“It would be a big surprise all right.” Bonnie threw back the covers and got out of bed. “She’s still runnin’ with that motorcycle gang, and they’ve joined up with more bikers somewhere up near the Canadian border in Washington. She called yesterday and tried to talk me into gettin’ on a plane and coming out there to live with them.”
Rusty got out of bed and picked up a pair of jeans. Bonnie stopped what she was doing and stared at his fine naked body—all hardened muscles, a broad chest, and a heart inside that was so full of love for her that sometimes she still found it hard to believe. In only a few hours, she’d have a piece of paper that said he belonged to her. She full well intended to frame it and set it up on the mantel above the fireplace in the living room for the whole world to see.
“I’m a lucky woman,” she whispered.
“What was that?” Rusty asked.
“I said I’m one lucky woman,” she repeated.
“Not as lucky as I am.” He grinned and rounded the end of the bed to take her in his arms. “I’d like to go back to bed with you, but we’re kind of on a tight schedule here. We’ve got brunch at Shiloh’s, and then we’re supposed to go straight to the church.”
“And Abby Joy says once I step foot in the church, I can’t see you anymore until the wedding.” She tugged on her jeans and stomped her feet down into her boots. “Let’s go get the feeding chores done and then head over to Shiloh’s.”
“Lovers forever.” She held up a pinky.
“Married couple from today until death parts us.” He wrapped his pinky around hers.
“Ranchers together.” They both said it at the same time and held up three fingers.
* * *
Rusty looked out over the congregation that Wednesday afternoon and thought again that New Year’s Day was a strange day for a wedding, but there was no way he was going to argue with Bonnie. She wanted the ceremony to be on the very day when she took ownership of the ranch. After her mother had come for that crazy visit, they’d signed papers back in the summer, and those papers said that on the day they married, the Malloy Ranch would belong to the two of them—and that on that very day, the name of the place would be changed to Sunrise Ranch.
The pianist began to play “The Rose,” and Shiloh came down the center aisle with her arm looped in Waylon’s. Abby Joy and Cooper followed behind them. In less than an hour, Rusty would have two sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law—he’d have family for the first time in his life. The preacher raised his arms for everyone to stand, and the pianist began to play the traditional wedding march. The double doors at the back of the church opened, and Bonnie came down the aisle alone. Jackson Bailey had offered to escort her, but she had refused. She told Rusty that she was giving herself to him in marriage, and she didn’t need anyone else to do that for her.
She was wearing a lovely white lace dress that stopped at her ankles. Peeking out from under its hem were the same biker boots that she’d worn a year ago on that very first day that Rusty had laid eyes on her. The day that I fell in love with her if I’m being honest about the whole thing, he thought. His eyes met hers, and he couldn’t wait for her to reach the front of the church. He met her halfway back down the aisle and hugged her tightly to his chest.
“I’m the luckiest man alive this day,” he whispered.
“I’d say we’ve made our own luck,” she said. “Now let’s go get married so we can tell the whole world about this baby we’re going to have in four months.”
He tucked her free hand into his, and together, they stepped up in front of the preacher. She handed her bouquet to Shiloh and turned to face Rusty, just like they’d rehearsed, but the night before, she hadn’t looked so much like an angel straight from the courts of heaven. Suddenly, he was tongue-tied and was glad that he’d written his vows on a piece of paper.
* * *
The party for just the wedding party after the reception was held at the newly named Sunrise Ranch. While the ladies were in the bedroom helping Bonnie get out of her fancy lace dress and into a pair of jeans, Rusty slipped away and walked down to the cemetery. The wind whistled through the bare tree branches and blew powdery snow up from the ground, which chilled the bare skin on his face. He pulled the collar of his fleece-lined jacket up to keep his ears warm and bent his head against the cold.
The gate into the cemetery squeaked loudly as if it were competing with the noise of tree limbs rattling against each other. He wasn’t aware that the dogs had followed him until he had brushed away the snow and sat down on the bench in front of Ezra’s tombstone, and the three of them gathered around him.
“My faithful old friends.” He took time to pat each of them on the head with a gloved hand. “We’ve come together to tell him goodbye, haven’t we?”
He sat there for a full minute before he began to talk to the tombstone, which was half covered by a drift of snow. “I’m here again, Ezra. It was a year ago today that we put you in the ground, and I doubt that you would believe how much things have changed. Why you did what you did is still a mystery to me, but I have to admit, there’s three cowboys in this part of the canyon now who are mighty glad that you did it for whatever reason. When Abby Joy got married and left the ranch, the other two sisters came right here and talked to you. When Shiloh did the same, Bonnie came to talk to you. I figure now that everything is settled, it’s my turn.”
He patted the bench, and all three dogs jumped up on it with him.
“They never knew I saw them make their journey here, and I’ll never know what they said to you, but I don’t imagine any one of them was telling you that she loved you. I may never come back here again except when it’s time to mow and keep the cemetery cleaned up. I owe you that much. But this will be our last conversation. Abby Joy has a beautiful little son, and Shiloh will be having a boy in a few months, so you see if you’d kept either of them around, you would have had a grandson to leave your ranch to, and it would most likely remain the Malloy Ranch. Bonnie and I got married today, and we’re having a daughter. We just found out yesterday that it’s a girl, and we’re so excited about her. I don’t care if we have all girls or if they want to be ranchers when they grow up or not. I can’t imagine some of them not wanting to take over for me and Bonnie when we get old, but that will be their choice. One thing for damned sure, they won’t be sent out into the world to fend for themselves like your daughters were. They’ll be raised right here on Sunrise Ranch. And another thing just as sure, they will be loved.” Rusty ran out of words and sat silent for a time. “I just wanted to tell you that, Ezra, and to thank you for giving me a job, because now I have a family. Goodbye, now, and I don’t know why I should, after the way you treated folks while you were here, but I hope you find peace somewhere along your eternal journey, because you sure brought happiness to a lot of us, whether you intended to or not.”
He stood up and started back toward the house, the dogs following at his heels. When he closed the gate, it didn’t squeak. The wind had stopped blowing and everything was eerily quiet. He looked up at the moon hanging in the sky just in time to see a shooting star streak across the darkness.
* * *
When everyone had left that evening, Bonnie slumped down on the sofa beside Rusty. “It was a wonderful day in spite of the snow.” She sighed.
“You were a beautiful bride, and now you’re my gorgeous wife,” he said. “Maybe in the spring we can sneak away for a honeymoon.” He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles, one by one.
“Honey, in the spring I’ll either be nine months pregnant or we’ll already have a pretty little daughter. Our honeymoon will be right here in this house, starting tonight and lasting through all eternity,” she told him. “Where did you disappear to while I was changing clothes?”
“I went to talk to Ezra and tell him that we’d changed the name of the ranch,” he said. “Our new sign will be hung over the cattle guard as soon as the weather clears up. I forgot to tell him that.”
S
he snuggled in closer to his side. “Shiloh and I’ve had a few talks with him during this past year.”
“I know.” He nodded. “Guess what? I saw a shooting star on the way back to the house.”
“What did you wish for?” she asked.
“That you would always love me as much as you do right now,” he said.
“Darlin’, that was a wasted wish.” She smiled.
“Oh? So, you’re not going to love me always?”
She shifted her position until she was sitting in his lap. “No, I’m just not going to love you as much as I do right now. I plan to love you more every single moment of every single day. You had that already, so you should have wished for something else.”
“A new tractor, maybe?” He brushed a kiss across her lips.
“Why not?” She grinned. “Sunrise Ranch could always use a new tractor.”
Discover Your Next Great Read
Get sneak peeks, book recommendations, and news about your favorite authors.
Tap here to learn more.
Keep reading for a peek at
Cowboy Strong
A rugged Texas cowboy and the girl next door find a fake engagement feeling all too real in this conclusion to the USA Today bestselling Longhorn Canyon series.
Alana Carey can out-rope, out-ride, and challenge even the best Texas cowboy. Working on her father’s ranch for most of her life has made her tough as nails, but she does have one soft spot—and his name is Paxton Callahan. And with Pax back in town, Alana’s old feelings have returned with a vengeance. But she barely has time to process her attraction for the hunky cowboy before her father falls ill and presents her with an ultimatum. Alana’s father wants her married and settled before he passes away, and she isn’t about to break a dying man’s heart.
Paxton Callahan has been in love with Alana since...forever, and he’s finally ready to stop running from his feelings. It’s been ten years since he’s seen the sexy cowgirl, and now that he’s living next door, the electricity between them is about to set the whole Texas panhandle on fire. When Alana presents him with a crazy proposal—to pretend to be her fiancé so her father can die in peace—Paxton can't refuse. But as the faux-wedding day draws near, and her father’s health improves, Alana and Paxton must decide whether to commit to the charade or finally admit their love is the real deal.
Chapter One
The only thing Alana Carey’s father ever wanted was to live long enough to see his daughter, Alana, get married and settled down. Alana was only twenty-nine years old, so she had plenty of time to make her daddy a happy man—right up until she came in at noon on a bright, sunny day in the middle of the week and found him sitting in the kitchen in his Sunday jeans and shirt.
“Where have you been, all dressed up?” She rolled the sleeves of her chambray work shirt up to her elbows and washed her hands at the kitchen sink.
“Been to Amarillo.” His voice sounded like it was about to crack.
Matt Carey was an old-school rancher and a cowboy. His kind were as tough as nails, and they held their emotions inside their hearts. They didn’t cry or whine about anything. He was Alana’s rock and had been her only parent since her mother’s death when she was a girl. He was all the family she had left—no siblings, no grandparents, and only a handful of cousins that were scattered from coast to coast. He was also her mentor—he’d taught her everything about how to operate a ranch from the ground up.
She’d heard sadness in his voice before, had seen him worry, but she’d never seen such a bewildered expression on his face.
“You didn’t tell me about a cattlemen’s meeting.” She opened the refrigerator and got out some cold cuts to make sandwiches.
“Leave that and come sit down.” He used his boot to slide a chair out from the table. “I didn’t go to Amarillo for a cattlemen’s meeting. I went to talk to a doctor.”
Alana felt as if someone had dropped a chunk of ice down the back of her shirt. “Why did you go all the way up there? Doctor Wilson has taken care of us forever.”
“I haven’t been feelin’ too good lately, so Doc Wilson sent me to a specialist for some tests. I didn’t want to worry you until the results came back,” Matt said. “I never was any good at beating around the bush, so I’m just going to spit it out. I’ve got stage four cancer, an inoperable tumor in my brain. They told me it’s very aggressive, and even if they managed to take it out I might live six months, but there’s a high probability I’d be in a coma all that time.”
Alana’s chest tightened, her breath came in short gasps, and words wouldn’t form in her mouth. Matt Carey was a big strong man. He couldn’t have cancer, and what did “stage four” mean anyway?
Matt reached out and took both of her hands in his. “If it continues to grow the way it has been, I’ve got about six weeks.”
“Oh, Daddy, what…” A sob caught in her chest. Her mind couldn’t begin to process the words he’d said. Her heart seemed to understand better and had tightened into a ball of pain in her chest. Her hands shook, and for a few seconds she thought she might faint.
“Promise me that you’ll let me do as much as I’m able and not mollycoddle me in the time I’ve got left.” Matt squeezed her hands. “I want to go out with my boots on, not in a hospital gown with no dignity. Promise me that much. Let me do what I can on my own terms as long as I can.”
“I’ll do whatever you want, Daddy,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “But…” Her voice caught, and the heaviness in her chest felt as if rocks had been piled up on her heart.
He stood up, rounded the end of the table, and gathered her into his arms. His warm tears mingled with hers. “I hate this for you, sugar. On one hand I want to go be with your mother. On the other, I can’t bear to leave you.”
“Daddy, isn’t there anything…” She dried her eyes and straightened her back to try to get her composure. Her father needed her to be strong, but she couldn’t do it. She sobbed until the front of his shirt was wet, and she had the hiccups.
“Honey, think of it this way,” Matt said as he took a step back from her. “If I’d had a heart attack or a stroke and dropped out in the barn, you would have had no forewarning. The way it is, we’ve got six weeks. The doctor says that last couple of weeks, I’ll sleep a lot more, and then one time when I take a nap, I’ll take that final step from earth to eternity.” He went to the bar and started making sandwiches. “We’re going to live each day to its fullest. Now, let’s have some dinner and then get back out there in the hay field. I’ll drive the truck, and the kids who’ve got hired for summer help can throw the bales.”
He didn’t have to say the words. She had heard them often enough that they echoed through her heart and her mind. “If I can live long enough to know that Alana is settled down with a good man, I’ll be happy to go on to heaven with my sweet Joy.” The fact that he’d said those words so often the past year made her wonder if somehow in his subconscious he’d known that his time was limited, and he’d soon be in eternity with his beloved wife. “I’ve had a good life, and my only regret is that I can’t walk you down the aisle at your wedding. I’d like to leave this world knowing that you’ve got a partner in your life, like I had with your mama. You’re a strong woman, Alana, but I’d rest easier knowing that someone was beside you to share in your joys and halve your sorrows.”
What he said wasn’t anything new. The same thing had come up often in the past, more so this last year. She’d figured it was because she was getting closer to thirty years old. Alana couldn’t snap her fingers and give him more than six weeks to live. She couldn’t wish the tumor away or even make it less serious so the doctors could remove it. She sure couldn’t pull a boyfriend out of her cowboy hat and plan a wedding so he could walk her down the aisle. Or could she?
The only trouble with the plan that popped into her head was that it would involve a huge lie. Still, it would make her father rest easy, and he’d never have to know she hadn’t told him the truth.
No, she told herself. I need to spend every waking minute with my daddy, and Daddy would be so disappointed in me if he found out. The little devil in her head kept showing her smiling, happy pictures of her father’s face as he walked her down the aisle and left her in the care of a loving man.
I don’t need a man to care for me, she argued.
No, but think how happy it will make your dad, the pesky voice whispered.
There was only one man who might be willing to say yes to such a wild plan—Paxton Callahan. Her father liked him as a man and a cowboy, but Pax had a wild reputation. Scenarios played through her head—one after another until she couldn’t think about anything else.
She dried her tears, took a deep breath, and pushed back her chair. She got out a jar of pickles from the refrigerator and set out a banana cream pie she’d made the day before.
She draped her arm around her father’s shoulders. They did seem a little bonier than they had been. Why hadn’t she noticed that he was losing weight?
Because you see him as the big, strong cowboy he’s always been. The voice in her head was definitely her mother’s that time. Make him happy, Alana. Don’t let him leave with a single worry.
She hugged him a little tighter and then sat down in her chair. “Have you gotten a second opinion?”
“Don’t need one,” her father said. “I trust our doctor and the team that took care of me in Amarillo. Besides, I can feel it.”
Alana took a deep breath. “I have something to say, and you might not like it.” Her father was going to have his wish, and by damn, Paxton had better agree or else.
“It’s not bad news, is it?” All the color had left his face.
Alana stood up, crossed the kitchen, and picked up the coffeepot and two mugs. That gave her another minute to put into the hardest words that would ever come out of her mouth. “It all depends on how you look at it, I guess, but it doesn’t have anything to do with my health.” She set the mugs on the table, filled them, and then returned the pot.
Sunrise Ranch--A Daisies in the Canyon Novella Page 8
