“I think you did the right thing,” Emerson told her, evading Elise’s sticky grasp. “Let your brother come to grips with what happened.”
“Meanwhile, we get a playdate with Elise!” Cass said happily. She patted her own growing belly. “Got to practice before my baby comes.”
“Guess so,” Wye said. She looked tired—and worried—and Emerson vowed to help as much as he could tonight.
Everyone else at Two Willows seemed to have the same idea, and they all got to play with Elise before it was her bedtime, gathering in the front room and taking turns rolling a ball to her or playing with the stuffed animals Wye had brought with her. Jo went one better and brought one of the dogs in for Elise to pet for a minute. She sent Isobel out of the room when Elise pulled on her ear one too many times.
“I think that’s enough for one night, anyway,” Wye said, lifting Elise and balancing her on one hip. “We’re going upstairs.”
“I’ll come, too.” Emerson scooped up the baby bag she’d set in one corner of the room.
“Thanks.”
“No word from Ward?” he asked when they reached the room Cass had set up for her nursery. She’d said Elise could use the crib she’d put together in anticipation of her baby’s birth.
“No. Steve texted that he found Ward at Rafters. He took Ward home and ordered pizza. Said not to expect much more tonight. Sounds like Ward is taking it hard.”
“Guess that’s not surprising. How about you?”
“Me?” Wye looked up from changing a wriggling Elise into a new diaper and sleeper suit. “Like I said before, I’m fine.”
“Mindy isn’t just Ward’s wife,” he pointed out. “She’s your sister-in-law, too.”
Wye thought about that. “We were never close, though,” she said sadly. “I mean, we had dinners together. Spent Christmas with each other. We live in the same town and weeks went by without us saying a word, you know? I’d hoped… well, I’d hoped having her around would be like having a real family.”
Emerson nodded. They seemed to be alike in that—wanting family around. “You think Cass, Brian and the rest of them know how lucky they are?”
“Yes—and no,” Wye said after a moment. “I don’t think you can know unless you’ve done without.”
Emerson agreed with her.
“I’m pretty tired,” Wye said when she’d settled Elise into her crib. “I think I’ll hang out with her until she’s asleep, then hit the hay myself.”
“Good night, then.” Emerson leaned in and kissed her cheek, not even thinking about what he was doing until he’d done it. He didn’t apologize, though; it felt right.
“Night,” Wye said softly.
The next morning the General surprised Emerson when he asked to come along to the Park. Wyoming was long gone. She’d gone to Ward’s house to talk with him about what he planned to do next. Emerson would have liked to sit in on that meeting, but then Wye would have to explain who he was, and that would open another can of worms. One crisis was enough for now, he supposed.
Although the trailers were only a quarter mile away, he drove the General in the pickup truck he’d leased after arriving at Chance Creek. The General was footing the bill, but he wouldn’t be able to drive himself until his hip healed. When they arrived at the Park, Emerson kept close when the General got out of the truck and hobbled over the uneven, snowy ground, leaning heavily on his cane. He was afraid the man might trip and hurt himself all over again.
“This is the one.” Emerson gestured at the blue-and-white-striped trailer he had chosen to work on first.
“Ugly son of a gun, isn’t it?” the General said, looking it over.
“That’s what makes it perfect,” Emerson told him. “That one down at the end is too new to tear apart. I figure it’s perfect to rent to Buck.”
“If it’s new, why don’t you want to live in that one?” the General asked.
“It doesn’t have any soul. This one I can make my own—if I stay.”
“You’re staying,” the General asserted.
“I will if you talk about it with the others and they all agree to have me, sir.” Emerson wasn’t going to back down on that point.
“You’ve picked well,” the General said, ignoring him. “You start with something perfect, and it will never be truly yours. If you pick something a little rough around the edges, you can buff it up just the way you like it.”
Emerson wondered if that was how the General saw him. Maybe it was the way he saw all the men he had handpicked and sent home to marry his daughters. Every one of them flawed, every one of them able to be buffed up into something better. He hoped the General liked the way he was turning out.
Hoped everyone else would in the end, too.
“I’m pretty sure Buck will want that first one,” he said. “I’ll find a contract online, and you can tell me what you want for rent.”
“You’ll need to take percentage as a management fee,” the General said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s no reason you should be paying me to do the job when any of the other men could do it just as easily and save you the fee.”
“The others have enough ranch work to keep them busy,” the General countered. “A man needs an income, especially a man who’s looking for a wife. How’s that going, by the way?”
“Fine. Or it would be, if I ever got to spend any time with Wyoming.”
“Cass told me about her brother’s wife. Sloppy work there,” he added disgustedly. “A man ought to keep watch on his woman, make sure she doesn’t wander away.”
Emerson turned to hide the smile he couldn’t quite suppress. “I’m not sure Ward was expecting his wife to wander away, sir.”
“Vigilance. That’s the trick,” the General said. He looked the trailers over again. “I see what you mean about this one, and I have no doubt you could make something special
