Montgomery - Eternity Part 18

"A few. But at least they're not hidden under greasepaint."

Josh began nuzzling her neck. "Right now I wish I didn't have anything at all on, greasepaint, clothes, not anything."

Responding to him, Carrie slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him with weeks' worth of pent-up desire.

"Papa! Papa!" Dallas yelled as she came running into the shed. "There's a man here, and he wants to see you."

Josh's brain was a little foggy as he pulled away from Carrie. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Dallas whispered loudly, "but I think he's G.o.d."

Carrie and Josh looked at each other. " 'Ring," they said in unison.

Chapter Sixteen.

Carrie and Josh were still brus.h.i.+ng straw off of each other as they walked back to the house.

"He's going to make me go back with him," Carrie mumbled. "As soon as he meets that fat woman you married, he's going to make me leave with him."

Josh tightened his grip on her arm. "I do wish you would give me a little more credit and your brother less. I can handle this."

"By fis.h.i.+ng for the papers down Nora's pond?" Carrie said nastily.

"One does what one must," Josh said, then had to hold Carrie to him. "Good morning, brother," Josh called to 'Ring, who was kneeling to speak to the children.

"I have three little boys of my own," 'Ring was saying to Tem as he rubbed Choo-choo's ears. "You'll have to come and visit them and sail on a boat."

"And I'll teach them to ride a horse," Tem said, but since all three of his new cousins by marriage were younger than he was, he didn't think much of them.

Standing, 'Ring handed Carrie a large box that she knew contained her mother's wedding dress.

In the next moment, Nora came out of the house, her big blond Eric following behind her like Choo-choo followed Carrie.

"Oh, no," Josh said, hurrying forward, but Carrie pulled him back.

"If you think that my brother is stupid enough to fall for something like that painted, fat, overblown-" She broke off because 'Ring was kissing Nora's bejeweled hand and looking at her as though she were the most delicious thing he'd ever seen.

"You were saying..." Josh said.

Her nose in the air, Carrie swept past him, and when she reached her brother, she put herself between him and Nora. "How kind of you to stop by, Mrs.-" She broke off, not knowing what to call the hideous woman.

"West," Nora said, looking over Carrie's head to 'Ring. "Nora West is my professional name."

"I saw you as Juliet," 'Ring said. "You were divine."

"Must have had a mule skinner to play Romeo," Carrie muttered before looking up at her brother and batting her eyelashes. "You must have been a child to have seen her when she was young enough to play Juliet."

Grabbing Carrie's arm, Josh pulled her toward the house. "Food," he said. "Carrie has to make lunch for everyone."

Once Josh and Carrie were inside, he turned on her. "Can't you contain yourself for even a few hours? At least until I get the paper from her?"

"You expect me to be nice to the woman who is married to my husband?"

"Just for a few hours."

Carrie gave a nasty little laugh. "Maybe you are a professional liar, but I'm not."

Josh rubbed his eyes in exasperation then laughed. "I cannot believe my own vanity in thinking that my being a renowned actor would change your feelings for me. Alas, the Great Templeton has been reduced to 'a professional liar.' " He drew her into his arms. "Do you think I'll ever be able to impress you? After my sentence is up and I go back on stage, are you going to come to see me? Will you swoon over my performances?"

She closed her eyes in ecstasy as he kissed her neck. "I think I might like for you to quote some of 'Ring's poetry just to me."

He touched her cheek. " 'See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!' "

She smiled at him. "I'm not sure I'll like hearing you say such things to other women, even women as old and as fat as she is."

"It won't be real, Carrie," he said softly. "I am a liar with them, but I won't be a liar with you."

She smiled at him and he kissed her.

"What a cozy little scene," Nora said from the doorway. "Of course, Joshua, darling, it's not as though I haven't seen you kiss hundreds of other women, both on stage and off."

Josh released Carrie. "I want the paper, Nora, and I want it now."

"I've told you where it is," she purred at him.

Josh kept his eyes off Nora's magnificent bosom, for he knew that Carrie was watching him. "What do you want?"

"Why, I want you, of course. I've missed you."

Catching Carrie's hand in his, Josh squeezed it. "You want me and half a dozen other men. I don't have any money, you know that, so what else could you want?"

"A bit of Warbrooke s.h.i.+pping."

Josh opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't know what she was talking about, but then he began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Carrie seemed to have limitless access to money and she came from Warbrooke, Maine. He had known she was wealthy, but he'd had no idea she was that wealthy. Warbrooke s.h.i.+pping's motto, We Carry the World, was known everywhere, from China to India to the wilds of America and Australia.

"Josh, my love," Nora purred. "I do believe you've been away from the stage too long. Your face is as readable as a child's. So, you didn't know that she was part of Warbrooke s.h.i.+pping." Smiling in triumph, Nora sat down at the table.

Josh turned to Carrie, ready to tell her what he thought of her not telling him that her family was so very, very rich, but then he smiled at her. Carrie hadn't kept that fact a secret from him; it just hadn't occurred to her that her wealth was of any consequence.

On impulse, he kissed her, not a kiss of pa.s.sion, but a kiss of thanks, thanks to her for coming into his life. With her by his side, with a wife who had her feet so firmly on the ground that she didn't consider "who" her family was to be of any importance, he didn't think she'd ever allow his vanity as an actor to rule his life. Carrie would never let him forget what was really important in life.

Having no idea what Josh was thinking as he looked at her with so much love in his eyes, Carrie smiled and stepped closer to him.

"How did you find out about Warbrooke s.h.i.+pping?" Josh asked Nora, stalling for time while he tried to figure out what to do. He could not, under any conditions, allow Carrie's family to buy his freedom.

"Your dear brother Hiram. Really, Josh, you shouldn't treat that man so badly. He has given you this darling farm." Nora looked around the house with a sneer. "I would never have believed you could have lived this way. Tem says you cook."

As Josh held Carrie's hand and looked at his former wife, he wondered how he'd ever thought her beautiful. Maybe he'd been drunk. "So Hiram told you I had married into wealth."

"Yes. It seems your little-" She looked Carrie up and down. "Your little mistress did something to displease Hiram and he investigated her." She looked up at Josh. "Did you know that her adorable brother has spent the morning buying large pieces of Eternity?"

Josh looked at Carrie in question, but she just shrugged. " 'Ring does that wherever he goes."

Josh blinked a couple of times at her nonchalance, both at her acceptance of the amount of money her family had and of her brother's buying habits. Everyone needed a hobby.

"I want fifty grand," Nora said. "When you put fifty thousand dollars in my hands, the paper is yours." After giving them both a smile, she left the house.

Carrie gave a sigh. "An odious woman. Really odious. I am disappointed in you for marrying someone like her."

"That's odd," Josh said sarcastically. "Most second wives like the first wives. Where are you going?"

"To tell 'Ring I need fifty thousand dollars," Carrie said.

Josh caught her arm. "Just like that? You're going to ask your brother for that fabulous amount of money? What are you going to tell him you need it for? To purchase a divorce paper? Yesterday and this morning all you've talked about is how 'Ring is of such high moral character that he'll be furious if he finds out we're not actually married."

"Then I won't tell him."

"You'll just ask him for fifty thousand, and he'll give it to you with no questions as to why you want it?"

"Of course. Families help each other. Money doesn't matter. Your being married to someone else is much more important than money."

At that Josh had to sit down at the table and put his face in his hands. He'd never met anyone with the philosophy of life that Carrie had. He wanted to rage at her that she was too naive to realize that money meant everything, that people lied, cheated, stole, and killed for money. He'd like to be able to tell her that she didn't understand because she'd never had to earn money, had never had the responsibility of having to support herself, much less a family. But she'd left him for a mere six weeks, and during that time, she'd not only supported herself, she'd changed the economy of an entire town.

"Carrie," he said softly. "I've never met people like your family. If money isn't important to you Montgomerys, what is?"

"Oh, money is very important to us. It's just that love is more important. Love and money in that order. We'll give up money for love, but not love for money. But then, money isn't usually a problem for my family. Our major talents seem to be marrying well and earning money."

Laughing at what she'd said, he stood and hugged her. "Well, my talents lie elsewhere. And one of my talents is that I do take care of my own family. Maybe at times I don't do it as well as I should, but I take care of them. You are not going to ask your brother for a dime. You're not going to depend on him to get you out of this. This is my problem and I'll solve it. Do you understand me?"

"But it would be so easy to have 'Ring write her a check. Then-"

He kissed her to silence. "Do you want to tell your brother the truth about us? That you're carrying my child and we're not married?"

Carrie sighed. "No, I don't. Oh, Josh, I don't understand it. Everyone else in my family has such easy love affairs. 'Ring says that when he and his wife met they fell in love at first sight and they had no problems at all." She gave Josh a hurt look. "You didn't even know that you loved me when you first saw me."

Josh laughed. "True, I didn't, so how about if I spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you?" Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her. "You love me, but do you trust me enough to solve our problems?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Then do what I tell you, no questions asked."

"But-"

He kissed her again. "I take care of my own family, understand? You're not a Montgomery anymore, you're a Templeton."

Carrie smiled. "I like that better than Greene. Carrie Templeton." As she looked up at Josh, she knew it wasn't going to be easy to prevent herself from going to 'Ring. All her life she'd gone to her brothers or father when she needed anything. "All right," she said at last, kissing him again. "I'll do what you say."

Chapter Seventeen.

Carrie knew that the most difficult thing she'd ever done in her life was to lie to her brother. 'Ring had arranged for the wedding to take place at five o'clock that day, and when 'Ring made plans, he expected them to take place. Only his wife was able to laugh at his schedules and get away with it. As for Carrie, if 'Ring told her there was to be a meeting at six in the morning, she would be at that meeting and on time.

Now she had to lie to him. She had to tell him that she couldn't be remarried until the next morning at ten. The worst part of lying was that she didn't know what was going to happen between today and tomorrow. She didn't know what Josh had in mind to do about Nora and the unsigned paper. Carrie had visions of Josh wrestling with Nora to get the paper, and above all, she was sure that 'Ring would find out about Josh being married to another woman. Would he do something primitive like draw a gun on Josh? Her brothers had often hit men who had been too forward with their precious little sister, so what would 'Ring do if he found out a man had impregnated his sister while not being married to her? Oh, how she wished her perfect older brother had experienced problems and obstacles in his own marriage.

She was shaking when she went outside to tell 'Ring that the wedding would have to be postponed.

To her utter bewilderment, 'Ring smiled at her, then offered to ride back into town with Nora and Eric. He was disgustingly pleased with Nora and asked her if she'd perform a few scenes from Romeo and Juliet for him during the short journey.

Nora preened and, to Carrie's way of thinking, made a fool of herself in front of the three men. Carrie knew it might be her imagination, but it seemed to her that all of them were looking at Nora with big eyes. Carrie kicked Josh's s.h.i.+n, then smiled at him when he yelped in pain.

When the carriage was out of sight, with 'Ring riding beside it on his horse, Josh turned to Carrie. "Could you rustle us up some food? The kids and I have some work to do."

"Rustle-?" Carrie began. "Food? I am being sent to the kitchen? What are you three going to do? I want to partic.i.p.ate."

Josh kissed her cheek in an absentminded way. "What I have planned is for actors-professional liars, as it were. You, my dear, couldn't lie well enough to convince a chicken."

"I just lied to my brother!" She was insulted by what he was saying.

"Yes, you did, and he didn't believe a word you said."

"Of course he did. If he hadn't believed me, he wouldn't have gone away. He would-"

"I think you underestimate your brother. I don't think he's the stern moralist you think he is. In fact, I think he's enjoying everything, and it's my guess that tonight he'll flatter Nora enough that he gets most of the story from her. Nora is very susceptible to flattery."

"You should talk," Carrie said under her breath.

Josh pretended he hadn't heard her. There were disadvantages to living with someone who knew so much about you, about the real you, not the person you wanted the world to think you were. "Now, make us something to eat while I talk to the kids."

"Is Carrie going to cook eggs?" Dallas asked, sounding as though she might cry.

Josh ushered his children outside.

"Just follow my lead and say nothing, you understand?" Josh said to Carrie. Carrie, Josh, and the children were standing outside Nora's room in the hotel, and it was about six o'clock, an hour after she and Josh were to have been married.

"D'uh," Carrie said, mocking an idiot. "I think I can do that." She was still smarting over the fact that Josh had felt it safe to tell two children what he was planning, but he had left her out.

Winking at her, he knocked on the door.