Jo got to it, and soon the poignant moment had passed in a flurry of guesses and unwrapping. Wye amassed a pile of hand-knit mittens, books, a calendar and more, while Emerson received work gloves and several fancy tools that were upgrades from the ones in Two Willows’ motley collection.
As they were all oohing and aahing over their presents, he realized Wye had twisted her engagement ring to leave a plain band that didn’t attract any attention. When she noticed him looking, she put a finger to her lips.
Only when they were done with presents and gathered in the kitchen for a hearty brunch did Wye wink at him, twist the ring the right way around and make a show of reaching for something across the table with her left hand.
“Wyoming Smith!” Cass stood up, scraping her chair back over the wooden floor. “Is that an engagement ring?”
Wye laughed happily. “It is! Emerson asked me this morning, and I said yes!” She fluttered her hand around for all to see.
“Congratulations!” Brian clapped Emerson on the back. “You did it!”
“I told him to,” the General said complacently. “I know what I’m doing when it comes to marrying people off.”
“That you do,” Cass said in mock exasperation. “A toast to Emerson and Wye—may you have many happy years together!”
“Here, here.”
Everyone raised their glasses in a toast. Emerson clinked his orange juice with as many others as he could reach.
“When’s the wedding?” Connor asked.
“Fourth of July,” Emerson said.
“Fourth of July?” The General slammed his drink down on the table. “That’s seven months away, Soldier. If you want to marry on a holiday, marry on New Year’s Eve.”
Wye, who’d been sipping her orange juice, sputtered, “New Year’s? You want me to marry Emerson in six days?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“But—”
Emerson grinned at Wyoming. He’d be perfectly happy marrying at New Year’s, but it had to be her choice. “I’m game. How about you? After all—it’s what the stone said we should do.”
“But—”
“You might as well give in,” Lena said dryly. “I bet Cass already has your wedding half planned out.”
Emerson turned to find Cass smiling sheepishly at the rest of them. “Only in my head.”
“I saw the wheels turning,” Lena said dryly.
“Well, we could pull it off, I’m sure,” Cass said. “We’ve had so many weddings here. But what about family? You’ll want to give them time to make plans to attend.”
“Family? What family?” Wyoming said, finally finding her voice. “Other than Ward, I’m on my own. You know that.”
“Don’t look at me,” Emerson said. “I’m barely in touch with mine.” As soon as he’d left to join the Army, it was as if he’d stepped off the edge of the planet as far as his aunt, uncle and cousins were concerned and he hadn’t pushed the connection when it obviously wasn’t wanted.
“That’s settled, then,” the General said and got back to eating.
“It’s not settled,” Wye protested, then sighed gustily. “You all are impossible, you know that?”
“Amelia used to call me incorrigible,” the General said.
All five of the Reed women stilled. Wye understood their surprise. The General wasn’t one for reminiscences, especially not such personal ones.
He looked up, saw everyone looking back and cleared his throat again. “Well, she did.”
Alice, sitting next to him, patted his arm. “She loved you for it.”
The General harrumphed loudly and went to work cutting up his French toast.
Wye thought she felt a touch on her arm and looked up to find no one there, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that a presence was nearby. She met Alice’s gaze from across the table. Alice had straightened, her eyes wide. Had she felt it, too?
Was it—Amelia?
Cass had often spoken of the way she felt her mother’s presence on the ranch, and Two Willows was certainly an uncanny place. Despite all the General’s gruffness, his love for his wife ran deep, like a vein of ore in the ground. Amelia’s love for her family was evident everywhere in the old house, the maze, the garden…
Now that Wye thought about it, she realized the General and Amelia hadn’t had nearly as much time together as they must have wanted. Their happy marriage had been cut short by Amelia’s death. Meanwhile, here she was putting off marriage to a man she knew was her soul mate.
Who knew how many years she would get with Emerson. She’d be a fool to squander even a minute.
She felt the light touch on her arm again. A small squeeze, as if Amelia was saying, “That’s exactly it.” Then it was gone.
“We don’t have to rush into anything,” Emerson said, breaking the spell. “I can wait as long as it takes.”
Wye struggled to find her voice, which had gone shaky and uncertain. “I… I can’t wait,” she said. “I want to marry on New Year’s.”
“Are you sure?” Emerson took her hand. “Because it’s okay…”
“I’m positive.” Wye cut off his words with a kiss.
Wye spent the rest of the morning so excited she could barely breathe. She helped Cass clear up from brunch and work on the enormous dinner she was preparing, while everyone else took turns keeping Elise happy when she wasn’t napping. As the time drew nearer for Ward to arrive for dinner, however, Wyoming grew anxious. She was thrilled about her upcoming wedding, but she couldn’t expect him to feel the same way. Would her happiness make his sadness harder to bear? Should she take off her ring and tell everyone to keep it a secret—at least for a few more days?
She decided she couldn’t do that, not if she and Emerson were going to marry in less than a week.
She relaxed a little when Ward arrived, looking almost cheerful, until she realized he’d been drinking.
“Did you drive like that?”
“Like what?” He handed her several bags of chips and a bottle of wine. “Sorry. Not much open today.”
Wyoming didn’t push it, but she decided then and there she’d keep Elise tonight. She doubted Ward would protest.
Cass
