It soon became clear, however, that Colby wasn’t there because of Valerie. He hadn’t known she was catching a flight that afternoon, and when he heard, he seemed to accept it as inevitable. Furthermore, he had no intention of stopping her. No intention of asking her to stay. If anything, he seemed almost relieved at her imminent departure.
When the moment came for Valerie to go, Steffie thought she might burst into tears herself. She’d so desperately wanted to believe in the power of love, in its ability to knock down barriers and leap over obstacles.
Valerie hugged them all farewell, and with shoulders held stiff and straight, walked from the porch to her rental car. Then, just before she left, she turned and looked at Colby.
Steffie would always remember the tenderness she saw in her sister’s eyes. It was as though she’d reached back, one last time, to say goodbye…and to thank him. At least, that was how it seemed to Steffie. She’d never been so affected by a mere glance. That look of Valerie’s was full of love, but it also expressed dignity and a gracious acceptance.
Steffie was trying to sort out her mingled emotions of anger and pain as Valerie drove away. She turned to Colby, who still stared after her sister’s car. It took every ounce of self-control she had not to scream at him. Only the anguish in his eyes prevented her from lashing out, and when she recognized the intensity of his pain, her own anger was replaced by a bleak hopelessness.
“She’s gone,” he whispered.
“She’ll be back,” her father said with the same unquestioning confidence that had driven Steffie nearly mad with frustration.
“No,” she insisted, her voice quavering. “She won’t. Not for a very long time.”
Then, unable to face either Colby or her father, she dashed back into the house. Norah followed soon afterward, and Steffie realized that her younger sister was crying.
“She’s going to marry Rowdy Cassidy,” Norah wailed. “What’s so terrible is that she doesn’t even love him.”
“Then what makes you think Valerie would do anything so foolish?” Steffie asked calmly. Valerie might be unhappy about losing Colby Winston, but she was too sensible to enter into a loveless marriage.
“You don’t understand,” Norah said as she continued to sob. “He’s in love with her. He’s called nearly every day and sent flowers and…and Valerie’s so vulnerable right now. I just know she’s going to make a terrible mistake.”
“Val’s not going to do anything stupid,” Steffie reassured her sister. Valerie wouldn’t marry her boss on the rebound—Steffie was confident of that. Deep down, she knew exactly what her sister would be doing for the next three years—if not longer. She knew because she’d done it herself. Valerie would try to escape into her work, to the exclusion of everything else. Because then she wouldn’t have time to hurt, time to deal with regrets and might-have-beens. She wouldn’t have time to look back or relive the memories.
An hour later, Steffie took a glass of iced tea out to her father, who stubbornly refused to leave the porch. He sat in his rocking chair, anxiously studying the road. “They’ll both be back,” he said again.
Steffie didn’t try to disillusion him. By nightfall he’d be forced to accept the truth without her prompting.
Within ten minutes of Valerie’s departure, Colby had left, too. He hadn’t raced down the driveway in hot pursuit or given the slightest indication that he was going anywhere but back to town.
“Mark my words,” her father said confidently. “Valerie and Colby will be married before the end of June.”
“Dad…”
“And you and Charles will follow a few weeks later. All three of my daughters are going to be married this summer. I know it in my heart, as surely as I know my own name.”
Although she nearly choked, Steffie swallowed her words of argument.
Needing some physical activity to vent her frustrations, she saddled Princess. She knew better than to try her luck with Fury again. But the mare, who was generally docile, seemed to sense Steffie’s mood and galloped down the long pasture road and across the rocky field until they reached the bluff. The same place Fury had taken her.
Holding the reins, Steffie slid off the mare’s back and sat on the very rock she had before. She lost track of time as she sat looking out on the valley, thinking about Valerie. And Colby. Remembering her own disastrous relationship with Charles, and how her willful behavior had destroyed any chance they’d had three years ago. Now there seemed to be a fresh beginning for her and Charles, however fragile it might be. Not for Valerie, though… Life wasn’t fair, she thought, and love didn’t make everything perfect.
She rode slowly back and had just finished rubbing down Princess and leading her into her stall when Charles appeared. “I thought I heard someone here.” He stood by the stable door, hands on his hips, smiling.
“Charles.” She shouldn’t have been so surprised to see him. After all, he’d made a point of telling her he’d be in touch.
“Your dad figured you’d gone out riding, but he seemed to think you’d be home soon.”
“Have you been waiting long?”
“Not really. Your father’s kept me entertained.”
“Is he still on the front porch?”
“He hasn’t moved since I got here.”
Dispirited, Steffie looked away. “That’s what I was afraid of. Valerie’s gone, and he seems to believe she’ll come back if he sits there long enough.”
Charles frowned heavily. “Is something going on? A problem?”
“No,” she answered quickly, perhaps too quickly because Charles’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I mean, nothing you need to worry about. Dad desperately wants to believe Colby and Val will kiss and make up—that’s the reason he’s being so stubborn. By dinnertime he’ll have to recognize that it simply isn’t going to happen.”
It might’ve been because she was nervous and flustered, or maybe she just wasn’t watching where she was going, but Steffie tripped over a bale of hay.
Although she threw out her arms in an effort to right herself, it was too late. She fell forward, but before she completely lost her balance, Charles caught her around the waist. He twisted his body so that when they went down, he took the brunt of the fall.