Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
A s soon as Hallie stepped into the Holiday Bed and Breakfast, she was overwhelmed by the transformation. It looked like Liberty and Belle had used all their event-planning skills, not to mention a buttload of money, to transform the foyer and the front parlor into an English garden filled with potted plants and huge flower arrangements. Along the bannister hung a garland of flowers with two signs in gold and soft green: Baby Carson. Baby Remington.
It wasn’t just the baby shower decorations that took Hallie by surprise. It was the renovations Liberty and Jesse had done to Mrs. Fields’ old mansion. Last time Hallie had been there, the house had been a crumbling death trap. Now it looked like an expensive southern hotel that made Hallie feel as uncomfortable as the dress Noelle had insisted she wear.
“Oh my God!” Noelle gushed as she looked around. “This is stunning. I am so getting married here.”
Hallie rolled her eyes. “I thought you wanted to get married in the barn.”
“That was before I saw what Jesse and Liberty have done to Mrs. Fields’. This is so much better than a stinky old barn.”
“Gee thanks.” Liberty came out of the parlor. “I’ll be sure to tell Jesse you think our bed and breakfast is better than a stinky barn.”
Noelle gave Liberty a hug. “So much better. And I expect you and Belle to do my wedding shower just as extravagantly as this one.”
“And just when is this wedding taking place?”
“Soon. Kenny is on the verge of asking me. I can tell. I just want to make sure we’re compatible in all things.” Noelle hesitated. “I’m thinking about giving him my blossom.”
Hallie cringed. “Good Lord, Elle. Would you please stop calling it that?”
Liberty laughed. “She does have a point, Ellie. That does sound a little . . .”
“Weird and childish,” Hallie said. “Just call it your virginity and be done with it. And what happened to you waiting until you were married?”
“I started following Marry Meredith. She’s a new social media influencer who gives advice to young single women hoping to find their love match. She’s found her true love and is living happily ever after in Houston. She’s a Texan, obviously. Which is why I feel a real kinship with her. That, and I’m an influencer too. I’m up to three thousand and twenty-two followers.” She beamed with pride.
“So what does this woman have to do with you giving up your virginity?” Hallie asked.
“Meredith thinks you should try out sex before you get married because her first husband—”
Liberty cut in. “Wait a second. She’s been married before?”
“Four times.”
Liberty exchanged a confused look with Hallie. “Then why are you taking advice from her on finding your love match?”
“Because after four marriages, she knows how to avoid the bad matches. She waited to have sex until she was married with Hubby One and they were divorced six months later because he said she sucked in bed. So she took a sex class to become better in the bedroom and that’s where she met Hubby Two. He was the instructor. Unfortunately, they were compatible in the bedroom, but not compatible out of it. And Hubby Three seemed perfect, but then he was convicted of insider trading—”
Thankfully, before Hallie had to suffer through any more stories about Marry Meredith, the door opened and two huge teddy bears bounced in. A second later, Sunny’s face appeared between the two fuzzy faces, her big brown eyes as bright as the bears’.
“Hey, y’all! Let’s get this baby party started!”
Hallie wouldn’t call the shower a party. It was more of a sedate tea with really small finger foods, really dumb games, and really boring conversation. If she had to hear another person talk about what holiday-inspired names to call the babies, she was going to throw up her tiny cucumber sandwiches and petit fours.
It turned out she wasn’t the only one.
“Thanksgiving?” Mrs. Stokes snorted as she took the chair next to Hallie’s. “That’s almost as ridiculous a name as Halloween. But at least you have a good nickname. My great-grandmother’s name was Hallie. What are they going to call that poor child? Thanks? Givie?” She shook her head and patted her suit jacket pockets. Hallie knew she was looking for a pack of cigarettes. She also knew Corbin had gotten her to quit. How he’d done it, Hallie didn’t know. But he must have had a good bargaining chip because Mrs. Stokes did not look happy when she didn’t find a pack.
“Damn people who try to keep you alive.”
Hallie grinned, which had Mrs. Stokes’ eyebrows lifting.
“That’s the first smile I’ve seen out of you today, Miss Holiday. I was beginning to think you’ve become as grumpy as your daddy. And speaking of your daddy, how are things going on the ranch? Corbin find a foreman yet?”
“Not yet.” Probably because he wasn’t trying real hard. It was like he suddenly didn’t seem to care if he found a foreman or not. Or maybe he was just too busy with his investment company. Or loving his wife. Whatever the reason, Hallie had decided to take on the job of looking for a new foreman herself. “I found a promising applicant that I think might work.”
“Male or female?”
Hallie loved that Mrs. Stokes asked the question. Few people would. “Male. Sadly, men were the only ones to apply for the job. I would love to see my daddy’s face if Corbin hired a female foreman.”
“I don’t think he’d be as stunned as you think. He has six daughters, after all. Daughters he was hoping would take over the ranch.”
“He was hoping our husbands would take over the ranch. He never wanted us to.” She thought if anyone would sympathize with her, it would be Mrs. Stokes. It was common knowledge she had grown up with an arrogant misogynistic daddy who ruled his business and daughter with an iron fist.
But Mrs. Stokes was always full of surprises. “Stop playing the feminist card with me, Hallie Holiday. I thought better of you. If your daddy doesn’t see you and your sisters as ranchers, that’s y’all’s fault. Men like your daddy and mine grew up being taught it’s a man’s world and women need to be sheltered and taken care of. My daddy didn’t think I could run the bank either. He planned to hand it over to my husband. So I married a man who didn’t know diddlysquat about banking and had no desire to learn. Then I went about taking over and making all kinds of money.” She smiled. “And that, my dear, is how you handle men like our daddies. You don’t wait around for them to give you something. If you want it, you take it.” She hesitated. “Although I hear from your grandmother that you’re not interested in taking the ranch. You want to make beer.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, I love a good beer and Jace said you made the best. I’d like to try it sometime.”
Just the mention of his name brought up an image of Jace standing in Sweetie and Decker’s front yard, his smoky eyes burning her with their intensity.
Then I’ll be sure to stay away from Austin.
The hollow feeling in her stomach that she’d been trying to fill with tiny tea sandwiches returned full force and she struggled to keep all those sandwiches down.
“There’s that frown again,” Mrs. Stokes said. “And here I thought you’d be happy that Jace raved about your beer last night.”
Hallie blinked. “Last night? You saw him last night?”
Mrs. Stokes nodded. “He’s staying in my guesthouse while he coaches the high school football team.”
“What?” The word was spoken much louder than she intended and everyone glanced over. She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Mrs. Stokes. “Jace is coaching the football team?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“But why? He doesn’t want anything to do with football anymore.”
“That’s horse pucky. His pride is just still stinging from not being able to live up to his dreams.” Mrs. Stokes shook her head. “Or more like this town’s dreams. That’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want to live here. He thinks he let us down. But we were the ones who let him down. We pushed too hard for him to be the next Roger Staubach. We made him feel like he had to earn our love. I’m sure his daddy leaving him didn’t help his belief that love isn’t given freely. So I did what I did hoping to give us another chance to make Jace feel like he’s more than enough just the way he is.”
“What did you do?”
Mrs. Stokes shrugged. “What I had to. I blackmailed him with the secret I know.”
Before Hallie could get over her shock, Mrs. Stokes started coughing. Hallie was forced to wait until it stopped. While she waited, she tried to figure out what secret Mrs. Stokes could possibly have to blackmail Jace with.
Mrs. Stokes finished coughing and read her confused expression. “Yes. I know about your and Jace’s little dalliance.”
Hallie stared at her. “He told you?”
“Of course not. He’s not the type of man to kiss and tell. I overheard you and him talking at the wedding. And don’t look so scared. I’m not going to tell anyone . . . unless Jace doesn’t fulfill his end of our bargain.”
“Why that’s just plain . . .” She tried to think of a word nasty enough for what the old woman was doing. Mrs. Stokes helped her out.
“Ruthless.” Mrs. Stokes smiled. “Yes. Sometimes you need to be ruthless to get what you want.” She got to her feet and adjusted her ratty mink stole. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get more of those little salmon-and-dill sandwiches. Tasty!” She walked away leaving Hallie feeling like she’d just been in a fight with a viper.
But underneath the shock and anger was another emotion.
A tiny little tingle of something that felt an awful lot like happiness.
The gossip of Jace becoming the new head football coach spread through the group of women like wildfire. Everyone was thrilled. Including Mimi. Although she was also more than a little curious.
“I wonder how Fiona did it. Corbin would have paid Jace twice the amount he’s getting to coach to be our foreman. Fiona must have something up her sleeve. The question is what?”
Before Hallie could think up a good way to get her grandmother’s mind off the track it was going down, her mama spoke. “Now, Mimi, Jace has always loved football more than ranching. We shouldn’t care why he’d staying, just that he is. Now come on and let’s say goodbye to our guests.”
Once all the guests had left, Hallie helped her sisters, Sunny, Mimi, and Mama clean up before Liberty took them upstairs and gave them a tour of the rooms that were being renovated. Each room was named after a sister and decorated for their holiday. Hallie’s would be decorated like a nightmare in black and orange. Thankfully, it held nothing but a bed and dresser at the moment.
But Noelle’s room was finished.
“It’s just perfect!” Noelle gushed when she saw the green-and-red decorated room with the little Christmas tree sitting on a table in front of the window. “Can I stay the night? My social media fans are going to just die when they see it.”
Hallie quickly slipped out of the room before Noelle talked her into filming or taking pictures. Since Noelle had come with her to the shower, that left Hallie to drive home alone.
That’s exactly where she should have gone.
Home.
She certainly shouldn’t have ended up at Mrs. Stokes’ house.
The house was a huge two-story Victorian-style brick home, although it was hard to see the red brick beneath the climbing ivy that covered the front. Mrs. Stokes’ Cadillac was parked in the gravel driveway. She bought a new one every three years, even though she never drove them and never would. She walked to the bank every day and had probably walked to the bed-and-breakfast for the shower. The woman could walk for miles without breaking a sweat, even in her ratty mink stole in hundred-degree weather.
Since Hallie had no desire to run into her coming back from the shower, she parked in the side alley where there was a gate that led to the guesthouse. Unfortunately, once she got out of her truck, she realized there was a padlock on the gate. She glanced at the top of the chain-link fence. It didn’t look that high.
At least it didn’t when she was standing on the ground. When she was teetering on the top, it was a different story.
The neighbor’s dog spotted her and started barking. Not wanting to attract the attention of the entire neighborhood, she quickly swung a leg over the top pole and made sure the toe of her boot was securely tucked in a link before she swung her other leg over. But before she could secure that foot, her other foot slipped. She grabbed on to the top pole and caught herself, but in the process her dress snagged on a point of the chain link and she was stuck dangling there while she tried to find a foothold.
The clearing of a throat behind her had her freezing.
“Ms. Stokes?” She squeezed her eyes shut, praying she’d hear the old woman’s phlegmy voice. Instead she heard a deep, husky one.
“Nope.”