old cabin Daddy liked to hang out in.”
Lois looked down at the book and opened it. She pulled in a sharp breath and traced one finger lovingly down the page. “Oh, my goodness. Stone.”
The whole room held its breath, and Holly Ann enjoyed the presence of love and peace that came with this loud family.
“We think he was working on that cabin while he was gathering all of these for you,” Cactus said. “That’s why they were there. And then at some point, someone just shoved them in the wall, where Bishop and Montana found them.”
Lois nodded as she turned the page, and Ace leaned toward Holly Ann. “They’re letters from her husband.” His soft, warm voice made her shiver, and Holly Ann nestled a little closer to Ace, where she’d like to stay for a good, long while.
Chapter Nineteen
Montana folded the top of the brown bag while Aurora sprayed herself with sunscreen on the back porch. She came inside and tucked the can inside her backpack.
“Here you go, sweetie.” Montana handed her the lunch she’d packed, and Aurora put that in her backpack too. “What else do you need? Did you get your water bottle?”
“I got it,” she said. “Sunscreen. I have my wallet. I have my phone and a battery. My lunch.” She ticked things off on her fingers as she said them. “I think I’m ready.”
She was starting at Bowman’s Breeds that morning, and Montana’s nerves had been buzzing for weeks.
After the emotional day in the barn and then the cemetery, she’d taken a few days to gather her emotions before she’d spoken to Aurora about the solution to getting up to Bowman’s Breeds—and that Oliver was really a Walker.
Aurora had admitted that yes, he was. Not only that, but she’d been to Seven Sons Ranch several times over the past few months as she spent time with Oliver. She liked Tripp and Liam, and they’d been teaching her how to ride a horse, which was one of Oliver’s absolute favorite things to do.
Montana had cried after the conversation, not during it. Since then, though, Aurora told her a lot more about Oliver. She said when she kissed him, and she told Montana if she was at Seven Sons or Oliver’s house. Oliver came to their house quite often, and in fact, Montana had invited him and his family for the Fourth of July barbecue that Uncle Bob did every year.
And they were coming.
She was hosting a Walker at the house where she lived.
When she looked at herself in the mirror now, she didn’t even know the woman looking back at her. She wore happiness in her eyes in a way Montana had never done before—at least not for a long time.
She could smile with a simple text that had Bishop Glover’s name on it.
She didn’t hate anyone, even her ex-husband who had inflicted so much pain upon her. For some reason, the Lord had taken that burden the easiest, and Montana barely carried any thought of Johnny anymore.
She and Aurora had talked about him, and Aurora said the same thing. “I don’t even think about him, Mom. I don’t need him.”
Montana feared she might need a father one day, and she didn’t want it to be Johnny Martin. She’d started thinking that perhaps it could be Bishop Glover, but they were moving slow, just as she’d said she needed to.
She still saw him on a daily basis. They sat beside one another at church every week. He kissed her every chance he got. But they were not talking about marriage and diamonds and where they’d live once all of that happened. He was dealing with family issues himself, and Montana still had a long way to go to be the woman she wanted to be when she finally put on a white dress and walked down an aisle toward another man.
Someone knocked on the door, and Aurora spun toward it. “That’s probably Ollie.” She grabbed her backpack and hurried through the kitchen. Montana followed her, but she didn’t try to go quickly.
It was Ollie, and Aurora let him into the house just as Aunt Jackie came into the hall. “Good morning,” she said pleasantly to Oliver.
“Ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat at Jackie. He met Montana’s eye, and his lit up. “Morning to you too, Montana. Ma’am.” He swallowed but kept his smile hitched in place.
“Good morning, Oliver.” She smiled at him, because she genuinely liked the boy. He really was well-mannered and well-spoken.
“Uncle Wyatt said