found a what in the chili pot?” her mother-in-law had asked in disbelief when Allie had called her—a huge mistake in retrospect. But at the time, she’d hoped her mother-in-law would understand why she couldn’t keep the pot. Why she didn’t want it in her house.
“I found a squirrel in that cast-iron pot you gave me. When I picked up the lid—”
“No way would a squirrel get into your cabin, let alone climb under a heavy lid like that. Why would it? You must have imagined it. Are you still on those drugs the doctor gave you after my Nicky died?”
Allie’s husband had always been “my Nicky” to his mother while Mildred had insisted Allie call her “Mother Taylor.”
“No, Mother Taylor, I told you.” Allie’s own mother had died when she was nineteen. Her father had moved, remarried and started a new family. They’d lost touch. “I quit taking the pills a long time ago.”
“I think it’s those pills,” Mildred had said as if Allie hadn’t spoken. “You said they had you seeing things that weren’t there.”
“The squirrel was there. I had to take it out back and—”
“If I were you, I’d talk to your doctor. Why do you need the pills, anyway? It isn’t like you’re still grieving over my Nicky. Charlotte Reynolds told me she saw you having lunch the other day, you and Natalie, and you were laughing.”
Allie had closed her eyes, remembering the lunch in question. “I am trying to make things more normal for Nat.”
“Well, it looks bad, you having a good time while your poor husband is barely cold in his grave.”
She wanted to mention that Nick wasn’t in his grave, but knew better than to bring that up. “It’s been eight months.”
“Like you have to tell me that!” Mildred sniffed and blew her nose. She’d cried constantly over the death of her favorite son and couldn’t understand why Allie wasn’t still doing the same.
“We all grieve in our own way and I have a young daughter to raise,” Allie had said more times than she wanted to recall.
The phone call had ended with Mildred crying and talking about what a wonderful man her Nicky had been. A lie at best. He’d been a lousy husband and an even worse father, but now that he was dead, he would always be the wonderful man Mildred remembered.
After that, she’d learned her lesson. She kept the other crazy things that had been happening to herself. If Mildred knew, she would have her in a straitjacket. And little Nat...? She couldn’t bear to think about Mildred having anything to do with raising her daughter.
“So,” Drew said as she and Nat sat across from him in a booth at a local café later that evening. “Did I hear you’ve gone back to work?”
It was impossible to keep anything a secret in this canyon, Allie thought. She had hoped to keep it from the Taylor family as long as possible.
“Dana Savage called me about doing a Western wedding up at her ranch for her cousin Tag and his soon-to-be wife, Lily.” She didn’t mention that she’d accepted the job several months ago. Or how badly she needed the money. With the investigation into Nick’s presumed death still unresolved, the insurance company was holding off paying her. Not that it would last long if she didn’t get back to work.
Her mother-in-law kept mentioning “that big insurance check my Nicky left you,” but the insurance money would barely cover a couple years of Natalie’s college, if that. And Allie hoped to invest it for that very use.
“I’ve been doing some work at Cardwell Ranch. Nice people to work for. But are you sure you’re up to it?” Drew asked quietly, real concern in his tone. “Mother mentioned that she was worried about you. She said you were still taking the pills and they were making you see things?”
Of course Mildred told Drew and his sister, Sarah, everything. Allie tried not to show her irritation. She had no appetite, but she attempted to eat what she could. She didn’t want Drew mentioning to his mother, even accidentally, that she wasn’t eating much. Mildred would make it into her not taking care of herself.
“I’m fine. I’m not taking the pills. I told your mother—”
He held up his hand. “You don’t have to tell me about my mother. She hears only what she wants to hear. I’m on your side. I think going back to work might be the best thing for you. So what do you plan to do with Natalie? I don’t have to tell you what Mother is going to say.”
“Nat’s going with me,” Allie said emphatically. “Dana has children she can play with. As a matter of fact, Dana is going to teach Nat to ride a horse.”
Natalie grinned and clapped her small hands excitedly. She was the spitting image of Allie at that age: straight, pale blond hair cut in a bob, green eyes with a pert little nose and deep dimples. Allie got the blond hair from her Scandinavian mother and the green eyes from her Irish father.
There was no sign of the Taylor family in her daughter, something that had caused a lot of speculation from not only Nick, but his mother.
Nat quickly told her uncle that it would be a very gentle horse and Dana’s kids Hank and Mary were riding before they were even her age. “The twins are too young to ride yet,” she announced.
“Dana wouldn’t let Nat do it if she thought it wasn’t all right,” Allie added.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Drew said, but she could tell that he already knew what her mother-in-law was going to have to say about it. “Cardwell Ranch is where the wedding is going to be, I take it?”
“The wedding will be in a meadow on the ranch with the reception and a lot of other events in the large, old barn.”
“You know that we’ve been invited,” Drew said almost in warning.
The canyon was its own little community, with many of the older families—like Dana’s—that dated back to the eighteen hundreds before there was even a paved road through it. Mildred Taylor must be delighted to be invited to a wedding of a family that was like old canyon royalty. Mother Taylor might resent the Cardwell clan, say things behind their back, but she would never outright defy them since everyone loved Dana Cardwell Savage and had held great respect for her mother, Mary Justice.
“How are things with you?” Allie asked.
“Everything’s fine.” He smiled but she’d seen the lines around his eyes and had heard that his construction company was struggling without Nick.
He’d been so generous with her and Natalie that she feared he was giving away money he didn’t have.
She was just thankful when the meal was over and Drew dropped her and Nat off at the small cabin in the Gallatin Canyon where she’d lived with Nick until his disappearance. The canyon as it was known, ran from the mouth just south of Gallatin Gateway almost to West Yellowstone, fifty miles of winding road that trailed the river in a deep cut through the mountains.
The drive along the Gallatin River was breathtaking, a winding strip of highway that followed the blue-ribbon trout stream up over the Continental Divide. In the summer as it was now, the Gallatin ran crystal clear over tinted green boulders. Pine trees grew dark and thick
