Chapter Twenty-Three
Rachel
The morning was loud, busy, and yet completely uneventful. The extra mouths to feed woke up long after the men had eaten, cleaned up after themselves, and scattered to take care of their assignments. Daniel and I had overslept, but still had time to take a ride together before his brothers and my family assembled for breakfast.
As we walked up to the table, our mothers were speaking with much gesturing and animation to Tracy, Freddie, and Amanda. Verica had eaten with the men and was tailing Pete, which he seemed to be enjoying very much, so I wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t involved with the henhouse gathering. All the talking stopped like a switch had been flipped the moment my mother saw me.
“Good morning, Rachel, honey. How are you this morning?” she asked in syrupy tones. My guard went up immediately and I sighed, rolling my eyes at Daniel.
“And this is why no one ever tells you what they’re getting people for Christmas, Mom,” I drawled as I speared some bacon onto my plate next to a healthy serving of hash browns. “You lack the guile to be sufficiently deceitful.” Tracy, who had known her long enough to truly understand her inability to even keep a secret, choked on her mimosa, laughing.
“Well,” my mother huffed. I instantly felt bad for teasing her, but she waved off my apology. “We were discussing your wedding. There is no better time for all of us to go into Austin and look at dresses and find you a planner than today, while we’re all together.” I gaped as I glared at Tracy and Freddie. I needed them to help me keep the whole wedding under control and not let my mother bankrupt my father again because of me.
“I thought we were just having it here, with basically the same people who are here now,” I stammered. Daniel snickered behind me and I felt a slap on my butt before he escaped into the house claiming a backlog of paperwork to get Verica on staff. “Mom, really. There is no need to go all out…”
Hannah made a shushing sound and led me over to a seat. “We know you want a small wedding and we will honor that.” I made a rude sound to express my disbelief. My mother glared at me but Hannah continued as if she hadn’t heard me at all. “Let’s just go ahead and go into town, that way, when you go back to school, you don’t need to waste what little time you and Daniel have together on the wedding.”
I pursed my lips and sighed. Shit, they had me. I knew it, and my friends had obviously heard and agreed to the same argument. I hated going back to school at all. I wasn’t about to give up one second of whatever time I could eek out to spend on the ranch discussing cake flavors and party favors. I nodded and left them to their conniving while I let Daniel know we would probably be gone until dinner. He laughed and kissed me and reminded me to have fun.
I dragged my feet, but took solace from the time I got to spend with my friends and invited Amanda to come along. We piled into Hannah’s SUV and made our way down to Austin while my mother made phone calls and tried to get us appointments with the best wedding planners in town. Considering how short the timeline was, I talked her into asking Hannah’s designer friend if she wanted to give it a shot instead.
As it turned out, as busy as she was during the Christmas season, she seemed delighted to take care of it all and only asked if her husband could come along, so they could still spend Christmas Eve together, which I would have felt like a heel saying no to on any day, let alone Christmas. By the time we reached the first bridal dress shop, even I was getting in the mood to try on all the princess dresses and pick one for myself. Of course, that may have been the Starbucks, but even a caffeine high is a legitimate reason to party.
I must have tried on twenty dresses before the mothers would let us try another store. I wanted to pick dresses for my bridesmaids, almost all of which were with me. I had taken the drive time to stress about how to not hurt any feelings, texting Daniel like I was in a hostage situation looking for an escape. He reminded me that he had four brothers to consider, so I decided in the end that everyone involved with making the Ranch my home should be included, even Amanda and Verica. I wondered what poor Verica would think of being thrown into this, but relief that I could just ask and let her decide was enough for me, for now.
I had my head in a tube of frothy, white fabric when I heard a muffled voice that sent chills down my spine. I wriggled my way through so I could leave the dressing room, taking tiny steps in the slim-cut column dress.
“Well, it looks like someone needs a helper in the dressing room!” exclaimed that voice as I peered out into the waiting room where my clan all sat. I looked in a mirror, and sure enough, my hair looked like I had been pulled through a wind tunnel, backward. Sara was standing in the doorway, eyebrows raised, smirking. “You step into those, darling.” She snickered before making herself at home on one of the available seats.
“What are you doing here, Sara?” I asked in a snarl. I fought the urge to pat my hair down and stared her down.
“I was just checking in on rumors,” she tittered. “It looks like you’ve gotten carried away with that little crush of yours.” She saw me flinch and went for blood. “How are you going to explain being here if Daniel finds out? How awkward.”
She lounged back in the seat, ignoring my mother’s gasp. I pulled my gloves off and made certain she could see the enormous diamond and filigree ring Daniel had talked me into wearing, grateful for his persistence.
“I’m not sure what you mean, Sara,” I replied coolly. “But please, if you’re staying, let me introduce you.” She rolled her eyes and I continued. “Sara Abbott, this is my mom, Mrs. Martinez, Daniel’s mother, and my good friends, Tracy, Fredericka, and Amanda.” Her eyes already widened at the sight of the ring, went wide as plates as I introduced Hannah, whom I realized had never actually met Sara. I left Amanda out of it, but she looked ready to throw in for a catfight without any help from me.
“Of course, little friends from school, you must be so excited,” Sara tossed an obligatory insult at my girls and I wondered for a moment if she’d lain in wait until I was wearing a dress I couldn’t move in well-enough to beat her up.
“Oh, not me,” Amanda chimed in, causing Sara and I both to start and look in her direction. “I know Rachel through Tucker. We’ve been dating for a few months and we live together.” Sara finally looked uncomfortable.
“Well, isn’t he lucky,” she managed to choke out. “I suppose he had to go somewhere once I stopped taking his calls.” She recovered and I saw Tracy lay her hand on Amanda’s arm.
“Now, now, Sara,” I spoke up. “We understand that screwing your father’s married friends is a task that requires a great deal of planning and attention to the details of your lies. It’s only understandable that you wouldn’t have time for anyone else.” She glared at me and I couldn’t help but gloat a little, despite my little “inside voice” yelling at me to stop. “It must be difficult, never being the woman your men actually want to stay with. Don’t worry about Daniel; the Hargrave men know quality when they get their hands on it.” I smiled broadly. “I guess he was just waiting for the right kind of woman, one worth admitting he was with.”
I spun on my heel and sashayed into the dressing room before signaling for help from the shop assistant, who was shiny eyed and giggling as she undid my dress.
“You looked so cool and calm out there, and you just told her off. You told her so good.” She snickered as she slid the dress down my body and I stepped out. Nonetheless, I’d lost my appetite for dress shopping and told the girl I’d need to come back and finish later. She seemed sympathetic as she penciled me in for a later date and I changed into my own clothes.
Outside, I let my feelings known as gently as I could for the sake of my poor mother. I texted Daniel and told him she’d found me. He promised to take care of it, but I asked him to leave it alone.
I didn’t tell him that the last thing I needed was for her to decide I was challenging her and actually try something with Daniel. After all, there wasn’t much he could do aside from ask her nicely to stop. That witch didn’t know the meaning of the word. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to convince my mother that lilies weren’t only for funerals and laughing over absurd ideas for centerpieces that we found at the decorating stores and Tai Pan Trading Company.
I was more grateful than I could express when we finally pulled up in front of the big house just as Patty was ringing the dinner bell. Daniel looked surprised when I kissed him as long and deeply as I did when he greeted us at the door, but he knew better than to say anything about it. No matter how hard I tried to accept the good that had come into my life, there was always an ugly undercurrent to rip the peace and contentment out of my hands.
Once we were alone, Daniel finally made me aware of the lies and gossip that Sara had been spreading on Jason’s behalf, and the threats of a lawsuit against his family. I thought I would buckle and cry. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide. But I had run out of tears, and they’d run out of ways to make me afraid. I made Daniel promise not to do anything to risk his livelihood or self-respect. Then I asked him to sleep in his own bed and leave me to mine. I needed time to think and didn’t want my inevitable tossing and turning to keep him awake. I could see that he was upset by my request, but he let me kiss him goodnight and left without a fight.
I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let either our respective past lovers, or the ugly contamination of both of them together, steal our joy or our love. Texas Tango was now the crown jewel of the Hargrave empire. Verica would race him better than anyone could expect, I knew it in my bones. I wasn’t going anywhere. Not when we were so close to ushering in a new era for both our families and Lago Colina.
I plotted and made a decision around the knot in my stomach. I wouldn’t tell Daniel. He would never agree. But, I wouldn’t handle it alone. I laid my head on my pillow and fell into the deep sleep of one who has made up her mind, for better or worse, without fear of the consequences. Though, the action I had to take scared me a little.
I knew in the end Daniel’s dreams were too important for me to not do anything at all. And, if I dreamed of Daniel in the embrace of another, no one could blame me. The woman was a virus; she infected everything she touched.