“I just realized that it’s something I don’t want to keep from you. Can’t keep from you.”
“Fred, please. You’re scaring me.”
He shook his head and took off his mustache. She worried that her good luck charm was going away and that this must be bad news.
“I need to tell you the second half of what I said today. Olivia, just being in there confirmed that I want a family, too. I want love like that, and I know now that I found that with you.”
“Me?” Olivia squeaked. She hadn’t exactly told Fred the whole truth earlier either, and suddenly she was anxious to.
“Yes. Olivia, I love you.”
He put the mustache back on but took off his sombrero and went down on one knee, taking her hand in his. He reached into his colorful sash and pulled out a ring. He covered his heart with his sombrero and looked into her eyes.
“Olivia, will you marry me?”
She gasped and raised her hand to her chest while he slipped the gorgeous ring on the other.
She’d never heard sweeter words in her life. She pulled him to his feet, threw her arms around his neck, stood on her tiptoes and said, “I love you, too, Fred Wharton. I can’t think of anything that would make me happier than being your wife.”
She laughed as she felt the plastic mustache on her lips and he laughed, too, before he took it off and kissed her properly.
Chapter 20
Fred couldn’t believe his luck in the past few weeks. They’d left the Halloween party early and Mrs. Wharton had gotten a ride home, so they’d decided to keep it to themselves for one night and tell her the next day.
Olivia’d been so nervous she’d baked about every pumpkin recipe she could find, hoping to impress her future mother-in-law, he suspected. Unfortunately, she’d baked so many things that even the clothes in his closet smelled like pumpkin.
He’d considered asking her to stop, but Olivia knew Mrs. Wharton loved pumpkin and it was actually pretty sweet that she wanted to impress her, so he just put up with the pumpkin smell in his clothes.
When they’d finally sat down with his mother to tell her the good news, Olivia was wiggling in her chair. Fred knew Mrs. Wharton would be thrilled, but he secretly enjoyed watching Olivia squirm. He hadn’t told her what his mother had shared with him before the Halloween party, and that they had her full and complete blessing—and then some.
“That looks familiar,” his mother had said to Olivia when she’d thrust her left hand out. Fred made the announcement and was thrilled to see how excited Olivia was to show his mother.
“It does?” Olivia asked, confused.
“Yes. It belonged to my grandmother. I gave it to Fred right before the Halloween party, hoping he’d do the right thing.”
“The right thing?” Olivia asked as she looked up at Fred. It was all he could do not to grab her and swing her around, he was so happy.
“Yes. Fred’s father and I had a wonderful relationship, and we always knew Fred would meet his match. And when you came to town—from the very first time I met you, in fact—I believed you were that match.”
Olivia raced around the table and grabbed her future mother-in-law in a hug.
“Thank you, Mrs. Wharton. I—we—I, anyway, had no idea. Not for a while.”
The older lady smiled and tugged at the pink visor she wore. “No thanks necessary, my dear. True love wins every time.”
Mrs. Wharton smiled and held up a finger.
“And there’s more.”
She crossed the room. She opened a drawer and pulled out a folder, handing it to Fred.
He opened it and flipped through it slowly, and Olivia caught a glimpse of a map and photographs, along with a deed.
“What is this, Mom?”
“You remember that property where your father always took you camping, on the ridge a bit away from the Westons’ property?”
“Yes,” Fred said. He turned to Olivia. “It’s where we had lunch that day on the trail ride. I pointed it out.”
“Oh, yes,” Olivia said. “It’s gorgeous.”
Mrs. Wharton smiled. “It’s very special, and it meant the world to Fred’s father,” she said as she squeezed Olivia’s arm.
“Well, what is all this?” Fred asked again, laying the pictures out on the kitchen island.
“You now that the Westons and your father and I were good friends even when you were all children. Your father and I thought that when they bought their property, we would buy this for you. That maybe someday when you started a family, you might want to build a house, or just take your kids camping there like your father did for you.”
Olivia watched as Fred smiled, his dimples deep, and walked around the island to hug his mother. She felt her eyes fill up, and noticed that Mrs. Wharton was having the same issue.
Fred kissed his mother on the cheek and stepped back.
“I don’t imagine you want to live here with your old mother, so you can get started as soon as you want.”
Fred and Olivia exchanged a quick glance. They’d stayed up late into the night, talking and planning. And he knew what Olivia wanted—which was the same as he did.
“We’d be really happy to stay here, Mom, if you’ll have us. Certainly until we all decide we’d rather do something different. With very little construction, we could basically make two completely separate wings, each with its own kitchen while keeping this one and the great room for everybody.”
Mrs. Wharton clapped and said, “Oh, that would be wonderful. I’d love to help with all the babies that will be coming along.”
Fred glanced at Olivia and laughed at the crimson color she’d flushed to.
Mrs. Wharton smiled and gave Olivia a kiss on the cheek, followed by one to her son, and she had to stand on her tiptoes to do it. She glanced at her watch and reached for her tennis racket.
“There’s something else, too, but I’ll let Fred talk to you about that. I’m late. Congratulations, you, two,” she called over her shoulder before the door closed behind her.
Fred watched Olivia walk around the living room, almost in a daze. She looked out the huge glass window at the mountains, and sat in the same chair she had occupied every morning for weeks while they had coffee and chatted about their projects for the day.
“Can this all be true?” she asked as she slowly turned toward him.
“Yes. And like Mom said, there’s more.”
Olivia shook her head. His heart tugged, and he decided that he’d seen enough squirming for one day and he should quickly put her out of her misery. He hoped she’d be as happy as he was. He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his.
“Mom and I want you to be a partner in the bank. She wants to retire sometime soon, and I think—we think—that you and I would make great partners, in life and business. Will you consider it?”
“Consider it?” she squealed as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He could barely kiss her back as he laughed.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, yes and yes. I’ll have to talk to Jason, and make arrangements for my apartment in New York, but—”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I did call and let him know.”
“Let him know what?” she asked with a laugh. “That I was ready to leave because you wouldn’t tell me everything?”
He shook his head and drew her closer. “No, that we both got struck by lightning—or fairies, but I didn’t tell him that—and that there was nothing we could do. Fate.”
He kissed her then like he’d wanted to all day, and felt her heart rate pick up, then slow as she leaned against him.
“I’ve always trusted in fate,” she said. “I like the sound of that.”
Epilogue
Thanksgiving was around the corner, and a chill was in the air.
Olivia looked out across the property that she and Fred had helped the Westons turn over to their family. Mrs. Weston had insisted on a group visit, and Lily’s brunch, spread out under a tent she�
��d set up for the occasion, was delicious. All the Westons were there, on the property where they might build homes, and Fred and Olivia had gone up at the request of their parents.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do all this without you two,” Mrs. Weston said as she squeezed their hands. “Everybody’s so happy—just like I hoped they’d be.”
Mr. Weston came up behind her, squeezed her shoulders and kissed her on top of her head.
“Yes. I wanted to thank you personally. Your father loaned us the money to buy this property way back when. We’ve since paid it back, but when Mrs. Weston said we couldn’t have done this without you, she wasn’t kidding.”
“You’re all very welcome,” Fred said, “although I personally had nothing to do with it.”
“Maybe not back then, but you’ve kept our confidences and been our best ally—even when it almost cost you everything. And you survived the Halloween party,” Mrs. Weston said with a laugh.
Olivia cocked her head as the Westons returned to their family, the events of the Halloween party flashing again through her mind. It sure had been a memorable event.
“I was too busy to think about it at the time, but if I remember correctly, Jaclyn looked like she swallowed a lemon when she saw your mother’s costume,” Olivia said as she watched Jaclyn and Simon at the picnic table.
Fred laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her at a loss for words before. It was interesting.”
“Aren’t they just friends?” Olivia asked. She sat down on a big boulder at the side of the property and watched the Weston family mill around, all taking walks around the area and pointing to different vantage points. She had no doubt that they’d happily decide who landed where and what they did with the property was their business, after all. Fred had made certain of that.
She looked up as he sat beside her and took her hands in his, rubbing his hands around hers to ward off the cold.
“You all right? You’ve been quiet,” she asked as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
He paused for a moment and chuckled was Vivian threw a pine cone for Rufus, and Kelsi and Shane traded babies, bouncing each of them as Mrs. Weston reached toward Belinda for little Wilber.
“You know, growing up as an only child I thought I really wanted a big family. All I really wanted to be was a Weston.”
“I will say that there’s a lot of love to go around here, that’s for sure,” Olivia said as she gazed across the glen at all the people laughing and talking.
“Yeah, and I know now that extends to both of us, too,” he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.
“I don’t know about that. You, maybe.”
He squeezed tighter. “You’re part of me, Olivia. If that’s me, it means you, too. The Westons are like that.”
Rufus brought the pine cone over and dropped it at Fred’s feet. He rubbed behind the mutt’s ears and Olivia bent forward and gave him a kiss on the head.
“Well, we have Rufus, if Vivian will let us borrow him. And your mom,” she said as Fred threw the pine cone back toward Vivian and smiled.
“Yes, and your sister and dad should be here any day for the wedding. And Thanksgiving.”
All the wedding arrangements had been made. It would be a small one at the River’s End Ranch chapel, and Mrs. Wharton insisted on having a small reception at her house—well, their house.
“I almost forgot about that. I can’t wait to see Opal and my dad...and I can’t wait for them to meet you.”
He leaned over and kissed her, and as it took her breath away as it always had, even the first time. She snuggled her head on his shoulder again and said, “Thank you, Fred.”
“For what?”
She looked up and their eyes met. He was so serious, and she remembered all the smiles she’d gotten from him since she’d been at River’s End Ranch.
“For everything,” she said. “For loving me. For trusting me, even when I didn’t trust you.”
“Aw, shucks, ma’am. It weren’t nuthin,” he said and she laughed at the cowboy accent.
“Ah, my cowboy’s back,” she said as she tugged at his collar. “I kind of miss the bowties, though.”
“You do?” he said in mock horror as he squeezed her again. “I’m sure I’ll be wearing them again to the bank eventually, don’t worry. Some things never change.”
He smiled when she laughed. “Seriously, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Olivia. Before you came, I didn’t even know that half of me was missing. Now I know. Now I’m whole.”
Her eyes filled and she turned away from the happy Weston family and looked deeply into the eyes of her own family—Fred. She smiled, and was met with the deepest dimples this side of the Mississippi. She knew that this was where she was supposed to be. Always.
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River’s End Ranch Series
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