Ruby wasn’t the only one who’d been shaken by what had happened. When Luke had asked McCall to ride with him out to the house he was building, she’d been happy to go along.
He’d walked her through it, explaining what he’d planned in each room, and she saw at once that the house he’d been building was too large for one person.
“You were building this for us,” she said on a shaky breath.
He smiled, and she thought that he had to be the most handsome man in the world. Her heart began to beat faster as he reached in his pocket and, shoving back his cowboy hat, dropped to one knee.
“McCall Winchester, will you marry me?”
She’d been afraid of love since she was old enough to understand that her own father had run out on her and her pregnant mother. Falling for Luke at such a young age—and thinking he’d betrayed her—had made her more than a little gun-shy.
But when she looked into his eyes and saw the love, McCall knew there was only one thing she could say.
“Yes. Oh yes!” And she’d thrown herself into his arms, ready for whatever the future held.
She hadn’t been so sure about staying on at the sheriff’s department. Former sheriff Carter Jackson stepped in to help after Grant’s death and had asked her to stop by. He offered to reinstate her whenever she was ready to come back.
“I’m not sure I can come back as a deputy.” But not for the reasons the sheriff was probably thinking. It wasn’t her brush with death. It was not knowing for sure who’d been on that ridge the day her father had died.
With Sandy, Grant and Buzz all dead, she knew she might never know. She didn’t want to spend her life chasing after a killer. So what kind of deputy did that make her?
“Why don’t you give it some time,” Carter was saying. “Don’t make a decision now.”
Because she wasn’t her father, she nodded and said she would.
As she walked out of the sheriff’s department, she was asking herself, what now? when her grandmother called and asked to see her.
“Why?” McCall asked.
The question seemed to take Pepper aback for a moment. “Must you always be so difficult?”
Diplomacy kept McCall from answering that one.
“Isn’t it possible I just want to see you, perhaps congratulate you on your engagement?”
McCall drove out to the ranch, wondering if she could trust this change in her grandmother.
Maybe Pepper had found peace now that she believed Trace’s killer was dead. McCall had no intention of ever telling her any different.
McCall wanted to believe that Sandy had lied. Either way she knew what that would do to Pepper. She’d lost her family twenty-seven years ago.
Recently her grandmother had mentioned contacting her family and inviting them for a visit at the ranch.
The deputy in McCall noted that such a visit would mean the suspects would be back on the ranch.
“So when is the wedding?” her grandmother asked now on the other end of the phone.
“Christmas.”
“That’s a wonderful time for a wedding.”
A little worried about why her grandmother wanted to see her, McCall said she was on her way and hung up.
Pepper opened the door at her knock, thanked her for coming and ushered McCall into the parlor.
“Would you like something to drink? I could have Enid make us some lemonade or maybe there are some cookies around.”
McCall shook her head. Was her grandmother actually nervous? “Why don’t you just tell me why you wanted to see me.”
“Must you always be so outspoken?” Pepper demanded, then shook her head. “You remind me of myself.”
Clearly that was not a good thing.
Her grandmother glanced out the window toward the ridge across the ravine. It was lit with bright sunlight. McCall wondered how many times her grandmother had looked over there thinking about Trace, thinking that he’d been just across that narrow deep expanse all these years.
“I want you to return to the sheriff’s department.”
McCall blinked, surprised at her grandmother’s words as much as her tone. “I beg your pardon?”
“You’re too good at your job to quit.”
McCall didn’t know what to say.
“I think you should run for the sheriff position,” Pepper continued.
“Sheriff? I’m afraid a woman deputy is as unorthodox as Whitehorse gets.”
“You might be surprised what is possible when you’re a Winchester.”
McCall laughed. “Quite frankly, having the Winchester name hasn’t really been an asset.”
Pepper actually looked ashamed. “You and your mother have been treated badly and I’m sorry for that.”
McCall stared at her, betting the farm that apologizing wasn’t something Pepper Winchester often did.
“I can understand if you say no, but I’d like to make the offer,” her grandmother said. “I would be honored if you would have your wedding here at the ranch and, if you’d not be offended, I’d like to pay for it.”
McCall was speechless for a moment. “That really isn’t—”
“Necessary. I know. It’s so little so late.”
As McCall looked into her grandmother’s dark eyes, so like her own, she willed herself to be careful before trusting her grandmother.
Still, when Pepper said the words, McCall couldn’t help the tears that rushed to her eyes or the sudden swell of her heart.
“I think your father would approve. After all, you are Trace’s daughter, my granddaughter and a Winchester.”
McCall finally felt as if that were true.
PEPPER’S ATTORNEY SOUNDED shocked to hear her voice, probably because it had been twenty-seven years since she’d called him.
“Mrs. Winchester.”
“Yes, Curtis, I’m still alive,” she said drily, though her lawyer sounded as if he had one foot in the grave. He’d retired years ago, turning his practice over to his nephew.
“I need you to do something for me. Not your nephew.”
“Of course.” He sounded resigned to whatever it was she wanted.
“Find my family. I want to see them.”
He made a surprised sound. “That’s wonderful, Pepper. Mending ties with your family is so important at this age. I know you won’t be sorry.”
She
