“If you don’t like either one of these,” Ted said. “I’ll make you a different one.”
“I didn’t even know you could do this with wood,” she said, almost accusing him of holding out on her.
“Well,” he said. “Now you do.” He squeezed her hand. “Ginger is going to go ballistic if you don’t choose in the next sixty seconds.”
Emma glanced at her best friend, who hated wasting time almost more than anything else on the planet.
“I want this one,” she said, reaching out and touching the one with the preserved natural bark. “It’s half perfect, and half not, and that’s how I feel. I feel like I know what I’m doing about half the time, and everything is great. The other half of the time, I need that protective bark, which is beautiful in its own way.”
“That was my favorite too, Momma,” Missy said.
“Sounds good,” Ginger said with a light laugh. “I wanted the other one, so you picked perfectly, Emma.” She put her arm around Emma’s shoulders and squeezed. “Now I have to go check on our new hire. He has the worst sense of direction I’ve ever seen. I found him wandering on the east side of the ranch yesterday, sure he would run into the homestead at any moment.” She shook her head and left.
Emma giggled and snuggled into Ted’s side.
“I love you,” Ted said. “I love both of you.” He put his arm around Missy too, and Emma’s heart rejoiced. “I got my second chance at this life, and I can’t promise I’ll be perfect, but I’m going to try as hard as I can to do the right thing. Be the best husband and father I can be.”
“You’ll do great, Teddy,” Missy said. “Can I go? Spence said I could help brush down the horses and put them away.”
“Sure,” Ted said. “Go.”
Missy paused in front of Emma to give her a hug, and then she skipped out of the stables to go help with the horses.
Emma gazed at the altar where she’d marry Ted, and then turned to the man himself. “I love you, Teddy. Thank you for taking a chance on me.”
“Funny,” he murmured. “I was going to say the same thing to you.” He dipped his head and kissed her again, and this time, because they were alone, Emma kissed the man she loved for as long as she wanted.
Read on for a sneak peek at Ginger and Nate’s wedding, as told by Dallas Dreyer, your next cowboy hero in RUGGED COWBOY. Preorder now!
I’m so glad Teddy and Emma were able to build a family with Missy, that little piglet, and all those dogs! If you are too, please leave a review now.
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Sneak Peek! Rugged Cowboy Chapter One
Dallas Dreyer breathed a silent sigh of relief as he saw the city limits sign for Sweet Water Falls. He’d been driving for hours, and he was so ready to be out of the car.
At the same time, the temperature gauge on the dashboard told him not to get out of the car unless he wanted to be instantly incinerated. How Nate could get married in weather like this, Dallas didn’t understand.
Why Nate wanted to get married at all eluded Dallas. Bitterness gathered on the back of his tongue, and it was new and hard to deal with.
He’d had no idea Martha was so unsure about their marriage. She’d been coming to River Bay for over two years—every week—and she’d brought the kids many times.
Her departure from their life had surprised him. Shocked him, actually. Rendered him speechless.
He could clearly remember when he’d gotten the news, and that he’d sat on the bottom bunk where he’d been sleeping for twenty-seven months and just stared.
Even when Slate had come to tell him it was time for dinner. Even when Luke had gotten him a special pass for an extra hour in the library, without anyone there, Dallas had just stared at it.
He didn’t know what life would be like on the outside as it was. And without Martha? Dallas didn’t know how to function.
She’d been in Louisiana for the past three months, and her sister had been taking care of his two children. Martha had left them behind too, and Dallas honestly didn’t comprehend her behavior.
He’d been released five days ago, and Amy had been kind enough to come pick him up. She’d brought Thomas and Remmy with her, and Dallas had held his children tightly for several minutes right on the sidewalk outside the River Bay Federal Correctional Facility.
He glanced to Remmy, his six-year-old asleep in the backseat of the used sedan his brother-in-law had helped him purchase.
Dallas had money from before his time in prison, but not a whole lot. Enough to buy new clothes and this car and food and gas for the trip to Sweet Water Falls.
He’d stayed with Amy and Brent for a couple days to get the essentials in order, and then he’d set his app to direct him to Hope Eternal Ranch.
He would not miss Nate’s wedding. The man had done more for Dallas than anyone else on Earth—save Martha. But now that she was gone, Dallas’s only fall-back was Nathaniel Mulbury.
Ted Burrows was at the ranch too, and Dallas couldn’t wait to see his friends. The pull to them was all he had left, and he’d embraced it. After they’d come for Family Weekend and treated him exactly like one of their brothers…Dallas got choked up just thinking about it.
“Turn right in a quarter mile,” the cool female voice of his navigation app. Dallas started to slow down, and his son lifted his head from his game machine.
“Almost there, bud,” Dallas said, surprised at how chipper his voice came out.
Thomas nodded and powered down the game. Dallas felt like he didn’t know his ten-year-old. He’d missed all of his eighth and ninth year on the planet, and though Dallas had seen his son start
