whose big brown eyes went from her to Jake and back to Caitlin. “I’m back. Cecilia, I want you to meet Jake Benton.”
“Mr. Benton, welcome to Caitlin’s home,” Cecilia said warmly, extending her hand to Jake who smiled as he took her hand.
“Jake, this is Cecilia Mayes. I’ve told you about her,” Caitlin said, studying the two of them. Jake sounded incredibly polite, not the least a hard-hearted owner who would evict them. He towered over Cecilia who was only five feet tall, small-boned and thin. She wore a flowered cotton housedress and sandals. Her gray hair was fastened behind her head in a bun. She looked as sweet as she actually was to everyone and Caitlin loved her deeply and wanted to protect her from harm.
“I’m glad to meet you, ma’am,” Jake said politely. “Please just call me Jake.”
“Certainly,” she said. “Come in, please. We can sit in the front parlor and I hope you’ll stay for lunch with us. I told Altheda to plan for that.”
“Thank you, but I should get home before then. I can sit a minute and visit.”
“Fine,” she said.
“Cecilia, I want to take Jake to meet Altheda and show him a little of the house. Then we’ll join you in the front parlor.”
“Of course,” Cecilia said.
“I want you to see some of the inside of this house,” she told Jake when she was alone with him. “The original house is over a hundred years old. Grandmother made changes, had closets built in, added a wing, a deck and pool, an entertainment center. I’ve added an office. Even so, a lot is still the same.”
Fresh flowers from the garden were on the dining room table, visible from the wide hall when they walked through the open door. Jake’s Western boots scraped the polished plank floor. Tempting smells of baking bread wafted in the air and Caitlin was pleased by the appearance of the house.
Deep red velvet chairs circled the mahogany dining table. Cut glass and silver filled a breakfront.
“This room was off limits to me as a very small child unless I was invited to eat in here with the family. We had holiday gatherings fairly often when I was small. There won’t be any now or anytime in the future.”
“I remember our family get-togethers, tedious to mind my manners, yet fun in teasing Brittany and Gabe when they couldn’t get back at me.”
“Will did that anytime he was here. The first few times I told on him, he denied everything and I got in trouble, so I just learned to endure his mischief. Only he was mean, pinching me during the family prayer when he knew I wouldn’t yell, mean tricks he could get away with.”
“The bastard,” Jake said.
“That’s what Will called me far too often when no one else could hear him. If he got a chance, he reminded me that I was born out of wedlock and neither of my parents wanted me enough to keep me.”
She hoped she kept emotion out of her voice, but it was difficult even after all these years to be unemotional about Will’s accusations that actually were on target.
“Thank heavens for my grandmother,” Caitlin added.
“She gave you almost as much as your father could have given you. If he had taken you in, you would have had to live under the same roof as Will and you would never have known your grandmother as well as you did.”
“I’ve thought of that many times. Were I given a choice to live my life over with Dad or again with Grandmother, I would pick my life with Grandmother. It was a happy time growing up and she was loving and wonderful to me.”
“She didn’t have the same charitable attitude toward my father.”
“Definitely not. She disliked him enormously because of the beating he gave my dad.”
“Our families have a long and violent history,” Jake remarked.
“I don’t know if either of us can ever view the other without thinking about our bloodlines,” she said.
“I definitely can look at you and forget,” Jake said softly. “When I am near you, that old feud is the last thing I’m thinking about.”
“I’m not pursuing what you are thinking about,” she stated with a laugh. “Let me show you more of the house.
“Here’s the kitchen,” she said, entering a room she loved with a high ceiling and glass-fronted cabinets. Floor-to-ceiling glass gave a panoramic view of the pool and a decorator-designed deck.
Two ceiling fans slowly revolved. A woman in a black uniform with a white apron turned to smile at them. In her hand she held a tray from the oven with tempting-looking brownies.
“Jake, this is Altheda Perkins who has worked here since she was seventeen. Altheda, meet Jake Benton, the man who now owns the ranch.”
“Glad to meet you Mr. Benton,” she said politely, her smile fading slightly for a brief moment and then returning. Her white hair was a mass of curls framing her face. “Would either of you care for a brownie and milk? I can bring them to the front parlor.”
Jake declined at the same time Caitlin did. “We both just finished breakfast. Perhaps later this morning, we might enjoy a bite.”
To Jake she said, “The cabinets in here are the originals. The glass fronts are more trouble to take care of, but Altheda is willing and I love them.”
“Nice kitchen,” he said, looking around. The appliances were as up-to-date as his own, yet the kitchen retained the charm and appearance of another century and Caitlin loved every inch of it.
Caitlin showed him the new part of the house only briefly, dwelling more on the original and older rooms and areas. She tried to make him see that he would be destroying a treasure if he tore it down.
Beyond a polite interest, she couldn’t detect any other feelings about what he was seeing. She loved her grandmother’s house more than any other place and couldn’t see it as anything except a precious home that should be maintained and enjoyed.
How steeped was Jake in the hatred that always lay smoldering between the two families?
She led him through downstairs rooms and then they returned to join Cecilia in the parlor.
Jake sat, talking politely to Cecilia, laughing at a story she told that had involved him in town. Occasionally as they talked, Caitlin glanced at her watch or the clock on the mantel and was gratified to see that an hour had passed and Jake not only showed no signs of leaving, but seemed to be enjoying himself talking to Cecilia.
Altheda appeared with brownies, a pot of steaming coffee, mugs and saucers.
Jake made a phone call and let Caitlin talk him into staying for lunch.
It was after two in the afternoon when he said he had to get back to the ranch and Caitlin went out to his truck with him.
He held her arm to walk around to his side. “I’d like to walk off into the woods with you or the nearest shed or anywhere we could be alone.”
“I
