Drawing back again, Julia took Cate’s ring hand. “I’d hoped he’d ask you with the ring his father gave me. Now that he has, if you want something else, something new—”

Quickly, Cate interwove her fingers with Julia’s. “My family values legacies, cherishes them. That’s what this is to me. There’s so much ugliness going on, and I don’t know if it’ll ever stop. But I have this, and I can look at it and know what really matters. I bring complications with me, and that’s why I tried to say no—or at least slow it all down. Next steps are scary. But I love him, and if I didn’t take the next step with him, I’d still be locked in a room, alone.”

“Life brings complications with it, and the way I see it, you and Dillon taking this next step together? It’s a damn good way to give that ugliness the finger.”

On a laugh, Cate looked down at their joined hands. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that I do? Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

She drove back to Sullivan’s Rest smiling at the thought. The hell with it, the hell with all that greedy, grasping, sensationalized bullshit. She’d take the next step, and the step after that, live her life, build a life with Dillon.

They’d build that life in a place that meant home to both of them, close to family that mattered so much. She’d have work that fulfilled and challenged her.

And if she wanted to milk a cow or make cheese now and again, well, she could do that, too.

Sky’s the limit, she thought. And the limit was what you made it.

She parked, headed toward the main house, then spotted her father and grandparents at a table by the pool. Shifting directions, she started toward them.

Her father raised a hand in greeting, called out, “We weren’t sure when you’d get here, but we got an extra cup in case.”

“Excellent.” She skirted the pool, took a seat at the table. “I’m ready for coffee. But I don’t see bathing suits.”

Hugh tipped his sunglasses down, peered over them. “We decided this was a day off.”

“Yesterday was a day off.” She added cream to the coffee her father poured for her. “But I’ll tell you what, we’ll change the schedule, have water aerobics late this afternoon. Say four-thirty. Followed by Bellinis. It feels like a Bellini kind of day.”

“It’s hard to say no to Bellinis,” Lily began, then—as Cate hoped—spotted the ring. “Oh!” Her hand flew to her heart. “My baby!” And she was up, weeping and laughing, to wrap herself around Cate.

“That’s a very enthusiastic response to Bellinis,” Hugh commented. “What do I get if I add caviar to that?” He glanced at Aidan. “She loves the stuff, God knows why.”

“Men.” Straightening, Lily brushed at her wet cheeks. “They notice nothing that doesn’t jump out naked and dance.” She grabbed Cate’s hand, thrust it out. “Our baby’s engaged!”

Aidan simply stared. “He moves fast,” he murmured. “I only gave him my blessing yesterday.”

“Your blessing?”

He looked at his girl, his treasure, the true love of his life. “He asked for it, sort of.”

“Shows respect.” Hugh wiped at tears of his own, then laid a hand over his son’s. “He’s a good man, and he’s the right man. I’d beat him off with a bat otherwise. Come around here and kiss your grandfather.”

When she did, Cate added a hard hug. “I wouldn’t have said yes if he wasn’t a good man. He had a couple of high marks to reach, as I was raised by good men.”

She turned to Aidan. “Daddy?”

“Part of me wishes I didn’t know he was a good man, and the right one, then I could borrow your grandfather’s bat.” He rose. “But as it is . . .” Then took his daughter’s hands, kissed them. “He loves you, and love’s what I want for you.”

“The hell with coffee,” Lily said as Aidan held Cate, swayed with her. “We’re having mimosas. I’m texting Consuela right now. Oh! Maggie, Julia, and I are going to have the best time planning a wedding!”

They certainly seemed to. Over the next few days, they held meetings, texted, sent emails—sent Cate texts and emails, with links to wedding dresses, flowers, themes.

She decided to embrace it, to ignore the ugliness still swirling—and embrace the whirlwind.

When she walked with Dillon on the little beach, watching the dogs chase the surf, bark at the gulls, she filled him in.

“I now have a big white binder.” She spread her hands to demonstrate. “Courtesy of Lily, divided into categories, as I stood firm on no outside wedding planner. That might have been a mistake.”

“I know eloping’s not on the table, but . . .”

“I’m not breaking their hearts. And I’m kind of getting into it. I’d really like to get married here at Sullivan’s Rest, and outside.”

“That works for me.”

“Good. Really good, because that’s a big one. Or a big two. The place, and time of year. Does May work for you? I know it’s busy season.”

“Ranching’s always busy. I can wait until May. It’ll give us time to build your ranch studio.” He scooped up the ball he’d brought down, gave it a toss so the dogs could chase it, wrestle over it.

“Friends and family? Considering the Sullivans that’s already a horde. So we keep it to real friends and family?”

“That really works for me. I’d get through a Hollywood production considering the prize, but I like this better.”

“There’ll probably—likely,” she corrected, “be press pushing at it.”

“Don’t care.” He gave the ball another toss. “Do you?”

“Not anymore. So here, in May, friends and family. I can pass that to our ladies. I do want a fabulous, gorgeous, all-mine white wedding dress.”

“I’ll look forward to seeing you in it.” He took her hand, gave it a swing. Stopped. “Wait. Does that mean I have to wear a tux?”

“It does. You’ll look amazing in a tux.”

“I haven’t worn a tux since my senior prom.”

“You told me you and Dave were best men at Leo’s wedding.”

“Suits, not tuxes.”

“Suck it up. I’m going to hand you over to my men on that one. You, Leo, and Dave, since they’ll be your best men. Darlie will stand up for me, and I’m stopping it there. If I start bringing cousins in, I’d end up with dozens of attendants. Do you care about flowers or colors?”

“Do I lose points if I say no?”

“In this case, you gain them. Big decisions made, which will please our ladies. With that done, what do you say we take the dogs back up, sit outside with a nice bottle of wine before we see how my attempt at making pizza dough and sauce work out?”

“Have you got frozen if it doesn’t?”

“Always have a backup.”

As they started up, the dogs raced ahead, barking.

“You must have a visitor,” Dillon commented.

When they topped the rise, she saw Michaela, still in uniform, crouched down, petting the dogs.