Montana Wrangler

Jay mentally kicked himself as he searched through the hymnal to find the right page. Why had he offered to take Paige to the spot where he went when he needed to pray? His private place of contemplation. A place where he felt closer to Annie.

He didn’t want to take someone like Paige there, a woman who didn’t want anything to do with him or his beloved horses.

As he held out the open hymnal to Paige, he realized he didn’t have to worry. She would turn down the invitation the instant she learned the only way to get to his cathedral was on horseback.

* * *

Grandpa had been right about a storm coming.

By afternoon, clouds had filled the sky, bringing with them an early twilight. Rain spattered on the roof and dimpled the worn path from the barn to the house. Inside, a cozy fire snapped and crackled in the natural-stone fireplace.

Grandpa was reading a newspaper. Bryan lay sprawled on the floor in front of the fire playing a game on an electronic device.

Pondering how she could break through Bryan’s reticence and make a connection with him, Paige sat down at the upright piano. She ran her fingers over the keys, running up and down the scales. She’d taken lessons and played all through high school, often accompanying the choir or student musicals.

“Hey, Bryan,” she said. “Remember when we used to play ‘Chopsticks’ together?”

He turned to look at her. “Uh-uh.”

“Don’t you remember this?” Using two fingers, she tapped out the familiar tune. “You got pretty good at it.”

She had his attention enough that he took the ear buds out of his ears. A tiny bit of progress.

“You played the melody and I played the accompaniment.” She struck the appropriate chords, improvising a few swirling runs. “Come on. Let’s try it together.”

“I don’t remember how.”

“I’ll show you again.”

Grandpa folded his newspaper. “Go on, boy. Give it a try.”

Reluctantly, Bryan got up. He walked to piano and sat on the bench next to her. She caught a whiff of wood smoke and little boy sweat, and smiled.

“Watch the keys I play, and you play the same ones an octave higher. Like this.” She demonstrated slowly, then asked him to try. He came close to getting it right and they practiced again.

When she thought he was ready, she let him set the beat and added the accompaniment.

They made it all the way through the song. “Magnificent!” she cheered. She held up her hand for a high five.

He looked startled, then grinned and slapped her hand.

A beginning, she thought. From little things, big things can grow.

Glancing toward Grandpa, she discovered Jay leaning one shoulder against the kitchen doorway watching her. His brows were lowered in disapproval, his lips a straight line.

Jay didn’t believe she could make a good life for Bryan. She did. For Krissy’s sake, and with God’s help, she would.

Chapter Four

“You don’t have to walk me to the bus.”

Walk? Paige was having to run to keep up with Bryan, who charged ahead of her to catch the school bus.

“I thought it would be fun to see how you got to school.” Of all the things she hadn’t brought with her, the absence of her running shoes was, at minimum, going to cost her a broken ankle.

“What fun?” He increased his pace, his backpack slung over his shoulder. “It’s a yellow bus. Big deal.”

“Bryan, slow down.” This was not the way she had envisioned starting her first Monday morning as Bryan’s sort-of guardian. “Let’s walk together.”

He halted and whirled toward her, scowling. “Aunt Paige, don’t you know the guys are gonna rag on me if they see you walking me to the bus like I was a little kid?”

“Oh.” She stopped. Swallowed hard. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“Yeah, I guess you weren’t.” He turned and continued down the dirt road.

She didn’t follow him. Thoroughly chastised, she called after him. “Have a nice day.”

He didn’t bother to acknowledge her good wishes.

Sighing, she turned back toward Grandpa Henry’s house. She strolled along the side of the road, in no hurry now.

It’s not like anyone had prepared her to be Bryan’s guardian. They hadn’t given her a how-to book either. This trial-and-error business was going to be painful for both of them.

As soon as she got Bryan settled in Seattle, she’d have to arrange for family counseling. The two of them needed to learn to communicate better. Bryan would probably need some help dealing with his grief and the changes in his life.

The storm had passed through last night, leaving only a few puffy clouds in the early morning sky. Residual rainwater puddled the dirt road and oozed into the depressions left by her high heels. Jay Red Elk wouldn’t have any trouble tracking her, if he was interested. Which was unlikely.

She’d have to call her boss in Seattle, Mr. Armstrong, and tell him about the newest life-changing event since the death of her sister. Then she’d drive to Kalispell and try to deal with the guardianship arrangement.

Pausing, she watched a bee flitting around a cluster of blue lupine in a sunny area. She remembered Grandma Lisbeth knew the names of all the wildflowers in the area but Paige hadn’t bothered to remember them. Now she wished she’d paid more attention.

She looked up and her breath caught. Off to the side of the road in the shade of a stand of pine trees stood two white-tail does and their fawns, who couldn’t be more than a few weeks old. They still had their spots like two young Bambi look-alikes. The does eyed Paige suspiciously then moved farther into the woods with their precious babies.

Their beauty and dignity, their natural mothering instincts, touched something in Paige’s heart. Could she learn to be that good a mother for Bryan?

She could only pray she would, in time, learn how to give him all the love he needed.

As she approached the corral, she saw Jay saddling a horse.

He tipped his hat to her. “So you saw Bryan to the school bus?”

“Not exactly.”

He quirked his lips in what had to be an I-told-you-so grin. “He wasn’t too pleased to have his buddies see you playing mama?”

“Something like that.” She cringed, realizing he’d seen her trailing after Bryan like a stray dog.

“Kids can be sort of touchy about adults hanging around them,” he said.