Wedding at Cardwell Ranch

by B. J Daniels

  Allie couldn’t help but smile over at him. “Thank you but I can’t ask you to keep—”

  “You’re not asking. There’s something else I need to say.” He glanced over at her before making the turn at Big Sky then turned back to his driving. “I hadn’t been with another woman since my ex. I didn’t want anyone. The mere thought of getting involved again... Then I met you,” he said shooting her a quick look as they raced up the mountain toward Big Sky Resort.

  “Turn at the next left when we reach the top of the mountain,” she said, not sure she wanted to hear what he had to say.

  “I hadn’t felt anything like that in so long and then we made love and...”

  She really didn’t need him to let her down easy. Not right now. All she wanted to think about was Natalie. If he was just doing this to keep her from worrying... “You don’t have to explain.”

  “I do. I panicked because making love with you was so amazing and meant so much and...” He shook his head. “I...I just needed time to digest it all. And, truthfully, I was scared. Ford’s mom did a number on me. Admittedly, we were both young, too young to get married, let alone have a child together. I had this crazy idea that we wanted the same things. Turned out she wanted money, a big house, a good time. When she got pregnant with Ford...” He slowed to make the turn.

  “It’s up this road about a mile. Turn left when you see the sign for Elk Ridge.”

  He nodded. “Juliet didn’t want the baby. I talked her into having Ford. She hated me for it, said it was going to ruin her figure.” He shook his head at the memory. “I thought that after he was born, her mothering instincts would kick in. My mistake. She resented him even more than she did me. She basically handed him to me and went out with her friends.”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  He glanced over at her. “No, you can’t.” He sighed. “After that, she started staying out all night, wouldn’t come home for days. Fortunately, the barbecue businesses took off like crazy so I could stay home with Ford. I asked for a divorce only to find out that my wife liked being a Cardwell and didn’t want to give up what she had, which was basically no responsibilities, but lots of money and freedom to do whatever she wanted.”

  “Keep going up this road,” she told him. Then after a moment, said, “She didn’t want a divorce.”

  “No. She said that if I pushed it, she would take Ford.”

  “How horrible,” Allie cried. Hadn’t that been her fear with Nick? Hadn’t she worried that he would be a bastard and try to hurt them both when she told him she was leaving him?

  “After the battle I fought to keep my son, I was...broken.”

  “I understand. The last thing you wanted was to get involved with a woman who only reminded you of what you’d been through.”

  He glanced over at her. “That was part of it.” He didn’t say more as he reached the turnoff for Mildred Taylor’s house and the guesthouse where her daughter, Sarah, lived. He turned down it and Mildred’s house came into view.

  * * *

  JACKSON HAD ALMOST told Allie how he felt about her. That he loved her. But as he’d turned and seen Mildred Taylor’s big house, he’d realized the timing was all wrong. First they had to find Natalie.

  He prayed she would be here, safe. But if so, did the Taylors seriously think they could get away with this? Had they told someone they were taking Natalie and the person just forgot or couldn’t find Allie and left? Was there a logical explanation for this?

  He hoped it was just a misunderstanding. But in his heart, he didn’t believe for a minute that Allie had imagined the things that had been happening to her. Someone was behind this and they weren’t finished with Allie yet. What scared him was that one of them could have murdered Nick.

  His heart began to pound harder as he pulled in front of the large stone-and-log house set back against the mountainside. There were two vehicles parked in front and the lights were on inside the massive house. He parked and opened his door, anxious to put Nat in her mother’s arms. Allie was out her door the moment he stopped.

  “Who all lives here?” Jackson asked as he caught up to her.

  “Just Mildred in the main house. Sarah stays in the guesthouse behind it. Drew lives down in Gateway but he stays with his mother a lot up here. That’s his pickup parked next to Mildred’s SUV so he must be here.”

  As Jackson passed Mildred’s SUV, he touched the hood. Still warm. They at least hadn’t been here long.

  “What does Sarah drive?” he asked, glancing toward the dark guesthouse.

  “A pearl-white SUV. I don’t see it.”

  At Allie’s knock, he heard movement inside the house. If they were trying to hide Natalie, it wouldn’t do them any good. He looked back down the mountainside telling himself that if Natalie was in this house, he’d find her.

  Drew opened the door and looked surprised to see them standing there.

  “Where is Natalie?” Allie cried as she pushed past him.

  “Natalie?” Drew barely got the word out before Jackson pushed past him, as well. The two of them stormed into the main part of the house.

  Mildred was seated on one of the large leather couches facing the window in the living room, a glass of wine in her hand. She looked up in surprise.

  “Where is she?” Allie demanded. “I know you have my daughter.”

  “Natalie?” Mildred asked, frowning. “You can’t find her?”

  “They seem to think we have her,” Drew said, closing the front door and joining them. “We’ve been at the police station. Why would you think we had Natalie?”

  “Allie, stay here. I’ll search the house,” Jackson said.

  “You most certainly will not,” Mildred cried. “I’ll call the cops.”

  “Call the cops, but I suspect the marshal is already on his way here,” he told her and wasn’t surprised when Drew stepped in front of him as if to block his way.

  “You really want to do this now? Your niece is missing. If you don’t have her, then we need to be out looking for her, not seeing who is tougher between you and me.”

  “We don’t have her,” Drew said, “and you’re not—”

  Jackson hit him and didn’t wait around to see if he got up.

  He stormed through the house, calling Nat’s name. There were a lot of rooms, a lot of closets, a lot of places to look. But it didn’t take him long to realize she wasn’t here. Whatever they might have done with her, she wasn’t in this house.

  “I’m going to have you arrested for trespassing and barging into our house and attacking my son,” Mildred threatened but hadn’t made the call when he returned. Drew had a package of frozen peas he was holding to his eye as he came out of the kitchen.

  “Mildred swears she hasn’t seen Sarah,” Allie told him.

  “Well, Natalie isn’t here. I think we should still check the guesthouse.”

  “You planning to break in?” Drew asked. “Or would you like me to get the key?”

  Mildred pushed to her feet. “Drew, you are most certainly not going to—”

  “Shut up, Mother,” he snapped. “Aren’t you listening? Natalie is missing. If I can help find her, I will. What I’d like to know is why you aren’t upset about it. If you know where Nat is, Mother, you’d better tell me right now.”

  Jackson felt his cell phone vibrate, checked it and said, “I just got a text that the marshal is on his way. Mrs. Taylor, you could be looking at felony kidnapping,” he warned.

  * * *

  ALLIE STARED AT HER mother-in-law, seeing a pathetic, lonely woman who now looked trapped.

  “She’s not in the guesthouse,” Mildred said. “She’s fine. She’s with Sarah and Megan.”

  “Where?” Allie demanded, her heart breaking at the thought of Megan being involved in this. “Why would they
take her?”

  Mildred met her gaze. “Because you’re an unfit mother. Megan told me all about your mother and her family. Crazy, all of them. And you? You see things and do things that prove you can’t raise my Nicky’s baby girl. She needs family. Natalie needs her grandmother,” she said before bursting into tears.

  “Call them and tell them to bring Natalie back,” Jackson ordered.

  “He’s right, Mother. Natalie belongs with her mother.”

  “How can you say that?” Mildred cried, turning on her son. “I told you about all the crazy things she’s been doing. Did you know she cut up all those lovely dresses my Nicky had bought her? She never liked them and with him gone—” Mildred stopped as if she felt Allie staring at her in shock. “She’s crazy. Just look at her!”

  “The dresses. I never told anyone other than Jackson about finding them cut up on my bed,” Allie said, surprised by how normal her voice sounded. Even more surprised by the relief she felt. “It was the night Drew took Natalie and me to dinner. You? You bought the clothes in the closet that I found. No wonder you asked me about what I was wearing at the rehearsal dinner. You knew where I kept my checkbook in the desk drawer. Nick would have told you about the kind of clothes I liked. Forging my signature on a check wouldn’t have been hard, not for a woman who has been forging her husband’s signature on checks for years.”

  Mildred gasped. “Where would you get an idea like that?”

  “Your Nicky told me. You’ve been stealing from the elderly man you married to keep up the lifestyle you believe you deserve. But you don’t deserve my daughter.”

  “Is that true, Mother?” Drew asked with a groan.

  “Never mind that cheap bastard. Men never stay so yes, I took advantage while it lasted and now he’s divorcing me. Happy?” Mildred thrust her finger at Allie. “But you, you killed my Nicky!”

  “How can you say that?” Allie demanded. “You can’t really believe I followed him up into the mountains.”

  “You paid someone to kill him. I know you did,” the older woman argued. “When I came over that weekend, you were packing up some of Nicky’s belongings. You knew he was dead before we even heard.”

  “That was just some things he left out before he went hunting.”

  “She’s lying,” Mildred cried as she looked from Jackson to Drew. “She knew Nicky wasn’t coming back. She was packing. I saw that she’d cleaned out the closet before she closed the bedroom door.”

  “I was packing my own things and Natalie’s,” Allie said. “I was planning to leave Nick. Ask Belinda. She’ll tell you. I wanted a divorce.”

  Mildred looked shocked. “Why would you want to leave my Nicky? You must have found another man.”

  “No,” Allie said, shaking her head. “I know how much you loved him but I didn’t see the same man you did. Nick wasn’t any happier than I was in the marriage.”

  “Oh, I have to sit down,” Mildred cried. “Can’t you see? She had every reason to want Nicky dead. She’s admitted it.”

  “Make the call to your daughter, Mrs. Taylor,” Jackson said, handing her his phone.

  At the sound of a siren headed toward the house, Mildred took his phone.

  “You’ll get your daughter back, but only temporarily,” her mother-in-law spat after making the call. “Once you go to prison for my Nicky’s murder, you will get what you deserve and I will get my Nicky’s baby.”

  “And all Nick’s insurance money,” Jackson said. “Isn’t that what this is really about?”

  Mildred didn’t answer as Marshal Hud Savage pulled up out front.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emotionally exhausted, all Allie could think about was holding her daughter. They’d all waited, the marshal included, until Megan and Sarah brought Natalie to the Taylor house.

  Allie swept her daughter up into her arms, hugging her so tightly that Natalie cried, “Mama, you’re squishing me!”

  Hud took Mildred, Drew, Megan and Sarah down to the marshal’s office to question them.

  “Why don’t you come stay at the ranch,” Jackson suggested, but all Allie wanted to do was take her daughter home. “Okay, I’ll drop you off there. I can give you a ride to the ranch in the morning to pick up your van.”

  She looked into his dark eyes and touched his arm. “Thank you.”

  They didn’t talk on the drive to her cabin. Natalie fell asleep after complaining that she’d missed most of the fireworks. Apparently, Sarah and Megan had told her they were taking her to see her mama and that it was important.

  As they drove, pockets of fireworks were going off around them. Allie had forgotten it was the Fourth of July. Even the wedding seemed like it had been a long time ago.

  “If you need anything...” Jackson said after he’d insisted on carrying Natalie into her bed. He moved to the cabin door. “I’m here for you, Allie.”

  She could only nod, her emotions long spent.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Allie doubted that. Jackson and Ford would be flying out. She told herself that she and Natalie were safe as she locked the front door, leaned against it and listened to Jackson drive away.

  But in her heart she knew they wouldn’t be safe until Nick’s killer was caught.

  * * *

  “I RUINED TAG and Lily’s wedding,” Jackson said with a groan the next morning at breakfast.

  “You did not,” Dana said, patting his hand as she finished serving a huge ranch breakfast of elk steaks, biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes and eggs. She had invited them all down, saying that she knew it had been a rough night. Hud had left for his office first thing this morning.

  The wedding couple had stayed at Big Sky Resort last night and flown out this morning to an undisclosed location for their two-week-long honeymoon.

  “They loved everything about the wedding,” Dana said. “They were just worried about Allie after Mildred’s announcement and then concerned for Natalie. I’m just so thankful that she was found and is fine. I can’t imagine what Sarah and Megan were thinking.”

  Jackson had filled everyone in on what had happened at the Taylors’ and how apparently Mildred, Sarah and Megan had been gaslighting Allie.

  “Oh, Allie must be heartbroken to find out her stepsister was in on it,” Dana said.

  “I’m sure Hud will sort it out,” Jackson said as he watched his son eating breakfast with the Savage clan at the kid table. Ford, he noticed, had come out of his shell. Jackson couldn’t believe the change in the boy from when they had arrived at the ranch. Montana had been good for his son.

  “Natalie is safe and so is Allie, at least for the moment,” he said. “The problem is Nick’s murder,” he said, dropping his voice, even though he doubted the kids could hear, given the amount of noise they were making at their table.

  “They still don’t know who killed him?” Dana asked.

  Jackson shook his head. “Mildred is convinced Allie paid someone to do it. The police want to talk to her.”

  “You sound worried,” Dana noted. “And your brothers haven’t said a word,” she said, looking from Hayes to Laramie and finally Jackson. “Why is that?”

  “They’ve been helping me do some investigating,” he admitted.

  Dana rolled her eyes. “I should have known that was what was going on.” She glanced at Hayes and Laramie. “You found something that makes her look guilty?”

  “Someone is setting her up,” Jackson said.

  “The same people who tried to drive her crazy?” she asked.

  “Maybe not. There could be more going on here than even we know.” Jackson couldn’t help sounding worried as he got to his feet. “Hayes and I are going to take her van to her. She called this morning. A homicide detective from Bozeman wants to see her.”

  * * *
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br />   ALLIE HAD AWAKENED in Natalie’s bed to the sound of the phone. She’d expected it to be Jackson. That sent her heart lifting like helium. But as she reminded herself he was leaving today, her moment of euphoria evaporated.

  Reaching for the receiver, she had a bad feeling it wasn’t going to be good news. “We would like to ask you a few questions,” the homicide detective told her. “When would be a good time?”

  After she’d hung up, she’d called Jackson and told him the news.

  “You knew this was coming. It’s nothing to worry about,” he’d told her, but she’d heard concern in his voice. “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No. This is something I have to do alone. Anyway, aren’t you flying out today?”

  Silence, then, “I canceled our flight.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” she said after a moment.

  “Allie, I can’t leave yet. I saw that the key is in the van. Hayes and I will bring it over.”

  “There is no hurry. I don’t see the homicide detective until later.”

  Their conversation had felt awkward and ended just as badly. Allie told herself she couldn’t keep leaning on Jackson. She knew now what Mildred and her daughter and Megan had done to her. She could understand Sarah going along with whatever her mother said, but Megan?

  She’d felt like family. But then so had Drew.

  Allie made Natalie her favorite pancakes when she woke up, then they went for a walk down by the river. Nat did love to throw rocks into the water. Allie watched the ripples they made, thinking about Jackson and the ripples he’d made in her life.

  After a while, they walked back to the cabin. Dana had called saying she would love to take Natalie while Allie went to talk to the detective.

  “If you trust me with her. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Just let me know.”

  Allie called Dana right back. “I would always trust you with Natalie and she would love to see the kids, not to mention Sugar, the horse.”

  Dana laughed and Allie could hear tears in her voice. “I was afraid you would never forgive me.”