Once Upon a Groom. Karen Smith Rose

Zack, you didn’t! I wanted you to observe him when he wasn’t aware of it. If he knows you’re watching, he’ll act all macho.”

      “Jenny, I don’t have time to follow him around and act as if I’m not. Like he wouldn’t catch on to that in about ten minutes.”

      Men! She was ready to throttle the two of them. Zack hadn’t been home for eight years—not since his mother’s funeral.

      “Something is wrong with him,” she insisted with so much vehemence, loose tendrils of hair fluttered along her cheeks. “He can’t walk from the house through the barn without getting winded. He hasn’t taken Hercules riding in weeks. He doesn’t even watch me train anymore. I spent every day in that house with him for the past sixteen years and I know when he’s off his game. He’s off, Zack, and I think there’s a physical reason.”

      “Then make him a doctor’s appointment.”

      “I did, several times. He won’t go. A few days before, he always cancels it.”

      Zack blew out a long breath and looked as if he were drawing on a short store of patience. “What do you want from me, Jenny?”

      The first answer that came to mind was—Not a blasted thing. Then she remembered the manners Olivia had taught her … the wisdom that she’d get what she wanted more easily with a light touch than with a heavy one.

      “Silas is getting older. What I think he needs most from you is your forgiveness.”

      They both went silent, then the surprise on Zack’s face quickly faded. “What do you want me to forgive him for?” he asked, in a low but angry voice. “For the gambling and drinking? For the affairs that hurt my mom? For his lack of faith in my abilities and my career path? Or for the big one—for being responsible for my mother’s death?”

      Jenny barely opened her mouth to protest before Zack moved closer. “Don’t give me a sympathetic, ‘Oh, Zack, that’s not true.’ Her plane went down because of a storm, but she was on it because my father had driven her away.”

      Jenny had been in the barn that day when Olivia had confronted Silas, holding the credit card statement showing the hotel bill, and the flower order she’d never received. Half the ranch hands had overheard their argument.

      All Jenny could say was, “He’s a different man now.”

      “Different? He’s the same man he’s always been. So what if he doesn’t gamble anymore?”

      This might be her only chance to make Zack understand. “When he lost Olivia, he didn’t just lose his wife, he lost you. All of that changed him.”

      Zack shook his head. “You’re as naive as you’ve ever been.”

      The arrogance in Zack’s voice nettled her. “No, I’m not naive, but I’ve watched him and worked beside him every day for all these years. He’s changed. He not only doesn’t gamble, but he doesn’t drink, either.”

      Instead of responding, Zack peered down the hall to the reunion going strong in the cafeteria. Then very quietly, firmly, he insisted, “I don’t belong here, Jenny. You fit in better than I ever did. My father didn’t want a son who escaped his parents’ fights by videotaping the scenery on Moonshadow Mountain, by recreating an old Western with some of his friends in Horsethief Canyon.”

      Tears burned her eyes because he was right. Zack and Silas had never understood each other very well. Still, she answered his vehemence with softness. “Silas wanted a son to take over the Rocky D. That’s all he ever expected of you.”

      “You know I loved training the horses, almost as much as you did. But I never wanted this to be the extent of my world. I had bigger dreams than that.”

      “And you’ve made them come true.”

      After a lengthy pause, he responded, “Yes, I have.”

      She heard the pride in his voice and knew his success was as important to him as the Rocky D was to Silas. “Then be a little generous,” she pleaded. “Be kind, and forgive what neither of you can change. Find out what it is to be father and son as grown-ups.”

      “You’re still an optimist who won’t step outside of her little world.”

      “Don’t talk down to me,” she returned hotly. “I found the life I want in Miners Bluff. If you want to travel the world, be my guest. But I’m perfectly happy right here on the Rocky D.”

      “You’re like him,” Zack maintained. “You both have tunnel vision. The two of you believe the Rocky D is the only world that matters, but you’re wrong. You’re also wrong about Dad needing my forgiveness. Granted, I haven’t been in much contact with him since Mom died—I phone now and then because he is my father—but he’s never reached out to me.”

      If her plea was for herself, she’d let Zack walk away. But it was for Silas. “Please, Zack. Can’t you at least stay for a few days? Or at least come back after the shoot.”

      “The shoot will take three months.”

      The walls in Zack’s eyes were as solid as the armor he wore on his heart. “So why did you bother to come home?”

      “Because you asked, and so I could get a quick peek for myself. I think you’re overreacting. Dad might simply be growing older and you don’t want to recognize that.”

      “You’re wrong.”

      “Time will tell. Make him another doctor’s appointment. That’s all you can do.”

      “He might listen to you.”

      “To a son he’s never listened to before? I doubt that.”

      “You’re as stubborn and blind as he is!” Her voice had risen and she hoped it hadn’t carried down the hall.

      “I’m not going to argue with you, Jenny. I have a plane to catch tomorrow afternoon.”

      She was outraged that he cared so little about Silas and the Rocky D that he wouldn’t stay long enough to see the full picture.

      “This project is important to me,” he went on. “It has to get off to a good start.”

      “And you don’t care what ends here?”

      “Everything here ended for me a long time ago.” With those words, and a last long look, Zack walked away.

      Jenny stared at his back, remembering the first time he’d left her. Six weeks later, she’d discovered she was pregnant. Six weeks after that, she’d miscarried.

      Zack Decker might think he knew everything, but he still didn’t know that.

       Chapter One

       Late October

      Finally back in L.A., Zack studied the stack of script revisions on his desk, the mound of messages not important enough to return while he’d been on location. He started with the most recent, saw Dawson Barrett’s name and smiled. He and Dawson had kept in touch over the years, and they’d reconnected briefly at the reunion a few months ago.

      He’d call Dawson when he returned to his penthouse later that night. From the amount of reading on his desk, he would be staying in the city this weekend.

      He swore. He’d been looking forward to a couple of days at his house in Malibu. That was the one place he could relax. Usually he derived satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment after a movie was in the can. But this time, his mind had kept drifting. The adrenaline rush had been missing and he didn’t know why.

      His cell phone vibrated against his hip. He considered ignoring it, then pulled it from his belt and studied the caller ID on the screen, surprised to see it was Jenny. A sense of foreboding zipped from his head to his loafers.

      “Jenny?”