Cowboy for Keeps
Page 16
Amanda felt tears rising as her heart swelled. Her spirit felt buffeted by strong winds, one moment elation, the next desolation. She wanted to run and she wanted to cling to Wyatt and ask him to repeat everything he’d just said. Her locked knees let her do neither one.
Then without warning, Wyatt lowered his head to hers and kissed her. Long and slow. Her insides burned with longing of hopes and dreams long lost.
“I want to marry you,” he whispered against her lips.
She gasped. “Don’t—”
He pulled back; his arms that had wrapped around her and drawn her into the shelter of his body held her tightly against him. His heart pounded against hers…and she wondered if he could hear the thunder of her blood.
“I love you, Amanda. And I wasn’t lying when I said I’m patient. I’m just letting you know this is where I stand and I’m praying you fall in love with me.”
She swallowed the words she so wanted to say to him. I love you, too. “It would never work.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t give you children. You need a little boy who looks like you to sit at Sam’s beside you on the bar stool ordering the best food in the world.”
“I can have a son with you who can do that if he wants to.”
“No—”
“Yes. Amanda, you are a whole and complete woman. God is in you and that makes you whole. The emptiness you feel can be filled with the grace and peace of God if you’ll just let it. I did that tonight. I let go of all the anger I’d been feeling—most of it you’d already helped me let go of by just being here and working with me and inspiring me. But I let it go and am going to rethink my life goals. I’m just trying to get you to see that you have to do the same. Face that you are who you are and you are beautiful in every way. Nothing about you is lacking in my eyes or God’s. A child out there somewhere desperately needs you to love him or her, or for that matter, a houseful of them. And in my mind I’m the man who God wants to stand there beside you loving them. Please tell me there is a possibility that you could love me back.”
Amanda couldn’t speak. He had just offered her the world. God was offering her the delights of her heart.
“Just so you know, I’ve made another decision tonight. This place where we are standing has been home to six generations of my family. The Turners belong here, Amanda. I want to raise my children—our children—here on Turner land. I’m going to open a small law office in town where I can practice and also do some consulting work for my firm. And I thought, if you do fall in love with me and become my wife, that you could head up a pro bono division working to get amputees the therapy they need for the time that they need it.”
Amanda felt a trail of tears spill out of her eyes. He’d thought of all of this. “Oh, Wyatt. You make it all seem so easy.”
He smiled that crooked, wonderful, curl-her-toes smile. “All you have to do is say that you love me.”
Amanda’s heart felt like it might burst. She hesitated for a moment, inhaled deeply and then wrapped her arms around his neck. She couldn’t stop herself. For a woman who’d had to fight for every step forward since she was fourteen, all the fight drained from her and she simply did and said what was in her heart…. “I love you.”
Wyatt closed his eyes and lifted his face toward heaven. “Thank you, God. Thank you.” And then he kissed her.
And Amanda felt God’s smile and it filled every dark spot inside of her with hope and light, and she felt whole.
It was the most wonderful feeling she’d ever experienced.
Epilogue
“You boys want a barbecue plate?” Applegate asked, waving a sausage link from behind a long table that he, Sam and Stanley were manning.
Wyatt stood in the yard of the stagecoach house, where tents had been set up for his wedding to Amanda. They’d thrown a regular party to celebrate. Across the way, he caught Amanda smiling at him. She looked beautiful in her white dress, and to him she was the most radiant woman God had ever created. There was no other like her.
“Save one for me, will you?” he said, inching toward her.
“Will do. Chance, how ’bout you?”
“Thanks, App. I’d appreciate it if you’d store a plate back for me, too.”
App’s bushy brows crinkled like a caterpillar inching across the floor. “You ever thank about movin’ home, Chance? That rodeo’ns got ta be gettin’ old. We need a good preacher. Jest ask Wyatt, he knows what kind a lazy preachin’ we been hearin’ since Pastor Allen had ta retar.”
Chance grimaced. “I’m sorry y’all are havin’ a hard time, sir. But until the good Lord brings me back, I’ll be out there on the circuit. I’ll keep praying that the Lord sends the right man to y’all. He’s got him out there, you can be assured of that. It’ll just be in His timing that he gets here. Be patient and give the ones that come a prayerful consideration.”
App grunted, fiddling with his hearing aid. “It ain’t as easy as you thank.”
Wyatt felt for the town. He knew Applegate wanted what was best for the town. He was grumpy because he missed Pastor Allen, who’d been there for a while but had to leave when his wife became ill and needed to be closer to the doctors who were taking care of her. Change was hard. While he wasn’t sure if all the pastors who’d come in were as bad as the one that he’d heard that first Sunday he’d gone to church, they hadn’t been right, either. “When the right man shows up, God will lead y’all and you’ll know,” he offered, and Chance agreed. Honestly, he’d like it if Chance felt called to Mule Hollow, but Wyatt didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Chance was doing what he was called to do.
Stanley, who’d been busy cutting up brisket on the table behind App, brought a new trayful to App’s table. “The question is will we survive till he gets here!” Stanley boomed over the music.
“You’ll survive,” Wyatt said, distracted by his bride as she started his way.
“God’s timing is perfect, I’m proof of that,” he said. He left the others to their discussion and met Amanda in the center of the tent. She walked into his open arms.
“Have I told you how blessed I feel today?” he asked, kissing her temple and holding her tightly.
“Me, too,” she whispered against his ear. “God is good, isn’t He?”
Wyatt leaned his head back, feeling humbled by God’s goodness. “God is great. He sent me you, and I can’t wait to see the plans He has for us as a family.”
Dear Reader,
As always, I’m thrilled when you decide to spend time with me and the gang in Mule Hollow! Thank you so much for letting me entertain you for a few hours. I’ve loved coming up with all the different men in the MEN OF MULE HOLLOW series, and I knew when I introduced the Turner men in the first book, Lone Star Cinderella, that I was going to have fun telling their stories. Creating Wyatt was a challenge, and I couldn’t wait to write his story.
You see, I’m a bit like Wyatt when it comes to being an overachiever…and being stubborn. I think I’m Superwoman and I hold myself up to an unrealistic level just as Wyatt sort of thought he was a superman. God had to show me this past year that sometimes I can rely on myself too much when what I need to do is rely on Him. I wanted to create a character who had to be taught this same lesson, and so I took Wyatt out of his comfort zone and threw him into uncharted waters when he found himself helpless. God says that when we are weak He is strong. I have found this is true, and Wyatt also found this is true. If you are trying to handle too much by yourself I pray that you will reevaluate, relax and let God help you and give you strength. He is waiting. And in doing this you will give Him the glory He deserves since it is He and not ourselves who deserves our high praise!
I love to hear from readers! You can reach me at P.O. Box 1125, Madisonville, Texas, or debraclopton.com. I hope until I see you again that you live, laugh and do give God the glory.
P.S. I have a book in the fun new ALASKAN BRIDE RUSH continuity, Yukon Cowboy, coming out in October, and then wat
ch for the last of the MEN OF MULE HOLLOW series, Yuletide Cowboy, coming in December. Chance, the rodeo preacher, comes home to Mule Hollow. He meets a resident of the local women’s shelter and her twin boys as they move into their own place just in time for Christmas.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Did you enjoy this story? If so, what aspect drew you to it?
Wyatt is an overachiever. Do you know someone in your life who is this way or are you this way yourself? Discuss the good aspects or drawbacks that you see.
Amanda shows real courage in the way she accepts the loss of her leg. Her father was the person who helped her realize she still had things to be thankful for, which helped her move forward with her life. Do you know someone who has done this?
It is through her disability that Amanda realizes her purpose in life. What is her purpose?
There are many people who have lived through tragedy, heartache and other problems to realize that they can use their experience to help others. Have you done this or do you know someone who has done this?
How have they touched your life or those around them?
Do you believe that God puts people in your life when you need them? How has He done this?
God says He will make good from bad situations for those who love him. I personally have seen Him do this in my own life over and over again. Can you give your testimony to the readers’ group about how He has done this in your life?
Wyatt is really hard on himself. Why is that? What lessons did he need to learn?
In 2 Corinthians 12:10, it says, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” I love this verse from Paul. It is so wonderfully true if we think about it. When we are weak then we are strong because we must rely on Christ’s strength. I have to remind myself of this almost daily when I begin to worry about something. How did Wyatt have to learn this?
The prior verse, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, explains it: “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” How did both Wyatt and Amanda learn this?
The last of the verse Paul says, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” When Amanda lost her leg, she found the strength of these verses and used her life as a testament to God, letting Him rest upon her, and use her. Do you think she will be able to use her inability to have children as a witness for God in the years ahead of her? How can she do this?
Amanda says she feels worthless and empty. Chance tells Wyatt to help her know that the emptiness she is feeling could be filled with God’s grace if she would let it. God is the ultimate comforter and loves her and wants only the best for her. He also tells Wyatt that God would use Amanda’s situation for good if she would let him. That promise is in Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Do you believe this is true? Can you see how God can fill any emptiness or sorrow that we might have and help us to help others in similar situations? Discuss this with the others in the group.
Amanda and Wyatt are really strong people. As a couple, how do you think they can touch lives and be a team for God?
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5697-6
COWBOY FOR KEEPS
Copyright © 2010 by Debra Clopton
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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