by Liz Isaacson
“What does that mean?” He came up behind her, and Celia turned to face him.
“Are we kidding ourselves?” she asked.
“Are we talking about the farm?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what we’re talking about.” A chill ran from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. “Can you open the truck? I’m cold.”
He did, and he helped her climb onto the bench seat too before closing the door and rounding the truck to get behind the wheel.
“Celia,” he said. “I’m sorry. I….”
“You left me and missed the graduation pictures with my daughter.”
Zach exhaled, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. But he said nothing.
“And your family has been blaming mine for something very similar to what you just told your brother to do.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
“But your brothers will never be okay with us.” Tears pricked her eyes. Why hadn’t she acknowledged this truth before? Had she really clutched so tightly to a fool’s hope?
“My brothers don’t get to decide,” he said quietly. “They don’t live with me, and—”
“And what?” she interrupted. “We’ll never spend holidays with them? You’ll go visit your family’s farm by yourself?”
“Yes.” He twisted toward her. “Yes,” he said more forcefully. “Okay? Yes. I’m not going to let my family history with yours ruin possibly the best thing I’ve got in my life.”
Celia searched his face, trying to figure out what he’d said at the same time she tried to discover how she felt about it.
“And I didn’t just do what our families have been feuding about for a century. Really just my family.” He shook his head and started the truck. “My farm floods every year. I always drain onto Jonas’s fields. Always. I just call him, and he usually comes and helps with the pipes.”
He backed out of the parking space a little too fast, and Celia’s heartbeat bobbed around in the back of her throat.
“Zach,” she said.
He drove normally, but his fingers were in a fist around the steering wheel, almost like he could strangle it. “I’m sorry I missed the pictures. Maybe we can get some at the restaurant.” His voice had lost the edge, and she wondered if he really had calmed so quickly.
Celia nodded though he wasn’t looking at her. He navigated them through the streets of Cheyenne flawlessly, pulling into the crowded parking lot. As he reached for the door handle, still silent, Celia said, “Zach, wait.”
He did, turning to look at her. He was dark and beautiful, stormy and dangerous, loving and kind, all at the same time.
She swallowed, gathering her courage. “I think you’re the best thing in my life too.”
Chapter Sixteen
Zach’s heart beat irregularly, Celia’s words bouncing around inside his brain. A smile touched her mouth, and she ducked her head. “You don’t need to stare at me like that.”
Oh, but he did. He hadn’t been the best thing in anyone’s life in a long, long time. Sure, his kids loved him. His dogs. His horses.
But there was nothing like the love of a good woman.
Of course, she hadn’t said she loved him. But Zach felt with enough time and enough work, their relationship could be something beautiful.
Instead of saying anything, he got out of the truck and hurried around it so he could be at her door when she slipped from the bench seat. He gathered her into his arms and kissed her, hoping his touch would say everything his vocal cords couldn’t.
“Jonas?” Zach pushed open the barn door at the same time he called.
“In the office,” Jonas called, and Zach went past the stalls, smiling at the few horses housed there. Jonas had a much bigger animal population on his farm, though it was only a few acres bigger than Zach’s.
“Hey, so my brother said things went okay with the piping.” Zach felt bad he wasn’t here to help out, but only because he didn’t want the burden to fall on his friend. He didn’t miss tromping through the mud, or washing Ginger and Maple afterward because they refused to stay inside.
Thankfully, Finn had them when Owen and Xander had come up to take care of the flooding.
“It did.” Jonas leaned back in his chair, smiling up at Zach. “Is the farm drying out?”
“Slowly,” Zach said. He’d only been back in town for a day, and he’d only been out to feed once—that morning. “How are things here?”
“Going good. I got quite a bit of flooding too.”
“Yeah, I saw it out there.” Zach smiled at him. “Well, I just wanted to say thanks for helping. My brother…he was okay?”
“Oh, I know how Owen is.” Jonas smiled again, his eyes a little harder now. “He was fine, and Xander sure knows how to talk.”
“Does he?” Zach grinned. “I don’t get down to see them much.”
“He said that. Said you have a new girlfriend.” The curiosity on his face matched that in his voice.
“Yeah.” Zach reached up and took off his cowboy hat, his heart suddenly pumping extra-hard. “What else did they say?”
“Not much. Owen got real quiet after that, and we just got the work done.”
“They don’t like Celia,” Zach said, giving voice to the truth for the first time.
“Why not? She seems great, and you’re obviously over the moon for her. Don’t they want you to be happy?”
Zach didn’t know how to answer that. “Our families have a long-standing disagreement.” He gave Jonas a sad smile and shrugged. “I’m hoping they’ll come around.”
“Martha and I will pray for you.” He stood up and shook Zach’s hand.
“Thanks, Jonas.” Zach pulled his next-door neighbor into a quick hug. “You’re sure everything is okay with the pipes?”
“Of course. We drain into that field every year.” A measure of confusion moved across his face.
“Great, thanks.” Zach wanted to get out of there before he had to answer any more questions. Celia had simply made him question whether what he’d done was okay or not. But it was. He and Jonas both drained their farms into the lower field. Just because Jonas owned it didn’t mean Zach had done something wrong.
Back on his own farm, he started cleaning up as much as he could, glad the pipes had been going for a couple of days now.
A week passed, and the farm dried out little by little. He put the horses out in the field, and they got busy eating the new grass. He spent some time online, looking at pigs and goats, thinking he might expand his farm a little bit.
His first love was horses, for sure. And dogs. He did have a few goats already, but his biggest herd was chickens. He loved eggs, and he sometimes went to the summer Farmer’s Market to sell the extras he had.
In the end, he decided pigs would require too much extra work. Another pen. A barn. More food. And he didn’t want to deal with the smell either. So he made a note to wait until the county fair came to town that fall, and he’d try to buy a few new goats from the 4-H kids.
Finally, everything worked out for him to join Celia up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge after church one Sunday. He was looking forward to an afternoon with her that he didn’t normally get, and his phone sang as he got out of the shower.
Wet, and with the slippery floor, he didn’t hurry to get it, and the call went to voicemail. He’d barely wrapped a towel around his waist when the phone rang again. He did bustle to get it this time, surprise and happiness bursting through him when he saw Celia’s name on the screen.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he drawled, already excited to see her later that day. Yes, they’d been spending time together during the week, but she’d been much busier, what with her daughter’s wedding coming up. She hadn’t stayed as long as she usually did, and he’d missed her presence in his life.
“Hey,” she said. “How close to ready are you?”
“I just got out of the shower.” He looked at himself in the mirror. He hadn’t shaved in a while, and h
e had a nice beard going. Maybe he should keep it for a while. The hair often itched him, and he shaved it off when he couldn’t stand it.
“I was wondering if you’d like to come to church with me.”
Zach’s pulse started shooting around his body. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“You’d have to leave in probably ten minutes,” Celia said. “My church is a little earlier than yours. But then we could go up to the lodge together.”
“Yes,” Zach blurted, already moving to get dressed. “I’ll be there. You want me to pick you up, or meet you?”
“Do you think you have time to pick me up?”
“I have no idea where your church is.”
“It’s across town. I’ll text you the address. It’s closer to the main highway, and you can meet me there.”
“Okay,” he said, pulling his slacks from the hanger in his closet. “I’ll see you in a few minutes, then.”
“All right. Bye.” She sounded flirty and fun, and Zach couldn’t wait to sit next to her on the bench. Hold her hand. Smell her perfume, and dream about kissing her later.
He dressed quickly, skipping his plans to shave. Grabbing a tie and his shoes, he practically jogged into the kitchen, where he hastened to feed the golden retrievers and get them fresh water.
“I’ll be gone most of the day,” he said. “But I’ll throw you girls a ball when I get back, okay?” He couldn’t stay up at the lodge all day and all night. He had animals to feed on the farm. But Celia had been wanting him to meet the Whittakers for weeks now. Illness and other family celebrations had kept him away, but not today.
Today, he was going to meet them all. Get to taste her cooking again. And kiss her. As Zach buckled his seatbelt, his tie looped loosely around his neck, he knew he was in love with Celia Armstrong.
He didn’t dare admit it out loud, not even to himself. Not yet. But the feeling bubbled there, making him emotional as he put in the address and got going.
He arrived a bit late, but there were still a handful of people entering the church building. He tied his tie as he walked, tucking everything and making sure he looked presentable before he pulled open the door and went inside. Instantly, his stress decreased as a sense of wonder and awe overcame him.
Though he was already late, he took a moment to close his eyes and give a prayer of gratitude to God. For the ability to center himself in the gospel. For Celia. For his farm, his friends, his family.
“Abby,” he whispered, yanking his phone out of his pocket. She hadn’t called yet. Can’t call this morning, he typed out quickly as he took a couple of steps toward the chapel. I’m so sorry. Raincheck?
No problem, Dad, she messaged back. I got caught up with Michael.
Zach’s steps stilled. Michael? He typed out the question and sent it, his thoughts somewhere else now.
I’ll tell you about him when I call, she messaged. No spoilers, Dad!
Oh, but he wanted the spoilers. Was Abby seeing someone? She was a beautiful girl, but she had not dated much growing up. She could read lips, but she had a hard time communicating with the boys she went out with.
Michael’s probably deaf too, he told himself as he put his phone away. Celia. He was going to enjoy a sermon with Celia. He could get all the juicy details about Abby and this Michael later.
He paused in the doorway, finally finding her when she turned to look behind her. He raised his hand and hurried down the aisle to sit beside her. The pastor was already talking, but Celia had saved him a spot. He barely fit in it, and he lifted his arm to rest it around her shoulders.
She leaned right into him, and Zach swore he heard the gossip mill start right up, the whirring of the engine sounding an awful lot like whispering.
He didn’t care. He didn’t live here, and Celia was a grown woman. He was a grown man.
In that moment, his heartbeat skipped, stalled, stopped.
Owen.
Was this the church Owen went to?
He didn’t want to look around and find out. As he listened to the pastor talk about treating everyone with respect, he decided he didn’t care. Owen didn’t get to decide who Zach spent his time with. Period. The end.
An hour later, he stood with everyone else for the closing hymn, his spirit completely rejuvenated.
And then the people descended.
He shook hands and smiled, tried to hold onto names and faces, but they became a blur. At least until Finn said, “Hello, Zach,” with a smile. He knew Finn and Amanda, and he seized onto their momentum taking them toward the lobby.
“Excellent sermon,” he told the pastor, and then he and Celia finally escaped the building.
“Wow,” he said, taking in a deep breath of the spring air.
“And those weren’t even the Whittakers,” she said, nodding to something in front of her. “They’re over there.”
A group of people stood several yards down the sidewalk, chatting with one another. Zach watched them, trying to get a sense of who they were from a distance. Of course, he’d been to the wedding, and everyone had been kind and happy. But these people were important to Celia, and he wanted them to like him too—as more than a wedding guest at an isolated event.
“Do you want to meet them now?” she asked. “Or wait until we get to the lodge?”
“Whatever,” he said, taking her hand in his and walking. They arrived at the group, which parted like he was Moses and they were the Red Sea.
“Everyone,” Celia said. “This is my boyfriend, Zach. You might remember him from Amanda’s wedding.” She swallowed, and looked up at Zach, a healthy amount of anxiety in her gaze.
“Zach, these are the Whittaker boys. Graham’s the oldest. Then Eli. He’s the one who just adopted the baby.”
“Of course,” Zach said, shaking both of their hands and smiling for all he was worth.
“Then Andrew. He runs Springside.”
“Graham runs Springside,” Andrew said with a smile, also shaking Zach’s hand.
“And Beau,” Celia said. “He married Lily, who’s one of the Everett Sisters. So Vi and Rose come up to the lodge every week too.” She kept going with wives names, and Zach said hello and nodded and shook and smiled.
“All right,” the Everett mother said. “Who’s driving today? I have a huge pan of oatmeal bars in my car I need to take.”
The crowd started to disperse, and Zach stood still and watched them go. “They’re great,” he said.
“Aren’t they?” Celia said, still at his side. “I do love them like family.”
“Speaking of which, where’s Reagan and Ruth today?” Both of her daughters had moved home after the end of the semester, and they had taken some of Celia’s time too. Zach wasn’t complaining, but he had noticed a difference in their relationship when he didn’t have all of Celia’s attention.
“Reagan and Dale went to look at something for the wedding,” Celia said. “And Ruth went to Cheyenne for the weekend to see Brandon.”
“Sounds fun,” Zach said, squeezing her hand. “Should we get up to the lodge? Do you want me to drive?”
“Yes,” she said, snuggling into his side. Zach felt powerful and strong with her at his side, and he guided her over to his truck, those three little words teeming against the back of his tongue.
He wasn’t going to say them, though. Oh, no, he was not.
He wasn’t.
Chapter Seventeen
Celia sat right next to Zach in the truck, her own nerves getting the best of her. He seemed tight and on-edge too, and it was no wonder. She’d introduced him to at least three dozen people in the span of ten minutes, and everyone was watching him.
Making judgments about him. About her being with him. Her brothers had been in the congregation, and they’d both texted. She’d ignored their messages, instead finally asking Zach, “What do you—Do you think Owen was there?”
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “We used to go to this church over by the elementary school growing up.” H
e glanced at her. “He doesn’t get to decide, Celia.”
She nodded, her lips pressed together into a tense line. Zach had been clear about making his own decisions, but that didn’t erase the fact that he’d basically be cutting himself off from his family if he chose to be with her.
They’d spent more time apart in these last few weeks as she worked on Reagan’s wedding. The dress was set to be finished later that week, and the flowers had been ordered. Celia had practiced once on the wedding cake, and it had turned out beautiful. Reagan had changed a few things, but Celia felt certain she could get it right on the actual day.
The bridesmaids dresses had been ordered. The venue booked. Reagan and Dale had just gotten pictures taken for their announcements, and she and Reagan would get those addressed and in the mail tomorrow or Tuesday.
Ruth had been a big help as well, keeping up with chores around the house, taking Grizz out for walks, and sampling menu items. Celia loved having her daughters home with her, even if it was only for a month or two.
At the same time, she’d been trying to figure out how to juggle her relationship with Zach with her workload and her family. She thought she’d been doing a decent job of making sure everyone got the attention they needed.
But every once in a while, her familiar doubts would creep up on her, and she couldn’t help worrying about Owen, Gene, and Xander, and what they really thought of their brother dating an Abbott.
Before she knew it, Zach pulled into the parking lot at the lodge, and they walked inside together. The atmosphere inside was lively, as usual, and Stockton went roaring by with little Ronnie toddling after him, yelling, “Stocky! Stocky!”
Celia swept the little boy into her arms and planted a kiss on his cheek. “What did he take from you, Ronnie?”
“Nothing,” Stockton yelled down the steps. “Me and Bailey are playing up here. Will you tell my dad?” And he was at the top of the steps and down the hall before Celia could answer.
