Wife Wanted in Dry Creek (16 page)

Conrad nodded. Strangely enough he did know. A man could love with all his heart, but that didn’t guarantee him a happily ever after.

“Still, it was good to love her, right?” Conrad worried he might sound like some broken-hearted country western song, but Dirt Bike man finally nodded.

In the distance, Conrad heard a car. There was no siren, but he knew by the speed of its approach that it had to be Sheriff Wall.

“Did I mention that car you’re stealing has a new muffler on it?” Conrad said in hopes his voice would distract the two men enough to make some difference to the sheriff. “The best one money could buy, too.”

Then Conrad heard the sound of a helicopter coming and he smiled. The sheriff had decided to forget about the budget and get some reinforcements. He’d have to remember to vote for the man in the next election.

“What’s that?” Kyle asked as he looked around. Fortunately, he didn’t look overhead.

Dirt Bike man did, though, and he hit the ground.

“Under the car,” he yelled to his partner. “They’re coming at us from the sky.”

Conrad decided now was the time to jump over his aunt’s fence and run for the kitchen. His two captors didn’t even seem to notice, not being huddled as they were under that old gray car.

The kitchen door was open when he got there and hands pulled him inside.

“What did you think you were doing?” Katrina scolded him before anyone else could even talk.

There was really only one answer to that so he leaned in to kiss her. But she pulled back before he even got close and burst into tears. Then she ran out of the room.

“She’s just upset,” his aunt said as she stepped close and patted him on the shoulder. “She’ll come around.”

He nodded, but not because he agreed.

Conrad figured the only one around who might understand what had happened was Dirt Bike and he was busy at the moment. Just because a man loved a woman was no guarantee she’d love him back or even believe his feelings were real. He’d lost Katrina. He’d hesitated too long and it was over.

He walked out of the kitchen and saw that night was coming in fast. The sky wasn’t completely black, but the gray was deepening. He expected it to freeze again tonight. Spring hadn’t been here after all. He felt more alone than he ever had in his life.

T
he next morning Katrina lay in the bed and watched the new day arrive. She was tired in her bones, but she hadn’t been able to sleep. It hadn’t taken the sheriff’s department more than a half hour to talk to the two men they’d arrested and completely search Leanne’s car. They’d found two big black bags stuffed with marijuana in the trunk. Apparently, Walker had been part of a group selling drugs and had tried to steal from the others. Leanne said he must have thought her car would be a better hiding place than his pickup truck.

Katrina wasn’t so sure she’d ever forgive Walker for putting her sister in that kind of danger.

When the sheriff and his colleagues had left, Katrina went to her room upstairs and shut the door. She missed supper, but she’d managed to cry all her tears. Charley and Edith had come to her door to try and comfort her. They confessed something to her about a prayer request Charley had made to the church and the
picture Conrad had seen on her calendar. The older man seemed upset so she assured him it was all right. The emptiness she felt inside was her own making.

Edith just kept holding Katrina’s hands as if there was some strength she could give to her. They prayed with her before they left and that did bring her some comfort.

It was odd, she thought to herself, as she lay there looking at the ceiling. It had taken a new broken heart for her to come home to God even though it was her first broken heart that had driven the wedge between them in the first place. Maybe things were never meant to be perfect in her life. Hard things just happened. She was learning how to live her emotions, though. Now, when she was in pain, she didn’t try to hide it or to blame God for it. She was suffering through it with as much grace as she could find at the moment.

She heard the sound of a pickup truck go by in the darkness and she glanced over at the clock beside her bed. It wasn’t even six o’clock yet. She was curious about the truck, but she didn’t want to get up and disturb the household so she just lay in bed. Nothing much in Dry Creek was her business now anyway. She’d be leaving today.

She would go with Leanne and the boys. The lawmen were satisfied that they knew who and what had caused the upheaval at Leanne’s home and she wanted to get back and put everything in place. As she told Katrina, she had a lot of thinking and praying to do before she knew what to do next.

Katrina felt the same way. She’d spend a few days helping Leanne clean up and then she’d go back to Los
Angeles. In a few months, it would be as if she’d never come to this little town of Dry Creek.

Katrina blinked back her tears. Maybe she wasn’t as finished crying as she had thought. She noticed that the sky had lightened considerably. She looked over at the clock and saw an hour had gone by. She might as well get up now; Edith would be starting breakfast soon and the least she could do was help.

Edith had laundered Katrina’s clothes last night so they were fresh. Her pullover smelled like some herbal something as she pulled it on over her head. Her jeans slid on easily enough. She looked at her scuffed and muddy high heels. Her tennis shoes were still in the trunk of her car but she wasn’t going to put them on now. She would go out of this town in the same shoes she’d worn to enter it.

Someone started pounding outside and Edith knocked on her door at the same time. The older woman’s eyes were sparkling as she asked Katrina to come downstairs with her.

“I’m glad I can help you with one last breakfast,” Katrina said as she followed the older woman down the stairs. “I’m hoping to pick up some tips for those waffles you make.”

“I don’t think we’ll have waffles this morning,” Edith said.

“Well, whatever you make will be delicious.”

Edith stopped at the end of the stairs and gestured to the front door. “I think you have a breakfast invitation elsewhere.”

Katrina looked at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

Katrina walked to the front door and opened it. The outside air was cool, but that’s not what she noticed first. There was a garden gnome with a bright red hat stuck in the ground at the bottom of the front steps. And he had a white piece of paper stuck to that hat with a tack.

“What?” Katrina asked again as her eyes lifted. There was a garden gnome with a yellow hat near the gate to the yard, too. And one with a blue hat in the ground down the road a little way.

“Go on, dear,” Edith said as she handed Katrina her jacket.

Katrina stepped down to the first gnome and ripped off the piece of paper. She unfolded it and read, “Conrad.”

She paused. She’d been angry with him for not loving her like she wanted him to. But, if she’d learned anything of late, it was that anger didn’t make any relationship better. She’d like to make peace with the man before she left. Maybe then, when she remembered him, she would feel better inside.

She walked to the next gnome and his piece of paper said, “Nelson.”

What was this, she wondered.

She walked along the gnome trail and picked up the third letter. “Loves.”

She looked back at the house she’d just left and saw Edith standing in the doorway in her housedress and slippers, motioning for her to continue. So Katrina
pressed onward. The asphalt was dry and her heels held steady. Which was more than she could say for her heart.

She pulled the fourth piece of paper from the next gnome’s hand and read, “Katrina.”

She started to smile then. She looked up and saw Conrad standing in the doorway of his house. The fifth gnome was by his front gate. She didn’t even bother to pull the paper from his hand.

“Your whole yard is filled with gnomes,” she said as she walked up to his steps.

She wanted to see Conrad’s eyes. If she could only see his eyes, she would know what he meant.

“I love you.” His eyes were steady.

“You’re sure?”

He grinned. “Sure enough to drive to Miles City and get Earl Beck up from his bed so he’d sell me these gnomes. I had to pay double.”

“It’s the sweetest thing,” she said. “I know it’s just for the moment, but it means a lot to know you went to the trouble.”

Conrad looked at her. “It’s not only for the moment. You didn’t read the last note. The one where I asked you to marry me.”

“You what?” she gasped.

“You know. Man and woman. Together forever.”

“But I’m—” she sputtered. “I can’t guarantee how long I’ll live.”

“Who can?” Conrad said with a nonchalance she knew had to be forced.

She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t think
straight. And, she felt a tear forming in one of her eyes. And then another.

“I—” she said until her throat started to close up.

Conrad reached over to a sawhorse standing on his porch and lifted up a box of tissues. He held them out to her.

Katrina took one and dabbed at her eyes. “How did you know I’d start to cry?”

“I didn’t,” Conrad said. “The tissues were for me in case I started to cry.”

She laughed at that.

“You haven’t answered,” Conrad said after a moment. His voice was strained. “I know it took me too long to think things through. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I just needed—”

“I know,” Katrina said as she reached over and took his hand. “And it’s okay. We can wait until I find out more from the doctors before you say any more.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all,” Conrad said. “I’m asking you to marry me as soon as you feel you can. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. I don’t want to waste any more time.”

She looked at his face. “But what if I—”

“Then every minute we have together needs to count,” he said.

Suddenly, she wasn’t alone anymore. Conrad’s arms were around her and she was leaning in to him. He was willing to face his fears to love her.

“Please say yes,” he whispered in her hair. “You’re the only woman for me. I’ll take whatever time I can get.”

“In that case, yes,” she said as she pulled back so she could see his eyes.

And then he kissed her. It took a second or two for her to realize that her toes were curling in her high heels. Not that it mattered when she had Conrad’s arms around her to hold her up. She was where she wanted to be.

October that same year

K
atrina came to realize that love really was timeless. A week? A month? A lifetime? Love could burn bright in any amount of time given to it. Fortunately for her, though, she could look forward to many years with Conrad.

They’d been married in late June, well over a month before she had her meeting with the oncologist. She’d carried the rose bouquet Edith kept for brides and they had cake and ice cream for the wedding reception later at the Nelson home. Katrina’s two nephews had carried the rings down the aisle and Leanne had stood up with her. Uncle Charley had been Conrad’s best man.

Katrina had hesitated to ask her sister to be an attendant at her wedding, but Leanne had thrown herself into the role with enthusiasm. She had separated from
Walker, but she claimed that she hadn’t given up on love. She was waiting, she said, for wisdom from above on what to do about Walker when he got out of jail. He had testified against the other drug dealers and they’d all been convicted.

Katrina understood Leanne’s feelings. She’d support her sister in whatever she did. If her marriage could be salvaged, it would be best for all.

Katrina was coming to understand what a lifetime commitment meant. Conrad had insisted they give themselves time for a honeymoon in Glacier Park before they drove down to Los Angeles to meet with her doctor. The news on her tests couldn’t have been better and, while they were there, they packed up her belongings and had them shipped back to Dry Creek.

And now she was sitting there on the porch of their newly remodeled house waiting for her husband to come home so she could show him her surprise. He’d fretted when they first married, saying he didn’t want her to give up her dreams. She hadn’t and he’d built a small darkroom off the kitchen for her to use.

Just then, as she glanced down the street, she saw the lights go out in the gas station. The day was growing dark. Conrad was locking up. This was her favorite time each day. She’d sit on the porch and wait for him to walk home to her, all the while looking out at their family of garden gnomes. She’d often say a prayer of thanks for having so much.

She waved at Conrad when he got as far as the
asphalt street. She noticed he started to walk a little faster when he saw her. She hoped it would always be that way between them, especially now that he’d learned to waltz a little just to please her.

“Welcome home,” she said when he got close enough to hear.

She stood, holding the package behind her back so the postmark wouldn’t give it away.

He bounded up the steps and leaned in to kiss her. “I love it when you come out and wait for me.”

“I like to visit with the gnomes.”

Conrad laughed. “I know.”

“I have a surprise,” she said when he finished. She pulled the envelope out from behind her. “I should wait until after dinner to show it to you, but I’m so excited.”

“Well, let me see then,” he said as he watched her. “Is this going to be one of those happy crying moments?”

“Maybe,” she said with a soft laugh and he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.

She slid a calendar out of the envelope.

“Romance Across America.” Conrad read the title aloud and started to grin. “Don’t tell me one of those photos you took ended up in that?”

Katrina opened the calendar in triumph. March was a photo of Mr. Compton and his Ella. He was holding the photo of her with such reverence, nothing but the look on his face was needed to make an unforgettable photograph. Then June was a photo of young Lucy and her boyfriend, Ben. Sweetness and love characterized that picture. The last photo she’d sent in ended up
on the month of October. It was Sheriff Wall and his wife Barbara.

“Three of them,” Conrad exclaimed. “They used three of your pictures!”

She nodded. When she’d asked everyone if they would mind if she sent the pictures, she’d told them she couldn’t guarantee anything. They’d all happily signed their agreements, though.

“That’s great,” Conrad said as he picked her up and swung her around.

“And that’s not even the best,” she added shyly. “They said if I got enough photos they would do a coffee table book with Romance in Dry Creek pictures. People like small towns.”

“My wife, the photographer,” Conrad said with a proud smile. “You’re putting us on the map. We don’t even need that heart sign now to get tourists.”

“Oh, we need the sign.” She planned to give some of the money she made from the book to putting a marker up near the sign explaining how it came to be.

She knew Conrad was going to kiss her so she stretched to meet his lips halfway. From now on, that stop sign wouldn’t be the only marker of true love in Dry Creek. All anyone would have to do would be to look at her face to know that love was all around in this small town.