Nelson's Brand. Diana Palmer

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СКАЧАТЬ doing it in some pretty rough places for a long time.”

      “I know. But there’s a big difference in what you’ve been doing and a man-woman relationship.” She glanced at Allison as she turned into a long, graveled driveway. “Honestly, for a twenty-five-year-old woman, you’re just hopelessly backward, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. It isn’t as if you’ve had the opportunity to lead a wild life. But you’ve been criminally exposed in some ways and criminally sheltered in others. I don’t think your parents ever really considered you when they made their plans.”

      Allison laughed gently. “Yes, they did. I’m just like them, Winnie. I loved every minute of what we all did together, and I’ll miss it terribly, even now.” Her eyes clouded. “Things happen as God means them to. I can cope.”

      “It was such a waste, though….”

      “Oh, no,” Allison said, remembering the glowing faces she’d seen, the purpose and peace in the dark eyes. “No, it was never a waste. They’re still alive, in the work they did, in the lives they changed.”

      “I won’t argue with you,” Winnie said gently. “We’ve kept in touch and remained friends all these long years since we were in school together in Bisbee. You’re still the sister I never had. You’ll have a home as long as I’m alive.”

      Tears sprang to Allison’s big eyes. She hurriedly dashed them away. “If the circumstances were reversed, I hope you know that I’d do the same thing for you.”

      “I know,” Winnie said. She wiped away a tear of her own.

      There was a crowd of cars in the front driveway at the Nelsons’ after they’d wound their way up past the towering lodgepole pines and aspen trees to the big stone house, backed by jagged high mountains.

      “Isn’t it just heaven?” Allison sighed involuntarily. “Wyoming is beautiful.”

      “Yes, it certainly is. I can happily spend the rest of my life here. Now, Allie, you aren’t planning to sit behind bushes all night, are you?” she muttered. “The whole idea of this party is to meet people.”

      “For you to meet people,” Allison emphasized. “You’re the one who’s getting married, not me.”

      “You can take advantage of it, all the same. These are interesting people, too. Most of them are rodeo folks, and the rest are cattlemen or horse breeders.”

      “You’re making me nervous,” Allison said, fidgeting in her seat as Winnie parked the car behind a silver-gray Lincoln. “I don’t know anything about rodeo or horses or cattle.”

      “No time like the present to learn,” Winnie said easily. “Come on. Out of there.”

      “Is this trip really necessary?” Allison murmured, swinging her long, elegant legs out of the car. “I could stay in the car and make sure it doesn’t roll down the hill.”

      “Not a chance, my friend. After all the work I’ve put in on you today, I want to show you off.”

      “Gloating over your artistry, I gather?” Allison primped. “Well, let’s spread me among the peasants, then.”

      “I’d forgotten your Auntie Mame impersonation,” Winnie winced. “You really have to stop watching those old movies. Don’t lay it on too thick, now.”

      “Cross my heart and hope to die,” Allison agreed. She drew an imaginary line across her stomach.

      “Your heart isn’t down there,” Winnie said worriedly.

      “Yes, it is. The only thing I really love is food, so that’s where my heart is. Right?”

      “I give up.”

      Allison followed her friend up the wide stone steps to where Dwight Nelson waited on the porch, his blond hair gleaming in the fading sunlight.

      “There you are!” he chuckled, and swung a beaming Winnie up in his arms to kiss her soundly. “Hello, Allie, glad you could come,” he told the other woman and suddenly stopped, his eyes widening as he stared at her. “Allie? That is you, isn’t it?”

      Allison sent a dry look in her friend’s direction. “Go ahead. Gloat,” she dared.

      “I did it all,” Winnie said, smiling haughtily. “Just look. Isn’t she hot?”

      “Indeed she is, and if I hadn’t seen you first…” Dwight began.

      Winnie stomped on his big foot through his boot. “Hold it right there, buster, before you talk yourself into a broken leg. You’re all mine, and don’t you forget it.”

      “As if I could.” Dwight winced, flexing his booted foot. “You look gorgeous, Allie, now will you tell her I was kidding?”

      “He was kidding,” Allie told Winnie.

      “All right. You’re safe, this time.” Winnie slid her arm around Dwight’s lean waist. “Where’s Marie?”

      “Around back,” he said, grimacing as he glanced toward the sound of a local band beyond the arch in the surrounding wall. “Gene’s out there.”

      “Gene and Marie don’t get along,” Winnie told Allison.

      “That’s like saying old-time cowboys and old-time Indians don’t get along.” Dwight sighed. “Fortunately the guests will keep them from killing each other in public. Mother used to spend her life separating them. It was fine while Gene was abroad for a year on a selling trip. We actually had peaceful meals. Now we have indigestion and a new cook every month.” He pursed his lips. “Speaking of food, let’s go see if there’s any left.” Dwight glanced over their heads toward the driveway. “I think you two are the last people we expected.”

      “The best always are, darling,” Winnie said, smiling up at him with sparkling affection.

      Allison had to fight her inclination to be jealous, but if anyone ever deserved happiness, Winnie did. She had a heart as big as the whole world.

      She followed the engaged couple through the stone arch to the tents that had been set up with tables and chairs positioned underneath it to seat guests. A huge steer carcass was roasting over an open fire while a man basted it with sauce, smiling and nodding as two women, one of whom Winnie whispered was Marie Nelson, carried off platters of it to the tables.

      Other pots contained baked beans and Brunswick stew, which were being served as well, along with what had to be homemade rolls.

      “It smells heavenly,” Allison sighed, closing her eyes to inhale the sweet aroma.

      “It tastes heavenly, too,” Dwight said. “I grabbed a sample on my way around the house. Here, sit down and dig in.”

      He herded them toward the first tent, where there were several vacant seats, but he and Winnie were waylaid by a couple they knew and Allison was left to make her own way to the long table.

      She took a plate and utensils from the end of the table, along with a glass of iced tea, and sat down. Platters of barbecue and rolls, and bowls of baked beans and Brunswick stew, were strategically placed СКАЧАТЬ