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“Chad,” Megan reprimanded with a frown, “I don’t think that’s any of your business. I’m sure Elizabeth would tell us if there’s a problem.”
Elizabeth smiled politely and said nothing, keeping her gaze averted.
Before the silence grew too strained, Toby said, “Elizabeth has big plans for the Halloween party this year.”
That topic got the family’s attention, for which Elizabeth was grateful. The twins spoke up at once.
“Yeah, we’re going to be auctioned off,” Russ said.
“Oh, really?” Mildred exclaimed. “Remember when we auctioned off lunches for the church roof fund? Is it the same kind of deal?”
“Uh, yes. The men will bring a picnic dinner and the single ladies can bid on them. To raise money for the teachers’ fund. And Toby, Russ and Rich have agreed to participate.” Elizabeth flashed a grateful smile at the three.
“Hey! What about us?” Josh demanded. “Jim and I should get to sign up for it, too. After all, we’re college men.”
“But you’ll be away at college, Josh,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“We could come home for the weekend.”
Elizabeth looked at her mother, Megan, for guidance.
“It would help raise more money,” she pointed out.
“But you probably should limit it to twenty-one or older,” Chad suggested, “for legality’s sake.”
Elizabeth didn’t know what to say. “I’d better consult with Abby Gaylord before I make any decisions. She’s in charge of our projects.”
“Abby? I should’ve known she was involved in this,” Russ said in disgruntled tones.
“Why do you say that?” Janie, his mother, asked. “Abby is a very nice young lady.”
“Yeah. Too nice,” Rich contributed. “She was always getting us in trouble at school.”
“I didn’t hear about you getting in trouble at school,” Janie pointed out, staring at her sons with speculation in her eyes. “Do you want to explain?”
“Uh, no, Mom. Rich was just kidding. Right, Rich?” Russ added. Then he looked at Red. “Dinner is really great, Red. Did you put something different in the meat loaf tonight?”
Several of the adults, including Toby, smiled. Elizabeth, too, realized Russ was trying to redirect the conversation.
“Is Cleve going to participate in the auction?” Chad asked. He stared at Elizabeth.
“Um, I doubt it. He doesn’t know anyone around here except for the family,” Elizabeth said, again avoiding her father’s gaze.
“It would give him a chance to make new friends,” Jake offered.
His wife protested. “Elizabeth and Cleve might be married by then. Honey,” she added, looking at Elizabeth, “have you and Cleve looked for a place to live?”
“No, not really. I don’t think we’ll be married before Halloween, so there’s plenty of time.”
Elizabeth changed the subject, telling about people asking about Toby coming home, centering the attention on him instead of her.
When dinner was over, Toby volunteered to be in charge of cleanup. Red and Mildred were seldom allowed to do the cleaning. After all, Red was seventy-four and Mildred seventy-one. It was enough for them to do all the cooking.
In spite of the younger guys’ complaints, everyone else began to leave the room. Then B.J. noticed her husband and his brothers were remaining at the table.
“Aren’t you coming, Jake?” she asked.
“Aw, honey, we want to watch the boys, see if they take care of everything. It does our old bodies good to see them working more.”
The ladies all left the room, chuckling.
Once the door had closed, Toby looked at his stepfather. “You don’t trust us to clean up?”
“Hell, boy, I’d trust you with anything. But Chad has something he wants to ask you and, well, I’m supporting him.”
“Us, too,” Brett added. Pete nodded.
Toby frowned, worried about what they were going to ask. He was already trapped into the bachelor auction. He didn’t need any more traps.
Chad cleared his throat. “Boy, you remember how you took care of Caro and Lizzie when you were younger? How those two little girls followed you around, willing to do anything you told them to do?”
Toby nodded, but he was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Yeah, but that was a long time ago.”
“I know it was, but—but I’m desperate.”
“What is it, Dad?” Jim asked. “Drew and I could help.”
“I appreciate the offer, Jim, but I don’t think you and Drew could convince Elizabeth.”
“Uh-oh,” Jim muttered. “You’re right.”
Toby looked at Jim sharply, but he didn’t ask what they were talking about. He was pretty sure he knew.
“Toby,” Chad said, “I want you to talk to Elizabeth about marrying this Cleve. She needs to take some time to think about what she’s doing. The man is a stiff. He doesn’t fit in around here and never will. I think he’s marrying her because he thinks we’ll give him money.”
“Well, he could be right,” Brett said, grinning. “You’d give him money to get lost.”
“Yeah, if I thought it would work. But Toby could talk her out of it. Couldn’t you, Toby?”
“I don’t think—that is, Elizabeth is a woman now. As hardheaded as any of them, Uncle Chad. I don’t think she’d listen to me.”
“But would you just try?”
While Toby was trying to figure out how he could turn down Chad’s plea, Pete said, “Makes me glad I only had boys, even if they are ornery.”
“I think maybe we’re not giving Cleve a chance,” Toby said carefully. “After all, he’s the first one to want to marry into the family. Maybe we’re all over-reacting.”
Jake shook his head. “It’s not that, son. We’d love to have more babies in the family. But his babies? Ugh! I think you should help Chad out here.”
“Dad—” Toby began, but he couldn’t resist his stepfather’s request. With a sigh he replied, “Okay, fine, I’ll try to talk to Elizabeth, but I don’t think it will do any good.”
As if afraid Toby might change his mind suddenly, the older generation fled the kitchen, leaving Toby with his cousins.
“Sucker,” Toby’s brother said. “You know you can’t talk a woman out of love. Into love, maybe, but not out of love.”
“What could I do? You saw their faces. I couldn’t say no.”
“Well, I think—” Russ began when the kitchen door opened.
Elizabeth walked into the kitchen, her eyes fastened on Toby. “Dad said you wanted to talk to me, Toby. What about?”
Damn it, they hadn’t even left the timing up to him. “Uh, yeah, but I need to finish the cleaning up.” At least he could stall until he’d gathered his thoughts.
“Don’t worry about that, Tobe,” Rich sang out, a grin on his face. “We’ll take care of it. Don’t keep Elizabeth waiting.”
Toby turned away from Elizabeth, so she couldn’t see his expression. “Thanks, Rich, I’ll be sure to pay you back.” His expressions conveyed his meaning to his cousin.
Rich stepped closer to his brother. “No need,” he said.
“Oh, yeah, Rich. You know I don’t like to owe anyone.” Toby gave him a fierce smile that wiped the smile off his cousin’s face.
“Elizabeth, why don’t we walk to the barn. I need to see if Cocoa is doing okay after all our hard work today.”
She crossed the kitchen to the back door and Toby followed, frantically trying to think how to approach such a delicate subject.
The night air was cooling these days, ready for the move into fall. Toby took a deep breath. “You warm enough?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. What’s going on? It seemed to me that the others know what the discussion is about. What do we need to talk about? Are you trying to get out of the bachelor auction?”
“No, of course not. I gave my word.”
“Well, then, what?”
Toby stopped by the corral and propped one of his feet on the lowest rail, hanging his arms over the top one and called to Cocoa. “Do you remember when you named him?”
Distracted, Elizabeth reached out to pet the horse when he came near. “Of course. I was thrilled. Is he still your favorite?”
“Yeah. He’s the best ever.” Toby stroked the horse also, until his fingers accidently touched Elizabeth’s. He jerked his hands back. But he figured he’d distracted her from their topic of conversation.
“So what did Dad ask you to talk about? Cleve?”
So much for distraction. It didn’t seem to be his specialty. “How did you know?”
“Because Dad has let me know how disappointed he is about my choice,” Elizabeth stated calmly.
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Of course it does! But I also don’t think he’s given Cleve a fair shake. And that’s not like Daddy.”
“Maybe Uncle Chad knows more about Cleve than you do. Can’t you trust your father’s instincts?”
“Do you trust your father’s instincts?” she asked, turning the tables on him.
“Of course I do!”
“Then why did you hit the rodeo trail? You knew he didn’t want you to, didn’t you? We certainly all realized it. He and B.J. were depressed for months after you left.”
“That’s not fair, Elizabeth. Dad and Mom may not’ve wanted me to go, but there was nothing dangerous about it.”
Elizabeth laughed, but the sound didn’t have any joy in it. “You think rodeoing isn’t dangerous? I beg to differ. What about that man who died early this year because he landed on his head and had a concussion? Do you think his family would say there was nothing dangerous about rodeoing?”
“He was a beginner. Didn’t know what he was doing.”
“You were a beginner, too.”
Toby sighed. He’d known this would be a disaster. “I was experienced. We’d done a lot of rodeoing ever since I was a kid. And we’re not here to discuss the rodeo as a career choice. We’re here to discuss your choice for a husband. Wasn’t there anyone better?”
“Oh, I see, your theory is I just reached out and blindly selected the first man in sight, and it happened to be an intelligent, handsome man. Poor me.”
“Your description is inaccurate. I’d say you grabbed a man who is arrogant, insensitive and stupid.”
“Cleve made straight As and Bs,” she protested hotly!
“I made straight As, period.” He glared at her.
“Well, everyone can’t be perfect like Toby Randall!”
Toby turned his back to her. The temptation to grab her and kiss any thoughts of Cleve out of her head was too tempting. “I told your dad this wouldn’t work.”
“What wouldn’t work?”
“He thought since you used to follow me around, you’d listen to my opinion on your choice.”
“I followed you around when I was a child. And if I remember correctly, I stopped following you around because you made it plain you wanted me to go away so you could neck with your girlfriend!”
Toby couldn’t hold back a rueful chuckle. “Well, you and Caro did kind of hamper my love life for a while.”
Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and sniffed the night air in disgust. “I can assure you I won’t do so again. But I have the right to ask the same promise from you.”
“Honey, we’re all only thinking of you. If there’s one change in you I’ve definitely noticed, it’s your stubbornness. But life with Cleve may take all your independence away. Because he’s definitely that kind of man.”
“And you’re not?” she asked. “What do you call what you’re doing now?”
“I’m asking you to think about what you’re doing. To think about what you’ll do when the man wants to move away. And you know he will. He’s not going to be happy here. He won’t be able to work with Bill Johnson. Then what are you going to do?”
She huffed and turned to head for the house. He grabbed her arm without thinking, then quickly released it. Touching her wasn’t safe.
“Elizabeth?”
