Wedding At Cardwell Ranch
“The dresses he buys me are just more revealing than I feel comfortable with.”
Her mother-in-law had mugged a face. “You’d better loosen up and give my son what he wants or he’ll find someone who will.”
Now as she reached for the dress on the top of the pile, she told herself she would throw them out, Mother Taylor be damned.
But the moment she touched the dress, she let out a cry of surprise and panic. The fabric had jagged cuts down the front. She stared in horror as she saw other deep, angry-looking slices in the fabric. Who had done this?
Her heart in her throat, she picked up another of the dresses Nick had made her wear. Her sewing scissors clattered to the bedroom floor. She stared down at the scissors in horror, then at the pile of destroyed clothing. All of the dresses Nick had bought her had been ruined.
Allie shook her head as she dropped the dress in her hand and took a step back from the bed. Banging into the closed closet doors, she fought to breathe, her heart hammering in her chest. Who did this? Who would do this? She remembered her brother-in-law calling from out in the hall earlier, asking what was taking her so long before they’d gone to dinner. But that was because she’d taken a shower to get the smell of her own fear off her. It wasn’t because she was in here cutting up the clothes her dead husband had made her wear.
Tears welled in her eyes, making the room blur. She shoved that bitter thought away and wiped at her tears. She wouldn’t have done this. She couldn’t have.
Suddenly, she turned and stared at the closed closet door with mounting fear. Slowly, she reached for the knob, her hand trembling. As the closet door came open, she froze. Her eyes widened in new alarm.
A half dozen new outfits hung in the otherwise nearly empty closet, the price tags still on them. As if sleepwalking, Allie reached for one of the tags and stared in shock at the price. Hurriedly, she checked the others. She couldn’t afford any of them. So where had they come from?
Not only that, the clothes were what she would call “classic,” the type of clothes she’d worn when she’d met Nick. The kind of clothes she’d pleaded with him to let her wear.
“I want other men to look at you and wish they were me,” Nick had said, getting angry.
But when she and Nick went out and she wore the clothes and other men did look, Nick had blamed her.
“You must have given him the eye,” Nick would say as they argued on the way home. “Probably flipped your hair like an invitation. Who knows what you do while I’m at work all day.”
“I take care of your daughter and your house.”
Nick hadn’t let her work after they’d gotten married, even though he knew how much she loved her wedding planning business. “Women who work get too uppity. They think they don’t need a man. No wife of mine is going to work.”
Allie had only the clothes he bought her. She’d purchased little since his death because the money had been so tight. Nick had wanted to know about every cent she’d spent, so she hadn’t been able to save any money, either. Nick paid the bills and gave her a grocery allowance. He said he’d buy her whatever she needed.
Now she stared at the beautiful clothes hanging in her closet. Beautiful blouses and tops. Amazing skirts and pants and dresses. Clothes Nick would have taken out in the yard and burned. But Nick was gone.
Or was he? He still hadn’t been declared legally dead. That thought scared her more than she wanted to admit. What if he suddenly turned up at her door one night?
Was that what was making her crazy? Maybe she had done this. She had yearned for clothing like this and hated the clothes Nick had bought her, so had she subconsciously...
Allie stumbled away from the closet, bumped into the corner of the bed and sat down hard on the floor next to it. Her hand shook as she covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Had she shoplifted these clothes? She couldn’t have purchased them. Just as she couldn’t have cut up the dresses and not remembered. There had to be another explanation. Someone was playing a horrible trick on her.
But even as she pondered it, more rational thoughts came on its heels. Did she really believe that someone had come into the cabin and done this? Who in their right mind would believe that?
Pushing herself up, she crawled over to where she’d dropped her purse as she tried to remember even the last time she’d written a check. Her checkbook wasn’t in her purse. She frowned and realized she must have left it in the desk when she’d paid bills.
Getting up she walked on wobbly legs to the desk in the corner, opened the drawer and took out her checkbook. Her fingers shook with such a tremor that she could barely read what was written in it.
But there it was. A check for more than eight hundred dollars! The handwriting was scrawled, but she knew it had to be hers. She saw the date of the check. Yesterday?
She had dropped Nat off for a playdate and then gone into Bozeman... Could she account for the entire afternoon? Her heart pounded as she tried to remember everything she’d done and when she might have bought these clothes. She’d been wandering around in a daze since Nick’s death. She couldn’t account for every minute of yesterday, but what did that matter? The proof was staring her in the face.
Allie shoved the checkbook into the drawer and tried to pull herself together. She had to think about her daughter.
“You’re fine,” she whispered to herself. “Once you get back to work...” She couldn’t have been more thankful that she had the Cardwell Ranch wedding. More than the money, she needed to do what she loved—planning weddings—and get her mind off everything else.
Once she was out of this house she’d shared with Nick... Yes, then she would be fine. She wouldn’t be so...forgetful. What woman wouldn’t feel she was losing her mind, considering what she’d been going through?
Chapter Two
“Who’s that singing?” five-year-old Ford Cardwell asked as he and his father followed the sound.
Jackson Cardwell had parked the rental SUV down by his cousin Dana’s ranch house when they’d arrived, but finding no one at home, they’d headed up the hill toward the barn and the van parked in front of it.
“I have no idea, son,” Jackson said, but couldn’t help smiling. The voice was young and sweet, the song beautiful. “It sounds like an angel.”
“It is an angel,” Ford cried and pointed past the barn to the corrals.
The girl was about his son’s age, but while Ford had taken after the Cardwell side of the family with his dark hair and eyes, this child had pale blond hair and huge green eyes.
When she saw them, she smiled, exposing two deep dimples. Both children were adorable, but this little girl was hands down more angelic-looking and—Jackson would bet—acting than Ford.
She wore cowboy boots with a pale green-and-white-polka-dotted, one-piece, short jumpsuit that brought out the emerald-green of her eyes. Jackson saw that the girl was singing to several horses that had come up to the edge of the corral fence.
The girl finished the last of the lyrics before she seemed to notice them and came running over. “If you’re looking for my mother, she’s in the barn working.”
Next to him, Jackson saw that his son had apparently been struck dumb.
“I’m Nat,” the girl announced. “My name is really Natalie, though.” She shifted her gaze to the mute Ford. “Everyone calls me Nat, so you can if you want to.”
“This is my son, Ford.”
Nat eyed Ford for a moment before she stepped forward and took his hand. “Come on, Ford. You’ll probably want to see the rest of the animals. There are chickens and rabbits and several mules along with all the horses. Don’t worry,” she added before Jackson could voice his concern. “We won’t get too close. We’ll just pet them through the corral fence and feed the horses apples. It’s okay. Mrs. Savage showed me how.”
“Don’t go far,” Jackson said as the precocious Nat led his son toward several low-slung buildings. The girl was busy talking as they left. Ford, as far as Jackson could tell, hadn’t uttered a word yet.
As he turned back toward the barn, he saw the logo on the side of the van: Weddings by Allie Knight. The logo looked old as did the van.
The girl had said her mother was working in the barn. That must be where the wedding was going to be held. His brother Tag had mentioned something about his wedding to Lily McCabe being very Western.
“You mean like Texas meets Montana?” Jackson had joked.
“Something like that. Don’t worry. You’ll feel right at home.”
His brother’s wedding wasn’t what had him worried. After talking to Tag for a few moments on the phone, he’d known his brother had fallen head over heels for Lily. He was happy for him.
No, what worried Jackson was nailing down the last of the plans before the wedding for the opening of a Texas Boys Barbecue joint in Big Sky, Montana. He had hoped that all of the brothers would be here by now. Laramie and Austin hadn’t even flown up to see the space Tag had found, let alone signed off on the deal.
From the time the five brothers had opened their first restaurant in an old house in Houston, they’d sworn they would never venture outside of Texas with their barbecue. Even as their business had grown and they’d opened more restaurants and finally started their own franchise, they had stayed in the state where they’d been raised.
Jackson understood why Tag wanted to open one here. But he feared it had nothing to do with business and everything to do with love and not wanting to leave Montana, where they had all been born.
Before the wedding had seemed the perfect time for all of them to get together and finalize the deal. Hayes had come here last month to see if the restaurant was even feasible. Unfortunately, Hayes had gotten sidetracked, so now it was up to the rest of them to make sure Tag was doing the best thing for the business—and before the wedding, which was only four days away.
He hoped all his brothers arrived soon so they could get this over with. They led such busy lives in Texas that they hardly ever saw each other. Tag had said on the phone he was anxious to show him the building he’d found for the new restaurant. Tag and Hayes had already made arrangements to buy the building without the final okay from the other brothers, something else that made Jackson nervous.
Jackson didn’t want this move to cause problems among the five of them. So his mind was miles away as he started to step into the dim darkness inside the barn.
The cool air inside was suddenly filled with a terrified scream. An instant later, a black cat streaked past him and out the barn door.
* * *
JACKSON RACED INTO the barn not sure what he was going to find. What he found was a blond-haired woman who shared a striking resemblance to the little girl who’d been singing outside by the corrals.
While Nat had been angelic, this woman was as beautiful as any he’d ever seen. Her long, straight, blond hair was the color of sunshine. It rippled down her slim back. Her eyes, a tantalizing emerald-green, were huge with fear in a face that could stop traffic.
She stood against the barn wall, a box of wedding decorations open at her feet. Her eyes widened in even more alarm when she saw him. She threw a hand over her mouth, cutting off the scream.
“Are you all right?” he asked. She didn’t appear to be hurt, just scared. No, not scared, terrified. Had she seen a mouse? Or maybe something larger? In Texas it might have been an armadillo. He wasn’t sure what kind of critters they had this far north, but something had definitely set her off.
“It was nothing,” she said, removing her hand from her mouth. Some of the color slowly returned to her face but he could see that she was still trembling.
“It was something,” he assured her.
She shook her head and ventured a look at the large box of decorations at her feet. The lid had been thrown to the side, some of the decorations spilling onto the floor.
He laughed. “Let me guess. That black cat I just saw hightailing it out of here... I’m betting he came out of that box.”
Her eyes widened further. “You saw it?”
“Raced right past me.” He laughed. “You didn’t think you imagined it, did you?”
“It happened so fast. I couldn’t be sure.”
“Must have given you quite a fright.”
She let out a nervous laugh and tried to smile, exposing deep dimples. He understood now why his son had gone mute. He felt the same way looking at Natalie’s mother. There was an innocence about her, a vulnerability that would make a man feel protective.
Just the thought made him balk. He’d fallen once and wasn’t about to get lured into that trap again. Not that there was any chance of that happening. In a few days he would be on a plane back to Texas with his son.
“You know cats,” he said, just being polite. “They’ll climb into just about anything. They’re attracted by pretty things.” Just like some cowboys. Not him, though.
“Yes,” she said, but didn’t sound convinced as she stepped away from the box. She didn’t look all that steady on her feet. He started to reach out to her, but stopped himself as she found her footing.
He couldn’t help noticing that her eyes were a darker shade of green than her daughter’s. “Just a cat. A black one at that,” he said, wondering why he felt the need to fill the silence. “You aren’t superstitious, are you?”
She shook her head and those emerald eyes brightened. That with the color returning to her cheeks made her even more striking.
This was how he’d fallen for Ford’s mother—a pretty face and what had seemed like a sweet disposition in a woman who’d needed him—and look how that had turned out. No, it took more than a pretty face to turn his head after the beating he’d taken from the last one.
“You must be one of Tag’s brothers,” she said as she wiped her palms on her jeans before extending a hand. Along with jeans, she wore a checked navy shirt, the sleeves rolled up, and cowboy boots. “I’m Allie Taylor, the wedding planner.”
Jackson quickly removed his hat, wondering where he’d left his manners. His mother had raised him better than this. But even as he started to shake her hand, he felt himself hesitate as if he were afraid to touch her.
Ridiculous, he thought as he grasped her small, ice-cold hand in his larger, much warmer one. “Jackson Cardwell. I saw your van outside. But I thought the name on the side—”
“Taylor is my married name.” When his gaze went to her empty ring finger, she quickly added, “I’m a widow.” She pulled back her hand to rub the spot where her wedding band had resided not that long ago. There was a thin, white line indicating that she hadn’t been widowed long. Or she hadn’t taken the band off until recently.
“I believe I met your daughter as my son and I were coming in. Natalie?”
“Yes, my baby girl.” Her dimpled smile told him everything he needed to know about her relationship with her daughter. He knew that smile and suspected he had one much like it when he talked about Ford.
He felt himself relax a little. There was nothing dangerous about this woman. She was a single parent, just like him. Only she’d lost her husband and he wished he could get rid of his ex indefinitely.
“Your daughter took my son to see the horses. I should probably check on him.”
“Don’t worry. Nat has a healthy respect for the horses and knows the rules. Also Warren Fitzpatrick, their hired man, is never far away. He’s Dana’s semi-retired ranch manager. She says he’s a fixture around here and loves the kids. That seems to be his job now, to make sure the kids are safe. Not that there aren’t others on the ranch watching out for them, as well. Sorry, I talk too much when I’m...nervous.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I want this wedding to be perfect.”
He could tell she was still shaken by the black cat episode. “My brother Tag mentioned that Dana and the kids had almost been killed by some crazy woman. It’s good she has someone she trusts keeping an eye on the children, even with everyone else on the ranch watching out for them. Don’t worry,” he said, looking around the barn. “I’m sure the wedding will be perfect.”
The barn was huge and yet this felt almost too intimate standing here talking to her. “I was just about to get Ford and go down to the house. Dana told me she was baking a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies and to help ourselves. I believe she said there would also be homemade lemonade when we got here.”
Allie smiled and he realized she’d thought it was an invitation. “I really need to get these decorations—”
“Sorry. I’m keeping you from your work.” He took a step back. “Those decorations aren’t going to put themselves up.”
She looked as if she wasn’t so sure of that. The cat had definitely put a scare into her, he thought. She didn’t seem sure of anything right now. Allie looked again at the box of decorations, no doubt imagining the cat flying out of it at her.
Glancing at her watch, she said, “Oh, I didn’t realize it was so late. Nat and I are meeting a friend for lunch. We need to get going.”
Jackson was suddenly aware that he’d been holding his hat since shaking Allie’s hand. He quickly put it back on as they walked out of the barn door into the bright sunshine. “My son is quite taken with your daughter,” he said, again feeling an unusual need to fill the silence.
“How old is he?”
“Ford’s five.”
“Same age as Nat.”
As they emerged into the beautiful late-June day, Jackson saw the two children and waved. As they came running, Nat was chattering away and Ford was hanging on her every word.
“They do seem to have hit it off.” Allie sounded surprised and pleased. “Nat’s had a hard time lately. I’m glad to see her making a new friend.”
Jackson could see that Allie Taylor had been having a hard time, as well. He realized she must have loved her husband very much. He knew he should say something, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of what. He couldn’t even imagine a happy marriage. As a vehicle came roaring up the road, they both turned, the moment lost.
“Hey, bro,” Tanner “Tag” Cardwell called from the rolled down window of his pickup as he swung into the ranch yard. “I see you made it,” he said, getting out to come over and shake his brother’s hand before he pulled Jackson into a hug. Tag glanced over at Ford and Natalie and added with a laugh, “Like father like son. If there’s a pretty female around, you two will find them.”
Jackson shook his head. That had been true when he’d met Ford’s mother. But since the divorce and the custody battle, he’d been too busy single-handedly raising his son to even think about women. That’s why red flags had gone up when he’d met Allie. There was something about her that had pulled at him, something more than her obvious beauty.
“Dana’s right behind me with the kids,” Tag said. “Why don’t I show you and Ford to your cabin, then you can meet everyone.” He pointed up in the pines that covered the mountainside. “Let’s grab your bags. It’s just a short walk.”
Jackson turned to say goodbye to Allie, but she and her daughter had already headed for the old van.
* * *
“COME ON, NAT, we’re meeting Belinda for lunch,” Allie said as the Cardwell men headed for the cabins on the mountain behind the barn. Working here had been a godsend. Nat was having a wonderful time. She loved Dana’s children. Hank was a year older than Nat, with Mary being the same age. Dana’s twin boys, Angus and Brick, were just over a year and her sister Stacy’s daughter, Ella, was a year and a half. Dana had her hands full but Stacy helped out with the younger ones. All of them loved the animals, especially the horses.
True to her word, Dana had made sure Nat had begun her horseback riding lessons. Nat was a natural, Dana had said, and Allie could see it was true.
Their few days here so far had been perfect.
Until the cat, there hadn’t been any other incidents.
Her friend Belinda Andrews was waiting for them at a little Mexican food place near Meadow Village at Big Sky. While other friends had gone by the wayside since she’d married Nick six years ago, Belinda hadn’t let Nick run her off. Allie suspected that, like her, she didn’t have a lot of friends and Nick, while he’d made it clear he didn’t like Belinda, had grudgingly put up with her the times they’d crossed paths.
“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting,” Allie said as she and Nat met Belinda on the patio. “You didn’t have any trouble getting off work for the wedding shoot?” Belinda worked for a local photographer, but freelanced weddings. It was how they’d met back when Allie had her own wedding planning business.
Belinda grinned. “All set for the Tag Cardwell and Lily McCabe wedding. I took Dana up on her offer. I’m moving into one of the guest cabins later today!”
Allie wasn’t all that surprised. Dana had offered her a cabin, as well, while she was preparing everything for the wedding. But since she lived just down the highway a few miles, Allie thought it best to remain at home for Nat’s sake. Her daughter had had enough changes in her life recently.
“You really are excited about this,” Allie said, noticing how nice Belinda looked. Her friend was dressed in a crop top and cut-off jeans, her skin tanned. Her dark hair was piled haphazardly up on her head, silver dangly earrings tinkled from her earlobes and, while she looked makeup free, Allie could tell she wasn’t.
Belinda looked enchanting, a trick Allie wished she could pull off, she thought. On the way here, she’d pulled her hair up in a ponytail and even though she’d showered this morning, she’d forgone makeup. Nick was always suspicious when she wore it when he wasn’t around so she’d gotten out of the habit.
Inside the café, Nat asked if she could play in the nearby area for kids and Allie said she could as long as she didn’t argue about coming back to eat when her meal came.
“You look...pale,” Belinda said, studying her after they were seated outside on the patio under an umbrella so they could see Nat. “You haven’t had anymore of those...incidents, have you?”
Allie almost laughed at that. “I just need to get more sun,” she said and picked up her menu to hide behind.
“I know you too well,” Belinda said, dragging down the menu so she could look into her eyes. “What’s happened now?”
“A black cat jumped out of one of my decoration boxes and scared me just before I came over here. And guess what? Someone else saw it.” So there, she wanted to say, I don’t need my head examined.
Belinda nodded, studying her. “A black cat?”
“Yes, a black cat and I didn’t imagine it. One of the Cardwell brothers saw it, as well.” She couldn’t even voice how much of a relief that had been.
“That’s all that’s happened?”
“That’s it.” She had to look down at the menu to pull off the lie and was just glad when Belinda didn’t question her further. She hadn’t told anyone about the shredded dresses from her closet or the new clothes she’d taken back. The sales associate hadn’t remembered her, but said the afternoon when the clothing was purchased had been a busy one. None of the other sales associates remembered her, but agreed they’d been too busy to say for sure. She’d ended up keeping two of the outfits to wear while working the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.
“I already moved some of my things into the cabin,” Belinda said.
Allie couldn’t help being surprised. “Already? Why didn’t you stop by the barn and say hello?” Allie had suggested Belinda as the wedding photographer and felt responsible and anxious since this was her first wedding in five years.
“You were busy,” her friend said. “We can’t keep each other from our jobs, right?”
“Right.” She loved that Belinda understood that. In truth, Allie had been hesitant to suggest her friend. She didn’t want to have to worry about Belinda, not with everything else that she had going on in her life right now. While her friend was a great photographer, sometimes she got sidetracked if a handsome man was around. But when she’d broached the subject with the bride-to-be, Lily had been delighted that it was one other thing she didn’t have to worry about.