A Cowboy in Shepherd's Crossing Page 18
She looked up at him. Confusion drew her eyebrows down. “He was angry about it. That horse was worth a quarter-million dollars. Anyone would be angry about it.”
“Did your father hesitate, Melonie?”
She knew he didn’t because she heard his voice, screaming...and then the shot. She shook her head.
“He wasn’t mad or disappointed in you. I’m going to guess he was absolutely furious with the horse.”
He was wrong, of course, but Lizzie came to her side at that moment. “Jace is right.” She had a cool, wet cloth in her hand. Reaching out, she applied it to Melonie’s right cheek. The chill of the cloth soothed the heated skin. “Dad has a laundry list of faults, we all know that, but he wasn’t ever mad at you, Melonie. It was the horse. He bought her, thinking they could gentle her. They couldn’t, she was a crazy girl, and I don’t think he ever got over blaming himself for what happened. He made everyone promise not to talk about it unless you brought it up.”
Was Lizzie right? Had Melonie spent two decades carrying around guilt about something that was never her fault?
The fact that it was a distinct possibility shamed her. “And I never brought it up.”
Lizzie acknowledged that with a sad smile and a warm hug. “Who would, sweetie? I never dreamed you blamed yourself for what happened. I just figured the trauma was enough to make you go off horses and barns forever, and it wasn’t like Dad was about to win any Father of the Year awards. And yet today—” She shifted her gaze to where Heath and Ty Carrington were putting a firm fence between the horses and the fire. “You were a true hero. I honestly can’t imagine how you did it, Mel. But you did, and I’m proud of you.”
So was Jace. Proud and grateful. She’d faced her greatest fears for him, after he’d been acting like a first-class jerk to her.
The EMT came alongside them right then. “Let’s have a look here, missy.” The older woman pointed to the rescue wagon. “I want to check your breathing and vitals. Then you can go back to hugging your boyfriend.”
“I’ll be right there with her,” Jace promised.
“But the fire—”
He kept his arm looped around her shoulders as he led her to the waiting ambulance. “It’s only a building. As long as you’re okay, nothing else matters, Mel.”
And he hoped she’d give him the chance to prove that he meant it.
Chapter Seventeen
The sting in Melonie’s cheek had eased by Wednesday. A surface burn, like a moderate sunburn, and nothing more.
“Rosie’s got a doctor’s appointment for Jo Jo today, so we’re keeping the girls here.” Corrie washed up Annie and then Ava when the girls had finished breakfast. Lizzie had taken advantage of the early morning sun and was giving Zeke a ride on Honey Bunny, one of the ranch stock horses. “Do you have to get to Gilda’s?”
“No. Supplies are scheduled to be delivered today and the men will start rebuilding the upstairs tomorrow. Jace is moving sheep right now.”
“Well, I wonder if these two would like a nice walk in that big, fancy stroller we’ve got out there. Maybe see what their cowboy daddy is doing?”
Melonie laughed.
The stroller was big, all right, but not one bit fancy. Rosie had found it at a garage sale the previous year when she first started watching the twins. It was bulky, but the thick tires worked on farm lanes, and that meant everything around here. “I’ll take them. I could use a walk myself. We can go see Jace in action and maybe meet some sheep.”
They fastened the girls into their seats. Ava might have beaten Annie at walking, but Annie was part monkey when it came to climbing. She’d wiggle her way out of that stroller seat in a heartbeat without the safety buckle firmly fastened.
“I’ve got to get that cake in the oven,” Corrie reminded her. “Are you okay on your own with them?”
“They’re way smaller than the horse I tackled a few days ago. I think we’re okay.”
Corrie laughed, then hugged her. “My brave girl! See you when you get back.”
Ezra was editing video in the first-floor equine-barn office. He’d gotten some great preliminary shots and a short but poignant one-on-one interview with Gilda—an interview he wouldn’t let anyone see, which meant it was good. Real good.
She pushed the stroller forward.
June had started out with kelly green grass rolling across the hills, like the Irish countryside pictures her grandmother had always loved. As the end of the month closed in, the green had deepened. Dandelions nodded yellow heads all around the farmyard. Clumps of perennials were grouped in random spots, not yet blooming.
It was a beautiful place. Different than Kentucky, more rugged. Less pristine, yes. But it called to her like it was meant to be. Like she belonged there. But how hard would it be to be here, day after day, watching Jace raise these babies from afar? When he’d held her a few days ago, she’d sensed his caring emotion.
But between the fire’s aftermath, smoke damage to the bedroom wing of the house and the final bits of teardown at Gilda’s, she’d barely seen him. Now he was moving sheep for Heath, making ready for the next round of lambs, which were due soon.
He was at the far side of the nearest pasture when they approached. He sat tall in the saddle on a Pine Ridge Ranch horse, and the straight lines of his back, his easy hands and the tilt of his black cowboy hat made him look like an ad in a Western magazine.
He saw them. He raised a hand in a salute, then headed their way, taking care to not disturb the ewe and lamb groupings.
He pulled up in front of them and looked down, smiling.
He shouldn’t be so handsome. So strong. So good and nice.
He climbed down off the horse, let it graze, then crossed the last few feet to them. He was on one side of the sheep fence.
She was on the other.
He fixed that by jumping the fence as if it was nothing. “You gals out for a midday stroll?” He smiled at her, then the girls.
Ava babbled, waving both hands, then she shrieked at the sheep like a little banshee.
Annie looked up at him and simply grinned. Her whole face lit up, without needing to make a scene about it.
Melonie nodded while the girls flirted with him in their distinct ways. “It was too nice to stay inside, but Ava doesn’t like the feel of grass under her feet.”
“A trait she’ll need to lose to be happy on a ranch,” Jace teased the baby, and Ava giggled as if sharing the joke.
“And Annie said she wanted to come see her daddy. So I said sure.”
“You did?”
She’d been looking down at the girls.
The husky note in his voice made her look up. And when she did, she didn’t want to look away from those warm, brown eyes. “Well, sure, it’s wonderful for them to see what you do. What it takes to build a place or herd sheep or cut hay.”
He leaned closer. “Do I dare hope that you like coming to see me, too? Maybe a little bit?”
Her heart stutter-stepped.
Like coming to see him? Love was more like it. “I believe you’ve known that all along, Jace. But then you started acting like a jerk, and—”
He kissed her.
He didn’t wait, didn’t ask, just wrapped those big arms around her and drew her in. And when he was done kissing, her, he kissed her all over again. “I’m sorry I was a jerk. I saw you and Ezra and knew you had dreams and goals that went way beyond an old six-room house in western Idaho. I didn’t want to face the thought of you leaving. So I pulled back.”
She leaned back against his arm and poked him. “Did it ever occur to you to ask me?”
“You’d already told me how you wanted to do your show, showing off your skills. And that drawl you tried so hard to lose. I find that drawl to be a mighty pretty thing, Melonie Fitzgerald,” he added, sending a look her way that set her pulse humming
.
“Why, cowboy...” She batted her eyelashes to match the Southern drawl. “You flatter me.”
His grin widened. “Woman, you talk like that and I will be at your beck and call. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be at your beck and call anyway, Melonie. And if that means following you to Kentucky—”
“You would follow me to Kentucky?” She didn’t even try to mask her surprise.
He didn’t hesitate at all. “Anywhere, Mel. Just as long as you don’t mind being a carpenter’s wife and a mother to two little girls. I hear Kentucky gets a little hot for a northern guy like me, but I can adjust. Given a little time and encouragement,” he added another kiss, and when he finally eased back, she laid her head against his chest.
“What about staying with me right here in Shepherd’s Crossing?”
He pulled back and lifted a brow. “I don’t get it.”
“What if the producers were so in love with the pilot that they’re interested in doing the show with a Western twang instead of a Southern drawl? That I get to stay here with you and raise two little Western girls?”
“You’re staying?”
“I believe I just said that.”
He picked her up and whirled her around, then set her down when Annie burst into tears. “Sorry, darlin’, sorry. Daddy’s just a little excited, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He unclasped her safety belt and withdrew the crying baby from the stroller.
Melonie reached down, unclipped Ava’s seat belt and did the same with her. Then she reached into her pocket now that Annie had calmed, pulled out her phone and stretched her hand out and up. “All right, you guys. Our first family selfie. Say ‘cheese.’”
The word activated the camera function, and when she held out the image for Jace to see, he put an arm around her shoulders and tugged her close. Ava was in her right arm. Annie was perched on his left hip. And they were the absolute image of a happy couple.
“I love it, Melonie. And—” he eased around and rubbed his forehead against hers, gently “—I love you. And despite the fact that you’ve already kind of asked me, will you marry me, Melonie? Be my wife? And help me raise these precious little girls?”
“I will,” she assured him. “Oh, I absolutely will! But we have to wait because I don’t want to mess up Lizzie’s wedding plans.”
“What if the last thing I wanted to do was wait?” he asked then. “And what if we shared their wedding?”
“Say what?”
“What if we have a double wedding with Heath and Lizzie and we all do that happily-ever-after thing?”
Was he joking?
One look at his face said he wasn’t.
“Just so you know, I already ran it by them and they were fine with the idea.”
She wasn’t sure if she should kiss him or smack him.
She’d spent a lifetime longing to be loved and cherished not for what she was, a rich man’s daughter, but for who she was.
And she’d found that right here in the rugged hills and valleys of western Idaho in the arms of the best man she’d ever known.
She reached up and pressed her lips to his mouth. “I love you, Jace. Just in case we get too busy with these two and I forget to tell you.”
He grinned down at her. “I know you do, darlin’. But it’s sure sweet hearing you say it out loud.”
A sheep baaed in the background. Then another one joined in. He eyed the pasture, then her as he tucked Annie back into her side of the stroller. “Duty calls, but I’ll look forward to more of that kissin’-and-huggin’ stuff tonight. And you little gals be good for your mama, all right?”
More sheep began blatting. A border collie loped his way, as if wondering what was taking so long.
He hopped back over the fence while she settled Ava into her seat. And when he rode uphill, he paused midway, deliberate and slow. Then he turned the horse slightly and gave the brim of his cowboy hat a tip with one finger.
A cowboy salute.
She laughed, waved and aimed the stroller back toward the house, wondering how life had turned around so completely in the last few weeks and so incredibly glad it did.
A home. A soon-to-be husband. Jobs for both of them, and the promise of rebuilding Hardaway Ranch into a Middleton home.
And two baby girls, needing someone to love them and care for them and raise them. Just like the Middletons had done for Jace.
Her world had changed in a matter of weeks. From doubt had sprung faith.
What if she hadn’t taken Uncle Sean’s challenge to move here for a year? She’d have missed God’s plans for her. For these girls. For Jace, her beloved.
A rooster crowed from the chicken coop west of her. He crowed again, and she laughed.
It wasn’t their highfalutin’ Kentucky horse farm.
It was better.
And she was here, with a bright new chance at faith, hope and love. And, of course, the greatest of these...
She leaned down and kissed the twins’ soft, sweet cheeks...
Was love.
Epilogue
Melonie rolled over, spotted the clock and flew out of bed. She threw on clothes and rushed downstairs. How had she overslept on today of all days? With so much to do?
She dashed into the empty kitchen.
The rich smell of cowboy blend coffee filled the air, but the little house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Then she caught a glimpse of the front yard.
Balloons bobbed and weaved everywhere. Dozens of bright primary-colored helium balloons were tied to every post and open branch and even the chair handles. Color filled the yard, and as she moved through the front door, Jace looked up.
He grinned and her heart just about melted on the spot. “You did all this? Why didn’t you get me up, Jace?”
The girls were running their miniature scooters on the driveway. Back and forth, laughing and giggling.
He cupped her cheeks and kissed her. Long and slow and when he stopped, she leaned in for just a little more.
“You worked so hard to get everything ready for today. For their birthday. I wanted you to get some rest so when I heard them chattering, we moved the crazy outside and began filling balloons.”
“It looks amazing.”
He looped an arm around her shoulders. “So do you, darlin’. And that coffee smells mighty good. I wouldn’t mind if a cup found its way out here. I had one earlier but I didn’t want to leave the girls alone to go brew another one.”
“I’m on it. And I’ll bring out the tablecloths.”
Bubba nickered from the far pasture. A lean-to shed gave the pair cover for now. They’d have to see about building a replacement barn before winter set in.
But that wasn’t a concern today.
Today their soon-to-be adopted daughters turned one year old, and they’d invited friends and family to come have a day of barbecue, babies and children. A celebration of life and love.
“Jace?”
He’d grasped another bunch of balloons and turned, looking absolutely amazing and adorable.
She smiled at him.
He smiled back.
And then she went to make him coffee.
She hadn’t had to say a word. He knew. He understood her emotions. Her joy. Because he felt the exact same way.
She brought him out a steaming mug.
He’d tied the balloons to the mailbox post, marking the entrance. A neighbor had loaned them a bounce house for the day, and Gilda had ordered a waterslide. The twins were too small to appreciate it, but everyone else would love it.
He crossed to her, set the coffee aside, then hit a button on his phone.
The music of Glenn Miller filled the air.
He took her into his arms.
The twins giggled and bobbed up and down, their own way of dancin
g to the music.
And when Jace began leading her across the lawn to the sweet old tune, Melonie followed, step for step. And when the first song wound down, she leaned up, batted her eyelashes against his cheek and made him laugh. Then sigh.
“I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life doing this—” she indicated the yard, the kids and the handsome cowboy with a wave of her hand “—forever. I couldn’t ask for anything more, Jace. Except...”
He lifted one eyebrow.
“Another dance? Please.”
He smiled. And then began dancing her across the lawn again, as if there weren’t a million things to do to get ready for the party.
Because nothing was more important than dancing with his wife.
And she loved that most of all.
* * *
If you loved this book,
don’t miss the first books
in the Shepherd’s Crossing series
from author Ruth Logan Herne:
Her Cowboy Reunion
“Falling for the Christmas Cowboy”
from A Cowboy Christmas
And be sure to pick up these books from the author’s Grace Haven miniseries:
An Unexpected Groom
Her Unexpected Family
Their Surprise Daddy
The Lawman’s Yuletide Baby
Her Secret Daughter
Available now from Love Inspired!
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from Her Cowboy’s Twin Blessings by Patricia Johns.
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Dear Reader,
Life has a way of handing us curves, doesn’t it? Sometimes we see them coming and we dodge left, then right. And yet they still come!
Sometimes we’re caught unaware, and we’re faced with life changes we didn’t expect and maybe didn’t want.