by Jodi Thomas
"I want to hear the words if I'm your real wife." A tear threatened to spill over and betray her fear. She wasn't sure she wanted him to know how important the words were to her.
"Is that an order, madam?" he asked, his emotions under tight control.
"Yes," she answered.
Walker raised an eyebrow, watching her closely. "All right. I want you."
"Try again."
"I need you?"
"No." Lacy had to have the words, had to believe that he felt them, had to know that he didn't say them by accident.
"I love you."
She smiled. There, that was what she'd been waiting to hear. The words she'd never heard. The words that would forever command her heart. Lacy curled down next to him.
His arm moved around her tenderly as he whispered, "I love you," once more in her ear. "I love you, my one and only wife, and will till the day I die."
"I love you, too, Captain."
His arm tightened around her shoulders.
She smiled, knowing what he wanted. "I love you, Walker."
EPILOGUE
Fort Davis
The Frontier Line
Texas
Walker stormed out of his office. "Peterson!"
"Right here, Captain." The thin sergeant moved from the shadow of the porch and stood at attention.
"Have a half-dozen men ready to ride in fifteen minutes. I think the stage may need an escort."
Peterson smiled. "I've had them ready since dawn, sir. Just waiting for you to say the word."
Walker raised an eyebrow in question. Peterson had been with him for years. Sometimes he swore the man read his mind.
"Always do when the captain's lady's coming." Peterson pulled on his hat and stepped into the warm sun. "Mind if I ride along with the escort this time, sir?"
Walker shoved on his gloves, frustrated with himself. "Do I always send an escort?"
"Every time. Mrs. Larson's been coming out every other month all spring, and you haven't missed one yet."
Walker didn't argue. In truth, he had trouble concentrating the few days before she came back to him ... and the few days after she left... and every night when he faced sleeping without her by his side. The woman had gotten in his blood, and if she didn't change her mind and come live with him for good instead of spending four weeks with him then four weeks in Cedar Bend, he feared he might go crazy. Every time she left his quarters, a little more of her remained behind. Maybe only a quilt, or a few more books, but something. Something to remind him. Something to make him miss her more.
Peterson fell into step as they marched toward the horses. "Will she be bringing the animals with her again?"
Walker nodded. Pets were frowned on at the fort, but no one said anything. She wouldn't leave the cats behind, and he liked the dog.
"You know, Captain, if we searched, we could probably find a dog and two cats as mangy as those she hauls halfway across Texas. That dog you call Alley is the ugliest mutt I've ever seen. He makes a cow dog look handsome."
Walker didn't argue, but he liked the alley dog and feared it would starve to death if it didn't get army food every other month. Lacy might have left him behind, but Walker insisted if the two cats got to visit, Alley came along as well.
"Mount up, men," the sergeant yelled, then added to himself, "We're going to ride like the devil until we get to that stage."
Walker didn't know how to explain that he could wait no longer for Lacy. He swung into the saddle and shot out the gate at full speed. Every time he swore he'd wait for her to come to him, and every time he rode a little farther down the trail to meet the stage. At this rate, within a year, he'd be riding all the way back to Cedar Point. She wouldn't leave the paper until she thought Jay Boy could handle it, and he couldn't end his career with a promotion due any day.
Something was going to have to change. She would either come to her senses, or he'd completely lose his. On days like this, Walker didn't care which, he just knew he needed her. Living in Cedar Point wasn't what he wanted, but without Lacy, he didn't seem to be living at all. He had no idea what it would take to make her think of his quarters as home and not that tiny apartment over the shop.
An hour later the stage came into view, bouncing across the dusty trail. The driver waved and pulled the reins when he spotted Walker.
Lacy was out of the coach by the time he reached her. Walker told himself he'd be cold when he greeted her; after all, she'd been away for a month when she should have been here where she belonged.
But when he saw her, his heart ached to hold her, and all he saw before him seemed perfection. He ran the last few feet and swung her up in his arms, pulling her as close to him as he could. He laughed as she kissed his face and cried his name as if she'd been starving for him. He held her near, breathing for the first time in a month. The world never seemed real without her close, and he knew he'd never get tired of having her at his side. This little woman he swore he'd never love held his heart.
"This happen every other month?" Walker heard one of the men ask Peterson.
"Yep. It's like witchcraft; every other month the Captain turns into a man."
The new soldier shook his head. "Can't they work it out?"
"Oh, they will one of these days. Right now, I think they're having too much fun fighting about it."
Walker carried Lacy to his horse and lifted her up. As he climbed behind her, he waved the stage on. The men would escort the now-empty stage to the fort, and he'd take his time riding back. He wanted to get used to the feel of her once more.
When the coach, loaded down with her things, rocked past him, Walker noticed something new amid the cages of animals.
A cradle.
He pulled her closer, loving the way she felt so right against him. "You staying longer this time, madam?"
Lacy laughed. "I thought I might."
"Welcome home, my love."
