Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

C aroline Thompson stood at her front window and watched the sky lighten and darken every few seconds. Clouds rolled across Three Rivers, and they moved through her soul too.

“It’s going to rain tomorrow,” she muttered to herself.

“What did you say?” her sister asked.

Abigail had come from Colorado Springs for Caroline’s wedding. Her mom and dad had come too, as had her brother. Belle still lived here, of course, with her daughter, Judy. Caroline had enjoyed having her family in town for a few days. They’d all met Dawson. He’d taken them around on the Three Histories tour, something he’d done for Caroline last fall.

They enjoyed themselves, visiting the ranches, museums, and parks surrounding Three Rivers. But her wedding was tomorrow, and they’d planned an outdoor event in mid-March at the Rhinehart Ranch. The house she and Dawson would live in had been finished two weeks ago.

Dawson had moved in and had been living there by himself for a fortnight. Caroline was eager for this next chapter of her life to begin, but she didn’t want it to start with a thunderstorm.

“Dear God,” she prayed to the window, to the wind outside, to the gray sky, to the Good Lord Above. “The wedding will really only be a half-hour. Thou can calm the seas for Jesus to walk on. I know Thou can clear the skies for half an hour for my wedding.”

Someone yelled from behind her. The door leading into the kitchen slammed. She turned away from the window and went into the kitchen to find Belle there, lifting her recyclable grocery bags onto the counter.

“Whew. That wind is no joke today,” Belle said.

Caroline’s frown deepened, moving all the way into her toes as she went to help her sister unload the groceries.

“Zona is staging True Blue just in case we need to move inside,” Belle said without looking at Caroline.

Caroline wanted to pull a move Dawson often did. When he didn’t like the conversation, he’d grunt, he’d glance, he’d think, and then finally, he’d say something. It was a good recipe for how to deal with something so that he didn’t say something he would regret later, and Caroline employed it now.

She grunted; she glanced at Belle; she went back to unloading grapes and lettuce and cherry tomatoes while she thought about a proper response. She didn’t want to get married in True Blue, the Glover family barn at Shiloh Ridge Ranch. Lincoln and Misty had gotten married there, as well as a whole host of Link’s aunts and uncles. It was a beautiful facility, Caroline could admit that.

Big space. Easily decorated. Full kitchen. Very rustic, and perfect for cowboys. Caroline could have all of that. But it had nothing to do with her and nothing to do with Dawson.

She wanted to be married on his ranch with his hens, his crows, his dog, and his family. She wanted to be part of the Rhinehart legacy. And she would be tomorrow when she took on his last name. She wanted to do it at his ranch, silly as that may be.

They didn’t have a nice indoor facility with space for a large number of people. And the Rhineharts, being old Three Rivers blood, knew everyone in town. Heck, the entirety of the Glover family would come from Shiloh Ridge.

Finn and Edith, and Alex and Nikki, and a whole host of cowboys from Three Rivers Ranch. Golden Hour Ranch was owned by Brit Bellamore and he and his wife were coming, as well as his three kids and their spouses and families.

The cowboys took care of each other around Three Rivers, and Dawson had been working with many of them for decades. And if not Dawson, then his daddy. Caroline was old enough to know that a wedding wasn’t just about the bride and groom.

“What about…?” she started to ask, but she couldn’t finish. There was nowhere on the Rhinehart Ranch that could house three hundred people. Absolutely nowhere.

“I’m just going to pray that there’s no rain,” she said. “I only need it not to rain for thirty minutes right in the middle of the day. Surely God can do that.”

Belle looked at her, a nervous tic of apprehension in her eyes. “I’ll pray for the same thing.”

Belle was going to stay in Caroline’s house. In fact, Belle had been healing and recovering from her divorce over the past year and a half so well that she was nearly in the position where she could purchase the house for herself. She was going to work on that after the wedding, but for right now, she was renting it from Caroline for only what it cost to pay the mortgage.

“Auntie C, look at my dress!” Judy said, and Caroline turned around to find her niece standing there in a beautiful, pale yellow dress.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful.” Caroline crouched down to hug her niece. “Do you think you can wrangle the hens?” They had planned for the hens to wear little collars around their feathered necks, tied with twine that would go to one main piece that Judy would hold as she walked down the aisle with the hens. She was the only flower girl as Abby’s kids were a little bit older and would simply walk with the family.

“I can do it,” Judy said. “I’ve been practicing real good.”

“That’s great.” Caroline smiled and straightened and stepped into her mother’s arms. “It’s going to rain tomorrow, Mama,” she whispered.

“Oh, it’s not going to rain,” Mama said. “I’ve been having a good long talk with both Mother Nature and God, and it’s going to be fine.”

Caroline wanted to believe her, so she held on to her shoulders in another long, tight squeeze, and then she stepped back. “All right,” she said as she drew in a deep breath. “Belle just got back with the groceries, and that means we need to get started on the feast.”

Dawson and his family would be dining at Caroline’s house tonight. He was bringing Brandon, Duke, and Arizona, and their four kids would come, of course, as would Wade and Abby. Two families coming together for one final meal before they were all officially joined.

Caroline had such a vision of what her wedding would be like, with the crows hopping down the aisle ahead Dawson, and Judy leading the hens after the wedding party had marched their way to the altar.

Dawson had included his friends and family members in the wedding party, but Caroline hadn’t asked any friends to be in the wedding party except those that were married to Dawson’s cowboy friends. Only her family would walk in the wedding party.

Judy would follow with the hens. Then the crows, if they could be properly enticed with the right shiny things. Dawson would walk down the aisle with Ruffin at his side, and then Caroline and her daddy would come last. She could just see it playing out, with gorgeous rays of sunshine tickling the tent that they could hopefully put up in the morning—if the wind wasn’t too strong.

Though Caroline owned the house, Mama moved into the kitchen and whipped out her recipe cards. She handed the funeral potatoes to Belle, the artichoke dip to Caroline, the walking taco dip to Abby, reserving the spiced apple tarts for herself.

“This is a tight space,” she said, and Caroline almost bristled at the near criticism of her house. “But I believe we can do this.” She looked at Caroline and Abby with pursed lips. “You two don’t need to be in here for a few minutes. You can do your dips at the table and then move out. Belle and I have more work to do, and we’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Sounds good, Mama,” Caroline said, because she didn’t want to argue. She was happy to have her sisters and parents here.

“What are Danny and Daddy doing?” Belle asked.

She cut a glance over to Caroline that looked a little furtive, something secretive. Caroline watched her, on high alert now. “They’re doing something at the house.”

“Something at the house?” Belle asked, echoing Caroline’s thoughts. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Mama said, clearly flustered. She turned away from everyone and started washing her hands at the sink. “Daddy said they had to go up to the ranch today to help Dawson with something at the house.”

“The house is brand new,” Caroline said. “What could they possibly have to help Dawson with at the house?”

Not only that, but everybody in the family had already taken a tour of Rhinehart Ranch, as well as the new house that Dawson had paid Bishop and Montana Glover to build. It was a beautiful house with five bedrooms, a home office, high-end finishes, and big, clear windows so that Caroline could see the world beyond.

“I don’t know,” Mama said. “That’s what they told me, and that’s where they are. Frankly, they’re out of our hair, so it doesn’t matter what they’re doing.”

Oh, it mattered to Caroline, but she decided not to push it. She met Belle’s eyes; Belle had plenty of questions there. Caroline simply shook her head oh-so-slightly, and resignation entered Belle’s expression.

“All right,” Belle said. “But we need some yard work done here at the house too. They’re not going to leave without helping me with that, are they?”

“It’s on their agenda,” Mama said somewhat crossly. “Now let’s get going. Abby, come help peel these potatoes before you start that dip.”

Abby dutifully moved into the kitchen, though she was nearly forty years old and certainly didn’t need to be bossed around by Mama. Caroline gave her a smile and squeezed her forearm as she went by.

“Thank you for coming, Abby.”

“Of course. Brett’s got the kids in town at a movie, and they’ll be back later.” She looked over to Belle. “They can help with the yard work too.” Belle said something else about that, and Caroline collected her bowl of ingredients and left them to talk.

“I’ll work out on the picnic table,” Caroline said as she moved toward the back door. “Then I’ll be out of the way for a while.” She stepped outside. The wind wasn’t warm, though the sun had come out for this moment, and she set down her bowl and ran her hands up and down her forearms, finally cradling them around her elbows.

Danny had brought out the folding tables, but he hadn’t set them up. Caroline started to count in her head how many people would be at dinner tonight. Ten from the Rhineharts. Eleven from her family.

“Twenty-one people,” she murmured, “Almost a fifty-fifty split between Rhineharts and Thompsons.”

It was a beautiful thing trying to merge two families, two lives, and Caroline really hoped that she could do it this time. All at once, she knew she could. It took both partners to be committed, and Dawson was her perfect match, her One True Love. He was kind and understanding, and she was willing to change. She couldn’t wait to start her new life as a Rhinehart and a permanent resident of Three Rivers.

But as the sunlight flickered away, as clouds moved in, Caroline looked up to the sky and prayed one more time, “Please, God, I just need thirty minutes.”