“I think I should go with you. The girls may not believe that I survived.”
Clint shook his head. “I don’t think you’re up to making the trip. They’ll believe me.”
“I should probably go home, then. I told your mother if I need the doctor, Casey can fetch him.”
Casey again. Clint wanted to ask what Casey meant to her. He figured Casey was waiting for her to return before he asked her to marry him. Nothing else made sense. If a man wasn’t in love, he would have moved on and found employment elsewhere when Amelia left La Grange. “How long have you known Casey?”
“He’s worked for my family for several years.”
“If you want to see Casey, I can go get him, but I think you should stay here. At least, until I return from Honey Creek.”
“It’s not that I want to see Casey, although I probably need to see if he will want to continue working on the ranch. And I’ve imposed on your hospitality long enough.”
“Why did Casey stay when everyone left?”
“He told me people would come back once the worst was over. I told him he should leave, but he wouldn’t listen. He stayed to care for what few cattle we had left.”
“Do you have an understanding with Casey?”
Amelia furrowed her brow. “An understanding?”
Clint leveled his eyes on hers. “Does he want to marry you?”
Plucking at a thread on the blanket covering her, she responded honestly. “He told Mrs. Nelson he wanted to marry me.”
“He’s never asked you?” Clint wondered why Casey would tell other people he wanted to marry her if he hadn’t asked her first.
“He told me he would care for me and the girls when Richard died.”
“Are you interested in that proposal?”
“Mrs. Nelson told me I couldn’t afford to turn down any proposal, considering I may never have another.”
Clint noticed she hadn’t given him a yes-or-no response. He thought he should give her time to open up to him about what she really wanted. He wouldn’t push her. Leaving his chair, he held up one finger. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He walked to the front room and scooped up the two puppies and told their mother to come with him. Returning to Amelia’s bedroom, he held out the pups for her to see. “The girls asked for a puppy for Christmas. Now they get two. I can keep their mother.”
Amelia’s eyes lit up and she held out her hands to hold one. “Where did you get them?”
“Doc said their ma showed up on his doorstep and she surprised him with two pups. He’s been looking after them.”
Clint sat on the side of the bed holding one puppy and petting their mother’s head with his free hand. “She’s a good mother. We need to give her a name.”
“She’s beautiful, the color of honey. What about Honey?”
Clint nodded. “I like that.” He stoked Honey’s blond fur. “Do you like that, Honey?”
Honey licked his hand in response. “She approves.”
Amelia laughed. “They’re adorable. The girls will love them, and we can keep Honey if you don’t have time to care for her.”
Clint wanted to say she and the girls could move to his ranch and keep all the dogs together. He grew quiet, thinking about her in his home with the girls and the dogs. In his mind, that would be the next best thing to heaven. “What do you think about . . .”
Ingrid walked into the room and, judging by the look on her son’s face, she thought she had just interrupted something important. Her eyes bounced from Clint to Amelia. “Amelia, Casey is here to see you.”
Clint could hardly believe the man they were just discussing was in his home. He glanced at Amelia to gauge her reaction. Looking down at the nightgown she was wearing, Clint wasn’t particularly thrilled at having a man seeing her in her nightclothes.
Amelia glanced at Clint. Seeing his eyes were on her nightgown, she pulled the blanket up to her neck. “I guess . . . I need to talk to him.”
Ingrid left the room, and Clint stood to leave. “I’ll give you some privacy.” He knew it was going to take all the willpower he could muster to walk out of that room and leave her alone with Casey. Glancing down at Honey, he said, “Come.”
“You don’t have to leave. I want to introduce you.”
Still holding one puppy, Clint sat back down in the chair closest to the bed, leaving the one at the foot of the bed the only place for Casey to sit. Honey sat next to Clint.
Ingrid led Casey into the room and introduced him to Clint. Casey nodded in Clint’s direction, and though Ingrid invited him to have a seat, he headed to Amelia’s bedside.
“I came as soon as I heard you were back.”
Amelia’s eyes darted to Clint. “Clint brought me back when I got sick.”
“Where are the girls?” Casey asked.
“With Tom Nelson.”
“You mean you traveled back alone with him?” Casey jabbed his hat in Clint’s direction with a disapproving frown on his face.
“Yes. I was ill, and we couldn’t risk the girls coming with us.”
“Not very proper if you ask me,” Casey grumbled.
“We didn’t ask you,” Clint stated testily, glaring at Casey. In his estimation, the man should have been more concerned with Amelia’s welfare. He hadn’t even asked her how she was feeling.
Casey briefly glanced Clint’s way, then looked at Amelia. “Did the doc tell you that folks are coming back home? It’s safe now, so I guess I can go get the girls.”
“Clint is leaving in the morning to bring the girls home,” Amelia responded. “He will tell all the families who want to return that they can travel with him.”
“The girls know me,” Casey commented.
Clint stared hard at Casey. “The girls know me and I’m going to get them.”
Amelia thought the men were having a staring contest. “Casey, the girls know Clint, and they trust
