Aloha Love by Yvonne Lehman Page A

he thought his visitors would, he wondered how long it had been since he appreciated what he had.
    When they returned to the house, Jane let her passengers out at the house. She drove him down to the stables. Chico smiled broadly, as did the stable boy, who came to take the wagon inside and unhitch the grays.
    “Not bad,” Mak said, “for a lady.”
    She gave him a reprimanding glance but again thanked him profusely.
    She walked down to Panai, and again the horse let her touch him. Chico was right: She had a way with horses, Mak realized. They took to her, trusted her, and she wasn’t afraid. She’d handled the grays expertly. “You asked about rentals,” he said.
    “Yes,” she said, keeping her eyes on Panai, apparently sensing he was sizing her up, too. “I want to have my own transportation.”
    There were rental places in town, but one couldn’t always be sure what one might get. He leaned against the stall, near Panai. “It looks like our families have plans for Sunday. If you’re available after church, I could bring a horse for you.”
    Her eyes, now duller than vivid green or blue but filled with anticipation, stared into his own. “You’ve decided which one?”
    He smiled. “I’ll surprise you.”
    He’d already surprised her by being so cordial. Was it only because she was a guest at his home? Or because she wore an engagement ring? Maybe some woman should teach him a lesson, that he was just as susceptible to a woman’s charms as any other man.
    Not more than ten minutes later, Jane thought she should be horsewhipped. The big question in her mind should not be what kind of man was Mak MacCauley, but what kind of woman was Jane Buckley.

Nineteen
    Almost as soon as they were settled in the surrey, they waved good-bye again, and Uncle Russell drove them down the stone drive, Matilda spoke up in a concerned way. “What a bad time that child has had in such a short while. Losing her mother and having surgery on her leg.”
    Pilar was sympathetic. “I asked Leia, and she said she doesn’t remember her leg getting hurt. She just knows she fell and twisted her knee and the doctors had to operate.”
    “Rose told me,” Matilda said, “that Leia was on the horse with Maylea. As Maylea fell, she held onto Leia, protecting her the best she could, but Leia’s leg was twisted under her. Children’s bones are hard to break,” she said. “It’s the twisting that was harder to deal with than if there had been a clean break.”
    Uncle Russell looked over his shoulder at them. “That was such a bad, bad time for Mak and Rose, but hardest for Mak. Rose had been through enough to know to turn to the Lord and others for comfort. Mak turned against God and became aloof from most others. For a while, they didn’t know if Leia’s leg would continue to grow the way it should.”
    “Jane, did Mak talk to you about it?” Matilda said, her expression troubled.
    “No,” Jane said.
    “Like I said,” Russell tossed back, “he doesn’t open up to anyone about it.”
    Jane felt like the dirt along the road they traveled and thought she deserved to be run over by the wheels of the surrey. She hadn’t had enough decency to remember to ask Mak about Leia’s leg.
    She felt Matilda’s light pat on her hand, looked at it, and then smiled faintly at her aunt. Matilda must have thought the moisture in Jane’s eyes was about Leia’s plight. In a way, it was. But in another way, it was about her own plight. In the stables, she’d been thinking about horses and even entertained the idea of being able to appeal to Mak MacCauley.
    What kind of hopeless creature was she?
    Her other hand covered Matilda’s for a moment. Matilda loved her. But Matilda didn’t know how thoughtless she could be.
    Did she?
    If Uncle Russell preached about sins of omission, she’d probably shrivel up and sink into a hole somewhere.
    ❧
    Sunday morning at church, Rose said Mak had taken Leia to her grandparents earlier. Pilar left with