My Darling Melissa by Linda Lael Miller

simply waited, her hands folded in her lap.
    Melissa’s eyes were filled with remembered pain when she lifted them to meet her mother’s gaze. “Ajax has a mistress, Mama. He actually invited her to our wedding.”
    Rage filled Katherine at the thought, but this was no time to remind her daughter that she’d disliked Ajax from the first, so she kept her peace.
    The story spilled out of Melissa in a sudden rush. She told of riding in a railroad car with Quinn Rafferty and of their impulsive wedding and explained her need to accomplish something worthwhile. She’d gotten a job shucking oystersthe day before and lost it today, she blurted out, and now she was going to have to start all over again.
    Katherine leaned slightly forward in her chair. “What possessed you to marry a man you didn’t know?” she demanded quietly.
    Melissa’s eyes filled with tears. “It seemed like such a good idea at the time,” she answered. “He’s kind, and he’s very good-looking.”
    With a sigh Katherine rose from her chair and went to the window to look out on the main street of Port Riley. “Do you love him, Melissa?”
    “Yes,” came the immediate response. “I think I do.”
    “And how does he feel about you?”
    This time the answer was not so prompt. “I—I have hopes that Quinn will come to care for me s-someday.”
    Katherine ached inside, for this was so much less than she’d wanted for her child, but she kept her voice light. “Then you won’t be coming home with us?” she asked.
    “No,” Melissa replied. “I’m sorry, Mama, but I can’t live in my brothers’ shadows anymore. I’ve got to make a life for myself.”
    Her heart in her throat, Katherine turned to face her youngest child. There was a very special bond between them, because Melissa was her only daughter. “I’d like to meet your husband,” she announced, leaving all her misgivings and worries unsaid.
    “I’ll arrange it,” Melissa promised, rising to her feet. She embraced Katherine, her eyes shining with tears. “Thank you for understanding,” she said.
    “I didn’t say I understood, pumpkin,” Katherine answered briskly. She longed to weep, just thinking what a mess Melissa had gotten herself into, but she’d been mothering too long to make a mistake like that. Much as she hated it, she had to let go of her daughter and allow her to live her life in the way she saw fit.
    Melissa glanced nervously toward the door of the room. It was clear that she’d been expecting her brother to appear at any moment. “Are the boys angry with me?” she asked.
    Katherine smiled. “It’s nothing they won’t get over,” shesaid. She knew her concern showed as she took in Melissa’s clothes and the cuts and bruises on her hands, but she couldn’t help it. “Go home and get some rest, darling. We’ll talk again later.”
    Melissa gave her mother another kiss and a weary hug, then left the room.
    Katherine immediately sat down, struggling to keep her composure. She longed for the comfort and reassurance of a loving partner, but it wasn’t Daniel Corbin who filled her thoughts. It was Harlan Sommers, a rancher she’d met two years before in California.
    She sighed. Harlan was pressing her to marry him, and Katherine truly wanted to be his wife, but it seemed that there was always some crisis in the family demanding all her attention. She hadn’t even mentioned the man she loved to her children.
    Katherine touched the hair at the nape of her neck to see if it was falling from its pins. Harlan held that in a family such as hers there would always be nothing but crises, and it did appear that he was right.
    Quinn was in his study when Melissa hurried into the house. He was wearing rough-spun trousers, a flannel shirt, and work boots, and he needed a shave.
    Melissa came up short when she saw him. Her husband looked exhausted and smelled like an old bear, but as always, the sight of him had a powerful impact on her.
    “I was fired today,”