dating Paxton Callahan since he came home a few months ago. We both got tired of the way we were running from the attraction we’ve kind of had for each other for all these years, and well…” She let the sentence trail off.
“Why would I be mad?” Matt asked. “Paxton and I get along fine.”
“Well, he and his brother were pretty wild before Granny Iris turned the ranch over to them.” She was amazed that she could talk rationally about anything after the emotional bomb her dad had dropped on her. But she knew she had to stay strong to pull this off. She had to be strong for her father.
“I wasn’t a saint either until I married your mother.” Matt smiled for the first time. “So how serious is this relationship?”
“Very serious.” She stood up and and got the chips from the cabinet to keep from meeting her father’s gaze. “We’ve kept it secret because you know how people in Daisy are with their gossiping and spreading rumors. They’d have me pregnant and married by the end of summer.”
“I wouldn’t mind that one bit. I could walk you down the aisle, and to know I have a grandchild on the way would be the icing on the cake.” Matt’s tone got lighter with every word.
“Daddy!” Alana rolled her eyes.
How could they be talking about anything but what was going to happen and what needed to be done the next six weeks? There was all kinds of legal stuff to take care of, she thought, and they’d never discussed things like funerals. That last word put a lump the size of a grapefruit in her throat.
“Don’t take that tone with me,” Matt chuckled. “I’m telling the truth. If y’all are very serious like you say, then you could move things along a little faster, couldn’t you?”
“How can you laugh when…” Tears flooded her cheeks again.
He handed her a napkin. “We’ll talk about serious things like my will, the ranch, and my burial another day. Right now, I want to feel alive and not think about the end. I don’t mind checking out of this life, but I sure hate to leave you alone.”
“You won’t.” She took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Pax proposed to me a week ago and we planned to elope to Las Vegas this summer, but if walking me down the aisle will make you happy, then we’ll have a wedding right here in Daisy. How about we have a small, family-only type ceremony at the church?” She glanced at the calendar on the wall to the right of the sink. “Does June sixth sound good? That gives us a month.”
“That’s the day that me and your mama got married.” Matt’s eyes welled up, and he took the napkin from her. “I can’t think of a better going-away present. I don’t see a ring on your hand. Didn’t he give you one?”
“Don’t talk about going away.” She wiped her new tears on her shirtsleeve. “We were going to pick out a ring this weekend.”
“All right then,” Matt said. “I’d love it if you used your mama’s engagement ring. It’s in the safe. I’ll get it out for you right now. And, honey, for the next month, we’re going to focus on your wedding. Your mama made me promise that you’d have a wedding to remember, and I’ll see to it that you do. This shouldn’t be a little family affair at the ranch. We’re goin’ to have a big event that folks will talk about for years and years.”
Oh boy. How was Alana going to convince Paxton Callahan that they were getting married in a month when they hadn’t even been dating?
* * *
Paxton Callahan was soaked in sweat when he brought the last load of small hay bales to the barn. The calendar might say it was the first week in May, but the temperature disagreed and insisted it was the middle of July. At least the heat wave had dried the hay that was down in the field so they could get it baled. He and his brother, Maverick, had noticed dark clouds over in the southwest, so they hadn’t even taken a noon break. Maverick’s wife, Bridget, had brought sandwiches and a gallon of chilled sweet tea to them right out to the field so they could eat and keep on working. The first big drops of rain hit as he drove the truck into the barn.