Forever And A Day (Montana Brides, Book #7) (18 page)

***

Trent, Gracie, and Jessica arrived home as the sun was setting. Most of the ranch hands came to the main house to see them and to help eat the cheesecakes Mrs. Davies had made.

Jessica slept through the hugs and noise like a seasoned cowgirl, barely stirring as Gracie got her ready for bed.

Jordan looked at Jessica’s legs, kicking in the air. “She’s grown an extra couple of inches since you’ve been away.”

“Babies tend to do that.” Gracie smiled as she replaced Jessica’s bulging diaper with a clean one. “She’s got a whole lot more growing ahead of her. Do you want to put her in her crib?”

Apart from when they’d been away on vacation, Jordan had tucked his niece in her crib most nights. He didn’t know why he enjoyed putting Jessica to bed, but she didn’t seem to mind, and Gracie was appreciative of the help. When Gracie wasn’t with him, he’d sit in Jessica’s rocking chair and sing to her, taking in every detail of her tiny face.

She was the cutest baby he’d ever seen. With her little rosebud mouth and big blue eyes, she’d captured his heart from the moment he’d first seen her.

“You go on up. I’ll be there soon.” Gracie started tidying the baby things that were all around them.

Jordan looked down at his niece and smiled. She had everything a girl could need. With a full tummy, a clean bottom, and a Montana Grizzlies nightshirt hanging to her knees, she looked cute. So he pulled his cell phone out and snapped a photo of her grinning sleepily up at him.

He was sure Jessica reached out to him, sure she’d missed their nightly ritual. And when her little fingers held onto his hand he felt a surge of love.

“Are you going to take our little girl upstairs or do you want me to do it?” Mrs. Davies knelt beside him ready to swoop down on Jessica if he didn’t move quickly enough.

“You get to spend time with her during the day,” Jordan said with a smile on his face. “But you can have a quick hold before I put her to bed.”

Mrs. Davies didn’t hesitate. She picked Jessica up and cuddled her close. “We’ve all missed you, little one.” She kissed Jessica’s head and passed her to Jordan. “Go do your thing before I get too clucky.”

He held Jessica in his arms and carefully walked upstairs. Someone had already been in her room, folding down the sheets and closing the curtains. He settled his big frame in the rocking chair and started singing their favorite songs. Jessica smiled when he sung
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
, then started to really drift off when he got to
Rock a Bye Baby
. He’d never liked the way that particular song ended. Who the hell let a baby fall out of a tree? So he changed the words and felt better.

By the time he’d finished all of the lullabies he knew, Jessica was fast asleep in his arms. He spent a few extra minutes staring at her before putting her in the crib. He’d like to have children of his own one day. But he needed a wife first, someone who would stick around and see that they could have a future together. At the rate he was going, he’d be old and wrinkly before he had children.

Gracie was eating a slice of cheesecake when he got back to the living room. “Did you put the baby monitor on?”

“Yep. When do the batteries need changing?” Jordan wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Not where his niece was concerned.

“It’s supposed to beep when they’re nearly empty.”

Trent passed him a mug of coffee. “You’re worse than I am.”

“I haven’t seen Jessica for nearly three weeks. I’ve had withdrawal symptoms.”

“Don’t think you’re coming on vacation with us next time. I need someone to look after the ranch. Tell me about the fire.”

Jordan swallowed his coffee. He’d been wondering if Trent knew about the accident. “One of the guests left a hairdryer plugged into the wall. It caught fire and set the smoke alarms off.”

“Was everyone okay?” Gracie asked.

“A bit of smoke inhalation for the couple that had been in the room, but the other two couples were fine. Pete was staying in my apartment when it happened, so he took care of everyone.”

“Where were you?” Trent stared at him curiously.

Jordan put his brother’s curiosity down to the fact that he didn’t think he had a social life. If his brother knew what he’d been up to, there might have been more behind his question than curiosity.

Jordan quickly glanced around the room. Mrs. Davies had disappeared and most of the ranch hands had left. “Alex had his bachelor party on Saturday night. Except it wasn’t your traditional bachelor party.”

“Didn’t think it would be with Ben and Adam organizing it. What happened?”

“They invited everyone. Bride, bridesmaids, family, friends. We had about eighty people there.”

“Must have been a long night.”

“You could say that,” he muttered. He knew Gracie was watching him. She might be tiny, but she missed nothing.

“Is Tracey back in town?” she asked.

Tracey was his ex-girlfriend. The woman that had dumped him for a guy from Wyoming. “Not that I know of. There wasn’t much damage from the fire in the barn. The insurance assessor has already been out and the commercial cleaners have done what they can.”

“Let’s go and have a look.” Trent took his dishes through to the kitchen and came back for Jordan. “Are you on track to have the room finished before the next guests arrive?”

“We’ll make it.” Jordan walked out of the living room with his brother. He could tell that Gracie still had questions about Saturday night, but Trent seemed oblivious. And Jordan knew who he’d sooner be talking to.

Trent grabbed his jacket as they headed outside.

“It’s not that cold.” Jordan grinned at Trent’s scowl. “You’ve gone soft while you’ve been in California.”

“It was eighty degrees most days. Almost a sauna compared to Montana. So what else happened while we were gone?” Trent asked.

“You mean after Mrs. Davies decided to extend her vacation by two weeks?”

Trent stopped in the middle of the yard. “Who fed the guests? Tell me it wasn’t Frank?”

“I advertised. Sarah Thornton came and gave us a hand. She works on Alex’s ranch.”

Trent frowned and started walking. “Tall blonde with blue eyes?”

“That’s her. Have you met her?”

“A couple of times when I went to Alex’s place. Seems nice enough. Did she do a good job?” Trent opened the front door of the barn and took a deep breath. “At least you can’t smell the smoke.”

“It was the spray the cleaners used. Took the smell right away. Sarah cooked great meals. Everyone was happy. She knows about computers too. When she saw my registration process she offered to streamline it, make it easier to use.”

Trent walked upstairs. “Will it help?”

“I’m using her spreadsheet now. It beats having to find bits of paper everywhere.”

Trent stopped in the doorway of the third bedroom. “I thought you said there wasn’t much damage?”

Jordan looked around the room. He could see how someone might get concerned over what they saw, but it was all cosmetic. In another few days they’d have everything looking as good as new. “The firefighters had to rip a few sheets of drywall off to make sure the fire hadn’t gone into the walls. The carpets were trashed. The cleaners washed down the walls and ceiling with some kind of solution, but they’ll need to be repainted.”

“What about the mattress and the curtains?”

“The cleaners said they’ll be able to get them back as good as new. They’ve got them at their warehouse.”

Trent bent down and touched the burned floor. “So Sarah’s streamlining your registration process. Is there anything else she’s doing?”

Jordan looked quickly at Trent. He didn’t know if his brother was asking a genuine question or fishing for information. “She’s developed a lot of websites and thought we could improve ours. She’s working with some students at Bozeman Elementary. They’re using our ranch vacation business as a case study. In the next few weeks, they’ll redesign our website and link in the other ranching activities we offer.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy?”

“No busier than usual. Sarah’s going to show me how to update the website and use social media to advertise the business.”

“So where did Sarah sleep on Saturday night?”

Shit
. He knew. “How did you find out?”

“We saw Colin O’Grady at the airport. He told us about the fire and a pretty blonde wearing one of your sweatshirts. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I wish I knew.”

Trent glanced at him, then walked across the room to the ensuite. “It’s just as well the smoke didn’t do too much damage in here. It would have taken more time than we’ve got to re-tile the walls and floor.”

“The door was closed when the fire started.” Jordan stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the scorch marks along the side of the dresser. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. I can’t guarantee I’ve got an answer, though.”

“What if, you know, theoretically, you liked someone who planned on leaving soon? What would you do?”

Trent raised his eyebrows. “I take it this theoretical someone is female?”

Jordan nodded.

“You’ve got to give me more than that. What level of ‘like’ are we talking about?”

“I don’t know.” He hadn’t meant to sound pissed off, but he didn’t have much time. He took a deep breath and tried to put into words what he’d been feeling. “I like the way she smells…”

Trent laughed at that one.

“It wasn’t meant to be funny.”

“Mrs. Davies smells nice. Do you like Mrs. Davies in the same way you like your theoretical female?”

His brother was driving him insane. “Why can’t you give me a straight answer?”

“Because you’re not giving me a straight question. Now tell me what’s really going on before Gracie tells me. She’ll hear everything through secondhand gossip and it won’t be pretty.”

“I like Sarah Thornton. She likes me, except she’s still getting over an idiot ex-fiancé. He stole a computer program she’d been working on. She won the court case against him, but she’s planning on going back to Portland to work.”

“Is this the same person who’s been working as a housekeeper on Alex’s ranch?” Trent sounded doubtful.

“I haven’t worked out why she ended up there either, but yeah, that’s her.”

“Does she like living in Bozeman?”

“I think so.”

“So it’s just you she doesn’t like?” If Trent hadn’t been smiling, Jordan would have walked out of the barn. His brother had a warped sense of humor that wasn’t doing his heart much good.

Trent wrapped his arm around Jordan’s shoulders. “It will work out how it’s supposed to work out. Have a little faith.”

“Faith isn’t going to make her stay any longer than she wants to.”

“But it might bring her back,” Trent said gently.

***

“So tell me again how the bride gets to have a bachelorette party, but the groom doesn’t?” Sarah passed Tess a long piece of string to tie a bunch of balloons together. They were in Emily’s boutique, adding streamers and balloons to every shelf and light fitting they could see.

“Don’t be such a worry wart,” Tess said. “The boys understand. It’s a female thing.”

“What if they decide to gate-crash our party?” Sarah wasn’t worried about most of the groomsmen, just one in particular. She’d tried to tell Jordan about what was going on with her business, with her mom and dad. But every time she mentioned Portland he got defensive and started scowling so hard that she gave up.

“Emily can’t complain if Alex turns up,” Sally said from behind a mannequin. “She wiggled her way onto Ben’s guest list and might have to repay the favor.”

Sarah finished knotting a bunch of balloons together then carefully climbed a ladder. “I can’t figure out why Ben and the other guys would want to gate-crash a bachelorette party. It’s not as if we’ve planned anything exciting.”

“A room filled with single and semi-single women are what Ben and Adam dream about.” Sally laughed. “They have basic needs.”

“And speaking about basic needs,” Tess said. “Can someone help me bring the food across to the boutique?”

Sarah backed down the ladder. “I can. I’ll just attach a streamer to this light fitting. How long have we got until everyone arrives?”

Sally looked at her watch. “An hour. Emily and Gracie will be here soon.”

“Okay. That’s the last streamer attached.” Sarah hopped off the ladder and gazed around the room. Even without the streamers the room would have looked great. The metallic gold and black balloons were fabulous against the gilt-framed mirrors. Sparkly chandeliers hung from the ceiling and gave the room an old world charm. Emily’s boutique had a hint of Parisian sophistication that drew people into the store for the experience of being there.

“Wow.” Emily stood inside the front door, staring at her boutique. “The room looks amazing.”

Sally lifted the bunch of flowers out of Emily’s arms and walked across to some vases. “Wait until you see what Tess and Annie have been baking. No one will want to go home.”