by Diana Palmer
“Mother-in-law?” Graves gave him a wry look from liquid black eyes in a lean, tanned face.
Sassy blushed. “Now, we have to talk about that,” she protested.
“We already did,” John said. “You promised to marry me.”
“That was before I knew who you were,” she shot back belligerently.
He grinned. “That’s more like it,” he mused. “The deference was wearing a little thin,” he explained.
She flushed even more. She had been behaving like a working girl with the boss, instead of an equal. She shifted. She was still uncomfortable thinking about his background and comparing it to her own.
“I like weddings,” Graves commented.
John glanced at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “I haven’t been to one in years, of course, and I don’t own a good suit anymore.” He shrugged. “I guess I could buy one, if I got invited to a wedding.”
John burst out laughing. “You can come to ours. I’ll make sure you get an invitation.”
Graves smiled. “That’s a deal.” He glanced at Sassy, who still looked undecided. “If I lived in a house that looked like yours, and drove a piece of scrap metal like that vehicle you ride around in, I’d say yes when a financially secure man asked me to marry him.”
Sassy almost burst trying not to laugh. “Has any financially secure man asked you to marry him lately, Chief?”
He glared at her. “I was making a point.”
“Several of them,” Sassy returned. “But I do appreciate your interest. I wouldn’t mind sending Mr. Tarleton to prison myself, if the cost wasn’t so high.”
He pursed his lips and his black eyes twinkled. “Now that’s a coincidence. I’ve thought about nothing else except sending Mr. Tarleton to prison for the past few weeks. In fact, it never hurts to recommend a prison to the district attorney,” he said pleasantly. “I know one where even the chaplain has to carry a Taser.”
“Mr. Addy already said he isn’t likely to get jail time, since he’s a first offender,” Sassy said sadly.
“Now isn’t that odd,” the chief replied with a wicked grin. “I spent some quality time on the computer yesterday and I turned up a prior conviction for sexual assault over in Wyoming, where Mr. Tarleton was working two years ago. He got probation for that one. Which makes him a repeat offender.” He looked almost angelic. “I just told Addy. He was almost dancing in the street.”
Sassy gasped. “Really?”
He chuckled. “I thought you’d like hearing that. I figured that a man with his attitude had to have a conviction somewhere. He didn’t have one in Montana, so I started looking in surrounding states. I checked the criminal records in Wyoming, got a hit, and called the district attorney in the court circuit where it was filed. What a story I got from him! So I took it straight to Addy this morning.” He gave her a wry look. “But I did want to know why you let him plead down, and Addy wouldn’t tell me.”
“Now I feel better, about agreeing to the plea bargain,” Sassy said. “His record will affect the sentence, won’t it?”
“It will, indeed,” Graves assured her. “In another interesting bit of irony, the judge hearing his case had to step down on account of a family emergency. The new judge in his case is famous for her stance on sexual assault cases.” He leaned forward. “She’s a woman.”
Sassy’s eyes lit up. “Poor Mr. Tarleton.”
“Right.” John chuckled. “Good of you to bring us the latest news.”
Graves smiled at him. “I thought it would be a nice surprise.” He glanced at Sassy. “I understand now why you made the decision you did. Your mom’s a sweet lady. It’s like a miracle that the surgery saved her.”
“Yes,” Sassy agreed. Her eyes met John’s. “It is a miracle.”
Graves pulled his wide-brimmed hat low over his eyes. “Don’t forget that wedding invitation,” he reminded John. “I’ll even polish my good boots.”
“I won’t forget,” John assured him.
“Thanks again,” she told the chief.
He smiled at her. “I like happy endings.”
When he was gone, John turned back to Sassy with a searching glance. “I’m coming to get you after supper,” he informed her. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“John, I’m poor,” she began.
He leaned across the counter and kissed her warmly. “I’ll be poor, if I don’t have you,” he said softly. He pulled a velvet-covered box out of his pocket and put it in her hands. “Open that after I leave.”
“What is it?” she asked dimly.
“Something for us to talk about, of course.” He winked at her and smiled broadly. He walked out the door and closed it gently behind him.
Sassy opened the box. It was a gold wedding band with an embossed vine running around it. There was a beautiful diamond ring that was its companion. She stared at them until tears burned her eyes. A man bought a set of rings like this when he meant them to be heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation. She clutched it close to her heart. Despite the differences, she knew what she was going to say.
It took Mrs. Peale several minutes to understand what Sassy was telling her.
“No, dear,” she insisted. “John works for Mr. Callister. That’s what he told us.”
“Yes, he did, but he didn’t mention that Taggert was his middle name, not his last name,” Sassy replied patiently. “He and his brother, Gil, own one of the most famous ranches in the West. Their parents own that sports magazine Daddy always used to read before he left.”
The older woman sat back with a rough sigh. “Then what was he doing coming around here?” she asked, and looked hurt.
“Well, that’s the interesting part,” Sassy replied, blushing. “It seems that he…well, he wants to…that is…” She jerked out the ring box, opened it, and put it in her mother’s hands. “He brought that to me this morning.”
Mrs. Peale eyed the rings with fascination. “How beautiful,” she said softly. She touched the pattern on the wedding band. “He means these to be heirlooms, doesn’t he? I had your grandmother’s wedding band,” she added sadly, “but I had to sell it when you were little and we didn’t have the money for a doctor when you got sick.” She looked up at her daughter with misty eyes. “He’s really serious, isn’t he?”
“Yes, I think he is,” Sassy sighed. She sat down next to her mother. “I still can’t believe it.”
“That hospital bill,” Mrs. Peale began slowly. “There was no grant, was there?”
Sassy shook her head. “John said that he couldn’t stand by and let you die. He’s fond of you.”
“I’m fond of him, too,” she replied. “And he wants to marry my daughter.” Her eyes suddenly had a faraway look. “Isn’t it funny? Remember what I told you my grandmother said to me, that I’d be poor but my daughter would live like royalty?” She laughed. “My goodness!”
“Maybe she really did know things.” Sassy took the rings from her mother’s hand and stared at them. It did seem that dreams came true.
John came for her just at sunset. He took time to kiss Mrs. Peale and Selene and assure them that he wasn’t taking Sassy out of the county when they married.
“I’m running this ranch myself,” he assured her with a warm smile. “Sassy and I will live here. The house has plenty of room, so you two can move in with us.”
Mrs. Peale looked worried. “John, it may not look like much, but I was born in this house. I’ve lived in it all my life, even after I married.”
He bent and kissed her again. “Okay. If you want to stay here, we’ll do some fixing up and get you a companion. You can choose her.”
Her old eyes brightened. “You’d do that for me?” she exclaimed.
“Nothing is too good for my second mama,” he assured her, and he wasn’t joking. “Now Sassy and I are going out to talk about all the details. We’ll be back later.”
She kissed him back. “You’re going to be the nicest son-in-law in the wh
ole world.”
“You’d better believe it,” he replied.
John took her over to the new ranch, where the barn was up, the stable almost finished, and the house completely remodeled. He walked her through the kitchen and smiled at her enthusiasm.
“We can have a cook, if you’d rather,” he told her.
She looked back at him, running her hand lovingly over a brand-new stove with all sorts of functions. “Oh, I’d love to work in here myself.” She hesitated. “John, about Mama and Selene…”
He moved away from the doorjamb he’d been leaning against and pulled her into his arms. His expression was very serious. “I know you’re worried about her. But I was serious about the companion. It’s just that she needs to be a nurse. We won’t tell your mother that part of it just yet.”
“She’s not completely well yet. I know a nurse will look out for her, but…”
He smiled. “I like the way you care about people,” he said softly. “I know she’s not able to stay by herself and she won’t admit it. But we’re close enough that you can go over there every day and check on her.”
She smiled. “Okay. I just worry.”
“That’s one of the things I most admire about you,” he told her. “That big heart.”
“You have to travel a lot, to show cattle, don’t you?” she asked, recalling something she’d read in a magazine about the Callisters, before she knew who John was.
“I used to,” he said. “We have a cattle foreman at the headquarters ranch in Medicine Ridge who’s showing Gil’s bulls now. I’ll put on one here to do the same for us. I don’t want to be away from home unless I have to, now.”
She beamed. “I don’t want you away from home, unless I can go with you.”
He chuckled. “Two minds running in the same direction.” He shifted his weight a little. “I didn’t tell your mother, but I’ve already interviewed several women who might want the live-in position. I had their backgrounds checked as well,” he added, chuckling. “When I knew I was going to marry you, I started thinking about how your mother would cope without you.”
“You’re just full of surprises,” she said, breathless.
He grinned. “Yes, I am. The prospective housemates will start knocking on the door about ten Friday morning. You can tell her when we get home.” He sobered. “She’ll be happier in her own home, Sassy. Uprooting her will be as traumatic as the chemo was. You can visit her every day and twice on Sundays. I’ll come along, too.”
“I think you’re right.” She looked up at him. “She loves you.”
“It’s mutual,” he replied. He smiled down at her, loving the softness in her green eyes. “We can add some more creature comforts for her, and fix what’s wrong with the house.”
“There’s a lot wrong with it,” she said worriedly.
“I’m rich, as you reminded me,” he replied easily. “I can afford whatever she, and Selene, need. After all, they’re family.”
She hugged him warmly and laid her cheek against his chest. “Do you want to have kids?” she asked.
His eyebrows arched and his blue eyes twinkled. “Of course. Do you want to start them right now?” He looked around. “The kitchen table’s just a bit short…ouch!”
She withdrew her fist from his stomach. “You know what I mean! Honestly, what am I going to do with you?”
“Want me to coach you?” he offered, and chuckled wickedly when she blushed.
“Look out that window and tell me what you see,” she said.
He glanced around. There were people going in and out of the unfinished stable, working on the interior by portable lighting. There were a lot of people going in and out.
“I guarantee if you so much as kiss me, we’ll be on every Internet social networking site in the world,” she told him. “And not because of who you are.”
He laughed out loud. “Okay. We’ll wait.” He glanced outside again and scowled. “But we are definitely not going to try to honeymoon here in this house!”
She didn’t argue.
He tugged her along with him into a dark hallway and pulled her close. “They’ll need night vision to see us here,” he explained as he bent to kiss her with blatant urgency.
She kissed him back, feeling so explosively hot inside that she thought she might burst. She felt shivery when he kissed her like that, with his mouth and his whole body. His hands smoothed up under her blouse and over her breasts. He felt the hard tips and groaned, kissing her even harder.
She knew nothing about intimacy, but she wanted it suddenly, desperately. She lifted up to him, trying to get even closer. He backed her into the wall and lowered his body against hers, increasing the urgency of the kiss until she groaned out loud and shivered.
The frantic little sound got through his whirling mind. He pushed away from her and stepped back, dragging in deep breaths in an effort to regain the control he’d almost lost.
“You’re stopping?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yes, I’m stopping,” he replied. He took her hand and pulled her back into the lighted kitchen. There was a flush along his high cheekbones. “Until the wedding, no more time alone,” he added huskily. His blue eyes met her green ones. “We’re going to have it conventional, all the way. Okay?”
She smiled with her whole heart. “Okay!”
He laughed. “It’s just as well,” he sighed.
“Why?”
“We don’t have a bed. Yet.”
Her eyes twinkled. He was so much fun to be with, and when he kissed her, it was like fireworks. They were going to make a great marriage, she was sure of it. She stopped worrying about being poor. When they held each other, nothing mattered less than money.
But the next hurdle was the hardest. He announced a week later that his family was coming up to meet John’s future bride. Sassy didn’t sleep that night, worrying. What would they think, those fabulously wealthy people, when they saw where Sassy and her mother and Selene lived, how poor they were? Would they think she was only after John’s wealth?
She was still worrying when they showed up at her front door late the next afternoon, with John. Sassy stood beside him in her best dress, as they walked up onto the front porch of the Peale homeplace. Her best dress wasn’t saying much because it was off the rack and two years old. It was long, beige, and simply cut. Her shoes were older than the dress and scuffed.
But the tall blond man and the slender, dark-haired woman didn’t seem to notice or care how she was dressed. The woman, who didn’t look much older than Sassy, hugged her warmly.
“I’m Kasie,” she introduced herself with a big smile. “He’s Gil, my husband.” Gil smiled and shook her hand warmly. “And these are our babies…” She motioned to two little blond girls, one holding the other by the hand. “That’s Bess,” she said, smiling at the taller of the two, “and that’s Jenny. Say hello! This is Uncle John’s fiancée!”
Bess came forward and looked up at Sassy with wide, soft eyes. “You going to marry Uncle John? He’s very nice.”
“Yes, he is,” Sassy said, sliding her hand into John’s. “I promise I’ll take very good care of him,” she added with a smile.
“Okay,” Bess said with a shy returning smile.
“Come on in,” Sassy told them. “I’m sorry, it isn’t much to look at…” she added, embarrassed.
“Sassy, we were raised by an uncle who hated material things,” Gil told her gently. “We grew up in a place just like this, a rough country house. We like to think it gave us strength of character.”
“What he means is, don’t apologize,” John said in a loud whisper.
She laughed when Gil and Kasie agreed. Later she would learn that Kasie had grown up in even rougher conditions, in a war zone in Africa with missionary parents who were killed there.
Mrs. Peale greeted them with Selene by her side, a little intimidated.
“Stop looking like that,” John chided, and hugged her warmly. “This is my future little mother-in-l
aw,” he added with a grin, introducing her to his family. “She’s the sweetest woman I’ve ever known, except for Kasie.”
“You didn’t say I was sweet, too,” Sassy said with a mock pout.
“You’re not sweet. You’re precious,” he told her with a warm, affectionate grin.
“Okay, I’ll go with that,” she laughed. She turned to the others. “Come in and sit down. I could make coffee…?”
“Please, no,” Gil groaned. “She pumped me full of it all the way here. We were up last night very late trying to put fences back up after a storm. Kasie had to drive most of the way.” He held his stomach. “I don’t think I ever want another cup.”
“You go out with your men to fix fences?” Mrs. Peale asked, surprised.
“Of course,” he said simply. “We always have.”
Mrs. Peale relaxed. So did Sassy. These people were nothing like they’d expected. Even Selene warmed to them at once, as shy as she usually was with strangers. It was a wonderful visit.
“Well, what do you think of them?” John asked Sassy much later, as he was getting ready to leave for the ranch.
“They’re wonderful,” she replied, pressed close against him on the dark porch. “They aren’t snobs. I like them already.”
“It’s as Gil said,” he replied. “We were raised by a rough and tumble uncle. He taught us that money wasn’t the most important thing in life.” He tilted her mouth up and kissed it. “They liked you, too,” he added. He smiled. “So, no more hurdles. Now all we have to do is get married.”
“But I don’t know how to plan a big wedding,” she said worriedly.
He grinned. “Not to worry. I know someone who does!”
The wedding was arranged beautifully by a consultant hired by John, out of Colorado. She was young and pretty and sweet, and apparently she was very discreet. Sassy was fascinated by some of the weddings she’d planned for people all over the country. One was that of Sassy’s favorite country western singing star.
“You did that wedding?” Sassy exclaimed.