An Unwilling Husband (38 page)

She turned to Garret again. In a subdued voice, she said, “Happy birthday.”

Garret opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for what to say.

“Oh, and also, I couldn’t stand the thought of the Jenningses owning Roy’s homestead so I made an offer the bank couldn’t refuse and have purchased it to be absorbed into the Lazy S, effective immediately.”

Lenny snorted and giggled. The men followed suit and shook their heads at her continued news.

“Good grief, woman. You got anything else you need to say?” Garret asked, the happiness in his eyes undeniable.

“No, I think that is it.”

“Well, good. You have done too much.”

Maggie shrugged. No amount would be too much for the people she cared so deeply about.

“Wells? Go grab your fiddle. Burke? Grab the whiskey. Tonight we are celebrating Maggie and all the things she has done for the ranch and for us.” He turned to her, and she grew warm under his proud gaze. “And I don’t just mean the good you done tonight, Maggie. I mean the good you’ve been doin’ since the day you married me.”

“You made a terribly unwilling husband that day, Mr. Shaw.”

“Yeah, well I’m willing enough now.” Garret swung a look at Wells, who was walking out the door. “Now fire up that fiddle, man! I want to dance with my wife!”

“You got it, boss,” Wells said with a grin.

In an uncharacteristic move, the quiet man hollered a high pitched noise of celebration as soon as he closed the door behind him.

* * * *

“I’ll never forget tonight, as long as I live,” Garret said quietly, as he lay in bed with Maggie, stroking her hair. “This feeling? I can’t imagine anything else like this.”

Beneath her head, the words had vibrated in his chest, and it made her smile. “I lied earlier.”

“About what?”

“About not having anything else for you. I bought you something while I was in Boston. My trunk is still in town but I brought it in my pocket so I could give it to you sooner.”

Maggie brushed her lips against his and stood. Her skin became cold with the detachment from Garret’s for the first time in hours. The candlelight flickered across his face and bare chest as he watched her, and a contented smile played on his lips. She rifled through the pockets of her discarded dress until she found the gold pocket watch.

Moments of shyness still afflicted her around him, and this turned out to be one of them. She sat on the bed and handed it to him without saying a word. Garret took the watch and studied it, the expression on his face unreadable. When he looked back at her, the emotion in his eyes threatened to engulf her already full heart.

“I love you, Maggie. I think a piece of me always has, and the rest of me always will.”

“I love you, too, Garret Shaw,” she said, the feeling of happiness a warm blanket as she lay down next to him.

“Roy was right.”

“Right about what?” she asked.

“The day he died, when he asked me to do right by you and take care of you?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“The last thing he said to me was, ‘Boy, if you let her, she’ll be good for you.’ I don’t know how he knew, but he did.”

She smiled in the flickering candlelight. Roy had been taking care of them both with his final request. He’d given her family, friends, and for the first time since she’d left Rockdale so many years before, she was right where she was supposed to be.

Home.

Epilogue

The hour before dusk had always been Garret’s favorite time of day. The work around the ranch would be done, and exhausted and fed, he would get the chance to sit on the front porch and take in his life. Days like this were especially important to him. Maggie meticulously plucked weeds from the vegetable garden she and Lenny had convinced them to move next to the house. The women were frustrated with the local wildlife eating their winter rations of vegetables, and were convinced they stood a better chance of defending their garden if it was closer to home.

She stood with a shallow basket full of greenery, her slender frame an attractive silhouette against the deepening sky. The last rays of sunlight shone on her auburn hair, highlighting the red in her dark locks.

Damn, she was beautiful. How many times through the years had he thought that about his wife? He had once thought she could never be more beautiful than the day she’d come back to him from Boston, still dressed in mourning from her aunt’s passing. And then he’d seen her swell with his child, and thought the same. She could never be more beautiful. And then he’d watched her hold their first child, neck arched as she crooned lovingly to the miracle they’d made. In their years together, Maggie never stopped amazing him.

She pointed to a squash plant, and told their two young girls about the flowers meaning the vegetable would be coming along soon. Two daughters in quick succession, and both with blue eyes and fiery red hair, had him thinking he was destined to be surrounded by strong spirited, redheaded women. He hadn’t minded, and the birth of their son had been a pleasant surprise for he and Maggie.

Maggie turned toward Lenny, who knelt nearby, outside the garden, setting snares for rabbits brave enough to come after their vegetables. Many a meal had been made from Lenny’s garden snares.

The women laughed at something Maggie said, and Lenny placed the cradle board holding her infant daughter into a bigger patch of shade.

Lenny and Burke had married and moved into the largest of the hands’ cabins to start a family. Wells fixed up Roy’s old cabin and moved in there. He hadn’t married, feeling more comfortable with a solitary life, and came up every morning to help work the ranch. Cookie moved on as soon as Lenny was settled and happy. He’d carved out a place and a family in a tribe some distance away, but brought his two young sons to visit from time to time, unable to stay away from Lenny or her children for too long.

Cookie’s absence was still deeply felt, but even a blind man would have to admit he seemed happier in his life.

The women’s attention was drawn to the entrance of the barn, and Garret followed their gazes. Burke laughed with a small dark haired boy on his shoulders as he approached Lenny and the garden. Lenny lit up like the North Star as Burke put their son down. He kissed her and made faces at the baby in the cradle board. It made Garret’s heart swell to see the happiness they had found.

The children, who had grown tired of weeding, chased each other around the yard at the addition of Lenny and Burke’s oldest boy.

“Please, Da. Read,” a small, dark-headed, green-eyed boy with a smattering of freckles across his nose said. He hauled a book nearly half his size.

The toddler was directly followed by Lenny and Burke’s middle son of around the same age. The boys were inseparable, as their mothers had been when they were pregnant at the same time with them.

“All right, boys, but just one chapter. After that it’s time for bed, you hear?”

He scooped the tiny boys into his lap and both fit easily as he read. Garret could have told them the story from memory, one of a collection of short stories Maggie had written of her adventures in Rockdale. It had even been published a few years before, and sold well in the cities. She’d become a talented and accomplished writer, and managed even to make a small income from the books. That particular collection happened to be the boy’s favorite, and if he was honest, his favorite too.

He’d dreaded the book coming out and for some time, had been afraid to read it. He knew it would tell stories of the beginning of their marriage. Painful memories for him. But after Maggie finally convinced him to read it, he hadn’t been able to put the book down. He’d always regretted how horrible he’d been to her in the first months of their marriage, but she had such a sweet and almost romantic take on that time in their lives. As if she’d seen a glimpse of the man he could be and waited patiently for him, no matter what he’d said to push her away.

A testament to her stubbornness, likely, and to her endurance and devotion. Qualities, that if he’d looked closely, he would have seen in her right away. He would have known she would stay in Rockdale with him. She’d always been special. Made for him, and somehow, for this unpredictable life.

She had managed to carve out a better life for them. The ranch flourished, even under the strain of managing more land with Roy’s homestead. The need, and price, for cattle had diminished through the years with the introduction of barbed wire fencing throughout the country, but they were able to profit on the horses Maggie had the foresight to purchase. Their initial stock made the foundation to launch them as one of the best horse breeders in the area. They kept the ranch going and no one went hungry. There were lean years and heartache along the way, as was common in a rancher’s life, but the most important things always stayed intact. Family and friendship never suffered, and joy and contentment greatly outweighed everything else.

A movement in the garden caught Garret’s attention, and he stopped reading to look at Maggie. Turned toward him, she watched him read to the children with a smile on her face.

“I love you,” she mouthed.

Garret smiled at her, and as she turned to call the children in for bed, he sent up a silent thank you to Roy, as he did on all evenings like this one.

A more willing husband would never be found.

Tera Shanley

Tera Shanley writes in sub-genres that stretch from paranormal romance to historical, Western romance to apocalyptic (zombie) romance. The common theme? She loves love. A self-proclaimed bookworm, she was raised in small town Texas and could often be found decorating a table at the local library. She currently lives in Dallas with her husband and two young children and when she isn’t busy running around after her family, she’s writing a new story or devouring a good book. Any spare time is dedicated to chocolate licking, rifle slinging, friend hugging and the great outdoors. For more information about Tera and her work, visit www.terashanley.com.

Also by Tera Shanley

An Unwilling Husband

Silver Wolf Clan Series

Silver Wolf Clan

Black Wolf’s Revenge

Brand of the Pack

Summit of the Wolf

Lyrical Press books are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

Copyright © 2014 TERA SHANLEY

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First Electronic Edition: May 2014

ISBN-13: 78-1-61650-505-9