Nelson's Brand

“He’ll retire next year,” Winnie reminded her.

“Yes, so he will.” Mrs. Manley smiled and changed the subject. “You two had better get going, or you’ll be late. The barbecue’s at the Nelsons’?”

“Yes. Dwight invited us.” Winnie grinned. “I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t toss me into the corral with those wild horses and ride off with Allie.”

“Small chance when you’re engaged.” Allison grinned.

Winnie drove them to the Nelson place in her small Japanese car, a sporty model that suited her. Allison could drive, but she didn’t have a current license. Where she’d been for the past two years, she hadn’t needed one.

“Before we get there,” Winnie said with a worried glance at Allison, “remember what I said and don’t get too close to Gene. I don’t think he’d let you get near him anyway—he’s pretty standoffish around shy little innocents. But I wasn’t kidding when I told you he was a dangerous customer. Even his brother and sister walk wide around him lately.”

“He can’t be that bad,” Allison said gently and smiled.

“Don’t you believe it.” Winnie wasn’t convinced. She scowled. “You watch yourself.”

“All right. I will,” she promised, but she had her fingers crossed beside her. “Is he by chance a jilted man, embittered by the faithlessness of some jaded woman, or was he treated horribly by his mother?” she added dryly.

“Gene doesn’t get jilted by women, and his mother was a saint, according to Dwight,” Winnie recalled. “A really wonderful woman who was loved by the whole community. She died about ten years ago. His father was a small-time rancher with a big heart. They were happily married. His…father died about six months ago.”

Allison wondered at the hesitation in Winnie’s voice when she talked about the late Mr. Nelson. “Do you know what’s wrong with Gene, then?” she persisted.

“Yes. But I can’t tell you,” was the quiet reply. “It’s not really any of my business, and Dwight’s already been asked too many questions by the whole community. I don’t mean to sound rude, and I trust you with my life,” Winnie added, “but it’s Gene’s business.”

“I understand.”

“No, you don’t, but Dwight may tell you one day. Or Marie.”

“Is Marie like Gene or Dwight?”

“In coloring, she’s like Dwight, blond and blue-eyed. Gene’s…different. More hardheaded. Fiery.”

“I gathered that. Doesn’t he ever smile?”

“Sometimes,” Winnie said. “Usually when he’s about to hit somebody. He isn’t an easygoing man. He’s arrogant and proud and just a little too quick on the trigger to be good company. You’ll find all that out. I just don’t want you to find it out at close range, the hard way.”

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Allison mused. “I’ve been 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?”