Meredith turned in her saddle to look at him. “Really? That’s quite impressive.”
“Well, where I live, I don’t have access to a bakery or a kindly neighbor woman who would take pity on me, so if I want fresh bread, it’s up to me.”
“But you do have a store where you can buy supplies, I’m guessing?”
“It’s about four hours away.”
They reached the corral, where Jesse and his other employee, Matt, were leaning up against the rail, discussing the animals.
“I was going to send that red one along with you, but he damaged his fetlock, and I want him healed up before he makes any trips like that,” Jesse was saying as Meredith and Luke rode up. “Hi there, you two. Meredith, don’t tell me Mother let you out of the house like that.”
“She did, but I’m to change the minute I get home.”
Jesse shook his head, amused. “All right, I was just telling Matt here which animals you’re taking. You’ve got all your personal effects with you and you’re ready to go?”
“Right here,” Luke said, patting his saddlebags.
“Good. Now, I’m sending that black stallion there and the dappled gray. Those are the only two males. Then I’m sending four mares. Think that’ll get you started?”
“Should do fine,” Luke replied. “And cows?”
“Four for now. You’ve still got six there, don’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Come over here and choose the four you want. Doesn’t matter to me on the cows.”
Meredith rode over to the cow pen and watched as Luke and Jesse discussed them. She felt as though Luke had come into his own, and a thrill of pride rushed through her. She’d known from the time she was a little girl that he’d grow up to be an incredible man, and she was now seeing that come to pass right in front of her.
The men pulled out the animals they wanted and set them off to the side.
“Well, we’d better get going if we want to make any progress before nightfall,” Luke said. He slid off his horse and looped the reins over the top rail of the corral, then walked over and took Meredith’s hand. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back this way, but I’ve sure enjoyed seeing you.”
She’d known this moment was coming—they’d been talking about it for days—but it was still hard to believe it had come so quickly. “Have a safe trip, Luke. And I hope you can come back soon.”
He still had her hand, and didn’t seem in any hurry to let go of it. “I know a lot has happened, and I know things aren’t the same as they used to be, and we’re different people now, but there’s something you should know, Meredith. My feelings haven’t changed, and they never will.”
He turned and mounted his horse again, then rode off to where Matt sat on his horse waiting to drive the small collection of animals back to Colorado. Meredith was so stunned, she had absolutely no words to say, so she just watched as they urged the animals onward and disappeared on the horizon.
***
“Grandma Mary, tell me about love.”
Grandma Mary looked up from her sewing and chuckled. “Tell you about love? My dear, that has to be one of the simplest and yet most complicated subjects in all the world. What would you like to know that you haven’t already learned for yourself?”
Meredith sat down on the wooden rocking chair and stared into the flames of her grandma’s fire. She wondered if Grandma Mary and Grandmother Bingham would ever have the chance to meet. Two such different women, and yet so similar in their love and devotion to their families. She was sure they’d find much to talk about.
“I thought I was in love with Alex, but I was horribly mistaken. How do you know when it’s real?”
Her grandma looked at her in astonishment. “Why do you think it wasn’t real?”
“Because he turned out to be a horrible man.” Meredith had thought that was rather obvious.
“Oh, child. Your experiences have certainly been harsh, and hardly a demonstration of what a marriage should be, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t feel real love. Of course you loved him. I don’t believe you would have married him for anything less. And he may have loved you, but he wasn’t able to show it. Love isn’t something that fits into the same mold for each and every person, and you can’t doubt your feelings because you had an unhappy end.”
Meredith thought about that. “You think he loved me?”
“I think he loved you as much as he was capable of loving anyone. From what you’ve told me about his actions, he must have disliked himself a great deal.”
“He did?” This conversation wasn’t going at all how Meredith had anticipated.
“Think back on all you know, child. He hid from his feelings with drink. He covered his emotions with anger. If he held himself in any kind of regard, he wouldn’t have behaved that way.”
“I always thought he did what he did because of pride.”
“Pride is a strange thing. For some, it’s an excess of loving oneself, and in others, it’s a great lack of it.” Grandma Mary picked up her scissors and snipped her thread. “I believe that if you were to take a moment to let Alex go, to send him off to the other side with a farewell, you could then move on. Mulling over the past sometimes helps us avoid future mistakes, but it can also tie us down to the past and keep us from moving forward. And never doubt that you did the right thing in sending for your father, my dear. You did well.”
Letting Alex go . . . Meredith thought she’d done that, but she could see how her questions and doubts were keeping her tied to him. She didn’t want that. She wanted to be free to see what other things life held for her.
“Grandma?”
“Yes, child?”
“You’ve loved two men.”
Grandma Mary chuckled. “And you want to know how I managed it?”
Meredith’s cheeks burned red. “Something like that.”
“Well, you need to keep in mind that my first husband was nothing like Alex, and his demise was greatly different. And my second marriage has been more of a friendship, companionship, although I confess, I do still feel a little flutter in my heart when he walks through the door.”
Meredith was delighted to hear her grandmother talk that way.
“To answer your question, yes, you can love two men, and loving Luke will not lessen the feelings you had for Alex or the other way around. You did love Alex, even though the end was far from how it should have been, and I believe you do love Luke.” She looked at Meredith with those eyes that saw everything. “Am I right?”
Meredith looked down at her lap, replaying everything that had happened over the last week—seeing Luke again for the first time, the touch of his hand, what it felt like to walk arm in arm. His strength, stability, and absolute dedication. He would never, ever strike her. He would never, ever be unkind to her. They wouldn’t always agree, and they might have small arguments from time to time, but he would never raise a hand to her. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name.
But there was more.
That moment when he left, when he told her his feelings hadn’t changed, her entire soul had jolted, and she realized what she should have known long before.
She was his.
Maybe she wasn’t his when she was eighteen. Maybe she needed to be with Alex for a time—she didn’t know what plans fate had for any of them. But now, four years later, after a long journey and many sleepless nights and ups and downs, they’d been brought back together so she could have another chance at understanding how things were supposed to be.
She was his, and she always would be.
Her eyes now wet with tears, she looked up to meet her grandma’s gaze.
“Yes. I’m in love with him.”
“Then I’d say you’d better tell him that, not me.” Grandma Mary nodded her approval as Meredith gathered up her things and left.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It had taken Jesse a solid month to decide it was time to ride out and check on his ranch. A mont
h. Meredith believed she understood—after all, he wanted to make sure Cora was doing well with her pregnancy before he left—but that was the longest month ever. She thought about writing Luke, but she didn’t think he received mail delivery very often out where he was, and there were some things that you just shouldn’t try to say in a letter.
Finally, Jesse was ready to go. It had taken nearly that whole month for Meredith to convince him to bring her along. He didn’t feel it was any place for a young woman, but she believed otherwise. If Luke was there, that’s where she belonged, and she wouldn’t hear any differently.
Early one Monday morning, Meredith said good-bye to her parents again, but this time, it was different. This time, she knew she’d be back for visits, and she knew exactly what to expect when she arrived. Not what the cabin would look like or anything else, but she knew what to expect from the man.
Then she and Jesse were off, along with two other men he’d brought along to help fell some trees and build fences. They were taking the work at the ranch in pieces, and this trip would see the rest of the property enclosed.
Each day was long and arduous. She had saddle sores on top of her saddle sores, but she wasn’t about to complain in front of the other men. Jesse guessed at her discomfort, though, and teased her about it when no one else was around.
At last they reached the ranch. Jesse pointed it out while they were still a quarter mile away, and Meredith reined in her horse to look around and take in her surroundings. The vista took her breath away. The mountains looked blue, bluer than she’d ever seen a mountain look. This area was wild, full of potential, brimming with adventure. She loved it even though she’d just met it.
“Do you think he’ll still want to see me?” She turned in her saddle and looked at her brother. “He won’t have changed his mind, will he?”
Jesse gave her no answer but a grunt, and she knew what he was saying—she was being silly. Well, of course she was being silly. If Luke hadn’t forgotten her in four years, he certainly wouldn’t have forgotten her in a month, but still, she couldn’t help the knot of worry that formed in her gut.
As they drew nearer the cabin, she made out a plume of smoke rising into the sky, and then she could hear the sound of an ax hitting wood. For just a second, she remembered Alex, how he had stood in the doorway, threatening her family with an ax, but she pushed the image away. She refused to let those thoughts ruin this moment that she’d been waiting for.
“We’ll wait here a minute,” Jesse said, reining in his horse.
“Are you sure?” She’d never known him to be so intuitive with what she wanted, which was a moment of privacy with Luke.
“Of course. And Cora told me to.”
Meredith laughed. “I like that wife of yours.”
“I like her too.”
She urged her horse onward, and a moment later, they broke into a clearing. There was Luke, chopping wood, and he looked up in surprise as she came closer. “Meredith?”
She slid off the horse, and every single intelligent thought she’d ever had left her mind. She’d rehearsed everything she wanted to say a million times, but now that she was standing in front of him, having come all this way, being so tired and sore and just ready to be done, she didn’t know how to explain why she’d come or how much this meant to her. Instead, she did the only thing she could.
She threw her arms around him and kissed him.
For one split second, he stood motionless, and she could tell he was startled. But then his arms came around her waist and he was kissing her back, and it was perfect and wonderful and everything it should be.
After a moment, he pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Do you always wander around in forests and find men and kiss them?”
“I only come in search of men I’ve fallen in love with,” she replied. “Oh, Luke, can you forgive me for taking this long to realize it?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. You were only doing what your heart told you to do.” He grinned as he tugged her a little closer. “And now it looks like it told you to come to Colorado.”
“It did. Rather loudly, too.”
He brought her in for another kiss, and she decided that if that’s all he wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, she was fine with that, as long as he let her breathe from time to time, because breathing was important.
“There’s just one thing,” he said. “Now that you’re here, I really don’t want to send you back.”
“And why would you send me back?”
He gestured around. “A pretty young woman, a single man who’s desperately in love with her . . . and not a church for miles.”
Meredith laughed. “You don’t think I came all this way without being prepared, do you?” She turned and called out, “Jesse, we’re done smooching now.”
“It’s about time,” he grumbled as he and the other two men rode out of the trees. “I was starting to think we’d have to make camp back there.”
“It hasn’t been that long,” Meredith retorted. “Now, Luke, you know Jesse, but you might not know his new hire. This is Thomas, who is excellent at building fences, but on Sundays, he’s also excellent at giving sermons.”
Luke’s grin nearly split his face. “You brought a pastor out here with you?”
“I did bring a pastor, and in fact, I also brought a wedding quilt. The one Grandma Mary made for me four years ago, but I never used. I believe it’s about to find its true and rightful place.”
Luke scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe any of this. That you came all this way, that you’re ready to stay here with me . . .”
“Well, you’d better believe it because it’s the truth. Now, are you going to marry me or what?”
EPILOGUE
It certainly was an unconventional wedding. It took place exactly half an hour after Meredith arrived at Luke’s cabin, and it was attended only by the bride, the groom, the pastor, the brother of the bride, and a fence builder. Oh, and the horses, though they didn’t seem too interested in the proceedings.
While Meredith wished the rest of her family could be there, Jesse gave her away, and having his approval meant so much to her. He might not always be right, but he had been about Alex. Thankfully, he’d never once reminded her of that fact.
Unlike her wedding to Alex, where she couldn’t remember much of the ceremony, she could hear and appreciate every single word Thomas spoke as he pronounced her Luke’s wife. And the calm and peace she felt as he took his hand in hers and kissed her palm filled her from the crown of her head to her very toes.
The ranch was still new, and there were countless improvements to be made to it. This part of the country was in its infancy and needed to be schooled, but she didn’t care about any of that. She and Luke would do it together, as a team, and that made everything possible.
When she went inside the cabin to begin unpacking her belongings, the very first thing she did was take out the quilt and spread it over the top of the bed. Love in every stitch . . . love that would last through generations.
To learn more about our series and the individual books, visit SweetAmericanaClub.com
Grandma's Wedding Quilt Series on Amazon:
Grandma’s Wedding Quilts –The Prequel by Kate Cambridge, 01-01-17
The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation.
One year ago Hannah Quinn scored her dream job, and now the fait of the museum she loves will rise or fall on her next exhibit. But wait... there's a problem. She doesn't have a clue what her next exhibit will be!
When a trunk with two quilts is donated to the museum, Hannah's boss thinks she's wasting her time chasing down the history of the quilts, regardless of their beauty; but Hannah persists. She knows there's something special about these quilts, and a story that demands to be told.
Little does Hannah know, her friend Callum, a researcher and consultant, plays an unexpected a role in her investigation that leads to q
uestions and discoveries that threaten the foundation of all she holds most dear.
Will her desperation to discover the story of the quilts cause her to lose the very thing she loves the most - or will the secrets she uncover lead her to more than she ever dreamed?
Kizzie's Kisses by Zina Abbott, 01-09-17
Running from hostile Indians attacking Salina, Kansas in 1862, feisty Kizzie Atwell runs into freighter Leander Jones traveling the Smoky Hill Trail. He is as interested in her as his stallion is in her mare. The two join forces to prevent the Fort Riley Army captain from requisitioning their beloved horses for the cavalry. Will the bargain they make to save their horses lead to a more romantic bargain sealed with a kiss?
Jesse's Bargain by Kay P. Dawson, 01-10-17
Thanks to a gunfight, Cora now needs to get to Kansas, and Jesse needs a new trail cook. Left with no other choice, she joins the cattle drive headed north, with a man who isn’t happy to have her along. They have miles of trail ahead of them - and a lot that can go wrong along the way.
Meredith's Mistake by Amelia C. Adams, 01-11-17
The summer Meredith turned eighteen was filled with romance and laughter - two young men sought her hand, and she chose the one she thought would make her the happiest. He certainly was the most handsome, and the wealthiest, and could offer her the most pleasant life. But that turned out to be a mistake . . . one she would regret for a very long time.
In a strange twist of fate, now she's being given a chance to set things right. Will she be able to live down her past, or will her foolishness keep coming back to haunt her and keep her from ever being happy with the man she loves?
Monica's Mystery by Kate Cambridge, 01-12-17
Monica has to leave home, fast. Her parents are planning to marry her off and although all her friends are marrying, that is definitely not what she wants. She’s seventeen, an amateur sleuth, and sees no reason why she can’t join the ranks of the local lawman, or even become a Texas Ranger, should she choose! What will happen when she visits her best friend in Texas, only to find herself face-to-face with a handsome Texas Ranger, and knee-deep in territory she has no idea how to navigate?
Meredith's Mistake (Grandma's Wedding Quilts Book 4) Page 11
