Chapter Fourteen
“Dinner is served.”
Erin had showered and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a sleeveless sapphire-blue top.
She piled her hair up on top of her head with a clip and had a pair of soft flats on her feet that she had found in the bottom of the closet in her room.
She had taken her time to clean up after the tussle in the river.
Rance had left earlier with a terse mention of going into Destiny’s River.
And to stay in the cabin while he was gone. He hadn’t waited for a reply.
Now he apparently was back and had dinner ready?
She had taken a long soak in the tub but she didn’t think it had been that long…
enough time for him to have cooked and all.
But stranger things happen. She stepped out into the hall and then moved to the opening between the dining room and kitchen.
They had gotten into the habit of just sitting at the bar between the kitchen and dining room for their meals.
And she expected that. But she stopped in surprise.
The dining room table had red place mats, silverware on white napkins, and tall glasses with ice and what looked to be iced tea. She stood still, unsure of what was going on.
“Is there something happening that I’m not aware of? Should I have dressed up for dinner?”
Rance stood expectantly at the bar. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. And it doesn’t mean we’re having anything over the top for dinner.” He turned and picked up a tray with two regular, not paper, plates on it.
“I am serving cheeseburgers, with a side dish of french fries, and a couple of slices of Tillie’s apple pie for dessert.
” He brought the tray to the table and sat it down.
Then he placed a plate in front of each of their place settings.
He stood and then, as if remembering something, he quickly moved to hold out her chair for her to take her seat.
She moved a bit more slowly and took the chair offered. He saw that she was settled and went around to his own place and sat.
“Did all that water and mud this afternoon possibly get in your brain or something along those lines?”
“Why do you think that? I am always a civilized, well-mannered host.”
That made her wait for him to take the first bite of a french fry. He looked at her with a question in his eyes. “Is something wrong? I know you like cheeseburgers and…”
“Everything looks fine,” she hastened to add, “I just was waiting to see what you thought of the food.”
“I get it. To see if I was trying to get some childish revenge on you by doing something to your food? I would never do something like that.” He smiled and then added, “Unless maybe you were one of my siblings. But you have nothing to fear.”
Erin took him at his word and tested a bite of the burger. It was deemed good, and she settled into the new experience he had had switched to that evening.
“This was a good idea of yours. Although I have no problems with the TV trays or eating at the bar. But this is a nice change.”
“I imagine you usually eat in your dining room at home…when you aren’t out on a fancy dinner date?”
Where had that come from? It seemed that he was genuinely interested in the answer. That was strange to her way of thinking. But perhaps he was trying his best to make up for his behavior earlier. She could react in kind.
“I hate to disappoint you, but most nights I’m either home late and eating a plate of food that has been left in the refrigerator for me…
seated at my bar while reading through briefs.
Or I’m teaching or guest-lecturing at the law school, or I’m spending one evening volunteering my legal services at a local women’s shelter.
The fancy nights out are few and far between.
What about you? I take it from what your sister Cassie was saying at the café, that you seem to be quite an in-demand bachelor. ”
He responded, “Turning the tables on me,” finishing up the fries on his plate before replying.
“I don’t know what my sister thinks she knows of my life away from Destiny’s River, but I’m kept busy on cases here, and on long-distance ones.
There is little chance for romance of any kind when you’re staking out a flea-bag motel in some wide spot in the road in the backwoods after a felon who won’t make it easy. ”
“Do you plan to make the marshals’ service your long-term gig?” she ventured, something making her want to know the answer to that question more so than any other.
“Well, until I find the person who’ll take me on and want to make a home and have the kids and stuff in Destiny’s River hopefully. But that is easier said than done. I haven’t come across too many women who seem to be into all that family stuff.”
“A little woman who will stay home and do the carpools and room mom stuff?”
“I’d like to think we could share that stuff. And if she wants to have a career, that’s great. But our family would come first for both of us. That’s the better way to put it.”
Erin was surprised by his comment. He could have been one of those men who thought only one career in the family…his…was all that mattered.
“What about you? I suppose the law is your life until you retire and then you’ll teach it in some rarefied Ivy League college.”
Erin sat her tea glass down and gave him a considering look.
She kept her cool. “You would suppose wrong. I hope that I might have the same life you described. There are plenty of women like me who can balance a career and take care of a family and fit a carpool in along with a lecture to law students. The key is the right partner, and it truly is a partnership in marriage and parenting. But just as you say in your life…there aren’t many men in my experience who want that.
At best, it would be arm candy or society climber. I am neither of those.”
“I admit that I did have a different idea of who I was given as an assignment when this all began. And I will also admit that my first impression has had to be revised somewhat.”
“Is that your version of an apology? For interrupting my courtroom? Manhandling me so much that you broke my newest pair of heels, making me disguise myself and spiriting me away to a cabin in the woods without benefit of cell phone or any other communication? Did I leave out anything?”
He had the good sense of looking somewhat apologetic. “Sorry, but I had to get you to a safe place as fast as possible. I like to think that possibly you have found it isn’t such a bad safe place as you first thought.”
She gave a soft smile. “When you first said fishing cabin, I was not happy. I imagined this old, wooden shed on some lake that was halfway inhabitable and smelled of fish guts.” There was laughter shared at that scenario.
Somehow something had become easier between them.
It was a tenuous silk thread of something, but it felt right.
“And now?” Rance asked.
“Now, I find it has charm, and it feels like a homeplace. Where a family has grown and shared so much…so many good times, and maybe some not so good times. But it is lived in and still a beautiful wood and stone home that sits beside a lovely river. Your family is blessed to live in such a community with so many good people around you. You have no idea how many people never know of this type of existence. All too often, I see some of them before my bench. It could make a difference…especially among the younger ones who began in awful places and never knew a life such as this.”
“That could have easily been my siblings and me. We were lucky. But Tori was tough, and she never let us give up our memories of family and finding a ‘forever home’ as she called it.
“Yes, it does make a difference.”
“But you were blessed in your own way, also. I don’t know all about your life, but it had to have been decent, or you wouldn’t have turned out to be the person you are.”
“Blessed…with a desire to survive,” she said in words just above a whisper.
His gaze was sharpened. She hastened to add, “Don’t get me wrong.
I was indeed born into a world where I did not have to ever ask about where food or shelter or every want would be found or provided.
I never expected pity or sorrow, just envy.
My mother left the world when I was six.
I had no siblings. And my only curse was I was not a male heir to the Latham throne.
But I became a quick study. To excel was to gain the closest emotion to love that my father could give.
But I never expected nor accepted pity. We are all given paths to walk when born and crosses to bear.
It is how we choose to handle our lives that makes the difference.
It took me a detour or two to gain control of my own road.
But I did and make no apologies for the beginning, but I own the path I’m on now and no excuses. ”
Rance sat forward in his chair as if to share a secret with her. She leaned closer to receive whatever words he was about to impart.
“You also earned warm apple pie and ice cream—Tillie’s best. I’ll serve us on the deck. The sunset should be incredible. Make yourself comfortable and I’ll be out with the goodies in two shakes.” He stood and headed into the kitchen.