Big Sky Eyes (16 page)

Chapter 25

The ranch was busy the day before the wedding. Mackenna,
Kelly and Leslie worked together making garlands of wildflowers and weaving
them through the white arch that the bride and groom would exchange vows
beneath. Men erected a white canopy to house the reception.
 
A steady stream of delivery trucks came and
went, leaving tables, chairs, linens, floral arrangements, lights, food, drinks
and ice. The sound system bleated off and on as levels were adjusted.

Kelly’s boyfriend, Nick, had arrived and was delivered to
the ranch by Ty, along with a few other guests. As the SUV rolled to a stop,
Leslie ran to the driver’s side and threw herself into Ty’s arms with a smile a
mile-wide. Mackenna grinned as she watched the couple’s sweet embrace. They
looked blissfully happy. She turned and found Kelly and Nick in a similar
embrace.

The rear passenger door opened and out stepped Brent. Mackenna’s
smile reacted by spreading wider. He wore dark blue jeans and a button up white
shirt. His hair was tied back in a ponytail. Mackenna took a step toward him
but stopped as he turned to the interior of the vehicle and held his hand out
to someone. In that moment, she froze.

A petite and delicate hand with pink nails folded itself
around Brent’s fingers and the woman who followed made Mackenna feel every
speck of dirt on her faded blue jeans and white tank top. So, this was Leann.
She was polished and posh and grossly out of place in this setting. Her strappy,
white high-heels were higher than Mackenna had ever seen. Her legs long and
lithe, boasted the strong and solid lines of her muscles until they disappeared
beneath a short, rose-colored satin skirt. Her white, sleeveless shirt dipped
into a V over her chest and was so tight that Mackenna believed she’d bought
the garment a size too small.
 
 

Her hair was a medium brown and gleamed thickly down to her
waist. Her eyes were big and bright, battling between blue and green, and her
smile perfect. Brent was beaming proudly beside her and Mackenna was crumbling
inside, fighting to hold her smile in place as they drew near. She wiped her
hands self-consciously on her pants, hoping to rid them of the evidence of her
day’s work. Once close enough, Brent released Leann and grabbed her in a warm
hug. She hugged him back and forgot the woman beside him.

“You two finally meet,” he said.

She summoned her strength and swallowed as he pulled away to
introduce the two women. Leann was as friendly as Mackenna, but there was no
mistaking the possessiveness she felt toward Brent. She conveyed that message
with her eyes and the way she looped her arm around his. Mackenna’s hackles
rose.

“Excuse me for a minute,” Brent said as he ran back to the
SUV, leaving the women to eye each other.

“So, you teach yoga?” Mackenna asked in friendly banter.

“Yes, and what do you do?”

“I’m studying to be a vet.”

“A schoolgirl,” Leann piped with condescension and a smile.
“How cute.”

Mackenna’s smile tightened. “Yes, well it takes more schooling
to heal animals than it does to stretch, I’m afraid.”

Leann’s eyes flared then narrowed and Mackenna felt a
triumphant smugness fill her insides. Before another word was spoken she heard
her name called excitedly from behind Leann and she peered around to find Brent
pushing Alora toward them in a wheelchair. She forgot Leann and trotted toward
the seated woman, throwing her arms around her instantly.

“My goodness,” Alora exclaimed. “You are such a beauty!”

“Oh, please,” Mackenna teased. “You’re the beauty here!”

“You can’t bullshit a bullshitter,” Alora returned with a
playful slap on Mackenna’s arm. “Tell me that you aren’t letting your good
looks go to waste and that you’ve found some worthy fellow to compliment you.”

“Ha!” Mackenna barked. “I wish! Nope. Worthy fellows don’t
seem to be interested in me.”

“Well, you know, they are still men,” Alora excused. “You’re
going to have cut them some slack for being stupid.”

Mackenna laughed. So did Brent.

“On that note, I’m going to leave you two,” he said. “I
don’t think I can take any male-bashing today.”

He joined Leann and laced their fingers together as they
made their way over to where Grant McCrae was roasting chickens over hot coals
for the rehearsal dinner. Alora watched as Mackenna’s blue eyes blazed after
the woman. She smiled sadly to herself.

“How’d he end up with someone like her?” Mackenna asked
rhetorically as she shook her head.

“Odd, isn’t it?” Alora offered.

“I would have figured he’d end up with someone
less…princessy,
and someone more like him, someone he can at
least relate to, someone who understands him.”

“Someone like you?”
Alora asked and
Mackenna panicked.

“No. That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she said quickly.

“You’re not more like him? You can’t relate to him or
understand him?”

“Well, of course I can, but that’s not what I was meaning.”

Alora chuckled and grabbed Mackenna’s hand to squeeze it. “You
think I don’t know you’re in love with my son?” Mackenna’s eyes flew wide in
horror and she couldn’t find words to speak or air to breathe. “I just don’t
know why my blockheaded son doesn’t know.”

That loosened Mackenna’s tongue.

“Please, don’t say anything Alora,” she begged. “I would die
if he knew.”

“Oh, calm down,” she soothed. “I haven’t said anything these
past two years, have I? I’m not going to say anything to him now, but I will
say something to you.” She raised a lecturing finger at her. “Don’t waste your
love and your youth on Brent. Wait, if you want, but not forever. I hope he
comes to his senses and claims you, but if he doesn’t, I want you to move on
and be happy. It’s a horrible fate to spend the best years of your life loving
someone who doesn’t love you. Believe me, I know. He will spend the rest of his
life breaking your heart in ways he doesn’t even know.”

Mackenna watched the sadness and regret deepen the grooves
in Alora’s face and she squeezed her hand in return.

“I promise, Alora.”

“Hey Macks!” her mother called out to her. Mackenna turned
to greet her with a hug before taking the suitcase from her.

“Mom, I assume you met Alora on the ride in?”

“Oh, yes,” Helen answered.
“And that
gorgeous son of hers.
You never told me what a looker he was, Mackenna.”

“Uh…let’s go eat shall we?”

Alora and Helen exchanged a laugh filled with experience and
followed the blushing blonde to the party.

After a restless night, Mackenna stood in front of the loft
window and watched the dawn break on Ty and Leslie’s wedding day. The sun was
bright and coppery with pink and golden rays stretching out over feathery
clouds. The entire scene sighed peacefully. This place had hosted the best
memories of her adolescence. She was surrounded by warm and familiar friends.
She should be savoring it all, not wishing that she could leave.
 

Helen occupied the other bed in the loft. Since Nick had
arrived, Kelly was staying with him in one of the guest cabins. The grounds were
teeming with happy couples, leaving Mackenna feeling like the pathetic
singleton.

The rehearsal dinner had been almost unbearable. She had
visited with everyone aplenty, but Brent was kept from her by Leann. They had
barely exchanged ten words the entire night and he didn’t seem to notice or
care. Mackenna was sure that Leann was being overly affectionate for her
benefit. She could do nothing but sit and watch as the pair kissed, hugged, and
caressed obnoxiously. She sighed. At least her flight left the next day. She
had only to get through the night and then she could climb back into her solo
existence.

She left her mom sleeping in the loft and crept downstairs. Leslie
was the next awake and as Mackenna fixed them coffee, they relaxed into the
soft cushions of the couch and visited.

“I’m surprised at how calm you are,” Mackenna said. “Most
brides are all flustered and frantic on their wedding day.”

Leslie smiled and tucked her blonde hair behind her ears.

“I just want to marry Ty,” she said. “I could care less
about the details. This is everyone else’s doing.” She waved her hand around
the decorated lodge.

“That’s what it should be about,” Mackenna said with a smile.
“I’m so happy for you two.”

“Thanks,” Leslie said, then paused to study her. “So, what’s
bothering you?”

Mackenna looked up and thought about telling her for a long
moment, then decided it would be unforgivably selfish to taint Leslie’s wedding
day with her own sorrow. So, she smiled.

“What a beautiful morning, isn’t it?” she said instead.

Leslie chuckled at the dodge and put her hands up in
resignation. “Okay, I won’t pry.”

Helen descended into the kitchen nearly the same time as
Bev. Kelly soon followed and the women went through three pots of coffee, a
dozen blueberry muffins and a morning full of chatter and belly-aching
laughter. It was Bev’s direction that had them all retreating to their rooms to
ready themselves for the wedding.

Mackenna’s dress was a shimmering lavender piece, strapless
and hemmed at mid-thigh. It fit her snugly and flattered her curvy bust and
thighs. Her narrow waist was accentuated by a purple rose pinned to the side of
the dress. A sheer lavender cover with beaded embroidery stretched over her
arms and shoulders to fasten neatly beneath her breasts.

Her heels were short and practical. She had kept her hair
wavy with the application of mousse. She took a small section from the front
and pinned it back with bobby pins. With her makeup perfectly applied, Mackenna
was more than pleased with her reflection. She grabbed the last piece to make
her complete and dangled the sapphire necklace in front of her mom.

“Will you help me put this on, Mom?”

Helen stood behind her and clasped the necklace. When
Mackenna lowered her hair back down, Helen smiled proudly at her daughter’s
reflection. Mackenna chuckled.

“What?” she asked her mother.

“I’m just amazed at how grown up and beautiful you are,”
Helen announced with feeling. “I’m standing here asking myself when it
happened. It seems like you went to bed my little girl and woke up a woman.”

Mackenna’s smile turned sad. “It didn’t happen overnight,
Mom. There have definitely been some growing pains.”

Helen rested her chin on Mackenna’s shoulder and rubbed her
hands over the youth’s upper arms. Mackenna didn’t elaborate, but Helen didn’t
need her to. Her daughter was always incapable of hiding her emotions. She
frowned sympathetically and then tried her best to comfort her.

“I’m sorry that your heart is broken, honey.”

Mackenna’s eyes sank toward the ground. She didn’t even have
the heart to ask her mother how she’d known.

“I know it doesn’t feel like it now,” Helen continued, “but
you will move on, and someday, when the right man comes along, you’ll give your
heart to him and he’ll give his to you. Trust me, life does not begin and end
with Brent Thompson.”

Mackenna took a deep breath. She didn’t trust her voice to
speak, but if she had, she would have told her mother that that is exactly what
she felt. Her life did begin and end with Brent Thompson. Instead, she nodded
respectfully and forced a smile onto her face. Helen smiled back and they left
the loft and found Leslie in Bev’s room, surrounded by women flitting
excitedly.

Guests were arriving and enjoying drinks beneath the canopy
while classical music wafted around the meadow. Leslie’s mom was in front of
the mirror, wiping away the smeared mascara from her watery eyes. Kelly joined
the women and announced that Ty and his men had arrived. Bev nodded
appreciatively and turned her gaze on Mackenna.

“Mackenna, honey, will you take the boutonnieres out to the
men and make sure they get pinned on correctly? They’re in the fridge.”

“Sure,” she answered and retrieved the floral pins before
heading over to the guest cabin that housed the groom’s party. She knocked and
Ty threw open the door, dressed in a smooth black tuxedo. There was no
nervousness in his face, only happiness and she smiled to find him so. He moved
aside so she could enter.

She went to task, pinning Ty’s lapel first. Next
came
Grant McCrae, followed by Ty’s two brothers and
Leslie’s father. As she picked up the last pin, she looked around.

“Where’s Brent?” she asked.

“He’s getting his mom settled. He’ll be here in a minute.”

Soon there was a knock at the door. Since Mackenna was
closest, she opened it. Brent stared back at her and a rush of heat coursed
through her so intensely that she nearly fell back from it. He had cut his hair
down to the scalp with only the top of his head boasting locks long enough to
fall handsomely forward onto his brow. His jaw was the smoothest she’d ever
seen it. He wore a black tuxedo like the rest of the men, but had removed his
jacket and had it slung over his shoulder, hooked onto a finger. Mackenna had
never seen him looking so good. And she couldn’t stop looking.

Brent looked, too. His eyes snaked up and down her body so
many times that he expected to get slapped. Who was this woman standing before
him? Of a sudden, thoughts and memories that he hadn’t had in more than a year
reared up to pound him full-force in the chest. His eyes lingered on the bit of
cleavage revealed by the cut of her dress and his tongue suddenly remembered
the taste of those breasts.

Before he had a chance to think he spoke the first words to
come to his mind.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, almost breathlessly.

“You cut your hair,” was all she could manage.

He chuckled and broke the heat stretching between them by
looking down and running a hand self-consciously through the hair that was no
longer there.