And with that – he was gone.
“Great! I’m such a coward.” She walked to the stove to stir a pot of chicken and dumplings. “I don’t know any more than I knew to start with.”
…Reno almost ran to the barn. How odd it felt to be fleeing from the one person he loved above all else. And he did love her more than anyone. More than his brother, more than Ela – more than the whole fucking planet put together. This sure knowledge was the reason for his decision. Only he couldn’t tell her. Not yet. He had to be sure before he offered her the world, then had to jerk it back and break her heart.
“Kota! Are you here?”
“I’m mucking the stalls. Grab your shovel.”
“Just what I need,” he mumbled – but he found a shovel. “At your service.”
He nodded at Traveler’s stall. “Do your buddy’s digs.”
“I have no idea what you just said.” But he got the basic idea. Without quibbling, he set to work shoveling horse manure. “Journey asked me if I still wanted to get married.”
“She senses your uncertainty.”
“Not about marrying her she doesn’t. I want her to be my wife more than anything.”
Kota worked methodically. Shovel. Toss. Shovel. Toss. “You need to talk to her.”
“I can’t. Not yet. She’ll try to talk me out of it.”
“You can’t make a decision like this without talking to her. You’ll destroy her trust. She’ll blame herself. No marriage will survive such a blow.”
Reno knew Kota was right. He just needed to make sure he could live with his decision.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Anybody home?”
Journey almost jumped for joy. “Lou!” This was one of those times that she needed her best friend. “Come in. Come in.” She ran to help her in. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m good.” They hugged. “I’m glad you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“I was never mad at you, Lou. I just wanted you to say what I wanted to hear.”
“I understand.” She took a moment to kneel and greet the animals. “These kittens are growing. I think they’ve doubled in size since you sent me pictures.”
“They are getting big. He won’t admit it, but Reno’s going to miss them when he goes.” She shook her head to dispel bad thoughts. “Let’s put your things in your room, then we’ll visit.”
Once that was done, they took a seat at the kitchen table. “I like your hair,” Journey admired Lou’s new cut.
She patted the shorter locks. “I wanted to look nice for the wedding.” Raising her eyebrows, she giggled. “I’m lying. I wanted to look sexy for that fundraiser. I’m hoping there’ll be some eligible bachelors to chase.”
“I think there are some. They should wear identifying sashes. It would make things easier for you.” Journey stirred her coffee, then jumped to her feet. “You’ve got to see my dress!”
Lou smiled as her friend scurried away. “Be careful. You’ll fall. You’re pregnant now, remember?”
“How could I forget!” Journey yelled from the back. “Reno reminds me a dozen times a day.”
“He loves you, Jo.”
“Yes, he does. I know he does.” Even with his vexing behavior, she couldn’t deny he loved her. “Look at this.” She held up the dress as she moved closer to Lou. “Isn’t the lace exquisite?”
“Oh, yea. Beautiful. Where did you find it?”
“A little vintage shop in Fredericksburg.”
“It’s perfect. You’re going to be stunning in it. Where’s the wedding going to be?”
Journey pointed in the window. “In the rose garden; if the weather permits. You and Aunt Myra will be our only witnesses. We were going to ask a Justice of the Peace to marry us, but there’s no way we can get a marriage license with Reno having no ID. Instead, Kota, as a shaman of the Apache tribe, will perform the ceremony. I know Reno wishes Clay could’ve married us, but he wouldn’t hear of waiting. Plus, I wanted Aunt Myra to have the memory of seeing me get married.” She folded her arms on the table. “Before she left, she cried because she’s going to miss out on so many things. I told her I’d bury a lot of mementos and pictures so she could find them.” Journey rubbed her forehead. “I guess that’ll work, won’t it?”
Lou blew a breath from the side of her mouth. “The more I learn about this stuff, the less I know. I think it would be worth a try. One thing I’m going to do, as a test of sorts, is write down everything about the past that I think might change because of Reno’s actions. You know, like Cole’s execution, and the massacre. If he is successful, I don’t know that we’ll retain the memory of how it was before.”
Journey made a face. “Wow. That’s complicated.” Her eyes widened. “Will you remember me?”
“Sure. Of course. I think so. My supposition is that anything we’ve lived through we’ll retain, but if something changed in the past, we’ll only know the result of the change.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Truly, we have nothing to rely on to tell us what will happen. Even with all those stories I told you, there’s no hard data. Most will deny this has ever happened before. Hell, most will deny Reno’s journey ever took place. They’ll call us liars.”
“I know you’re going to want evidence. How will you gather it?”
“I’m working on some ideas. That’s one of the things I talked to Dr. Sculler about.”
“I know Reno will be anxious to talk to you. Did you learn anything new when you talked to Dr. Sculler?”
Lou patted her purse. “Not really. He did show more interest this time. I think he’s worried I’m onto something and he’s going to miss out. Big time.”
“That’s good
