9. Jack
JACK
Later, after we’d eaten our fill of the best fried chicken I’d ever had and all the other delicacies June had packed for us, we lay on the rock side by side, warmed by the late afternoon sun filtering through the trees.
“Did you ask my daddy?” Ivy asked, taking my hand.
“I did. He told me you weren’t his to give away. Or that’s what your mama told him to say anyway.”
“He’s really quite evolved.” She turned her head to look at me. “But thanks for doing that. He’ll not forget it. Respect’s big with him.”
“I understand.”
She turned on her side, resting her head in one hand, her fingers trailing down my torso with the other, my muscles responding with a shudder.
“When should we have the wedding?”
“Whenever you and your mama want. I’m just the groom.”
She grinned. “You’re a good man, Jack Wilder.
” She kissed me. “And I have an idea. It’s going to sound a little out there, but a few years back Madeleine and I took a girls’ trip to this dude ranch in Montana.
She’d had a bad breakup, and we needed to get away.
We both fell in love with it. Crescent Moon Ranch.
It has all these individual cabins to rent and this fabulous restaurant run by one of the Moon brothers.
The Moon family is good people. What if we did it there? ”
“As long as June approves, I’m in.”
“We could rent it out for the whole month of December. Invite the boys in the band and our families. Madeleine, obviously.”
“The whole month? What would we do?”
“They have everything there. Sleigh rides. Nature walks. A bonfire every night. Cooking lessons. Line dancing lessons. Horses available to take out on the trails. They even have a wedding planner. Sammie. She’s married to one of the Moon brothers.”
“How do you know this?”
“I might have daydreamed about a wedding there when Madeleine and I visited. It’s so beautiful and romantic.”
“I thought you’d want to get married here,” I said.
“It would be better to do it somewhere neutral so it’s part of both of us. Plus, if we do it there, no one can find us. Paparazzi, I mean.”
“You think?”
“If we’re careful, we can keep it a secret,” Ivy said.
“Do you think it’s available for the whole month?”
“We can make it worth their while.”
“Maybe we can write a Christmas song while we’re there.”
She laughed. “You and me. What a pair of workaholics. But yeah, maybe we can.”
“Let’s do it.”
“This December?” she asked.
“I’m not waiting another whole year, so yes.”
We kissed again and then lay on our backs to look up at the perfect Tennessee sky. A happy cloud shaped like a rosebud traveled through the blue.
“I can’t be a Titans fan. I’m telling you that right now,” I said, lazily. “Seahawks forever.”
“As long as you keep that between us, you’ll be fine.”
We laughed, kissed some more, then shared a peach so juicy it ran down our chins. I knew the memory of that day would never fade. I couldn’t wait to make more with my favorite person in the whole world.
I’d been searching for a home and so had she. We just hadn’t realized home was a person, not a place. “Finally Home” and Madeleine’s interference had brought us together.
“Do you know how many times Mads said we should meet?” Ivy asked. “She thought we were made for each other.
“A lot?” I asked.
“Dozens of times. I should have listened to her sooner.”
“We’re here now. And who knows if we would have been ready if we’d met earlier.”
“Do you ever think Mads and Knox will stop fighting?” She placed a hand on my warm chest, looking up at me with her beautiful eyes. “She seems tough, you know, but under all that is a really sweet person. I wish he’d be a little nicer to her.”
“I have a theory about them,” I said, drawing circles on her shoulder with my finger. “I think they’re in love with each other.”
“No way. Really?”
“No one fights like that unless there’s passion,” I said. “I’ve been watching them go at it for ten years. I thought they would have fallen into bed long before now.”
“Interesting. I will say, she talks about him a lot. I mean, a lot, a lot. But usually because she’s mad.”
I laughed, watching Ivy’s wheels turn.
Ivy’s eyes sparkled. “Perhaps we’ll put them together as much as possible during the month in Montana. Maybe getting them outside of their usual environment will change things.”
“Or they could burn down the entire state of Montana with their fiery sparks,” I said, laughing.
“Who else will we invite?” Ivy asked. “Our families, obviously. Luci and your mom. My parents and brothers. Hunter Sloan and his wife Seraphina.”
“Holly Stone,” I said.
“Holly? She’s the one y’all grew up with, right? Rhett’s high school sweetheart?”
“That’s right.” My gaze drifted to the leaves above our heads.
“He still talks about her. She’s come to some of our shows and always spends time with us afterward.
But then she goes home to Stonehaven. She’s invested in the community there.
Trying to improve it. Whereas Rhett never wants to go back there. ”
“Kind of sad,” Ivy said.
“We were kids. High school sweethearts don’t usually make it once everyone grows up and moves on.”
“When you say he mentions her a lot, what does he say exactly?” Ivy asked.
“Just comments here and there, mostly when he’s dated other women. He always says, she’s no Holly Stone right before he breaks up with them.”
“Interesting.”
I pulled her closer, kissing her neck. “Is there a matchmaker in there?” I asked, my mouth traveling up to her ear.
“I’ll be discreet,” Ivy said, laughing. “Just wait and see how things unfold. You know, once I partner them up for all the group activities and they’re forced together at every turn.”
“Pretty girl, you’re a lot of things, but you’re not exactly sneaky. They’ll be on to you.”
“What if I don’t care? What if I want everyone to be as happy as we are?”
“Then let’s go for it. I’ll be your partner in crime.”
“Really? Because that deserves some kind of reward.” Ivy inched closer and, a few seconds later, I had no idea what we’d been talking about, and I really didn’t care.
All I knew was the woman I loved had said yes.
We were going to get married and hopefully fill that big house of mine with babies.
I couldn’t imagine anything better in the world.
Not even a hit record. Ivy James was my hit record, a lottery win, a dream come true, my soulmate.
And I get to spend the rest of my life with her. Lucky me.
“I’m the lucky one,” Ivy said, as if she read my mind.
“How did you know that’s what I was thinking?”
“Because that’s how it is between us,” Ivy said. “We’ll be that old couple who finishes each other’s sentences.”
“Sign me up.”
Although neither of us wanted the afternoon to end, the sun was sinking lower. It was time to go celebrate with my new family who would have to love me even if I was a Seahawks fan.
“I can’t wait to tell Mama my idea about the wedding,” Ivy said as we packed up the remnants of our picnic. “She’s going to love it.”
We walked back up the trail, Ivy chattering away about Montana, but I was too busy walking two feet off the ground to pay much attention. Montana or not, Ivy James would be my wife. That’s all I needed to know.
Thank you for reading the prequel to Cowboy Christmas at Crescent Moon Ranch.