Sage Creek (32 page)

“You’ll get used to it,” she said quietly. “The boys, I mean. Ivy’s eleven, almost twelve. It’s just the start.” She touched his hand. “The good thing in all this is that you handled the Lynelle situation brilliantly. You have it all under control.”

“Right.” Pulling Sophie onto his lap, Rafe wrapped his arms around her. “Until she up and leaves again and doesn’t bother to say good-bye to Ives.”

He’d made it clear to Lynelle that the only way she was going to see Ivy until her eighteenth birthday was under
his
terms. That meant one afternoon a month for the time being, and only at Sage Ranch, and only when he was present. They’d see how things went after that. Take it or leave it.

Ivy herself had been relieved almost to the point of tears at this laying down of the law. And after a bit of yelling and then weeping, Lynelle had capitulated. There wasn’t much else she could do, especially after what she’d pulled with all those secret phone calls and a covert meeting at the bakery.

Rafe had gone to court after she first disappeared, and along with his divorce, he’d been granted sole custody of Ivy. Lynelle didn’t have a prayer of getting legal visitation rights now after having abandoned her daughter and virtually disappearing from her life for the past four years. She’d have to take what she could get and rebuild any possible relationship with Ivy gradually.

If
that was really what she wanted and if she was capable of it at all.

“We’ll see how long she sticks around this time.” Rafe shook his head. “But if she hurts Ivy again . . .”

“Ivy seems to have her mother’s number,” Sophie said. “Her guard is up, sad as that is to say. It’s amazing that she’s even willing to give Lynelle a chance.” She smiled at him. “You should be proud. Your daughter has a heart as big as all of Montana. And whatever happens, she knows you’re there for her. That’ll see her through whatever comes.”

“I hate what she’s been going through all this time. All those lies and secrets. It tears me apart to think she’d been carrying this around for so long.”

Sophie met his eyes. “I only wish I’d realized sooner. When Ivy told me she was keeping a secret, I had no idea—”

“Hey.” He kissed her quickly and traced a finger gently down her cheek. “Don’t apologize. We’ve been through this already. You couldn’t possibly have imagined what Lynelle was up to. What she was putting Ivy through.”

She’d told him the day of the fund-raiser, after they’d discovered Ivy and her mother meeting in the bakery, of how Ivy had confided she was keeping a secret, but Sophie had thought it was some fleeting tween drama.

“No way in hell you could have known, Sophie,” Rafe had told her at the time.

Now, as the fire crackled and the wind whistled through the pines outside the ranch house, he cupped her face in his hands. “You can’t beat yourself up over this. I won’t let you.”

His kiss almost made her forget what she still needed to say.

“Maybe things will work out better than you think with Lynelle,” she murmured. “Sometimes people really can change.”

“Yeah?” Rafe grinned. “Anyone in particular you’re referring to?”

“We both know who I’m referring to.” Sophie’s mouth curved as she pushed back a lock of his dark hair. And thought about Doug Hartigan.

Her mother had told her only a few days ago that she and Hartigan had secretly gotten married in Billings during one of their long weekend trips to a crafts fair. They’d been waiting for the right time to break the news to Sophie, and finally, after the events of the fund-raiser and the debacle with Ivy and Lynelle, they’d decided to come clean.

They wanted to start living together as husband and wife, and had told her they were planning to move into Doug’s old house in Timber Springs.

But Sophie knew how much her mother loved the Good Luck ranch. Like Sophie, she’d grown up there, and so had Gran. Her mom shouldn’t have to leave the home she loved just because she didn’t want to force Sophie to live under the same roof with her former teacher.

“I don’t hate him anymore,” she’d told her mother, and was surprised to find that the words were true. “He’s good for you, Mom. I see that now. And . . . I’m beginning to see the person you see when you look at him, instead of the one I remember.”

Doug Hartigan made her mother happy in a way she’d never been with Hoot. There was no doubt of that. If Ivy Tanner could give Lynelle a second chance, as wary as she might be, Sophie knew she owed Hartigan one too.

But she drew the line at living under the same roof. She, her mother, Hartigan—and her baby?

No
.

“I went to the cabin yesterday and checked it out,” she said slowly, just as Rafe was about to kiss her again.

Pausing, he stared at her. “Yeah?” His voice sounded wary. “How was it?”

“Not as bad as I thought. All it needs is a really good cleaning, some paint, new appliances. I’d order a new bed, of course, but there’s a pretty antique cherry table and some lovely chairs—I’d just need new cushions, perhaps some window treatments—”

And a crib and changing table, diaper pail, rocking chair . . .
Now is the time to tell him, Sophie thought. Right now. She’d been waiting all week, hoping for the perfect moment, but it suddenly dawned on her that there
was
no perfect moment. You just had to take the plunge.

“I have something I—”

“You really think it’s a good idea, living in that isolated cabin all alone?” Rafe interrupted her.

“It’s no different from staying at the Good Luck ranch all alone. And now that Crenshaw’s locked up and it looks like he’ll be serving time, I can’t see what there is to be afraid of. Rafe, I need to tell you—”

“I don’t want you living in that cabin, Sophie.” Rafe’s gaze locked on hers. Her heartbeat quickened at the intensity she saw in his eyes.

“I want you living with me. With
us
. Me and Ivy.” His thumb brushed her cheek. “I want us to be a family.”

She stared at him, unable to speak. But that was okay, because he was on a roll. “Sophie, I love you.” His voice thickened. “I want a life with you more than anything in this world. I want to marry you, spend every day and every night with you, have a dozen babies with you. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives.”

He kissed her long and deep and decisively, tangling his hands in her hair. “Sophie,” he muttered, reluctantly pulling away from her lips, gazing into her eyes. “Sophie, I have dreams now, dreams about the future. And they’re all because of you. They all revolve around you.”

“Did you say . . . a dozen babies?” Her heart was soaring.

“Yeah. I did.” He chuckled. “But that’s open for discussion, of course. We could start with just one.”

“As a matter of fact,” she whispered, “we
are
starting with just one.” Happiness spilled through her and her heart felt ready to burst. “One baby, Rafe. Coming right up. Well, in about eight months,” she added very softly, watching his eyes.

She saw stunned bewilderment. Then a rush of joy.

“Eight months.” He looked dazed. Then he grabbed her suddenly and kissed her with such fierce joy she felt it penetrating right through her skin, piercing her heart. His arms were tight around her, but not too tight. They circled protectively. His strong mouth lifted from hers. “And you were going to tell me when?” he demanded.

“As soon as I worked up the courage. I . . .”

She broke off with a yelp as he scooped her off the sofa and into his arms and spun her around until she was dizzy.

“We’re having a baby!” he shouted, and the dogs, startled, came racing from the kitchen, staring at them both and wagging their tails.

“We have to tell Ives first. Then Lissie. Or your mom if you want. No, your grandmother,” Rafe said, laughing as she stared at him as if he were a crazy man. “That’ll be the quickest way to get it all over town. I want the world to know that I’m marrying Sophie McPhee and she’s—” He broke off. “You didn’t say yes yet.”

“You didn’t give me a chance—”

“Don’t say another word.” He set her down very gently on the sofa, kissed her, then strode to the desk near the window, yanked open the top middle drawer, and snatched something from it.

She stared at the dark blue velvet jewel box nearly swallowed up in his big hand as he came toward her.

Sophie jumped up from the sofa, but she sank back down again immediately as he dropped to one knee. He caught her hand, cradling it in his. His fingers wrapped around hers felt warm and strong and exactly right.

“I hadn’t planned on doing this today, but I got this thing five days ago. I’ve been searching for just the right time. But if this isn’t that time, I don’t know when would be better—” He broke off, took a deep breath, and popped open the box.

“Sophie McPhee,” he said.

Rafe Tanner, former bad boy of Lonesome Way, smiled into her eyes.

“If I have to ask you a thousand times, I will, but it would be a whole lot easier if you’d just say yes right now. Will you marry me?”

“Right this minute, if you want me to.”

His grin lit his face. “I sure as hell do, but I reckon I can wait a few more days.” He slid the ring onto her finger, his blue eyes turning serious. “But no longer.”

He drew her into his arms and gently kissed her, a long, slow, hot-as-a-firecracker kiss that shot sparks down to her toes and made the house and the snow and the fire fade away until there was only the two of them and the bright shining future—the beautiful life they would share in Lonesome Way.

Chapter Twenty-eight

The wedding was held at the Good Luck ranch on a Sunday afternoon the last week of October. It was a clear, golden day, crisp as a perfect green apple. Friends and relatives and good wishes filled the sturdy old ranch house where Karla helped Diana and Gran set up a buffet table laden with punch and cookies, champagne and flutes, prime rib and chicken. There were three different salads heaped in bowls, a platter of fresh fruit, and a dazzling array of pastries.

Prominent among them was a square crystal platter of brown sugar chews.

Sophie had insisted on baking her own wedding cake, a three-tiered marvel of rich white cake, pink butter cream frosting, and ribbons of rolled fondant, displayed on an antique silver cake stand, which had been first used by Gran’s mother at her own wedding.

Diana artfully arranged sprays of pink and yellow roses on either side of the cake stand, crowning it as the centerpiece.

Just before the ceremony was due to begin, Ivy slipped through the crowd of friends and family and ran up the stairs. She gasped when she reached Sophie’s bedroom and saw her standing before her mirror in a sexy white silk sheath, diamond teardrops glistening at her ears. Sophie looked like a movie star.

Aunt Lissie and Mia were there too, admiring the gorgeous waterfall of toffee-colored curls Martha had created for the bride earlier in the day.

“My dad’s going to faint when he sees you,” Ivy exclaimed.

Sophie turned from the mirror to lean down and hug her. “He must have burst his buttons when he saw
you
.” Ivy looked adorable in her flouncy orchid blue dress with its scalloped lace neckline and her hair springing in vibrant red curls around her face. She looked fresher and more lovely than any rose about to bloom.

“We’ll see you both downstairs.” Lissie, due any minute now and wearing a tent-sized dress of lilac wool, met Sophie’s eyes with a smile before she slipped out into the hall. Mia blew a kiss and followed her out.

“I’m so proud that you’re going to be my stepdaughter.” Sophie straightened. She didn’t want to sound corny, but the words sprang straight from her heart and she could no more hold them back than she could cross the Crazy Mountains in a ball gown and stilettos. “This baby will be so lucky having you for a big sister.”

“I’ve wanted a baby brother or sister all my life,” Ivy confessed, plopping down on Sophie’s old bed. “I thought it was
never
going to happen. Now I’m getting a baby cousin
and
a baby brother or sister.” A grin lit up her face. “Don’t tell my dad I told you, but he said I can expect even more brothers and sisters.”

“He did, did he?” Sophie felt a rush of love that left her almost dizzy. Love for Rafe and for this sweet, darling girl looking at her with such hope and such spirit in her eyes.

“It’s a distinct possibility.” She resisted the urge to touch her still-flat belly. “It just so happens I’m crazy about babies.”

“Me too. Even though my friends think they’re a pain. After Val’s baby brother Chet was born, I used to pretend he was
my
baby brother. And the same for Carrie Laffrey’s little sister. Is that dumb?”

“It’s not dumb at all. You have a loving heart, Ivy. Just like your dad.”

Diana knocked softly on the open door. “It’s time, girls. Everyone’s here and Reverend Kail is ready to start. Here, Sophie, don’t forget your bouquet.” She plucked it off the old dresser and placed it in Sophie’s outstretched hands.