“No, but we might like a glass of white wine with our dessert,” Carlene answered.
“Appetizers are almost ready and our wine list is at the back of the menus,” she said.
“I guess that’s my cue to look at something other than your beautiful face,” Jace told her.
Carlene blushed—again. “You are a hopeless romantic.”
“Only with you.”
“Bull!” She almost snorted sweet tea.
“It’s the truth. I can sweet-talk or flirt with any woman, but it’s only serious with you and then I’m about half tongue-tied for fear it’ll come out corny. You deserve so much more than this old rugged cowboy,” he said. “But there’s the waitress bringing our appetizers and we’d better make a decision about our order.”
She scanned the menu and quickly made up her mind to have the smoked prime rib and wondered why she couldn’t figure out life as quickly as she could dinner.
After spending the night in bed with Jace, she didn’t think he was tongue-tied at all and not a single word had come out corny. The next morning she slipped back into her room before Tilly awoke. If it hadn’t been so early she would have called Hope because she wanted to talk to another woman—one who would understand what she was going through. Belinda would tell her things were moving too fast. Lila and Kasey would gather her into the family with open arms. As she dressed she was mentally planning to slip away for a little while that evening and have a long visit with Hope.
She thought about it all day and was still trying to analyze the whole thing as she and Tilly headed home that evening after school. “I’m so confused,” she whispered.
“About what, Mama? We turn left on the highway and then left again to get to the ranch. Are you okay?” Tilly stopped her chattering about school and leaned forward as far as the seat belt would allow so she could look at her mother.
“I’m fine, darlin’,” Carlene answered. “Did I tell you that Aunt Belinda is going to Germany? I was surprised since she only moved a couple of months ago from Florida, but this is a big promotion and she’s real excited about it.”
Tilly threw the back of her hand across her forehead. “This is terrible. Can we go visit her sometime? Can she come see us? Will she stay there forever?”
Carlene chuckled. “And she said that she could find me a job if we wanted to move.”
Tilly stared out the window until Carlene parked the car in front of the house. Red bounded off the porch and Jasmine was sitting in the living room window staring out across the yard.
“If Aunt Bee can come see us or we can go see her, I don’t want to move there, Mama.” Tilly didn’t seem to be in a hurry to jump out of the minivan and greet Red or dash into the house to play with Jasmine.
“Of course she can, and I bet we can save up the money to go see her maybe at Christmas,” Carlene answered.
“I want to be here on the ranch for Christmas, Mama, but maybe we could go this summer or she could come by on her way to Germany.”
“I thought we were looking for a house,” Carlene said.
“We are.” Tilly pushed the button to open the door. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be at the ranch for Christmas day. But I don’t want to leave Happy, not ever. I want to be like Aunt Rosie and live to be a hundred and die right here.”
“She wasn’t a hundred,” Carlene said.
“She sure looked like it.” Tilly hopped out of the vehicle, wrapped her arms around Red, and kissed him on the nose. “If they let dogs go to school, I’d take you with me. I bet you get lonesome here without me.”
Jace had made it a point the last week to work a little break into his day by showing up at the house within minutes of when Carlene and Tilly got home from school. But that Monday afternoon as he was driving toward the house in the old work truck, his phone rang.
“I thought we had the fence bull tight, but I’m beginning to think that’s just a figment of our imaginations when it comes to Sundance,” Brody said. “He’s broke through it and is knee deep in a mud lolly.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Red and Tilly were making their way toward the house and Carlene was getting out of the minivan when he reached the yard. He braked and told her where he was going and that he’d see her later at supper time. The expression on her face said that she was troubled about something. He didn’t have time to stop and talk, but he sure hoped it had to do with school and nothing was going on that would slam a bulldozer into their new relationship.
Brody was a muddy mess when he reached the place where an old farm pond had almost dried up. He had a rope around Sundance’s neck but the rangy old bull wasn’t moving an inch.
“You going to have to ride him out of there like you did when he wouldn’t get out of the springs last year?” Jace asked as he got out of the truck.
“This is worse,” Brody said. “It’s not that he’s too stubborn this time, but he’s actually stuck and can’t move. Tie the rope around the trailer hitch and let’s try to pull him out.”
The bull threw back his head and bellowed as if he were agreeing with Brody. Jace took the rope from his brother’s hand and whipped the end around the hitch. He got inside and very slowly pulled ahead until he felt the line get taut. He rolled down the window and yelled, “Ready?”
“No more than five miles an hour. I don’t want to break one of his legs. Devil that he is, he’s our best breeding bull,” Brody hollered back.
Jace clutched and let it out easy as he barely pressed the gas pedal. Sundance protested, but then there was a loud sucking noise as he left the mud and found solid ground. Jace kept his eyes on the rearview mirror until the bull was completely away from the mud before he braked and turned off the engine. When he reached the back of the truck, Sundance had his old head hung over the tailgate as if looking for food.
“You sorry rascal. You don’t get treats after a stunt like that.” Brody was covered in mud from his thighs down. “I pushed on him until my eyes crossed and he thinks he deserves food. He may get to spend a week in a barn stall with nothing but bare rations.” He lowered the tailgate and sat down to catch his breath.
Jace got out of the truck and leaned on the back fender. “Y’all make quite a pair. I’m surprised that either of you came out of this one without a broken leg. We could have sold him for dog food, but you wouldn’t be worth much.”
“Hey, don’t you tease me about that. You’re still limpin’ around like an old man. I’m just glad you can drive and helped us out.” Brody removed his gloves, jerked a red bandana from his hip pocket, and wiped his face. “That stuff is cold as ice.”
“We’d better get him on back to the barn,” Jace said. “He’ll need to be hosed off and kept inside for at least a day unless you want to get out the hair dryer like we did when we took our calves to the show barn.”
“He’s not gettin’ that kind of treatment but I will use warm water so he doesn’t come down with pneumonia. What makes him bust out of a perfectly good pen and go straight for water?”
Jace chuckled. “His mama didn’t potty train him right.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes,” Brody declared as he scooted back into the truck bed. “You goin’ to stick around and help me get him cleaned up or is your woman waiting on you?”
“My woman?” Jace frowned.
“You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. You’ve been moon-eyed for weeks and even more so these past few days. So is she buyin’ a house or stayin’ on at Prairie Rose?”
“We’ll talk about this when we get Sundance to the barn. He’s shivering. Thank goodness this isn’t breeding season.” Jace hurried around the truck and hopped into the driver’s seat again. Leaving the window down so he could hear Brody if he needed to and keeping an eye in the rearview to make sure Sundance hadn’t stopped, he thought long and hard about his brother’s questions.
Just the idea of that big house without Carlene and Tilly in it put a lump in his throat. Dawson men d
id not show emotion and they damn sure did not cry, so he swallowed several times.
Sundance didn’t even balk at having to go into the barn but hung his head and followed Brody inside like a little puppy. He went straight for the middle of the barn where the faucets and the drain were located and stopped.
“So what are you going to do about Carlene?” Brody pushed.
Jace sighed. “I don’t want them to leave, but I guess it’s like her tellin’ me that she can’t ask me to stay off bulls and broncs,” he said as he stretched out the hose and adjusted the water temperature to lukewarm. “If I do give up riding just for her, then will I resent her later in life? If I ask her to stay and she does it in the heat of the moment and then resents me for it later, how will that affect us as a family?”
“So you’ve wrapped your mind around you all being a family?” Brody took the hose from him and started washing Sundance.
“I didn’t realize I had until this minute.” Jace pulled on a pair of heavy rubber gloves and went to work rubbing the mud from Sundance’s thick black coat.
“There comes a time, maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon when you’re going to have to have a serious talk with her,” Brody said. “At least she’s here in Happy. I had to fly all the way to Florida to have that talk with Lila.”
“I had a talk with her last Wednesday night and I told her exactly how I felt.” He moved to the bull’s back legs.
“Are you afraid to lose her or afraid that you’ll regret giving up your bachelorhood?” Brody finished rinsing Sundance and led him back to a stall, where the bull went straight for the feed box.
“Maybe a little of both,” Jace said.
“Well, you got some thinkin’ to do, so give me a ride up to the house so I can get out of these clothes and take a shower.” Brody headed out of the barn toward the truck. “But don’t hesitate too long or you might lose her. Believe me, I’ve been down that road, and it’s the emptiest feeling in the whole world.”
Carlene had put a roast in the slow cooker that morning before she left for school. She whipped up a little quick instant peach cobbler that only took half an hour to bake and made mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and buttered green beans. She was setting the table when Hope breezed into the house through the back door.
“I’ve waited all day for you to get home.”
Hope beamed with happiness.
“Can I set an extra place for you? Jace said he’d be here in about twenty minutes and there’s plenty.” Carlene stopped long enough to hug Hope.
“No, darlin’. I’m going to the café with Valerie. She’ll pick me up here in fifteen minutes, so we have to talk fast. What’s going on with you and Jace? You are radiant,” Hope said, and then lowered her voice. “Are you pregnant?”
“No, ma’am! But we’ve been on a real date and”—Carlene dropped her voice to barely a whisper—“we are sharing a bed even though I have to be careful that Tilly doesn’t find out. But let’s talk about you.”
“I love Florida and I’m in love with Henry. We’ve decided that we’ll give it a few months of him coming here for a week in one month and me going there for a week the next one.”
“What about the family? What will they think of you going away to visit him?”
“What can they say? Kasey is living with Nash and you’re living with Jace, so they’d better not give me any sass,” Hope said. “Marriage is just a piece of paper to satisfy the law but real marriage is a commitment in the heart. I’ve made that commitment. And I don’t know where we’ll live, but we’ll figure it out along the way. Right now I’m content to be happy.”
“Oh, Granny, I’ll miss you so much,” Carlene said wistfully.
“Hey, we’ve got phones and text and FaceTime. And you can visit me and I’ll be home a few days every other month. I couldn’t stay away from y’all forever and Henry will come with me, so we’ll never have to fly alone again after these next few months,” Hope said.
“Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Carlene said.
“I have but I’m going to ask you to keep it a secret. The rest of the family needs to be broken in easy to the idea and we thought a few visits between now and July would do that job real good,” she said.
“So tell me how you liked the beach.” Carlene finished setting the table for three.
“There are no words. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been. I cried when I had to leave it yesterday and I missed it five minutes after I was in the air. I can’t wait to get back to it—and Henry. But it’s his turn to fly here in February. He’s coming for Valentine’s Day and then he’ll be here in the middle of March for the wedding.”
“That makes him coming here two months in a row,” Carlene said.
“Yep, it does, so I’m flying back with him right after Kasey and Nash’s wedding and staying for two weeks.” Hope picked up a spoon and tasted the cobbler. “Very good.”
“Thank you. It’s just a thrown-together dessert.” Carlene checked the time and then filled three glasses with ice.
“There’s Valerie,” Hope said when a horn sounded loud and clear. “I guess she and Tilly have really struck up a good friendship. I’m so glad. She needs that right now with all these changes. Secret?”
“My lips are sealed but, Granny, I’m so happy for you that I could dance a jig on Main Street.”
“And I’m every bit that happy for you, darlin’ girl.” Hope opened the door and Jace came inside as she was leaving. She stopped long enough to hug him and then hurried on out to Valerie’s truck.
“Still limpin’. Think it’ll ever be good enough for you to ride another bull?” Tilly appeared in the kitchen.
“Sure, my foot will heal enough to ride bulls,” Jace answered. “But the real question is whether I’ll want to.” He shot a look over the top of Tilly’s head, catching Carlene’s eye and speaking to her without saying a word. “Supper sure smells good. I’ll get washed up and tell you all about Sundance while we eat.”
Carlene wanted to hug herself, to dance a jig right there in the kitchen, or to join Jace in the bathroom and kiss him until they were both panting. That he would give up riding for her was a big, big step.
“Who’s Sundance?” Tilly stopped folding napkins.
“He’s a bull and he really does like water.” Jace disappeared and came back a few minutes later wearing a clean T-shirt and with clean hands and face. Dinner was on the table and Carlene was pouring three glasses of sweet tea.
“So, hurry up and bless this food so that you can tell me about Sundance. I like that name. If I ever get another cat, I might name him that.” Tilly pulled out her chair and sat down.
Jace said a quick grace and then entertained them with the stories of all the times that Sundance had gotten out of the fence. “Once he wandered back to the springs. That waterfall beside where we buried Anna, and we couldn’t talk him out of the water. We pulled on the rope and finally Brody got angry and hopped on his back. He went to buckin’ and carryin’ on like a rodeo bull. Then a few weeks later Lila did the same thing and he didn’t even flinch, just followed her out of the water like he was mesmerized by her.”
“Us girls got a way with animals,” Tilly said. “That’s why I’ve changed my mind about bein’ a rodeo clown. I’m goin’ to college and I’m goin’ to be a veteran so I can take care of the cows on Prairie Rose.”
“You mean a veterinarian,” Carlene said.
“That’s it. Aunt Bee is a veteran.”
“So you want to be a rancher?” Jace asked.
“Yes, I do, only I want to be a smart one that can take care of her own herd of cattle. I’m thinkin’ about askin’ for my first calf for Christmas. I reckon I can have a herd by the time I get through high school,” she answered.
“Smart girl.” Jace’s smile lit up the room.
And here’s the perfect opportunity, handed to you on a silver platter. You should jump on it, the voice in his head said loudly.
&n
bsp; “You have to be very smart, and it takes a long time to be a veterinarian,” Carlene said.
“But you could learn a lot just by living here on the ranch. I could teach you like my grandpa and my daddy taught me about cattle, so you’d be ahead when you did get into vet school.” Jace talked to Tilly but his eyes were on Carlene.
“I don’t think building a house on the ranch is a good idea,” she said softly.
“Me neither,” Jace said. “Why should you build a house when you’re already comfortable here?”
“What are you saying?” Carlene asked.
“Yes!” Tilly squealed. “I didn’t want to move again. I want to live here forever with Jace and Red and Jasmine and learn how to do all this ranchin’ stuff. Can I go with you next time that Sundance gets in the water? I bet I could ride him right out of it just like Aunt Lila did.”
“One vote is in.” Jace continued to stare into Carlene’s eyes. “I’m asking you to stay here in this house and not move out.”
“And?”
“I will give you time. Today that’s what I’m asking. You know how I feel. I told you earlier, but I don’t want you to feel pressured to rush into anything.”
She inhaled deeply and let it out in a whoosh. “And you? Will you feel pressured and regret asking this?”
“Are you talkin’ big people? I can’t understand a word of what you are sayin’,” Tilly fussed at them.
“Yes, we are,” Carlene answered.
He leaned forward and took her hand in his. “I’m ready for this, Carlene. I think I’ve been ready for this day my whole life but we both had to go through the obstacle course to get here.”
“And where do we go now that we’ve made it over the hurdles?”
“I’ll leave that in your hands. You tell me when you are ready for the next step and we’ll take it together.”
Tears formed behind those big, beautiful brown eyes and he had to blink several times to keep from crying with her.
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