Chapter 12

"Hey, beautiful," Link said, and Misty could get used to being greeted like that every single day.

"Hey, Link," Janie said before Misty could respond. "Oh, were you not talking to me?" She grinned at Misty and then Link, who took a moment to blink.

Then he said, "Of course I meant you, Janie."

She trilled out a laugh and took him by the elbow, turning him back to the group of Glovers who'd already assembled at the bonfire. "Tell me which of these cowboys are old enough for me. With the hats and the jeans and the boots, y'all start to look my age."

"Sure," Link said. "Do you guys want to go around and meet everyone?" He cut a look over to Misty, who suddenly wanted to ball her hands into fists and shove them in her pockets.

"Are your parents here?" she asked. Janie released him, and Link reached for Misty's hand.

"I've seen my momma. She was putting tablecloths on the tables a few minutes ago." He nodded to his right. "She's standin' right there with Uncle Ace."

"We didn't meet an Ace at lunch the other day," Misty said.

"He's gluten-free, so he probably didn't come."

"Yeah, these cinnamon rolls look totally made for him, then." Misty squeezed his hand, glad when he grinned at her.

"Well, my aunt Holly is a chef, so I guarantee she made a pan of them gluten-free for him. She's his wife."

"Who's whose wife?"

"Speak of the wife," Link said as a tall brunette stepped in front of them and slid a tray of condiments on the table. "I was just telling these fine ladies about how you're the best gluten-free chef in the world, and that you'd for-sure made a pan of gluten-free cinnamon rolls for Uncle Ace."

The woman—obviously Holly—smiled. "Two pans, actually. Have you seen how much chili we have here tonight?" She looked down the twenty feet of folding tables and back to Link.

Misty looked up at him too, which allowed her to see him swallow. "I'm?—"

"Don't you dare," he hissed out of the side of his mouth. Misty pretended to zip her lips, which only made Holly smile wider. "Aunt Holly, this is my girlfriend, Misty. Misty, this is Aunt Holly. She and her husband Ace live right next to the cemetery."

"It's so great to meet you," Holly said as she leaned in and pressed a quick peck to Misty's cheek. "Link has said a lot about you."

"Not true," Link said quickly.

Misty laughed lightly. "Oh, Link doesn't talk a whole lot, ever, so I doubt that."

"I've heard your name," Holly said as someone yelled. They all looked that way, and Misty saw yet another Glover arriving with his family.

"That's Bishop and Montana," Link murmured. "He's the only one with grandkids."

"He barely looks older than me," Misty said, shocked at the youthful exuberance on the man bringing over even more cinnamon rolls. "Are we really eating chili with cinnamon rolls?"

"Is there a better way to eat chili?"

"It's June sixteenth," Misty said. "I didn't know Texans ate hot things in the summer."

Link simply blinked at her. "Chili is an all-weather food," he said, deadly serious.

"What about that one?" Janie asked, and Misty wanted to roll her eyes. Janie had definitely dated more than her, but she had a sister back in Dallas who was probably going to get divorced, and there was no way she'd stay in Three Rivers past their assignment.

Misty didn't have anything or anyone truly tethering her to Dallas—only the stubborn streak inside her which insisted she live in a big city.

"That's Russ," Link said. "And he's probably fifteen years older than you."

"That's okay," Janie said, and she moved toward the dark-haired cowboy who stood with a couple of other men who looked to be in their forties.

"She's going to be the death of me," Misty said as her friend walked away.

"My daddy just got here," Link said. He stepped in front of her. "I don't really see how I can just ignore them tonight. You've met Momma already. Can we just do the formal intros and be done with it?"

"Link." She reached up and brushed her fingers along the longer curls of hair that hung down from his cowboy hat. "Of course." She smiled at him, and he returned the gesture, but it wasn't the brightness she'd seen previously.

His nerves definitely shone through, but he turned and faced his parents. "Let's do this."

"It's just your parents," she said. "I met them at the wedding."

"Sort of," he muttered. "And it's a big deal to me, Misty." He looked at her as they kept walking toward the group of adults—not just his parents—who'd gathered on the fringes of the bonfire's heat. "It's why we broke up last time. This is what I wanted to do, and we're doing it before we even go out."

"You've got to stop worrying about when things happen," she said. "There's no timeline for how a relationship is supposed to go." Plus, they'd been out before. He wasn't a complete stranger the way he'd been when he'd sat down at the table outside the coffee truck.

Several of the Glovers saw Link and Misty approaching, and they seemed to stop talking mid-sentence. "Stop staring," someone hissed, but Misty didn't see anyone's mouth move.

"Hey," Link said. "Everyone, I wanted to introduce you to Misty Granger. She's staying in Cabin Five for a bit, until things with her apartment get sorted." He smiled down at her, and Misty caught sight of a glimmer of the Link she got when they were alone. "We're seeing each other again."

"It's so great to be here," Misty said, really meaning it. "This place is so nice. Link's told me a lot about it, but there's nothing like seeing it."

"We'll start closest to you," Link said. "This here's Aunt Willa. I think you probably met her on Monday."

"We did," Willa said. "From a distance." She wore a warm smile, and Misty's heartbeat cartwheeled through her chest.

"I love your sermons," Misty said, a bit star-struck to be standing here with her. "You always seem to strike something in my soul that needs to be awakened."

No one said anything, and Misty looked down the row. "And Cactus," she said. "We met outside by the horses."

He simply glared back at her, and Misty wondered if he ever smiled. Willa nudged him and said, "Say hello. It's not her fault you didn't get your way with the desserts."

"Hello, Misty," Cactus said, and there appeared a smile. His bright blue eyes crinkled, and oh, he was charming and charismatic when he brought that thing out.

"Beside him is my aunt Ida," Link said. "Her husband is a cop, but I'm not sure where he is." Link looked around while Misty shook hands with Ida.

"You're Etta's twin," Misty said.

Next to her, Link's daddy chuckled. "She loves being introduced that way."

"I didn't introduce her that way," Link said and Misty followed up immediately with, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant—" She looked at Link for help, because she'd already made a blunder here.

"I met Etta the other day, at the luncheon, and you look like her. I was just verbalizing the mental connection I'd made. I'm sorry."

A beat of silence filled the entire world, and then several people started laughing. Misty wasn't sure if she should join them or burst into tears, and she squeezed Link's hand hard. He hadn't burst into laughter, but he definitely wore a happy grin. A golden retriever grin.

"Hey, relax," he said. He lifted his arm around her and pulled her closer. "Ida doesn't care at all. She knows she's Etta's twin, and she knows Etta meets most people before her."

"Why's that?" Misty asked.

"Because she lives down in town, and Etta lives up here." Link glanced to his father, and he said, "Daddy, this is Misty. Misty, my father, Bear Glover." He didn't stumble over any of the words, but Misty thought of him as a little, tiny boy. Three years old. Without a mother or a father.

How much could he remember? Anything?

She remembered too much of her childhood, and she determined she'd ask Link later as she stepped toward his daddy. "Link has told me all the best things about you," she said as he gave her a quick Texas-style greeting. A fast hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

"Then you guys must not talk much about me," Bear said, his smile healthy and happy on his face.

"Daddy," Link said, shaking his head. "And you've met my momma, but Momma, this is Misty. Misty, my momma."

She took a moment to watch the love as it rolled across Link's features, and then she focused on Sammy.

"You don't have to call me Momma," she said, her gaze still on Link too. "My name is Sammy."

Link's cowboy boots shuffled along the gravel, but he didn't speak.

"Sammy, it's great to formally meet you," Misty said as she stepped in to greet his mother.

"The cabin's okay?" Sammy asked. "No one's lived there in a while."

"It's awesome," Misty said, smiling at everyone. "I don't know how long we'll be here, but Link says it's okay."

"It's fine," Bear said. "No one else is using it."

"The state is trying to find us somewhere, but there's not much for rent right now. My whole building can't go back."

"You can stay here as long as you want," Sammy said. "It's just a long drive to work every day, I imagine."

"Yeah," Misty said, because she wasn't going to argue about that. Getting up earlier had been a challenge, as she wasn't much of a morning person, but she and Janie could at least carpool and split the cost for gas.

Before Misty could think of something else to say, the gravel made a skating, grinding sound, and someone slid into the back of Misty's legs. She took a step forward as a child started to cry.

Without thinking, she dropped into a crouch and pulled the little girl onto her lap. "Hey, it's okay."

The blonde girl kept crying, and she looked up at Misty. She smoothed back her hair as she smiled at her. "You're okay. It was just a small tumble. Let me see, okay?" Misty brushed away the gravel that had stuck to the girl's knees, catching a bit of blood.

"It's nothing, see. I bet we can grab a bandage and it'll be fine." She wiped the girl's tears, only then realizing that more than one person had started to stare at her.

"Lara." A woman who couldn't be older than Misty arrived.

"I falled, Mama."

Misty transferred the girl to her mother's lap. "It's not bleeding too badly."

The woman looked at her with a small smile. "She has a couple of left feet." She got up with the help of Link. "Thanks, Link. Come on, Lara. Auntie Etta will have a Band-Aid."

Misty accepted Link's hand too, and he pulled her up as well. She hadn't gone home from City Hall before stopping by this bonfire, because she and Janie had been late getting away from the work.

"That's Aurora," Link said. "She's my uncle Bishop's daughter."

"Ah, yes," Misty said, though the family tree was starting to splinter in her head. "Uncle Bishop." She looked at him, and he seemed to get the hint, because he waved good-bye to his family.

He turned as he said, "Excuse us for a minute."

Misty wasn't sure why she'd suddenly become so overwhelmed, only that she had. "Sorry," she said.

"It's fine," he said. "I know it's a lot."

Everywhere Misty looked, she saw more people. She wanted to escape back to her cabin, but she wouldn't pull Link from his family bonfire. "Did your aunts make this just for you?" she asked as they left the blazing fire behind.

"What do you mean?" He swung her hand easily between them.

"I mean, you've told me about the famed chili with cinnamon rolls. I thought I'd never see it."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Coincidence."

"You didn't ask them to make it to show me?"

"No, ma'am." He nodded to someone on their right. "Do you want to sneak away and eat somewhere else?"

"Yes," Misty said with a long sigh. Immediately, her stomach clenched. "I mean, it's fine."

"I know we're a lot," he murmured. "I was hoping to introduce you just to my family, and we'd expand from there, but…."

"Electrical fire," she said, because she'd been using that as a reason for a lot of things this week.

"Electrical fire," he said. "As soon as we pray, we'll just dish up some food and head back to my cabin. Or yours. Or something. We can come back in a couple of hours, when it's dark and the marshmallows and Starburst come out."

Misty smiled at him. "I can do this."

"But you don't have to." He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Okay? It's fine. We've had a crazy day on the ranch today, and I'm fine to get away from the chaos for a bit."

"Okay," she said, because she wasn't going to argue with him over this.

Behind her, someone emitted a shrill whistle, and a couple more people joined in. Misty and Link turned back to the group, but he didn't take her closer. Ward had gotten up on a chair, and he lifted both hands above his head.

"Everyone's not here yet, but we're gonna get started anyway. We'll pray, and then there's dinner, desserts, and roasting later. Please keep an eye on your kids with the fire and everything, and thanks for comin'."

He got down and another man that Misty was pretty sure was Link's uncle Judge got up on the chair. He pressed his cowboy hat to his chest and waited several moments while the other cowboys did the same.

Misty quickly crossed her arms and bowed her head, something she'd never felt before seeping through her.

"Dear Lord," Judge said, and tears crowded into Misty's eyes. She knew instantly what this ranch had that she didn't. That she sorely lacked.

Family.

As Judge prayed with gratitude for the hands which had made dinner tonight, for the people who had come to join them, and for the land they'd been entrusted with, Misty fought a great battle with herself and her emotions.

"Bless the food," he said, and Misty started to feel more stable. "Bless any who are here who have a special need at this time, like a place to call home or a health issue. We're grateful for family, for each other, and for the bounty in our lives. Amen."

"Amen," rang through the air, but Misty couldn't get her voice to work. She spun away from the Glovers and all of their guests and walked away.

"Misty," Link said after her, but she couldn't stop. Of course, he wasn't going to just let her rush off, and she heard his footsteps behind her. "Sweetheart."

She ducked into the shade cast by the silo, a sob wrenching out of her throat. Link caught her then, and she faced him as he said, "Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She grabbed onto him and sank into his arms, his chest.

"It's something," he murmured.

Misty couldn't articulate too much, so she simply wrapped her arms around Link and held on. His family, his reality, literally everything about him was so different from her and hers. She couldn't help thinking as she stood there in his embrace that he could rescue her from her shell of a life and provide one that was truly worth living.