Wedding At Cardwell Ranch

* * *

WHEN ALLIE AND her daughter returned, Jackson was watching her from inside his cousin’s two-story ranch house.

“She lost her husband some months back,” Dana said, joining him at the window.

“I wasn’t—”

“He went up into the mountains during hunting season,” she continued, ignoring his attempt to deny he’d been wondering about Allie. “They found his backpack and his rifle and grizzly tracks.”

“Tag mentioned it.” Tag had pointed out Allie’s small, old cabin by the river on their way back to the ranch. It looked as if it needed work. Hadn’t Tag mentioned that her husband was in construction? “Tag said they never found her husband’s body.”

Dana shook her head. “But Nick’s backpack was shredded and his rifle was half-buried in the dirt with grizzly tracks all around it. When he didn’t show up after a few days and they had no luck finding him...”

“His remains will probably turn up someday,” Hud said as he came in from the kitchen. Dana’s husband, Hud, was the marshal in the canyon—just as his father had been before him. “About thirty years ago now, a hiker found a human skeleton of a man. He still hasn’t been identified so who knows how long he’d been out there in the mountains.”

“That must make it even harder for her,” Jackson said.

“It was one reason I was so glad when she decided to take the job as wedding planner.”

He watched Allie reappear to get a box out of the van. She seemed nervous, even upset. He wondered if something had happened at lunch. Now at least he understood why she had overreacted with the black cat.

Hud kissed his wife, saying he had to get back to work, leaving Dana and Jackson alone.

“Our fathers are setting up their equipment on the bandstand in the barn,” Dana said. “Have you seen Harlan yet?”

“No,” Jackson admitted. “Guess there is no time like the present, huh?”

Jackson hadn’t seen his father in several years, and even then Harlan hadn’t seemed to know how to act around him—or his other sons, for that matter. As they entered the barn, Tag joining them, he saw his father and uncle standing on the makeshift stage, guitars in their hands, and was surprised when he remembered a song his father had once sung to him.

He didn’t know how old he’d been at the time, but he recalled Harlan coming into his bedroom one night in Texas and playing a song on his guitar for him. He remembered being touched by the music and his father’s voice.

On stage, the two brothers began playing their guitars in earnest. His father began singing. It was the voice Jackson remembered and it was like being transported back to his childhood. It rattled him more than he wanted to admit. He’d thought he and his father had no connection. But just hearing Harlan sing made him realize that he’d been lying to himself about not only the lack of connection, but also his need for it.

Harlan suddenly broke off at the sight of his sons. He stared through the dim barn for a moment, then put down his guitar to bound off the stage and come toward Jackson. He seemed young and very handsome, belying his age, Jackson thought. A man in his prime.

“Jackson,” he said, holding out his hand. His father’s hand was large and strong, the skin dry, callused and warm. “Glad you made it. So where are the rest of your brothers?”

“They’re supposed to fly in tomorrow. At least Laramie and Hayes are,” Tag said. “Austin... Well, he said he would do his best to make it. He’s tied up on a case, but I’m sure you know how that goes.” At Christmas, Tag had found out what their father did besides drink beer and play guitar—and shared that amazing news with them. Both Harlan and his brother Angus had worked undercover as government agents and still might, even though they were reportedly retired.

“Duty calls sometimes,” Harlan agreed. “I’m glad I’m retired.”

“Until the next time someone gets into trouble and needs help,” Tag said.

Harlan merely smiled in answer.

Jackson was glad to see that his brother and their father could joke. Tag, being the oldest, remembered the years living in Montana and their father more than his brothers.

“The old man isn’t so bad,” Tag had told them after his visit at Christmas. “He’s starting to grow on me.”

Jackson had laughed, but he’d been a little jealous. He would love for his son to have a grandfather. He couldn’t imagine, though, how Harlan could be a part of his only grandson’s life, even if he wanted to. Texas and Montana were just too far apart. And Harlan probably had no interest, anyway.

“Where’s that bride-to-be?” Uncle Angus asked Tag as he hopped off the stage and came toward them.

“Last minute preparations for the wedding,” Tag said. “You can’t believe the lists she’s made. It’s the mathematician in her. She’s so much more organized than I am. Which reminds me, Jackson and I have to drive down to Bozeman to pick up the rings.”

“It took a wedding to get you Cardwell boys to Montana, I see.” Uncle Angus threw an arm around Jackson. “So how are you liking it up here? I saw that boy of yours. Dana’s got him riding horses already. You’re going to have one devil of a time getting him to go back to Texas after this.”

Didn’t Jackson know it. He’d hardly seen his son all day. Even now Ford had been too busy to give Jackson more than a quick wave from the corral where he’d been with the kids and the hired man, Walker.

“Ford is going to sleep like a baby tonight after all this fresh air, sunshine and high altitude,” Jackson said. “He’s not the only one,” he added with a laugh.

“It’s good for him,” Harlan said. “I was talking to him earlier. He’s taken with that little girl.”

“Like father like son,” Tag said under his breath as Allie came in from the back of the barn.

Jackson saw her expression. “I think I’d better go check on my son,” he said as he walked toward Allie. He didn’t have time to think about what he was about to do. He moved to her, taking her arm and leading her back out of the barn. “What’s wrong?”

For a moment she looked as if she were going to deny anything was. But then tears filled her eyes. He walked her around the far side of the barn. He could hear Dana out by the corral instructing the kids in horseback riding lessons. Inside the barn, his father and uncle struck up another tune.

“It’s nothing, really,” she said and brushed at her tears. “I’ve been so forgetful lately. I didn’t remember that the band would be setting up this afternoon.”

He saw that she held a date book in her trembling hand.

“It wasn’t written down in your date book?”

She glanced at her book. “It was but for some reason I marked it out.”

“No big deal, right?”

“It’s just that I don’t remember doing it.”

He could see that she was still upset and wondered if there wasn’t something more going on. He reminded himself that Allie had lost her husband only months ago. Who knew what kind of emotional roller coaster that had left her on.

“You need to cut yourself more slack,” he said. “We all forget things.”

She nodded, but he could see she was still worried. No, not worried, scared. He thought of the black cat and had a feeling it hadn’t been her first scare like that.

“I feel like such a fool,” she said.

Instinctively, he put his arm around her. “Give yourself time. It’s going to be all right.”

She looked so forlorn that taking her in his arms seemed not only the natural thing to do at that moment, but the only thing to do under the circumstances. At first she felt board-stiff in his arms, then after a moment she seemed to melt into him. She buried her face into his chest as if he were an anchor in a fierce storm.

Suddenly, she broke the embrace and stepped back. He followed her gaze to one of the cabins on the mountainside behind him and the man standing there.

“Who is that?” he asked, instantly put off by the scowling man.

“My brother-in-law, Drew. He’s doing some repairs on the ranch. He and Nick owned a construction company together. They built the guest cabins.”

The man’s scowl had turned into a cold stare. Jackson saw Allie’s reaction. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

She shook her head as the man headed down the mountainside to his pickup parked in the pines. “He’s just very protective.” Allie looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders again.

Jackson watched her brother-in-law slowly drive out of the ranch. Allie wasn’t the only one the man was glaring at.

“I need to get back inside,” she said and turned away.

He wanted to go after her. He also wanted to put his fist into her brother-in-law’s face. Protective my butt, he thought. He wanted to tell Allie to ignore all of it. Wanted... Hell, that was just it. He didn’t know what he wanted at the moment. Even if he did, he couldn’t have it. He warned himself to stay away from Allie Taylor. Far away. He was only here for the wedding. While he felt for the woman, he couldn’t help her.

“There you are,” Tag said as he came up behind them. “Ready to go with me to Bozeman to get the rings?”

Jackson glanced toward the barn door Allie was stepping through. “Ready.”

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