Harrison looked at Ace, incredulous. "My blessing to marry my daughter?"
Ace nodded. "You can't win this, Harrison. Piper and I will be getting married with or without your blessing. For Piper's sake I hope it'll be with your blessing. Now, about the partnership." He thrust out his hand with the check. "I'm backin' out. It's in the partnership agreement."
Harrison eyed the check, yet made no move to take it. When Ace shook his hand, rattling the check, Harrison said, "Like I told you, I don't go into business dealings to lose. Keep the money and consider it payment on Ragamuffin's first foal. We'll breed her to my new stallion. This doesn't mean I approve of you marrying Piper, because I don't, but she's a headstrong woman and she'll do what she wants, whether it's with my blessing or not, but she is my daughter and I'd just as soon see her living in a decent house, so maybe you'll think of that when you deposit that check."
"Just for the record, Piper's happiness is my sole purpose in life now, so it's up to her what to do with this money. If it's to sink it into a house, that's fine. If it's to cut it into pieces and use it for fish bait, that's also fine. So, have your attorney write up a contract for first foal of the filly and I'll have my uncle take a look and see if we can reach an agreement. Bottom line is, Piper will have to go along with this too because when we marry, the filly will be hers as I intend to turn the title of Ragamuffin over to her, and if you think I'm bein' stubborn and unreasonable about this, just try talkin' Piper into enterin' into a racin' partnership with you and you don't even know the meanin' of the words stubborn and unreasonable. But that's part of why I love her. She won't be bullied by me or anyone else."
Harrison's mouth twitched with the hint of a smile. "Like I said, I don't go into business to lose. I'll have my attorney draw up the papers."
"And your blessing for Piper and me?"
Harrison sucked in a long breath. "You planning on a justice of the peace wedding or will this be a church affair?"
"You'll have to ask your daughter. She's runnin' the show."
"My wife's still stewing because we missed our last daughter's wedding, so I guess…"
In that instant Piper rushed into the room and put her arms around her father and said, "You won't be disappointed, Daddy. You might even enjoy the fais do-do afterwards."
"That'll be a cold day in hell." When he smiled, Ace saw light at the end of a long tunnel, though Harrison would need time to save face while accepting this new limb on the family tree.
Two hours later, as Ace sat with Piper on the pier at the fishing shack, cane poles in their hands, she said, "I'm shocked Daddy's coming to our wedding, even if he won't be walking me down the aisle."
"That wasn't his decision," Ace pointed out, "but I'm not sure tellin' him you're your own woman and don't need anyone walkin' you down the aisle and givin' you away like a horse at a claimin' race was the best way to handle it."
Piper chuckled. "Maybe not, but you saw his relief. I'm just glad I stopped short of telling him your grandfather would do the honors."
"Did Pépère tell you that?"
Piper laughed. "No, but I almost told my father that. He would've busted a gut."
Her pole bend down sharply. "You have a bite?" Ace said.
"What!?" Piper stood abruptly and yanked on the pole, which bent down yet more sharply before snapping back, sending something big shooting out of the water on the end of the hook. Once on the ground, the thing lay on its back, two feet working desperately to turn it over. "It's a turtle," Piper said while watching the struggling thing.
"Yeah. We'll be havin' turtle soup tonight. You ain't never tasted turtle soup till you've tasted Momma's."
"Over my dead body! We'll name him Hansel and I'll make a pen for him, with a little pond, and maybe we can catch him a wife and name her Gretel."
"Sugah, are you programmin' me to become a vegetarian because that's not gonna happen. Gumbo and jambalaya and dirty rice without critters in it just doesn't work."
"Okay, maybe not complete vegetarians, but we're not killing the critters we catch. They have a right to live out their lives. Besides, it'll be fun tossing bread and crickets to them and making them kind of like pets."
"What about the crickets? Don't they have a right to live out their lives?"
Piper looked at him, blankly. "Okay, maybe you have a point. We'll feed our bayou critters bread and crackers."
"You know what, darlin'?"
Piper smiled up at him. "What."
"I think Hansel's about to go search for Gretel on his own."
Before Piper could react, the turtle scampered down the shore and into the water.
Ace set his pole aside, pulled Piper into his arms and kissed her and said, "Come on, chère. There's a cuttin' horse waitin' for her next lesson, and I saw a pair of chaps at the farm and ranch store that's glitzier than that get-up you wore at the joustin' tournament, and I might even consider makin' a trip to the world finals if the pair of you make the cut."
"Are you serious? You'd leave this place for a couple of days?"
Ace kissed her again. "Oh yeah. I could imagine a lotta rompin' around in a big bed in one of those hotel suites like your daddy stays in, maybe even have tea sandwiches with him and your momma and Nana afterwards."
"Like they'd show up for a cutting horse competition."
"Miracles happen every day, sugah. We'll pray a special novena and see where it leads."
"As long as it leads you and me back to our little Hobbit house, that's all I want in life."
"You and me, and Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and Rags, and Cricket, and Gumbo. And Hansel and Gretel. It's a Cajun thing, families stayin' together, and you're about to become a Cajun's bride." Ace kissed her soundly, knowing Piper's monumental decision had truly come from her heart. Theirs would be a long, happy marriage.
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Thanks so much for reading
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A little about me. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, but gave up city life the first chance I got. I now write from a hand-built log cabin nestled in the evergreen forests of Oregon's Coast Range. Being published in both historical and contemporary romance with Harlequin and Avon-Harper Collins in the past, I vacillate between wanting to write both, but love whatever I'm writing at the time, which for now is contemporary cowboy romances that feature courageous, self-assured heroes with endearing flaws and the gutsy women who capture their hearts, women, these unsuspecting cowboys would lay down their lives for. Although writing is my number one love, over the course of my lifetime I've raised a wolf dog, laying hens, milk goats, and Tennessee Walking horses, built, plumbed and wired three houses, been a professional photographer, and written photo essays for national and international magazines. I've published 24 romances, which include my 13-book DANCING MOON RANCH series, a contemporary western that spans 30 years and two generations. I invite you to visit my website and view the video trailer for the series. I love hearing from readers and learning about their lives, and I answer all notes. In fact, I've even met fans traveling the country who find time to stop in at my place or visit with
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The Final Turn (Cajun Cowboys Book 2) Page 23
