Last Year's Bride (Montana Born Brides) (18 page)

“
Maybe someday. I have to spend a while being myself before I can do that,” he had said.

Not surprisingly, Beth didn
’t want to wait around to discover who Chandler was going to turn out to be. She was going back to Connecticut and teaching fourth grade just as she’d done previously. “It’s not that I’m the same person,” she’d assured them. “I can’t believe how much I’ve learned, how much I’ve changed.”

And she wasn
’t going home alone, either. She was taking a puppy with her. Ziggy was the smallest of the pups and a little more docile than some of them. But he followed Beth around everywhere, and right now he was sitting in her lap, chewing contentedly on the sleeve of her sweater while she nuzzled him and talked to Jane and Sam.

The other two were even more surprising. Hard-edged, hyper-critical Mac, a.k.a. Mr BadAss, was lying on his back in the grass with three puppies climbing all over him, nibbling on the toes of his boots, chewing the hems of his jeans, laughing while Maggie added more pups to the pile.

He’d done it yesterday in the living room. The camera crew had caught it. And Nell knew before she even saw it that it would be in the final cut. So would a lingering shot of Maggie and Mac with their arms around each other, just looking into each other’s eyes.

They had started out edgy, prickly and hyper, surprisingly wary of each other for a couple who were engaged.
“We weren’t getting married,” Mac had said last night at the dinner table. “We were creating a merger.”

Whatever challenges the show
’s episodes had made them tackle, those challenges had made them see not only each other, but themselves. Now they had a new appreciation for each other. They were comfortable in each other’s presence. They trusted each other because they trusted themselves. You could see it. The camera didn’t lie.

The viewers had spotted it first.
The viewers’ reactions to the early episodes, which had rarely favored Mac and Maggie, changed after the calving and the apple pie episode. The audience had seen Maggie struggle to do something she found difficult. They’d seen her find a bit of humility—and eventual success—in the process. They’d seen Mac go from his cell-phone toting, aggressive, cocky self to a man in awe of the new life he’d delivered that night in the calving shed. Nell wouldn’t have given anyone a nickel back in January for Mac and Maggie being the last couple standing. But things changed.

This morning Maggie had come down and said she was all packed and ready to go.
“Except for the dog,” she’d added, with a glance in Mac’s direction.

“
Dog?” Mac had raised his eyebrows.

“
I want one as a wedding present.” Maggie had lifted her stubborn chin, and in her eyes Nell had seen one last challenge. “For when we go home, I want to know we’ve got someone to remind us of who we are here.”

Hard-edged, hard-driving, take-no-prisoners Mac had been sitting at the kitchen table, cradling a mug of coffee in his hands and talking about cattle futures with Sam.
But at Maggie’s words he’d cocked his head, then smiled a slow smile slowly lit his face. “Why not bring two?” he said.

So scrappy Duke and dainty Daisy were going home with them this afternoon.

Sam glanced at his watch and got to his feet, then hauled Jane up beside him. “You guys ready to go?” he asked.

Jane and Sam were taking the two couples to the airport, then were having an evening in Bozeman. Jane had booked them into a posh place just for the night.

“We need some alone time,” she said. “If we’re out here, we’ll have all of you.” She glanced at Nell and Cole and Sadie and Em. “And if we go into Marietta, next week we’ll be in the newspaper.”

“
Sounds like a plan,” Cole said cheerfully. He’d been looking happier by the minute, Nell thought. She’d even heard him laughing once or twice.

Now he helped Mac and Chandler pack the back of the Suburban Jane had brought with suitcases and duffle bags and dog crates.
Then they all piled in. Em and Sadie blinked back tears, waving as Sam headed the Suburban toward the highway.

Nell felt her own throat tighten as Cole took one of her hands in his and wrapped his other arm around her shoulder, squeezing lightly, tucking her in against him.
She blinked and sniffled as the Suburban went around the bend and out of sight.

“
Thank God,” Cole said cheerfully and gave her a grin and then a smacking kiss. “We’ve got our lives back.”

Nell returned the kiss, but punched him lightly in the ribs.
“I don’t,” she reminded him. “Not entirely. Not yet.”

“
Well, you don’t have to do anything right now,” Cole said. “You’re mine until tomorrow night.” That was when she would be flying back to Los Angeles. “Gran,” he called to Em who was heading back to the house, “you and Sadie wouldn’t mind havin’ some pups here visiting for a few hours, wouldn’t you? Nell and I have some things to do at the cabin.”

Em turned at the bottom of the porch steps and looked back at him.
“Oh, I think Sadie and I can handle them for the rest of the afternoon while you and Nell do whatever it is you have to do at the cabin.” The look she gave him—and the twinkle in her eye—made it clear that she knew exactly what was going to happen at the cabin.

Nell knew her cheeks were hot, but she was sure Cole
’s were redder.

“
Go on with you on,” Em said and turned to head up the steps. And Nell thought she heard Em mutter under her breath, “About time.”

They made love.
Long leisurely love. Perfectly marvelous love. Love like they hadn’t made since they’d been in Reno. Then Nell had a shower while Cole slept, and then he took a shower while she went down and made dinner.

“
Sure you don’t want to shower with me?” He’d looked hopeful—and far too tempting with his hair mussed and his all of his hard body on display as he stood in the door to the bathroom.

“
I would,” Nell said, “but my stomach is growling. And besides,” she said, “I want to save some fun stuff for tomorrow.”

But she had to admit that the thought of joining him under the spray, even if the shower was small, was seriously tempting.

She had brought some food up from the ranch house and was making some chili to go with it when her phone began vibrating on the kitchen counter. Cole had made her leave it there because Grant had a habit of calling at the worst possible times. He’d already called half a dozen times today, but it was Saturday so she ignored him.

Now she reached for it because she could actually talk for a few minutes while Cole was in the shower.
Happily, it turned out not to be Grant at all.

“
Jane,” she said, delighted when she saw the ID on her phone. “What’s up? Don’t tell me you and Sam are bored.”

“
No. We’re at the hospital.” Jane’s voice was hollow and desperate. “Sam’s had a heart attack.”

Cole heard the door open to the bathroom and grinned in anticipation. “So much for dinner,” he said over the sound of the shower running. “I knew I was too much temptation.”

He poked his head around the edge of the shower curtain and saw Nell, pale as a ghost, staring at him.
Instantly his grin vanished. “What’s wrong?”

He jerked off the water and grabbed a towel.
Damn it to hell. He knew he shouldn’t have presumed, knew he should never have left the pups with Gran. She did too much. She’d been pushed beyond her limits by the TV show, by so many demands he couldn’t even begin to guess how many. And he’d just made it worse by being selfish and making one more.

“
What happened to her?” Please God, not now. She might have worked her fingers to the bone for years, but between McKay’s cattle and the money from the TV show, financially things were actually good. And Sam had Jane now. And he had Nell. Things were finally looking up.

“
Her?” Nell looked momentarily confused.

“
Gran.” Cole scraped the towel over his face, scrubbed at his hair, peered at Nell through the folds in the towel. “Is she all right?”

She shook her head.
“It’s not Gran,” she said, and he felt a whoosh of relief. “It’s Sam. Your dad,” she added, as if he didn’t know who Sam was. “He’s had another heart attack.”

The other shoe
—the one Cole seemed to have spent his life waiting for, but recently, stupidly, hadn’t even been thinking about—dropped.

He didn
’t even know why he was surprised. He shouldn’t be. He should have realized that it was inevitable, that there were no givens, no real promises of happy endings.

His old man had had no business saying yes to a marriage proposal from a beautiful woman sixteen years younger than he was.
It was insane. And obviously deadly.

The thought was a punch in the gut.
“Is he—?”

“
He’s hanging in there,” Nell said. She took the towel out of his hands and began to dry him. It wasn’t meant to seduce. It was useful—and comforting, as if by rubbing the water from his body, she could communicate the way she cared. In the depth of his brain, Cole understood that. He allowed it, appreciated it even. He stood still and let her dry him, then put her arms around him and he slid his around her, feeling even more the comfort in their embrace “Jane is with him. So are Mac and Maggie and Beth and Chandler.”

“
What? All of them? How’d they all get there?”

“
They hadn’t gone to the airport yet. I gather that they were on their way, just passing the off-ramp to Main Street and Sam took a right. Jane said, um, the airport is further on. And your dad said, I just need to make a quick stop at the hospital first.”

Cole felt his eyes bug.
“A quick stop? He drove himself to the hospital?” Bloody damned idiot! “For God’s sake!” He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Nell was doing both.
She hugged him even harder. “I told Jane we’d come to the hospital. She wants us to tell Em and Sadie. I’m guessing they’ll want to come, too.”

“
They will.”

Cole didn
’t know how to tell his grandmother. She’d been so happy. And he’d seen it in her eyes, that after years of worry, she felt things were going to be all right now. He didn’t know how to break the news.

So when they got to the ranch house, he sat in the truck and called Sadie who had gone into town to meet a friend, while Nell went into the house and told Em.

Cole didn’t know what she said, but apparently it was the right thing because a few minutes later his grandmother came out, pale but composed. She hadn’t been crying. Her eyes were perfectly dry as she looked at him as she climbed into the back seat of the crew cab.

“
Gran,” he said, feeling hellishly out of his depth. His voice broke.

“
He’ll be fine,” Em said firmly. “Let’s go.”

They drove into Marietta in silence.
Cole didn’t know how his grandmother could delude herself into believing Sam would be fine. And even less did he know what Nell was thinking. She didn’t speak. But she did reach over and put a hand on his thigh. Again, he knew it was there to comfort. He covered it with his own.

In Marietta, she said,
“I’ll ride over with Sadie. We might be glad we have two vehicles.”

It made sense, Cole thought, which was more than he was apparently capable of doing.

“I’ll go with Sadie,” Em said.

But Nell shook her head.
“I want to.”

Whether Nell wanted to or not, Cole understood that this was the way she thought it should be. He should take care of his grandmother. Sadie shouldn
’t. And someone should be with his sister. She shouldn’t go to the hospital alone.

When Nell left to go with Sadie, Em climbed into the front seat next to him.
Every few minutes Cole slanted a glance her way, looking for signs that she was crumbling. But she sat still and strong and unblinking, except for shortly after they got up onto the Interstate heading out of Livingston toward Bozeman when he must have made some sound in his throat.

Then she reached over and patted his knee.
“It will be all right.”

Her composure, her certainty
—so bloody misplaced—was more than he could take. He didn’t even know he was going to explode until he did.

“
The hell it will,” Cole snapped. “He’s just had his third damn heart attack!”

“
This one didn’t sound so bad,” Em said soothingly.

“
Bull!” Cole said. He would have said more but she was his grandmother and he didn’t want to shock her. “He’s overdoing things in case you hadn’t noticed. Ever since he met Jane he’s been out at all hours. He’s been planning to ride up to the summer range with me. I tried to tell him no, but he insisted. I was gonna go slow, but hell, he’d prob’ly want to ride up the damn mountains, hell for leather! He thinks he can do anything! He’s probably even having sex a couple of times a night.” The minute he said the words— to his grandmother, for heaven’s sake!— Cole was mortified. His face burned.

There was a pause, then Em smiled a small impish smile.
“Well, you know, the doc said exercise was good for him.”

It was a testament to how furious Cole was that he didn
’t even see any humor in what she said. “The doctor said if he had the surgery they could repair the valves. The doc said he could be good as new. Did he listen? Hell, no! He turned down that surgery more times than I can count. So why would he listen to anything else?”

“
Don’t swear, darling,” Em said, and patted his knee once again.

So Cole didn
’t swear anymore. Not out loud anyway. But he figured he had cussed a hundred time over in his head before he finally turned into the hospital parking lot.

Of course the old man was in the ICU. That
’s where they put people who were having heart attacks—presumably even ones who were stupid enough to drive themselves to the hospital. He’d been there before when Sam had had his last one.

But to Cole
’s surprise, while Sam was hooked up to half a dozen monitors, this time he wasn’t flat out unconscious. He was only half-reclining in the bed, and he was wide awake.

“
What’re you doing here?” he demanded when Cole walked in. “I thought you were having your honeymoon.”

“
Small interruption,” Cole snapped right back. “Some dumb ass had a heart attack.”

The monitors recorded several high jumps and a rapid beeping sound.
The nurses came running. Jane looked terrified.

Em gave Cole a disapproving look.
“Go outside if you’re determined to give him another one.” Then she crossed the room, leaned down and kissed her son’s forehead. “You don’t look too bad.”

Cole thought Sam looked like hell, despite being awake and ornery.
He was pale and there was pain in the tightness around his mouth and in his eyes. But at least he was alive. And for the moment at least, Jane was there fussing over him.

Cole was certain it wouldn
’t last. It never did.

He slipped out of the room. It was Em
’s idea after all—so he wouldn’t give Sam yet another heart attack. And that was fine with him. He didn’t need to be there watching Sam’s future go down the drain. He strode down the hall, cracking his knuckles as he went.

“
Cole!”

He turned to see Nell coming after him.
He waited, and she caught up, then tucked her arm in his.

“
I think he looks awful,” she said, confirming his own estimation. “But the nurse says he’s doing very well.”

Cole didn
’t snort, but he made a sort of hmm of disbelief. Nell must have been able to translate it because she squeezed his arm, then backed him up against a wall and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

“
Don’t be a pessimist,” she said firmly. “He’s a resilient guy, your dad.”

“
A cat only has so many lives.”

“
I think Sam might have more lives than any cat. Besides, he has Jane in his corner this time.”

Then Cole did snort.
“Not likely.” He turned and started walked down the corridor again.

Nell caught his arm.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You think she’ll just walk away?”

He turned to face her.
“Wouldn’t you?”

“
Of course not. Not if I loved him!” Nell was looking at him, stricken.

Determinedly Cole shook his head.
“She’s young. Well, sort of. Not a lot older’n me, anyway. She could have her pick of guys. Guys not old enough to be her father!”

“
He’s not. He’s—”

“
Sixteen years older than she is. Yeah, so I’ve heard. So what? She could have her pick of guys with good strong healthy hearts!”

“
He could have surgery!”

“
Yeah, that’ll happen.” Cole shrugged her off, then shook his head. “I feel sorry for him. He hasn’t had it easy, marryin’ the wrong women, gettin’ stuck with three kids. It’s too bad it won’t work for him this time.”

“
You don’t know—”

“
I know,” Cole said darkly. He took off his hat and rubbed a hand through his hair. Then he looked into Nell’s deep brown eyes once more. “I know,” he said quietly.

Because he did.