The Cowboy's Bride

Chapter Eleven

Throwing herself into the decorations for the wedding, Isabella stood on a ladder in the largest of their two barns, hanging the last of the Edison lights around the perimeter of the wide barn hallway. It was the best thing she could do to distract herself from blowing this whole mess out of proportion and embarrassing both herself and Will in front of his family.

She turned to Shay as she finished. “What do you think?”

Shay flipped the switch, igniting the bulbs and turning the ordinary barn into something magical. “I think you missed your calling.”

“Professional light hanger?” she said, starting down the ladder.

Shay shook her head, the lights dancing in her auburn hair. “Wedding designer. It’s gorgeous. This was all you.” The lights, strung in crisscrosses across the wide barn hallway and centered by a massive, fresh purple sage chandelier full of an eclectic variety of dangling Edison bulb lights that had transformed the space into a wedding wonderland. The makeshift chandelier was the centerpiece above the two long, cloth-covered tables flanked by chairs that ran down the center of the aisle. The table was set with runners of fresh purple sage, bundles of lavender, and white candles. Not to mention a whiskey barrel bar tucked in one corner, already stacked with alcohol and the linen-covered hay bales and tack bins that edged the perimeter for seating.

With the horses and newborn calf evacuated temporarily to the smaller barn, fresh straw filled all the cleaned-out stalls. But the rich smell of the alfalfa hay in the loft mixed with the sage and lavender was a heady combination. All in all—real country. Perfect.

“I think the three of us pulled it off,” she said, rolling down the sleeves of her lapis-colored buffalo check shirt.

“Understatement!” Shay held the ladder for her as she came down. “It’s amazing. They’re going to love it. This barn has never looked so good. I say we post pictures of this on social media after the wedding and push this as a wedding venue. Even though we’re not charging for this one, all these lights are an investment and can be reused. One less thing to buy later.”

Outside, the ceremony would take place under the wide oak trees and an arch of wild grasses and bunches of lavender. The fresh flowers would come tomorrow, the day of the ceremony and pull everything else together. The only thing they’d had to rent was a wooden parquet dance floor that they’d laid near the ceremony, strung with more lights and a small stage for the country band—The Tollsons—that Kevin had hired to play.

Isabella stood at the double-wide barn doors looking out over the scene, half remembering her own bungled wedding and trying not to think about her future without Will.

“Hey,” Shay said softly, touching her arm. “You okay?”

She’d had no idea that her cheeks were suddenly damp. She swiped at them with her fist. “Yeah. I’m great. Must be all this hay floating around, starting up my allergies.”

Shay didn’t look like she’d bought it completely. “You and Will okay?”

“Why, did he say something?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“No. No. You just seem a little down today. And he seemed a little tense. Look, whatever is going on with you two, you should know, we really, really like you. Not that we have any say in the matter. But he’s stubborn as hell and if he—”

“Don’t worry,” she interrupted. “It’s fine. We’re fine. I was always on my way to Seattle. I’ll just miss him, is all.”

“So, you are in love with him.”

Isabella turned a look on Shay that confirmed it without words.

Shay touched her arm, with more of a hug than a simple touch. “Speaking as his other genetic half, nothing would make me happier than if he found happiness again. Love again. So, what’s in Seattle, anyway?”

She hadn’t thought through an answer for this question. “Um… a job,” she said quickly. “It’s only for a couple of years, but yeah. That’s it.”

Shay tilted a look at her. “A job. So, it’ll be a long-distance thing.”

“Right. Sort of. Yes.” She had to change the subject before she really started to cry. Pulling the clip from her hair, she let it fall back against her shoulders and shook it into a manageable form. “Shay, do you think you could give me a ride into town? I want to get something for your mom to thank her for having me. Maybe we can get a coffee or something while we’re there?”

Shay smiled, seeming to know she’d been sidestepped. “You don’t have to ask me twice to go shopping. C’mon. We can sneak out for a bit.”

*

Marietta, with itsquaint little shops and eateries, provided ample selection for Isabella to find a thank-you gift for Sarah. She and Shay strolled down Main Street, stopping in a half-dozen little gift shops whose windows invited browsing and the two of them prowled inside, chatting about nothing and everything. They passed a pretty window of a bridal shop, called Married in Marietta where the owner was fitting a pretty gown on a form surrounded by flowers. The sight caused a hitch in Isabella’s chest, remembering the day her mother had Facetimed in from her job in Austin to ask her opinion on the gown her mother had chosen. They disagreed. Eliza bought it anyway. And now that dress lay in pieces halfway between Dallas and Montana.

A few doors down from the bridal shop was a little gift shop that held promise and she and Shay went in, appraising and discarding possibilities as they went.

She’d always wanted a sister and imagined this might be what it would be like to have one. A friend to shop with, chat about nothing. Not feel judged. Shay had an easy way about her, so comfortable in her own skin and very much herself. Isabella would never ask, but she wondered about Ryan’s father and why they weren’t still together. Why she wasn’t with someone? That was also none of her business. Still, she would miss this, too. This camaraderie with Shay.

Actually, there was so much she would miss, not the least of which was Will. But soon enough, she’d move on with her life and all this would be nothing but an episode in her past. A learning experience.

But what had she learned? At least, that she was still capable of falling in love, despite her vow to never do it again. But this time with her eyes wide open and without the fear that she couldn’t stand on her own, She could, and she would.

Shay was laughing at a clay chicken figurine sitting on a cardboard-shavings nest. “For all those eggs that Matthew Donnelly keeps bringing her?”

Isabella laughed, too. “Poor Mr. Donnelly.”

“Oh, he’s making progress,” Shay assured her. “For a while, she wouldn’t even accept the eggs.”

“Maybe she’ll take pity on him.”

“I wish she would, but we’ll see,” Shay said with a chuckle. “I think he’s actually on the guest list for Kevin and Emmaline’s wedding.”

“Well, that might be kismet.”

“Exactly! Ooh! Look at this!” She held up a beautiful Luycho porcelain teacup and saucer that looked ordinary until you tipped the cup, and amidst the silver lines, a horse galloped along in a magical bit of locomotion along the outside.

“Oh! That’s it. I love it. It’s perfect for her,” Isabella said. “She loves her coffee and her horses.”

Shay turned the cup upside down for the price. “Whoa! Never mind. That’s too much.”

Isabella snagged the set from her. “No, it’s not. It’s art and it’s perfect.” She turned to the store owner. I’ll take this one, please. And can you gift wrap?”

Shay looked at her sideways as Isabella pulled out the cash. “That’s very sweet of you. She will love it. You do know you don’t have to buy anything, right? Mom’s crazy about you, too.”

Isabella gazed out the store window at the chocolate shop across the street. “It hardly feels enough for all her hospitality. Both of you, actually. But I hope you’ll settle for some chocolate from that yummy-looking chocolate shop over there. I could use something dark and sweet.”

“Girl—” Shay said. “You had me at chocolate.”

Copper Mountain Chocolates, run by a pretty, dark haired woman named Sage, was the perfect pit stop before going back to the ranch. They ordered mocha cappuccinos and some gourmet truffles that Sage served to them on sweet little doily-covered china plates.

“I haven’t seen you in here for a while, Shay,” Sage said to her. “I heard Will’s back in town. You all must be so happy to have him home again.”

“He is and we are. Sage, this is Izzy Stanton, Will’s girlfriend.”

Isabella blushed at the lie. “Nice to meet you, Sage. Your chocolate is out of this world.”

“You’re too kind! So nice to meet you, too. I hear there’s a wedding happening on the Hard Eight this weekend. That’s kind of a brilliant idea. Your place is so pretty, and Marietta is so in need of more venues for weddings. It so happens we not only scored an invite to that event originally, through Emmaline’s family, we’re providing some of the desserts. So, now that it’s back on, I guess we’ll see you all there.”

“Fabulous!” Shay said. “Wait ’til you see what Izzy has done with the place. It’s beautiful.”

“Can’t wait. Now, I have exactly one minute until my latest batch of brownies is finished in the back, so I’d better run. See you all on Saturday?”

*

There was anunfamiliar black town car in the driveway when they got back to the ranch, and a dark-haired, uniformed driver wearing sunglasses and standing, arms folded, beside the car.

“Now, aside from Will’s vehicle, that’s something you don’t see every day on the Hard Eight. Wonder who that could be?” Shay mused aloud as they pulled to a stop.

Isabella’s shoulders tightened a fraction. Could that be Will’s mysterious partner, Isaiah, come to convince Will to come back to Dallas?

“Hello-oo!” Shay called to him as they got out of the car.

The driver touched his forehead with two fingers in cool acknowledgement.

“Can I help you?”

“No, ma’am. I just waiting.”

“You’re not… Isaiah are you?” Isabella asked.

“No, ma’am. I sure am not.” The man pulled his phone from his pocket to answer a call.

Shay leaned into Isabella and whispered, “Who’s Isaiah?”

“Will’s business partner,” she whispered back.

Shay shook her head. “He has a business partner? Why don’t I know these things?”

As she unloaded the groceries they’d stopped for on the way home, Shay said, “Hey, looks like the mail came. Maybe whatever you’ve been waiting for came today.”

Heat rushed through her. So, everyone had noticed her watching for the mail. “I’ll go grab it for you,” she said. Glad for the chance to get to the mailbox first, she found only a handful of junk mail and some ranch correspondence. Still nothing from Lucille. Disappointment and relief poured through her in equal measure. Her feelings were confusing. She hadn’t spoken to Will since overhearing his conversation this morning because he’d gone off with Liam to see his cabin on the far side of the property, earlier. This whole mess deserved a conversation, but it seemed that he’d already made up his mind about them. About her.

The sound of voices from the kitchen drew her as she entered the house. One voice in particular made her stop in her tracks. An elderly, female voice.

“It took me a few days to snag Isabella’s things from her mother’s house, but when I was told that Isabella wanted her friend Carrie’s mother to forward her things here to your ranch—I know, it’s complicated—I decided to deliver them in person.”

Lucille.

From a distance, she saw Shay standing, grocery bags still in her arms, staring across the room at Isabella’s grandmother. Across from her, Will stood with arms folded across his chest, looking grim.

No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening.

“Naturally,” her grandmother went on, “I understand why she didn’t want to come back home to retrieve her things in person after what happened at the wedding—”

Isabella fisted her chest. Her skin had gone cold. Exposed. All their lies about who she was, their relationship. In a few words, her grandmother had demolished them all.

“The wedding?” said Sarah, confused. “What wedding?”

“To Theo. Margate? The rat.” Turning as Isabella rushed into the room, she broke into a relieved smile. “Isabella! Darling! There you are. I was just telling them—” She stopped short at the sight of Isabella’s look of utter panic.

“Grandma. Wh-what are you doing here? You were just supposed to mail them.”

“Well, I just decided to deliver them in per—”

Isabella’s eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, dear. I’m… sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

“Wait,” Sarah interrupted, getting to her feet. “Izzy’s married to someone else?”

“No, she’s not,” Will answered. “But it’s complicated.”

It isn’t complicated at all. I left Theo, fell crazy in love with Will, and now it’s over. Simple.

“So, wait. Then you two… aren’t actually—” Shay ventured. “Together?”

Will met Isabella’s eyes with a hollow look. “It’s not her fault. It was my idea to tell you the lie about—”

“We both thought it would be easier to fake a relationship,” Isabella interrupted. “To avoid questions about the awful, terrible, no-good, horrible wedding I ran away from. The wedding that Will was driving me away from. I hired him to drive me across country.”

“She hired you?” Shay repeated dumbly. “Will!”

“And you… faked being in love with each other?” The look of shock on Sarah’s face nearly broke Isabella’s heart. “For us?”

They both answered at the same time.

“It started—” Will began.

“Yes,” Izzy said, unable to meet his eye. “Obviously. How could I fall in love with someone so soon after breaking up with my fiancé? It would be nothing but a silly rebound relationship. And no one wants that. Isn’t that right, Will?”

His face flattened with surprise and not a little confusion. She could see him remembering all the things he’d said to Isaiah on the phone, wondering how she could know, registering what that meant for them. For her. “Izzy—”

She went on. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. Shay. All of you.” She placed Sarah’s gift bag on the table in front of her. “Please accept this as my apology and my thanks for your hospitality. I’ve loved getting to know each of you. And there was nothing fake about that at all.”

Lucille got to her feet. “Isabella what exactly is going on here?”

“Not a thing,” she answered. “Just a mistake. Thank you all for letting me be part of this family, even if it was only for a couple of days. I’ll never forget you or this place. Now, if y’all will excuse me, I’m just going to go pack my things.”

“Izzy, wait—” Will tried again.

She warned him off with a shake of her head and disappeared up the back stairs, leaving the three of them in shocked silence.

Lucille said, “Excuse me. I’m going to go with my granddaughter and get to the bottom of this.”

*

Frustration burned throughWill as he watched her go, knowing that somehow, it was his own words to Isaiah this morning that she was throwing back in his face. But how the hell had she overheard his conversation? And why had he said those words out loud? Did he mean them? Hell yes. No. Was he scared? Yes. Did he doubt she felt for him what he was feeling for her? Her words fisted in his chest.

How could I fall in love with someone so soon after breaking up with my fiancée? It would be nothing but a silly rebound relationship. And no one wants that. Do they, Will?

“Idiot,” Shay muttered as she passed him on the way to the sink to fill a glass with water.

“Why would you lie to us about something like that, Will?” Sarah demanded. “How could you? We were so happy for you two.”

Anger ground up inside him. Or was it disappointment? With himself? With Izzy for not knowing what was truly in his head? Frustration at the whole damned mess. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he told them. “And it’s not that simple. I’m sorry, but this was between us. Between Izzy and me. We never meant to hurt you.” Grabbing his hat, he slammed out the back door. He wasn’t in the mood to explain himself.

“Will!” Shay called after him, but he ignored her.

He should have seen this coming. He had seen it coming. He always knew this would be the end of their drive someday. This stop at the ranch had simply delayed the inevitable. But she had confirmed his deepest fears about them right there in front of everyone.

He stalked past all the festive decorations Izzy had helped string in the main barn, all the tables set out for the wedding about to happen, and he walked into the small barn. He pulled out all the curry brushes he could find and started in on the gelding he’d ridden to the river that morning and brushed him until his coat shone in the late-afternoon light slatting through the barn. The horse, with its ears back, picking up on Will’s angry energy, resisted his ministrations until Will had calmed down. Until stroking the horse’s coat gentled and became an exercise in grooming instead of a way to burn off his own frustration. Synching energy with a horse, more than with any creature he’d ever known, was revealing on a very human level. A horse will tell you when you’re being an ass and won’t have any of it.

So, I’m the problem. It’s me.

Jackson nickered and turned his large head toward him.

“Point taken,” Will said aloud, tossing the curry comb in a bucket.

He opened a trunk in the hallway and pulled out a couple of treats for the horse. Jackson gobbled them up as Will stared out at the ranchland simmering a rosy color in the gloaming light. Izzy had, with one simple request, turned his life upside down. He’d been perfectly fine with his solitary life, running a business, with only Isaiah for company. He’d been happy.

Well, maybe not happy. Content.

No. Not exactly content either.

He’d been all right. And now he wasn’t all right. He was the opposite of all right. He could feel the control he’d long built around himself slipping away. Making him want things he had no business wanting. Dangerous things. Like love. Like… Izzy.

But she’d made it clear he’d been wrong about what she wanted. About those nights together, holding each other. He had been a placeholder, in fact. Until she moved on to her next thing. Where she’d put him behind her like the rebound he was and find someone else to love.

Maybe.

Or he’d cut her so deeply with his words to Isaiah, she’d pulled back into her own shell to protect herself.

Either way, the damage was done.

What right did he have anyway to try to pin a girl like Izzy down just when she was about to free herself from all that? Her parents, her feckless fiancé, the life that didn’t fit her anymore. He’d been foolish to think he could even truly have her.

Even the thought sounded wrong. Nobody would ever ‘have’ Izzy’ Stanton. The best you could ever hope for was that she would agree to be with you. And she had just effectively torched his hopes for that.

*

“Darling,” Lucille beganas Isabella threw her things into a small travel bag. “Issa. Please forgive me. I had no idea I was stepping into the middle of something so—”

“It’s not your fault, Grandma. You didn’t know. Let’s just go.”

“Wait, though. Something is obviously going on between you and the limo driver. With Will. Is that his name? Tell me what’s happened.”

She moved to the bathroom to throw her toiletries into the bag. “It’s too crazy to even talk about, Grandma. We got caught up in the moment. That’s all. Nothing more.”

“I don’t believe that. Not from what I saw between you downstairs. It wasn’t really a fake relationship, was it?”

Cramming the last of her things from the bedside table into her bag, she said, “Even you have to know better than to think anything good could come of something that happened that fast. It was just a… a fling. A reaction to everything that’s happened. There is no such thing as forever love, Grandma. It’s a myth. And I have sworn it off for good.”

“I suppose I needn’t remind you that I married your grandfather after knowing him for all of three weeks and our marriage lasted over sixty years.”

“You and Grandpa, that was different. That was then. This is now. That kind of thing is… over. Relationships are temporary things, like Texas rainstorms. One minute they’re rushing and pouring through you, and the next, they’re just over.”

Brushing tears from her eyes, Izzy pulled an envelope from the desk and stuffed a thick handful of bills into it, scribbling off a quick note and pushing it in beside the money.

“What is that?” Lucille asked.

“I promised to pay him to drive me to Seattle.”

Lucille groaned and shook her head. “I spoke with Carrie’s mother. I know you’re not going to be staying there.”

“That is correct.”

“Will you come back to Dallas with me then? I have a ticket for you. We can fly back tom—”

“No. I am not going back.”

Her grandmother sighed deeply. “You can’t run from what happened. It’ll chase you down. And I don’t mean Theo. I mean you.”

She shot a look at her grandmother. “So, you think that was my fault? What happened at the wedding was my fault?”

Lucille took Isabella’s hand in her gnarled one. “Marrying a man you didn’t really love. That was your fault. Darling, your choices decide your future. Even this choice. If you choose to stay or to go. To fight or to walk away. My dear girl, I have no stake in this, except that I love you. I love all of you. Every bit. All the pieces you think are too broken to mend, all the ones that make you strong. And I came here to remind you that you are loved and worthy of love, and no one can ever take that away from you if you’ll only believe it.”

Isabella walked to the window and looked out over the yard with its tall, green trees shading the paddock below, remembering standing here with Will and wanting him to hold her. “I have no right to be angry with him. I’m not, really. I expected it. We’re practically strangers. He has a whole other life that needs his attention, and my life is… somewhere else. For his part, he’s decided already.”

Lucille rested her head on Isabella’s shoulder. “I’ve got a room at the Graff Hotel in town. Let’s just take a night, calm down and—”

“No. I want to go to the airport in Bozeman. Today. Now. Can your driver take me?”

“Isabella…”

“Yes, or no?”

“If you’re going to Seattle, then I’m coming with you. Humor an old woman, will you? I’ll see you settled there before I leave you alone in a strange city. Understood?”

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she reached for her grandmother, pulling her tightly against her. “Thanks, Grandma. I love you so much. But I kind of need to do this alone.”

Lucille tightened her arms around the child who felt more like her own than her own had ever felt and knew she was right.

*

Matthew Donnelly pulledup beside the small barn with his F-150 and horse trailer and parked at the barn’s entrance. Will frowned. He had no idea what the man was doing here.

Matthew jumped out of his truck and offered Will his hand. “Hey, Will. Great to see you home again. We’ve missed you around here. I know your family has.”

Will nodded, staring at the trailer. A loud moo came from inside and the trailer rocked a little. “You too, Mr. Donnelly. What’s going on?”

“I heard you have an orphaned calf. It so happens one of my cows lost a calf this morning. She’s been crying and grieving ever since. I thought, hey, maybe we can put them together, see what happens.”

“That rarely works,” Will replied cynically. “We’ve been bottle-feeding, but she’s not doing all that well. She missed the colostrum from her mama.”

“I’m game to try if you are.” He opened the back of the trailer and disappeared inside to lead the cow out.

Will glanced at the house, upstairs at his bedroom window. He couldn’t see her. But she didn’t want to talk to him. What could he say anyway? I’m sorry? You were right all along? I promised not to judge you, but I judged you?

He needed Liam here to take care of this, but Liam was nowhere in sight. He had no choice but to help.

Matthew walked the black angus cow out of the trailer, carrying a heavy bagful of something in his other hand. The cow mooed again, a mournful sound that shook Will to his core. Strangely, he related to that sound.

“What’s that?” he asked about the bag in his hand.

“Placenta. I’ve done this before, and it’s worked. We fake her out. Get the calf to smell like her own baby and see if it takes. She’s primed for a baby, and she wants her baby. Maybe we can make her believe this one belongs to her. I’ve seen it done with the calf’s hide before, but let’s try this first. Less gruesome. Sometimes that leads to a bond. If it works, I’m happy to loan you this cow until the calf is weaned.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I have my doubts it’ll stick. But thanks, Mr. Donnelly. It’s kind of you.”

Matthew pulled on some latex gloves and reached in to pull out the placenta. “Worth a shot, isn’t it?”

He glanced back at the house. “Maybe I should get Liam over here. I can call him.”

“Not necessary at all,” Matthew said genially. “We can do this. Here, give me a hand with the calf.”

The process of covering the calf with the placenta and its scent was relatively quick. Introducing the cow to the calf had to be taken in steps. It was a dangerous proposition in case the cow tried to kill the calf. But they were both hoping that didn’t happen.

They introduced them through the metal gate that penned in the calf. The cow, at first just distressed, seemed very interested after a few minutes and began licking the calf’s face through the bars. The calf bleated at the cow, clearly receptive.

“Well, will you look at that?” Matthew released the lock on the gate. “Shall we let her in?”

Will looked back at the house and his heart sank at the sight of Izzy and her grandmother walking to the limo with Izzy’s things. His family was standing at the door, witness to all of it. Was she just going to go? Like that?

He stepped outside the barn and shouted, “Izzy!”

She turned his way as her grandmother got in the car.

“You’re just going to go? Like that?” he shouted. “You’re not even going to say goodbye?”

She hesitated for a long moment. “Goodbye, Will,” she shouted. “Thanks for the ride.”

Then she got in the town car, and it pulled out of his driveway.

Out of his life.