Brody pulled the chain off his neck and raised it to her head. Her heart stilled as he dropped that chain over her head, settling it into place around her neck.
“Brody?”
“For safekeeping,” he leaned, touching his forehead to hers. “I’m not asking for anything, Grace. Instead, I’m giving you what you need. Time, space, a place to find yourself and someone who believes in you.”
“What can I give you, Brody? You give so much and never ask for anything in return.”
He kissed the top of her head and then held her close. “When you feel as though you have found what you’re looking for, you can put that ring on your finger and know that I will love you forever. Let me be your husband and a father to that little girl.”
“How long...?”
He shrugged. “As long as you need. Well, not too long because I don’t want to grow old alone. I want to grow old with you. And if you get to the end of this journey and realize that you don’t want a cowboy or this slow country life, just leave the ring on the chain and...”
She put a finger to his lips, stopping him. If he said another word she would cry.
“Don’t.”
He kissed her finger. “I’m leaving all of the options open. This chain doesn’t bind you to me. It’s just a promise. It’s my way of saying I’m here when you’re ready for a cowboy with baggage and more dreams than sense. If you’re ever ready.”
“I don’t know, Brody.”
“I do. I’m not going to hover over you or try to convince you to stay here. I’m not going to get in your way of finding your dreams. But I’ll be here. That ring is my promise. I’ll be here for you.”
She wrapped her fingers around the ring but she didn’t put it on. She held it tight in her hand and she stood on tiptoe to kiss the cowboy who had her heart in his hand, and she wondered if he knew that.
Brody held her close and then he let her go and walked out the door. “It’s all up to you, Grace.”
“Brody?”
He looked back, smiling as he walked backward down the sidewalk. “Yeah, Grace?”
“You might not mean to make life complicated, but you do. But I’m glad you’re in my world.”
His laughter floated back to her. “Yeah, I know.”
Chapter Seventeen
March was about the best month to be alive, Brody thought. At least it was for a cowboy living in Texas Hill Country. The weather was perfect, wildflowers were blooming and other than a little morning stiffness, he felt pretty near to perfect.
If a little bit lonely.
He led a saddled gelding to the fence where a group of kids stood waiting for him. They ranged in age from seven to twelve. There were four of them and they had recently been placed in a foster home. The youngest refused to talk. The oldest had some anger, justifiably so. Their dad had randomly beaten them and sometimes made them sleep in a shed. It was one of those stories that people didn’t believe when they heard it on the news. But looking at these kids, at their eyes, it was written there for anyone to see who cared to take a closer look.
“This is Earl Grey.” He introduced the gelding. “He loves kids.”
“I don’t like horses,” Miss Twelve and Angry said.
Brody shrugged it off. “That’s okay, Angie. He likes you and, after you get to know him, you might change your mind.”
“Doubtful,” she muttered.
The littlest, a girl of seven, reached to pet the horse. The nine-year-old twins did the same. Miss Twelve and Angry crossed her arms in front of her and refused to look at her young siblings having fun. He guessed if she looked, she’d be tempted to join in, and she didn’t want to give an inch.
He handed out carrots to the younger kids and tossed one Angie’s way. She caught it, shooting him a glare in the process. If looks could kill...
A car came up the drive. He hadn’t seen that car in more than a month. Not since she’d given birth to Bria. He watched her park, watched her get out. And then he put his focus back on the kids. They had first dibs after all.
Grace had left just days after having her baby girl. Her parents had come home from South America to be with her.
“Hey, he took my carrot.” Angie reached to stroke Earl’s jaw. “He isn’t too bad.”
“No, he isn’t,” Brody agreed. “Maybe next week you’ll spend some time brushing him.”
“When do we get to ride?” she asked, still petting the horse and actually warming up to the animal. Earl leaned in to the attention, soaking it up.
“You have to learn to take care of him first.”
“Can he be the horse I ride?” she pushed. He let her because at least it was a response.
He had a dozen horses now. For the first couple of weeks, he’d just use Earl with these kids, letting them get used to this one horse. Soon he’d introduce them to the other animals. But Earl seemed to be a genius when it came to working with troubled kids.
Brody enjoyed working with them, too. It wasn’t too many years back that he had been one of them.
“Well?” the girl asked again.
“I think I can arrange for you to ride him if you start participating.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Fine.”
“But you won’t like it?” he teased.
She nearly laughed, but not quite.
The kids hugged him before they left, hurrying to the car where their foster mom waited. She waved as she got out to make sure they all got in and buckled.
And then Grace was there, standing in front of him. Bria was curled up warm and soft against her neck, a light blanket thrown over her. Brody reached and Grace shifted her daughter and placed her in his arms. He held the baby close, taking in her perfect face, her tiny nose and her dark eyes as she blinked awake, yawning and almost giving him a smile.
He fell in love. He’d probably walk on coals for that little girl. He’d definitely hurt anyone who tried to hurt her. Or her mother.
He shifted his gaze to Grace. He took in her smile, the way her brown eyes flickered with warmth and humor, the way just being near her righted his pretty crazy world.
“It’s been a while.” He spoke softly because Bria’s eyes had closed again.
“I should have called.” She bit down on her bottom lip and looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”
“No need to be. I’ve been busy here, getting the riding camp off the ground. I have a dozen kids enrolled.”
“That’s amazing. I’m so proud of you, and so happy for the kids who will get to come here.”
He shrugged off the compliment. Right now he didn’t want to talk about him. He wanted to talk about her, about the baby and how they were doing.
“Let’s go inside and have something cold to drink.” He shifted the baby to his shoulder and headed toward the house. “Unless you have to go?”
“No, I don’t have anywhere I have to be.”
They walked side by side toward the house. He’d managed to make it feel like his home, this house of Lawton and Elizabeth’s. He led Grace through the back door and down a hall to the kitchen.
“This is a little bigger than your trailer,” she observed. Rather than taking the baby, she poured them both a glass of tea.
“Yeah, just a little. I’m getting used to it.”
“I’m sure it took time.”
Sally barked from the utility room. “I need to let her out.”
Grace down set her glass. “Let me get her.”
She returned, holding his dog. The Maltese licked her face, tail wagging.
“I guess my dog missed you, too.”
She put Sally down. “I’m here to talk about that.”
“About my dog missing you?” Brody sat at the island, still holding the baby, who didn’t weigh much more t
han a bag of flour. She stretched and curled into his chest.
“Yes, I missed your dog,” Grace said, taking him by surprise.
He chuckled, but then quieted, rubbing Bria’s back when the baby grew restless. Grace stepped close and he fought the urge to wrap his free arm around her and pull her to him. It wouldn’t be difficult, to hold them both. But he was still waiting, still wondering what had brought her here today.
“Really?” He spoke softly. “You leave town for a month and you missed a dog?”
“Yeah, I missed your dog,” she teased. “And I missed Duke’s chocolate cream pie. And my apartment at Oregon’s. Among other things. But I managed to tie up some loose ends in my life while I was gone.”
“I can’t believe I’m jealous of chocolate cream pie.” He leaned toward her. Man, she smelled good. “I’ve missed a few things, too.”
“Did you?”
He took a deep breath and leaned away from her, letting the moment between them evaporate. He couldn’t let her tangle up his thoughts to the point that he didn’t know what he was doing. He had to get back on firm ground.
“So what loose ends did you tie up while you were in Fort Worth?”
“Finishing college, and adding psychology to my degree.”
“I’m sure that will open up a lot of jobs.”
“It might. But I’m thinking about becoming a nurse practitioner. Dad said there are options for getting a small clinic.”
Now she had his attention. He eased the baby to his other shoulder and waited. Because he knew how to be patient.
* * *
Grace took the baby from his arms. He looked like a man who might forget he was holding an infant. “Let me go put her on the couch. Where is the couch?”
“There’s a baby bed, if you want to put her down.”
“That would be good. She might sleep a little longer in a bed.”
He led her to a bedroom fit for a princess. Or twin princesses. It obviously had been the room Rosie and Violet had shared when they were infants. The cribs were white with multicolored quilts. The walls were the palest yellow. Brody pulled a soft blanket out of a drawer, and as she placed Bria in the crib he hovered nearby.
She’d never thought of him as the hovering type, but there he was, looming, watching, looking worried. She’d noticed the same malady in her dad and granddad. The minute the baby entered their lives they hovered, worried and overprotective.
“Will she be okay here?”
She smiled up at him. “She’ll be fine. But there’s a monitor. I’ll take that with me.”
Together they walked out of the room and down the hall to the living room. She walked immediately to the big windows that overlooked the fields, now filled with wildflowers. In the distance the hills were hazy as rain swept in from the south.
“It’s beautiful here,” she observed, knowing Brody stood close behind her.
“Yes, it is beautiful.”
She turned into his embrace. With a tentative hand she brushed her fingers through his hair, She’d missed his presence, missed touching him. It came back, the fullness in her heart, the way he made her feel complete. No amount of degrees, no job, no community could do for her what he did.
“Brody, I’m here to stay.”
“I was hoping.”
He pulled her close, kissing near her temple, then tracing a path to her lips. Their mouths melded. She kissed him back, needing that moment with him. She’d missed him so much. She’d missed being in his arms. She’d missed the way he made her laugh, made her smile. She should tell him those things. Soon.
“You made a promise last winter,” she reminded him.
“Did I?” His mouth quirked and she took the opportunity to place a kiss on his dimple.
“Yes, you did. You gave me a promise, and you gave me this.” She pulled the chain off her neck and placed it in her hand, the ring with it. “You said when I’m ready.”
“Yes, that’s what I said.” He took it, held it in his clenched fist.
“Brody, I’m ready. I want to wear that ring. I want to be in your life and I want you in our lives. I needed to have my baby and figure out what came next. What comes next is us. We should have come first, but I lost myself along the way and I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. I want us.”
“I want us, too,” he finally said, his voice raspy with emotion. “I’ve wanted us since forever.”
He worked at the clasp on the chain and she took it from him and unhooked it. With fingers that trembled she slid the ring off the chain that had been keeping it close to her heart for the past few months.
Brody took the ring from her and held it in the light.
“I remember when I bought this. It was the shiniest, prettiest thing I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t wait to put it on your finger. But you’re wrong, Grace. We shouldn’t have come first. God had to come first in this plan of ours. And neither of us got that. He will always be the center of our lives together, holding us on a firm foundation, making us the couple and the parents we need to be.”
He slid the ring on her finger, a perfect fit. It twinkled in the soft lamplight of the living room. He turned her hand over, kissed her palm, then he wrapped her in his arms.
“Marry me, Grace Thomas. Let me be the husband you deserve and a father to your daughter.”
“Yes, Brody. I’ll marry you.”
Their lips and their hearts met, and Grace knew what it meant to come home. She knew what had been missing since forever. She clung to Brody’s shoulders.
A tiny cry over the monitor interrupted the moment. Brody smiled into the kiss and pulled away. He rested his forehead against hers and she held tight until her legs found strength again. The baby cried again, just a mewling sound.
“That’s called divine intervention.” He stepped back, letting her go.
They walked down the hallway to the room where sunshine streamed in the window and a baby girl waved her tiny hand, searching for her mommy. Brody lifted Bria from that crib and Grace felt the rightness in that moment and in the gesture. It had taken them a while to get here, to each other, to this place. But hadn’t God always known?
“I love you, Bria Thomas.” Brody kissed her baby’s cheek, then he reached for Grace and she stepped into the circle of his arms. “And I sure do love your mom.”
Epilogue
Grace stood in the vestibule of Martin’s Crossing Community Church. She peeked through the doors that were closed so that her entrance would be special. It would be special, all right. As a mom, she knew the faint cries of her daughter, drifting back through the church. Bria was with her granny, but she had just sounded the dinner bell, wanting her mommy.
Grace’s dad patted the hand on his arm. “Your mom can handle this.”
“I know she can.”
She watched as her new sisters walked down the aisle as bridesmaids. Oregon first with Duke, Jake with Breezy, and Samantha had informed them all she would walk herself down the aisle. So there wasn’t a third groomsman. She’d learned that Sam did what Sam wanted, no matter how her brothers tried to control her. In that way she was very much like the half sister just eighteen months her junior. Kayla wasn’t at the wedding. She’d taken a plane out of the country, just to annoy her dad.
“You’re up, sunshine,” her dad said with a slight catch in the words. She looked up and caught the tear that trickled down his cheek.
“Daddy, you don’t have to cry.”
“Of course I do. My little girl is getting married today. You’re going to leave your mother and me, and you’re going to be a wife to Brody Martin. I like that young man, but I’m entrusting to him one of my most valuable possessions, something I cherish, my daughter.”
“Now you’re going to make me cry.”
He kissed the top o
f her head. “Don’t cry. But do be happy, Gracie. Be content. Be a woman of faith who raises her children to have faith.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all any of us can do. And never go to bed angry. Talk things out.”
“Got it,” she whispered, because the music had stopped. “Dad, they’re waiting. Could you write this all down for me?”
“I’ll send it in a text. With a note to Brody. He’s a good man, Grace. You’re both young and you will make mistakes. You’ll get angry. But you’ll work through those hard times if you keep God at the center of your marriage.”
The wedding march started over again.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, Gracie.” He hooked her hand over his arm and together they walked through the doors and down the center aisle of the church.
Grace focused on her goal, the man standing at the front of the church, seeking her, loving her. He smiled, revealing that dimple. His blue eyes captured hers, holding her steady on that walk to him.
“I love you, forever, Grace,” he whispered as she stepped next to him.
Her dad gave her a quick hug and handed her over to Brody Martin. For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. To love only him so long as they both might live.
“I love you, too.” She held his hand, never wanting to let go.
The ceremony was short. The vows were sweet. And the kiss made the crowd cheer.
Brody grinned down at her. “Mrs. Brody Martin, let’s go get our daughter.”
Grace’s mom stepped forward, handing them the four-month-old baby girl with blond hair and dark eyes like her mother. She had them both wrapped around her little finger. She cooed as if the whole ceremony had been all about her.
Brody held them close, and Grace knew that this was only the beginning.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE AMISH MOTHER by Rebecca Kertz.
The Rancher's Second Chance (Martin's Crossing Book 3) Page 17