Zack's Montana Bride (Sweet, Clean Western Historical Romance)(Montana Ranchers and Brides Series) (15 page)

How could Gretchen have done such a thing? She was always so grown up, so mature, so sensible. But, her attachment to the dog was obviously strong and real. Lydia understood things had been hard for Gretchen. She knew that the confrontations, the temper tantrums, the arguments had all been Gretchen's attempt at putting a brave face on the chaos that her life had descended into these past few weeks.

Lydia suddenly wanted to hold Gretchen in her arms, tell her everything was going to be alright, that she would never have to worry about anything ever again. Not now that they were all safe in the arms of Zack, all protected by this good, kind and generous man who had taken them all into his life.

Lydia felt Zack's body tighten. He twisted and she heard him grunt. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that before?" he blurted out.

Lydia looked up into Zack's eyes. He was looking down at her, the sympathy, the feeling for her clearly visible in his tender gaze.

"What are you thinking about?" Lydia asked, her body breaking out into a bout of shivering.

Zack's brows furrowed, but there was a hint of certainty in his eyes. "I think I might know where Gretchen ended up," he stated.

"Where?" Lydia gasped.

Zack wrapped an arm around Lydia's waist. "Come this way," he said and turned back toward the house.

Lydia froze on the spot. "They can't be back there," she said resisting the pull of his arm.

Zack's lips turned up at the corners. "Trust me, Lydia. This once. Just trust me," he said above the sound of the wind.

Lydia peered into Zack's eyes and saw him beg for her agreement, imploring her to follow him, to let him lead her to where there would be at least a chance to find Gretchen.

Lydia nodded wordlessly and Zack's eyes lit up. He grasped her hand, his fingers intertwined in her own, and tugged her gently along by his side. They made their way back down the path toward the house. Lydia had no idea what Zack was up to, but something deep inside told her that his judgment would be sound, his knowledge of this place more profound than her own. If Zack had a hunch, that was good enough for Lydia.

It felt good for her hand to be held by Zack, to allow him to lead her, guide her. Zack took a turn to the left and Lydia glanced ahead, seeing that they were heading toward the barn close to the stable. She frowned. Hadn't they passed that on the way before? But, then she glanced across the clean, white expanse of the thin layer of snow and saw something that immediately made her heart jump.

Tracks!

"Zack. Look," she gasped, the words almost choking her, the emotion rising fast within her chest.

Zack turned and nodded. "I knew it," he said simply, tugging her on. They both broke into a run, dashing toward the barn. The tracks were leading straight to the barn door. And there were two sets of tracks.

"Zack. It's them," Lydia said breathlessly as they stopped at the barn doors which were closed.

Zack opened the door and Lydia peered over his shoulder into the darkness of the barn. She saw a small lamp, bales of straw, and a girl with a little dog in her arms.

"Gretchen!" Lydia cried out, racing past Zack and into the cold interior of the barn.

Her daughter was kneeling on a bed of straw. She gazed up at Lydia as her mother ran toward her. Lydia extended her arms and squatted down beside Gretchen.

"You're safe! Thank goodness, you're safe," Lydia uttered, her voice cracking, her eyes moistening. She wrapped her arms around Gretchen, immediately feeling the cold clinging to her daughter. "You're freezing, Gretchen," Lydia exclaimed. She felt Gretchen shivering.

Lydia turned to Zack. He had closed the barn door and was watching them both with a mixture of relief and concern on his face.

There was a yelp and Lydia looked down at the puppy which was burying it's head into Gretchen's affectionate embrace. This was no time to castigate her daughter, Lydia realized. All that mattered was that Gretchen was safe.

Lydia looked at Zack. "How did you know they would be here?"

Zack quirked a brow. "When Joshua told me about the puppy, he also told me the dog had been frightened to leave the barn where he was being looked after by his mother." Zack smiled. "I guessed the dog might seek shelter in a familiar place, once he realized it wasn't such a good idea being outside."

"You were right," Lydia said to Zack with a smile.

"I'm sorry, mama. I didn't mean to frighten you," Gretchen started to explain. "It was just that I heard Scooter crying after everyone went to bed and I went downstairs to see what the matter was. I wanted to show him the snow. It looked so pretty. I figured he'd like it. But he just scampered out the door and away from me. I followed him here."

Lydia sighed. "Never mind that. We need to get you back to the house. Get you warmed up."

Zack walked over to them. "You hold onto Scooter." He bent down suddenly and lifted Gretchen up into his strong arms. Gretchen smiled and squealed. Lydia stared at Zack in surprise.

"You've got no shoes on. And your feet look like they're ice," he said. "You're coming with me, young lady. We need to get you in front of a warm fire," Zack said firmly.

Gretchen glanced at Lydia who merely nodded. "Just do what your father says," she ordered her daughter. Gretchen didn't protest. She clutched the puppy close to her and let Zack turn and head out of the barn. Lydia picked up the lamp and followed Zack and Gretchen out of the barn.

She turned and closed the barn door. By the time she started to make her way back to the house all she could see was Zack running slowly across the yard toward the ranch house with Gretchen in his arms, her bare feet flapping by his side.

Lydia thought about what had just happened. She and Zack had gone out into the cold and dark in search of their daughter, and it suddenly seemed to her that, in the process, they had found so much more.

More than she could ever have thought possible.

EPILOGUE

Christmas Day

The Buchanan ranch

"I'd like to propose a toast," said Joshua getting to his feet and lifting up his glass. Lydia smiled at Zack and looked along the length of the table. She saw that Aaron was rolling his eyes, which prompted Eva to dig her elbows playfully into Aaron's side. The children were chasing each other around the room, puppy in pursuit, while all the adults tried hard to maintain the appearance that this Christmas dinner was well under control.

Which, of course, it wasn't.

"To our dear friend, Zack and his beautiful new wife," Joshua said with a warm, generous smile. "I don't know about you Aaron, but I still find it kind of amazing that such a lovely woman as Lydia could ever have chosen such a good for nothing as Zack," Joshua said with a sly grin.

Zack raised a hand and made a gesture of shooting his friend with an imaginary pistol. Joshua smiled and continued, gesturing toward Lydia with his glass. "But seriously. Laura and I were saying on the way over today that it is a real pleasure to welcome you to Montana, Lydia. Or should I say, back to Montana. The place where you and these fantastic, if noisy, children belong."

Lydia smiled at Joshua, nodding in acknowledgment.

"You're going to make us all cry," Aaron joked wiping an invisible tear away from his cheek. "And on Christmas day, too." He gestured toward the remains of the sumptuous Christmas dinner they had all enjoyed.

"The person you should be toasting is Mrs. Brodie," Zack said looking toward the housekeeper who was sitting at the corner of the table teasing the contents of her glass. Judging by the flush of color on her cheeks she was clearly delighted with what she had been sipping during the last hour.

Joshua turned to Mrs. Brodie and smiled. "Of course. I include in this toast the amazing Mrs. Brodie and her extraordinary culinary skills," he said. Mrs. Brodie's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson and she waved a dismissive hand toward Joshua.

"It has been a delicious and delightful dinner," Joshua continued.

"I didn't know you were a poet," Aaron teased Joshua.

"There're a great many things you don't know about me," Joshua responded which prompted a narrowing of Laura's eyes.

Joshua raised his glass and looked along the table at Zack and Lydia who sat alongside each other. "I think everyone will agree with me when I say we wish Zack and Lydia and the children a bright and prosperous future," Joshua said. There was a unanimous murmur of agreement and they all drank from their glasses.

Lydia reflected on the almost perfect Christmas day they had all enjoyed. It had started with the children waking bright and early. They had raced to the parlor, tearing open the presents which awaited them under the brightly decorated tree. There had been screams of delight and moans of jealousy as all the children discovered what Zack and Lydia had spent so much time in Great Falls buying for them.

The snow had settled as a white blanket covering the ranch over the past few days. After Gretchen's escapade with the puppy, the girls now understood that they had to be wrapped up if they wanted to be outside in the snow. Zack and Lydia had delighted in standing arm in arm at the window of the ranch house watching the children playing out front. For Lydia it was a dream come true to see her children so happy and safe on Christmas morning.

Then, later Aaron and Joshua had arrived with Eva and Laura. Eventually they had all settled down to the Christmas dinner, but not without the almost obligatory crisis in the kitchen when the turkey almost burned.

Now, Lydia sat back in her chair and savored the moment. She glanced at Zack and saw that he was looking at her with such an expression of love and adoration in his eyes that it made Lydia feel an all too familiar surge of emotion rise up inside her.

Lydia sighed quietly and smiled at her husband. He was truly an amazing man. As she glanced at her children chasing each other out of the parlor with the barking puppy in hot pursuit, Lydia could hardly believe that life had turned out so well for them all. And it was all thanks to the wonderful man who now gazed at her with such longing and love. This amazing man who had taken the biggest chance a man could take in asking a woman who had left him so many years before to come back into his life and become a part of him, a part of the place that he called home.

Zack seemed to sense her mood. He reached over and took her hand. With a gentle movement of his head he made it clear to her that they should leave the room for a moment.

"Lydia and I are going to check the children," Zack said to everyone at the table. Lydia could see that no-one really believed that Zack's reason for leading his wife by the hand out of the room had anything to do with checking on the children.

Lydia followed Zack out of the room. The front door was open. Lydia paused by Zack's side. She peered out into the yard and saw the children off near the barn, rolling around in the thin covering of snow.

"They are going to make such a mess when they come back into the house," she said with a frown.

Zack's arm went around her waist and he drew her in close. "That's not important, right now," he said quietly. "All that matters is that I am here with you on the most perfect Christmas day I could ever have imagined," he said, his eyes shining bright, fixed intently on her.

"It has been nice. Hasn't it?" she said.

"More than nice. Perfect." Zack wrapped both arms around Lydia. "Just like you," he whispered, his voice deep and resonant.

Lydia felt the breath stop in her throat. She looked up into his beautiful eyes and gave him the warmest smile she could. It seemed to satisfy him for the moment. He leaned down, taking possession of her lips, making her feel that the world had suddenly stopped turning.

Lydia leaned back and looked into Zack's eyes. She saw the depth of his love there, the strength of his feeling for her.

"What will the children think if they see us?" she asked suddenly.

Zack smiled. "They'll think that their mother and father love each other. That's what they'll think," he murmured. "Because that's the truth, isn't it?"

Lydia felt her face glow with the realization of that truth.

"I love you, Lydia," Zack whispered. "You know that, don't you."

With barely a pause Lydia nodded. "I know that, Zack. And I know it has been a long road, and it has taken me such a long time to find you. Truly find you." Lydia reached up and ran the back of her fingers down the side of Zack's face. "But I've found you, Zack. At last. And I love you."

Zack's eyes widened and she saw his lower lip tremble slightly. His head dipped and he kissed Lydia.

As she sank into his embrace, and with the sound of the children coming nearer, Lydia Buchanan realized that it was possible that, even if a woman had to wait for what seemed like an eternity, that eventually, if she had faith and trust, then all good things could come to the one who waited.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading Zack's Montana Bride. I hope you enjoyed it.

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The Montana Ranchers and Brides series

Montana ranchers and their search for brides in the 1880's

An Amazon Bestselling series in Historical Romance

These books are all standalone stories and can be read without having read previous volumes

Nathan's Montana Bride

Devlin's Montana Bride

Trent's Montana Bride

Joshua's Montana Bride

Aaron's Montana Bride

Zack's Montana Bride

The Brides of Sweetheart Falls

Three sisters and their struggles finding husbands and new lives in 1870's Wyoming

An Amazon Bestselling series in Historical Romance

Book 1
Mail Order Vows
(Cassie's story)

Book 2
Mail Order Beau
(Martha's story)

Book 3
Mail Order Blessing
(Rachel's story)