DASHED DREAMS (27 page)

The drive into Two Hawks was a wonderful homecoming. Jillian felt as if she’d been gone for years. When she saw the horses running along the drive, she asked her dad to stop the truck. She got out and then said she’d walk up to the house. She walked over to the fence and Sugar galloped up. The horse neighed, and shook her head as if welcoming Jillie home. “Hey, Sugar.” She hugged the horse’s neck and put her face into the hair, smelling the sweet smell of her horse. Jillian thought to herself: Welcome home.

Once inside the house Jillian saw that her mother had been busy. There were wedding decorations throughout. As she climbed the stairs, she heard voices and laughter coming from Emma’s room. She popped her head. “Hey, it this a private party or can anyone join in?”

“Jillie, come in. Look what your mother made. Aren’t these cute?” Emma said, pointing to a tray of netted birdseed throws.

Jillian touched the birdseed packets, “Nice, Mom. I’ll be in my room unpacking. Enjoy your wedding stuff.” When she was into the hall she heard Lynda say, “Em, don’t get your feelings hurt. You know she’s still hurting. This wedding really should’ve been hers.”

“I know, but…”

Grace followed Jillian down the hall into her daughter’s bedroom and closed the door.

“Jillie, honey I know you’re hurting, but you’re acting like a self-centered child. You have to stop. I won’t let you ruin Emma’s day,” Grace said in a scolding tone.

Jillian felt tears brimming up in her eyes. Her mother hadn’t scolded her like that in years. Grace quickly hugged her daughter. Jillian buried her face in her mother’s shoulder and sobbed. Grace held her tightly. She knew the tears weren’t for Emma but for Robert John Montgomery.

After a bit Jillian removed her head from her mother’s shoulder. Her face was still wet with tears. “Oh, Mom, I don’t know if I can see him tomorrow. How can I pretend as if nothing’s happened?”

“Maybe you don’t need to. Now, wash your face, unpack, and come on downstairs. I’ve planned a wonderful evening, and we want you to be a part of it.”

Jillian didn’t say anything, but just nodded, as her mother left the bedroom. She went into the bathroom and stared in the mirror. The reflection was like the one she’d seen earlier in the day, a reflection of someone ugly, someone she didn’t like. Jillian washed her face with an ice-cold washcloth. The cool water felt good. She held the cloth over her face and prayed to God to give her strength and for Emma to forgive her.

After Jillian pulled herself together and unpacked, she came downstairs. Everyone was in the kitchen sitting having coffee and talking. All of her family, Jack Morgan and Gary were there. She nodded to Gary a silent welcome. She sat beside her father, who poured her a cup of coffee. “Well, what did I miss?”

When Gary informed RJ that he and Emma were getting married, it came of no surprise to RJ, as he knew it was coming. He was hesitant to accept when he was asked to be Gary’s best man. RJ knew that he’d be face-to-face with Jillie. How could he face her? Maybe of more concern was the fact that he’d be at Two Hawks with Jillie’s father. But he also knew that this was his best friend and not about him. This would be his first big outing since being released from treatment in Palm Springs. He’d gone back to the facility only for a couple of outpatient sessions, but other than that, he’d stayed close to home.

When he arrived at the hotel in Fort Worth, the girl at the front desk didn’t show that she even knew who Robert John Montgomery was. RJ thought: Once you’re out of the spotlight, you’re forgotten.

In his room he placed a call to Gary’s cell.

“Hello. So you made it.” Gary said, looking directly at Jillian. She knew instantly who was on the other end of the cell. She felt her face flush.

Gary got up from the table, and opened the screen door. Gary’s voice became mumbled as he walked away, but Jillian heard him say, “Yes, she’s sitting right here.”

Jillian’s father changing the attention said, “I understand you girls are going to have a girl’s bachelorette party. Well, we guys are having one also.”

Dan said pushing back his chair and said, “It’s four, we need to get going. Is he on his way?” Gary nodded. “Well, pards, kiss your women folk goodbye and we’ll be moising out of here.” He leaned over and kissed Grace and Jillian.

The girls questioned Grace about the bag of pink boxes she carried when they left the house. When they stopped at a scrapbook shop, the girls were thrilled, because they all loved to scrap. The store manager escorted them into the project room, where they found the large project table set for a scrap.

Grace told each of the girls where to sit and to make themselves comfortable, that she’d reserved the shop for the entire night. She had Olive Garden cater the dinner. The girls kept questioning the contents of the pink boxes. Grace passed the pink boxes. The girls opened their box; it was full of photos, a collection of the girls, past and present. The next surprise was that Grace had personally started an album for each of the girls that she’d been secretly working on for several years.

They ate, drank lattes, worked for hours creating their pages, but best of all talked. Emma said, “Grace, thank you so much. What a perfect way for us girls to spend our time together. Please tell us what the guys are doing tonight?”

Grace told the girls where the guys were and what they were doing. Jillian’s thoughts were instantly turned to the old family campsite, where she and Emma had spent many a happy time with her parents camping. She remembered lying in her bedroll staring up at the stars, she and Emma making wishes on falling stars. Her Grandfather Hamilton used the exact spot to camp when he brought the cattle from the outer edges of the ranch in the winter. After Dan and Grace moved into the ranch, they improved the site and they built a huge log cabin to use in bad weather. They also built a couple of his and her’s two-hole outhouses. Many of Jillian’s birthday parties had been held at this campsite.

When Dan, Gary, and Jack left the house, they headed to the barn, where found three saddled horses. Dan mounted his horse and motioned for the other two to do the same.

“It’s been years since I’ve been on a horse,” Jack said.

“Hey, what’s going on? Where are we going?” Gary asked.

“Oh, you’ll see. It’s out past the house a ways. Let’s head out,” Dan said, urging his horse out of the barn and onto the trail. The other two followed. Going through the outer gate, they came upon a lone rider. Once out in the pasture the four horses walked side-by-side. The three men chatted about random topics, while the fourth rider remained relatively quiet. Close to an hour of riding, they arrived at a wooded area, dismounted, and tied their horses to a cable stretched across a couple of trees. A couple of unsaddled horses were also tied to the cable. Dan motioned for the riders to take a look over their right shoulder. Through the trees they saw a campsite, log cabin and all.

The foursome stared with amazement. They were looking at a scene out of an old Western movie: a cattle drive campsite, complete with a chuckwagon, lanterns, bedrolls around a roaring campfire, and a cook preparing dinner.

Chapter 30

“Welcome to Camp James. Select a bedroll and settle in. This is our home away from home for tonight,” Dan announced.

The men walked around looking over the campground. Each picked a bedroll.

Gary held back from picking his bedroll until after RJ chose his, so he could be next to his best friend. The only problem was that Jack chose across the fire, which put RJ and Dan James side-by-side. Gary was going to act as a buffer, but thought they might as well have it out away from the girls. He thought to himself: Tonight should prove interesting.

The cook shouted, “There are beers and such over in the cooler, help yourself.”

Gary held his breath when he opened the cooler and saw long-necked beers buried amongst cream soda bottles in the melting ice. He picked a cream soda.

The cook called all to dinner. After they were seated at the table, Dan held up his beer. “I’d like to make a toast. Gary, I wish only the best for you and Em with much happiness. I’d like to give you one piece of advice from this old married guy, don’t go to bed mad. Work it out before your heads hit the pillows. And say your prayers together every night. You’ll be able to work through anything.” He took a breath, then laughed. “That goes for you and Lynda, Jack. Here’s to you both.” He held up his beer. “Salud!”

The men feasted on cattlemen’s thick-cut prime rib, baked potatoes, baked beans, Caesar salad, and for dessert, strawberry shortcake with homemade vanilla ice cream. During dinner, darkness came quickly. The campsite twinkled with lanterns and fire glow. Conversation during dinner was light and mostly about nothing. Dan told the story of the family, using the campsite when they’d came for summers to visit. He offered the guys a choice of sleeping outside under the stars or in the cabin on cots. They all chose to sleep out.

After dinner the men settled into the camp chairs beside their bedrolls and were served coffee in tin cups. Dan chuckled as he fingered his tin cup. “Jillie used to make her grandfather laugh when she called these, ‘cowboy cups.’ ” The guys chuckled. Gary noticed that Dan was looking directly at RJ when telling the story, as if he was the only camper.

At almost midnight Gary yawned and decided to call it a night. The other campers followed his lead, surprised how soft their bedrolls felt. Dan admitted he wasn’t any younger and sleeping on the ground wasn’t comfortable. He let them know the secret to a soft bedroll was a two-inch thick pad of space foam inside the bag.

When the camp was quiet, with only the fire crackling, Dan rolled over to face RJ. He saw that the cowboy who’d broken his daughter’s heart was awake staring up at the stars.

“If I could change the past, I would, but as I’ve learned, you have to file the past and go forward. I’ve been through hell, first with my alcoholism, then losing the love of my life.” Robert paused, feeling as if he couldn’t continue without crying, not for himself but for what he’d put Jillian through. “Sir, I never wanted to hurt your daughter. I wanted to marry her, wanted to take care of her. I love her.”

“You drew her in with your glamorous lifestyle. She fell in love with you, and then it was all taken from her. She was devastated.”

“But I didn’t set out to destroy our relationship. I didn’t have any idea how sick I’d become. You know, it’s a sickness. I became dependent on the feeling of euphoria I got while drinking. It was the high, but I couldn’t see the lows. I was on the highest of highs, raking in about eighty thousand for one night’s appearance. I was making over two hundred appearances a year, not to mention all the money I was making from my endorsements and recordings. In the mornings I came to from passing out from the night before. The drinks came closer and closer together during the day. I ignored the people close to me, who pleaded for me to ease up.”

“I see.”

“You know what? I got my butt kicked from the man above, I became too arrogant. I have so much guilt. People relied on me. My problem became their problem. My actions caused them to lose their jobs. I can’t tell you how sorry I am and…” Robert stopped talking and looked at Dan. Tears filled Robert’s eyes.

Dan saw a whole other side of Robert John Montgomery, a tender and sober side. He saw the man that Jillian must’ve seen, when she fell in love.

“Son, would you please accept my most heartfelt apology?”

“You’re apology?”

“I treated you wrongly. And I feel badly. I wanted to keep Jillie to myself, she’s still my little girl. I didn’t want her to be in love with you.”

“You mean, you didn’t want her to give her love and her life to a drunk?”