Ten
“Maddie—” Jake said, stretching out his arm to take the paper from her, but she twisted out of his reach as she began to read.
“‘To whom it may concern. Having just lost in a game of chance with cards, a gambling game, I hereby pay in gold one half of my debt to Reuben Calhoun.’” Her mouth went dry and her heart began to pound, but she continued with the note.
“‘For the other part of my debt I deed a ten-acre strip of land from the west boundary to the east boundary, along the entire north side of my property, to Reuben Calhoun.’ It’s signed ‘Mortimer Milan.’”
“Maddie, wait a minute—” Jake ordered.
Hurting again as she had so long ago by his actions, she turned to look at him. “This is a deed for part of our ranch to go to the Calhouns. There are witnesses. It’s dated 1887.” She stared at him while pain squeezed her heart. “You were after this deed all along. That’s why you said I could have the gold if we found it.”
Angry, feeling betrayed all over again, she stood and flung the ancient paper at him. “Answer me. You knew about this deed, didn’t you?”
“Listen to me.” He stood facing her. “Yes, I knew about it.”
Closing her eyes, she rocked on her heels as if he had physically hit her, only the blow was to her heart.
“Maddie, I don’t want it now.”
She opened her eyes. “I don’t believe you. You set this all up to see if you could find the deed and have that much of our ranch because that’s where you want to drill.
“Don’t lie to me, Jake,” she demanded, her face flushing. “That’s why you wanted to look for the treasure, not for your ancestors’ remains. Answer me. That’s why you got into this search, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it was in the beginning because we were still angry with each other. Maddie,” he said, walking around the gold between them.
She was shaking as she faced him and she stepped back to avoid his touch. “Take the property. You succeeded completely and you’ve made a fool of me in doing so.”
Closing the distance, he grasped her shoulders and held her. “Listen to me. I don’t want it. I wouldn’t think of hurting you that way. Not now.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, his deceit turning her to ice.
He leaned down and caught up the letter and the deed that was rolled up, tied with a strip of leather with writing on the outside of it.
He handed her the deed. “This may be the real thing and the only copy. Who knows. I’m sure it’s the first deed to this land.” He held up the letter and tore it in two.
Stunned, Madison watched him. “What are you doing?”
“I would never hurt you deliberately.”
“Your family knew you were doing this in hopes of finding the deed, didn’t they? They’ll expect that land to go to them.”
He caught her wrist and picked up the two pieces of the letter. “Come here,” he said, taking her into the kitchen. Still shocked by his tearing up the letter, she followed and watched as he opened a drawer to get a box of matches, striking one. Standing over the sink, he set fire to the lower part of the two strips of paper. He glanced at her as the paper burned brightly.
She could only stare at the flames engulfing the letter as it swiftly disappeared. He dropped the remains into the sink before they burned his hand and she watched them curl into black cinders with a plume of fading gray smoke.
“There is no evidence of any change in the Milan deed now,” he said.
Momentarily speechless, she stared at him. “Why?” she whispered, unable to get the word out clearly. She gulped for breath. “You did all that searching for the treasure just to get that letter.”
* * *
Jake stared at her, his own thoughts in turmoil. “I love you,” he said, declaring it as if more to himself than her. “Maddie, I just realized that I’m in love with you,” he said. He stepped closer to take her in his arms. He felt dazed, but he couldn’t bear to hurt her and he realized he did not want to lose her a second time.
“I promise you, I will not take your property and neither will my family. First of all the letter has been destroyed, so now no one can use it. Second—I wouldn’t let them take your property if they tried. Third—no living person knows about that letter except the two of us.”
“Your family will ask you. Tell them the truth, Jake.”
“They’ll understand why and if any of them don’t, so be it. If we get into it about the land, I can pay them for their share. I don’t care. I love you with all my heart. Maybe I always have deep down. There’s really never been any other woman I’ve been deeply interested in since high school. I love you,” he declared again.
Would she accept what he was telling her? He hoped he’d proved his feelings for her. Hoped she realized that to do what he had just done, he had to love her deeply.
He searched her eyes for a clue to her feelings, and saw all the hurt vanish faster than the letter had, replaced by a shimmering glow. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she reached for him, and he gasped for the breath he’d been holding.
“Oh, Jake,” she said, “I love you with all my heart. I thought I was losing you again. And I misjudged you again—I’m sorry.”
“Shh, Maddie. Originally, I was searching for that deed to wave it in your dad’s face. Sorry.” Jake pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her while he lowered his head to kiss her.
In minutes he picked her up, carrying her to his bedroom, yanking back the covers on the bed and then pulling her into his arms to kiss her again. He had a lot to prove to her, yet again.
* * *
Later, Madison lay beside Jake with his arm around her. She shifted and turned to look at him and he rolled on his side to face her. “What?” he said.
“Won’t your family be terribly unhappy with you?”
“For burning the letter? I don’t think so. We’re all well-fixed. We don’t need to take part of your land. You’ve told me I can lease a piece of your land or present you with an offer and you’ll listen.”
“Yes, but you’ll be paying the Milans for the lease. That’s different from you owning the land,” she said, thinking about what he had just said to her.
He propped his head on his hand to look at her. “I love you, Maddie. I’ve been searching my feelings, but when you got so angry, I was afraid I was going to lose you again. I don’t want that to happen. I want you in my life all the time. This week has been the best week of my life since I was a teenager. The love we had then has gone because it was different. We were kids and I’ll have to admit, maybe your dad was right about us being too young to marry. He just went about keeping us apart in a terrible way.”
“I know he did, Jake. I have never known that side of my dad. I didn’t dream he was capable of doing something so hurtful.”
“It’s over. We’ve got now,” he said, hugging her and shifting so he could kiss her.
“Maddie, I heard an ‘I love you’ from you earlier tonight, didn’t I?”
She raised her head and met his gaze, and now she wasn’t afraid to admit it. “Yes, you did, because I do. I’ve realized that I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, hugging her. He leaned back and propped his head up. “I want to take you out tomorrow night. We haven’t had a fair chance with all that’s been happening. Will you go to dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“I would love to go to dinner with you,” she said, smiling at him.
“Perfect. We need a fun night out.”
She snuggled against him, feeling as if her life was back on an even keel and good once more, finally. In her mind she could hear Jake saying “I love you” again and again.
* * *
Thursday night she stood in front of her mirror, checking herself over far too many times to keep track. She wanted to look her best for Jake. He had seen her in her jeans and cutoffs, out hunting treasure all day with him.
She was dressed in a red sleeveless dress with her hair falling free the way he liked it. She had diamond stud earrings in her ears and high-heeled red pumps that matched her knee-length dress. She was eager to be with him, and when she heard the door chimes, she flew to the door.
Smiling, she opened the door to face him and her breath caught in her throat.
Dressed in a navy suit with a white shirt and red tie, he looked more handsome than ever before. His gaze ran over her and the warm approval showed in his dark brown eyes. “You’re gorgeous,” he said in a husky tone.
“Thank you. Come in and I’ll get my purse,” she said, stepping back. He entered and waited quietly while she picked up her red purse and joined him.
As they rode in the limo to the airport, he held her hand. “This is the first chance I’ve had to tell you—I’ve talked to my siblings about the gold and invited them out Saturday night for a cookout. The gold is still in my vault at the ranch, so I’ll show them my share.”
It wasn’t so much the gold that had her worried. “Have you told them about the deed?”
“Yes, and nobody raised an objection. They’re okay with the whole deal.”
“I can’t imagine. Especially your sister.”
“Lindsay surprised me a little because she was willing to accept whatever I decided.”
“That’s great,” Madison said, unable to imagine Lindsay Calhoun yielding so gracefully to her brother’s wishes where it involved a Milan.
“I’ve thought about it and I’ll be happy to invite your family, too, on Saturday if they want to come.”
“My brothers are fascinated and amazed that we found the treasure.”
“I still am. I never really expected to find anything.”
“I didn’t, either.”
“Maddie, there’s something else. While I was at my office today, your dad called me. He said he wants to talk to me. He asked for an appointment to come to my office, so we have one tomorrow afternoon at four.”
“I hope he apologizes, although he can’t really undo what he’s done,” she said, looking at Jake and wanting to kiss him. She couldn’t get enough of him and now that they had both said they were in love, her feelings for him seemed to strengthen steadily. She reached out to hold his hand. He smiled, giving her hand a light squeeze.
“I’ll let you know about your dad. Now enough about the family. Let’s think about us. Although if I think about you too much, we may have to cut short this evening by quite a bit.”
Laughing, she hugged him. She felt giddy with love for him.
They flew in his jet to Dallas, where they went to an elegant new restaurant on the twenty-fifth floor where the view overlooked the city. Jake ordered wine for them, and after it had been tasted, approved and poured, he asked her to dance.
She stepped into his arms and was carried back to high school, to being young, carefree and so in love with him. She looked up at him, smiling, winding her arms around his neck.
“This is good, Jake. I didn’t expect to ever be dancing with you again.”
“I agree. It’s very good.”
They danced a slow number, next a fast dance and returned to their table. They sipped their wine and he gazed at her over candlelight. “How did it go when you took in the gold?”
She smiled. “You know who did it. Wyatt came in his sheriff’s car to take it to the bank. Nick and Tony were with him and they all had to see the coins. I told them each to take ten home for now. They were amazed that the coins really existed, but none of us knows who the Milan was who was named Mortimer. Some of our property goes back that far, but the Double M was named for Michael Milan.”
“Did you tell any of them about the letter and the deed?”
“Yes and they’re all three shocked that you burned the letter. They were impressed by your generosity, that’s for certain, and maybe that made a dent in the old feud. At least for Wyatt and Nick. My brothers are really surprised to find the treasure actually existed, as well as the deed, and I think they’re as fascinated by the coins as I am. Now the coins are deposited safely in the Bank of Verity,” she said, smiling at him.
“Good place for them to be.”
When the small band started the next song, she recognized the ballad as the one they called “our song” when they had been in high school.
Still in his arms out on the dance floor, she looked up at him. “Did you ask them to play that song?”
Jake smiled. “Yes. I wanted to see if you remembered.”
“I remember so much,” she said. “That was a special time in our lives.” She danced with him, holding him close as joy bubbled inside because she was in his arms and he seemed as happy as she.
Later, after dinner, he took her to his house in a gated area in a new suburban section, set back on a landscaped lawn. Her gaze roamed over the two-story Colonial that was large but not the mansion she guessed he would have. Inside he showed her the downstairs, after which they sat in the large family room, where he stepped behind the bar to pour nightcaps and then returned to sit with her on a dark brown leather couch.
He shed his coat and tie, unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt while she watched him. “Keep going,” she said when he stopped, and he grinned at her as he took her drink from her hand and set it on a glass coffee table. He reached into his pocket and sat beside her.
“Maddie, will you marry me?”
As her heart thudded, she flung her arms around his neck. “I love you, Jake. Of course I’ll marry you,” she cried, joy bringing tears of happiness to her eyes.
He leaned back. “Hey, don’t start crying.”
“I’m so happy,” she said, watching as he took her hand and slipped the ring on her finger.
“I love you and I’ll try to always make you happy,” he said.
“Jake, this is beautiful,” she said, looking at the large diamond, surrounded by an intricate design of smaller diamonds. “This is just gorgeous. And it fits.” She looked up at him and could see the love she felt mirrored in his eyes. She threw her arms around him to hug him while she kissed him.
In a few moments he paused to face her again. “I should tell your dad, and I will, but there’s no way I’m asking for his permission.”
She laughed. “No, you’re not. You don’t even have to tell him. I will. Some of the Milans and Calhouns are going to have to start speaking to each other now that they will be in-laws.”
He grinned. “They’ll adjust. I don’t care what they do, really. I love you and that’s all that really matters to me. And please, my big request is let’s not wait forever for a wedding.”
“Suits me fine,” she answered, looking at her ring. “Jake, this is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.”
“You might be exaggerating there, but I’m glad you’re happy with it. Ahh, I love you, darlin’. With all my heart, forever.” He drew her into his embrace again and kissed away her reply. Finally, she looked up at him.
“Jake, we’re going to have to tell our families. I’m too excited to wait even though it’s kind of late. Tony is just going to have to adjust to having a Calhoun for a brother-in-law.”
“I don’t know whether he can stop fighting with Lindsay long enough to try to be friends. And I will have a talk with Lindsay about her attitude. Mike’s another one.”
“We should call your parents first. I barely know them.”
“Doesn’t matter. Everyone can get to know each other. We’re the ones getting married and that’s all that’s really important. They should act civil to each other through the wedding.”
She laughed. “I can’t stop laughing. I feel giddy with happiness. Get your phone and let’s start calling. I’m telling Tony first and then Wyatt and Nick if we can find him.”
Jake picked her up and placed her in his lap, holding her and smiling at her. “This is going to be so good, Maddie. We have a lot of years to make up for.”
She felt a warm glow of joy as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled in return. “You’re going to have to put up with my art and with me traveling to New Mexico, though for much shorter trips than I’m used to. For now, I’d like to keep the gallery I have there. It helps that I have good people running it.”
“Sure, just like you’ll have to put up with my traveling. I promise you, though, I’ve always had a schedule and I intend to retire from that business in about ten more years to be a rancher all the time. This is what I love.”
“We’ll work it all out.” She held his jaw to get his full attention. “Jake, we’ve lost a lot of years together. I want your babies, a family. Soon. How do you feel about it?”
He smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her lightly. “I think that’s great. We both grew up in families with several kids. That’s what I want, too, Maddie.”
They kissed, long and deeply, a kiss that to her was a promise and a physical bonding that reflected the feelings in her heart. When she leaned away, she looked up.
“I love you more than I can ever tell you or show you. It’ll take a lifetime.”
“I feel the same way, and right now, I feel like the luckiest man on the planet.”
She laughed. “That’s an exaggeration, but I’m glad you feel that way. This is wonderful, Jake, and no one will stop us or interfere this time. This wedding will set a record for how fast it gets planned.”
“They sure won’t stop us and fast is great.”
“Jake, I’m going to become a Calhoun. Mercy!”
He grinned, kissing her cheek. “You will be the most beautiful Calhoun to ever be in the family. You’ll be a good influence on the Calhouns for sure, and maybe this may be the death knell for the feud.”
She sat up and reached for her phone. “I’m calling Tony.”
“I’m going to ask your brothers to be groomsmen.”
“That’s nice, Jake. Then I should ask Lindsay to be a bridesmaid, but I think she’ll turn me down.” She shook her finger at him. “And don’t you browbeat her into accepting.”
“Fine,” he agreed, feigning a sheepish face. “Whatever you want. Just as long as you pick a date tonight before we call everyone.” He found the calendar on his phone.
“We could have a Christmas wedding.”
Jake groaned. “You’re not listening to me. I said you couldn’t make me wait. How about a September wedding?”
“This month?” She laughed. “That’s impossible.”
“Are we going to have our first fight?”
“Absolutely not. I promise very soon—I’ll aim for setting a record for planning a big wedding.”
“I’m anxious. I can’t wait. Ahh, darlin’, I’ve waited too long in the past. I can pay for the wedding and I can afford to pay rush rates.”
“You don’t have to pay for the wedding. Dad owes us this. And we will have a rush job. But a deluxe one,” she said.
Jake grinned and shook his head. “Why do I think this wedding is going to cost the judge a small fortune?”
“I meant it when I said Dad owes us. Think of the biggest church in Dallas and let’s rent the whole country club for the reception. If we can’t get it on short notice, we’ll go elsewhere.”
“Maddie, let it go. We don’t need a whole country club,” he said, chuckling.
She studied the calendar. “Okay, this is almost humanly impossible for a big wedding, but we can do it if we pay extra for services. How about the first Saturday morning in October?”
“Ahh, that’s my darlin’. I’d prefer this weekend, but the first Saturday in October isn’t bad. Do you have any druthers for a honeymoon?”
“Only with you,” she said, smiling.
“Great. Now for the phone calls. We have a wedding to plan.”
“An expensive wedding,” she added, laughing with him.