Wedding at Cardwell Ranch. B.J. Daniels
certainly looks that way,” the ranger said. Four days later, the search for Nick Taylor was called off because a winter storm had come in and it was believed that there was little chance he could have survived such an attack without immediate medical attention.
“Nick wouldn’t,” she managed to say now. In her heart of hearts, the man she knew so well, the man she’d been married to for more than six years, wouldn’t purposely go into the woods with a plan to be killed by a grizzly.
But Nick had always been unpredictable. Moody and often depressed, too. The construction business hadn’t been doing well even before Nick’s death. What would he have done if he’d known she was leaving him and taking his daughter? Hadn’t she been suspicious when Nick told her of his plan to go hunting alone? She’d actually thought he might be having an affair and wanted to spend a few days with his mistress. She’d actually hoped that was the case.
“You’re going by yourself?” she’d asked. Nick couldn’t even watch football by himself.
“I know things haven’t been great with us lately,” he’d said. That alone had surprised her. She really thought Nick hadn’t noticed or cared. “I think a few days apart is just what we both need. I can tell you aren’t happy. I promise you there will be changes when I get back and maybe I’ll even come home with a nice buck.” He’d cupped her face in his hands. “I don’t think you know what you mean to me, but I promise to show you when I get back.” He’d kissed her then, softly, sweetly, and for a moment, she’d wondered if Nick could change.
“You’re wrong about Nick,” she said now to Belinda. “If he was going to end it, he would have chosen the least painful way to do it. Not one—” she looked at Nat, who was swinging nearby, humming to herself and seemingly oblivious to their conversation “—that chose him. He had a gun with him he could have used.”
“Maybe he didn’t get the chance, but you’re probably right,” Belinda said and grabbed the check. “Let me get this. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that you need to get a handle on whatever’s been going on with you for you-know-who’s sake.” She cut her eyes to Nat, who headed toward them as they stood to leave.
“You’re right about the guilt, though,” Allie said, giving her friend that. She’d known as she’d watched Nick leave that day to go up into the mountains that nothing could change him enough to make her stay. She was going to ask him for a divorce when he came back.
Belinda changed the subject. “I saw your brother-in-law, Drew, earlier on the ranch.”
Allie nodded. “He mentioned he was working up there. His construction company built the guest cabins.”
“I’d forgotten that.” Belinda frowned. “I was talking to Lily about photos at the rehearsal dinner. Did you know that Sarah is one of her bridesmaids?”
“My sister-in-law worked with Lily one season at her brother James’s Canyon Bar.” Allie had the impression that Lily didn’t have a lot of female friends. Most of the math professors she knew were male, apparently. “I think James feels sorry for Sarah and you know Lily, she is so sweet.”
“I have to hand it to Sarah, putting up with her mother day in and day out,” Belinda said.
Allie didn’t want to think about it. Along with fewer incidents the past few days, she’d also been blessed with no visits from her mother-in-law and Sarah.
“Sarah’s a saint, especially—” Belinda lowered her voice “—the way Mildred treats her. She is constantly bugging her about her weight and how she is never going to get a husband... It’s awful.”
Allie agreed.
“I don’t understand why she doesn’t leave.”
“Where would she go and what would she do?” Allie said. “Sarah was in college when Mildred broke her leg. She quit to come home and take care of her mother. Mildred has milked it ever since. It used to annoy Nick, Sarah living in the guesthouse. He thought Sarah was taking advantage of his mother.”
“Ha, it’s the other way around. Sarah is on twenty-four-hour call. She told me that her mother got her out of bed at 2:00 a.m. one time to heat her some milk because she couldn’t sleep. I would have put a pillow over the old nag’s face.”
Allie laughed and changed the subject. “You look especially nice today,” she commented, realizing that her friend had seemed happier lately. It dawned on her why. “There’s someone new in your life.”
Belinda shrugged. She didn’t like to talk about the men she dated because she thought it would jinx things for her. Not talking about them didn’t seem to work, either, though. Belinda was so superstitious. Why else would she see a psychic to find out her future?
“This is going to be so much fun, the two of us working together again. Don’t worry. I won’t get in your way.” Belinda took her hand. “I’m sorry I upset you. Sometimes I don’t have the brains God gave a rock.”
She didn’t think that was the way the expression went, but said nothing. Belinda could be so...annoying and yet so sweet. Allie didn’t know what she would have done without her the past few years. Belinda had been the only person she would talk freely to about Nick and the trouble between them.
“I’m just worried about you, honey,” Belinda said, squeezing her hand. “I really think you should see someone—”
“I don’t need a shrink.”
“Not a shrink. Someone more...spiritual who can help you make sense of the things that you say keep happening.”
“Things do keep happening,” she snapped. “I’m not making them up.”
“So talk to this woman,” Belinda said just as adamantly. She pressed a business card into Allie’s hand.
She glanced at it and groaned. “Your psychic friend?”
“She might be the only person who can help you,” Belinda said cryptically. She gripped Allie’s hand tighter. “She says she can get you in touch with Nick so you can get past this.”
Allie stared at her for a moment before laughing out loud. “You have got to be kidding. What does she use? A Ouija board?”
“Don’t laugh. This woman can tell you things that will make the hair on your head stand straight up.”
That’s all I need, she thought, reminded of Jackson Cardwell asking her if she was superstitious.
“Call her,” Belinda said, closing Allie’s fingers around the woman’s business card. “You need closure, Allie. This woman can give it to you. She’s expecting your call.”
“I’ve been expecting your call, as well,” said a sharp, older voice.
They both turned to see Mildred and her daughter. From the looks on their faces, they’d been standing there for some time.
Chapter Three
“Want to see the building for Montana’s first Texas Boys Barbecue?” Tag asked after they’d dropped Jackson and Ford’s luggage off at the small cabin on the side of the mountain and gone down to meet cousin Dana and her brood.
Dana Cardwell Savage was just as Tag had described her. Adorable and sweet and delighted that everyone was coming for the wedding.
“How is your cabin?” she asked after introducing him to her children with husband, Marshal Hud Savage. Hank was the spitting image of his father, Dana said, and six now. Mary was five and looked just like her mom. Then there were the twins, Angus and Brick, just a year and a half old with the same dark hair and eyes as all the Cardwells.
“The cabin is great,” Jackson said as Ford instantly bonded with his second cousins. “Thank you so much for letting me stay there.”
“Family is why