True Colors: A Novel

Vivi Ann wakes up and tends to the horses on the waterfront ranch, Water’s Edge, that her family has occupied for four generations since her great-grandfather homesteaded the place and founded the town of Oyster Shores. Vivi Ann then serves breakfast to Henry, who has grown quieter and harsher over the years. Henry begrudgingly reveals the ranch is in financial trouble, and Vivi Ann promises to win some money at the rodeo this week.

Winona, now the most successful attorney in Oyster Shores, draws up a plan in her office that she believes could save the ranch. She presents the plan to Henry; however, he walks out without a word when Winona suggests selling 10 acres of the property, leaving Winona feeling ashamed and disappointed.

Winona receives a phone call from Luke Connelly, an old neighbor and her childhood best friend, who is back in town and needs a lawyer. Winona heads over to Aurora’s to tell her about both Henry and Luke. Aurora opines that Henry would never have agreed to sell part of the ranch. She also warns Winona to be careful with Luke, remembering Winona’s crush on him. At Winona’s request, Aurora promises not to say anything to Vivi Ann.

Winona dresses carefully, feeling insecure about her weight and looks, and heads over to Luke’s. Luke greets her warmly, and they catch up on their respective lives. However, Luke mentions spotting Vivi Ann at a gas station the previous day and comments on how beautiful she looks now, which doesn’t sit well with Winona.

Winona forces herself to focus on her work even as she hopes for a phone call from Luke. When it doesn’t come, she wraps up her work and walks over to Water’s Edge. To her surprise, she finds Luke and Henry chatting and laughing on the porch. When she joins them, Henry berates Winona for her idea of selling the ranch, praising Vivi Ann for how she tends to it instead and leaving Winona hurt and humiliated. However, the evening gets better when Luke asks Winona to join him for dinner at a restaurant in town.

Vivi Ann and Clem take part in the rodeo in Texas, confident of winning their event. While there, she learns about a new winter series for barrel-racing events and is struck by an idea to save the ranch. She heads home with the prize money, thrilled that she came up with a solution. Back at the ranch, however, she finds the horses’ barn in a mess and the ranch hand, Travis, whom she recently hired, drunk and barely conscious.

The next morning, Vivi Ann wakes up early to clean up Travis’s mess before joining her family for the walk to church; it is Grey family tradition to walk to church on the first Sunday of every month. Aurora mentions Luke’s return to town. Vivi Ann barely remembers him but is struck by the way Winona and Aurora talk about him, believing they are keeping something from her.

After Sunday supper at the house, Vivi Ann broaches her idea of starting a series at Water’s Edge. Winona shoots it down and is incredulous when Henry actually considers it, quoting how much money it will require. Henry storms off into his study, and Vivi Ann and Winona bicker until Aurora asks that they try to make the idea work.

Luke arrives at the ranch while Vivi Ann is in the middle of conducting a Bits and Spurs 4-H Club session. She recognizes him and invites him to talk to the girls, as he is a veterinarian. Once the girls leave, Vivi Ann tells Luke about her idea for the series; Henry has reached out to Luke and asked if they can use Luke’s field. They have ice cream and a couple of beers together; Luke chooses the chocolate cherry flavor.

Winona goes to meet Henry and offers to help with the series. She will handle the finances and hiring and will even put in some of her own money. Henry haughtily rejects the latter offer but commissions her to manage the hiring and Luke’s rental fee before walking away from the conversation.

A week later, Winona presents the requisite plans to the family. The sisters decide to have ice cream together to celebrate. When Winona discovers her favorite flavor is missing, Vivi Ann reveals that Luke came by and has also asked Vivi Ann out. Winona leaves shortly after, and Aurora follows, trying to convince her to tell Vivi Ann the truth; however, Winona refuses.

For the next couple of months, Winona suffers through watching Luke and Vivi Ann date, knowing Vivi Ann doesn’t want anything serious and waiting for them to break up. However, one evening, Luke shows Winona a diamond ring and reveals that he is planning on proposing to Vivi Ann.

On the night of the barrel-racing awards banquet, Aurora compliments Vivi Ann on what she has achieved at the ranch. They talk about Luke; while he is clearly in love with Vivi Ann, she is less sure about her own feelings. Vivi Ann also notes that Winona has been cold and distant lately, but Aurora is evasive about this.

After the celebrations, Luke takes Vivi Ann for a walk and proposes, which shocks her. To test whether he knows her well enough, she asks him what her favorite flavor of ice cream is. Luke guesses chocolate cherry, which is actually Winona’s favorite; Vivi Ann claims hers is just vanilla. She professes that she is not ready to marry him, and Luke promises to wait. Vivi Ann privately debates whether she will ever be ready; she doesn’t feel passionately about Luke but wonders if it is wrong to hold out for that kind of emotion.

While Winona waits uneasily for news of Vivi Ann’s engagement, Henry calls and tasks her with hiring a new ranch hand; Travis bailed in the middle of the night. Aurora and Winona head over to Water’s Edge to help Vivi Ann pick up Travis’s slack, and Vivi Ann tells them about Luke’s proposal and her answer. Winona feels relieved.

A few days later, a man arrives at Water’s Edge, answering Winona’s advertisements for the ranch hand position. He introduces himself as Dallas Raintree. Winona notices that he has a Texan accent and Indigenous tattoos around his left bicep. Winona thinks of Henry’s prejudice against Indigenous Americans, but Dallas seems to have the required skills and is willing to stay long-term; she hires him on the spot.

Winona, Aurora, and Vivi Ann go out to the Outlaw Tavern on Friday night. Dallas is there, too, though Vivi Ann doesn’t know who he is. He approaches her and flirts with her, pulling her onto the dance floor and kissing her. Vivi Ann kisses him back before other people pull Dallas off her, but Dallas is unbothered and walks away smiling. When Aurora describes what happened to Winona, who was in the washroom, Winona realizes whom Vivi Ann kissed.

The next morning, Winona tells Henry and Luke what happened. Vivi Ann panics, especially when she learns that Dallas is their new ranch hand, and announces that it doesn’t matter, as she and Luke are getting married. Henry is immediately mollified and Luke is thrilled, while Winona is heartbroken.

Dallas approaches Vivi Ann at the ranch, and she reveals that she is the one in trouble; he has not lost his job. However, she tries to draw a boundary, stating that she has a fiancé. Later, Henry tells Vivi Ann to stay away from Dallas, and Vivi Ann feels ashamed of her father’s prejudice.

Slowly, the gossip about Vivi Ann and Dallas’s kiss dies down as talk about her and Luke’s wedding takes over. Vivi Ann tries to stay away from Dallas, but the attraction between them is undeniable. Luke and Vivi Ann are at the Outlaw together when Vivi Ann spots Dallas there. She steps out on the pretext of getting something from the car and follows him into the dark alley next to Myrtle’s Ice Cream Shop, where she watches him go into Cat Morgan’s bungalow, a place about which Vivi Ann has heard salacious stories.

Aurora urges Winona to tell Vivi Ann the truth about Luke before it is too late, but Winona feels like it will make her look pathetic. She keeps waiting for the couple to end things because she knows Vivi Ann doesn’t really love Luke.

When no one else is available, Vivi Ann is forced to take Dallas’s help in rescuing an abused horse. Vivi Ann is heartbroken when she sees the state that the horse, Renegade, is in; he used to be a champion horse but has turned violent because he has been whipped and abused. Dallas asserts that “[p]ain can turn an animal mean” (88).

In a bid to feel some kind of passion for Luke, Vivi Ann tries to initiate sex with him, but Luke demurs, claiming their first time ought to be special. Later, he asks Winona for advice, claiming that Vivi Ann has been acting strangely. Winona tries to hint that perhaps Vivi Ann doesn’t love him, but Luke doesn’t hear the warning.

Dallas approaches Vivi Ann, claiming he can’t get her out of his head. Even as she rebuffs him, she can’t stop thinking about him. She asks Aurora how her sister knew that Richard, her husband, was the one for her. Aurora claims that Richard was kind to her and dismisses passion as overrated; for the first time, Vivi Ann wonders if her sister is trapped in an unhappy marriage. Winona urges Vivi Ann not to marry Luke if she isn’t sure, but Vivi Ann claims that she is just nervous.

Vivi Ann spends great energy avoiding Dallas, and it begins to take a toll on her. Finally, she excuses herself from the Silverdale rodeo, claiming that she is unwell, and stays home while the rest of the family attends. That night, she spots Dallas riding Renegade bareback from her bedroom window and is awestruck. She goes to his cabin, claiming they will only sleep together once; however, they make love multiple times that night. Vivi Ann wonders about the scars covering his chest, but Dallas refuses to talk about them. The next morning at church, Luke and her sisters notice that Vivi Ann seems unsettled; she claims she is still unwell and heads home early, where she and Dallas sleep together again.

Vivi Ann and Dallas continue their affair in secret throughout the summer. Despite Aurora’s attempts at mediation, Winona grows tired of Vivi Ann’s distant behavior with Luke and berates her for it, claiming she will break Luke’s heart. Vivi Ann acknowledges this but can’t stop herself with Dallas; she even grows bold enough to go looking for him at Cat Morgan’s and finally confesses to him that she loves him.

One evening, when Winona drops a drunk Henry off at the ranch, she spots Vivi Ann and Dallas’s trucks parked outside his cabin. She walks in to find both of them in bed together and is outraged. Vivi Ann tries to explain, but Dallas claims Winona is too jealous to listen. Winona heads home wondering what to do, and Luke arrives looking for Vivi Ann. Hurt and angry, she reveals Vivi Ann is in Dallas’s cabin.