“I’m saying I love you,” Casey said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I’m saying that if you could love Wyatt and Will and raise them with me, then I can be flexible on the ranching issue. I can help you run your therapy center, and keep your clients alive long enough to sort out their family issues.”
Ember’s eyes welled with tears. “You’d do that?”
“Like Bert says—there will be other ranches. But a woman like you? That’s once in a lifetime, Ember.”
Casey stepped closer again, this time closing the distance between them as he wrapped his arms around her once more. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
“Then marry me...”
Ember stared at him, then twined her arms around his neck and pulled that tall cowboy down to her level, where she kissed him with all the love pent up in her heart. He wrapped his arms around her waist and stood up straight, plucking her straight off the ground. Ember laughed, looking into those dark, tender eyes.
“Maybe there’s a way to combine a working ranch with a therapy center,” Ember said as her feet touched the ground again. “I’m not sure about the details, but if we put our heads together—”
“First things first,” he said, a smile turning up the corners of his lips. “Say you’ll marry me, Ember. Mrs. Ember Courtright. I think that sounds good.”
“I think it sounds wonderful!” she said, tears glistening in her eyes. “Yes. I’ll marry you, Casey.”
Casey’s lips covered hers once more as the screen door slammed behind them. They turned to see Mr. Vern standing on the step, a broad smile on his face.
“Is there news?” he asked with a grin.
“Let’s go buy a ranch,” Ember whispered, and Casey grinned.
“That sounds good to me. But keep it in your name. I don’t want you ever thinking I married you for your land.”
Together they walked toward the house, and Ember’s heart finally felt full to overflowing. She’d sign the papers that would set Mr. Vern free to pursue his retirement with his ailing wife, and then Ember knew exactly what she wanted to do...
She was going to pick up those baby boys and snuggle them close, and she’d be the mother they needed so badly. Sometimes God gave second chances, and as He twined hearts together, He answered prayer after prayer with the love that joined them.
Ember and Casey went inside. She looked around that ranch house, at the floors that had seen so many cowboy boots, at the kitchen that had fed so many, and she knew that she was home. But the fixture that made this house the home she wanted to settle into was the tall cowboy who stood by the kitchen table as Mr. Vern signed the last of the papers finalizing the sale. Casey Courtright was the one who filled her heart.
She loved him—with everything in her being. And somehow, in one visit to a Montana ranch, God had given Ember more than a goal realized; He’d given her a family.
Epilogue
On a warm, sunny day in mid-September when the heat from summer had dissipated, but the warmth still clung to the earth in defiance of the coming winter, Ember and Casey got married in the Victory Country Church.
The sermon was short, but it was on a topic very close to Casey’s heart—Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho. This pastor took the story a little bit further, pointing out that Rahab, the Jericho woman who helped the spies and escaped destruction, ended up married—possibly to one of the spies themselves. That was what the Biblical records pointed to in Matthew, at least—a little bit of romance in the midst of that battle story. The walls came down, and between the lines there seemed to be a wedding. A little bit like Casey and Ember’s story. Sometimes walls crumbled and hearts healed at the same time.
Almost everyone was in attendance for the Courtright-Reed wedding, and the pews were packed. Ember’s father didn’t make it, but he did send a very generous monetary gift. Casey’s father was there, as was half the population of the town. Pastor Ted Mitchell took Ember and Casey through the most important vows of their lives.
“Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
“Sure do,” Casey said softly, fixing Ember with a tender smile.
“And do you, Ember, take this man to be your husband...”
Ember nodded, tears misting her eyes. “I do.”
“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. Feel free to kiss your bride, Casey.”
Casey didn’t seem to need any encouragement there, because he stepped forward and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close in a kiss, as clapping and cheers rose up from the guests in attendance.
Ember smiled up into her husband’s eyes, and then they faced the church of friends and family.
“I’m pleased to be the first to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Casey and Ember Courtright!” Pastor Mitchell said. Casey squeezed her hand, and they headed down the aisle together. Ember had never felt quite so happy.
After the service was over, their photographer took them to a few different spots to take photos—by the church doors, standing with family, over by the rippling waves of golden wheat at the fence...
The babies were being held by various women in the family who passed them around and snuggled them close, but by the time they made it to the field for photos, Will and Wyatt had started to fuss, and Ember’s heart followed them with every lusty cry.
They were bigger babies now—already seven months old and full of personality—and Ember looked up at Casey.
“Time for some Courtright family photos?” she suggested softly.
“That sounds about right,” Casey agreed, and they went to fetch their boys. Will and Wyatt stopped crying as soon as they were back in their parents’ arms. And as the flash
