Revelation of Hearts (Stacey and Shane Mcleod, #3) (9 page)

Stacey and Shane drove the SUV’s out to pick up Shane’s family and Sir Richard Heath on the tarmac. Everyone was excited about the meeting of these two matriarchs. Afterwards, Stacey introduced her Houston relatives to Shane’s family and Sir Richard Heath.  Stacey’s, Aunt Lora was coming down the stairs when Sir Richard saw her.

“Sir Richard, I would like for you to meet my Aunt Lora Flemming.  Aunt Lora, this is Sir Richard heath.”

Lora extended her hand and said, “Pleased to meet you Mr. Heath.” 

Sir Richard took Lora’s hand and said, “Please, call me Richard. I had heard you were lovely, but you are beyond expectation.” 

Lora took her hand back and said, “As the recipient of such flattery, you may call me Lora.” 

Richard asked, “Are you the sister of Stacey’s mother?  I see the resemblance.” 

“No, I’m Stacey’s mother’s aunt.  Stacey is my great niece.” 

Richard smiled and said, “Dear lady, I would be remiss, if I didn’t tell you what an extraordinary young woman I think Stacey is.” 

“Thank you, we all feel that way about our Stacey.”

More of the family was arriving when Stacey asked, “Aunt Lora, will you please take care of Sir Richard and introduce him to the rest of the family as they arrive? Uncle Farley and his family just got here, also Gram’s great niece, Diana from California.” 

“Of course, I will sweetheart,” Aunt Lora said. Then she turned to Richard and asked, “What heroic feat did you accomplish to receive knighthood?” 

Sir Richard laughed and said, “Nothing heroic about what I do, I must admit. I was merely a financial adviser to the crown.  I’m very accurate with numbers.”

“Good for you. Now come along and we’ll see how good you are at remembering names. I’m about to introduce you to what we lovingly refer to as, members of the tribe.” 

“Ah, the gauntlet as been cast,” he said with a smile and a bow, “I accept the challenge, dear lady.”

As Lora, was taking him to the den where Farley and his family were, she was thinking to herself I like this guy. He’s fun and it doesn’t hurt that he resembles Sean Connery, with hair.

After meeting aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and great uncles, plus cousins so many times removed, Sir Richard turned to Lora and asked, “How can one young woman have so many relatives?  Now that she is married to Shane she has inherited more.”  As he said this, he realized he had phrased it in the past tense. 

Lora glanced at him, and then asked, “Would you care for something cool to drink?” 

On their way to the kitchen, they passed Sam’s office-sanctuary.  He stopped and asked, “May we?”  He admired the glass door with the rearing horse, the pictures and Remington statues, the pewter chest set and the polished petrified wood coffee table. “Very nice,” he said.

However, Lora noticed he had a look on his face of peacefulness, as they headed to the kitchen and iced tea. They took their tea out to a swing on the verandah. “I have drunk tea all of my life, but this is my first time for drinking iced tea,” he said. “Actually it’s quite good.” 

“Have you been to Texas previously?” Lora asked. 

“No, I’ve never before had the opportunity, but I believe I’ll take this occasion to rectify that.”

Chapter-15

Getting Acquainted

And Reception

The wedding ceremony was over. Little Brandon had been so cute.  Lora could tell by the way Shane handled little Brandon, he was going to make a wonderful father.  She knew he and Stacey planed on having children as soon as possible. Lora had enjoyed the look of mirth on Richard’s face, while watching the antics of little Brandon. Later, at the reception, she asked, “Do you have children, Richard?” 

He looked at her surprised and answered, “No, dear lady, I have never been married.  Do you have children?” 

Lora watched his reaction, as she said, “No, I’ve never been married either.” 

“Why ever not, you are such a lovely woman?” 

Lora touched his arm and said, “It’s a long story, however, not for a happy day such as this.” 

“Right,” he said. “Would you care to dance then?”

After a couple of dances, Lora asked, “Would you like to change into something less formal, they’re serving barbeque and it can get messy, not to mention it’s quite warm? Our Texas summers are notoriously hot.” 

“Yes, I believe I will, if you’ll excuse me, dear lady?” 

Lora smiled to herself thinking what a polite man he is. These British men seem to have a knack of making a woman feel special. Lora watched him walk to the travel trailer he was sharing with Shane. While he was changing, she ran upstairs and did the same.

She slipped into slacks and a sleeveless blouse. Lora glanced at herself in the mirror on her way out of the room. She saw a woman with a smile on her face that she had not seen for years. Yes, of course, she had smiled, but not like this with sheer delight and happiness as today.

Lora felt alive; really alive for the first time in...she could not remember when. The ranch grounds were full of people and the pool and tennis court was full of young people. The ranch had always been a refuge for young people and today was no exception.  Stacey’s wedding was quite an occasion for the little town of Rawhide.

Lora asked Richard, “Do you want to tackle the mob out there, or would you rather eat in here where it’s cool, and no flies?”

Jessie had set the senior members of the families in the dining room where the caterers would serve them. She asked her mother, “Will you look after everyone in here please? I need to get back to our guests outside.” 

“Not to worry darling, I’ll look after everyone in here,” Jackie assured her.

Lora took Richard to the kitchen, where she helped their plates. They sat at the round red booth.  Richard watched Lora serve their food from the center island, and their iced tea from the refrigerator. 

“You certainly know your way around a kitchen,” he remarked.

She smiled at him and said, “Sir Richard, you have entered the realm of working people. You learn to either serve yourself or go hungry. I suppose it’s a little different for men. They have mothers, wives or girlfriends to depend on, but we working girls must depend on ourselves.” 

“I’ve never thought about it that way,” he said. “I’m sure you’re right.”

As they were eating, they saw Stacey come in the kitchen through the back door with Brandon in her arms.  Lora asked, “Where are you two off to on such a hot day?” 

“Upstairs, to put some cooler clothes on my little guy, it’s awfully hot out there.”

“Darling, it’s your wedding day, can’t his mother do that?”  Lora knew she had said too much, when Stacey turned. Lora put her hand up and said, “Sorry darling, go take care of little Brandon.”

“There seems to be a special bond there,” Richard said.

“Yes, she’ll be a furiously protective mother someday.”

When Stacey and Brandon came back down, he was in shorts and a tee shirt. Stacey came over, kissed her Aunt Lora and said, “Forgive me.”  Then turned to Sir Richard and said, “Thank you for coming all this way.  Shane and I are looking forward to seeing you in London.  We have unfinished business.”

“Yes, we do. I’m also looking forward to our meeting with great anticipation.”

When Stacey and Brandon walked out the back door, Lora asked, “Do I dare ask what that’s all about?”

Richard patted her hand and said, “Dear lady, at the present I would rather you didn’t ask.”

Lora smiled at him and said, “Hum, a mystery. Now I am intrigued.”

To Richard’s amazement, Lora let it go at that.  Richard had known many women and knew when their curiosity was aroused, they would wheedle and cajole until they received some sort of information.  He was very impressed with this lovely woman.

It was seven p.m., and most of the adult people connected to the families had migrated to the house. When Stacey and Shane came in to say their, good byes, there were hugs, kisses and best wishes all around.  When Jessie heard her daughter tell the McLeod’s, “We’ll see you at home.” It was all she could do to hold back her tears.  She had driven Stacey to the airport many times to travel to one place or the other; however, this time seemed so finial.  Her daughter was leaving to go live in her husband’s home, so far away.  Sam seemed to know what his wife was feeling. He came and put his arms around her.

Jessie’s mother came to her and said, “Sweetheart, every mother goes through this, even if they’re just moving to the next town.” 

Stacey came over, kissed her mom and dad and said, “We’ll see you New Years.” 

Mr. Chen was waiting by the door. Shane shook hands with him and Stacey hugged and kissed him bye. He said, “You will see me before the New Year, little daughter.” 

Stacey left with a smile on her face as the twins came in and said, “Make the ‘goodbyes’ short. We gotta’ go, if we’re gonna’ make the Houston connection.” Sam and Eric drove the SUV’s to the jet with the parties that were leaving.

Around ten p.m. Sam and Jessie along with Mr. Chen brought in champagne before the Scott and Cohen families left.  It was an extraordinary occasion to have the entire families on both sides together for the celebration of Stacey and Shane’s wedding.

Bradley Flemming stood up and said, “My wife, Jackie and I wanna’ propose a toast to our granddaughter Stacey and her husband Shane.  May their marriage be a long and happy one! 

“Here, here,” Sam said. “From your lips to god’s ears.”

Jessie was sitting on the floor with feet tucked under her smiling.  Lora asked, “What are you smiling about, Jessie?”

“I was just remembering when Stacey was little and would climb upon the piano and yell for dear life, “Dis mine, dis mine.”

“Yes, I remember,” Lora, said. “And she learned to play it like it was hers too.”

Mr. Chen chortled and said, “Yes, and the dining table also, remember?  She would pull out a chair, climb up in it, then upon the table and claim her ownership.”

Jessie and Sam nodded their heads, laughed and said, “Yes, how could we forget. Plus a temper fit when she didn’t get things her way.”

Aunt Lora asked, “I wonder from whom she acquired that temper?” The Flemming family all looked at Jessie and laughed. 

Elizabeth McLeod said, “Well, they’ll compliment one another.  Shane has always been a very placid person.  I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him angry.” 

“I have,” Andrew said. “Perhaps you should go fishing with us. When he loses a fish off his line, he says, “Bloody bugger.”  The British families all chortled.

“Their children should be an interesting combination,” Grandmother McLeod said.

The families spent about an hour reminiscing about the childhoods of the newly weds.

Shortly afterwards, the older people adjourned to their beds. It had been an exciting, eventful day.  Tomorrow they would all be flying to Houston, then Monday morning on to Canada.

Stacey’s older cousins had stayed at the hotel in town.  They arrived back at the ranch in time for breakfast.  They had said goodbye to their Uncle Farley and his family, plus Alan and Tracy.  Rebecca and Robbie were going to spend a couple of weeks with their grandparents.  The cousins had driven from Houston early for the rehearsals.  Now the young people from Australia and Canada wanted to drive to Houston so they could see some of Texas. 

Jessie asked, “Aunt Lora, will you drive my Daimler to Houston?  All the young people won’t fit in Brittany’s SUV.” 

“Of course, darling, I’ll be happy to do so and keep an eye on them.”

“Would you mind terribly if I rode with you as well?  I fancy to see more of Texas also,” Sir Richard said.

Jessie whispered in Sam’s ear, “I just bet it’s more of Texas he fancies to see.” 

Sam kissed her cheek and said, “As we tell little Brandon, be nice now.” Jessie pulled her husband into the hall, put her arms around him and kissed him.

The next morning, Daniel and David loaded the jet and flew fifteen passengers to Houston.  Two SUV’s had left an hour earlier for the same destination. Lora stopped at a McDonalds on the way, that’s where the kids wanted to eat.  She had called Brittany on her cell phone and told her, “Pull in at Mickey D’s, that’s where my troops wanna’ eat.”  Sir Richard was all for McDonald’s too, since he’d never eaten there.  He gave a high-five to the troops and said, “Its jolly nice to be considered as one of you chaps.”

The caravan arrived at the castle in the afternoon. When Richard saw the mansion, he asked, “Is this how ordinary people live in Texas?” 

Lora gave him a warning look and said, “Don’t be factious, you know it isn’t. There’s a perfectly good reason why my brother and his family live here.” 

From the back seat, Cody said, “No, please Aunt Lora, I beg you, not the story again. Everybody that comes here has to hear, ‘the story.’ It’s so boring.”

Richard turned to Cody and said, “Now young man you have truly sparked my interest. I shall be keen to hear, the story.”

Troy from the back seat said, “I’ll be keen to jump in the swimming pool. You do have one, don’t you, Cody?” 

“Of course,” Cody and Robbie replied at the same time. They were barely in the house when the young people headed for the pool.  Much later, after coffee and tea, Lora saw Richard talking with Bradley.  She felt sure Richard had heard the story by now. 

Lora sometimes got the feeling that Bradley felt as if he should apologize for living here.  That was such nonsense to her way of thinking.  Mr. Barrington knew what he was doing when he left the house and grounds to Bradley and Jackie.  If Daniel and David didn’t live here too, they wouldn’t be financially able to pay for the up-keep and the taxes. Thank goodness, the twin’s oil well fire fighting business was doing very well, especially in the Middle East and South America. 

It was dangerous work, but paid extremely well. 

Around eight p.m. Sir Richard asked Lora, “Could you see your way clear to drive me to a hotel?” 

“Sure,” Lora said. “If that’s what you want.” 

“I assure you dear lady, it is. I have already canceled my reservations and I now need a reputable hotel,” he informed her.

Richard thanked the Flemmings for their hospitality and told the Foley’s and McLeod’s he would make it a point to see them again, back home.