“Yeah, bein’ in love makes Red Grayson funny, who’d have thought,” Toby adds.
“Hey, what is this? ‘Pick on Red day’?”
“Better than ‘Pick on Landry’ day,” the man of the same name replies.
Colt laughs. “Touché. At the rate y'all are goin', Lee and I will be the last to get married even though we were the first to hear the Call.”
“Austin’s not engaged yet,” I say, sliding my gaze to Charlie’s partner. “And I figure he’s got a lot of butterin’ up to do considerin’ Char’s goin’ to be my stepdaughter.”
The man smirks. “If you threaten to get your shotgun out to protect Char’s virtue. I’ve got to say, you’re goin’ to–” Rhett covers Austin’s mouth to shut him up.
“Shh. Don’t poke the step-daddy bear. He’s never been one before, you don’t know how he’ll react when provoked,” Rhett stage whispers, making me laugh.
“Don’t worry, Austin. You know where all my shotguns areandthe combination to the gun safe, so you know you’ve got nothin’ to worry about. But if it’ll make you feel better, you’ve already got my blessin’andthat of my soon-to-be bride. We just want you to make an honest woman out of Char. You're draggin' the chain a bit."
“Hey,” Austin laughs, “not all of us go away for two weeks with our best friend and come back in loveandmarried.”
I shrug. “What can I say? The mountain’s Call is a wonderful thing.”
“Says the man who said—and I quote—’I won't be hearin' it, and I don’t want to’,” Rhett retorts.
“I’ll be the first to admit I protested a littletoomuch. But how was I to know that my One was sittin’ right under my nose.”
Rhett grins. “Well, thespiritknew.”
“Yeah, about that,” I say, grabbing my beer and taking a healthy swig. “I guess there’s somethin’ else I should tell y’all.” That gets everyone’s attention, all of the men giving me their eyes as they wait. “Mags had a letter from Anna that she’d written before she passed, and she never opened it.” I look at Austin who wears a guilty expression. “It’s fine, Austin. I’m not mad about it. I’m happy you were there with Char to help Mags since just seein’ it again would’ve been hard for her.”
“Where did the letter come from?” Landry asks.
"Duck Norris came into our apartment with an envelope in his beak. It was the same day we moved Char's bookcase in," Austin says. "We gave it to Mags because we could see it was Anna’s handwritin’. It had been packed away in a box in the attic and somehow the damn duck found it.”
“OK…” Colt says, brows now pinched.
“The last anyone knew, the letter was left in Mags’s kitchen, until it showed up in her duffel bag in our cabin on Thursday mornin’.”
Thatearns a few dropped mouths and wide eyes. Even Toby, who is known to be a little hit-and-miss with concentrating on anything or anyone that isn't his beloved Delilah is giving me his undivided attention.
“Wait… what?” Austin asks. “I swear, Red. We had nothin’ to do with it. Char even told Mags that we couldn’t find it.”
“It’s OK. I think either the duck did a little meddlin’ again, or a higher bein’ made sure that the letter was put somewhere that we’d find it.”
The trailer falls quiet for a spell. “Like the mountain spirit,” Rhett murmurs, breaking the silence.
“Yep. Like Anna.”
Everyone’s heads snap up, their eyes a mixture of surprise and confusion. Then there’s Colt who slowly smiles. “You know what? I can totally see that.”
"You're tellin' me. She was always a romantic. She wanted everyone to be as happy as we were. Remember when she tried to set Rhett up with that lady farrier down in Juneau ten years ago?"
“And any time we’d see a buckle bunny at an event, she’d be nudgin’ my shoulder askin’ whether I thought they were cute,” Landry muses.
Rhett meets my eyes and there’s no missing the respect, pride, and love I see in his gaze. “She wanted you and Mags to be together, didn’t she?” I nod, my tight throat making it hard to speak.
“It all makes sense now,” Austin replies. “Anna bein’ the mountain spirit at Bull. That’s why it felt like home as soon as we found it and how we all knew that it was the right place for all of us to settle down. She’d already chosen it for us, and then she set out to bring all of our soulmates into our lives.”
“Wow,” Toby breathes, looking as astounded as I felt a few days ago.
“So, this weddin’. It isn’t you and Mags rushin’, this is you two catchin’ up,” Colt says and I still, letting his words truly sink in.
