Made For The Rancher

“Why would I do that? I’ve been asking you to fly with me for a long time, and you’ve always turned me down. But I’m not going to let you get away with it today. By the way, you look beautiful.” He planted a firm kiss on her mouth, but his plans had caught her off guard.

“Hey—” His brown eyes swept over her. “What’s wrong? I thought you told me you’re not afraid of flying.”

“I’m not.”

“So, it’s just me you don’t trust. Honey, I logged two thousand flying hours in the military.”

“Trust has nothing to do with it. I’ve said no because you fly for your job. I haven’t wanted to interfere with that.”

He frowned. “Interfere? I want you with me whenever possible. Remember that huge rally scheduled in Helena in three weeks? You promised you’d come with me and my parents.”

“I know.” She had promised him. But since then she’d become less sure about their relationship. “I’ll fly with you this one time, Rob, but that’s it.” While they were on this trip, she’d tell him she would rather not be at his political rally.

Rob stowed her case in the rental car, and they took off for Riddick Field Airport in Philipsburg where he’d flown in from Helena. She saw a plane she didn’t recognize sitting out on the runway.

“That’s yours?”

“It’s a Cessna 177B single-engine plane.”

“You got a new one?”

“That’s my surprise!” He grinned at her, reminding her of a kid on Christmas. “Nothing but the best when you buy a Cessna Cardinal. She’s a four-seater and a real honey of a serious cross-country machine. She’s got 180 horse power. You’re going to love it.”

Before long they reached the parking area. He walked her to the shiny blue-and-white plane and introduced her to his mechanic. They shook hands. “You’re going up on a beautiful day, Ms. Telford.”

“It is gorgeous out.”

Rob helped her onboard. “As you can see, there’s a lot of room in a Cardinal. Take out the back seat and you can fit camping gear for three weeks. It’s really amazing. We can get two folding bikes, kid seats and a cooler behind the back seat for a full-family day trip, or fit a family of four in here with all the ski gear, no problem.”

Whoa. His mind was taking their relationship to a whole new level. When he’d said this outing was important for his career, she hadn’t realized she was a part of it. Whatever he was leading up to, she wasn’t ready for anything that serious. Jasmine still didn’t know him well enough yet, not after three months. And what she did know raised certain concerns in her mind.

Pretty soon they were settled and both put on their headgear. He turned to her with a smile. “We’re flying to Seattle and won’t be back until Sunday.”

“The whole weekend?”

“I have a little business to do there. How does that sound?”

“You’ve surprised me. I haven’t been there in years,” she said to cover what she’d really wanted to say, that she’d rather not go.

“Good. I have it all planned out.”

Rob was a planner with enough drive for three people. That was why he’d been so successful in business and politics. Besides his good looks, he had many admirable qualities, but that drive he’d inherited from his parents made her nervous.

Did he ever slow down? Have a quiet moment? Maybe spending the weekend with him would help her figure out if he could just be still and enjoy life. So far she suspected he was a workaholic. Jasmine wondered if she could live with a person like that, never mind that he might take exception to her more laid-back personality.

After starting the engine, he was cleared for takeoff. Soon the land receded, and they headed into a picture-perfect blue sky. Philipsburg lay below between two mountain ranges filled with mining ghost towns and lakes that made the scenery a never-ending tapestry of beauty.

“We’re flying over a portion of the Sapphires on our way,” he explained after they’d reached cruising altitude. “Did I tell you we’re finally showing some real progress on getting rid of the pollution from the old mines?”

“Yes.” She chuckled. He couldn’t help talking about his ideas for cleaning up the rivers to help the fish population thrive.

“I’m happy about the decline in the wolf population, too. Wolves are on a downward trend in the area. It means the tools we’re using to manage them are effective. The impact we’re making there is positive, and there’s more good news. The bill to reintroduce grizzlies into the area was postponed for a month due to pressure from our side. That particular ranching coalition is a tough group, but we’ve prevailed so far.”

“I know you were strongly against it.” Jasmine looked down at the green canopy below.

When she was young and on a hike with her parents, she remembered seeing a grizzly with her two cubs up in the Coffin Lakes area. Her father had whispered, “Isn’t she a magnificent animal?”

Her mother had replied, “And she’s a good mother, too.”

“They have no place in today’s world.” Rob kept talking while she was still thinking about that campout with her folks. “There’s enough trauma without inviting more. Fortunately, enough of my constituents agree with me.”

She felt like changing the subject. “When was the last time you took a real vacation?”

“It’s been a while, but there never seems to be enough time.”

“That’s because you thrive on work.”

“Don’t you?”

“Not in the same way.” It wasn’t a career that consumed her day and night.

“Why do I get the feeling you resent me for it, and that’s why you haven’t flown with me until now.”

“That’s not true at all,” she said. “Please, don’t think that. To love your work makes you who you are. I’m so impressed by your energy and excitement.”

“Impressed enough to want to be my wife?”

There it was! The question she’d been dreading. She hadn’t expected it right this second and clasped her hands in her lap.

“Rob—”

After a silence he said, “That wasn’t the one-word answer I wanted to hear. I knew you were the one for me when we first met. Surely you’ve realized I’m in love with you, Jasmine.”

She wished she could say the same, but she couldn’t. “I care for you a lot, Rob. Otherwise I wouldn’t be with you now, but—”

“But your feelings aren’t strong enough to say you’ll marry me,” he broke in on her.

“I need more time to commit to a decision that will change my whole life.”

“How much more? I’d hoped we’d return from our trip with the engagement ring I bought for you on your finger. I want it there when we attend the rally in three weeks. It’s a good thing I know your feelings now instead of at dinner when I’d planned to propose to you.”

Her heart sank. “I’m so sorry, Rob. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. I’ve always been slower to make any important decision. It’s my nature. You know I think you’re wonderful, or I wouldn’t have come with you.”

She felt horrible and wished she hadn’t agreed to come with him. Now she’d ruined the weekend. In the silence she suddenly heard a thump and then there was a burst of feathers in the cockpit. A bird had crashed through the windshield. The propeller fluttered before the engine died.

Jasmine cried out Rob’s name, but his focus was on the controls, pushing in knobs, pulling out others. He turned to her. “We’ve hit a hawk, and now we’re going to have to put her down in the mountains.”

“We’re going to crash, aren’t we?”