Buffalo Valley (15 page)

She needed to talk to him, needed to vent her feelings. The shock of his confession had robbed her of
that chance. But finding a private time to speak with him today might prove difficult, if not impossible. In any event, she hadn't given verbal shape to her emotions yet. Talking to him should probably wait, she rationalized.

“Where you going?” Ken asked, following her into the hallway as she gathered her coat, gloves and scarf.

“I bet she's going off to see that new friend of hers,” Chuck teased.

“I'm going over to Hassie's,” she informed her two younger brothers smugly.

“I suppose
he's
there.”

How Pete knew that, Carrie could only guess. She shoved her arms into the silk-lined sleeves of her coat.

“He's there, all right,” Tom said, leaning against the door jamb. “His car's parked outside Hassie's.”

Carrie ignored him and went to get her purse. She and Hassie had exchanged their gifts on Christmas Eve, but Carrie had borrowed a book on traditional remedies that she needed to return. She retrieved it from the bookcase.

“Will you guys leave me alone?” she cried. All four of her brothers were trailing her from room to room. “Don't you have anything better to do?”

Her brothers glanced at each other and shrugged, then Pete announced, “Not really.”

“Do you want to hear what we think of your new boyfriend?” Ken asked.

If they could be this obstinate, so could she. “No.”

Carrie headed for the front door. If her four guardian angels wanted to follow her into the cold and snow, that was their choice.

“I like him, Carrie,” Ken called after her.

“Me, too.” Tom crowded beside him in the doorway.

“He's all right,” Pete concurred.

Chuck simply winked and gave her a thumbs-up. This had to be a record. Never before had she dated a man all four of her brothers approved of. Little did they know. She wondered what they'd say if they knew that, until recently, he'd been a Value-X employee. The answer didn't bear considering. She couldn't disillusion them any more than she could Hassie. Against her will, she'd been pulled into his subterfuge, and she hated it.

The snow was falling hard by the time Carrie reached Hassie's house; she barely noticed.

Vaughn answered the door and surprised her by closing it after him as he stepped onto the porch.
“Merry Christmas,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

As much as possible, she avoided looking at him.

“We need to talk, Carrie.”

“Here? Now?” She faked a short laugh. “I don't think so, Vaughn.”

“Later, then?”

She nodded.

He sighed with unmistakable relief. “Thank you.”

She didn't
want
to feel anything. She longed to ignore him, make a token visit and then be on her way. But it was too late for that. Her emotions were painfully confused; she wanted to kiss him and at the same time, she wanted to scream and rage and throw his betrayal in his face.

He pressed his hand to her cheek. “I'm glad you're here.”

She'd intended to slap his hand away, but instead, her fingers curled around his, and she closed her eyes and leaned toward him. Then she was angry with herself for being weak and jerked back.

“Come in out of the cold,” Hassie called just as Vaughn opened the door and Carrie stepped inside. She took off her coat and tossed it onto the stair railing.

“Have you met my dad?” Vaughn asked, taking Carrie by the elbow and escorting her into the living room. He made the introductions.

“Pleased to meet you,” she said, hoping none of the stiffness she felt came through in her voice.

Hassie was on her way to the kitchen. “You're just in time for pie.”

“I'll help dish up,” Barbara said, following Hassie.

“Me, too,” Carrie offered, eager to escape Vaughn.

Barbara Kyle shook her head. “Well take care of it.”

The two older women disappeared, which meant that Carrie was left alone with Vaughn and his father. She would've preferred the women's company and felt awkward alone with the two men. Vaughn was obviously eager to talk to her, and she was just as eager to avoid any conversation with him. Yes, there were things she needed to say; she wasn't ready, though—not nearly ready. She glanced in his direction and he mouthed something, but she looked away.

“Hassie and Barb are trying to keep you and Vaughn together,” Rick confided to her frankly. Vaughn scowled fiercely. “So you may as well play along,” he advised. “Here, sit down, Carrie, and make yourself comfortable.”

She sat on the sofa and Vaughn joined her, sitting
so close that their thighs brushed. In an effort to ignore him, she stared out the picture window.

“Isn't it a lovely day?” she asked, making conversation with his father. “The snow—” A flash of color outside caught her attention. It was her younger brothers. Gasping, she leaped to her feet.

“What?” Vaughn asked, getting up, too.

“It's Chuck and Ken,” she said, and pointed at the window. Sure enough, they were outside—in an old-fashioned sleigh pulled by two draft horses.

“That's my great-great-grandfather's sleigh,” Carrie explained. “He used it to deliver the mail. Dad and Mr. McKenna have been fixing it up. It's been in the barn for the last hundred years.”

“That sleigh looks like something straight out of a Christmas movie,” Vaughn's father remarked, standing by the window. “Whose horses are they?”

“I think they belong to a friend of Pete's,” Carrie said.

Despite her mood, she giggled. Her brothers must have planned this all along. How they'd managed to keep it a secret she could only guess.

The doorbell chimed, and when Hassie answered it, she found Chuck grinning down at her.

“Anyone here interested in a sleigh ride?” he asked, looking around Hassie to where Carrie and Vaughn stood. “There's room for five.”

“I'm game,” Rick said. “Come on, Barb.”

“Hassie?” Vaughn turned to their hostess.

She seemed about to refuse, then smiled broadly and said, “Don't mind if I do.”

Vaughn helped Hassie on with her coat and made sure her boots were tightly laced before they ventured outside. Carrie tried not to be affected by the tenderness he displayed toward Hassie, especially when he bent down on one knee to lace her boots. There was nothing condescending in his action, only affection and concern. Meanwhile, Rick held Carrie's coat for her and then Barbara's. By the time they left the house, the old sleigh, pulled by twin chestnut geldings, had attracted quite a bit of attention from the neighborhood. The horses were festively decked out in harnesses decorated with jangling bells.

Barbara, Rick and Hassie sat in the back seat, which fortunately was nicely padded. Once they were settled, Ken handed them a blanket to place over their laps. Carrie and Vaughn took the front seat, which was narrower and made of wood, forcing them close together.

Chuck and Ken walked in front of the horses, leading them down the unfamiliar street.

“Where are you taking us?” Carrie shouted as her brothers climbed onto the sleigh.

“The park,” Ken called back.

“Shouldn't we be singing Christmas songs?” Barbara asked.

“Go right ahead,” Rick answered, and taking him at his word, Vaughn's mother started with “Jingle Bells.” What could be more fitting? Even if it was a “two-horse open sleigh.”

Moments later Hassie's rough voice joined Barbara's soft soprano.

Carrie began to sing, too, and soon Vaughn's rich baritone blended with the women's voices. He and Carrie looked at each other. Perhaps it was the magic of the season or the fact that they were in a sleigh singing while they dashed through the snow, their song accompanied by the muffled clopping of hooves and the jingling of harness bells. Whatever the reason, Carrie realized her anger had completely dissipated. Vaughn seemed to genuinely regret what he'd done. He wasn't involved in a plot to destroy Buffalo Valley. To his credit, as soon as he'd recognized the threat Value-X represented to the town, he'd resigned from
the company. It couldn't have been easy to walk away from a high-paying job like that.

Vaughn noticed the transformation in her immediately. He stopped singing and leaned close enough to ask, “Am I forgiven?”

Carrie nodded.

His eyes brightened and he slid an arm around her shoulders. Carrie was convinced that if their circumstances had been different, he would've kissed her.

When they reached the middle of the park, they found Carrie's entire family waiting there, applauding their arrival.

Effortlessly they segued from one Christmas carol to another. Everyone seemed to have a favorite. Amid the singing and the laughter, Carrie's mother served hot chocolate from large thermoses.

Vaughn and Carrie left their places in order to give others an opportunity to try out the sleigh. After several trips around the park, Chuck and Ken drove Hassie and Vaughn's parents back to Hassie's. Carrie and Vaughn remained with her family.

With pride, Carrie took Vaughn around and introduced him to everyone he had yet to meet.

“What were Chuck and Ken talking about earlier?” Tom asked, standing next to his wife, Becky.

Vaughn glanced at Carrie. “We discussed a few ideas, nothing more.”

“That's not what I understood,” Tom said. “Chuck said you'd made an appointment to talk to Heath Quantrill.”

“You've got an appointment to see Heath?” Carrie asked. “About what?” She'd suspected earlier that something was up involving her two younger brothers. Sunday night they'd sat with their father at the kitchen table, talking excitedly in low voices. Carrie couldn't figure out what they were doing, and when she asked, their replies had been vague.

Rather than answer her directly, Vaughn looked away.

“More secrets?” she asked him under her breath.

“Vaughn's thinking about opening up a feed store in town,” Tom supplied.

“Is this true?” she asked. If so, it was the best kind of secret.

“Nothing's certain yet,” he told her, and she could see that he wasn't pleased with her older brother for sharing the news. “Everything's just in the planning stages. The
early
planning stages.”

“You'd actually consider moving to Buffalo Valley?”

Vaughn nodded and smiled down on her, but then his gaze clouded. “I still need to talk to you.”

“Of course.”

“Privately,” he insisted.

The park was crowded with her family. Carrie knew that the instant they broke away, one of her brothers or nieces and nephews would seek her out. “We can try,” she promised.

“It's important.”

Her heart was in her eyes, but Carrie didn't care if he saw that or not. “I'm so excited you might move here.”

“I'm excited, too.”

He didn't sound it. If anything, he seemed anxious. “What is it?” she asked. She wanted to hear what he needed to say, and she wanted to hear it
now
, even if they couldn't escape her family.

“Someone from Value-X is coming to Buffalo Valley,” he murmured.

“You mean the representative Lindsay mentioned?” Carrie was well aware that the company intended to wage a public-relations campaign to win over the community; that was part of their strategy. She suspected the corporate heads at Value-X had only the slightest idea how unwelcome the retailer was in Buffalo Valley. Whatever they were planning simply wouldn't work.

“Yes. Her name's Natalie Nichols and—”

“It doesn't matter,” she told him.

“Yes, it does,” he countered.

Carrie lowered her voice, wanting him to know he could trust her. “I didn't tell anyone—no one knows.”

“Hassie does. I told her myself.”

She didn't understand what had prompted that confession, but wasn't sure it had been the wisest thing.

“She deserves honesty, the same way you do.” Vaughn's brow creased with concern. “I would've come to meet her, with or without Value-X.”

“I know.”

“It isn't going to be pretty, Carrie, when Natalie Nichols arrives. Value-X has proved that it's capable of bulldozing its way into a town. They've done it before.”

“Not here, not in Buffalo Valley. We won't let it happen.” When he shook his head, she whispered, “It's going to be all right, Vaughn.” Because her fears about him had been laid to rest, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Vaughn wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

“Hey, what's this?” Pete shouted.