Dreams of Sweetwater River (Whispers In Wyoming Book 3)

by Lisa M. Prysock

  “Well, either way, you know I wish you the very best,” Jill offered.

  “How are the kids taking the idea of the move?” Madison had genuine concern edging in her voice. She’d been to the house twice and out to eat at least three times with Jill and the kids.

  “Well, our ‘Miss Jackie O’ doesn’t seem to be taking it as hard as I thought she would. She seems to be embracing the idea of change. She has drifted away from her friends so much…”

  “That’s sad,” Madison sniffed into the phone.

  “Zach is going to miss Joey and doesn’t want to leave the treehouse behind because Alex built it with him. I’m having it dismantled and re-built in Mama’s back yard. It’s really hitting him hard.”

  “That’s rough. I hope you can figure out a way to move that treehouse for sure!”

  “Yeah, I’m on it!” Jill agreed. “Savannah is super excited about the whole idea…”

  “I thought she might be,” Madison commented. “Don’t forget to give Lindy a call once you’re settled.”

  “I sure will give her a call. She always manages to make me laugh! Such a great friend… and I need to be a better friend to the both of you. It’s been ridiculously busy. I’ve got to get some rest, but tell Randal I said hello and am happy for you two! Can’t wait to meet him! I’ll call you and Lindy when the kids and I are settled.”

  By the end of July, Jill was sitting in the red Jeep Wrangler after applying the brakes and pulling to an impulsive stop on a Wyoming road less than a mile from her childhood homestead. There was seldom anyone around for miles on this particular road at this time of night, so it seemed safe enough to stop for a moment. The huge sign at the end of a lane caught her attention. The lane, connecting to the stretch of road leading to her own driveway about a quarter mile ahead, belonged to Logan Haven’s childhood ranch. The sign was enormous and lit up with bright spotlights. She really didn’t have to stop to read it, except for the fact it took her by surprise. Not much had changed in the Lander area in the fifteen years since she’d been in New York, but as she read the sign she guessed time had stood still only in her mind and she would have some catching up to do. The sign read: Sweetwater River Ranch Resort.

  “Huh,” she said out loud under her breath, knowing she was only talking to herself and the cat in the cage with green eyes blinking back at her in the rearview mirror. The kids were asleep and had been for the last hundred miles. Glancing over her shoulder at the cat, she whispered, “Hang on to your hat! We’re almost there, Boots!”

  Jill hoped the brief stop wouldn’t wake her three sleeping children before she could grab a cup of coffee. She was going to need renewed strength and energy to direct the older ones and carry Savannah to temporary beds until the movers arrived. She couldn’t help but smile as she continued on. She smiled because she was close to home; and partially because she had fond, though mixed emotions and memories of Logan.

  She also wondered how he was doing… if he had ever married. Did he have kids? She hadn’t seen him when she’d flown in for her father’s funeral five years ago. She vaguely recalled seeing his folks, Jack and Sadie Haven, at the church. There had been so many people turn out to pay their respects. One thing about Wyoming, folks were generally neighborly and loyal friends for life.

  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 37:6

  Chapter 4.

  Mr. Popular

  Three days later, the moving truck arrived on schedule. The house and property her parents had farmed all of their lives looked about the same. There were a number of improvements and updates, of course. New wood flooring throughout the Victorian farm house had greatly improved the interior, along with a new set of overstuffed living room furniture in a shade of sage green.

  The red barn and shed out back had a fresh coat of paint. Dad had managed to finish the gazebo down by the creek before he had passed. It looked scenic with the short, wooden bridge creating an arch to the other side. Jill took her coffee and a book down to the gazebo in the mornings while her mother preferred the front porch. There she could rejuvenate by the babbling brook. Mama had kept up with the flower beds remarkably well. She noticed a new front door and a few new shrubs sprucing up the place. The old porch swing, benches, white wicker outdoor furniture, and rocking chairs still created an inviting atmosphere on the wrap-around front porch… but everything had new cushions.

  She also noticed how the broken down relationship with Mama seemed to be on the upswing. It was refreshing and soothing to her soul. The tensions of single parenting slowly began to diminish. For the first time since Alex’s death, she didn’t feel so alone. She had even been able to glimpse a view of what she had put her mother through when she had run off with Alex and the strain it had placed on their relationship over the years.

  The kids had enjoyed exploring everything. Jackie had taken up roller skating on the far side of the porch where there was plenty of room to do so. Thankfully, Mama didn’t seem to mind. Zach tossed his baseball around in the back yard a lot, and Savannah liked to sit on the porch swing with her doll. She and Zach seemed to enjoy playing in the creek during the remaining hot, summer afternoons. Molly, Jill’s horse, intrigued them most. Jill had even taken a short ride on a trail she had frequented as a child. Zach couldn’t wait to learn how to ride. Mama began by teaching him how to muck out stalls first. They were all eager for the moving truck to arrive with the rest of their things. Boots had briefly met Tibby and Belle, Mama’s household cats. The result had been challenging so Boots mostly remained in her cage upstairs in Jill’s old bedroom where the girls stayed. The kids had also taken an instant liking to Aunt Meredith and her brash, outlandish, fun personality.

  On their third morning in Wyoming, a beat up, blue pick-up truck pulled up beside the moving truck. Jill’s heart picked up speed, recognizing Mr. Popular right away as he strode onto her front porch. The two men who’d arrived with the moving truck ten minutes before Logan’s truck had pulled in the drive were sitting in the shade of a group of pines on the side of the driveway eating lunch. Handsome as ever, he wore a genuinely welcoming smile on his face. He’d always been well liked in school and Jill suspected his friendly smile was part of the reason why. Sadly, the more popular he’d become, the further they’d grown apart. Somehow, today, that glaring fact didn’t seem to matter.

  He whistled as he took the wide porch in three steps. “Jill Fontaine! Is that you? Well, you’re about the prettiest thing I’ve seen hit Wyoming in a decade!”

  Jill blushed like a school girl and couldn’t help but laugh as he stretched his arms out wide to offer her a Wyoming bear hug. Seeing him again took her by complete surprise. She wore her hair up in a messy bun held in place by a pink scrunchy; no makeup; a slightly faded, pink tee shirt; denim overalls; and white tennis shoes with white ankle socks. She’d purchased a set of overalls for all three of the kids in Lander yesterday. Jackie wore hers rolled up like pedal pushers and had rolled up Savannah’s to match her look. It felt good to allow Logan’s arms to embrace her like old times, as if they’d never drifted apart. “Logan Haven, it’s so good to see you! It’s Jill Michaels now…”

  “That’s right! I’m real sorry to hear about Alex. Your mom told me when it happened,” he said.

  She nodded and then blushed again to catch her three children peering at him from the other side of the screen door. Before she could invite him inside, they streamed out of the door one by one, the door slamming after each one.

  “And who might these beautiful young ‘uns be? They must be yers. They’re too smart and beautiful lookin’ not to be!”

  “I’m not beautiful!” Zach spit out. “Boys aren’t beautiful!”

  “Zach!” Jill gave her son a warning look.

  “Yer right, son! Pardon me, but see if I didn’t say they were smart!” Logan ruffled Zach’s hair. “Boys are handsome, aren’
t we son?”

  “Yes sir!” Zach nodded, standing up proudly as his father had taught him to do.

  “What’s yer name, son?” Logan patted him on the back and they shook hands vigorously.

  “Zach. Zachary Alexander Michaels, sir.”

  “Nice to meet ya, young man! Welcome to Wyoming!” He tipped his hat toward the girls standing behind Zach. “And who might these pretty girls be?”

  “Logan, these are my daughters, Jacklyn and Savannah,” Jill introduced her girls putting her hands on each of their shoulders.

  “Very nice to meet you ladies… and gent,” Logan replied, earning an approving grin from Zach. “I’ve got a couple of kids myself I’ll bring over fer ya to hang out with sometime. Yer Mama and I go way back. We’re neighbors, so if you need anything, we’re just a hop, skip, and a jump away!”

  Jill was happy to see the idea of having friends to play with brightened the looks on her children’s faces. They’d looked a little lost in the untamed Wyoming countryside.

  “Well, maybe a might farther than that,” Jill’s Aunt Meredith poked her head around the screen door. “How’s yer folks doin’ these days, Logan? C’mon in now and get you a turkey sandwich and some potato salad. We just made lunch. The movers brought their own lunch with them, but we already offered them some. They said they’ll have some on their second lunch.”

  Logan chuckled. “Moving can make a man hungry, that’s for sure! Thank you, I love turkey sandwiches!” Logan slid his hat off and held the door open as they all poured into the Victorian house with the wrap-around porch. “I saw the moving truck and thought I’d offer a hand.”

  Jill felt herself swoon a little in his presence like before. However, she tried to ignore the feeling while stepping aside to allow the children to pass through the hall and beyond the staircase toward the dining room on the left. Mama and Aunt Meredith had placed a tray of turkey and provolone croissant sandwiches, a pitcher of sweet tea, a bowl of homemade potato salad, and a tray of fresh veggies with dill flavored dip on the antique buffet. She caught the heavy scent of Logan’s musky cologne as he fell into step beside her. Just like that, a rush of memories swept over her, catching her off guard. She hadn’t felt as attracted to anyone else as strongly in her life except Alex for fifteen years. Overwhelmed by the emotions flooding over her, she barely managed to find polite words to keep the conversation flowing. Finally, she heard herself say, “How’ve you been, Logan?”

  She took in every one of his handsome features as they sat down with their plates outside on the front porch away from the children. He wore his brown, wavy hair a little longer in the back than he used to. He had broad shoulders and muscles in all of the right places now. Blue eyes sparkled intensely back at her as his much deeper voice spoke of his younger sister’s untimely passing… the horrific result of a hit and run drunk driver. The situation also left two children in his custody, his niece and nephew.

  “No! Not Cassie and Matt…” she breathed, stunned… another reason why she wanted to shake her fists at God. There were so many things that did not make sense on this earth; so much pain and loss. Tears filled her eyes. Mama hadn’t mentioned the accident, probably because it was too painful a subject to broach. “I’m so sorry, Logan!”

  Cassie had married Matt Walters and would have been merely a year shy of thirty had she survived the crash. They’d often played together as children even though Cassie was Logan’s kid sister. Matt had been in Jill’s graduating class… well, it would have been her graduating class if she hadn’t run away and eloped in a secret wedding with her handsome cadet. Jill and Alex only had to hide the marriage from West Point for a few months. It was against regulations for cadets to marry. He’d been almost twenty-four and about to graduate. She had worked on completing her G.E.D. and planning a small, elegant wedding while he finished the last few months of school. After Alex’s graduation, they celebrated with a more public wedding on board a small yacht, inviting a few of his closest military friends and both sets of their parents who calmed a little by then from the ordeal.

  “So there are children… they must be devastated.” She briefly thought about what her own were going through with the loss of one parent. She could hardly imagine what it would be like for her children if they were in the same boat.

  Logan nodded. “Gracie and Micah, eleven and eight years old… I’d guess Gracie is about a year younger than your Jackie. Micah looks a few years younger than Zach. My folks are getting up in years, so it just made sense I become their guardian. Even missed my cousin Chase’s wedding because of the crash.”

  It didn’t sound like Logan had ever married, but she didn’t want to pry. She didn’t see a wedding ring on his hands. She decided to leave the subject for another time. What did it really matter to her anyhow? “So how are your folks, Jack and Sadie? Taking it hard I imagine. I’ll have to come over to visit them sometime.”

  Logan nodded. “They’d like that.”

  By the end of the day, they were kidding around like old friends who’d never missed a beat. Logan and the movers had helped bring all of the furniture in and placed everything where Jill and her mother instructed. Logan even sat on the floor with Zach and his drill, putting together the bed frames while the movers placed the items she wouldn’t need into a storage room in the barn. However, she noticed something else about her old childhood friend. Logan had a bad limp in his right leg.

  “What about your bed?” Logan leaned on the rails to her double bed frame still in the hallway.

  “Oh, we don’t have to worry about it yet. We can just leave the rails and frame here for now. I’ll sleep in my old bedroom with the girls. There’s a trundle we’re putting in there for Savannah and she always ends up in bed with me anyhow. ‘Miss Jackie O’ and I are cleaning out the attic and having it remodeled. I’m going to have a small writing office on one side next to my bedroom, and Jackie will have the other side for a bedroom. She doesn’t want to share a room with Savannah for long, but I appreciate that you took the time to set up the furniture for the girls. By this time next week, I’m sure we’ll have moved it all around again.”

  “’Miss Jackie O’… wasn’t that what they called Jackie Onassis?” Logan asked as they headed for the pitcher of sweet tea to cool off on the front porch.

  “Yes, but Alex and I named her Jacklyn Olivia, so we’ve just always called her ‘Miss Jackie O,’” Jill explained as they waved to the drivers climbing into the moving truck. The sound of night crickets beneath the stars reminded her of a hundred summer nights growing up.

  “I see.” Logan winced as he sat down in one of the two rocking chairs they’d sat in earlier at lunch. He added, “Thanks for lunch and dinner.”

  “It’s the least we could do. We really appreciate all of your help. There’s no way we could have done all of this easily on our own. You seem to be limping. How’s your leg?” she asked gingerly. It was growing late. She could hear the kids grumbling as Aunt Meredith and Mama shuffled them upstairs to wash up, brush their teeth, and dress for bed.

  “It’s fine. It just acts up every now and again. I used to ride the rodeo circuit for years with my cousin Chase… that is until a bronco stomped on my hip and broke it.”

  “Ouch!” she replied.

  “It’s not too bad, except when it rains. Anyway, it kind of turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After I got injured I decided to open The Sweetwater River Ranch Resort.” He drank the entire glass of sweet tea at one time. “Well, it’s not open yet. If we stay on track, we should be ready to open the ranch by the first of October.”

  Jill refilled his glass from the pitcher, listening quietly, wondering if she’d thanked Logan enough. He’d hardly let her lift a single thing, even taking boxes out of her arms each time she’d made an attempt to carry items into the Victorian farmhouse. She was somewhat dazed by his story. He had suffered a terrible injury and the loss of his sister. Instead of being down about the loss of a successful career, he had returned home
to take care of his folks, his sister’s children, and begin a new dream. There wasn’t a trace of bitterness in his voice or face. His story put her own to shame, but maybe she just felt things more deeply than others.

  “I won’t beat around the bush, Jill. I’m really thankful you’ve returned to Lander. I feel like the good Lord sent you my way. I’ve been following your career over the years… well, bits and pieces of it I heard from your mother or mine. Sometimes I had a chance to read your amazing articles on the internet. You’re exactly what The Sweetwater needs. With your marketing savvy and travel writing experience, we could make The Sweetwater River Ranch Resort among the best Wyoming has to offer.”

  “Are you offering me a job, Logan Haven?”

  “Yes, I am! You could be our Marketing and Activities Director. I know horses, but to be honest, I’m not very good at computers and that sort of thing.” He paused, looking out at the fireflies flitting about in the yard. “Of course, you could set your own hours. I know your children need you and you’ve got your writing. Part time, full time, whatever you want… name your price. Don’t answer me now. Give it some thought. Come over and have a look around. Then we’ll talk.”

  Jill hadn’t been expecting a job offer on her third day in Wyoming. She hardly knew what to say.

  “If you’d like, we could fly down to spend a few days at my cousin’s ranch. You could talk to his wife, Phil. She does the marketing and that sort of thing. They just opened this summer… but you could get a feel for how they’re doing things.” Logan stood up and stretched. “Well, I know it’s a lot to think about. I don’t expect you to answer me now. It’s so late. It’s been a long day for all of us… a big change for you and your young ‘uns. I’d best be on my way. The kids are spending the night with Grandma Sadie, but I need to get home and be ready for the crew coming tomorrow to finish up cabin number eight. Come by the ranch when you have a chance. I’d really enjoy showing you around.”