Enchanted Enough, page 3
“Is there a reason you didn’t want to tell him my name?”
She glanced over her shoulder and said, “It will all make sense once we get to the bar.”
“Now I’m having second thoughts about going with you to family dinner night.”
Avery laughed. “Trust me, Beck. You want to go.”
It didn’t take long to get the rental car, and Avery typed the directions into her phone and connected it to CarPlay.
“Have you ever driven in snow?”
I shook my head. “No, so I’m hoping it doesn’t snow while I’m here.”
She laughed. “Your hope is highly unlikely. Not for February.”
“Well, it’s nearly March so.”
“Doesn’t make a difference. It could snow in May.”
“May?” I asked in a horrified voice.
She simply looked at me, winked, and said, “Yep!”
Once we got to the bar, I parked and followed Avery inside. Bradly and Mackenzie were already there and waiting at a table. There were a large number of people in the place. Avery bent down and kissed her brother on the cheek.
“I’ve missed you, by the way,” she stated, then she turned and hugged Mackenzie.
I pulled out the chair for Avery, noticing her brother glance at Mackenzie. Avery looked over her shoulder and thanked me.
“Okay, so, now that we’re at the bar, can you tell me who Mr. Dahlstrom is?”
Looking at Avery, and just as confused as Bradly was, I waited for her to speak.
The waitress walked up and asked if we wanted anything to drink. I went with water, and Avery ordered Diet Pepsi. Once the waitress dropped off the drinks, Avery cleared her throat and looked at me, then at her brother.
“Bradly, Mackenzie, this is Beck Dahlstrom; Beck, this is my brother, Bradly Littlewood, and Mackenzie Reeves, his girlfriend.”
Bradly gave me a head nod. “It’s nice to meet you, Beck.”
Reaching my hand across the table, I replied, “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Beck. How did you and Avery meet?” Mackenzie asked.
“We met on the flight from Dallas to here.”
Bradly’s brows rose. “You just met?”
Avery nodded. “Beck and I started to talk, and he told me he was heading to Hamilton.”
Bradly sat up some. “Really? What brings you to Hamilton?”
“Um,” I said, uncertain if I really wanted to talk about this in a bar. “Avery, I’m not sure I want to discuss this here.”
“Fair enough,” she said as she took my hand and squeezed it. “May I give Bradly the shortened version? Trust me when I say he needs to know before we go to family dinner night.”
“Um…”
“Wait, he’s coming to family dinner? Avery! You just met this guy.”
“Bradly, Beck is here because he wants to meet his father’s family. He never met them—or his dad.”
Bradly’s brows drew down as his sister’s words sank in. Then his head snapped up, and he looked at me. “Beck… You said your name is Beck?”
I nodded. “Yes. I was named after my father.”
Bradly’s eyes went wide as Mackenzie looked around confused.
When he turned to face his sister, Avery nodded. Bradly looked back at me and asked, “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
I shrugged. “I’m twenty-seven.”
Dropping back in his seat, he continued to stare at me. “Holy shit. Beck…you have no idea how much your world is about to change.”
“Um, for the good or the bad?”
Bradly smiled. “For the good. This is like a damn miracle!”
Avery squeezed my hand again. “I know. I thought Dad could be the one to help us figure out a way to introduce Beck.”
I looked between the two siblings. “Are you sure about this?”
Bradly laughed. “Yes! They’re like family, dude. I’ve heard stories about Uncle Beck my entire life.”
“Uncle?” I asked.
“We’re not blood-related. Our father, Dirk, is best friends with Brock. Well, all of your uncles, really. But they were on the circuit together, and they grew up together as best friends.”
“Circuit?” I asked.
Bradly laughed again, then looked at Avery. “You should’ve just had him drive to Hamilton with us. We have so much to tell you.”
“I didn’t want to overwhelm him, so I’m driving with him. I can fill him in. If you get home before me…”
Bradly held up his hand. “I know. You love a good surprise.”
“Fill me in on what?”
Turning to me, Avery smiled, her sapphire eyes sparkling. “I want to tell you all about the Shaws. From Grams to Ty Senior, all the way down to little Callie, who was just born. That way, when you meet them, you’ll know a little about the family.”
Mackenzie slowly shook her head. She’d been quiet during all of this. “Stella is going to take one look at you and know you’re Beck’s son.”
Her admission surprised me, my head drawing back in shock.
Bradly nodded. “Yeah, I honestly don’t know how I didn’t see it the moment I looked at you, dude…from your eyes to your build to the way you smile. You are a Shaw through and through.”
Chapter Three
AVERY
I wrung my hands together as I sat quietly, waiting for Beck to say something after we started our drive down to Hamilton. When he finally spoke, I jumped.
“Why didn’t you tell me on the plane who you were to the Shaw family?”
Turning some in my seat, I cleared my throat. “Beck, if I’d told you that I was like family to the Shaws, you would have thought I was feeding you a line. You’d just told me your grandfather was wealthy—one of the wealthiest men in Texas, I believe is what you said. That you were attempting to find your long-lost family. And then suddenly, this stranger next to you says, ‘Hey, by the way, I know that family! In fact, I call your uncles my uncles.’ You would have thought I was scamming you.”
I could see him frown slightly. “That’s true, I probably would have. It is a crazy coincidence.”
I let out a soft laugh. “It really is. What are the odds we would end up sitting next to one another on the flight out of Dallas? A flight I wasn’t even supposed to be on in the first place.”
“Yeah, I would have totally thought you were pulling a scam. I already thought it was crazy that you were from Hamilton.”
Grinning, I sat back in my seat and stared out the window. “I love Montana so much.”
“I bet you’ve missed it.”
Sighing, I closed my eyes. “I have.” Looking back out the front window, I felt the tears sting the back of my eyes. “I wanted to come home about a year and a half after moving to France.”
“Why didn’t you?” Beck asked.
With a half-shrug, I replied, “One, I don’t give up on things, even if they turn out to be something I wasn’t planning on. Two, I didn’t want to let my parents down. I begged and begged them to let me move to France. I talked them into letting me be homeschooled. I finished high school last year, and I’ve been taking some college classes online while working.”
“What exactly did you do in France? Model the whole time?”
“I started off as an assistant to a fashion designer my sister Morgan and sister-in-law Georgiana knew, as well as modeling. I fell in love with fashion a few years ago. I thought for sure it was going to be my life. While in France, though, I fell even harder for plants. There was a flower shop across the street from where we lived, and every day they’d put all of these gorgeous flowers out in front of the shop. Me and Eden, Eden Briggs is her full name. She’s a model and the woman who offered me the opportunity to model in France. Anway, we would sit out on her patio every morning and the smell would float up and I’d be lost in the scents. I’d pull out my journal and draw pictures of what I could see down below.”
“So…you like plants.”
Laughing, I nodded. “I do, indeed. When I was younger, I remember helping my grandmother in her garden. She would tell me what we were planting, then tell me a story around that plant.” I smiled to myself. “I loved those times I got to spend with her.”
“Is she still here?”
“Oh yeah, but now she travels with her husband. She remarried. She and my grandfather got divorced I think after Bradly was born. He died a few years later.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know him, but I know it was hard on my mother and uncle. They had a rough relationship with him, from what I’ve gathered through the years of hearing them talk about him.” I turned and looked at Beck. “What do you want to ask me about the Shaws?”
He blew out a long breath. “Wow. I’m not sure. I don’t even know where to begin. What about my dad’s parents?”
Grinning, I nodded. “Stella and Ty Senior. They truly are like my own grandparents. They’ve never treated me and Bradly any different from their own grandkids.”
“Do you spend a lot of time on their ranch?”
“Oh yeah, growing up we were there all the time. I think we spent more time there than at our own house,” I said with a laugh. “Every week, there’s a family game night. They’ve done it for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it’s a blast, other times…well…this past Christmas we had to play dominoes.” I shivered. “A storm blew in, thankfully, so that ended that. We also do family game night on Christmas. It was at my parents’ house this year. It’s normally at Brock and Lincoln’s house. Brock is the second to oldest.”
He nodded.
“Do you know anything about them?” I didn’t want to make him feel like I was dominating the conversation, and wanted to give him a chance to tell me what he knew about these people I called my family.
“Not really. I looked up my dad’s name and saw the ranch. I clicked on the About page and started to read it, but then stopped. I’m not sure why.”
“Well, your grandmother and grandfather are two of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet. They love their family fiercely, and there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do for them. From what my father told me, Stella didn’t talk about Beck, your dad, for the longest time. It was too painful for her. But then Aunt Lincoln moved to Hamilton from Georgia, and moved into Uncle Brock’s old house. They fell in love, and I think Lincoln really asked a lot of questions about Beck and got Grams, I mean Stella, talking about him more.”
He looked at me and smiled before focusing back on the road. “You can call her Grams, Avery.”
“It feels weird to call her that in front of you. She’s really your grandmother, not mine.”
With a shake of his head, he said, “Blood doesn’t make you family. Love does.”
I thought about his words and realized that what he said was exactly what I’ve been telling him since we met a few hours ago. “You’re right. Well, anyway, once Aunt Lincoln and Aunt Kaylee showed up on the ranch, things changed, and everyone began talking more and more about your father. I’ve heard a few stories about him as well.”
“Really? You’ll have to share them with me.”
I chewed on my lower lip. “I’d love to.”
“Okay, give me the rundown of the family, from oldest to youngest and all the in-between.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Okay, let me think about this. That family is growing fast!”
Beck laughed. “Maybe we should wait and let me write it all down.”
“Oh,” I said as I waved my hand. “I’ll write it down for you later and give it to you to take back to your hotel and study.”
“You’re sure your parents won’t mind me showing up unannounced?”
“Positive—and they’re expecting you. I told them I was bringing someone home.”
He looked at me, his brows raised. “You really do like surprises, don’t you?”
I smiled. “I do. Now, the Shaw family tree. Of course, you have Stella and Ty Senior. Then you have Ty Junior. He used to ride bulls for a living until he was injured and had to give it up. He started working on the ranch while Brock started making a name for himself in the professional bull-riding world. Ty Junior married Kaylee, who’s Lincoln’s best friend. Their story is for another day. But Ty and Kaylee had two kids, Rose and Josh. Rose is married to Bryson Robinson, who was a professional baseball player.”
“Wait, didn’t he play for Seattle?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Okay, that’s badass.”
I laughed. “It is! Rose is pregnant with her first baby, and it’s due in July.”
He smiled but kept his eyes on the road.
“Okay, back to Brock. His first wife died when she gave birth to Blayze, who’s two years older than you. He’s twenty-nine and will be thirty on September fifth. When’s your birthday?”
“July fifteenth.”
I made a mental note of his birthday. “Hey, maybe Rose will have her baby on your birthday.”
He looked at me and winked, and I quickly looked away. Lord, did that wink make my body do all kinds of things.
I cleared my throat and went on. “Stella raised Blayze while Uncle Brock was on the circuit, but once he met Aunt Lincoln, he retired, and they had two kids, Morgan and Hunter. Now, Morgan is married to Ryan, Blayze’s best friend, and they have a baby who will be two in May. Her name is Blakley. And Blayze is married to Georgiana, and they have twins, Rhett and Ryder; I can’t tell them apart, and truth be told, I think Blayze and Georgiana have mixed them up a few times as well. The twins will be two in April.”
He laughed. “Okay. I think I’ve got it.”
“Hunter is married to Kipton, and they just had a baby in January, her name is Callie. She’s the latest Shaw.”
“Hunter, Kipton, Callie,” he said, his brows pinched together as if in deep concentration.
“Remind me to tell you their story. It involves a bachelor reality show.”
“What?” he asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, again, story for another day. Now, after Brock, Beck was the next one born, and of course, you know his story. Well, some of it. And the last is Tanner. He used to be on the rodeo circuit doing team roping. He was damn good. Really good. He met Timberlynn and fell in love. He left the circuit, and he and Timberlynn raise and train horses, as well as take in wild mustangs and other horses that most people would otherwise just send to the slaughterhouse.”
His head turned to look at me quickly before he looked back out to the road. “Really? Wow, I can’t wait to meet them and talk to them.”
“You like horses?” I asked.
“I love them. I always have. Put me on a horse any day over sitting in an office.”
I smiled. “Where was I? Right, Tanner and Timberlynn. They had two kids as well. Lily and Nathan. Lily is married to Maverick. If you love horses, you’ll want to hang with those two. Maverick, I swear, is a horse whisperer. He has a way with them. The more damaged they are, the better he is at fixing them. And Lily was in love with horses, I think, before she was even born. Nathan—along with Josh, Ty and Kaylee’s youngest—are both a year younger than me and still in high school. They’re easy; no kids to learn.”
Beck let out a laugh. “Thank God. I’m already lost. Now, how do you and Bradly fit into all of this?”
“My dad, Dirk Littlewood, was best friends with Uncle Brock. Our ranch is about twenty-five minutes or so from the Shaw ranch. Dad was also a professional bull rider, and he married our mother, Merit, whom I get my crazy eye color from. My mother basically grew up next door to Dad, and her parents had a you-pick-it farm. It was strawberries and blueberries mostly, plus they grew other things, but my mother and Uncle Michael really made it into a huge operation. When they married, my parents combined Dad’s ranch with the farm, and now it’s basically one big ranch slash farm.”
“And your dad’s parents?”
“They both passed.”
“I’m so sorry, Avery.”
I gave a half shrug. “I never knew my father’s dad. He died before I was born. My father has a sister, Kimberley. Aunt Kimberley. We don’t see her very often at all. She got married and moved to Montreal, Canada. She used to call a lot more when we were younger, but with her being so far away, she’s kind of drifted away from the family. She never did have any kids. My father told me once it made her too sad to come home, seeing us kids and all, I guess. I always thought that was sad she would stay away for that reason, but I don’t pretend to know how she feels. We love her and she loves us.”
He was quiet for a few moments before he said, “Your eyes aren’t crazy. They’re beautiful. I’ve never seen eyes like yours before in my life.”
“Thank you. I do love them. I’ve been on a few French magazines, close-ups, and I think it was because of my eyes.”
“I could totally see that.” He paused before continuing. “You really don’t think you should let your mother and father know my name before we just show up?” Beck asked.
I shook my head. “I told you, I love surprises.”
“But will they love this kind of surprise?”
Smiling, I replied, “They will. Trust me.”
“Should I stop at the inn first and check in?”
“No, let’s head straight to my house. Mom and Dad will be waiting for us.”
As we drove the rest of the way, Beck asked questions about Montana, and Hamilton, in particular. I told him about some amazing trails he could hike, and that he had to do a sunrise or sunset hike before he went back to Texas. Strange enough, the thought of Beck returning to Texas caused my chest to ache slightly. I hadn’t known him a full day, yet I felt such a connection to the man. It was clear that fate had brought us together.
The question is…was it to bring Beck to his family? Or to me?
Beck pulled up to the ranch gate and let out a whistle. “Nice entrance.”
I smiled. “Why do I feel like the entrance to your family’s ranch back home is bigger and grander than ours?”
He chuckled. “It is, but this one feels like a real ranch entrance. I like it.”
“The code is ten sixty-six.”
Beck reached out and typed in the code. We drove down the long driveway, and I grinned like a fool as I looked out at the pastures.
