Chapter Sixteen #2
For another minute he stood there, his hand on the cold marble of his brother’s grave. As the wind died down, the turmoil in his mind finally settled. His heart opened up and he knew. “I love her,” he muttered as the last pieces of the puzzle came together.
Of course he loved her. Why the hell had it taken him so long to figure this out? It was so obvious. He couldn’t envisage his life without her. What was more, he didn’t want to. She’d stolen his heart while he was still trying his lines on her, idiot that he’d been.
Somehow, he had to convince her he loved her. She’d been hurt, physically but also emotionally, and she didn’t think she was worthy of love.
For another moment, he looked down at his brother’s grave. He knew now what he had to do.
“Thanks, bro—I now understand why Hayden and Willow said I should talk to you.”
*
By five o’clock Friday night everyone was tired. Ellie had made her bed and had hung the curtains in her bedroom. The rest would have to wait. On Saturdays her shop was only open until one and her Sunday… well, Sunday was now wide open.
“Rose has done a pretty impressive job downstairs,” Arlene said. “Willow, Laura and I have unpacked most of the boxes that the movers put in the garage. The only two boxes left are the ones that have ‘Grandma’ written on them.”
“Don’t worry about those, I’ll get to them eventually. Thank you for everything you’ve done. There was no way I could’ve accomplished so much on my own in one afternoon.” Ellie said as she hugged everyone in turn. “And thanks for the food, Arlene. I promise to cook all of you a dinner soon.”
“Oh, and I found this in the garage,” Vivian said, pointing toward the cat tree scratching post with activity center standing next to the front door. It was the one Ellie had bought in Bozeman the day she and Becket had been there.
“Thanks,” Ellie said. “I’d forgotten I put it there. I have to find out whether Cooper still has the ginger cat he’s mentioned.”
“It was fun helping you,” Annie said. “You have a lovely house, Ellie. We are all so glad you’ve decided to stay in Marietta for a while.”
“I want to know about you and Becket,” Laura said. “Please talk to us.”
Ellie shrugged. “There isn’t much to talk about. He’s moved on, like I knew he would. It hurts, but I’m sure I’ll get over it in time.”
“You sure you’re not jumping to conclusions?” Willow asked. “I’ve never seen my brother look at anyone else the way he looks at you.”
Arlene touched Ellie’s arm. “He may not know it yet, but he’s head over heels in love with you.”
Sighing, Ellie hugged herself. “He had a date with another woman today and he didn’t tell me.”
“Talk to him,” Annie said. “You don’t know why he met her.”
Ellie shook her head. “Why didn’t he tell me about the meeting? I want to believe in him, but…”
Willow turned away. “You should. We’re on our way. Maybe you should reread North and South again and think about what we discussed on Tuesday. About jumping to wrong conclusions about other people. Oh, and I’m texting you a link. Have a good look at it.”
“There’s still food left,” Arlene said as they walked toward the front door. “And a bottle of wine.” She winked.
“Thanks, Arlene—you’ve all been so kind and helpful today.”
As they all walked out on the porch, a truck approached and parked on the driveway. Ellie’s heart kicked her in the ribs, but it was Cooper who got out of the vehicle.
“Hi, Coop!” Willow said as he walked toward them with a basket and a bag in his hands. “What have you got there?”
“Ellie wanted a cat.” He smiled.
“Hi, Coop,” his mother said and hugged him. “We were just talking about you. Ellie has already bought the cat an activity center. I don’t think you’ve met Rose, have you? Rose, my youngest son, animal whisperer and all-around nice guy, Cooper Weston.”
Cooper lifted his hat. “We’ve met,” he said. “You weren’t very nice.”
Rose turned away. “Neither were you. I’m just going to walk home, thanks for picking me up, Vivian and Annie.”
Before anyone could say anything, she jogged down the stairs and ran in the direction of Laura’s house, where she was still staying.
“Was it something I said?” Cooper asked as he looked after her.
“How do you know Rose?” Annie asked.
“She hasn’t been out of the house as far as I know,” Vivian said.
“We haven’t really met. Mom, I’ve mentioned to you and Willow how I met Rose when she’d nearly ended up in a ditch.
I think that was the same day she arrived at your shop, Ellie.
Eventually she managed to get her car back on the road and stopped.
That was when I offered my help. She was so upset, rattled and angry, though, and was very adamant about the fact she didn’t want my help.
Anyway, you wanted a cat,” he said to Ellie.
“I’ve brought Marmalade. You don’t have to keep her, if you decide she’s not what you want.
Duke wasn’t very happy when I took her away, so let me know if the two of you aren’t a match. Or if you want Duke as well?”
As he put the basket down, everyone bent down as Ellie opened it. Big, green eyes stared up at her from an orange and white face. Gently, she picked up the small kitten. “Oh, she is so soft,” she sighed, pressing her face against the fur.
Cooper lifted the bag in his other hand. “I’ve brought everything you may need for her. A bed, food, toys. Becket should be able to install the cat door for you.
“Um… I don’t think so,” Willow said. “They had a fight.”
Ellie sighed. “We didn’t have a fight. He’s moved on. Thanks, Cooper, please let me know what I owe you.”
“Has Becket told you he’s moving on?” Cooper asked.
“No,” Annie said. “But he’s had coffee with another woman. Aurelia Hill made sure Ellie heard about it.”
Cooper grimaced. “Oh, yes. Aurelia Hill. Of course you should believe everything she says.”
“I heard him making the date!” Ellie cried out.
“Have you asked him who she is?” Cooper asked. “And why he was meeting her?”
“No, of course not. He didn’t mentioned it to me.”
Cooper looked at Willow. “Does she know?”
“I’ve texted her the link,” Willow said.
Nodding, Cooper picked up the basket. “Let me know if you and Marmalade aren’t a match, okay? I’ll install the cat door for you over the weekend.”
With Marmalade still in her arms, her mind in turmoil, Ellie waited on the porch until everyone had left. “Well, little one, now it’s just you and me.” Picking up the bag Cooper had brought she entered her house and closed the door.
With everyone gone, the house was very, very quiet. The cat in her arms, she slowly walked through the rooms downstairs. Rose really knew what she was doing. She had a knack for placing each piece of furniture in the perfect spot.
“Okay, Marmalade, let’s see where we can leave your bed when we’re downstairs. But don’t worry, you can sleep in my room tonight. I’ve already bought you an activity center. We’ll try it out in the morning.”
As Ellie kept a conversation going, she put the kitten down and opened the bag Cooper had left.
Inside were lots of tins of cat food, a few toys and a bed.
“Let’s see if you like this,” she crooned and gently put the kitten in the bed.
For a moment she looked a little lost, but Ellie sat down next to her and gently stroked her back.
With a soft sigh, Marmalade closed her eyes.
Ellie’s phone pinged again, and she took it out of her pocket. Willow had said something about sending her a link. There was also a message from Becket, but she ignored it. The message from Willow, though, she opened.
Please read. And a link.
It was a link to an Instagram page, she registered as she clicked on the link. For the past ten days, she hadn’t had time to read a book, post anything about her shop or visit her favorite Instagram page. Becket had taken over her evenings, her mind, her life.
The link opened. She recognized it immediately; it was ET Beck’s page. Why would Willow want her to…?”
As her eyes moved down the page, she lost her breath. Since the last time she’d visited this page, the artist had added a human to the sketches of his three dogs.
As she scrolled through picture after picture, her mind was a blank.
Only when she came to one where the woman was sitting in front of a white house with blue shutters and a wide porch with an orange cat, a border collie, a Labrador, and two Golden Retrievers did it finally dawn on her what she was looking at.
Her eyes moved to the words written below.
He’s brought home a woman. We like her. We like her very much.
Blinking, she tried to make sense of what she was looking at.
As her eyes opened again, she saw the name of the artist at the top again.
ET Beck. It took her another few seconds to realize it was an anagram for Becket.
Becket Weston. The dogs were, of course, Harper, Jack and Sadie. Why hadn’t she seen this before?
And if she wasn’t mistaken, the curly-haired blonde who had been added to the last few pictures, was her. The first sketch he’d added of her showed her falling from a ladder.
One she recognized as the one he’d sketched while they were in the restaurant in Bozeman. In another one she was sleeping, her hair all over his pillow, and in the next she was sitting on the floor in his shirt with dogs looking adoringly at her.
She’s here again. We’re so happy.
By this time tears were streaming down her face. Quickly she went back to Becket’s message. The link he’d sent was the same one Willow had sent her.
Look at this. There is no one else but you. No one.
Stunned, she went back to his page and read through every single posting. Becket himself wasn’t in any of his drawings but she and the dogs were in every single one of the posts over the last two weeks.
With her heart in her throat she scrolled through all of them until she got to the one where he’d sketched her sitting on the steps of this very house with a ginger cat, obviously Marmalade, and his three dogs, a Labrador, two Golden Retrievers. But why the border collie?
And then she remembered Cooper telling her about the border collie-mixed-with-something mutt on the night of the music festival. The dog’s name was Duke, if she remembered correctly. And hadn’t he also mentioned earlier that Duke hadn’t been too pleased when he’d taken Marmalade away?
Becket had sketched her even before they’d slept together.
Sniffing, she blew her nose. She had no idea what all this meant, but she was holding on to Becket’s text.
Who June was she didn’t know, and she didn’t really care.
And yeah, Willow was right. It had been much easier to believe Becket would leave her at some point than it was to accept that he could actually feel something for her and wasn’t going to discard her.
Ever. Oh, she knew he didn’t want to get married; she also didn’t know if what he was feeling would last, but that was okay.
For as long as he wanted her, she’d stay with him. So much for being an independent woman.
What about her house, though?
Jumping up, she looked around her for a moment. There was nothing that was keeping her here. Marmalade could come with her. Most of her clothes were still at Becket’s place anyway. Quickly she looked down at herself and laughed.
“Before I can tell Becket how I feel about him, Marmalade, I desperately need a shower. Come on.” And picking up the cat in her bed, she rushed to her room.