Chapter Ten
T he next day, Emily spent the morning puttering around the cabin after Liam had gone, enjoying the quiet time with a book she’d been saving for a time like this. The family was all occupied with last-minute preparations for the ceremony and reception, and Liam was busy with the BLM horses up in the west pasture.
She had just curled up on the sofa and cuddled up with the yummy throw there when she heard a knock on the cabin door. Hoping it was Liam, she jumped up to answer it.
It was Shay—with a panicked look on her face. “It’s bad,” she said.
Emily’s heart dropped. “What? Is it Liam? Is he all right? Has he been hurt—”
“Oh, no, he’s fine. It’s Nevers. It’s a disaster, Emily.”
“A disaster? What do you mean?”
She stepped back from the doorway. “Could you come? I’m begging you.”
“Begging is wholly unnecessary. Of course I’ll come.” Grabbing her purse, Emily followed Shay and hopped into the golf cart beside her.
In the kitchen of the round barn, Nevers was nowhere to be found. The food, half-prepared, lay scattered on the countertop. The smell of something smoking in the oven wafted to them and Shay hurried to pull it out before the smoke filled the kitchen.
“Where is he?” Emily asked, not seeing any sign of him.
Shay pointed to a desk on the other side of the room and Emily walked hesitantly over there. She bent down. There, under the desk, Gary Nevers was curled, chugging from a bottle of wine and turning a desperate look at her. His face was covered in sweat, and he was breathing as if he’d just run a mile.
“I can’t,” was all he managed to say.
“What?”
“I… I can’t.”
She crouched down beside him, reached out, and touched his arm. “I can see that. What is it, Mr. Nevers? Are you quite unwell?”
He nodded, then shook his head. “I’m… unable to cook.”
“Should we call a doctor? Perhaps wine isn’t the—”
“It’s my nerves. It’s a… a p-p-panic attack.”
“Oh, dear. What can I do? A paper bag, perhaps? Can you slow your breathing down?”
He just took another swig.
Shay was beside her then.
Whispering to her, she said, “Our guests will be her in two hours. I’m freaking out.”
“Don’t you freak out, too. We can handle this. I’m sure of it.” She turned back to Nevers. “Perhaps if you had some help? I could help you. Tara’s offered as well. We could just turn things around here. Get it all under control.”
He wiped his face with the back of his white chef’s coat sleeve. “I-I-I don’t know.”
“I know you’re feeling a little bleak right now, but I promise, it will be all right. Try to get your breathing back to normal.”
He nodded, trying.
She held out her hand to him. “Come out from under there, Mr. Nevers. Come on, now. We’ll fix this.”
He reached for her hand. His was clammy and damp with sweat.
He climbed out and stood before her, setting the mostly empty bottle on the counter. “What you must think of me now.”
Facing Emily, Shay rolled her eyes in confirmation.
“I’m a loser.”
But Emily shook her head and patted his arm “I don’t think anything of the sort, Mr. Nevers. You are not the first person to deal with anxiety, with panic attacks. And you won’t be the last. All I think is that we had better get this going now so it’s ready in time for the reception. Shay, perhaps Tara would be free to help us?”
“I’ll go get her right now.”
“Wonderful.” She took Nevers by the arm and led him back to the prep area. “Now. Deep breath. Let’s go.”
*
By the time the ceremony was to begin, Emily had the reception food all in hand and Nevers had mostly pulled himself together. Liam rescued her from the kitchen, leaving Tara and Nevers to handle the rest as they waited for the minister to arrive.
There were nearly forty people there, almost everyone they knew, mutual friends of the Kowalskis, and Liam looked around the room as he held Emily’s hand. Will and Izzy sat beside them, and Gus and Cami had just arrived. The Canaday family were all here and the Lassens. Sage and her husband from the Chocolate Shop were here as were Trey and Holly Reyes. Several other couples that his parents and the Kowalskis had known for years filled out the other seats alongside the Kowalskis’ kids.
The piped-in music began and Liam wondered if the minister was late. He was nowhere to be found. Instead, Gerald Kowalski walked up the aisle to the front, situating himself where the minister should have been instead of off to the side to wait for his wife. He wore a big smile on his face, and one by one, he met the eyes of the Hardesty kids. His wife, Sue, walked up the aisle next, carrying a small bouquet of flowers and she took her place to the left of Gerald and turned back to the open barn doors.
Confused, Liam, Shay, Will, and Cami just looked at each other as if nothing made sense anymore, and they were about to have their first actual disaster of a wedding. But through the barn door, came Ray and their mom. Sarah was dressed in a short, cream-colored gown of lace and she was carrying a larger bouquet. Ray was beaming, wearing a tux and had never looked better.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Will murmured to Liam. “It’s their wedding?”
Liam could only laugh. Of course, this was how they’d do it. No fuss, no muss, a surprise wedding after everything they’d been through. It was… perfect.
As they reached Gerald and Sue, who could hardly contain their excitement, Sarah handed Sue her bouquet and took Ray’s hands in hers.
Gerald cleared his throat. “I bet you’re all wondering right about now”—the crowd laughed out loud—“what the heck I’m doing standing up here instead of down there, and who is going to marry these two today? Well, the answer to both questions is it’s me. I’m the minister. It’s me.”
Laughter and applause that this had caught the whole audience off guard broke out.
Gerald waved the audience down. “I went on the interwebs, you see and got myself a legal ordination to marry folks. And while renewing my vows to my darling Sue might come someday soon, we thought these two right here are the ones in need of a ceremony today. And I’m proud to do it. So here we go. We are gathered here today in this big ol’ round barn to marry up this man and this woman who have loved each other for more years than there are rafter spokes on this barn roof. And I think it’s about time. Don’t you?”
Everyone applauded the surprise, and Will could only laugh and shake his head as Liam exchanged looks with his mother who was clearly thrilled they’d pulled this off. Gerald did the usual build up to the vows with his own country flair, talking about their long friendship and the struggle they’d had this past year, but it was when his mom began to speak that it really hit home for Liam.
“My darling Ray,” she began. “What a journey this has been. If I could go back in time and take away all those years we missed together, I would. But then those years forged us both like steel, forcing us to get stronger so that when we finally found each other again, nothing could tear us apart. You, dear, are the love of my life. I’ve known that… it feels like forever. It just took what it took for us to find one another and walk through what we had to, to reach one another. And I’m not letting you go. I will fight whatever comes our way to keep you. In sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, till death us do part. You are my partner in this life and probably in the next. Here’s hoping.”
Beside him Emily was pushing a tissue beneath her eyes.
Ray’s turn was next. “My beautiful Sarah, I guess we should have compared notes, because you basically said the vows I wrote for you.” He crumpled the paper in his hand and took her hands in his. “But here’s my truth. All those years without you only made me know how much I needed you, wanted you. Loved you. And nothing will ever break that bond for me now. Not even cancer could. You’ve brought us, me and Cooper, into your beautiful family and made us a part of it. What a blessing. We finally both have our lives back, fully and completely. You gave me a reason to fight for my life. You will always be my reason. I love you, Sarah. Forever and always. Till death us do part.”
Gerald closed his bible. “Then with the authority granted to me by the Universal Life Church, I now pronounce you, at last, husband and wife.”
Ray took her in his arms then and kissed her, tipped her backward and kissed her some more. The audience went wild.
There was nothing but happiness on Sarah’s face as they walked down the aisle together, reaching out for her children’s hands as she passed them. Liam had tears in his eyes, as well, and Cami was already bawling.
It was a good surprise. The best surprise. And Liam turned to look at Emily and saw tears streaming down her face. She quickly swiped them away and smiled at him. She waved him off, embarrassed by her tears. “And I hardly know them,” she said.
“They pulled off the surprise of the year.” He looked around the room at all of their friends and family on their feet applauding them as they made their way down the aisle together. “How did that get by us? Were we the only ones who didn’t know what was happening?” he asked Cami.
“Nobody knew. I think only Sue and Gerald were in on it.”
“She told me nothing,” Shay said, leaning over toward him. “They were totally conniving.”
“In a good way,” Will said.
Izzy was watching Lolly for Tara who’d been called into Mr. Nevers’ kitchen to help. On Izzy’s hip, Lolly seemed to take the whole thing in stride as usual.
Sarah was tickled and happy as she worked her way down the aisle, shaking hands alongside her new husband. Their new stepfather.
Liam turned back to Emily. He loved looking at her. At the way her hair fell on her shoulders and the way her eyes sparkled, even when she wasn’t crying. And he suddenly couldn’t imagine not having her here. Or being an ocean apart from her. It wasn’t just the romantic rush of what his mother had just done with Ray. It was more than that. Maybe this desperate feeling in his gut that said, don’t lose her. If you do, you’ll regret it every day of your life.
Sarah and Ray had wasted half their lives with quiet lies standing between them—even though Liam knew Ray had lied to protect her. And all of them. Now they had to make up time. But there really wasn’t any making it up. It was gone. They’d lost that time and would never get it back.
He didn’t want to lose it with Emily.
“I’d better run back to help Chef Nevers,” she said. “Since the wedding cake was a disaster, I whipped up the fastest thing I could, wedding cookies. But I’d better go oversee what’s happening back there. Make sure Chef isn’t under the desk again.”
“You’re our hero, you know that, right?”
She dragged a finger down the front of his chest. “I believe heroine is the proper term, but actually, I’m neither. I’m just a girl, standing in front of an oven, hoping the cookies don’t burn.”
He chuckled. “Either way, you rescued Mom’s reception. You go. Let me know if you need any help.”
“I think we’ve got it under control.”
He tapped her discreetly on the butt as she turned toward the kitchen and she tossed back a sassy grin at him, then disappeared into the kitchen.
*
The food was delicious, and no one was the wiser about the near disaster in the kitchen. Emily had finished the dishes she had begun with Tara and Chef’s help, and by the time they were ready to plate everything, Chef Gary had gotten his nerves under control and cranked out the assembly line. Both Tara and Emily served it up to a grateful reception full of friends and Sarah and Ray were thrilled.
Sitting beside Liam, finally, after the food service, she had to admit the dishes had come out particularly well and Chef Gary’s hand in that was undeniable. His talent was every bit as good as his Michelin star advertised. He was very grateful for her help and for her calmness in the face of his own personal calamity. His fate here wouldn’t be up to her, thankfully, and to be honest, she had learned a lot from him in the space of those couple of hours they’d worked together. Yes, he was a bit of a mess, but he was also brilliant and weirdly funny, and his chicken Milanese was a revelation. She had managed the creamy mashed potatoes and roasted baby veggies that went alongside it. And the cookies. But no one complained. Everyone was happy.
It made Emily happy, too. Not just helping Chef Nevers pull this meal off but feeling part of it making this family celebration work. There was a rush that came with cooking a meal that people enjoyed, something inexplicable really. Maybe it came from being raised in a boarding school where meals were churned out cafeteria-style. The rush of feeding the people she cared about nurturing. Delicious food was the antithesis of what happened at her day job, and that dichotomy was something with which she was only just beginning to come to terms.
Liam had asked her if she missed it. Wall Street. Did she? The chaos. The egos. The fragility of it all. Really, she didn’t miss it. Not here, being with him. Was she falling in love with him? Yes. Could she make sense of that? No. Was she deluding herself? Maybe.
It couldn’t happen this fast. Not in real life. Oh, she’d heard of it happening, but those were just stories. In real life, love took time. It was hard. There was negotiation, arguments, tears.
Maybe that all would come, and it was too soon to know if she’d found the one . But what if he was the one? What if they’d just accidentally stumbled across one another on that subway that day, and on any other of a thousand and one days, they would have walked right by the other one and never noticed? Was life that random? Or that intentional?
Now, Liam took her hand under the table and gave her a squeeze, as if he’d heard her thoughts. She just smiled at him, wishing she wouldn’t have to leave him in a few days. Wishing she could believe the universe would sort things out for them.
But the job in London wouldn’t wait, nor would her expiring visa. So, she would be here with him now. And let tomorrow be what it would be.
Sarah and Ray approached their table as the cookies were served, and Sarah leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Emily, we heard what happened. We cannot thank you enough for what you did pulling the dinner together. You are a rock star!”
“No, no. It really was all Mr. Nevers’s recipes except for the cookies, and we did it together. He just had a little setback is all. And he probably needs extra hands in the kitchen.”
“You’re too modest. Tara told us it was ninety percent you this afternoon. And here you are, our guest. If I didn’t know you were a high-powered Wall Street guru, I’d say you should be the one cooking for our events.”
Beside her, Liam gave his mom a subtle head shake which Emily didn’t miss.
Shay didn’t either. “Mom, the wedding was fabulous, and I think we were all lucky Emily was here to save the day for the reception. But let’s just let her be our guest! And Emily, these cookies!”
Emily was happy to not be in the middle of this conversation. “Thanks. They were an old receipt of my gran’s that I found last time I was home.”
Ray was still munching on his second helping of those. “Would it be presumptuous of us to get the recipe for those as well?”
“I’m not a recipe secret keeper. I’m happy to share with you, Sarah.”
“I knew I liked her,” she whispered to Liam with a kiss on his cheek.
After they moved on, Liam leaned close. “Sorry about that. They’re just buzzed.”
“As they should be.”
“Though, if I thought there was a chance in hell that I could persuade you to actually do that—step into Nevers’s shoes—I’d hire you in a heartbeat.”
Emily stuffed the last of her cookie in her mouth. “Shall we secretly abscond? Go back to my place?”
“What a good idea.” He took her hand again and, together, they snuck out the back door.
*
They retreated back to her cabin and spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms. They made love, then they stayed up late watching a classic old black-and-white western movie— Shane . Emily had a good cry out of it, releasing something she didn’t even know she’d been holding while Liam held her, feeling for the protagonists in the film and bracing himself for the time that would come only too soon when Emily would leave him behind as Shane did that boy.
That night they slept hard and woke to the sound of rain on the roof. It was pouring actually, and a cold front had moved in from the north.
Liam made her a breakfast of scones and coffee and they ate together, watching the storm clouds roll over the mountains.
“I’d better go and check the cattle,” he said at last. “Check there aren’t any babies in trouble out there in this storm. Sometimes the thunder spooks the new mothers.”
“Can I come?”
“You want to go out there in this?”
“Why not? It’s only rain. I’m a Londoner, remember?”
“London doesn’t have Montana mud.”
“I’m no shrinking violet, in case you hadn’t noticed. I can look for calves in the rain, as well as you.”
“Then come on. I can always use a second pair of eyes.”
Indeed, the mud was no joke, and Liam packed some supplies in the Gator, and headed up the fence line, looking for calves. Beside him, Emily kept a sharp lookout, but they found no calves in their sweep of the pasture. They did, however, near the river, find a cow that had just calved, but there was no calf in sight. She was bawling piteously.
“That’s not good,” he said under his breath.
“Do you think the calf was stillborn?”
“Possible. Wouldn’t be the first.” He stared out at the landscape, at the river running past their property line. He’d seen cows give birth in awful places before and also calves get into trouble trying to get to their feet the first time. But seeing the river so close gave him a bad feeling. The mama cow mooed loudly.
“I’m going to go walk down along the bank. You stay here. I don’t want you anywhere near that water.”
“I’m not afraid of a little—”
“You can drive the cart. That’ll help most.” He walked away, leaving her in the shelter of the Gator as the rain intensified. Slowly, she followed him as he inspected the river’s edge. The mama cow followed at a distance, bellowing for her calf. Liam walked a good five hundred feet before he threw his arm up in the air.
“Found it!”
She pulled up next to him and jumped out. “Is it alive?”
He slid down the steep embankment of the river, muddy from the rain. “Well, it’s not dead. Yet.”
The poor newborn calf had somehow ended down the riverbank, half in the freezing water. A bad look, indeed. Liam scooped the baby up in his arms and attempted to climb the bank. But the mud made it too slippery. He tried two more times before he gave up.
“See that rope in the back of the Gator?” he called over the sound of the rain. “Tie one end to the Gator and throw the other end down to me!”
She did ask he asked—rather proud of herself for managing a good knot—and after a few moments wrestling the rope around himself, he picked the half-frozen calf back up and instructed her to back the Gator up.
Slowly, she did and, finally, he climbed over the riverbank safely. They wrapped the calf up in a tarp stowed in the back of the cart and Liam held it as they headed back to the ranch. The mama cow trotted along behind, bawling the whole way. As for Liam, he was covered in mud from head to toe. She was soaked through and sure she didn’t look much better.
“Best we get them into the barn and warm this one up or it won’t make it in this rain. You okay?”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” she asked.
“Heifer. Girl.”
The calf’s black nose stuck out of the tarp and twitched a little. “Poor little thing.” They pulled into the yard with the cow following them at a good clip. He blocked her from leaving the pasture until he could settle the calf, which they did finally in the warm straw of a stall in the small barn. Liam rubbed her down with a blanket and left her wrapped there as he went for the mama cow.
It wasn’t until Emily stepped to the doorway of the barn again that she spotted the black town car parked up by the house. Assuming it was one of Liam’s brother Will’s town cars, she gave it little thought, starting toward the cattle gate to help Liam. That was until she saw the door open, and her father and brother stepped out into the rain.