“We’ll put everything else away in the morning,” she said. After brushing their teeth, they said their prayers, and then she turned out the lights and they climbed under their comfy quilts. Alex liked their yellow-and-white-checkered design. The whole log cabin had a cheery ambience. There was no doubt that she and Jenny needed a little cheer in their lives.
In her heart of hearts, she was relieved about the decision she’d made where Frank was concerned. Alex had refused to wear his engagement ring yet because deep down she’d known Jenny wasn’t ready. She’d seen the signs, but tonight’s incident had crystallized things for her.
Marriage was a big step for anyone, but an even bigger one for a woman who’d be forty-one in a few months and had never been married. Frank was fifty-five but looked fifty because he played a lot of tennis and kept fit. They’d met when she’d started working at the bank where he was the vice president. After he lost his wife to cancer, they became friends. That friendship deepened following Christy’s death and they fell in love.
She liked his two married children and grandchildren. He had a maturity and stability that were especially appealing to her. Jenny liked him fairly well, but the mention of marriage was something else. Obviously it was too soon after her daddy’s death for her to imagine a man living with them under the same roof.
Alex knew it would come as a blow when she got home and told Frank she couldn’t marry him yet. For her, intimacy was out of the question until their wedding, because she refused to anticipate their vows as she’d done with Kyle when she was seventeen.
Although she hated the thought of disappointing Frank further, Jenny had to come first. Alex had raised one daughter, and now she was raising another. The responsibility was enormous. Frank would help her, but not until Jenny was ready. And as much as Alex was looking forward to marriage, they had to get past this problem first. She guessed she was going to find out how patient Frank could be.
With a troubled sigh, she turned on her other side. When Jenny had been in the first grade, Alex had arranged various playdates for her. One girl named Mandy was turning into a friend Jenny really liked. They got along great, but she needed more friends. She hoped that she would make some friends at the ranch for the time that they were there. Maybe there would be some other families with a girl. And Buck had mentioned a boy....
She and Jenny had been through so much in the past year, but if there was any consolation, it was that her daughter and Daniel were together in heaven. Alex loved her granddaughter and was determined they were going to have a wonderful life and enjoy this special week, which had come as an unexpected gift.
To her surprise, her thoughts drifted to the handsome ex-marine who’d flown on the plane with them to Jackson. Who would have guessed he was one of the owners of the dude ranch.
Buck’s words rang in her ears: There’s something about this ranch that gives you a new perspective. She had the feeling he’d been speaking from personal experience and prayed it would be equally true for her and Jenny.
* * *
“NANA? Somebody’s knocking at the door. Do you think it’s Buck?” Jenny asked with an eagerness that surprised Alex.
“I have no idea.” Alex had awakened thinking about him and how good he’d been with Jenny last night. She knew married men who didn’t handle their own children’s fears as well as the way he’d handled Jenny’s. She shot up in bed and brushed the hair out of her eyes to check her watch. It was five after eight.
There was another knock. “Can I get it?”
“Go ahead.” Alex had slept in her sweats and felt decent enough as she followed Jenny into the other room. Her granddaughter had inherited the best features from both Christy and Daniel. She looked so cute in her Sleeping Beauty pajamas. Alex thought she was the most adorable girl on the planet.
When Jenny opened the door, they were met by a brown-eyed, brown-haired boy in a black Stetson and cowboy boots. He wore a holster around his hips and was holding a cap gun in one hand. Alex decided she was looking at the most adorable boy on the planet.
“Hi! I’m Johnny Lundgren. Are you Jenny?” Her granddaughter’s green eyes widened in astonishment before she nodded. “Do you want to have breakfast with me?”
She turned to Alex. “Would that be okay with you, Nana?”
“Of course.” She moved to the door. “Hi, Johnny. I’m Alex.”
“I know. You’re her grandmother.”
Alex couldn’t help smiling. He had amazing confidence for his age. “That’s right. Last night Buck told us you’re Mr. Lundgren’s son.”
“Yep.”
“We’re very pleased to meet you.” She shook his hand. “We understand you have a pony named Goldie.”
“Yep. I’ll show you to her after breakfast. Do you want to see me ride her?”
“Yes. I want to ride, too.”
“Okay. We’ll go after we eat. I like Fruit Loops. What about you?”
Jenny thought for a minute. “Do they have Boo Berry?”
“I think so, but it makes your mouth blue.”
“I know.” Both children laughed at the same time. A small miracle had occurred with her granddaughter. Buck Summerhayes wasn’t the only male around the ranch who had charm. “Come on in, Johnny. We’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.”
“Where did you get your cap gun?”
“In Jackson. Maybe your nana will buy one for you.”
Jenny turned to her. “Would you?”
“We’ll see. First we need to get dressed.”
“Okay.”
Alex hustled Jenny into the bedroom. They took turns quickly showering, and then both dived into their suitcases for jeans and tops. She guessed that Buck was behind this and knew what he was doing. Here Alex had been hoping there’d be a girl for Jenny to play with, but Johnny Lundgren was so cute and interesting that he had her granddaughter mesmerized. Better strike while the iron was hot.
In fewer than twenty minutes, they’d freshened up and brushed their hair. “I think we’re ready.” They joined Johnny and the three of them stepped out of the cabin. The Teton mountain range rose majestically in the distance. The sight of it in the sunshine took Alex’s breath away. You would never have known there’d been a storm last night.
“There’s the big mountain!” Jenny cried, pointing to it. You couldn’t miss it.
“Yep. That’s the Grand Teton.”
“What does Teton mean?” The question didn’t surprise her. Her granddaughter was the most observant, curious person Alex had ever known.
Johnny looked puzzled. “I’ll have to ask Dad.”
“Have you ever seen anything more beautiful, sweetheart?”
“I didn’t know it was so tall!”
Alex looked all around. There were a few other cabins besides their own, and they were all surrounded by sagebrush. A distance away, she could see the main ranch house—a big rustic two-story affair with a copse of trees to the side. It was the type of home the man on the horse in the Great American Cowboy ad might live in. Alex was being fanciful, but this ranch was the kind of place dreams were made of.
The children moved ahead of her as they walked along the road.
Johnny turned to Jenny. “Do you want to camp out on the mountain?”
“Have