Chapter 14
Blair
Aweek has passed without a call from Derrick or Sully, which I’m taking as a good sign. For now, anyway. I did call to make some adjustments to his medication after his bloodwork came back, but still managed to do it while working within the constraints of Sully’s wishes.
I’ve also been hard at work on my report for Tabitha on the missing services and improvements to existing ones that could benefit the hospital, the staff, its patients, and the district.
It’s different from any other facility I’ve worked at, but the basic needs are still the same.
Something about my house call to the Wilson Ranch last week stuck with me though.
There needs to be more remote services available for people like Sully who don’t want their business spread around the town, or simply don’t have the time to get help but still desperately need follow-up healthcare.
It can’t just come down to doctors like Uncle George and Sutton to follow up personally and do home visits without an official service being in place to manage it all.
That service could oversee and manage all the different services a terminally ill or disabled patient needs and ensure that the different departments communicate with one another. This is now the main focus of my report.
My hope is that when I meet with Tabitha around the halfway mark of my stay, I’ll have a clearer idea what that service might look like. That’ll still give me three more months to finalize the plans and hopefully start the consultation process–at the very least.
It’s actually an exciting prospect for me. Suggesting changes to meet an obvious community need and being here to help start the ball rolling.
Now’s not the time to think about the hospital though, because it’s only two days before the wedding and there’s still a lot to do before guests arrive tomorrow.
And since Sutton messaged me to say he’d been held up at the hospital and will find me when he gets home, I get changed and go looking for something to do or at least some Coopers to help.
The separate bachelor and bachelorette parties were held last weekend. The guys went to a clay shooting park an hour out of town while us ladies went to the Falls Pan and Grill restaurant for a special five course lunch with champagne… a lot of it.
The parties merged when we all got to the Lion’s Lair Tavern where we danced the night away and even took over the band’s microphone to sing along to Will, Birdie, Case and Isla’s favorite songs.
It was the best night out I’ve had in years.
What made it better was having Sutton by my side for most of it.
Stepping inside the open barn doors, I find Jude and Wyatt unloading hay bales from a big trailer.
“Hey. Need a hand?” I offer. “Sutton got held up so I figured I could step in for him and help out.”
“Won’t say no,” Jude says, his eyes dropping to my pink hiking boots before moving to my hands.
“The boots will be fine. The hands are a problem though, especially given you need them to save lives. You’re goin’ to need some gloves.
” He jerks his head to a wall of hooks near the big sliding door.
“Should be somethin’ over there that’ll fit you. ”
“I’m sure my patients will appreciate your forethought,” I shoot back with a grin before finding said gloves and returning to the trailer. “This can be my cardio for the day.”
“Anythin’ on this ranch could be classed as cardio. Just not the treadmill in a gym kind,” Jude teases.
I look over to Wyatt. “So that’s why Wyatt is the size of a linebacker already.”
Wyatt smirks and holds his arms up, flexing just for show. “Works for me.”
Jude shakes his head. “Put ‘em away. Sutt will think you’re tryin’ to steal his girl.”
A giggle bubbles out of me. “Sorry, Wy. You’re a bit too young for me. Maybe if I was ten years younger and not datin’ Sutton, the muscles might impress me.”
“Really?” Wyatt says, squaring his shoulders.
“No, dude,” Jude groans. “She’s just bein’ polite. I ain’t ever met a woman who likes a man who stands there flexing just to get her attention. I’ve told you before, women like substance–conversation, flirting, gestures, things done with a purpose. that kind of stuff.”
Wyatt turns his head and arches a brow my way. “Is he right?”
I nod. “He’s pretty much right on the money. Woo a woman with conversation and charm–but the real kind, not the ‘I’m good looking and I know it’ one. There’s a lot to be said for banter and being a gentleman too.”
His eyes flash and I groan when he says exactly what I just walked myself into. “You’re sayin’ you think I’m good lookin’ then?” Then he pulls out a panty-dropping grin that I know is going to get him into a lot of trouble before he decides to settle down.
“Anyway,” I say with a giggle. “What are we doing with these haybales?”
Twenty minutes later the trailer has been unloaded and the back of the barn is loaded with haybales as high as we could stack them.
“What are they all for?” I ask.
“The weddin’. We need supplies for when the weather turns, especially now that we’ve got more cattle comin’. We’re goin’ to use the bales as seatin’ this weekend, then put it back in storage until we need it over winter. It’s a win-win,” Jude explains.
I nod. “That’s real smart.”
“That’s because I thought of it,” Wyatt adds. “See, good lookin’ and smart.”
“Triple threat then,” I retort, making the kid frown.
“Triple?”
“Oh yeah. Cause you’re also super humble and don’t even know what a catch you are.” That gets a snort from Jude.
Wyatt just smirks. “Sutton’s got his hands full with you, doesn’t he? It’s always the quiet, calm men that end up with the sassy women.”
I put my hands on my hips and cock my head to the side. “And how do you know so much about sassy women?”
“Seen a lot, witnessed a lot of happily ever afters with them too,” he replies. “My dad married his best friend after years of knowing each other and believe me, when you meet Mags, you’ll understand why I say she puts the S in sassy.”
“That’s nice though right? Watching your friends and family meet the love of their lives? Well, apart from all the work that goes into hosting a double wedding,” I say, waving at the wall of hay behind us.
“Too true.”
“Hey, Can I ask you two about something? Sutton’s not home yet and you two are already here. So…”
They two men exchange a silent look before Jude blows out a big breath. “Sure. What do you want to know?”
“My uncle mentioned something about a rivalry between your family and the Wilsons. I was wondering what that’s all about?”
Wyatt snorts. “The Wilsons think they should have some of our land–”
“All of it if Sully ever gets his way,” Jude mutters.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Sully and our grandfather never got along and we never knew why. All we knew while growin’ up is that the Wilsons were the enemy,” Jude explains.
“The few times we’ve seen Sully around town since Gramps’s passin’ and us movin’ here, he’s made it clear that we don’t belong here and should go back to where we came from. ”
I gasp. “That’s not very welcoming. The Coopers belong here just as much as the Wilsons, right?”
“Yeah.” Jude smiles. “But when we were cleanin’ out Gramps’s stuff and makin’ the ranch livable, we discovered that our grandfather–ever eccentric and unpredictable–had some family secrets he wanted us to uncover, so he left us some clues to find along the way.”
“Really? That sounds…”
Jude snorts. “Cool? Frustratin’? Revealin’? All of the above?”
“Long story short,” Wyatt starts, “a long time ago, a Cooper man and a Wilson woman fell in love. Henley and Marion lived here on the ranch but tragically, Henley died before his time. Marion was so grief stricken that she couldn’t live here without him, so she moved back to Wilson Ranch with their two sons. ”
Marion? Maybe a great grandmother to the current Marion aka Em?
Jude continues. “The agreement was that the Wilsons would look after our family’s ranch until Henley and Marion’s sons were old enough to take over.
That somehow made the Wilsons think they had a claim to this land as well as their own.
That’s somethin Sully is stubbornly holdin’ on to and has vowed to fight until the end.
” And there it is. The answer to why Sully’s fighting so hard now.
“He says there’s a gentleman’s agreement to back him up, but no one can find any proof of anythin’ like that existin’ and I don’t see how our ancestors would ever give up some of our land. ”
“A gentleman’s agreement wouldn’t be on paper though, would it?” I say, thinking out loud. “It would be a handshake, something verbal and informal. There’s no way that could ever be proven, not if it was generations ago.”
Funnily enough, I can totally see the man I met today holding a mean grudge. Uncle George said as much when he called me.
Something occurs to me. ‘Wait… if a Cooper and a Wilson had children, doesn’t that mean you are all related to each other.”
Jude grins. “Yep. Distant cousins. Not that Sully cares about that. He wants the land, the ranch, and the mountain for the future generations of Wilsons. Lucky for us, Derrick–that’s the oldest son–isn’t interested in any of it.
He’s happy with what his family has got and just wants to get on with his life.
His sister lives in Palmer so it’s just him and his brothers running the place now.
Sully too, I guess. But he’s too old to be doin’ anythin’ other than be hellbent on complainin’ to anyone who’ll listen about us Coopers. ”
“OK. You’re saying it’s not really a big rivalry or anything. It’s just one Wilson,” I say, thinking out loud.
“Oh no, my grandfather hated Sully with a passion. Those two could not be in town at the same time by all accounts. It was a whole thing,” Jude explains.
“But not since you’ve moved back?” I ask, fully invested in the story now.
Jude shakes his head. “Not since Derrick approached us at the Lair and said he wants to work with us to put this grudge to bed once and for all. Derrick’s a good man.
He’s just caught between family loyalty and knowin’ what’s right.
This land has–and always will–belong to the Cooper family.
That’s why Gramps made us come back here together. ”
“I thought he wanted you here for two years?” I say, thinking back to something Case told me the day I arrived.
“Yeah, but that was just to get us here. We decided months ago that we weren’t goin’ to leave. We know we belong here. This land is in our blood. The mountain was always meant to be our home. Gramps just made sure that we found our way back here,” Jude says.
“It’s not about the land anyway. That’s not what Sully wants. He wants the mountain. He wants the Ca—" Wyatt says before Jude starts coughing hard.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was trying to shut Wyatt up.
That’s when Sutton appears in the doorway to the barn and walks toward me, his brows lifting when he spots my gloves. “They puttin’ you to work, gorgeous?” he says, coming up next to me and wrapping an arm around my waist before brushing his lips against my cheek.
“I wanted to help.” He smiles down at me before looking over at the bales. “Damn that’s a lot of hay.”
“Well, it is a double weddin’,” Wyatt replies. “Besides, you know that donkey of ours is goin’ to get into it before the big day.”
Sutton sighs and I can’t help but giggle.
I melt into his side, loving the way he’s holding me close.
He doesn’t shy away from showing affection in front of his family.
It’s like he’s claiming me in his own way, just not in a ‘caveman banging his chest’ way.
“As long as he stays away from everyone on the weddin’ day, that’s all that matters. ”
Jude and Wy exchange a look. “Yeah. I mean. Sure,” Wyatt stutters out.
“Oh no,” I giggle.
Sutton narrows his eyes. “What aren’t you tellin’ me?”
“It’s nothin’,” Jude says, his twitching lips totally giving him away. “We’ve just been workin’ on something for the big day.”
“And it just happens to involve the donkey they all love so so much,” Wyatt adds with a knowing grin.
Sutton scrubs a hand over his face. “Can you at least promise it won’t end in disaster?” He’s playing the big brother card while also humoring Jude and Wy. It’s sweet as hell and all I want to do is kiss him. Which I plan on doing later anyway.
Jude holds up his hand. “Scout’s honor. Besides, we’ve been trainin’ him.”
I go stock still at the same time Sutton does, both of us turning to look at each other with wide, worried eyes.
One thing’s for sure, the Cooper Ranch double wedding sure will be memorable.