A Change of Plans (29 page)

“Needed to blame me for being alive when Braedon wasn’t?” I asked softly.

Jack nodded, staring at his shoes. “Yes.” He met my eyes. “I never thought maybe you’d be hurting too.”

I couldn’t think of what to say.

“Do you think you might consider staying a little longer?”

Surprised, I opened my mouth to answer, but Jack interrupted me. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but it would mean a lot to me. I ... I need ...,” he choked on the word and coughed to cover it up.

This self-reliant man was asking me for help. I reached out and touched his arm again. “I would love to stay for a while, Mr. Randolph.”

His face lit up. “Call me Jack.”

I considered him for a long moment.

“What?” He shifted under my scrutiny. I almost smiled, thinking he wasn’t used to being uncomfortable.

“Why did you never remarry?”

Jack shrugged. “I made such a mess of the first one I guess I didn’t trust my judgment.”

I thought about the comfortable home he had here with a nice woman taking care of him and even boys to help raise. “Not even Mrs. Walters? Is she seeing someone?”

He frowned.

I grinned. “Sorry. None of my business.” I kissed him on the cheek. “Good night, Jack.”

When I got up to my room, I called Aislinn to let her know Jack had invited me to stay in Montana for a while, and I had agreed. I looked at the room with different eyes now. All this stuff had been Braedon’s. I had even worn his pajamas to bed last night.

I went to the closet and searched through the clothes inside. I wasn’t sure I would be able to smell anything after this long,
but I lucked out and found a sweater that smelled faintly of Braedon’s aftershave. It took me back to the first time we had danced. I slipped into his pajamas again and crawled into the bed, pulling the sweater up against my cheek.

I had the best night’s sleep since leaving the island.

CHAPTER 30

I
OVERSLEPT THE
next morning and missed breakfast, which was fortunate because the food poisoning reared its nasty head again. Once I cleared my stomach, I felt much better.

Bacon seemed to be a staple breakfast food, the lingering smell hitting me when I came down the stairs. I stayed clear of the kitchen and went searching for the others, but it seemed no one was in the house.

Grabbing my purse and coat, I went out into the clear, frigid morning. I raised my hand to block the brilliant morning light reflecting off the snow. White-coated mountains shone in the distance.

Footprints in the otherwise pristine snow pointed me in the direction I needed to go, and I followed them to a large barn. As I approached the building, music blared from a partially open door. I called out and knocked. Ethan poked his head out, drying his hands on a towel.

I looked around. “Is everyone still out feeding the herds?”

“Yeah. And checking to see if we lost any.” He grabbed his
coat and closed the door. “Mr. Randolph told me to follow you into town, so you could turn in your rental car. You ready?”

“Yes, but I think I should follow you.”

We headed toward the cars.

“Did they go out on horseback?” I scanned the field beyond the barn.

He laughed and opened my door. “No, ma’am. We use a special kind of tractor.”

By the time we got to town, I regretted not having my sunglasses against the blinding glare. Ethan walked into the business with me and handed my keys to the clerk.

She kept looking at me from the corners of her eyes. Ethan seemed to know her but didn’t introduce me to the girl or acknowledge me in any way. He simply explained the car needed to be returned to Great Falls.

I completed the paperwork, and Ethan held the door open for me. Just after I had crossed the threshold, he leaned back into the office. “Oh, yeah, April. This is Mr. Randolph’s daughter-in-law, Lyn. She was married to Braedon. Lyn, this is April Watts.” He waved at the gaping girl, gave my back a gentle nudge as I stared at him, and followed me out of the building.

“What was that about?” I exclaimed when we were inside the truck.

He chuckled. “Mr. Randolph said we might as well get the word out about you. One little comment here and by tonight the whole town will know.”

So much for my privacy. “No. No. No,” I moaned, punctuating each word with a bang of my head against the window.

Ethan put the keys in the ignition. “Mr. Randolph just wants people to make you feel welcome. He’s pretty particular about
folks, but when he decides he likes someone, he really likes them. And he likes you.”

“And he thinks I will feel welcome by having strangers talk about me behind my back?” It miffed me that Jack was doing all this without telling me, but it also warmed me that I had won his approval.

Ethan shrugged. “You’ll see.”

“The press better not find me because I’m suddenly the talk of the town.” I hated being the center of attention. That was something for Elle, not me. With that thought, I remembered I needed to call her and pulled out my phone.

“I hear you’ve won over Mr. Grumpy Smurf,” Elle launched right in.

I burst out laughing. “What did you call him?”

“You heard me. I met him when he came to New York two years ago. Egad, what a grouch!”

“Elle, I doubt you saw him at his best.”

Her voice got gleeful. “Did you really throw up on him?”

“I’m going to kill Aislinn!” I explained about the blizzard and my food poisoning.

“Sorry you’re sick, especially after Aislinn and I worked so hard to get some weight back on you. Oh, I almost forgot. Mal says there are still people trying to find out where you are. And those people from Olivia Howard’s show called again.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Elle, please don’t tell anyone where I’m at. Just say I want to be left alone.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t, but I agree with Mal. You ought to consider Olivia’s offer. She’s a class act and would do your story right. I think people should know
how wonderful Braedon was.”

I rubbed my temple. “The people who matter already know how wonderful Braedon was. I don’t have to go on national television to tell them that.”

“Just think about it, okay? I have to run. Love you!”

“Love you too.” I hung up and stared at the passing white landscape.

“Mrs. Randolph ....”

I spun to look at Ethan. “What did you call me?” Even though he had told the girl I was Braedon’s wife, I had gotten used to being called Ms. North again.

Ethan stared at me, confused. “Uh ... Mrs. Randolph?”

“You do know the government probably won’t recognize our marriage?”

He watched me from the corner of his eye. “That’s not what Mr. Randolph says.”

I clenched my jaw. “What
does
Mr. Randolph say?”

“That you and Braedon exchanged vows before God, and that’s married to him.” He laughed. “Mr. Randolph says there are ways to get around a technicality.”

“Jack’s been doing a lot of talking about me when I’m not there.”

Ethan took a deep breath. “He’s been like my father since my own dad died, Mrs. Randolph. And since he found out about Braedon this time ... well, he’s started talking to me some.”

I was right. These boys were like sons to Jack. The thought made me happy. “Why do you keep calling him Mr. Randolph? And for heaven’s sake don’t call me Mrs. Randolph again. How old are you? I doubt I’m more than ten years older than you.”

“I’m eighteen ... and I have to call him that.”

“Why?”

He hesitated. “Because that’s what I’ve always called him.”

I rolled my eyes. “Try calling him Jack sometime and
see what happens. It was appropriate for you to call him Mr. Randolph when you were little and he was your mother’s employer. You’re like a son to him now.”

Ethan’s faced brightened. I wondered how long these people had just plugged along doing what they had always done and never considered doing something different.

After we parked in front of the house, Ethan switched off the ignition and turned to me, his left arm flung over the steering wheel. “Are people really wanting you to tell your story on TV?”

I picked up my purse from the floor. “Yes.”

“Holy sh ... cow! Like who?”

“Olivia Howard.”

“Holy cow!” he repeated, his eyes sparkling.

I grabbed his arm. “Ethan, I don’t want the press to know I’m here.”

His face fell, and he muttered something about wanting to know someone on TV. I continued to hold him with my gaze, and he finally sighed, nodded, and stepped out to get my door.

T
HAT NIGHT,
Jack sought me out again after the others had left for bed. He handed me a manila envelope. It contained the photo of Braedon and me on the formal night before Hawaii.

I dropped to the couch, drinking in Braedon’s smiling image and tracing his face with my finger. I had forgotten how hot he had looked in his tuxedo ....

“Aislinn sent it to me after they returned.” Jack sat beside me.

I handed him the photo. “Thank you for showing it to me. I
never did see it. That’s the night he scared me off.” I laughed, but it turned into a sniff. “I wish I could have that week back.”

Jack put his arm around my shoulders and pushed the picture back in my hands. “I think this belongs to you, but maybe you’ll let me look at it sometimes.” He handed me a clean handkerchief, and I blew my nose.

T
HE VERY
evening after our discussion in the truck, Ethan, ever so casually, called Jack by his first name when asking for something at dinner. Jack didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t hide the hint of a smile.

I soon got into a routine. I began calling Mrs. Walters by her first name, Emily. I started helping out with chores, such as cleaning the house. I didn’t know how Emily had managed the eight bedrooms alone before.

Ethan had been right that people would be curious about me after his little introduction. Folks from town began dropping by the ranch under the guise of borrowing this or returning that. Jack always introduced me as his daughter-in-law, and the visitors offered me their condolences. I relaxed when no one from the press showed up.

When we went to church on Sunday, the minister asked Jack if he planned to have a memorial service for Braedon. Jack told him to mind his own business.

I wasn’t ready to give up on Braedon either, but I wondered if a service might be nice. I tried to broach the topic, but the expression on Jack’s face made me decide it was best to take our time. Still, I felt like we were making progress. I think we were good for each other in that.

When I told Emily I wanted to do more, she insisted I
needed to rest up and get my strength back first. Though she never came right out and said it, I knew she wanted to fatten me up, and it was working. I slowly gained weight again, though I had a hard time throwing off the residual food poisoning. A college roommate of mine once had battled food poising for three weeks, so I wasn’t worried about it too much. I wasn’t violently ill after all.

Jack had a gym in the basement, put in by Braedon. I took advantage of it to slowly start working my forms again. It was bittersweet to go through the katas, since the last time I had done them had been on the island with Braedon. He would have been ready to test for his brown belt by now.

One night, as I cuddled against Braedon’s old sweater, it struck me how much this place had come to feel like home, like I belonged here. Could these people fill the hole created by the loss of Braedon and my family?