Chapter 21

Allison set the pitcher of lemonade in the fridge and turned to survey the table she’d set with Grandma Ellie’s china. Adorned with delicate pink rose garlands, the treasured set of dishes had been handed down for three generations, and she had always loved her grandmother using them for special occasions. She hadn’t taken the dishes out of the china cabinet since Grandma Ellie was gone, but this occasion was about as special as it could get. Tonight, they would tell Lizzie about the engagement, and to use the dishes on this evening was like a blessing from her grandparents.

Standing at the window, she gazed down at the ring that winked and sparkled at her in the afternoon sunlight. How strange and yet so totally right for it to be there.

What would they think of it, her grandparents, the two people who had raised her and taught her to believe and have faith, in herself and in what she could do and accomplish? Who had dried her tears when her favorite horse died and held her hand after an emergency appendectomy?

She thought back to the morning she’d found out Shane was gone. Pop had been the one to tell her and later had found her in the barn, weeping bitterly. With Grandma Ellie already passed, they’d only had each other. He hadn’t known quite what to say to comfort his teenage granddaughter, but she knew he understood how deep the pain went in her heart. He knew how much she loved Shane, so he simply sat with her and let her cry.

Yet several weeks later, when she and Jason announced they were getting married, Pop didn’t ask any questions. Did he also know the truth? Or did he just accept the reasoning whispered at the time—that she had married Jason on the rebound?

Her phone sang out, and she tracked the sound to the living room.

“How are things going?” Shane’s voice came over the cell. “Everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. When are you and Lizzie coming home?” Home! Did the word mean as much to him as it did to her? Did it mean the same thing?

“On our way in just a few. Closing up the clinic now. What about din?”

“It’s ready. Nothing fancy, just spaghetti and meatballs.” Did he remember it was the first meal she’d cooked for him and Pop, after Grandma Ellie passed?

“Sounds great. See you soon.”

He rang off, and she wondered if this was the beginning. From now on, would she welcome Shane home after work? Would he pick Lizzie up from school sometimes? Take her to the library? Would dinner be the focal point of their day, when they sat together as a family and shared their lives?

Rubbing cold hands up and down her arms, she went back to the kitchen, but after a bit realized she’d been staring out the window trying to quell the apprehension those questions presented. As much as she wanted to cherish the possibilities of a new life with Shane, the thought of change was scary, and trust, because she hadn’t been quite truthful. Everything wasn’t fine. She still had reservations, still wondered if Wyoming called to him, feared he would tire of all this and go back to the plains and mountains he’d come to know and love these past ten years. She couldn’t blame him if he did, if he chose the life he’d made there over the place that had caused a lot of change for him. Yet, he’d once told her it had also given him a sense of stability he’d never known and shown him love. Would it prove to be enough?

Allison began to turn away, to check the sauce bubbling on the stove, but before taking a step she heard the call of distress from the pasture. A shrill whinny that begged for help.

Stardust!

She knew the filly’s cry, and her breath stilled in her chest. Gypsy rose from her bed and growled, ready as ever to spring into action, in spite of her still-healing injuries.

“No, you stay.” She put out a hand to halt her steps to the door. Without thinking twice, she went upstairs to the closet in her grandparents’ room. Behind an old overcoat stood the .410 Jason had insisted she learn how to shoot. Her hand closed over the cold barrel, and she shivered. She hated guns, hadn’t touched this one since the day Jason had taken her to a shooting range and given her the lessons she didn’t want to learn. Did she still remember how to shoot it? Or even load it?

Another whinny split the late afternoon and pierced her heart. She pulled the shotgun from the closet and turned to the top drawer of Pop’s chest. The box of shells still lurked beneath a stack of handkerchiefs. Her fingers shook as she slipped one into the chamber. She raced with the shotgun down the stairs and pushed past Gypsy to get out the door. Holding it next to her side, she hastened to the pasture where all the horses seemed to have gathered at one end. All but Stardust.

The black filly circled in the center of the pasture, stopping to paw the ground and shake her head. Allison could feel her fear even from where she stood. How strange she hadn’t run with the rest of the herd. What would keep her from her sister’s side?

Then she saw the lithe, crouching body with tawny fur and long, twitching tail. Huge paws dug deadly claws into the ground and prepared the big cat to launch.

Taking a deep breath around her pounding heart, Allison raised the .410 to her shoulder and settled it in the hollow. She tried to think back to the moments when Jason had stood behind her and steadied her arms, and she heard his voice in her ear.

“Don’t wait, Allie. He’s going to spring.”

Not Jason’s, but Shane’s voice. He moved in quietly and stood at her shoulder.

“I can’t,” she murmured.

“Then give it to me.”

The cat moved. Stardust shrieked. Allison’s breathing stopped, and she squeezed the trigger.

The shell hit short of its mark but splotches of dirt kicked up in the pasture, and the filly fled, joining the herd in less than three seconds.

The cat was gone.

Allison’s hands shook as she lowered the shotgun and handed it to Shane as she tried to locate the beast.

“He took off into the woods, but he’ll come back. We need to call Mark again. They have to do something, now this has happened.”

“Mommy?”

Hearing Lizzie’s tremulous voice behind her, she spun to take her daughter into her arms. She stayed silent for a moment, pressing the small face against her breasts. This was more than she could take, and her own shoulders shook.

“Are you okay?” Lizzie spoke, her voice muffled.

Allison steeled herself to calm her pounding heart. “Yes, but I need to check the horses now and get them inside.” She released her baby girl and set her away. “You can help by taking Cayenne to his stall.”

Shane’s calm demeanor as they brought the horses into the barn kept Allison focused as much as it kept the spooked animals from setting off on a wild run to the barn. She knew as flight animals, they wanted to do just that—flee.

And I want to do the same. What on earth will happen next around here? She shuddered to think.

Later, when the horses were all safe in their stalls and pulling hay from their nets, Allison let Shane close up the barn, and she and Lizzie trudged to the house, all the while keeping an eye out for the cougar to return.

Her daughter grabbed her hand. “What was it? It…is it a big cat?”

Allison let out a breath slowly. “It is.”

“But…”

“I know, it doesn’t seem real,” she tried to steady her voice, “and yet we saw it, and now something must be done.”

“Will we have to…kill it?”

Tender-hearted Lizzie hated that idea as much as she did.

When they stood on the porch, Allison stared out to the orchard and to the woods beyond. How was all this happening? Something so out of the realm of possibility and yet…

She met Lizzie’s questioning gaze. “I hope not but maybe. If it’s the only answer.”

“Did you try to kill it when you shot?”

She hugged her baby girl again. “If I did, I’m not very good at it. I guess…I really just wanted to scare it off, but I would do anything to keep us safe here. Anything.”

“So would I.”

Stepping up on the porch, Shane stood beside her and put one arm around Allison, while Lizzie clutched his other hand. “Are you okay?”

He gazed into her eyes, and she saw in his a promise to always be here for them, no matter what. It eased the fear and uncertainty that still dwelled in her heart.

“With you here, I am,” she admitted. She touched his face, knowing she spoke the truth now.

The moment was interrupted when Lizzie let go of Shane’s hand and grabbed hers, startling her into glancing down.

“You asked her?” Their daughter stared at the ring, then turned her blue gaze up to Allison. “And you said yes?”

She glanced back to Shane and saw him wink at Lizzie.

“She did, and we’re going to get married very soon. That is, if we have your approval.”

How ironic we’re asking our daughter’s opinion…and yet how fitting.

An excited Lizzie bounced up and down. “Yay! You do! You knew that.”

Hmmm. What’s going on here? Allison narrowed her brows at Shane. “You did? Wait a minute. Did you two already talk about thi—”

Lizzie giggled when Shane kissed Allison and stopped her question.

For the moment, the terror of the day slipped away, but she didn’t feel at ease until a bit later when she had dinner on the table, and they were sitting down together.

“Gosh, Mom, I don’t think we’ve ever used these dishes. They’re so pretty.”

“They’re very special, used for only special occasions. My grandma got them from her mother for a wedding gift.”

Lizzie glanced between the two of them and grinned. “Guess this is pretty special, if you guys are getting married. I never knew Grandma Ellie, but I bet she’d like it we’re using her dishes.”

“I like to think so.” Allison’s heart brimmed with renewed hope the three of them would be a family. Yet, beneath her newfound happiness, a shiver of fear still flickered.

The cat. What if it comes back? What will we do about it?

****

When Lizzie had gone off to bed, the kittens in tow, Shane drew Allison down to sit beside him on the sofa. While he wanted to believe everything would work out, there were some things that still needed to be said before he made a final commitment to his new family. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We need to talk.”

She gave him a wary glance. “If it’s about what I did today…”

“It’s about what I did, ten years ago, when I left you.”

She pulled her legs up underneath her and leaned toward him. “We’ve been over it enough times, and it’s okay. I understand why you left. It was just as much my fault that I didn’t tell you.”

“Yeah, but why I stayed away so long, there was another reason.” His stomach clenched as he tried to find the right words

She frowned. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”

“I’m not sure I can explain.” He turned away and let his gaze travel around the room. With its homey touches, it reflected everything Allison loved and valued, and that he wanted to also love, but a bit of the truth he had learned about himself over the years still lingered in his soul. “The time I lived here, with you and your family and with Doc, I was really just a dumb kid who didn’t have a clue what he truly wanted in life. When I left it was hard, and I missed everyone, especially you. But as time went on and everything happened as it did, I started to know myself better, who I was and what mattered. And I started to like the fact I didn’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations or live down a reputation, real or imagined. I could be me and…I liked that.”

“Is it part of the reason you stayed away then?”

“It was. That, and the fact I found out you were married so thought you didn’t want me anymore.” He brought his gaze back to hers and leaned into the sofa.

She sighed. “Do you want to go back there? To Wyoming?”

Yes. No. How did he make her understand? He put his arm around her shoulders. His gentle tug asked her to fit herself against him, and she obliged.

“Only if you went with me, but I know that’s a lot to ask…so I’m not asking. But maybe someday we’ll go, you, me, and Lizzie.”

“But what about the horses?”

He heard the fear in her voice and quickly assured her. “They’d go with us. We’d find a way, but that’s in the someday. In the now, we have to deal with what happened here today…and last night.”

Allison lifted her face up to him, and her eyes were swimming, melting his heart.

“How?” Her voice trembled, barely above a whisper.

“By not waiting. I want to be here with you and Lizzie, to keep you safe and help you and love you.” He kissed her long and slow but held himself back from letting it go further. “Let’s get married soon, Allie. Very soon. There’s no reason to wait. I want to sleep here with you every night and wake up with you every morning. We’ve wasted so much time. Let’s not waste anymore.”

She sank into him, nestling her head against his shoulder, and it was as if the world had been handed to him, a second chance to have what he’d always wanted, and he was determined this time not to blow it.

“I want to get married here,” she said. “At the farm. It just seems right, because it’s where we first met.”

“Then let’s do it. How about in two weeks?”

She lifted her head from his shoulder. “Really?”

“I found out from Sandy today Doc Brewster is moving to his niece’s home in three weeks. I’d…like him here for our day. We can pull it together. I know Lizzie will be okay with it.”

“About that. How did she know? She pinned him again with the question. “Have you two been conniving?”

He only smiled and once again silenced her questions with his kiss.

****

Three days later, Shane ran into Mark Williamson when they both stopped at a highway rest area. At the sight of the conservation officer, a streak of irritation shot through him. The calls Allison had placed to the local Fish and Game Department had not been answered. He had even stopped to see Mark himself, between yesterday’s clinic appointments, only to find him out of the office. The fact they were not taking the situation seriously angered him. How could they not have sent someone to check out Allison’s report now that she had witnessed the cat herself? He was sorely tempted to jump the guy’s case, but once again, words his grandmother often said came back to him. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So maybe a pleasant attitude would gain him more than an angry one.

He did a quick scan of the officer, noting his usually well-groomed appearance had taken a serious dive. Mark’s pants had water stains, and his wrinkled shirt stuck to his body.

“You have a rough night, too?” Shane tore open a candy bar he’d bought from the vending machine and debated how much he should say about the incident in Allison’s pasture.

“Looking into reports of illegal trapping. Those guys like to go out and check their lines after dark.”

It didn’t sound fun to Shane. Maybe dealing with a cranky mare in labor was an easier way to spend a night after all.

Mark went to the coffee machine and reached into his gray shirt pocket for a dollar bill. He came up with only a five. “Damn. Not sure this coffee is worth five dollars. Last time the machine didn’t give me any change.”

“Here, I’ve got one.” Shane pulled a crinkled bill from his jeans pocket and handed it to the officer. “It might smell like a horse, but I doubt the machine cares.”

“Thanks, I’ll catch you next time.” He smoothed out the bill against his dark green uniform pants and stuck it in the pay slot.

“Consider it on the house.” Shane shoved the rest of the candy bar in his mouth and sipped on his coffee to wash it down. He knew the guy’s job was probably a pain at times, but he wasn’t going to let him or his department off the hook this easily. Try as they might to deny the cat’s existence, they needed to acknowledge the truth. “You know, there is something you can do for me.”

Mark stretched what must be a kink in his neck, while the coffee cup filled. “Yeah, what would that be?”

He kept his voice non-accusatory. “You know those coyotes you said were hanging around Allison Delaney’s place and attacked her dog? When I stitched her up, the wounds just didn’t look like anything coyotes could make, and then, when the critter showed up again, I’ll be damned if it didn’t look like a mountain lion.”

Mark’s hand stilled as he reached for the steaming coffee. “You don’t say?”

“I do say.”

A nerve twitched in the officer’s shadowed jaw. He gave a nervous laugh. “You sure it’s not just a little female hysteria? You know how women are about their horses.”

Jerk. Shane set his coffee down on the top of a trash can and pulled out his phone. Opening the photo app, he found the picture he’d taken of the paw print in Allison’s pasture and held it up. “I actually took this a while ago at her place. Does it look like any coyote print you’ve ever seen?” He waited for the officer’s reaction.

Mark rubbed his stubbly chin. “Can’t say it does.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I’ve wanted to talk to you about it, but Allison, she’s pretty stubborn about wanting to take care of things herself. So when that cat showed up in her pasture again and threatened her horses, she took the matter into her own hands and shot at it. I stood there and watched it happen.”

Mark’s eyebrows shot up an inch. “It’s illegal to shoot an animal that’s protected as endangered.”

“Tell that to Allison when one of her horses is threatened. She already almost lost her dog. It could have been her child.”

Mark finally took his coffee from the machine and heaved a tired sigh. “So, what would you have me do? We let it out there’s a cougar stalking somebody’s farm and folks are liable to panic and—”

“Look, I’m not asking you to publish it on the front page of the Silver Creek News, but can you at least acknowledge it’s a reality and offer some solution?”

The officer blew on the coffee and grimaced when he took a swallow. “Stuff tastes like swill,” he muttered. “Okay, I’ll check it out and have a talk with my superior. See what he suggests. Maybe we can have another look around Ms. Delaney’s woods.”

Considering this guy’s attitude, and the reaction he’d gotten from the one in the Fish and Game Department’s office, Shane didn’t hold out a lot of hope for anything happening soon. But at least he’d spoken his mind.

Before he left the rest stop, he asked one more thing from Mark Williamson. “When you talk to Allison, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention this conversation to her. You’re investigating again because she called, not because you saw me. Like I said, she’s a stubborn and independent woman, and she’s used to taking care of things on her own.”

“I did get that impression,” Mark admitted. “I take it you two are…”

“We are, but that doesn’t mean she lets me handle her business, and I doubt that’ll change when we get married.”

Mark tossed the half-empty Styrofoam cup in the trash container and checked his watch. “Married, huh? Well, good luck with that.”

Shane nodded to him as they left the building. Yeah, luck was what he would need if Allison ever found out he’d had the “man-to-man” talk with Mark.

****

Allison sat with Lizzie on the porch, browsing through the wedding magazine she had brought home the day before. Excitedly, her baby girl peered at the pages of flowers and cakes and summer brides. “I think we should do something like this.” She turned the magazine so they both could see the beautifully decorated table. “Only we can use our own flowers. The daisies will still be blooming and Grandma Ellie’s roses. The pink ones would be especially pretty.”

“She’d like that, and so would I.”

Allison thought of the fabric she still needed to buy to sew her dress and one for Lizzie for the big day, and the gazillion other things she needed to do.

Why did I ever agree to getting married in two weeks? It would never be enough time.

“This is really crazy. How will we—” Her phone rang just then.

“I’d be so pleased if you’d let me bake the wedding cake for you,” Thelma Jackson gushed before Allison could even say hello.

Apparently, word had already travelled.

“Murray and I are just thrilled for you and Shane, and if there’s anything else we can do to help, you let me know.”

“I really appreciate it.” She thought a moment and then added, “There actually is something. Would you be my matron of honor?” After all the kindnesses Thelma had shown them in the past few years, she couldn’t think of anyone she wanted more to witness her marriage to Shane.

On the other end, the older woman gasped and then laughed. “Are you sure you want me? It’s not like I’m the youngest nor the fanciest gal around here.”

“But you are one of the sweetest, and you’ve done so much for Lizzie and me since…well, since everyone’s been gone. I’d really love it if you would do this. It’d mean a lot.”

Thelma agreed and said she would email pictures of cakes so she and Shane could choose the one they wanted before just as quickly hanging up.

“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about,” she murmured and went back to perusing flower arrangements, glad Lizzie had learned about it when she’d entered flowers in the fair. “But we’d better go into town tomorrow and look at dress patterns. I won’t have time to do anything too complicated, but I’m sure I can sew up something simple.”

They were talking about wearing a wreath of daisies in her hair when the silver SUV pulled into the drive. Her stomach clenched as Ronnie stepped out and made her way to the porch, stumbling a little on the uneven dirt in her usual wedge sandals. She hadn’t spoken to her in days. Why was she here now?

Thank goodness Wynkyn chose that moment to get stuck climbing the screen door, and Allison sent Lizzie inside to rescue the adventurous kitten. “Why don’t you check their dishes, too? They might need some food.” She hoped to stall her daughter’s return, in case Ronnie was in a mood.

Quickly, she snatched the magazine and stuck it behind her. “Hi there.” Allison pasted on a smile and waved her to sit down. “How’s it going?”

Ronnie settled in the chair Lizzie had vacated. “Oh, okay, except I find it a little strange everyone else seems to know but you couldn’t tell me.”

“Knows what?”

“What’s going on with you and Shane.”

Fire burned in her throat, but she cleared it and tried to sound nonchalant. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t play coy with me.” Ronnie wagged one manicured finger at her. “Are you or are you not marrying him?”

She heaved a sigh. Might as well be straight about it all.

Allison brought out the magazine again and set it back on the table. “We’re getting married a week from this coming Saturday.”

Ronnie picked at her pale green nail polish. “Seems a little rushed, but I guess since you’ve known each other for so long, what does it matter? I just wish you could have let me know. I had to hear it from Sylvia at the feed store.”

She wanted to ask why Ronnie was at the feed store but just said, “I’m sorry. Guess I didn’t think I made your list of favorite people anymore. However, you and Jerry are certainly invited, if you’d like to come. We’re having it here at the farm, and I’m asking only a few people. We just want it really quiet and simple.”

“Well, you know we’ll be here.” She paused a moment, fingernails tapping on top of the magazine, then her expression lit up with an eager smile. “I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we take Lizzie camping with us? Jerry took our travel trailer to the state park for the summer. He and Lizzy can go fishing, and there’s a beach. It’ll be a great little vacation for her, and you and Shane can spend some time alone. Unless you already have a honeymoon planned? In that case, she can stay longer—”

“No, no honeymoon,” Allison cut into her excited rambling. “I can’t get away from the farm, and he’s taking over Doc Brewster’s practice permanently. So we’ll just be staying here.” She wasn’t so sure she liked the thought of her baby going away with Ronnie for more than a few hours, but it was very generous of her considering, and Lizzie always had a good time with her exuberant aunt. “I’m sure she’d love to go for a day or so, and…thank you, Ronnie, for trying to understand. I know it’s hard to accept the truth about all this, but—”

“It’s all best left in the past at this point. No sense in going on about it, and besides, it’s not Lizzie’s fault.” Ronnie picked up the magazine and began to flip through it.

“What’s not my fault?” Lizzie pushed open the screen door and came out, carrying a plate of the peanut butter cookies she’d baked earlier.

“Nothing, honey,” Allison took one of the cookies and leaned over to kiss the imp’s cheek. “Nothing at all.”

She spent the next half hour paging through the magazine with the two of them; her sister-in-law even ended up offering to help Lizzie with the flower arrangements. While she still wanted to harbor her dislike for Ronnie, Allison found herself relenting and accepting the offer.

She’s right. We can’t dwell on the past, and it’s better to keep the relationship open than let bad feelings eat away at us.

Ronnie left with the promise to pick up some extra vases, and Allison ignored the niggling little worry scratching at the corner of her mind that her sister-in-law was a bit too encouraging.