Nora Roberts - Black Hills

“Oh! I’ve got to go show Mary. And Lucius. Well, mostly Mary.”

When she ran off, Lil just grinned. “See? A really good day.”

FAMILY CAME FIRST, Lil reminded herself and tried not to worry as she sat at her parents’ dining room table. Her mother wanted-insisted on-a celebrational family dinner, so she was where she should be. With them, and Farley and Tansy, with Lucy and Sam, who’d stood as Farley’s unofficial grandparents. And, of course, with Coop.

But her mind kept turning back to the refuge. Security system up and running, she reminded herself. Matt and Lucius and two of the interns on-site.

Everything was fine. They were fine, her animals were fine. But if something happened when she wasn’t there…

As conversation buzzed around them, Coop leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Stop worrying.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”

She lifted her wineglass and made sure she had a smile on her face.

Late summer wedding. She tuned in. And here it was already April, so much to be done. Debates ran on the venue. The farm, the refuge. On the time. Afternoon or evening.

Did he know she wasn’t there? Lil wondered. Would he try to hurt someone just to prove he could?

Under the table, Coop took her hand and squeezed. Not supportive and lover-like, but cut it out.

She kicked him, but pulled herself back. “If I get a vote, it’s for here at the farm, afternoon. That way we can party right through the evening. We’ll close the refuge for the day. There’s more room here, and if we have any sort of bad luck with the weather-”

“Bite your tongue,” Jenna ordered.

“Well, the house is more accommodating than the cabins.”

“Close for the day?” Tansy pushed that single point. “Really?”

“Come on, Tans. It’s not every day my best friend gets married.”

“Oh, boy, we have to shop!” Jenna winked at Lucy. “Dresses, flowers, food, cake.”

“We were thinking to keep it kind of simple,” Farley put in.

To which Joe muttered, “Good luck, son.”

“Simple’s no problem. But simple still has to be pretty and perfect.” Jenna emphasized the point by jabbing a finger in Joe’s arm. “I hope your mother can come out soon, Tansy, so we can put our heads together.”

“There’s no stopping her. She’s called three times since I told her, and already has a stack of bride magazines.”

“We’ll have a girl trip when she comes. Oh, this will be fun! Lucy, we have to have a shopping safari.”

“I’m already there. Jenna, remember the flowers at Wendy Rearder’s daughter’s wedding? We can outdo that.”

“Simple.” Sam rolled his eyes at Farley.

“Before you women get too far along and start talking about releasing a hundred doves and six white horses-”

“Horses.” Jenna interrupted her husband by clapping her hands together in delight. “Oh, we could do a horse and carriage. We could-”

“Just hold on, Jenna. Farley’s looking pale.”

“All he has to do is show up. You leave the rest to us,” Jenna told Farley.

“Meanwhile,” Joe said, pointing a hushing finger at his wife. “Jenna and I talked about some practicalities. Now, the two of you might have something else in mind, or maybe you haven’t thought about it as yet. But Jenna and I want to give you three acres. Room enough for you to build a house, have a place of your own. Close enough to make it easy for both of you to get to work. That is, if you’re planning on staying on here at the farm, Farley, and Tansy’s staying on with Lil.”

Farley stared. “But… the land should go to Lil, by rights.”

“Don’t be an ass, Farley,” Lil said.

“I… I don’t know what to say or how to say it.”

“It’s something you’ll want to talk to your bride about,” Joe told him. “The land’s yours if you decide you want it. And no hard feelings if you decide you don’t.”

“The bride has something to say.” Tansy rose, went first to Joe, then Jenna, to kiss them both. “Thank you. You’ve treated me like family since Lil and I were roommates in college. Now I am family. I can’t think of anything I’d like more than to have a home here near you, near Lil.” She beamed over at Farley. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

“I’d say that’s settled.” Joe reached up to close his hand over the one Tansy had on his shoulder. “First chance we get, we’ll go scout out that acreage.”

Too overcome to speak, Farley only nodded. He cleared his throat. “I’m just gonna…” He rose, slipped into the kitchen.

“Now we’ve got something interesting to talk about.” Sam rubbed his hands together. “We’ve got a house to build.”

Jenna exchanged a look with Tansy as she got up and followed Farley.

He’d gone straight through and stood on the porch, his hands braced on the rail. The rain Lil had scented that morning pattered the ground, soaked the fields waiting for plowing. He straightened when Jenna laid a hand on his back, then turned and hugged her hard. Hard.

“Ma.”

She made a little sound, weepy pleasure, as she pressed him close. He rarely called her that, and usually with a kind of joking tone when he did. But now that single word said everything. “My sweet boy.”

“I don’t know what to do with all this happy. You used to say ‘Find your happy, Farley, and hold on to it.’ Now I’ve got so much I can’t hold it all. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You just did. Best thanks going.”

“When I was a boy they said I’d never have anything, never amount to anything, never be anything. It was easy to believe them. It was harder to believe what you and Joe told me. Kept telling me. I could be whatever I wanted. I could have whatever I could earn. But you made me believe it.”

“Tansy said she’s the luckiest woman in the world, and she’s pretty damn lucky. But I’m running neck-and-neck. I have both my kids close by. I can watch them make their lives. And I get to plan a wedding.” She drew back, patted his cheeks. “I’m going to be such a pain in the ass.”

His grin came back. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“You say that now. Wait until I’m nagging you brainless. Are you ready to go back? If you’re out here too long Sam and Joe will have designed your house before you get a chance to say whoa.”

“Right now?” He swung an arm around her shoulders. “I’m ready for anything.”

Wicked, windy thunderstorms pounded through the night, hammered into the morning. Then it got nasty.

The first rattle of hail spat out like pea gravel, bouncing on the paths, chattering on the rooftops. Well-versed in spring weather, Lil ordered all vehicles that could fit under cover. She maneuvered her own truck through the mud as the golf balls began to ping.

The animals had enough sense to take shelter, but she watched some of the interns racing around, laughing, scooping up handfuls of hail to toss. As if it were a party, she thought, and the slashes of lightning cracking the black sky were just an elaborate light show.

She shook her head as she caught sight of Eric juggling three balls of hail, like a street performer while the cannon fire of thunder boomed.

Someone, she thought, was going to get beaned.

She cursed as a clump the size of a healthy peach slammed into the hood of her truck. Even as she squeezed the truck under the overhang on the storage shed she snarled at the new dent.

Not laughing now, she noted, as interns scrambled for the nearest shelter. There would be more dents and dings, she knew. Shredded plantings and an unholy mess of ice to scrape and shovel. But for now, she was warm and dry and opted to wait it out in the truck.