As they trotted over a well worn track toward a low rise where a small dark cabin sat empty and forlorn, Blake pulled the sleigh to a stop and turned to Darcy pulling a tiny box from his pocket.
“Darcy, I know it’s kind of fast and maybe not what you were expecting,” he started popping the box open to expose a simple golden band holding a tiny blue stone, “but I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time now, and I want you with me forever. Will you marry me?”
Blake could feel his heart pounding as he waited for Darcy to reply. Her dark, doe brown eyes flicked between him and the ring he offered.
“You sure you want me?” she asked. “I know I love you too Blake, but I’m not the kind of woman someone like you would normally fall for.”
“Darcy,” Blake sighed. “I love you and you are perfect for me. The past is the past, and both of us come with our own fair share of damage. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Say yes.”
A slow smile spread across Darcy’s face and she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear nervously. “Then yes,” she finally replied. “If you’re enough of a Turnip to want me, you can have me.”
Blake pulled Darcy into his arms kissing her before taking her hand and slipping the little ring on her hand. “I want everyone to know you’re mine,” he grinned. “I asked Ma if she knew where I could get a ring and she gave me this. I hope you like it.”
“It’s everything I could ever dream of,” Darcy replied never taking her eyes from his.
Chapter 31
By Easter Blake and Darcy were married. The wedding was small, or at least as small as anything could be on the Broken J.
The bride was beautiful in a simple straight cut satin dress, but the highlight for Darcy was when an older woman in a faded dress took a seat at the front of the church. She couldn’t believe her mother had answered the invitation and tears of joy mingled with hope at the reunion.
The wedding supper was attended by all, and Blake felt like the luckiest man in the world as his family congratulated him.
Meeting his new mother-in-law for the first time was a little awkward, but he knew that in time the woman and the rest of Darcy’s family would come around.
Today he had married the woman he loved, committing their union to God as they started a new life together.
“Are you ready to go home honey,” Blake finally asked as guests began to leave.
Darcy smiled, brushing her hand along his clean shaven face. “I’m ready,” she said, watching her mother climb into a hired car and disappear down the road. “I can’t believe she came,” she added her voice breaking. “Perhaps there is hope.”
Blake smiled. “There is always hope,” he agreed.
A few moments later they were in the little car that had been such a part of their trials and adventures and bouncing across the stream to the empty cabin they would now call home. The sturdy well built cabin had belonged to Benjamin and Cathleen Smith, joint founders of the Broken J, and was a legacy they both embraced. The family had all come together to furnish the home and to her surprise the quiet, seclusion, and vast views of the open prairie, were a balm to Darcy’s soul.
***
Over the next few months, Blake and Darcy settled into a new way of living. They were close to family, yet had their space apart. They learned to live together, as one, finding joy in everyday work, hope amidst trials, and even fun ways of overcoming small conflicts.
There were still days when Blake could see a dark sorrow wash over his wife, like the clouds covering the sun, and he knew that she was dealing with regret, but in time she would pull herself out of the gloom, her bright and lively personality asserting itself once more.
Although these moments could creep up without warning, they usually appeared after a visit to her family’s home. Now, that Darcy was married, her mother seemed inclined to accept her once more, but her father and brothers were all but cold toward her.
Blake would stay close to home on the days that Darcy’s blues were the worse, doing his best to cheer her and show her how much she was loved. She never complained, or wallowed in pity, but silently struggled through those infrequent down days.
It was over a year later that everything changed with the birth of their first child, a bouncing baby girl, with dark eyes, and a cheery smile.
From that day on, Darcy seemed to be able to shrug off those dark moods, her heart reveling in the joy of her daughter and later their son. It was her joy as a mother and love as a wife that sustained her heart on those days when old sorrows threatened to swoop in.
“Have I told you lately how much I love you?” Blake asked one evening as they sat on the front porch gazing over the stream.
“I don’t think so,” Darcy teased. “Maybe you’d better.”
Blake chuckled leaning in and kissing her lips. “I love you Darcy Allen.”
“I love you too, Turnip.” Darcy giggled making Blake groan. Even now after four years of marriage she loved to use the old nickname.
“It’s gonna rain tonight,” Blake stated, ignoring the barb and rubbing his injured thigh. “I’ve got that ache.”
“Then maybe you should stay home with me instead of out there riding the range.”
“Don’t tempt me woman,” Blake laughed.
Darcy reached out taking Blake’s hand in hers. “It’s been some kind of life Blake Allen,” she said. “Who ever knew a little no one like me, a woman lost and without hope could find
