Life After Wife (Three Magic Words Trilogy, #3)(56)

“Couldn’t possibly put another bite in my overloaded stomach. I’m going out to the tack room to gather up all our fishin’ gear. We’ll take the new truck.”

“We usually meet about one at Fancy’s place. I’d planned on doing laundry and some housework until twelve thirty or so. That fit with your plans?”

“Just fine.” He put on a pot of coffee and disappeared out the back door. Maybe there would be answers out in the tack room for all the questions that kiss had raised up in his soul.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


Kate and Hart were already at Fancy and Theron’s ranch when Elijah and Sophie arrived. Hart and Theron were leaning on a corral fence and motioned Elijah over that way when he and Sophie were out of the truck.

She hurried into the house and was greeted by Kate rocking Glory Emma-Gwen in the corner of the kitchen, Fancy pulling fresh chocolate chip cookies from the oven, and Tina dancing around like she had ants in her pants asking when the cookies would be cool enough to eat.

Normality, and she loved it. After Elijah’s kiss that morning she was almost too antsy to even eat pancakes, and now she was starving again because she hadn’t bothered with lunch. She took three glasses from the cabinet, filled them with ice from the freezer, and poured some sweet tea.

“I expect you’re going to fuss about it being your turn to hold the baby,” Kate said.

“You expect right,” Sophie said.

Tina hopped on one foot. “Well, I want the cookies to hurry up so I can take some to Daddy. Momma said I could take them all by myself when they got unhot.”

“It’s not fair,” Kate said. “You got two daughters, and I don’t even have one.”

Fancy pushed back a strand of blonde hair and smiled. “You know what to do about that, girlfriend.”

“I’m waiting on Sophie,” Kate said.

Sophie almost dropped the two glasses of tea she was carrying to the table. “Well, darlin’, you might die childless if you are waiting on me.”

“Hmmph,” Kate snorted.

Tina bounced around from Kate, where she peeked at her new baby sister; to Sophie, where she begged to carry the last glass to the kitchen table; to Fancy, where she wanted to put ice on the cookies to cool them.

“OK, antsy britches, I reckon I can put a few on a paper plate and you can take them out to the horse corral. Your daddy said he’d even saddle up your pony and let you ride around the corral this afternoon,” Fancy said.

Tina jumped up and down like a windup toy in excitement. “Someday when I get bigger, Daddy says I can go out of the corral on my pony, and then I’m going to ride all the way to see y’all.”

“That’s a long way,” Sophie said.

Tina settled down and looked up at Sophie, her big brown eyes serious. “My pony can ride a long time without getting tired.”

“Then I’ll be glad to see you comin’ down the lane,” Sophie said and winked at Fancy.

Tina carried the cookies out the door very carefully. Kate stood up and handed the baby to Sophie, who immediately claimed the rocking chair.

The way that the baby fit into her arms sent her biological clock ticking so loud that it almost deafened her. She’d always wanted a big family, maybe even five or six children instead of the usual two or three, but her husband had wanted to make sure his career was solid before they started down that path. At least that was the story she got. But she wasn’t going to think about that; she was going to smell fresh baby powder and relish the moments she could hold a sweet little girl.

“And now it is confessional time,” Kate said. “We want to hear every single detail of the date. And remember we are all BFFs, and if you leave out a single little thing, we’ll know, and we will fix you up this coming Friday night.”

“It didn’t really start out as a date. We’ve decided to pool our money and buy the two ranches just south of the Double Bar M. They got burned pretty bad, and the owners are wanting to sell. So Elijah asked me if I’d like to ride down to the Dairy Queen for ice cream to celebrate our decision,” she said.

Fancy sat down at the table and wolfed down two cookies. “Don’t sound like a date to me. There’s a new youth minister at our church. He’s got pretty green eyes and he’s about our age. I’m calling him tomorrow.”

“No, it was a date. I promise,” Sophie said quickly.

Kate downed her third cookie. “Tell us more and we’ll decide.”

“We had ice cream and wound up sharing the last scoop of my banana split,” Sophie said.

“Still not sure if it’s a full-fledged date,” Fancy said.

“Let me finish. I loved the motorcycle. Even thought about buying one after I’d ridden on his, with my arms around his waist, I might add. Is it getting closer to a date?”

Fancy twisted her full mouth off to one side.

Kate drew her black eyebrows down.

“So since I loved the ride so much, we went up to Fort Griffin,” and she went on to tell them every single detail she could think of—up to and including the kiss.

“Any more kisses since then?” Kate asked.

Sophie held up two fingers.

“Then I guess you’re off the hook until next week. But if there aren’t at least three kisses a week between now and then, Fancy is talking to the youth director,” Kate said.