At nine-forty that night Leah said goodnight to Roy Moon, patted the Arabian stallion she had ridden the last hour in the indoor arena, and headed for the house. Hopefully the meeting between Johnny and his staff would be ended. She wanted to talk to him again about her returning to work now that the media had backed off in the attempts to wrangle interviews and photos from them. Not that she was worried that she would lose her job; Johnny was one of the bosses, after all. In fact, the entire board of trustees had given their approval of her taking as much time as she needed for the media storm to subside, as they all knew it eventually would. Until the recent accident with Dolores, Johnny had managed to maintain his privacy in Ruidoso. To most of the locals he was simply Johnny, hometown boy made good. Had it not been for Dolores's death and the frantic scramble to cover it in the media, life would have remained relatively normal at Whitehorse Farm except for the occasional out-of-towners who cruised by in their rent-a-car to snap photos of Johnny's front gate.
Ed, Roger, and Jack filed out of the house and streamed down the front steps, briefcases in hand, faces somber as they marched toward their cars. They barely glanced at Leah, as if intentionally ignoring her existence. Robert Anderson tarried on the porch, the light overhead casting sharp shadows on his face.
"Everyone looks very serious," she commented as she mounted the front steps.
Robert didn't smile. "It wasn't much of a meeting. My client's thoughts appear to be elsewhere."
Val's laughter erupted from the house, bringing a smile to Leah's face.
Anderson shook his head and with a muttered curse headed for his car. Watching him go, Leah yelled, "Robert, I take it you don't have kids."
"No!" he shouted back.
"I didn't think so," she replied, then said to herself, "Lucky kids."
Johnny met her in the foyer, pushing Val in his wheelchair. Shamika followed, the ex-Bronco football player at her side. He peeled away from the others and said, "I'll bring the car up."
"Are we going someplace?" Leah asked.
"Johnny has surprise for Val," Val announced very clearly, looking up at Johnny and grinning.
"Oh?" She kissed Val on the cheek and smiled at Johnny. "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"
"Definitely," Johnny replied.
"Bigger than … a twenty-one-inch television?"
"Absolutely."
"A … six stack of hay bales?"
"Much bigger."
She feigned a frown and narrowed her eyes. Val's grin grew wider and Shamika shrugged as Leah glanced at her for a hint. "Is it on the premises?" she asked.
"Nope," Johnny said.
The ear stopped at the foot of the steps and Johnny eased Val's chair down each stair as the driver opened the car doors, then hurried over to help put Val in the backseat.
"Am I invited?" Leah asked.
Johnny turned and lifted his hand to her. "Would I go anywhere without you?"
"I don't know. Would you?"
"Not unless I felt it would be detrimental to your life and happiness."
"You are such a smooth talker, Johnny."
"And you love it."
"Oh, yes." She took his hand. "I most definitely love it."
The lights of the Big Top Carnival and Circus lit up the night sky in a bloom of red, green, gold, and blue twinklers. The glowing marquee out front read:
WELCOME VALENTINO STARR!
There was a scattering of cars and vans in the parking lot, each showing handicapped license plates. As the driver parked the limo among them, Leah looked at Johnny, then Shamika, who had begun to grin. "What's going on?"
"Johnny rented the carnival for tonight, for Val and his friends."
Leah sank back in the seat, glad for the darkness that hid the look of raw emotion she was certain was etched in her face. She couldn't speak. She did not dare look at Johnny or she would burst out in tears.
Johnny took her hand. "I trust you remember this place."
She nodded and swallowed. "You brought me here on our first real date. I got a stomachache eating corn dogs and cotton candy. You won a giant walrus playing Skee-Ball. I still have it, by the way. And at closing time you got your friend who operated the Ferris wheel to stop us at the top so we could watch the fireworks exploding all around us. I think we ended up making out more than we watched the fireworks."
"We made our own fireworks." Johnny wiggled his eyebrows, making Shamika laugh and Leah blush.