Winchester Christmas Wedding (16 page)

The wedding of Luke Crawford and McCall Winchester was one that would be talked about for years around Whitehorse.

How many weddings, after all, required the bomb squad to be called in? Or the coroner? The day's events just added to the mysteries surrounding the infamous Winchesters.

But only a few people knew what really had happened that day out at the Winchester Ranch. One of those people was TD Waters. He'd lifted Agent Lizzy Calder out from under the lodge and carried her down to the cabin while everyone else waited for the bomb squad to arrive.

Under the hot spray of the shower, he'd held her for a long time before he'd gently peeled off her wet, dirty clothing and his own.

“Do you know what I'd like to do with you?” he asked.

She met his gaze. “Surprise me.”

And he did. “I want to dance with you.”

“And here I thought you had something else in mind.”

“Oh, that is always on my mind when I look at you.” He cupped his palms on each side of her waist and pulled her closer. “You were amazing today. You're always amazing.”

Later, after they made love, he put in a call to the agency. He wasn't surprised to hear that no one could find Director Roger Collins—or a large sum of government money that had gone missing.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Pepper Winchester had gathered her family in the lodge after the bomb squad had given the all clear. She told them a story about a sixteen-year-old girl who fell in love with a boy named Hunt McCormick years ago at a carnival, and his promise that one day he would find her and they would be together.

“Are you telling us—”

“That he found me twenty-seven years ago,” Pepper said, cutting her off.

“Hunt McCormick,” Worth said.

“That's why that crazy Janie McCormick tried to kill us all?” Virginia demanded.

“Virginia, the woman was just that, crazy,” Brand said. “Let Mother finish. I suspect there is more to this story.”

Pepper smiled at him. “Hunt and I had one wonderful night together. It resulted in a child. A son. You know him as TD Waters.” She got to her feet. “I need to go find him and talk to him before the wedding. So if you'll excuse me.”

“There's still going to be a wedding?” Virginia asked in shock.

“Yes,” McCall said, looking over at Luke. He'd come
in on foot when he'd found the road blocked by one of the ranch pickups, not all that surprised that something had happened, although while he'd worried that the wedding wouldn't go off without a hitch, he hadn't expected a bomb—or a crazy woman.

“I guess I'd better get to work, then,” Enid said.

“Actually, Enid,” McCall said, taking her aside. “I don't think we'll be needing you today.”

“Now, just a minute…” That's when she saw the police officer outside looking at the ranch pickup with the new headlight.

“The eyewitness who saw your sister get run down remembered something else about the pickup she saw,” McCall said. “The driver looked like a little old woman and there was something on the side of the truck. The words
Winchester Ranch.
”

“I'll talk,” Enid threatened. “I'll tell everything I know.”

Pepper smiled. “Who's going to believe a woman who murdered her own sister?”

Enid didn't even put up a fight as she was led away in handcuffs. McCall was just sorry her grandmother hadn't been there to see it. But Pepper was standing outside the bunkhouse talking with TD.

TD listened to what his mother had to say, although he'd figured most of it out on his own.

“It took a long time to track you down,” she told him.

“Once I knew who you worked for, I knew you'd have to discover the truth on your own.”

“That's why you demanded the fifty thousand dollars. If you had offered me the information for nothing, I wouldn't have believed you.”

She'd smiled. “After all, you are my son.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. What do you want from me?”

“Answers.”

“You want to know about your father.”

“Yes.”

Pepper's gaze softened. “It would take a lifetime to tell you about Hunt McCormick and my love for him. I guess if you want to know the whole story you're going to have to stay around for a while.”

 

E
VERYONE SAID THE BRIDE
was beautiful and so was the short but poignant ceremony. There was champagne and cake, music and dancing. The Winchester lodge was filled with a sound it hadn't heard in many, many years: laughter.

Pepper watched McCall and Luke walk out on the floor for their first dance as husband and wife. Her granddaughter had never looked more beautiful or happy and Luke Crawford was as handsome as any man could be. The love in his eyes brought tears to Pepper's.

As they began to slow dance to the music, Pepper looked around the room at her family. They were all there, her children and her grandchildren and their husbands and wives and girlfriends, some of them already pregnant, others, she suspected, not far behind. Soon she would be a great-grandmother.

What surprised her was that she liked the thought, and actually wanted to stick around for that. She realized she liked having all her family here. Worth had risked his life today. Call would have been proud.

Pepper had even been surprised by her reaction to
Trace's widow, Ruby. The woman would never have been her first choice for her son, but Ruby was McCall's mother and that alone made her family. And clearly Ruby was in love with Red Harper, Pepper thought as she watched the two dance. After all these years, Ruby and Trace's best friend, Red, were finally moving on.

Pepper felt her heart swell with love for this family of hers. Maybe someday they would forgive her. Maybe they had already started.

TD held Lizzy close as they danced. Pepper had lent her a dress from a closet full of vintage clothing. He looked into her eyes. “I love you, Lizzy Calder.”

She smiled up at him. “I wondered how long it would take you to realize that.” She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him as music played around them to the clink of champagne glasses and the soft roar of a fire in the huge rock fireplace.

TD had said he didn't know what he would do now that they'd decided their lives as agents were behind them. But Lizzy had seen him look out across the wild prairie, across this immense Winchester Ranch, and she'd seen their future as clear and bright as the December day.

Just when the wedding couldn't have been more perfect, it began to snow. Huge lacy flakes drifted down from a midnight-blue sky and everyone ran to the window to watch. They were going to have a white Christmas.

The day's events would have been sufficient for the local gossips to feast on for months, but it was what happened next that would have people talking for years.

No one heard the knock at the door over the music.
Few even turned when the door opened on a gust of wind.

But Pepper Winchester did. She turned to find Hunt McCormick standing framed in the doorway as if some part of her had known.

She felt her heart fill with helium at the sight of him.

“May I have this dance?” he asked. He couldn't have looked more handsome in his tuxedo. He was smiling down at her.

As he drew her to her feet, she said, “I'm not sure I remember how to dance.”

“As long as I can hold you in my arms, I don't care how much dancing we do,” he said and drew her into his embrace.

She closed her eyes as she put her cheek against his shoulder, and it was as if they were young again, their lives stretched out before them with so many possibilities.

“I have something I've wanted to give you for years,” Hunt said reaching into his pocket as the song ended. He pulled out a gold chain with a heart locket. It glittered with diamonds.

Pepper felt tears well in her eyes. He'd promised years ago to replace a cheap heart locket he'd given her—the same locket she'd put on the small grave up on the hill that she'd always known had never held hers and Hurt's son.

He clasped the chain, then stepped back to look at her, love in his eyes.

“Run away with me,” Hunt whispered. “And don't tell me it's too late.”

Pepper lifted her face to his. “No, not too late, but I'm through running away. Stay with me, Hunt. Stay here with me and my family on this ranch. There is still time, isn't there?”

He looked down into her eyes, tears welling in his. “Whatever time we have, I want it to be together.”

She smiled up at him. “There is so much I need to tell you.”

“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tonight, I just want to dance.”

But as they danced, her gaze caught on her daughter. Virginia held up her champagne glass as if in a silent toast, and Pepper knew that Virginia had called Hunt and, knowing her daughter, probably told him everything. And yet he was here.

She smiled her thanks and then closed her eyes as she danced with the man she loved as if all those years had never passed.