Page 42 of First Date: Divorce (Wyoming Marriage Association #1)

Ellyn found a quiet spot for a moment amid the happy crowd in the Far Hills Ranch main house.

By leaning against the side of the fridge near the corner to the back hall she didn’t even have to move every two seconds for fridge-openers.

“Sorry, excuse me. Champagne coming through.” Rebecca came around the edge of the open fridge door. She held out one champagne flute to Ellyn and kept a second for herself. “Yours is nonalcoholic. Mine isn’t. I spotted you over here in the corner. Lurking.”

Ellyn took the glass. “Not lurking. Looking. It’s fun to see all the happiness.”

“Including the happiness that stumbled out of here a bit ago.” Rebecca raised her glass with a grin. “To Eric and K.D., and a successful endeavor of the Wyoming Marriage Association.”

“The what?” asked a woman’s voice in the split second before Hannah Randall came around the corner from the back hall.

Rebecca sucked in a dismayed breath and shot Ellyn an apologetic look.

“It’s okay, Rebecca. Haven’t you met Hannah? Her husband’s Dax Randall. They ranch north of Bardville.” She added significantly, “Good friends with Jessa and Cully. Also Cambria and Bodie.”

“Oh.” Rebecca gave the other woman an appraising look.

Hannah chuckled. “Why do I feel like I’m being judged for admission to a secret club.”

“Because you are,” Ellyn said calmly. Even before Hannah’s brows reached their apex, she added, “This is Rebecca, she’s married to Luke Chandler.”

“Oh, hello. I’ve heard about you, of course.

It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. Heard about you from Jessa and Cambria, but also from Dax and Will and some of the hands.

Will — he’s my son, well officially my stepson, but he’s my son.

Anyway, he said your house is the favorite stopping place for guys rolling through the area. ”

Rebecca groaned. “Tell me about it. I only wish they’d roll through a little more and stay put a little less. Sorry, I know that sounds ungracious…”

“Not at all.” Ellyn turned to Hannah. “Trouble is some unattached guys around here are used to piling in on Luke.”

Hannah looked at Rebecca. “You’ve asked Luke to tell them to change their ways?”

“Well…”

“Luke would. In a heartbeat. He’s ready for more privacy, too. She won’t let him,” Ellyn said. “Rebecca’s too soft-hearted.”

“They’re lonely. And they’re such nice guys.” Rebecca tipped her head toward the door. “Just like Eric.”

Hannah chuckled. “Well, if he was one of your problems, I’d say problem solved.”

Ellyn and Rebecca exchanged a glance.

Slowly, Ellyn said, “Eric wasn’t so much one of the problems for Rebecca and Luke as a trial run. Sort of a second trial run.” She looked at Bexley and Kiernan.

“Trial run of what?”

Another exchange of glances, then Ellyn said, “The Wyoming Marriage Association.”

“The what?”

“A permanent solution to the lonely-hearts club holding unofficial meetings around here, including at Rebecca and Luke’s place. If these folks find relationships of their own — good, enduring relationships — it’ll be better for them, better for Rebecca and Luke, better all-around.”

“Sure, but sometimes people don’t see what would truly be best for them.” Hannah’s expression made Ellyn think the other woman knew about that from personal experience.

“The Wyoming Marriage Association means to help them see that,” Ellyn said calmly. “A little nudge, a little behind-the-scenes matchmaking if necessary, a little encouragement one way or another. We can bring people together, but what happens then is up to them.”

Hannah’s eyes widened, then widened more. For a moment she seemed deprived of speech. But not for long. “I’m in. I’m so in. I nominate—”

“We don’t need more men. I need to clear them out of my kitchen,” Rebecca warned.

“—my sister.”

“Now you’re talking,” Ellyn said with a grin.

“Do you have meetings? How do you decide who to, uh, work on? Who’s involved?”

“It’s not that formal. Saying the Wyoming Marriage Association is a club is pure joking. We’re concerned citizens, so to speak. Besides Rebecca and me, there’s Kendra. You’ve met her, right? Jessa and Cambria, you know, of course.”

“And Bexley recommended Eric and another man,” Rebecca finished.

“Oh, the folks from the Slash-C are involved, too?”

“Matty is. In fact, she and others sort of, uh, nudged Bexley and Kiernan together, in our first experiment. They were stranded over Christmas—”

“Oh. The group at Gramps’ store? I heard about that.”

“Uh-huh, which is why we’re all here today celebrating.

So when Bexley suggested Eric Larkin and Hall Quick, it only seemed fair to start with them.

We considered starting with Hall. But when K.D.

walked into Cully’s office and she and Eric looked at each other — and then didn’t look at each other.

Oh, so carefully … Anyway, we jumped them ahead.

You know, the other person I was thinking about is Tal Bennett—”

Rebecca groaned. “Putting the guys camping out at my house farther down the list?”

Ellyn consoled her, “Hey, when we start on that crew, we’ll be experts.”

“But the people you’re — we’re — matchmaking won’t know about it?” Hannah asked.

“Part of the reason they’re unattached is they’d resist this kind of help.” Ellyn added carefully, “It’s not something we’re sharing widely.”

“I understand.”

They all exchanged contact information and agreed to get together, along with the others.

Before long first Rebecca, then Hannah was claimed by other people.

Ellyn smiled around at this roomful of people she loved.

And then her eyes brightened as she considered their next possibility for a matchmaking effort. Not only to help him, but his children, too.

Hall Quick, standing alone.

“Why are you looking like a cat with a gallon of cream?” her husband’s voice asked into her ear.

She pressed in tight against his side. He made a sound of pleasure, then shifted, so she leaned back against him, his arms crossed in front of her, her hands tucked around his forearms. It was one of their favorite ways to stand as this pregnancy advanced toward its culmination.

“I’m looking at all these wonderful people we know, thinking how lucky we are to have each other, the kids, our life, and wishing the same happiness for all of them.”

“ I’m lucky. And—”

She squeezed his arms. “ We’re lucky.”

“—it’s because of that generous heart of yours. Looking out for others. But you can’t take on the happiness of everybody you know, sweetheart.”

“Of course not.”

But she was watching one man and thinking, Hall Quick surely needed the Wyoming Marriage Association.

*

Thank you for reading Eric and K.D.’s story!