“Oh, no,” Aaron says. “Mai?”
He shakes his head. “I thought she betrayed me, but shortly after I arrived, she searched me out. As soon as she saw their lifeless bodies scattered around camp, she broke down, confessing she had told her brother about us, but she didn’t know he was the enemy until he came home gloating about the American soldiers he and his friends killed. Then…” He clears the frog in his throat. “Then Mai picked up a gun and shot herself in the chest.”
My hand flies to my mouth to cover my gasp.
“Jesus, Joe,” Aaron says, shaking his head.
“My friends, my brothers, were gone, and so was my love. So I picked up the gun she’d used, turned it on myself, and pulled the trigger. Days later, I woke up in a hospital in Japan. The bullet went clear through my eyeball and out the side of my head, missin’ anything that would have killed me. They done gave me an honorable discharge and sent me home.” He takes a long drink. “I never told no one it was my fault. Never told a soul I turned the gun on myself. Everyone thought I was the sole survivor of an ambush. The two of you are the only ones who know diff’rent.”
“That’s a lot to carry around for fifty-something years,” Aaron says. “How old were you?”
“Nineteen.”
“So was I,” Aaron says.
I swallow hard. “Me, too.”
Joe takes another drink. “We’re quite the trio, ain’t we?”
I touch his hand. “Are you okay?”
“All this time, I thought tellin’ folks would make me feel worse about it. But you were the right folks to tell, ’cause you could knock me over with a feather, but I feel a sense of relief.”
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” I say. “I do too.”
“There’s only one thing left to do, then,” Joe says.
“What’s that?”
He gets up, opens a drawer, and pulls out a deck of cards.
Chapter Thirty-five
Aaron
Mom pulls me close for a hug. “How I’ve missed you. You know you can tell us anything. Anything, Aaron.”
“I couldn’t talk about Cameron until recently.”
“Does a certain someone have something to do with that?”
I smile and toss their bags in the truck.
Dad pats me on the back. “When do we get to meet her?”
“She’ll be at the lodge when we get there.”
“Tell me how you met,” Mom asks.
I should have been expecting this question. This is my mom we’re talking about. She’s going to want details, but I promised Devyn I’d keep her secrets. “She was down on her luck, needed a job, and the lodge needed a housekeeper. You could say we found each other at a time when we both needed something. But she’s so much more than a housekeeper. She’s been working with Mickey, our head horse trainer. He thinks she’s great. Says he’ll even offer her a job as soon as she’s ready. And she has great ideas on how to increase business at the lodge.”
“Sounds like she’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Dad says.
“She does, but she’s very private. She has a damaged past. Probably best not to bombard her with uncomfortable questions.”
For the rest of the drive, I tell them about Devyn’s helicopter tour idea and how Quinn says he’s going to become a pilot.
When we pull up at the lodge, Dad looks over at my cabin. “Doing some remodeling?”
“I’m adding more rooms.”
He grins wryly. “Expecting company?”
“Hopefully.”
He laughs. “How about you introduce me to your girl and then take me over to see Maddox?”
I help unload their bags and escort them to our best guest suite. As luck has it (or not), we don’t have any guests for the next ten days.
Mom takes it all in as I walk them to their room. “I can’t believe what you’ve done with the place since we saw it last.”
Dad grips my shoulder. “It’s come a long way since you and I started fixing it up eight years ago.”
“Just wait,” I say. “In another few years, we’ll be one of the premier ranch destinations.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second.”
We’re heading back downstairs when Devyn strolls into the grand hall from the kitchen. She sees us and immediately pulls her shirt away from her stomach. She does that a lot lately, but there’s nothing to see yet. I’m the only one who knows it’s there.
“Hey! How was your morning?”
“Great, as usual.”
Mom steps around me. “You must be Devyn. Aaron has told us so much about you. He did fail to tell me how beautiful you are, though.”
Devyn blushes. “Thank you, Mrs. Pearce.”
“I’m Skylar, and this is Griffin. Please call us by our first names.”
“So nice to meet you.”
Dad shakes her hand. “And you. Aaron tells us you’ve taken to the horses and you have great plans for the lodge.”
“I don’t know about the great plans, but he’s right about the horses.”
“You’ll tell us more over dinner, I hope. Our treat. I thought we’d go to Del Frisco’s. We’ll bring Maddox and Andie.”
“Dad, you have to make a reservation. No way we’ll be able to get in.”
“You forget Mom is a fellow restaurateur, my boy. Leave it to us.”
I might as well let them spoil us. They get to do it so rarely.
“Speaking of food,” Devyn says. “I picked up sandwiches. I thought you might be hungry after your flight.”
Mom puts an arm around her. “How very thoughtful of you. I’m starving. Lead the way.”
In the kitchen, I see the spread Devyn has laid out on the counter and pull her aside. “How did you do all this?”
“Andie let me borrow her truck.”
I can’t hide my smile. “Trying to impress my parents?” I whisper.
She shrugs. “I’m not not trying.”
“They’re going to love you. Don’t worry.”
Dad asks Devyn about the horses. She happily tells him what Mickey has been teaching her. He probably has no idea what she’s talking about, as he doesn’t know one end of a horse from the other, but he hangs on her every word.
It’s nice to see her so excited about things. Joe was right last week when he said something was different about her.
After lunch, I clean up and put away the leftovers. “Devyn, I’m going to run Dad over to the main ranch. Would you mind giving Mom a tour of the lodge? I’m sure she’s going to want to see the new prints I had made for some of the guest rooms. Oh, and Mom, be sure to look at the towels and pillows—you’ll see Devyn’s handiwork.”
“I’ll be glad to give you a tour,” Devyn says.
Mom locks elbows with her. “Where should we begin?” They stroll away.
Dad elbows me. “So she’s the one, huh?”
I nod. “She’s the one.”
Chapter Thirty-six