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       Prologue

       July 3, 1984, Last Chance Ranch

      ON PRINCIPLE, ARCHIBALD CHANCE approved of getting the ranch house gussied up for the Independence Day festivities. He was as patriotic as the next man. But the excitement of an impending party had transformed his usually well-behaved grandsons into wild things. From his position on a ladder at the far end of the porch, he could hear all three of them tearing around inside. He hoped to get the red, white and blue streamers tacked up before any of them came out.

      That hope died as the screen door banged open and a bundle of two-year-old energy with a fistful of small flags raced down the porch toward him. The kid was more interested in who was coming after him than looking where he was going. A tornado in tiny cowboy boots.

      “Nicky!” The screen door banged again as Sarah, Archie’s daughter-in-law, dashed after him.

      Giggling, Nicky put his head down and ran as fast as his little legs would carry him. With no time to climb down, Archie dropped the bunting, tossed the nails into the coffee can and braced himself against the ladder as he shouted a warning.

      Fortunately Sarah was quick. She scooped up both boy and flags a split second before he smashed into the ladder. “Those are for the table, young man.”

      “I gots flags, Mommy!” the little boy crowed.

      “Yes, and they have pointy ends. Don’t run with them, Nicholas.” Sarah glanced up at Archie. “Sorry about that.”

      “Gabe gots flags, too!” Nicky announced.

      Sarah wheeled around, and sure enough, there was little Gabe, not yet two, motoring toward them with a flag in each hand.

      “I wager somebody’s supplying them with those,” Archie said.

      “Yes, I wager you’re right. And his name is Jack. Excuse me, Archie. I have a five-year-old who needs a reminder about the dangers of giving pointy objects to little boys.” Confiscating the flags from both toddlers amid wails of distress, she herded them back inside.

      “You’re doing a great job, Sarah!” Archie called after her. He never missed an opportunity to tell her that. She’d given birth to only one of those kids, baby Gabriel, and she’d inherited the other two as part of the deal for being willing to marry Jonathan Chance. She loved all three kids equally, and she loved their father with the kind of devotion that made Archie’s heart swell with gratitude.

      As he turned back to his bunting chore, the screen door squeaked again, signaling another interruption. He’d oil those hinges today. He hadn’t realized how bad they were.

      Glancing toward the door, he smiled. This was the kind of interruption he appreciated.

      Nelsie approached with two glasses of iced tea. “Time for a break, Arch.”

      “Don’t mind if I do.” Hooking the hammer in his belt, he carried the coffee can full of nails in the crook of his arm as he descended the ladder to join his wife. “How’re things going in there?”

      “Not too bad, considering. I’m glad we decided to host the after-parade barbecue this year, but we didn’t factor in the dynamics of having both babies able to walk and Jack putting them up to all manner of things. They’ll do anything he tells them, especially Nicky.”

      Archie put down the hammer and nails before accepting a glass of tea and settling into the rocking chair next to her. They’d bought several rockers to line the porch, which would come in mighty handy during the barbecue. “Those boys are a handful, all right.” He took a sip of tea. “Wouldn’t trade ’em for all the tea in China, though.”

      “Me, either, the little devils.” Nelsie chuckled. “Oh, you know what? I saw a bald eagle fly over early this morning. Forgot to tell you that.”

      “Huh. Wonder if there’s a nest somewhere.”

      “Could be. Anyway, I thought it was appropriate, a bald eagle showing up so close to the Fourth. Maybe he, or she, will do a flyover tomorrow for our guests.”

      “I’ll see if I can arrange it for you.”

      She smiled at him in that special way that only Nelsie could smile. “If you could, I believe you’d do it, Archie.”

      “Yep, that’s a fact.” They’d celebrated their forty-seventh anniversary last month, and he loved this woman more every day. He would do anything for her. And to his amazement, she would do anything for him, too.

      He was one lucky cuss, and he knew it. His father used to say that Chance men were lucky when it counted. In Archie’s view, finding a woman like Nelsie counted for a whole hell of a lot.

      

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