Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Link never wanted to see another cow as long as he lived. He’d spent the last four days working with Uncle Cactus and his veterinary crew to get all the cattle checked and ready to go out into the hills for their summer grazing.
He’d go out on the cattle drive this year, the way he had been for the past fifteen. His momma hadn’t let him go with Daddy until he was twelve, and that was still the rule for kids at Shiloh Ridge Ranch.
But they didn’t leave for four more days, and that meant a metric ton of preparation was going on around the ranch.
Horses who needed shoeing, and saddlebags that needed packing.
Food and water for twenty men, and this year, Uncle Bishop was bringing his son Robbie to help run the chuckwagon.
They’d make sure they all ate well, and Uncle Cactus was also sending up two new dogs to stay with the cattle.
Uncle Cactus himself wasn’t going. In fact, none of the older uncles were going.
Uncle Ranger, nope. Uncle Cactus, nada.
And Daddy…Daddy was staying home from the cattle drive for the first time since he was twelve years old.
Link knew it would be astronomically hard for his father to stay home. Everyone knew it was time, but that didn’t make change any easier.
Daddy had been just as involved in the preparations to go on the drive this year, and Link hoped that helped him adjust to the fact that he wouldn’t be saddling up and riding out with them in a few days.
And tonight, Link had to get showered up, changed, and ready for his birthday party. Momma did one every year, but this one he got to share with the love of his life.
Misty would be here in a half-hour, and despite her being his fiancée and their wedding coming up in only three more months, Link kept thinking she’d pull up to True Blue, see the number of trucks there, and rush right back to her house in town.
He kept thinking she’d do that with every new family thing Link introduced her to, and Link hadn’t been able to curb in his mother. Even Daddy hadn’t been able to stop Momma from throwing the “biggest, bestest party this family has ever seen.”
Momma’s words. Link’s nightmare.
She wanted Misty to have the best birthday ever, as she’d grown up without much in the way of parties, family traditions, or even food in the fridge. That did not sit well with Momma, and Link had decided to let her have her party for the two of them.
Misty’s birthday wasn’t until the end of the month, but Link had already bought her present, and he’d give it to her tonight. He had something for her for later in the month too, something a little more personal and private.
Tonight, he’d barely buttoned up his shirt when someone knocked on his door, and Misty’s beautiful voice called, “It’s me, Link.”
“Come on back,” he said as he moved through his master bathroom to the doorway of his bedroom. Misty would not come back, as she didn’t ever come back into his bedroom.
He found her in the living room, loving on the dogs who liked to follow Link around the ranch.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“I’m ready.” Misty straightened and looked at him. She wore pure nerves in her face, and Link reached for her.
“Hey, if it’s too much, we just go out the back door for a few minutes,” he said. “There are so many people there, they won’t even notice.”
“It’s a birthday party for us,” she said. “They’re going to notice if we’re not there.”
“Maybe,” Link said, to which Misty simply cocked her head. “If it’s awful, I’ll give my momma a look, and she’ll rein it in.”
“It was your momma we couldn’t stop before.”
Link leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “I know, baby. It’s going to be amazing, okay? Low key. Good food. Birthday cake. The end. It’s not like we can stay out late. We’re cowboys, and we’ll all be dead by seven-thirty.” He grinned at her, so warm inside when she grinned back.
“I love you,” he whispered, his lips catching on hers.
“I love you too,” she said.
“Happy birthday month.”
“To you too.”
Link could stay in his cabin and kiss Misty for a long time, but he didn’t want to incur Momma’s wrath, and she had spent considerable time and effort to plan this party. “Let’s go party.”
The road from the Top Cottage, where Link lived, to True Blue, the family’s recreational barn where they had all their big celebrations—and where Link and Misty would be married in another three months—only took five minutes.
Yes, plenty of trucks had already parked along the road in front of the barn. The front doors stood open, and Link wouldn’t be surprised to hear a pumping beat coming from the barn once he parked and got out of the truck.
He grinned at the stall that had been saved with bright blue streamers. A banner strung from the top corners that said “Birthday Couple,” and he enjoyed the way Misty giggled at it too.
“Your mother is an amazing person,” she said.
“That she is,” Link murmured as he pulled into the marked spot only a few feet from the door. He couldn’t hear or feel a bass beat, but the strumming of guitars met his ears as he got out to go get Misty’s door.
As she slipped from the truck, he took her hand in his, and they faced the entrance together.
He hoped he could face every single thing in his life moving forward with her at his side.
With her hand in his, he could do anything.
Conquer anything. Face any fear or any unknown, or endure any difficult time.
“It feels like we’re late,” Misty said as they entered the small foyer off the front doors. Link turned to his left, the big room of True Blue opening up before him. Tables and chairs stood dressed and ready to feed a lot of people dinner, but Link didn’t see a single person.
That alone got him to come to a stop, confusion furrowing his brow. “Maybe we’re early.”
The kitchen window had been lifted, and Link definitely detected the scent of hot food in the building. The evidence of people was everywhere, and Link took another couple of steps into the room before someone exited the hallway that led back to the kitchen.
Link’s heartbeat came to a complete standstill, which also froze his feet to the ground. His eyes were surely betraying him.
Because Mitch currently strode toward him, wearing a fantastically large grin and waving his hello.
“Mitch.” Link automatically moved into using his hands to accompany his voice as he spoke. “What in the world is happening? What are you doing here?”
Mitch had gotten a lot faster and better at sign language since he’d been at his deaf school, and that alone testified to Link that his cousin and best friend was in the right place for him.
It’s your birthday, Mitch said. And I never miss your birthday. He arrived in front of Link and drew him into a brilliant, brotherly hug. Link wrapped him up in his arms too, laughing right out loud as the surprise continued to stream through him.
Link stepped back and let Misty say hello. She knew a little bit of sign language, and that made Link’s heart happy. Then he asked, “Where’s everyone else?”
Mitch turned and looked toward that hallway as aunts, uncles, and cousins started to pour out of it.
They came from the back hallway too, which branched to the left and led outside and to the right back to a couple of bathrooms and other rooms they used for staging before weddings, parties, and other events.
Cheering started, with the clapping of hands, congratulations, and shouts of “Happy birthday!” and yeehaws.
Link’s smile popped onto his face, and he reached for Misty so she wouldn’t get swept away in the tide of Glovers. He hugged his family members, as did Misty, and things got loud for the next several minutes.
He finally made it to one of the back tables, where he found Finn and Edith, Alex and Nicki, Caroline, Dawson, and Brandon.
Ollie stood nearby, talking to Uncle Mister, but Aurora sat at the table, her little boy on her lap as she talked to Nicki about something.
Janie sat with Ralf, and they brightened when they saw Link and Misty.
“Hey, you guys.” Link grinned at his friends, glad his mother had included them too. They were important to Link, as Finn, Alex, and Dawson were all in his same stage of life. Starting or running their own ranches, or moving into more leadership roles as their daddies aged and retired.
He went around and hugged all of them, a keen sense of satisfaction moving through him that Misty fit with this table of people. She didn’t just stick with Janey and Ralf, though they were definitely her comfortable place.
She laughed with Edith, put her hand on her bulging pregnant belly, and then took Rory’s little boy from her. She cooed at Mason, and Link swore God had just given him a vision of his future.
True Blue. Another Glover family party. Misty holding a little boy that she passed to someone else, because they wanted to see her son and give her a mini-break from being a full-time caregiver.
She looked over to him, and Link already had his smile in place. He wasn’t sure what she saw, but she ducked her head, so many unspoken things between them that he understood. She wanted kids too, though she’d told him she wanted some time with just the two of them.
In truth, she’d confessed that she wanted to take some parenting classes before she became a mother. She wanted to study up on what she claimed she didn’t know, and Link would support her any way he could.
“Oh, hey, the party’s arrived,” Ollie said, and all eyes moved to Mitch. He carried a huge platter of buffalo wings, which he put on the table.
He laughed and went around hugging everyone too. And with the food out, that meant the party had started. Link was a little surprised that Momma hadn’t made him and Misty sit up on a raised stage in the front, but he hadn’t even seen her yet.
So he took a seat at the table with his friends and faced Mitch. “So tell me about your cochlear implant appointment. You’ve been intentionally vague.”