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“The diner in town has a Sunday special. Usually something yummy like pot roast or fried chicken.” Julie looked from Katie to Cord and back to Katie. Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “Unless you have other plans.”
“No, of course not. I was just thinking that I probably need to find another ride to the Shaw ranch. Cord seems to have plans and I don’t want him to feel like he has to give me a ride.”
Julie nodded in agreement. “He usually does something with Marci on Sundays. It’s their day together.”
“I see.” But she didn’t see. “Is her mother here?”
Julie’s smile dissolved and she shook her head. “No, Marci’s mom died when she was a baby. Her grandmother, Lulu Jenson, has raised her.”
The story settled in Katie’s heart and she felt a wave of pain she hadn’t expected. She shouldn’t have asked, but now that she knew Marci’s story it mattered. It made sense of a man she barely knew, made him more real, more like someone a woman would want to spend time with.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It isn’t as if it’s a secret. Cord would have told you, if he’d had a moment to spare.”
Katie didn’t agree, but she didn’t say that to Julie. To Cord Shaw, Katie was practically a stranger. He didn’t owe her stories about his life or about a child that seemed a very big part of his life.
“She’s cute and she obviously loves your brother.”
At that Julie laughed. “She does love him and he does spoil her rotten. Sometimes I think he uses her as an excuse, though.”
Katie pretended not to hear the last comment made by a sister about her older brother. What Cord did in his personal life was really none of her business. For that reason she changed the subject. “Are you sure you have room for me?”
Julie slipped an arm through Katie’s. “Of course we do. There are plenty of us Shaws here at church, so we’ll have more room heading over to the diner. I’m riding with Ryan and you can go with us.”
“That sounds great. I’ll just let Cord know so he doesn’t wonder where I’ve gone to.”
Julie pointed and Katie turned to find Cord standing behind her. Somehow she got lost for a minute in the blue of his eyes and in the smile that shifted the rugged planes of his face, emphasizing the scar near his eye and the dimple in his left cheek. A shaft of sunlight filtered through the windows, catching the slightest bit of gray at his temples. And then the sunlight was gone and the room seemed darker.
Words evaded her and she really needed to say something. Anything to put this moment to rest. And suddenly Marci was at her side, giving her the break she needed.
“Do you like to ride?” Marci asked, in maybe not the friendliest tone.
“I’m sorry?”
Katie heard Julie excuse herself and before she could stop the other woman, she was gone. Katie started to call out to her because she was an ally of sorts. Marci’s hand reached for hers, drawing her attention back to the man and girl standing in front of her.
“I’m sorry, ride?” Katie looked from Marci to Cord.
“Horses,” Marci said with a preteen roll of the eyes.
“Oh, horses.”
“Yes, horses.” Cord was smiling now.
She didn’t know if she liked to ride horses, but she knew she wanted to. She would be in Jasper Gulch for most of the month and she wanted to enjoy herself. And she could enjoy herself with Cord Shaw and Marci. No entanglements. No temptations.
He was a man who wanted only friendship. And maybe help planning this monstrosity of a wedding.
* * *
The last thing Cord had planned to do was bring Katie Archer into this part of his life. He protected Marci and Lulu. That had been his job for almost as long as Marci had been alive. But Marci had other ideas this time. For some reason she was clinging to Katie’s hand, pleading with her to go riding.
He wanted to smile at the trapped look on her face. Her jewel-colored eyes were flitting from his goddaughter to him and back to Marci. It would have made his life easier if she’d met Marci and quickly slipped away, uninterested in this part of his life. Instead, she seemed to be silently asking his permission.
Great.
He’d gone several years without getting tangled up or inviting a woman into this part of his life. He’d learned his lesson with his ex-fiancée, Susan. She’d told him from the beginning that she didn’t want Marci in their lives. He hadn’t realized until it was too late that she’d been serious. It had all become crystal clear when she’d thrown him over for his best man—his supposed best friend.
Lesson learned.
“Marci told me she wouldn’t mind if you joined us,” he admitted now to Katie because she was still standing there looking unsure. She seemed to be waiting for permission to accept. Great.
“We really don’t mind,” he continued.
And he’d love to see her on a horse, the city girl in her made-for-dresses riding boots, the scarf around her neck and hair falling in loose curls.
“I see.” She bit down on her bottom lip and then looked around.
“They all assumed you’d go and they’ve left you behind,” he explained the obvious. The church had emptied out.
“We have a picnic,” Marci offered with a hesitant smile. “And Cord has a real gentle horse.”
“Does he?” Katie looked down, smiling at his goddaughter.
He felt a real fondness for this woman, practically a stranger, at that moment. Her hesitation wasn’t about Marci. Maybe it was more that she just wasn’t interested in him. Or was she afraid of horses?
“Do you ride?” he asked.
“I’ve been once, on a trail horse.”
“The nose-to-tail kind of trail horse?” he asked, unable to hold back his amusement.
“Yes, that’s the kind.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
Pastor Ethan Johnson approached, ending the conversation. Cord smiled at the other man because he and Ethan had something in common. They were both on the list of eligible bachelors in Jasper Gulch. Men who needed to find wives. He, for one, didn’t need help. Ethan probably felt the same way.
There were plenty of single ladies in town. There were even a few new ones. There were the Shoemaker ladies, the new historian from somewhere in New Mexico, Cord’s sister Faith. The list was long. Cord knew his dad would like to see all of his kids married off. More than once lately Jackson and Nadine Shaw had mentioned that it was high time someone put some grandkids in those empty bedrooms at the ranch.
“Are you all heading out?” Pastor Ethan asked as he walked up to them, smiling at Marci and then at Katie.
Katie gave Ethan a friendly smile but not the flirty one so many single woman used on the pastor. She was definitely one of a kind. He liked that about her.
“Yes, we are and we’re sorry for keeping you late, Ethan. I didn’t realize everyone had left.” Cord glanced around the empty church. The church he’d been raised in.
It hadn’t changed much over the years. The wooden pews, the amber glass in the windows, all exactly as it had been the last time he’d come to church. It felt the same, smelled the same. The only thing that had changed was him.
“Haven’t seen you here before, have I, Cord?”
Cord smiled at that. Ethan had never seen him here. “No, I guess I haven’t been here since you took over.”
“No, I guess not.” Ethan shot a quick look at Katie and then back to Cord. “Things change.”
Not that way, they didn’t. He wouldn’t hurt Katie’s feelings by opposing the statement too heavily and what it implied.
“I reckon they do.” Cord touched Marci’s back to guide her toward the door. “And we should get out of here so you can lock up.”
Ethan walked to the front of the church with them. “Cord, I heard that with the siding on the museum, they might get some finish work done on the interior by the end of the month.”
“If we don’t run out of money.”
“I’ve found some photographs of the church that I thought might be something for the historical society, as well as an older Bible that has been left in the office. It should really be put under glass. There are even some births and family histories included.”
“Sounds like something we’d love to have in the museum, Ethan. You might even show it to Robin Frazier, she’s in town studying genealogy, I believe.”
“I think I’ve seen her.”
They were at the doors now and Cord watched as Marci, who had hurried out ahead of them, tried to get the truck door open. He hit the remote to unlock it and she shot him a big smile and climbed inside.
“She’s got more energy than ten kids,” Ethan said. He glanced up and then back at Cord. “It’s a shame to have that bell up there and no way to use it.”
“Yeah, I don’t guess I remember that bell ever working,” Cord said.
“You know, if they insist on using the recorded bells instead of fixing this one, we could always remove the bell and put it in the museum,” Ethan said, looking up at the door in the ceiling that led to the belfry.
“I could bring it up with the church council. To be honest, I don’t even know what’s wrong with the bell.”
“Neither do I. When I got here I was told there’s a bell but it doesn’t work and they showed me how to use the recordings.” As Ethan talked, he reached to undo the collar around his neck. “If you could bring up the issue, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll do it.”
The two men shook hands and then Cord turned to ask Katie if she was ready to go. Katie had already walked away. She was at the truck with Marci and he could tell from the distance that the two of them were having an animated conversation. He said a final goodbye to Ethan and headed down the sidewalk to see what was waiting for him.
On the way to his place, Cord decided to quiz Katie to find out what he could about weddings. He’d always been an organizer, but he was finding that weddings were way out of his realm of expertise. He knew computers. He could develop software. He helped market his sister’s wool. But weddings were not his thing. Really not his thing. He’d had two brides and not managed to get either of them down the aisle.
“What exactly is the plan for the wedding?” Katie asked, her smile saying what he already knew, that this wedding was just about ridiculous.
“It’s a long process, that’s the plan.” He reached to turn down the radio and pushed Marci’s hand away when she went for the volume. “I think the plan for this wedding is to drive me crazy.”
“That bad?”
“That bad.” He slowed the truck to ease through the open gate that led to his place. “When my dad plans something, he plans big. It’s why he wanted me to run for city council, so he would have help with this big centennial celebration. We couldn’t do just a weekend in the summer. Even the week I suggested wasn’t good enough. No, Jackson Shaw wants something that people will talk about, something that will draw people to town and hopefully give us a jump-start on reclaiming the Jasper Gulch of yesteryear.”
Not everyone had been on board. There were people in town who didn’t welcome new business or all of the traffic the centennial celebration had brought.
Or the drama. The missing time capsule started the whole thing off with a bang. Then came vandalism at the rodeo and the fire at the fairgrounds the previous month. At least his dad had gotten something out of that picnic. He’d gotten Faith hooked up with Pastor Ethan for a single day. Cord didn’t think his sister had seen the pastor since.
Cord figured there had to be another way to jump-start the town he’d grown up in. An easier way than staging a wedding with fifty couples. Especially if he was going to have to be the guy in charge.
He glanced at Katie. “The way things have been going, something crazy is sure to happen at this wedding. Are you positive you don’t want to be the new coordinator?”
“I think I’m pretty sure I don’t want the job. If I can help...”
The offer, made with some hesitation, took him by surprise. Cord pulled up to his little log house at the edge of Shaw Lake. It wasn’t a big lake, just five acres of fresh water from an underground spring and runoff from melting snow.
“I know we have dresses we can borrow and a business that will make flower arrangements, a bakery for the cakes and a caterer for the reception.” He’d been making plans for months, with the wedding coordinator handling details and giving him information.
“So you’re down to the final details?”
He opened his truck door but didn’t get out. “Yes, final preparations. The bouquets have to be ordered. I think there is an assortment of fall colors the women can choose from. The dress choices have to be finalized and fitted by a local seamstress. And of course we have a committee to decorate the tents the day of the wedding.”
“You should probably have the brides finish picking their dresses. Some of the fittings might take time. Especially if the women aren’t in town.”
“That’s the kind of help I’m talking about.” He only wished he could talk her into taking over. But he also knew the rumors that would start if she did, and if they were seen spending too much time together. Not that he cared too much about talk. He’d been creating talk most of his adult life.
Marci sighed and gave him a pointed look. “Do you think you two wedding planners could work on this later?”
Cord laughed at his goddaughter and pushed his door open. She was already climbing out the backdoor of his truck. “I think we can get this show on the road.”
As they walked up to his house, Katie stopped to look around. She stood in his wild, overgrown mess of a yard, all wildflowers and shrubs. He could have put down sod for grass, but he liked the wild look. The house was a two-story, log with plenty of windows facing south and west to catch the heat of the sun and to give the best view of the lake. A short distance from the house were his private stables, a barn and the acreage where he kept his horses.
He raised some of the best quarter horses in the state. It wasn’t that the Shaw family didn’t have quality horses and love their animals, but Cord took his horses a little more seriously. He raised cutting horses and sold them all over the country. His best stallion had sired several champions and had been a champion himself.
“This is beautiful,” Katie turned once more and looked back at him. “And secluded. Being out here could make a person feel like they were alone in the world.”
“Yeah, sometimes,” he admitted. But it never really bothered him. Being duped, being let down by someone you trust, those were the things that bothered Cord.
“Hello, hungry kid here.” Marci reentered the conversation with those words.
Cord growled and chased her up the front steps of the house. “Marci, you’re getting worse every day.”
“Grammy says it’s your fault I’m spoiled.”
“Yeah, I think she has to take some of the credit.”
He opened the door of the house and ushered Marci in and then held the door for Katie. It took her a few minutes. She stood at the foot of the stone steps looking around, turning in slow circles. He tried to see the area through her eyes. The wide stretching valley, grasslands that were often sprinkled with wildflowers. In the distance cattle grazed. He could barely make out the smoke from the fireplace at the main ranch.
It had been a long time since he’d brought anyone other than family to this house. As he followed Katie inside a few minutes later, he glanced around the adequately sized living room with the braided rugs, deep red leather furniture and stone fireplace. It was a good place to live. The only feminine touches came from gifts his sisters or mother gave at Christmas or on birthdays. And there were throw pillows. He had a weird feeling his sister Julie sneaked in from time to time just to add little things. A throw pillow here, a bouquet of flowers there, sometimes flowery-smelling hand soap. All the things she knew would drive him crazy.
He’d started thinking he might put a wildlife camera outside. Just to catch her in the act. He thought it would be fun to watch her creeping in with whatever feminine assault she planned.
The house had three bedrooms upstairs. He had an office and a family room at the back of the house on the main floor. More than enough room for a bachelor who spent most of his time outside. Katie followed Marci to the kitchen. He’d gotten sidetracked and the two of them were ahead of him, laughing about something. He watched Katie lean down to hear something Marci said. The moment caught him by surprise.
It was good for Marci to have these moments. Life would change soon enough. There was nothing he could do about what would happen in the coming days, weeks or months. He shoved away the troubling thoughts and smiled at Marci, the girl who was going to need him more than anyone ever had.
That thought was enough to put him back on track and keep him focused on what was important in his life.
