by Jillian Hart
Rayna stared at him, her mind a jumble, not knowing what to say. Even completely defeated, Daniel’s first thought was of her sons. Of her. She’d never met a more noble man. “I appreciate that, but I’m going to keep this place.”
“But how can you do that? There isn’t enough money. I can’t work. I can’t meet the payment.”
“Mariah’s husband worked the last two days at the coal yard. And Betsy’s brother is working your shift today. They plan on trading off with Katelyn’s husband until you are strong enough to work again.”
“What? But I don’t know those men. Why would they help me?”
Didn’t he realize the truth? “Because you are a good man and they wanted to help. It’s a blessing to have friends, Daniel. It’s not good to be alone, as you have been. You’re not alone anymore.”
“What?”
He looked so confused. Was it that hard for him to believe he was a wonderful man? “I told you, you have immense value to me, and not for the work you do. For who you are.”
“Me?”
“You, Daniel Lindsay, are impossible not to love. I fought it, I refused to surrender to it, and I even believed my heart was incapable. But you made me love you.”
“How did I do that?”
“With your goodness and your integrity and your heart, Daniel. Your wonderful, loving heart.”
“You love me?” Daniel had to wonder if he was in heaven after all. He was loved. His chest felt near to breaking apart, and not from the bullet wound. Happiness filled him, buoyant and sweet. “I love you, too, my beautiful wife.”
“I guess this means I’ll be needing you right here in my life. I don’t want you taking a job far away from me. What do you think of that?” She laid her hand on his shoulder.
Her left hand with his ring gleaming on her fourth finger. She was still wearing it. He couldn’t be dreaming. He just couldn’t, although it felt like a dream because nothing this good had ever happened to him before.
He studied the quilt covering him. The rich jeweled colors of fabric pieces now whole. Whole. Like his life. He smiled up at the woman who was his first love. His only love. “You went to the trouble of finishing our wedding quilt. I might as well stick around. It would be a shame to let all that sewing go to waste.”
Joy shone on her lovely face. “It’s just my good luck I’ll be stuck with you for…what, twenty or thirty years?”
“That’s my plan, darlin’. Longer, if I can manage it.”
Rayna felt as if she were breaking into pieces, but not from grief. Not any longer. For when Daniel held out his arms to her, the last of her sorrow faded like the ice of winter giving way to a green spring.
With a full heart, she climbed beneath the quilt she’d made and snuggled carefully against the man she loved.
Epilogue
May, one year later
“There, little one. Mama’s here.” Rayna lifted her infant daughter from the cradle. Looking like a little rosebud with her pink dress and socks, Ruby Danielle Lindsay stopped fussing and gave a wide toothless grin.
“You just wanted to be held, didn’t you, love?” Nestling her sweet girl against her heart, Rayna grabbed the cookie plate with one hand and gave the screen door a shove with her foot. The hinges whispered and the warm breeze sifted over her, smelling of sunshine and growing grass and lilacs blooming.
“There are my two favorite ladies.” Daniel took their daughter into his big strong arms, love etched into the corners of his eyes. The emotion looked good on him. The past year had been a hard one, but the rewards were many. Having him at her side was the greatest.
“Ma! Just in time.” Hans dismounted from the pony Daniel had bought and taught him to ride. “I’m starving.”
“Be sure and share with your brother.”
Kirk, grown taller and broader, the very image of Kol, looked up from his schoolbook. His studies interrupted, he let the wind batter his textbook as he took the plate of cookies and held them out of Hans’s reach. “Gee, thanks, Ma. They’re all for me, kid.”
“Those are for me, too.” Hans shoved at his brother and they wrestled affectionately, the plate of cookies set aside as the boys took off to race in the sunshine.
Kirk in his last year at the town school was studying for his graduation exams. He was to attend college in Oregon in the fall.
“Come sit on the porch with me.” Daniel held out his free hand.
The moment she twined her fingers through his, she felt the surge of pure love moving through her like sun through the maple trees. She had to be dreaming, for how could anyone be so joyful?
But this was no dream, just hopes for a happy marriage come true.
With supper roasting in the oven and a temperate afternoon to spend with her husband, Rayna let him lead her to the porch swing he’d built. When he settled in next to her, Ruby gurgling against his chest, she could feel the affection in her heart double, as it seemed to do every time she felt his hand in hers.
He must have felt it, too, because his fingers tightened around hers and he leaned against her to brush a tantalizing kiss across her lips. “Have I told you lately I’m in love with you?”
“Only twice today.”
“That’s not nearly enough. I love you.”
“I love you.”
Like all dreams come true, there were no words that could describe the depth of her feelings. The depth of her feelings for this man she’d married.
It was enough to let the dappled sunlight filter through the maple trees to warm them. And to gaze out at the endless blue sky and their fields of green growing wheat.
To know that all she needed to be happy was to spend her days beside Daniel. The man she would treasure for this new season of her life.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8386-6
MONTANA WIFE
Copyright © 2004 by Jill Strickler
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