by Diana Palmer
“I do, too,” he admitted, watching as wranglers vaccinated bawling, struggling buffalo calves from their growing herd. His mother, Lydia, had gotten a grocery store chain in the West to start buying buffalo meat as a low-cholesterol product. It was working, and each year more and more meat was being ordered. It was starting to make the ranch far richer than anyone could have ever dreamed that it could be.
“There’s your dad,” she said, gesturing toward the other side of the stout, ten-foot-tall corral. This fenced-in area, she found out, was for buffalos since they could push over a cattle corral with no problem at all with their height and weight. She watched as Sam Whitcomb, riding Ace, his big black quarter horse gelding, was working a stubborn calf toward the pen to get its vaccinations from the team waiting for him. He was blond-haired like Steve, had dancing blue eyes, and wore a black Stetson on his head, too. Like father, like son, and she grinned, already feeling comfortable with the forty-five-year-old rancher. To her left, she saw Lydia, his mother, on a pretty gray, feminine-looking quarter horse mare, riding in another corral, working with wranglers to move a herd of Hereford cattle to another grass lease area.
This place was a beehive of activity from dawn to dusk, from June through late September. The ranch was comprised of mostly grass leases bought by ranchers who trucked in their herds from other western states to fatten them up on the rich, nutritious green grass.
She loved eating dinner with the family in their log cabin home after dusk came every night. If there was any light outside? Wranglers were still working. Everyone always had stories to tell at the dinner table about their day. It was exciting to Maud. This was the kind of home she had envisioned in her girlish dreams while growing up in New York City. She’d never dreamed, however, that she’d fall in love with such a handsome Wyoming cowboy like Steve!
“Hey,” he said, touching her shoulder, “I got something to show you. Come with me?”
Curious, she smiled. “Sure. What do you have up your sleeve, Whitcomb?” Steve was a clown at heart, teasing her, making her laugh and always surprising her in nice ways with his intelligence and architect mind. He was doing great at Princeton, getting a 3.9 average. She wasn’t doing too bad herself, with a 3.8 average toward her MBA.
“Oh,” he said, giving her a mysterious look, catching her hand and leading her toward one of the huge three-story red barns on the ranch. “You’ll see. . . .”
Giving him a gleeful look, she shook her finger at him. “This had better not be a joke you’re going to play on a city girl!”
Holding up his other hand, he solemnly promised, “Scout’s honor, it isn’t. I’m just not sure you’ll like it or not.”
Catching the seriousness that came to his eyes, she lost her smile. “It’s not something bad, is it, Steve?”
“I hope not.”
She removed her red baseball cap, jamming it into her back pocket as they entered the cool shade of the barn. Their boots clunked along the old, roughened oak floor. He led her to a ladder that would take them up to the second floor, the hayloft. Once there, she sat down on a bale of timothy that he gestured toward. She watched him with full attention. Something serious was up. What?
They were alone, the warmth of the afternoon surrounding them. This was one of their hidey holes where they could neck and kiss in privacy. At their rental apartment off campus in New Jersey, they lived together, even though it was frowned upon by society. With the hippie movement, living with a woman was acceptable, but the rest of her parents’ generation frowned mightily upon it. Martha, her mother, knew she was living with Steve and they’d had several talks about it, but her mother respected her choice. Out here at the Wind River Ranch, they did not talk of their living arrangement with Steve’s parents, who would probably object to it. Instead, when they came here over summer vacation, they had separate guest bedrooms in the main log house where his parents lived. As a result, Steve got creative and they had several places where they could kiss, make love to each other, and still keep it a secret.
Steve pulled a small box from the pocket of his long-sleeved shirt. He turned toward her, their knees meeting. “Now, I wanted to give this to you in private for a lot of reasons.” He became somber, holding her gaze. “Maud, I’ve never been happier in my life. I didn’t know what love was until I met you.” He opened the box and it showed a diamond engagement and wedding ring in it. “I want to marry you. But first, I know we have more years of classes before that happens.” He heard her gasp, her hands flying to her lips as she stared down at the rings.
Pulling the engagement ring from it, he gently took her left hand, sliding it on her finger. “Will you marry me? Even though it’s a long ways off, I think we have a good chance of making that date in the future. This engagement ring is my oath to you that I love you, that I want you as my best friend, my partner, wife, and anything else you can think of.” He sought her gaze. “I love you, Maud. What do you think?”
Stunned, she stared at him and then down at her hand, which he held with his roughened one. She took her other hand away from her lips, love rising in her, expanding her heart, suffusing her with a joy she’d never felt except with him. “Yes . . . a thousand times, yes . . .” she said, and she pulled her hand from his and threw her arms around his broad shoulders, meeting his mouth, kissing him with everything she had inside her. His mouth was strong but tender, cherishing and sliding across her lips, worshipping her as he always did.
Finally, they came up for air, giving each other a silly grin, gripping each other’s hands, the silence settling around them like a warm blanket.
“Why now?” she asked, her voice off-key and wispy.
“Because we’ve spent two years living together. We get along, we have so much fun, we laugh a lot, and we like each other. I didn’t know what real love was until I ran into you, Maud. I thought I did, having a few relationships during high school, but that was puppy love in comparison. Not the real thing.” He squeezed her fingers. “You’re the real thing to me. You’re my heart and I think you know that.”
Nodding, she watched the glint of the small solitaire diamond set in yellow gold move with the light. “I do. You know I’m crazy about you. I was from the day I met you. It just took me six months to work up to letting you know how I felt,” she said, and she flashed him a wry smile.
“What do you think Martha and your dad will say about our plans?”
She heard the concern in his low voice, saw the worry in his shadowed blue eyes. “They know we’re serious about each other. And Mom knows we live together, although she’s never said anything to Dad about it.”
He grimaced. “I haven’t built up the courage yet to tell my parents.”
“They live by a different generational code, Steve. It’s okay. I’m fine with keeping what we do back in Princeton our secret. Okay?” she said, and she tilted her head, catching his gaze. Steve’s worry lifted beneath her softly spoken words.
“Yeah, okay . . . People out west, the ranchers in particular, have a pretty strict code of how to treat a woman. And part of that code is”—he caressed her hand that held the engagement ring on it—“you go through a long engagement before marrying.”
Laughing in a low tone, she said, “You think they’ll be okay with a multiyear engagement? Even the Victorians didn’t wait that long!”
He laughed with her, keeping his voice low, not wanting to be discovered by anyone who might walk into the barn. Steve didn’t want a curious visitor coming up the ladder to see what was going on. “Yeah . . . four years. Seems long, doesn’t it?”
“No, not to me. We have many years to get the degrees we want. It’s worth it. We’re both doing well and we have good grades. Plus, we know how to study and we have a wonderful personal life with each other, despite all of the stresses at the universities.”
“I like going riding with you on weekends.” He’d brought his western saddle back East with him after the first time they visited his family.
“Yeah,
I think everyone around the horse center likes seeing you riding in your western gear.”
“I stand out like a sore thumb,” he agreed, giving her a wolfish smile.
“Not that you care.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t think you do, either.”
She chuckled. “We like each other just the way we are. Neither of us has tried to change the other. We fit well together, Steve.”
Caressing her cheek, he placed a warm kiss on her lips. Maud always tasted good, like honey, sweet and soft. He broke the kiss reluctantly, a lot more on his mind. “Are you okay if we tell everyone at dinner tonight that we’re officially engaged?”
“Sure. I think Lydia, especially, will breathe a sigh of relief, showing everyone that we’re serious about each other.”
“So do I. She’s been hinting pretty baldly that if I’m serious about you, we should become engaged.”
“Well, this is the second summer I’m spending with you and your family. I can see her concerns.”
“Me too. That’s why I’m asking you to marry me.”
She sighed and snuggled beneath his arm, resting her cheek against his shoulder. “We haven’t really talked about any future after school. You want to travel the world helping third world countries create cheap, good housing for the poor. I know my mom hasn’t dropped her dream of me staying in New York City and taking over her business. I love that Rider and Princeton are located in beautiful, rural New Jersey. Coming to this area freed me up and it’s like new life has been breathed into me as a result,” she said, and she pressed her hand against her heart.
“What do you REALLY want after we graduate, Maud? We need to talk about this. You keep avoiding it with me when I ask.”
Giving him a guilty look, she murmured, “You deserve the truth. I have been evasive, but there’s a good reason why. When I met you, Steve, you felt like someone I’d known from a past life, coming back to be with me again. Oh, I know you don’t believe in reincarnation, but I’m spiritual in my reality. My mother thinks it poppycock, and so does my dad.”
“I don’t think it is,” he said, frowning. “I can’t prove it, but you can’t prove gravity exists either, except by the fact we aren’t all floating around.”
She laughed a little. “Always pragmatic, Whitcomb, another plus to loving you. You always bring things into perspective.”
“Sometimes,” he protested, “not all the time.”
“But you try.” She took a deep breath and then released it. “Okay, here’s my truth. When you invited me out here last summer for the first time, I fell utterly in love with the ranch, the whole valley and tiny town of Wind River that struggles daily to survive. I see the world I always dreamed of, right here, Steve, as crazy as that might sound. The valley is a hundred miles long and fifty miles wide, bracketed by two parallel mountain ranges, one east of the valley, the other west. It’s perfect,” she said, giving him a rueful look. Holding up the engagement ring, she added, “When we marry? I want to live out here, with you. I want to learn how to run a ranch, be taught the business end by Lydia, and pick her brain on how we can help the people of this valley prosper, because they aren’t right now. And be taught by Sam, as well. I want to understand how a ranch works, inside and out.”
Nodding, he digested her impassioned words. “I was worried that you might want to go back to New York City, to be near your parents. I know Martha has really been pleading with you to come home after graduation.” His brows fell. “She didn’t like the idea of you spending your summer out here with us for a second time, either, but I can’t blame her. Maybe we can divide our summer break between both families from here on out?”
“My mom can be a real prodder when she wants to be,” Maud admitted apologetically. “Yes, I like the idea of dividing our time. You’ll hate the city, I know.”
“While we’re being brutally honest with each other?” he said, holding her gaze, “I know your parents don’t think much of me. I’m a working-class man, Maud, not the rich bachelor from another well-known Eastern family that they’d probably like to see you marry. Maybe, by being around them more, they’ll see why you love me and I love you.”
She snorted derisively, standing up, pacing a bit. Turning toward him, she said, “My mother has unrealistic expectations for me. She always has. I just keep telling her ‘no’ and eventually, grudgingly, she backs off, but I can feel her still wanting me to step into her shoes and take over the business she’s built. I’ve made no secret of my dream to take a little rural town and give it a makeover where everyone does well. I know I can do that. But she loves the city. I don’t. I love the country. That’s never going to change. And yes, I think if we spend a month with them each summer, they’ll get to know you and realize how wonderful you are.”
“How do you think they’ll take our engagement?” he asked warily.
Halting, Maud crossed her arms across her chest, studying him. “I think they’ll be disappointed at first, but over time, I’ll wear them down and they’ll come around.”
“I worry what it will do to you, Maud.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your mother is a woman who doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
She smiled a little and allowed her hands to fall to her side, coming over and sitting down close to him once more. “Neither do I, but I know you’ve noticed that. I’m a lot like my mother. She’s one of the most successful women on this earth right now precisely because she’s stalwart in whatever challenges she takes on. So am I, for myself and my dream, not hers.”
“I’m a different kind of challenge to her,” he pointed out gruffly. “I’m not from an old money kind of East Coast family heritage. In fact, I’m from a no-money family. Ranching life has always been hardscrabble until the last few years. And now? We’re making good money thanks to my mom opening up a grocery market for our buffalo meat.”
“But your family is worthy, and something to be proud of, Steve.” She slid her arm around his broad shoulders, giving him a squeeze and then releasing him. “Money can’t buy honor, values, morals, or integrity. Your family has all those things. They passed them on to you.”
“And money can’t buy love, either,” he reminded her, leaning over, pressing a kiss to her mussed black hair.
“My parents know that,” she said softly, giving him a kind look. “They have worked hard for what they have. My family aren’t snobs and understand working on the land. They get that, and I don’t think my parents are going to be terrified of me being engaged to you. The world has changed and is changing around us right now. We have the passage of the Civil Rights Act to protect against segregation, and all citizens have the same federal and legal rights. in this country. The power of women is rising via feminist marches and protests. We’re in the middle of the Vietnam War, which is costing us a generation of young men and it shouldn’t be happening. There’s so much change going on around us. Nothing is the same and we don’t know how it will end up, either.”
“Yes, and I’m asking to marry the daughter of great wealth even though I’m a pauper in comparison.”
“We’ll handle it together,” she whispered. Holding up her hand, the ring sparkling upon it, she added, “Love can’t be bought or sold. I think your parents will take our engagement with hope and happiness. My parents will get over the shock that I’m marrying you. Someday”—she gave him a proud look—“they will see that you’re going to become a globally famous architect. We won’t always be poor. We’ll be building our own empire in our way. I’ve always believed that if you do what you love to do, you will not only be successful at it, but you’ll make good money from it, as well. Whatever your heart is invested in, Steve, it will bud, blossom and grow.”
He brought her up and onto his lap, her arms going around his shoulders, head against his. “I have dreams of helping the world. I know it’s not going to be easy, but I see how our own people in Wind River struggle daily, too. We can both help them in our own ways.”
/> “Well,” she said wryly, “if all goes well I’ll be living out here while you gallivant around the world creating homes to keep people warm and safe. I’ll learn the ranch business from your parents. That will take years of education on my part. But I’m looking forward to it, Steve. Then, we can turn around and start helping the town and the people of the valley.”
Looking deeply into her eyes, he rasped, “You’re sure this is what you want? Running a ranch? With an MBA? I don’t think Martha will be very pleased that it’s all that you’re doing. You’ve got a lot of brainpower, Maud. Will she think you’re wasting it by living out here with me?”
She shook her head, sliding her fingers through his hair. “I fell in love with you, not because you were a cowboy, not because you come from the working class, darling. Remember? A long time ago I told you my dream of living in a rural part of America. Helping not only ourselves, but those around us. Wind River Valley is my dream come true.” She looked over at him, smiling softly. “And you’re my dream come true, too. I’ll be happy and I’ll be content.”
“Okay,” he grumbled, frowning. “I know Martha well enough by now that she’s going to ask you the same questions I just did.”
“Yes, over and over again.”
“This is a beautiful area,” he agreed.
“And Wind River Valley is a very economically poor area, Steve. Lincoln County has massive potential. And from where I sit, this valley is ripe to be infused with new ideas, ways to bring tourists who are driving through and not stopping because they want to get to either the Tetons or Yellowstone parks that are fifty miles north of here. This is the second year I’ve been here and I’ve spent a good amount of time with the local mom-and-pop businesses. I’ve asked them what they need, how they see the area growing, and how we can get those tourists to stop and spend their money here and not always north of us. I even have put a regional airport into my business plan for the area. Right now, the closest airport is fifty miles away, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The big airport is in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have nothing here for people. And putting in a regional airport with federal help, which my mother is very educated about, could lift so many out of poverty around here, and give so many jobs. I have big, vast dreams.”