by Cora Seton
“This early?” Alice asked.
“I called, and he said he’d be over, but you’re right—it is early.” Connor pulled open the door.
It wasn’t Walter. It was Wyoming Smith, Cass’s best friend. A decidedly unhappy Wyoming. Wye was short, with a mop of light brown curls. She unbuttoned her dark blue wool coat and kicked off her boots.
“Wye—what’s wrong?” Cass asked. She set down her spatula and turned off the stove, moving the pan to a cool burner. She crossed the room to meet her friend as Connor went back to his breakfast.
“You weren’t supposed to notice. It’s Lena’s wedding day, and I don’t want to cast a pall on it,” Wye said as she unwrapped a scarf from around her neck and hung it up on the same peg as her coat. Cass led her to the table. “I lost my job yesterday. I’m still in shock.”
“Oh, no. What happened?”
“They can’t justify keeping me on—they simply aren’t getting enough cases. They let me go effective immediately, and now I don’t know what to do. It isn’t exactly easy to find work as a paralegal around here. I might have to move to Bozeman.”
“You are not moving,” Cass decreed. “You’re my best friend. I need you here.”
“Let’s not worry about it today,” Wye said. “Where’s Lena? I wanted to congratulate her on the big day.”
“Out in the barn, where else?” Cass sighed. “I gave her a to-do list, though. She’ll be back soon.”
“Then feed me and point me to my first job,” Wye said, putting her shoulders back and lifting her chin. “Cass, no—we’re not going to figure out my future right now.”
“I was only going to say that if you aren’t working, you should spend the week with us. You could use cheering up, and I could definitely use the help. Not only will we have to clean up from the wedding, it’s also time to do our pre-holiday clean up.”
Alice, still on top of the refrigerator, groaned. Cass’s pre-holiday clean-ups were legendary. “Please stay, Wye, and do my work for me,” she begged. “I have to get my gowns done before Landon Clark gets here to view them.” The movie producer was due in three weeks, and she was racing to finish the three elaborate Civil War–era ball gowns he’d commissioned to get a feel for her design capabilities.
Wye smiled a little. “Sure. I could use something to keep me busy. Otherwise I’ll just sit around and worry. I haven’t been out of a job since I was twelve!”
“I’ve got plenty of work for you,” Cass said. “Sit and eat. We have a lot to do to get ready for the wedding. Where is that plumber, anyway?”
It was nearly ten by the time Walter showed up with a younger man in tow. Alice, who’d been in and out of the kitchen all morning, helping with the wedding preparations, was relieved to see them. Cass had been working herself into a tizzy that they wouldn’t get the job done before their guests arrived.
“Heard you have a problem,” Walter said, knocking the snow off his boots as he came inside. He was a gruff old man who had to be close to retirement. His shock of white hair tended to stand up on end, and he had a thick white mustache, too. “This is my new assistant, Will Beck. Will’s just signed on to help me catch up on all the work.”
“I’m glad you’re here then, Will,” Alice said brightly. In her experience, it wasn’t good for anyone when Cass got stressed out.
“Glad to be here. Just got to town. Was happy to find work so fast.” Will was taller than Walter, with a square face and a shock of wheat-colored hair. His blue eyes shone when he smiled, which he was doing now.
“I’ll bet,” Wyoming said gloomily.
Will considered her, his gaze lingering on her pretty face. Alice bit back a smile; Wyoming had an admirer.
“What seems to be the trouble?” Walter asked.
“Let me show you.” Cass led them to the basement and came back a few minutes later. “Thank God Walter found Will,” she said to Wye. “I hate to think what would happen if we let that valve leak for weeks. I don’t know why Walter didn’t hire someone sooner.”
“Because Walter’s a man who believes if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Just like me,” Will said from the doorway, startling all of them. “He sent me to find out if you’ve got another bucket,” he went on with a grin. “It took a lot of persuading to get him to agree to sign me on, but all I heard from everyone I asked when I got to town was how desperately Chance Creek needed another plumber. Good thing that’s what I’m trained for.”
“I’ve got a bucket.” Cass went to the pantry and returned with one. “How do you like it here?”
“It’s great. I already feel at home.” He was appraising Wyoming frankly. “A lot more pretty girls around these parts than where I came from.”
Wyoming perked up under his scrutiny. “Must be a pretty small town if Chance Creek has more women.”
“Sometimes it sure felt small,” he said with another grin. “But I’m here now. Better get back to work.” He took the bucket from Cass and winked at Wyoming.
Cass looked from him to Wye and back again. She stepped forward to detain Will with a hand on his arm. “We have another problem. It doesn’t need to be solved today, but maybe you could come back after the wedding?”
“What is it?”
“The pipes knock upstairs.”
“I could take a look at them in a day or two, when I’ve finished up another few jobs.”
“Good.” Cass beamed. Wyoming looked like she wanted to melt into the floor. Alice tried not to laugh as Will disappeared down the hall.
“Looks like you made a conquest,” Cass said to Wye.
“He must be starved for company. And you’re shameless making up a fake job like that.”
“It isn’t fake,” Alice put in. “Those pipes have knocked as long as I’ve been alive. I doubt he can fix it, though.”
“I don’t see why he couldn’t,” Cass said. “You need to stop talking yourself down, Wyoming Smith,” she added. “Any man would be happy to go out with you.”
Wyoming rolled her eyes. “Yep, they’re beating down the doors. I’m surprised he wasn’t flirting with you, Alice. Usually men can’t even see me when you’re around.” She got back to work helping Cass polish the silverware they’d use to serve their guests later.
Alice didn’t know how to answer that. She hated it when other women compared themselves unfavorably to her. Cass came to her rescue.
“Alice probably already has a taken sign around her neck that only men can see.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wyoming asked.
“Her fiancé is arriving today. After all, Lena’s getting married, and Alice is the only one of us left.”
Wye smiled. “Forgot all about that. I wonder what he’ll be like? I guess it doesn’t matter: you’ll have to marry whoever your father sends through that front door tonight. It’s tradition, right?”
Alice didn’t mind Wye’s banter, but she wished Cass hadn’t brought it up. Wye was right; the General had sent each of her four sisters a man. She could only assume he’d send her one, too.
As for having to marry him…
The back door swung open, and Lena tromped in, scattering snow everywhere.
“The to-do list Cass gave me said I have to have a last fitting,” she said ungraciously to Alice. “I don’t see why. I haven’t gained any weight since yesterday.” Lena wasn’t one to fuss over her appearance much. Alice knew it would take some cajoling to get her done up for her big day.
“Come on.” Alice joined her at the door and began to pull on her outer things. “It will only take a minute, and you’ll thank me later.” She was grateful for the interruption. She might be able to glimpse the future sometimes, but she’d never seen her own wedding. She had no idea what would happen next.
And it was driving her crazy.
It was long past dinner time when Jack arrived in Chance Creek, and as he pulled up and parked his rental car outside Two Willows, it was obvious Logan and Lena’s wedding rece
ption was in full swing. He patted his pocket to make sure he still had the small gift the General had left behind at USSOCOM for him to take to Lena, opened the door and climbed out, taking a moment to appreciate the cheerful, brightly lit windows of the house that shone through the winter darkness. Snow lay in a pale blanket on the ground. Above him, stars winked in the firmament. He savored the quiet. Two Willows was a full house at the best of times. Tonight it looked packed to the gills.
The wind had a bite to it, and he pulled his coat more firmly around him as he popped open the trunk and pulled out his bag. These next few minutes were crucial for the path his life would take. Soon he’d meet Alice in the flesh. He couldn’t help but wonder how that would go.
He was especially worried about the confrontations that were sure to come when Alice realized he didn’t believe in her ability to see the future. He’d often been accused of having that same ability. That didn’t make it true. People’s behavior tended to follow predictable tendencies. Once you made a study of it, it was regrettably easy to guess what would happen next.
Was Alice the same? Did her eyes notice things others didn’t? Did she study people until she’d learned them well? Was she plagued by the details no one else seemed to notice? Did her mind whirl and click through images and facts late at night when she was supposed to be asleep?
Jack had met only two other people whose ability matched his. One was the man who’d brought him up. The other was a young girl. He’d saved her life seven months ago—
And lost his career as a result.
If he wanted his good name back, he needed to convince Alice to love him. Or at least to decide he was enough of an asset to her and Two Willows that she should spend her life with him.
Which was going to be a challenge, since he hadn’t set foot on a ranch since he was seven.
His only hope was that all Alice’s sisters had come around to the idea of marrying the men the General had sent. Maybe the General had some piece of intelligence he didn’t.
Jack sure hoped so. He slowly walked up the path to Two Willows. Only one way to find out what would happen next.
He knocked on the door.
And waited for someone to answer.
“Why aren’t you dancing?”
Alice Reed pushed down the familiar sense of dread that still swirled in her gut and turned to see her youngest sister. Jo, petite, with an elfin face, was dressed in a spring green bridesmaid gown, identical to the one Alice was wearing. She was flushed in the heat of the room; there were far too many people packed into the house tonight. Alice was sure she was glowing as well. It was time to crack a window even if it was below freezing outside. At least the wedding had been a success so far—even the leak in the basement had been fixed. Walter had left Will behind to handle the job once he’d inspected the problem, and Will had left an hour later with the job completed and a promise to be back in a day or two to fix the knocking pipes.
“Any chance you’ll be around?” she’d heard him ask Wyoming on his way out.
“Maybe.”
“I don’t have anyone to dance with,” Alice said to Jo.
Jo raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Alice only shrugged. She could have danced if she’d wanted to, as Jo knew well. A smile would raise a willing partner from any corner of the room. Alice wasn’t vain, but she wasn’t stupid, either. She’d been blessed with her mother’s beauty, and men liked beauty. What they didn’t like was finding out she had a mind of her own.
Alice had learned over the years that the combination of her ambition and her ability to see the future tended to turn men off. Not that she had a lot of experience with them. She and her sisters had spent their teenage years trying to drive away the guardians and overseers the General sent to watch over them—and then laying low on the ranch as long as possible before some other adult realized they were on their own and let the General know. This meant she hadn’t gotten around to dating much until she was older. Howie Warner was her first serious boyfriend, but before him there was Matt Gordon.
Matt was two years older than her. He’d played baseball in high school before taking his place on his family’s ranch. Alice had been twenty-one when they’d met up at the Dancing Boot one night and he’d asked her to dance. One thing led to another, and they’d gone out a few times. At first it had been fun—
Until Matt asked her about her costume designing business. He wasn’t interested in the techniques she used or the research she did to make her creations period-accurate. “What do you get paid for something like that?” he’d asked at dinner one night.
Alice, thrilled at a commission she’d landed for a specialized movie costume, had told him, expecting him to be as excited and impressed as she was. Turned out the commission for the single outfit was double what he made in a month.
Matt wasn’t amused.
“You think you’re real hot shit, don’t you,” he’d spat at her as he stood up, his chair scraping the floor. “With all your money and your ‘special abilities.’”
“I don’t think I’m hot shit, but I am proud of my work,” she’d countered, aware that everyone in the restaurant was staring at them.
“Your whole seeing the future thing is a crock of shit. Everyone knows it.” Matt had left Alice to finish her meal and pay the bill. She’d never felt smaller, and when Howie had come along, she’d done her best to stay that way and let him feel like a big man.
That had been a disaster.
Now her future husband was due to arrive any minute. She had no idea what to do about it.
“What’s wrong?” Jo asked. “Have you had a vision? Is something bad going to happen?”
Alice shook her head. “It’s the same feeling I’ve had since before—” She broke off, pulled herself together and tried again. “Before we all left the ranch.” Since before she’d left it without checking to make sure one of her sisters was still at home. Whatever happened next would be her fault.
“The General is fine,” Jo assured her.
“We don’t know that. No one’s been able to get in touch.”
“Because he’s overseas and his mission is confidential. We would know if anything had happened to him.”
Alice wasn’t reassured. That was the problem; she was supposed to be able to see the future, but her gift—her curse, Alice thought—was a sad, sorry, intermittent kind of thing that rarely told her anything useful. She was nothing like her mother, Amelia, who’d seen so clearly.
“You sure you aren’t just nervous?” Jo asked. “After all, your husband’s due to arrive any minute. Maybe that’s why you’ve been feeling off these past few weeks.”
“I’m going to get started cleaning up.” She forestalled her sister when Jo would have joined her. “Enjoy dancing with Hunter.”
“Can’t wait to meet your new man,” Jo teased but turned away.
Alice made her way through the crush of bodies to the relatively quiet kitchen. Dishes had been scraped and stacked when dinner was done and the tables cleared away. They sat in piles on the counter near the sink, which Alice now filled with hot water and dish soap.
She was grateful to be alone, but without the distraction of conversation, she found it harder to defend against the dread. It was an awful, stifling blankness where the future was supposed to be. She couldn’t see it. Couldn’t even get a read on it. Knew something was coming—something bad.
Not just a husband, although that was part of it. Something else.
Something—
Big.
The only other time she’d felt like this was in the months leading up to her mother’s death. Alice didn’t like to think about that, for obvious reasons, and rarely did she allow herself to probe that part of her past. She wondered if she’d actually known what was coming but had suppressed it, or if there were certain things too big to know.
What was coming now?
Alice slipped a number of glasses into the sudsy water and began to wash them carefully. She hat
ed to admit it, but Jo was right: she was nervous. Not just about the bad feeling, but about her husband-to-be. When she tried to picture the man the General would send, she couldn’t see him. Fate wasn’t giving her even a glimpse of him, which made it hard to decide how she would react when he rang the bell.
She should rebuff him, of course, and if she’d been the first daughter to whom the General had delivered a husband, she would have, but she was the fifth, and she was beginning to wonder if it was even worth her time to fight against something so obviously preordained.
That was just the problem, though; everything was preordained. Her life. Her success. Her husband… and whatever this sense of dread portended.
Fate doled out glimpses of everything. Not especially helpful glimpses, but enough to derail her from making her own choices sometimes. It had shown her that she would make costumes for a living—and do well at it.
Fate had also told her Two Willows would always be her home. For most of her life she’d cheerfully accepted that, too, but lately she wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted. Oh, eventually she’d settle here, but did she have to live in Montana every day of her life?
That didn’t seem fair.
Then there was the case of her husband. If it was preordained that she marry the man the General sent for her, shouldn’t she have seen that in her visions?
She hadn’t. Not even once.
As far as Alice was concerned, her special gift kind of… sucked.
Alice rinsed a glass and set it down harder than she meant to, stifling a curse when she cracked it but grateful it hadn’t shattered. She transferred the pieces into the trash carefully and took a deep breath.
She wished Amelia could have been here today to see Lena married. It had been breathtaking to watch her prickly, independent sister exchange vows with the man she so obviously loved.
Amelia had died when Alice was only thirteen. For months beforehand, Alice had been both restless and consumed with a desire to stay close to home at the same time. She’d heard her oldest sister, Cass, discussing it with Lena. “Hormones,” Cass had said disdainfully, and Lena had snickered.