Ford: 7 Brides for 7 Soldiers Read online

  It would have been nice to have a place to stay that didn’t involve him sleeping surrounded by sawdust.

  A small laugh escaped as he began to walk toward the workshop when he realized how often he’d done just that while in the Navy. The Seabees projects had him working on construction sites all over the world, and sometimes sawdust was the least of his worries. He’d been looking forward to not working in rough conditions like that ever again. There was something to be said for being able to go home at the end of the day and having a hot meal and an even hotter shower before sliding between clean sheets.

  Clearly that wasn’t going to happen here.

  A curse came out before he could stop it. Maybe he should just cave and go and stay with his parents. If he worked long enough hours, he could probably avoid dealing with the awkward conversations about how he needed to step up and carry on his grandfather’s legacy, to stop being so selfish, before they eventually suggested he move back.

  Moving back to Eagle’s Ridge would be easy—his friends were here, his family, and obviously, he had a job waiting for him. But for years he’d wanted to get away from this—the feeling of the eyes of the town on him, having no privacy, and his parents looking at him like he was an oddity. That one still bothered him the most. Opting to go into the military and do construction rather than put on a suit every day and sell real estate wasn’t a bad thing. His grandparents understood; why couldn’t his own parents?

  Because they wanted a child who was perfect.

  Someone like Ryder.

  Yeah, as close as he and his cousin were, Ryder definitely fit the mold of who his parents wanted Ford to be. What they didn’t realize was that Ryder hadn’t been comfortable in the role he was playing growing up, and he was only doing the things he did to please his family. Whereas Ford was who he was and made no apologies for it. He did what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it, and he didn’t care if anyone approved.

  And for most of his life, his parents hadn’t.

  They’d had that conversation so many times it was burned into his brain. He could recite it almost verbatim, and it was enough to make him want to say to hell with all of this right now and just pick up his duffle bag, walk right back out to his rental truck and grab the first flight back to Virginia.

  Maybe.

  But probably not.

  He’d come here to do a good thing—to help out his grandmother. If he could come back to help a friend build some stairs, he could certainly come back to help the one person in the world who understood him.

  “I can’t catch a break here,” he murmured as the guilt came back tenfold. “Guilt, sleeping in a construction zone in the middle of winter…shit.” He was ready to pull his hair out and growl. “Okay, stop making yourself crazy and just don’t…obsess about this.” Chances were, he’d have a couple of days where he’d be less than comfortable, but with proper planning, he could get through the bulk of the renovations without being too terribly inconvenienced.

  That was his plan for now, anyway.

  And all of that faded away as he stepped into his grandfather’s workshop.

  Memories threatened to overwhelm him in a way they never had before. Closing the door, Ford leaned against it and simply let the sights and smells of the space wrap around him. He’d never cried for his loss—there hadn’t been time—and even when he came home to visit, he’d spent his time focusing on his grandmother.

  But here, in this space, the loss hit him so hard that it felt like his heart was being squeezed.

  “Just breathe,” he murmured, and forced himself to take that first tentative step away from the door. And then another. Before he knew it, he was across the room and touching the top of the workbench. Outside, the wind was whipping around and the sound of it brought him out of his daze and forced him to regain his focus.

  The generator. He needed to find the generator and hope it was still in good working order.

  Walking around, Ford smiled as he remembered things he’d built in this space, or something his grandfather had told him, and as he moved into the storage closet, he came up short.

  There was a brand-new, still-in-the-box generator.

  Score!

  Without hesitation, he took it out, found where the yard equipment was, said a word of thanks that there was gasoline on hand and, within minutes, he had the generator up and running. Leaving it in the garage, he jogged back over to the guesthouse and grabbed his truck; it made moving the generator across the property easier.

  By the time he had it hooked up and had made sure Callie understood how to use it, Ford was motivated enough to go and start looking over the main house. There wasn’t time to waste—things needed to start happening right away.

  “If you wait five minutes, I can have coffee for you,” Callie said when he turned to leave.

  It was tempting.

  And a necessity.

  “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

  She nodded and was moving around the kitchen, getting their coffee going. “I hope you don’t mind, but…I made a couple of calls while you were out there. I should have done it yesterday, but I figured someone would have taken care of things.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I guess I just assumed when the paramedics came and took Margaret away, that someone would come out and see about the tree and the power. Maybe these things take time. I have no idea, since I’ve never had to deal with this sort of situation before. Either way, I called the electric company and they’re sending someone out right now.” Then she looked away. “I…I guess I should have told you first.”

  “Hell no,” he said, feeling mildly relieved to have one less thing to deal with. “I appreciate you doing it, and I’m sorry you had to go without power for so long.”

  She shrugged. “It didn’t seem like such a big deal yesterday because I was out with my mom. But being that it’s a Saturday, and I didn’t have anything else to do today, I guess I was feeling a little impatient. No offense.”

  He grinned. “None taken.”

  The stood in companionable silence while she prepared a travel mug of coffee for him. When she handed it to him, his curiosity got the better of him. “So…what happened yesterday? You know, with Grams?”

  “She scared the heck out of me when I saw her climbing over that tree,” Callie explained. “I heard the tree crash and ran out the front door. I screamed when I saw where it landed but I was certain Margaret was all right. So I came back in here and put on my boots and started to run across the yard. In that one minute that I was in here, she must have come out the front door. I still don’t know why she would do that!”

  Ford shook his head. “I have no idea. I’m hoping to go and see her later today and find out.”

  “Not that it matters,” Callie said. “Unfortunately, what’s done is done.”

  “I know, but I’m still curious as hell.”

  “I saw her climbing over the trunk and it was like everything was happening in slow motion—I almost felt like my limbs were full of lead. One minute she was okay and the next, she just sort of…fell and was crying out. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”

  Ford could see tears forming in her big blue eyes, and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

  “Um…”

  She waved him off, as if sensing his unease. “I mean, I know she’s okay and we got her help in time but… It was still just so…”

  And then Ford knew what he had to do.

  He walked over and wrapped his arms around her.

  The shock to his senses was a complete surprise. When she had hugged him earlier, it was fast and friendly and he hadn’t had time to really think about it. But as he pulled her a little closer, he realized it wasn’t awkward.

  Actually, it was kind of nice.

  Callie burrowed in close for the briefest moment before she seemed to pull herself together. Pulling back a bit, she looked up at him—and F
ord knew right then and there that those blue eyes of hers were lethal.

  “Sorry,” she said quietly as she blushed. “I guess it all just hit me and…sorry.” She took a step away and turned her back to him and began busying herself around the kitchen. “So, you probably need to get to the house and start looking things over, right?”

  Right. Clearing his throat, Ford took his own step back. “Yeah. I do. Um…thanks for the coffee and for…you know…a place to crash last night.”

  “No problem,” she replied, but didn’t turn around.

  It seemed like they each had something more to say, but neither did. Rather than stand here and analyze it, Ford knew he had more pressing issues to deal with. “Okay then,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

  And as Callie said goodbye, Ford grabbed his duffle bag and walked out the door.

  * * *

  As much as Callie wanted to call him back, she knew Ford had more than enough to do without her getting all weepy and clingy.

  But damn, the man smelled great.

  So not the time to linger on that fact.

  With the generator going, she did her best to go through her food and see if anything had spoiled, and then quickly showered and got dressed. With the cottage being so small, the generator was able to power everything but she didn’t want to tax it too much. Once she was dressed and ready, she decided the best use of her time would be to go into town to see how Margaret was doing and see if there was anything she needed.

  Stepping outside, Callie saw trucks from the electric company and several other cars parked in front of Margaret’s house. She smiled with relief, and hoped Ford was feeling the same way too. This was one heck of a mess to come home to, and she was well aware of his hesitancy to stay in town for long.

  The Eagle’s Ridge grapevine brought it up every time he swooped in for a quick trip.

  She sighed as she got into her car. How awful must that be, to not only have to keep coming back to someplace you didn’t want to be, but also have everyone in town talking about it?

  Pretty awful, she surmised.

  As she made her way across town toward the hospital, she thought about all of the things she could offer to do for Margaret—bring her clean clothes, her crocheting supplies, maybe some books. And she’d let her know how Ford was already hard at work getting things repaired over at the house. That should make her feel better.

  Feeling good about how she was going to put her friend’s mind at ease lasted until she walked into the hospital room.

  “I don’t care what it takes, I want Ford running the job and I want to be there to help!” Margaret was yelling at her brother John Westbrook.

  Uh-oh…

  John was there with his son Vincent, and Callie took a step back and stayed out in the hallway.

  “Marge, you’re not being reasonable,” John said soothingly. “Ford’s here, and he’s going to take care of things, but you cannot possibly go home while construction is going on. You broke your hip, and you’re going to be recovering for some time.”

  “Nonsense,” Margaret argued. “I can recover at home.”

  Callie heard John’s soft laugh. “Sorry, but this is one time you’re not going to get your way. The sooner you accept that, the better it will be for all of us. Trust me.”

  “But my house—”

  “Is in very capable hands,” Vincent replied calmly. “You wanted Ford to handle it, and he is. No doubt he’s already getting things done and he’ll keep you updated.”

  At that point, Callie thought it was the right time to announce her presence. “Knock, knock,” she said softly as she walked into the room with a big smile on her face.

  “Callie!” Margaret said, sounding a lot happier than she was a minute ago. “How are you doing? Last I saw you, you were nearly as upset as I was.”

  After greeting John and Vincent, she sat down next to the bed and reached for Margaret’s hand. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m sorry if I was a little hysterical yesterday. I was just so worried and—”

  “With good reason,” Margaret interrupted. “I’m just glad you were there, or who knows how long it would have been before someone found me!”

  “This is why I keep telling you that you need to move closer to town,” John said.

  Margaret simply glared at him before returning her focus to Callie. “Tell me, how bad is the house? How much damage is there?”

  “Um…”

  Beside them, Vincent’s phone range, and he excused himself to take the call out in the hallway.

  “Is it bad? Oh, Lord. Please tell me it isn’t bad,” Margaret pleaded.

  “I…I don’t know the extent of the damage, but it looked like the front porch and left front corner of the house. Ford was over there this morning, and the power crew was there and several other vehicles. Hopefully you’ll know more later on today. I’m sure he’ll come to visit and keep you up to date.”

  “So you saw him? You saw Ford? Did you talk to him?”

  Callie shifted a bit in her seat. “I…I did,” she said, and cleared her throat a little.

  Before she could answer, Vincent stepped back in and announced that he had to leave, which meant John had to go too. They both kissed Margaret goodbye and wished Callie a good day. As soon as they were out the door, Margaret went back to questioning her.

  “Did he just get in this morning?”

  “No. No, he got in last night.”

  “Oh my…I hope he didn’t stay in the house. I know it’s just the front of the house that’s damaged, but until an engineer deems it safe, no one should be inside.” Margaret’s hand fluttered to her chest. “My grandson is stubborn, and I know he put himself in the line of danger all the time while in the service, but I don’t want him doing that on my account.”

  She began to wring her hands as she looked around frantically.

  “Margaret, what is it? What do you need?” Callie asked as she stood.

  “I need to call him and tell him to be careful!” she said in a near sob. “When I think of him in that house last night, and what could have happened—”

  “It’s okay, Margaret,” Callie said quickly. “It’s really okay.”

  “But it’s not! Don’t you see, he’s here because I asked him to be and now he’s going to stay where it isn’t safe, and I couldn’t bear it if he got hurt on my account!”

  “Ford was completely safe last night,” Callie said, hoping to ease the older woman’s fears.

  “Did he go to Ryder’s? Or to his parents’ home?”

  “No. He came right to the house from the airport and…well…he came to the guesthouse.” She swallowed hard. “He didn’t know I lived there and the power was out and…let’s just say we kind of scared the heck out of one another.”

  “Oh my!” Margaret gasped. “You must have been terrified to have someone breaking in like that!”

  Callie agreed. “Luckily, Ford had the good sense to use his phone to illuminate the room a bit so I could see it was him.”

  Margaret seemed to relax and then smiled. “That’s my grandson. He knows how to think on his feet.” She paused. “So what happened? Where did he go?”

  “Um…it was late and it was dark, and I offered him the bed in the loft.”

  For a moment, Margaret only stared at her, but her smile never faltered. “That was very kind of you.”

  Callie could actually feel herself blush. “It only seemed fair. After all, he had no idea I lived there and he’d traveled all that way to get here…”

  “Callie, you have no idea how much I appreciate what you’ve done. Knowing Ford was with you last night makes me feel like a giant weight has been lifted off my chest!”

  “Ooo…Ford spent the night with Callie?”

  Both Callie and Margaret turned at the sound of the voice. And there, standing in the doorway, was none other than the biggest gossip in all of Eagle’s Ridge.

  Hildie Fontana.

  * * *

  Later that
afternoon, Ford stood back and marveled at all that had been accomplished. The tree had been removed and ground up into mulch. There was a heavy-duty tarp coving the corner of the roof that had been crushed, as well as the entire front of the house.

  After speaking with the team of engineers from Garrison Construction, he knew the house—at least the back half—was structurally sound. That had been a huge relief for him, because it meant he could live and sleep here while the renovations were going on.

  Unfortunately, that had been the only good news of the day.

  Talking with Dennis Allen—who had been at the helm of the company since Ben Garrison had retired—was useless. It took Ford all of ten minutes to figure that out. The man was old and in need of retiring himself, and didn’t seem to have a sense of urgency about any of the projects he was currently working on.

  Including the ranch.

  He stood and stared at the house and began a tally in his head of what needed to be done first and how he was going to get started. Dennis had assured him he’d send a couple of laborers over to help him out, but it would be closer to the end of the week. That meant Ford was going to have to either wait or just start doing stuff on his own.

  A car door closed off in the distance and he turned at the sound. Callie waved and began walking toward him. She was smiling, and he wasn’t prepared for how much he appreciated seeing a friendly face.

  “Wow!” she said as she came closer. “You accomplished quite a bit today.”

  He nodded. “And you’ll be happy to know that your power has been restored.”

  “Really?” she asked excitedly. “That’s great!”

  “That was the easiest part of the day.”

  “Well that doesn’t sound good.” She looked at the house and studied it for a moment. “Is the house safe now?”

  “It is, but I’ll feel a lot better when the roof is fixed and the front wall is permanent, rather than the temporary one we put in place today.”