Chapter 7
“Wyatt!”
Wyatt heard his name called as he stepped out of Sullivan’s and turned quickly to see Teddy Silva and his wife, Esmeralda, striding toward him. He placed his purchase in the back of the buckboard, then turned.
He greeted Esmeralda first, kissing her on the cheek. “You’re looking as beautiful as ever.” The woman blushed, as he knew she would. “How are the children?”
“You’d hardly recognize them, Wyatt. They’re growing up so fast.”
“Children do that, whether you want them to or not.” He stuck out his hand toward Teddy. “How ya doin’, Teddy?”
“I’m doing well.” Teddy smiled and nodded down the street to his sister and brother-in-law’s house. “We just came from Lucy’s.”
Wyatt’s smile faded, just a bit. Had they discussed him?
Had Lucy told both Teddy and Esmeralda that he’d approached her to find him a wife?
He mentally shook himself. No, Lucy would not betray a confidence.
He was just being ridiculous. He knew it, but still…
he had agreed to come by Lucy’s and he hadn’t yet.
“Come out to the ranch for dinner.” Teddy said, a gleam in his eyes. “The family would love to see you. It’s been too long.”
“I’d like that. When?”
“Saturday. Come by around four. I have a couple of colts and fillies I’d like you to look at.”
Wyatt nodded, since he enjoyed being with the Silvas at the ranch. The house, with so many people, was usually noisy and so much different than his own home, especially after his mother and Royce left after a visit. His voice echoed in the rooms with them not there. “Thanks for the invitation.”
“We should be going. We still have errands to run.” Esmeralda tucked her hand into the crook of Teddy’s arm as she looked up into his face. There was so much love in her expression, Wyatt pulled in his breath. He wanted someone to look at him that way.
“Right.” Teddy gazed down at his wife, his dark eyes reflecting the same love for her, then glanced up at him. “We’ll see you Saturday.”
“I look forward to it.”
He watched them walk away, Teddy’s head tilted toward hers as he listened intently to whatever it was she said. He replied, something that made her laugh, the sound carrying to where Wyatt stood. He tensed, a bit envious. They had what he wanted. What he’d always wanted.
He climbed into his buckboard and headed toward Lucy’s home. He was knocking at her door in less than ten minutes.
“Wyatt! Come in out of the cold!” Lucy opened the door a little wider. “Come into the kitchen. There’s coffee on the stove and Teddy just dropped off a batch of Lebkuchen from Hilde.”
He hung up his coat on the coatrack beside the door, placed his hat atop it, then followed her down the hall into the bright, homey kitchen, his mouth already watering with just the thought of Hilde’s Lebkuchen.
He pulled a chair away from the table and sat while Lucy filled a cup with coffee, then took the chair opposite him.
“I’ve come up with three possibles that I think might be the one for you,” she said, coming straight to the point, assuming that was the reason for his visit, even as she pushed the plate of gingerbread cookies toward him. “Julia Applebaum.”
“Too young,” he said and reached for a Lebkuchen. The taste brought back memories of sitting with Teddy and his brothers in the school yard, sharing the special sweets in their lunch pails. “Didn’t she just come home from school?”
“She’s twenty-one, Wyatt. Old enough to make her own decisions and know what she wants.”
He shook his head. “She’s a nice young woman, but I don’t think she’s the one for me.”
“What about Tamara Willis?”
He shook his head again. He knew Tamara Willis, and what he knew of her, he didn’t like.
She was opinionated and brash and, if he remembered correctly, she wasn’t of the mind to have children, which he did, but only with the right woman.
And why was he thinking of children? He hadn’t found a wife yet.
“Aricely Davilos.”
“Rafael Zepeda’s sister?”
“Yes. You know her?”
“I do. She’s a wonderful woman. Sweet. Gentle. Beautiful. But I didn’t think she’d be interested in finding a match. I’ve heard her say, after losing her husband, she never wanted to fall in love again. She said she was lucky the first time.”
“Hmmm, she did say that.” Lucy tapped her index finger against her lip, as if deep in thought.
“What about Corianna March?” she asked then shook her own head quickly.
“No, she’s not the one for you. I already have an idea who her perfect match would be.
” She quieted as she tapped her finger against her lips again, as if the motion helped her think.
“There is one other possibility, but I’m unsure at the moment.
I need to see what she’s going to do. Give me a little more time. ”
Strange, Lucy didn’t mention Sheridan, and he couldn’t help but wonder why.
She was older than both Julia and Tamara.
While she wasn’t sweet and gentle, like Aricely—Sheridan was a bit more prickly, reserved, and quiet—but even he could see she was changing, smiling more.
He’d even heard her laugh, the sound of which remained in his head.
Was it because Sheridan was a madam’s daughter and Lucy thought she wouldn’t suit him?
But wasn’t it Lucy who suggested he visit Josie’s that very first time?
Surely, she must have known Sheridan was there. Lucy knew everything.
Maybe there was a different reason. Perhaps, it was the fact Sheridan didn’t plan to stay in Serenity. She’d said so herself. And Lucy didn’t want him to risk breaking his heart again when Sheridan left town.
He was at war with himself. Yes, he wanted to be loved, wanted someone to look at him the way Esmeralda looked at Teddy, the way Royce looked at Delilah, but finding that kind of love was just so complicated.
Too many things could go wrong. The road to love was bumpy, filled with potholes and ruts, even with a matchmaker who knew what she was doing.
Maybe he just should forget the whole idea.
“It’s hopeless, isn’t it? There isn’t a match for me. ”
“Of course there is,” she reassured him. “There’s a match for everyone. You just need to have faith.”
Doubt crept into his mind, but he tried not to let it take root. “I do. I think. Maybe I’m trying too hard. Maybe I should stop looking.”
“Everyone has a soulmate, Wyatt, the one person who was meant to be with them. Sometimes, we’re lucky enough to find two, like Tresia and Devlin.
Like your mother and Royce. We just need to open our eyes and our hearts to the possibility.
” She tilted her head to the side and her look turned serious.
“And sometimes, when we stop looking, is when we’ll find exactly what we’re looking for.
They, that special person, might be right in front of you. You just didn’t realize it.”
Wyatt felt frustrated. “What does that even mean, Lucy? You’re talking in riddles.”
She laid her hand over his. “It means open your eyes, Wyatt. See all the possibilities. You don’t need me to point them out to you.
I have no doubt your perfect match is out there.
” She spread her arms wide. “You just need to see them for who they are.” She shrugged.
“She’s probably looking for you, too, and doesn’t know it yet either.
Sometimes, that’s the way it happens. One day you wake up and all of sudden, you know you’re in love.
It didn’t come with fanfare or thunder or parades, but softly, quietly.
And you realize that love had been creeping into your heart all along, with time, with friendship, with shared laughter.
When that happens, it’s the best feeling in the world. ”
Love didn’t happen that way. It wasn’t soft, stealing into one’s heart when one wasn’t looking. No, love was brash and bold, like what he’d felt for Katie the moment he met her. It had been that fast. And that bright. Like a fireball coming out of the sky. Or a mule kick to his gut.
“I would like for you to do me a favor,” Lucy said.
“What is that?”
“Meet with these young women I’ve mentioned.
Take them on a picnic—no, not a picnic, it’s too cold for that—but invite them out.
I know there’s a musical group coming to play at the townhall, but it doesn’t have to be extravagant, Wyatt.
A simple cup of coffee and a piece of pie at the Wagon Wheel or brunch at the Serenity Hotel would be perfect.
Talk to these women. Maybe you have more in common with them than you think. Will you do that for me?”
He thought about it, thought hard for a minute. “I will meet with them, invite them out as you suggested, for a piece of pie.”
He finished his coffee, then stood, wondering if he was crazy for agreeing to Lucy’s suggestion.
He said his goodbyes and left, climbed into his buckboard, and pulled up the collar of his coat to protect his neck from the cold. Despite it being February now, the cold snap hadn’t let up. He shook the reins and headed toward Julia Applebaum’s home.
Sheridan paced in front of the window, waiting for Lucy and Ben, a little more nervous than usual. She wasn’t sure she was ready to meet more people, but at the same time, she didn’t want to stay at the house, and she liked Lucy.
It was Saturday. All the cowboys would be coming into town to spend their hard-earned wages, some of it at Josie’s, and she didn’t want to be mistaken for someone who went upstairs again. Once was enough, thank you.
“You’re gonna wear a hole in that carpet,” Mrs. Gallagher commented as she set up bottles of liquor on a wheeled serving cart. “What are you so nervous about? Is it about meeting Lucy Hart’s family?”
“I’m not very good at meeting people, Mrs. Gallagher.”
“You have nothing to worry about, lass. You’ll like Tia Evie. She’s a lovely woman. Her husband, Jake, is a fine man, too. He was a mail order husband, you know.”
“A mail order husband? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”