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“The very one. I told you we were poor. I mean so poor that Mrs. Hastings, who owned the fabric shop in town, would give me scraps of fabric and let me use her sewing machine to make my clothes. People making their own clothes back then wasn’t all that unusual, but she said my dresses were unique, looked like they belonged on a runway. Because of Mrs. Hastings, I had the confidence to go to Nicolette Joy for a job. It never occurred to me I might not get in or they wouldn’t hire me. That’s the way of an eighteen-year-old, I suppose. Turns out a little bit of good old-fashioned luck never hurt anybody either.”
“What happened?” I leaned forward, desperate to hear more.
“Ran into her in the lobby of her offices. The dress I was wearing stopped her in her tracks. She crooked her finger at me, asked me a few questions, and that’s how I became a designer at Nicolette Joy.”
“Just like that?” I asked incredulously.
“Just like that. It’s unbelievable to me even now, but I promise you, it’s the God’s honest truth.” Ruby held up a hand as if taking an oath. “At first it was a whirlwind. I was Nicolette’s pet. I met all kinds of fabulous people, went to swanky parties—had everything I thought I wanted. But there was this tiny little problem. New York wasn’t Burdett. I found myself working more and more to cover up how homesick I was, how much I missed Price. I refused to think about him moving on, although I figured he’d met some girl in Austin and forgotten all about me. Two years later, I couldn’t stop myself from looking him up. I called, and the second I heard his voice, the waterworks started. I didn’t say a word, didn’t have to. He knew it was me, and the hope in his voice when he spoke my name was all I needed to know. He hadn’t forgotten me. But I hung up.”
I realized she was coming to the part of the story she wanted me to hear, and I prompted her to go on. “Why did you do that?”
She shrugged as if she didn’t really have the answer. “After that, I dated casually, but no one ever lived up to my Price. Nicolette introduced me to a nice gentleman. He was a good deal older and wealthy beyond imagination. He spoiled me, but he wanted something from me I couldn’t give. Finally, when I’d been away from Burdett about four years, and I was still miserable in my heart, this gentleman said to me, ‘Ruby, there’s not a thing wrong with going back home. You proved to yourself you could succeed, but what good is it if you’re unhappy?’ I packed up my things right then, thanked Nicolette, and flew to Austin on his private jet.”
Miss Ruby was quite the lady. I’d learned of her sassiness through our letters, so why her adventures surprised me, I didn’t know. Only she would leave Texas hitchhiking and come back on a private jet.
“Price’s graduation from college was that day. I went straight to the auditorium and watched him get his diploma. When we saw each other after, he asked me two questions: was I there for him, and was I leaving again. I answered yes and no. We drove straight back to Burdett, got married under that tree right over there, and never looked back. Everything I thought I didn’t want was exactly what made me the happiest.”
“I hear what you’re trying to tell me, but this situation is different,” I protested.
“It is, and it isn’t,” Ruby countered. “Stone told me you feel you have to give him up. I can see that isn’t what you want to do, but it’s a sacrifice you’re willing to make because you love him. I gave up the people and the place I loved because I was stubborn and ignorant. You’re being stubborn with your eyes wide open. The difference in our situations doesn’t really matter if in the end we both come to the same conclusion.” She pursed her lips and pushed back from the table, standing. “We’d better get these pies over there, or Lord knows what will happen.”
I sat there for a minute, turning over in my mind what she’d illustrated for me. I didn’t need Ruby or anyone else to tell me exactly what would happen once I left my family—I might possibly die of a broken heart. But there were things she didn’t understand, that none of them did. I prayed I could return to Vivian and Daniel. But Stone…I wasn’t so sure. Not when I’d be a murderer.
“You comin’?”
I blinked up at Ruby, who had two pies in her hands. Scrambling to my feet, I wordlessly offered to carry the desserts for her. She shook her head, already on her way back to the big house. I was on her heels, halfway across the yard, when I saw Stone and…it couldn’t be.
“Carlos?”
His stride grew longer as he picked up the pace. “Muriella,” he whispered when he was before me. My gaze darted around him to Stone, who was right behind him.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I figure there are some things you two need to catch up on. Why don’t you go back to Grandmama’s house? You’ll have plenty of privacy.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Stone
“Care to tellme why your lawyer’s here? Brought a judge with him? Who says he’s throwing out the eminent domain case on this property?” Mama’s voice rose with every word as Grandmama and I walked back into the kitchen of the main house.
She was there with Dad and my grandfather, who was standing with his arms folded beside my attorney and the judge. Granddaddy looked about ready to strangle them both.
“Discretion isn’t your forte, is it, Zegas?” I asked moodily.
“Did you tell me to keep this between the three of us?” He motioned to Granddaddy, himself, and me.
Mama was the first to recover her manners. “Sit down. Let me fix both of you a plate.” She pointed them toward the dining room.
Both men moved to the dining room table and sat obediently. I paid Kane Zegas handsomely and all I got was lip. But in my mama’s house, what she said was law, and Zegas seemed to get that just like the rest of us.
“I think you’d better start talking.” Dad took his chair next to the head of the table. I sat opposite.
“I told him not to say anything.” Granddaddy squeezed my shoulder before he took his place at the head. “Randall Hedley was stirring up some shit again.”
“Talk louder so I can hear,” Mama called from the kitchen.
“What the hell is going on?” Mulaney led the rest of the herd into the dining room.
