Boots and the Heartbreaker: Ugly Stick Saloon, Book 11 (9 page)

Fancy forgot her own misery for a moment, her uncle’s request making her stomach hurt and her heart ache. “You can’t do this. Maggie loves you. It’s obvious to anyone when they see the way she looks at you.”

“I won’t make her choose between me and her sons.”

“You don’t have to.”

Uncle Carl patted her hand. “Just draw up the papers. I’m going back to my room to pack. I’ll meet you at the diner for dinner. If you can be packed by this evening, we can leave in the morning.”

“But—”

“Please,” Uncle Carl interrupted. “Just do this for me.”

Her chest so tight she couldn’t breathe, Fancy nodded. “Okay. But you’re making a big mistake.”

“We’re a family full of them lately, aren’t we?” Her uncle left her room and exited the house, closing the front door behind him softly.

Fancy sat for a long moment, stunned by her uncle’s request, wondering how she could fix this before two people who obviously loved each other were separated by the selfishness of others.

To hell with that. Pushing her own heartache aside, Fancy climbed down from the bed, grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Those McFarlan men needed a good talking to, and she was the woman to deliver it.

Chapter Nine

“What’s this all about?” Angus asked.

Brody, Colin and Angus gathered in the living room, waiting for their mother to return home.

“Mom said she wanted us all here. She’s going to make some announcement,” Colin said.

“Any idea as to what she’s going to say?” Brody paced the room. “Do you think she’s going to back off the ultimatum and spare Colin?”

“We only had one of her boys who couldn’t find a woman in her timeframe,” Angus pointed out.

“Hell, he’s still got time,” Brody said.

Colin shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I blew it. I thought Fancy and Carl Landers were scheming behind our backs with Mom to sell the ranch.”

Angus’s brows dipped. “You thought what?”

“You heard me. I guess I was looking for a reason to distrust Fancy and her uncle.”

“And were they?” Brody asked.

“No.” Colin shoved a hand through his hair, feeling lower than snake spit. How could he think his mother and the woman he loved would scheme to sell the ranch without telling him?

“Wow, Colin.” Brody shook his head. “Way to drive off two good women.” He flopped onto the couch. “I wonder what announcement Mom will make now.”

“I wouldn’t blame her if she kicked all of us out.” Angus’s jaw hardened. “In fact, I’ve been looking at property in the area and found a small spread I might be able to afford, if I sell some of my stock. Mom shouldn’t have to worry about us anyway. This is her place. She has the right to do whatever she wants with it.”

Colin nodded. “I agree. I think it’s time for me to move out and find a place. I don’t need much. Especially living on my own.” Those words cost him. He’d had recent dreams of a house and small ranch of his own with a wife and a handful of kids—that wife being Fancy. Now that he’d blown his chances of wife and kids, he didn’t need as much, and would prefer to live on his own. “Mom was right. We need to move on with our lives.”

“I’m glad you boys agree with me for once.” Their mother stood at the entrance to the living room, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy, and her cheeks red and splotchy.

Colin’s heart squeezed. He hadn’t seen her this distraught since his father’s death. “Mom, I’m sorry. I was wrong about everything.”

“Damn right you were,” she said, her voice hitching, her eyes narrowing at him. “Except the getting on with your lives part.” She expanded her gaze to the other two men. “I see my ultimatum has caused more than its share of trouble and I withdraw it.”

Colin hung his head. Whatever his mother was about to say, whatever impact it had on his brothers, this was his fault.

Brody started forward. “I wasn’t happy at first, but it’s the best thing that could have happened to me.”

“I might not be with Gwen now, if you hadn’t laid down the law, and then entered me in the cowboy auction.” Angus smiled. “Like Brody said. It was the best thing that could ever happen to me.”

She gave the briefest of smiles that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Let me finish.”

Colin nodded. He had no words. His life hadn’t improved because of the ultimatum, but it had opened his eyes to what he’d been missing and didn’t even know he was missing.

Their mother pulled a large envelope from behind her back. “I’m getting rid of the ranch.”

Colin could have heard a pin drop in the silence that seemed to suck the air out of the room.

He stepped forward. “It’s your place. Dad left it to you. You have every right to do with it as you wish. But if you’re selling because of my stupidity, don’t punish Angus and Brody. I’ll pack my bags and move out tonight.”

She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary.”

Brody stepped forward. “Don’t worry about me. I made enough money on the gallery showing in Dallas, I can afford a place for Jessie and me. If selling the ranch makes you happy, I’m all for it.”

Angus cleared his throat. “I’ve been looking at acreage closer to Dallas. I found the perfect place for my horses. I can afford the payment on it. I guess what we’re saying is, if you sell the place, we’ll be sad, but we’ll get by.”

Colin swallowed, thinking of all the hard work his brothers and his parents had invested in the Rafter M. It was part of him, he couldn’t hold onto it any longer. “There are lot of memories associated with this place, but they won’t be lost. We will carry the memories in our hearts. And we have the rest of our lives to make new memories. We love you, Mom. We want you to be happy.”

His mother’s eyes filled with tears. “You are making this really hard.”

Colin took his mother’s hands.

Angus and Brody closed in on either side of her, touching her arms.

“We want you to be happy. If selling the ranch makes you happy, we’re okay.”

“I’m not selling it.” She handed the packet to Angus.

“I thought you said you weren’t keeping it,” he said, staring down at the thick envelope.

“I’m not.”

Brody chuckled. “Mom, you’re not making sense.”

“I’m not selling and, I’m not keeping the ranch. I’m signing it over to you three boys in a trust. It will be yours to do with as you please. I’m done with the ranch and will be moving out as soon as I find a place in town.”

“What?” Colin stepped back as if he’d been sucker punched in the gut. “You can’t do that.”

“You just said I could do whatever I wanted with the ranch.”

“But you can’t leave because of me. I told you that I would leave.”

“We don’t expect you to give it to us. This is your home too,” Colin argued. “I said I’m sorry. I meant it. Don’t move out because I was a bonehead.”

She patted his face. “I was planning to do this before. And you are all off the hook. You don’t have to get engaged or married in my two-month timeframe. I would not have held you to it, and I would not have sold the Rafter M. I promised your father I’d do my best to make sure the McFarlan legacy continued.” She touched the envelope in Angus’s hands. “I’m handing the reins to you three. It’s up to you all now. Don’t let your father down.”

Footsteps sounded on the front deck and someone banged on the door.

“Who could that be?”

“Jessie went shopping, and she said she wouldn’t be back for a couple hours. Besides she has a key,” Brody said.

“Gwen and Dalton are in Dallas.”

The door banged open. “Colin McFarlan!”

Colin’s pulse quickened at the sound of the voice.

Fancy appeared in the entrance to the living room, her blond hair windblown, her green eyes flashing. “Colin, you better fix things before it’s too late.”

He held up his hands, hope filling his chest. “I would, if I knew how.”

“Well, Mr. Smartypants, you have my uncle packing his bags as we speak.”

“Why?”

“He thinks he’s coming between you, your brothers and your mother.” Fancy marched across the floor and poked her finger into his chest. “My uncle is a good man. He doesn’t want your stinking ranch or money. He’s in love with your mother and wants her to be happy. He’s going to leave rather than come between all of you.”

Colin’s mother pressed a hand to her chest, tears spilling from her eyes. “Are you sure he still wants me?”

Fancy’s voice softened as she addressed the McFarlan matriarch. “He’s so in love with you he asked me to sign the house he’s been renovating over to you, because he couldn’t stand to live there, seeing you in everything and you not being there to enjoy it with him. He wanted you to help design the transformation, because it was to be your house as much as his.”

Angus and Brody frowned at Colin. “We have to make this right.”

Colin stared at his mother. “I’m going to fix this. I promise.”

She shook her head. “I don’t see how.”

“I’m going to talk to Carl.” Collin started for the door. “I’ll make him see that I was wrong.”

More footsteps clumped across the deck, a loud knock sounded on the front door and then the door banged open. “Maggie!”

Colin’s mother’s eyes widened. “Carl?”

Carl Landers stepped into the living room, his gaze finding Colin’s mother. “I’ve been thinking and I’ve come to a conclusion.”

Her lips quirked. “You have?”

He frowned. “Yes, I have.” Then as if noticing the three men for the first time, he pointed to each, one at a time. “John McFarlan was a good man and a good father. I know he raised you all to be responsible and look out for your mother. I admire that and understand why you would be suspicious of any man who came into her life.”

“I was wrong about you,” Colin interrupted.

Carl nodded. “But for the right reasons. You didn’t know my intentions and you should have been leery. I’m telling you now.” He took a deep breath and focused on Maggie as he spoke. “I want to make your mother happy. I don’t give a flying flip for your ranch. I don’t want your money. I have more than I can spend in my lifetime.”

He stepped up to Colin’s mother. “I want you to be happy.” Reaching for her hands, he lifted them and held them against his chest. “If me leaving Temptation makes you happy, I will. But I couldn’t until I told you how I felt.”

He stared down into her eyes. “I’ve loved you since you were that cute gangly teen in pigtails. I loved you when we used to hang out together with John, the fearsome threesome. I regret I didn’t ask you to marry me before John did and I came back to Temptation for a second chance.”

He dropped to one knee. “Maggie, I love you with all my heart. If you and your sons think there is any chance in hell you’d agree to marry me, I’d like for you to give me the chance to prove to you that I can make you happy.”

Their mother’s tears trickled down her cheeks as she stared at the man on his knee. Then she turned her gaze to her three sons.

Colin spoke first. “If you love him, say yes!”

“You don’t need our approval,” Brody reasoned.

“But we give it,” Angus offered.

“Wholeheartedly,” Colin concluded. “Any man who loves our mother enough to brave pissing off her three sons has to be strong enough to take care of her.”

“And if you don’t…” Angus’s eyes narrowed, “…we know where you live.”

Carl looked up at Maggie. “Seems they approve. Do you?”

Maggie’s lips curled into a smile, the grin spreading across her face. “Yes.”

“Yes, you approve? Or yes, you’ll give me a chance?”

She pulled him to his feet. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Carl laughed and pulled her into his arms. “Thank you. Oh, Maggie, I love you so much, I couldn’t leave without knowing how you felt.”

“I love you too.” She leaned back. “I loved John and I’ll miss him the rest of my life, but I love you too. I have enough room in my heart.”

Colin’s heart swelled at his mother’s happiness. But his life was still in shambles. He glanced at Fancy who was watching the proposal unfold with tears in her eyes.

Like Carl, he had to know, one way or another, if he stood a chance of Fancy forgiving him for being a putz. And if she’d ever let him close enough to make it up to her, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

He stepped past his mother and Carl hugging and kissing in the middle of the room, captured Fancy’s hand and led her out of the house. When he started down the porch steps, she hesitated. He held her hand. “Please walk with me.”

Her eyes narrowed. For a moment Colin thought she’d refuse, but then she stepped down beside him.

“I’m still mad at you.”

“And you have every right to be.”

“I guess what Uncle Carl said put it in perspective. You three McFarlan brothers were looking out for your mother. I can understand why you would be upset if you thought someone was taking advantage of her.”

They’d walked past the barn and stopped at the wooden fence rails overlooking the pasture where Angus kept some of his best horses.

Colin lifted the hand he’d been holding and threaded his fingers with hers. “I was wrong to accuse you of keeping secrets from me. I should have known better and I’ll understand if you never forgive me. But I’d really like you to give me a second chance. That one night together, even though it was bad timing, let me know that you were the one for me. No other woman measured up to you. When everything fell apart eight years ago, I should have come after you. It took me eight years to realize why I couldn’t find a woman to love. I was already in love.”

“How do I know you won’t love me today and ditch me tomorrow?”

“I give you my word, my heart and all of my love.” He brought her hand to his lips. “Will you forgive me and give me another chance?”

“I didn’t want to fall in love with you again,” she said. “And I didn’t.”

Colin’s heart dropped to his belly. He’d tried, and failed.

Her eyes brightened, a smile slipping across her face. “Because I never
stopped
loving you,” she whispered.

“And all those women I dated and dropped…were because none of them captured my heart. Like you did. I love you, Fancy. I want to marry you and have a handful of children.”

“Is that a proposal?”

“It will be once I get down on one knee.” Before Colin could drop to one knee, Fancy flung her arms around his neck.

“Yes! I will marry you.”

“Good, because I just noticed a cow pile where I would have put my knee.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her.

Colin couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be, or anyone he’d rather love. Life was turning out pretty good.