Molly's Hero
Page 23
“Can I take my dolly and my kittens?”
Molly sighed with relief. “Sure. We’ll take everything we can fit in the wagon.”
But the more she thought about it—about the desperation of their situation, about what Jack had done to her, about losing her only home—it all became too much for her. Those tears wouldn’t be held back and she sank down on Katie’s bed and cried, great racking sobs.
Katie rushed to her side. Her little hand brushing Molly’s hair back from her face. “Don’t cry, Mama.” Tears welled in her own eyes and slid down her cheeks. “Tell me where it hurts and I’ll rub it for you,” she said the way Molly always did for Katie.
Stop this! she told herself. Stop this right now! Molly sniffed and sat up and wiped her face with her skirt hem, then she hugged Katie. It was her and Katie against the world. Pretty much the way it had always been, she thought, except for a brief few days when…
“Hello in the house,” an all too familiar male voice called out.
“Mr. Ethan!” Katie shouted and ran for the door.
Molly swiped her eyes. No way was she going to let him see her like this. She made a halfhearted attempt to shove her hair back in the bun she’d worn earlier today. Slowly, taking deep breaths as she moved, she went to the door.
He was there, standing beside his horse. He looked handsome and tall like he had that first day. “Hello, Molly,” he said softly, so softly it sent a wave of gooseflesh skipping over her skin.
“Mr. Wilder,” she said, pleased her voice sounded so calm. “Have you come to make sure I’m moving out? It’ll take a couple of days to get packed. I’m sure you can wait that long.”
Ethan dropped the horse’s reins and walked over to her. “I’m sorry.”
Of all the things she’d expected him to say, this wasn’t it.
“I’m sorry about your house and I’m sorry to hear that Murphy…that you and Murphy aren’t…weren’t…”
“So you know that, too.”
He touched her shoulder lightly, his strong hand curving over the top. Lord, it felt so good. No. She wouldn’t allow it—him—to do this to her again. She stepped free of him.
“I’ll be packed and gone by Friday,” she said, taking Katie’s hand.
Katie spoke up. “Are you coming with us, Mr. Ethan? He can come, can’t he Mama?”
“No. Ethan can’t come,” Molly decreed.
A smile teased the corners of Ethan’s mouth. “Actually, I was hoping you’d come with me.”
“Not likely,” Molly responded.
“Well, see, it’s like this. I have a problem—”
“You have a problem!”
“Yup. See there’s this woman, this redheaded woman who I realized a while back that I’d fallen in love with.”
“What?” Her voice was a whisper.
He nodded in confirmation. “Yes, it surprised the hell outta me too, especially since there were…complications.”
Molly stood very still. Was he saying that he loved her? After all she’d done, the way she’d treated him?
“So I’ve come out here today to ask this woman a question. It’s kind of an important question and I was wondering if, being a woman and all, you’d tell me if it was a good idea…asking this question.”
“It’s hard to say without knowing what the question is, but I’d say that the best approach to any problem is to face it square on.”
He seemed to consider this for a moment and then took two steps closing the distance between them until he was so close she had to crane her neck to look up into his down-turned face.
He touched her shoulders lightly and said, “I love you, Molly. Marry me.”
“I—I—”
“Oh, I forgot one thing.” He pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to her.
Molly unfolded the paper and realized it was the bill of sale that Jack had signed for the ranch.
“What’s this?” she mumbled.
“Just what it looks like.”
“But you need—”
“The only thing I need is you. Let me worry about the rest.”
Molly stared at the paper for a long time and realized what an incredible gesture he was making, realized that he was quite serious. That’s when she knew.
Looking up at him, she slowly handed the paper back. “This belongs to you—”
“But—”
“And so do I.”
“Okay, let me make sure I’ve got this straight. You’re saying it’s all right to take the land.”
“Yes,” Molly confirmed.
“And the marriage proposal?”
“Yes to that, too.”
“Why, Molly?”
“Because I need you more than I need a piece of land. I want a husband who’ll love me and Katie, who’ll take care of us. That’s what a family is all about. Not where you live. I know that now.”
He pulled her into his embrace. “I do love you, Molly. And Katie. We’ll make a home somewhere together, the three of us.”
“It’s fine, Ethan, just never leave us.”
“Are you gonna stay with us, Mr. Ethan?” Katie asked hopefully.
“Looks like it, short stuff,” he answered, grinning and picking her up in one arm. Then he hooked his other arm around Molly’s shoulder and promised, “I’ll never leave you.”
Then he took her mouth in a long, heated kiss and when he lifted his head he said, “You think they’ve got a justice of the peace in town? I’m anxious to be a married man.”
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5957-0
MOLLY’S HERO
Copyright © 2000 by Karen L. Amarillas
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