Free Sweet Vidalia Brand by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page B

one to do it but him, and he tired a lot easier than he used to. Which was one of the symptoms that was supposed to warn him when things were...winding down. But he wasn’t going to think about that right then.
    He met Vidalia at the Christmas Tree farm five miles from Big Falls and drank in the sight of her in her snug jeans and suede jacket. She didn’t wear a hat. It was chilly today, and he thought she should have but didn’t say so. He’d brought along a hand saw, and the two of them hiked out into acres of pine trees with a map showing the layout of the place. Balsam firs this way, blue spruce that way, and so on.
    “I’m dying for the perfect Douglas Fir,” she said. “Eleven feet tall. You?”
    The Douglas Fir section was a long ways back. He hoped he’d have the wherewithal to drag the tree back to the road for her. “I’m opting for a blue spruce,” he said, choosing the kind of tree closest to the road. “But we’ll get yours first.”
    “Deal.”
    She smiled, and he just basked in her for a second. The sun was beaming down on her hair, the chilly breeze lifting it and playing with its curls, and her eyes were like a chocolate bar in the sun. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and it made her even more beautiful to him.
    “What?” she asked after a moment.
    He shook his head. “You’re just pretty enough to take a man’s breath away, is all.”
    Her smile seemed to falter. She lowered her eyes.
    “What’s wrong, Vidalia?”
    “Nothing. I....” She sighed. “Nothing. I mean, there
is
something. But I don’t want to ruin our day with it. So I’m gonna put it out of my mind and just enjoy this. And being with you.”
    “Is there someone else?” he asked, because he couldn’t stand not to know.
    She looked him right in the eyes. “There’s never been anyone else, Bobby Joe. You said you never got me outta your mind. Well, I need to be honest and admit that I never got you outta mine either. I never will.”
    A little rush of alarm went through him. He lowered his head, guilt rising up in his chest. He should tell her. He didn’t expect her to return his feelings at all, much less this quickly, this easily. Her words to him were a dream come true, but it just wasn’t fair. He had to tell her. He couldn’t let her fall in love with him before she knew he was dying.
    He couldn’t.
    “I never got over you, Bobby Joe. And I don’t imagine I ever will. But I did a bad thing to you way back then, and I’ve got to make it right with you now. Before we go any further. I’ve got to tell you–”
    “There’s something I’ve got to tell you too, Vidalia,” he said very softly. He met her eyes, dreading that discussion. And then a father walked past them, dragging a pine tree and carrying a little girl on his shoulders, and they were laughing their way through a chorus of Jingle Bells. Bobby smiled and felt lighter. “But not today,” he said. “Today, let’s just get some Christmas trees, have fun, and not worry about anything heavy. Okay?”
    She smiled brightly. “That is more than okay,” she told him.

    The scene in the parking lot in front of the Long Branch Saloon was like something out of an old western film. The five daughters of Vidalia Brand stood shoulder to shoulder facing the three sons of Bobby Joe McIntyre. About ten feet of recently laid blacktop stretched between them.
    Kara Brand had made the call asking for this meeting. Jason had felt bristly, like his family was about to be accused of something and had expected a hostile encounter. He hadn’t been all that worried about it, though. At least not until he’d seen them.
    He and his brothers might as well have been face to face with a gang of super models. The apples had not fallen far from the tree in this family. Robert and Joey were as rocked by their beauty as he was, but he hoped they also noticed that every last one of them was wearing a wedding ring. Off limits. The McIntyre’s didn’t roll that way. If