The Husband Show

“No place else to go?” Her uncle didn’t hide his surprise. He gave Jake a weird look. “Are you homeless or something?”

“We’re heading back to Nashville from Seattle,” Jake said gently. “I have a place there.”

Sam didn’t look happy to hear that. “Are you in a hurry?”

“No,” Jake said. “But—”

“Good,” Sam said. Jake had told her he was a zoologist and made movies about catching fish, but today he looked more like her biology teacher at school. “I’ve never had a niece before. And I haven’t had a brother in a long, long time. We need to catch up.”

Winter could have summed it up for him: divorce, unknown daughter, dead ex-wife.

Maybe her so-called father should write a song about that.

* * *

“HE BOUGHT THIRTY picnic tables for the wedding,” Meg said, walking with Aurora to the tent. They’d received strict orders from Lucia to head there immediately. “Who does that?”

“That’s a lot of picnic tables.” Aurora thought it made the ranch yard look festive. The whole wedding should have been photographed for a magazine spread, she decided. Jerry had missed the boat on that one. Friends and neighbors clustered at the tables, stood in groups, walked in and out of the barn, gathered around the entrance to the huge white tent. She guessed four hundred people had showed up for this wedding, though they were scattered between the tent, the picnic tables, the yard and the barn. And as she’d told Sam’s brother, it was a much-deserved holiday for the town.

“Owen insisted they’d come in handy.”

Aurora couldn’t help being curious. “Come in handy for what? I can see that you’d need them now, with this many people, but unless you’re turning the Triple M into a county park, what are you going to do with them?”

“We may decide to use the ranch as a wedding venue. We’ve talked about it,” the bride said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, but I want to keep our privacy, too, you know?”

“Really?” It was a beautiful place, and where better to get married than a historic ranch with its own party barn? “You could cater, Lucia could do the wedding cakes, I could provide the bar. Les could park cars and your mother—what would Loralee do?”

“Babysit,” Meg pronounced. “Because I intend to have at least three children.”

“Good for you.” Aurora gave her an approving look. “You’ll be a great mother.”

“We don’t want to wait too long,” she said. “We want to have lots of little MacGregors running around the ranch.”

Aurora laughed. “That’s going to keep Loralee busy.”

That was ambitious, but Aurora admired a person who knew what she wanted. “You’re spending your wedding night here or in Billings?”

“Here. This is home.”

“Owen knows about all of these future babies?”

“It was his idea.” Meg laughed. And blushed.

“Maybe my new addition will be finished for the baby shower,” Aurora mused. “If the weather’s nice we can open up the new patio.”

“I want to see those plans,” Meg said. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve decided.”

“After the honeymoon,” Aurora promised.

Meg shuddered. “You and Lucia are really brave. I’m not sure I could take that kind of mess around me. Just the cleaning and painting in this house has been more than enough work.”

They reached the tent, where Loralee waved anxiously. “Come on,” she called. “We’re ready for the toast!”

Aurora followed Meg inside, then hurried over to the young men in charge of opening the champagne. Meg and Owen had wisely decided that would be the only alcohol at the party, considering that it was a family-oriented event and that most people had to drive ninety miles back to town.

“We’ll do it outdoors,” Owen said, coming up to give Meg a kiss and a glass of champagne. “And then everyone can help themselves to food.”

Lucia met them just outside the tent. “We’re ready!”

Aurora stood to the side and watched the happy couple accept congratulations from the crowd.

“Here,” Jerry said, stepping next to her. He handed her a percussion triangle and a beater. “Hit this, will you? It’s to call in the cowboys.”

“You must be joking.” She dangled the large triangle from its chain.

“No. Hit it as hard as you want. Take out all of your anger and aggression,” he said, looking out at the groups of people walking toward them across the lawn. “No doubt it will be good for you.”

“I’ll pretend it’s your head,” she said sweetly.

* * *

JAKE ENDED UP sitting inside the tent at a table with his brother, Sam’s fiancée, her three children, Mrs. Swallow, Winter and the gorgeous Aurora Jones.

An odd assortment of wedding guests, he mused. But he liked looking across the table at the three little boys sitting next to his brother. Oddly enough, Aurora sat to his left and Winter to his right. Lucia sat next to Winter and engaged her in a discussion about school in France. It seemed that Lucia had attended a baking school in Paris one summer and spoke some French. Winter chattered away as if she’d known the woman forever.

Jake hoped his daughter wouldn’t bring up the severe psychological issues revelation again.

Sam happily surveyed the mound of assorted food on his plate. “This town sure has its share of good cooks.”

“You like it here, then.”

“You will, too,” his brother assured him. “How long can you stay?”

“I haven’t decided. We’re taking our time, getting to know each other.”

“And her mother?”

“Died.”

Sam stopped chewing and stared at him. As did Aurora. Jake looked over to make sure that his daughter was engrossed in her conversation with Lucia. He lowered his voice. “I only found out two weeks ago. It took a while to get the paperwork squared away so she could come here. There was a stepfather, but he wasn’t involved in her life.”

“And you didn’t know anything about her?” This question came from his brother.

“No,” he admitted. “I had no clue. It was a short marriage, and she left me to go back home to France. I figure she wanted out of the marriage and if I had known about the baby, things would have become very complicated.” And Merry didn’t do complicated. She had been a free spirit, a beauty whose smile gave her everything she wanted. And when she didn’t want Jake any more, she left.

Sam put down his fork and studied his brother. “But you have her now. And that’s a good thing.”

“For me,” Jake said. “But I don’t think Winter thinks she got a very good deal.”