Cole's Montana Bride (Sweet,clean Western Historical Romance)(Montana Ranchers and Brides Series Book 7) (4 page)

Her mother had always been such a storehouse of wisdom and comfort. Ever since Victoria's father had died ten years before, she had relied on her mother so much for the strength she needed to face life's difficulties. And it had been her mother who'd given her the support Victoria had needed to establish her matchmaking business. Without her mother's help Victoria wouldn't have been able to do what she'd done these past few years.

But that didn't make things any easier now.

After the meeting with Cole, Victoria had left the restaurant and made her way back to her mother's house. She felt she needed the reassurance that would inevitably come with a long talk with her mother. The discussion with Cole had ended almost immediately she'd agreed to come and visit him at his ranch. They had chatted politely and then Cole had gone on his way.

But, Victoria realized she needed to know much more about Paul Edwards. Her mother had been long term friends with Paul's father the banker Josiah Edwards. Victoria figured a good place to start to find out more about Paul would be to ask Lucinda.

Her mother had furnished Victoria with a sketchy idea of just what kind of person Paul was. It seemed that he was indeed a dependable sort, not given to much wayward activity. In fact Victoria thought that Paul sounded downright boring. Especially when compared to Cole. The thought of Cole made Victoria sink into a long silence. Victoria knew she'd have to pay Paul Edwards a visit within the next day or two. But for now the only thing that filled her mind was the meeting she'd just had with Cole. After a while she realized Lucinda was watching her with a calm, focused gaze.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" Lucinda asked.

Victoria stiffened and sat upright. "Of course not," she said.

Lucinda sighed and smiled."You can't fool your mother, Victoria. I can tell you still have feelings for Cole."

"I do not," she objected.

Lucinda blinked patiently. "Of course you do dear. It's the most natural thing in the world. Especially after what the two of you passed through."

"What do you mean?"

Lucinda glanced at the fireplace as if peering into the past. "You were both very close. Almost inseparable for a while."

Victoria waved a dismissive hand. "We were just sweet on each other for a while. It was nothing more than that, mother."

Lucinda shook her head. "You can't fool your mother, Victoria."

"I'm not trying to fool you at all. It was a long time ago. I've changed. So has Cole."

"Some things never change, my dear. Love is one of those things."

Victoria felt her face change color. Her mother noticed the change and continued. "When I think of your father and I." Lucinda sighed quietly. "Once we'd found each other, I thought we would never spend a moment apart. We'd be together forever. But it just wasn't to be."

Lucinda's face softened at the memory of Abe. His sudden death had cast a shadow over the lives of his wife and daughter for many years. Victoria leaned toward her mother, feeling a desperate need to console her, to reach out and hold her mother, make any of the long standing pain vanish.

"Mama. I know you still miss him. I think of him every day."

"So do I, dear. And that's what makes what you've done so hard to bear," she said.

Victoria frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You gave up the best chance you'll ever have at love."

Victoria felt the breath catch in her throat. "With Cole?"

Lucinda nodded. "You might never get another chance. Life sometimes only gives you the one chance. Then it never gives you it again," she said.

Victoria sighed. "But I don't know if I ever loved Cole," she said.

"Of course you did dear. I could see it in your eyes every time you were with him."

"But that was a long time ago, mama. Things are different now."

"Are they? Really?"

"Yes. They are. Cole has changed. And I have my business in Helena."

"Your business," Lucinda said with a dry tone. "Ah, yes. You make marriages for others."

"And I'm good at that, mama."

"Of course you are dear. I can see that. And I'm happy for you. But there comes a time when you have to think of yourself. What you want in your own life."

Victoria rested her elbows on her knees, leaning toward her mother. "I'm happy, mama. I make other people happy and that gives me joy and satisfaction."

"Really, Victoria. Does it truly?"

Victoria nodded and paused before continuing. "I think it does."

Lucinda paused and Victoria could see that her mother was deliberating.

"How was Cole today?" her mother asked after a few moments. "Did he seem happy to see you?"

Victoria frowned. "I don't know that he was exactly pleased to see me."

"You've been gone a long time, Victoria. And you don't come back to town that often."

"I know I'm away too much, mama. And I'm sorry. But I just get so busy. I only came back this time because Ruby and Marcus asked me to come."

"Was Cole happy to see you?" her mother insisted. It seemed like a strange question, as if her mother was trying to lead Victoria down a path where she might find an answer that would bring her daughter to some new, fresh sense of understanding.

"Cole? It was the first time I'd seen him since we made the decision not to be together." Victoria paused "He was different, though. Tougher. More distant than I remember him being."

"But was he pleased to see you, Victoria?" her mother pressed once again. Victoria suddenly recalled that when her mother wanted an answer to a question there was no power on earth that would stop her from getting it.

"I think he was," Victoria said hesitantly. "But I couldn't be completely sure. If anything he seemed a little abrupt with me."

"That's to be expected, Victoria."

"Why do you say that, mama?"

Lucinda brows furrowed. "When you left him, he was very badly affected by it. He became a very disappointed and frustrated man."

"I can't imagine Cole being anything except a good, fine person," Victoria said.

"I heard that he was so badly affected by your leaving that he was quite inconsolable," Lucinda said her voice measured and serious. "He got his frustration out of himself by getting a reputation."

Victoria stared at her mother. "What kind of reputation?"

Lucinda's eyes softened. "The kind a man gets when the woman he loves just ups and leaves him."

The thought of Cole reacting like that to Victoria's leaving seemed impossible to fathom. What exactly had he done to console himself? Victoria knew her mother wouldn't give more details, even if she was pushed. Victoria could only imagine what Cole might have done to acquire a "reputation", as her mother called it.

"How do you know all this, mama?"

"I hear things. The ladies society knows everything that goes on in this town. Not much passes us by unnoticed."

The thought of the Billings Ladies Society gossiping about Cole and her made Victoria's heart sink.

Lucinda's eyes glinted. "We make it our business to be well informed. You know that the society is made up of the most trusted and influential ladies in the town. Ladies like that don't let anything pass them by," Lucinda said with an emphatic nod of the head.

Victoria paused and gazed around the parlor. The old grandfather clock in the corner ticked noisily but steadily. It was a sound she'd grown up listening to on those quiet afternoons spent in the parlor reading. This was the place where she had dreamed the fanciful visions of her future life. This was the room where the books she'd read had transported her to faraway countries and to distant cities where life had seemed so much more exciting than the dull country life this part of Montana offered.

Had she made a fundamental error of judgment in turning her back on the promise of a life in this part of Montana? Was that why she'd ran from Cole and his promise of a life on a ranch? Was that why the excitements of living in Helena and dealing with townsfolk, being in charge of her own life, had appealed to her so much?

She was sitting here in this parlor with her beloved mother, listening to wise words and feeling an uneasy sense that all her rejection of ranch life with Cole had been born in this little parlor, with it's comfortable ease and the overactive imagination of a young, inexperienced woman. Had those ideas been so wrong, so badly thought out? Had she been running away from more than just Cole? Had she been running away from the promise of Montana itself?

Victoria became aware that Lucinda was watching her carefully.

"It's nice to see you haven't lost your ability to see things for what they really are, Victoria," her mother said softly.

Victoria's brows tightened. She paused a moment and then fixed her eyes on Lucinda. "Are you telling me that Cole still loves me?"

A warm smile stretched across her mother's face, a smile filled with patient understanding and acceptance.

"Only you can answer that, Victoria," she said.

"But, our lives are so different. It's been so long. And Lucy Carter wants me to persuade Cole to marry her."

Lucinda rose and came to the sofa, sitting down beside Victoria. Her mother reached over and clasped Victoria's hand in her own. "You'll have to decide whether to follow your head or your heart, my dear."

Victoria felt her eyes moisten and her throat tighten. She swallowed and tried to hide the emotion she was feeling. Her mother's eyes were fixed earnestly on her daughter. Victoria knew her mother could see things more clearly than she could. That had always been the case. It always would be.

"Go to him, Victoria. Search his heart. Find out for yourself if what I'm saying is true."

"But he's so different now, mama. I'm not sure I can search his heart."

"Use everything you've learned these past years. You know how to see people for what they are. Surely you've met people who were less than genuine, who had secrets to hide. People who were lying about who they were," Lucinda said.

Victoria nodded. "Of course I have. I've met some real bad people who merely wanted matrimony for all the wrong reasons. But Cole's not like them. I'm sure he isn't."

"Then go and confirm that for yourself. Maybe he needs saving. From himself."

Victoria's eyes widened at those words. The idea that she could be the one to rescue Cole from the pit of misery he'd been living in these past years seemed almost improbable. Could she be the means of his salvation? Hadn't she been the one to drive him to that misery in the first place?

And more importantly, could she trust herself to spend any amount of time with Cole MacAllan? Especially if it meant finding out the truth about whether he still loved her or not?

The doorbell rang and Lucinda glanced at the clock. "That will be her, I expect," she said standing up.

Victoria glanced out the window. "Who?"

"Mrs. Edwards said she'd come to call."

"Paul's mother?"

"The same. She's a lovely person. I like her very much. But I must warn you. She has a mind of her own. She has very high expectations for her son."

Lucinda went to the window and tugged the curtain to one side. "Good. She's come on her own."

"Why is that good?" Victoria asked feeling a slight unease.

Lucinda lowered her voice. "I think she wants to speak to you about Paul and Lucy," she said.

Victoria nodded. "I can understand that she wants to know what are his prospects."

Lucinda leaned a hand on the side of the divan. "I think there's more to it than that. Just be a little careful what you say about Lucius Carter."

"Why?"

Lucinda's lips tightened and she shook her head. She left the parlor and Victoria heard the door opening.

"Rose! How nice of you to come," Victoria heard her mother say.

A few moments later the extraordinary figure of Rose Edwards glided into the room, taking Victoria by surprise at the theatrical elegance on display for what was to all intent and purpose a social call to a close neighbor.

Rose Edwards was dressed in a superbly elegant and very formal looking gown, the bottom of which swished noisily across the wooden floor as she swept into the room, passing a parasol idly from one hand to the other. Rose was a similar age to Lucinda but in contrast to Victoria's mother's grey tied back locks, Rose's hair was dark and hung neatly at shoulder length. Rose had strong feature, wide cheekbones and rather heavy brows that contrasted with a thin, petite nose. She was a plump woman who nevertheless carried herself with supreme poise, shoulders back and chin eternally lifted up high and proud.

But it was Rose's voice when she noticed Victoria that truly took the breath away. "My dear. So lovely to see you. Your mother told me you'd be here."

The voice was booming, filled with confidence and self assurance. It was a voice that brooked no dissent nor disagreement. It was a voice that filled and occupied the small space of the parlor.

Victoria made to stand up, but Rose extended a hand. "Please don't get up on my account. Let me join you," she said taking her place right by Victoria's side. Rose landed on the sofa and placed her parasol down by the side of the sofa. She laid her hands on her lap and fixed Victoria with open eyed expectation. Victoria glanced at her mother and raised her brows seeking support and even advice.

Lucinda offered none, but merely clasped her hands together and addressed the visitor. "Can I fetch you some tea, Rose?"

"That would be delightful," Rose said.

"I'll bring it in a few moments. I'll let you and Victoria get reacquainted," she said heading quickly off.

Rose sighed contentedly and looked at Victoria. "And how are you, my dear? What's it like being back in town after such a long time away?" she asked.

Victoria hesitated. "Very eventful is how I might describe it. Ruby and Marcus had a lovely wedding. Which I was glad for. They are such a lovely couple."

"Indeed. The wedding was delightful. I think you did a very fine job with those two," Rose said.

"Thank you, Rose," Victoria said smiling. "That is very kind of you to say so."

"It's nothing my dear. I know how hard you work. Your sweet mother keeps me up to date on everything. We ladies of the society like to keep up to date on all the goings on in the town."