by Liz Isaacson
“I have some of those, yes,” she said.
“I’ll get your number today,” he said. “And we’ll chat.” He grinned at her and took his place next to Whitney at the table.
Thankfully, Wyatt had saved her a spot, or Marcy thought she’d be out on the back deck. “It’s one for all at meal time,” he said, taking her plate so she could pull her chair out and slide into it.
“I can see that,” she said.
“Overwhelmed?”
“A little.” She picked up her fork, comfortable at Wyatt’s side. Evelyn asked her something about flying, and Marcy loved nothing more than talking about airplanes. Before she knew it, they’d seamlessly integrated her into their lives, and it happened over the course of a single meal.
Marcy hadn’t even known how they’d done it. But she would have to learn, because she wanted everyone she met to feel as welcome and as loved as she did by this family.
As she participated in the meaningless chatter about what movies everyone had seen, or what the weather would be like for Valentine’s Day, Marcy wanted to be part of this family.
And not just for a year.
Permanently.
“I’m taking Ollie out to see the horses,” Wyatt said. “Do you want to come?”
“Sure.” Marcy stood up and put her plate in the kitchen sink before going outside with Wyatt and Oliver. The dogs there greeted her enthusiastically, and Wyatt bent down to give them all a healthy pat.
“Winston likes me best,” he said. “But don’t tell Jeremiah that.” He stroked the dog’s head again. “Don’t you, bud? He likes to sleep on my feet at night.” He grinned at the dog like he’d told him a lot of secrets, and Marcy wished canines could talk.
“We have to check on Kessler too,” Wyatt said, looking at Oliver. “That’s my horse.” He looked at her.
“The animals are like members of the family,” she said, almost guessing.
“Yep.”
“So they’re like my airplanes.”
“Do you name your planes?” He took her hand in his and let Oliver skip ahead of them.
“I sure do.”
“Like what?”
“Better than Kessler,” she teased, nudging him with her shoulder.
“Oh, wow,” he said, chuckling. “That horse came with that name, I’ll have you know. And we won a lot of championships together. He’ll probably like you better than me in five seconds flat.”
“How do you know if a horse likes you?” Marcy asked.
“You just do.” Wyatt didn’t explain further, and they walked through one barn to the rest of the ranch, and again, Marcy felt more peace here on this land than she had in the year leading up to her father’s death.
“Wow,” she said, breathing everything in around her. “This place is stunning.”
“Jeremiah works hard,” Wyatt said. “This way, Oliver,” he said, nodding to the left. They went to the last stable on the lane, and Oliver climbed up on the outside rung while Wyatt went inside to let the horses out.
“That’s Kessler,” the little boy said when the first horse came out of the door that had been opened. “Wyatt’s horse. And that’s the new one.” He climbed up another rung, leaning out into the pasture as if he could get to know the horse that way.
Kessler was a beautiful black beast, and he seemed to know he was a champion. Wyatt came back outside, and Kessler lifted his head from the grass where he’d been snacking. The horse walked right over to Wyatt, a sense of urgency in his eyes.
“Heya, bud,” he said, stroking the horse’s neck and nose. “This is Marcy. I’m going to marry her.” He beamed at her and looked back at his horse. He handed her a peppermint disc, and she just looked at it.
“What’s this for?”
“You give it to the horses,” Oliver said. “They like ‘em.”
Marcy had no idea how to feed a horse, and she pinched the candy between her fingers.
“Not like that,” Wyatt said. “Just lay it in your palm, nice and flat.”
“He grabs it with his lips,” Oliver said. “Uncle Wyatt, do you have any more of those?”
He passed one to Oliver, who unwrapped it and held it up for the other horse. “What’s his name?”
“It’s a girl,” Wyatt said. “And Orion named her after his mother. Christmas Carole.”
Marcy’s heart softened as she let Kessler suction up the peppermint. He shuffled a couple of steps over to her and pressed his nose into her palm.
“I knew it,” Wyatt said. “He likes you better than me.”
Marcy shook her head as she laughed. “That’s because I gave him a candy.”
“And now you know my secrets,” Wyatt said, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her into his body. Marcy sighed, a happy smile on her face.
“I don’t think I know all your secrets,” she said as she watched Oliver feed a sweet to Christmas Carole.
“Oh, we have to save some things for after the wedding,” he whispered, and Marcy snuggled further into him. This man made her feel alive in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. He brought her comfort when she needed it most, and he accepted her just how she was.
Oliver jumped off the fence and moved down it with the new horse.
“Here you go, bud.” Wyatt flipped him another piece of candy, and Marcy looked at the man.
“Wyatt,” she said, her throat sticky and somewhat clogged. “I’m falling in love with you too.”
“I’d hoped you were.” He touched his lips to hers, and Marcy could not imagine a better day than the one she’d just experienced. She held Wyatt’s face in both of her hands, feeling like she had the world between her palms.
Chapter Fourteen
Wyatt stood at the barrier keeping him from going past airport security, scanning the crowd of people streaming past. His nerves jumped and bumped and thumped through his bloodstream.
He hadn’t seen his parents since last Thanksgiving, when they’d come for a few weeks to visit.
“Where are they?” someone asked.
“Their flight landed twenty minutes ago,” someone else said.
Wyatt couldn’t keep track of all the voices amid the noise and hustle of the rest of the travelers in the Amarillo airport. The whole Walker crew had made the drive in four separate vehicles to greet their parents, and Wyatt really wanted to hug his mother first.
So badly, in fact, that he’d called it on the family text. First hug.
No one had argued with him either, which said they all knew he was the Momma’s boy, and if he didn’t see his mother in the next five seconds, he felt like he might burst.
“There she is,” someone said, and he whipped his attention to the speaker.
“Where?” he asked.
Rhett stood on his tiptoes and pointed. “She’s wearing a pink coat.”
“She doesn’t need a coat.”
“Why is she wearing a coat? She came from a tropical island.”
Wyatt tuned them all out as he caught sight of his mother. Her footsteps seemed to get slower and slower as she neared, and then finally, she reached him.
“Momma,” he said, enveloping her in a tight hug and lifting her right off her feet.
She laughed and hugged him back. “My baby,” she said, and warmth moved through Wyatt. But he couldn’t really hold her for very long with his back, and he set her down a few moments later.
She wiped her eyes and moved to the next son, which was—of course—Rhett. Wyatt was actually surprised Rhett hadn’t played the Oldest Card to get to hug their mother first.
“Oh, my boys,” she said with each one. “And my new daughters.” She hugged them too, smiling and patting and wiping her tears.
“Daddy,” Wyatt said when it was his turn to greet his father. He admired his father on a deep level, especially his work ethic and the way he treated Momma like royalty. “It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to be back in Texas,” his father said, and Wyatt could only agree.<
br />
“You didn’t like the tropics?”
“I like them fine,” he said. “For a visit.”
Wyatt grinned at him as he fell back a step, and Marcy’s hand slipped into his. “Hey, Dad,” he said. “This is my fiancée, Marcy Payne.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said, her enthusiasm gushing out of her.
“Oh, you’re Wyatt’s.” Daddy grinned at her, and the big, broad-shouldered cowboy who’d made all the other big, broad-shouldered cowboys in the near vicinity took Marcy right into a hug.
Wyatt laughed at her yelp of surprise, and he loved the way her face flushed when Daddy released her. The past three weeks with her had been absolutely amazing. They were easy, even as they cleaned out shelves, closets, and bedrooms. Even as they planned refreshments and meals and activities for the wedding.
It felt very real to Wyatt, and he loved training horses at Bowman’s Breeds. He loved that his mom and dad would be here for the wedding.
Because he was in love with Marcy Payne.
The general excitement continued until everyone had hugged his mother and father, and then Wyatt took Marcy to meet Momma. He introduced her, and the two women looked at one another for just a moment.
Then Momma said, “Oh, you’re perfect for him.” She too drew Marcy into a hug, and Marcy seemed more ready for it this time. “I feel like I know you already, for how much this boy talks about you.”
“Momma, I’m almost forty years old.”
“Oh, you’re just a big teddy bear.” She swatted his chest and hooked her arm through Marcy’s. “Now, tell me about the wedding. What can I do to help?”
“I think we have everything,” Marcy said as the group moved toward the baggage claim area. “Right, Wyatt?”
“Most things,” he said.
“Well, what do you need?”
Marcy met Wyatt’s eye again, and he didn’t like the nervous edge there. “I don’t quite have a dress yet.”
“You don’t?” Wyatt asked at the same time his mother stalled.
“No dress. You’re getting married in six days.” She looked from Marcy to Wyatt and back again. “What are you going to wear?”
“Well….” Marcy ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. “My mother has a wedding dress, but I’m afraid to try it on.”
“Marce,” Wyatt said, as she hadn’t mentioned this at all. True, he hadn’t followed up on the wedding dress situation, but then again, Marcy had said she had it handled.
“Would you like me to help you with it?” Momma asked, and to Wyatt’s surprise, Marcy nodded.
“I was hoping you would,” she said.
Momma patted her arm and started walking again, her head now held high in an air of importance. “Of course I will, dear. You let me get settled tonight, and I’ll come over first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Momma,” Wyatt said, watching the satisfaction roll across Marcy’s face. “Marcy flies in the morning.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Momma said. “You fly airplanes.”
“That’s right, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me ma’am,” Momma said. “I’m far too young for that, despite Wyatt almost being forty years old.” She smiled in a way that only Momma could, and added, “You tell me when, dear, and I’ll come over and help you with the dress.”
“Nice move,” Wyatt muttered as the whole lot of them arrived at the baggage claim. Momma and Daddy got their bags, and the entourage moved out to the parking garage. It was decided that they’d go home with Liam and Callie, who had purchased a minivan when they’d gotten their new baby.
“That way, Daddy’s hip won’t have to exert itself.”
“What’s wrong with Daddy’s hip?” Tripp asked as Daddy said, “Penny, I didn’t think we were telling them about the hip.”
Wyatt’s gaze flew back to his mother, and she had the decency to look ashamed. “Oops. Sorry, Gideon.”
“It’s nothing,” Daddy said with a sigh. “I hurt it hiking, and I had to have surgery.”
“You had surgery?” Jeremiah demanded, his voice definitely on the angry side of the line. “Daddy. Why didn’t you tell us?”
“It’s fine,” he said. “Can we go? I’m starving, and I hear you’ve inherited my mother’s cooking genes.” He beamed at Jeremiah, who was definitely his favorite, but no one moved. “Really, sons. It’s fine. This is why I didn’t tell anyone.”
Wyatt understood on a deep level, because he’d concealed his rodeo injuries from his family for several long months. He might never had told them if not for the major back surgery he couldn’t hide.
“All right,” he said loudly. “First one back to Seven Sons gets my new work shirt before it hits shelves.”
“Oh, it’s on,” Tripp said, and Rhett herded Evelyn down to his truck with the words, “Let’s go, sweetheart.”
“I can just buy that,” Jeremiah said, but he went to his truck too, telling Micah to hurry up.
Wyatt grinned, glad he could still have some sway in this family of loud, amazing men. He looked at Marcy and found her shaking her head. “You’re impossible.”
“Impossibly awesome,” he said, slinging his arm around her and helping her into his truck. He leaned into the doorway. “Why didn’t you tell me about the dress?”
She lifted one shoulder into a shrug. “I felt silly. My mother’s been gone for a while now, but I just can’t get myself to open that closet and pull out that dress.”
“And you don’t want me to see it.”
“Right.”
“Well, you made my mother’s whole year.” He smiled at her and leaned in for a kiss. “I think she might love you more than I do.”
Marcy sucked in a breath, her eyes flying open. Wyatt hadn’t imagined telling her that he loved her in the short-term airport parking garage, but what was done was done.
“Wyatt.”
He couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his whole face. “I love you, Marcy.”
Tears filled her eyes, and her chin quivered. “I love you, too.”
Joy like he’d never experienced before exploded through him, especially when she took his face in her hands and kissed him again. He loved the way she held him close, as if he were precious to her, the tender touch of her fingers along his jaw almost as sensual as the kissing itself.
“And we’re gettin’ married next weekend,” he whispered, ducking so his forehead rested against hers. “I’m so happy.”
“Me too,” she whispered, breathing with him.
Wyatt pulled himself away from her with difficulty, thinking that maybe their wedding next week wouldn’t be a pretend pledge after all.
Chapter Fifteen
Jeremiah had never been happier to have his father working beside him as they drove back to the hay barn, a load successfully put out for the goats in their pasture.
“Thanks for letting us stay at the ranch.”
“Of course,” Jeremiah said. “When will the house be ready?”
“Thursday.”
“Just in time for the wedding,” Jeremiah said, dying to talk to someone about it. Wyatt and Marcy sure seemed like they liked each other, but he knew for a fact the woman had broken Wyatt’s heart in August.
“Well, we’ll be able to get in the house, but we have no furniture, and our stuff from Grand Cayman doesn’t arrive for another week.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said. “So you’ll stay for a while then.”
“No, we’re going to Liam’s on Tuesday, like we said,” he said. “Be there for a few days. Your mother wants as much time with the babies as she can get.” Dad smiled, and Jeremiah understood how he felt. He had all kinds of feelings about being a father, and one of the loudest was anxiety. How would he know if he was doing things right? What if he was a terrible father?
“Then we’re going to Rhett’s until our things come. Momma will order new furniture as soon as she can, I’m sure.” Dad sighed like his wife ordering furniture was
a burden. “We didn’t have much in Cayman. Nothing we’d want to bring back to Texas.”
“Where’s all your stuff from before?”
“We got rid of all of it,” he said. “Which was fine. A lot of it was old.” Dad was the perfect man to bump around with in a ranch truck, over dirt roads. He just sat in the passenger seat and watched the scenery go by, and love for him filled Jeremiah.
“Have you been by the place?” he asked. “Or did Rhett send you pictures?” His parents hadn’t been in Three Rivers for more than a few hours, but he’d driven separately from Liam and Callie, and they could’ve easily swung by the little farm Jeremiah and Rhett had found for their parents.
“Haven’t been,” he said. “I think Rhett sent Momma a link, but I didn’t look at it.”
“Should we go?” he asked. “I can be done for the rest of the day.”
“You’ve got good men,” Dad said. “That’s invaluable.”
“I do,” Jeremiah said as the homestead came into view. “Let me ask Whitney if she wants to come for a ride.”
“She’s great,” Dad said. “I’m glad you found someone new, son.”
“Me too.” Jeremiah’s fingers tightened on the wheel, because his emotions over having Whitney in his life overwhelmed him sometimes.
“And lunch was amazing. Thank you for cooking it.”
“Yeah, sure,” Jeremiah said. “I like doing it.”
“Grandma Lucy did too.” Dad smiled. “She’d be so happy to hear you’ve taken after her.”
“Well, we spent plenty of time with her growing up,” Jeremiah said. “I was always shelling peas or shucking corn or stirring something on the stove for her. I guess I just felt the spirit of it.”
“Did she give you her recipes?”
“Yeah, years ago,” Jeremiah said. “That beef stew we had today was hers. The potato rolls too.”
“I knew the rolls were,” Dad said. “I should think about bringing them up here.”
“They’d leave the farm?” Jeremiah chuckled. “I don’t think so.”
“My mother is pretty stubborn,” Dad agreed. “But it might be worth a conversation. I never thought I’d get your mother to leave the beach.”