A Proposal for Her Cowboy, page 22
Ryan stood slowly and approached Caleb. His other brothers stepped in behind Ryan as if offering him backup. Ryan seemed to be studying him. “You’re sure you want to do that, little brother?”
“Absolutely.” Caleb motioned to the door as if eager to find his contractor and start that date immediately. “It’s going to be perfect. You’ll see.”
After all, the venue was perfect. His new position as marketing director and his new office were perfect. He was about to secure a perfect date for the most perfect wedding. And he had it on good authority from his very own deputy herself that his contractor was perfect for him.
And that was how a cowboy saved his heart. What could be more perfect than that?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
LACEY WALKED ACROSS her backyard to the porch and smiled at the familiar figure sitting in one of the two rocking chairs. Butterscotch took off running toward the new arrival. Lacey and her stepdad had shared dinner together the past five nights, ever since Aspen had been discharged from the hospital.
She was grateful for the company, though slightly concerned about Wells. Whenever she mentioned Lilian Sloan, her stepdad would give her a private smile and tell her that he was still waiting for his doc to figure things out. And then he would deftly change the subject. Same as Lacey deflected whenever the topic of Caleb came up.
Lacey dropped into the rocking chair beside her stepdad and grinned. “The beehive has been successfully relocated.”
Thanks to one of Elsie’s bee management contacts, Lacey’s property was much safer for Aspen. Already, she was anticipating Aspen visiting. The house was too quiet. Fortunately, Lacey had seen Aspen every day.
Elsie and Ryan had insisted that Aspen’s practices continue at their stables. The generous couple had even brought Caleb’s Paint, Biscuit, to their stables for Aspen to keep riding. She knew Caleb was behind the horse’s relocation. She owed him a thank-you, and in time she hoped she could find her way to expressing her gratitude.
“Your mom and I couldn’t keep you out of that orchard behind the stables,” Wells mused and shifted a burlap bag from one hand to the other. Then he rubbed Butterscotch’s head, resting on his leg. “You called that area your very own secret garden. But your mom worried about snakes and spiders and every sort of woodland creature.”
“What did you do?” Lacey smiled and took a handful of roasted pecans when he held the burlap bag out to her—the one she recognized from the care package the Baker sisters had dropped off.
Her stepdad’s eyes sparkled. His grin grew. “I taught you to ride horses.”
Lacey stilled her rocking chair, and Butterscotch scooted over for attention. Lacey gaped at her stepdad. “Seriously?”
“It’s true. Your mom thought if we were riding together, I could keep an eye on you.” Wells frowned, yet the delight in his gaze gave him away. “That certainly backfired, didn’t it?”
Lacey dropped a few pecans into her mouth, but her silent laughter shook her shoulders.
Butterscotch stretched out between their chairs.
“You quickly became very good,” Wells added. Pride flashed across his face before he tossed several pecans into his mouth. “And dare I say I taught you to be a better rider than me. I always took pride in that.”
Lacey swallowed her pecans and wiped her hands together. “But Mom worried.”
“Even more. She traded one worry for another.” He tipped the pecan bag at Lacey and eyed her. “But your mom loved you more than her worries. She knew what made you the happiest.”
“Horses.” And Caleb. Lacey fixed her gaze on the dusk-filled sky. That was when she had been her happiest. On a horse, her cowboy riding shotgun. It had not mattered what they were doing. As long as Caleb had been with her, her day was better. Back then...and even more so recently. She set her chair rocking again.
“Your mom cried something fierce when we sold your horses. Longer and harder than you. Broke her heart.” Her stepdad’s rocking chair creaked. “She never forgave herself.”
“But it was the right thing to do,” Lacey said.
“Didn’t make it hurt any less.” He chewed on more pecans. His words were casual. “That was why she made me promise not to sell this place.”
Lacey slowed again.
“Your mom worked double time before the cancer came back to pay down the mortgage,” Wells explained. “She was determined it wouldn’t be a burden for either of us.”
The depth of her mom’s love and sacrifice touched and strengthened her. Lacey wanted Aspen to know that same kind of love from her. “Why would Mom do that?”
“Because your mom always wanted you to have a place to come home to. A place to find yourself again when you needed it.” Wells shook his finger at Lacey and lifted his voice an octave higher to mimic her mom’s voice. “Mark my words, Wells. My girl will want horses again, and I’m going to be sure she has a place to raise them.”
“That sounds like something she would say.” Lacey’s grin was bittersweet and wistful. “I miss her.”
“Me too. Every day,” he admitted and pointed to the backyard. “But she’s here. You can feel her in this house. On this land. She left her mark.”
Lacey inhaled and nodded. She could feel her mom in the memories inside the house and around the property. “I want to make her proud. Honor her memory.” And all that her mom had done for her only daughter.
“This place wasn’t the same for me without your mom.” Wells reached over and took Lacey’s hand in his. His gaze was compassionate, his words sincere. “It has always been better suited for a family.”
A family. That was one of those dreams from a different time. But then Lacey’s marriage had fallen apart, and all Lacey saw was a broken family. One that she had failed to mend. Her deployment had almost been a reprieve from all the things she couldn’t fix in her marriage.
Now she was home again. This time, with her cowboy, that dream had returned and felt almost within her reach. Until she lost it again. Lacey blinked at the tears pooling in her eyes.
“You want to honor your mom, Lacey?” Wells squeezed her fingers, drawing her attention back to him. He sounded so earnest. “Fill this house with your family. Fill the stable too. Build your life and live it. Be the happiest you can be.”
Her happiest always seemed to circle back to her cowboy. The one she had pushed away.
“Don’t settle for anything less than your happiest,” her stepdad said, holding her attention and her hand steady in his. “Your mom and I did that. We had no regrets.”
Lacey already felt her own regrets building.
“If your mom was here, she would tell you to push past your fear,” he continued. “You can’t be scared of living and failing, Lacey.”
“Mom would say that’s only half a life lived,” Lacey mused. Her mom had always credited Wells and Lacey for giving her a life that was overflowing. “Mom always told me: full is the only way to live, Lacey.”
“Your mom lived her own advice.” Wells squeezed Lacey’s fingers one last time, released her hand, and sat back with a sigh. “Your mom loved fully and with all her heart. We should all be as fearless as she was in life and love.”
Fearless in love. Lacey ran her hands over her jeans. “I wish she was here now to show me how to do that.”
“You jumped and trusted those horses all those years ago. Reached new heights with them too.” Her stepdad nodded and watched her. “Trust yourself now, Lacey. You might be surprised how far you can go.”
“And what if I fall?” That was the fear, wasn’t it? Getting it all wrong again. Getting hurt all over again. But she wasn’t exactly happy now. And hurting, yeah, she hurt more than she wanted to admit.
Wells scratched his cheek. “What did you do back then?”
Lacey grinned, relaxed at the thought. “Dusted myself off and smarted about it for a few days.”
“And then,” he pressed.
“Tried again until I got it,” she said.
Most often she’d grabbed Caleb and made her cowboy practice jumping or whatever else she was attempting, for however long it took. Then she’d stopped turning to her cowboy, and she’d lost a piece of herself along the way. Until recently. Home again with her cowboy beside her, she had been finding herself. Like her mom had known she would all those years ago.
“Well?” her stepdad drawled.
Her mom had been fearless. It was time to follow her lead. She could keep wallowing inside her fear or get up. Try again. Maybe even get it right this time. Lacey’s smile came from deep inside her. “Well, I think I’m done smartin’ about it now.”
“Now that’s good to hear.” Approval washed over her stepdad’s words. “What do you intend to do about it then?”
“I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out.” She stood, wrapped Wells in a warm hug, and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “Do you mind watching Butterscotch for a bit?” At her stepdad’s nod, she added, “There’s a conversation I need to have. It’s long overdue.”
Twenty minutes later, Lacey walked up to her ex-husband’s front door and pressed the doorbell.
Jeffrey answered, confusion on his face. “Lacey. Everything okay?”
It wasn’t, but it was going to be. “I have some things that need to be said.” Lacey inhaled and lifted her chin. “And I’m going to say them now whether you want to hear them or not.”
Jeffrey stepped outside and eased the front door closed. He stuck his hands in his pant pockets and looked at her. “I’m listening.”
“I’m done apologizing, Jeffrey.” Lacey widened her stance and wrapped her courage around her. “For our marriage falling apart. For who I am. For all the parts of me that fell short.”
He opened his mouth.
Lacey went on before he could speak. “And I’m tired of carrying the blame for our divorce for both of us. There were two of us in that marriage. It’s past time you apologized.”
His eyebrow arched at her pause.
Lacey stopped. “I’ve more to say, but I’m ready to listen to you.”
A small smile wavered across his face, but he cut the expression off. “I am sorry, Lacey. Sorry that I ever made you feel less than. That was never my intention. And I’m sorry you’ve been carrying all the blame. I wasn’t the partner you needed or deserved. If anyone fell short, I did.”
“Thanks.” Lacey exhaled and welcomed the lightness that settled inside her. It was time to pack up the past and set it aside. Finally. “Look, Aspen is the best part of us.” Lacey ticked things off on her fingers. “She is well-read, methodical, and intelligent like you. And she’s brave, dedicated, and free-spirited like me. We never fully appreciated those qualities in each other. But perhaps we can appreciate them in our daughter.”
“What are you saying?” he asked.
“We need to be the parents Aspen needs,” she continued. “Her love for horses isn’t a whim. It’s not a phase. She’s good, Jeffrey. And she can win this contest. But she needs our full support.”
“I understand,” he said simply.
Lacey quit pressing. Her ex-husband would take everything she told him now and think about it. It was enough. It was a start. A step forward. “Perhaps if we’d talked like this all those years ago, things would’ve been different.”
Jeffrey shook his head. “We care about each other, right?”
Lacey nodded and leaned back against the railing. “Always have.”
“And that’s all it will ever be,” Jeffrey said, his expression sincere. “Lacey, we never worked because we didn’t love each other like we needed to.” He touched his wedding ring. “We didn’t love each other the way I love Sarah-Beth. Or the way our daughter tells me that you love Caleb Sloan.”
I love Caleb Sloan. Lacey pulled back, thankful she was propped against the railing for the added support. “Exactly how does Aspen say I love Caleb?”
“Like a cowgirl loves a cowboy.” Jeffrey’s eyebrows raised. Amusement creased across his forehead. “Your daughter claims you smile so much you glow when you are with Caleb.” Jeffrey wiped his hand across his mouth but failed to stall his grin. “Apparently, Caleb glows just the same. Like you both apparently swallowed the sun.”
Lacey searched for Aspen’s words to Caleb in the hospital. You hang on until love makes them smile so much they glow. Lacey glowed. Caleb glowed. Who else had seen it?
She had felt it. The quick pulse. The giddiness. The butterflies. And that warmth that infused her from the inside out. With her cowboy. Or thinking about her cowboy. Her heart was full. So full she glowed.
But then she had gotten scared. Closed those blinders. Closed out her cowboy. And lost her light. She wanted it back, wanted her cowboy back. She wanted to love so much she glowed. Lacey pressed her hands to her cheeks. Lacey loved Caleb. I. Love. My. Cowboy.
Jeffrey considered her. “Aspen is not wrong, is she?”
Lacey lowered her hands, revealing her wide grin. Her cheeks heated. Warmed to what she hoped was a glow. “I think Aspen might just be smarter than both of us.”
“That’s a given.” Jeffrey took Lacey’s hand and pulled her in for a quick hug. Then he leaned back to look at her and asked, “Now what are you going to do about it?”
“Mind if I take Aspen for a little bit?” Lacey’s smile sank through her like sunshine warming her skin. “I’ll have her home by bedtime.”
“No need. I promised you three weeks with our daughter.” Jeffrey opened the front door and grinned. “By my count, there is still more than a week left.”
“Thanks, Jeffrey.” Lacey touched his arm before he stepped inside and decided to press her luck. That was the gift of being in love. Insatiable positive vibes. “You will be at Aspen’s contest, won’t you?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Jeffrey motioned her into the house. “If Sarah-Beth and I can help, please let us know.”
“Thanks. That means a lot, but I think I’ve got this.” And she believed it. She turned and walked into the family room where Aspen was stretched out on the couch. “Aspen, I need your help. It’s really important.”
“Mom.” Aspen sprang up and peeked over the back of the couch. “Mom, what is it?”
“I’m going to need my best cowgirl to help me catch a cowboy,” Lacey announced.
“Yes!” Aspen thrust her arms over her head, cheered, and danced around the couch. She rushed to Lacey and wrapped her arms around Lacey’s waist. “I told you cowgirls belong with cowboys.”
Lacey wanted that to be true. For the first time ever, she was going to bet everything on love. And offer her cowboy a proposal he could not refuse.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE REHEARSAL DINNER party departed for the Sloan family pond in a flurry of UTVs filled with supplies. Caleb’s brothers had already headed over to the pond to light the firepit and prepare for an evening of swimming and water games.
Caleb waved off the last crowded UTV. The tires kicked up dust from the dirt trail, which mixed with the boisterous laughter of the guests. And Caleb realized he was alone for the first time all week. He inhaled and welcomed the sudden silence, broken only by the soft cadence of nature’s nighttime choir.
A movement near the stables caught his attention. The stable door opened. A shadowed figure entered and clicked shut the door behind them. But he was supposed to be alone. Caleb frowned and headed for the stable barn.
Just inside the door, he came to a quick halt. “Mom. What are you doing?”
His mother wrestled with a saddle outside Winston’s stall. The older brown quarter horse eyed his mother with a mixture of disinterest and boredom. “I figure there is no time like the present to break in a new saddle.”
“Why aren’t you at the pond with the rest of the rehearsal party?” Caleb moved to his mother’s side and eased the saddle out of her grip.
“Why aren’t you?” she countered and propped her hands on her hips.
“Wasn’t in the mood,” Caleb admitted.
“Me either.” Lilian tipped her head toward Winston’s stall. “Can you please saddle Winston?”
Caleb never budged. “Mom, how long has it been since you rode a horse?”
“Since before you were born.” She swiped her fingers across her forehead and frowned. “About the same amount of time since I was last in love.”
Last in love. Caleb let that comment slide. For now.
“But I’m only interested in facing one fear today.” She fluttered her hand in the air. “I’m sure it will come back to me. Now, if you won’t saddle Winston for me, I’ll do it myself.”
Caleb walked into Winston’s stall and saddled the patient gelding. When he was finished, he stepped out and said, “You’re not riding for your first time in over thirty years alone. Give me a minute.” Caleb grabbed the bridle outside Whiskey Moon’s stall. His horse shook his head and whinnied his pleasure at an evening ride.
Caleb led his Palomino out of his stall, then opened Winston’s stall to guide him out.
His mother took Winston’s reins and asked, “Don’t you need a saddle?”
“Whiskey Moon and I prefer bareback.” He opened the wide double barn doors at the end of the stables and walked the horses outside. “He never quite adjusted to the saddle. We have a better connection without it.”
“I know something about not adjusting to things.” Lilian stroked the Palomino’s neck. “We would certainly get along well, I think.”
Caleb nodded and wondered again at his mother’s peculiar mood. He helped her into her saddle, made quick adjustments to her stirrups, then handed her the reins. Mounted on Whiskey Moon, he led the horses toward the recently harvested wheat fields and the flat roads that cut through them. Slowing his horse, he reined in beside his mom, keeping the pace at an easy walk.
