Page 39 of Appointing
“I’m glad you like it,” Mack said. “I always wanted one of these when I was a kid.” Lorna noticed a shadow of sadness darken Mack’s eyes, then it disappeared so quickly, she wondered if she’d seen it at all. “And I’d be happy to help you build it, but tonight is all about your Aunt Leni and your new Uncle Chevy and celebrating their wedding, so we’ll have to make a plan for another day.”
Max’s mouth turned down in a frown then he lifted his eyebrows. “How about tomorrow?”
Mack laughed and the sound of it did something funny to Lorna’s insides. Not just the rich sound of his laughter, but the fact that it was her son who was bringing him genuine joy. She couldn’t remember ever hearing Lyle laugh like that with him.
“We’ll have to check with your mom on that one,” Mack said.
Max’s head whipped toward her, but before she could answer, Mabel Turner came down the hallway wearing the silver dress that had been left on Ford’s bed.
“Well, I must admit,” she said. “This does seem like a more reasonable choice for wedding attire. I wasn’t sure what to do when I opened my garment bag earlier and found those other clothes, but I was already at the ranch and didn’t have anything else to wear, so as they say in my Zumba class, I just went with it and made the best of a bad dance move.”
Chapter Four
Mack had to admit that he felt more like part of the family once he’d changed into the same wedding shirt and vest that his brothers and grandfather were wearing. He was thankful Lorna had gotten his things back from Miss Mabel, and the older woman seemed glad too.
The pictures took close to an hour, so the reception was well underway by the time they made it to the giant white tent set up in the pasture on the other side of the barn.
The white chairs had been moved from the ceremony to circle round tables covered in silver tablecloths, and the lupine stalks had been transformed into centerpieces. Chandeliers of fairy lights hung from the tent’s crossbeams, and a head table had been set up for the bridal party with a banner reading ‘Mr. and Mrs. Lassiter’ strung behind it.
Animated conversation, laughter, and the scent of pulled pork and barbequed brisket filled the air, and long tables held massive bowls of potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, salad, grilled corn on the cob, and freshly made rolls. Huge coolers had been filled with ice and stuffed with beer, ciders, hard seltzers, soda, and water.
The wedding party got in line and filled their plates then took their places at the head table. Mack had been hoping to sit with Lorna, but her place as the maid of honor was already set next to Leni, and he had been assigned a seat at the end of the table next to Dodge. He was glad to get to catch up a little with his brother, but it seemed like half the town came up to the table to talk to the bride and groom and the rest of the family.
Mack lost track of how many people he’d been introduced to. Some of the neighbors, and the friends of his grandparents, he’d met when he’d been there the summer before, but a lot of folks were new. And many seemed curious about him, his mom, and how he’d come to recently join the Lassiter family.
He appreciated Dodge’s skills at evading the questions that got too personal and his knack for changing the subject and putting the focus back on the other person. Especially since Mack didn’t have good answers to some of their questions. Like why his mom had chosen to keep him with her when she’d abandoned the other boys with their grandparents and why she’d never told him about his half-brothers.
After the meal, he was happy to find an out-of-the-way spot to hold up the wall as he watched Chevy and Leni cut the cake and do the garter and bouquet tosses.
Duke had told him most of the crowd was either from Woodland Hills or the neighboring town of Creedence, and even though he’d heard he was from the area, Mack was still surprised to see NHL hockey legend, Rockford James and his brothers in attendance and tipping beers withhisnew brothers. He loved watching the guy play and was a fan of his team, the Colorado Summit, so he hoped to get a chance to get to know Rock and the James brothers better this summer since Duke said they occasionally helped each other out on their respective ranches.
Mack didn’t participate in the garter toss, and he was amused at the way Lorna didn’t eventryto catch the bouquet, side-stepping the direction of Leni’s throw instead then laughing with a surprised Miss Mabel as the flowers landed in her arms.
He’d always been okay circling the periphery, watching others, and never needing to join in to whatever activity was going on. Especially since he hadn’t been invited to join much. And making friends and getting too close to people invited questions he didn’t want to answer, like about where his mom was and why they hadn’t seen her around.
He’d learned early on that answering those questions truthfully only brought trouble, so he’d become good at doing his own laundry to ensure he had clean clothes, learning to use coupons and make himself inexpensive meals, and forging his mother’s signatures on notes for school, so that no one suspected Brandy had taken off again, leaving her young son alone for weeks, and sometimes months at a time.
The band played a song for the couple’s first dance but skipped the father/daughter and mother and son ones, since neither the bride nor groom had either parent in attendance. Leni and Lorna’s father had taken off on them when they were young, and their mother had remarried and moved away the summer before and apparently hadn’t made it back for the wedding.
Mack didn’t think Brandi would have been invited, even if any of them knew where she was, and he was the only Lassiter son who’d even known his dad, although he sure didn’t consider himself luckier in that respect.
He still couldn’t believe this was all part of his life now. He’d spent his entire life wishing for siblings and grandparents, heck, he would have taken a distant cousin, just to know he had some other family out there. But he’d never imagined that he had three brothers and a grandfather on a ranch in Colorado.
Or that they would so easily accept him as one of their own.
Theyhadaccepted him, but standing there, on the perimeter of the party, he couldn’t help but still feel alone.
This ranch was his home now. He’d told the ranch foreman in Texas he wasn’t coming back again. But it was still going to take him some time to really adjust to this ranch being part of his legacy and to these people being his family.
He watched for a few songs then couldn’t turn down Elizabeth or Maisie’s requests to dance, even though he knew they were just asking him to be nice to their boyfriend’s little brother.
Lorna had been havinga great night, enjoying the freedom of being able to eat a warm meal with other adults and knowing Izzy was home with a babysitter she could trust. She’d danced a few times with Max, then with Duke, then been hustled onto the floor by her sister for the group line dances. She was surprised she remembered the steps, but after a few mistakes, seemed to easily pick them back up again.
She’d been hoping to have a dance with Mack, feeling like this was her one Cinderella night out and at midnight she’d turn back into a single-working-mom pumpkin, leaving the memories of a pretty dress and a gorgeous updo behind like the lost glass slipper.
It was close to nine when Mack finally asked her to dance, but her pulse quickened when the music changed to a slower number as he led her out onto the floor and pulled her into his arms.
His hand rested gently against her shoulder blade as he guided her around the floor, but all she could think about wasthe feel of his fingers brushing over the bare skin next to the thin straps of her dress and how well she fit against his broad chest.
