“I don’t feel right about this being your ranch and...”
“Stop! We discussed it on the way here and I agreed for you to use your money to pay the bank and take my brother’s share of the ranch.”
“It’s your place.”
“If you had refused to marry me, I would have lost it to the bank. If you pay out the loan, and with your herd and mine combined, it gives us a good base to build on. We could almost live off the ranch.”
“I guess so.”
“Hank mentioned he had been brought up on a dairy farm and with the extra hands maybe we could build up our dairy herd again.” She told him about the Swiss cheesemaker and how he said they had special minerals in their ground which made their milk so good for him. “Pa used to say he thought there might have been a volcanic eruption here millions of years ago to account for those extra minerals in the soil.”
As they drove the cattle through the gate leading on to the ranch, Amos Hobson strode over to greet her.
“Howdy, Miranda. I kept everything good for you.”
“Thanks, Amos, I’d like you to meet my husband, Rowan Carstairs. Rowan, meet Amos who has been a great help to me.”
“Howdy.” Rowan leaned down and shook the youth’s hand.
“Hank and Tom are over there.” Miranda pointed to the men. “You can meet them later. Where’s your brother?”
“He’s at school.” He wrinkled his nose. “Pa said he had to keep up with his schooling or he couldn’t work here. I’ll head off now. You’ll need to see to the milking. I sold a couple of lots of eggs like you said, but there’s a dozen left on the kitchen table for you.”
“Thank you, you’ve obviously worked hard. I’ll be going to the bank tomorrow, so I’ll drop your money off then.”
“Okay.”
“Will ten dollars be okay?” Rowan asked.
Amos grinned. “It sure will.”
“I’ll give it to you now. What about your brother?”
“I did most of the work, but I aim to give him some of it. Thanks, Mr. Carstairs.”
“Call me Rowan. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. With the extra cattle we’ll need more help from time to time, won’t we?” He turned his head toward Miranda.
“For sure, good ranch hands are always needed so there will be more work for you, if you want it.”
Amos grinned. “In between working our ranch, I can help out. I’ll go get my horse and head home.”
Rowan handed him the money. When the boy left, he said. “That’s just about cleaned me out of cash, I’ll definitely need to get some from the bank.”
“I can see you’re eager to take a look around,” she said.
“Yeah, I am.” He grinned. “But not as eager as I am about tonight.”
“You naughty man.” Miranda swatted him with her hat even as her heart soared.
Tonight, Rowan was going to make her his wife in every sense of the word and she could hardly wait. They had bonded well on the drive here but could do little except exchange a few sneaky kisses when the other men weren’t around. Hank and Tom had given them as much privacy as possible, which under the circumstances was not much.
“Wander around as much as you want and get a feel for the place. I’m going to cook us a special celebratory supper. Tell Hank and Tom they’re invited. See the chimney stack to the side of the hill behind the trees?”
Rowan nodded.
“That’s their cabin from now on. Get them to stow their belongings there. It will be dusty because it hasn’t been cleaned in months. It’s in sound condition, though.”
Rowan leaned across and kissed her before riding toward the cattle to help the two men. Once he left, Miranda rode Audrey over to the barn area and quickly saw to the mare’s comfort. “We did real good girl,” she said. “Real good.”
Back at the house, she was pleased to see Amos had stacked up firewood on the back porch. He was a thoughtful boy. He had obviously taken large logs from the woodshed and chopped them up for her.
She hung her hat on the peg at the back of the kitchen door, and got the fire going in the stove before she did anything else. Hot water to have a bath was one of the next tasks on her agenda. She threw her bedroll on the floor in her bedroom and changed her clothes, before making her way to the main bedroom to open the window to let fresh air in.
From the top of the closet she took out the linen she had washed after Jacob left, and made up the bed. To think her parents had shared this bed for many years and had been so happy added poignancy to it. She pushed to one side the fact Jacob and Helen had been here also.
All the bedding had been washed and aired the moment they left. The window left open for days had finally rid the room of the stench of Helen’s cloying perfume. It still hurt to think of what her brother had done. At least it had forced her to contact Rowan who had forgotten about his mail-order bride because of all the stress he had been under. She had forgiven him because of what he had gone through. It must have been so hurtful, not to mention crushing to his pride.
At least he had not met her and then forgotten about her, that would have been much worse. She dashed to her bedroom to transfer her hairbrush and a few clothes to the main bedroom. Until his trunk arrived, Rowan would at most only have a
