Ranch at River’s End

by Brenda Mott

  Until now.

  DARCI WENT RIDING WITH Chris on Thursday to try to relax. Her mind was full of worries. Jordan had been avoiding her ever since Michaela fell off Soot. She figured he must be mad at her for letting his daughter ride the black mare. He hadn’t seemed upset at her that day, but then maybe he just hadn’t wanted to show his true feelings in front of his daughter.

  All Darci knew was he hadn’t said more than two words to her whenever she’d run into him at the hospital, and he hadn’t called or come over all week.

  So she was more than a little surprised when he showed up on her doorstep after her early shift at the hospital on Friday—his day off—wearing his usual ball cap, jeans and boots. He also wore a jacket to protect him from the November wind.

  “Hi,” he said. “You busy?”

  “No,” she said. “Come on in.”

  “Are you getting ready to go to the Shadow S?”

  “Actually, I don’t have any lessons today. My student who was scheduled for this afternoon came down with the flu.”

  “How would you like to come out to the boat with me for a little while?” he asked. “This is about the last time I’m going to go to the boat before I dock it for the winter.”

  “I suppose I could,” Darci said. “Just let me get my coat.”

  He helped her into her jacket, and the two of them headed off in the Ford Explorer, which Jordan had recently gotten back from the body shop. Though the temperature was a bit chilly, the sun was out.

  “I was beginning to think you were mad at me,” Darci said. “You’ve barely talked to me since Mac got thrown off Aunt Stella’s horse.”

  “Not at all,” he said. “I’ve just had a lot of things on my mind.”

  “Oh? Anything I should know about?”

  “All in good time,” he said.

  He parked the SUV and helped Darci out, taking her by the arm. “Watch your step,” he said as they boarded the boat.

  Then he started the engine, lifted anchor and guided the boat out into the water. “Where are we going?” Darci asked. “I didn’t know you were planning to take me out on the boat. I just thought we were going to sit at the dock.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll be back in time for the kids, and if we’re not, I asked Louise to keep an eye on them.”

  Darci raised an eyebrow. “On Christopher, too?”

  “Chris, too.” He grinned. “I planned ahead.”

  “Planned what?” Darci put her hands on her hips in mock indignation. “Just what are you up to, Dr. Drake?”

  “You’ll see.”

  He anchored the boat at their special fishing spot, then cut the engine. Sitting beside Darci on the deck, he looked out over the water. No one else was out on the lake. The sun played across the silvery surface, the afternoon rays giving off a little warmth.

  “Isn’t it beautiful here?” Darci said. “Look how peaceful it is.”

  “It isn’t as beautiful as you,” Jordan said. “Which is why I want you to have this.” He slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box, loving the look of shocked surprise on Darci’s face.

  “Jordan?”

  “Go ahead. Open it.” He gestured at the box.

  Darci opened it, and Jordan nearly laughed at the expression on her face. He knew she’d half expected a ring, from the shape and size of the box. Instead, she stared down at a pair of sapphire earrings.

  “Oh, Jordan. They’re beautiful.” She took one out and held it up to her ear. “What do you think?”

  “I think they suit you perfectly,” he said. “They match your eyes, and they’ll be perfect to serve as your something blue.”

  “My something blue?” Her breath caught as he pulled a second box from his pocket.

  “Your something blue for our wedding—if you’ll have me.”

  He got down on one knee and flipped open the box to reveal the diamond-and-sapphire ring that lay nestled inside. “Darci, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  She gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, then reached out for the box, hands shaking. “Jordan, you’re serious.”

  “Of course I’m serious,” he said. “I love you, Darci. And I’ve come to realize something. After Sandra’s death, I was so busy focusing on what I lost, I forgot to really look at what I have. Not just Michaela, but my career. I’d forgotten how to simply live my life to the fullest, helping people, enjoying life. But all that changed when I met you.

  “I’ve been afraid. I kept wanting to fix everything for everybody, including you and Christopher. But I’ve come to realize I can’t do that. And that I can’t be afraid of life—I have to accept it with all its uncertainty.” He took her hand in both of his and held it. “I was also afraid to let go of Sandra,” he said. “I thought loving you would somehow take away from my memory of her, and the life I shared with her. But now I know that’s not true, either.

  “So, Darci, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, and share your life with me? Be my partner for the rest of our lives?”

  A single tear tracked down Darci’s cheek. She bit her lip and smiled. “I love you, too, Jordan, and I would be honored and happy to marry you.” She held out her hand, and he slipped the ring on her finger.

  “It’s a perfect fit,” she said. “How did you know my ring size?”

  Jordan reached once more into his shirt pocket and pulled out the ring she’d left at his house on Halloween. “Simple, Miss Kitty. I cheated.”

  CHRIS AND MICHAELA WERE waiting at Jordan’s house when Jordan and Darci came back from the reservoir. “Where have you been?” Michaela asked.

  “Yeah, what’s up?” Chris asked. “Louise came by earlier and told me I was supposed to wait for you here at Jordan’s house, Mom.”

  Darci smiled at her son, feeling somewhat apprehensive. How would he and Michaela take the news? “We have something to tell you,” she said, deciding the only way to find out was to simply come out with it. She held out her left hand. “Jordan and I got engaged.”

  “Oh, my God!” Michaela shrieked. “The ring’s gorgeous.” She took hold of Darci’s hand for a closer look, then smiled up into her eyes. “Does this mean I get free riding lessons from now on?”

  Darci laughed. “I guess it does, since I can hardly charge my stepdaughter. And especially since your dad is probably going to get you your very own horse.”

  “Awesome!” Michaela jumped in the air and hugged first her dad, then Darci.

  “Gee, Mom, a guy’s the last to know,” Christopher teased. Then he hugged her. “Congratulations, Mom. Jordan.” He groaned and gave Mac a mock frown. “Does this mean I have to have Michaela for a sister?”

  “I guess it does,” Darci said.

  “That’s okay,” he said. “Since I know I’ll always be the number one child, right, Jordan?” He grinned and Jordan laughed as Mac protested.

  “I think that’s a spot you’re going to have to share,” Jordan said.

  “Where are we all going to live?” Mac asked.

  “I’ve given that some thought,” Jordan said, slipping his arm around his daughter. “How would you feel about selling the house and buying a place with more acreage? Say, enough for my two number one kids to have their horses?”

  “Do you mean it, Dad?” Michaela asked, beaming.

  “You bet I do, snicker-doodle. But it’s also up to Darci.”

  Darci hugged Christopher with one arm, Mac with another. She peered into Jordan’s eyes, happier than she’d ever been.

  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE WEDDING TOOK PLACE at the ranch Jordan and Darci had purchased on the first Saturday of May. Spring flowers bloomed everywhere along the river, and the weather was perfect. Especially for the ceremony Darci and Jordan had planned.

  The entire wedding party was mounted on horseback, including the minister, who preached cowboy church at the local rodeos. Jordan had asked Leon to be
his best man, Dr. Samuels his groomsman.

  Stella served as Darci’s maid of honor and Nina her bridesmaid. Michaela acted as junior bridesmaid, Christopher as usher and ring bearer. Aunt Stella and Uncle Leon mounted up on the two Appaloosas they’d bought at the auction last fall, while Nina rode her own mare—a recent purchase.

  Dr. Samuels rode Feather, and Chris rode Dollar, now his own horse. Michaela had a horse, as well—a palomino gelding Jordan had found for her at the horse auction last Christmas. Darci rode Soot. The mare had become a trustworthy saddle mount after lots of training and TLC, and Darci had recently purchased her from her aunt and uncle.

  The wedding party mounted up beneath an archway decorated with red roses. Jordan sat on Leon’s buckskin gelding, Cinch, waiting for his bride.

  The skirt of Darci’s old-fashioned white lace wedding dress trailed out behind the saddle, draping over Soot’s tail. She trotted between rows of folding chairs down the center of the aisle with Uncle Leon, who was giving her away.

  Reverend Collins, dressed in a Western suit, boots and a cowboy hat, smiled out at the crowd of people—neighboring ranchers, riding students, hospital workers—who’d come to the wedding.

  “Friends and neighbors,” he said, “we are gathered here today to witness the hitching up of Jordan Drake and Darci Taylor. They’ve come to pledge their love to each other before God and before you all here today. If anyone has any objections to that, let him speak now or forever keep his peace.” A chuckle rippled through the crowd as one of the horses snorted loudly. Reverend Collins opened his bible and read a few scriptures, then closed the book.

  “Jordan, do you have something you’d like to say to your pretty little lady here?”

  Jordan scooted his horse sideways, close enough to Darci’s to take her hand. “Darci,” he said. “It took me a while to realize just how much I love you. But now that I know you’re the only woman for me, I hope you’ll do me the honor of sharing my life for whatever time on earth the two of us have. I want to wake up beside you every morning and go to sleep beside you every night. I want to share boat rides and sunsets with you, and maybe even a trail ride now and then, if I can manage not to fall off my horse.”

  Again, the crowd chuckled. “I promise to love you and care for you always, and I promise to play Matt Dillon to your Kitty for as long as we both shall live.”

  “Jordan,” Darci said. “It took me a while to let my heart trust loving you. But now that I have, I know there’s no other man for me. I want to share moonlight rides with you, and sunsets on the water. And I want to go to sleep with you each night and wake up with you every morning for the rest of my life. I promise to love you, and treasure you, and be your Miss Kitty for as long as we both shall live.”

  “And with those words spoken,” Reverend Collins said, “I now pronounce you hitched. Jordan, you may kiss your beautiful bride.”

  The crowd let out a collective yee-haw, and Jordan leaned in the saddle to kiss Darci, long and sweet.

  Then the two of them turned and rode their horses out into a meadow to join their friends and family in celebrating the best day of their lives.

  On the ranch at the river’s end.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6496-4

  RANCH AT RIVER’S END

  Copyright © 2010 by Brenda Mott.

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