Choices of the Heart (10 page)

“You speak as if he’s a piece of property. Reese is a man. He has choices, Isabelle.” Chloe looked away, trying to choose her words carefully. “I’m glad you’ve spent time with him. Ronnie and my sister’s death have changed things for all of us. There is much more for me to consider now.”

“So are you leaving?”

“I can’t answer that yet,” Chloe answered. “As I said, I have a lot to consider.”

“He asked me to marry him, Chloe.” Isabelle stuck her nose in the air and looked away. “I said yes, of course. So it’s time for you to go back to Lincoln and take care of other people. Leave Reese and Bobby to me.”

“And if I don’t?” Once Chloe made the decision to stay, she wasn’t going to be easily swayed. It was hard enough to come back here in the first place.

“Not much I can do. But mark my words, I will make life here difficult for you. It’s a small town; gossip spreads fast and well. You being away for so long, people will look at you as an outsider.”

“Why would you want to hurt me like that?” The threat was a hollow one, Chloe was almost sure. Isabelle was a nice woman, and Chloe couldn’t imagine her being vindictive. “I was given custody of my nephew. Is it so wrong that I want to raise him?”

“You’re getting in the way of my happiness. And Reese’s. He’s been happier with me than he ever was with you.”

“Fine.” Chloe stood and walked down the stairs of the porch.

“Fine, what?”

“We’ll let him choose.” Chloe walked onto the lawn. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Drive us over to Reese’s house. He can decide which one of us he wants. If he says you, fine, I’ll back off and go home to Lincoln. But if he says me, you’ll move on.”

“Fine.” Isabelle nodded and stuck her nose in the air.

“Dottie, I’ll be back in a bit,” Chloe called to Mrs. Lloyd. “Bobby just ran out to the barn with Mr. Lloyd.”

“Have Reese come back with you, would you?” Dottie was fast onto the porch. “He can eat supper with us.”

The woman had been listening to the conversation.

Did she want Chloe for a daughter-in-law? Or Isabelle?

Chloe wondered who Reese would choose. He’d complained that Chloe never gave him options. Here was a huge one for him, a choice that would change the course of the lives of many.

Who would he choose to become the new Mrs. Lloyd? Chloe or Isabelle?

Chapter Ten

“Hello, ladies.”

Isabelle and Chloe, wearing deep scowls on their lovely faces, had him cornered in the back of his barn. Reese was in for it and had nowhere to run. He knew why Chloe might be upset, having seen him kissing Isabelle, but why on earth was Isabelle mad at him?

“Isabelle paid me a visit,” Chloe started, with no pretense of pointless pleasantries. “She claims you asked her to marry you. I find that rather odd, as you suggested the same thing to me earlier.”

“Chloe, listen—”

“No, Reese, you listen.” She advanced on him, pointing a finger at his chest. “I won’t be manipulated. I left you earlier with the understanding that I had a decision to make.”

“You do have a—”

“You had your say earlier. Now, let me finish.” She cut him off and moved him even farther toward the back wall of the barn. “If you are playing games with us, you need to stop. You can’t have it both ways.”

“I’m not playing a game.” He sidestepped her, knowing the wall would soon be at his back. The sweat on his forehead started to drip in his eyes, and he pulled a rag from the back pocket of his overalls to wipe it away.

“What is it then?” Isabelle’s soft voice chimed in.

He turned slightly and sighed. “Let’s go up to the house and talk this over.”

“I want to hear it now. Right here. Right now.” Chloe crossed her arms and stared at him.

Isabelle sneezed into her handkerchief. “Perhaps he’s right, Chloe. It’s awful dusty out here.”

“Now, Reese.”

Damn if she wasn’t like a dog with a fresh bone.

Isabelle sneezed again and shot Chloe a murderous look.

“At least let’s go out in the sunshine,” Reese said. He walked through the wide main door of the barn, not caring if the two followed or not. The sun was gone, and dusk had started to set on the horizon, a pretty purple sky, with tinges of pink taking its place. How long had he been working in there? The day just kept getting worse.

Isabelle stopped next to him and placed a proprietary hand on his arm. He held back the urge to shake it off.

“Tell her, Reese. Tell her we are going to raise Bobby together. That we will be married as soon as she leaves.”

He looked down at her, taking in her wide smile.

“Tell her,” Isabelle begged and squeezed his arm. “Please.” Her voice trailed off and her gaze snapped between Chloe and him.

What was he going to do? Most men would envy his current position. Two women vying for his attention, wanting him to share their lives. Two women who were about as different as night and day.

He gritted his teeth, could feel his jaw muscles tighten.

“Chloe, would you wait in the barn for a few minutes?” He had to clear the air with Isabelle first. That was the gentlemanly thing to do.

“Fine,” Chloe agreed with a frown.

He moved just far enough away from Isabelle so he could look at her and still watch Chloe as she entered the barn. When Chloe was out of earshot, he took a deep breath. He hadn’t had too much experience with women. He’d never had to break up with one. The only two women who ever loved him were right here, and one of them would leave disappointed. Life was a hell of a lot easier a week ago.

“I have to be honest with you,” he said. “Before all this business with my brother’s death, and Chloe returning with Bobby, I had expected we would marry.”

Her bright smile felt like a punch to his gut, and he opened his mouth to correct her obvious misperception.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” She rushed forward so hard she almost knocked him over.

He caught her and held her shoulders for a moment before he pushed her away from him. “But—”

“But what?” she asked.

“Isabelle.” He bent over slightly and captured her gaze. “I can’t marry you. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“Reese—”

“I told you already that I can’t love you like you love me.” He took her hands, gave them a gentle squeeze, even though his were feeling sticky, sweaty from his nerves. “Ronnie wants me to raise his son, and I have to see to that. But you deserve to be happy, and I can’t give you that. I wanted to tell you that when you were here earlier, but I wasn’t man enough to do it. For that I am sorry.”

“Don’t you see, Reese? You
do
make me happy. And I would never
ever
leave you. Not ever. I would devote my life to making you and Bobby happy.” She was crying, seemed panicked almost, but she continued. “If you’ll just give me a chance… I’ll love Bobby like my own son. I’ll—”

He pulled her against him and rubbed her back slowly, letting her cry. He rested his cheek on her head and swallowed the lump in his throat. “It’ll be fine, Isabelle. You will meet someone else, another man who will make you happy, someone who has a whole heart to give you. I’m sorry, so sorry I hurt you.”

“No one will be as good as you. No one.”

He chuckled at that. The woman had to be deaf and blind to think that. He pulled away and smiled gently at her. “You think too highly of me. I’m just a farmer. Nothing special.” He shook his head. “There will be someone else for you, you mark my words. I’ll always be your friend, Isabelle. If you need something, you can call anytime.”

“What if she won’t stay? What will you do then? I’ll wait for you, Reese. All you have to do is say the word.”

“Please don’t.” He shook his head, humbled. “I couldn’t ask that of you.” He placed a finger over her lips when she opened her mouth to speak.

“I’ll just be going.” She waited, as if she expected him to ask her to stay.

Finally, when she turned and slowly walked away, toward her car, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. That was easy compared to what he was about to face. He lit a cigarette, needing a minute to compose himself before he went in to Chloe.

~*~

What in the world was taking the man such a long time? All he had to do was tell Isabelle to take a hike or offer her marriage. How long could that possibly take?

“Okay, Chloe Anne, think this through,” she said it out loud.

If he chose Isabelle, everything would be as she’d planned before coming back to Broken Bow with Daisy and Ronnie. Chloe would return to Lincoln, agree to marry Dr. Tom, and live happily ever after, trying not to think about her nephew, or about Isabelle and Reese getting married, having babies and growing old together. She didn’t know if she could live with that.

She walked to each of the two far corners of the barn and lit the lanterns that hung there, the fading sunlight allowing darkness to crawl into the spacious building, making her feel more uneasy than the situation itself. She walked back toward the front of the barn, the lamplight leading the way and comforting her wary nerves.

“Humph.” Chloe planted her bottom on a bale of hay, leaned forward on her elbows, and rested her chin in her hands.

What if he chose her?

She thought when she’d left him on the porch he’d left it up to her to decide their future. And if he did want her? Well, that led her back to square one, when she was walking to his house to declare her feelings and intentions toward him.

Should she let it bother her that he’d been kissing Isabelle on his porch? Should she worry that he was trying to get the attention of both women? Should that be enough for her to say no to him, to forget about Daisy’s request and move back to Lincoln, as if nothing had happened the past week?

“Man alive!” She jumped to her feet, feeling even more confused than ever.

She wandered—paced really—from empty stall to empty stall, trying to think of anything but Reese and Isabelle and what they might be doing right this moment. Her heart couldn’t be beating any faster, and if Reese didn’t come back to her soon, she’d go out and discover what was taking him so long. Chloe stopped pacing the long aisle between the stalls as soon as she heard boots on the gravel outside the barn door.

She sat back down on a bale of hay and crossed her legs, trying to look bored and composed, even though her insides were tied in knots. She folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes. The boot steps were getting closer, and she knew he’d be inside in just a minute. There were no other footsteps. Where was Isabelle? Was she waiting for him inside the house, away from the hay she was allergic to?

Chloe shook her head and decided to keep the hope alive in her heart. She looked up when she heard his footsteps stop and actually felt Reese inside the barn. With the fading light at his back, he looked like an imposing figure. He stood silently in the doorway, his legs spread wide, his hands on his hips.

She fought the urge to run to him, to throw her arms around his neck. She didn’t know if he was there to tell her to leave or ask her to stay, but right then and there, she knew exactly what
she
wanted. She’d been backed against a wall, in a roundabout way, but without a doubt, life with Reese was the only thing that would bring her true happiness.

“You wanna go in the house where there’s more light?” he asked her before he walked fully inside.

“I’m fine out here. Hay doesn’t make me sneeze.”

“Be nice,” he warned and sat next to her on the hay bale.

They both sat looking straight ahead out the open door into the darkness, neither focused on anything except the breathing of the other.

“Why did you do it?” Chloe finally asked. “Why did you ask Isabelle to marry you when I hadn’t given you an answer about Bobby?”

“I didn’t,” he told her.

“I came to tell you my decision and saw you two embracing on the porch.” She turned toward him. “Kissing deeply. Not just a peck for goodbye.” She stood and crossed her arms. Why was he lying to her? “You didn’t even wait for me to tell you yes or no before you moved on.”

“It wasn’t what it looked like,” he defended his actions. “I didn’t know you were there, either.”

“What would you have done if you
had
known?”

That seemed to stump him, his jaw hung open for a minute and then he shut it. “Wouldn’t have mattered.”

“You’re just making sure you have someone as backup, isn’t that it? If I said no, then Isabelle was on the hook.”

“I’m not desperate enough for a woman to try to snag both you and Isabelle.” The volume of his voice was rising. “I’m not trying to get two women.”

“Well, aren’t you?”

“No,” he said, with a rough shake to his head. “I would be happy to explain if you’d just let me.”

“Fine.” She sat back down on the hay bale and crossed her legs that had suddenly turned into mush. She’d felt full of bravado when she’d been on the attack, but now that the shoe was on the other foot, anxiety flowed in her veins.

“When you left earlier we were at a stalemate,” he said. “You had no intention of staying here, and this is where my life is, where it always will be. The dream of going to the university was just that, a dream. I can’t leave here. This land is in my blood. I’m a part of it. And so is Bobby; he’s just too young to know it yet.”

“But—”

He held up a hand to stop her. “Let me finish, please.”

She nodded and listened as he continued.

“Isabelle came over in the late afternoon as she sometimes does when her mother naps. I shared with her the contents of the will and guardianship. I also told her you were planning on returning to Lincoln.”

“But—”

“Chloe.” He frowned. “That is where we were when you left me. I know you wanted to think it over, but I wasn’t at all convinced you would change your mind. I couldn’t be certain Bobby was important enough to you to make you stay here.”

She remained silent, absorbing what he was saying.

“
She
suggested, not me, that it would be a fine idea for her and me to marry and raise Bobby.” He chuckled. “In case you don’t remember, I’m not real confident around women, and I didn’t want to hurt her and tell her no, that I was hoping…well, that I was waiting to see what you decided to do.”

Hoping, what? That she would stay?

“And?”

“And I kissed her… Because I needed to know…” He swallowed. “I needed to know if she could make me as
hot
as you do. If she could bring that spark to my body like you do, with just a look.”

“And did she?”

He cleared his throat. Leave it to Chloe to put him on the spot. “Ah, no.” He shook his head. “I should have told her no, right then and there, that I didn’t want her. But I was a chicken and didn’t.” He leaned back and stretched out his legs in front of the bale. “I had no idea she would go see you. I’m sorry. I really messed things up.” After a heartbeat, he finally met her eyes. “There. Finished. Now it’s your turn.”

She wasn’t ready to admit what she felt for him…not just yet. But she needed to say something. But what?

“Nothing to say?”

How long had she been silent?

She took his hand in hers. “Which way do you want to see this go?”

The question seemed to catch him off guard, and he choked on a laugh. “I guess what I said earlier sank in, huh? You’re thinking beyond Chloe.”