3

It hadn’t been a date at all, but it still felt like one.

Even if he didn’t get to say much to Mallie on the drive back to Hearts Crossing. Ella had insisted that her new BFF buckle herself into the back seat next to her. Feeling like a chauffeur, Hoop peeked at them from the rearview from time to time and hated how much he liked the sight of the two of them together.

Mallie and he had a bond, that’s for sure. An attraction together. He was certain of it. But California girls who worked for their family’s big successful business were just that: California girls who worked for their family’s big successful business.

He felt the fool. His remarks to Ma this morning about finding somebody new to love didn’t mean he had to fall for the first single female who crossed his path. Still. He couldn’t rid himself of the pressing urge to get Ella a true family life and truth to tell, his little house felt lonely, his bed cold at night. As for Mallie, she stunned him, and while he might have not been on the prowl for years, he could still recognize signs of attraction. But she’d be gone soon. He closed his eyes at the four-way stop at Shield Nickel Road. It was just all the wedding talk, all the fussing and planning now bearing fruit that was getting to him.

From the rearview, he had to smile as Ella patted her tummy. “I get to wear a real pretty dress. White and fluffy, with a big yellow ribbon right here. And I get to hold a basket.”

“And tonight you get to practice just what to do.” He joined the chat. Already he wondered if she’d freak when she saw the rows of guests tomorrow, though. Rehearsals were easy. Real life was different.

“And I got new shiny shoes!”

Mallie laughed, smooth like warm honey, and Hooper caught a glimpse of her ruffling Ella’s long brown hair. His heart tumbled at the same time his teeth gritted. Hair the same color as Lynn’s. They’d gotten married at Mountainview Church. Maybe that subtle reminder had caused his fatigue, his crummy mood.

“I got new shoes, too.” Mallie leaned toward his daughter as if imparting an important secret. “But they hurt my feet.”

“Then why’d ya get ’em?” Ella asked.

Mallie laughed out loud this time. “Well, they’re awfully pretty. I guess it’s something silly big girls do.”

“Do big girls do a lot of silly things?”

“Uh, yeah,” Hoop muttered under his breath and regretted it at once, hoping Mallie didn’t hear him but, if she did, realized he’d meant Lynn.

Things were sure bustling at the ranch when he pulled in. Ella squealed at the big white tent going up.

“Is it a circus?”

“No, honey girl.” He unbuckled her first, then enjoyed helping Mallie from the truck. Even his less-than-perfect fingers felt her warm skin, and his less-than-perfect mood brightened. He hoped molecules from whatever perfume she was wearing stuck in the upholstery for a long, long time. “They’ll be setting up tables in there for the reception tomorrow.”

“But we always have hoedowns in the barn. They’re so fun,” Ella persisted. Hooper burst out laughing. A side of beef on a spit and smokers belching out tender brisket weren’t exactly wedding fare. Although the ranch’s own prime rib was making an important appearance on tomorrow’s menu.

“That’s right. But this isn’t exactly a hoedown, Ella.” Hooper met Mallie’s smiling eyes. “We have a big hoedown after each of our wagon train trips. But Auntie Christy wanted something a little more formal. If that isn’t a total oxymoron around here.”

“Oxes and morons? Daddy, you need to put a dollar in the bad-word jar.”

“I’ll explain it all, sweetie.” Mallie’s warm gaze left his, and he felt an instant chill of disappointment. They started toward the house. Hooper slammed the truck door.

“Ella, you run along home and change into your grubbies. We got that hayride to take and decoratin’ to do. And don’t forget your big jacket. I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

“OK, Daddy. I won’t get sick.” She peered up at Mallie. “Daddy’s been really sick. Did you know? I don’t get it.” Her little shoulders drew together underneath her red sweater. “Medicine is supposed to make you well. But it made him really, really sick.”

“I do know.” Mallie looked at him again. He saw the same burning tightness in her eyes that she said she’d read in his. Ella reached for Mallie’s hand as they walked, and he almost thought he saw hesitation on Mallie’s part. It troubled him a bit. Ella was such a charmer, and Mallie had seemed to like her right away. So why was the handclasp so reluctant?

They headed toward the big house.

“You’re coming to the ’hearsal to watch me, aren’t you, Mallie?” He heard his daughter say. “I got a new dress for that, too. Gramma made it.”

“No, sweetie. That’s just for the wedding party.”

“Party? We get to have a party?”

Hooper managed to laugh, tired to the bone, his incision scar tweaking more than a bit. “Not till it’s over and we get back here. Your gramma and Auntie Kelley are making wonderful food for it. There’ll be people all over the house. ‘Wedding party’ just means all the people who will march in the wedding. But tonight for the dinner, friends and family get to go, too.”

“Oh.” She peered up at Mallie in an adoring way. “So you can be there?”

“Yes, of course. I’m here with my brother Brian who is part of that wedding party. I’m his ‘plus-one.’ That means I’m his date.”

“His date? Eeeeew. But he’s your brother. Not your boyfriend.”

Mallie shrugged and smiled. “Well, it can work like that at weddings.”

“I think Daddy should be your boyfriend. Mallie, I like you.”

Mallie gasped at the same second he did. In unison. Simpatico. As one. Her gaze met Hoop’s, full of untold stories that might not have happy endings. Well, they might not have forever, but they did have now. She smiled with her whole heart. At least, that’s what he saw.

“Why don’t I help you get changed?” Mallie said in a quick rush as they reached the porch.

“OK. Our house is over there. It isn’t far away.”

“It’s not locked,” Hoop said. “But Gramma probably has a quick snack for you in the kitchen.”

“I’m not hungry, Daddy. I just had ice cream. C’mon, Mallie. I can show you my bedroom.” Ella took Mallie’s hand and headed her to the stone walkway. “I got fairy princess sheets.”

Hoop longed to get off his feet just for a sec–his legs were cramping up a bit now—but he heard the distinct growl of Mallie’s stomach.

“Let Mallie get some food, hon. She didn’t eat lunch, did you?” He tried to be matter-of-fact, not all protective. Mallie was a woman who stood on her own feet. He led her up the porch steps and held the front door.

“Aw, I’ll be OK. It’s just…something smells so wonderful.”

Inside, the place burst with good aromas, and his own stomach rumbled.

“Thanks kindly.” From the kitchen, his sister Kelley’s boot heels clipped across the dining room’s hardwood floor as she balanced a tray of plates bound for the sideboard. She wore a giant white apron over her jeans and big red bows atop the two ponytails sprouting above her ears.

“I am open to any and all sampling of my wares. You must be Mallie.”

“I must indeed.”

Hoop laughed lightly but his heart turned seriously warm when the women embraced. With this family, hugs were as natural and frequent as sunshine.

“I think Mallie would love a bite or two,” Hoop declared, feeling macho because he knew Mallie wouldn’t speak up. “Her stomach sounds like a rockslide.”

She turned to him with a glare. “Thank you very much.”

“But we’re gonna go on the hayride,” Ella complained.

“Mallie’s got time to eat something first, honey girl,” he announced and lifted his nostrils, although he knew the menu already. It had been discussed and rehashed for weeks. “I’m smelling ribs and fixin’s. Beef stew. Waldorf salad from our own apples. Butternut squash with fried sage and, voila! Kelley’s specialty, Sloppy Josephines.”

“Sloppy Josephines?” Mallie asked as Ella screwed up her face.

“Gracey’s mommy makes Sloppy Joes with hamburger, but Aunt Kelley uses eggplant. It’s yucky.”

Kelley howled. “Come to the kitchen, Mallie, and you can taste for yourself. Ella, I’ve got some beaters full of chocolate frosting that need licking. You, Hoop, go hitch up. There’s a half-built church to decorate, you know. And yes, Mallie. You’re coming, too. You can’t miss the hayride!” Her freckled nose crinkled as she grinned.

“Well, all righty. No holding me back.” Mallie smiled at being included; Hoop could read her face already.

Kelley’s voice faded as she led Mallie and a mopey Ella back to the kitchen, but he heard enough of her usual shtick. “I’m a vegetarian, you see. And no. It does not conflict with me being the daughter of cattle ranchers and a cook for carnivores.”

He shook his head as he passed the big front room already decorated with white candles and garlands of collapsible paper bells. Pretty girly. For just a minute, he held his hands in front of the blazing Ponderosa-signed fireplace, and Mallie’s bright laughter trilled in his ears. Right away he reckoned it was a sound he’d never get tired of.

He laughed at himself, hearing one of Kenn’s English teacher lectures of not ending with a preposition. Better, he liked knowing his little girl was in Mallie’s care.

Best of all, she was going on the hayride, and he was driving the team of Percherons.

****

Wind dashed across Mallie’s cheeks, and she laughed out loud as the wagon wheels clanked over the dirt road. She hadn’t had this much fun since the county fair when she was a kid. Hoop and his brothers had tossed a dozen or more hay bales on a flatbed, and to it, Hoop had hitched up a team of the glorious draft horses so easily she figured he could do it at midnight blindfolded. The enormous animals were so majestic they all but took her breath away.

After quick introductions, however, he had nodded at her just the same as he had done at the other guests, all professional and impartial. Still, she couldn’t stop the pattering of her heart, forcing herself to concentrate on the words professional and impartial. It didn’t help a bit that the afternoon with him had been wonderful.

And the weekend wasn’t over yet.

Perched all over the bales, Hoop’s brother Scott and her brother Brian flirted with bridesmaids. Christy, wearing a faux veil under her Western hat, leaned against Kenn, and Ella, bundled tight against the chilly afternoon, burrowed into the hay with her arms around a fluffy Border collie.

“Pip, Estella, step up,” Hoop said in a gentle but firm voice as the giant horses headed for an uphill, bumpier stretch of road. Brother Bragg bounced next to him on the seat, half-turned to keep an eye out.

Next to Mallie, Hoop’s sister Rachel held a big basket of autumn leaves on her lap. Some real fall foliage, some silk.

“Welcome to Hearts Crossing, Mallie. You bride’s side or groom’s?”

“Oh, my brother Brian is one of Kenn’s groommen.”

“So you’re here all the way from California? Cool.” Rachel wiggled her fingers as if afraid to take her hands off the basket, and chuckled in apology. “I tried to get the real thing.” Her voice chattered over the ruts. “But I stopped by the craft shop in town this morning for more. I hope Christy won’t mind some fake stuff from Bobbin and Skein.”

Mallie watched the beautiful bride raise her face to the handsome Kenn, both sharing an unspoken secret. Christy’s dark hair dusted her shoulders beneath the froth of the fake veil, and eyebrows the shape of angel’s wings fluttered a bit as she closed her eyes before leaning her face into Kenn’s shoulder. A longing deeper than Mallie could have imagined before arriving at Hearts Crossing stabbed her gut. Some people had all the luck.

Bitterness faded, though, when she caught Hoop’s masculine scent on the wind. After all, the day wasn’t done yet. Or the weekend. Even through his thick denim jacket lined with shearling wool, she could watch his muscles move as he controlled the team.

She smiled at Rachel. “I think Christy’s so over the moon she won’t be noticing anything not quite right here on earth. Besides,” she glanced at the hot pink and brown boots peeking beneath the boot-cut jeans, “I’ve been an event planner. I know all about last-minute improvisations.”

“I hear ya. Ma and Mrs. Forrest have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves in case of fiascos tomorrow. And we all totally expect some. So, Mallie, what do you do now?” Rachel’s eyes were guileless and, Mallie realized, Brian being Brash and Kenn not normally a gossip, her story was likely a great unknown to the Martins.

“I’m in the PR department at my dad’s business now. He feels that’s less stressful than worrying about costs and deadlines.” At Rachel’s raised eyebrows, Mallie realized she had no qualm against sharing with Hooper’s sister. “Actually, two years ago, I was trying to pull together a big conference when I started having killer headaches. Well, I thought it was stress, migraine maybe, so I just gutted it out and took Advil. One day at work, I had a seizure.”

At Rachel’s gasp, Mallie went on to comfort her, “Oh, it was all good,” she said. “I wasn’t alone in my apartment or behind the wheel of a car where I could have died or hurt somebody else. And that way they found out about my brain tumor.”

Rachel’s eyes widened and her fingertips turned white as she pressed into the large basket. As for Mallie, she had long slid into her warm mittens. Then again, she was a California girl.

“You look awesome. I mean, you’re all right now, right?” Rachel’s hand rubbed Mallie’s wrist even through the thick fleece-lined sweatshirt she wore.

“Yeah. I’ve been stable for almost a year and a half. I take seizure meds. I had to be seizure-free six months before I could drive, but now my life is pretty much back to normal.” A chill wind ripped through her wellbeing. Except you might have a decade or less to live. Her nasty subconscious pounded. “But chemo and radiation, thankfully all that is over.” For now. The pounding continued. It’s gonna come back, and you’ll have to go through everything all over again. And sometimes not taking the chemo drugs anymore had her feel she wasn’t doing enough.

Mallie silenced the ugly mantra in her brain. “Well, I’m not out of the woods, Rachel. I’ve got a serious ‘astrocytoma glioma’ that’s likely to return. But I’m not giving in. I’ll take on whatever surgery and treatments and kick its booty big-time.”

“There you go!” Rachel beamed. “And with God on your side to add some energy to those kicks, how could you lose?”

Mallie smiled back, but her heart squeezed tight for a second. What was with these Martins and their faith? If God wanted to kick her tumor’s booty, well, why didn’t He do so the first time around? Just for a split second, the wind warmed, and Ella’s shriek of joy reached her ears. Suddenly the world around Mallie turned bright and beautiful. After one last squeeze, Rachel’s hand returned to the basket.

“Oreo’s giving me a kiss!” Ella called out as the adorable dog licked her face frantically.

“Uh-oh. I thought I washed her up better than that.” Mallie moaned, then explained. “Kelley was whipping up the chocolate frosting for the wedding cake and let Ella lick the beaters.”

“Uh-oh is right. I suspect that little girl has developed the Martin women’s chocoholic gene.” Rachel burst out laughing as the pup continued the lengthy bath, Ella howling in glee. “Although it may be my son has inherited it as well.” Her pretty face colored above the fuzzy purple scarf wrapped around her neck and head. “I went on a binge the other day and ate a whole pan of brownies. With Hershey’s kisses melted over the top.”

“A whole pan? I can’t believe it! And I can’t believe you had a baby just three months ago. You look terrific.”

“Why thanks,” Rachel said, shy. “And maybe it wasn’t a whole pan. But it was more than this carcass needed.” She patted an amazingly flat belly. “Thing is, I thought my indulgence would give Matty the runs–I’m breastfeeding and whatever I eat gets into him. But he was hungrier than ever for the whole next day!”

“I can’t wait to meet him. I hear from Ella he’s the cutest baby ever.”

“Well, of course he is.” Rachel chuckled. “And you’ll get to very soon. Karen Densmore—her daughter Daisy is marrying Pike at Christmas—is watching over him today.”

Rachel glanced toward the west where the sun splashed the bright blue sky with reds and golds. For a moment, Mallie recalled Hooper’s remark earlier in the day, about God’s paintbrush. Looks like he might be right again.

Almost overwhelmed, Mallie said with a smile, “The way you all live at Hearts Crossing is so…magical for those of us urban-dwellers.”

Rachel tossed her a saucy look. “Oh my, yes. The magic of pulling a calf out of a first-time heifer who isn’t sure what’s going on. And my husband Nick’s a geneticist. Sometimes I get to help him do artificial insemination. Yummy.”

Mallie scrunched her nose as the flatbed bounced along.

“And just so you know,” Rachel chuckled. “We call this road the ‘cowboy rollercoaster.’”

“I keep thinking, in California we’d be required to wear seatbelts. How far is it to this place?”

“Probably two miles. There actually is a perfectly modern paved road to the new development. But all the guys reckoned this would be more fun.”

“Well, it totally is for us city slickers.”

“It’s called Woodside Meadows. A nice little planned community on some crummy pastureland we didn’t use to the optimum. Sold it for a hefty price before the economy turned. Things are going slower than planned, but it’ll happen. God tosses in those monkey wrenches to test us, but He never gives us more than we can bear.”

Mallie chewed on that for a second. The gamma knife radiosurgery, the treatments including the net mask holding her face perfectly still for radiation had all taxed her strength and will, but here she was today, living a life full of family and friends. While some folks in her support groups had to crawl slowly through mazes of confusing insurance benefits, her parents had been able to pay for whatever treatments insurance didn’t cover, or considered experimental, or took too long to approve. Was that actually God’s hand in things?

Hmmm.

“There are condos, single-family cabins, and time-shares, and during peak months,” Rachel interrupted her philosophical musing, “there are amenities like a beauty shop and small gym. The chapel isn’t finished yet, but with Christy hired by the developer as the landscape designer, Kenn thought it was the perfect place for them to get married.” She shifted the basket and crossed her knees before rebalancing it. “We all thought he’d go for Posy’s Grove.”

“What’s that?”

“A lovely little wooded glen by Old Joe’s Hole, a pretty stream-fed lake. Christy’s designing it into a wedding grotto for Hearts Crossing Ranch’s next endeavor: destination weddings.”

“Like this?” Another pothole had Mallie bite her tongue.

“Even better! Take a trail ride there before you head home.” Rachel smashed into Mallie after contact with a big rock, but Mallie didn’t reply. Truth to tell, the only one she longed to take another trail ride with was Hoop, and asking him to take her to a wedding grotto was, in her mind, total insanity and totally dangerous.

Rachel pointed, and through a woodland of alder and fir Mallie could see the half-built chapel, its spire already wearing a cross. All around the mountains loomed. Her heart couldn’t help stirring. Incomplete or not, the church with its Rocky Mountain backdrop was a stunning place for the wedding of a rancher and a landscape designer who worked with nature every day.

“I’m liking the idea of the wedding here at the chapel,” Rachel said musingly. “Nick and I got married at Mountainview Community Church and, well…You know. Memories.”

Yeah, Mallie did know all about memories of happier, less complicated times. She wasn’t sure what to say about the husband off in the Middle East. Restlessly, she took her mittens on and off and chanced it. “So, he’s doing OK?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he is. It’s what he was called up to do”—Rachel shrugged—“and I know he’s in the Lord’s hands.”

Remembering the remark about him being a geneticist, Mallie tried to steer back into harmless territory. “But mostly he works here at Hearts Crossing, right?”

Rachel nodded into her big muffler caught by a gust, and Mallie shivered as the temperature dropped about ten degrees when the sun hid behind a cloud. “That’s how we met. Pa was alive then and he hired him. Oh, Nick consults for a couple of other ranchers, too. But first glance, I was hooked.” She looked down at her toes now. “He joined the Army after high school to put himself through college, and he already served one tour. But his reserve unit got called up again last summer…”

Mallie’s heart clenched. “It must have been tough. With a baby on the way and everything.”

“Oh, it was. Thank God He gave me such a caring family. A family that actually gets along.” She emitted a feminine snort. “Nick’s family is a bunch of nutcases. Ma and Pa and all my sibs just took him right into their arms. Anyway, we wanted a family sooner than our Matty, but it took a while to get pregnant. So Nick ended up leaving before he could see the end result. Yeah. It’s been hard.”

She didn’t say the words out loud, but Mallie read her worry as tiny lines etched about her eyes before she gave up a grave smile. “I know I could lose him. I know he’s in danger. I know he lives with death every single day. But I know God’s right there at his side. And I also know deep down…” She looked up to the sky for a second. “…I know the time I spent with him, however much or however little the Lord sees fit to give us, is totally worth it. I wouldn’t trade one second with him for a million years with anybody else.” Her eyelashes flapped tears away, then she grinned and gave Mallie a huge wink. “No. Not even Keith Urban.”

Mallie barked out such a laugh that Hoop turned around from the reins. He grinned at them and held two fingers against his brim in a salute that had Mallie’s heart pittering again.

As the horses pulled up to the chapel, Rachel’s words repeated again in Mallie’s brain, then inscribed themselves therein, like carving on stone.

I know deep down the time I spent with him, however much or however little the Lord sees fit to give us, is totally worth it. I wouldn’t trade one second with him for a million years with anybody else.