Page 75 of His Eighth Ride

Cord Behr guided his beautiful wife down the aisle to where their sister-in-law sat. Jane sighed as she sat beside Molly, and she looked at Cord. “I’ll save you a spot, baby.”

“Thanks.” He swept his lips across her silken hair, then turned and headed back the way he’d come. Keith had asked him to be a groomsman, and Cord couldn’t say no to that. He didn’t even want to.

He joined up with Mission and Travis, and the three of them re-entered the big administration building at Blackhorse Bay. Lindsay and Keith were getting married outside on the balcony, which had been decorated with flowers, ribbons, and other frilly things to the point of perfection.

Inside, Mission led them down a hall and into a room, where Keith stood in front of his father with his hand out. Matt Whettstein worked on his cufflink, and Cord took the cowboy hat Boone gave him.

“To keep?” he asked.

“Yep,” Boone said. The idea of getting a free cowboy hat would’ve once made Cord weep in gratitude. Now, he still felt the same feelings, but he’d grown more used to the abundance in his life. He tried to list at least three things each evening that he was grateful for, because he never wanted to get to a place where he thought he was smarter than God. Where he thought he deserved the good things he enjoyed in his life.

He always wanted the Lord to know how incredibly grateful he was, through good times and bad. Like Jane’s pregnancy, he thought.

She had just over three months left until she’d deliver their son, and Cord couldn’t wait—and not only because he wanted to be a father so badly. But because her pregnancy had not been easy for her. She’d been sick every day, on some level, since the very beginning, and he needed her to be done with the pain. The exhaustion. The throwing up.

But every night, Cord thanked Jesus for the baby. For the fact that Jane had held onto her pregnancy, and that they got to be parents together.

Cord switched out his current cowboy hat and replaced it with the matching one he and the other groomsmen would wear as they walked down the aisle. Keith finished getting dressed; he called everyone over to him; Cord hugged him tight and said, “You’re going to love being married.”

“My daddy’s got something to say,” Keith said, ever the picture of calmness and coolness. The only time Cord had ever seen him without the classic, stoic look on his face was when he’d left the farm they’d both been working for years.

Another hard thing Cord understood. While he’d left the Hammond Family Farm for an even bigger dream—opening and running his own mechanic shop—it had still been incredibly difficult.

“Thanks for being here for Keith,” Matt said. He’d been the best boss a man could have, and Cord loved him with the deepest part of his heart. “He’s waited a while for this day, and it means a lot to him—and me—to see him surrounded by such good men.”

Matt cleared his throat. “I never dreamed I’d be standing here with so many of you. See, I left Montana with exactly two people, and I didn’t think I’d ever let anyone else in again. But the Hammonds broke down the door, and all of you walked right in like you belonged in my life and my children’s lives. And you know what? You do.”

He gave them all a smile that shook a little bit. Cord ducked his head, his own emotions beginning to swell. “We love you,” Matt said. “We’ve enjoyed working with each of you over the years, and while so many of you have moved on to something else—and we find ourselves moving on too—we will always be family.” His voice broke on the last word.

Cord looked up then, and Boone took a tiny step forward. “Amen to everything my brother said,” Boone boomed. “Now, it’s time to get this man married.” He grinned and clapped his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

Keith smiled too, and he hugged his father hard while Boone herded everyone into the line where they belonged. From what Cord understood, Lindsay didn’t have a lot of family, so Cord had no idea what the bridesmaid situation would be.

He stood back a few people, and he moved into the hall when everyone else did. Matt and Boone headed out to the wedding, and then Cord looked over to the woman standing beside him. “I’m Cord Behr,” he said.

“Alicia,” she said. “I’m one of Lindsay’s neighbors. Well, I was. Out by Twilight Fields.”

“Sure,” Cord said. “We’re, uh, my wife and I bought her farm. So we’ll be neighbors soon enough.”

Alicia’s eyes brightened and sharpened at the same time. “Oh, you bought it.”

“Yeah,” Cord said, glancing up to Travis. He knew Cord and Jane had purchased Twilight Fields from Lindsay, but Cord wasn’t sure who else did. They hadn’t exactly broadcasted that fact.

But Cord wanted more land than the suburban home where he and Jane had been living since their wedding last year. He wanted horses and the ability to have more dogs, and Jane said she could take care of some chickens and a couple of barn cats.

Twilight Fields would be too big for them, but Cord reasoned he didn’t have to plant it all or fill every stall with horses. He could get a few dairy cows too, and then he and Jane would have fresh milk, butter, cream, and eggs.

He could still run his mechanic shop, and they’d be a little further from her family farm, but still plenty close enough to see them anytime they wanted.

“I can’t wait to welcome you and your wife to the area,” Alicia said.

“He owns the new mechanic shop Dave goes to,” another woman said. Alicia turned and looked at the woman behind her, as did Cord. She smiled. “Right, Cord?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “If you’re talking about Dave Kidman.”

“I am.” She touched her chest. “I’m Beth, his wife. He says you’re the best.”

“I try,” Cord said, accepting the compliment far easier than he had others. Jane had been telling him to be kind and gracious, but he didn’t have to be self-depreciating. He couldn’t wait to tell her he’d finally done it.

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