by Misty Malone
“She did look beautiful today, didn’t she,” Sam commented.
“That she did,” Ty agreed.
Sam smiled and checked the stairs before speaking quietly. “Don’t forget to take the ring when you go out riding, son.”
“How did you know that’s what I had in mind?”
“I saw the way you were watching her today. I also saw the way her eyes kept going back to you. I’d say we’ll be having another wedding soon.”
“I hope she says yes, and I hope the wedding is soon. You don’t suppose she’ll want a real long engagement, do you?”
“She’s a woman and I learned long ago not to even try to guess their actions, but instinct tells me no, she won’t want a long engagement. Since she found out two of her classes in France transfer here as graduate courses, she’s anxious to graduate. I was a little surprised that she’s taking classes this summer, but when she said she’ll be able to graduate then and not have to go back in the fall, I understand it. I think once she’s through with school, she’ll be ready to start several new things.”
“I thought the same thing. I hope one of the new things she’s ready to take on is being my wife.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Good luck, Ty. She loves you, you’ll see.”
“Thank you, Sam. I hope you’re right.”
Fifteen minutes later Ty walked into the barn, surprised to see Cheyenne already getting her horse saddled and ready to ride. “That was quick. Are you anxious to go riding today?”
“I am. It sounds like the perfect way to top off such a beautiful day.”
As they were riding out a few minutes later she looked over at him. “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”
“Yeah, there is, actually.”
“Really? Where?”
“The pond down there that connects this ranch with The Bar T, unless you don’t want to go there.”
She giggled as she met his eyes. “That’s exactly where I was thinking I’d like to go. It’s the most gorgeous place to watch the sun set.”
They talked as they rode out there, sharing moments they recalled from the wedding. “Oh, I wanted to ask you about something,” she said. “What did you want to tell me about when we were walking down the aisle after the ceremony?”
They’d reached their destination, and he tied the horses and took her hand as they walked down toward the lake. She momentarily forgot the question she’d asked. They usually went to the side of the lake that was mostly on their ranch, but this time Ty led her to the other side. “We don’t usually go on this side of the lake,” she said. “But I don’t think Clyde would say anything about us trespassing on his land.” She was smiling as she said that, but when she looked up at Ty she become concerned. “Ty, what’s wrong? You look serious. I’m sure Clyde won’t mind if we’re walking on his land.”
Ty stopped and turned her to face him. Holding her shoulders, he said, “Actually, honey, Clyde sold this ranch.”
“He did? When? Are you sure? I didn’t even know it was for sale. How do you know? Are you sure?”
He smiled and put his arms around her. “Calm down, honey. Yes, I’m sure. I know he sold it because I bought it.”
Her mouth fell open and she was quiet for several moments. “You bought it?”
“Yes, I did. I had to.”
“Why did you have to buy Clyde’s ranch?”
“Because I had to have a home and this one was perfect.”
“But you have a home.”
“No, the foreman’s house on your family’s ranch is a place for me to live, but it’s not a home for me. It’s especially not a home for us.”
“For us?”
He got down on one knee and took the ring box out of his shirt pocket. He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. “Cheyenne, will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife, and living with me here, on the home I bought for us?”
She met his eyes with her tear-filled eyes to make sure he was serious. He was. She lost the battle she was fighting with her tears, and they flowed freely. “Yes, Ty, I would love to marry you.” He slid the ring on her finger, then stood and took her in his arms for a wonderful kiss.
After she’d cried a bit, she looked up at him. “But what’s all this about Clyde’s ranch? Were you serious?”
“I am. Clyde told Sam he was going to retire. Since they never had any kids to leave the ranch to he was going to sell it, and wanted Sam to be the first to know, and offered it to him if he wanted it, since it joins this one. Your dad asked Clay and I about it, but said he didn’t really want to double the size of his ranch. I saw it as the perfect opportunity for us. How perfect is it that I had the opportunity to not only buy us a ranch of our own, but one that adjoins your father’s?”
“Does Dad know?”
“Of course he does. He helped me buy it. I had a substantial amount of money in the bank that my grandfather put in a trust for me when I graduated high school, so I talked to your dad about my idea. I wanted to ask him for your hand in marriage before I proposed to you, to be sure he was okay with it, so I did that first. Then I told him I’d love to buy this ranch if he didn’t. I hated leaving him without a foreman, but he assured me he’d rather have me as his son-in-law than his foreman, and absolutely loved the idea of us owning the next ranch over. So he talked with Clyde and helped me buy it. It turns out Clyde was happy to hear it was going to become part of your family, and sold it to me at a real reasonable price.”
“I always liked Clyde.”
“That’s what your dad said, too. I’ve only met him a couple times, but he always seemed real nice. In fact, he’s going to stay on and help with the transition, which will take place slowly, so hopefully his hands and foreman will agree to stay on with the new owner.”
“That would be helpful.”
“Very helpful.”
“What are Clyde and his wife going to do when they retire?”
“They’re going to move down along the coast in Texas, where her sister lives. Clyde said her sister and her husband are retiring, too, and the four of them are planning on doing some traveling together.”
“Well, good for them. I’m glad to hear they have plans.”
“Me, too. They both seem nice. So, are you okay with living here, on another ranch? I worried about buying it without asking you, but if you don’t want to live on another ranch, I’m sure I can sell it.”
“Ty, no, this is perfect. I do love living on a ranch now, and one of our own will be even better than living on Dad’s ranch. The fact that our ranches join is perfect.”
“I thought so, too.”
She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. “Ty, can we get married right here?”
He knew immediately what she meant. “I think that is a wonderful idea. We can build that picnic pavilion you talked about before. Will you be okay, though, with not having the formal church wedding with all the trimmings? I mean, we can do a lot out here under a big pavilion, but it would be hard to have quite as formal a wedding here.”
“I don’t want a formal wedding, Ty, unless you do. After seeing all the problems Lynelle had, and all the worrying she did, I want something much simpler.”
Ty had a huge smile on his face as he gave his approval. “That sounds great with me, honey.”
“I mean, I want to wear a wedding dress, and I want you in a tux because you were so handsome today. But I don’t want anything super formal, or all these details to worry about. I want it much more casual, you know; some flowers decorating the space, but just casual bouquets and potted flowers. I don’t want the formal arrangements that all have to match or anything. I want the day to be more about you and me and our new life together, here on this ranch, with our family and friends around us.”
Ty pulled her in against him for another hug and kiss. “I seem to fall in love with you a bit more every day somehow, sweetheart.”
“I love you, too, Ty. Does that kind of wedding sound okay to y
ou, too? This is your wedding, too, and I want us both to have what we want.”
“That sounds perfect to me. How soon can we have this perfect wedding?”
“How soon do you want to have it?”
“Well, next weekend works for me, but something tells me you may want a bit more time,” he said, grinning.
“A bit more, yes. Besides, you won’t have the house yet then. Although Clyde and his wife probably have an extra bedroom we could use,” she added with mischief-filled eyes.
“Brat.” He kissed her once more before getting a little more serious. “Any idea when you would like to have this wedding?”
She thought for a couple moments. “Well, I’m going to be busy this summer with classes, so I’d like to wait until I graduate.”
“Wise decision. Finish that before embarking on your new life, with a new husband, a new home, and a new bookstore.”
“We can hold off on the bookstore for a while if you want, Ty. I know it’ll cost a lot to get that going, and it’ll cost a fortune to get the cattle and everything for the ranch.”
“Absolutely not. You worked hard on getting your MBA so you could start this bookstore, and you’re going to get the reward you earned. It’ll take some time to get everything set up, find a good location and find your beginning inventory, but we’ll start on it right away.”
“But the money—”
“—is there, honey. Don’t worry about it.”
“But you just bought a ranch.”
“I did, with money from my grandfather. Since Clyde is getting out of the business and retiring, I was able to buy everything from him; all his equipment and stock included. So I won’t need to buy any animals, at least for the first little while. I may eventually buy some new animals to get new bloodlines into the herds, but I want to take my time to see what’s there first. I’ve saved most of the money I’ve earned working on ranches, both your dad’s and the one before that, because room and board were provided, so about all I spent any money on was a pickup and a few clothes. There is nothing I’d rather spend that money on than to help my wife start a bookstore.”
“Oh, Ty, I’m so lucky. Thank you.” She was in his arms again, tears flowing again.
“Hey, honey, what’s with all the tears today?”
Swiping at her eyes, she said, “I guess this has just been a very emotional day. I’m so happy right now, Ty. I thought today couldn’t get any better after the wedding, but it has.”
“Good. Now, can we get back to setting a time for our wedding?”
“Anxious, are you?”
“Honey, I am very anxious. I know you said it’s been important to you, that you want to wait until your wedding night to make love for the first time, and I respect that decision. I respect you for making that decision, and we will wait. But I love you, Cheyenne, and a man in love can only wait so long.” He chuckled.
He turned serious then took her in his arms. “Cheyenne, I really am anxious to marry you. There are so many things I’m looking forward to, besides our wedding night. Waking up next to you every morning, coming in every evening to you and sharing how our days went, and going to bed with you every night. I’m anxious to share our lives.”
“Me, too.”
“So when can we have this wedding?”
“Well, you’ll have to help me here. It seems to me there was always a short amount of time, like a couple weeks, after Dad said the wheat or oats or something or other was all picked or baled, or whatever they do with it, and before he started picking something else, maybe the corn? Does that sound right?”
“It does. The last couple weeks of September are generally a bit slower. The wheat and oats are off, but the corn’s not ready to pick yet, unless you’re going to chop it when it’s green, which we don’t generally do here, and I don’t plan to, either. All there is during that time is hay, and once you bale it, it needs to grow out a few weeks before it can be cut again.”
“Then how about we have the wedding then? It’s starting to cool just enough that it’s not so horribly hot, but it’s still short sleeve weather. That would be perfect for a wedding and reception out here, wouldn’t it?”
“It would be great weather, but if you graduate the end of August will that give you enough time to plan it?”
“If it’s okay with you I’ll hire a wedding planner, and I’ll let her do her job. She can take care of most of the details until I graduate. That’ll give me a month before the wedding then, and that should be plenty of time. I’m serious when I said I want this wedding to be much less formal than Clay and Lynelle’s was.”
“Then it sounds to me like we have a plan. We’ll check the calendar when we get back to the house.”
They spent the next hour in each other’s arms, making plans and watching the sun set over the lake connecting the two ranches. She felt like that spot was not only connecting their ranches, but their lives, as well.
Chapter Seventeen
Sam was waiting for them when they rode the horses back to the barn, an anxious expression on his face. She dismounted and went straight to her father and into his arms. He chuckled as he held her tight. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me, Cheyenne?”
“Dad, I’m so happy!”
“I take it you said yes?”
“Yes! How could I not say yes? Ty’s great, and I’m so excited.”
“I agree, Ty is a good man, and I’m excited for you, too.”
The two of them filled Sam in on their thoughts for the wedding and possible dates. Sam thought all their ideas were good and well thought out. He was proud of his daughter and future son-in-law.
Cheyenne was waiting for Clay and Lynelle when they returned from their honeymoon. She refused to tell them before they were back, not wanting to do anything to take away from their excitement. Both were happy for them, and anxious to hear their plans.
“We’ll be neighbors,” Lynelle said, clapping her hands.
Clay shared her excitement. “If Clyde’s going to sell his ranch, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have as a new neighbor. I’ll hate to lose you as our foreman, Ty, but I don’t blame you a bit for wanting your own ranch. There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll do well.”
***
Summer was an extremely busy time around the Williams’ ranch. Sam and Clay hired a new foreman and Ty helped train him.
At the same time he was training the new foreman, Ty also transitioned over to his new ranch. He worked with Clyde, seeing how he’d been doing things, and getting to know the men. Clyde had assured Ty he had a good group of men assembled, and said there wasn’t one he’d replace. With Clyde’s encouragement, the hands, including his foreman, all accepted Ty. Seeing him jump in there and work right alongside them earned their respect. It was easy to see he knew his way around a ranch and wasn’t afraid of hard work. They all agreed to stay on when Ty took over completely.
Cheyenne was busy with a full schedule, taking all the classes she needed to graduate. She and Ty finalized their plans, and Sam undertook getting the pavilion built. He insisted Ty had his hands full between the two ranches, and she had enough to do with her classes.
Clay and Lynelle settled into married life nicely in their new home.
Cheyenne did indeed hire a wedding planner, who loved her idea for a rather informal wedding at the lake where their two ranches join. She talked to Cheyenne about many of the details, then assured her she’d handle them.
Ty was proud of her for turning it over to Sally, the wedding planner, and concentrating on her classes. She was doing well in her classes, which was good since he was so busy between the two ranches. He wasn’t spending as much time studying with her as he did the last semester.
As for Cheyenne, she was excited about her upcoming wedding, and busy with her classes, but one thing was bothering her. She kept in touch with Ty’s grandfather, Ted, almost as much as Ty did. She really liked him, and was glad he and Ty were so close. She just wished his parents weren’
t being so distant. Ty deserved better from his parents, and in her opinion his parents were missing a lot of valuable time distancing themselves from their son. If they’d only get to know him again they’d see what a wonderful man he’d matured into, and how happy that man was.
One night while they were sitting on his couch watching a movie she approached the subject. “Ty, I’ve got most of the wedding invitations ready to go out.”
“That’s good.”
“Is it okay if I send one to your parents?”
He stiffened a bit, but she felt him force himself to relax again. “I’m sure they know we’re getting married.”
“I’m sure they know, too, because Ted said he told them. But I want to make sure they know they’d be welcome to come.”
“Honey, if they want to come they’ll come, with or without an invitation.”
“Maybe, but this is important to me. This will be the first impression they have of me, and I don’t want it to be the fact that I didn’t even send them an invitation.”
He was quiet a moment. “Honey, if they’d get to know you, they’d love you. You’re right. I don’t want them to think bad of you in any way because they didn’t get an invitation, so go ahead. Just don’t get upset when they don’t show up, okay?”
“Okay, fair enough. At least we will have done what we can on our end. Now the ball will be in their court.”
“I love you, honey, and your heart of gold.”
They went over the invitation list to be sure they didn’t forget anyone. His stern expression and voice were in place as he turned to her. “Cheyenne, I don’t see the invitation for your mother.” When she didn’t respond he knew it was not an oversight. “Honey, I thought we talked about this. She is your mother, and Clay’s mother, too, don’t forget.”
“But it’s my wedding.”
“And my wedding. I’ve been hoping to meet her.”
“Why?”
“When the whole problem with your mom surfaced I talked to Clay quite a bit about her. Now I’ve heard so much about her I’m interested in meeting her. And the point remains, she is yours and Clay’s mother.”
