Cal and Jessica’s special table, and Mac asked her to have the waitress bring two beers.

“It’s not that it’s privileged information, exactly, but we did discuss her, er, her personal life, and I feel a little uncomfortable—”

“Hey, Gabe, how are you?” Cal asked, interrupting Mac.

Gabe stood and shook hands with Cal Baxter, the sheriff in Cactus.

“Good to see you, Cal. I hear you’ve joined the married ranks with the other guys.”

“Yeah. You should give it a try. We’ve all found it amazingly wonderful.”

Gabe shook his head and sat down again.

The waitress arrived with two beers and Cal sent her off again to bring three more. “No sense in waiting until Spence and Tuck get here. We know they’ll want one, too.”

Gabe smiled and nodded.

“Now, what did I interrupt? What were you saying, Mac?”

Mac shrugged his shoulders again, not looking at either friend.

“He was being a lawyer,” Gabe complained. “I asked him a question, and he didn’t want to answer it, afraid he’d be violating lawyer-client confidentiality.”

Cal cocked one eyebrow. “You’re a lawyer, Gabe. I guess you understand that.”

“Yeah, I understand. But I asked something that’s common knowledge. I remember how it is here, even if I haven’t lived here in ten years. Everyone knows everyone else’s business.”

“True,” Cal began, but he didn’t continue because Tuck and Spence arrived. There were several minutes of greeting each other and exchanging comments about their lives. Then the beers arrived and the newcomers stopped talking to take a drink.

Cal leaned forward. “Ask me your question. I’m not a lawyer.”

“Cal—” Mac began, but Gabe ignored his friend.

“I want to know who’s the man in Katherine’s life.”

Cal sat back in his chair and stared at Gabe.

“Which Katherine?” Spence asked, frowning.

Tuck stuck his elbow in Spence’s ribs. “Don’t you remember? Gabe and Katie were—friends,” he hurriedly said after receiving a glare from Gabe.

Cal took his time. He leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table. With a sideways look at Mac, he said, “The only man I’ve heard about is Jack Ledbetter.”

“Who’s that?” Gabe demanded, a sick feeling filling his stomach at hearing a name, forcing him to realize the man was real.

Spence stared. “You’re kidding. He’s too old for Katie.”

Those words got Gabe’s attention. “Too old? How old is he? Who is he?”

“You remember Jack Ledbetter,” Tuck insisted. “He and his wife lived about ten miles out of town. She raised German shepherds. Didn’t your dad buy you one?”

“That’s right,” Gabe said with a frown, recalling old memories. The dog, Jericho, died while he was away at college. “Are they divorced?”

“No. His wife died of cancer a couple of years ago,” Cal explained, but he didn’t answer Gabe’s other question.

“Spence is right. He’s our fathers’ age. What is she doing dating someone that old? What’s the matter with her? Is she looking for someone to—” He broke off abruptly, unwilling to say that he suspected Katie was looking for a meal ticket.

“Yeah, I heard about Jack,” Tuck said, “but I heard it was her mother he was interested in.”

Gabe didn’t want to admit the hope that leaped in his throat at those words. “Her mother?”

“Yeah, you remember her father died her senior year in high school,” Tuck said. “Katie’s mother pretty much fell apart. Katie’s the one who pulled the family together. She’s worked like a dog ever since then to take care of all of them.”

Other comments were made, but Gabe didn’t hear them. He’d forgotten about Katie’s father’s death. He’d tried to comfort her, of course, and she’d assured him everything was fine. He’d been coming home on weekends to see her, but he was finishing his senior year at Texas Tech and had a lot going on.

“What do you mean, she took care of all of them?” Gabe asked abruptly, interrupting Spence, who had made a flattering comment about Katie’s shop.

Tuck raised one eyebrow. “Don’t you remember?”

“We moved to Dallas that summer so I could start law school in the fall.” After he’d proposed to Katie and been rejected, he’d wanted out of town. His parents had decided to move to Dallas, too. His mother had never been happy in the small town.

“And you didn’t keep in touch?” Spence asked, a puzzled frown on his face.

“No.” Nothing more. He wasn’t going to remind his friends that the woman he’d loved had stomped all over him and walked away.

Tuck explained, “Katie took a day job at the grocery store and worked nights as a waitress.”

“Was she saving for college?” She’d talked about going to Tech.

“No,” Cal said. “She was paying the bills. Her dad never was much of a provider, but with him gone, they had a lot of bills. With five more kids and a mother who didn’t know how to earn money, Katie became the breadwinner for everyone.”

A sick feeling was building in Gabe’s stomach. “But she married. I mean, her husband must’ve helped out, brought in money.”

Mac snorted in derision. “Yeah, right. Darrell Hill came to town after you left. He worked at the gas station. After they married, he started showing up for work less and less, until he got fired.”

“Doesn’t seem like he was much help,” Gabe muttered. The protective feelings that surged through him were ridiculous. She hadn’t wanted him, or his help. He’d promised to help her get her college degree, too. But she’d said no.

No one said anything.

“How did he die?” Gabe finally asked.

Without any expression, Cal said, “He hit a tree going eighty miles an hour.”

“Drunk?” Gabe asked, determined to know the worst.

“Oh, yeah. We’re lucky he didn’t take anyone with him.” Cal shook his head. “Drinking and driving is about the stupidest thing I know.”

They all nodded in solemn agreement. Then Tuck asked a question about Gabe’s life in Dallas and the conversation lightened.

Gabe, however, couldn’t get the earlier tale out of his head. He still had questions. But only Katie could answer them. And if he asked, if he dug into the past, she’d know that—she’d think that he was even more stupid than her dead husband.

She’d believe he still cared for a woman who’d rejected him ten long years ago.

The Lemon Drop Shop closed its doors at six o’clock.

For the first time since she’d opened her shop, Katherine was counting the minutes.