She walked out on the dark patio after she’d finished eating and sat in the glider. The others were having too good a time to miss her. Reaction had set in. She was so tired her hands shook.
Ten minutes later she heard him in the rustle of the leaves, but he didn’t slide onto the glider beside her.
“Where did you go after you left?” she asked quietly. Back to the streets?
“I went home.”
She caught her breath. Had he come back only to leave again forever? What if he asked her to go with him? Would he ask?
Her adrenaline went from normal to stroke zone in a nanosecond. She fought to keep her voice level. “You asked me to marry you.”
“Not yet. I have nothing to offer you, not even a healthy mind, although I’m getting there. I can’t support you and Sarah.”
She turned around to stare into the darkness. “It’s not that you can’t marry me, it’s that you don’t want to.”
She didn’t see him move, but in the next instant he was beside her, arms wrapped around her. “You asked me what I wanted, and I gave you garbage. I want you. With you the world is full of light and laughter. Before you, there was nothing but darkness and despair. During the tornado, I wanted to live, but only if I could live with you.”
She sniffled. “Then what’s all this bunk about not marrying me?”
“While I was gone, I figured out that I’ve had enough of the big wild world. I want to go back to my roots, the whole rural thing.”
“You want to go back to Missouri and buy a farm?” The hair rose on her spine. Would she, could she uproot Sarah and her for Jake?
“I was thinking more of finding some acreage around here, if I can find any I can afford.”
She laughed. “Jake, I have a farm.”
“I can’t...”
“What are we, Victorian? You want to buy in officially, that’s fine. Pay for the tornado shelter. But none of that matters, Jake. I could hand you a bunch of stuff about needing your expertise to help run the place. I do, but I could get along without you or hire somebody. I thought running this farm alone would be exciting. But without you, it’s no fun at all, it’s lonely and miserable and I have visions of spending every night for the rest of my life alone in that big Lincoln bed.”
“Will Sarah accept me?”
“She accepted you before I did. So, will you marry me or what? I warn you, I don’t like long engagements.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. When she could catch her breath, Charlie asked, “Is that a yes?”
“Definitely.”
“Then get yourself down on one knee and propose properly.”
“No way,” he said.
“Oh, shoot, I forgot you can’t get down on one knee.”
“Not and get up again. Will you accept me sitting in the glider?”
“I’d accept you swinging from a trapeze.”
“What if I come apart at the seams again?”
“You won’t, but if you do, we’ll handle it together. One day I may even be able to meet your family. Jake, when we needed a leader to get that tree off the road, you stepped up. When we needed decisions, you made them. It’s in your blood. You can’t help it. This, Jacob Zedediah Thompson, is not a bad decision.”
“You’re taking a big risk.”
“So are you. Life’s a risk, Jake. Whatever we face, we’ll face together.”
“Then, Charlotte...” He slipped off the glider onto the floor. “Ow, I may never get up from here. Charlotte, will you marry me?”
“I’d add come hell or high water, but we did that already. Yes, Jake, love of my life, I will marry you forever and forever.”
“About time!” The floodlights over the patio came on so bright that they had to shade their eyes. Mickey walked onto the patio using his braces and two canes, the others crowded after.
“You eavesdropped?” Charlie protested. “I cannot believe that! You all flunk the course.”
“After today? Fuhgeddaboudit,” Mickey said. “And remember, I get to drive the Cinderella carriage to the wedding.”
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460319161
TAKING THE REINS
Copyright © 2013 by Carolyn McSparren
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Taking the Reins Page 25