Life After Wife (Three Magic Words Trilogy, #3)(60)

Kate thought she should build a mansion on the southernmost part of the new property. Fancy’s idea was that she should abandon it all and kick Elijah out to the bunkhouse. Sophie dropped her purse and the brochures on the kitchen table, made a hurried trip to the bathroom, and noticed that both Elijah’s bedroom door and his office door were open.

She’d looked forward to getting his input on the new double-wide, and she’d brought home a whole stack of brochures. She’d told him that, so where was he?

She meandered out to the back porch, shaded her eyes with the back of her hand, and noticed the barn door was open so she headed that way, expecting him to see her walking across the pasture and come meet her.

But she reached the barn without seeing anything of Elijah. His pickup was in the front yard, but maybe he’d gone off somewhere with Hart. She was so disappointed that she could have cried.

The two horses that lived at the ranch had been stabled in the barn since the fire. She checked the stalls and Wild Bill was gone. That was a mean thing for Elijah to do, go for a ride at the very time he knew she’d be home. Evidently, he didn’t want to be included in her plans and that disappointed her all over again.

She was on her way back to the house when she heard hoof beats coming from the south. She shaded her eyes again and could see a black blur with a cowboy coming at her in a dead run. Wild Bill enjoyed a good run, and so did Elijah from the way he’d let the horse have rein to go as fast as he wanted.

She kept walking. No need for her to stay in the barn while Elijah spent at least thirty minutes removing the saddle and rubbing the sweaty horse down. At least he treated Aunt Maud’s horse right when he let him run like the wind. Too bad he didn’t treat his friends the same way.

The hoof beats got closer and closer and suddenly horse and rider bypassed her. The horse jumped the yard fence and came to a halt at the back door, where Elijah slid out of the saddle and waved at her.

She took her own sweet time getting to the yard gate, opened it slowly, and locked gazes with Elijah. His eyes were dancing, so evidently he’d enjoyed his fast ride. The horse’s flanks heaved as he cooled down, but his eyes said that he’d do it again if the cowboy would just mount up and let him jump over that fence.

“Good ride?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah! Cleared my mind right up. I’ll take him out to the barn and rub him down, but I think it’s all right now to turn him and the mare out in the pasture around the barn. What do you think?” Elijah asked breathlessly.

“If you think it’s time, then have at it,” she said.

“I’ll be back in half an hour. Would you please meet me on the porch with some sweet tea and your brochures? I’m really interested in your day, but I wasn’t expectin’ you home until five.”

She remembered that she had told him five, but that was when Fancy had to be back at her ranch. She should have been more definite as to when she’d be home. Her spirits lifted and she nodded.

She made a fresh pitcher of tea, filled two glasses with ice, put it all on a tray, and carried it to the front porch. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze picking up the fall aroma of yellow, gold, and burgundy mums blooming around the front porch and a few yellow roses still lingering at the end of the house.

The brochures showed a dozen double-wide trailers, and the man said that he could get one set up and ready to live in within a month. Plumbing, electricity, and a foundation of concrete blocks had to be taken care of before the actual moving date. That would give her time to buy furniture, curtains, and her own towels.

The first one showed her favorite. Three bedrooms, a Jacuzzi in the master bathroom, and a walk-in closet. But suddenly the future did not loom happy. Instead it looked lonely and bleak. No rough old cowboys piled up in her living room watching television in the evenings. No making Sunday supper for the “kids.”

“Hey.” Elijah came from around the end of the house.

He smelled like horse, barn, tack room, the remnants of shaving lotion, and sweat, and she loved every bit of it. His straight black hair stuck up all over his head and there was a dirt smudge below his left eye.

“Thirsty?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She poured two glasses of tea and handed him one. He downed the whole thing before coming up for air.

“Very good.”

She took the glass from his hand and handed him a brochure. He propped a hip on the porch railing and studied it all of ten seconds before handing it back to her.

“Is this what you really want? To live alone so me and the guys won’t be a bother? Please be honest.”

She shook her head…honestly.

Elijah dropped down on one knee beside her. “I’ve been out riding for more than two hours getting my thoughts together. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you when Aunt Maud left me half of this place, but I did. I’m forty years old, and I want a family. I want it with you, Sophie McSwain.”

She was stunned speechless.

“And?” she finally whispered.

“Will you marry me? I don’t have a ring. I just figured most of this out while you were gone, and I realized that I do not want you to move out. I want you in my life, in my house forever, because you are already in my heart. I’m not romantic, but I can promise you life after wife. I will always be faithful, and I’ll never leave you. That does not mean we won’t fight and argue, but it does mean that I’ll cherish you above every other thing or person in this world.”