Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
The Ranch
As soon as we dropped off drinks, Muddy clinked her champagne flute and asked people to take their seats.
I took my chair next to Hadley and Cas sat on the other side of Declan. Declan poured the bottle of sparkling water into Hadley’s glass.
Peach burrata basil salads were served.
“Do you forgive me?” Hadley asked with a look at me.
“For what?” I picked up my fork.
“For having a salad instead of poutine?” She grinned.
“Your wedding, your food. Can you eat this? Because you’re pregnant?” I gestured to the cheese sitting in front of me.
Could I eat this . . .
“It’s pasteurized,” she said. “Hell yes, I can eat this.”
“This is unbelievable,” Poet said. “The peaches taste like they just dropped from the tree.”
“They’re local,” Hadley explained. “All the food served today is local.”
As I ate, I kept my eyes on Amber.
“What’s with the assassinator look you’ve got going on?” Wyn asked me, leaning close and lowering her voice.
“Amber’s here,” I whispered.
“Where?”
I gestured with my chin. “She’s the one with the nearly jet-black hair.”
“How’d she get in here?” Wyn demanded.
“Apparently, she came as Harlan’s plus one. I haven’t been able to talk to him about her yet,” I said. “I need to warn him.”
“And Harlan is the guy she’s currently draping herself over?”
“Yep.”
“After the main course,” Wyn said. “I’ll distract her and you pull him aside.”
“And after that, we should fight crime,” I quipped.
“In black jumpsuits. We’d look great in black jumpsuits.”
I looked at Hadley who’d devoured half of her salad already. “Hey, did you know Amber is here with Harlan?”
She kept her eyes trained on her food. “Yes. I meant to tell you . . . I invited her.”
“You invited her?” I hissed.
“She actually called me several days ago. Amber got a job at the Huckleberry Hill Crier and offered to do a piece on the wedding.”
“And you said yes?” I demanded. “Why?”
“Because,” Hadley said, finally looking at me. “We’re not in high school anymore. And I want to put all of that mess behind us. She held out an olive branch and I took it.”
“You could’ve warned me,” I murmured.
“I wasn’t in the mood for one of your . . .” She paused.
“Meltdowns?” I supplied.
“Tantrums.”
“Uhm, ouch.”
She smiled and touched my arm. “Come on. Rise above with me.”
Once the salad plates were cleared away by the catering staff, Declan rose from his seat. He took an empty flute and tapped his butter knife against the crystal.
“Don’t worry, my speech won’t be long,” Declan said, a smile tugging at his lips. He looked at Hadley, and then the guests. “First, I want to thank you for coming to our wedding and celebrating this day with us. A few months ago, after I proposed to Hadley, I had an idea for a wedding gift.”
Hadley raised her brows. “A gift? This is news to me.”
A couple of people chuckled.
Declan placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I had this idea, but I had no skill in the execution. So, I enlisted Wade and his father, who happens to be an expert brewer.”
Declan inclined his head in the direction of the mobile bar.
“They helped me brew and bottle a stout beer that would be ready to drink at our wedding,” Declan said.
Wade, along with several catering staff, came to the tables and began handing out half pints of dark beer.
“I’m saving one for you,” he said, looking at his wife. “And in six months, we’ll toast the birth of our child. But for now, our guests will get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.”
Hadley rubbed her belly. “This is a fruit of your labor, too, you know.”
There was another round of laughter.
“Everyone have some beer?” Declan asked, looking at the guests. He lifted his glass. “To Hadley, and a beautiful life together.”
I raised my glass of beer and brought it to my nose. It was strong and smelled of malted chocolate.
“How is it?” Hadley asked me.
“Delicious,” I lied.
Poet frowned. “You didn’t even drink—”
Wyn swiveled her body and thrust her elbow, accidentally on purpose jostling the glass in Poet’s hand which caused her to drop it onto the table.
Poet and Wyn shot back from their seats to avoid the spill.
“Sorry,” Wyn murmured, shooting me a look.
Thank you, I mouthed.
She grinned and grabbed her cream napkin and began to pat the spill dry. Cater waiters jumped in to help.
“Did it get you?” Wyn asked Poet.
“No, I don’t think so.” She glared at Wyn. “Klutz much?”
I offered her my beer. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Poet muttered and took a sip.
I turned to Hadley. “How’s Dad doing, you think?”
Hadley leaned forward and looked down the table, past Declan and Cas to Dad. “He looks okay. But maybe we should do the father-daughter dance before the main course, just in case.”
Nodding, I stood up and walked over to my father. I crouched down next to him and told him the plan. I then went to the band that had set up in the corner of the tent. I spoke to the lead singer, and then stood off to the side.
The band waited for my father and Hadley to reach the dance floor before they began to play “Take me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
It was my mother’s favorite song.
I hadn’t cried at the wedding so far.
Not through the vows. Not when my father had given Hadley our mother’s locket.
But I cried now.
Silent tears poured from me as I watched my sister dance with our father at her wedding.
The wind shifted, ever so slightly. But I didn’t smell the strong aromas of ranch life.
Instead, I smelled the faintest trace of lavender perfume.
My mother’s signature scent.
And I swore I felt her arms wrap around me.
She was here.
As she was always meant to be.
After the father-daughter dance, Dad hung around for another twenty minutes before he and Jane left the reception.
“I feel old,” he grumbled as I walked with him and Jane toward the house.
“You’re not old,” I assured him.
“A weak old man who can’t even make it through his daughter’s wedding.”
His mood quickly deteriorated and I shot Jane a worried look. She shook her head and mouthed I’ve got it.
The doctor had warned us about potential mood swings. When he was tired or had a headache, his personality underwent a rapid change.
“I promise to bring you a slice of wedding cake,” I said as we made it up the back deck.
“Thanks.” Dad looked at me and his brow unwrinkled. “I know how I sound. I can’t help it, I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” I said, taking his strong, tanned hand that had worked a ranch for years. “You don’t have to apologize. For anything. You just have to rest and take care of yourself. You’re no good to us grumpy.”
“Or bedridden.” He nodded. “Yeah. I know.”
“You’ll be back on a horse before you know it,” I assured him. “Remember it’s in the Powell genome. We’re stubborn.”
“It’s also a Sullivan gene,” he said. “So, you and Hadley got it from both sides.”
“I’m not that stubborn,” I quipped.
“Mhhm. You refused to come home for years,” Dad said. “I call that stubborn.”
“No, that’s just pigheaded,” I teased. “And the doctor didn’t say anything about bluntness being a side effect of your injury.”
“I’ve always been blunt,” he said.
“Truth.”
I hugged him again, and then I let Jane take him into the house. I hadn’t given her enough credit. She never lost her composure; she never lost her cool. She put up with his mood swings. She drove him to doctor’s appointments. She was a true partner to him.
She’d become family.
I sighed at the thought.
Hadley had been right. She knew I’d like her.
“Stubborn,” I muttered as I turned and headed back to the wedding.
The main dish had been served while I’d been helping Jane with Dad. I took my seat and put my napkin on my lap.
“Is he okay?” Hadley asked as she picked up her fork.
“Yeah, just tired,” I said.
She sighed. “Good call on the father-daughter dance. Try the trout. It’s amazing.”
Hadley fed me a bite of trout from her fork.
“Yum,” I said.
“You guys playing the airplane game?” Wyn teased.
I cut into my steak and saw red in the center.
“Barely warm,” Hadley said. “I made sure they didn’t overcook it for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, setting my fork down.
Hadley frowned. “Something wrong?”
“No. I’m just not very hungry. The salad filled me up, you know?”
Hadley’s gaze narrowed. “Right.”
“Have you told Declan about the cake?” I asked.
“I heard my name,” Declan said, turning his head toward us.
“No, I haven’t told him,” Hadley said. “It’s a surprise.”
“What’s a surprise?” Declan asked.
“About the cake,” Hadley said. “Salem shouldn’t have said anything.”
“What’s the surprise?” Cas asked. “Is someone going to jump out of it?”
“We’re at a wedding, not a bachelor party,” Hadley said.
“What did happen at your bachelor party?” I asked. “Anything interesting?”
“We were at the Copper Mule,” Declan said. “And since you weren’t there, there were no bar fights.”
“Uh, ouch,” I said.
“Don’t be offended,” Declan remarked. “If I ever need back up, I’m calling you.”
“What about me?” Cas asked. “I’ve gotten you out of a few fights over the years.”
“You also got me into a few fights,” Declan added.
“Really?” Hadley asked. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”
“Youthful indiscretions,” Declan said. “I’ve mellowed.”
“I want to hear all about these youthful indiscretions,” Hadley exclaimed.
“Later,” Declan said.
“When later?” she demanded.
He leaned over to her and whispered something in her ear that made her blush and laugh.
“Oh, he said something dirty,” I quipped.
My gaze went to Cas’s. He looked at me like he wanted to get me naked.
I glanced away and reached for my glass of water.
And caught Amber Winston looking right at me.