Page 136 of Texas Glory
“Probably not. I need to check on my herd.”
“Then I’ll say good-bye. In spite of the heartache we’ve suffered, I’ll take some cherished memories with me, and I thank you for that.”
“Goddammit! I don’t want your gratitude.” He spun around, anger flaring in his eyes. “I never wanted your gratitude.”
“That’s too bad because you have it.”
A ghost of a smile flitted over his face. “Whatever happened to the shy woman I married, the woman who cowered when I kicked in the bedroom door? You’d probably throw your brush at me now.”
“Yes, I think I would.” If her fingers hadn’t been trembling, she might have gone with her instincts and reached out to comb the wayward lock of hair off his brow. “On your next wedding night, don’t kick in the door.”
“I won’t.”
His quietly spoken words hurt far more than she had expected them to. He would have another wedding night, another wife … the son he desired—all that she wanted him to have. The knowledge should have filled her with joy, not pain.
“I need to start packing.” She walked halfway across the office, stopped, and glanced over her shoulder. “Dallas, next time hand your wife the flowers instead of leaving them on the bed. She might discover them too late.”
She strolled out of the room while everything inside her screamed to stay.
Rawley Cooper knew too much about sadness not to recognize it when he saw it.
Miz Dee was about the saddest-looking person he’d ever seen. He thought she might even be sadder than she’d been the night they whipped Mr. Leigh.
She sat on the edge of his bed, wearing a smile that looked like she’d drawn it on a piece of paper and slapped it over her lips. It wasn’t warm like her smiles usually were. It didn’t reach up and touch her eyes.
At any moment, he expected her to cry, and she was holding his hand so tightly that he was surprised he hadn’t heard a bone crack. With trembling fingers, she brushed the hair off his brow. It fell back into place, and she brushed it again, over and over.
“I love you, Rawley,” she finally said quietly.
Those were the prettiest words he’d ever heard, and he was afraid he’d be the one who cried. He wished he could say them back to her because he did love her, but the words couldn’t get past the pain in his chest.
“I wanted you to know that because I’m going to be leaving, and it has nothing to do with you.”
“Leaving?” he croaked.
“Yes, I’m going to build hotels in other towns.” “What about Mr. Leigh?” “He’s going to stay here and take care of you.” “You gonna come back?”
She bit her bottom lip. “No. So I need you to do two very special things for me. I need you to take care of Precious, and I need you to take care of Mr. Leigh. When he has a new wife, I know she will love you as much as I do.”
She stood and pulled back the covers. “Now get into bed.”
He crawled beneath the blankets. She tucked the ends around his shoulders. Then as always, she leaned down to kiss his forehead. He threw his arms around her neck.
“I love you, Miz Dee. Please don’t go.”
She hugged him close. “I have to, Rawley. Because I love you and Mr. Leigh, I have to leave.”
“He won’t let you go. Mr. Leigh won’t let you go.”
She pulled back, and her gaze roamed over his face as though she were trying to etch it in her mind. “Yes, he will. He always gives me what I want, but I can’t give him what he wants.”
She pressed a quick kiss to his forehead—a final kiss, the last one he would ever receive—and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
A glimmer of moonlight filtered through the window. Rawley could see the key in the lock. He no longer felt a need to turn it.
He rolled to his side, curled into a ball, and watched the shadows dance over the walls. He thought about slipping out of the room, finding Mr. Leigh, and talking to him man to man about Miz Dee leaving, but he didn’t see the point.
Mr. Leigh was a man who knew how to fight for what he wanted. Rawley figured sooner or later, Mr. Leigh would decide on his own that he wanted Miz Dee to stay with him.
