Sure, she cared about him or she wouldn’t be here helping him sweat out this waiting game. But if she loved him, she’d want to find a way they could be together. Instead she was ripping them apart.
Yet, like a fool, he looked into her green eyes searching for something, anything that would give him hope. As he did, he could swear that her expression relaxed a little, and a soft glow warmed her eyes. Or maybe he was imagining things. Before he could be sure, she turned toward the window.
“Rafe, somebody’s coming.”
He looked, and sure enough, a little Jeep had turned into the gravel drive. Although it was the kind that could lose its top and side doors for off-roading, it was buttoned up tight.
“Is it her?”
“I can’t believe she’d rent a Jeep, but that’s my mother getting out.” And she was wearing…holy crap. She was wearing jeans. And boots. True, they were red, but they were cowboy boots, not designer heels.
Her sequined red T-shirt was more her style and she had on her trademark Gucci shades. Her hair had recently been colored and styled and hung straight and shining to her shoulders. She looked terrific, but he couldn’t get over the jeans and boots. He’d never seen her wear anything remotely Western.
“Are you going out to meet her?” Meg asked. “I think that would be a nice gesture, all things considered, so she doesn’t have to walk in cold.”
“You’re right.” Without thinking, he grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”
She seemed startled, but she didn’t jerk away from him. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I do. Besides Wyatt, you may be the only person who’s giving her the benefit of the doubt.”
“Okay, then.” She hurried with him down the hall.
“She’s here!” Rafe called as they passed through the living room. “Meg and I will go get her.”
“We’ll go, too,” Wyatt said. “Come on, Olivia.”
The four of them piled out of the door and started down the steps as Diana rounded the Jeep clutching several shopping bags in each hand. Now that was a familiar sight. His mother was one hell of a shopper.
She paused uncertainly when she saw them. “Wow, a welcoming party.”
“You bet, Mom.” Wyatt walked forward with Olivia. “This is Olivia Sedgewick.”
“Hello, Olivia. I’m so glad to meet you.” Diana’s voice trembled slightly. “You’re beautiful.” She turned to Wyatt. “She’s lovely, Wyatt. Just lovely.” And then, to everyone’s total surprise, tears started running down from under her sunglasses and onto her cheeks. “I’m sorry.” Still holding the bags, she reached one hand to wipe her face, knocked off her sunglasses and slammed the bags into Wyatt’s chest. “Oh, dear. I’m m-making a mess of this.”
Rafe squeezed Meg’s hand and let go. “Let me take those bags, Mom.” He was seriously rattled. He’d never seen his mother cry.
“Oh, thanks.” She sniffed and handed them over. “It’s…it’s presents…f-for Wyatt and Olivia. I didn’t know what they needed, so I put g-gift receipts…”
Wyatt folded her in his arms. “I’m sure we’ll love all of it, Mom.”
Rafe grabbed up her sunglasses from the gravel and stood holding the bags, unable to take it all in. His mother was crying. And wearing jeans and boots.
“Let me hold those,” Meg said softly. “You go to your mother.” She pried the bags and sunglasses out of his hands.
In a daze, he walked over and put his arms around his mother and Wyatt as she continued to cry and apologize in alternating waves. Rafe couldn’t decide if she was apologizing for crying, for being late, or for a million and one sins that she’d been accumulating her entire life.
But this wasn’t the mother he’d thought he knew. For the first time in his relationship with her, his throat hurt from joy instead of disappointment. She did love her sons, after all. Until this moment, he’d never been really sure.
“Okay, okay,” Diana said. “Enough. Back up, you big lugs, and let me get hold of myself.” Eyes still streaming, she waved her carefully manicured hands in front of her face. “There goes the Elizabeth Arden makeover.”
Rafe laughed with a certain measure of relief. That sounded more like the old Diana. Except as he gazed at her puffy eyes and red nose, he realized something else. “I love you, Mom,” he said quietly.
“Me, too.” Wyatt squeezed her shoulder. “Thanks for coming to my wedding.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I—” She caught her breath as she glanced at the porch and her hand covered her heart. Silently her lips formed a name. Jack.
Rafe turned as Jack came slowly down the steps, his gaze never leaving Diana. Rafe and Wyatt both stepped aside but Rafe was prepared to move in if necessary. He wouldn’t abandon his mother now.
She trembled as Jack came nearer, his dark eyes, so like hers, unreadable.
He stopped when he was within arm’s length of her. “I wanted to hate you.” His voice was strained. “You left a little boy who didn’t understand why you’d disappeared.”
“I know,” she whispered. “Jack, I…” She gulped and blinked very fast.
“I understand a little better now. I’m not excusing you for what you did.”
“No.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “Nothing could excuse it.”
“But I…” He held out both hands. “I don’t want to live with anger anymore.”
She grabbed hold of his hands and hung on. “I will always live with regret.”
“Yeah, me, too.” He squeezed her hands. “But it’s time to move on.” He glanced at Rafe and Wyatt. “Having a couple of bonus brothers isn’t so bad, and I hear that one of them is trying to get himself married.”
“Right.” Diana gave a quick nod, as if willing herself back under control. “I’ve held things up long enough.” She sniffed hard and gazed up at the sky. “Damn, it’s blue up there. I’d forgotten how blue the Wyoming sky is.”
Then she looked over at Meg. “In all the confusion, I don’t think I met you.” Walking forward, she held out her hand. “I’m Diana Locke.”
“I’m Meg Seymour, the maid of honor.” Meg grasped Diana’s hand in both of hers. “I’m happy to meet you.”
Rafe smiled as he remembered his discussion with Meg that only one person would be happy to meet Diana. After this display of vulnerability on his mother’s part, he hoped there would be more. The fact that she’d dressed like a cowgirl and driven up in a Jeep would help.
Diana glanced over at Rafe. “If I’m not mistaken, you came down the steps holding this delightful young woman’s hand. Does that mean you’re…friends?”
Rafe’s heart hammered as he looked at Meg. “Yes, we’re friends.” But that wasn’t all of it, and this didn’t seem to be a day for half truths. “No, that’s not exactly right. I’m in love with her, Mom.”
Meg gasped.
“I see.” Diana gazed at Meg. “And how about you? Are you in love with my son?”
Meg gulped. “I… Yes, I’m afraid so.”
Rafe’s jaw dropped and he stared at her. “You are?”
“But, Rafe,” Diana said. “Notice how she phrased it. She said she was ‘afraid so,’ which means she’s in love with you but doesn’t think that’s wise. Why isn’t it wise, my dear?”
Meg took a deep breath. “Because Rafe is focused on the bottom line, and I’m focused on living a happy life, regardless of the bottom line.”
“Did
he tell you that?”
“Pretty much.”
Rafe’s mother waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t believe a word of it. That’s his father talking. Rafe has the most loving heart in the world and he’ll never be like his father, no matter how hard he tries.”
“And I’ll second that opinion,” Wyatt said. “Besides, I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Meg. If you want the guy, you’ve got him. You just need to tell him how high to jump.”
“Hey!” Rafe glared at his brother. “What kind of talk is that?”
Wyatt laughed. “I know what I know, bro. And now I’m going to do you a big favor and get this whole crowd inside so you and Meg can have a little one-on-one. But don’t get carried away. We have a rehearsal coming up.”
Rafe stood there thinking about what Wyatt had said as Olivia took the shopping bags from Meg and everyone walked inside. He’d been thinking that if Meg loved him, she’d find a way for them to be together. What about the fact that he loved her? Shouldn’t he be finding a way?
Well, he had. He’d suggested she move to San Francisco, but city life wouldn’t make her happy. He used to think city life made him happy, but how happy would he be without Meg?
Besides, he’d become mighty fond of this ranch and this area. He imagined himself living here, and got excited about the idea. But he couldn’t live here and keep his client base in San Francisco…or could he? Why not? So much of his communication was via the phone and the internet. He could always fly back to the city every now and then to have face-to-face meetings.
“You’re not saying anything.” Meg continued to stand several feet away.
He looked at her with renewed focus, and everything fell into its logical place. Of course she was the one. And he was the one for her. “That’s because I’m waiting for you to tell me how high to jump.”
“I doubt you’d be willing to jump that high, no matter what your mother and Wyatt think.”
He smiled, because he was so many steps ahead of her. “Try me.”
“I personally think you could live in Shoshone and telecommute with your clients, but I doubt that you—”
“I would.” He enjoyed the shock that widened her eyes. “In fact, I’d need to try and keep as many of my San Francisco clients as possible because it looks like I’ll be earning the lion’s share of the family income. You’re not going to have an easy time finding a job around here.”
“I know, which is why I’ve come up with a different plan.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. Did you just refer to a ‘family income’? What family are you talking about?”
“Ours.” He crossed the distance between them and took her by the shoulders. “Because, Meg Seymour, we’re going to marry each other and have kids who will grow up learning to ride, and rope, and ski.”
“Is that a proposal?”
“It is, but you’re worrying me with this alternate plan of yours. I want us to live here, so I hope you’re not about to throw a monkey wrench into that plan.”
“You’re proposing? It doesn’t feel like a proposal.”
“Why not?”
“For starters, you’re not down on one knee.”
“You have a proposal scenario on your list, right?”
“Yep.”
“Alrighty, then.” He dropped to one knee and spread out his arms. “Done.” Then he patted his knee. “Sit here.”
“That’s not part of the scenario on my list.”
“Then it should be. Come here.” He smiled at her. “Please.”
“Oh, okay.” She balanced on his knee and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You were saying?”
He cleared his throat. “Meg Seymour, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“This is rather sudden.”
“I know.” He gazed into her eyes. “But tell me honestly, aren’t you crazy about me?”
She laughed. “Yes, you egomaniac, I am.”
“And I’m crazy about you. And it’s not the sort of deluded crazy that gets people into trouble. We fit and we both know we do, once we figure out the whole career/living arrangement thing. So is that figured out or not?”
“It is. I’m going to start a consulting business helping cities experiencing unexpected urban growth and I’ll base it here. I’ll have to travel, which means you might become the babysitter. Are you okay with that?”
“I’ll be happy to babysit our kids if you’ll marry me. I know some couples have kids without getting married, but I’m sort of old-fashioned about that, so I’d want the ring, the license, the ceremony, the whole deal.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to marry you.”
“Good. Now that we’ve settled that, I’m going to kiss you. I didn’t want to do it while we were still negotiating, for fear you’d accuse me of taking unfair advantage.”
“Oh, please do. That sounds like fun.”
“It will be. I promise.” He kissed her as thoroughly as he dared while balancing her on one knee. Falling into the gravel would not be cool.
But, glory and hallelujah, she kissed him back with all of her heart and soul. He’d experienced her kiss when she was holding something back, but that wasn’t the situation now. She was giving him everything she had to give.
And he was giving everything he had, too. For the first time in his life, he was laying himself bare because love demanded nothing less. As he reluctantly ended the kiss and they walked hand-in-hand back to the house, he thought about the event that had led to this moment. More than thirty years ago, his mother had made a choice that changed everything. Although some condemned her for that choice, he would be forever grateful.
Epilogue
NASH BLEDSOE WAS LATE to the wedding. No one would notice, because he hadn’t planned to be there, despite a personal invitation from his good buddy Jack Chance. Nash’s life was a mess, and although he wished the best for Jack’s half brother Wyatt and Wyatt’s bride, Olivia, he hadn’t seen his way clear to attend their nuptials.
Last night, however, he’d thought of all the reasons why he should be there. He’d thrown a few things in the car, left his bachelor pad in Sacramento, and headed for the Last Chance Ranch.
As he drove in this afternoon, he took note of the outdoor wedding reception area that had been set up with a platform for dancing, tents in case of rain, and gaily decorated tables and chairs. If it was like most Chance events, it would be a blowout. After parking his truck in an area to the left of the circular drive, he mounted the familiar front porch steps.
Damn, he’d been away too long from a place that he’d cherished from the time he was a little kid. Maybe coming here would help him sort through his options. Ending his marriage to Lindsay had been necessary, but now he had to figure out what the hell he wanted to do with his life.
The ceremony was in progress. As he quietly opened the front door, the minister repeated the words that Nash remembered hearing three years ago when he’d thought Lindsay was his forever-after soul mate. He hoped those words would work out better for Wyatt and Olivia than they had for him and Lindsay.
Slipping inside, he quickly saw that all the chairs lined up in the living room were filled. Jack had said it would be a small wedding, about thirty people, and Nash had felt honored to be included, even if he’d had to send his regrets. Fortunately no one noticed him come in. He would have hated to interrupt the ceremony.
He searched the crowd and found his mother, Lucy, still a redhead thanks to regul
ar salon visits. Sure enough, she was sitting next to Ronald Hutchinson, a widower who ran the local feed store. That was one of Nash’s reasons for coming today. His sister Katrina had mentioned that Lucy and Ronald had a romance going on, and Nash felt he should check that out in person.
Katrina hadn’t been able to get home for the wedding, though. She trained thoroughbreds back East, and work had kept her away. Just as well, considering Nash’s other concern, the guy seated on his mother’s far side. Langford “Hutch” Hutchinson, Ronald’s son and a talented sports videographer, had been Nash’s friend since they were kids.
In fact, Hutch, Jack and Nash had been close all through school and into their twenties before life had gotten in the way. But Hutch was severely testing that friendship. Nash was still trying to sort out the particulars, but he gathered from what Katrina was not saying that Hutch had seduced her this past spring when they both happened to be in town. Furthermore, he hadn’t proposed marriage afterward.
Katrina might be fine with that, but Nash wasn’t. In his estimation, any guy who messed with his sister had better show up the very next day with a ring and a plan. Katrina had made no mention of a ring, and the plan seemed to be continuing with their careers on opposite sides of the country.
Nash’s dad had died seven years ago, which made Nash the man of the family, the one assigned to watch out for the womenfolk. The Hutchinsons, both father and son, had been fooling around with the Bledsoe women. Nash was here to find out their intentions.
Although that had been his primary goal in driving over, he admitted to being curious about Jack’s two half brothers, Wyatt and Rafe, who’d turned up out of the blue. Rafe was handling the best man duties, and if Nash squinted slightly, he’d swear it could be Jack standing up there. The striking resemblance confirmed that Rafe and Jack were half brothers. Wyatt’s body build was similar to Jack’s, but his coloring was much lighter, so he must take after his dad.
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