Hitched!

“I did. I was. Have you heard about the hijack yesterday of a flight from Chicago to some village in Mexico?”

Meg’s heart fluttered painfully in her breast and she pressed a hand to her chest. “You mean those two prison escapees who—Randy, you were on that plane?”

“Uh-huh, but don’t worry. I’m fine. In fact, no one was hurt, just inconvenienced.”

“This is terrible,” she wailed. “From what I hear, if it hadn’t been for that brave man from Iowa—”

“Yeah, old Larry was something, all right.” His tone was dry. “That’s not why I’m calling, though.”

Here it came, the bombshell. Meg sat down heavily on a chrome chair at the breakfast table. “I’m almost afraid to hear this.”

“No, Mom, this is good.” A long pause; she could picture him taking a deep breath. Then he blurted, “I’m married.”

“You’re…married?” She repeated the word stupidly, too shocked to censor her disbelief. “Randy!”

His laughter sounded anxious. “Don’t have a stroke, Mom. She’s exactly the kind of girl you and Dad and Great-granddad always told me I needed.”

Images of actresses and models flashed across her mind, not the sensible types she’d longed for her son to find. At almost thirty, he was certainly old enough for marriage, although his maturity was still in doubt.

She was relieved when he filled the silence.

“We were on that plane—me ’n’ Maxine, that’s her name. We were on our way to tell you and Dad the good news, that we were going to—”

“You mean you’re not already married?”

“We are now. We ended up in Mexico, where it’s easy to get married. It…it seemed like a sign. I mean, why wait?”

“Married…exactly when, Randall?” Oh, she shouldn’t have called him by his formal name. She had no right to be angry at his marriage, a marriage she’d yearned for.

Did he hesitate? “This morning, actually. We got married this morning.”

She didn’t believe him.

Meg Taggart, who took her son’s side in all things, who defended him against his father’s criticisms, who believed everything he ever said to her, simply didn’t believe this. “That’s pretty far-fetched, dear,” was the best she could come up with. “Tell me the truth. Why so sudden?”

“Well, because…I want to start the legal wheels turning to get my inheritance from Thom T.”

“I see.”

Only, she didn’t. She didn’t see at all and he’d said very little to clarify matters. Why would he care about Thom T.’s Rocking T Ranch all of a sudden? Unless…maybe this Maxine was a ranch girl. Maybe she would be a good influence on Randy.

Meg got hold of herself. “May I speak to her, Randy?”

“Who?”

“Your wife, of course. Maxine, you said?”

“That’s right. Maxine. Sure, Mom, you can speak to her.”

A brief pause and then another voice came over the line, a woman’s voice that was low and cautious. “Mrs. Taggart? It’s nice to meet you, so to speak.”

“Maxine?” Meg’s mouth had gone dry. “Please call me ‘Mom,’ if you’d like, or ‘Mama.’ Even ‘Meg’ would be fine, but no ‘Mrs. Taggart,’ okay?”

“Of course.”

“My son tells me you’re married.”

Light, perhaps nervous laughter. Then Maxine said, “I warned him it would be a terrible shock, but he said he’d been remiss in not keeping in touch with you in the past. He wants to remedy that, Mrs.—Meg.”

“That’s good to hear.” At a loss, Meg stumbled over her words. “So h-how did the two of you meet, dear?”

“In an airplane. Planes seem to be good luck for us, even when we’re being hijacked.”

“Oh, don’t joke about it! It could have been a tragedy.”

“But it wasn’t. In fact, it gave Rand and me a chance to…really get to know each other so much better than we did when it all started. I guess you could say we truly…bonded.”

Jesse barged through the back door, took one look at his wife and stopped short, his gray eyes narrowing. “What the hell?” he demanded. “Bad news?”

Meg covered the mouthpiece with one hand and shook her head furiously. Licking her lips, she spoke into the phone again. “Well…that’s really…uh, it’s been nice chatting with you, Maxine. Will you put Randy on again?”

Randy said, “Isn’t she great? I told you you’d like her. Uh, Mom, can you start the ball rolling with the lawyers on that inheritance? I’d like to get that taken care of as quick as possible.”

“It may not be that easy, dear.”

“Why not?”

“They’ll want to see your marriage license and then we’ll all have to meet her—your father and me, Trey and Rachel and Boone and Kit.”

A long silence greeted this explanation. Then her only son said, “You don’t believe me.”

“That’s not it,” she protested. “Exactly. I mean, this is awfully sudden. I’m sure when we get to meet her…When will we, dear?”

“Soon. Uh, Maxine’s schedule is tough, actually. She has obligations in Chicago.”

“But—”

“You’ll meet her in good time,” he cut in defensively.

“That time had better be before September 30,” Meg retorted, “because that’s the deadline if you really truly want that ranch. And I have my doubts about that.”

“Thanks for your support, Mom. I thought of all people you were the one I could count on.”

“No, darling. You thought of all people I was the one most easily snowed—and you’re right. I hope everything is exactly as you say, that you and this girl are madly in love and will live happily ever after. But forgive me if I need more proof than a quickie telephone call from Mexico.”

She hung up with a hand that trembled. Automatically she turned to her handsome husband for the support he never failed to offer. “Oh, Jesse! What have I done?”

He threw back his head and laughed. When he straightened, dark hair with only a few strands of gray fell over his forehead. Dressed in the clothing of a working cowboy, he carried a coiled lariat in one hand and a halter in the other. Fearless and frank, Jesse was also solid and unyielding and stubborn as the day was long.