Page 27 of Long Past Dawn
Heaven was grinning when she leaned back. “I agree. There’s the added benefit that Beau is going to lose his boots when he sees you in it!”
That got a smile out of me. I shook my finger at Heaven. “You’re naughty, and that’s why I love you. Oh, Beau!” I exclaimed suddenly, and she tipped her head when I handed her the vest.
“What about Beau? He’s already got his outfit. He’s wearing a western tuxedo shirt, bolo tie, his dress Wranglers, of course, and a Stetson—”
“Of course, I would expect nothing else from that quintessential cowboy,” I said, laughing with her. “What I meant was, I have a vest just like that. Beau made it for me last year, remember?”
Heaven held the vest up again and eyed it before she threw her head back and laughed. “I knew it looked familiar when I saw it out there! Okay, so we don’t need the vest, just the dress?”
“I think so. I’ll wear the vest Beau made me and my boots with the red roses on the side. Do you remember that pair? I save them for special occasions.”
Her grin widened when she hung the vest back on the hanger. “I do remember those now! You haven’t worn them in years. They’ll rock with this dress. You’re set! Let’s check out and get lunch. I don’t want to go back to the ranch yet. We drove all the way here, so we might as well play a little.”
I pulled the dress over my head and handed it to her. She didn’t take it from my hand. Instead, she ran her finger down my side. “I knew you’d lost weight, but Dawn, I can see your ribs. Are you eating anything?”
I grabbed my shirt and pulled it on to avoid having to look at her when I lied. “I eat all the time. My medication can bother my stomach, so I don’t always eat a lot.”
Heaven left the dress off the hanger and hung it over her arm. “Maybe, but you weren’t being treated this winter.”
I pulled my pants on and stepped back into my boots. After I grabbed my jacket and purse from the chair, I opened the door for her. “Let it go, Heaven. I can’t change it right now, okay?”
We walked in silence to the checkout, where she insisted on purchasing the dress for me. I objected but couldn’t do it too loudly and embarrass her in front of the associate. I held the door for her, and she scooted through, beeping the lock open on the new truck Blaze had bought her this winter when hers finally bought the farm. He’d had it outfitted with a unique steering wheel spinner knob that also had her turn signals, headlights, and windshield wiper controls built into it. The truck was much more comfortable for her to drive, and we all felt better knowing she was safe on the road now.
“Thank you for buying the dress, Heaven,” I said when we were seat belted in and headed down the road. “I don’t think that’s the job of the bride, though.”
Heaven shrugged and stared straight ahead. “Maybe not, but you’ve carried my butt more times than I care to count. Besides, the dress was less than fifty bucks. It wasn’t a big deal. Should we get some lunch?”
I lowered a brow to my nose. “Are you going to harp on me about how much I do or don’t eat if I agree?”
She shook her head and pursed her lips. “You’re a grown-up and can do whatever you see fit, Dawn.”
I sighed and dropped my chin to my chest. “I’m sorry if I upset you. God, you don’t know how much I wish I had an appetite, but I don’t. I do the best I can, and the doctor is monitoring my weight now, okay? He’s making me supplement what I eat with those nutritional drink things for extra calories, too.”
“Okay,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to upset you either. I’m just worried about a lot of things. Your health is at the top of my list.”
I squeezed her shoulder and nodded. “Let’s go get some lunch. Maybe I can put some of those worries to rest, okay?”
She headed back toward the bridge on a sunny afternoon, and I stared out the window at the magnificence of Lake Superior. Visible for as far as the eye could see, you could certainly get lost on any part of it and disappear forever, never to be seen again. There were days I wanted to start over in a new place and forget about my problems in Wellspring, but those problems would just follow me wherever I went. There was no escaping my worries, but if I could make Heaven feel better about hers, then that was my job today. I didn’t see my happiness written in the stars, so it might be my lot in life to make sure everyone else found theirs.
I thought back to Thursday night when Beau had his lips on mine as the stars twinkled above us, and it made me wonder if a person could write their own happy ending. The look in Beau’s sienna eyes as they gazed into mine told me that was what I wanted more than anything else in this world.
The wind blew off the lake to ruffle the hair on top of my head. I made sure the food wrappings were inside the takeout bag and then tucked it under a log, so it didn’t blow away. Heaven was down by the water, picking up rocks and trying not to get wet from the brush of the waves on the sand. The beach at Wisconsin Point was one of my favorite places to be in the spring. There was never anyone around, the sand was warm from the spring sunshine, and the peaceful sounds of the birds and the lake always lowered my heart rate and helped me relax. It had been a long winter. I loved coming here to find a little peace with nature, and I was grateful for the chance to visit before heading back home.
“I forgot how wonderful this place is,” Heaven said, sitting beside me on a piece of driftwood. “It’s always so soul cleansing. Whenever I sit here and stare at the water, I forget about all my responsibilities at home. Weird how that works, isn’t it?”
I leaned over on my thighs and rested my forearms there. “Yeah, it definitely does that.”
Heaven tipped her head at me and held my hand with her tiny one. “Are you leaving us, Dawn? I’ll understand if you are, but it’s going to kill me.”
I snapped my head around to stare at her. “No! I’m not leaving. What makes you think that?”
“Your reaction to the offer to own part of the ranch, for starters,” she answered immediately.
My gaze darted back to the lake to avoid her eyes. “You took me by surprise, and I didn’t know how to react. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret down the road with your daddy’s ranch. You’ve hung onto it with all your might for so many years. You don’t have to give us a partnership in it. You don’t. You can promote us and pay us more without giving us a slice of the pie.”
“I’m aware of that,” she said, nodding with me. “The thing is, I don’t want to do that. I want you and Tex to own part of the land you’ve essentially homesteaded.”
“We didn’t homestead anything. You owned the property, not the government.”
