Chapter Seven
The day had finally arrived, and at three o’clock, everyone began filing into the Westmoreland House.
Iris glanced around the ballroom and quickly concluded that Pam had thought of everything.
From all the pink and blue decorations, to arranging babysitters for the little kids on the second floor, to having Dylan Emanuel and his band, the Techstones—who had performed into the wee hours of last night—back on stage today as the opening act.
Riley Westmoreland’s wife, Alpha, who was an event planner, had decorated the ballroom—along with the help of her husband and other Westmoreland men—with the balloons, colorful streamers and the large banners Iris had picked up yesterday.
Over a thousand more balloons were held in nets made of opaque material and suspended from the ceiling.
The color of the balloons needed to be concealed until it was time for the baby’s gender to be revealed.
One of Iris’s jobs was to remotely release the balloons at that time. She couldn’t wait for that part.
Upon entering, depending on their gender prediction, everyone was asked to select either a pink or blue baby rattle filled with treats. It soon became obvious that the males were predicting a boy and the females a girl.
Iris found the entire thing amusing, since there were already more males in the Westmoreland family than females.
To ensure that everyone, including those seated in the back, could get a clear view of the stage, several jumbotrons were strategically placed around the room.
And servers, some dressed in pink and others in blue, walked around the party with food and drink trays.
Iris had attended several gender reveal parties but never had she felt so much excitement circulating in the room as she did with this one. The reason might have been that when Aidan and Jillian got married, they had established career goals they wanted to achieve before starting a family.
Achieving those meant living and working on the East Coast, away from their family and, oftentimes, apart from each other when they were assigned to work at different hospitals. However, regardless of the challenges, they had remained dedicated to each other and their love.
Now, after nearly seven years of marriage, Jill was five months pregnant, and the couple was eager to find out if their first child would be a boy or a girl. From the look on the attendees’ faces, they were eager to know as well.
Aidan Westmoreland was an identical twin of Adrian.
And while growing up, few people could tell them apart.
As kids, they were known to play tricks on relatives, teachers and other unsuspecting souls by switching their identities.
It was easier to tell them apart now that Adrian sported a beard.
Two years ago, Adrian and his wife, Trinity, became parents to a beautiful little girl they named Adriana, and they were already talking about having another child.
Iris inwardly chuckled, thinking those Westmorelands definitely liked having babies.
She glanced across the room and saw Matt talking to his triplet cousins.
She had been busy helping Pam with last-minute details, so their paths hadn’t crossed at all today.
However, she had known the moment he entered the building.
Like a magnet, his gaze had locked with hers.
He had acknowledged her with a nod and smile, and she’d nodded and smiled back.
Although they had tried ravishing each other’s mouths when they kissed last night, she was hoping he would take her at her word that she was not ready for anything beyond friendship.
Although she wanted to think the kiss had been a mistake, she refused to let her mind go there.
She was mature enough to accept it was something they both had wanted to do—for curiosity or to satisfy a need, urge or craving.
In other words, to get that itch out of their system.
They did it. It happened. Now they could move on.
But still…accepting those reasons hadn’t kept her from dreaming about him last night, where in that fantasy they had done more than kiss.
Nor did it keep her from tingling all over today whenever she thought about it.
There had been something about a Matt Caulder kiss that made every part of her body come alive in ways it hadn’t before.
Then, after the kiss, when she had dropped her head to his chest, she had drawn in a deep breath and inhaled his scent.
It was as if she were compelled to do it.
Matt had his own masculine aroma. Even now, it seemed to be embedded in her skin in a way her morning shower hadn’t eradicated.
The smell was intoxicating, but she refused to let it become addictive.
Needing to think of something else, she glanced around the room and saw that Garlan had Shauna Barnes all to himself.
Just like Dylan Emanuel had garnered a lot of attention when he arrived last night, so did Shauna today.
Although the Westmorelands were accustomed to her presence in their midst, because Shauna visited frequently due to her close friendship with Pam, they thought it was wonderful she could attend today’s event, despite her busy schedule in Hollywood.
Iris smiled upon remembering when, in his early teens, Garlan had a serious crush on her.
Shauna had graduated from the same university as Pam and Iris and had immediately begun auditioning for roles in Hollywood.
Rental property in LA wasn’t cheap. Iris, who had two extra guest rooms in her home, had offered Shauna a place to stay after she graduated, so she could afford her first car to get to her auditions.
Shauna was a wonderful houseguest and would often pick up Garlan from soccer and baseball practice whenever Iris worked late.
Although it appeared that Shauna was hanging on to Garlan’s every word, Iris could tell her focus was elsewhere.
Iris followed her gaze and lifted a brow when it settled on Graham Ives, the drummer in Dylan Emanuel’s band.
Graham was crossing the floor to where the other Techstones band members stood in a huddle.
He seemed totally unaware he was being watched with such intensity.
Just that morning, Iris had overheard a group of young teenage girls commenting on how cute the drummer was.
Yes, she would have to concur that he was definitely that.
“You’re ready to begin, Iris?”
She turned when Pam approached her, claiming her attention. Grinning, she said, “Yes, I’m ready.”
“Then let’s get this show on the road.”
* * *
“We really wish you would reconsider, Matt.”
Matt glanced into the faces of his three triplet cousins.
Clint, the oldest of the three, was doing the talking, but the expressions of the other two were just as serious.
They had an issue with him not accepting the property his father had wanted him to have.
Namely, the three thousand acres of land on the south ridge of Clint’s property.
Presently, the land was operated by the Sid Roberts Foundation as a reserve.
A significant number of wild horses were saved from slaughter by being shipped to Clint.
He would turn them loose to roam free on the south ridge.
“That tract of land belongs to the foundation, and I want to keep it that way. I refuse to take land from the horses,” Matt said.
“And you won’t be,” Cole chimed in. “We recently looked at the surveyor’s report of the property, and there are four hundred acres adjacent to the south ridge that are not being used for the horses.”
“And it will be perfect for you to build your home,” Casey added, smiling brightly, as if that settled it. She and her husband, McKinnon, were expecting their fourth child. They had three sons after giving birth to twins just over a year ago.
“My home?” Matt asked, trying to keep up with what they were saying. What in the world would he do with four hundred acres of property in Texas?
As if he’d spoken that question aloud, Casey said, “Although Cole and I live in Montana, we still have homes on the Golden Glade Ranch. We know that’s how Uncle Sid would have wanted it, to be part of our legacy, and we know he would want it to be a part of yours.
Think of it as a vacation getaway when you need one. ”
Matt released a deep sigh. This wasn’t the first time the triplets had cornered him about this issue, and he figured it wouldn’t be the last. He would have to admit the thought of a getaway place in Texas sounded nice.
He eyed the three and then asked, “And you’re sure it won’t take away from the horses? ”
“Positive,” all three said simultaneously with eager smiles.
He drew in a deep breath while shaking his head. When he first met them, he doubted he knew anyone else like them. Their love and devotion to family, especially for their Uncle Sid, was extraordinary. It was also contagious.
They had explained how, when their mother, Carolyn Roberts, first discovered she was pregnant at twenty-four, she had moved to Beaumont, Texas, to live with an older aunt and uncle who were deeply religious and would not have accepted her being an unwed mother.
For that reason, she had fabricated the story that she had married a man who had been a bronco rider in the rodeo, who had been killed while competing.
That man’s name was Corey Westmoreland, and she was a widow, Carolyn Roberts Westmoreland.
The only nugget of truth in her story was that Corey Westmoreland had fathered her babies.
While living with her aunt and uncle, she discovered that when her parents divorced, the father she hadn’t known had taken her brother from his first marriage—who was ten years older than her—with him.
At the time of the divorce, her father hadn’t known his wife was pregnant.
Carolyn Roberts had been born seven months later.
Her mother never contacted her father to let him know that he had a daughter.Also, according to her aunt and uncle, her brother was also on the rodeo circuit.
She wrote to him. Timing was perfect because the day before her brother, Sid Roberts, showed up in Beaumont to meet her was the day her aunt and uncle demanded she show them her marriage license and Corey’s death certificate.
If she couldn’t do so, they wanted her to leave.
Her brother, upon discovering their demands, offered her a chance to leave with him.
He had purchased land in Austin and had built a ranch there.
He took her to his ranch and suggested she stick with the fabricated story that she was Carolyn Roberts Westmoreland.
When the triplets were born, their last name was Westmoreland.
Sid and his sister had made up for the time they had been apart and became very close.
The triplets told him how their Uncle Sid, along with Chester, had been there for them from the day they were born; and how their uncle had passed his love of horses on to them, as well as teaching them all that he knew.
He ensured that they, along with their mother, not only had a place to stay but also a place to call home.
Matt appreciated all the personal information both his godmother and the triplets shared about his father.
The only thing he’d known about Sid Roberts was a young boy’s fascination with him as a cowboy.
Now he was learning more and more about his father from the people who’d known him—his rodeo friends, Chester and the triplets—as the kind man he’d been.
“The three of you won’t let up until I agree, will you?” he asked.
“No, we won’t,” Cole said, grinning. “When our father, Corey, discovered we existed, he didn’t hesitate to include us as part of his legacy on his mountain.”
“Dad explained he wasn’t taking away what he planned to give anyone else, he was sharing it,” Clint added. “By now, you know the Westmorelands have no problem sharing.”
Matt could believe that. He had met their father, Corey Westmoreland, and his wife, Abby, the night of Cheyenne’s birthday party.
The older man had welcomed him to the Westmoreland family and said that when you are connected to any Westmoreland, you become an honorary member of the family.
The man’s words had been moving and similar to what all the other Westmorelands had said.
Casey then spoke, intruding on Matt’s thoughts. “That land is your birthright, Matt. Yours and Deena’s, who is Sid’s granddaughter. A granddaughter that he would have been proud of.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, too emotional.
They were right, Deena was Sid Roberts’s granddaughter, and he believed his father would have been proud of her, just like he was.
“I’ll think about it and promise to give you my answer.
” Before they could ask when that would be, he quickly added, “Soon.”
“And you better believe we will hold you to that,” Clint said, smiling. Cole and Casey were smiling as well.
He returned their smiles, knowing they would.