Page 6 of Darling Bride

She looks up, wiping her forehead. “Who knows, I’ll find them later. I guess he’s run off with Allison.”

There’s a bucket of blueberries on the table. I take one and sit down.

“I gave her a talking to before we got here,” I say. “They both have good heads on their shoulders.”

“This is just all new to me,” Keira muses.

“We probably should have seen it coming.”

She nods. “That’s true. Where’s Westin today?”

I sigh, watching as she puts two rolled out pieces of dough into pie tins. “He gave River one of the unbroken colts. They’re out rounding it up and fixing a stall for it in the barn.”

Keira’s brow rises. “Really?”

“It’s between him and River,” I sigh. “I won’t be intervening.”

“It’s best to let them sort it out,” Keira says, pushing one of the pans across the table. “Do you mind filling this up with the berries on the stove?”

I get up and start scooping boiled berries with sugar into the pastry laden pans. “Let’s let Sovereign and Westin handle it,” I say. “Maybe that’s what they deserve for all the acting up they’ve done over the years.”

She laughs and pulls open the oven. I slide the pans inside once they’re covered with latticed dough. She wipes her hands on her apron and opens the window, letting some of the heat out. Red hair sticks to her neck. When she brushes it aside, her silver necklace flashes.

Keira and I have spoken about it before. It amuses us to no end that Gerard and Westin have never had a real conversation about why their wives wear discreet necklaces that never come off. They’ve been best friends for three decades, but that’s just like them.

“Do you have lemonade?” I ask.

“I do.” Keira ducks past me and takes it out of the fridge. “Anything extra?”

“I’ll have some if you will.”

She pours two glasses over ice and puts a shot of whiskey in each. I take mine and sit on the edge of the table.

“That stallion Sovereign bought off Jensen didn’t work out,” she says.

Ever since Shadow retired to the back pasture to eat and roll in the grass for the rest of his life, Sovereign has gone througha number of possibilities for his next horse. He had some promising options, but nothing panned out.

“What’s wrong with it?” I ask.

She shrugs, sighing. “It’s not Shadow. I think that’s its worst offense. Sovereign’s looking for a horse that can respond to weight signals. He had so many hopefuls, but when it got down to it, they just didn’t fit the bill.”

“Maybe his expectations are just a little too high,” I say.

She lifts a brow. “Really? I can’t imagine Sovereign having high expectations for anyone.”

We both laugh. At that moment, the door slams open and Ella skips in. She weaves her hand in mine and tugs me towards the door.

“Let go see the baby chicks,” she insists.

“Alright,” I say, emptying my glass. “I promised, so let’s go.”

Keira sets the timer to rotate the pies and puts it in her pocket. I keep telling her to get a new oven and she won’t have to turn her food to keep it from burning, but she likes the one she has.

We head out the back exit off the kitchen. The morning is warm, the sun slanting over the yard. The barn door is rolled open and Sovereign stands just inside, arms crossed. Deacon Ryder is in the exact same stance, hat pulled low over his face. They go quiet as we walk up.

“What are you doing here, Deacon?” Keira asks.

“I got a bull rider coming up from Texas and he’s bringing some horses with him,” he says. “I need an extra trailer off Sovereign to transport them to the northern barn.”

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