TRAVIS HAD MCHENRY’S GOLD loaded in less than ten minutes, using a method that Cassie recognized, but had never used herself because she’d never owned a horse that refused to walk into a stock trailer. Travis seemed quite practiced at the technique of leading the horse as close to the trailer as he could without her balking, letting her relax, then leading her away and starting over. Eventually she stood with her head in the trailer, then her front feet and finally all four feet. Then, instead of slamming the door shut so that Cassie could drive away, he calmly led the mare out of the trailer and then back in again. He did it three times. On the final go, he tied her and then closed the divider panel.
“She should be fine now,” he said as he stepped out of the trailer and swung the door shut. “If she isn’t, then just do what I did.”
Cassie folded her arms and stared at the closed door, her dreams of trailering Rebel’s daughter to training arenas and trailheads shaken by the episode. “My new mare has issues.”
“It happens. All it takes is someone who doesn’t know how to handle a small issue and, boom, a big issue is born.”
“I hope this is her only trouble,” Cassie said before meeting Travis’s gaze. What was she doing unloading on Travis anyway?
“It might well be.”
“Thank you.” She hadn’t expected this kind of help from the man she’d bested at the auction, and in some other life arenas, but he’d given it. She automatically put her hand out, as she did when she finished a one-on-one meeting.
Travis held her gaze as he took her hand, as if expecting her to draw it away at the last moment, then his calloused fingers gripped hers and she had the stunning realization that, even though they’d known each other since they were ten or eleven, this was the first time they’d actually touched on purpose. Unless one counted a tackle. But there were extenuating circumstances there. No one had ever said, “Shake hands and be friends,” and maybe it was because of the years of thinking of him as her rival that the feel of his palm against hers ignited a small spark of warmth that curled through her.
She slowly withdrew her fingers from his and dropped her hand to her side. “Thanks, again.” She smiled her this-meeting-is-now-at-an-end smile.
“I assume there’s someone at the ranch who can help unload if there’s an issue?”
“Yes. If Nick isn’t home, Katie will be.” Actually, she could unload the horse herself without either of her siblings’ help now that she knew what she was up against. She hadn’t expected the mare to balk at the trailer, and Jim taking hold of the rope and attempting to manually pull her in didn’t help matters. The mare panicked and she never should have allowed that to happen.
But it had, followed by Travis coming to the rescue.
Travis, whom she’d watched grow from a wiry ten-year-old to the rather impressive guy standing in front of her.
She hadn’t come home to be impressed by Travis. She’d come home to have a much-needed breather from a stressful occupation followed by a round of coursework that would allow her to dive back into the fray with a larger skill set.
Travis sensed his dismissal and, surprisingly, accepted. He touched his hat, just as he’d done with Jim, then turned and headed back to his idling truck. Rather than watch him go, because part of her wanted to watch him go, Cassie double-checked the doors on the trailer, then got into her own truck—or rather her brother’s truck—and started the engine.
She eased out of its parking spot, watching the mirrors as she made the turn from the parking lot. In the distance she saw Travis’s truck pull onto the highway leading to their respective ranches, which were separated by the Ambrose River.
But even though their ranches were not that far apart, the McGuires and the Callahans hadn’t really socialized, except for at community and school activities, brandings, cattle gatherings and the like. The families were neighbors and friendly acquaintances...with the exception of her and Travis...but not particularly tight.
That part of her life—the part where she was in full-time competition with Travis—was over, and maybe it was a good thing that McHenry’s Gold had brought them together. She had no intention of seeing Travis again, and now they had a measure of closure.
TRAVIS PULLED INTO the ranch with his empty trailer and backed it into the spot between the long cattle trailer and the now-vintage trailer with the living quarters that he’d used while rodeoing during high school and college. He’d never had any intention of going pro, like his neighbor Brady O’Neil had done, but had still put everything he had into the sport which offered him an outlet for his competitive nature. It was the one sport in which Cassie hadn’t tried to best him after they started high school—but he had a feeling that was only because women’s bronc riding wasn’t sanctioned by the National High School Rodeo Association.
Well, she bested you today.
She had the horse he wanted. The horse he might still get if the mare turned out to be trouble. A horse that wouldn’t load still made a fine broodmare, but there was no way he was paying what Cassie had paid for her. Her last bid had been a godsend, saving him from digging deeper into his savings than he wanted to.
After uncoupling the trailer, he parked the truck, then went through his mental checklist for the remainder of the day, which was identical to yesterday’s checklist. Feeding, fences, weeds. He’d check his mares, admire his foals, then wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
“Reynaldo called.”
Travis turned to see his grandfather Will McGuire come out of the machine shop, wiping grease off his hands with a shop rag.
“Couldn’t get you on your cell,” Will added as he came to a stop next to the empty trailer.
“I ran out of juice. Forgot to charge it last night.”
“The guy is persistent.”
The “guy” was his former college roommate and fellow agribusiness grad trying to recruit him for the same job he’d turned down to return home and take over his dad’s position on the ranch years ago. He called every six months or so, and by some quirk of fate, his grandfather always seemed to be present when the calls came in. Not that they worried him. He was supremely confident in Travis’s desire to stay on the ranch where he was raised. Probably a good thing he didn’t know that the calls always touched a nerve in his grandson. He also didn’t know that Travis jokingly offered Rey a job every time he called.
“Where’s the horse?” Will gestured at the empty holding pen where they kept new animals as they acclimated to the place.
“No horse today.”
“Huh. I thought you had a shot at it.”
“Cassie Callahan bought the mare.”
“Huh.” Will concentrated on wiping grease off his wristwatch. “She’s back early.”
For a moment all Travis could do was stare.
“You knew she was coming back?”
“Yeah. Rosalie told me a couple of weeks ago.”
Rosalie, Cassie’s grandmother, and Will had been spending a lot of time together lately. The change in Will since he’d hooked up with Rosalie was profound. Gone was the lonely man who’d thrown himself into his work with a vengeance as if trying to keep his mind busy enough to make it through another day. In his place was a man who seemed at least a decade younger on the mental front.
“You might have passed that information along.”
“Why?” Will asked reasonably. “It isn’t like you were going to rush over to the Callahan ranch to see her...although—” he made a resigned face as he wadded up the rag in one hand “—you will be.”
“What does that mean?” Travis asked suspiciously.
Will smiled the goofiest smile Travis had ever seen on the old man’s face. “Rosalie has done me the honor of agreeing to be my bride. We’re getting married before Cassie goes back to Wisconsin.” Will continued to beam. “And I’d like you to be my best man.”
“NO.” CASSIE’S MOUTH literally dropped open before Rosalie Callahan finished dropping her bomb.
“Yes. It’s true. I’m about to be a bride again.” Rosalie was not surprised at her oldest granddaughter’s reaction to the news that she was about to marry the grandfather of the man who’d driven her nuts while she was growing up.
Katie, the youngest of her grandchildren, laughed. “This is wonderful, Grandma. And you timed it perfectly.”
Indeed, she had. Rosalie didn’t believe that Cassie would purposely miss the wedding, but she’d come up with a work-related excuse to miss every family holiday for the past two years. It was no wonder that she’d burned out. Not that Cassie would admit it. No...according to her, she was on the ranch for family time before heading off to take classes for her doctorate in school administration. She didn’t realize that she wasn’t as good at hiding her stress as she thought she was.
“Have you told Nick?” Katie asked.
Nick—her widowed grandson, who’d moved back to the ranch with his young daughters, Kendra and Bailey, a little over a year ago—was stretching himself thin between contracting jobs, ranch maintenance and keeping his girlfriend’s house repaired. But he always made it home by dinnertime and spent his evenings with his girls.
“I’ll see him this afternoon and share the good news.” She smiled.
“Will it be a full-on wedding, or a visit to the courthouse?”
“Kind of a compromise. We’ll have a ceremony with a judge followed by a big party on Will’s ranch.”
The interesting thing about getting older was that despite the rumors that one became more stubborn and set in their ways, Rosalie had found it was much easier to compromise than it’d once been—possibly because she had a stronger sense of what mattered and what didn’t.
Will was a rancher. He’d always been, and would always be, a rancher. Rosalie wasn’t a fan of rural life, but she’d been happy living on the Callahan ranch, raising her children and grandchildren, working shoulder to shoulder with her beloved husband. But after Carl died, she’d fulfilled her dream of starting a gift-and-garden shop with her best friend, Gloria Gable, and she had no intention of giving that up and moving to another ranch. Will, bless him, understood that. So, he’d bought a house in town, just down the street from the Victorian mansion that housed Rosalie’s gift shop, The Daisy Petal. The new house had been his engagement present to her.
He would still work the ranch, he’d told her. And there would be nights when he wouldn’t make it back into town, but he’d be there every night he could. Rosalie, in turn, had agreed that there would be nights when she would stay on his ranch with him, even if she didn’t want to make it her permanent home. Cooperation and compromise were her new key words.
“That’s a lovely idea, Grandma.” Cassie worked up a smile, even though she still looked a little shell-shocked.
Rosalie held her teacup between her hands, smiling over the top of it. “I may never again be a full-fledged ranch gal, but I’m happy sharing my husband’s life.”
Her husband.
Having a new husband was still a concept that was difficult to fully grasp. Rosalie had had a husband for fifty years and had never anticipated having another. But then Will came along, all gruff and ready to do battle for her. The fact that he didn’t do battle after she’d asked him not to was the deciding factor for her. He was protective by nature, and a man who was used to fighting for what he got. The fact that he was able to back off and allow her to fight her own battles—most of which involved her troublesome next-door neighbor, Vince Taylor—was huge.
“I love the idea of having it on Will’s ranch, Grandma. That would give us more time to decorate and we’d have refrigeration for the food, so we could prepare it in advance.” Katie shot her a look. “Unless you’re having it catered, of course.”
“I was thinking a little of both.”
“Good. When are you planning to get married?”
Cassie’s gaze moved from Katie to Rosalie and back again, then held on Rosalie as she said, “Before Cassie leaves.” She tilted her head at Cassie. “Before you leave. That’s August...”
“Twenty-second. Classes start a week after that, so I’ll have time to settle into the room I’m renting.”
Rosalie consulted the farm-store calendar that hung next to the refrigerator. “Then I believe Will and I will get married on August 15.” He’d given her carte blanche as far as dates went. All he said was the sooner, the better. He’d been lonely for too long to have a lengthy engagement.
“I can’t wait to start planning,” Katie said. She gave her grandmother a sassy smile. “I can’t believe you’re getting married before Brady and I tie the knot.”
“We’re not young,” Rosalie said pertly. “We can’t afford to dillydally around like you two.”
Katie wanted a Christmas wedding, but had yet to pick a venue. At the rate she was going, she’d get married not this Christmas but the following one. That said, she and Brady didn’t seem one bit concerned about the time factor. They’d found each other and that was enough.
“Guess she told you,” Cassie said to her sister with a wink.
Katie laughed, making Rosalie realize just how much she loved having all her grandkids back on the ranch. Yes, the house was a little crowded with Katie, Nick, Cassie and two young girls sharing a space, but no more crowded than it had been when her son moved home with his three motherless children almost thirty years ago. Since Rosalie spent most of her nights at her house in town, it was actually less crowded. And, unfortunately, Cassie would be gone all too soon.
As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Cassie moved in to give her a one-armed hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Will is going to ask Nick to stand up for him, and I’d love it if you and Katie would stand up with me...and help me plan.”
“Yes to both. This is going to be fun.” Katie was practically rubbing her hands together.
“I’d love to stand up with you.” Cassie gave her another squeeze before stepping away, but Rosalie had a suspicion that she was working over the idea of her and Travis finding new footing in a world where they would see each other more frequently. Unless, of course, Cassie’s job once again got in the way of her family time.
It could happen, but Rosalie hoped it didn’t. Cassie looked tired. Weary, really. Like she’d been trying to hold too many corks under water at the same time and was this close to giving up.
Because she’d done what she’d always done and put achievement ahead of self-care.
She’s come home, her little voice whispered. Maybe she’ll decide to stay.
Rosalie told her little voice not to get too stuck on the notion, but...there was always a chance.
“I’M GONNA WEAR a big white dress,” Cassie’s four-year-old niece, Bailey, announced after hearing the good news about her great-grandmother. “And a veal.”
“Veil,” Kendra, her older sister, corrected. As an almost official first grader, Kendra did a lot of correcting. She reminded Cassie a little of herself.
No. Kendra reminded Cassie a lot of herself.
“I think that’s what the bride wears, honey.” Cassie knelt down to help Bailey zip her jacket. “You’ll be a flower girl, so you’ll wear a pretty wreath in your hair, with ribbons that hang down your back.”
“Like a princess,” Bailey said.
“Exactly.” Cassie straightened the shoulders of her little niece’s jacket and decided not to take advantage of the moment to point out that there were many kinds of princesses, including warrior princesses. “Now, let’s go see those flower seeds you guys planted.”
The girls loved helping their aunt Katie in the greenhouse and welcomed any excuse to show off their fledgling green thumbs.
Cassie had to admit to feeling wary about Katie’s decision to abandon her career as a human resources manager in order to live on the ranch and grow herbs, but her fears had been groundless. Katie not only had a green thumb, she had a great rapport with her clients. One greenhouse had already become two with plans for a third after Nick and Brady, Katie’s fiancé, dismantled an old shed to make room.
“You know,” Cassie said conversationally, “you and Brady should probably pick a date.”
Katie shot her a sidelong look. “I’m just waiting for him to get home for good in a few weeks. He’ll be done with his final welding course in time for haying and then I’ll never see him because he’ll be on a swather in the field.”
Cassie laughed, partly because what Katie said was so true. Haying waited for no man.
“And he already has a job offer.”
Cassie offered her palm for a high-five. “Congrats.”
“Yep,” Katie said. “Between Nick and Brady and I, someone will be free to handle the ranch work and it’s so nice to have an outside income that isn’t reliant on cow or hay prices.”
“I’m growing herbs,” Kendra piped up. “Aunt Katie will sell them for me.”
“Great,” Cassie said. “Then you can save the money for college.”
“Half to savings, half for fun,” Kendra informed her. “Daddy said.”
“Well, we won’t cross Dad,” Cassie replied with a smiling glance at her sister. Katie smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes and once again Cassie had the feeling that her sister was on the verge of saying something, but wasn’t sure how to go about it, and she’d gotten the same feeling from her brother, Nick, while they’d been playing Sorry! with the girls the night before.
Okay, she hadn’t been home in a while, and that wasn’t good. She’d managed to get home for two days the previous Christmas, before having to fly back to Wisconsin to tackle a serious personnel issue. At least she’d connected with her father, who’d flown in from Australia with her stepmother, for twelve whole hours. It would have been very disappointing to have not seen him, even if he’d joked that his flight was longer than their visit.
But life wasn’t always easy. She had a demanding job as assistant district superintendent. When fires needed putting out, she needed to be there. Her job was not one that fell within the boundaries of nine to five on weekdays only. If a school was vandalized over the weekend, she was the one called. If something happened to a student which would impact the school they attended, Cassie was called. Parental problems—Cassie. If a teacher was fired over the Christmas holidays, she was the one who ended up teaching English for two weeks while the district searched for a replacement.
The only reason she was able to take this sabbatical was because the district had lost student population. The administrative office had been top-heavy with a superintendent and two assistant superintendents. One position had to be cut at the beginning of the current budget cycle which had commenced in July, so to help the other assistant superintendent get the necessary years for a full retirement, Cassie had agreed to step back, take an unpaid sabbatical and work on her doctorate. Next summer, Rhonda Olson would retire and Cassie would be stepping back into the fray as the one and only assistant superintendent, with her eye on the prize of becoming the Grand Pooh-Bah. The superintendent. Yes, she was young, but she was driven, and she had already shown that she had the skill set to do the job and do it right. She’d even demonstrated that she could successfully substitute teach in a pinch.
“Wear this coat, Aunt Cassie.” Bailey appeared from inside the hall closet with the fluffy fake-fur jacket she must have tugged from the hanger.
“I haven’t worn that jacket since high school, sweetie. I don’t know if I can fit into it.”
Sure enough, it was snug when she got it up over her shoulders, but Bailey beamed and Kendra told her it looked nice, so she wore it as she headed out the door holding her nieces’ hands. Katie shut the door, then caught up with them on the front walk. She stroked the coat like she was petting an animal and Cassie gave her a look.
“Tastes change over the decades.” And she had no idea what she’d been thinking when she’d bought a fuzzy bubble gum–pink coat. She certainly hadn’t expected it to be waiting for her in the hall closet when she returned to the ranch.
“I think Grandma hung on to some other bits and pieces of our pasts if you want to split a bottle of vino and take a trip down memory lane,” Katie said.
“What’s vino?” Kendra asked.
“Wine,” Cassie replied matter-of-factly. She wasn’t a big one for using secret talk around kids, whom she found were often underestimated.
“I don’t like it,” Kendra said, screwing up her face. “We had sips at Christmas. Yuk.”
Bailey made a choking sound to indicate her dislike of the fruit of the vine, and Cassie laughed.
“About time,” Katie muttered.
She shot her sister another look. “What?”
Katie shook her head, but as soon as the girls raced ahead to open the greenhouse and made a show of how hot it was inside by pretending to wilt, she said, “It’s about time you loosened up and laughed. You’re so tightly wound that I expect you to snap at any minute.”
“I am not,” Cassie said, insulted. She was a master at keeping her cool...except for the recent incident with Travis. But that was instinct kicking in. Eventually she’d found the override switch and gotten control of herself.
“You are. You just don’t know it. Probably because it was a slow process.” She gave Cassie a hard look. “You know, the frog in boiling water and all that.”
Cassie just shook her head and followed her nieces into the greenhouse with its neat benches of herbs in different stages of growth. There might be a grain of truth in Katie’s words. Before school ended in May, she’d been visiting an elementary school and overheard one of the kids calling her the scary lady. It had stung more than it should have. Kids used to love her, but now they gave her wide berth. And were shoulders supposed to ache all the time? She’d assumed it was an aftereffect of her workouts, but...
Kendra took her by the hand, reminding her that some kids still liked her, and led her forward, naming each herb as they passed. “I grew those violets,” she said, pointing to the last bench, which held flats of flowers. “Did you know you can eat flowers? We’re going to sell ’em to a restaurant to put on desserts to make them pretty.”
“Excellent,” Cassie said. “What did you plant, Bailey?”
“Violets and catnip for Tigger. He gets all funny when we bring it into the house.”
“I bet he does,” Cassie said, laughing again. If she kept laughing, then maybe Katie would see that she wasn’t really that uptight. She was just... What?
A woman with a demanding job, which required her to hide her emotions in the name of professionalism. She may want to lean across her desk and throttle the whining board member on the other side, but, hey...that didn’t get you funding where you needed it.
Actually, she was glad to take some time off, even if she was a bit nervous about being out of the loop for almost a year. Time off would help her get perspective and perform better. Nothing wrong with that, or with taking the time off so that Rhonda could retire without penalty. She’d go back to the school district feeling fresh and would bring with her new ideas gleaned from the classes she’d be taking. She’d be back in the loop.
A win-win.
So why did she feel so edgy about the situation?